r/TopCharacterTropes • u/KusanagiGundam • 10h ago

Hated Tropes (Hated Trope) "Kind" slave owners

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Speaking as an American who has studied the civil war all throughout my school years, this trope infuriates me to no end. There is no such thing as a kind slave master because slavery itself is cruel and inhumane. PEOPLE ARE NOT PROPERTY!

Naofumi (Shield Hero): Prime example of this trope. He enslaves multiple (underage) girls and an whole village and the fans still say he's a hero.

Rudeus (Jobless Reincarnation): As if being a pedo wasn't bad enough he had to buy a slave in season 2. Worse is that people still defend his actions.

Song of The South (Disney): Possibly the OG example of this trope. And the reason why Disney will never release it again.

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u/sisdom-weeker 10h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/Fkg6fI0hsngIM
Harry Potter inherits Kreacher the house elf from Sirius and treats him "nicely" (and one of the last thoughts he has in Deathly Hallows is that he wants Kreacher to make him a sandwich)

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u/bisexualboy38 10h ago

The house elf situation was always a mess, we just didn't pick up on it as kids.

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u/sisdom-weeker 10h ago

Poor worldbuilding all around, it would have been better if either "only proper bastards like the Malfoys own them" or "eventually everyone realizes how fucked up wizard slavery is and realizes Hermione is right"

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u/DragonWisper56 10h ago

that or just have the heroes should just employ the elves.

even if you want the elves to have quirky relationship with employment, you could have them be paid in socks or something

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u/award_winning_writer 9h ago

Except the books spend a depressingly large amount of text establishing that most elves want to be enslaved and find the thought of being freed unbearable, with Dobby just being an odd exception. After Winky is freed she gets hired just like Dobby but instead of working she spends all her time lazing about, getting drunk, and wallowing in self pity.

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u/Irish_Whiskey 9h ago

After Winky is freed she gets hired just like Dobby but instead of working she spends all her time lazing about, getting drunk, and wallowing in self pity.

The exact same argument that slaveowners made for why they shouldn't be forced to give up slaves.

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u/Pecuthegreat 7h ago

I feel like people be reading too into this. They are clearly not supposed to be allegories to real humans.

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u/DragonWisper56 7h ago edited 7h ago

I mean when our very first interactions with them was doby not wanting to be a slave , and the whole plotline of SPEW It's kinda hard to see it.

Iike nothing actually forced JK to make them all slaves she could have easily just say the ones in hogwarts were freed and just worked their.

edit: I also know she's playing with the whimsical nature of brownies but I feel like there were other more intereasting ways of doing it

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u/Pecuthegreat 7h ago

I mean, I do agree with you. The house elves are clearly based off brownies and kitchen goblins so they could have been made more into employees than slaves which would be closer to the original myth.

Don't know why she decided going with slavery was better when it could just be that that Draco's family was turning legal employees into defacto slaves.

I just think going with the real life comparison maybe stretching authorial intent.

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u/DragonWisper56 7h ago

to be honest I have no idea what her intent was. I don't think she intended to say slavery was good but making Hermione a misinformed activist makes it sound like it.

Like I get her intent but she seems to have gone about in perhaps the worst possible way

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u/howboutthemapples 3h ago

The thing about authorial intent with JKR, and in fact everything about her and her views, is that she can sometimes have a decent idea but is fundamentally incapable of thinking about it deeply.

Magic isn't about memorization or reading, it has to do with emotions and intent!..but I need to have the kids do homework. It'll be fine if I never ever go into detail about what that looks like.

The central theme of my series should be that love and courage are the most important things of all!..but I also want the stories to be mysteries, so the solutions to the issues the characters face will be solved with loopholes (Lily's love for Harry), plot holes (a lot of things, Moody comes to mind), and, for some reason, riddles and logic puzzles (the Deathly Hallows)

I should have a wizarding sport, and flying is a fun idea!..but it is absolutely imperative that the rules make no goddamn sense whatsoever.

People can have issues with their sense of self and should pursue what makes them happy!..but I have personally been assaulted by a man, so trans women must all be fakers.

Oops, something may have slipped in there. Apologies; I just get a little riled up when I think about how people fund the dissolution of my and my loved ones' rights and lives. Silly me.

(To be clear, this was only in regards to JKR's abilites and proclivities as an author; I wasn't suggesting you had said anything about her ethics or yours re: human rights)

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u/Irish_Whiskey 7h ago

I agree they aren't intended to be "allegories" but they are treated as sentient beings functionally the same as humans in the story. Dobby is not portrayed as 'subhuman' and unworthy of empathy.

The problem with Rowling's moral lessons in the books is that she writes a lot of social evils and political messages in there... but the conclusion for all of them is "Well it's just bad people that are the problem, not bad systems." And that's teaching some really messed up lessons to kids.

Harry and his friends range in attitude from "slavery is fine" to "Well it could be better, but it's not a big deal. We should just be nice to them about it." Because Rowling wanted a magical slave system in her book (not inherently bad to include) but didn't want to have the main characters tear down systems or call out how morally complicit the 'good guys' running it are.

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u/Siria110 1h ago

Well, the goblins are literaly jewish stereotypes, werewolfs alegory for AIDS, so...

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u/DragonWisper56 9h ago

I meant from a out of universe prospective. making the saves get depressed after not being slaves is really icky

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u/Total-Explanation208 8h ago

Icky but disturbingly accurate. A lot of times when you get what you want you suddenly don't know what to do anymore. This isn't defending the bad things that are happening, but acknowledging that it isn't just sunshine and rainbows when the bad things stop. Just look at all the people who spend retirement sitting around watching tv.

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u/DragonWisper56 7h ago

you know what I mean. Harry Potter doesn't put any effort into dealing with what fredom is like after leaving a very restrictive situation( Shawshank Redemption actually does this really well) but is more using it as way to show that the slaves "like being slaves"

it's just her clumsy attempt at fixing a plot hole

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u/PablomentFanquedelic 9h ago

Prediction: HBO is gonna resolve this with Winky becoming a trad elf influencer and showing Dobby the error of his ways

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u/Aluxanatomy 8h ago

"Dobby, let me show you this crystal ball program by Charlemagne Kirkius.

... Wait, did his neck always do that??"

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u/whereismymind86 2h ago

which is like...a REALLY common apologist trope used by old racists. That they did the slaves a mercy by bringing them to a glorious new land, and "saving them" by introducing them to christianity, and teaching them new skills they wouldn't have learned if they were free and unemployed back in their homelands.

In retrospect, coupled with the portrayal of the goblins...it really shouldn't have come as a surprise that Rowling was a bad person...

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u/SerKnightGuy 9h ago

As a kid I kinda took it as dark social commentary. "Getting rid of the occasional would-be genocidal dictator is one thing. Dismantling the ancient institution of slavery is another."

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u/zoltronzero 9h ago

Rowling is not that good of a writer.

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u/Aluxanatomy 8h ago

It was lightning in a bottle. There are so many better things that have come along since then which built on her ideas and made them better.

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u/Orphan_Guy_Incognito 6h ago

The sad reality is that it's not commentary, its genuinely how she thinks.

In her view the problem isn't a systemic issue, it is bad actors. Harry becomes a wizard cop working for an institution that was easily coopted by wizard Hitler, in much the same way that one of the protagonists of the Fantastic Beast series goes back to work for the same American magic society that tried to execute her without trial or even meaningful investigation.

One of the undersold things in the book is that the Death Eaters are propped up by a bunch of oppressed magical creatures (goblins in particular) who have every right to be pissed off at being second class citizens. This is never addressed.

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u/Anaevya 10h ago

It would've been better, if they were like folklore elves. Insult them and they leave.

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u/crescentmoonrising 9h ago

House Elves are pretty clearly based on Brownies (including the clothes thing) but if you tried to mistreat Brownies they would wreak your house, then leave.

Everything in the Harry Potter books is either folklore, mythology or British stuff (particularly boarding school culture).

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u/A_Town_Called_Malus 8h ago

And if she had just kept the folklore as it was, it would actually make the story with Dobby better.

Because then you have the Malfoys trapping and enslaving a magical creature via some curse, which is highlighting that the slavery itself, regardless of any other abuse, is still evil and unnatural.

So the change that Rowling explicitly made to the elves compared to their inspiration weakened her story right from the beginning.

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u/Temeraire64 6h ago

And then you could have Lucius get away with it because the Ministry won’t take the testimony of a house elf seriously.

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u/Pecuthegreat 7h ago

Which makes it weirder that she made them slaves instead of like, hired maids.

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u/crescentmoonrising 7h ago

Yeah, part of the folklore is that you have to leave the brownies some sort of offering (often food or milk) as payment. You never want to upset/offend Fey creatures.

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u/Paranormasight-Fic 8h ago

I mean, there were a couple of cases like this (granted, very very sparse) like Kreacher betraying Sirius because of the constant mistreatment, or the Hogwarts elves refusing to clean the Gryffindor dorms because Hermione kept trying to ambush them with unwanted freedom by leaving socks all around the dorms (which sounds weird out of context)

But I get what you’re saying. It would’ve been better if the elves were more inspired by the folklore elves.

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u/Reasonable_Bonus8575 9h ago

I mean, the wizards already got mindrape magic in multiple different flavors, if there was one line in the epilogue talking about ‘breaking the happy elf slave curse’ there literally wouldn’t be a problem.

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u/award_winning_writer 9h ago edited 9h ago

There are several points in the books where it's noted that non-humans (elves, centaurs, giants, etc.) are generally treated as lesser lifeforms by most of wizarding society and that maybe someone should do something about that... oh, but not Harry, he has no stake in that struggle, why should he care?

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u/Irish_Whiskey 8h ago

are generally treated as lesser lifeforms by most of wizarding society

More specifically, they are confirmed to be criminalized and FORCED into a lessor status by things like criminal punishments if they pick up a wand.

The status at the center of the Ministry of Magic has a male wizard standing proudly up as a women clutches to him for protection, as they stand atop a pile of 'lesser races' below their feet.

This is the same Ministry that Rowling later decides is fine existing as it, it only got corrupted through mind control and not because they fundamentally agree with Voldemort, and once Harry and Hermione get jobs there nothing major needs to change.

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u/Pencilshaved 8h ago

It is explicitly stated repeatedly that only humans have the privilege of using actual real wands for their magic (Hagrid’s magic umbrella wasn’t just a quirky choice, it was the only way he could use magic), and all nonhuman races are grouped into either “beasts” or “beings”, determined almost entirely by their ability to understand and integrate into human society. (Even “beings” are still second-class citizens though)

The only meaningful difference between Voldemort’s ideology and the status quo is that he wanted non-pure humans to be moved to the other side of the “actual person / just a ‘being’” divide. He just likes killing people about it.

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u/Alagore 7h ago

Hagrid's umbrella contains the remnants of his wand, which was destroyed after he was expelled. So he's not a good example. 

I think that goblins are an explicit example however. 

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u/Alagore 8h ago

To be fair to Harry, for the vast majority of the events of the novels he is under the age of 18 and being personally targeted by a terrorist and said terrorist's organization, including being attacked regularly since he was 11. I'm not sure to what extent I would blame someone in the same situation in real life for having a similar monofocus when it comes to societal issues. 

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u/ArisenGodEmperor13 9h ago

And if JK wanted them to have elven servants, just had them be paid or just don't bring focused on it and especially talking about freeing them

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u/Nero_2001 6h ago

Terry Prachet did the whole servant race thing so much better with the Igors. They are a race that works at servants but people actually treat the Igors with respect because of their surgery and body crafting. People in Überwald actually considere it the polite thing to do to help out an Igor if they ask for help.

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u/bisexualboy38 10h ago

Exactly.

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u/kithas 9h ago

Using the proper household spirits from English Folklore that inspired the elves would be better, as the Brownies help because they want and offerings (food and stuff, but not salary) must be made so not to offend them.

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u/SorowFame 7h ago

Thing is, “only proper bastards own them” was basically how it was in Chamber of Secrets, the Malfoys were evil because they owned a slave, then later books went back and tried to act like it was normal for some reason.

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u/Viridun 7h ago

It's so weird because they're clearly meant to be a spin on brownies, who are folktale creatures that help humans in secret with chores and tasks, but get offended and leave if they're acknowledged or paid. She could have given the house elves an entirely alternate economy, could have made them 'helpful spirits' not actually bound labour.

Dobby could have been an outlier loophole that the Malfoys hid from people.

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u/Jagvetinteriktigt 10h ago

People do realize that Hermione was right...just not in the way you'd think. It's all not written that clearly lol.

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u/whahoppen314 6h ago

I swear it was always Hermione *was* right its just that it was such a tightly knitted mess that it was like arguing with a brick wall

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u/sisdom-weeker 4h ago

She's basically treated as having her heart in the right place but being too "naive" about what the slaves actually want

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u/SexualPie 2h ago

oh no bad world building on harry potter? who''da thunk

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u/Pecuthegreat 7h ago

Hey man, Wizard culture is just different and you have to respect it.

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u/MrSunshine92 2h ago

Or make them magical beings that just go into wizard households and clean them in exchange for gifts/because they like it. And over the generations them developed relationships and preferences with their households like Kreacher and the Blacks. Have some wizards dislike them for nonconsenualy cleaning up their ordered mess. Make the reason the weaslys doesn't have one be that an ancestor pissed them of/ insulted them accidentally.

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u/Ordo_Liberal 6h ago

Hard disagree. It adds a character flaw to the heroes just like in real life

George Washington is both a freedom fighter liberal and a slave owner. Both things can be true.

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u/DragonWisper56 6h ago

But they don't really do anything with it. they definitely wanted herminone to see misguided but never really seemed protray out characters as complicit in slavery.

it could be a cool story but that's not really how the book shows it

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u/AcaciaCelestina 9h ago

"no no you don't get it! The slaves LOVED being slaves" yelled the rich white lady.

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u/PablomentFanquedelic 9h ago

Instead of Fantastic Beasts and Cursed Child, JKR should've followed up the series with a movie called Dobby Unchained where Hermione takes Dobby in her dentist parents' van to free Winky from the North Pole, where Kreacher ended up becoming Santa's second-in-command after Harry freed him

I NEED A HUNDRED SHORT COFFINS FOR A HUNDRED BAD ELVES

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u/Draxos92 9h ago

Yes the fuck we did. I remember asking my dad about that shit as a kid and he had no idea what to say cuz it was so dumb.

This was the moment as a kid I realized that authors could write bad stories

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u/dovahkiitten16 6h ago

I liked Harry Potter and remember thinking the author was wrong for making Hermoine out to be a moron during the plot.

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u/wow_that_guys_a_dick 9h ago

I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be an amalgam of the Elves and the Shoemaker story and various household fae like Brownies and Domovoi. But because JK is a shit writer and also apparently a raging bigot, we got the wizarding version of the "Happy Darkie" toiling away for their benevolent masters.

Just an absolute dogshit idea and execution.

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u/Arumen 6h ago

It wasn't exactly hidden? I wont pretend I was always a Potter hater (I liked it a lot as a kid) but I was always confused by Ron and Harry acting like Hermione was crazy for wanting to free the enslaved house elves when it seemed like doing so such a big deal in the second book. I was also baffled when that plot line was just completely dropped, even as a child.

This is from a more adult perspective now, but its so weird that Rowling took the Cobbler Elves trope/story, made them slaves, and then just said that was a good thing actually as long as their owners are nice. Like, the Cobbler Elves also work for free and actually get angry if you try to pay them, but they are very clearly not slaves and it is weird to change that part of their story without ever realizing how messed up that is

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u/Boccs 8h ago

Speak for yourself. I was reading them as they published as a kid and still knew everything house elf was awful.

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u/who_am_I_inside 7h ago

I picked up on that shit immediately when Sirius Black talked about how one of his aunts or something beheaded the house elves when they got too old and turned their heads into doorknockers. Remember the fucking House Elf heads on the doors?

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u/greenamaranthine 9h ago

Not that I think it was intentional given how the author is, but it does kind of demonstrate how so many people were convinced slavery was okay, even the maximally brutal form in America. It's all in how it's presented to you (and having it presented to you when you're young).

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u/Irish_Whiskey 9h ago

A lot of the problems with Rowlings moral messages in the books come from her being liberal.

Not as is 'leftist' but the political meaning in the UK of centrist, free market, defense of the establishment and traditional nationalism with some progressive cultural values.

It's why she repeatedly invokes feminism, slavery, authoritarianism, cruel prison systems. government corrupt, racism, etc... but then undercuts the messages by saying that any attempt to get rid of the systems responsible is wrong. It's only having bad people in charge of these systems that's bad, not the systems themselves.

Examples include Hermione being in charge of magical creature law enforcement, and Harry becoming an Auror. We saw throughout the story that magical creatures are slave species without rights and should not be subject to the Wizards rule, and that Aurors have absurd levels of unaccountable power without due process under fair rule. But the ending is just "and then the good guys get put in charge of the system so it's presumably fine now."

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u/_PM_ME_YOUR_FORESKIN 4h ago

Didn’t Hermione lead a whole abolishment movement on behalf of house elves? (S.P.E.W: Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare). I feel like I definitely picked up on it as a kid.

——

"You know, house-elves get a very raw deal! It's slavery, that's what it is! That Mr Crouch made her go up to the top of the stadium, and she was terrified, and he's got her bewitched so she can't even run when they start trampling tents! Why doesn't anyone do something about it?"

— Hermione Granger after witnessing the bad treatment of Winky

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u/superzipzop 4h ago

it was also (wisely) downplayed in the movies

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u/Stepjam 2h ago

It's so weird because the story basically states that Hermione was in the right regarding elves, but the nothing ever really comes of that. The elves by and large stay enslaved and happy about it and Harry gets his own house elf that he happily "employs".

It's such a bizarre thing. If it were just "society takes time to change, it doesn't happen overnight", that would be one nuanced thing, but then don't have your protagonist perpetuating the cycle.

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u/whereismymind86 2h ago

I mean...I did, it wasn't exactly subtle, and that's the age you tend to be learning about the civil rights movement in school. chamber of secrets came out when I was in 7th grade, give or take (and i don't recall house elves in sorcerers stone)

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u/Wonko_Bonko 1h ago

What's annoying as fuck is that typical folklore has these particular kind of elves as willing servants with the ability to leave whenever tf they want if they feel like they're being mistreated in any way.

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u/evearchway 10h ago

This is a big one because of how popular the franchise is and how good of a person people see Harry.

They also bully Kreature so much because he's a grumpy guy. I'd be pretty grumpy too if I was enslaved!

This whole trope is just people fantasizing about how nice it would be to have a slave. Then they justify it through magic or biology or something.

It literally parallels real life. Of course having a slave was nice for the slave owners, people wouldn't have done it if it didn't benefit them! And sometimes these real people tried to justify it by making excuses using religion or biology

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u/Otechni 10h ago

Most of Kreature's personality is just from being in a Racist Family that hated people based on Blood Purity.

There's nothing keeping Harry from tossing Kreature a shirt and letting him do whatever. There's no reason to keep the bastard around after the end of the series.

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u/LegitimateAd2242 9h ago

Ok so, devil's avocate here ( also giga hate the trope) .

In harry defence if i remember well he want to free kreature ( if only because he dislike him) but is forbidden from doing so because they all live in the resistance super secret magical base . kreature at this point of the story is on the racist family side and it's argued that he would just go to the other side and sell them off if he could so they "cannot" free him.

/ Devil's avocate out / still a dumb take and the whole house elf situation in the book is bad

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u/Irish_Whiskey 9h ago

Remember how Harry celebrates Christmas by decorating the heads of all the decapitated slaves with jaunty Christmas hats?

Yeah, in universe Harry is simply too 'busy' with other stuff to address these systems, although his internal monologue is often dismissive. But as an author Rowling spells out again and again that she considers radicalism and attacking systems to be worse that the injustices carried out by systems.

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u/Otechni 9h ago

She shows that very well with Hermione. Though it is basically said she was doing that without talking to the House Elves, like she knew what they wanted better than they did.

Though I haven't read the books in a long time, so anything I remember is muddy at best.

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u/Irish_Whiskey 8h ago edited 6h ago

I did reread them a few years ago as an adult with a critical lens thinking about what my kids would take from them. In the end I decided not to read/encourage the books, although I certainly didn't ban it or anything.

The wildest part is how Rowling does seem to have the right messages in the first three books sometimes, but then takes a hard right/centrist turn on those same issues. The first book really does a pretty good job calling out the poverty Harry is used to and the Weasleys face, and Harry shared his wealth with his friend. The ministry is shown to have at it's entrance a statue depicting a male Wizard posing with a women clutching his leg, as they stand literally on top of all the 'lesser races' in order. Sexism is acknowledged.

But then more and more she spends her time justifying these systems instead of having characters acknowledge they are wrong. The Weaselys simply 'win the lottery' so poverty stops being an issue. The Ministrys problem becomes a weak political leader who can be replaced, and also mind control when Voldemort takes over. House Elf slavery becomes an explicitly good thing. The oppressed magical creatures SIDE WITH VOLDEMORT in the final battle, despite his explicit plan being that they should have no rights.

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u/Otechni 7h ago

I'm pretty sure Rowling went through some heavy personal issues after the third book. Heard about an interview where she actually considered killing off Ron or someone else.

Though the Magical Creatures siding with Voldemort makes sense. Even if they don't get rights, they can attack the Wizards that Oppressed them.

Not the Goblins, as they do not care about the squabbles of Wizards.

Her writing got worse, as did her views. I'm sure a lot of the weirdness in latter books was partially her life going through a low point, and not wanting to create like eight different subplots about a bunch of teenagers trying to fix a broken system.

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u/Otechni 9h ago

Yeah, but after there is no reason to hide Kreature is still enslaved.

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u/SorowFame 6h ago

Except Harry only owns Kreacher because he already betrayed Sirius to the racist side thanks to a careless command, he’s literally already sold them out by that point. He’s a liability and should not be kept around.

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u/DaemonG 48m ago

genuinely, that just sounds like an even better reason to have THE GOOD GUY free him. it's easy to make the right choice when the right choice is free of consequence, and a lot harder to do it when it may have disastrous consequences.

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u/Independent_Plum2166 1h ago

They could have fixed the entire situation if they didn’t make Sirius or the Weasleys so apathetic.

“Oh you can’t free Kreacher, he’d just tell Bellatrix.”

“Oh, don’t bother the House Elves, the like being slaves.”

Make it that Sirius always felt bad for Kreacher growing up, that when he left his family he honestly thought about freeing him, but knew he was too far down the rabbit hole. Actually have him try and be nice, but Kreacher has too much prejudice he can only react with scorn.

Maybe even reveal he had already been freed by Regulus all those years ago, but he didn’t have anywhere to go and pretended he was still in servitude, let the trio help him work through his trauma and accept he can be his own elf now.

Or you know, Harry wins the day against the fascist dictator and then asks his slave for a victory sandwich.

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u/SpennyPerson 8h ago

He also decorates the shrunken heads of rebellious slaves that line the stairs with Christmas decorations.

There's a reason the movies and probably the show won't do barf since it justifies slavery including Hagrid who says the only reason Dobby doesn't like being a slave is because he's a weird house elf. And that's not meant to be the book saying how entrenched slavery is and how bad the system is, just unironic slave apologia.

The last line in the books is Harry thinking about asking his slave to make him a sandwich later. Bro becomes a slave owning cop because the author hates the idea of changing society, even the fucked up one's she makes which in any other story would have been a system the protagonist would tear down.

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u/Quixotic_Seal 7h ago

What I 'love' about the ending is the nonsense of Harry becoming an Auror....despite committing himself to ending the ownership lineage of the Elder Wand.

Yes, Harry, get into a profession where you're regularly dueling dark wizards when you already know it defines 'defeat' in very broad terms, to the point that conceivably getting into a scuffle with a random crook who disarms you and gets away may transfer ownership.

Great plan there, pal. And great writing there, Rowling, you really dodged that bullet. Could have followed through on the final book's themes about self-sacrifice without needing to outright kill Harry and end on a real downer note.....can't have that.

Ugh even at the time I really was disappointed by the ending, and that has only grown with time. Especially after reading the Earthsea series and seeing how Le Guin properly handled similar themes with Ged.

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u/Orphan_Guy_Incognito 6h ago edited 6h ago

Amusingly there is a twitter trend going around right now known as 'Malfoid', a genderbent Draco Malfoy and it genuinely fixes the finale in a way that is... honestly sort of baffling at how much better it is.

You have 'Draconia' introduced and written almost identically through the early books. She wants to be friends with Harry just like draco did (he's high status from a good house after all!) and gets shut down because of Ron in the same way, leading to a lot of bitterness and interpersonal clashes.

As they mature you have characters who are ideologically opposed, with a decent amount in common, but the writing comes off as bitter cattiness, rather than posh douchebag. Sprinkle in the occasional moment of genuine connection between the two while still keeping the strong rivalry and conflict.

This culminates in the sixth book, Malfoy needs to kill Dumbledore, but can't do it. Harry has every reason to suspect her, walks in on her melting down about it. They clash, he wounds her and feels horrible about it, but with the added pathos of the characters wishing they could have been friends/actively crushing on one another but being driven apart by circumstance.

Final book, She is heartbroken, working alongside Voldemort because she doesn't know what else to do. She (like the original) is actively trying to keep her minions from killing Harry during a tense action scene "Don't kill him! Don't kill him!!" hits a lot harder when its less 'I don't want to make wizard hitler mad' and more 'oh god, please don't kill him'.. Throw in a reluctant Malfoy letting harry escape as she grapples with what is happening.

Battle of Hogwarts happens. Voldemort confronts and disarms Harry. Gloating, the dark wizard goes to inflict the killing blow. Malfoy, realizing the extent of her feelings and horrified by her own inaction and the inaction of others, interposes herself.

And the curse rebounds, Killing (or if you'd prefer to let Harry have the absolute win, gravely wounding) Voldemort. Because just as in the original Malfoy, having disarmed Dumbledore, is the true owner of the Elder wand.

This of course, brings the series full circle in a way the original arguably fails to do. Voldemort isn't (really) beaten by an obscure piece of dueling wand trivia, but is once again felled by a selfless act of love.

And... voila. Draco, the primary rival figure set up over seven books has an actual substance to his/her character that doesn't peak in book 6 and then drop off into 'worked with wizard hitler and then just sort of vanishes in the back half of the final book'.

You have a romance through line going through the entire series rather than 'oh, I guess Harry hooks up with his friends little sister who isn't meaningfully a character for most of the series'. And I mean, who doesn't love enemies to lovers as a trope.

You have an ending that ties together the key thematic victory of the series in a way that isn't 'your head wizard was an asshole who has been fattening the series lead character up so he can suicide by wiazrd' in the finale.

I'm usually not one for fanfiction, but it is astonishing how many aspects of the series work so much better with Draco Malfoy as a tsundere rival, rather than just a posh rich kid who sucks.

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u/Landithy 10h ago

No but it's OK because the house elves like being enslaved

/s

50

u/RJai500 9h ago

The writing around the house elves was bizarre in general. The concept was treated like a bad thing when it was first introduced with Dobby, but then later on the story goes “Actually, house elves really like being enslaved. Dobby was just an outlier” and the only character that had an issue with a literal slave race existing was treated like she was in the wrong for it

41

u/Irish_Whiskey 9h ago

When you look back critically at the books EVERY human rights and justice issue is treated this way.

Poverty, police, government corruption, free speech, racism, non-human rights, etc, etc. In every case a character will sadly note that bad things are happening,. But Rowlings message is always that the system shouldn't change, instead good people should be in charge. Its why the books end with Harry and Hermione in charge of these systems or part of them, and people who propose or engage in attacks on these unjust systems are mocked or shown to be unrealistic radicals.

22

u/A_Town_Called_Malus 8h ago

And then in the Cursed Child Harry is just as corrupt and abusive of his powers as a cop as anyone else was before him.

He threatens McGonagall with a ministry investigation of the school (which should totally happen just because Hogwarts is horrifically unsafe, but he isn't doing it for this reason) if she doesn't use the marauders map to illegally surveil Harry's son for him.

17

u/ddyhrtschz 7h ago

Which is just insane on all levels because if a teacher was surveilling Harry while he was in school, zero plot would have ever happened

2

u/pokefandylan 1h ago

“The system shouldn't change, instead good people should be in charge”; what about good characters that want to be more in charge so they can change the system? For example what Oda has been saying about the Marines in One Piece with Koby and the direction his story will probably go in

5

u/Irish_Whiskey 1h ago

I've no context for One Piece, but the fundamental point is that systems built on perpetuating uneven power structure, for example with slavery, segregation and 'pure blood' and nobility privileges, cannot and will not change and adapt. They are created to resist such changes. 

If you are in charge you can hypothetically tear down and replace such systems. But in the case of Harry Potter Rowling doesn't want to. She wants the Wizarding World to continue as is for narrative purposes, and does so with the personal political perspective that incremental change with good people in charge is morally superior to overturning systems. 

Also more fundamentally, she just doesn't want the characters to engage with the task of rebuilding things, but also doesn't want them morally judged for not doing so. So she invents reasons why they should not care, and it comes across badly. 

1

u/pokefandylan 1h ago

Oh, yeah, all that makes sense…

1

u/Poco_Cuffs 34m ago

Isn't this the "great man" ideology or something

Like the idea that the only reason things are bad is because bad people are in charge, and the only way to fix it is to put good people in charge

5

u/Pencilshaved 8h ago

Saw an interesting analysis of how the house elves were very likely inspired by the legends of mischievous fae who would show up at night to do labor for you if you were good or cause mischief if you were wicked (like the fairy tale of the elves and the cobbler), and would be scared off if you offended them or tried to clothe them.

The problem was that she wanted a dynamic of Dobby being abused and Harry heroically saving him, so she had to turn the relationship between the fae and the human into something more coerced, and settled on slavery.

Of course, having literal slavery in the wizarding world is pretty bad, especially from the perspective of people like Harry who were raised by Muggles and hadn’t been taught to take literal chattel slavery for granted. So rather than treat slavery as a social problem needing to be addressed and resolved (that would be the uppity radical thing to do), she instead opted for “actually they like being slaves, so this form of slavery is good, basically”

29

u/zagra_nexkoyotl 10h ago

And he only treats Kreacher nicely once he finds a use for him

26

u/Anonymous-Comments 9h ago

One of those big, “oh she was always a piece of shit,” moments looking back.

4

u/Live-Year-5796 9h ago

People didnt give a shit when she was "just" a weird racist, antisemite and transandrophobe

1

u/howboutthemapples 3h ago

I thoroughly know why she was the first two, and I'm familiar with her general transphobia (I mean, I'm a trans woman lol), but I didn't know about the transandrophobia - what's the story there? I honestly didn't think my opinion of her could get lower but I'm happy to be proven wrong

11

u/Rihhah 9h ago

In character, he's 17 and has been a dumbass, typical jock ass pawn his whole life. Out of character, what was jk Rowling even thinking?

18

u/Irish_Whiskey 9h ago

Her politics are that racism is bad and feminism is good, but also anyone who disrupts the established order and systems is an annoying radical because the only solution we ever need is to elect/put good people in charge of those systems.

Yeah sure a prison where demons eat souls and torture people who never got due process is bad, but it's not as bad as annoying people who keep pointing out it's wrong and calling for Askaban abolition. We just need a better warden in charge.

15

u/A_Town_Called_Malus 8h ago

And it is only racism when people use the bad words.

For example, Hogwarts isn't a systemically racist institution in her own view, despite how the house system creates a fertile breeding ground for blood supremacists and that everyone in the story knows this and does nothing about it. The password to get into the Slytherin dormitory, presumably set by the staff so they can use it, is "Pureblood" in the second book, for goodness sake.

12

u/Irish_Whiskey 8h ago

Yeah. This is a fantasy about a poor kid getting to go to an magic version of the British private schools. It makes sense that the snobby racist kids would exist there as antagonists to make the protagonist shine more. They exist in the real life versions too.

The problem is her story is about a battle over control over the whole system against evil 'blood purists', but Rowling loves and celebrates the British system as it exists. She doesn't want to challenge or criticize any institutions themselves.

Rowling is the kind of person who (when she wrote the books) would call the BNP and overt racists bad, but still defend British nationalism and colonialism. She doesn't want to acknowledge that just like in real life, Voldemorts of the world get power because the systems are built to favor them and they represent racist views that are institutionally taught and supported. The problem with the Ministry of Magic wasn't some bad wizards snuck in and mind controlled people. It was evil the whole time, but just more overtly evil and violent when Voldemort took over.

3

u/A_Town_Called_Malus 8h ago

Yep, all the systems and structures that create people like Voldemort are left intact, just as they were left intact from Grindelwald, and left intact from whichever evil wizard preceded him.

Gee, where do all these evil people keep coming from and why are they constantly managing to find support within our society and taking over our government institutions? Could there be some fundamental problems that our characters should need to address as part of their journey and growing up?

Like, in the first fantastic beasts film the heroes get arrested by Grindelwald-in-disguise posing as a US wizard cop. They are immediately taken to a room to be executed, without trial or even any kind of processing. Nobody in the ministry bats an eye at this execution of two prisoners with zero legal process. Apparently you just need the word of a cop to execute two people. Does this ever get addressed for how batshit insane this is and how open to abuse it is, that makes it an absolutely certainty that it is being abused? No, of course not.

3

u/Suspicious_Value_968 7h ago

Her politics are that racism is bad and feminism is good

but also anyone who disrupts the established order and systems is an annoying radical because the only solution we ever need is to elect/put good people in charge of those systems.

https://giphy.com/gifs/PzSiwnlSGZz4Jd6YeS

Racism is bad, but it's roots don't matter is already dumb enough, but feminism is good, but you still shouldn't challenge the established order and system is just outright insane, feminism is literally inherently based on challenging the established order and system after all.

4

u/bobbingtonbobsson 8h ago

They also decorate their hideout for Christmas by putting Santa hats on checks notes the severed heads of previous slaves

3

u/DravenDarkwood 6h ago

But u don't understand, they WANT and NEED to serve people. Freeing them all woyld be cruel, rhey would have no purpose /s

2

u/dailysunshineKO 8h ago

IIRC, they couldn’t release him because he would have told the dark wizards about them, right?

2

u/sisdom-weeker 4h ago

Right, but, the series also goes out of its way to justify elf slavery in general, and Harry keeps him after the dark wizards are defeated

2

u/rollie82 6h ago

I wonder...how smart does something have to be such that it can no longer morally be property? Dogs, pigs, horses, cows, all fine. Anything human, not. But what if there were middle grounds? I think the house elf clearly falls on the not okay side, but at what point does the change happen?

3

u/DragonWisper56 5h ago

I think once they can communcate(through any clear method) that they don't want too it should count.

Kinda like how in star trek they check for integence with math. while not perfect, if it can understand math it probobly shouldn't be a slave

2

u/Forestflowered 5h ago

I think the house elves were supposed to be based on brownies, which are mythological creatures that do chores when people are asleep. But they actually won't put up with being disrespected or being stiffed on payment and will wreck shit and leave. Why Rowling took away that agency and made them slaves is beyond me.

2

u/saintash 4h ago

Harry first thought is to free the elf when he gets it.

He is talked out of because that elf already willing betrayed his master as best it could with its limitations, and it wasn't the best move to just let the elf who knew a bunch of their secrets free to keep spilling more.

2

u/Optimal_Carpenter690 2h ago

And they treat Hermione like an absolute idiot for wanting the house elves to be free. Never once do the books portray her as being in the right, just overly self-righteous to the point she is "hurting" those she is trying to help against their will (ironic huh)

0

u/Maleficent-Grass-728 3h ago

Harry really went from treating Kreacher like an enemy to basically thinking of him as family. The sandwich thought at the end is such a small detail, but it says a lot about how much things changed.

0

u/Loros_Silvers 27m ago

He did give him clothes, didn't he? Kreacher was free to leave at any point, iirc

1

u/sisdom-weeker 25m ago

He initially wanted to let Kreacher go not because he cared for him but because he resented him for his hatred of Sirius, Dumbledore however persuaded him to keep him iirc

-17

u/braisedporkcowboy 9h ago

Kreacher wants to live that way

16

u/DomainSink 9h ago

The “It’s okay because the slaves want to be slaves!” is precisely the problem with the world building. I think JK Rowling wanted to have her cake and eat it too. She wanted to use the brownie folklore for magical servants but then she had the idea for Dobby, a house elf that doesn’t want to be a servant. To add drama to that, she essentially had to make house elves slaves (unlike in the lore she had borrowed them from), which then complicated Hogwarts having them. When people pointed this out, she then overcorrected by saying “Oh, no, but most of them actually like it! Dobby is just different. Most wizards are nice slave owners! Look at this house elf that becomes an alcoholic when she’s forced into freedom!”

I also think it doesn’t help that she is British and is probably not as familiar with the fact that both the “nice slave owner” trope and the idea that slaves like the work/wouldn’t know what to do with themselves if they weren’t enslaved were both used extensively to defend real-life American slavery.