Rules: There may be spoilers for all seven books and 8 movies Each match will last for exactly 24 hours. Any votes after that point will not count. Discussion is encouraged but not required. Make sure all of your votes are obvious. I should know who you are voting for, basically don't bury your vote in the middle of a paragraph. No alt-voting. Ties will be replayed the next day with the rest of the matches. No vote-saves or rallying for specific characters. Telling people to vote is encouraged but don't tell them how to vote! Don't complain about the seeds, they were the result of a save-my. Because matches can overlap, results will be in this topic. http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/61327435
Ah yes, remember how the books make parallels between Neville and Peter Pettigrew, where they're both fat kids who lag behind their friends? Funny how it didn't turn out that way. Neville happily takes lashes to his face to stand up to his friends, and steps forward solo against Voldemort and his entire army of Death Eaters, pulls out the sword of Gryffindor and cleaves a horcrux in two. Peter joins Voldemort the moment he thinks Voldy's side is gaining the upper hand. And also is a horrendous suck-up to James in school (and James himself is a pretty unlikeable character to start with).
(10)Regulus Arcturus Black (2)Bellatrix Lestrange
It's funny how much higher of an opinion I have of Regulus as a quality human being than I do of Sirius. Sirius is the rebellious son who ends up in Gryffindor, and plays the bully, then later turns into the irresponsible adult who can't stand his family. Regulus is the good little boy who ends up in Slytherin, does all the right stuff, is a seeker on the quidditch team. Pride of his family. And...ends up joining the death eaters. But not even all that long after he joins them, finds out Voldemort has a horcrux, and decides to go destroy it, literally taking the poison in Kreacher's place so that Kreacher could escape with the locket. Like...seriously, their behavior is totally the opposite of their houses. Sirius in many ways would fit better in Slytherin. Regulus, who openly defies Voldemort, even leaving him a note, and takes a death potion in place of a house elf seems a much better fit for Gryffindor.
Bellatrix...is one of those cases I've been through before of lost potential. There's all kinds of hints that she's in love with Voldemort. She leans into him. She can't hold her temper around people who speak ill of him. And we've seen how Voldemort acts around love--it's like poison to his system. There was so much potential for Bellatrix to do something like sneak a kiss on Voldemort, and injure him at a crucial moment. Never happened. I'm also a little annoyed at how her description doesn't really match what happens in the books. She gets described as Voldemort's most talented, greatest lieutennant, but I haven't seen evidence that she's better than, say, Dolohov. And certainly she impresses me a lot less than Snape or Barty Crouch Jr.
That said, Bellatrix does have some really high quality memorable lines, in...well basically any scene where she and Narcissa are together and arguing. As much as she disappoints me for having unfulfilled potential, I don't think I can really justify voting against her this early. Kind-of like the Ginny match a couple days ago.
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Cats land on their feet. Toast lands peanut butter side down. A cat with toast strapped to its back will hover above the ground in a state of quantum indecision
GenesisSaga posted... I would say featuring a bunch of nobodies, but Bellatrix is in here.
All four of these characters have pretty pivotal roles to play in the plot.
Neville is Neville; leads the hogwarts resistance, also destroys a horcrux, and also shares a prophecy with Harry. Wormtail fulfills a prophecy by returning Voldemort to power. Also the traitor who made Harry an orphan. Regulus is freaking RAB; the original horcrux hunter, and the guy who made Dumbledore's death seem so not worth-it.
Bellatrix might actually be the easiest character of the four to remove from the plot (at least structurally)--she just has lots of style.
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Cats land on their feet. Toast lands peanut butter side down. A cat with toast strapped to its back will hover above the ground in a state of quantum indecision
GenesisSaga posted... I would say featuring a bunch of nobodies, but Bellatrix is in here.
All four of these characters have pretty pivotal roles to play in the plot.
Neville is Neville; leads the hogwarts resistance, also destroys a horcrux, and also shares a prophecy with Harry. Wormtail fulfills a prophecy by returning Voldemort to power. Also the traitor who made Harry an orphan. Regulus is freaking RAB; the original horcrux hunter, and the guy who made Dumbledore's death seem so not worth-it.
Bellatrix might actually be the easiest character of the four to remove from the plot (at least structurally)--she just has lots of style.
True, but every one of them save Bellatrix was a nobody at some point according to somebody within the plot.
Neville's the easiest. He was pretty much a nobody for his first four years at Hogwarts according to... pretty much everyone except Lupin who saw potential in him and his friends. Peter only became someone through association with his two far higher up in the hierarchy buddies James and Sirius. Regulus, while admired by his parents, is disregarded by his brother as soon as he makes some questionable life decisions. Bellatrix was never a nobody to my recollection. A pureblood witch of exceptional wealth and reasonable talent, she's feared and/or respected by all, and has been since adolescence.
So there is some truth in my statement even though it was said mostly in jest. Hint: In the topic title, is ft: ___ <- Nobody.
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RAB for the reasons already listed, plus I didn't really care for Bella that much. RAB just seemed like a boss, doing what he did and even taunting Voldemort in the process.
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We normally have like 3-4 tech guys working during a given week, i'm the only one this week. I've worked back to back 40 hour weeks while going to school full-time. Not trying to whine but i'm pretty simply just not used to this. Sorry :/
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Neville is Neville, aww yeah. Bellatrix, so deliciously evil. And oddly incompetent in certain aspects. I see her more as a mad dog that Voldy sets loose every so often.
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Yeah, this is the easiest matchup so far for me. Neville is a character that starts off so flawed: he's clumsy, timid, a bit slow-witted (not stupid, just... not very sharp), and not very talented at magic. Since he's not ignorant enough to be unaware of all this, he's also quite pessimistic. He's even flawed physically, being described as plain-faced, short and a bit thick around the middle. Poor boy. But instead of just living with his flaws, he overcomes them. Adolescence ensures he grows out of the baby fat and into an imposing young chap, and his magic training with Harry and subject training with Pomfrey improves his confidence, skill, and knowledge. And when the trio goes AWOL is when he peaks: leading a large rebellion within the walls of the falling institution. Imagine. Neville, this former screwup leading anything!
Peter on the other hand, goes nowhere. He starts off dumb and timid and stays that way right up until he dies. His motivations for betraying two of his dear friends are never - NEVER - explained in the books so we're left to assume fear of incurring the Dark Lord's wrath, which others have fought- even died in the face of. What a slimy git. How on earth did he even get placed in Gryffindor with that kind of courage? And speaking of death, his "Redemption before Dying" scene was rushed and ended up as pathetic as he was. He's done nothing to deserve my vote here.
(10)Regulus Arcturus Black (2)Bellatrix Lestrange
This was such a hard choice. I've said before that there should've been more good Slytherins or at least less evil ones that weren't in positions of power (e.g. Professors Snape and Slughorn), and here is the best example of a good Slytherin we have. This guy lays down his life to protect a House Elf- described by most of the wizarding world as a lesser being- and to directly defy the Dark Lord. He could have had it all, and in fact he did have it all for a while: his family's admiration, his peers' respect, the Dark Lord's favor, everything but his brother's love which he might not have even cared about, and he sacrifices all of this and his own life in an act of genuine kindness and mercy. It's a beautiful scene as described in the book, and it goes unnoticed by everyone because its only witness is, or was rather, a miserable wretch with no kind words left to spare. So sad...
Bella meanwhile, is among the most competent of Voldemort's loyal followers. Oddly his most competent servant (imo) is more loyal to Dumbledore than to him. Anyway, she commands respect and accomplishes several things including killing my favorite character, but I do kind of feel MC on lost potential thing. I remember thinking with how she was betrayed in both the books and films that her affection toward Voldemort borders on infatuation, and thinking that would go toward some angle, but no... She's still awesome, but Regulus has the one powerful quote, and that one spectacular death scene- THAT is how you do a touching death scene, Rowling. Not a stupid "strangled by his own hand" or worse, "among the bodies lay the corpses of blankety, blankish, and blank".
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When you've got a pretty-boy monkey on your back constantly calling you a puppet, you hardly want to seem like you're happy to be used. - DSakaCharanJ
(10)Regulus Arcturus Black I gotta pick Regulus. He's one of my favorites in the series, is a deep and important character, and I cosplay as him. When I'm dressed as Regulus everyone always thinks I'm young Snape though, kinda sucks...but I just point to the locket I'm wearing.
Dewott posted... Also metroid's post in favor of Bella convinced you to vote for Regulus?
To be fair, I wrote most of that post with Regulus bolded, and then at the very last paragraph was like..."nah, I can't quite justify it given the gap in screen time". If you put less weight on screen time than I do, then a vote for Regulus is perfectly reasonable.
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Cats land on their feet. Toast lands peanut butter side down. A cat with toast strapped to its back will hover above the ground in a state of quantum indecision