Canon charries aren't BAD... honestly... I hardly even notice if their character is related to Harry Potter... or Ronald Weasley. But I agree with Ameh on that one. If you were to create a character that was related to a character created by J.K. Rowling... I'd suggest picking the lesser known ones. And really... how many half-brothers... or half-sisters... or long-lost cousins can you have?

I prefer creating and RPing with a new character just fresh from scratch. Everything about my character are all thought up from my own brain. And it's fun to think up the personalities and the histories of the characters. And I agree with you Freya. You can create your own thing without it having to relate or connect with those "long lost relatives".

Though, I perfectly understand why there's canon characters. And it may just be easier for the new RPers to deal with, rather than having to come up with this entire history... this whole different person and everything. Also... just because a character's last name is "Potter"... doesn't necessarily define that they're related to some other kid whose last name is "Potter" or Harry Potter. It's like the last name, "Smith". Billions of people have that last name.. but they're not all related to each other, are they? But I still personally think that creating your own character is better. It saves confusion.. and plus.. this character is all you. All of YOUR ideas put together to form this whole new being.