I’ve been reading some of the Viktor-centric threads on Mugglenet’s “Chamber of Secrets” forum, and some people are of the opinion that Viktor is stupid.
What?!
There are some legitimately dumb people in Harry Potter, but Viktor isn’t one of them. Let me dispel reasons that some people use to argue that Viktor is stupid:
Reason 1: He’s quiet
Viktor's quietness makes people assume that he doesn't have much going on upstairs
This is one reason that I have more than enough experience with, so I’m going to be speaking from my heart a bit.
Many people have the notion that if you’re a talker, you’re smart, and if you’re quiet and keep to yourself, you’re less intelligent. That can’t be farther from the truth. On the contrary, many quiet people are highly intelligent. I’m not saying that if you have the gift for gab that you’re not intelligent (because a lot of people are), but knowing how to talk can show just as much intelligence as knowing when to talk.
Also, Viktor’s fame has made it so that he doesn’t like bringing attention to himself, and if it means not talking as much, then so be it. But this also brings me to my next argument:
Reason 2: He’s a recluse
His admirers (see Draco) make Viktor keep his own company
This reason is used more to show how Viktor could be perceived as haughty, but he’s neither stupid nor stuck-up just because he stays to himself.
Again, his fame causes him to want to stay by himself. When you have people chasing after you every second of the day, you’d want to stay by yourself, too.
And even the argument that he’s a recluse isn’t even sound in fact. Viktor is attracted to people who don’t notice his fame, Hermione being one of those people (and I suppose Fleur, since he also kept in contact with her well enough to attend her wedding). He’s only a recluse when he’s hiding out from crazed girls and rabid quidditch fans, which happens to be most of the time.
Reason 3: His accent
"Her-mon-ninny"? really?
This reason is never explicitly written on the internet, but I have reason to believe that the way his accent is written, along with his mildly-broken English, has made people think he’s dumb.
I’ll be bold enough to say that J.K. Rowling didn’t do Viktor any favors by writing his accent the way she did. In the book The D.C. Comics Guide to Writing Comics, author and comic book writer Dennis O’Neal wrote that a writer should only attempt using an accent for a character if they are extremely adept at the skill. Otherwise, it’s best to tone down the phonetic spellings or, better yet, not spell out the accent at all (this rule applies to even the highest caliber of writers, not just novices). If you aren’t good at writing accents, you can not only make your character hard to read and understand, but you can inadvertently end up making your character sound dumb and/or play into stereotypes. I think this is what befell poor Viktor. (For more about writing accents, click here.)*
Also, the fact that it was written that Viktor had trouble pronouncing “Hermione” might also play into the false “Viktor is stupid” theory. I think it’s a real disservice to Viktor to have him not be able to pronounce Hermione’s name when he can obviously speak good English. If you have the ability to learn English and speak it fairly well (because English is one of the hardest languages to learn and not even native English speakers know all of the rules), then you’re pretty darn smart. To a degree, Fleur suffers from written accent fatigue as well. If Fleur and Viktor’s accents weren’t spelled out so literally, I think there might be a very different opinion of them as far as their smarts are concerned.**
Reason 4: He’s a quidditch jock
- Viktor may play quidditch, but he’s not a one-trick pony
I don’t think I have to argue this one as hard as some of the others. All I need to say for this one is that Harry Potter, Angelina Johnson, Draco Malfoy, Cho Chang, and countless others have played quidditch, and they’re no dummies.
Besides, I don’t think Viktor is that much of a jock, or at least not a stereotypical jock. The main argument that I’ve seen to try to debunk the “he’s a jock” theory is that he found Hermione while hiding out in the library. Now, it can be said that the library is the last place people would think of to find someone, so it would be only natural that Viktor would use it as a hiding place. But, there are plenty of other hiding places in Hogwarts, like empty classrooms and the owlery. I’m sure there are also some quiet, hidden places outside on the Hogwarts grounds as well. And lest we forget the Durmstrang ship? But he chose the library, and only a real bookworm would choose the library as a proper hideout (I’m a bookworm and if I was in his shoes, this is what I would do).
Viktor may have English as his second language, be socially inadequate, quiet, and play sports, but none of those things make him a stupid person. In fact, Viktor is probably one of the most mysterious, intriguing, and intelligent characters in the books. Intelligence comes in many forms, and Viktor’s subtle and subdued actions are evidence of this.
* I’ve been having second thoughts about my section on Viktor’s accent. While I still support my opinion about Viktor’s inability to say “Hermione” is a fault, my opinon on how J.K.R. wrote the accent is waning, or more specifically, confused. I’m going to try to get to the bottom of the accent problem in another article, but for now, let this be a record that I’m willing to edit and fix my mistake(s).
**My essay explaining more about accents is right here. If anyone has better insight than mine on accents, feel free to leave comments here and at my other essay.
