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
I like Alice. I really do. But one very emotional scene, however good can't really hope to compare to numerous funny lines, plot exposition, and charming snark. That said if it looks like Alice won't get a single vote I will swap mine, because she doesn't deserve a straight sweeping.
(7)Petunia Dursley (2)Rubeus Hagrid
Bah Hagrid. I don't care for either character in this matchup tbqh.
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Arcanine: The best pokemon ever. Dewott: The cutest pokemon ever.
(11)Alice Longbottom The sorting hat sings it's song, and sorts people. It also warns people against danger. But aside from that, there's not much to it. Alice on the other hand stood against Voldemort three times, and lived to tell about it. She was an Auror -- and a member of the order of the Phoenix. She was a parent to be proud of. And Neville was VERY proud of his parents in his own way. He wanted to live up to their expectations. But with parents like Alice and Frank, it wasn't easy for him to do. With Alice, you see just how affected some of the people from the first wizarding war were. With the original order of the Phoenix, you just get the feeling that many of them were just awesome.
(2)Rubeus Hagrid Hagrid introduces Harry to the Wizarding world. He's a much better teacher than most give him credit for. He does some things he shouldn't -- namely blast ended skrewts. But he just wants kids to like his class. I feel bad for him when the trio don't take Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid is Harry's first connection to the wizarding world. And he is the first to buy Harry a birthday present. He also tries to turn Dudley into a pig. Hagrid respects Dumbledore greatly. And I like how McGonagall thinks his opinion is important as well. He breeds some dangerous creatures. But he's well-meaning. Hagrid is very sentimental. And he went to school with Lord Voldemort. I just picture that as very funny. Tom Riddle and Hagrid. of course Voldemort got him expelled. Petunia on the other hand... she has a couple of good moments. Like saying that Harry will stay. But I'd like to have seen her show care for Harry. Similar to Dudley. I wonder if she ever realized just how horrible she and Vernon were to Harry because of her jealousy of the magical world. How things would've been VERY different if Petunia had been born with magic as well.
I just don't have much of a feel for Alice. She's pretty much an off-screen character; we know that she was an Auror, but all we see of her is after her brain has been fried. While admittedly it's a touching scene, it's about one page long and all the screen time she gets.
The sorting hat on the other hand...
"Not Slytherin, eh." said the small voice. "Are you sure. You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness" "Bee in your bonnet, potter?" "Yes, you were particularly difficult to place. But I stand by what I said last year: You would have done well in Slytherin." "You're wrong!"
Not to mention some fascinating songs...
Yeah...better be SORTING HAT.
(7)Petunia Dursley (2)Rubeus Hagrid
Well...this is tough. Before diving into either...I think their screen time is actually similar.
Hagrid is a gimmick character who fits great in a children's novel, but became more and more out of place, and added less and less value as the series became more sophisticated. Most of his best lines come from the first book ("Yer a Wizard Harry"). Even then, easily the worst part of that book is Hagrid-focused (the Norbert scenes are just not at the same level as...basically any other scene in the book, serve little purpose, and could easily be cut).
Petunia, on the other hand, becomes more and more interesting as the novels go on. Although...doing a little digging, she has her early moments too:
"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was. Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that-that school-and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was -- a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!" She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.
Not to mention "The boy will have to stay", with the revelation that she had ongoing communication with Dumbledore, and later revelations that she actually wanted to go to Hogwarts and became quite bitter. But at the same time, there's definitely some lost potential--after Harry saw Snape's memories, and knew that Petunia once wanted to join the witching world, there really should have been an epilogue with one last conversation between Harry and Petunia.
Hmm...bottom line? Close enough in screen time. Neither has a character development sequence I'm fully satisfied with--Petunia because she doesn't finish, Hagrid because he...doesn't start. But there's no question whom I'd like to see extra scenes written about (Petunia).
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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
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make me swift i happy with the life i have no life oh and by the way i hope you have a very merry un chrismas and get nothing but coal in your stocking- ertyu
The Sorting Hat's songs are pretty good, and it actually teaches Harry something valuable as well (when he's not too busy jumping to conclusions or refusing to hear it out). Alice has a sad backstory but she's basically just a prop piece to explain Neville's background. She doesn't really do anything during the part of the story that's in the books.
(7)Petunia Dursley (2)Rubeus Hagrid
Petunia's basically just there to be awful to Harry. We eventually learn that at least part of her issues were caused by envy, which I can sympathize with a little bit - being a muggle when your sister has magic would really suck. But her failure to get over it as an adult, and treating her sister's innocent son horribly after both his parents have died, basically means she's still a horrible person, regardless of how she got that way. Hagrid on the other hand isn't my favorite, but he's loyal to Harry and Dumbledore, and he has some good moments.
-- I made a living on time trial blowing myself off to cross the finish line at ludicrous speed. -transience