Predictions for Harry Potter Ending

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 172017

Damit Lazarus wrote:
> > Does anyone else think that Harry's father James was a bit 
arrogant in his youth?
> 
stanner91 responded:
> As far as JK Rowling has shown him, James Potter was an arrogant
show-off due his natural magical talent. Frankly, he sounds like a
jerk. <snip>
> 
Carol adds:

Even Sirius Black admits that he and James were "arrogant little
berks." Snape has been calling James "arrogant" since PoA and SWM
surprises the reader by proving him right. And it's not just the
two-on-one unprovoked attack on Severus Snape, it's hexing people in
the hallways when they annoy him, showing off his reflexes with the
Snitch to get the girls to admire him and Wormtail to hero-worship
him. His whole attitude in the scene, from his and Sirius's relating
to Remus not as a friend or a Prefect but as the werewolf they run
with on full-moon nights to his failure to understand that he's doing
anything wrong by humiliating a seemingly unpopular schoolmate
"because he exists," shows that he is indeed an arrogant bully--or, as
you say, a jerk. Sadly, popular Lily, who at least has the courage to
stand up to him, actually likes him, and the whole exchange (in which
she unwittingly adds to Severus's humiliation by "protecting" him) is
a flirtation between a pretty, popular girl and the resident Hogwarts
jock. As for "natural magical talent, I'll get to that in a moment.

Clearly, something happens to make this (IMO) undeservedly popular boy
(who may have been "popular" because to oppose or annoy him was to be
hexed by him) grow up. The boy in the memory (who must have had a
summer birthday as Harry does to be fifteen at the end of his fifth
year; 3/4 of the students would have turned sixteen by June) and the
heroic young man who fights Voldemort in a futile effort to give his
wife and child a chance to escape are light-years apart. Quite
possibly, early marriage and the birth of a child changed his
priorities. No more moonlight runs with a werewolf for him. The
serious business of risking his life to fight Voldemort as an Order
member may have helped, too (but that alone didn't bring his Friend
Sirius out of adolescence). I reserve judgment on James's role in the
so-called Prank. It didn't end his rivalry with Severus Snape (who
clearly hated him more than ever after James saved his life), and it's
unclear whether James got "cold feet" as Snape thinks or found out at
the last minute and saved Severus not for his own sake but to keep
Sirius and Remus out of serious trouble.

Anyway, as I see it, adolescent James was most definitely a jerk. I
see nothing to like about any of the Marauders in SWM (though I feel a
touch of pity for Remus, who must feel that they only like him because
he's a werewolf or he wouldn't be afraid that standing up to them
would cause them to lose their affection for him. Too bad Neville
wasn't around to give him a few lessons in moral courage.)
 
Goodasitgets wrote:
> MANY if not MOST High School age (relatively the comparison to the
school age James) boys of this day (or mine 20 years ago) show similar
"arrogant" behavior in addition to trying to impress friends and girls
usually in the  worst or counterproductive ways.  James being a
Seeker, along with his other abilities and we assume good looks, was
sure to have enough "going for him" to have it go to his head. I think
what we see of James in Snape's worst memory wasn't due to those
abilities of James though. I certainly knew a number of James-like
boys in my school.
> 
> Also James didn't have (that we are aware of) the circumstances of
> suffering and humility such as Harry did at the hands of the
Dursleys, which made him sensitive to the feelings of others. So I
never really thought James was a jerk AND felt that because we saw
these memories form Snape's perspective the incident could have been
easily out of context; ...what had Snape already done? Or how did
James perceive Snape's actions? I now believe Harry has always
misjudged Snape's
> actions, as well, despite the fact that Dumbledore repeatedly
reinforces his trust in Snape. Harry continues to believe that he
knows better than Dumbledore on that issue. Harry only believes what
he sees/perceives to be true. I want to ultimately believe that
because we see Lily and James happily together in the photos Harry has
of them, there is much more GOOD to James Potter than we have been
allowed to see though the glimpses of these memories. Maybe I am a
"Disney" reader but I have to believe that Harry was loved by TWO
wonderful people in his parents NOT perfect Lily and "just accepted
for the jerk he is, James". The Lily factor aside, James may have been
aware that Snape disliked Lupin attending Hogwarts and wanted to be
sure to have a go at Snape for giving one of his mates a hard time.  
<snip>

Carol responds:
Yes and no. There's no question that all five boys (MWPP and Severus)
are suffering the pangs of adolescence in their various ways. James
the Jock shows off for the girls and Lily in particular (he's a
Chaser, BTW, not a Seeker); handsome Sirius (a Black and therefore
part of "Nature's aristocracy) doesn't even deign to look at the girls
who eye him adoringly and thinks he's too good to help Remus with
Transfiguration. Peter basks in the reflected glory of the biggest
bully on the playground, slobberingly admiring him. Severus wants to
fight back and resorts to swearing and insults to mask his
humiliation. Teenage boys one and all. Luckily for the parents of
those who had them, they were at boarding school and (theoretically)
couldn't get in too much trouble. (Yeah, right.)

I disagree that the Pensieve memory is from Severus's perspective. JKR
has said that Pensieve memories are accurate records, so the memory
itself is objective. However, it, like almost everything in the books,
is told from Harry's perspective. "Snape was clearly unpopular," for
example, is Harry's interpretation. ("The students were clearly afraid
to stand up to James" is just as likely given his penchant for hexing
people in the hallways. Lily can do it because she knows he likes her.)

As for why James is the way he is, I agree that, unlike Harry, he
hasn't had the opportunity to learn humility. He's a much-loved only
child born to elderly parents ("a treasure", JKR says) and it's
extremely likely that he's been indulged given his parents' wealth and
their passing on an Invisibility Cloak to a school kid. We know, based
on all those detentions, not to mention the midnight excursions with a
werewolf, that he's a rule-breaker. (And the genuinely arrogant,
rule-breaking James is what the adult Snape sees when he looks at
Harry.) As for James's talent, where do we see it (besides his skill
as a Quidditch player)? In the Marauder's Map, a joint product with
his friends, in his hexes (at least one of them stolen from Severus
Snape), and in his ability as an Animagus. None of the other students
except MWP knows about the map or his Animagus form. All they know
about is his hexes and his skill as a Chaser. (His wand foreshadows
his skill at Transfiguration; Lily's foreshadows a skill we have not
yet seen in Charms.)

McGonagall, James's Head of House and Transfiguration teacher, gushes
about his abilities. Lupin, too, states that James and Sirius were the
best students in the school. However, Slughorn (who wouldn't have
minded "collecting" Sirius, a handsome pureblood from an ancient
family) says nothing about James's (or Sirius's) abilities in Potions.
Clearly, the geniuses in that class were Severus and Lily (assuming
that Slughorn isn't overestimating her abilities out of affection and
guilt). Neither James nor Sirius demonstrates the detailed knowledge
of DADA that the DADA-obsessed Severus does. I think that James's
friends have idealized him, glossing over his flaws and making him
seem better and more brilliant than he was, or perhaps extending his
obvious brilliance in Transfiguration (and prowess at hexing) to other
areas. There's no evidence from Flitwick, who also remembers him
fondly, that he excelled at Charms, for example. I imagine he did well
enough, considering that he and Sirius and Peter were devoting most of
their spare time to becoming Animagi and all four to making the
Marauder's Map, not to mention their midnight excursions, to spend
much time studying, but I don't think his "popularity" (mostly among
the Gryffindors, I'll bet) had much to do with being (supposedly) the
best student in the school. Nerdy little Severus had him beat there,
I'll bet, just as he had invented his own charms and hexes. (there's
no evidence that James had done the same.)

As for looks, it's Sirius who was handsome. James looked like Harry,
minus the striking green eyes (and scar) with glasses and hair that
wouldn't behave. Presumably, he was skinny and somewhat short, since
Harry estimates James's height as being within an inch of his own. For
all we know, he had knobbly knees as well.

So, James' arrogance seems to stem from doting, indulgent parents,
adulation as a Quidditch star, and his brilliance in Transfiguration,
not to mention a flair for breaking the rules and getting away with
it. (Despite all those detentions, no one ever caught them becoming
illegal Animagi or running with a werewolf, endangering anyone in the
streets of Hogsmeade or on the Hogwarts grounds.)

It's understandable that such a boy (rather like the similarly
talented Weasley Twins) would start to abuse his powers. And, sadly,
it's likely that the other kids, simultaneously admiring and fearing
him, would let him get away with it. And it's equally understandable
that DDM!Snape would do everything in his power to prevent James's
son, the only one who can save the WW from Voldemort, from turning
into a second James, puncturing his status as "our new celebrity" from
Day One.

Carol, who does not deny that James became a hero but is happy for the
WW's sake that he was not the Chosen One