As the Harry Potter franchise grows with spin-offs like Fantastic Beasts and the upcoming video game Hogwarts Legacy, fans have begun to discuss other additions the wizarding world could receive in the future. A spin-off featuring characters like James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, together known as the Marauders, has been a frequent request from fans. Naturally, this tale would also have to include the relationship between Severus Snape and Lily Evans and Snape's downward spiral into the Dark Arts.
The appeal of these characters and their stories is that they were never fully explored in the Harry Potter series. Despite this, their loves, losses, betrayals, sacrifices, and tragedies make the generation before Harry's an intriguing favorite to fans. Lily and James had little screen time in the original series, but they still managed to solidify themselves in many fans' hearts. However, the love for this specific duo and their story is not unanimous. Fans took to Reddit to discuss Harry Potter's tragic parents, and several Redditors shared their unpopular opinion about the otherwise well-loved pair.
While Lily and James were often praised by those in Harry's life who knew them, audiences never got to see much of them. The fact that they both were murdered before the series began contributed to this, but through flashbacks and memories, the Potters' stories were subtly told, leading many to identify them as favorite characters.
However, Redditor Leilosi believes that "both of their characters fall very flat." With very little to base their fandom on, this Redditor states that they are just overrated, blaming their status as fan-favorite characters only on their roles in fan fiction and not canon.
It is entirely understandable that an orphaned child might have an idealized perspective of his deceased parents. As soon as Harry joined the wizarding world, he was told how spectacular his parents were, and he was happy to believe it. However, as time went on, he learned that his father had been far from perfect.
But the same could not be said for Lily. From the beginning of the series to the end, Lily is described as beautiful, funny, intelligent, compassionate, and powerful. This made audiences like FracisTheFig find her character "annoying." Too much of a good thing in a character can make them fall flat and ultimately seem unbelievable as real people.
While Lily and James Potter were always described as talented wizards, some audiences felt that the story in Harry Potter never fully backed up that claim. Redditor Liscenye stated that their magic seemed "impressive but not really that exceptional."
Professor Slughorn described Lily as a genius in potions, but Harry Potter fans know that Slughorn was easily hoodwinked. If Harry had been getting away with using Snape's work, then it's likely that Lily, who was Snape's best friend, could have done the same thing. Also, while James successfully made himself an Animagus, other lesser wizards like Peter Pettigrew and Rita Skeeter were known to have done the same thing.
Since the release of the Deathly Hallows books, Snape has been the focus of much fan criticism. His relationship with Lily has been described as stalkerish and toxic, and Lily is often viewed as the girl who was too compassionate to see who Snape was.
This was not the opinion of Redditor Thecookie_at_random, who criticized Lily for doing Snape dirty in the end. James severely bullied Snape, and when the shame and embarrassment led Snape to call Lily a Moodblood, she refused to give him any understanding. "[Snape begged] for her forgiveness many, many times," this Redditor said, pointing out that Lily going as far as marrying Snape's tormentor was a major slap to the face. This of course is an unpopular opinion because Lily is a person with agency who is free to marry whomever she chooses, and it's understandable she wouldn't fall for someone who treated her the way Snape did.
Harry learned in Order of the Phoenix that his father had not always been the great person people had described him as. All the things that Snape had said about his nemesis were revealed to have been true, causing Harry to no longer want to be like James. He was a bully who only wanted adoration and attention from the wizarding world.
This troubled Harry greatly, but he eventually accepted that James had changed. Lupin and Sirius both explained that James had made bad decisions but that he had a good heart, and Harry accepted this. However, Redditor Necessary-Tub-2748 shared that James didn't deserve redemption, since he never sought it out. "He just moved on with his life, leaving a devastated Snape in his wake," they said, "that's what bullies do, that's what James did."
Lily despised her future husband for most of their time at Hogwarts together. James had been a popular Quidditch star during his school days, and he considered himself the best of the best. However, his bullying and exhibitionist behavior left Lily completely uninterested.
While the books never describe how Lily fell in love with James, Redditors like Millie15128 felt that it didn't make sense for them to end up together since Lily had "loathed James Potter in her teenage years." The two seemed to be utterly incompatible from all that audiences had seen, so there was no reason to ever invest in the relationship.
While Lily is always described as having been very popular and well-liked while in school, there seems to be very little evidence of this supported in the Harry Potter series. One Reddit user pointed out that none of Lily's friends "played a direct impact on Harry's life."
Jame's best friends became family to Harry. Sirius was Harry's closest father figure, and Lupin went on to make Harry his own son's godfather before his death. However, aside from Snape, Lily's supposed many friends never appeared in Harry's story. Fans like this Reddit user believe that the only explanation is that Lily wasn't as popular as she was described.
Snape was a very complex character in the Harry Potter series. Deathly Hallows revealed that he had been Lily's best friend from the years before they attended Hogwarts until the end of their fifth year, and most fans have found that Snape's love for Lily bordered on obsessive.
However, fans like PapaSheev7 have the less popular opinion that Snape's feelings were appropriate. "Lily decides to end their friendship, Snape lets it go and continues down his path of darkness," they said, pointing out that Snape had been living his own life independent of his feelings for Lily before he found out that Voldemort had targeted her.
On the list of possible spin-offs that Harry Potter fans would want to see, a story about the Marauders has always been near the top. Since much of the story is told from Snape's perspective in Deathly Hallows, there is likely a lot more that could be said about James, Lily, and the others they went to school with or fought with in the Order.
However, not everyone is on board with the Potters' story being told in a more expanded format. Redditor 1amtacos stated their annoyance that the suggestion of a Marauders spin-off pops up in the Harry Potter subreddit "once a week," going on to say that the series would be "The Marauders: A Tale of Jerks." In the end, James and his friends might not deserve a Harry Potter spin-off due to the problematic ways that they seemed to live.
Lily and James Potter were Harry's late parents in the Harry Potter series, and some fans were less than impressed with their story.Angel Shaw