Draco Malfoy- hero or villian?

October 16, 2020

I suppose I should have put this under the Daily Prophet category because the title sounds like one Rita Skeeter would write. But its too late now, so I am just going to dive in.

Draco Malfoy.

I think that readers who view his character have polar opposite opinions on him. Either 1, he is a bad-boy dreamboat, and they want him to fall in love with their little hearts because of his smirk and his raw good looks. Or, on the total other hand, he is a death eater, and truly a terrible persona and he didn't really deserve a redemtion arc.

Of course, that is dramatizing both ends of the spectrum of Draco Malfoy. What we have to consider is the facts, which we can see in the books.

Draco was defenitely manipulated and groomed for Slytherin- and beyond. Lucius Malfoy was not a good father. It think that is easy to be seen. He fed his son his own opinions and views from the day he was born. His son grew up hearing racial slurs such as "mudblood" and talk about how muggle-born witches were inferior to pure-blood witches and wizards. Draco grew up being told that he had to get into Slytherin- and we can only assume that any other house would have been a disgrace to the family, as he was the only child of the Malfoy's. Draco grew up being told by his family who he was meant to be, what he was meant to be, how he was supposed to act, etc.

However, that is no excuse for his behavior. We learn from our parents, yes, even if they teach us the wrong lesson, but as a person you also have to do the right thing- even if it isn't right in his parents view. A great example of this is Sirius. Sirius came from the same kind of household as Draco did- but he was different. He didn't like their ideology and loved what his friends in Hogwarts talked about and how they acted. All other parts of Sirius aside, he did the right thing. Draco did not. Granted he was around people of the same ideology of him in Slytherin, he did not have to have the same ideology as they did. Draco was a bully. He bullied Harry relentlessly, along with other students. He was not a nice guy. He tried to get Hagrid sacked from his job countless times. He always made drama for Harry in the press, in the school, with gossip, he was racist towards Hermione, etc.

So here we are at a crossroads with his character- He went out of his way to be nasty, but he had also been groomed from Birth to be this person. So we are faced with the question- does he deserve to have a redemption arc (not that it is truly up to us to decide, but lets just see where this question goes)?

Draco didn't kill Dumbledore. He couldn't do it, he tried for the entire year (and ultimately failed because of all the half-attempts), but when he came face-to-face with Dumbledore, where it would have been easy to kill him. He could not kill him. That's the truth. Severus Snape had to do it, despite that this was the plan from Dumbledore- that doesn't really matter too much. Draco doesn't want to be where he is, he doesn't want to be a death eater, but there is no other way for him to have his family safe, and not taint the family name.

And Draco didn't want Harry dead. It's pretty imaginable that Draco knew that was a real possibility, but he didn't want Harry dead. Draco lied when he couldn't tell if it was Harry or not, with the charm on Harry's face making him all puffy and swollen. He could have been rid of his life-long rival, but he didn't. Draco even stopped Crabbe from firing a curse that would kill Harry.

So this may leave you confused now- do we like Draco, or not?

I think Draco deserved a redemption arc. He was forced to be a certain kind of person by his parents, and he conformed to that role. However, he did that willingly, and he could have not conformed to the role. He could have not acted the way he was supposed to, and he could have been a better person.

So my answer- kinda.

28.2k · October 16, 2020

Who is that hiding under the invisibility cloak? Harry... Is that you? No?
Well, you must be a Muggle... And, you've found our magical community!