For almost his whole life Dudley had been watching as another kid got abused. Maybe when the dementor came, Dudley finally understood what his family was doing to Harry?
If you're not a book reader then I'd suggest watch deleted scenes from Deathly hallows on youtube, just watched them and I seriously think they should've been in the movies, I mean all those scenes are fcking beautiful!
That would be a subset of the suffering he inflicted on others (in this case via his total lack of reaching out to offer Harry any friendship, even if he could not prevent the abuse), and contribute to his guilt. So yeah, already covered by the video.
I was disappointed that the movie didnt include Dudleys attempts to show Harry kindness and how much he appreciated Harry saving him by leaving him tea and food gifts outside his door --- I really enjoyed that part in the books
Theresa Steward That's kinda cool, so technically, the "bloody" path of the wand would end, and no one could own it. they can use it, like when Voldy took it from Dumbledore (aka Snape, cuz Snape killed him), but can't truly own it.
I appreciated that Dudley ended up having more empathy than his parents. Those deleted scenes in the movies with the Dudley’s and Harry, and even with Ron and Mr. Weasley, were tender and should have been left in the movie. It showed more depth to the characters. (Edited for typo)
they probably just couldn't find time for them because they barely ever give any screen time to the muggle world even though it would be cool to see harry and ron being mischievous and engaging in wizard shenanagins in the regular world. or even just ron or another wizard who has only lived in the wizarding world seeing muggle technology for the first time.
@@haaroonhayat2443 Deathly Hallows Part 1 had more time than any other movie to focus on character moments. There’s really no excuse for leaving out the scene of Dudley seeking Harry’s forgiveness. It’s the end of his character arc.
"Every man is the hero of his own story", after all... And if Dudley is suddenly forced to recognize that he is actually one of the bad guys, I think that more than explains his reactions. As Engywook said in" The Neverending Story", "Confronted with their true selves, most people run away screaming."
My theory is that Dudley saw everything his parents had ever done to Harry... but it was directed at himself. Not that I'm a psychologist by any means, but my basic understanding is that in a household with clearly defined "favorite children", those favored ones do actually pick up on what happens to the unfavorites, and will do anything in their power to keep from reaching that status. I think Dudley's biggest fear - and thus what he experienced during the dementor attack - was a rehash of the terrible things his family had done to Harry over the years, but from Harry's perspective. That was how he saw himself as he really was, and when that memory was compounded by the realization that Harry, despite all of it, had saved his life... that was what shocked him into rejecting his parents' conditioning.
You also see this with Azula from Avatar the Last Airbender. When Ozai goes off to become the phoenix King and leaves Azula back in the Fire Nation, she panics. Being left behind and forgotten was what happened to Zuko. Zuko gets burned, disowned, and hunted down. We see her panic in front of not only her father but all those soldiers and attendants nearby. All of her other breakdowns are in private except for this one and the one where she loses the final Agni Kai.
" 'you did not do as I asked. you have never treated Harry as a son. he has known nothing but neglect and often cruelty at your hands. the best that can be said is that he has at least escaped the damage you have inflicted upon the unfortunate boy sitting between you.' both aunt petunia and uncle Vernon looked around instinctively, as though expecting to see someone other than Dudly squeezed between them. ' us - mistreat Dudders? what d'you -?' began uncle Vernon furiously, but Dumbldore raised his finger for silence, a silence that fell as though he had struck uncle Vernon dumb." - The Half-blood Prince
+Asith I think he means that Petunia and Vernon spoiled him so much and fed negative behaviors that it would have hurt him in the future when he tried to go to college and even get a job. Spoiled Rotten, in my personal opinion, is the opposite of neglect on the child abuse spectrum. The kid is getting a form of love but all their negative traits are being reinforced and they aren't given the chance to be what children should be.
i like to think that dudley wasnt actually that bad a character, like many kids he tried to copy what his parents did, which was abuse his cousin. its only later when he starts having a separate life to them that he begins to change since he slowly realizes that he has no reason to hate harry beyond its what his parents do and its what he's always done.
I think Dudley saw himself but instead of seeing every bad thing he's ever done to every person he has ever been mean to, he saw everything he's ever done to another person being done on himself. Example: If he made one person cry for making fun of them, he saw that person making fun of him and him crying. Like karma or the story backwards
In the deathly hallows you start to see Dudley come around. The dementor attack showed him how Harry was actually good and not an some evil horrible wizard that his parents brainwashed him out to be. Which is the first time you see Dudley form his own actual opinion of Harry.
Harry and his kids and Dudley and his kids were very much in touch after the series ended. They enjoyed birthday parties, Christmases, and family reunions together.
I mean, he's terrible, but you can't really blame him. It's not his fault he grew up with Vernon and Petunia as parents, which is why he's such a jerk. Dudley was only really mean to Harry because he was raised to be.
AmazingCadence or the horcrux made them crazy and cranky, like it did woth ron and the rest of them. the crew was only around it for a month or a few, but his family was around harrys hircrux for 11+ years.
+Amanda Chrysler Actually the crew was around Harry for like 7 school years. Petunia and Vernon had no excuse to treat Harry so cruelly, but I do agree that not all of it wasn't Dudley's fault. Yes, he was raised by mean, cruel parents. But everyone is still responsible for their actions, so Dudley still didn't have an excuse to use Harry as a punching bag.
6:03 Also, if you think about it, Dudley had spent most of his life either blaming others or with his parents making excuses for all the times he was mean, lazy, selfish and so on, so maybe the Dementor attack prompted him to not just see how awful he really was, but also that he honestly had no-one to blame but himself.
I guess we should blame his parents rather than Dudley; they told him thatr everything he did was okay and raised him as if the world belongs to him. So how could Dudley know he was doing something wrong? No one even ever tried to teach him to question his behaviour. And yes, I think it was painfull for him, because he thought he could only blame himself. Of course he should blame himself, but not only.
I know your probably joking but my Ravenclaw mind cant stop. Mr and Mrs. Dursley always treated Dudley like he was a prince, and dementors make you recount your worst memory not your worst fear. Although dementors are commonly paired with fear, and your worst memory can be your worst fear. But most of the time it’s not.
I don't really think Draco was spoiled ...I think he was neglected a little bit by Lucius ..but he was loved a lot by narcissa as she didn't reaveal harry was alive to voldy ..I wish Draco had proper parents ...think about it he had money power and his parent were death eaters and his 2 best friend were heartless and could kill... Yet Draco still doesn't want to kill and doesn't have the heart to hurt Dumbledore and he hesitated in the room of requirements to kill harry in DH pt2 ...this shows he has a good heart and would of became a really good guy had he had loving peaceful parents
Lucius didn't neglect Draco, he raised him to think that he, his family and pure-bloods were superior to Muggles, blood traitors and Muggle-borns; but, he still loved him.
I think that is why Dumbledore went out of his way to save Draco, he saw redemption in Draco he is a big believer of second chances since Dumbledore himself had a second chance to correct his life choices. A flower that blooms in the desert is the most precious flower of all. Both Harry and Draco have a lot in common, they both defied circumstances of their childhood instead of becoming twisted by the negative influences they had a strong sense of self. Draco is special because he never had anyone to rely on but himself he wasn't the chosen one, he didn't have positive friends surrounded by sycophants, he wasn't born for a greater purpose and at school teachers didn't help him so to defy all the odds against you and forge your own path is remarkable.
*headcanon* : dudley goes on to live his life, and eventually raises his own family. things take a turn when he one day, finds his seven-year-old first-born daughter with her usual shoulder-length hair down past her waist. confused and worried, his wife snips it off, only for it to regrow the next morning past her ankles. he then recalls his childhood days when his mother would cut off his cousin's chaos of a hair, and how it would all regrow right back in a matter of time. the realization that his daughter is a muggle-born witch makes him, if even possible, love her even more. he then contacts harry and tells him about the news, more excited and proud than ever.
@@brytnihammerify for lilly to be a witch, one of her, and therefore also petunias, ancestors had to be a squib. that is how "muggle born" wizards happen, a squib, being ostracized by wizard society, is forced to live in muggle society, passing their magical blood on to muggles.
Moon Le imagine that would happen. The convo Dudley: Harry! Harry: Dudley? Why are you calling me? Dudley: My kids magic! I’m so proud! Harry: Cool. Dudley: soooooo hows life? Harry: *hangs up*
I feel like he saw himself bullying harry but through harry's eyes so he felt the pain that harry did throughout living with the dursley family all at once. This i think is wat brought him to the realization of him being a bully and a mean dude.
He probably realized Harry didn't grow up like him being privileged and that he was being pretty much abused and starved while he was spoiled rotten and never was punished.
They added a lot of pointless scenes, that weren't in the books many times though. Also if they remake the movies in 10 years giving them 3 hour LOTR treatment, the world would go mad, and they'd make all the moneys.
I think that it may be relevant that Dudley is Lily's nephew. It may not be direct, but he does have magic in his family, so maybe he inherited it as a carrier, sort of like a recessive gene. He wouldn't have enough magic to be a wizard, but maybe he has enough to cause him to be affected by Dementors in the same way a wizard would be. Just a thought. I definitely think that Dudley is a very underrated character, and I think a parallel version of Harry Potter where he inherits magic would be really interesting.
Tam But Petunia's not a witch? She tried writing to Dumbledore for admission to Hogwarts but she didn't make it. The book of names that writes down every magical person born didn't contain her name, so she didn't get a letter. Lily is a Muggle-born, she didn't get her powers from her parents; it was spontaneous. Petunia's not even a Squib, she's a plain old Muggle.
What if Dudley saw himself from Harry's P.O.V. and relised how much of a spoilt brat he was and how it wasn't right to treat Harry badly for something he had no control over
That's basically what Ben said but OKAY! It would also explain why when Petunia and Vernon asked Dudley what had happened, Dudley's only word was "Him" as he pointed to Harry. He refused to say anything more, so his statement was misinterpreted by Vernon, Petunia, *and* Harry.
Interesting. (And yes, Ben basically said that Dudley saw himself as he was.) Your comment and Ben's list of all the traumatic things that have happened to Dudley because of Harry makes me wonder... there were probably many other times when Harry's magic got out of control before he got his Hogwarts letter. The first book mentions Harry's hair growing back, Harry ending up on the school roof, etc. So Harry's magic could have tormented Dudley in many ways the books don't describe.
and what if the pampering thing ends up being only for harry, and he is abused for a large portion of his life as he fails at school and his parents are put in a bad mental state due to all the torment inflicted on THEM!
I always had the thought that Dudley saw his parents abusing Harry in some way. Because as a young kid before the movies started, he may have not known Harry was any different than himself until he noticed how his parents reacted to him. So I pretty much thought that what he saw during the attack was his parents beating him brother and/or Dudley himself for trying to protect him. Hence why Dudley was always mean to him; he was trying to keep himself and the boy he thought of as his brother from harm. Of course, I'd say that as the years went on and Harry's magic developed, Dudley did adopt his parents' demeanor and basically forgot all about how he felt before. And then when he was attacked, he was reminded of the kids they used to be and, as a result, his own feelings towards Harry before they were warped by his parents. When he was attacked, you'll notice that he reverted back to almost a child or toddler-like state- (further proving my idea, to me, at least) and so when he pointed at Harry after Petunia asked what happened to him, I always took that to mean that he wanted his mom to go help his brother because he was being hurt, but it was interpreted in a completely different (read; NEGATIVE) way. That's my two cents, anyway.
Shanna Moyes, very young kids do that though. They need to be taught not to, but Dudley would have been encouraged instead. Dudley's first months/years of bullying would have truly just been a very young kid who doesn't know better, one who still doesn't want to see his brother hurt by others.
One question I've always had about the Harry Potter universe is 'What defining factor makes an animal a normal animal or a wizarding animal?' Is it the ability to hide from humans? In which case is a Chameleon a magical creature? So confusing
Ever since that happened to him, I really did feel bad. Dudley has been the muggle villain every movie. This was the first time we actually saw him completely helpless. I love how he was reformed. It was needed for him. His parents never changed but Dudley, believing his parents were right, grew up and saw his error. I think it's beautiful.
@@flameco I like to believe Neville was taken with his grandmother to protect him from Death Eaters (who'd maybe use him as a bait for information) so he didn't watch
Lily Cipher I completely agree! I feel like many people do not realize that though. They tend to glorify Snape's "always" and his unyielding love for Lily, and they often ignore James' love for her and Harry, remembering James simply as an arrogant bully in his youth.
I think the reason she chose him was because he grew up for her. Snape held on to his bitterness and never grew up. Snape CHOSE the dark arts over Lily.
"Here's our theory" "So that was our theory" Love this channel and I'm not discounting the rest of the points in the video but I think it's a bit of a stretch.
How do you think people are when they are left without their soul when it's sucked out by the dementors? I have always had that question. What does "soul" in the harry potter world really mean? Can they still speak, but do they have no memories? Or do they not have emotions? And when it happens to muggles, is it even worse than for wizards?
So basically, dementors affect Dudley similar to the way that the potion hiding the locket effects Dumbledore. This is one of my favourite questions, and I love Rowling's answer.
First: I am glad someone else points out that the story is "from Harry's perspective" When you apply that logic to the other books, things make a lot more sense. Second: I'm glad you did your research before you made the video. Not a bad Vid, and not a bunch of "sub" hype. 👍
"Why not just only attack muggles" They do. Muggles can sense them but cant see them. JK based them on depression, and it's implied thats what depression is. Also they don't have to hunt when theyve got free food at azkaban. The ministry keeps that prison around to lock up criminals but also to keep dementors from attacking everyone else, since they cannot be killed
I like to think that dementors do prey on muggles more often than wizards. I mean think about it. being around dementors makes you feel like "you may never be cheerful again" wizards seem happy for the most part. naturally having a house elf cooking and cleaning for you would leave you a bit happier in your life but I think the reason muggles aren't as happy as wizards and tend to have a lot more problems with depression, anxiety, self harm, suicide has a lot to do with being surrounded by dementors on a regular basis. what do you think?
So my therapist lied. I don't have chronic depression. Dementors just love me. I bet therapists are wizards who are assigned to convince us our own brains are the reasons for our depression & not Dementors
Jasmine Barton Why did you have to say that? Now I'm going to have to track you down, obliviate you, and cover up with the authorities. It's going to be so much work.
Super Carlin Bros come up with SUCH GOOD questions for theory, right? I would never have thought, "Oh, I wonder what Dudley saw right then. Let me just spend HOURS of my free time to reasearch this." These dudes are brilliant!
Funny, I was just typing this very question on another video when I glanced at my recommended list and saw this might answer the question and clicked on it.
1:30 What Dementors do I think is bring up things we hate. Emotions or feelings we don't want to admit are there and which erode our sense of self and confidence. With Harry a big one is loneliness. He has always felt alone and so losing loved ones is his weakness.
I would say he didn't have the best early years, being abandoned by his father, his mother died (or left, I forget). Then growing up around muggles who bully him, that can effect a child, afterall he was a child. He was left to himself, in his own world. I wouldn't say thats an excuse but I would say we can't ignore that. (also he went to Hogwarts in the 40s so I believe he was in the muggle world when Ww2 started, so the adults around at the time may not have been so caring for all the children, they could have been worried about other things). He was also born out of Amortentia, so he was unable to have feelings. Honestly, how could no one see this coming, he had a terrible muggle experiance, never felt love in his life, believed he was special and wanted power, shouldn't have someone tried to help him once they found him?
EXACTLY we see it through HARRYs point of view we see what he thinks and feels and we are swayed by his point of view the most popular opinions on all things Harry Potter are the opinions of Harry himself it's like how in the first few books Draco is so very two dimensional and you don't really know much more about him and can't really see him as a person until Harry starts to actually look into it and later on we finally found out more about him and that didn't really happen with Dudley we just had the nice redeeming "you are not a waste of space" bit
Of course they have more effect on muggles. They dont know what is happening. It's not necessarily the Dementor that made him react like that it could have been the shock.
6:40 Ya. I was a spoiled as a kid. Finally one day as a teen I just...realized my life was gonna have to change. It's been a hard 15 years (im 28 now) but...now every time i get something expensive its because I bought it with MY money. I guess my moment was when i realized after my parents divorce my mom couldnt afford the fancy gifts...i didnt want to see the money run out so i stopped asking for stuff...
that is sweet.. yes, people change. james potter was quite a spoiled brat too and changed. snape was a death eater and he changed. neville was a scared child with low self esteem but he changed. dudley was a brat but slowly and surely showed change at the end of the series. if theres anything jk rowling taught us, its that we all have a chance to change and personal situations often times help us to push us in the right direction :3
Did James Potter change? I don't remember reading about that... All we know about James is the perspective of his friends and teachers whom he respected and was nice to and the perspective of Snape who was constantly bullied by James. I believe he was spoiled his whole life; being a bully in school but still getting the most amaizing girl of his year, being a talented wizard and inheriting a fortune. Apart from dying at a young age and losing his parents at a pretty young age he sailed through life.
also, he had changed because when Harry came home, he started leaving tea at harry's door as a nice gesture and he was horrified that harry would not be escaping private drive with his family. he saw Harry as family in the end and cared whether Harry lived or died.
I think he must have, or Lily wouldn't have married him. She didn't have any false illusions about him; in fact, she loathed him in Fifth Year for being "a bullying toe-rag." I think he must have changed a lot for her to even agree to go out with him. And a truly spoiled guy wouldn't have risk his own life & the life of his wife & child by defying Voldemort three times; he would have kept his head down and not made waves.
That makes a lot of sense, and that could have been part of what he saw. However, I'd say that seeing a dementor is traumatic itself, so he was probably just feeling the fear and hopelessness that comes with the experience itself.
Lupin just might have told Harry that thing about witnessing true horror equals fainting to make Harry feel better or at least not to worry him about dementors going out of their way to attack him. When Harry was attacked by a dementor on the train, Lupin was sleeping and was the person present with the worst memories. Peter Pettigrew was there also, but they might not have noticed if a rat fainted. Not only would Lupin have seen death while fighting Voldemort, but Lupin also had the ongoing horror of turning into a werewolf. Lupin himself didn't faint.
Also, Luna Lovegood saw here mother die. Neville has seen true horror in what happened to his parents. Malfoy is worse than Dudley. All were on the train. None of them seemed to have fainted.
1: Lupin may have been eating lots of chocolate so that could have protected him more. 2: since Harry was a horcrux, he would have felt it double. both Harry's and Voldemort's worst memory were the same moment. when Harry's parents were killed and when Voldemort's soul was ripped from his body. this would also explain why he could hear the screams and laughter even though he would have been too young to remember exactly what they would have sounded like.
but it does seem like maybe it does affect muggles more since the others you mentioned didn't faint. or maybe Dudley is just more susceptible individually idk.
Going back to the muggle thing, Dudley did have magic I his blood, being Harry's cousin. He was aware of Harry doing magic, which he couldn't be if he was fully muggle
not all magic born people are acualy magical. infact these people are nowen as spuibs. the grounds keeper and the x order of the phenix member cat lady across the street where both squibs.
perpeyes the grounds keeper meaning Hagrid? He was not a squib. He was expelled from Hogwarts and his wand was snapped. He was forbidden from doing magic, not incapable, and there are many examples of him performing small feats of magic with his umbrella, which has the pieces of his broken wand hidden in it. Also, Dudley was related to Harry through Lily, who was a muggle born. He did not have magic in his blood because he was not directly descended from anyone magical.
Flowerstar 5 No,Full muggles can see magic,that's why Harry and Ron got in so much trouble for flying Mr.Weasley's Car.The muggles saw,and they had to obliviate them.
I actually really love Dudley's character arc from the books I always saw his apology to harry in the last book as when his character broke free of his parents hatred of magic which was very satisfying and that cant be easy with him having grown up in an magic hating family
Perhaps Dementors are what muggles call Grim Reapers of the muggle world. So when people die of not because of them being sick. But if they are dieing of an old age. The Dementors (muggles grim reapers) shows themselves they faint to not feel the pain of the Dementors kiss. And the muggles just imagine him/her with a scythe. So they fall unconscious to not feel that pain, which dudley wasn't next to die so the dementor did not attack him. . . that's just my 2 cents. Slytherin out.
I think Dudley would have seen Hagrid, I mean, Dudley was taught while growing up, that making Harry's life miserable was okay, and the first time he sees a wizard, the wizard tells him he's fat,( he was also not told not to eat junk every waking moment) and when he does something that his parents taught him to do his entire life, ( take Harry's belongings) the big, scary wizard who stormed into the shelter, he gave him a pig tail! Also, in his next encounter with wizards, a Hogwarts student intentionally gives him a candy that will make his tongue grow to HUGE lengths. (He also learns that Harry's godfather, a wizard, is an escaped murderer) So, in my conclusion, I think Dudley saw Hagrid.
Rowling herself says that he saw himself, but in true light for the first time. Why are people speculating what he saw beyond that? She said what he saw yet people act like she didnt lol.
What if that’s a muggle/wizard difference rather than just Dudley? Could it be that dementors cause fear in wizards and guilt in muggles? Do other sentient creatures inflicted with different emotions?
When I first read Philosopher's Stone, I thought Vernon Dursley was going to be the main protagonist. It was confusing. I have always like the Dursleys.
The turning around of Dudley at the end of the series, however brief, has literally got to be one of the most emotional and moving points in the books for me.
The books are written in Harry's perspective while still keeping the third person narrative (which is genius imo) it's why a lot of people were shocked by rons and hermiones relationship, that's just harry being his oblivious self. But no, being forced to live in a cupboard, slightly house keeping for the dursleys, pretending to not exist when important people where around and being constantly bullied that's definitely not as bad as it sounds right?
