Foil

Character Role Analysis

Slughorn

Slughorn is basically Harry's opposite. While Harry is young, famous, humble, honorable, and brave, Slughorn is...well, none of the above.

In fact, he's really not brave. He actually has some memories/knowledge that could be super useful to the people fighting the Dark Lord, but because his history with the Artist Formerly Known as Tom Riddle makes him look bad, he's taken great pains to hide it. Even though he could save lives by sharing what he knows. Yeah, we don't get it either. Dude's got some messed up priorities.

Harry comes from folks who were willing to die to protect others, so he really doesn't get where Slughorn is coming from. Luckily, he convinces (shames, really) Slughorn into giving up the dirty deets. Hey, whatever works.