There's a reason we separate most of our fictional characters into "good guys" and "bad guys." Black and white, good and evil, Batman and not-Batman -- we need these simple distinctions because otherwise we might find something in our heroes that we hate, or something in our villains that we reluctantly agree with. To that end ...

5 Harry Potter Isn't A Nerdy Underdog

It's easy to understand why Harry Potter is a hero to millions of children and millennials who don't know when to quit. He's a bespectacled dweeb who overcomes hardship, bullying (both from his teachers and his classmates), the loss of his parents, being molested by a ghost, having to watch countless friends die in front of him, and a terrible haircut to fulfill his destiny of saving the entire wizarding world.

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His foil in the series is obviously Draco Malfoy -- a preening, snobbish, bigoted rich prick who, despite having every conceivable advantage in the world, still wound up being such an irredeemable character that not even J.K. Rowling can be bothered to retcon his bullshit (yet). Or at least, that's what the books want us to believe. When you actually stop and think about Harry and his circumstances, some of these premises fall apart.

For starters, Harry's list of allies includes the smartest girl in the school, the headmaster, the groundskeeper, several professors and members of the government, the school's resident pranksters, a whole sports team, and oh right, a secret society that has sworn to protect his life. His parents might be dead, and the Dursleys might be abusive monsters, but the guy has a tighter support network than a quality swimsuit.

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He might not be the most popular guy in Hogwarts, but he's definitely not the least popular. He wins most of the Quidditch matches he plays, clinches the House Cup for Gryffindor every year that Rowling could be bothered to mention it, and saves the day countless times ... which he also only manages because of the insane amount of help provided by his friends and teachers.

Oh, and he's absurdly rich. Did we mention his towering piles of money? His parents left him a fortune in wizarding currency, but you'd be hard-pressed to find any mention of that fact after the first couple of books because, well, that would rub up against the whole "downtrodden orphan" archetype, wouldn't it?