- Location
- Over the hill and far away
Getting married doesn't actually confer or indicate any virtues. Plenty of assholes have wives, after all. Similarly, neither does getting killed by Voldemort; it's not exactly a sacrifice when the person who has come specifically to murder you and your family... successfully murders you.
James presumably tried to fight back against Voldie, and apparently failed rather badly; we never hear 'and your dad killed like eleven death eaters before going down in a hail of spellfire' or anything similar, just that he got killed.
Regardless, even if he'd fought incredibly successfully and dueled Voldemort for hours before going down, it still doesn't indicate virtue- just that he'd rather he and his family not die. I guess that makes him not a complete sociopath, but even serial killers can love their families.
James... just didn't last long enough as an adult for us to know if he managed to become a good person. He was an asshole in school, to the point of attempted murder (aborting during the event still counts). He then graduated, married a girl, and inherited his wealth from his parents when they died when James was 18 or 19. James and Lily apparently lived off of inherited wealth, both then dying at the age of 21.
James was appointed 'head boy' at school, but... that's not indicative of much either, given the bizarre-world favoritism and general insanity that is Hogwarts. So was Percy, after all, and he's not particularly likeable even in most fanfic.
We do know that he decided to have himself a motorbike chase with two police officers just for funzies, and then when he and Sirius got attacked by DE's, he used the cop car as a weapon (no mention is given that he let the cops escape first). Deliberately endangering the cops and other bystanders for fun, and then uses the cops as a weapon. Not a good sign.
The wiki indicates that James stopped bullying Snape in order to get Lily to go out with him. I feel that if it takes the prospect of getting laid to get you to not actively try to murder people, then probably you're not a very good person. And the cop chase above? Happened after he got Lily to date him. I'm thinking he didn't change so much as just got better at hiding it from her.
Also, speaking of getting laid, bear in mind that Harry was born in July of 1980. That means that James fathered him in October of 1979, or, shortly after turning 19. Or, shortly after both his parents died and James inherited their money. The only way he could have been less ready to have a kid would've been if he'd knocked up Lily while they were both in school. No teenager is actually ready to have a kid.
So basically, he was a complete asshole in school. An asshole when he got out of school. And then went into hiding about two years after he got out of school. It would take a hell of a lot of good deed doing to turn that record around in 1978, before he went into hiding.
Regardless, even if he'd fought incredibly successfully and dueled Voldemort for hours before going down, it still doesn't indicate virtue- just that he'd rather he and his family not die. I guess that makes him not a complete sociopath, but even serial killers can love their families.
James... just didn't last long enough as an adult for us to know if he managed to become a good person. He was an asshole in school, to the point of attempted murder (aborting during the event still counts). He then graduated, married a girl, and inherited his wealth from his parents when they died when James was 18 or 19. James and Lily apparently lived off of inherited wealth, both then dying at the age of 21.
James was appointed 'head boy' at school, but... that's not indicative of much either, given the bizarre-world favoritism and general insanity that is Hogwarts. So was Percy, after all, and he's not particularly likeable even in most fanfic.
We do know that he decided to have himself a motorbike chase with two police officers just for funzies, and then when he and Sirius got attacked by DE's, he used the cop car as a weapon (no mention is given that he let the cops escape first). Deliberately endangering the cops and other bystanders for fun, and then uses the cops as a weapon. Not a good sign.
The wiki indicates that James stopped bullying Snape in order to get Lily to go out with him. I feel that if it takes the prospect of getting laid to get you to not actively try to murder people, then probably you're not a very good person. And the cop chase above? Happened after he got Lily to date him. I'm thinking he didn't change so much as just got better at hiding it from her.
Also, speaking of getting laid, bear in mind that Harry was born in July of 1980. That means that James fathered him in October of 1979, or, shortly after turning 19. Or, shortly after both his parents died and James inherited their money. The only way he could have been less ready to have a kid would've been if he'd knocked up Lily while they were both in school. No teenager is actually ready to have a kid.
So basically, he was a complete asshole in school. An asshole when he got out of school. And then went into hiding about two years after he got out of school. It would take a hell of a lot of good deed doing to turn that record around in 1978, before he went into hiding.
I wrote a thing about why James ain't that great, but I spoilered it because it's kind of a digression. He might've died a not completely evil person, but my general opinion is that we never actually saw him do anything good either.
Contrast that with, say, Amy; she'd be pretty peeved at the wizarding world's standards for heroism, when people started telling her about her supposedly-heroic supposed-father's antics. "Dude, my real family just all died to try to fight a city-destroying monster. They stepped up when shit went down. Your hero went into hiding from one purely ordinary murderer. Fuck your pussy heroes."
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