random question, but what's your opinion on Percy Weasley???? (I kinda like him lmao so I was wondering if there were other Percy fans out there)
Hey there! Thanks for the question!
This actually turned out longer than expected, sorry!
I see why some people have mixed opinions on him to say the least, but I honestly like Percy for a couple of reasons.
It's common sense that we're flawed people and so are supposed to be book characters (otherwise the story wouldn't make sense or be relatable to the readers). Though Percy did some questionable things, if we take a look at how the situation looks from his perspective, we'd be able to understand him much better and even begin to like him.
It's been a year since I read the books so my memory isn't exactly fresh but I'll talk about scenes I can recall.
In SS when we first meet the Weasley family, a few things are clear: Molly is a nice woman with a few kids (though we later find out they're actually 7); Fred and George are the lovable jokers, Ron is the shy first year, Ginny is the youngest of them all and eager to learn magic soon, and Percy is fifth year and a Prefect.
Being a Prefect is an honorable status no matter how many people mock Percy for it. He's proud of this and he should be. It's not an easy thing to earn the teachers' trust and to be given such a responsibility. And yet, his family ignores him and dismisses his achievements, taking them and him for granted.
When he's excited to tell his parents and siblings about his important (important to him) essays about leaky cauldrons, we all see what happens. The twins call him annoying and the rest just straight up ignore him. It's not like Percy himself purposely wanted to bother his own family, he wished to share his passion for wanting to work for the Ministry.
And thus, after being dropped so many times, Percy slowly grows bitter. He becomes more hostile towards his family who, in return, thinks of him more badly than before. Percy stops talking to them altogether and he doesn't even want to be associated with them. Why would you when your loved ones don't support you?
And then comes the Minister. The authority figure Percy would need when everyone else ignores him. Fudge (I think it was him at the time, correct me if I'm wrong) is man with years of experience in politics and he takes a special interest in Percy. Why wouldn't Percy be happy that someone finally appreciates him and his hard work? Why wouldn't he be flattered? Fudge is the only source of validation Percy has at that moment and it only makes sense that he'd try to get some of the attention and respect he's been lacking for so long. That's why he leaves the Weasleys.
However, Voldemort returns and the Ministry is in denial. But Percy had already run away long ago and his family now freely expresses its great dislike towards him. Percy is obviously the black sheep among them. But despite the Ministry's ignorant actions, Percy sticks with Fudge as long as he can because, if he suddenly leaves this new comfortable place where he gets the validation he's needed, where could he possibly go? Who would even want him? He'd be a nobody once again.
In DH we see him reuniting with the Weasleys after all these years and it's bittersweet because we find out how sorry Percy is for the things he's done and how he's been afraid to do the right thing after realizing what that was. Percy is redeemed.
Percy and Ron, in my opinion, are the most relatable characters in the series because they struggle with things which many of us do too. Percy's character arc goes from "good" to "bad", and back to "good" and that's why I think he's one of the best developed yet underrated characters.
I have the strong urge to shave off a person's eyebrows when they say that Percy is bad, a bully or that he didn't deserve redemption. Draco, although one of my faves, is an example of a bully. Percy is not. He's just an ambitious teenager who went after the only nearby source of much needed validation, and he apologized for his actions at the end.
Yes, Percy Weasley is a good guy and a great character.
