Remus Lupin.
Don't get my wrong. I love Sirius. He has that bad boy streak mixed with a clear understanding of good and evil and a fierce loyalty to his friends. How can you not love Sirius?
But Lupin has always been my favorite. And here's why:
1) Lupin is the first of James's friends that Harry meets. Harry learns a lot about his parents from him, and he's Harry's first real father figure.
2) He's the only one who seems to be able to successfully reprimand Harry for anything and make him feel bad about it. For example:
"I cannot make you take Sirius Black seriously. But I would have thought that what you have heard when the Dementors draw near you would have had more of an effect on you. Your parents gave their lives to keep you alive, Harry. A poor way to repay them--gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks." ("Snape's Grudge," The Prisoner of Azkaban)
Don't feel so good about yourself now, do you Harry?
3) Lupin is always so level-headed and rational, but in a loving way. He doesn't let Sirius kill Pettigrew without first explaining why, therefore getting Harry on their side. He convinces Harry not to judge his dad by his 15 year-old self, because it's an unkind time to judge someone for. And he resists Tonks' advances because he a) thinks she deserves better, b) thinks he's too dangerous to live with, and c) fears passing on the curse of being a werewolf to any kids.
4) Because he's so rational, Lupin is slow to anger and easy to forgive. He neither likes nor dislikes Snape. There's too much history for them to be friends, but Lupin appreciates Snape for giving him the wolfsbane potion every month while he worked at Hogwarts.
5) Even though he's so rational, he puts his complete trust in Dumbledore. He doesn't know why Dumbledore trusts Snape, but he trusts Dumbledore enough to trust Snape. Insert religious metaphor here.
6) He's a werewolf. That's pretty legit. 2L2Q.
7) He marries Tonks. Tonks is awesome. And he lets her have the final choice on that decision.
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| They're like the wizarding world's equivalent of a hot indie couple. |
8) His story is tragically beautiful. A great man, shunned by society for his terrible condition unwillingly inflicted upon him, makes great friends who are able to see past that. (According to JK Rowling, Lupin is representative of the disabled, interestingly enough.) Shaped by his own pain (physical, emotional, etc), he empathizes with others' and is therefore very kind. He finally finds love (*SPOILER ALERT*) and briefly experiences the joy of parenthood, but his life is taken prematurely in the fray of a fight for the ultimate triumph of good over evil, leaving his son to grow up parent-less, but in a better and safer world.
What's not to love? The guy's awesome! I aspire to one day be as cool as him. But that probably won't happen, because it might be impossible for anyone to be as cool as he is. Oh well. A girl can dream, right?
