Why did Harry think that James Potter was such a great guy?

Question

All of the flashbacks and memories that involve James potter seem to show him as a quite self-centered bully, a sneak, and a rebel.

Is there anything in the books that show James to be the really swell guy that Harry built up in his head?

The only information he would have had prior to attending Hogwarts would be from home, and there certainly wasn't any positive input there.

Edit: Sorry, the original question is less about what Harry thought about his father and more about whether Harry's views actually matched the man.

Answer 1

By the end of Philosopher's Stone, Harry knows quite a few things about James that are likely to have endeared him.

Hagrid liked him (see also, why Harry hates Slytherin)

‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘But it’s that sad – knew yer mum an’ dad, an’ nicer people yeh couldn’t find – anyway –

He left Harry a pile of money

All Harry’s – it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn’t have known about this or they’d have had it from him faster than blinking. How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London.

He was an impressive Quidditch player

‘Your father would have been proud,’ she said. ‘He was an excellent Quidditch player himself.’

He hated Snape.

‘Oh, he does,’ said Quirrell casually, ‘heavens, yes. He was at Hogwarts with your father, didn’t you know? They loathed each other.

His father looks a lot like him

The tall, thin, black-haired man standing next to her put his arm around her. He wore glasses, and his hair was very untidy. It stuck up at the back, just like Harry’s did.

He died (bravely) defending Harry and Lily

‘How touching …’ it hissed. ‘I always value bravery … Yes, boy, your parents were brave … I killed your father first and he put up a courageous fight … but your mother needn’t have died … she was trying to protect you … Now give me the Stone, unless you want her to have died in vain.’

He was a lovable scamp

Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled. ‘Useful things … your father used it mainly for sneaking off to the kitchens to steal food when he was here.’

James Potter put his life on the block to save an enemy

‘Well, they did rather detest each other. Not unlike yourself and Mr Malfoy. And then, your father did something Snape could never forgive.’
‘What?’
‘He saved his life.’

Answer 2

I think the answer is simply:

James is Harry's Dad

All children (by default) look up to their parents. Even when kids start to rebel against their parents, it's often simply due to a desire of the child to develop an identity of their own. Barring extreme circumstances, a child always has a level of love and respect for their parents.

Additionally, as a child gets older, children may "lose" some respect for their parents (or alternatively, get a different understanding of their personality) due to behaviors of the parent (in my mind, I'm viewing it as the classic-teenager "Dad, you're embarrassing me" mantra). Harry, however, never had any 'negative' interactions with his parents (and as Richard's answer pointed out, he only heard positive reports about his parents. Which frankly, makes sense, because it would be really inappropriate to put down a kids' dead parents in front of him). The only people who denigrated his parents were, frankly, people Harry didn't care too much about.

This is why in Book 5, when Harry was in the memories of his father in Snape's pensieve, it had a particularly strong effect on him. This was the first time he saw his father in a bad (arguably very bad) light, and it was something that was 'real' in the sense that it was an actual event that happened, and not a biased accounting from enemies of the Potters.

Answer 3

There is a lot of confirmation bias going on in Harry's head. Obviously he wants his father to have been a great guy, because that's so much nicer than having an nasty, inconsequential nobody for a father. So everything positive he hears (quidditch seeker, head boy etc) reinforces the mental image, and anything negative (James and Snape loathed each other, James stealing food) is interpreted in the most positive way possible. It doesn't help that most of the people around him who knew James don't want to pop his bubble.

Only when Harry is confronted with Snape's memory of James and the other Marauders at their most vicious does he start to re-evaluate his image of his father.

Answer 4

All of the memories we see are from Snape’s prospective and they did not like each other... at all. So, it’s not a fair representation of James. Other people who describe James loved him, they admitted he had faults, but every character did because they were meant to. But every single other character in the books had nothing but good things to say about James Potter.

This is what we know about James: He was a spoiled, only child to elderly, wealthy parents. Well loved, but probably rarely heard “no.” He found out his friend and dorm mate was a werewolf; instead of outing him, rejecting him, and acting like basically the rest of wizarding society (he was progressive and obviously valued equality) he became and animagus at an extraordinary young age all to help his friend. He saved Snapes life. Whether he was trying to keep out of trouble, or protect Remus, or maybe he just valued human life... he still did it, which is brave. He took in Sirius when his parents kicked him out and provided for him financially. His last action on earth, was going up against the most powerful dark wizard, wandless, knowing he was about to die, all to buy time for his wife and child to run.

What we know about Lily: She was uncommonly kind and she called him out on his actions. She was smart, brave, loving, steadfastly held to her principles. She was probably the first person ever in James’ life to go toe-to-toe with him. Parents, teachers, peers and friends worshiped the ground he walked on because he was brilliant, but I think were unwilling to call him out. I would have a big head, too. Give him a little slack, he was 15. Then Lily comes waltzing up and rips him down. I think seeing her reaction to his antics really opened his eyes and he changed his behavior. Do you the Lily Evans we saw, would marry a bully.? No I don’t think so. And by the photographs we have of him and Lily, I’d say they were very much in love. I don’t think Lily would love a cruel man.

Answer 5

And of course Harry had no conscious memory of James, so would find it easy to idealise him. There's and old saying "it's far easier to be a royalist if you don't have to work with the royals close up."