What exactly are grey characters?

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catch22

@sentimentalfool

Dazzler

Posted: 16 years ago

Okay, This question has been troubling me for quite a while now. I have heard people call characters like Snape and Draco grey-shaded characters meaning that they have human flaws and make mistakes every now and then and this maked them interesting.
So, why arent characters like Harry, Hermione and Ron also called grey. I think even they have many many flaws in them. So what makes Draco a grey-shaded character and when Hermione or Ron or Hargrid etc. also have so many flaws. Why arent they grey?😛They certainly are'nt perfect or flawless.

Edited by redhotght - 16 years ago

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@chhilt

Rocker

Posted: 16 years ago

Grey characters are basically characters that do evil or wicked or wrong things at times but either see the error of their ways or are also nice at times... Harry, Ron or Hermione never did any wicked things whereas Snape had joined Voldemort at first plainly because it appealed to him... he only turned to the good side when Voldemort murdered Lily... as for Draco... the Dark Side appealed to him too but when he got the chance of murdering Dumbledore he couldn't bring himself to do it... this is why they are called grey charactrs and the trio isn't :)

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Sareeta

@sareeta

Sparkler

Posted: 16 years ago

Very very interesting topic and I really want to pen comments on this in leisure! Will do so today when I get back!!

@redthought - Thanks for initiating this wonderful topic!

Aaah, I am back - 😊

Grey characters - Hmm, well as I see it, the shade of grey varies in intensity in each of the characters, as someone already mentioned, none of us is perfect , all of us have some shades of grey, and it how deep is the shade of grey is that determines how close we are to the color of evil - black...

Voldemort was perhaps - jus black or may be not...

Interestingly, I guess to define or etch grey characters is a task in itself, for a dash of more color of grey would render them darker and perhaps more repulsive to any one ....

What characters or attributes of a character add the dash of grey into the character would possibly mean any act, that benefits one at the cost of another's happiness or freedom - simply put an evil act/ wicked act. Vices would only be a perfect fit for the attributes!

So at the end of the day, when the grey hue in the character is almost negligible as compared to the shade of the others , one doesn't really then count them as grey character perhaps!

Having rambled on so much, it all just boils to down to we all have our share of virtues and vices, it jus who has more of which one of them! 😊

Edited by sareeta - 16 years ago

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344471

Suspended

Posted: 16 years ago

Basically speaking, all characters are grey. I don't think it's possible for any person to be completely white or black....even characters like DD has got bad sides. But when we look at characters like Hermy, Luna etc they have more good sides 9eg 90% good) and less bad sieds (10% bad). Thus we refer them as white character (even tho they have black sides). But characters like Snape, Draco, Lucias has a about 50/50 of both of good and bad. Thus we call them grey. Hope I explained that well😛😛

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catch22

@sentimentalfool

Dazzler

Posted: 16 years ago

Hey, Thanks so much for replying chhilt, sareeta and Labib..Great Explanations...Now it makes much more sense!
I went crazy wondering how characters were judged to white, grey etc. Like y'all said, it does depend on what degree the characters are white or black. And yeah, I agree taht all characters are grey, even Dumbledore, and that's why I was confused.
But I guess when calling someone a grey character in HP, I think people who felt a pull towards Dark Arts are considered grey-shaded than people who abhorred it from the beginning.

Edited by redhotght - 16 years ago

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344471

Suspended

Posted: 16 years ago

^^ Yes, u got my point!!!!!

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Janaki

@RamKiSeeta

Achiever

+ 6

Posted: 16 years ago

I have one question: how would you all define James Potter then? He always abhorred the Dark Side, but he bullied Snape and many others endlessly before he matured in Seventh Year, when he became Head Boy and Lily started to see his other side.

Is he a white, black, or gray character?

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catch22

@sentimentalfool

Dazzler

Posted: 16 years ago

Originally posted by: godisone
I have one question: how would you all define James Potter then? He always abhorred the Dark Side, but he bullied Snape and many others endlessly before he matured in Seventh Year, when he became Head Boy and Lily started to see his other side.
Is he a white, black, or gray character?

If we are judging by percentage, I personally would say 60% black, 40% white😆.I HATED how he treated Snape. But then again, That's just my breakdown. What about Percy?

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Janaki

@RamKiSeeta

Achiever

+ 6

Posted: 16 years ago

Originally posted by: redhotght

If we are judging by percentage, I personally would say 60% black, 40% white😆.I HATED how he treated Snape. But then again, That's just my breakdown. What about Percy?

Ah, but were not most of us gits when we were young, especially towards our 'enemies'? Personally, I would say 20% black and 80% white, because though he was arrogant and a "bullying toe rag" as Lily said, we can't exactly forget how loyal he was towards his friends. He risked his life to easen the pain his friend was going through every full moon, and he did save Snape's life in 7th year at the cost of his own. And he absolutely abhorred the Dark Arts, or anyone "pro-Dark Arts". Though it definitely does not excuse his behavior towards Snape, Snape was the one enchanted by Dark Arts, so much that he chose it over his dear childhood friend Lily. I too did not like how James treated Severus, but I really hated it how Severus chose the Death Eaters and Voldemort over Lily.

And if my memory of Deathly Hallows is correct, it was Snape who first made a jibe at James for wanting to be in Gryffindor, back in their first train ride to Hogwarts. You can hardly blame James and Sirius for defending themselves. But yes....I agree that James's behavior towards Snape was uncalled for, though I wouldn't say he was 60% black. Thanks for sharing your views.😛

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Sareeta

@sareeta

Sparkler

Posted: 16 years ago

#10

Lalitha - Wouldn't it be harsh to judge anyone, either James or Snape as grey purely on the two aspects of one having bullied other in college ( although we don't know if it was others , other than Snape) and Snape for choosing Dark arts...

I believe, its a lot more, that takes one to paint someone as being a grey character ( well we all are ) but how deep a shade of a grey....

I beg to differ, but I dont think percentages would be fair... it would become relative....with each person seeing them in a different shade...

No offense, just my views really...

Edited by sareeta - 16 years ago

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What exactly are grey characters?

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