I can't say I'm a huge Potter fan, though I like the franchise well enough. With that caveat...though I've got some issues with Rowling's writing, I've actually always liked the idea that her characters make mistakes. And there's a lot of 'em. Voldemort, Dumbledore, Harry, everyone makes questionable decisions and screws up. Sometimes pretty badly.
Dumbledore, for instance, is often characterised as a master manipulator and a bumbling fool by fans. I suspect he's meant to be both. It's more interesting that way, don'tchaknow? On the same token, Voldemort can be both an extremely sinister grand villain, yet at the same time very stupid.
With that in mind, who is the hero? ClassicDrogn makes a good point that our views of Harry are inextricably influenced by the fact he is the viewpoint character, and there's always a certain amount of bias invoked in the reader. After all, you're literally seeing things from his point of view. Mind, I don't actually think Rowling is the sort of author to deliberately make use of that - she's no Kazuo Ishiguro, where the reality of things is deliberately quite different from what the perspective character thinks and feels - but it's a fun discussion.
Addendum:- Regarding Hermoine as having hero characteristics - I've often considered the idea of a HP fanfic where a Slytherin Harry, influenced or overcome by Voldie's soul fragment, is the villain...with Hermoine and her friends spending their years in Hogwarts trying to thwart his nefarious plots...
-- Acyl
Dumbledore, for instance, is often characterised as a master manipulator and a bumbling fool by fans. I suspect he's meant to be both. It's more interesting that way, don'tchaknow? On the same token, Voldemort can be both an extremely sinister grand villain, yet at the same time very stupid.
With that in mind, who is the hero? ClassicDrogn makes a good point that our views of Harry are inextricably influenced by the fact he is the viewpoint character, and there's always a certain amount of bias invoked in the reader. After all, you're literally seeing things from his point of view. Mind, I don't actually think Rowling is the sort of author to deliberately make use of that - she's no Kazuo Ishiguro, where the reality of things is deliberately quite different from what the perspective character thinks and feels - but it's a fun discussion.
Addendum:- Regarding Hermoine as having hero characteristics - I've often considered the idea of a HP fanfic where a Slytherin Harry, influenced or overcome by Voldie's soul fragment, is the villain...with Hermoine and her friends spending their years in Hogwarts trying to thwart his nefarious plots...
-- Acyl