Fred and George Weasley are two of the most beloved characters in the Harry Potter series. Their mischievous nature makes them difficult to dislike, and they provide comic relief for a great many scenes in both the books and the movies. In addition to their sense of humor, the twins have demonstrated that they are both talented and intelligent, with a knack for genius invention. With so many positive qualities, it's difficult to imagine a Harry Potter fan having anything negative to say about them.
As it turns out, however, no character is exempt from criticism. While Fred and George's fan base is large, there are still always those who are willing to share opposing views. These individuals took to Reddit, and bravely announced their truly unpopular opinions about the Weasley twins.
They Are Cruel
Fred and George are the class clowns of Hogwarts School, but they will sometimes work for a laugh at the expense of others. Most of the time, their victims are either Slytherin students, or their siblings, but these jokes didn't sit well with all audiences.
Redditor Hey_people_hows_life pointed out an instance where Fred and George "booed a first-year Slytherin for just being a Slytherin." They pointed out how this might have felt to that student, who was simply excited to be attending Hogwarts. While the joke was all part of the rivalry between school Houses, it may have seemed too mean from other perspectives.
They Lack Empathy
The Weasley twins loved to loosen up a tense moment with a good joke or two. However, some of their jokes might have been a bit tone-deaf to the people that were hurting as a result of those moments.
While Redditor Some_King_of_Fan largely defended the twins against other Redditors' criticisms, they did it that "empathy wasn't a strong suit" for Fred and George. They often cared more about getting a laugh than being sensitive to the difficult times that their friends and family were going through. These jokes may not have been mean in nature, but they just didn't take others' feelings into consideration.
Their Products Are Unethical
Joke shop items are never really meant to be kind, but some of Fred and George's inventions may have been taking things a bit far. "Anyone who sells 'love potions' is a bit suspect in my book," said Calm-Sail2472, feeling that the love potions were ways to eliminate the victim's ability to give consent.
The potions became a difficult obstacle for Harry, who was having to be careful about what he ate in case someone had slipped him a love potion. Had they succeeded, Harry would have been the victim of assault - as many fans have pointed out over the years, the concept of legal 'love potions' is deeply problematic. Of course, this is problematic in the Wizarding World as a whole, not just with Fred and George.
They Didn't Face Enough Discipline
Fred and George often said that they spent more time in detention than not, but it never seemed to bother them. Despite the detentions, the two broke almost every Hogwarts School Rule, leading some Reddit s to think that the teachers weren't making much effort to punish them.
"The twins could do whatever they wanted because they were top Quidditch players," said Griezz, reminding their fellow Redditors that Professor McGonagall cared "more about her team winning than doing her job." It's hard to say if removing them from the team would have changed anything, but no one seemed willing to try.
They Are Overrated
Some Redditors felt that there was nothing wrong with Fred and George themselves, but that some fans gave them more love than they deserved. Aaeiyn simply stated, "they're overrated."
When it comes down to it, audiences never got to see too many sides to the twins. They were only the eternal jokesters. Since they were only serious for short bursts of time, it was hard to get the know the complexities of their character. Without those complexities, some Harry Potter fans might think that they aren't interesting enough characters for how big their fanbase is.
They're Obnoxious
Humor has a time and place, but sometimes class clowns don't understand when it's time to stop. This is exactly how Redditor LadySygerrik described Fred and George, also stating that if they were to meet the twins in real life they would likely "get annoyed by their antics pretty regularly.
Fred and George are not main characters of the series, so it is even possible that if they were an immediate part of Harry's group in the books and movies, audiences might have tired of their energy. Fans still frequently call for Fred and George Weasley to receive their own spin-off movie about their days at Hogwarts, so if this were the case, the movie would not perform well.
They Were Sadistic
Many of the twin's prank items reveal that they enjoy seeing people in discomfort. Most people are willing to laugh along with the joke, but this kind of humor doesn't fly for everyone, such as Hermione.
When Hermione ridicules the boys for their jokes, they will often laugh at her and accuse her of having no sense of humor. One Reddit was frequently annoyed by this, saying that "anytime Hermione disagreed with the twins," they tended to take Hermione's side over the twins. Hermione frequently showed she had a sense of humor, she just didn't pleasure in other people's pain.
They Weren't Funny
Pranks aside, Fred and George still have some good quips and one-liners. Their sense of humor gave the series a levity, and some of the best moments in the Harry Potter books were the unimportant scenes where the twins made everyone laugh in the Gryffindor common room.
Comedy is subjective, though, and some Redditors found that they never quite laughed out loud like other fans did when watching or reading Fred and George's scenes. One Reddit went as far as to say that "their jokes are pretty sh*tty," in their opinion.
They Were Cowards
When Fred and George set off fireworks and used some of the most impressive spells in Harry Potter to curse the corridors throughout the castle, just before ditching the school and their academic success for good, most fans saw it as a triumphant resistance to Umbridge and her medieval ways of running a school. However, one Redditor saw this scene differently.
"Thought they were a big deal but went running scared when the best professor, Umbridge, took them on," said Redditor DirectSpeaker3441. This post, which is likely the most unpopular opinion of them all, greatly contradicted the views of most, who would see the Weasley Twins as heroes, and Umbridge, very clearly, as the villain.
They Were Horrible Brothers
Big brothers can be cruel, but Fred and George could be especially nasty to Ron. As the youngest son of the Weasley family, Ron had a lot of high expectations to live up to, and his older twin brothers never helped him feel like he could ever add up.
"They gave Ron arachnophobia, burned a hole inside his tongue, beat his pet Puffskein to death, gave the Marauder's Map to Harry instead of their brother, and mocked his insecurities all the time," said one Reddit . While fans of the twins might be able to argue that they are funny, it's hard to argue that they were kind older brothers.
