# Reasons why I hate Harry Potter **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416 "2016-06-03T19:51:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skinnybones\_Lampshade](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skinnybones_lampshade/32/2872_2.png) [@Skinnybones\_Lampshade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skinnybones_Lampshade)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/21 "2016-06-04T14:44:14Z")
When I first started reading Harry Potter, I was struck by its humour and charm: the plays-on-words, the quirky list of school supplies, the old-fashioned British-children’s-book atmosphere, the awful Dahlesque Dursleys, and the descriptions of Harry’s boarding school, teachers and classes. The “magic” element was an added twist - I’m not normally at all interested in science-fiction, the supernatural or the like, but as I was enjoying the book so much (and felt that the author had thus far demonstrated an unusually fine touch), I kept an open mind and thought it would be interesting to see where it led. I thought it might awaken in me an appreciation for a whole new genre. It’s always great to discover new avenues of interest, so on I read. At a certain point, though, I realized that, though I was reading dutifully on and on, I really wasn’t enjoying the books much any more. Too many very long (to me, anyway) chase scenes and too many convoluted plot twists and too few moments of humour or examples of daily school life. Too many ghouls and sinister events and not enough McGonagall. Still, I’m very glad that this series caused many, many children to begin to develop the habit of reading. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/22 "2016-06-04T20:14:18Z")
> [@Amir\_Gaul](#): > > Anyway, here’s the reasons why I hate and dislike Harry Potter:- > 1- Okay, this occured to me when I reached book 5 of the massive series. I noticed that each and every story ends up with Harry defeating Voldemort easily when he attempts to come back. As shown in the Chamber Of Secrets, Harry defeats Voldemort by stabbing Voldemort’s diary with with a basilisk fang. Harry easily killing the basilisk was tolerable. We all know that Voldemort was the most powerful and dangerous wizard of all time. Then how the heck can Harry defeat Voldemort without struggling or intense battling with Voldemort? This is a huge humiliation for the main antagonist of the series. This showed me that Voldemort is really weak against Harry. Voldemort was almost completely destroyed when Harry was just a boy. The whole point of the series is that he’s nearly helpless at first and then slowly regaining power, and at the same time the people opposing him, including Harry, are gaining knowledge and, in the case of the kids, power, to counter that. Sure, in the “real” world Voldemort could have outpaced everyone, gained full power quicker and enslaved the world, but that would have been a boring story. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/23 "2016-06-04T21:10:49Z")
> [@Skinnybones\_Lampshade](#): > > When I first started reading Harry Potter, I was struck by its humour and charm: the plays-on-words, the quirky list of school supplies, the old-fashioned British-children’s-book atmosphere, the awful Dahlesque Dursleys, and the descriptions of Harry’s boarding school, teachers and classes. > > The “magic” element was an added twist - I’m not normally at all interested in science-fiction, the supernatural or the like, but as I was enjoying the book so much (and felt that the author had thus far demonstrated an unusually fine touch), I kept an open mind and thought it would be interesting to see where it led. I thought it might awaken in me an appreciation for a whole new genre. It’s always great to discover new avenues of interest, so on I read. > > At a certain point, though, I realized that, though I was reading dutifully on and on, I really wasn’t enjoying the books much any more. Too many very long (to me, anyway) chase scenes and too many convoluted plot twists and too few moments of humour or examples of daily school life. Too many ghouls and sinister events and not enough McGonagall. > > Still, I’m very glad that this series caused many, many children to begin to develop the habit of reading. That rather echoes my thoughts; there was a lot to like about the books, but I wasn’t so captivated that I made it to the end. It absolutely nails the kid lit tropes; a downtrodden and abused child discovers an unknown world in which all his dreams can come true. The overall theme was nothing new but there was great charm in the execution, and Rowling was a bloody genius when it came to names. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/24 "2016-06-04T21:27:25Z")
It was a children’s series of books and later films to me until maybe around HPPOA or HPOOTP. Then I started at the beginning to catch up. Before I had read any of the books and just from seeing the movie posters, I remember thinking that I hoped they didn’t put Harry and the girl together because that means they’d have to do all the boy/girl school stuff - make ups, break ups, silent treatment, etc. At least with the romance between Hermione and Ron, Harry only had to go through that as a bystander, i.e. the best friend. Though he did go through the jealousy thing after Ginny showed interested in other guys, but that was when he first noticed she wasn’t a little girl anymore. As for Quiddich, Rowling wrote/said that she needed a wizardly sport for kid wizards/witches to play. And that by the time she got to later novels, she regretted it because she got disinterested in writing about it. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/25 "2016-06-04T22:34:25Z")
> [@Skinnybones\_Lampshade](#): > > At a certain point, though, I realized that, though I was reading dutifully on and on, I really wasn’t enjoying the books much any more. Too many very long (to me, anyway) chase scenes and too many convoluted plot twists and too few moments of humour or examples of daily school life. Too many ghouls and sinister events and not enough McGonagall. I personally felt that with the first three books each one was better than the last, but then the 4th book was _longer_ instead of _better_ and the last three books weren’t even as good as the 4th one. I’m not sorry I read them, but I think they would have been much improved by tighter plotting. Something that would have helped would have been introducing the concept of horcruxes and the legend of the Deathly Hallows (and particularly the Elder Wand) much earlier in the series. That would have allowed Rowling to avoid some of the infodumping in the last two books, and it probably would have made the last book fit in better with the earlier ones. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/26 "2016-06-05T03:49:31Z")
> [@Amir\_Gaul](#): > > Anyway, here’s the reasons why I hate and dislike Harry Potter:- > 1- Okay, this occured to me when I reached book 5 of the massive series. I noticed that each and every story ends up with Harry defeating Voldemort easily when he attempts to come back. As shown in the Chamber Of Secrets, Harry defeats Voldemort by stabbing Voldemort’s diary with with a basilisk fang. Harry easily killing the basilisk was tolerable. We all know that Voldemort was the most powerful and dangerous wizard of all time. Then how the heck can Harry defeat Voldemort without struggling or intense battling with Voldemort? This is a huge humiliation for the main antagonist of the series. This showed me that Voldemort is really weak against Harry. You’re absolutely right. And completely wrong. It’s a children’s book written for children by a novice writer. > [@Amir\_Gaul](#): > > 2- As I read the series, I noticed that there was almost no character development. And also the main Protagonist, Harry is not as skilled in spells as Hermione. When it comes to Hermione, she is the best at using spells. Spells are needed to defeat enemies and Hermione seems to be more powerful than Ron and Harry. Hermione is the one who saves Ron and Harry when they are in trouble. It’s almost like without Hermione, they would be doomed. Most of the time, Harry and Ron gets into huge trouble when Hermione is not there with them. the author seemed intent on weaving morality skits in to the books. All 3 of the kids save the others at some point in the book. > [@Amir\_Gaul](#): > > 3- Plot holes. The main one I am going to focus on is the time turner. Harry could have killed Voldemort just by using the time turner. Why wasn’t it there when Harry needed it the most? Things like this shouldn’t exist in the series. It damages the plot so much. And it wouldn’t have been fun even if Harry used the time turner to kill Voldemort. The time turner is a MAJOR plot fail. It could easily have been used to prove Sirius’s innocents as well as solve virtually every crime. But it’s entertaining in the book. > [@Amir\_Gaul](#): > > 4- Couples. Honestly, I thought that Harry and Hermione would be a couple, but instead, Ron and Hermione became a couple. I was like what the hell? Sometimes Ron treat Hermione very badly and yet she gets together with him. Also, Harry and Hermione seemed to have chemistry. And also they looked damn well together. But when Ginny and Harry became a couple, it was gross. They didn’t even have time to know each other that well. yah well, a chick wrote it. Got to throw some romance in there. Most of the relationships were train wrecks but isn’t that life? > [@Amir\_Gaul](#): > > 5- Useless things. Actually, I have spotted only one thing that proves itself to be useless in the plot. That thing is the game of Quidditch. While Quidditch is great game, it proves to be useless to the whole plot. Quidditch is a great, but useless game in Harry Potter. Quidditch is a very creative and thoroughly STUPID game. I mean the beaters alone are bizarre. 2 people deliberately trying to hurt other players? REALLY? > [@Amir\_Gaul](#): > > 6- This is the main reason why I hate Harry Potter. The ultimate evil is stopped by love. Just love. Nothing else. Sure, love is powerful, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it can defeat the ultimate evil. Voldemort is shown to be a villain who has never been loved by anyone and he is doomed. It’s almost like, if you are not loved or don’t have any friends, you are doomed. Voldemort was doomed at the very start. Voldemort’s defeat in the night that Harry’s parents died was because of the so called “love”. There wasn’t any kind of magic protecting Harry. In the end it was “love”. Bleh! Bleh! Bleh! Voldemort was defeated by “love” even at the end of the series. > These are the reasons WHY I HATE HARRY POTTER. I actually thought that was the most creative part of the book. Again, it’s a morality skit scattered over 7 books. I watched the movies and then read the books as an adult. The plot holes were so large as to make it tough reading. I was however very fascinated by the screenplays. Condensing a book and keeping it faithful for a movie is a talent that people don’t often appreciate. A lot of dialogue was swapped around to keep things flowing. I thought both writers did a great job on this with the exception of the series ending. The best bit of writing by Rowling was the final battle and the movie hacked that up. That could have been done verbatim. I give HP a thumps up not because it’s great literature but because it’s endearing and well suited for children. As written they grow as children grow so the series works over a wider age group. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/27 "2016-06-05T05:38:24Z")
> [@Amir\_Gaul](#): > > 5- Useless things. Actually, I have spotted only one thing that proves itself to be useless in the plot. That thing is the game of Quidditch. While Quidditch is great game, it proves to be useless to the whole plot. Quidditch is a great, but useless game in Harry Potter. > [@Magiver](#): > > Quidditch is a very creative and thoroughly STUPID game. I mean the beaters alone are bizarre. 2 people deliberately trying to hurt other players? REALLY? I have a theory – probably erroneous, but one which I’m fond of (I’ve aired it before in “Cafe Society”) – that J.K. Rowling dislikes sports and finds them boring; and is baffled by the obsessive enthusiasm displayed for them by many millions of people. I see her as, with Quidditch, satirising this whole thing by inventing a sport which is basically insane. It is wildly complicated in its rules, and the ways in which it functions (or fails to): essentially it doesn’t, and can’t, work. Nonetheless it has, in its milieu, huge numbers of super-devoted fans: who think about little else, and are fascinated by its most obscure minutiae, and will and do talk to death, anything Quidditch-related. My taking this view is no doubt influenced by me being one of that small minority of males, who are bored to tears by all sports. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/28 "2016-06-05T13:51:46Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > I have a theory – probably erroneous, but one which I’m fond of (I’ve aired it before in “Cafe Society”) – that J.K. Rowling dislikes sports and finds them boring; and is baffled by the obsessive enthusiasm displayed for them by many millions of people. I see her as, with Quidditch, satirising this whole thing by inventing a sport which is basically insane. It is wildly complicated in its rules, and the ways in which it functions (or fails to): essentially it doesn’t, and can’t, work. Nonetheless it has, in its milieu, huge numbers of super-devoted fans: who think about little else, and are fascinated by its most obscure minutiae, and will and do talk to death, anything Quidditch-related. My taking this view is no doubt influenced by me being one of that small minority of males, who are bored to tears by all sports. Not only is it a good theory you nailed it. I searched it on the internet: “[[Quidditch]](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10065868/JK-Rowling-invented-Quidditch-after-a-row-with-her-boyfriend.html) was invented in a small hotel in Manchester after a row with my then boyfriend,” she has written alongside the text. "I had been pondering the things that hold a society together, cause it to congregate and signify its particular character and knew I needed a sport. “It infuriates men…which is quite satisfying given my state of mind when I invented it.” ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/29 "2016-06-05T17:32:23Z")
As a child who grew up with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, I am in total agreement that whatever gets children to read and enjoy reading is worthwhile. Nancy and the Boys were hardly classic literature and were about as formulaic as it comes, but they were responsible for two generations of youngsters developing the reading habit. The HP books ‘grew’ with their young characters. The stories got more complex, as did the reading level, as the protagonists aged - along with the generation of readers who were captivated by them. I’ve never known another series that did this, so I have to give Ms. Rowling props for that, if nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/30 "2016-06-05T17:59:23Z")
I don’t know why everyone rails so against quidditch. Yes, it’s illogical… but it’s not actually any more illogical than plenty of real-world sports. Why are all the scores in quidditch multiples of ten? Well, why does tennis go love-15-30-40-game? At least in quidditch any given score is always worth the same number of points, and the numbers all already exist. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/31 "2016-06-05T18:23:57Z")
I suspect that there are a number of cases where the books in a series grow more complex as they go along. The example that I think of immediately is _The 24 Tales_ by Beatrix Potter. Yeah, it’s 24, not 23, as I wrote in an earlier post. An unpublished manuscript has been discovered and will be published this year. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/32 "2016-06-05T18:50:26Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I suspect that there are a number of cases where the books in a series grow more complex as they go along. The example that I think of immediately is _The 24 Tales_ by Beatrix Potter. Yeah, it’s 24, not 23, as I wrote in an earlier post. An unpublished manuscript has been discovered and will be published this year. Good to hear on both counts. It’s such a good idea and seems so logical with children’s series’ that I’m glad it has been thought of before. And nice to hear of a previously unknown BP work coming to light. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/33 "2016-06-05T18:51:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t know why everyone rails so against quidditch. Yes, it’s illogical… but it’s not actually any more illogical than plenty of real-world sports. Why are all the scores in quidditch multiples of ten? Well, why does tennis go love-15-30-40-game? At least in quidditch any given score is always worth the same number of points, and the numbers all already exist. The part that bothers me about Quidditch is the scoring regarding the Snitch. Supposedly, if you catch it, it’s worth 50 points, but in every match described, catching it always ended the game as a win for the catcher. What sense does that make? ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/34 "2016-06-05T18:55:43Z")
What gets me is just how could there be this world filled with tens of thousands of beings living in parallel to ours and we not know about it? Yes, Hogsworth and the other stuff is hidden behind magic so you cant see it so it must be some sort of interdimensional bubble. Well if thats so how come air and water can enter? Cant a satellite see Hogsworth? How do they fit 100,000 people into a stadium yet the Muggle world doesnt notice? But at the same time they can conjure up dragons and storms and all so wouldnt that effect the Muggle world? Ok, I have learned they have representatives with various governments and anyone who does learn something they can erase their memories. I doubt that would work out with all the different countries today not to mention the past like Nazi Germany. Also this society seems so backwards and old fashioned. Their level of technology and the way they dress is all 19th century. They dont have computers or even electricity. In “school” they dont learn ordinary topics like math or english. Food - they produce almost none of their own instead they somehow conjure up gold and trade with the Muggles. Wouldnt the worlds banking system after awhile notice a bunch of gold just showing up every now and then? And this Hogsworth school. It seems like everytime you open the wrong door one can get killed by some monster or fall into some never ending staircase or something. Why would they allow children into that? So to me the Harry Potter world is just too far out there. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/35 "2016-06-05T19:08:04Z")
HogWARTS, not HogSWORTH. The point though is that that makes it funnier and more amusing. Hiding from the non-magic world. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/36 "2016-06-05T19:41:09Z")
beowulff: > [@](#): > > Supposedly, if you catch it, it’s worth 50 points, but in every match described, catching it always ended the game as a win for the catcher. > > What sense does that make? It’s worth 150. And it doesn’t always result in a win for the catcher - in book 4, the team that caught the Snitch lost the World Cup final. It doesn’t make a ton of sense as a sport, but it gives out-of-proportion importance to Harry, who is, after all, the protagonist of the series. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/37 "2016-06-05T19:54:18Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > “[[Quidditch]](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10065868/JK-Rowling-invented-Quidditch-after-a-row-with-her-boyfriend.html) was invented in a small hotel in Manchester after a row with my then boyfriend,” she has written alongside the text. "I had been pondering the things that hold a society together, cause it to congregate and signify its particular character and knew I needed a sport. > > “It infuriates men…which is quite satisfying given my state of mind when I invented it.” The off-at-a-tangent moral to this story might be drawn, that staying in small hotels in Manchester can be hazardous to your relationship… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/38 "2016-06-05T20:26:49Z")
Yeah, catching the Snitch only wins the game for your team if you’re not already 150 points (or more) in the hole. When one team has a Seeker who’s significantly more skilled than all of the other players in the game, this is likely to happen. But in a pro-level game, play can go on for literally days, in which case the score difference could be almost anything at the time the Snitch is caught. ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/39 "2016-06-05T23:51:53Z")
I think Quidditch gets a little more hate for absurd rules than it deserves. The Snitch/Seeker stuff is absurd, but that’s just a narrative device to allow one character to plausibly be the hero of every single game. Take the snitch out (ending the game after a set time, then, like normal sports), and it’s pretty much soccer/football on broomsticks. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416/40 "2016-06-06T00:32:59Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > … > > So to me the Harry Potter world is just too far out there. Yeah, like that Platform 9-3/4 hogswash! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reasons-why-i-hate-harry-potter/756416.md?page=3)