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Road to Division Finals: (1)Sirius Black defeats (16)Rodolphus Lestrange 16-0 (1)Sirius Black defeats (8)Lee Jordan 21-7 (1)Sirius Black defeats (5)Dobby 23-8
I think I've explained my stance on both these characters before. I like Ginny. I wish she had a bigger role, especially in the middle of the series when she pretty much vanishes for 2 books. But I definitely like the transition from just being Ron's little sister who idolizes Harry to becoming a kick ass witch in her own right.
Sirius is just okay, I've never really been that big a fan. For one thing he doesn't really do much, his screen time is severely limited (even in book 3). And his actions seem kinda dumb... like why not send Dumbledore and/or Lupin a letter telling them that Pettigrew was at Hogwarts? Anyway, he's okay, but I definitely like Ginny better.
-- I made a living on time trial blowing myself off to cross the finish line at ludicrous speed. -transience
Two characters I am not a particularly strong fan of.
Let's start with Ginny. Now, fortunately for me (unlike GT) I seem to largely forget that book 2 Ginny exists. Like...a lot of people don't behave the same when they're 11 than when they're older. Harry doesn't. The contrast doesn't really bother me.
Book 3 Ginny did nothing.
Book 4 Ginny...has a great insult on Ron at the Quidditch World Cup. ("I think you're in love, Ron" re: Krum). She went to the Yule Ball with Neville because she was a third year and didn't expect to be asked. Incidentally, at this point she should be 13, maybe 14, so...mid puberty. The more I'm thinking about this, this is kind-of weird. In book 6 she's described as one of the most attractive girls in the school almost across the board--even the Slytherin's comment on it. Yet in book 4 she settles for Neville (who, at that point, isn't much of a catch).
Book 5 Ginny is pretty strong:
"Yeah, the DA's good. Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army, because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"
DA member, and a relevant one--she names the freaking group. Casts a bat boogey hex all over Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, letting her, Ron, Luna, and Neville escape. Fights in the Department of Mysteries.
"I didn't want anyone to talk to me." "Well, that was a bit stupid of you, seeing as how you don't know anyone but me who's been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels." "I forgot." "Lucky you."
Reveals that she's been breaking into the broom closet at home and learning how to fly, and actually a pretty good Quidditch player. Shows herself to have a myschevious Fred and George side, when Harry needs to get into Umbridge's office. This is easily her strongest book.
Book 6 Ginny's accomplished at everything she does. Not terribly interesting. Well...with some exceptions. Hexes Zacharias Smith to end up in the Slug Club. Some really cutting remarks against Ron. "Harry's snogged Cho, and Hermione's snogged Krum, you're the only one who seems to have a problem with it" (paraphrasing). "He's in there, the hypocrite."
Book 7 Ginny is like...nonexistant. Seriously, Luna gets a scene in Malfoy manner, and Neville becomes a stone cold badass, and Ginny gets...what, a "goodbye kiss" as her most memorable scene in this book? She does try to steal the sword from Snape off-screen, I guess?
So...basically, Ginny is only really good in Book 5.
(continued)
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Cats land on their feet. Toast lands peanut butter side down. A cat with toast strapped to its back will hover above the ground in a state of quantum indecision
Book 1: Completely forgettable cameo mention! (It's noteworthy that I remembered Ginny and not Sirius when they returned in later books, and Ginny barely appears in book 1 herself).
Book 3: He's an idiot. Hardcore idiot. Like...seriously, why not like...write a letter to Dumbledore explaining that Petter Pettigrew is an animagus, currently pretending to be a pet rat of a Weasly kid? Bam, problem solved.
Book 4: He's consistently not very competent. He doesn't know what a dark mark is, despite having been in Azkaban for years. He has so-so advice for fighting a Dragon--not awful, but as Krum proved not great. I don't remember him being very helpful on any of the other tasks--certainly Barty Crouch Jr just completely outclasses his advice in every way. Although...he does have the whole "Hermione's right about Winky" line, where we get insight into Old Barty Crouch Sr (along with a bit of history about old Barty--like the fact that he's the one who threw Sirius in Azkaban without a trial).
Book 5: Consistently pretty reckless. Goes out in dog form to Platform 9 3/4. Allows himself to be goaded by Serverus Snape. Treats Kreacher about as well as Barty Crouch Sr treated Winky. Is revealed to be a bully in Snape's memories. Now, he is kind of fun at points in book 5 for just how blatantly he wears his heart on his sleeve, how his mood swings upwards when he finds out that he'll have guests for Christmas, and then becomes horribly sour as the school term approaches.
...Huh, when I finished the Ginny analysis, I expected her to lose--only one especially good book, and it's book 5, which is the book where Sirius is most relevant. But...then I went through and analyzed Sirius, and I'm not sure he really has a "good book", or lines I want to quote. Yeah, I guess I'm going Ginny.
(1)Sirius Black (2)Ginevra "Ginny" Weasley
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Cats land on their feet. Toast lands peanut butter side down. A cat with toast strapped to its back will hover above the ground in a state of quantum indecision
Ginny is OK, just that though. Sirius isn't much better, but slightly. Not sure what it is, but think both aren't as well written as they could have been.
Book 3: He's an idiot. Hardcore idiot. Like...seriously, why not like...write a letter to Dumbledore explaining that Petter Pettigrew is an animagus, currently pretending to be a pet rat of a Weasly kid? Bam, problem solved.
Book 4: He's consistently not very competent. He doesn't know what a dark mark is, despite having been in Azkaban for years.
Regarding both these points: Aren't prisoners of Azkaban subjected to constant isolated confinement? It's not like he'd have death eater cellmates to admire the forearm tattoos of. And I imagine after 10+ years of isolation, with only soul-sucking monstrosities to keep you company, one's judgment or common sense might've eroded a smidge.
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"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
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When you've got a pretty-boy monkey on your back constantly calling you a puppet, you hardly want to seem like you're happy to be used. - DSakaCharanJ
From: metroid composite | #026 She went to the Yule Ball with Neville because she was a third year and didn't expect to be asked. Incidentally, at this point she should be 13, maybe 14, so...mid puberty. The more I'm thinking about this, this is kind-of weird. In book 6 she's described as one of the most attractive girls in the school almost across the board--even the Slytherin's comment on it. Yet in book 4 she settles for Neville (who, at that point, isn't much of a catch).
That doesn't seem weird to me. She's 13 at the time of the Yule Ball, and no one in her own year is allowed to ask her. It's easy to believe that the older guys wouldn't be lining up to ask her then but that she could be considered attractive when she's two years older.
It is funny how a lot of her best lines are put downs of Ron.
-- I made a living on time trial blowing myself off to cross the finish line at ludicrous speed. -transience
CalvinbalI posted... Regarding both these points: Aren't prisoners of Azkaban subjected to constant isolated confinement? It's not like he'd have death eater cellmates whose forearm tattoos he could admire. And I imagine after 10+ years of isolation, with only soul-sucking monstrosities to keep you company, one's judgment or common sense might've eroded a smidge.
Regarding these...
1. He overhears Death Eaters about other stuff, like how much they hate Kakaroff for ratting them all out.
2. Barty Crouch Jr seems pretty sane with pretty rock-solid judgement. Admittedly, he has more time to recover. But also...there's no indication Sirius had good judgement in the past. For instance, bullying, and deciding to go on a solo mission to kill Pettigrew without explaining to anyone, and then when Pettigrew fakes his own death and kills muggles, decides to just stand there laughing, rather than, I don't know, chase after him? And what else...sticking pictures of muggle women in bikinis to the walls of his parent's house. Not that there's anything wrong with having a secret stash that looks like homework to everyone else (we know this is possible because students used it on Umbridge) but sticking them openly to the walls like this is just asking to get in trouble--rebellion for rebellion's sake.
Ed Bellis posted... I said this before, and I'll say it again: almost everything Ginny does is off-screen, snarky putdowns aside. It makes for pretty lazy character development when the narrative just goes "oh, did you hear Ginny's so good at this and this and this" and we never actually see it. It's telling and not showing.
Like I said I'm not too sold on Sirius either, but Ginny's just kinda offensive to me in that respect.
Well...right, but if everything she did was on-screen, this wouldn't be a difficult match, and she'd be murdering right now. And she has at least three on-screen moments I consider good (besides Ron putdowns, I mean), whereas I'm not sure I'd say that about Sirius.
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Cats land on their feet. Toast lands peanut butter side down. A cat with toast strapped to its back will hover above the ground in a state of quantum indecision
metroid composite posted... 2. Barty Crouch Jr seems pretty sane with pretty rock-solid judgement. Admittedly, he has more time to recover. But also...there's no indication Sirius had good judgement in the past. For instance, bullying, and deciding to go on a solo mission to kill Pettigrew without explaining to anyone, and then when Pettigrew fakes his own death and kills muggles, decides to just stand there laughing, rather than, I don't know, chase after him? And what else...sticking pictures of muggle women in bikinis to the walls of his parent's house. Not that there's anything wrong with having a secret stash that looks like homework to everyone else (we know this is possible because students used it on Umbridge) but sticking them openly to the walls like this is just asking to get in trouble--rebellion for rebellion's sake.
His best friends just died because of the guy, he knew he was a better wizard (the whole "you needed help to become an animagus" deal) and he probably felt like it was more noble or manly or some crap to do it alone ("Hey Dumbledore, yeah, it's Pettigrew, Imma go kill him, don't follow me, kthx).
You're saying Barty Crouch Jr had better common sense than Sirius? When he spent an entire year stringing Harry along through near-death scenarios just so he could get him to touch a portcullis at the end, despite demonstrating an ability to abduct, lock up, and transport people with ease?
And besides, I don't see what's wrong with being headstrong. It's a character trait that is well developed in Sirius. When he first assumed the role of godfather to Harry at the end of book 3, you feel good that Harry has a father figure that he can finally depend on. But this happens right at the age where most kids start to realize that parents aren't perfect, and Harry has to struggle with the thought that Sirius is far from it himself. Sirius' headstrong nature, displayed through his actions over the course of three books, both leads to his tragic downfall and helps the main character to develop and mature. It just seems so much more gracefully done than, well...anything related to Ginny.
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"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png