KateSpot

I would definitely have to say Hagrid is my favorite character, both in the book and the film. The section when we first meet him as he is collecting Harry for the start of school is great. His passions and weaknesses really come together into a rich character, and the actor (Robbie Coltrane) does a great job. Funny aside - did not realize that Hagrid was also the Russian mobster Valentin that Pierce Brosnan crosses with in the recent Bond films.

While I still need to read the fifth Potter book, Hagrid has been a consistent and enjoyable character through the first four novels.

Hi there,

Mary sent me here to participate in the discussion until Bookblog is up and running again; I'm new to the blog, so, thanks for having me!

As far as favorite characters go, I find that I'm prejudiced by having read the other books. In other words, my choices for favorite characters are really based on the characters as a whole for the currently available books, not just this book.

Having said that, Neville Longbottom is just fun to read. I have an amazing level of sympathy for him in the first book. I feel that his feeling ever-so-slightly/completely out of place is something that we all identify with. As much as I'd like to say that I would be just like Harry were I to somehow end up in that universe, I know that I'd probably be just like Neville; making mistakes and getting embarrassed more often than not.

Viewing the series as a whole though, I find the character of Ron Weasley fascinating because I'm curious to see how the character will continue to deal with being the best friend of a famous person. I'll avoid further comment for fear of spoilers...

Thanks for letting me throw in my two cents.

Joel

I'd have to agree with Hunter and say that Hagrid is my favorite character in the books. However, for the first movie, I found that I really liked Ron the best because the kid who played him had the funniest facial expressions. His mugging for the camera got old by the second movie, but he's so much more interesting than Harry.

I wonder if Harry is anyone's favorite. To me, he's kind of boring and dry even though the books are supposed to be all about him. That's a good thing, though, since we can sort of identify with him and pretend we're looking at the wizard world through his eyes.