12.15.05
Draco
I actually found a fanfic that I like today. It’s a non-slash, mostly canon based fic about Draco Malfoy. I actually felt sorry for the poor kid.
Anyways, I realized we’ve never talked about Draco on this site. So what does everybody think of him?
In some ways I feel bad for him. He was basically raised to be the arrogant, evil prat that he is. Raised by people who are Death-Eaters, taught that non-pure bloods are scum to be hated and killed if possible, taught to revere evil. Did he have a chance?
Sadly, my answer to that question is yes. We all have to make the choice between doing good and doing evil (or as Dumbledore put it, between what is right and what is easy), and I think that’s a message that Rowling tries to make clear in her books. Draco may have been raised in an evil environment, but their comes a time in every person’s life when they have to make their own choices, regardless of their upbringing. Take Sirius for example. He was raised in an environment very similar to Draco’s. And yet he chose to abandon that kind of life and fight for good. I’ll speculate that when the sorting hat placed Sirius in Gryffindor, it wasn’t for “shits and giggles”, pardon my language. It was probably very akin to why Harry was placed in Gryffindor, because Sirius was probably already choosing to reject the ideas of hatred and violence that he grew up with.
There is hope, of course. Draco, like most other humans, is not beyond redemption. Possibly he could see the error of his ways (perhaps he’s already starting to) and redeem himself in book 7. Only time will tell.
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weenie said,
December 20, 2005 at 1:03 pm
Draco is old enough to know what’s good and what’s not.
I don’t feel sorry for him at all, but I do hope it doesn’t get all schmalzy with him turning good in the last book.
If Harry dies, then I want Draco to die too.
If Harry lives, well, he’ll need to have enemies as well as friends, won’t he?
RavenclawWit said,
December 22, 2005 at 2:02 pm
I agree with you that Draco knows what right and wrong, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still feel a bit sorry for him. Heck, even Harry finds it in his heart to feel a bit sorry for Draco at the end of book 6. Like I said though, not sorry enough for him to excuse his choices. And I would love to see Draco choose a different path in Book 6, but I’ve always been a sucker for a “born again” story.
jane said,
February 13, 2006 at 1:34 pm
When speaking about girl fans being fond of Draco JKR commented something along the line that she agrees that Tom Felton is a goodlooking guy but the trouble is one should not forget that Draco is not Tom. Of course one can argue but to me it means that she thinks Draco is quite evil… Besides I am not quite sure Draco cried in Book 6 because he felt bad about killing OR because he was annoyed about not managing it with his repair works and exasperated about not being able to carry out the order… I think he only realized he was unable to murder the moment he was alone with Dumbledore… I feel like pitying him, but feeling sorry… And then Regulus turning out good, and, hopefully, Snape, think that’s enough of “born-agains” for one book. Though I would not wish Draco die, even if Harry has to die defeating LV. He did not kill so did not deserve death either.
RavenclawWit said,
February 13, 2006 at 1:45 pm
I agree with you. I think Draco is bad (although I still hope he may redeem himself in book 7). My point was actually that though I felt sorry about the way Draco was raised as it certainly has contributed to his penchant for cruelty and misdeeds, Draco is old enough now that he makes his own choices about what he does. He has chosen evil over good. But I still hold out hope. I may be idealistic, but it’s very rare that I believe someone to be beyond redemption.
Caylypso said,
July 20, 2006 at 1:10 am
Let me say this first, Draco Malfoy is not a nice guy. He is not secretly a sweet boy who only needs to be saved from an abusive daddy to turn to the side of good. However, he is not evil. In the previous five books he has done some nasty things, but so has Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The girl gave another student irrevocable skin damage. And The Marauders did some very cruel things as well, is Snape’s memory is any indication. Draco isn’t any worse than that in the first five books. However, in the sixth book he is faced with a terrifying dark lord who will kill him and his family if he does not comply with his wishes. He chooses as he does out of love. Notice that in HPB he doesn’t bother with Harry much past the train incident, which while inexcusable, is understandable, if you think about it. He didn’t kill Harry when he could have, I would also like to point out. Personally, I find Malfoy to be sad. He had a choice yes, but I don’t know if I could have chosen different if I were face with the same, and you should think before you say you could.