HP articles worth readings - Ron and Neville

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Not Avaliable

@lovely_lady

Rocker

Posted: 10 years ago

Just wanted to link these wonderfully written articles for other Harry Potter fans to enjoy.

Erased by Time and Blockbusters"The Cautionary Tale of Ron Weasley

https://www.tor.com/2014/01/15/erased-by-time-and-blockbusters-the-cautionary-tale-of-ron-weasley/

^the above article does a really good job and showing how movie Ron and book Ron are two completely different people. I find that due to the influence of the movies, most people often end up thinking of Ron as being useless. But this article highlights some of Ron's plus points and described how he was completely shafted in the movie. One of my favourite articles for one of the most shat-on characters in the HP universe imo.

Neville Longbottom is the Most Important Person in Harry Potter"And Here's Why

https://www.tor.com/2013/11/19/neville-longbottom-is-the-most-important-person-in-harry-potter/

^truthfully, I think the title of the article is a bit misleading -- although the article does talk about Neville. It actually draws wonderful parallels between the Mauraders and the current (although I suppose they aren't current anymore if you thing about the next gen of HP characters as indicated by epilogue) HP generation (Harry, Ron, Hermione, etc.). A really good read for Neville fans.

Would love to hear everyone else's thoughts on the articles! (they're a bit lengthy I know and I apologize. But I highly recommend them 😊).

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Frequent Posters

Lekha

@Echo.of.Hope

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 10 years ago

popcorn!!!😆

abt first article...

I'm one of the ppl who don't like Ron but I guess the article has a point. Film Ron is a jerk while Canon Ron seems to be a better friend.

For me the dislike of Ron comes from his jealousy and prejudice.

1. Ron's prejudice about Malfoy and how Slytherins in general are bad (You kno I'm Slytherin so this part ticks me off👎🏼)

2.Ron not believing Harry in the 4th book. For the love of Merlin Harry didnt like all the attention. HE didn't want to get in but Ron wasn't ready to listen or believe Harry

3.Ron was jealous and judgy about Hermione and Krum. He has this thing about "competitors are enemies" or something like that.

4.Ron walks out on Harry and Hermione ... I kno you all will tell horcrux but we kno that he was being impulsive.

I just wished he had i little more faith in his firends

P.S. This is not a bash post. I was just stating the things abt Ron that are not appealing. I love the trio. I do not mean to offend anyone or any character or actor. Rupert was fabulous ad I love to watch Ron except for the scenes I mentioned and his "Bl**dy Hell" dialogs are hilarious😆. Every character has a flaw, it's just that Ron's doesnt seem to appeal to me especially since it involves Slytherin. Please DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND ME.

About second article...

I wished they hadn't compared Neville to peter...Neville is way better ad smarter. I guess Neville is the peter who took the right path...but still.

I always thought neville is the cute chubby boy who is funny coz he forgets things and thinks Snape is the scariest thing😆

But from the 5th group he turns out to be quiet a hero...the way he stands up to Voldy after harry's so called death is my fav moment.

I wish he ended up with Luna...but he chose hannah instead

btw tfs😊

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Not Avaliable

@lovely_lady

Rocker

Posted: 10 years ago

Lekhs!! Thanks for commenting and reading yaar! 🤗 Now to your points.

I think your dislike of Ron based upon his casual racism and prejudice is pretty spot on. I can see why many people dislike him for that. But I think it's also important to contextualize his hate for the Malfoy's and Slytherin (Hi5 there sister!). Despite being a pureblood family, the Weasley's were INTENSELY disliked and put down by the other purebloods. Remember how everyone thought Mr. Weasley was a fool in the Ministry initially? People constantly disrespected him and treated the Weasley's as second class citizens. And I mean honestly, Draco was such an ass to Ron, right from the very beginning. That's why Harry chooses to stick with Ron over Draco in the first book -- because he doesn't like bullies. And then not to mention, Lucius purposely put Tom Riddle's diary in Ginny's pot during her first year class material shopping. He knew what the consequences were. He knew Ginny could die but he didn't care. So to me, his hate of the Malfoy's is pretty justified. And also, I think the dislike of Malfoy's wasn't just a Ron thing, but a general Weasley thing for the most part. They were assholes to him and his family much before he ever did anything to Draco/ Malfoys.

And regarding Slytherins, to be honest, I'm pretty sure that the stigma against Slytherin was also not a Ron-only thing. I'm sure many people thought bad things about Slytherin -- the house association with Voldemort tainted it for years. And secondly, I think we can kinda assume that out of all the houses, Slytherin probably had the most pro-Voldemort rich pureblood family kids -- who also looked down upon the Weasley's. So Ron hating the house that housed most of the people who disrespected him/ his family makes sense to me.

Although I do want to point out that I'm not agreeing with him. I'm just attempting to explain why I think he did it/ how you can see it from his angle.

Regarding the Victor-Hermione angle. LOL he had no such "competitors are enemies" I think. When Krum initially came to the school, Ron was in heaven. He LOVED Krum and looked up to him intensely. It was only when he found out that Krum and Hermione possibily had a thing going, he freaked out and starting hating Krum. It was all teenage hormones talking. No real enemy thing, just pure teenage jealousy 😆 He had a crush on Hermione for years and got pissy when she got with someone else -- much like Hermione over Ron-Lavender. Teenage hormones are a force to be reckoned with 😆

About the horcrux. Yeah, idk. My reasoning for that is this: the horcrux affected Ron the most. He was constantly being reminded of his inferior status, esp against Harry (brawn) and Hermione (brains) feeling worthless. Not to mention, his entire family was in danger of dying and he couldn't do anything to protect them/ make sure if they were alive. And then he was also injured -- which made him even more crankier. Resulting in him snapping and just leaving. I think he was completely WRONG in leaving, but I can also see why he did it. Plus, not to mention, he regretted it immediately. But whatever. I know that can't be justified for many.

As for the him having faith -- yeah I guess. But my thing is, Harry and Hermione wouldn't be friends with Ron if he was such a bafoon, useless part of the trio. If he were really horrible to them, would they really stick around him? Idk.

And dw I know you're not bashing him 😊

Regarding second article:

Yeah I didn't get the Peter-Neville comparison initially either. But after re-reading it, I kinda like it. Basically, Neville and Peter were at the same crossroads almost -- the boys who just tagged along with popular people and were not really well liked and always subject to being the butt of jokes. But instead of accepting this like Peter did, Neville demanded respect and ended up becomming one of the most revered, in his own image, characters of the book. I think the writer was just attempting to describe Neville's character arc from another angle.

But yeah, I totes shipped Neville-Luna too 😆

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bookworm-ALS--

@bookworm-ALS--

Stunner

+ 3

Posted: 10 years ago

I loved Neville- and the author is absolutely right. Neville could have been a Peter, but he didn't. like Dumbledore said its our choices not abilities that define us.

Now coming to Ron,I agree with the points in the article. They actually took away all of Ron's shining moments from the books, and gave them to Hermione. Or changed it so he was a jerk. It becomes more pronounced after the 3rd movie, to be honest.

Although Ron is one of my favourite characters, I am not biased coming to him. He has his faults - the biggest problem is his insecurity, which is understandable, as he has always been outshined by his brothers, then by Harry and Hermione. I know many people make a big deal of Ron leaving, but what no one pays attention to is the fact that he did come back, owned up to his mistake sincerely. As someone who has dealt with people leaving (and not coming back, ever) in the real world, it's actually quite rare for someone to swallow their pride when they know they're wrong.

(Percy didn't, remember? Not until the end.)

Also, from the books, it frequently seems as though Harry sees Hermione as an older sister or mother figure, going to her only for advice and frequently hiding things from her. (I could quote examples, but it would be too long.)

Ron is more like Harry's equal, in the way they interact.

And it's not just Ron. Harry has his own glaring, obvious failings, and so does Hermione ( which is what makes characters real, doesn't it? Who wants a "perfect" character anyway?)

I love Harry, Ron and Hermione almost equally, and I actually feel bad when I see people hating Ron (and funnily enough, most of it is because they find him "unworthy" of Hermione.)

Okay, that's it. Rant over.

PS. Apart from Ron, another character who was BUTCHERED in the films was Ginny Weasley. Ironic, really.

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Not Avaliable

@lovely_lady

Rocker

Posted: 10 years ago

@bookworm-ALS

Firstly, thank you for taking the time to read and comment on the articles! Appreciate it! Now to your comments:

I love your comments on Ron + trio. I also love Ron, but like you, am completely privy to the fact that he has his fault, as do the other characters. And like you, I also really like how Ron always owns up to his own mistakes. If I'm remembering correctly, if anything, it was Hermione who had a problem with that 😆

In general, I feel like not only did the movies completely sideline Ron and Ginny, but also but Hermione on a super high pedestal. Whatever tho.

Speaking of Ginny, I'm a little torn on her. On one hand, in theory, I think she was a really great character, kinda tailor-made for Harry really. Super athletic, super easy-going, always for the underdog (funny in the movies, it was shown that Hermione was the one who defended Luna from being called Loony when in the books, it was Ginny who defended her while Hermione was part of the crowd who called her Loony 😆 -- total rewriting on part of Kloves). But on the other hand, her characterization also seem too convenient if anything. Idk. I feel like JK Rowling could've done so much with Ginny, in terms of fleshing her out into an actual characters. But then I also realize that's a fault of the narrative, the books are in Harry's perspective so we obviously cannot see everything and only really get introduced to characters when Harry notices them, in the case of Ginny, when she's all confident and beautiful and a contrast from her previous shy nature 😆 Seriously, boys are just 😆

And movie Ginny was just atrocious. A bland cardboard box. That shoelace scene was so cringe-worthy. If anything, I feel like most of the Weasley's weren't portrayed that well, including Fred and George.

Edited by lovely_lady - 10 years ago

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Lekha

@Echo.of.Hope

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 10 years ago

@popcorn

I get that you are justifying Ron since u ship Romione.

I agree that Draco grew up being told to hate each other's family. That is their family issues. Apart from the Malfoy's Ron doesn't have any first hand experience dealing with Slytherins , he's just heard about their wrong doings. In the first book Ron hating Slytherin might be justified as he being a kid and not knowing better.

Now let's come to later books. Ron has encountered with other. They can't all be bad. Not all Slytherins are bad...take you and me for example... we are cold blood death eaters of any sort. Still Ron generalizes Slytherins to be bad. While Hermione tries to believe that Draco might not be a death eater Ron has fixed his mind that all Slytherins are future death eaters ad nothing more. I hated that about him At least after all those years he could have changed his perception...Draco did...though he couldn't do anything about it.

thank you for agreeing with the leaving part and him have more trust.

now about the insecurities. Everyone has them. Harry was treated worse than Ron could have ever been treated, but it's never mentioned in the book that before Harry found out about his fame, he was filled with insecurities. I know that being the youngest son was tough for Ron but as he grew up he could have learnt to control it. He was the prefect and his mother was proud. He knew hermione loved him...yet he held on to the same old feelings.

I feel they could have made him more confident. I get that being with Harry but make you feel inferior but that could have been toned down.

You said it's the whole Weasley family but only Ron seems to act this bad to all the prejudice and insecurity apart from Percy. Then again...no liked Percy till he apologized.

Ron is a main character. When they had him hate Slytherins all the while, that made many readers hate slytherins too. If readers only erad about Voldemort being in Slytherin they would have disliked the house but with one of the main characters constantly telling how Slytherin is bad, we SLytherins who aren't actually that bad get bashed a lot.

about the neville article...u said you didn't mind the peter comparison...i get the comparison...it's kind of like history repeats but this time the tag along chose the right path. I just dont like that it was neville to peter. I like neville a lot...especially since 5th book where as you said he demanded respect.

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Lekha

@Echo.of.Hope

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 10 years ago

@ popcorn and bookworm-ALS

about Ginny. Totally agree that the character was wasted...so much could have been done. Initially I never liked her because she was the frightened girl who could do nothing...I didn;t notice her developments inthe later books.

Then I came across a fanfiction where they talked about Ginny and how she's bold. That's when I thought back and realized that she as bold but JKR wrote in such a way that it went unoticed.

Later 'reddit' discussion talked about how she was so string to go through all the events during the second book and stil survive. That's when I realized that JKR could have written more to show how strong Ginny is since she's paired with Harry.There could have been more charcter development there.

Since her boldness was so subtle in the book the movie totally overlooked it and ruined her onscreen.

I feel that Draco and Neville had most character developments as students in Hogwarts...the others pretty much remained the same

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bookworm-ALS--

@bookworm-ALS--

Stunner

+ 3

Posted: 10 years ago

Originally posted by: lovely_lady
@bookworm-ALS

Firstly, thank you for taking the time to read and comment on the articles! Appreciate it! Now to your comments:

I love your comments on Ron + trio. I also love Ron, but like you, am completely privy to the fact that he has his fault, as do the other characters. And like you, I also really like how Ron always owns up to his own mistakes. If I'm remembering correctly, if anything, it was Hermione who had a problem with that 😆

In general, I feel like not only did the movies completely sideline Ron and Ginny, but also but Hermione on a super high pedestal. Whatever tho.

Oh, yes. That's Hermione's BIG fault, she's right so often she hardly notices when she's being tactless or wrong.

Speaking of Ginny, I'm a little torn on her. On one hand, in theory, I think she was a really great character, kinda tailor-made for Harry really. Super athletic, super easy-going, always for the underdog (funny in the movies, it was shown that Hermione was the one who defended Luna from being called Loony when in the books, it was Ginny who defended her while Hermione was part of the crowd who called her Loony 😆 -- total rewriting on part of Kloves). But on the other hand, her characterization also seem too convenient if anything. Idk. I feel like JK Rowling could've done so much with Ginny, in terms of fleshing her out into an actual characters. But then I also realize that's a fault of the narrative, the books are in Harry's perspective so we obviously cannot see everything and only really get introduced to characters when Harry notices them, in the case of Ginny, when she's all confident and beautiful and a contrast from her previous shy nature 😆 Seriously, boys are just 😆

And movie Ginny was just atrocious. A bland cardboard box. That shoelace scene was so cringe-worthy. If anything, I feel like most of the Weasley's weren't portrayed that well, including Fred and George.

@RED. I know. Can you imagine GINNY doing something like that, ever!

In the movies? Definitely. hell. they ruined Ron, did you really expect them to do justice to anyone?
As for Ginny, no I don't find her too convenient actually. And you're right, Harry mostly notices her good qualities, but she has quite a few negative qualities too!
She has a bad temper. She speaks without thinking several times, and she has a cruel, mean streak (Remember, how she tears into Ron when they encounter her kissing Dean.) Harry has a slightly cruel streak himself - don't forget what he said to Remus.
I've also thought Ginny just...well, does what she wants, and be damned the world. While admirable in some situations, it's also slightly idiotic.

Summing it up, no one is perfect in Harry Potter.

Except maybe Professor McGonagall? ❤️

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bookworm-ALS--

@bookworm-ALS--

Stunner

+ 3

Posted: 10 years ago

Some of the Ginny points I made are from this article, they're quite true. Since this is an article post anyway, I'm posting the link :

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/essays/issue2/whyharrypickedginny/

It goes into depth on harry and ginny, most particularly Ginny.

Also, anyone notice that Harry's personality resembles Lily's a lot, Ginny's resembles James? Did JKR do that deliberately a lot or...

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Lekha

@Echo.of.Hope

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 10 years ago

#10

Originally posted by: bookworm-ALS--
Some of the Ginny points I made are from this article, they're quite true. Since this is an article post anyway, I'm posting the link :
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/essays/issue2/whyharrypickedginny/

It goes into depth on harry and ginny, most particularly Ginny.

Also, anyone notice that Harry's personality resembles Lily's a lot, Ginny's resembles James? Did JKR do that deliberately a lot or...

tfs.

we actually need such essays since in the book JKR kinda made an abrupt start and end for Hinny. Ginny seems to have disappeared after book 2 except for a few appearances here and there and then in book 6 he's in love with from nowhere.

I wish Hinny had a better story...they have a lot of potential