How important is Hagrid?

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 186720

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "hagrid_hut" <hagrid_hut at ...> wrote:
>
> Hagrid81 (http://teawithhagrid.blogspot.com):
> 
> Hello everyone!  I've been reading on and off for a few weeks now and thought it be best to just start a new post rather than risk redundancy in another.
> 
> First let me tell you all that I am obsessed with the character Hagrid--not just because he's so loveable, but also because I find that he plays so many different roles in the series: protector, comic relief, tongue-slipper, etc.  He's a hard character to place because he serves so many functions in the story, but none to a degree that it makes the reader feel as if the story couldn't go on without him (like a Dumbledore does).
> 
> So my question is: Where would you all rank Hagrid in order of importance?
> 
> I hope this is not redundant either.
>

Hickengruendler:

Hello and welcome. :-)

I would rank Hagrid as a very important secondary character. Not as important as the Trio, Dumbledore or Voldemort and probably not as important as Snape, but right behind them, about on the same level with characters like Draco or Neville. But I do think, he gets somewhat less important, as the books progress, in spite of his symbolical act at the end of Deathly Hallows, when he carried the supposedy dead Harry. We get the most information about him from PS to GoF and that it gets a bit downwards.

Generally, I think Hagrid's main role is as a connection between the civilisation (symbolized by Hogwarts) and the wildness (symbolized by the Forbidden Forest). Both his ancestry (part human, part magical creature) and his home (a hut right between Hogwarts and the Forest) hint to that.