James Potter

[cmwinters]

The thing that jumps out at me, IIRC, is that somewhere it is stated that Mad-Eye Moody never used the AK and always brought in his Death Eaters alive. It was a real testament to his character that even though the Ministry has authorized the use of Unforgivables, he still didn't use them. I think that this could have been a common element across the Order, and that many others, including James, would have taken their cue from Moody.

This is in Goblet of Fire, when the kids go to meet Sirius in the cave, and he says that Mad-Eye received special dispensation from the ministry to perform the Unforgiveables. Then Sirius says "I'll say this much for him; he always brought them in alive, if possible". So Moody undoubtedly DID use the Killing Curse, but tried to avoid it if at all possible.

If he did use that curse, the repercussions would be *huge*, and that's a big undertaking.

I'm not so sure the governmental repercussions would be that big; by that point, nearly everyone was in a state of constant terror. If James had killed, say, Rosier (James didn't, Moody did, but let's not worry about that for the moment) and James was able to demonstrate either that Rosier was Marked or was attacking James' family, he'd probably have gotten away with it.

But I absolutely agree that the rest of the Order would have taken their cue from Moody.

I agree with Megan. She sketched the Marauders very accurately, in my opinion. Even though James was definitely NOT your model student as far as pranks went, still I think that some of the nastiness can be attributed to Snape's biased point of view. And I don't blame Snape for that, I really don't.

Except for Lupin and Black don't do anything to correct this assumption. And according to Jo [*], the Pensieve memories don't show a point of view, they show it from a dispassionate third-party perspective. Harry came to the conclusion that James was a prat all on his own.

[TheBlackSister]

What I meant were the comments Snape made about James: "strutted about the school", "big-headed", etc. I was wondering about the Pensieve and point of view and didn't know that JKR addressed that. Thanks! As for the conclusion Harry made...that's the best insight he ever got on anyone. Sorry for being harsh, but Harry does tend to make conclusions about people and things, and it's hard to put him right.

[Gmariam]

This is in Goblet of Fire, when the kids go to meet Sirius in the cave, and he says that Mad-Eye received special dispensation from the ministry to perform the Unforgiveables. Then Sirius says "I'll say this much for him; he always brought them in alive, if possible". So Moody undoubtedly DID use the Killing Curse, but tried to avoid it if at all possible.

Thanks for the reference! I still think it speaks volumes about his character, and that others would have followed suit in terms of not using the AK curse. I suppose you are right that he probably did, at some point - plot bunny, anyone??

I'm not so sure the governmental repercussions would be that big; by that point, nearly everyone was in a state of constant terror. If James had killed, say, Rosier (James didn't, Moody did, but let's not worry about that for the moment) and James was able to demonstrate either that Rosier was Marked or was attacking James' family, he'd probably have gotten away with it.

Actually, the legal consequences didn't even occur to me - I was thinking more along the lines of how James himself would react to having used that curse to kill someone. I think it would really affect him, and possibly those around him as well. If I were exploring such a scenario, I would probably send James off on some soul-searching. First, because he used Dark Magic, which we are told he hated. And second, because he killed someone, which is usually something very difficult to integrate into one's psyche: I think there would be guilt, fear, doubt, self-anger, and more. But I have never done anything remotely similar, so I can't speak from experience.

Except for Lupin and Black don't do anything to correct this assumption. And according to Jo [*], the Pensieve memories don't show a point of view, they show it from a dispassionate third-party perspective. Harry came to the conclusion that James was a prat all on his own.

I love that little function of the Pensieve. It makes sense, too: our brains record everything, even the stuff we don't actually process consciously, right? To be able to see it in the Pensieve from a broader prospective that isn't colored by our feelings in the moment would be a great thing. So I think that CM was right that Snape's point of view wasn't much of a factor in how Harry saw his father in the Pensieve: it was what it was, and Harry came to his own conclusions objectively.

The thing that gets me about James's characterization is that too often it seems the negative is emphasized and the positive is ignored. He probably wasn't always popular, cocky, arrogant, ruffling his hair, picking on people, or pulling pranks. And just because he liked Lily doesn't make him a decent guy. I think good stories about James need to round him out and balance the good with the bad. We need to see the side of him that JKR didn't show us, but what his friends and loved ones knew was there.

~Gina

[mankytoes]

Its got to the point in my story where i've got to make a decision about James' work. I'd always presumed they were both aurors, but apparantly that isn't canon. We know he came from a rich family, so probably didn't need to work, but I think that he should and would.

[Pafoo]

Now, this isn't so much a question as a statement, made from re-reading PA and OTP, the best sources about James/Sirius/Remus/Pettigrew.

I doubt that James was that "boyishly handsome" or had "stunningly good looks."

The most obvious source for this conclusion is Harry. Harry has been described as looking *exactly* like his father too many times to even begin to mention. Now, Harry has had a sum total of two girlfriends. Wow. In all 6 + 1 years of magical education/saving the world, he has had two girlfriends. IN most fictions I read about James, he has eighteen. A week. One a day. Now, don't ask me how he can have eighteen girlfriends, on a day, in one week. It doesn't matter. James is superman.

What I'm saying is that I wouldn't shed too many a tear is people stopped portraying James as ZOMK HANSOM AZ HEWL!

*nod*

[Gmariam]

Oh Pafoo, you make such a good point! Thank you! Nowhere in canon are we ever given the impression that James was some sort of randy lady-killer. We see him as cocky and arrogant in OotP, but that doesn't mean he scored with the girls for it.

Mankytoes, here is what JKR said about James (AOL chat, 2000):
But James inherited plenty of money, so he didn't need a well-paid profession.

So, it seems to me that things could be a bit open to interpretation if written correctly. He may have worked part-time, or done non-profit volunteer work, or simply not worked at all. I think the most likely, however, is that his official/unofficial job was with the Order, and that's how I'm currently writing him myself. I could see him as an Auror as well, though, and that would certainly make a nice connection to Harry, given what we know about his own future career.

Good luck,
~Gina

[schwartzandgrubennierre]

]Mankytoes, here is what JKR said about James (AOL chat, 2000):
But James inherited plenty of money, so he didn't need a well-paid profession.

So, it seems to me that things could be a bit open to interpretation if written correctly. He may have worked part-time, or done non-profit volunteer work, or simply not worked at all. I think the most likely, however, is that his official/unofficial job was with the Order, and that's how I'm currently writing him myself. I could see him as an Auror as well, though, and that would certainly make a nice connection to Harry, given what we know about his own future career.

I agree that James's only job was probably working for the Order. He was still in school when Voldemort rose to power, and I see him as wanting to join the Order as soon as he left Hogwarts. He and Lily had only been out of Hogwarts about three years when they died, so he never got the chance to have a *real* career. (And, as Jo said, didn't really need one)

I'm not saying that he was lazy, just lying back on what his parents had left for him. He and Lily faced Voldemort himself three times, so obviously they were very active in the Order. I think if they had lived in a time of peace, James and Lily (like Harry and Ginny) would have had jobs to keep themselves occupied.

schwartzy

[ix3thehpseries]

I always read in stories that James' eyes are hazel, which in the stories somewhere it always says and brown bore into green or something of the like, but everyone tells me I have hazel eyes and my eyes are green/gray. So my question is what color (brown, green, gray) eyes did James Potter have? Thanks in advance!

[cmwinters]

James' eyes were hazel.

However, the difficulty of classifying exactly *what* colour that is can cause some confusion.

For more information, this link may be useful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_color#Hazel

[kask]

I've been having some trouble with James lately. I really love his character; I think he's great. But there was a debate about him the other day, and many people do not see him as a good character, but a very nasty one. That is how we see him in the few encounters we have with him (when he was eleven and fifteen), and these are what Harry sees. I tend to see him in a different light, but it doesn't seem Harry does. So my question is: How do you think Harry views his father?

Harry does name his son after James, but we don't really know much more than that. Sirius was the same, if not worse, than James, but Harry knew Sirius. Harry got the chance to love Sirius, and Sirius was there for him, and because of that, he overlooked his behavior a bit. But with James, I didn't feel like he ever got that. In Harry's eyes, Snape was redeemed, but James never really was. There was no one left to help with that. All of the people who knew James well died, so I'm not sure what image Harry has of his father.

I like to think that Harry realized that, although James was kind of a jerk when he was younger, they share a lot of the same qualities and traits. I don't know. I see them both very similar in moral and character, but I think Lily and James had similar views in right and wrong also.
/run on