In this week's HP episode, we enjoy diving into all kinds of friendships in the Harry Potter books. We cover a lot of characters, including Luna, Hermione, Harry, Dobby, 'The Marauders' - even Fleur merits mention! From powerful to disappointing, adorable, enabling, and life-saving, there are so many types of friendships to be found in Harry Potter and so many lessons we can take away.
We start the episode off with the following quote from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (or Philosopher's Stone, depending on your continent!). How heart-wrenchingly touching for a little 11 year old to make a friend for the very first time:
Listen to the episode here:
In this episode, a conversation that I found particularly transformative centered around Harry and Dobby. While I hadn't really thought of those two characters having a real friendship since - let's face it - Harry isn't much of a friend to Dobby, Chris made a really good point about it not being right to override Dobby's perspective on the matter. If Dobby considers them friends, who are we to say they aren't? Also, Dobby has his own cultural / racial context and experiences, so it makes sense that his friendships may look different than a human-human relationship.
On the flip side, I also developed a lot more compassion for Harry through our conversation. Although he definitely wasn't as caring as he should have been to Dobby, I also know that Harry was put in a very difficult position. He was a teenager dealing with the normal school-and-crushes sort of matters, but also...you know...the Tri-Wizard Tournament, nightmares, abusive teachers, people trying to murder him, people being murdered in from of him, and all of the severe trauma that caused. In the midst of it all, having a friend who simply idolizes you may have just felt like too much to handle and not something he had time or space to invest in.
At the end of the day, maybe Dobby and Harry didn't have a great friendship, but it was clearly still meaningful for the both of them.
What do you think? We'd love to hear your perspectives on this particular friendship or any friends that you love in Harry Potter. Let us know in the comments or here.
...and until next week - GEEK OUT!