[HPforGrownups] Wizarding Top Ten

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 187926

potioncat wrote:
> Name the 10 most noteworthy good guys and the 10 most despicable bad guys from the Harry Potter series. It's not necessary to rank the 10 (unless you particularly want to), just decide who belongs in those 2 top ten lists.
>   

   Well, given my previous post on heroism, I will name several good 
guys who won their own internal battles:

    1) Snape, of course, who could have been at Morty's right hand, but 
chose to switch sides. Of course, one might assume that Morty would have 
killed Snape eventually (much as, for example, Iraq's Saddam Hussein had 
a nasty habit of killing his best generals, because they might 
eventually pose a threat to him).

    2) Sluggy. He didn't want to get involved, he didn't have to get 
involved, but he did anyway.

    3) Wolfie. He had to embrace what he hated the most about himself, 
yet resist it at the same time, to serve a community that hated him. No 
wonder he was so depressed.

    4) Neville. His flaw was lack of confidence. To go from that to the 
leader of the student resistance took some doing.

    Now, for despicable. I'll go for those who knew the right thing to 
do, but did the wrong thing anyway, until the end. I'm not going to 
include those who acted, or appeared to act, out of mental illness, so 
that lets out Morty and a few others.

    1) Ratty. He betrayed those who befriended him, who helped him, who 
even loved him, because he thought the other side had a better chance of 
winning.

    2) Filch. Instead of trying to fight his bitterness, he reveled in 
it; instead of making himself better, he tried to equalize things by 
making others worse.

    3) Pinky. In her world, her own ends justified any means that she 
used. She blinded herself to the evil that she served, as long as she 
had her little petty fiefdoms.

    4) Smiley: He stole the accomplishments of others, he effectively 
destroyed part of their souls, all to satisfy his own ego. He almost 
didn't make this list because his behavior borders on mental illness.

    Bart