Is Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter (Chamber of Secrets) informed or inspired by real life Scientology "founder" L Ron Hubbard?

cheese_greater@lemmy.world to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 11 points –
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Funny thing is, despite Professor Lockhart's ego, I see Chamber of Secrets and don't think he's that terrible a person. So many people in the series are vile, overly strict, discriminatory, etc. and we are led to hate him despite his relative agreeableness just because he thinks highly of himself?

L Ron Hubbard, on the other hand, used his power to amass a personal army that acted as a human beehive and even had his followers successfully infiltrate the White House in a revenge plot called Operation Snow White. Despite me positing here that cults are not necessarily "bad", being so absolutist isn't great. They both might indulge themselves but Lockhart expressed no intent to sabotage Hogwarts.

I believe the general consensus is that he's a horrible person for erasing the minds of dozens of people after stealing their stories.

I'm not sure if I remember that part. A jerk move, but it doesn't sound as bad as, say, some of Snape's worst actions he committed in the name of his own indulging sentiments.

K wat did Snape actually do that was straight-up evil, ever? Was he legit a non-double-crossing DeathEater?

I didn't say straight-up evil, I just said he'd be higher on the dick scale.