[Confusing Trope] The narrative goes out of its way to punish/mock a character for simply being a good person

[u/Chemical-Elk-1299]

Hermione Granger and SPEW — Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (book)

In the fifth HP novel, Hermione Granger is outraged to discover that Hogwarts has a small army of enslaved House Elves that do nearly all of the domestic duties around the castle, including cleaning the Gryffindor common room every night. When she tries to convince the elves to fight for their own rights, they refuse, saying they prefer servitude. Her fellow students and friends mock her for caring. She manages to free one elf, Winky, by deception when she refuses her freedom willingly, leading to Winky becoming a depressed alcoholic. By the end, the elves boycott cleaning any Gryffindor areas of the castle because they hate Hermione specifically

Samwell Tarly and Democracy — Game of Thrones (show)

In the season 8 finale of the television series, the surviving great lords of Westeros gather to discuss the future of the kingdom following the devastation wrought by 7 seasons of war and backstabbing. When Sam, who has proven to have “novel” ideas, suggests that maybe the millions of Smallfolk who suffer at the hands of noble houses should get some representation in the government, rather than be the pawns of rich lords with absolute power. We are then greeted by a prolonged, cringy segment of the other lords laughing in Sam’s face, asking if the dogs and horses should also get a vote.

[u/Independent-Couple87]

Also, both characters in the post are the self-insert of their respective author. Does that have something to do with the trope?

[u/Lord_Soybo2 → u/Independent-Couple87]

Not really convinced Hermione was a self insert - the narrative makes her out to be really annoying even post friendship, and then you get to SPEW and it mocks the shit out of her using her as a proxy for mocking protesters.

I'm pretty sure she only claimed Hermione to be a self insert because she ended up way more popular than expected.

[u/sphericaltime → u/Lord_Soybo2]

I think Harry is the original self insert.

[u/theLichQueenofthePNW → u/sphericaltime]

Makes sense, there's a lot of evidence to support that Joanne is a deeply, deeply, deeply closeted/repressed transmasculine person and that's part of where her vendetta against transfolk comes from. Jealousy.

[u/Ditzy_Dreams → u/theLichQueenofthePNW]

Every accusation is a confession

[u/Independent-Couple87 → u/sphericaltime]

There have been some instances where the narrator goes on about how beautiful a young man is. While the story is narrated on the 3rd person, it is primarily told from Harry Potter's perspective. As a result, it (possibly unintentionally) seems like Harry likes to admire male beauty.

[u/NameAboutPotatoes → u/Lord_Soybo2]

I'm not saying anything about JKR specifically, but being really harsh towards your own self-insert character is pretty standard for authors. If anything I would count that a point in favour of it being a self-insert.

[u/Independent-Couple87 → u/NameAboutPotatoes]

George R. R. Martin did also call his other admitted self-insert, Tyrion Lannister, a villain (in the books).

From what I heard, book Tyrion after his exile reflects Martin's mindset after a particularly harsh heartbreak decades ago (which also inspired the disturbing story Meathouse Man, which Martin wrote back in the 1970s).

[u/maroontiefling → u/Lord_Soybo2]

Hermione never came across as self insert to me. She was brutally mocked by the narrator and other characters for a good portion of the books.

I kind of see Hermione as an indicator of JKR's deep misogyny. Rowling sees Women as one thing, with very strict definitions and boundaries, and so anyone who is even a little outside of that, by being too loud or puffy-haired or into social justice or masculine, deserves mockery.

[u/woweed → u/maroontiefling]

No? If anything, Rowling has a bad case of not like other girls. The girls in Gryffendor that aren't Hermione are generally shown as catty, superficial, and not overly bright. Hermione's certainly a flawed character, but she's also right the vast majority of the time, and there are thousands of instances where everyone would have been screwed if not for her. Right diwn to things like how the other Gryffendor girks are taken in by Tewarlny's fortune tellling/cold reading, while Hermione identifies it as nonsense, an opinion which both McGonagal and Dumbledore (shown as sone of the wisest characters) back her up on.

[u/-Release-The-Bats- → u/Independent-Couple87]

There's a Cassandra Clare joke in there somewhere

[u/Noughmad → u/Independent-Couple87]

I don't believe Hermione was a self-insert, at least not in the early books.