I agree that most of the like/dislike for characters is more or less just "different strokes for different folks." I don't like brussels sprouts or Colin Creevey, but it stands to reason there are folks out there who would adore Colin and sprouts, or Colin eating Brussels Sprouts.
On the other hand...I do find a few instances of character-hatred to be silly and childish. I am speaking specifically of people who disliked Tonks and to a lesser extent Luna simply because they were new characters. (I'm not talking about people who disliked one or the other for their personality, etc.) What's wrong with new characters? Other authors I've read have many more characters than HP, and introduce them at any time during the series. For instance, Dorothy Dunnett (who died, alas, before she could finish her House of Niccolo series, waah!) had so many new characters in each book of the Niccolo series that she had a big character list in front of names and who was related to whom.
Not wanting new characters introduced strikes me as being clannish and unreasonable. But then I think that the Three-year-Summer and the abundance of fanfic while we were waiting for OOtP made people have such fixed agendas and high expectations for OOtP that no author could have fulfilled them (not to mention so many conflicting agendas - someone was bound to be disappointed).
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Date: 2004-08-31 10:30 am (UTC)I agree that most of the like/dislike for characters is more or less just "different strokes for different folks." I don't like brussels sprouts or Colin Creevey, but it stands to reason there are folks out there who would adore Colin and sprouts, or Colin eating Brussels Sprouts.
On the other hand...I do find a few instances of character-hatred to be silly and childish. I am speaking specifically of people who disliked Tonks and to a lesser extent Luna simply because they were new characters. (I'm not talking about people who disliked one or the other for their personality, etc.) What's wrong with new characters? Other authors I've read have many more characters than HP, and introduce them at any time during the series. For instance, Dorothy Dunnett (who died, alas, before she could finish her House of Niccolo series, waah!) had so many new characters in each book of the Niccolo series that she had a big character list in front of names and who was related to whom.
Not wanting new characters introduced strikes me as being clannish and unreasonable. But then I think that the Three-year-Summer and the abundance of fanfic while we were waiting for OOtP made people have such fixed agendas and high expectations for OOtP that no author could have fulfilled them (not to mention so many conflicting agendas - someone was bound to be disappointed).