Most tragic characther

irishharpie · 03-07-2008 1:14pm #1

Hi, so I was just thinking about the books and I believe that a lot of the character's actually have a very tragic side that help's explain why they are the way they are.

For me the most tragic are Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy.

Snape simply has such a tragic story, the first friend he ever had was pulled away from him first by the divisions in the school and then by the man who made his life hell during school, but not only was she his first friend but the woman he ended up falling in love with. No wonder he turned bitter, and his dislike for Harry is understandable, after all if thing's had of been different it would have been he and Lily who had a child, who had been happy and to have something there all the time that reminds you of the life you once could have had must be heart breaking.

Draco is simpler, he was raised in a family that was proud of it's heritage. It's the old rule of supremacy and that was the way he was raised to believe. It must be terrible to have such an ideal placed on you for fear of ailing your parent's, of letting them down and of letting your heritage down. Never being able to break out of that shadow and heave to commit act's that you are obviously not comfortable with simply because it is what is expected of you.

Faith · 03-07-2008 3:27pm

Good thread! I'll have to have a think about it, but I agree with you on Severus Snape.

Ruu_Old · 03-07-2008 3:34pm

Good post OP, and good points too. Poor old Remus got the short end of the stick too, bitten as a child that impacted his life and his ability to do things he enjoyed. Also Sirius had a great deal to battle through coming from a pure blood family who he rejected and while the rest of his family were placed in Slytherin, he was a Gryffindor.

irishharpie · 03-07-2008 3:43pm

Remus definitely is, to live a life constantly afraid that people would reject you if they knew the truth. To be excluded through no fault of your own and then when you finally make friends to constantly have to lie to them, for fear of losing what connections you have managed to create.

Sirius is quite a character but it never struck me that his family life might be tragic. I mean it was his choice to walk away from them and yes it must have been hard but he followed his own path in life. No for me the tragedy in Sirius's life was being sent to Azkaban. To be committed for a crime you did not commit and to live the rest of your life as a wanted criminal. To have freedom dangled in your face like that and suddenly to realize it will never be your's.

Faith · 03-07-2008 3:49pm

I mean, obviously Harry is a pretty damn tragic character. His parents die when he's a baby, he's raised by a cold and cruel family, every parent figure he gets dies before he hits adulthood, and an evil wizard is constantly trying to kill him. Not to mention, he's often ostracized in school and blamed for things he didn't do (opening the chamber of secrets, for example).

irishharpie · 03-07-2008 4:02pm

Not to mention when he begins to pull himself back from all those around us, slowly slipping away from Hermione and Ron, and breaking up with Ginny for her protection.
He really is a character with mental problem's. I wonder what his psych bill would be like after the war....
For me though it's the less obvious character's that seem to have suffered the worst also, I mean simply because they are the bad guy's or the one's we really meet we never really think about their past.

Take Luna for instance. I admire her so much. She is such a different character to what you would usually meet. Her mother died when she was young and because of her constant reference to the quibbler those who she refers to as friends constantly bully her, and yet somehow she mange's not to let it get to her that she is an outsider.

eVeNtInE · 09-07-2008 3:40am

This post has been deleted.

KnifeWRENCH · 12-07-2008 7:01pm

There are an awful lot of tragic characters - Snape, Lupin, Harry and Dumbledore have all been mentioned already.

Another one I'd mention would be Neville - his parents were tortured and couldn't even recognise him.
He was raised by a grandmother who constantly made him feel stupid and inadequate (though perhaps she may not have realised this)
He was constantly mocked in Hogwarts because he wasn't the smartest.
He endured endless bullying and intimidation from Snape and even McGonagall at times.

I suppose he may not be considered "tragic" though because he did have a happy ending.

irishharpie · 17-07-2008 3:59pm

No I would consider Neville to have a tragic past up until their fourth year. I mean we must remember that up until then he is simply shown to us as well let's face it an idiot. His own house mate's look on him with pity and I don't really see any mention of him making close bond's with anyone in the house the way the other's seem to.

I think all that gave him the drive to keep on trying in the D.A. till he finally became one of the best in the class.

I'm glad though that some of the character's got to have happy endings.

spottedfrog · 12-08-2008 7:47pm

Hmm, it's hard to say; everyone's life kind of sucked in the series that was a main character. I felt worst for Snape, personally. Mostly because of how he was arbitrarily isolated since boyhood and it made him hate himself. That sucks. It made me hate Potter's dad. Snape just wanted friends. It's really gay that Lily didn't pick him instead. I secretly hoped the whole time that Snape was Harry's real dad. Lol, oh well.

irishharpie · 15-08-2008 12:46pm

Well Snape did make it kind of hard for Lily to be friends with him when they got to Hogwarts...the impression I got was he wasn't willing to acknowledge her in front of his house mate's because she was muggle born.
Maybe all the tragedy is what makes it such a good story. I mean we have all these Character's who have been through hell and back and let's face it, most of them manage to make it through to the other side a better and stronger person. It's the classic tale of hope.

Acacia · 30-09-2008 10:51pm

Not a main character, but I've always had a soft spot for Nearly Headless Nick. Especially how he wasn't allowed into the Headless Hunt. :pac: One of my favorite scenes in the series is when he talking to Harry ( after Sirius' death) about what happens when a wizard dies. He seems remorseful that he chose the 'life' of a ghost, as he says it is a 'bitter imitation of life'... brilliant scene, very well-written.

Sirius is quite a tragic character also, being the 'black sheep' of his family, wrongly accused of murder and a tragic death. Aside from this, he seems to be living in the past a lot of time, always talking about James and the fun they had. It's as though he tries to live the past through Harry and his friends, and that is quite sad.

Block (8 · 05-10-2008 3:51am

To me severus is the most tragic of the characters.

Even up until the very end of the book no one knew he was working for Dumbledore (though I kinda guessed he was)

Also when Harry was going through snape's memories we see how shocked he was of Dumbledore in using Harry to kill Voldemort was quite surprising.
Coupled with the fact that severus started working with Dumbledore because Lily was killed by Voldemort makes you really feel for the character kind of acting out of love or revenge of ones lost love.

It was a really nice touch when Harry named one of his sons after the two headmaster.

And yes it's almost 4am and I've just finished the last book and wanted to see what you guys thought of the book

Handsome Bob · 05-08-2009 9:45pm

Personally for me it would be Sirius. He spent twelve years in a horrible place for a crime he didn't commit. Also during this time he had to carry the burden of being seen as the one who sold out his best friends. He escapes and is free of Azkaban for two years but he isn't ever truly free as he is still on the run. He never got his life back and perhaps dies with the knowledge that some of his friends see him as a liability. That is just heartbreaking to me.

Snape is a close second, but the reason I chose Sirius over him is because Snape always had a purpose, and in the end his role was one of the most important in defeating Voldemort. His life had meaning, other than neing there for Harry Sirius didn't.

Yddil · 06-08-2009 10:36pm

There also the under used Hagrid.... He's probably not as tragic in the classical ways as described, but he also suffered the same sort of thing, had a mother who never loved him, a dad who died young, got kicked out of school for something he didn't do, so never received a full education, and pretty much had to hide his magic in an umbrella! Then he finally makes "friends" with a bunch of kids and falls in love with a woman who denies their heritage...

His brother in only his brother because of hagrid's persistence!!!

Jeeze, when ye read a thread like this, it makes you think they're depressing books!!

I bet theres some amount of tragedy for every character thou... thats what makes them great!!!

Lothaar · 05-10-2009 2:37pm

That's not tragedy! It's only tragic if all that hardship was for no good reason. All of these characters endured terrible times, but they won in the end. Even Snape - the sacrifices he made throughout his life all ended well, as Voldemort was defeated. In most cases, the hardship that the characters endured gave them a strength or resolve, or some other trait, that helped with Voldemort's eventual defeat.

Think about Romeo and Juliet. That's a tragedy because, just when everything's going great and it looks like the two lovebirds will be sorted forever, they both kill themselves for no good reason.

The most tragic character in HP is Voldemort. After a terrible life, he is ultimately defeated in what appeared to be his moment of triumph.

Wilde · 20-10-2009 10:31pm

Sirius Black. He overcame his inherent pureblood prejudices, escaped from the family and house who he despised and who subsequently despised him, for his friends. Any happiness he had was fleeting, lost his best friend, his godson, his surrogate family, thrown into the worst place the wizarding world has to offer, was abandoned by his friends and allies for 12 years.
Through grit and determination he escapes, considered a murderer, he could find no solace or companionship. His godson and best friend hated him. Saved Harry from the danger Pettigrew could pose. His happiness at his innocence and reunions with a select few was splintered by his return to the house he once fled.
He was left there to rot by Dumbledore and the Order, impotent and disconcerting to Molly Weasly and presumably others, subjected to taunts from Snape. Finally he is able to do something, he manages to rescue Harry and be useful and to feel alive when he is killed. The way he is killed is in itself tragic. Had he been hit with Bellatrix' stunner whilst standing in any other location or direction, he would have lived.

Oh and he was posthumously declared innocent, so if he had lived, he would have had his life returned to him.