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bharatiya-naari-sab-pe-bhaari · 2 years

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Handsome is....

So I have been thinking about this a lot but I didn't think it was necessary to elaborate too much on this cause frankly people who are intelligent don't need an explanation and those who need an explanation are too dumb to accept it. So its just wasted energy.

But yesterday my very good friend and me were discussing the same thing and surprisingly she (who by the way is not dumb at all and I love her) did not agree with me. Now it maybe her own biases but I felt like I should make a point.

So here comes my too long ted talk one more time..

I have seen too many HP artists' magnificent works since I joined the fandom and even before it. Now no doubt these people are way too talented for me to even think about crossing them and I say this with zero sarcasm and a hundred percent respect towards their imagination and artwork but I really do want to put forth a point.

You know what is the best part about everyone's description that Rowling has written in throughout the series?

Its that there is no adjective in anyone's looks coming close to 'handsome', 'pretty' and 'beautiful'. Of course with exceptions which I may have missed (I did read the works too long ago) and someone whose main characteristic goes with their physical looks. But it always has a very strong reasoning with regards to their personal traits.

Fleur Delacour :

Veela so physically attractive to the opposite sex

Sirius Black:

this guy's only saving grace is his good looks, 'haughty' beauty to portray a rich pureblood arrogant Casanova kind

Draco Malfoy:

again, 'haughty' good looks to give meaning to his arrogance and money (see a pattern?)

Lucius Malfoy:

nothing saying he looked handsome other than we can assume his son may have got those haughty good looks from him.

Narcissa Malfoy:

'nice' looking from direct paraphrasing (So Draco could have got that from his mother)

I am assuming all the Blacks bearing resemblance to each other may possess that same characteristic arrogant beauty which is kinda reasonable

Bill Weasley:

you know what I think? He was termed handsome for the sole purpose of showing the difference or more correctly the lack thereof after getting mauled by Greyback.

Cedric Diggory:

Excessively handsome.. thats just for Harry, Cho and Cedric triangle

Tom Riddle:

Come on, this a full on parallelism drawn from Lucifer, the Devil with stunning looks who fell from grace and turned to a monster from Hell..

Lily Evans:

Come on, there has to be another reason except achieving the unachievable to pursue her by Potter Sr. And of course to show the seemingly endless contrast between her and Severus. Though honestly I don't know how beautiful she was cause Petunia is said to be a horse faced woman (like they are siblings... one cant look like Aphrodite and the other like a gorgon unless their parents have been less than faithful.)

I think other than these characters no one has ever been termed directly as conventionally handsome, pretty or beautiful. But then I don't think anyone has also been coined as ugly or physically repulsive.

But then as a reader or artist one is completely free to imagine the character in any way they seem fit. That is all a game of perspective because then again beauty is subjective and highly individualistic. Never has societies rules of how beautiful or handsome one should look dictated what we think a person looks like.

But what I completely detest and find repulsive on a purely chemical level is when people come and casually comment on the artists pages or drawings is how could you make this and this character look so goddamn beautiful? (I am paraphrasing here from a quote I had come across many many times on three guesses? surprise surprise.. Snape arts).

And also because Snape happens to be my favourite HP character I have sadly faced this one times too many.

And honestly this has to stop.

It's embarrassing guys really!

Just stop.

Digressing from the subject of what handsome or beautiful is to the beholder, even in the original books majority of the characters have never been termed as beautiful as artists draw them.

You wanna see the evidence.

Harry Potter

Throughout the series, Harry is described as having his father's perpetually untidy black hair, his mother's bright green eyes, and a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. He is further described as "small and skinny for his age" with "a thin face" and "knobbly knees", and he wears Windsor glasses

Handsome?

Nope.

But do people draw him like he is some Greek God?

Yep.

And that's completely fine.

2. Ronald Weasley

Rowling introduces Ron as "tall, thin and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose." Ron has the trademark red hair of the Weasleys and is indeed one of Harry's tallest schoolmates, even outgrowing some of his older brothers.

Handsome?

Nope.

But do people draw him like an American football star?

Yep.

Also completely fine.

wait.. long nose?

Have I ever seen any pic of Ron with a long nose? People love saying Snape's nose is like a vulture's beak but then my dear fellow readers why haven't I ever seen Ronald Weasley sporting an elephant's trunk?

Caricature and reality should be kept different.

3. Hermione Granger

"In the Harry Potter books, the brilliant Hermione Granger is described as having frizzy, untamable dark hair, brown eyes, and protruding teeth, but more often is defined by her intellect and devotion to her friends."

Don't even get me started.

Emma you are wonderful but sadly you aren't Hermione.

But wait, some people have drawn her like her book's description (very rarely though)

Not that I have any problem with the supermodel Hermione granger.

4. Remus Lupin

"Remus was described as having a pale face with premature lines, and light brown hair that, as he progressed through his thirties, became more and more grey. The lines on his face and his greying hair were the results of the great deal of stress his body underwent with each full moon."

Handsome much?

Nope nada noppity

But then all of Remus Lupin's pics show him like a tired chocolate boy pretty from the eighties even in his thirties.

Again, not that I have any problem.

5. James Potter

"James was a tall, thin man with hazel eyes and untidy black hair that stuck up at the back. During his Hogwarts years, he had an indefinable air of having been well cared for and even adored. As late as his fifth year, he started wearing glasses, though he had not in his first year."

Oh God.. guess I am doing this.

However much all of you want him to be, he isn't Alan Taylor Johnson folks.

Yet however much it pains me to admit, the truth is it really doesn't bother me. No, not even if I hate him as a character, artists and readers are welcome to imagine him like Narcissus (from the beauty aspect also not that he wasn't narcisstic..sorry I am getting carried away)

6. Bartemius Crouch Jr.

"In his youth, Barty was described as being a pale young man with straw-coloured hair and freckles."

If you find him beautiful then cheers to you genuinely, but neither he is described directly as handsome.

7.Luna Lovegood

"She had straggly, waist-length, dirty blonde hair, very pale eyebrows, and protuberant eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look."

Not at all the platinum blonde moonlike beauty people draw her like. She almost sounds a bit creepy to look at physically.

But like I said before she could look stunning in someone's mind's eye. Doesn't matter really. But the point is that her book's look isn't maintained everywhere (almost nowhere) so...

Etc etc etc....

So actually my point is that physical appearances in Harry Potter have almost always been factual, objective and with good reason. It all links to the plot. Everyone's appearance does. Thus spreading this absolutely meaningless and worthless hogwash about Snape being ugly cause he has sallow skin, hooked nose and oily hair is fundamentally stupid. (And I have never read him have a receding hairline.. is it mentioned anywhere in the books?)

So either all of the people in the books were rather plain and general looking or all of them had their own specific physical attractiveness which is distinct as seen by their fans, followers and admirers.

Justifying making a caricature out of one person in a drawing where everyone else looks like Roman Gods and Venetian Goddesses, based on their distinguishable features is not only bullshit on principle but also tiresome.

Haters honestly hate away.. can't take away your one source of entertainment but please do it on your own forums, posts and artwork. Make Snape look like some monster for all I care but targeting certain artists because they find him handsome is just disgusting.

So to finish my title for this post

..... is as one perceives them to be.

Phew! That was long.. but it was stewing in my brain for far too long.

PS :- This is with all respect to all the Harry Potter artists there. You people are phenomenal and I won't measure up to any of your talents, not by even one sixteenth.

PPS_1:- You know who else was tall, thin, sallow, dark haired and curved nosed? Viktor Krum (whom artists draw like the statues of Pagan Gods) and he actually has a curved nose. That is to emphasise that hooked and curved are different physically.

PPS_2: Fred and George are said to resemble Charlie more ie; on the shorter and stockier side. But then artists draw them as tall and thin like the actors so...

*all pic credits to their respective artists*

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