Sirius Black, godfather of the main character in the Harry Potter series, was one of the good guys. He opposed blood prejudice despite being brought up in a family rife with it, he risked his life for the other good guys over and over, and he had many admirable traits that made him someone to look up to.
But he wasn’t perfect. He made many mistakes and had some less than admirable personality traits that taught readers and viewers as many lessons as even more admirable characters did. These were his worst mistakes throughout the series, that eventually cost him his life.
He Let His Emotions Get The Better Of Him
Sirius could not control his emotions, which is probably something inherently true of him and not something he got from Azkaban — judging from the Hogwarts stories, anyway. He would lose his temper constantly, causing him to almost curse Snape before they were walked in during the discussion of Occulmency lessons and in general, was never particularly calm. These often to led to terrible situations, teaching us that sometimes it’s wise to exercise some self-control.
He Could Be Very Cruel
When he was only a teenager, he got tired of Severus Snape’s nosiness surrounding the monthly disappearances of the marauders. He told him how to get the Whomping Willow — charitable, right? Except at the other end of the pathway was a fully grown werewolf.
Not only would Snape have been murdered, Remus Lupin might not have been able to live with himself. It surely damaged their friendship a great deal, since even James realized he had gone too far and saved Snape.
He Could Be A Hypocrite
Sirius taught us a very valuable lesson when he said to take a look at how a man treats his inferiors if you want to get the measure of him.
Except he didn’t treat his inferiors too well.
Sirius is cruel to Kreacher at multiple points, going so far as to be physically abusive to Hermione’s protests. He may have told Harry to take a look at how a man treats his inferiors — which, in general, is a great lesson to remember! — but he didn’t do so well in that area himself.
He Let His Family Influence Him
It’s rather obvious where the idea that it’s okay to mistreat house-elves came from though. His own mother, Walburga Black, used to cut off the heads of house-elves when they got too old to serve the Black family, and even made them think it was an honor. Sirius probably grew up seeing his mother be extremely cruel to the creatures and even though he’d surely like to think he bears no resemblance to his family… He picked up this habit. And it’s not always good to let your parents influence you — especially not if they’re Walburga and Orion Black, dysfunctional as can be.
He Had A Point To Prove
He went out of his way to be touchy about his family and taunted Bellatrix, ending in his death. He definitely had a point to prove when it came to his family, determined to show that he was nothing like them and angrily stand against them. It would have been beneficial if he had taken a step back from the situation and tried to remain cool and calm, but that was an impossible task for Sirius.
He Could Be Selfish
He could also be incredibly selfish. Harry needed a father figure, but Sirius needed his best friend back and although he surely liked to think he was putting Harry above himself, he even accidentally called him “James”. He couldn’t seem to shake the idea that he had his best friend back, despite being called out on it by Molly.
He Didn’t Have Any Concept Of Self-Care
Sirius was most definitely not taking care of himself. Harry smelled alcohol on him when he appeared in the fire to speak to him, and he seemed to lose the will to wash and maintain his personal hygiene whenever no one else was living in the house with him.
This was part of what led to his death — not valuing himself.
He Took His Bad Moods Out On Others
He had a tendency to lose his temper. When Harry didn’t want to meet him at Hogsmeade, for fear he’d be imprisoned again, Sirius made a personal jab about Harry and his father before refusing to talk to him warmly for weeks. As Harry was fifteen, cared about Sirius a lot, and was under an immense out of pressure at the time, it seems unfair for Sirius to have taken such a dislike to his common sense.
But that’s Sirius – unable to control his emotions.
He Was Constantly Reckless
His biggest flaw to learn from, because it ultimately led to bad things, was simply that he was too reckless. Sirius would rush into dangerous situations with even more enthusiasm and lack of care than Harry, who was notoriously reckless himself. He walked around in public in his animagus form when he was a wanted man, was so determined to help and useful that he didn’t acknowledge if he was doing more harm than good, and generally often became more of a nuisance than a help.
It’s understandable, of course — the man was cooped up in prison for years — but still led to terrible things happening.
He Just Truly Didn’t Value His Life Or Himself, In The End
In the end, the main negative trait of Sirius that readers and viewers definitely need to learn from is that he just didn’t value himself. His lack of self-care, willingness to run into situations that might prove fatal (and eventually did), and the fact he didn’t acknowledge that Harry truly cared about him and wanted the best for him were ultimately his downfall.
