Discussion of the Week - Neville

Starter notes: This week's discussion topic was suggested by gothprincess. Thank you, gothprincess! A special thank-you to sugarbun who put up a poll to vote for the Discussion of the Week--it helped me in seeing the clear winner, and thus putting the discussion on that. Remember, I could always do with some more suggestions, so please type in any suggestions you have into the topic I made for that purposes, or through PM. It will be greatly appreciated.

Discussion of the Week - Neville Longbottom.

Neville Longbottom, according to the HP-Lexicon:

NAME MEANINGS
Birth name: Neville Longbottom.
First name meaning: Neville="new town, land, or farmland;" it also has nerdy associations.
Last name meaning: Longbottom=a comical name, but could also indicate someone with "bottom," an old word for staying power. In Tolkien's LOTR, 'Longbottom leaf' is a type of fine tobacco. See also dictionary entry for "bottom" in Bartleby.
Birthdate: July 30, 1980 (JKR).
Additional info: Parents tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange and other Death Eaters who were trying to find out where Voldemort was (GF30); according to Dumbledore the Longbottoms were very popular (GF30).

FAMILY
Ancestry: Pure Blood.
Mother: Alice Longbottom, former Auror, now at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
Father: Frank Longbottom, former Auror, now at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
Grandparents: Augusta Longbottom (but Neville calls his grandmother "Gran"). His Grandfather is deceased. Neville saw him die, but we don't know how this happened (OP21).
Aunts, Uncles: Great uncle Algie, Great auntie Enid.
Cousins: ?
Siblings: None.
Childhood: Raised by grandmother after parents driven insane (OP23).
Location of childhood home: SEE essay "Where are the Longbottoms from?"
Pet: Toad named Trevor. In the first book, Trevor keeps escaping; first on the train (he is found by Hagrid after the boat ride to Hogwarts) (PS6), and again at the end of the book when he jumps out of the way of Hermione's Petrification Curse and isn't found until days later when Neville is about to leave, "lurking in a corner of the toilets" (PS17). No additional escapes have been mentioned in books 2-6. Trevor was a gift from Neville's Great Uncle Algie in recognition of the first time Neville showed magical talent (PS7).

APPEARANCE
Eye color: Unknown.
Hair color: Unknown.
From the books: "A round-faced boy" (PS6).
From the website: Rowling's own drawing of the five Gryffindor students ("Chapter 7, Draco's Duel") shows Neville as the shortest and chubbiest of the group. His hair appears to be a light brown and he wears PJs with teddy bears on them.

HOGWARTS
First year: 1991.
House: Gryffindor.
OWL results: "Acceptable" in Transfiguration (HBP7), "Outstanding" in Herbology, "Exceeds Expectations" in Defense Against the Dark Arts, "Exceeds Expectations" in Charms.

SKILLS, ETC.
Wands: Initially uses his father's wand, but it breaks during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. New wand is cherry and unicorn hair, possibly the last wand Mr. Ollivander sold before he disappeared (HBP7).
Other devices: Remembrall, Mimbulus mimbletonia (plant, OP10).
Organizations & affiliations: Dumbledore's Army.
Skills: Initially his family worried that he might be a Squib; Herbology; growing prowess in defensive curses (OP21); can see Thestrels (OP21).
Worst fear/memory: ?
Boggart: Severus Snape.
Prophecies: The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches ...
Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ...
And the dark lord will mark him as equal, but he will have power the dark lord knows not ... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. (OP37) According to Dumbledore, this prophecy might have referred to Neville until Voldemort "marked" Harry.

In-depth Profile of Neville Longbottom
Neville is the son of Frank and Alice Longbottom, famous and well-liked Aurors, born in 1980. He attends Hogwarts. For some years, it was wondered if he might be a Squib, but fortunately this wasn't the case.

Neville is rather forgetful and often has trouble performing magic. He is, however, particularly adept at herbology. Neville has a round face and seems to be slightly overweight. Neville does not fit the typical Gryffindor image of being brave and courageous. However, Neville has his own kind of bravery, once standing up to other Gryffindors when he knew he was right, another time attacking Crabbe and Goyle even though he knew he would be beaten up. His fellow Gryffindors treat him with respect and defend him at times; Hermione Granger in particular helps him out when necessary.

Snape picks on Neville mercilessly and it is a mark of his inner courage that he doggedly keeps attending those classes in spite of the abuse.

His pet is a toad named Trevor who tends to get lost a lot. Neville snores (GF14).

Neville joins Dumbledore's Army during the 1995-96 school year. He learns a lot of Defense Against the Dark Arts spells and takes part in the running battle in the Department of Mysteries in June of 1996 against a band of Death Eaters. Neville was wounded in that battle and was the only other student left standing besides Harry (OP).

Initially Neville used his father's wand (PS-OP) until it was broken during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. New wand: cherry and unicorn hair, possibly the last wand Mr. Ollivander sold before he disappeared (HBP7).

MYSTERIES
?How did Neville's Grandfather die? Has Neville seen anyone else die? (OP)
How did Uncle Algie bring the Mimbulus plant from Assyria, a civilization that flourished a couple thousand years ago?
?What was Alice Longbottom's birth name? What wizarding family does she come from?
?Why does Snape pick on Neville so much?
?What's up with Trevor?

NEVILLE in the FILMS
Neville is played by Matthew Lewis.

Selected quotes from 2005 Mugglenet chat with Matthew Lewis:

"I think it's amazing that the character of Neville has really shaken off his klutz image (to an extent.) It very good to see him finally being a help as oppose to making things worse, I'm looking forward to the 5th film, it will be interesting to almost play a different character."

How he first read the books: "My friend lent me the first book and I was hooked, I had read the first 4 before my audition and never ever thought I would be in the film. Knowing that one was to be made was good enough for me. I didn't care what character I played I just wanted to be a part of it."

*

I think it would be apt to try and answer the Mysteries about Neville that were stated in the article. They are:

?How did Neville's Grandfather die? Has Neville seen anyone else die? (OP)
How did Uncle Algie bring the Mimbulus plant from Assyria, a civilization that flourished a couple thousand years ago?
?What was Alice Longbottom's birth name? What wizarding family does she come from?
?Why does Snape pick on Neville so much?
?What's up with Trevor?

My additions:

Will Neville be important in the future? If so, how?

Now that Neville has a different wand (that is actually HIS wand and not his dad's), will he be able to perform more powerful magic?

Remember, anything on Neville goes, so post away.

YAAAAYYYY! NEVILLE!!!
😆

rashmi, since u asked about neville being able to preform more powerfull magic, i think its possible. maybe neville just needed his own wand, a wand that is made just for him. just lyk how harry's wand was meant to be for him. this may help him bring out his strengths in magic.


i also have a feeling that his love for herbology is going to come into play somehow in the future. maybe he will be apart of somethin very big with the trio, lyk how he has been in the last 2 books.

Woohoo!! Go Neville!!! Lolz.. 😆

Anyways, back to the topic.. I do think Neville will have a very important role in the seventh book.. He might come out powerful than he is shown in the previous books.. His new wand will definitely make him stronger, and like Jyoti mentioned, his abilities in Herbology might do him some good in the future as well..

A question that I'm asking since the fifth book is why did JKR mention Neville as being another person who could be in Harry's place.. Of all the person, she chose Neville, but why him?? And, as an answer to this, I only had one thing I could come up with. It will definitely sound wacko, but bear with me here:
What if Neville is actually the one who actually ends up killing Voldemort? It might be that in the last book, Harry might find out that instead of a last Horcrux being something of Ravenclaw's or Gryffindor's, it is his scar.. This will cause him to kill himself so to finish off all of Voldy's horcruxes.. And, it sort of, in a freaky way, makes sense, since JKR has already said that Harry is gonna die in the last book, and instead of having Voldy kill him and make it look like he lost, so she makes Harry kills himself for the sake of finishing off Voldemort, which'll look more heroic (kind of, I think).. So, it might be that Harry kills himself first, and before he kills himself he think of the prophecy and asks Neville to kill of Voldy after Harry is dead, so that Neville ends up killing Voldy.. But, I don't think JKR would do something like this.. If she is to kill Harry she has to let him die as a hero who killed Voldy.. But, is this prediction of mine possible? What do u guys think? 😊

Question from Kelly
In the books, Neville is described continually as the "most forgetful boy" Harry's ever known--it comes up almost as often as the statement about Harry's mother's eyes. Other people in the books who are described as chronically forgetful (Bertha Jorkins for one) have been subjected to powerful memory charms. Do you think this is the case with Neville's past--possibly administered to forget the torture of his parents?

Matthew
Very interesting theory. I have thought about this myself after reading a book that was given to me by Mugglenet (thanks again btw). It mentioned this theory and it seemed quite plausible. It would make sense, his forgetfulness does fit as one of the symptoms of a memory charm, but I guess we will all have to wait and see, but it has definitely made me curious and I look foward to finding out in book 7

hey evry1...
was just readin the chat transcript at mugglenet...
found tht intresting... wht do u guys think about it??

Hey cool discussion toic! Neville! 😃

I have got a fanfiction on Neville, which I think you all should definitely read. I liked reading it!

Neville Longbottom

Cheers! 😃

Neville...... Hmmmmmm interesting specimen 🤔

Has any1 noticed though how his importance has increased over the years as the books have progressed. this is why I state this.

In book PS/SS he was just another guy with a moron kinda attitude.

In CoS then again he didn't have any signigicant holding in the plot.....

In PoA THATZ when the real twist starts..... we start to discover his talents at herbology.

In GoF the importance starts to increase and he helps harry out in the second task by showing him the use of Gillyweed.

In OotP he becomes part of the D.A. His magical powers seem to be increasing. He can now perform more difficult charms and spells. And we come to know in the end that the prophecy might have applied to Neville too... that was the big one......

Again in HBP he's there when the Order is fighting the D.E.s in the end.

so you see I still see a lot of scope of depth for Neville's charecter in Book 7.

One more point though... as the prophecy applied (at one point though) to both Harry n Neville, he may have sum part to play in the end....

In one of my earlier posts I had posted the transcript of an editorial I read on MN regarding snape n the prophecy....here.

Now what if in the so called FINAL BATTLE, harry needs help.... then he could be helped in refrence to the editorial and the above theory by both Snape n Neville....

what say......

give me your suggestions.

regards,

tejas

Originally posted by: albusdumbledore

In GoF the importance starts to increase and he helps harry out in the second task by showing him the use of Gillyweed.

what say......

give me your suggestions.

regards,

tejas

thts only in the muvee...
in the books dobby gives harry the gillyweed not neville...

one more reason why i didnt like HP4---no dobby

back to neville...

Originally posted by: alia

thts only in the muvee...
in the books dobby gives harry the gillyweed not neville...

one more reason why i didnt like HP4---no dobby

back to neville...

yeah I guess I goofed on that one..... didn't mom say too much of movies will get your brain.... should've listened to her.😉😆

regards,

tejas