“Harry Potter” Characters and Their Disney Counterparts: Percy Weasley and Cogsworth

Percy Weasley is a character you either hate to love or love to hate. He’s caught in the middle of being the typical teenager/young adult. At first, he’s a stickler for the rules and never betrays his parents. Then, somewhere along the way he falls astray and begins to rebel against his parents’ wishes. He represents most teenagers across the world.

The movies underrepresented Percy. In the books, he was a major, well-rounded character filled with issues and complexities that are either lovable or detestable.

There aren’t many Disney characters that match Percy’s qualities – most of the characters in the Disney realm typically follow the same path – except for one. Beauty and the Beast‘s Cogsworth has a personality and demeanor almost identical to Percy’s. The following lists the reasons I believe Percy and Cogsworth are counterparts of each other. Read along to see if you agree!

1) Both are obsessed with the rules.

Percy is a prefect when we are first introduced to him in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. He’s responsible for the first year Gryffindors, and in doing so, he follows each and every rule. Mostly when we see Percy throughout his time as a prefect, he’s never straying from the rules set by Hogwarts and always striving to do better than others.

Cogsworth always follows Beast’s orders and makes sure that all the other servants follow the rules as well. His inability to stray from the rules, like Percy, causes his relationships with others to suffer.

2) Both have a serious demeanor and take their jobs very seriously. 

As stated, Percy’s constant rule-abiding nature is part of his serious demeanor. He’s the oddball of the Weasley clan. When he graduates from Hogwarts and begins working at the Ministry of Magic, he takes his job so seriously that he drifts apart from all of his loved ones and eventually disowns them.

Cogsworth’s seriousness causes him to be the strictest of Beast’s employees. Through much of the movie, we see Cogsworth bossing the other servants around, taking his job much more seriously than any of the other servants. Like Percy, Cogsworth’s serious demeanor tends to cause a riff between him and the other characters in Beauty and the Beast.

3) Both can have fun despite their serious nature.

During Percy’s fifth year, he begins dating Penelope Clearwater. Often during the books, Percy sneaks off to deserted classrooms to make out with Penelope, which is against his usual rule-following, serious demeanor. Percy also ditches his seriousness when Quidditch is involved, becoming an avid fan and cheering on the Quidditch players, just like his brothers.

Cogsworth enjoys playing in the castle when he lets his guard down. He and the other characters set up the ballroom for Beast and Belle, and Cogsworth can be seen with the others cheering on their relationship and giving Beast advice on how to woo Belle.

4) Both care about their families.

In the end, Percy reconciles with his family after he disowned them. After hearing that Voldemort was going to strike Hogwarts in the Battle of Hogwarts, Percy finally leaves the Ministry of Magic to rejoin his family to fight against Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

Cogsworth and Lumière are best friends, and even though Cogsworth can become irritated by Lumière’s lackadaisical attitude, Cogsworth can’t deny his love for his best friend. Cogsworth also cares for the Beast, even though Cogsworth is frightened by him. Cogsworth would do anything for Beast, proving his compassionate nature.

Can you think of any other similarities between Percy and Cogsworth? Let us know in comments!