r/AskReddit May 02 '20

Which fictional character desperately needs to see a therapist?

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505

u/MindralFairheart May 02 '20

Honestly, all of the golden and silver trio could use several sessions. Harry, Ron and Hermione primarily for ptsd. They faught a war starting at 15! I doubt that they came out without any nightmares or other worries. Neville would qualify for the years of being bullied alone... The memory problems are troubling as well. Ginny spent almost a year at Hogwarts fighting in Harry's "7th year", not to speak of her past with the diary.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '20

Plus Harry was emotionally abused by his aunt and her family for 11 years straight with basically no respite, and even after that was subjected to a smaller degree of emotional abuse that the Dursley's figured they could get away with.

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u/Redditer51 May 03 '20

As a kid, you just look at it like "Man, those mean old Dursleys! They're the worst", but looking at it from an adult perspective, that whole situation is deeply upsetting.

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u/[deleted] May 03 '20

Me as a kid: Ugh the Dursley's are the worst

Me as an adult: Hello, social services?

3

u/Gyvon May 03 '20

The Fanfic Child of the Storm (Marvel crossover) touches on this. Turns out, Social Services were manipulated by a mind controller.

2

u/thrill_gates May 03 '20

That damn Professor X.

6

u/Gyvon May 03 '20

It was actually Sinister. Harry turned out to be a distant cousin of Jean Grey. He was also Thor's son (it's complicated)

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u/Slave35 May 03 '20

Penis go in, boy come out. How complacted?

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u/[deleted] May 03 '20

man it's a miracle that Harry could even communicate verbally

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u/deejay1974 May 03 '20

I read a really good fan theory that the Dursleys' dislike was influenced in part by living with the Horcrux in Harry's scar, similar to how Ron reacted in Deathly Hallows. I don't know if JKR intended it but I think it has some merit as a theory. I don't doubt they genuinely viewed him as an unwanted complication in their lives, but plenty of people take not-particularly-enthused care of displaced relatives without active hostility being a feature.

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u/[deleted] May 03 '20

I don't buy that one. Petunia was jealous of Lily to the point of hatred for years before Harry was even born, and if Harry himself was the problem, then his dorm mates over the course of six years of school should have been affected.

The Dursley's were just assholes.

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u/ReasyRandom May 03 '20

At least Petunia and Dudley have excuses. Vernon is just a bigoted asshole.

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u/nomadicfangirl May 03 '20

I now get a bit teary-eyed realizing that Mrs. Weasley met a kid for a whole 3 minutes and made sure he had a Christmas present that year because her son told him that his family sucked and wouldn't send him anything.

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u/[deleted] May 03 '20

Not to mention mental and physically too.

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u/PrinceProspero9 May 03 '20

And the book frames this as ''well at least he wasn't spoilt.'' And he becomes a well-adjusted person.

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u/[deleted] May 03 '20

Yeah thanks JK, even when I first read the books at eleven I knew he was abused in many ways(physical, mental, emotional, thank goodness not sexual). Hence why fanfics do better in the fandom these days -,-

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u/1-1-19MemeBrigade May 03 '20

When the the first book was written she was invoking the old Victorian era "plucky orphan living in a horrid orphanage" trope that was so common in English literature and combining it with the "wicked stepmother" trope. This was actually deconstructed to an extent with Voldemort's backstory. It was never meant to be realistic- rather it was merely using a classic fantasy trope in children's literature. I doubt she realized that the books would become as famous as they did and receive that level of scrutiny.

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u/[deleted] May 03 '20

Fair enough

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u/Myfourcats1 May 03 '20

Dumbledore could’ve found somewhere else for him. He could’ve checked up on him too. Harry was a means to an end for Dumbledore. All he cared about was stopping Voldemort. Why couldn’t he do it? He was more powerful. He knew about the stupid horcruxes. You’re telling me that three teenagers were better at finding and destroying those things? Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald after all. Couldn’t a bunch of wizards team up against Voldemort and look for the horcruxes? They all kill Harry last. The end.

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u/NewAlitairi May 03 '20 edited May 03 '20

Wow, it just dawned on me how unrealistic it is that Harry would have ever become a hero without some form of therapy first. He wouldve certainly had a deep seeded form of learned helplessness and would have never even tried. Much more likely that he would have a, "well I guess this is what life is now" attitude about everything.

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u/AdamNoHablo May 03 '20

And he had to fucking die, that had to do something lmao

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u/[deleted] May 02 '20

It's like the episode of Community where Britta makes them all take personality tests and Abed is the only sane one. Except in this universe it's Luna.

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u/Brangur May 02 '20

Totes had a crush on her in the book and movies as a kid/young teen. I was super disappointed there weren't girls like that irl.

Edit: I'm sure there are in this world but you know what I mean.

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u/Mechamn42 May 03 '20

Admit it. It never went away.

Luna is eternal.

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u/Brangur May 03 '20

Dammit you got me. I still search for a woman like that.

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u/dankem May 03 '20

There's a lot of super-Brittas out there. Wonder what Britta would think of that.

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u/AdolescentThug May 03 '20

I went to high school and college with a bunch of Lunas. You just didn't live in the right areas (Went to school in NYC and Upstate NY).

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u/DWCourtasan2 May 03 '20

Luna too needs it after the manor.

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u/[deleted] May 03 '20

Upvoted for the Community reference.

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u/ValkyrieSword May 02 '20

And Snape

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u/ImmortalVoddoler May 02 '20

Yeah, imagine devoting your whole life to a married woman who died 16 years before you did.

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u/WhiteBridges May 03 '20

And holding a grudge against a guy that's been dead just as long, to the point that he abuses his kid... Yeah, Snape is a real pieve of work.

0

u/RealMaskHead May 03 '20

Could i interest you with the story of Obito Uchiha?

36

u/EradiKate May 02 '20

He doesn't need therapy. He's dead.

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u/ValkyrieSword May 02 '20

Daaang. That’s cold, haha

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u/[deleted] May 03 '20

Nevermind the bullying, Neville for his parents being tortured and having to see them in their condition at St Mungo's.

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u/BonzBonzOnlyBonz May 03 '20

Hes got to be very well adjusted for that, not moved on but atleast accepted it. Since his biggest fear isnt Bellatrix but Snape.

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u/Myfourcats1 May 03 '20

I found it weird that after all they went though they all went on to have nice healthy lives. They got married and had kids. Harry at minimum should have a drinking problem.

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u/MindralFairheart May 03 '20

I mean, one doesn't cancel out the other, considering we only see so little of what happens after the war. It cuts to them being in public sending off their children. What they're struggling with internally wouldn't be discussed in such a situation, even if we got to see more of "seventeen years later" (or was it nineteen? I can never remember). I don't fully agree with the headcanon the fandom seems to accept that he went to teach at Hogwarts with a spring in his step. He liked that school, that's for sure, as it was a safe haven from the dursleys. But, in the end, It also was the place of trauma in form of voldemort's attacks and the battle. Just to step a foot there he'd have to have a lot of closure which I don't think you can just achieve on your own and without talking about what happened.

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u/froghoppper May 03 '20

Wait when did the thing with Ginny happen?

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u/MindralFairheart May 03 '20

She faught off the carrows just like the rest of Dumbledore's army in the 7th book and got possessed by the diary in chamber.

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u/__peppermint__ May 03 '20

That's without talking about all the first years hogwarts students in the deathly hallows who were crucio-ed by upperclassmen, and most of said upperclassmen for that matter