Harry's character development

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 139313

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "quick_silver71"
<quick_silver71 at y...> wrote:
> quick_silver71:
> > > Harry is already a good dueler. 
>  
> bboyminn:
> > I'm not sure where you get this. Harry's dueling skill has never 
> > been more than adequate. At best, he as stumbled through each duel 
> > with a bit of luck and little more. 
> > 
> >... Harry is more like an annoying tedious fly that is bothering 
> > Snape. Snape's superiority over Harry seems easy and  effortless 
> > to me. 

 
> quick_silver71:
> Yet Harry has beat Snape...twice. Once in PoA and once in HBP. 
> Clearly Sbape has the advantage over Harry at the end of HBP but 
> Harry was able to beat an emotional Snape in PoA so I think that 
> it's a reversal of fortune (and a warning about emotional states).
> 
> Harry is better then the DEs now and he is certainly as good a 
> fighter as McGonagall or Lupin. With the exception of Snape and 
> Voldemort is there a wizard walking that can call themself a 
> superior warrior to Harry Potter?  
> 
> quick_silver71

bboyminn:

I'm not saying that Harry is without talent at dueling, but there is a
big difference between talent and skill. You could be a talented
soccer player, but at the same time, never have played a game of
soccer in your life. Skill on the other hand is talent combined with a
well-honed applied experience. 

In that same vein, I'm saying that while Harry may have a natural
talent, he is hardly up to the task at hand. He needs razor sharp
reflexes, and a reasonable compliment of offensive and defensive
spells, as well as a above average knowledge of magical detection and
discernment if he has any hope of getting past the enchantments that
will be guarding the Horcruxes.

Again, I am basing this on the skills that Harry apparently needs at
this time. In the end, the plot may twist into situations where these
obviously needed skills are not needed afteral. But that will only
occur in HINDSIGHT. From the point where we are right now, it appears
that Harry will have to duel with Voldemort and many DE's, and if he
had any brains, he would start getting ready. That's one of the
reasons I hoped the D.A. Club would continue in HBP, because it would
have given Harry the knowledge and experience he desperately needed.

Harry has a terrible and extremely difficult task ahead of him, and I
still see him as woefully inadequately prepared to face it. Looking
forward, Harry is going to have to make a monumental effort to get
even remotely close to the skill and knowledge level necessary to
defeat Voldemort. Perhaps, as I said, looking back, these skills will
not be critical to the final resolution, but you can't know that in
advance. All he knows now is that he has to find and destroy the
Horcruxes then find and destroy Voldemort, and he is poorly prepared
to do either.

As far as Harry defeating Snape twice, I don't think so. The first
occassion was in PoA in the Shrieking Shack, at a time when Snape
would not have remotely thought that a group of students would attack
him. He and Harry were not in a fight in the truest sense, so in a
way, Harry's Disarming Charm was a sneak attack. The second time in
the DADA class in HBP, Harry reacted out of context with the
assignment and the task at hand, and further did nothing more than
block a spell that he knew was coming. That hardly constitutes a
dynamic dueling situation.

I will concede that Harry has immense talent and some skill at
fighting. He also has fierce determination and great courage and
daring; all excellent characteristics for an effective fighter, but I
still say he is hopelessly ill-prepared to face Voldemort. 

As I said in my previous post -

"Harry NEEDS to practice his non-verbal skill but he isn't. Harry
needs to practice his Occlumency but he's not. He needs to refine his
fighting skill, but he's not. He need to learn more complex and
powerful curses, both offensive and defensive, but he's not. The poor
boy can't relie on pure dumb luck forever."

Harry is not currently even remotely able to take on the task that he
appears to have to take on.

Just passing it along.

Steve/bboyminn