#he made the character more than it was tbh #i love book draco but you don’t get to SEE his struggle so much as infer it based on harry’s rather limited POV and in the movies you get tom felton being amazing and deep and showing the downward spiral of someone who made himself incredibly vulnerable at his first meeting harry because he’s sure that all the hype his parents have been doing towards his family and his winning personality are going to garner him all the cool friends but then the years go on and everyone but slytherin hates him and then everyone but his small group of friends hates him and then he’s not even at school at all and he thinks his parents resent him for not succeeding in killing dumbledore and not helping their family get out under voldemort’s control even though those are both impossible requests for someone who is still underage you can see him try and make a decision of what’s right and what’s easy and once he starts thinking for himself you can see him leaning towards the former because none of this is what he signed up for because from the moment his school career began he’s been failing to live up to the expectations he’s set for himself so he rejects everyone around him as lesser and latches onto the one thing that his parents taught him that comes in handy and condescends to anyone who’ll listen and by the end you can see it eat away at him to the point where he’s all but begging harry to save him from dying because he’s once again failed supremely but this time he’s hit the actual rock bottom and his throat is raw from his constant need to resist swallowing his pride and all he wants is a fresh gasp of air and when his parents get him back he flees without looking back because as much as they’ve been worn out by the war draco’s been worn out by so much more in addition to that #and this all happens int he background with no more than a page of dialogue in each movie whereas the main characters have massive arcs and long lingering moments where you see them break down and build themselves back up and tom felton does it all with such cohesion and quiet brilliance that you look back and deem him a main character when he’s really been lost among the massive cast only getting a few words in edgewise and sometimes i wonder if he maybe relates to draco on a level that makes everything that much more rich and nuanced#harry potter #word vomit #spoilers #malfoys appreciation blog ‘∞
*slow claps for 8226 years*