Harry Potter

Dumbledore doesn't call him an idiot, rather he says that Snape sees Harry as how he wants to see him instead of what the teachers see Harry as, with Dumbledore adding that he finds Harry engaging.

And then tells Snape to keep an eye on Quirrell.

I figured it was part of the Everyman thing with Harry, that he doesn't have any exceptional intelligence or magical powers to beat Voldemort with, so that makes his journey more powerful and relatable.

Harry is quite talented and intelligent, but in a broader way.

While young Dumbledore, Tom Riddle and, to a lesser extent, Hermione care about being the best student and besting everyone else, Harry is not motivated by this competitive spirit (at least when it comes to grades); he instead makes friends, plays Quidditch and has adventures, while at the same time have very good grades and learning to use spells and techniques few wizards in his age can.

There is a reason it is Harry and not Hermione who is teaching the DA, or that Emilia Bones was impressed by him being able to perform the Patronus  spell.

..............................

If Harry wanted to, he could be the top student in class; he has the intelligence and talent, but he prefers to apply his time to live a fulfilling social life, while still having high grades.

Yes, I was paraphrasing and being a little tongue in cheek there. Dumbledore doesn't call him in an idiot in so many words but points out he's seeing what he expect to see.

The relevant section from The Prince's Tale. (First UK hardback edition.)

From the reference to Quirrell and Dumbledore having personal experience of Harry, it places it after Christmas and before the end of Philosopher's Stone.

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eta: That's a really odd way to phrase 'Harry does badly at a class because the teacher hates his guts and works his way up to constantly sabotaging Harry'.

Harry's actually happier in the exam because he doesn't have Snape breathing down his neck putting him off.

Of course the classes are not the primary focus of most scenes, so we don't hear about most of them. Just the ones were something plot relevant happens.

Edited by dcutter2 on Apr 23rd 2024 at 11:59:46 AM

Surprising that Harry did as well in the Potions OWL as he did, given that he seems to just completely check out in Snape's classes, really.

I meant it more like "why bother when the teacher is an immature jackass who seems to think he is too good to explain anything and makes the lessons a pain in the ass?", honestly. Snape does seem like the kind of guy who robs many kids of all motivation to learn potions.

Edited by Blueace on Apr 23rd 2024 at 7:33:49 AM

I think that's also why a fair number of people think Harry should have gone into teaching instead of becoming an auror - while he's not much into theory, he's actually pretty good at the practical stuff.

And it's not like he'd be the worst DADA teacher Hogwarts ever had either.

Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Apr 24th 2024 at 7:29:54 PM

Was that whole 'Voldemort put a curse on all of the DADA teachers' confirmed in the novels or Word of God, or is it just a theory? Regardless, it explains a lot.

Dumbledore basically admitted that since that interview with Riddle, he hasn't managed to keep a DADA teacher. Everyone else seems to think it's cursed, but it's just very implied than confirmed.

No, the curse is an explicit plot point. I mean, we never see Tom cast it, but it is very strongly implied, since we see him apply for the job and be rejected.

I mean Harry seems to be good at practical but part of teaching is still about theories. Also I think DA is a bad reflection to it since he still is a fellow student despite being a "teacher". Teacher-to-student interaction is a bit different.

I never really understood the either/or aspect of that argument. DADA teaching seems like a perfectly good second career for Harry after he doesn't feel like mixing it up in the field anymore. Especially since Wizards Live Longer; he could retire from the Aurors in his sixties and still spend a good fifty years or more at Hogwarts.

Edited by HeraldAlberich on Apr 24th 2024 at 12:34:15 PM

Pulling a page in Dragon Ball, wouldn't it be hilarious if half-Muggles ended up being superior to pureborns.

That's kind of already the case. Though it's not because half-bloods are superior, but rather that in at least one case it alleviated some of the problems with the rampant inbreeding. Tom was still messed up, but he was comparatively more high functioning than his mother's side of the family.

That's the real issue the pureblood mages face. The family tree is increasingly becoming more of a family shrub.

Edited by M84 on Apr 25th 2024 at 2:43:58 AM

Plus a healthy dose of common sense from the Muggle part of the family tree.

I assume you crossed that out since that's definitely not the case for Tom. He didn't even know his Muggle father's side of the family before murdering them all.

We also don't know how much common sense the Riddles had. Probably not much since what little we know of them suggests they were rich snobs who looked down on others.

In the case of Harry Potter, him having a Muggle-born mother might have been good for the family tree too. It's noted that one of the reasons James Potter became a bullying jerk was because he was spoiled rotten by his own parents. And they did so because he was an only child they had quite late in life. That suggests the Potter family might have been facing fertility issues. As we see in the epilogue, Harry and Ginny don't have that problem.

Edited by M84 on Apr 26th 2024 at 3:17:30 AM

Mostly cause of Tom yeah. Plus most muggle borns and half-bloods we see (god its weird to use all these terms.) are all pretty Wizard world adapted. Only Harry really gets the fish out of water feel.

Not that Harry's Muggle upbringing was particularly normal. Unless being forced to live in a broom closet by abusive guardians is normal.

Harry’s a decent but not great student. An E on an exam seems roughly equivalent to a B in our world (with an Outstanding being an A, and Acceptable being a C).

It helps emphasize that Harry defeating Tom isn't because Harry's some uber powerful and talented magic user. He's just a more or less ordinary person (as ordinary as magic users get anyway) who has a working moral compass and basic empathy, traits Tom lacked.

Yes, that's what I said before.

I mean, he does have another special quality that Tom lacked. He wasn't afraid to die if that's what it took to stop Tom. Hence the whole "Master of Death" thing, which in-universe was just a fancy way of saying Harry doesn't fear death.

Edited by M84 on Apr 25th 2024 at 8:22:04 PM

Well not that he doesn't fear death. He just isn't afraid to die and accepts its course. *points at my avatar*

I wonder if the Weasleys being into "muggle items" makes them less... bloodline manic?

Also didn't realize they still release supplementary books for HP. Just saw a long "Wands of Wizarding World" but apparently it's an "expanded edition" to include Fantastic Beasts.

Edited by Ookamikun on Apr 28th 2024 at 4:01:10 PM

The way they look at muggles is still prejudiced in my eyes, it's just more of the Deliberate Values Dissonance patronizing prejudice than the hateful kind

That's partly it, but it's also just there for comedy. This is where the lighthearted sillyness of the early books can clash a bit with the more serious themes of latter ones.

I think, as far as the series is concerned, we should view the Weasleys as essentially well-meaning, if a bit clueless, and not think too much of the inherent prejudices there.

While there's still some prejudice and lack of understanding, the Weasleys indeed aren't as keen on sticking with pure-blood marriages. Note how Ron married a Muggle-born, Ginny married a half-blood, and Bill married someone with Veela ancestry.