A James Rant - Who was This Guy?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 181326

Mike:
  The coup de gras is seeing how feeble of 
> an attempt James actually made against Voldemort.
> 
> OK, I can understand bringing James back down to earth for Harry. 
> He's got to learn that his dad was only human. But JKR really buried 
> James. We hardly learn of anything good the boy/man did, almost
every  backstory bit shows him in a bad light. 

<snip>
> 
> If you take out Hagrids praise, you would be more likely to think
the  kid got expelled from Hogwarts than him becoming Head Boy.
Dumbledore  gave him that post, yet about the only thing I remember
Dumbledore  saying about James character was that he mostly used the
invisibility  cloak to sneak food from the kitchens. Criminy, why did
he appoint  him Head Boy, then?

Pippin:Sometimes giving a bully legitimate responsibilities has a
positive effect. It seems to have done so in this case. The bullying
stopped. And whatever else you could say about him, James wasn't
tempted to join the student DE's, would have the courage to confront
them if they tried anything, and was powerful enough to defend himself
 from dark magic. 

Dumbledore also says that James would have spared Pettigrew. He
must have been a forgiving person. There's also his kindness to
Lupin and Hagrid, and his love for Lily. He was able to overcome many
of the prejudices of his class, though obviously not all of them.

I think JKR wants us to view James's death in the light  of
Dumbledore's. Yes, he foolishly underestimated the danger, but when he
realized that, James thought first of Lily and Harry's peril, not of 
his own. IMO, in JKR's scheme of things that's better evidence of
James's worth than putting up a glorious fight. As Yoda put it, "Wars
not make one great."

Mike:
I  thought people were being fuddy-duddies for decrying the Marauders 
> fun with a werewolf nighttime prowling. I thought that qualified as 
> good wizarding fun, teenage ingenuity in the hijinks department. But 
> without something decent on the other side of the ledger to balance 
> the less sensible side, JKR has ruined my enjoyment of the Marauders 
> backstory. Something I didn't think possible. ;(

Pippin:


It is the pattern of a child hero story that the absent father
is eventually surpassed by the son. Arthur becomes a much greater king
than Uther Pendragon. 

I think  JKR followed this pattern because it  shows  that it isn't
only demonizing people that robs them of their humanity. Putting them
on a pedestal is just as bad. A person who is only supposed to make
choices you admire is  as much a slave to your needs as any house-elf. 

Pippin