His becoming an Auror made no sense. McGonagall pressured him to think about what he wanted to do in the future in his 4th year to plan out the rest of his education. Auror was his very first idea, and he wasnt really even super into the idea then. It seemed to be mostly out of a sense of admiration for Mad-Eye Moody specifically. And then, despite finding out that Moody was in fact a Death Eater trying to kill him the whole time, somehow that didn’t taint his opinion on the Auror thing at all.
Even though it was just the first thing to pop into his head, he never gives it any sort of critical thought or even comes up with any alternatives. He doesn’t even have an understanding of the greater wizarding world at that point to even know what kind of work exists outside of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. He just shrugs and goes with his first idea anyway. But then he’s not even committed to that idea really. He is not even bummed when his grades would apparently prevent him from taking Advanced Potions, a required class to become an Auror. When he learns that Slugorn had less strict requirements and he can take the class after all, he’s just kind of like, oh okay… “guess I will keep following this path. I have no other ideas.”
I agree with the Carlin Brothers that his career after Hogwarts should have been at Hogwarts. Whatever admiration he had for the fake Moody, the real Moody, or both, his truest admiration was for Dumbledore. And Hogwarts was his first real home. He excelled at Defense Against the Dark Arts from the beginning, and by his 5th year was even already teaching his classmates (including older students) skills that he had. And he was an incredibly effective teacher too, with his students using the skills he taught in the fight at the department of mysteries and the battle of hogwarts. He had more experience by then end of the 7th book fighting Dark Wizards than most Aurors at the ministry would have. That job would have been boring as hell after Voldemort and the Death Eaters were defeated. But he could use his experiences to enrich the next generations of witches and wizards, teach them to protect themselves, and be there to make sure Hogwarts remained the haven that is had been for him. It makes WAY more sense for him to have become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor (especially since he broke the curse on the job with Voldemort’s defeat). But then count on JK to do some stupid shit.
To be fair, I chose my career in a very similar way.
When I was a kid, people kept bugging me what I will choose as my future career. I didn’t want to keep having the same stupid conversation all the time, so I decided that since I liked playing computer games, might as well become a programmer.
So I did.
Probably not the best way to choose, but certainly a way that happens.
Remember, kids aren’t adults. They work differently. And once you are on a track, sunk cost fallacy and people around you can make it quite hard getting off said track.
Ha. I actually enrolled in the wrong major when I went to college. Meant to do computer graphics, ended up in computer science (don’t ask, I was just an idiot). My academic advisor told me that I would have to wait a semester to change majors, that it didnt really hurt much because most of the first semester classes were humanities that count for both anyway, but to go ahead and give my intro programming classes a try in the meantime, and see what I thought. And I fell in love with it and decided to keep the major. So yea… I guess that was even more dumb than Harry’s situation.
Not to nitpick, but Auror was Rowling’s first idea, as you suggest in your last sentence there. Rowling’s narrow-minded world view wouldn’t let the hero become a teacher, or a politician, or an activist, or anything else. Her view of the world says cops are the real heroes, so the hero of her story must become a cop.
I think we’re putting the cart before the horse here.
Assuming Harry is virtuous and good and brave and excellent at fighting dark wizards and helping people, wouldn’t that be the perfect person to become a cop?
Those things qualify you for a whole slew of jobs, and Harry has plenty of other interests besides fighting evil wizards. It seems like very shallow, hackneyed writing to have a 14-year-old latch on to becoming a cop in a community that he didn’t even know existed until he was 11*, one which he literally isn’t permitted to participate in until he finishes boarding school.
If cops could be helpful to Harry, then why wouldn’t he ride a time horse back in time to meet his grandaddy’s prize-winning steed, a racehorse name you’ve likely not heard of. I hope you’re happy with your assertions
Secondly, in a lot of stories Batman defeats city-wide or even nation- or global-wide threats. Kinda like Harry. And whatever Batman happens to do, because it’s somehow justified, it ends up being good. Because he’s the hero. Like Harry.
But like the earlier dude said Harry hasn’t even got an understanding of the wider world. He would be much better at being a professor, because it also includes studying instead of just enforcing the rules.
Even if you imagine a perfect cop, he wouldn’t be acting like Harry. Harry constantly breaks some rules or laws. Not what cops should be doing. Yeah you need some of the virtues Harry has but Harry is also inpatient and a large risk-taker. Neither of which are particularly good characteristics in cops except in media. A perfect cop would be someone slightly autistic about the rules and literally doesn’t do whatever they feel like, but defers to the rules.
Which Harry most certainly doesn’t.
Imagine if the magical world was (for this analogy) the US. Some who grew up in another country and hasn’t even lived in the US, just went to a mostly American school, wants to be an American cop? Even when they go through a necessary training (and we know the wizarding world isn’t big on credentials or experience) to become a cop, he’d still have very little understanding of the actual law with just some weeks of training, and wouldn’t have grown up hearing about the constitution of the US let alone all the amendments to it.
His becoming an Auror made no sense. McGonagall pressured him to think about what he wanted to do in the future in his 4th year to plan out the rest of his education. Auror was his very first idea, and he wasnt really even super into the idea then. It seemed to be mostly out of a sense of admiration for Mad-Eye Moody specifically. And then, despite finding out that Moody was in fact a Death Eater trying to kill him the whole time, somehow that didn’t taint his opinion on the Auror thing at all.
Even though it was just the first thing to pop into his head, he never gives it any sort of critical thought or even comes up with any alternatives. He doesn’t even have an understanding of the greater wizarding world at that point to even know what kind of work exists outside of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. He just shrugs and goes with his first idea anyway. But then he’s not even committed to that idea really. He is not even bummed when his grades would apparently prevent him from taking Advanced Potions, a required class to become an Auror. When he learns that Slugorn had less strict requirements and he can take the class after all, he’s just kind of like, oh okay… “guess I will keep following this path. I have no other ideas.”
I agree with the Carlin Brothers that his career after Hogwarts should have been at Hogwarts. Whatever admiration he had for the fake Moody, the real Moody, or both, his truest admiration was for Dumbledore. And Hogwarts was his first real home. He excelled at Defense Against the Dark Arts from the beginning, and by his 5th year was even already teaching his classmates (including older students) skills that he had. And he was an incredibly effective teacher too, with his students using the skills he taught in the fight at the department of mysteries and the battle of hogwarts. He had more experience by then end of the 7th book fighting Dark Wizards than most Aurors at the ministry would have. That job would have been boring as hell after Voldemort and the Death Eaters were defeated. But he could use his experiences to enrich the next generations of witches and wizards, teach them to protect themselves, and be there to make sure Hogwarts remained the haven that is had been for him. It makes WAY more sense for him to have become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor (especially since he broke the curse on the job with Voldemort’s defeat). But then count on JK to do some stupid shit.
To be fair, I chose my career in a very similar way.
When I was a kid, people kept bugging me what I will choose as my future career. I didn’t want to keep having the same stupid conversation all the time, so I decided that since I liked playing computer games, might as well become a programmer.
So I did.
Probably not the best way to choose, but certainly a way that happens.
Remember, kids aren’t adults. They work differently. And once you are on a track, sunk cost fallacy and people around you can make it quite hard getting off said track.
Ha. I actually enrolled in the wrong major when I went to college. Meant to do computer graphics, ended up in computer science (don’t ask, I was just an idiot). My academic advisor told me that I would have to wait a semester to change majors, that it didnt really hurt much because most of the first semester classes were humanities that count for both anyway, but to go ahead and give my intro programming classes a try in the meantime, and see what I thought. And I fell in love with it and decided to keep the major. So yea… I guess that was even more dumb than Harry’s situation.
Not to nitpick, but Auror was Rowling’s first idea, as you suggest in your last sentence there. Rowling’s narrow-minded world view wouldn’t let the hero become a teacher, or a politician, or an activist, or anything else. Her view of the world says cops are the real heroes, so the hero of her story must become a cop.
I think we’re putting the cart before the horse here.
Assuming Harry is virtuous and good and brave and excellent at fighting dark wizards and helping people, wouldn’t that be the perfect person to become a cop?
Those things qualify you for a whole slew of jobs, and Harry has plenty of other interests besides fighting evil wizards. It seems like very shallow, hackneyed writing to have a 14-year-old latch on to becoming a cop in a community that he didn’t even know existed until he was 11*, one which he literally isn’t permitted to participate in until he finishes boarding school.
Only if you assume cops are there to help people. He’d do more good as a Batman/Dexter type.
You’re putting the cart before the horse there.
If cops could be helpful to Harry, then why wouldn’t he ride a time horse back in time to meet his grandaddy’s prize-winning steed, a racehorse name you’ve likely not heard of. I hope you’re happy with your assertions
Again, cart before horse.
You’re asserting that there are no helpful cops, therefore Harry being helpful means he should not be a cop.
In reality, Harry being helpful should be a cop, because he could be in a position to help people.
Dexter/Batman don’t do a lot of helping, they just crack skulls of people they perceive as bad. Ironically for your point, much like most IRL cops.
First off, ACAB.
Secondly, in a lot of stories Batman defeats city-wide or even nation- or global-wide threats. Kinda like Harry. And whatever Batman happens to do, because it’s somehow justified, it ends up being good. Because he’s the hero. Like Harry.
But like the earlier dude said Harry hasn’t even got an understanding of the wider world. He would be much better at being a professor, because it also includes studying instead of just enforcing the rules.
Even if you imagine a perfect cop, he wouldn’t be acting like Harry. Harry constantly breaks some rules or laws. Not what cops should be doing. Yeah you need some of the virtues Harry has but Harry is also inpatient and a large risk-taker. Neither of which are particularly good characteristics in cops except in media. A perfect cop would be someone slightly autistic about the rules and literally doesn’t do whatever they feel like, but defers to the rules.
Which Harry most certainly doesn’t.
Imagine if the magical world was (for this analogy) the US. Some who grew up in another country and hasn’t even lived in the US, just went to a mostly American school, wants to be an American cop? Even when they go through a necessary training (and we know the wizarding world isn’t big on credentials or experience) to become a cop, he’d still have very little understanding of the actual law with just some weeks of training, and wouldn’t have grown up hearing about the constitution of the US let alone all the amendments to it.
I asserted that?
This is not at all what I remember happening
Edit: you mean when Crouch is impersonating him?
Edit 2: oh yeah, he did meet Crouch as Moody first