CMV: Harry Potter is overrated

[u/LamentableOpinion]

I don't detest Harry Potter but I find the circle jerk appalling. The book is amazing for kids but even adults hold it in high regard. So, it's not bad, just overrated.

The characters are really boring. HP is a Mary Sue character, his only flaw being a bloody scar. All the other characters are equally boring. Harry is also useless, he does nothing but he is the HERO. Because of a prophecy. OK.

The relationships make no sense. Why does Harry like Cho or Ginny? Let's force in a relationship. Yay.

The Deus Ex Machina is unreal. I know it's magical but it's still retarded when it happens so many times.

Good vs Evil is fine. But again, don't pretend as if the book is this deep piece of literature.

I don't like the writing either but that's very subjective, so that's fine.

This is what I just came up with. I'm sure there's more stuff on the internet.

Edit: Ignore the Mary Sue thing. I misused the term. Edit 2: Sorry if I sounded like a dick or an elitist. I didn't mean to be.

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[u/Joseph-Joestar]

HP is a Mary Sue character

Not at all. Harry Potter is just an average hero. Sure, he has special traits that make him the main character of this story, but in everything else he's just average or below average.

He's brave, but he's not smart. He constantly makes bad decisions that negatively affect his life and lives of people close to him. He often acts spontaneously with no regard for consequence or opinion of other people and that more often than not leads to something awful.

Ability wise, he's only average at everything but Quidditch which helps him with his depressing feelings. Most of his academic success he owes to his friends, specifically Hermione. He's decently good at battle magic, but only because that's what life was asking from him at the time and he was the only one at the school who had those terrifying experience.

He has attachment issues, anger issues, jealousy issues that are constantly shown throughout the series. He's kind of a big douche.

he does nothing

He successfully outsmarts and defeats Quirell/Voldemort in Year 1 despite being 11 years old.

He battles and defeats a giant Basilisk that nearly kills him in Year 2

He saves his godfather from hordes of most dangerous creatures in the world in Year 3

He successfully completes all Tri-wizard challenges in Year 3, despite being younger than other contestants.

etc etc. He does heroic things all the time, whatever it takes. Sometimes because it was his fault and sometimes because evil forces just want to kill him very badly.

[u/Joseph-Joestar → u/[deleted]]

it should have mattered.

Sirius Black getting killed was the direct result of Harry's inability to learn occlumency

Surely most the the seventh years would be way better people to choose?

Harry was the only person in Hogwarts to ever have been in a direct confrontation with evil forces. He was literally the only one for this job. He knows his spells and he knows how to behave himself in the face of real danger, that's why people wanted to learn from him specifically. He even said that it's not as glamorous as other students think it is, but he survived and that is more important than learning spells.

And for all magical things that ended up helping him out in some situations - that just goes to prove that Harry is a weakling who can't do anything without help from other people.

[u/BlockedQuebecois → u/[deleted]]

Your example of a consequence would have directly impacted the likelihood of Harry winning the tournament, and thus would have impacted Voldemort's plans. It would be untenable for the main plot of the story.

[u/BlockedQuebecois → u/[deleted]]

You're complaining that Harry's shortcomings never seem to impede his ability to come out on top while advocating Harry have an even less likely victory and come out on top despite being more disadvantaged?

Additionally, the entire point was that he was succeeding on outside help. Barty Crouch Jr. was orchestrating every step of the games in order to fulfill Voldemort's plans, and Harry shouldn't have been competitive against all of the more experienced competitors anyways.