5 Reasons Gary Oak Is a Better Rival Than Draco Malfoy

What do boy wizard Harry Potter and Pokémon trainer Ash Ketchum have in common? Apart from messy black hair?

Answer: another kid against whom competition feels personal. Someone competing at the same level but for the other side. Someone whose actions hike up the in-story tension.

In short… a rival.

For Harry, Slytherin classmate Draco Malfoy is a personal enemy. If one of the two boys does something (e.g. flies well in Quidditch), the other wants to do it better. Each channels his antipathy towards the competing school House to the other individual, making a team competition feel like a one-on-one duel.

In both (original) video games and (first seasons of the) anime, the protagonist of Pokémon faces another trainer who gets his start at the same time. In the video game, that trainer spouts mean comebacks (“Smell ya later!”), but he’s always easy to defeat: even though his starter has a type advantage against the player’s, well, let’s just say he isn’t programmed with the strategic sophistication of a human opponent.

In the anime, on the other hand, Gary is head-and-shoulders ahead of Ash, our hero. Gary’s got an entourage. He catches more Pokémon and trains them to be stronger. Everywhere Ash goes, people express surprise when they learn he comes from the same hometown because they thought all trainers from there were as good as Gary.

I don’t find either Draco or Gary particularly compelling as characters. But when it comes to filling the role of the protagonist’s rival, I think Gary wins hands-down.

Here’s why.

1. Gary doesn’t get a come-uppance until the climax. Draco always gets schooled.

Gary and Draco both love tormenting their rivals. They make arrogant, sweeping judgments and assert their own superiority every chance they get. Yet somehow, Draco never seems to gloat for more than two seconds before someone in authority is telling him how wrong he is.

He tells on Harry for being out of bed and gets punished, too. He tries to scare Harry at a Quidditch match and gets yelled at by McGonagall and attacked by Harry’s Patronus. He teases Ron and Hermione at the Shrieking Shack and gets whacked in the head with a snowball. Basically the only time he ever gets away with being a bully is when Snape punishes Ron for attacking him after he makes a crack about the Weasleys.

Gary, on the other hand, seldom topples from his high horse. Sometimes, he fails to achieve the goal that would resolve the plot of the episode, but that rarely makes a difference to his life — his entourage loves him just as much as before, and his reputation still precedes him.

As a reader, I was never actually worried that Draco would triumph over Harry. There was no way Slytherin would win a Quidditch match or Draco would get Harry in trouble with the teachers. But as a viewer, when I see Gary show up, I know there’s a chance he’ll triumph over Ash — legitimately — and raise the stakes even higher for their next encounter.

2. Gary actually is better than Ash. Draco is seldom better than Harry.

Gary catches more Pokémon than Ash. He earns his badges faster. And the emphasis is on earns: sure, Gary’s grandfather is the Pokémon professor, but Gary’s family connections don’t win his battles for him.

Draco, on the other hand, doesn’t appear to have real friends, just lackeys who care about his dad’s money and prestige. Harry’s friend Hermione beats him in every class except the one taught by the explicitly and ridiculously unfair teacher, who also cares about Draco’s dad’s money and prestige. Harry outflies Draco in Quidditch and outdraws him in duels.

Basically, everything that Draco has going for him, Harry has the same, only better. Got a little money, Draco? Harry has a whole vault of gold. Good at Quidditch? Harry is an even better Seeker, and unlike you, he’s a natural, no growing-up-practicing-all-the-time required. Scion of an important wizarding family? Not only is Harry a Potter, but he’s the Boy Who Lived and a descendant of (spoiler if you haven’t read the seventh book) one of the legendary Three Brothers. Do you like fruit, Malfoy? WELL THEN HOW D’YA LIKE THEM APPLES???

3. Everyone cheers for Gary. Nobody cheers for Draco.

Well, okay: the other Slytherins cheer for Draco. But none of the rest of the school likes them anyway.

More importantly, Harry’s best friends, Ron and Hermione, and his social circle have zero respect for Draco Malfoy. Harry can count on his buddies to always take his side. And most of the adults in authority share Harry and his friends’ low opinions of the Malfoy family.

In contrast, people Ash cares about also hold Gary in esteem. True enough, Ash doesn’t exactly respect Gary’s hordes of cheering fans. But he does respect people like Officer Jenny, gym leaders, and other trainers, all of whom have good things to say about Gary.

Only Harry’s enemies praise Draco, so he doesn’t have to take Draco’s virtues seriously. But Gary has the professional respect of Ash’s friends, too. Ash can’t dismiss Gary’s prowess because to do so would mean dismissing the opinions of the people who praise his own skill.

4. Gary is not obsessed with Ash. Draco is obsessed with Harry.

There is a reason Draco/Harry is one of the strongest slash ships in Harry Potter fandom. Sure, there’s the whole people-who-hate-each-other-are-actually-wildly-attracted-to-each-other thing fandom loves. But there’s also the fact that pretty much the only person we hear Draco talk about all the damn time is Harry.

Contrariwise, although Ash fumes about Gary’s achievements and wants to get good enough to beat him, Gary doesn’t seem to care about Ash. Even though they were friends growing up, it’s as though Gary’s always on the brink of forgetting who Ash even is.

The fact that Draco cares so much about what Harry does and says gives Harry a sort of power over his rival; the fact that Gary could give a darn makes him all the more untouchable.

5. Gary is in Ash’s way because he’s strong. Draco is in Harry’s way because he’s weak.

All the other points stem from this one.

Gary challenges Ash by being strong: he is a competent, tough trainer. Gary inspires his rival to be a better competitor.

Contrariwise, Draco challenges Harry by being weak: he tries to trick Harry, rallies authorities unfairly against Harry, and whines about Harry’s achievements. Draco doesn’t inspire Harry to be better; instead, the fact that Draco exists and sometimes is annoying inspires Harry to reject any person or institution that facilitates Draco’s actions. Harry doesn’t grow because of Draco. He grows in spite of Draco.

In short, Gary Oak is a better rival than Draco Malfoy because Draco and Harry bring out the worst in each other. But Gary and Ash force each other to grow as people and characters, constantly raising the stakes and enhancing the conflict.

And that’s what I want to see in a story.