
An uncommonly kind woman, who saw the beauty of others even and perhaps most especially when they couldn't see it within themselves.
I am really excited for this proposal regardless of how it turns out as I have been thinking about her as a PG qualifier for a really long time. I might be living up to my name with this proposal but honestly after thinking about it, I really believe she qualifies and stands out as a very admirable character. Without further ado, let's discuss, Lily Potter.
What's The Work[]
The Harry Potter franchise as most of you probably know is a multimedia fantasy franchise consisting of the original 7 books and their film adaptations along with the prequel Fantastic Beasts series and other tie-in material. For this character in particular, the Harry Potter series itself is about a young kid named Harry Potter, the prophesied Chosen One, who was orphaned as an infant after (thanks to this candidate) surviving an attack on his home by the evil dark wizard Lord Voldemort . After growing up with his muggle (non-magical) relatives, Harry goes to wizards /witches school Hogwarts at the age of 11, making friends and having to battle with Voldemort and his followers when they return in order to save the world from their genocidal agenda.
Who is She/What Has She Done?[]
Lily Potter is a minor character and arguably the posthumous overarching protagonist of the Harry Potter series. She was an idealistic, kind, and loving muggle-born witch who was the best and only true friend of Severus Snape, before gradually growing apart after Snape resolved to join the Death Eaters (which wanted to commit genocide against muggle-borns like Lily). Although initially getting off on the wrong foot with James Potter and his friends known as the Marauders due to them being arrogant bullies, she influenced them to give up their bullying ways and became friends with them, eventually falling in love with James and marrying him. Tragically, her life would be cut short when Voldemort broke into their house to kill their newborn son who was prophesied to defeat him. While James was instantly killed, Lily sacrificed herself to defeat Voldemort, saving the Wizarding world/ending the First Wizarding War and making her son Harry the legendary “Boy Who Lived”, ensuring the prophecy would come to fruition.
I am going to do something I usually don’t do and include her heroism here and leave the admirable standard section for comparisons. With that said Lily in both the film and book versions has done numerous heroic and admirable actions which include:
Both Versions
- She was the best and only true friend of Severus Snape, being the only person who treated him with kindness and compassion in Hogwarts and remaining friends with him even when he was sorted into the notorious Slytherin house. She served as a good influence on Snape against the bigotry of his Death Eater family and friends.
- Despite the fact that her sister Petunia called her a freak repeatedly for being a witch and treated her terribly, she still loved and cared for her sister, defending her from Snape and wished to reconcile with her sister.
- She befriended James and the Marauders after influencing them to grow out of their bullying ways and became friends with all of them (including Peter Pettigrew), falling in love with James and marrying him.
- She felt immense remorse after James and her sister’s fiance Vernon got into an argument (even though it wasn’t her fault at all) during their first meeting, bursting into tears when Petunia and Vernon stormed out and motivating James to promise to her that he would make things right with Vernon as soon as possible. She would try to maintain contact with her sister and reconcile (although Petunia refused and didn’t attend Lily’s wedding), sending her an announcement of Harry’s birth to her sister as their last form of correspondence (as Petunia threw the letter in the garbage).
- She joined the Order of the Phoenix to combat Voldemort and the Death Eaters who started the First Wizarding World to conquer the Wizarding World and wipe out muggle-borns like her.
- She was the sole reason why Snape would turn on Voldemort and inform Dumbledore of Voldemort’s plan to kill her, James, and Harry as Voldemort correctly believed Harry to be the prophesied chosen one.
- She trusted Peter Pettigrew to be Potter family’s secret-keeper on the word of Sirius Black despite barely knowing Pettigrew unlike her husband.
- She affectionately called Pettigrew “wormy” and when he came to visit her house, she was sympathetic and felt concerned that he seemed “down”. (God Pettigrew is such a scumbag for betraying Lily and James)
- She was close friends with her neighbor, the British witch, and the great aunt of Gellert Grindelwald, Bathilda Bagshot, complimenting Bagshot as an incredibly sweet woman and for her fascinating tales about Dumbledore formerly being friends with Gellert Grindelwald
- She sent a letter to Sirius Black, thanking him for his birthday present for the one-year old Harry as it was Harry’s favorite present, framing a picture for Sirius to see Harry on the toy broomstick Sirius got him and she excitedly told Sirius about her meetings with Pettigrew and Bathilda Bagshot mentioned above.
- She sacrificed herself to defeat Voldemort when he attacked the Potter home, placing a living sacrifice protection on an infant Harry so that Voldemort tried to kill him, the killing curse rebounded back on him, destroying Voldemort’s body and forcing him into hiding, saving not just Harry but the entire Wizarding world and ending the First Wizarding War. Her sacrifice made Harry the legendary Boy Who Lived and allowed the prophecy to come into fruition, making her responsible
- Her memory was the sole reason for Snape’s redemption and him agreeing to play the key role in Dumbledore’s plans to protect Harry and take down Voldemort when he returned decades later.
- She was the first spirit to appear when Harry used the Resurrection stone, reaching out her hand to Harry to comfort him, telling him how brave he has been and when Harry asked why she and the Marauders were here, she revealed to him that they never left and told Harry they would always stay close to him in the last moment of the scene before they disappeared.
Exclusive to Book Version
- She repeatedly defended Severus Snape from James and the Marauder’s bullying and despite her popularity and the rest of friends telling her not to associate with Snape, she still remained best friends with him and didn’t become narcissistic, defending Snape for years.
- While she accepted the cheers of students when she was accepted into Gryffindor, she was sad that she wasn’t with Snape and turned back to smile at him when he was sad about it as well.
- Although she initially didn’t like James and the Marauders for being arrogant bullies, she still defended them from Snape by pointing out that James saved Snape’s life and told Snape to stop obsessing over them when he tried to use them to deflect from his own Slytherin colleagues unethical actions.
- She called out Snape’s Slytherin “friends” after they attacked a student named Mary Macdonald using black magic and told Snape that it wasn’t just humor but creepy and messed up, while still assuring Snape that they were best friends but that his company was badly influencing him.
- She defended Snape from James Potter and the Marauders after James turned Snape upside down and revealed his underwear, being the only person who didn’t laugh and made James let Snape go and take off Sirius’ curse that rendered Snape rigid and unable to move.
- While she was (understandably) upset after Snape called a filthy little mudblood right after she saved him, she still defended Snape from James, telling James that she didn’t want him to force Snape to apologize when James threatened Snape to and still called James out for bullying Snape and others and for being just as bad.
- She along with her husband defied Voldemort three times during the course of the First Wizarding War which was a part of the prophecy about the Chosen One.
- After Voldemort attacked their home and killed James, she refused to step aside from Harry even though Voldemort offered to spare her life.
- She repeatedly tried to reason with Voldemort and begged him to have mercy on Harry and take her instead before Voldemort ultimately killed her and she made her loving sacrifice.
Exclusive to Film Version
- Unlike her book version, Lily never even initially disliked or got off on the wrong foot with James even after he pushed her to the ground and dropped her books to the ground to get her attention as young kids, she had no anger towards him and they quickly fell in love on first sight.
- She gave her teacher/Hogwarts Potions Master Horace Slughorn a present as a token of appreciation, giving him a bowl with a petal that floated and turned into a fish when it sank, which Slughorn named Francis.
- She was known as an “uncommonly kind woman” who saw the best in others even when they couldn’t see it in themselves supported Remus and was there for him at a time when no one else was as Remus told Harry as that was how he recognized him due to his relationship with Lily and seeing her eyes in him.
Admirable Standard[]
Now the admirable standards of the Harry Potter franchise are high but regardless of the fact that Lily has so little screen-time and therefore it really isn’t fair to compare her to main characters like the Trio, honestly Lily still commits very admirable and unique deeds that honestly surpass major characters and make her stand out.
I mean she sacrificed herself to defeat Voldemort, saving Harry and the Wizarding world along with ending the First Wizarding War. The only other person who accomplished that was Harry Potter himself in the Second War which he could’ve never had done along with all his other heroism if it wasn’t for Lily as you know…. Harry would be killed as an infant if it wasn’t for her and none of the events of the series would have happened as Voldemort would have won. That makes her responsible for Harry’s heroism and the saving of the prophecy as she made Harry the “Boy Who Lived”, which makes her even more admirable and unique especially considering that once again she rarely gets any screen time and yet is able to accomplish something almost every other hero in the franchise couldn’t definitely makes her stand out to say the least. (Btw yes, I know Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald which ended the Global Wizarding War but Dumbledore had waaaay more resources than Lily as he was the most powerful wizard in history and regardless defeating Voldemort in of itself is a pretty admirable and unique act especially considering that Voldemort was the most powerful Dark Wizard/second most powerful wizard in general in history and yet Lily not Dumbledore defeated Voldemort which just makes her even more unique).
There’s also the fact that she was the best friend of Snape and really the only person who treated him well/defended him and brought out the best in him during their time at Hogwarts together. In fact, she was the only reason why Snape redeemed himself and defected as he wanted to protect her from Voldemort once Voldemort concluded that Harry was the Chosen One and went out to kill him. Even after her death, her memory was the sole factor in why Snape decided to protect Harry and play a key role in Dumbledore’s plans as he was actually going to kill himself when he found out Lily died until he realized that protecting Harry was how he could honor Lily’s memory. The person who comes the closest to Lily in this regard is Dumbledore but besides the fact that Dumbledore in his own words despised Snape as a student, their relationship was more of a convenient alliance (although there was mutual trust and respect) as Dumbledore still had suspicions of Snape even when they became close allies, withholding secrets from Snape and denying Snape the position as the Defense of the Dark Arts teacher so that he wouldn’t go back to his “old habits”. I am not saying that Dumbledore actions were unjustified, but just that Lily was the one who was the closest to Snape and brought the best out of Snape not to mention she was the only reason why he redeemed himself and joined Dumbledore and his plans in the first place).
In short, Lily Potter accomplished very unique and admirable actions like sacrificing herself to save Harry and defeating Voldemort which saved the Wizarding and muggle worlds and ended the First Wizarding War along with being the only true friend of Snape which was the sole motivator in his redemption and defection to Dumbledore along with why he played a key role in Dumbledore’s plans in the present and remained at Hogwarts protecting Harry in order to honor Lily’s memory. Therefore, Lily definitely stands especially since she accomplished these admirable/unique actions even though she had much and I mean much less screen-time than the major characters which just makes her stand out even more for accomplishing her admirable/unique heroism in such a short amount of time.
Corrupting Factors[]
In terms of the film version of Lily, I can’t really think of anything even initially or potentially corrupting. She just always had a kind and all-loving demeanor and since her falling out scene with Snape in the books is cut out, we don’t know why Lily and Snape grew apart other than how it is implied by Snape’s own memories to be because of Snape’s jealousy of her relationship with James.
As for the book version, she got angry with Snape after he called her a filthy little mudblood. Keep in mind this was after she had just saved him from James and the Marauders bullying and spells. Once Snape said that slur and said he didn’t need her help, Lily responded “Fine, I won’t bother in the future and I’d wash my pants if I were you, Snivellus” in reference to Snape’s graying underwear from earlier when James turned him upside down. Despite her saying that though and literally right after, she defended Snape again when James threatened him to apologize to Lily, stopping James from attacking Snape again and telling James that she didn’t want him to force Snape to apologize before once again calling him out for his bullying of Snape and others. Plus this wasn’t even actually the end of her friendship with Snape but rather at night of that day when Snape came to Gryffindor Tower to “apologize” and Lily met with him, telling him how she had defended him for years against not just the Marauders but the rest of her friends who despised him even as Snape went down an increasingly dark path with his bigoted Slytherin “friends” and asked Snape to deny that he was planning on joining the Death Eaters (who again explicitly wanted to commit genocide against her and all muggle-borns along with muggles) with Snape not responding which confirmed that he was planning on joining the supremacist group which made Lily tell Snape “I can’t pretend anymore. You’ve chosen your side. I’ve chosen mine” and when Snape said that he didn’t mean to call her mudblood, she told him that he called every other muggle-born mudblood so why should she be any different which he couldn’t respond to before walking away, officially ending her friendship with Snape. In other words, while she got angry at Snape for calling her a slur, that was completely understandable especially since she had just saved Snape and even after that she defended Snape from James once again to stop James from forcing Snape to apologize as she didn’t want to force Snape to and the end of their friendship only came after Snape’s rather insincere/hypocritical apology (I am sorry for calling you mudblood even though I am going to join the Death Eaters to wipe them out and I have no remorse for calling the other muggle-borns mudblood), which she herself pointed out to him and only ended it once she realized Snape was going to join the Death Eaters who wanted to commit genocide against her kind so I definitely think this isn’t corrupting.
Final Verdict[]
I definitely believe she qualifies. She was an incredibly kind and compassionate character, caring for her sister, defending and treating her politely despite the fact that her sister treated her terribly and defended her from Snape. She brought out the best in James and the Marauders by influencing them to stop bullying others and became friends with all them, trusting Peter Pettigrew as her and James secret keeper despite not knowing him as well as her husband and treating him affectionately and sympathizing with him. She joined the first Order of the Phoenix to combat Voldemort and the Death Eaters during the First Wizarding War. She was the best friend of Snape and the only person who treated him well during their time together at Hogwarts and she was the only reason for Snape’s redemption and the key role he would play in Dumbledore’s plans for decades to come even after her death in order to honor her memory. Best of all though, she sacrificed herself to defeat Voldemort, saving the world and ending the First Wizarding War along with obviously saving an infant Harry and making him the “Boy Who Lived”, ensuring the prophecy would come to pass and being at the very least indirectly responsible for all of Harry’s heroism and the events of the series as without her, Voldemort would’ve killed Harry on that fateful night and won, she did all of this despite getting incredibly low screen time. She should be approved.