HIPY PAPY BTHUTHDTH THUTHDA BTHUTHDY.

Clearly I don't have enough Draco fangirls on my flist, because it took me forever to realize it's his birthday, and still only a couple of people have posted about it. On my flist, Arthur got way more birthday love. Hell, so did Flitwick. :D

But that's not what I wanted to talk about. When I saw she'd given Draco's birthday, my first thought was that this was the first time she'd wished happy birthday to a villainous character (Snape is an antagonist, but I don't think he can be rightly classified as a villain), so it gave me hope that we still might get Peter's birthday. However, the Draco fans I've heard discussing it seem to have taken it as more of an indication that JKR doesn't see Draco as a villain at all!

( For reference, here are the birthdays she's announced so far. )

For quite a while, it seemed that she was doing only Good/pleasant characters, which I thought was backed up by the format of the announcements. ("Happy Birthday, Lord Voldemort!" doesn't have a likely ring to it.) Percy was a possible exception, though he's spent enough time as a 'good guy' that it didn't seem odd. Lots of Weasleys, lots of Hogwarts teachers... no Death Eaters, no one Harry seriously dislikes.

Then she dropped the first major bombshell -- Happy Birthday, Severus Snape! As I said, I don't think Snape can be reasonably considered a villain... he's not nice, but he is Good. (I hope it's clear what I mean by that.) He also has a lot of fangirls, and JKR knows that.

Draco's a bit different. He's not nice, but he's not Good either -- at least not yet. He has a lot of fangirls too, so this can be interpreted in a few different ways: 1) Draco will someday be Good. 2) JKR's doing all the major characters, regardless of their alignment (in addition to a bunch of minor Good characters). 3) JKR made an exception for Draco because he has a lot of fans.

It'll be hard to call this until we see more birthdays. There are still several major Good characters we haven't seen (Sirius? Dumbledore?), so my guess is she's going for another round, unless there are a whole bunch of Cancer birthdays. What I find interesting are our reactions to her announcements. Of course someone rooting for Draco-redemption will see him being given a place among the other Good characters... while someone rooting for more villain birthdays won't see that at all. :)

It does seem likely that she gave at least some of these characters zodiac signs to match their personalities, but of course that's subject to our agendas as well. I think Draco makes a great Gemini, but it wouldn't have occurred to me that (as some have noted) the sign's duality could predict future side-switching. Fred & George's birthday clearly wasn't decided because they make good Aries... When I see that Hagrid's a Sagittarius, I picture his association with the centaurs more than I think of any particular Sagittarian qualities.

HIPY PAPY BTHUTHDTH THUTHDA BTHUTHDY.

Clearly I don't have enough Draco fangirls on my flist, because it took me forever to realize it's his birthday, and still only a couple of people have posted about it. On my flist, Arthur got way more birthday love. Hell, so did Flitwick. :D

But that's not what I wanted to talk about. When I saw she'd given Draco's birthday, my first thought was that this was the first time she'd wished happy birthday to a villainous character (Snape is an antagonist, but I don't think he can be rightly classified as a villain), so it gave me hope that we still might get Peter's birthday. However, the Draco fans I've heard discussing it seem to have taken it as more of an indication that JKR doesn't see Draco as a villain at all!

( For reference, here are the birthdays she's announced so far. )

For quite a while, it seemed that she was doing only Good/pleasant characters, which I thought was backed up by the format of the announcements. ("Happy Birthday, Lord Voldemort!" doesn't have a likely ring to it.) Percy was a possible exception, though he's spent enough time as a 'good guy' that it didn't seem odd. Lots of Weasleys, lots of Hogwarts teachers... no Death Eaters, no one Harry seriously dislikes.

Then she dropped the first major bombshell -- Happy Birthday, Severus Snape! As I said, I don't think Snape can be reasonably considered a villain... he's not nice, but he is Good. (I hope it's clear what I mean by that.) He also has a lot of fangirls, and JKR knows that.

Draco's a bit different. He's not nice, but he's not Good either -- at least not yet. He has a lot of fangirls too, so this can be interpreted in a few different ways: 1) Draco will someday be Good. 2) JKR's doing all the major characters, regardless of their alignment (in addition to a bunch of minor Good characters). 3) JKR made an exception for Draco because he has a lot of fans.

It'll be hard to call this until we see more birthdays. There are still several major Good characters we haven't seen (Sirius? Dumbledore?), so my guess is she's going for another round, unless there are a whole bunch of Cancer birthdays. What I find interesting are our reactions to her announcements. Of course someone rooting for Draco-redemption will see him being given a place among the other Good characters... while someone rooting for more villain birthdays won't see that at all. :)

It does seem likely that she gave at least some of these characters zodiac signs to match their personalities, but of course that's subject to our agendas as well. I think Draco makes a great Gemini, but it wouldn't have occurred to me that (as some have noted) the sign's duality could predict future side-switching. Fred & George's birthday clearly wasn't decided because they make good Aries... When I see that Hagrid's a Sagittarius, I picture his association with the centaurs more than I think of any particular Sagittarian qualities.