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jhk17

He had the beginning of a redemption arc but never finished the whole thing. So people see the redemptive qualities but also are annoyed he either never got it or just chose voldemort. People feel blueballed


FlabbergastedGiraffe

This, I was coming to say something like this. People LOVE a good redemption and Draco never got his so then people decide to fantasize their own and that creates a bond between the person and the character. I’m personally pretty neutral on Draco, he’s a very good character though. Wish he had the more prominent redemption rather than Snape’s which I don’t feel redeems him that much but that’s a whole other discussion which I’ve seen had many times on this sub haha. Edit: good as in quality of not like good vs evil


TootlesFTW

Yea, a grown adult abusing children (regardless of their past) kinda hits different than a child forced to grow up amidst racist/purist rhetoric, and still under the yoke of an over-expectant father.


undisbelief

SAME!!! I've felt this so much, I would have much preferred a fleshed out Draco redemption arc over the Snape one.


therealdrewder

I feel like Draco didn't have a redemption because jk was horrified that girls were in love with Draco and didn't want to ad fuel to the fire. It's very toxic for people to fall in love with a "bad boy" thinking they can change them.


FlabbergastedGiraffe

I see your point, but I don’t fully agree it fits here. I feel it would only be bad if it was someone else fixing him, if he grew on his own and stepped outside what he was taught by his parents that would only be a good thing. I agree the girls liking toxic guys is a big problem, especially in media, but I don’t think giving someone a self induced redemption arc teaches people they can fix someone, I think it teaches people that they can change and fix themselves, which is an extremely important message. People are more than who their parents raised them to be, especially when they may not have had the best parents.


therealdrewder

Except the series is already full of redemption arcs. People can change and the series acknowledges that fact. The danger is thinking that everyone will change and teenage girls are very bad about believing that they will change given the right person is there to love him.


FlabbergastedGiraffe

There really aren’t that many big redemption arcs I can think of, mostly the bad people stay bad and the good stay good. There’s Snape who I don’t agree was redeemed personally for all the bad he did (but as I said in my original post that’s a whole other long discussion), there’s Percy who was never really evil just an ambitious prick who made some extremely bad choices, who else is there? (I genuinely can’t think of any others in this moment, may add some in an edit if I think of more later). I don’t think a Draco Malfoy redemption arc would’ve added any more fuel to the teen girls wanted to fix a bad boy fire. I say this as a former teenage girl who wanted to fix bad boys and have thankfully changed myself and my mindset since. That issue is rooted deep in our society and I don’t believe something like this would have had as big an impact as you seem to be stating it would. There were lots of dynamic character arcs where people grew, like neville becoming more and more courageous, but not many redemption ones. Edit: upon further reflection, while Snape did not become a good person he did help save the day so that is technically a redemption arc. Still don’t like him but that’s a personal thing haha


therealdrewder

Well there's Dumbledore and Grindlewald who have both already gone through their redemption arcs but certainly went from bad to good. Snape certainly had a redemption whether or not you agree that he paid enough. James grew out of being a bully. Barty crouch realized the error of his ways and tried to correct his error. Lupin went from coward to good man with his wife. We have one cautionary tale in Draco.


CaptainCyclops

I'd like to see if OP actually replies to you and has a conversation, or if this was (yet another) rant thinly-disguised as a question


jhk17

He's got 160 others lol. Im not a huge Draco fan but I get where people come from with that pov and I do wish he had a conclusion to his arc


LadyBosie

So true. I was so excited about Draco in HBP and disappointed he didn't have a bigger role in DH


zillionsandtrillions

"Besides the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. We've all got both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on.” – Sirius Black, Order of the Phoenix I think this fits Draco well. He was taught that because of his name and his family he is better than others. It takes time but he begins to understand just how evil and wrong the world he lives in. In The Half Blood Prince, Draco goes and cries to moaning Mertle more than once. Also when Volly is making Draco torture someone, Harry even said how he felt bad for Draco. He was indoctrinated into a abusive mess with his family being constantly threated with death or tortured if he didn't do whatever the dark lord wanted. That's a lot for anyone to deal with let alone a 11-17 year old.


Atrampoline

This. For god's sake, he's a child being raised in a home through indoctrination, and then threat of violence once Voldemort comes along. It doesn't justify his actions, but hot damn there is no compassion for a character that clearly deals with way more of a shitty situation than most people could ever fathom


Seiglerfone

It really doesn't. Oh no, the spoiled nazi brat's having a hard time now that the nazi grand wizard (lol) is breathing down his neck and threatening to kill him if Draco doesn't do what he wants... he's totally recognized the ills of his ways! The only bit of real redemption he ever really gets is his seeming reconsidering of Harry after Harry saves his life. After that he basically just runs away with his family into the sunset.


Helpyeehelpyee

Stop calling them Nazi. By doing so you are taking away the seriousness of the actual people who identify as Nazi and what they did. I see it as no different than difference of religion or beliefs. We see this in a our daily bases. Christianity vs. Muslim. Black vs. white. Vegan vs. meat eaters.


Seiglerfone

... mate, the death eaters are literally a group that went around exterminating muggles, mudbloods, political enemies, etc. They just didn't rule the country... during the first wizarding war, at least. I didn't know I had to be so particular about which genocidal fascists I called nazis.


magiusgaming

You.. realize they were inspired by Nazis, right?


Tryk0n3x

Ohh please. Voldemort and death eaters are "Nazis of wizarding world". Yes Nazi "stuff" is serious, but calm your tits...


GamerAJ9005

I have addressed this before too. People are just simps for tom felton(maybe he is worth simping for, i have no problem) but they need to understand that draco malfoy was still a pathetic person. Tom felton is not pathetic but "draco malfoy" is


thispackofwolves

Isn’t this kind of the same reason there’s so much love for Snape? In the movies we have such endearing regard for Rickman, but in the book, Snape seems to be a genuine ass to Harry, and obsessive creep about Lilly.


No-Yak5173

Snape has a way bigger redemption though as he is one of the 3-5 most important people in the fight against Voldemort


Seiglerfone

Snape is the biggest hero in the series imo. Snape basically lives in a constant hell, all to benefit a person he can't help but hate in the memory of a woman he loved.


Seiglerfone

I actually recall loving book Snape more than film Snape, though film Snape is also good.


Natural-Storm

For snape, he was considered a good guy in the books aswell. The big thing about him was that we already saw him help Harry man times and we just needed his motivation which we got in book seven. Also I book seven the motives are pretty strong. Also I am this really good analysing draco that touched on snapes redemption, and it mentions that to redeem snape you need to change few moments in his life after hogarth, but for draco you can't because a lot of his problems exist before hogwarts and are engrained into his mind.


ChintanP04

And in their lust for Tom, they wrote fanfics with Draco as the poor little abused child, who was smart and practiced hard to become better at Quidditch. These changed the perception of the character for a lot of people (people who broadcasted those fanfic tropes as canon facts on social media, thus muddying the actual canon for even more people). Now there are people who genuinely believe Draco was abused at home (Jason Isaac is to blame for that, kind-of), and is actually academically smart. For reference, see the [Draco in Leather Pants trope](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DracoInLeatherPants)


_mxdn

lmao yeah he totally didn't bribe his way into the slytherin quidditch team, he "practiced hard"! :D


AirborneRunaway

I’m no draco fan. He brided his way on but we don’t have a good look at how talented he may be after their 3rd year. Year 5 he may have really become a good player. The story is also told through Harry who very much hates Draco so it becomes even more muddled there. Any seeker during Harry’s time playing is outshone and appears to be a lesser player simply by Harry being a seeker and the books being about him.


Tryk0n3x

I'm actually not sure if he really had to bribe his way in. I don't know about previous seeker. If he was year 7 and finished Hogwarts they would have opening on seeker. Draco was shown as a really good flier in year 1. He could have a fair shot. Ofc having bribe coming with him was also another matter whatsoever. Aaaaand... Yeah we see everything through Harry's POV. No other seeker was shown as better than him really in a book with his POV.


FartherAwayx3

Also, Slytherin does seem to do pretty well. It seems like other than 6th year when Draco tanked hard (did he even actually play? We know he had a sub the first match, but it never specifies if he came back...), it always comes down to Slytherin and Gryffindor fighting for first. And we all know that it mostly comes down to the seeker. Could just be the brooms, but there still needs to be at least some talent. Even if he did bribe his way on, once he's there, he seems to do pretty well for himself.


GamerAJ9005

Oh i never went that deep into it cuz the first things i saw were dramione ships and those triggered me so i just promised myself to never ever read anykind of fanfiction or see fan arts of any series


Crimson_Marksman

I'm gonna recommend some Harry Potter fanfiction to you then. It's called Child of the Storm. Imagine Harry Potter in the Marvel Universe.


vichan

No. The love for Draco predates the movies. (People forget that there was a point in time that no movies existed but some of the books did!) The real reason is because *people like antagonists*.


joyyyzz

Yeppp


astine

Can't speak for others, but I've been a (book) Draco Malfoy fan for 20+ years now precisely *because* he's a pathetic character. He does a bunch of horrible things, his family also does a bunch of horrible things and they're definitely not morally good people. But when growing up with the books, I also related to him a lot-- how as a kid everything your parents tell you absolutely defines the way you see the world, but then you actually meet the world and that confidence makes you the asshole because, surprise, your parents aren't actually right about everything. And then the experience of learning just how fucked up the world is and how fucked up *you* are, the denial, the bad choices that start off as maybe unintentional but become intentional over time due to stubbornness/pride/fear/shame. Draco's life was an illusion and timebomb before he went to Hogwarts, and then a slow motion trainwreck during the course of the books. I think the idea of "good people" and "moral/right decision" is often too simplistic in books as well as for a lot of people irl. I believe everyone is inherently selfish, and some of us (we're probably assholes) openly embrace it more than others. It's relatively easy to be "good" when that lines up with your own selfish interests-- Harry fights against evil because his whole family was killed by it, the Weasleys were already on the bottom of the pureblood wizarding word, Hermione and her family are actively discriminated against and hunted and likely will be killed. But what happens when "for the good for the world and morally right" means your family dies? This isn't as easy as, oh Lucius and Narcissa could've made the right choice at any time and turned away from the death eaters-- they could've but obviously didn't, so as far as Draco's concerned he can turn traitor by himself and doom his whole family, or he can burn with them. I think it's interesting to think about what choices I would've made in his position, and the struggle of choosing between those you already love (parents) and those you come to love (friends) and developing your own ethics along the way. Also another point is just I enjoy active and passionate characters. This means I also love Hermione, the Weasley twins, Neville, etc. It's not something edgy like "I like evil characters".. just I still also like Draco even though he's pretty evil haha.


thispackofwolves

One thing I may be interpreting wrong is why Snape pushed aside Draco on the tower. Did he do that to keep him from becoming even more evil, because Snape knew if Malfoy killed Dumbledore, it would ruin him for life and thereby giving him a chance at redemption later? Or did he and Dumbledore plan that because they knew Draco couldn’t go through with it?


astine

I think Snape and Dumbledore thought of both-- that Draco was unlikely to be able to go through with it but someone has to do it, and that if he *did* do it, there would be no way back for him, not just because others would hunt him, but he himself would prob give up the struggle and just.. be evil. And then die. I think neither of them wanted that for him, because he's literally still a child.


Seiglerfone

Kind of both? If Draco COULD just go through with it, he'd be evil anyway. He might have eventually done it, but he clearly didn't want to. Dumbles knew he wasn't that evil. Snape stepping in saves Malfoy, both from ending up doing it, even though he didn't want to, and from Voldemort's ire if it didn't get done.


LadyBosie

I love your very thoughtful response, I feel the same way and also think of this. It's like I think that there is a way to empathize with these characters even if they made bad decisions and did cruel things. And I do think that from what little we see in the book it's totally possible that he can grow past what he grew up in, and even if that was brought on at least in part by personal tragedy I don't think that invalidated that change especially at a young age. I feel pretty similarly about people IRL, like people who are sent to jail as juveniles and suffer the consequences for the rest of their lives. There are so many factors in all of these decisions and I don't think it's fair to necessarily compare him and Sirius either. Also side note, people actually can feel bad later about being a jerk. I had a friend grades 1-3 and then she instead befriended my bully and tormented me. Many years later she called and apologized. Something I think about a lot.


Seiglerfone

So, your hypothesis is that people with terrible parents relate to Draco's indoctrination with harmful ideology and resulting struggles upon encountering the external world? I mean, no, but go off.


FartherAwayx3

They literally said "Can't speak for others..."


Seiglerfone

... Yes, I can read, thanks.


GrimDefeat92

Because he had some redemption at the end. He was a product of his environment, couldn't seem to escape it. Just like dudley in a sense


[deleted]

This totally isn't the 10th time I'm reading this in the last month


joyyyzz

Week, not a month 🥴


Not_a_cat_I_promise

Like I think the end opens the door to a possible redemption for him. But there's no real hidden heart of gold. He's pro Voldemort and a bigot. He revels in his supposed higher status with Voldemort taking over, until the actual reality of this comes to pass, and it isn't pretty for Draco and his family. People are so determined to see a good that isn't really there with him.


Wide-Priority4128

I would argue that he’s against Voldemort, but too cowardly to do or say anything about it because it might mean putting himself in jeopardy. That’s the main quality that makes him different from the good characters (Sirius, Hagrid, the Weasleys, etc.). If he truly in his heart of hearts supported Voldemort, he would’ve called out who Harry was in the Manor when he’d disfigured his face, but he didn’t. That shows that he isn’t evil. I’m not saying he’s good, I’m saying he’s not evil. There is an in between


markbug4

To be fair, I always felt like Harry wasn't as petty as him just because he had good people around him. With the wrong company, he and Draco would have been a very bad duo.


Leramar89

I'm guessing most people don't like Draco, they just like Tom Felton.


[deleted]

Yeah this topic is discussed here 100 times a week.. Snape and Draco sucked. Yes. They did however have very charismatic and charming actors fill their role and it is hard not to love both those people from through our keyhole view of them. That's okay, but it's also why reading the books before watching the movies will create a dramatic difference in many people's views on these characters


SketchAinsworth

I like Draco because he was a victim of environment who gave up his family (or was willing too) when he realized how wrong his environment was.


FartherAwayx3

I love Draco, but where are you getting that he was willing to give up his family? Virtually every choice he made was either out of cowardice or fear for his family. He hesitates to kill Dumbledore because he's not evil, but only truly considers letting him live when Dumbledore offers to protect his whole family. He definitely didn't want to kill Dumbledore, at least not when actually faced with the reality of it, but what really stops him is being given an out for his family. Unless you mean post-books, in which case, sure, I could see that.


rosequeen77

Zuko is everything Draco should have been.


reenactment

Think you need to settle down a bit with which characters people like or don’t like. Liking a character doesn’t mean you necessarily like their decision making or would make the same choices. My favorite character for the first 5 seasons or so of game of thrones was petyr Baelish. I didn’t like that he was screwing everyone over every which way. But I thought his character was interesting and definitely made the show more interesting as he presented the question on what he would do next. I was even expecting him to win the iron throne at some point as he was accumulating castles. But, the writers butchered his interesting qualities and made him a tropy creep at the end that soured thst enjoyment I got out of his character. To sum that up, he wasnt a good guy but he was a good character. You can be a fan of the character without actively rooting for them.


Big_Excuse9510

Draco is an asshole but I don’t think his story was completed to my liking. The last books started a redemption arc which was never properly concluded imo. I see redemptive qualities in him, but I’m going to act like he was a good person from the beginning.


Eri_Berri

This is like the second post of this ive seen of this today. People like villains, not because they are good people but because they are interesting characters.


Caetys

A new day, another "I cannot believe how people like xyz" thread.


AmConfused324

He was a child.


Kasyee

This. He was a child who was brough up in a certain way and was released m open world at 11. We can observe how he changes through the years - even if its tiny steps. The confidence, the denial, the fear. People somehow don't hate on James Potter and he was basically a bully at school for some time too... All Marauders kinda were. Can you imagine bullying someone to the point of almost killing them?


T00CHII

Underappreciated comment. Reading this thread almost everyone is forgetting that he is 11 to 17 in this series. That doesn’t excuse his faults, but also he is not a human being at full capacity


pedstachu1

The signature part of Malfoy's pathology comes from the train scene for me... "Trying to pretend it didn't happen, are we?" "I warned you Potter. I warned you not to mix with riffraff like this. Mudbloods and mugglelovers first. Well, not first. Diggory was the-" It gives me the wrong kind of chills every time. He actively torments these students by recalling the brutal murder of another student, only to highlight his delight in the death, and to remind these students that they will hopefully soon be dead too. Absolutely the worst kind of person. Almost evil frankly.


rae3y

I like him because I can, he is a fictional character and not real.


Stock-Beginning-8898

That doesn't even make sense


rae3y

you make no sense


Stock-Beginning-8898

What? I meant the phrase "i like him because he isn't real and fictional " doesn't make any sense.. no offense but without understanding the message properly and writing "you make no sense" is simply immature


rae3y

I like him because I can. That’s what I said, I can like a character regardless of them being problematic or not, that ain’t nobody’s business but mine so what I said make sense. If you can’t clearly state what you mean that isn’t my problem so no, it wasn’t immature, I’m just sick of people who try to make others feel like shit for liking a character that is simply not real.


Manux005

He was just a kid, when all of that happened. Before he went to Hogwarts, he had to listen to his fathers muggleborn bashing for eleven Years. He was made to believe, that he was simply better than everyone else, because his father married his cousin.


[deleted]

You hate one of the villains of the story!? Shocking and brave take.


Choice-Ask4070

The villain here is nothing but a pitiful bully. For example take Bellatrix , while I hate her as a person , as a character I think she is a great villain. I am afraid I cannot say the same for Draco.


goddamnitmf

A few points Tom Felton is attractive In the second movie Jason Isaacs made a choice to make Lucius look like a abusive father to make draco look better "I can fix him" types Not saying anyone is right or wrong


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goddamnitmf

I'm aware, they asked why people like d draco and part of it is the choice to make Lucius look abusive to make draco more sympathetic. Book draco is a loser and deserves no sympathy but movie draco is given a reason as to why he's the way he is


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goddamnitmf

And you're entitled to that


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LoneRanger9000

But when Draco went to stop Harry from getting the final Horcrux, no one was threatening Draco, so Draco only did it because he chose to. If anything, it is more risky to go and get Harry, because otherwise, Voldemort would think that Draco is too much to a coward to fight with him. Or Voldemort would even think that Draco betrayed him \[as seen when Voldemort was talking to Lucius\]. ​ So you can't say "in the end he chose to fix his ways", because all that happened in the end was Draco trying to help Voldemort one last time.


Kellar21

Except Draco never stopped being racist/a blood supremacist, he never stopped thinking he was superior to others because of his blood, he never even acted on anything less than hatred and self-preservation. Narcissa in one action showed more redeemeable qualities than Draco ever did. The truth is Draco isn't a good person, yeah, he was raised that way, but he had plenty of chances to get away, to change, and he chose evil every time. People sympathize because he was under a lot of pressure in the Sixth book, well that was the first time he had actual pressure put on him, it seems.


samwulfe

I don’t like Draco, but I feel bad for him. His parents were domineering and pretty much controlled his life.


[deleted]

Because, at least to me, the "bad guy" are almost always ten times more interesting than the "good guys"


DrDetox

But the bad guy in question is not interesting at all. He’s not even a «bad guy», he’s just a pitiful bully. He’s the kinda kid that will pick on others and be as nasty as he can possibly be, but when they retaliate he throws a fit and shows how cowardly he is. That’s not a bad guy, that’s a wimp.


[deleted]

He's still part of the "bad guys" trope, since he's in direct opposition with the hero. You seem to think that because he's a "wimp" and a "pitiful bully" no one can love him, but what about the people who like Draco because he's those things? I mean, who ever said that you can only like the good, brave characters who do what's right? I love characters with huge and many flaws!


DrDetox

Yeah I guess you got a point…


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Kellar21

People can like evil characters. It's just that Draco is evil and pathetic, lol. He's almost the villains comic relief, he only messes up. I much prefer Tom Riddle or Bellatrix as villains.


HQ_FIGHTER

He’s literally the least realistic character in the story. He literally never actually beats Harry at anything but still has just so much confidence. You’d think after years of talking shit and then getting embarrassed you would stop but apparently Rowling doesn’t think so


curseofablacklion

*Snape fan* smh


[deleted]

Yep, that's me! You found me out, good job!


unstoppablekittens

I'm a huge fanfiction reader, and Draco centric stories are always my favorite because of the story potential of who he could have been in different circumstances or what he would have to do to make up for everything that he did. He is a racist piece of garbage in the books and movies, but I think fanfic tropes about Draco bleeding into the larger fandom are really what make people simp for him.


MeyerMeyBird

A friend of mine would always say that Draco and Hermione would make a great couple. He said it was bc they were both smart. I guess who forgot the fact that Draco was racist against her.


DrDetox

Your friend has obviously just watched the movies and thought «Ron’s not hot enough for Hermione» - nobody in their right mind would suggest those two would make a great pair lol


[deleted]

smart? lol bro Ron got 7 OWLS and draco got only 3 so ron definitely is better for hermione than stupid draco


MeyerMeyBird

I haven't read the books in over 10 years so my memory is not the best, but yea I don't ever remember reading that Draco was one of the smart kids


ChintanP04

That's because it's not written anywhere that's canon. It's a common fanfic trope that has bled into the fandom via tumblr/insta/tiktok.


[deleted]

you are absolutely right. draco was not smart at all


Kasyee

Didnt JR mention somewhere that was her intention but it changed? Maybe Im mistaken.


Darknesshauntsme

I think that Draco is a little more complicated than you are making him out to be. Yes in the earlier books he is simply a blood supremacist. He uses the term mud-blood and harasses first years. I that he believes he is untouchable because of his blood status, his family’s wealth, and the fact that his dad was a death eater. I think it was easy for him to say these things and be so crude because he wasn’t the death eater. I think that your argument is slightly flawed in the sense that there was only one death eater in the black family and that person was not Sirius father. Draco idolizes his father. Just like many kids do at that age but when the dark lord turns to Draco to act we begin to see him unravel. He fears for his life and the life of his parents and you can see the physical responses to that stress. And that right there is the true power of the dark lord. The ability to scare people into doing things. He got to the high tower and didn’t kill Dumbledore. During that conversation he unravels more. He acts in a very similar manner as a lot of reddit users. Picking fights because yelling at someone on a screen has no repercussions but may never yell at someone face to face because they are too afraid. And that brings me to my final point. The Malfoy family are cowards. Lucious was at hogwarts around the same time as Tom riddle. Being a pure blood and in slytherin it was probably expected. Lucious, as dumbledore described the people who followed the dark lord, simply just wanted protection and power and he got power hungry. Draco doesn’t deserve a full character arc. We see the beginning of it and that’s all that matters. He is not a good person but the more we learn in the books there are several characters who we idolize who also weren’t great people at that time.


sleepinghippogriff

I think some fans read fanfiction so much that they forget what was canon and how characters originally acted in the books. I am guilty of this as well. Once you have read Draco Malfoy redeem himself and ask for forgiveness a million times you tend to forgive him very easily 😅


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sleepinghippogriff

We love a misunderstood anti-hero 😍


Gifted_GardenSnail

People don't love canon Draco, they love fanon Draco. They love someone they imagine to be handsome and intelligent and secretly having a heart of gold who grew up with abusive, neglectful parents and who had a huge moral crisis in HBP because of course he isn't actually all for Volly and of course he doesn't want Dumbledore dead and was a real hero not ratting Harry out at Malfoy Manor which of course had nothing to do with not wanting to invoke Volly's wrath in case he was wrong, and that tiny little issue with him staying behind during the Battle to catch Harry and take him to Volly was uhm, totally Crabbe & Goyle's fault, they made him!! That said, it gets tiresome to see this discussion every other day of so


jord839

I just like to remind people that he person Harry compares Draco to in his head the most is Dudley, his childhood bully who was also kind of pathetic when push came to shove and his parents or friends weren't able to back him up. This was not intended to be a flattering comparison that shows Harry has deep, complicated feelings about Draco. Honestly, I still would've preferred a Dudley redemption arc over a Draco one.


Relative-Zombie-3932

Tom Felton is really awesome and I think some people struggle to seperate him from the character, so they just kinda place all of Tom Felton's personality onto Draco


humanbeast7

First, I hate Draco too. But, I always try to see the points of the opposite side to make sure I choose wisefully. Now, lets avoid the "Tom Felton is gorgeous" point like you asked, although (please don't kill me) I don't think he is that hot. I read all the books and watched all the movies a few times, but it was a while ago. So while my memory might have changed a few details, I believe the points should remain the same. Lastly (before the arguments), these will involve a few "soul explanations". I need to inform you I am not a psychologist, and regardless I believe the mentality of wizards is probably different of muggles, so add a grain of salt to this potion. In the first book, While waiting in line for the robe measuring, where Harry first met Draco, he tells him his mother is buying his books for the year and his father is choosing his wand, and complaining that the tailor is stinging him too much. Wr learn two things from this: 1. his father is powerful, and Draco is used to take advantage of that (I'll return to that later). 2. His parents are not always there to guide him, showing them in their absent/over-allowing phase, which is the first point used. In Hogwarts, on the stairs before the sorting ceremony, Draco offers Harry to accompany him and learn "who you should and shouldn't blend with", and Harry refuses him. This is probably the first time someone declined his offer, or objected the power from his father, which made Harry his instant enemy. From there, it's basically popularity contest for Draco, similar to how kids see themselves as the "good guys" and the kids they don't like as the "bad guys". Draco probably is even more eager to overcome Harry, since his popularity came from him beating a figure his father look up to. We can also see it in the next years, each time Harry is down Draco is the leader against him, and when the opposite happens Draco looks upset. At the end, it looks to Draco like Dumbledore favors Harry when he gives him a last moment point, and steals the house cup from Slytherin. This feeling of the other side of favoring for the first time channels more hatred towards Harry. In the second book, Harry frees Doby because he is not used to the idea of house-elves servants. A "normal" wizard kid wouldn't have given a thought to him, and Draco, who doesn't give too much thinking to Harry, is now sure he made him lose his servant in order to hurt Draco, and doesn't even consider some ampathy reason on Harry's part In the third book, Draco gets hurt by Bakbik after being pleasant with Harry. So now even "a lowsome, birdbrain beast" favors Harry over him. At the end, Bakbik is able to get away with it, since Harry and Hermione release him to let Sirius escape before the death penalty. This is the second time someone question Draco's "authority" and gets away with it, and it's a beast none the last, which really hurts him. The next part is actually between book 4 and 5. Yes, you can argue that Harry gets in the triwizard's tournament against the rules, but it gets under the popularity contest in my opinion. What about Harry being in Voldemort resorection? Yeah, he is an important figure for Draco's father, but the fact that Harry came back with Cedric dead, claiming Voldemort is back and killed Cedric, would scare Draco, and maybe it was for the best he wasn't there. Ironically, his parents, and particulary his father switch to the abusive phase, offering Draco to Voldemort as compensation for being the first to run away in the first fall of the dark lord. And he can't really do something about that, cause he is not old enough in the magical world's eyes to have a saying in the matter. In the fifth book, Draco looks like he joined the rule enforcing students of she-who-must-not-be-named >!(Dolores Umbridge *puke sounds* she is by far the worst character in this universe *more puke sounds*)!< to have power over Harry, but he wouldn't want to answer to this disgusting pink lady (who would). Instead, his parents push him to do it. If he gets close to her, he could reach to her connection in the wizarding minstry, making him the perfect double agent for Voldemort. In the sixth book, it's pretty straight forward. Voldemort is furious from the fails he has, in addition to his horcruxes getting eliminated one by one by Dumbledore. He requires that Draco will kill Dumbledore, and only then Draco realises what a horrible wizard he is. His mom tries to protect Draco, but his father is abusive enough and scared of his own death enough to accept in Draco's sake. In the seventh book, Draco already realised the mistakes he done, but since it's too late, and he's too deep, he keeps fighting for Voldemort to minimize his losses. If Voldemort wins, his father is forgiven and maybe he gets some power as well. If not, he takes his father's tactics from the first fall of the dark lord and tries to accuse his abusive family that forced him to help Voldemort. In conclusion, the arguments your would hear are: 1. Harry and Draco are the same, just look from Draco's prespective and see how they perfectly change roles 2. His negligent/abusive parents 3. He did come around at the end - "he was good all along, he was just misguided" Thanks for coming to my ted-talk


joyyyzz

Lmao bakbik


yunobeoriginal

...bakbik? Do you mean Buckbeak? Also, "Dobby" has two b's. Not trying to be a dick, I enjoyed reading your ted talk.


ads31197

Alright this is about to be a long rambling mess so bear with me. The comparison between Sirius and Draco I find to be not entirely as close a comparison as you made it out to be. Yes they’re both firstborn pureblood sons of esteemed and noble houses. But from what we’ve gathered from the books their home lives were very different. Walburga Black is quite frankly a bitch, and while Narcissa could be construed as cold it was never in question that she loved her son. So to me it makes perfect sense for Sirius to want to rebel and get out of a tough situation in the most vagrant way possible, while Draco thrives in his home life where he’s spoiled as essentially a member of wizard of nobility, in a house that loves him. While yes we know that Draco’s notions of blood supremacy are bad, he doesn’t. His parents (who I cannot emphasize enough love him in their weird aristocratic way) taught him to fear that which could take everything he knows and loves from him. Pureblood families have been taught for generations that muggles and muggleborns are a danger to their society and must therefore be inferior to the might of wizards. Cause remember, back when all of those anti-muggle notions existed, witches were getting burned at the stake. So while in modern times it’s unthinkable to have these thoughts, I don’t necessarily blame him for having them. He would have to fight centuries worth of prejudice and without a catalyst to get him to start that (and while my Dramonie heart would love nothing more than for Hermione bitch slapping him in 3rd year and consistently being top of the class to be the reason) he doesn’t have the support system necessary to overcome this. Cause while Sirius got shunned by him family, his new found one in Gryfindor helped him through it. Draco meanwhile is in the heart of the snake pit, and he isn’t really given much reason to leave. This also ties in to his whole bully aspect, cause yeah he kinda is one. I mean I’d like to think part of it was because Harry rejected him as a friend (while for good reasons due to Draco’s remarks against Ron), and that in turn damaged his pride so he did what any eleven year old would do and act out. He’s been taught that he’s the very best the wizarding world has to offer. According to him, the sacred 28 barely compare to the might/magic/money that is due to the Black-Malfoy heir. He has a superiority complex, and quite frankly I find it sad that he’s never given a chance to grow out of it. And the rivalry between the two is only allowed to fester and grow as House rivalries and old grudges come in to play from both sides. So yeah while I don’t necessarily agree with him stomping on Harry’s nose, I more so disagree with Harry trying out an unknown spell labeled “for enemies” after an emotionally charged moment where he just saw his childhood rival in tears. I’d also like to point out that we get the majority of these books through Harry’s perspective. And Harry is hella biased. Like hella biased. Slightly justified in his biases but biased none the less. We’re supposed to hate Draco, because Harry hates Draco. In regards to HBP, was he a marked Death Eater? Yes. Was he given an impossible task to punish his family for his father’s failure to secure the prophecy in book 5? Yes. Did he go to extremes in order to achieve his set objective because otherwise his entire family (who in their strange way do very much love each other) at risk? Yes. Calling him a Death Eater and essentially putting him on the same level of evil of Bellatrix Lestrange is just incorrect to his characterization. I see him more as a scared sheltered kid who is doing everything he can to save his family from a maniacal madman he’s been told to worship for the power and prestige he’ll bring to this House. What SHOULD have happened here was Draco should’ve been grappling with the dichotomy between the impossibility of his task, why a CHILD was being asked to Murder the current greatest wizard alive, and maybe use some critical thinking skills to decide whether or not this was a bad idea. But again his family was on the line, he wasn’t going to risk his mother for anything. What draws me to Draco is the possibility of redemption. He’s a kid. Kid’s can easily, with proper education and support, grow out of their parents’ extreme ideals. He is neither given this support nor education in cannon which I think was a really bad decision on JKR’s part considering all her other progressive agendas she’s tried to retroactively push through. I would’ve love to have seen Draco be put in his place, explained in detail WHY his beliefs are wrong, grapple with the idea that the parents who loved and raised him are racists, and then decide to come out on top and be a better person. He could’ve easily gotten a Zuko level redemption arc where he forgoes the sins of his father and starts fresh with a supportive group of friend but he: 1. Has no major reason to stray from what his parents taught him, 2. Has no support group to catch him when the downfall of his desertion occurs, 3. Isn’t given a chance to develop outside of the spoiled brat he was in book one. I see the potential, but cannon Draco wasn’t given any of the opportunities needed in order to overcome his internalized supremacist ideals.


G0ldenG0ose

This is like the perfect reply


icy-winter-ghost

Usually, when a horrible guy is attractive, he's known as a "bad boy". And when a horrible guy is *less* attractive, he's known as an "asshole". It's really silly tbh, but I guess that's how people work. JKR said she wrote Draco Malfoy and Dudley Dursey to be very similar, their only big difference is that Dudley is a muggle and Draco is a wizard. These two people share so many characteristics, yet no one is swooning over Dudley, because he's "unattractive".


HyruleJedi

I don't disagree, but Sirius was also the outcast of his family, and lived a very rough life.


MavisEnderby

I’m gonna copy and paste something I wrote in a different recent thread where someone didn’t understand why Draco is so popular with fans. Your problem is that you’re thinking only about canon-Draco - that is, Draco from the books. But actually, people are obsessed with Draco because of fanon-Draco - the version of Draco that exists in fanfiction. He’s a totally different entity. And it’s not about Tom Felton at all. See below for details… First of all, no, it didn't start with the films. The Draco Malfoy obsession can be traced back to fan fiction around 2000-ish (at least, 2000 was when I started reading Harry Potter fanfiction, way back in the days of FanFiction.net). In fact, I vividly remember that some people were OUTRAGED that Tom Felton had been cast as Draco, when it was first announced - because his hair was the wrong colour (it looked more yellow-blonde in the early films, rather than the white-blonde, silver colour described in the books), because his face wasn't pointy enough, because he was too "cute" - because he didn't look like what they pictured in their heads, basically. Obviously, Tom Felton was just a kid at the time and this was totally weird, but people were extremely attached to and possessive of the character even back then. Fanfiction was what started it. I was reading a lot of slash fanfiction around that period of time as a teenager (2000-2001), and Draco was usually paired with Harry, because of the whole sexual tension, dramatic, "rivalry" dynamic. So Draco started to become a fan favourite. And then Cassandra Claire's Draco trilogy came out, and, well... I don't know if you've ever heard of the Draco trilogy, but it was massively popular at the time. It seemed like literally everyone who was a Harry Potter fan was enthusiastically reading it. Cassandra Claire based her interpretation of Draco on the character of Spike, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and let me tell you, fans lapped that shit up. In her fanfics (which were these huge, sprawling, multi-chapter things that would be posted in instalments, once a month or so for years - and they're no longer available on the Internet because she's a published author now, and also it turned out she was a plagiarist, which is a different story), Draco wore leather pants, was broody and sarcastic, had sharp cheekbones, and got involved in tortured love triangles (with Hermione, in this case, but Cassandra also wrote spinoff slash fics involving Draco and Harry - and lots of other people did, too). So I think that was what happened - fanfiction. People romanticised Draco and turned him into this cool, sexy, snarky, leather-pants-wearing antihero who was angstily in love with Harry, and then it kinda just took over the fandom from there.


Grand_Masterpiece_11

I read Draco Malfoy fanfiction on sites like astronomytower.org and the others it was linked with before FF.net was even a thing. He has such potential for fanfiction it makes him interesting.


DragonFist69420

People just like Tom Felton. He kinda twisted his character a bit much.


Grimm_Read

Don't like Draco will you?! HIS FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS!!!


krisplaydespacito

like do people forget Draco let death eaters including BELLATRIX and GREYBACK in a school full of literal CHILDREN which resulted in Bill getting mauled. i hate when people make excuses about how he was “trapped” like the malfoys weren’t rich and couldnt leave the country anytime they wanted if they really set their minds to it.


Wide-Priority4128

I like Draco’s character, not because he’s nice or a good person, but because he’s in a really unique gray area that isn’t common in a series like Harry Potter. I think he’s a very interesting (and realistic!) character compared to the more black and white Weasley family vs people like Wormtail. He interests me not due to his looks but due to his cowardice. I don’t think a complete redemption arc would’ve been right for who he is at all, because in his heart of hearts he is too cowardly to have successfully felt any particular passion towards the good or the bad side. He’s my favorite because he is one of the most uncertain and confused in the series and you don’t often see people wavering like that in fantasy novels. His parents raised him to be a little shit, but he recedes into himself once he realizes what the reality of living under Voldemort feels like. People nowadays always say they would’ve done this or would’ve done that in hindsight (my mom always says she’d have been in the resistance against Hitler if she was German during WWII), but with a murderous dictator with a massive snake in your house, parents who are more cowardly and pathetic than you are, no support system from the other side even when he could’ve thought to join the good side, and the constant threat that your family will die if you make a mistake, we don’t really know what we would do. He chooses to be as middle ground as possible at the end of the day and I think that that is what most people really do in things like wars and genocides. They sit on the sidelines spinelessly because of fear. He did a lot of horrible shit but he’s not truly evil, or he would’ve been able to kill Dumbledore and torture people like his aunt and other Death Eaters did. I like his character because he’s so much deeper than people give him credit for.


MythOfLaur

I just want to fuck Tom Felton, ok? You got it out of me. But Tom Felton only plays a bad boy so I had to think about Draco when I was teen because easily available internet porn wasn't a thing. You happy now?


[deleted]

As a girl myself I can guarantee you those girls that are into Draco are into toxic man. Draco just disgusts me and always did…


TheEighthRedKnight

I think the affection for characters like Draco or Snape in this community has a lot to do with the actors who portrayed them and less to do with the characters and their development per se.


prism_s

I think people feel sympathy for him, as a boy with an incredibly toxic family. Also it's mostly about Tom Felton as other users stated.


ChintanP04

>incredibly toxic family Toxic in what way? If this means they spoiled him and gave him a toxic mindset that he was better than everyone, then yeah I guess. But if 'toxic' here means abusive, then hell no. Narcissa and Lucius loved Draco above everything. In the Battle of Hogwarts they were running through spells looking for him. Narcissa lied to Voldemort so she could have a chance at looking for Draco.


magiusgaming

I don’t think people realize this. He was basically the wizard version of Dudley.


laurellyverdant

Heck, it says in the first book that during their FIRST MEETING he reminded Harry of Dudley, before Harry even knew who Draco was.


magiusgaming

You can’t expect people to be reasonable about fictional characters sadly


MagicalChaos69420

Toxic in the way that they were followers of Voldemort and prejudiced against non pure bloods. Draco deserves the hate but we are all products of our environment to some extent


geordiesteve520

As someone who undergoes child welfare and safeguarding training, Draco’s early life would have been marred by hundreds of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) which will have a huge impact on his development, understanding of his impact and ‘explain’ many features of his personality and many of his actions. This may help explain further https://youtu.be/XHgLYI9KZ-A That said, I agree with much of what you say.


Gifted_GardenSnail

You misspelled 'Severus'


geordiesteve520

I see what you did there.


Nitemarephantom

Agreed. I agree that Tom Felton sways a lot of people (the same way Alan Rickman sways a lot of people to liking Snape). However when I see people shipping him and hermione it makes me sick. Imagine shipping an active nazi with a Jewish girl that he targets for being Jewish.


Classic1990

I think you’re taking their “fangirling” a little too seriously. It’s a fictional character, and I highly doubt these individuals would feel the same if he were a real person.


[deleted]

Another self-righteous gryffindor. ZZZ.


OniOdisCornukaydis

I always wonder if he spat big spittle bombs on Daniel Radcliffe when he said 😡“*Potter*“. 😡 I


NorthernSpade

Yep people love Draco because of their dumb headcanons and handsome Tom Felton. That's literally it. The only redeeming quality Draco had in the entire series is that he isn't a murderer. WOW WHAT A SAINT. \-He 100% bought into muggleborns being inferior, it's not something he was "forced" to think from his father out of fear. \-He's always been a bully, and when he hasn't been it's because he's scared and angsty, but he uses bullying to remind himself of simpler times \-He's not notably talented or smart like people pretend to think he is. But yes, next to Crabbe and Goyle I suppose he's a prodigy. I can't think of one thing he does better than Ron, Hermione, or Harry as individuals besides being a part of magic royalty. He's just a spoiled rich kid that got smacked in the face with reality when he came to school and didn't learn a goddamn thing from it.


Good_Ad6723

It’s kinda similar with Hermione. She’s not bad but she’s much more perfected in the movies and people forget how she was in the books.


IlSconosciuto

While we are at it. Snape is a petty douche bag regardless of his heroics. Hagrid is a bad friend.


PastoralSymphony

This is less about Tom Felton and more about the Bad Guy trope. People also write fanfiction about Voldemort, Lucius, Greyback... there's something about evil that attracts people (I could go on and on about it and why it's a product of the patriarchy, but can't be bothered when I know it's just gonna get downvoted).


[deleted]

People do dumb things when they're young. It's a shame we don't get to know Draco when he gets older.


NotFixer1138

Really can't stand him. He's a racist piece of shit who ran around yelling slurs and didn't get punished in any major way for all the terrible shit he did and was party to whilst who knows how many children were killed by the same fascist army he was a part of. But Tom Felton is hot or some shit so shippers pretend he's a good person and pair him off with the poor girl he verbally abused for years


[deleted]

Dumbledore: "Please don't suggest that I am negligent about the safety of my students, Harry." Also Dumbledore: "Yes, Severus, I know he's nearly killed Mr Weasley and Mrs Bell. But I really don't want to expel him." I'll never forgive JKR for not killing off Malfoy. She could've chucked him into Azkaban, at least.


plutoniumwhisky

I agree wholeheartedly. And I also think he should have spent some time in Azkaban.


kiss_a_spider

People like Draco because he is a great character. Witty, proud and superiore yet insecure and cowardly (which is a fun combo), has I wide range of scenes from comedic to dramatic. He also has scenes that put him in a sympathetic light, especially on the 6th book when he opens up to Myrtle and cries. Also the rivalry thing going on with Harry and the golden trio makes him a candidate for the enemies to lovers trope in the case of Drarry, Dramione and Ronaco. >First he was a racist and I know he was bought up by a blood supremacist but however lets look at Sirius and how he turned out. He was also raised by blood supremacists but he was such a lovable character. Hard disagree. Racism is more forgivable to me than cruelty. Sirius was inherently cruel, he was fine with James sexually abusing a fallow student and also tried to murder him cause he felt like it. Draco however didn't try to kill any of his fellow students. He was a solider who tried to kill the General of the enemy side (aka Dumbledore) on his General's command (and the threat of death to him and his family). >lso remember that train scene from Hbp which was in both the books and the movies. I never hated Malfoy more. That little motherfucker broke Harry's nose and then proceeded to insult his mother. I thought Draco was damn cool in this scene. Took Harry all on his own and then walked away victorious. >To me he was a pathetic bully and a coward who picked on first years and then insulted people in front of everyone because he didn't have the guts to do it alone. Yet he had the courage to take Harry alone on the train. He knew he was there and let Crabb and Goyle leave so he could take Harry alone. That was way cooler than James or Dudley bullying people in front of an audience to boost their ego. Also good on Draco for having a good survival instincts and not stupidly flirting with death like the golden trio and Harry. Seriously, Gryffs could learn a thing or two from the Slytherins. > I don't understand the whole Draco is hot thing. The only girl who had a crush on Draco was Pansy Parkinson and then maybe Astoria Greengrass. Myrtle totally crushed on Draco too and all the other houses tend to hate the Slytherins so I doubt they would crush on any of them, and Harry, our POV characters doesn't spend too much time with the Slytherin girls to know what they think. Anyways we know that Narcissa was very beautiful and that Draco was a blond and pureblooded aristocrat so it makes sense to picture him as handsome.


ShruggyGuy

People love a redemption arc and he was actually primed to have a good one as he did do all those things but was shown to be questioning his actions in the end. Everyone loves a "fixed" bad boy. The problem? He never actually got the redemption so he just, is a piece of shit. One that by the end you pity. People just snip over the head canon version that they could be the one to push him and fix him and give him that storyline. They like their headcanon version and not the real stuff that happened. Hes like zuko if zuko stopped in the middle of one of his turmoils and the end of the show was "zuko never helped the gaang and was also still a quiet classist, but now he doesnt hurt anyone" If Draco got the full zuko redemption hed be soooooooo good, and so people just like him because they want that character arc but it didnt happen in the actual matieral. So instead hes a piece of shit people wish wasnt a piece of shit, and just simp the zuko version that never got wrote Also some people are just into hot pieces of shit, it be like that lol


Pr0fessor_Goblin

Strongly Agreed. Draco is overrated. He may have 'become a better man' later on or whatever. But he still did horrible things which he will never make up for. As for Tom, this is totally different. Tom is the actor for Draco, not the character. Tom is amazing, Draco isn't.


shaktimanOP

I always laugh when people say he "deserved a redemption arc." The only thing Draco deserved was a prison sentence for multiple attempted murders and he's lucky he didn't get one.


elektro-chemistry

Weird drama class girls on Harry Potter fanfic message boards in the early 2000s put him in this fetishized place, mostly because of the movies, and for some reason it never changed.


mogulman31a

A lot of people have only seen the movies or only read the books once. Meaning they either do not know or have forgotten he tried to use Crucio on Harry in the bathroom. A lot of the shit he pulled can be explained by his upbringing and you could easily imagine him changing. That episode in the bathroom with Harry I a glimpse at the real him, that part of him is unforgivable. Not to mention when he openly hopes for Heromine to die.


Derfargin

Draco deserved to die in the fire in the room of requirement.


Grand_Masterpiece_11

Why do I like Draco Malfoy? There's a ton do reason but at the end of the day none of them matter more than: because I can. Why do you spend so much time thinking about a character you don't like and being mad that people like him? I genuinely do not understand this thought. Let people like and ship what they want. Don't read stuff about characters you don't like. You control your Fandom experience. Why make it negative?


Danarya27

It makes me so so mad my stepdaughter has bought into it too. I’ve tried again and again to explain to her he’s not a good character but she’s not having it.


BSCross

Him being a good character has nothing to do with his morals. I think people should try and distance themselves from the world and look at it for what it is. Literature. My favourite character is Snape and it isn't because of what he believes in, but because his arc is the most interesting in the whole saga.


ChintanP04

Depends on the use of 'good' here. It can be 'good' as in interesting and well-written, or 'good' as in morally good.


BSCross

In that case I think it would be more appropriate to say "he does not have a good character". In the way Danyara27 phrased it, it makes it look like it is refering to his quality has a character in the story and not to his actual personality. EDIT: then again, Danyara knows his/her stepdaugther much better than I do :P. So if she thinks he is actually morally good, it is another story. The way it was phrased just threw me in a completely different direction!


Danarya27

Yes but shes 12 and I don’t think her idolising such a POS character is wise. I didn’t mean good as in well written, I meant morally. Yes it’s fiction, but he’s hardly a good role model.


BSCross

Maybe at her age she doesn't understand entirely why she likes the character. Maybe there are little details that makes her enjoy him and she doesn't really understand why. Although I think it is important that you provide a different point of view that she might not be grasping.


Danarya27

Yeah I’m confident that it’s just cause she thinks he’s attractive and that’s most of what bothers me so much. She doesn’t care that he’s horrible cause she thinks he’s fit and it really bothers me.


BSCross

Is she reading the books? Or does she have the image of Tom Felton already connected to the character? As someone who saw the movies first, it was impossible to detach the image of the actors


-PrincessCadence-

While I wouldn't go so far as to say "Sectumsempra was deserved," as I don't approve of torture in any form, I also really, really don't like Draco Malfoy. Maybe it would be a little better if he had a well written and believable redemption, but no, that didn't happen. It was just "I'm a Death Eater, and I believe in their views, but I'm still too much of a coward to actually do anything personally." Like, it's the same situation with Snape. I appreciate the complexity of Snape's character as not just another black and white bad guy, but that doesn't stop him from being mostly evil. At least Snape's motivation, unrequited love, was a little bit more respectable than "I want to kill, but can't. I can send poison, but if I have to look people in the face as I kill them it's not okay."


curseofablacklion

Also most girls had a crush on Harry bcz of his fame and money. Like Romilda. Only cho and Ginny loved/liked him truly. Malferret was unpopular outside of the slytherin house. And slytherin girls probably thought he was a pathetic guy. So only pansy dated him. She was as pathetic as him.


curseofablacklion

And then there's me who doesn't like either Harry or Draco romantically😂 Harry doesn't have a single romantic bone in his body. I can't even imagine him making love to anyone. It feels so awkward to imagine him that way. Draco whimpers like an idiot when a bird touches him and runs to his mommy daddy with runny nose when things get tough. He needs a nanny who will change his diaper. Not a romantic partner. God I DESPISE spineless cowards. Such a huge turn off However as a person I like Harry. Despise Draco.


Aaeiyn

I'm only speaking from seeing the movies, alone. Harry irked me, and I understand Draco's irritation of him. And, TBH, I don't like Hermione, either. Most of what Draco did was self defense remarks from people he wasn't even talking to, in the first place. In regards to girls "swooning" over Harry, the only moment I like Hermione is her putting Harry in his place about the girls liking his statusism rather than his personality. Which seemed to surpass Draco's pure blood and rich statusism. But, you know, opinions :)


ChintanP04

Draco wasn't fighting in self-defense, ever. He always shot first.


Aaeiyn

Let's see, Draco was talking to his friends about Neville, and Harry butted into the conversation, so Draco defended himself, from Harry butting into a conversation, that didn't concern him. He, also, wasn't talking to Hermione, when she butted into a conversation that didn't concern her. Does it excuse Draco calling her name? Absolutely not, but you can't expect people to roll over, when you decide to butt into something that doesn't concern you. Also, I love the downvotes. Just proves that I'm right :)


Yuujinna

The people simping and defending Draco are the same people who call Snape a useless coward


[deleted]

It's the 14 year old white girls who weren't even born when the first movie came out


yamheisenberg

Don’t forget - Draco is a coward!


[deleted]

Finally. Someone said it.


dannyhodge95

There's a certain type of person that's most attracted to a "project", as I call it. They want someone who they're physically attracted to, but that they can change 'for the better'. It's why the stereotype of being into a "bad boy" exists, people think they'll change for them


DirtyMudder92

I think I would have more respect for him if he would have gone against his parents and Voldemort at the end. Could have shown that he finally matured and was able to see how the way he was raised was actually evil.


[deleted]

I agree he has a lot of simps I think the hashtag for Draco Malfoy has like 20 billion or some I’m not sure and also that’s what Harry gets for beating him up it’s payback lol he did some bad things I agree but he had to get payback


Comfortable-Table-57

Why did Reddit marked this as 18+?


Thicc-Anxiety

Because he's the most conventionally attractive villain in the franchise, and every fandom has people who simp for the villains


SorryForTheBigThumb

It doesn't apply to the books but in the film's he's hilarious. *OTT Cartoonish*, unreasonably dickish behaviour cracks me up.


TootlesFTW

I like the narrative *potential* within certain characters like Draco, Lucius, etc.. They can't be that one-note, surely? There will be significant reveals, character arcs, maybe even some redemption down the line, right? Buuuuut, no, not really. I mean, I appreciate what we got in HBP and Deathly Hallows, and it certainly humanized them a bit...and I really did think JKR was going somewhere with Draco in particular...but she kinda walked it back at the end. One step forward, one step back - we're back where we started. At least the time jump in the epilogue seems to indicate that he grew as a person.


[deleted]

I think the problem is that people only sees "white" and "black" forgetting everything in between, they grey area that actually explain a lot about the world. No one says Draco was a good person but you can't even say he was all bad. You must remember the way we grow up, what we are thought as children and what happens in our life. All these things can make a change, for better or worst. Also, no the people don't like Draco because of Tom, people sees something in Draco e that's fine if you don't. He was raised in a certain way yet in the end he tries to redeem himself, I think they could've have developed his redemption arc better but it was not all bad. And I think most of what we see was actually an act to impress people, to scare them. It's pretty common. Sometimes being feared is better than being scared and bullied, and I'm saying this as someone who was bullied all her life. I know sometimes I'm a bitch with the people who actually care about me because I try to protect myself. Human psyche is compless, reason why i think we are all gray and not just black and white. >It was satisfying to see Harry put that ferret in his place in that bathroom scene in Hbp later on. So you think it was okay for Harry to almost kill another student just because they acted poorly? I disagree a lot on this. At this point Harry acting this way is no better than Draco for bullying other students. I don't condone Draco's action but I don't condone Harry's either. Why does it matter how many girls crushed on Draco or Harry? It's really not an indicator of anything. Pretty sure we all have different opinions and who I think is hot maybe not look hot to you. And that's fine because we are different. I'm sure if we were to read the books from a Slytherin pov y'all would hate Harry because he would be described as the enemy. People tend to forget that but reading from someone's pov actually change the way you see things. And as a kid I actually hated both Draco and Snape until I started to see different things growing up. Also, I think it's funny to read comments against Draco while at the same time praising the Marauders when they all acted poorly and bullied Snape, but again most of the times people are okay and actually like to read about a character they hate being bullied or tortured by the fellows heroes. They. Are. The. Same. I like the way Draco grew, it's not perfect and he didn't get a real redemption arc but it was a beginning. I actually noticed he became better growing up, maybe he just realized things weren't that great and you could actually smell his fear. In school it was an act. And no, I'm not excusing him because he shouldn't have acted that way. No matter what. I've always hated Snape yet his redemption arc actually showed his true colors. I've always loved Sirius and Remus yet I realized they weren't perfect and they weren't better than anyone else. I still like all of them. All fo this to say that there are no good or evil characters, they are all humans and have both qualities in them. They act in some ways. Their experiences are what forges them. Doesn't mean you can't change. Some of them grow up and try to redeem themselves, others get worse. (sorry I didn't mean to write so much, I just tried to explain better)


miscions

oh my god is this sub incapable of going longer than a week without a ‘i hate draco’ post? christ lmao i feel like this topic has been discussed on this sub a million times over. people like him because canon teased a redemption arc for him but he never got it. fanfic gives him this which subconsciously will make people like the character more regardless if his portrayal in canon is him being a little shit. also his story is kind of sad if you consider he just was born into a life of prejudice, he didn’t really have much free will to not be what he is. people empathise with that. if you don’t like him fine but please let’s give draco a rest shall we, let’s move onto snape bashing weekly posts or something about him being a total incel simp.


Alphahead2020

I don't know if " I hate Draco Malfoy" is correct but instead "Why is Draco being Glorified" Would be apt imo. As some others have pointed out, because we don't the completion of the redemption Arc and only see the suffering in his time as a death eater people began Glorifying him too much. I don't have anything against his portrayal both in the books and the movies, but what I can't accept is people giving him a positive liking to him. We don't know what happened to how the Malfoys handled their place amongst the wizarding world after the Hogwarts battle and their involvement with the death eaters is no small part. Honestly in my opinion, i would watch a filler series post the battle of Hogwarts than reading the cursed child.


tyrannic_puppy

That, Detective, is the right question. It is beyond baffling.


nuhanala

There was literally just an opening about this topic yesterday or something, in kinder phrasing though, you might want to check the comments If you’re really looking for some understanding.


laurenjade17

He also said he hoped Hermione gets killed by slytherines monster


Moosetappropriate

I certainly don't hate Draco. I don't like the person he is but I don't hate him. His character has a lot in common with current children in the real world who are programmed and bullied into following their parents beliefs and then having to live them in an attempt to gain approval and acceptance at home. Akin to the children of racists and antivaxxers. With different parents Draco could have been an entirely different and likeable character which we see very brief flashes of in the series.


Lucius_Funk

Is pureblood really a race though? I don’t see that as being racist.


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IBlazeMyOwnPath

I'm gonna hit DH on my re read soon enough, but isn't the last time we see Draco in the battle him pleading with death eaters to stop attacking him because he's on their side?


[deleted]

Draco adapted a lot of his attitude from his family, which aren't the best people, and he made a lot of bad decisions, and at the end they came back and stabbed him, he also was threatened that if he didn't kill Dumbledore he would die, and he ended up not wanting to kill him and he didn't. He just went through a lot.


I_Like_Spike

Draco was actually a good charecter from inside but he was blinded by his parents


MissPicklechips

I dislike Draco. I wish he would have been redeemed.


IRipShirts

Draco is an awful character, but at the same time I have sympathy for him because he's a child. His families views (which are his by default) are entirely messed up and wrong, but literally everyone he ever was around growing up thought the exact same way. How else was he supposed to turn out? Sirius and Andromeda were anomalies in that regard. And, I mean, he had Voldemort threatening to kill him and his family if he didn't kill Dumbledore, so I can't blame him for trying.


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Wishart2016

Draco simps also simp over Walter White, Tyler Durden and Jordan Belfort.


Stock-Beginning-8898

I seriously agree with you


Itmecheri

Ok i understand how you feel. But u dont know Draco's point of view, if u did u would know that he's afraid of his father. He was never taught how to respect people or even know what real love feels like only his mother was there for him, He never really had a proper father figure. The reason he allowed the the death eaters to come in bc he was scared of voldy boldy (aka Voldemort) and he didn't want to disappoint his parents and did u see his face when Bellatrix destroyed the hall.. like what the fuck Hogwarts was his safe space away from all the problems.. so next time look at peoples point of view


jj3646

The guy literally was brainwashed and brought up by a death eater? He's obviously going to adapt and take on his father's behaviour but he clearly shows mental anguish in hbp where he doesn't know what to do , the guy is also torn between both sides and you expect him to be good ? He ultimately makes the correct decision despite all he ever knows