Wow, this is a great discussion...hm..let me think

With his father not knowing a geat deal about raising children from the sounds of it, he was probably extremly sheltered from other kids his age when he was growing up before Hogwarts, not having many friends his own age, only hanging with his daddy. Though he did learn to appreicate everyone around him, no matter what they were, which is a great lesson to learn young in life.

I think Hagrid was a very shy child. Because his mother left him he didn't know most things, if anything about his gaint heritage so he learned what everyone else learned; that Giants were evil monsters. His schooling life must have been horrible, though I doubt the Headmaster would want everyone to know there's a half-giant at school, but someone could have found out (Tom Riddle) and of course, Hagrid would have beern tormented; no wonder he went to tending to horrible creatures during school, he was looking for something to protect him.

I think Hagrid treats his friends as family because he never really had family growing up or friends and doesn't know how to treat them. He's treating them like his own, nuturing them and watching them grow. He has a lot in common with Harry so feels he has to protect Harry and his friends because he was never really protected as a child and wants to prove he can do it. Since he never married either he's showing everyone he can be a good daddy if the time ever came to be one.

Do you think Hagrid will ever find his one true love and marry her? How about Madam Maxime?

Hagrid kind of shrugs off his mother by saying she wasn't ever much of one, even before she left. (But he later went looking for her!) He genuinely adored his father, however, and you could see how much this all affected him in his talks with Harry and then his determination to save and teach his half-brother. Not having a family after his father died when he was only about 12 (second year at Hogwarts) you could tell he cherished that sense of family he had lost. I do think that his years between the time of his mother's leaving and adulthood were rough on him. We all know that his is not the sharpest mind at Hogwarts even if he does have the biggest heart! This, along with his size must have led to teasing by some of his peers, which I believe is what drove him to love animals, even the most unloved and unwanted of them...Hagrid felt sympathy and empathy with them due to that treatment he received...remember how Tom Riddle called him "that great oaf" - "Big, blundering Hagrid, in trouble every other week, trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed, sneaking off to the Forbidden Forest to wrestle trolls" - "as though Hagrid had the brains, or the power!" (To be Slytherin's heir). Through it all, Hagrid has learned one of life's most valuable lessons...that all life has value and meaning and should be respected! But, his lack of faith and confidence in himself does get in his way when he tries to express himself in a challenge by a human being...such as with trying to defend Buckbeak. His mind is not quick or sharp so he is not what one would call an eloquent speaker. It shows that it is his relationship with humans that lacks, but with his creatures, he is totally at home and confident because the creatures totally accept him and love him for who and what he is. Few humans can truely see Hagrid like that. We know there are many that do, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Harry, Hermione and Ron, of course, but remember all those letters from former students Dumbledore received defending Hagrid when Rita Skeeter let the truth about Hagrid's mother out?

I think that Hagrid’s mother leaving him when he was so young made a big difference in the way he turned out. I think he has more compassion for the students since they are away from their families and tends to treat them as if they were a part of his family. I’m not sure how I would feel if I found out I had a half-brother whom I had no idea existed. It would change a lot for me. Like, where did he come from and why didn’t anyone tell me about him.

I hope Hagrid finds love and is able to have a family of his own some day. He deserves the best in life since he has proven he can make the best out of most any situation.

I wonder, really, why Hagrid takes people in so openly. You think, with the issues he's had in life, he'd have difficulty trusting people. However, when he befriended Harry, he let him know he was someone he could count on, no matter what. I kind of wonder what gives him that gene.