Who is Luna Lovegood? She is a dreamer. She is a motherless child. She is a Ravenclaw. She is a fourth year. She is blonde. She is, of course, a character in the Harry Potter series, but what real purpose does she serve? For a very long time I have wondered what her purpose was. At first she seemed to be nothing more than comic relief, but then I got to the end of Order of Phoenix and we learn a little more about Ms. Lovegood; she is motherless child who is picked on and is alone in the world. Then it hit me to figure out the importance of Luna Lovegood just look at the other people around her - her classmates.
From the first time we meet her she is an individual:
The girl beside the window looked up. She had straggly, waist length, dirty blonde hair, very pale eyebrows, and protuberant eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look. Harry knew at once why Neville had chosen to pass this compartment by. The girl gave off an aura of dottiness. Perhaps it was the fact that she had stuck her wand behind her left ear for safekeeping, or that she had chosen to wear a necklace of butterbeer caps or that she was reading a magazine upside down.
She dares to be an individual. Clearly, Harry - who has gone to Hogwarts for fours years then - has never seen anyone like Luna.
All of her classmates are really the most unimaginative kids to ever live. Hermione is too busy studying and working on SPEW to really have anytime for fun and fancy. Also, when she meets Luna, she dismisses some of her more abstract ideas. Ron is also too busy, although not with his studies. He is constantly worrying about what other people think of him, how he compares to his brothers, and the fact that he is poor. So we come to our star, Mr. H. Potter - Number Four Privet Drive, Little Whining, Surrey. He is too busy with threats of death, the looming fear of celebrity, his naivety in lessons and of course the deep hole that being an unloved orphan can create. Not only is the trio unimaginative, dull seems to be an epidemic at Hogwarts. Draco Malfoy is an idiot. Worse then that, he is unimaginative; he refuses to leave his own secular world that revolves around parentage.
Yes, I know what you are all thinking; I have finished my Occulmency classes with Snape. Fred and George are the most imaginative students of all time. I would have to disagree. Whilst they are imaginative, they know not to go too far or everyone would call them weird. They can be defined as Class Clowns. Everyone seems to fit in one very dull category except Ms. Lovegood. She is her own person and dares to be someone else. Are you still wondering what her purpose is? Her purpose is to show Harry that being an individual is not so bad. That craving acceptance is detrimental to your health. In the first, second, fourth and fifth book Harry is socially ostracized from the rest of the school, and while he is he craves their acceptance. I don't think this will be a factor in books six and seven.
They looked at each other. Luna was smiling slightly. Harry did not know what to say, or to think. Luna believed so many extraordinary things
Her purpose is to take this fear away from Harry. Once this fear is gone, he can do whatever he likes - well, maybe not whatever, but a bit more. I think that once he gets over the fear of what society thinks of him, he will be able to do a number of things:
Tell his friends about the Prophecy:
Once he gets over the fear that they may hate him, he will be able to disclose to them the fine points of the Prophecy. We know that he tells them because J.K. said so on her site - and I would hope we can trust her.
Finally get everything off his chest:
I think that Harry may once again be facing some odd looks in his sixth year at Hogwarts. The fact that he stormed in to the Ministry of Magic with five other students to save the criminal Sirius Black and saw He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named will not be a secret. I can almost smell another addition of The Quibbler.
Confront Voldemort:
With the above two done, I think nothing will stop him from preparing for the battle against Voldemort. He will be preparing when the worst once again happens.
Are you going to kill to kill anymore characters?
Yes. Sorry.
JK Rowling answered that question rather quickly and rather simply on her site. Another death will occur, and I think we can guess that it will happen in HBP. This death will run him right to Voldemort when the final confrontation will occur.
The last thing that tells us that Luna is important is:
Who is your favorite character?
I love: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Ginny, Fred,George and Lupin. I love writing (though would not necessarily want to meet) Snape. My favourite new character is Luna Lovegood.
If you think for one second that Jo is going to get rid of her favorite new character, then I think you are crazy. Luna is here to stay. So if you are ever feeling overwhelmed, just DWLWD - Do What Luna Would Do. |
User reviews
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| Antares |
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| 2006.01.13 |
mostly I agree... the only thing I would like to add is that the importance...
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| EMMAWATSONROCKS |
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| 2005.09.26 |
This piece of work is fanastic! It totally captures all that Luna is about....
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| Eesha |
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| 2005.08.07 |
Fantastic editorial! I am sure that yours is the best editorial here! The p...
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| Maggie |
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| 2005.07.12 |
This is one of my favorite editorials I ahve ever read! One of my favorite ...
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| Fantasy Lvr |
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| 2005.06.22 |
Just two things to say and then I gotta go:
One: You made some excellen...
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| Adrienne |
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| 2005.06.05 |
Amazing! You are right!!!!!!! I can't believe I didn't see it before. I to...
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| baz |
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| 2005.04.03 |
LOVE LUNA!! And I myself have been referred to as the one who scare the sca...
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| Hermione |
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| 2005.03.22 |
Nice! I love Luna too. She's the one character whom I relate to the most,...
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| Jason |
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| 2005.01.26 |
The great thing about the characters in Harry Potter is that people can rel...
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| Long Live the Weasel King! |
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| 2005.01.23 |
I agree with you that all of the characters fill their niche within the sto...
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| Michele |
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| 2005.01.23 |
I liked your article, I just wish you had made it a little longer and inclu...
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| Kelsey |
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| 2005.01.22 |
I like this and agree with it but if she is not going to kill off luna just...
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