If Hagrid were not dumb or a half-breed, I might agree with it.

As is, he seems to be the touchstone -- all the good guys like him, the bad guys hate him, and it's that simple, because he's simple.

I don't see anything British about that -- American fiction will do that with someone pejoratively other too.

eta: Trudy -- you are familiar with the Magical Negro trope, right? That's what I was referring to.

I am familiar with and similarly annoyed by the Magical Negro.

Hagrid is a modern version of the faithful retainer, the loyal servant who is respected and honored by his social betters. He makes me think of all those Masterpiece Theatre films with the lord and his butler who went to war with him and they really love each other but they are very much defined by their positions-- and it's somehow more, well, ok than it could be in any contemporary American context.

Sorry -- I thought you were interpreting my usage of "magical" in a Hogwarts context, not as a trope.

I know what you're referring to, Trudy. But at least when I was reading UK kiddie lit -- that faithful retainer was not simple the way Hagrid is, nor as polarising. Things may have swung around since I was a teenager there -- but the bulk of the YA I've read has been English, and it's just not familiar to me -- do you have cites, or is it a callback to earlier (simpler) times?

eta: And really, shift the timeline back 50 years or so, make Hagrid a black woman, and you have the same thing.

Hagrid is a modern Samwise Gamgee.

Except Sam doesn't need anyone to make excuses for him.

I don't get hte parallel, ita.

Neither do I, Connie.

I mean, the parallel between Hagrid and Samwise is what I don't get. Sam's full of his own agency, but it's something he's chosen to dedicate to Frodo. He's not inept. He may not be as sophisticated as Frodo (because hobbits are oh-so-posh), but he's not the bumbling figure Hagrid is.

Hagrid could leave Hogwarts if he wanted, but he's loyal to Dumbledore. Sam was Frodo's gardener because Gaffer Gamgee was Bilbo's gardener--Gamgees pretty much come with the property. I don't see Hagrid as being deficient or lacking in any way. And he doesn't seem bumbling as much as giant-sized in a human-sized world. Granted, Hagrid's not the brightest candle on the shelf, but Dumbledore trusts him with very sensitive errands.

Hagrid is bumbling with academics, but he's very good with animals and knows lots about them. He makes fewer mistakes/bad choices with animals than a lot of the other teachers do with their chosen subjects.

I tend to feel very affectionate toward Hagrid because I see a lot of myself in him. Hagrid isn't dumb or unaware of the world so much as he perceives it differently, and has vastly different priorities than the staff and students. Dumbledore (and others) have realized that Hagrid's priorities are not as valueless as most would think.

I see Hagrid as a Jane Goodall, focused on a microcosm, that while not panoramic, is still an important part of the whole, and possibly even a key to perceiving the whole.

But that's my issues at work. I'm hell on the details, but usually unaware (and uncaring) of the big picture.