26 July 2011

Harry Potter Needs Therapy

In honor of the end of the Harry Potter movies, I've decided to dedicate a post to the beloved Boy Wizard.

 I've always loved Harry Potter. Like, a lot. Enough to carve my own wand out of stick from my backyard.  (That story will come later, since it deserves a whole post to itself.) I've loved it enough to create pages and pages of fan art of my favorite parts of the book.  I even joined an online Hogwarts RPG. I picked a fake name, was sorted into Gryffindor (even though I wanted Ravenclaw) and took "classes." I used to be really embarassed of that time in my life. But since starting college, I've lost a lot of shame and self-respect, which is why I feel just fine telling you this now. Sometimes I go back to the site "just to see" and end up realizing that I am still in the top 20 for posts in the forum. 


After going to the midnight showing of the second part of the last movie, I realized something. Harry Potter really needs therapy. First of all, his parents were murdered. Orphaned, he grew up in an emotionally abusive household with people who made him live in a cupboard. He was bullied, ignored, lied to, and neglected in almost every way. Then a giant man came and took him away to a magical world.




In that magical world he's in the spotlight constantly, especially when he goes to the magical school. There, he befriends the awkward ginger and the know-it-all girl, going on dangerous adventures with them and repeatedly defeating the man who murdered his parents, while still managing to complete his schoolwork.  As he goes through puberty (with all the angst and awkward romances) he becomes close to people who fill the empty parental void, such as Dumbledore and Sirius Black....

...who are also murdered.

Everybody Harry loves has been murdered. Hedwig, Dobby, Lupin, the list goes on. Realistically, Harry Potter should have lost it a long time ago. He should have been a complete wreck, suffering from PTSD and self-medicating with potions he stole from Snape's office. Or maybe stabbing himself with a quill just to feel in control.



Here are my interpretations of what Harry would be like if he had lost his mind.


 Poor kid.



He carries the snitch around everywhere he goes, hiding it in his mouth sometimes.


I probably shouldn't laugh at this one.



Somehow he lost his arm. Then stuck his wand into the nub. 


Yikes.


We love you, Harry.


29 comments:

Marlee said...

the broom for a mom, hahaha! and you are obviously eleanor chambers.

Hannah said...

Nope.

Sheri said...

Eleanor Chambers - Interests: Viktor. How many Viktors can there be?

thinkellen said...

Oh, but he already is crazy. Didn't you realize?

Read this. =P

Marlee said...

Maggie McGravin? i will find out.

Hannah said...

Nope. She was my friend though. I've told you this before.

Hannah said...

Ellen, that is BRILLIANT!

Camilla said...

I never pitied Harry more than after reading this post. Poor kid. I like the cutting picture the best. Probably because we really shouldn't laugh at it, but I think it's the funniest interpretation. Love the lightning bolts.

Jenna said...

Ella Dowling?

Harodan said...

Don't forget that stuff in the final book. After seeing many of his friends die, hearing the soft voice of Voldemort reassure him that those deaths were on his shoulders (for not giving up,) speaking personally to a ghost with personal space and anger issues and nearly being suffocated by self-duplicating treasure in a sealed room, he literally DIES, only to return and keep fighting.
We see Harry as a baby in Snake's memories, crying silently. Silently. I have never seen a baby do that. He had problems from the moment he popped out.

Quien diria? said...

Prof. Anya Chutney?

Anonymous said...

You're totally Faye Laramie. The profile picture of the asian chick is just a clever diversion >: )

brittna said...

omg you are so twisted! his stump?! lol

Simini said...

Lol. So true. And people always complain about how in five he's always yelling at people, and I'm like "heck yes he's yelling at people... A kid was murdered in front of him and then he was tied to a gravestone while sacrificial performed. On him. And that the least of his troubles. I'de yell at people to. Or start talking to a broom...

(psssst.... I also secretly drew stacks and stacks of fan art and participated actively in forums... and even wrote some fan fiction.... Nerds unite!)

Aitherrios Photography said...

My favorite post yet! I'd totally buy some of your Harry Potter art.

Hannah said...

Even If you guess it right I'll still deny it. :)

Hannah said...

Harodan, your comment made my day.

"After seeing many of his friends die, hearing the soft voice of Voldemort reassure him that those deaths were on his shoulders...and anger issues and nearly being suffocated by self-duplicating treasure in a sealed room, he literally DIES..."

So did yours, Simini. I'm so glad that we both have secret collections of HP fanart. Not so secret anymore.

Simini said...

Yeah i've totally fallen off the wagon (jumped back on the wagon?) and am drawing Harry Potter on every other page of my sketchbook...

Erika Eddington said...

I love this, Hannah! But...You spelled Gryffindor like friend Griffin. Griffindor...
Just sayin...

Allison said...

You used that harry potter website as well?! I thought I was the only freak!

Sarah said...

I'm still in the top 20! Woohoo!

Hannah said...

Allison! You did too?! No way! Who were you?

MissLovegood said...

This is fantastic XD
I too made a lot of Harry Potter fan art, a good amount of it used in various school assignments lol

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it have been great if at the end of the whole series, Harry wakes up in the cupboard and the whole story was a dream his mind made up to distract him from his depressing existence. It all started with a letter...
Yea, Harry. A letter from your desperate little imagination. I'm so sorry.

Sentimental J said...

Therapy it should be!

Ron and Hermoine probably need them too. Maybe some group therapy?

Love your post, maybe it's because I am a psychology-major lol

Hannah said...

@Anonymous
That. is. genius. Poor Harry.

@Sentimental J
Every character in that book needs therapy. Nice group therapy will do. I'd love to sit in on that one.

Also, Someone has already guessed who I was on that HOL forum. It's one of the guesses someone has made in this comment thread. :(

Phil Manning said...

You're STILL in the top 20? You probably haven't made a post there in years either. I know which one is you, I also know which one is my sister, haha.

Man, I remember being on that website but I probably only made a handful of posts before I stopped going. But I was in Ravenclaw... oh yeah. FTW.

TsuChibi's Castle said...

If it all ended up being fake, I think I would cry... Just the fact that it WASN'T REAL!!!! Well, I still cry when I realize it isn't real for me... ;_;
And, who HASN'T joined a HP onlineRPG?? ^-^

My Brain said...

I was actually just thinking about this a couple weeks ago. Somehow the fact that Harry had gone through all that trauma and ended up normal never quite sat right with me.