The only time I find it annoying is when such things are put in the story's summary section. I don't care if you want to put something like that in an author's note at the top of the first chapter, but don't degrade your story's summary with it. It just comes off as looking amateurish and most of the time I skip over the story entirely when I see it.

 

Based on programming it should be a point instead of an exclamation mark: Carry.Luna or Luna.Carry to describe Luna with Carry features.



Back on topic:

There are a few really good Ron-centric fics. Check out Checkmated: http://www.checkmated.com/

The end of OotP opens the chance to abandon canon and toy with Ron as a character as much as with indy!Harry. JKR doesn't mention any mental or magical aftereffects of Ron's encounter with the brain in the Department of Mysteries. Though that's a moment where one could twist Ron's character, with slowly developing effects or abilities. Ron might slowly turn into a nutjob, a genius, a sexgod, a Dark Lord, ...

One of my favorites is Lavender Brown's Series featuring Seer!Ron - "The Book of Morgan LeFay" and "The Final Reckoning" and side stories.
ff.net: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/425031/LavenderBrown
Checkmated: http://www.checkmated.com/authors.php?name=lavenderbrown&cat=stories

 

If you're looking for a different take on Ron then you can't go pass Pers' oneshot Ickle Ronnikins.

 

Since it's buried in a collection of one-shots and is a little hard to find, here's a link.

jbern also wrote a sympathetic Ron in his Harry Potter/For the Love of the Game fusion Number Games.

 

I had big plans for Ron in my fic The Other Side of the Coin and its sequel... as it is, I think he was one of the better characters, but I've never gotten around to finishing it. Kind of makes me sad.

 

It makes me sad too. That was an awesome story. I should probably re-read it.

 

I actually disagree with you, but then again I never really liked Ron. His personality was well explored in my opinion, but I never thought JKR really developed him as a character. Exploring his character and developing it are two different things.

Anyway, back on topic, just because Ron is good at chess doesn't mean that he should be necessarily good as a tactician. He's an emotional character, usually allowing them to choose his actions for him, which is not what a tactician would do. I've always thought that he was a good background type of person, if I had to give him a role. It's like in the DA. He wasn't a leader of it, but he helped move it along by actually participating and following Harry's instructions. It helps that he is an easy to talk to character.

 

I'd argue that this was the point of Ron. After seven books, he is still the same thing he was going into the series: Harry's loyal but slightly-pigheaded best mate. I can't help but feel this was done purposefully. Just look at the structure of the trio.

Hermione is for lack of a better term, JKR's toolbox. Unlike Ron, her character changes to fit the situation. Sometimes she's brilliant, sometimes she's funny and sweet, and sometimes she's an annoying bint. Her inconsistency is mind-boggling at times.

Harry is the middleground, an everyman, a blank slate for the reader to identify with. He is, essentially, a narrator molded into the plot. His thoughts and comments are rarely extraneous and never surprising.

Ron is Hermione's opposite in virtually every sense of the word. He is static. He is there to provide comic relief, along with a much-needed insight into wizarding thought. He helps us understand how the average witch or wizard might react to the events of the story.

The trio is balanced. Having Ron develop into something more than he was would have ruined what I believe to be a near-perfect character dynamic.

 

Oddly enough, empirical evidence suggests that the reasoning and decision making skills involved in playing chess at a high level commute to other facets of life. Chess IMs and GMs are sought by Wall Street trading firms as aggressively as physics Ph.Ds.

They aren't very good stories, being heavy on the sappiness (a hospital scene every other chapter). A better story that has Ron in that role would be deadwoodpecker's Backward with Purpose.

 

It would take much more to make Ron into an enjoyable character than just a hightened sense for tactics or strategy. The author would have to get rid of his whole canon characterization to produce a likeable and competent Ron Weasley, resulting in an OC wearing Ron's physical body.

I disliked him from the start and always will.

 

Congrats bro. That really contributed to the conversation.

 

You might want to find a different thread, then.

 

I liked Ron the first time I read the books. Then I read them again and just hated him. Hermione kind of annoyed me too at times upon re-reading, though not as much.

I think Sly Goddess does something pretty interesting with him in A butterfly effect. She kind of has him see a friend get hurt and it kind of gives him a motivation to try harder. Unfortunately she never really follows through on that character development (or at least hasn't to the extent I had hoped yet).

You wanna make him likeable? I suppose it's a matter of twisting circumstance to make sure he moves away from being a petty, jealous and overall douchey guy.
Seriously, who leaves his two friends to fight a dark lord by themselves?

 

Writing Ron as something similar to how he is in Opalish's Chess would be a step in the right direction in my opinion, at least as far as making him likable. That Ron is loyal, mature and reasonably perceptive, which is definitely better than what we generally see from him. Still doesn't make him a tactical genius, though, which is probably a lost cause if we want to maintain some semblance of a connection to Ron's canon characterization. Not all of Harry's friends have to be extremely talented, though, and I for one would be willing to settle for likable and plausible.

 

I've never understood FF's glee with Ron bashing. I swear he's the most misunderstood character in the entire HP world. Part of that, is because IMO, he is left flat by JKR.

There are only a few hints of him growing up in canon, and if someone has a pejorative opinion of him, they're easy to miss, leaving him very one-dimensional.

I do agree however, that both Ron and Hermione round out the trio perfectly, and while chess may or may not equal tactician, I think it did in Ron's case.

Look back through Sorcerer's Stone as they headed through the trap door. At least three different times in the first four obstacles, Ron's ability to think tactically (and once, quickly) got them through to the next obstacle. (Play the flute until they're through, reminding Hermione that she was, in fact, a witch, and then the actual chess match.

So if a fanfic wants push the Chess-angle, I think there's at least a decent reason for it both in canon, and in history (depending on who you read - chess was used to train warriors in battle strategy in India and/or Persia).

 

Well I'm not a fan of the chess = genius idea, which is entirely due to me having read atrocious attempts at it, I do agree that Ron has a lot of potential that usually vanishes because authors either use him as JKR did or simply bash him into oblivion. I think my favorite usage is the best friend Ron, the kind that made an appearance in book 2, and rarely appears elsewhere. Basically the kind of guy that's willing to break you out of your house in the middle of the night or steal a car with you.

 

I agree that the chess = genius idea isn't the best, though I don't think that's what's been argued here. Rather, it shows an ability that Ron has. He is, however, a powerful wizard, as he is casting all types of spells the D.A., including the Patronus. Anyway, don't you think "best friend Ron" shows up in book five?

Oh, and before I forget, if you want a good Ron story - here's a Ron/Hermione story that begins, with having the Battle of Hogwarts end in a very different way.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6884267/1/Stop_All_The_Clocks

 

I like Ron. From the start, even as I've written bullshit manipulative teh evulz Dumbledore, I've always tried writing Ron as, you know, Harry's best bro. Partner in crime. Da man. Knows his limitations and his strengths, has grown up a bit if need be, no tactical genius but still a damned reliable guy to have on your side in a fight. While it features him mostly, you know, depressed as hell, I really really loved my own Ron in Incorruptible. Dude was one of my favourite characterisations.

Spoiler

Though I lol killed him too, and it was sad! For me and the readers. I even got a few reviews that basically said, "I don't even like Ron normally, and you made me cry" or something, so, you know, I call that a win.

Yay Ron!

 

Incorruptible was the shit.