Draco Malfoy is one of the most loved Harry Potter characters. The series, about wizards, written by J.K Rowling, is massively popular, and some of the characters are remembered much too fondly.
For some reason, people think that romanticizing a violent, bigot, who’s the product of rich, violent, bigot parents, is a good idea. Draco Malfoy is literally born into, and benefits from, a massively rich and influential family, who happens to use their influence for creating terror, and trying to perpetuate genocide.
There is absolutely no coincidence that Draco Malfoy looks and embodies the Hitler Youth. The entire idea of racial purity, pure bloods over muggle borns, or “mud bloods” as the Voldemort supporters call them, can be made into a pretty easy comparison with Nazi’s and antisemitism. His family is also reminiscent of members of the Aryan Nation, and his father is a direct, high up member of Voldemort’s inner guard, the Death Eaters.
Draco himself is a huge proponent of the divide between the muggle borns and the pure bloods, harassing Hermione about her status for years. His group of other mostly Death Eater children, bullies Hermione and other muggle born children for years. He uses his father’s money to buy his way onto the Quidditch team, and uses this advantage to continue bullying who he wants. While he’s mostly just irritating, it’s the agenda that he’s pushing that is dangerous.
While Draco caved near the end of the series in the 7th book, refusing to continue fighting in the end battle when he knew it was lost, both of his henchmen continued their murderous ways. Goyle dying, and Crabbe attempting to murder Harry and several others.
It’s almost amusing that people romanticize Draco’s involvement with the Death Eater’s because he’s portrayed as attractive and occasionally sad, while Crabbe and Goyle, both not conventionally attractive, brought up in a similar situation, and with the same views and attitudes, are villains. The only difference being, Draco’s sense of self preservation, near the end.
Romanticizing Draco for being “misunderstood” simply humanizes the hateful movement that he was part of. You can feel compassion for his situation, without blatantly lying to yourself, insisting that he secretly had a “heart of gold”.
Even worse are the suggestions that his abusive behavior towards Hermione were actually “disguised attempts at affection” which is absolutely disgusting. Draco abused Hermione, and his acts were full of hatred. Insisting that he secretly loved her is an act of hatred against Hermione, and completely ignoring the fact that he’s part of a movement that wants to wipe her out.
J.K Rowling landed up making a statement about the constant romanticizing of Draco, mentioning that it “unnerved” her before stating, “All of this has left me in the unenviable position of pouring cold common sense on ardent readers’ daydreams as I told them, rather severely, that Draco was not concealing a heart of gold under all that sneering and prejudice and that no, he and Harry were not destined to end up best friends.”
During the seventh book, after Dumbledore’s death, Draco receives his Dark Mark, and he’s appointed to a position of power by the Carrows, along with some others, allowing him to torture students via the Cruciatus curse. Of course, Draco had numerous chances, throughout the last few books to seek either help, or make an attempt to leave, and he did not. Feeling shaken and sad as you destroy people’s lives, and literally torture them, doesn’t make you a “hero in disguise”.
Draco isn’t the most evil of all of the villains introduced in the series, obviously, and it’s quite possible that he would have turned out differently had he been raised by a different family. However, that does not excuse his entire lifetime of hatred and bigotry, and the fact that he was very comfortable with his privilege all the way until the end of the series.
Draco wasn’t stupid, he had some levels of self preservation. He wasn’t going to go into the end of a battle that he knew that he wasn’t going to have a chance in. Nothing about the ending assumes that he’s reformed and he could be simply quieter about his bigotry because he knows that they lost that fight. We don’t get any further details about his life so we have no idea what he teaches to his son, or what his family life is like.
Assuming that Draco is a “bad boy in disguise” and not simply a cowardly bigoted puppet of his controlling family, doesn’t make him so. He’s not a hero in disguise, he’s not brave, and he’s far too romanticized. It’s time to stop separating Draco from the rest of the bigoted Death Eater trash, and call it like it is.
