Remus Lupin: A Harry Potter Favorite

As many of us read the various Harry Potter books or watch the movies, we come to favor certain characters more than others. Some stick with the main characters and follow Harry, Ron or Hermione, but others dig deeper into the detailed universe and find that some of the background players are far more interesting. As a follower of the series, I must admit that I have a favorite character as well, and he is Remus Lupin.

Lupin first appears in the third book of the series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He is introduced as the new defense against the dark arts professor, but we soon learn that he is formerly one of James Potter’s best friends and a werewolf.

Now werewolves are far from my favorite fantasy creatures, but I have learned from Oz in Buffy the Vampire Slayer that werewolves can be quite cool. Lupin is one of those kickass wolves.

I’m a fan of his portrayal in both the books and on film. He is a calm, reasoning character with utmost loyalty to Dumbledore and Harry. Despite his wild wolf side, as human he is one of the stronger and rational of characters.

One of my favorite scenes in all of the movies is just Harry and Lupin talking about his parents on a bridge during Prisoner of Azkaban. This is partly because I think one of the weaknesses of the movies is their frantic pacing and this is one instance where the movie takes time to catch its breath. But is also just a nice, subtle scene between Harry and Lupin bonding over the memories of his parents.

Lupin also appears to be one of the stronger wizards in the series. He is able to do quite a bit of magic sans wand, and both times when he battled against Death Eaters in the ministry and at Hogwarts, he came out relatively unscathed.

Last but not least, Lupin also gets the girl, in Nymphadora Tonks, a metamorphmagus Auror, who favors hot pink hair.

So add it all up, a strong powerful wizard, rational but with a wild side, with strong ties of loyalty to the good guys and he gets a hot chick. Now that’s my kind of character!

So now the relevant question, who’s your favorite Harry Potter character and of course, why?