Who exactly is the leading man of After, Hardin Scott? Trust me, as a loyal fan of the story since it was first published...IT IS COMPLICATED.
Hardin is the complex love interest for Tessa in After written by Anna Todd. With the movie adaptation coming out in one week I thought it would be fun to do a little recap on who Hardin is as his character pertains to the book. After the movie premiers I want to compare the book character to the version we see portrayed on the big screen.
Physical Attributes:
Hardin Scott was originally imagined as musician Harry Styles when the book was first written on Wattpad. About halfway through author, Anna Todd realized her story wasn’t a fan-fiction at all and that she needed the characters to stand on their own as the literary individuals they had become.
This character was altered to the green eyed bad boy, with curly brown hair, a constant smirk, dimples, and an English accent since he grew up there. He has tattoos everywhere that either don't have a meaning or he doesn’t give a meaning until later. He is described as basically a bad boy in all black.
Personality Traits:
Remembered how I said he is complicated as a character? This is exactly where things get hazy. He is one of the most lovable, but self destructive characters I have read in a modern series. Although we rarely understand why he does what he does we know a lot of his actions stem from his rough upbringing and the family/friends drama he constantly finds himself in. Not to mention his short fuse that leads to an even bigger temper that is shown repeatedly throughout the book.
At first you can't help but hate his character and a lot of the times when he does dumb shit you still continue to hate his character. HOWEVER, once he begins to figure himself out and let’s himself open up to Tessa’s character, (basically opening up to readers as well) you finally understand why he is the way he is. You can’t help but fall in love right alongside Tessa.
A big thing that draws me to his character is the humor he portrays when he interacts with certain people in the novel. You see a different side to him, but it’s likable, fun and carefree compared to his usual moody and brooding attitude.
His Destructive Secrets:
I’m all for a good mystery built up by loads of foreshadowing. But, Anna Todd brings a new definition to the word blindside, because I 10/10 was not prepared for the bombshell that is dropped at the end of After. I don’t want to give any spoilers (until my review next week) so I won’t say anything too specific, but I have never felt more betrayal alongside a character since that final chapter.
The change that this brought to the story, let alone almost every character in the book was insane! After I read it the first time I went back and reread and was like oh my that make so much more sense why he acted this way or why he said this.
If I had more time to write today I would get into his biggest secret of all that isn’t revealed until almost the end of the final book, but DO NOT GET ME STARTED because I will never be able to stop about the amount of missed foreshadowing involved with this secret.
Conclusion on Hardin
I absolutely love him as a character I will never get over the comparisons made in the book of his character to the literary classic characters of Mr. Darcy and Heathcliff. I’m a sucker for a good romance and the fact that two of my favorite classics played a huge role in a modern day love story basically killed me inside and I have yet to recover from this series!
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