People have theorised about Claudius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet
for a long time. While he is the villain of the play, others have felt that he
is actually the hero, led astray. While we’ll leave that to others, I think the
same thing can be said about Vernon Dursley, Harry Potter’s cruel uncle. He
made Harry sleep in a closet underneath the stairs before eventually and generously
allowing him to stay in Dudley’s second bedroom.
Most people have written this character off as a necessity to show the
viewer/reader that Harry is living a horrible life, and that this escape to
Hogwarts a world of magic and awe inspiring things is the best possible thing
that could happen to Harry. But a lot of people don’t seem to think of this
story from Vernon’s point of view. Because if they did, they would see that
Vernon is actually a good person, and a character that I’m sure a lot of people
could relate to in their own lives. He’s basically Harrys father, despite not
showing any outward affection towards him, he cares, a lot. It’s hard to tell
someone you love them, and he’s dealing with Harry the only way he knows how.
His spoiling of Dudley is merely him making up for his mistreating of Harry. It
all probably goes back to Vernon’s own childhood. He had issues, I’m not
denying, but there’s more to this character than meets the eye.
1. He’s Scared
Vernon is not a direct relation of the Potter family, he came into their lives
through his marriage of Petunia Dursley. It’s no wonder that he would be
scared. He was introduced into a world of magic, not just magic but also evil
magic. “There’s a ‘Dark Lord’? Um, ok…Oh, he wants to kill you and your family
does he James? Oh my God, the one who should not be named killed James and
Lily, and now we have to raise their magic son. Shit.”
Then they raised the baby Harry, always wondering what he will grow up to be.
The kid has freaking superpowers! I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near him. So
it kind of makes sense that his treatment of him hasn’t been too great.
Vernon knew a lot of things that Harry didn’t and he treated
him the way he did out of fear, but also out of a sense of duty. He knew that
Voldemort was going to seek revenge on Harry, and that Harry would have a lot
to deal with, and would have to be incredible tough to be able to survive, so
he stuck him in the closet, and made him work the house. Not because he was
cruel, but he was training Harry. Basically what I’m trying to say is that he’s
Obi Wan Kanobi.
Look into his eyes, the poor lad is terrified.
2. His Job
Vernon is the director of a drill-making firm called Grunnings. He is very
successful in his job, and works very hard. There is scene in one of the films
(and the book I’m sure, but I haven’t read them) where Vernon has an important
meeting in his home with some business people. He decides that Harry should
just stay in his room, and not introduce his guest to him. Which makes perfect
sense, since Harry is freaking magic, and he wants this meeting to be
completely magic free, as I’m sure most people do in their business
arrangements.
So Harry eventually screws the whole thing up and uses loads of magic.
Everything goes shit ways, and he puts bars on Harrys window, and pretty much
shuts him off from the world. Although it may seem to us that this is
unnecessary force, it makes perfect sense. He’s grounding Harry for what he’s
done. I know this may not have been Harrys fault because it was the weird alien
faced gremlin thing Dobby who made it all happen, but Vernon doesn’t know this
and is just trying to show Harry that magic is not appropriate for this
situation. He’s put Vernon’s entire career on the line, why wouldn’t he be mad?
Also, the bars on the window might have more to them then we
think, he’s trying to stop any wizards getting to Harry. Most obviously
Voldemort but he doesn’t know who else might be after him in the wizard world.
He’s taking every precaution he can think of. If you ask me that’s noble.
3. He Shows The Patience Of A Saint
There’s many points where Harry shows complete disregard for the rules
of magic amongst muggles. He uses his evil devil powers against the Dursleys
and causes them to all blow up like one of those blow fish. He blows them up to
a massive size, and eventually to the point where he causes them to levitate as
if they were helium balloons. They float away throughout London and they
somehow survive the inevitable drop to their deaths.
Despite all of Harrys demonic acts Uncle Vernon still gives him a place to stay
and a hot meal every night. To be honest, if I was him I’d just crawl into his
bedroom and shoot the fucker in his sleep. That’s all he deserves, the ponce.
I think Vernon deserves a goddamn medal for all he’s done. Harry is just a
little brat at the end of the day. Every response he gives is sarcastic, could
you imagine living with that? Some magical teenager, who has the power to kill
you with a wand. Vernon is living in 1984, but instead of big brother watching
his every step it’s a hormonal teenage boy. Vernon has a whole pile of shit to
deal with and he has to sleep with one eye open. Harry’s a monster, who abuses
the whole Dursley family, and Vernon is showing patience beyond anything I’ve
ever seen by not taking the freak out into the back garden and giving him a
bullet straight into the back of his head.
And he's to put up with this prat.
4. He Cares
The only negative thing I could say about Vernon Dursley is probably that he
cares too much. He hid all the letters Harry was receiving from Hogwarts,
Hermione, and Ron. Which doesn’t really make sense since in the wizard world
letters are delivered right into your hand by an owl. Nice going JK Rowling,
your books don’t make any sense. Harry was pissed off he wasn’t receiving his
messages. But can you blame Vernon? By this point Harry had almost died like a
million times, he’s always going to do everything he could to stop the death of
his nephew.
Harry and Vernon don’t see eye to eye very often, much like any father/son
relationship. Vernon is doing his level best but Harry keeps pushing the
boundaries every single time. Eventually he was left with no choice but to hide
the letters and leave Harry in perpetual misery. Again, things like this will
often toughen a person up, and is bringing Harry one step closer to becoming
the super solider he needs to grow into to defeat Voldemort.
I salute you Vernon, there’s very few men in this world who risk so much to
gain so little. You’re like Christ in a lot of ways.
Plus he's sexy as hell!
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