Fred and George

[4th Bee Gee]

Although I like the characters of Fred and George, I've never been able to like them as much as most of the other main characters in the book - particularly Fred. Between the two of them, I like George better than Fred.

The main reason is because at times, I perceive them to go beyond teasing, and I think they can be quite unfair and unkind at times. Although Percy was very pompous and full of himself, I think they gave him more of a hard time than he deserved, and they do pick on Ron quite a lot.

Also, they were never really that pleasant towards Cedric, either, and since Cedric is one of my favourite characters, I've never liked the way they behaved towards him. The only thing he did wrong (in their eyes) was beat Gryffindor at Quidditch much, and it seems that that made them bear some sort of a grude against him - in GoF, when they meet him and his father, Cedric says "hi" to everybody, but Fred and George just nod at him, and it states that they "had never quite forgiven" Cedric for beating Gryffindor. There were a couple of times when they said some things about him that I thought were quite rude and cutting.

Don't get me wrong, I do like the twins - I just don't like them as much as most of the other characters, and I sometimes disapprove of the way they act. I think they should treat Ron a little better, and I think they should have been nicer to Cedric, personally.

From reading the books, though, it seems to me that George is the kinder of the twins. It seems to be mainly Fred who says the more hurtful things.

 

[abecedarian]

I don't know, I rather like them myself! Of course they're a bit bratty, but that's how older brothers are sometimes. Besides, they are mischievous and their mischief helps the story along at times. Wouldn't the book be more dull if every character behaved themselves?


BTW-Welcome to B&R! Since there are already several HP threads, don't be dismayed if the mods shuiffle this one over to one of them. They mean well, really!

 

[4th Bee Gee]

Thanks for the welcome.

I don't know, I rather like them myself! Of course they're a bit bratty, but that's how older brothers are sometimes. Besides, they are mischievous and their mischief helps the story along at times. Wouldn't the book be more dull if every character behaved themselves?

I totally agree with you - I do like the twins, and I agree that they bring a lot to the books, especially in the way of humour. My problem with them (particularly Fred) is that I think they sometimes go beyond just teasing and can actually be quite nasty.

I know they didn't interact with Cedric much, but the few times they did, they weren't that pleasant to him, and Cedric is one of the nicest characters in the books. I think they should have been nicer to him - Cedric certainly tried to be friendly to people whenever he could. I do like the twins, but I just think they can be rather mean at times.

 

[abecedarian]

I suppose they can be mean at times, but hopefully they'll grow out of it..look at the number of mean kids we used to know who've grown up and become model citizens or police officers Fred and George haven't joined up with Valdemort so I'd say there's still hope for them.

 

[4th Bee Gee]

I suppose they can be mean at times, but hopefully they'll grow out of it..look at the number of mean kids we used to know who've grown up and become model citizens or police officers

You're right - I'd say James Potter is another example from Harry Potter. I really disliked him in the chapter where Harry sees into the Pensieve and witnesses his Dad and Sirius bullying Snape for no reason - he was just walking harmlessly by and they completely laid into him.

 

[abecedarian]

You're right - I'd say James Potter is another example from Harry Potter. I really disliked him in the chapter where Harry sees into the Pensieve and witnesses his Dad and Sirius bullying Snape for no reason - he was just walking harmlessly by and they completely laid into him.

How many of us have acted cruelly at some time and wished we could take it back? That's one of the draws to the HP series, the characters act like real people.. only some have a few magic tricks to make it all more fun.

 

[4th Bee Gee]

How many of us have acted cruelly at some time and wished we could take it back? That's one of the draws to the HP series, the characters act like real people.. only some have a few magic tricks to make it all more fun.

Yeah, I think it was good in a way that we saw that, because it showed us that even the good characters are human, and sometimes act in undesirable ways. I think it was good (in a way) that Harry saw that memory, as he'd had an idealised image of his Dad in the past, and maybe he needed to see that his Dad wasn't perfect; he was an ordinary guy like everyone else, and made mistakes just like anybody else.

However, the one character from a book that I really, really hate is a guy called Balchunas - which is interesting, considering that he's only a minor character. If you check out the "Wally Lamb: I Know This Much is True" thread, you'll see what I mean.

 

[Carica]

Fred and George are there to add humour to the series as much as anything but as characters I find them unpleasant and nasty in a way that we are meant to smile indulgently at. They get away with instances of nasty bullying that the bookreader judges evil when the Slytherins do it, but not when it's good old Fred and George. They sneer and hiss as a new 1st year Slytherin is Sorted and walks to his table (as if he could help it), and persistently break rules in a way that is meant to be condoned by the author ie. their actions are never held up as being reprehensible in any way.

As I have posted before here, it is Fred and George who are indirectly culpable for some of the evils done in HBP.

i) They sell Love Potions, and offer a postal service to Hogwarts, such that Romilda is able to smuggle in some potioned chocolates, which leads to the whole Ron being overdosed and nearly being killed by the posioned mead offered by Slughorn.

ii) They sell (and have invented, I think, without looking at the book) Darkness Powder. Some of it has been sold to the 'baddies' somehow - and is used in the attack on Hogwarts, enabling greater confusion and likely casualties on the 'good' side.

iii) Their prank on Montague some years back, locking him in the cabinet (and probably mentally deranging him into the bargain), leads to the discovery by the Slytherins of a magical passageway from Knockturn Alley into Hogwarts. This is the route which leads to Hogwarts being attacked, Bill being attached by the werewolf and all resultant injuries.

And yet they are not held accountable in the text for anything they do. We are meant to laugh at their pranks. They bullied Ron when he was little and act like teenage prats with their attitude to Percy (how grown up to throw sprouts at him...). I'm sure everyone not in Gryffindor finds them pretty tiresome.

 

[4th Bee Gee]

I'm sure everyone not in Gryffindor finds them pretty tiresome.

I think at least one Gryffindor also finds them tiresome...Hermione. I've always got the impression that she doesn't like Fred and George as much as Harry does. In the first three books, she doesn't really interact with the twins. In books four, five and six, some interaction between them is shown, and although I think that the twins do like Hermione, and I don't think Hermione dislikes them - I just don't think she likes them as much as everyone else seems to (which is quite understandable, considering that she's usually dead set against breaking rules, unless it's for something really important, and the twins seem to be the opposite of everything she stands for in school.)

There have been several times when Hermione has expressed irritation with the twins, and the twins were quite angry with her when she threatened to tell their mother about their continued development of Skiving Snackboxes and testing them on the kids. They don't dislike each other, but if Hermione wasn't a friend of Ron's, I wonder whether she and the twins would get on to the extent that they do. Hermione is quite the opposite of Fred and George, and one would have expected her to clash more with them. I sometimes get the feeling that Fred and George don't give her a hard time because they've "accepted" her so to speak - she's a frequent visitor to the Weasley house, she gets on well with Ginny, so although she's probably not someone they'd choose to have as a friend themselves, she's "one of them", so they treat her in a generally friendly way. But if Hermione hadn't become friends with Ron, I wonder if the twins might try to get her goat more.

I can understand the twins' attitude towards Percy after the fifth book. It's their behaviour towards him beforehand that I was really annoyed by. Admittedly, Percy was probably quite an annoying person to live with - very pompous, probably talked down to people quite a lot, and probably got on his family's nerves - but even so, Fred and George could really lay into him at times, and there were instances where they just seemed to pick on him for no reason. I don't think Percy deserved all of that, really. Sometimes, when he was acting too full of himself, I think he may have "deserved" the odd joking remark to bring him back down to earth, so to speak, but sometimes the twins could really go on at him. I think their behaviour towards Percy could be a part of the reason why he eventually disassociated himself from his family. I do think that a lot of the blame lies with Percy himself, but not all of it. It wasn't often when Fred and George treated him particularly kindly - offhand, there's only one scene I can think of, which is in the first book. It's Christmas time, and Fred and George insist that Percy stay with them as "Christmas is a time for family." That was one of the few times that they actually seemed to show that they saw Percy as "one of them" and they seemed to genuinely want him to be around them, at least for that day.

 

[carne]

I think its most because we come to love the other characters but we dont see as much of teh twins

 

[ValkyrieRaven88]

I think one of the reasons that I like the twins so much is because they make jokes--sometimes unkind ones. I definitely agree that they can be unfair, particularly towards Cedric (although not, I think, towards Percy, as I feel like he deserves it a little bit). But I get the impression that the twins' antics are all in good fun and they perhaps don't realize that they sometimes hurt other people's feelings. They don't strike me as intending to cause damage or malicious, and I'm sure they'd be quick to apologize if they made someone cry.

 

[Hamlet]

I feel Fred and George to be the comic relief of the book. After the books went so deep into the darker style, Fred and George made you breath a sigh of comfort whenever the chapter mentioned them. Unlike the other characters, it often seems they will be the less troubled throughout life. I admire that, as it takes more strength to smile in dark situations, than it does to give in.

As for their cruel sense of humor, I have always been a fan of witty statements, especially at the dispense of others. Perhaps I too am cruel, but I admire their cleverness, and find myself at times wishing the story were about the Weasley's, rather than about Harry.

 

[Oklahoma]

I think that they were realistic. Not all good guys are all good, just as not all bad guys can be all bad. Harry, in my opinion, has been much more cruel than the twins. They might have been a bit mean to Cedric, but he wasn't really a main character, but rather written just to be a friendly rival to Harry.

Harry has been cruel, and unfair to almost every single character in the book, whether they deserved it at the time or not. The twins might pick on Ron, but speaking as someone with seven siblings of my own, I know it is totally unreasonable to believe that kids won't be cruel to one another at times. Doesn't mean we wouldn't go the lengths to save each other's necks though.

So yes, they can be annoying, but at least they have the personality to make up for it. I guess each character could be torn apart and you'd have the same problems with them. Like them some, hate them some. Just like real people.

 

[WoundedThorns]

wow. i thought EVERYONE loved Fred/George.

I feel Fred and George to be the comic relief of the book. After the books went so deep into the darker style, Fred and George made you breath a sigh of comfort whenever the chapter mentioned them. Unlike the other characters, it often seems they will be the less troubled throughout life. I admire that, as it takes more strength to smile in dark situations, than it does to give in.

i agree. plus i never consider the twins to be cruel at all. maybe i'm just used to middle school/high school bitchiness.

 

[mirage0990]

wow. i thought EVERYONE loved Fred/George.



i agree. plus i never consider the twins to be cruel at all. maybe i'm just used to middle school/high school bitchiness.

I agree as well. They are my favourite characters in the book. Fred in particular (I'm not sure why)