Otherwise they were just nothing, completely unable to do anything. I find the Malfoy arc highly detrimental to the entire series. What I mean: heroes are defined by their enemies. By the force they are facing, by the scope of tragedy that threatens. Harry is our hero. What does he face? He faces a off-his-rocket fellow who commands a band of madmans and cowards. The source of the major evil is a great wizard if you ask just about anyone in the street, and he has walked the path of death and evil further than supposedly anyone else. And yet, he is completely impotent to take care of a boy whose greatest accomplishment in battle is an Expeliarmus. We, of course, obediently turn a blind eye to that fact, because, well, children's books. But look at the minions: GoF graveyard scene strongly suggests there are no millions of them, for one thing. And for another - in book seven the one person I've always seen as the most resourceful, smoothand competent of them, Lucius, suddenly turns into spineless cowardly lower-life. How am I supposed to believe in Voldemort, and by proxy in Harry, if whom I've been led to recognise as Voldemort's right-hand man turns out to be a nobody? I've always believed that living takes more courage than dying, because it goes on and on and on, and needs to be chosen again and again.
I would have believed Draco's timid behaviour, but only if Lucius was still actively supporting Voldemort - ie I would accept the whole drama and lack of life altering choices and the sheer passivity, if the alternative was the severance of family ties, etc. Screw the parent/child love, the christian imagery and Dumbledore glorification: that's not what I wanted or needed to have my story resolved. I needed some reality and logic and drama that didn't consist of petulant friend-bashing or silent abuse-taking. I needed a Harry-ending to what has been so far a Harry-story. I wanted to see bravery even in evasion, I wanted to see good come on top and not because evil collapsed upon itself out of sheer lack of characterisation. 'Bad' characters are often the most complex, the most interesting, they complement and outline the 'good' characters and shape the 'heroes.' To keep a bad character to stick-figure proportions and make them pathetic just because he's bad is sacrilegious. And makes baby Draco cry. >.<
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I find the Malfoy arc highly detrimental to the entire series. What I mean: heroes are defined by their enemies. By the force they are facing, by the scope of tragedy that threatens. Harry is our hero. What does he face? He faces a off-his-rocket fellow who commands a band of madmans and cowards. The source of the major evil is a great wizard if you ask just about anyone in the street, and he has walked the path of death and evil further than supposedly anyone else. And yet, he is completely impotent to take care of a boy whose greatest accomplishment in battle is an Expeliarmus. We, of course, obediently turn a blind eye to that fact, because, well, children's books. But look at the minions: GoF graveyard scene strongly suggests there are no millions of them, for one thing. And for another - in book seven the one person I've always seen as the most resourceful, smoothand competent of them, Lucius, suddenly turns into spineless cowardly lower-life. How am I supposed to believe in Voldemort, and by proxy in Harry, if whom I've been led to recognise as Voldemort's right-hand man turns out to be a nobody? I've always believed that living takes more courage than dying, because it goes on and on and on, and needs to be chosen again and again.
I would have believed Draco's timid behaviour, but only if Lucius was still actively supporting Voldemort - ie I would accept the whole drama and lack of life altering choices and the sheer passivity, if the alternative was the severance of family ties, etc. Screw the parent/child love, the christian imagery and Dumbledore glorification: that's not what I wanted or needed to have my story resolved. I needed some reality and logic and drama that didn't consist of petulant friend-bashing or silent abuse-taking. I needed a Harry-ending to what has been so far a Harry-story. I wanted to see bravery even in evasion, I wanted to see good come on top and not because evil collapsed upon itself out of sheer lack of characterisation. 'Bad' characters are often the most complex, the most interesting, they complement and outline the 'good' characters and shape the 'heroes.' To keep a bad character to stick-figure proportions and make them pathetic just because he's bad is sacrilegious. And makes baby Draco cry. >.<