Were the Potters like the Malfoys?

[Thespeckledkiwi]

After reading the books again, I had to sit and pause and think about this a lot. The Potters held considerable sway in the Ministry, were an old Wizarding family, and James was seen as somewhat of a bully in school because of this. He also had his small group of cohorts but at least they were more intelligent than Goyle or Crabbe (btw, what ever happened to their parents? And especially their mothers, since they didn't seem to be in the Death Eater group).

And what happened to his parents? Is this what sobered up James, is that he lost his parents at a 'young' age? I mean he was I believe what only 21? When he died. (That to me seems off. I mean in the movies he looks like he is in his older 20s, early 30s). So did his parents die? And were they for or against Voldemort in their beliefs?

 

[Brendan Moody]

James' parents, who were elderly even in wizard terms, died of natural causes sometime during his later years at Hogwarts or shortly after he left; they were still alive to "sort of adopt [Sirius] as a second son" when he ran away from home at about the age of 16, but had died by the time James himself died roughly six years later. The Potters were an old pure-blood family, but I doubt they were pro-Voldemort; they wouldn't have taken Sirius in when he ran away from his own pro-Voldemort family, for one thing. There is pretty clearly a parallel between the rich, spoiled Draco Malfoy and the rich, spoiled James Potter, though, most obviously in the respective train scenes where each is on the way to Hogwarts for the first time.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

Hmmm, didn't know they were elderly.

 

[Brendan Moody]

Rowling's only substantial comment on the Potters outside of the books themselves was in the 2005 fansite interview:

MA: What about Harry's family — his grandparents — were they killed?
JKR: No. This takes us into more mundane territory. As a writer, it was more interesting, plot-wise, if Harry was completely alone. So I rather ruthlessly disposed of his entire family apart from Aunt Petunia. I mean, James and Lily are massively important to the plot, of course, but the grandparents? No. And, because I do like my backstory: Petunia and Lily's parents, normal Muggle death. James's parents were elderly, were getting on a little when he was born, which explains the only child, very pampered, had-him-late-in-life-so-he's-an-extra-treasure, as often happens, I think. They were old in wizarding terms, and they died. They succumbed to a wizarding illness. That's as far as it goes. There's nothing serious or sinister about those deaths. I just needed them out of the way so I killed them.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

Weird. How old were they? 150?

 

[Sephiroth]

Rowling's only substantial comment on the Potters outside of the books themselves was in the 2005 fansite interview:

MA: What about Harry's family — his grandparents — were they killed?
JKR: No. This takes us into more mundane territory. As a writer, it was more interesting, plot-wise, if Harry was completely alone. So I rather ruthlessly disposed of his entire family apart from Aunt Petunia. I mean, James and Lily are massively important to the plot, of course, but the grandparents? No. And, because I do like my backstory: Petunia and Lily's parents, normal Muggle death. James's parents were elderly, were getting on a little when he was born, which explains the only child, very pampered, had-him-late-in-life-so-he's-an-extra-treasure, as often happens, I think. They were old in wizarding terms, and they died. They succumbed to a wizarding illness. That's as far as it goes. There's nothing serious or sinister about those deaths. I just needed them out of the way so I killed them.

MURDERER!!!!!!!

 

[Brendan Moody]

Weird. How old were they? 150?

I doubt Rowling even knows. She's given varied answers as to how old Dumbledore was (she said 300 in the late 1990s, cut that to 150 a few years ago, and cut it again to about 110 very recently), so it doesn't look like there's a consistent idea of what "old" means in wizard terms.

Interestingly, Rowling drew up a version of the Black Family Tree for a charity auction; on it, one daughter of the family, Dorea, marries a Charlus Potter and has one son. Dorea's lifespan is given as 1920-1977. 1977 would be about right for the time Harry's grandparents died, but 57 isn't even old in human terms, let alone for wizards. However, nearly everyone on the tree has a short lifespan, and Rowling herself has said she isn't very good at math.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

She proves it.