Why do people do this?

I find on average 99% off the trash on FFN has this shit. Including most of the big stories. By 'big' I mean most followed/favorited/reviewed, etc.

I just took a scroll through FFN's Harry Potter Fanfic Archive, scrolling by follows. Take a look at pretty much any story on there, at least two-thirds are trash with bashing in them. It's intense Ron hatred.

Take Harry Potter and the Rune Stone Path for example. The premise is Harry basically finds a book about runes from his mother who was oh-so-talented in the field (this goes against canon btw). There is never a mention of Lily and Runes together anywhere in the books (from what I can remember).

Ignoring the flimsy nature of the premise, it's basically another Indy!Harry fic, Ron bashing for no reason (in the second chapter!).

The bashing honestly enrages me the most because of what he's like in the books. Legit a stand-up friend. I can't count how many times he's risked his life for Harry. What has he done to deserve this rage against him?

One: Asked Harry why he put his name in the Goblet of Fire. Harry is the one who blew up at Ron, and their friendship basically split before Ron came to his senses after the first task.

Two: Bailing on Harry in the woods, for like a day. He was under the influence of the Horcrux's dark magic, their lives were at risk, his family's lives were at risk, and the Ministry had fallen. Immediately after leaving he regrets it.

I'm sorry for rambling but the bashing genuinely enrages me. If you ask me Ron is a friggin' badass in the books. Not for any OP magic powers, but for the general stand-up guy that he is.

Stands between a presumed mass murderer and his friends, Ron says, "You'll have to go through me first."

Journeys with Harry towards his worst fear, spiders.

Goes with him to basically confront Voldemort in the first book. They were eleven and had no combat experience whatsoever.

Goes with him into the Chamber of Secrets to confront the basilisk and the Heir of Slytherin. They were twelve. Again, no combat experience (aside from that one duel in Lockhart's club, but that doesn't count).

I think there's really no need to go on. Flat out why do people bash Ron? A genuinely stand-up person and stand-up friend. If there was a mass-murderer and I was standing between him and my friend I'd run away.

Just, why? Why do countless FFN writers hate Ron so much?

 

Most of them only watched the movies, where Ron is nowhere near as great as he is in the books. Or they mostly read fanfics, where Ron is a different character altogether.

 

Have to agree with you @Sorrows and @Redsayn

 

And by extension, you can take out your frustration with canon Harry on Ron, thus excusing Harry of his canon mediocrity by shifting blame.

 

That makes so much sense it's painful.

 

You know what else is painful?

In the four years I've been on this site I've seen this same exact fucking thread a dozen times. Shame on you.

Ron is not terrible, he is a human being with flaws, and some people just have a hard time realizing that.

 

Oops.

 

I've said it before but Ron is a decidedly ordinary boy in an extraordinary world. Harry may be mediocre when it comes to book smarts but he is also literally wizarding Jesus when it comes to self sacrifice. Hermione may be bookish, dull and a nag but she's also insanely smart, can just learn spells years ahead of schedule and is loyal in the way that old epics are made of.

Ron is brave, loyal and funny but he's also petty, jealous and filled with crippling self doubt. So yeh better than the average dude but not a storybook character like the other two.

It also doesn't help that his big moment of heroism, confronting his crippling fear of spiders by going into a forest filled with giant talking spiders for his friend, comes so early on in the series.

 

I agree with Taure and Sorrows (because fanfiction is about wish fulfillment for most readers), but Hymn's quote is the main reason I don't like Ron. He (and by extension the entire Weasley family) took a lot of the awe and wonder out of the books for me. With the absence of the Weasley family drama, the books could have focused more closely on the wonders of magic and all the quirky characters we encounter. What is Ron doing in a universe that contains Harry, Hermione, Luna, Tonks, MadEye, Dumbledore, Voldemort, Snape, Bellatrix, and a host of others? Is he a realistic character? Sure. Is he an interesting one in a world that contains magic? Not to me.

The whole series might well have been called 'Harry Potter and the Weasley Family.' I think a lot of people dislike that fact, and Ron just gets shat on because he's the easiest target.

One quibble with OP's description: Ron didn't bail on H and Hr in the woods 'for like a day.' Look at the timeline. We don't know exact dates for a lot of what happens between September and January, but even a generous estimate implies he was gone for at least two months. It could have been as long as four months, but it's more likely he was gone for all of November and December. (He returned after Christmas). He did regret leaving right away, but he was gone for a very long time.

 

It’s because he’s a red head and no one likes a ginger.

 

Because of the movies.

Please read carefully through this thread.

HP Fandom Without the Movies?

 

That was the smuggest, most self congratulatory thread I've read in a while.

Furthermore, I searched through the whole thread for mentions of Ron and apart from a handful of posts that just state that the movies contribute to the negative perception of Ron but don't analyse it...at all, there's nothing. What a complete waste of time.

 

Thanks! I highly appreciate this.

 

No worries! Always happy to help!

 

There's also a major practical reason that ffn writers dump on Ron: it's harder to write a good story that departs from canon while also featuring him.

Want Harry to be darker or more independent? Ron has to undergo a personality transplant. (And so does Harry, to a lesser degree).
Want Harry to be more powerful, studious, or even care about his own survival? Ron's gotta go.
Want him to make friends in other houses or be sorted into a different house? Later, ginger.
Want him to date Hermione, Luna, Fleur, Susan, a Slytherin, or any girl other than Ginny? See above.

You might have no personal issue with Ron and still find the need to marginalize him for the sake of the story. You could say this about the entire Weasley family. If Ron has a major role, all of his ginger relatives come along for the ride. There are fucking NINE of them. Unless you want to write a story that sticks fairly close to canon events, they have to be marginalized somehow.

You can write a story that does all of the above and features Ron. It's just harder to do.

/two cents

 

Has there ever been a Dark!Harry story where Ron goes along for the ride? Let’s call it a Dark!Trio fic if you will. Closest I can think of is Forging the Sword where the trio starts studying some advanced magic, but I don’t think it was dark.

 

The Red Knight https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12141684/1/The-Red-Knight Got a bit of traction a while ago, and from what I remember contains a rather self directed and interesting take on Ron. Unfortunately, it is also a Ron POV which puts a lot of people immediately off it.