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Random Ruminations on Ron Weasley
Um, Ron’s been on my mind a lot lately. Because of my mad love for Rupert and how he pops up on my dashboard every five minutes and also because I’ve been reading loads of fic and watching DH1 over and over. And I’m basically exploding with love for the boy. I don’t even know. I have all these ~feelings~ about him and they aren’t organized or deep and there probably isn’t anything there other people haven’t seen and said a thousand times, but I thought I’d share them for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ohwaluvusbab and redsilverchains and mollivanders, who love him, too. RON STAN FOR LIFE.
Also, this is all out of my head because the last time I read the books? Was when they came out. So it's possible I got some canon confused here? Just as a caveat.
· As much as I am absolutely thrilled that my boy survived to marry Hermione and have, as Emma Watson likes to say, “those beautiful redheaded babies” (OMG I LOVE THAT GIRL SUCH A SHIPPER), I think it would have been beyond fitting if he’d died to save Harry in some way. Like, that would have been the natural extension of his character I think. I just saw someone call him “a big ball of loyalty and freckles” and it made me flailflailflail because YES.
· The more I think about how many awesome Ron moments were STOLEN from him by the ridiculous movie makers and given (usually) to Hermione, who is plenty awesome enough on her own and doesn’t need Ron’s characterization to help her, THE ANGRIER I GET. HULKSMASH. STAB STAB STAB. This is the boy who stood up on a broken leg and told ~infamous murderer~ Sirius Black that he would have to kill him to get to Harry. This is the boy who went completely mental when Hermione was being tortured and screamed and screamed for her. Favorite moments. Not in the movies. Kloves, I am not happy with you.
· Is Ron the only other character in the books besides Harry with an actual arc? I sometimes think so.
· Perfectness: Ron being the one most affected by the Horcrux. This is a boy who is made up of insecurities. Harry, poor boy, never once doubts that he is ~important~ and honestly that’s part of his burden. But Ron’s is different. Ron always sees himself as the youngest Weasley boy, as Harry Potter’s best friend, as someone who’s not particularly good at anything except chess and that only counted the once (“I’ll be a knight.” OH MY BOY YES YOU WILL ALWAYS). He always thinks he’s overshadowed and no one particularly important. He mostly sees himself in relationships to other people (which is usually a female trait, interestingly enough). His view of himself is completely at odds with who he really is: funny and smart and loyal and a really damn good friend. And yet he doesn’t possess any particularly shining skills (like Harry, who is good at SO MANY THINGS so very young—uh, Quidditch in 1st Year? And Hermione’s brains, of course) and so he’s never going to see himself as special. There’s this fascinating tension between the way he seems himself (as nothing special) and what his actions prove (he’s in the thick of danger, right there alongside Harry since day one, and he could walk away at any time, and it doesn’t even occur to him to do so until the Horcrux, which, more about that anon). He doesn’t see that he’s funny like the twins but knows how to be serious or that he might not be as smart as Bill or Percy but that what smarts he does have are focused on things that are so much more important than anything that they could do. That tension is where he lives and where his arc is and why he’s the second most well-drawn character in the books (we don’t get inside Hermione’s head nearly enough, which is a shame).
· And I think he’s aware of his feelings for Hermione for a lot longer than he let on. But his thought process is, “She’s so brilliant, and she’ll never see me like that. Why would she when I’m standing next to Harry? Or to one of my brothers? Or anyone at all.”
· Slughorn’s special little club seems designed to play on his insecurities. I almost feel like that plotline is there more for Ron than for Harry. Because that man collects talented, special people. And he collects Harry and Hermione and even Ginny. But he can’t remember Ron’s name. What does that say to him? POOR BOY. *huggles him*
· So it also makes perfect sense that when Lavender starts pursuing him, he gives in. Ginny’s comment about Hermione snogging Krum was just confirmation for him that he’s never going to be a star Quidditch player like Krum. He’s not special. Hermione won’t give him the time of day. And yet here’s this girl and she’s pretty and she wants him. And he’s, what? Sixteen years old? Yeah, that goes to his head. Perfectly in character.
· Also perfectly in character that he starts to want out pretty quickly and yet can’t seem to break up with her. He’s not a bad guy at all, and the physical isn’t enough to keep him invested. But who isn’t terrified of rejecting someone? I know I would be.
· But back to the Horcrux. Harry knows he has to keep going on. His mission is always going to be important. He can’t walk away from it because he’s literally the only one who can stop Voldemort and also the Death Eaters are always going to be pursuing him. And Hermione, I think, knows perfectly well that the boys would be at sea without her (seriously, I giggled helplessly in the movie when Ron said that they wouldn’t last two days without Hermione because seriously, they wouldn’t last two minutes. The books should have been about her. All I’m saying. :D) and she has much less to lose—she’s taken care of her parents, who are as safe as they can possibly be, and she has the only two other really meaningful people in her life with her (she must have some other relationships besides Harry and Ron, but I sure don’t know what they are). But Ron. Insecurities. Plus, all that family he could lose. A family of very, very brave ultimate Gryffindors who aren’t going to be sitting on the sidelines. Between those two things, the Horcrux can claw its way inside him so easily because he’s so very raw. OH MY BOY.
· And so he reaches a breaking point. Despair. I’ve been there. Clinical depression definitely hits you with that sort of thing. Thankfully, I haven’t been there very long or often, but I’ve been there. [I could easily read the Horcrux as a sort of metaphor for clinical depression since it’s something that isn’t your fault and affects you profoundly and you have to carry it around and it manipulates your emotions no matter what your rational mind is telling you, etc. But no rabbit trails for me.] And he just wants a break from that despair just for one minute just one single minute, and so he takes it.
· And instantly regrets it.
· Not even five minutes later. Out of the influence of the Horcrux and with a moment to cool down (or…emerge from what had been drowning him, taking a deep breath), he instantly wants to go back. And can’t. OH MY HEART.
· The time he spends away from Harry and Hermione must be a sort of purgatory for him. It would confirm to him that he isn’t worth anything, if he’d leave his friends behind. I would give my right arm for a really, really well-written fic that explored what he was doing during that time, because I can’t even imagine his emotional state. His one moment of weakness and it seems to steal everything from him. It’s so, so significant to me that he doesn’t go back to the Burrow. He’s been worrying about his family, missing that emotional comfort of home and security, and yet when he has a chance to retreat back to that place, he doesn’t go there. He’s in a bit of a holding pattern while he’s waiting to get back to the place where he belongs.
· And the lights lead him. Dumbledore’s gift. Dumbledore and I have our ~issues~ but he did right by my boy. Perfect.
· AND THEN THERE’S THE HORCRUX DESTRUCTION SCENE. SERIOUSLY ONE OF MY FAVORITE SCENES IN ALL OF HARRY POTTER AND I CAN’T TALK ABOUT IT LIKE A RATIONAL PERSON I MUST MERELY FLAIL AT ITS PERFECT. Because it’s everything. It’s Rons’ entire arc RIGHT THERE. Every. Single. Insecurity that has plagued him for however long slaps him right in the face. His every fear about his unworthiness coming out to torture him.
· AND HE FIGHTS BACK. AND WINS. MY BOY.
· And then all that’s left is to fight the epic battle and get the girl, but honestly Ron’s battle is fought already. He’s hit his moment of truth. (Stupid JKR! NOT GIVING HERMIONE A SIMILAR ARC. Why is that girl so lacking in an arc when Harry and Ron’s are so great. NONSENSE.)
· Again, I think it would have made loads of sense for him to sacrifice himself for Harry. I think the reason that didn’t happen was that it’s a children’s series, more or less. Because that would have worked.
· The prologue is crap. We all know it. (THE NAMES. THE NAMES. HARRY POTTER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING AND WHY IS GINNY LETTING YOU?) Also crap: JKR’s thoughts about what happens to everybody after the books. Um, Neville and Luna, okay? Should have happened if Luna wasn’t with Harry. And Neville should be DADA professor at Hogwarts, the greatest there ever was. I refuse to believe that didn’t happen. And most importantly, Ron definitely doesn’t start working at the joke shop are you kidding me? Boy goes on to be an Auror. Of course he does. If it’s not in the books, Jo, it’s not canon and you should keep your mouth closed. I love you, but SERIOUSLY.
· But Hermione. Reason I ship it is that she sees him. That tension I mentioned up there isn’t existent for her. She sees who he really is, past all of his baggage. Harry does, too, but the boys are straight. But Trio shippers make total sense to me because they all just know each other so well and go together so well and I love the relationships between all three of them. But I ship Ron with Hermione. Part of her brilliance is that she can see Ron, even when he’s standing beside Harry. It’s not just their we-argue-because-we-can’t-admit-we’re-attracted-to-each-other relationship that makes me ship them. That’s never enough. There’s also a much deeper understanding there. And that core of being best friends. That’s a really good foundation for a relationship.
· Ways the movies failed, part 2: didn’t set up the romance enough. DH1 is lovely and for the most part does right by them, but it does sort of seem to come out of nowhere other than mutual jealousy in earlier movies. It needed more of a foundation. Maybe INCLUDING RON’S BEST SCENES could have helped this, I don’t know.
· And in closing, a quote from JKR: “Ron is the most immature of the three main characters, but in part seven he grows up. He was never strong footed, people see him mostly as Harry's friend; his mother had actually wanted a girl and in the last book he finally has to acknowledge his weaknesses. But it's exactly that which makes Ron a man.”
ohwaluvusbab and redsilverchains and mollivanders, who love him, too. RON STAN FOR LIFE. Also, this is all out of my head because the last time I read the books? Was when they came out. So it's possible I got some canon confused here? Just as a caveat.
· As much as I am absolutely thrilled that my boy survived to marry Hermione and have, as Emma Watson likes to say, “those beautiful redheaded babies” (OMG I LOVE THAT GIRL SUCH A SHIPPER), I think it would have been beyond fitting if he’d died to save Harry in some way. Like, that would have been the natural extension of his character I think. I just saw someone call him “a big ball of loyalty and freckles” and it made me flailflailflail because YES.
· The more I think about how many awesome Ron moments were STOLEN from him by the ridiculous movie makers and given (usually) to Hermione, who is plenty awesome enough on her own and doesn’t need Ron’s characterization to help her, THE ANGRIER I GET. HULKSMASH. STAB STAB STAB. This is the boy who stood up on a broken leg and told ~infamous murderer~ Sirius Black that he would have to kill him to get to Harry. This is the boy who went completely mental when Hermione was being tortured and screamed and screamed for her. Favorite moments. Not in the movies. Kloves, I am not happy with you.
· Is Ron the only other character in the books besides Harry with an actual arc? I sometimes think so.
· Perfectness: Ron being the one most affected by the Horcrux. This is a boy who is made up of insecurities. Harry, poor boy, never once doubts that he is ~important~ and honestly that’s part of his burden. But Ron’s is different. Ron always sees himself as the youngest Weasley boy, as Harry Potter’s best friend, as someone who’s not particularly good at anything except chess and that only counted the once (“I’ll be a knight.” OH MY BOY YES YOU WILL ALWAYS). He always thinks he’s overshadowed and no one particularly important. He mostly sees himself in relationships to other people (which is usually a female trait, interestingly enough). His view of himself is completely at odds with who he really is: funny and smart and loyal and a really damn good friend. And yet he doesn’t possess any particularly shining skills (like Harry, who is good at SO MANY THINGS so very young—uh, Quidditch in 1st Year? And Hermione’s brains, of course) and so he’s never going to see himself as special. There’s this fascinating tension between the way he seems himself (as nothing special) and what his actions prove (he’s in the thick of danger, right there alongside Harry since day one, and he could walk away at any time, and it doesn’t even occur to him to do so until the Horcrux, which, more about that anon). He doesn’t see that he’s funny like the twins but knows how to be serious or that he might not be as smart as Bill or Percy but that what smarts he does have are focused on things that are so much more important than anything that they could do. That tension is where he lives and where his arc is and why he’s the second most well-drawn character in the books (we don’t get inside Hermione’s head nearly enough, which is a shame).
· And I think he’s aware of his feelings for Hermione for a lot longer than he let on. But his thought process is, “She’s so brilliant, and she’ll never see me like that. Why would she when I’m standing next to Harry? Or to one of my brothers? Or anyone at all.”
· Slughorn’s special little club seems designed to play on his insecurities. I almost feel like that plotline is there more for Ron than for Harry. Because that man collects talented, special people. And he collects Harry and Hermione and even Ginny. But he can’t remember Ron’s name. What does that say to him? POOR BOY. *huggles him*
· So it also makes perfect sense that when Lavender starts pursuing him, he gives in. Ginny’s comment about Hermione snogging Krum was just confirmation for him that he’s never going to be a star Quidditch player like Krum. He’s not special. Hermione won’t give him the time of day. And yet here’s this girl and she’s pretty and she wants him. And he’s, what? Sixteen years old? Yeah, that goes to his head. Perfectly in character.
· Also perfectly in character that he starts to want out pretty quickly and yet can’t seem to break up with her. He’s not a bad guy at all, and the physical isn’t enough to keep him invested. But who isn’t terrified of rejecting someone? I know I would be.
· But back to the Horcrux. Harry knows he has to keep going on. His mission is always going to be important. He can’t walk away from it because he’s literally the only one who can stop Voldemort and also the Death Eaters are always going to be pursuing him. And Hermione, I think, knows perfectly well that the boys would be at sea without her (seriously, I giggled helplessly in the movie when Ron said that they wouldn’t last two days without Hermione because seriously, they wouldn’t last two minutes. The books should have been about her. All I’m saying. :D) and she has much less to lose—she’s taken care of her parents, who are as safe as they can possibly be, and she has the only two other really meaningful people in her life with her (she must have some other relationships besides Harry and Ron, but I sure don’t know what they are). But Ron. Insecurities. Plus, all that family he could lose. A family of very, very brave ultimate Gryffindors who aren’t going to be sitting on the sidelines. Between those two things, the Horcrux can claw its way inside him so easily because he’s so very raw. OH MY BOY.
· And so he reaches a breaking point. Despair. I’ve been there. Clinical depression definitely hits you with that sort of thing. Thankfully, I haven’t been there very long or often, but I’ve been there. [I could easily read the Horcrux as a sort of metaphor for clinical depression since it’s something that isn’t your fault and affects you profoundly and you have to carry it around and it manipulates your emotions no matter what your rational mind is telling you, etc. But no rabbit trails for me.] And he just wants a break from that despair just for one minute just one single minute, and so he takes it.
· And instantly regrets it.
· Not even five minutes later. Out of the influence of the Horcrux and with a moment to cool down (or…emerge from what had been drowning him, taking a deep breath), he instantly wants to go back. And can’t. OH MY HEART.
· The time he spends away from Harry and Hermione must be a sort of purgatory for him. It would confirm to him that he isn’t worth anything, if he’d leave his friends behind. I would give my right arm for a really, really well-written fic that explored what he was doing during that time, because I can’t even imagine his emotional state. His one moment of weakness and it seems to steal everything from him. It’s so, so significant to me that he doesn’t go back to the Burrow. He’s been worrying about his family, missing that emotional comfort of home and security, and yet when he has a chance to retreat back to that place, he doesn’t go there. He’s in a bit of a holding pattern while he’s waiting to get back to the place where he belongs.
· And the lights lead him. Dumbledore’s gift. Dumbledore and I have our ~issues~ but he did right by my boy. Perfect.
· AND THEN THERE’S THE HORCRUX DESTRUCTION SCENE. SERIOUSLY ONE OF MY FAVORITE SCENES IN ALL OF HARRY POTTER AND I CAN’T TALK ABOUT IT LIKE A RATIONAL PERSON I MUST MERELY FLAIL AT ITS PERFECT. Because it’s everything. It’s Rons’ entire arc RIGHT THERE. Every. Single. Insecurity that has plagued him for however long slaps him right in the face. His every fear about his unworthiness coming out to torture him.
· AND HE FIGHTS BACK. AND WINS. MY BOY.
· And then all that’s left is to fight the epic battle and get the girl, but honestly Ron’s battle is fought already. He’s hit his moment of truth. (Stupid JKR! NOT GIVING HERMIONE A SIMILAR ARC. Why is that girl so lacking in an arc when Harry and Ron’s are so great. NONSENSE.)
· Again, I think it would have made loads of sense for him to sacrifice himself for Harry. I think the reason that didn’t happen was that it’s a children’s series, more or less. Because that would have worked.
· The prologue is crap. We all know it. (THE NAMES. THE NAMES. HARRY POTTER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING AND WHY IS GINNY LETTING YOU?) Also crap: JKR’s thoughts about what happens to everybody after the books. Um, Neville and Luna, okay? Should have happened if Luna wasn’t with Harry. And Neville should be DADA professor at Hogwarts, the greatest there ever was. I refuse to believe that didn’t happen. And most importantly, Ron definitely doesn’t start working at the joke shop are you kidding me? Boy goes on to be an Auror. Of course he does. If it’s not in the books, Jo, it’s not canon and you should keep your mouth closed. I love you, but SERIOUSLY.
· But Hermione. Reason I ship it is that she sees him. That tension I mentioned up there isn’t existent for her. She sees who he really is, past all of his baggage. Harry does, too, but the boys are straight. But Trio shippers make total sense to me because they all just know each other so well and go together so well and I love the relationships between all three of them. But I ship Ron with Hermione. Part of her brilliance is that she can see Ron, even when he’s standing beside Harry. It’s not just their we-argue-because-we-can’t-admit-we’re-attracted-to-each-other relationship that makes me ship them. That’s never enough. There’s also a much deeper understanding there. And that core of being best friends. That’s a really good foundation for a relationship.
· Ways the movies failed, part 2: didn’t set up the romance enough. DH1 is lovely and for the most part does right by them, but it does sort of seem to come out of nowhere other than mutual jealousy in earlier movies. It needed more of a foundation. Maybe INCLUDING RON’S BEST SCENES could have helped this, I don’t know.
· And in closing, a quote from JKR: “Ron is the most immature of the three main characters, but in part seven he grows up. He was never strong footed, people see him mostly as Harry's friend; his mother had actually wanted a girl and in the last book he finally has to acknowledge his weaknesses. But it's exactly that which makes Ron a man.”