CHARACTER ANALYSIES
CHARACTER ANALYSIES
Okay, this is the little spot is where I analyze characters from the Harry Potter series. If you wonder where I get the questions, they are from http://forums.fictionalley.org/park/. I answer these questions in order to analyze the character. If you don't like it YOUR PROBLEM, NOT MINE! This week's topic?
Luna Lovegood
Luna is a very interesting character. Most people say she is one of the best characters of the series (or at least the people I’ve met). She has amazing qualities of friendship, bravery, and education. In this sense, you can see where it is hard to find her flaws. We all know that an author like J.K. Rowling wouldn’t make a flawless character. So let’s think hard, and find the flaws within the amazing. Luna seems to be very gullible. She believes everything written in a magazine called The Quibbler, which is pretty normal, considering her father is the editor. Although many see her beliefs as a reason to laugh, we can tell this is a flaw. Take it this way-if you believed everything written in a magazine, wouldn’t people find you gullible? Another flaw is that honesty quality. She just says everything flat-out, not worrying about offending anyone (“I’ll be glad if Hagrid was sacked, we think of him as a bit of a joke in Ravenclaw”). She could anger people extremely easy just by this quality. However, this honesty quality could be good in some situations. I can’t find any more flaws with her, but I’m sure there’s something. Maybe one would be she doesn’t care what others think? That can be good and bad. She looses popularity (the good kind, if she wasn’t so gullible then she would have many good, kind friends) when she just doesn’t care.
Has Luna changed during the three books we have followed her? How?
While people say that there has been no change in her personality, I say there has been. I think she has become more accustomed to having friends and spending time with them. She no longer laughs crazily when something funny happens (which is a plus, because my Luna’s personality does not fit that at all), she is not just comic relief anymore (she has branched out to a true ally of Harry), and she seems to be more knowledgeable, and it has nothing to do with school. Luna has definitely changed as a character?
Does Luna study very much? What are her grades like?
While many think she got sorted into Ravenclaw because of school smarts, I say different. I think she may have a natural gift for remembering things she wants to remember, and forgetting things she has little interest in (kind of like me). Her grades in classes where you have to memorize things (History of Magic, for instance) will give her trouble if she has this mindset. I also think that practical, perfectly following directions subjects might be difficult for her. Potions is one of these subjects. Overall, I think that Luna gets As and Es. She might get an O in D.A.D.A. in 5th-7th year, but I’m not sure about before that. Her best subject would possibly be Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, and Herbology because of the “no right answer” rule in Divination, and her love of nature in Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology.
Is Luna a good student?
This is a difficult question, because it is so broad. Luna is an excellent student in the subjects that her knowledge and personality excel in. I think that Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, (possibly) Charms, and (after OotP, as I said I doubt that she would excel in it before then) Defense Against the Dark Arts. Transfiguration is a possibility for one of her good subjects, but it’s very practical, and you must do it perfectly if you don’t want something to go wrong. History of Magic, Potions, and Astronomy are most likely her worst subjects, considering they are very practical, and getting things wrong in these subjects is either hazardous or incorrect.
What are Luna’s favorite classes?
After OotP, Defense Against the Dark Arts has probably become one of her favorite and top subjects. Charms has probably come higher with this, although I think she would like Charms in the first place, with its light tone and very laid-back spell casting. Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology are very nature-centric, and she is a nature lover, giving these a high place in her mind. Divination is also one of her favorites because she has no right answer. I’m not sure that she has the Sight, but I think it’s quite possible that she’s good at reading dreams or tea leaves.
How would a first-year perceive Luna?A first-year would either be extremely confused, or extremely scared. I doubt that any first-year could get past the odd exterior. Although I think a first-year would love the inside Luna, it’s debatable whether an 11-year-old would be the judgmental type.
What’s Luna’s Opinion of Hermione?I think that the number one influence is her father. She believes everything written in The Quibbler as he does (except I think she doubted The Quibbler in DH, with all the “Undesirable No. 1” nonsense). Her mother must have been a major influence when she was alive, and still is today, as she probably recalls things that she said and uses them in her life today. Her friends come third, as I can see her taking a little bit off initiative to become braver.
Did Luna have any friends before she started Hogwarts?No, I doubt that highly. It’s obvious that she didn’t meet the Weasleys until school, as Ron did not recognize her in OotP, and I also doubt that the Lovegoods would take a visit to the Diggory’s (mentioned in GoF that they live nearby). So friends, I doubt. Her parents were probably her best friends.
Does she spend time with anyone at Hogwarts, or has she been all alone until OotP?No matter how crazy Luna is made out to be, I doubt that she has been alone without friends for her first 4 years at Hogwarts. I have been reading, and some people think that she may have hung around Moaning Myrtle. Another guess I can make is that she may have taken advice from the Grey Lady. I can see Luna in her first year, trying desperately to fit in, but the Grey Lady gives her the knowledge that she really needs (“I’ve seen generations of Ravenclaws go through this school, but I’ve recognized one thing through all of them: they all want to fit in. Ms. Lovegood, if you want to make your mark on this school, do what you should do-be yourself.” (I apologize if that sucks, I made it up on the spot)). Another candidate for friends before OotP is Ginny Weasley. I mentioned earlier that she didn’t meet the Weasleys until Hogwarts, but she definitely recognized Luna on the train in OotP. I think that Ginny met Luna in her second year, because all of Ginny’s first year was messed up by possession from Voldemort. Other than that, I can only see extremely kind Ravenclaws being Luna’s friends before OotP. Ravenclaws seem to be the judgmental type on the whole, and I doubt that many of them could get past her image in her later years of Hogwarts.
How did Luna become aware of people calling her “Loony Lovegood?”And how many bullies keep there unkind comments to themselves? Honestly, I think she heard it in passing.
Does what people call her ever get her down? How would she react? How long would it take for her to regain her confidence?Okay, this goes back to my picture of Luna, the one who was desperate to fit in at first. In the beginning of her second year, she started to agree with her dad on things, so she began to wear radish (gurdyroot, as we find out in DH) earrings and her mother’s cork necklace (I think this is her mother’s because of a fanfic I read, which was fantastic). People looked at her like she was crazy, because her image changed so much. Then some Slytherin or extremely annoying Ravenclaw came up with the nickname “Loony Lovegood” and it just spread like wildfire. And then she felt horrible. Maybe she even had thoughts of going back to her normal social image. But my thoughts just go to show you that Luna sticks to what she thinks. I think at first it put her down, but then she learned to ignore it. I think her reaction is quite clear to the first paragraph of this answer: she felt horrible, like she wanted to cry. For her to regain her confidence? In the beginning, possibly weeks. Weeks of tears, advice, and remembrance. After this, she probably remembered why she was doing this, and then came around. Now, she just doesn’t let it bother her. I can see her philosophy with this: “If I were to worry about what people thought of me all the time, where would the time be for others?” It’s the Hufflepuff coming out in her!
Has she ever thought of trying to fit in? Why/why not?Why radishes? Are they actual Radishes?
A. They aren’t radishes. They’re gurdyroots.
B. Of course they’re real gurdyroots! They keep away the Nargles!
What is her favorite pastime?This is easy! I think her favorite pastime is painting or searching for Lunanimals. She painted that whole mural of her friends on the ceiling just because she wanted a picture of her friends when she’s away. She’d obviously love searching for Lunanimals because she’s a die-hard Quibbler lover.
How come Luna doesn't have a pet (that we know about) if she likes creatures so much?
Even though we love Luna, she’s not the central character. It’s possible that she has a pet at Hogwarts, but since we don’t see her in her common room or on weekends that often, it’s possible that she has a pet that no one knows about.Absolutely not. It seems like the most plausible thing to do for her, considering it is her love in her Hogwarts years, but I think Luna is a wanderer, and that she will want to be everywhere but cooped up in an office, typing up articles. If I can see her typing up articles anywhere, it’s in a tent in the middle of a forest at nighttime, where she’s writing by candlelight. So she’d hand the place of “Editor” to one of the dedicated workers, while she continues to submit articles from far-off places.
If she doesn't take over The Quibbler, what career paths do you think Luna would be interested in?Well, J.K. already said that Luna is a naturalist, but I just can’t see that as her full-time job. I think she does help with The Quibbler all the time, submitting articles from her far-off journeys in Sweden or wherever else she goes. It says on Wikipedia that she proved that many of the articles mentioned in The Quibbler are real, so articles proving these would be essential to the magazine’s sales. As I have mentioned before, I think that she will not take over The Quibbler because I see Luna as a wanderer, and would love to be all over the place, and not cooped up at home, typing up a story for it.
What was her first article as a naturalist about?Well, I’d have to say that her first article as a naturalist would be something about Nargles. I find them to be the most plausible Lunanimal of the series. How hard is it to imagine miniature, white pixies hanging out in mistletoe? It’s like they’re bugs.
What's your favorite Luna-centric scene in canon? Your least favorite?My least favorite scene is the one where Ron starts talking about how he’s going to get Goyle for something, and making him write lines. Although his comment is funny, I cannot picture Luna with the shrieking laughter. I always thought of Luna as extremely calm, not hyper and laughing stupidly. It depicts her as a dumb character, and I hate it.
When reading about Luna, do you picture Evanna Lynch in your head, or your own version of the character?I have to admit, I always had trouble picturing Luna, so Evanna gave me some relief. So that’s how I picture her now. I do get flashes on occasion on what she would look like if Evanna hadn’t convinced me, but I’m set on her. I do picture Evanna exactly with different radish earrings, a better cork necklace, and bigger eyes.
When did you start shipping Luna, and with which character? Have your shipping preferences changed since then?I can tell you the exact date I started ‘shipping Luna: 7/20/07. It was the midnight opening of the book, and I didn’t get it then, I got it later around 3. But anyway, my friend and I were discussing what should happen in book 7, and she told me Neville and Luna would be cute together. I agreed, and now I’m obsessed for life. I later found Nevilleandluna.com, and I discovered other ‘ships like Dean/Luna and Colin/Luna. Personally, I prefer Colin/Luna to Dean/Luna, but either would be fine. What really gets me is Rolf/Luna, Harry/Luna, and Ron/Luna. Harry and Ron because I’m canon addicted with them, and Rolf/Luna because of my Neville/Luna addiction. My ‘shipping preferences have not changed, and they are not planning on changing.
What are your top 5 (or top 10) Luna-centric ships?1. Neville/Luna
2. Colin/LunaI’m really not a Luna ‘shipper otherwise.
Do you prefer Luna/Dean, Luna/Neville or Luna/Rolf?Did you hear the news? I’m addicted to Neville/Luna! I like Neville/Luna because Neville is very opposite to Luna. Luna always stands firmly on her beliefs. Neville is shifty on some things, but is incredibly loyal to others. Luna is outcasted by many, but doesn’t really care. Neville is outcasted and is getting anger built up inside him. Luna excels in school (from what we can tell). Neville isn’t doing so fabulously. They’re excellent friends, both from the D.A., and battled together on several occasions. The others are pretty shifty.
Now that it has been several months, what is your opinion on the Luna/Rolf relationship?
I’ve created many fantasies to avoid it. The first sentence is kind of true. I don’t really like the pairing, because we never even meet Rolf, and we don’t know what he’s like. My fantasy is that Luna marries Rolf, they have two kids, they get divorced, and Luna goes off with Neville into the sunset. Happy ending for me! *claps* But I guess since it didn’t say anything about it in the epilogue, I have free reign to ‘ship what I like with Luna and not get teased for my un-canon-ness. How fun would it be if every single person ‘shipped only canon?
How would Luna respond to the following:
1 - "Does anything material actually exist, or is what I see an illusion?"
2 - "Do those things I see only exist because they are observed, or do they exist independent of any observer?"
3 - "How did the universe come into existence?"
4 - "How do I know that I exist?"
5 - "What if this is all a dream?"
1. If anything material didn’t exist, wouldn’t you be falling several flights of stairs right now? 2. If you are the only one seeing what you are seeing, then how come everyone sees apples as red?
3.Daddy’s been reading up on science, and he heard something about this Big Bang theory that he liked.
4. Your existence is true once you realize you are looking through your own eyes.5. Who could dream up such a corrupted world?
We know from the books that Luna's Patronus is the hare. What happy thought comes to her mind when she casts the spell?Her friends are heavily valued, and that’s why she’d see them. However, Ron and Hermione once giving Harry the ability to make a Patronus is completely different from Luna’s reason. Luna grew up away from other people from what we can tell. She also acts and dresses fairly strange, resulting in people avoiding her. Her value of friendship would bring so much happiness to her it could be as much or just a tiny less than the memory of her mother.
What form does a boggart take when Luna sees one, and what does Luna do to turn her fear into laughter?I’m not positive, but Luna’s fear would possibly be herself in the beginning of her second year according to my theory. She was getting herself accustomed to standing out, and was possibly afraid. The taunts of Loony Lovegood when she still cared constantly. The image of reliving that would be horrible. Another possibility would be reliving the moment when her mother died. I think that was one of the only times she actually freaked out, felt scared and angry. The bringing back of her mother dying would probably scare her. Or sadden her. But since in OotP she can talk about it without even looking extraordinarily sad, I think that this can be shot down. A third possibility would be a dementor. Since it’s so smart to fear dementors, because they are fear, I can see Luna fearing them the most. However, in DH, she fights off dementors without a look of extreme fear in her, so I think that this can be shot down as well. A fourth fear would be facts. Yes, it sounds stupid, but facts are something she normally doesn’t take into account. However, I don’t think she’d run out of a History of Magic classroom screaming because of all the facts, so this one is easily shot down. As for getting rid of the fear and turning to laughter, possibly Ron repeating the comment about Goyle. She started laughing extremely hard when he said that, so that would fend off the boggart quite nicely.
Did you like Luna immediately, or did she grow on you?My Luna-like grew for the longest time. I loved the book, but I suppose the first time I read it, Luna wasn’t my favorite character. Luna just seemed a little too strange. I read it for the first time in 4th grade, when I was trying so desperately hard to fit in. Luna just didn’t make any sense to me then. So she grew on me the next year when I was trying to stand out. Luna has been my favorite character for two concecutive years now.
Why is Luna so well liked when we still know so very little about her?Do you think that Rowling intended to include Luna in the series all along, or do you think she was created during the mid-GoF rewrite where JKR changed part of the 'grand plan'? If you think she was planned from the beginning, why do you think JKR waited until OotP to introduce her?
There was a GoF rewrite? Well, I know she was mentioned in GoF as a background character (“…and the Lovegoods have been there for a week.”) so she could have just been branched off of that little mention. How many characters are planned completely from the beginning, knowing their every move, mindset, and relationship with Harry?Personally, I think that Luna was thought up on the train where J.K. first got the idea for the books, she forgot about it, and then remembered that thought and brought it back from OotP.
