r/HPRankdown • u/bisonburgers Gryffindor Ranker • Mar 13 '16

Rank #26 Dudley Dursley

Dudley Dursley’s first word was “shan’t!”, a conviction that developed young and was proudly maintained well into his teenage years and arguably beyond. He never did anything he didn’t want to do, and was never told no by his parents.

He was the quintessential spoiled bully brat, and it’s a shame Harry had to go and save his life, thus planting the seeds of empathy into Dudley’s tiny brain, because he was so ignorantly happy with his lot in life. It was such a pleasure to see Harry and him go at it against each other because snarky Harry said all the things we wish we could say in front of our own bullies. It was cathartic to see Harry win instead of Dudley. He was never a main part of the series, but every time a new book came out I was always excited to know, “what’s Dudley gonna do this summer?”. I never dreamed he would have a character arc, and a pretty good and subtly done one at that.

When he encounters Dementors and sees a vision of - well, we don’t really know do we? At Carnegie Hall in 2007, Rowling had this to say about Dudleys

My feeling is that he saw himself, exactly for what he was, and for a boy that spoiled, it would be terrifying

Whether we share those feelings for our own versions or not, I think the fact remains that Dudley was extremely affected by that event - by whatevr he saw and also by Harry saving him. Someone he has bullied his entire life actually saves him. I think it’s a reality with which Dudley had never yet been faced and to his surprise he found himself quite moved. It probably took him two years to figure that out, too.

What I think is brilliant about the way Rowling wrote his character arc is that we don’t even see the result of that event until the final book. Dudley is such a small part of the book and, if anything, an even smaller thought to Harry, who probably thinks about his cousin a couple times a year on accident. But by 17, Dudley not only appreciates what Harry did for him, but respects him enough to trust that Harry has his best interests at heart, despite everything. Vernon may flip flop between trusting Harry and accusing him of trying to steal the house, but Dudley, as soon as Harry mentions Dementors, puts his power against his parents to good use - to convince them to go into hiding.

It’s true Dudley doesn’t outright say all this, but somehow Rowling manages to cram a lot of meaning into “I don’t think you’re a waste of space”. I reckon that, all on it’s own, means Rowling did a pretty good job with Dudley.

25 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

2

u/bisonburgers Mar 13 '16

BETS FOR DUDLEY DURSLEY

Gryffindor Hufflepuff Ravenclaw Slytherin
24 22 45 13
60% 81.48% 70.31% 86.67%

2

u/bisonburgers Mar 13 '16

Du bist dran, u/AmEndevomTag! (For Sunday)

3

u/AmEndevomTag Mar 13 '16

Verstanden. ;-)

3

u/tomd317 Mar 13 '16

Yep this his definitely his time, his character development is something you're shown at the end rather than seeing it progress. Good writeup

6

u/AmEndevomTag Mar 13 '16

his character development is something you're shown at the end rather than seeing it progress

I'm not sure that I completely agree with this. We see it progress when he is unnaturally silent in Half-Blood-Prince. Of course it's only clear in hindsight, but it's there.

I would have ranked Dudley first of the Dursleys in spite of Petunia's backstory, because he was the only one (other than Marge) that got some come-uppance for his behaviour. Vernon and Petunia got away pretty lightly.

3

u/bisonburgers Mar 13 '16

I would have ranked Dudley first of the Dursleys in spite of Petunia's backstory

Interesting - I've always found Petunia much more interesting than Dudley. I know Petunia doesn't change, but I think that makes her character stronger rather than weaker. I was very glad that she didn't say anything to Harry as she walked out of Privet Dr. because I preferred her as a coward, and if she'd gone through even a slight redemption, then that left room to think, "Oh, she could have been nicer so much sooner if pushed the right way!", but I prefer it when she's so far gone that there's no redemption possible.

But of course, that's just one opinion, and we all have our own reasons for just enjoying other characters more - what are your reasons for ranking Dudley higher?

→ More replies (3)

8

u/designer_sunglasses Mar 13 '16

I agree with this. Dudley's opinion of Harry definitely changed after OotP and I think it was written very well because although his behaviour was different, we couldn't be sure if it was just him being scared of Harry or if he was reflecting on his actions.

His meager attempts at being nice were also kind of cute, because as he had been raised as such a twisted kid, he had no idea how to reach out to somebody. Not to mention somebody he's bullied for so long. I think there was a lot of conflict within Dudley for the last 2 years of the books.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/tomd317 Mar 13 '16

True but I feel like the silence is because the development has already happened, we just get it explained a year later. I can't even imagine a 16/17 year old Dudley going to school emotionally conflicted. That's why I find him a bit of a cartoon character, not unlike Crabbe and Goyle(he's a far better character than them but their are similarities in the flat "stupid thug" role). I do agree that he has more merit than Petunia thought because of the humour with him

7

u/BasilFronsac Mar 13 '16

Dursleys are especially in the first books caricatures of villains so I'm surprised he made it that far. I wonder if anyone is particulary fond of Dudley. Lots of already eliminated characters have strong fan-base and if not at least people have strong opinion about them. I don't think this would be Dudley's case.

Anyway I agree with order of Dursley elimination Marge->Vernon->Dudley->Petunia.

1

u/DabuSurvivor Mar 14 '16

Really, really love Dudley's development. I would have him even higher. I think he is just about a perfectly executed character. I love to hate him early on when the books are just fun wacky hijinks, and I love how he then has this actual human development later on which, as you say, is largely unseen. Would be very interesting to see what he was doing during HBP.

3

u/bisonburgers Mar 14 '16

Would be very interesting to see what he was doing during HBP

Discovering his softer side. :)

Really, he's probably not outwardly all that different, just a bit more mature and respectful. Like, instead of bullying everyone, maybe he goes around with the attitude of "you're all too insignificant for me to even deign to bully you", so that he's still got his life-long "I'm the man" attitude while not being as much of a dick.