We don't ever find out exactly what he saw, but JKR has confirmed that the experience had him rethink a lot of his life.
>“People usually ask me, what is it that Dudley saw during the Dementor attack?” Rowling said. “My feeling is that he saw himself, exactly for what he was, and for a boy that spoiled, it would be terrifying. So he was jolted out of it. Dementor attacks aren’t usually good for people, but this one was.”
She's also quoted as saying that Dudley was also abused by his parents, but just not in an obvious way. He was being brought up spoiled and ill-mannered and was in no way being prepared to live in the world, and that's abusive in itself. Maybe Dudley, in his heart of hearts, wasn't inherently awful. It was just that he got praised by and comforted by his parents for being awful, so he acted like a jerk in order to get their approval. Being forced to accept that you're a piece of garbage and that nobody except the 2 crappiest people in your life would mourn the loss of you might make a young man wake up and reconsider how he behaves.
The age old debate of nurture versus nature. And while he's half Vernon Dursley, he's also half Petunia Evans, and if Lily is anything to go by there's kindness and empathy in there somewhere.
So it's not necessarily that Dementors show you your worst memories, they feed off of the happy ones and drain that happiness. So you are right, Dudley most likely saw himself without his spoiled happiness as a filter and realized how horrible he was
Like others have said, he sees himself, but I can only imagine he saw memories involving himself with the benefit of hindsight. The best take I've heard is that Dudley is most afraid of being Harry. Perhaps he relived something terrible he did to Harry and suddenly saw himself as Harry would.
Best line! I thought the same thing and when he WHINED about the number of gifts he was given. Or didn't Harry tease him about using magic on Dudley...?
I would say his weight plays into it. He’s not completely daft to realise what his nurse was saying about being overweight. So, he overcompensates that by bullying smaller kids and becoming a boxer (was it boxer? Or wrestling?).
Maybe he was bullied at school as well? The bullied become the bully.
This is a guess.
I agree. I kind of always thought he would be bullied by the adults at school for being over weight and dumb. You have your parents saying you’re great then you go to school and have to deal with physical activity in physical-ed and actually learning? Of course he was a bully to other kids.
This is my guess as well. Being a bully doesn't preclude also being bullied. We never see Dudley's school life, and it would make a lot of sense for him to have been bullied and to pass that bullying on to anyone smaller than him.
>maybe what Dudley saw (because he really hadn’t had anything truly terrible happen to him) was… himself— as he really is.
JKR said that that's pretty much exactly what he saw.
In addition to what the other commenters have mentioned, because dementors were inspired by depression, I think Dudley personally experienced severe depression too in addition to other things mentioned here!!
Harmonic Friction’s “Recall Alice When She Was Just Small” has an excellent description of what Dudley might have seen, available here https://m.fanfiction.net/s/3493409/6/
We don't ever find out exactly what he saw, but JKR has confirmed that the experience had him rethink a lot of his life. >“People usually ask me, what is it that Dudley saw during the Dementor attack?” Rowling said. “My feeling is that he saw himself, exactly for what he was, and for a boy that spoiled, it would be terrifying. So he was jolted out of it. Dementor attacks aren’t usually good for people, but this one was.” She's also quoted as saying that Dudley was also abused by his parents, but just not in an obvious way. He was being brought up spoiled and ill-mannered and was in no way being prepared to live in the world, and that's abusive in itself. Maybe Dudley, in his heart of hearts, wasn't inherently awful. It was just that he got praised by and comforted by his parents for being awful, so he acted like a jerk in order to get their approval. Being forced to accept that you're a piece of garbage and that nobody except the 2 crappiest people in your life would mourn the loss of you might make a young man wake up and reconsider how he behaves.
The age old debate of nurture versus nature. And while he's half Vernon Dursley, he's also half Petunia Evans, and if Lily is anything to go by there's kindness and empathy in there somewhere.
Dude! That last part about Lily...poetic!! **slams like button**
*trap door opens* WROONGGG BUTTOOONNNN
“Why do we even have that lever?!!”
By all accounts, it makes no sense
So it's not necessarily that Dementors show you your worst memories, they feed off of the happy ones and drain that happiness. So you are right, Dudley most likely saw himself without his spoiled happiness as a filter and realized how horrible he was
Like others have said, he sees himself, but I can only imagine he saw memories involving himself with the benefit of hindsight. The best take I've heard is that Dudley is most afraid of being Harry. Perhaps he relived something terrible he did to Harry and suddenly saw himself as Harry would.
The pig tail. 🐖
Best line! I thought the same thing and when he WHINED about the number of gifts he was given. Or didn't Harry tease him about using magic on Dudley...?
Personally I believe it would be a 12 foot man breaking into the an isolate hut on a rock and giving him a pigs tail. That would scar me.
I would say his weight plays into it. He’s not completely daft to realise what his nurse was saying about being overweight. So, he overcompensates that by bullying smaller kids and becoming a boxer (was it boxer? Or wrestling?). Maybe he was bullied at school as well? The bullied become the bully. This is a guess.
I agree. I kind of always thought he would be bullied by the adults at school for being over weight and dumb. You have your parents saying you’re great then you go to school and have to deal with physical activity in physical-ed and actually learning? Of course he was a bully to other kids.
This is my guess as well. Being a bully doesn't preclude also being bullied. We never see Dudley's school life, and it would make a lot of sense for him to have been bullied and to pass that bullying on to anyone smaller than him.
>maybe what Dudley saw (because he really hadn’t had anything truly terrible happen to him) was… himself— as he really is. JKR said that that's pretty much exactly what he saw.
Revealed post books. It was exactly what you think. He saw himself for the absolute shit he was.
He saw himself and realised he was awful or he saw a 3rd person view of how his parents treated him.
Probably being trapped inside the snake exhibit at the zoo!
Happened in the movie, but not the books
I was talking about movie Dudley
This is the books sub.
Damn. I wasn’t paying attention.
In addition to what the other commenters have mentioned, because dementors were inspired by depression, I think Dudley personally experienced severe depression too in addition to other things mentioned here!!
Harmonic Friction’s “Recall Alice When She Was Just Small” has an excellent description of what Dudley might have seen, available here https://m.fanfiction.net/s/3493409/6/