Ron can be an asshole, like everyone can be an asshole sometimes. People who pretend that they have never in their lives made any inappropriate comment are being absurd.

The idea that Ron is overall a bad friend is ridiculous unless your standards are very unrealistic. Ron was ready to get tortured for Hermione's sake and he was ready to get murdered by Sirius Black for Harry's sake at the mere age of 13. That is more than what most people can ask of their own friends in real life.

 

Here, let me post an image from the memes thread that pretty much covers it:

 

Biggest asshole in the Weasley family is Charlie.

Oh, hi Ron. What's go-

Oh... hmmm, a dragon eh?

*snicker* yeh we can help but um...

*chuckle* take it to the roof of the astronomy tower. Yeah, I know that sounds weird but trust me it's the only way.


Flash forward three years later:

That guy that saved my sister's life is going to have to face a dragon. Give him a heads up? Nah.


I know a lot of you aren't a fan of Jeconais' style of writing especially aging it eight years or so but when he had Charlie hit on Harry's (supposedly) new widow this was the most accurate extrapolation from canon of Charlie in fanon that anyone has ever written.

 

What ? to which story you refer ?

In the movie of 4th year, the directors fixed some shit and have Ron warn Harry (through Hermione), but yeah Charlie isn't starling example.
Nor Bill, if he has enough free time to hit on Fleur but can't spot some help for the guy who saved his baby sister.

 

Matroyshka Vignettes, I believe.

 

Easy, they only saw the movies. Movie Ron is useless.

 

I think that's a big part of why I don't care for the character. Yeah, he's a pretty normal guy, but the genre is fantasy. I don't want to read about normal people. I want to read about exceptional people.

 

Then how do you feel about Samwise Gamgee?

On one hand, he's quite possibly the most normal person in the entire trilogy. He isn't a wizard, king, noble, or otherwise descended/related to anyone spectacular. He starts and ends the story as a gardener. His gift from Galadriel was a box of dirt and an acorn, and the Ring couldn't tempt him with anything more impressive than being the world's best gardener. He is, in every sense of the word, an average Joe.

On the other hand, he's the one who loyally sticked with Frodo through everything all the way to Mount Doom. He stood up against some of the most terrifying forces in the world. He resisted the Ring when he held it, and literally carried Frodo in the end of the journey. He gave his box of Galadriel's dirt and acorn just to make the Shire bloom again. The book ends with him, and his descendents end up the guardians of the "books." He even is allowed to go to the West, one of only three Hobbits given that honor. He is, in my opinion, the real hero of the story.

So where would Samwise fit in your dichotomy of fantasy characters: a normal person, or an exceptional person? Or, alternatively, would you say he's both at once or even a normal person thrust into an exceptional situation?

 

To be honest, I can't think of a single LotR character that I liked. I enjoyed the story, but the characters all felt a bit bland.

 

Don't you think this is decidedly abnormal? As you say, he demonstrates exceptional loyalty throughout the series. On the other hand, Ron shows his loyalty in the end, but is characterized as jealous and impulsive. I like Ron, but he certainly wouldn't fit the above quote. I think it's perfectly reasonable to dislike Ron for being a "normal person" and not feel the same about Samwise.

 

This thread is like a dumpster fire, only instead of being put out or even simply left to fucking die already, people occasionally come to dump more trash onto the embers and prod it back to life.

 

You know what I do when there is a thread I don't want to read?

I don't read it.

 

Are you trying to say that we should just ignore someone who is wrong on the Internet?

 

The horror!

 

Can't the admin's just lock this already or something. I'm pretty sure everything that could have been said has been said either on this thread or one of the other ones about Ron.

I mean really, just put the poor Ron bashing threads out of their misery already.

 

Welp! Time to add more fuel to the fire!

A bit of context. I first read the books when I was about 11 or 13 years old. Somewhere around there. I sporadically re-read them a few times till about 15, I think. Despite that, they never truly captured my fascination like they did with many people. It's been almost as long since I watched the films, too. Most of my recent exposure has been through fanfiction some here on DLP itself.

Now, onto Ron himself.

Is Ron an asshole? Well, that's a hilariously vague guiding question. Instead, let's see whether he's someone you would spend your time with.

I don't put as much stock into the whole 'Harry was abused' thing because Rowling never actually shows it happening, nor can we actually see its effects on Harry as a character. I can believe that he was severely neglected, but even that doesn't actually line up with his character. That said, I don't put much stock in the 'Ron has such a hard life' defence either. When we factor in their backstories, Ron still comes out ahead. He has a loving and supportive family, and I don't remember any actual instance of Moll being the overbearing bitch she is in fanon, merely overenthusiastic. And with seven children, who can blame her. (Well, I can, she shouldn't have had as many children, but that's an entirely separate topic.)

Before we truly get started, some more context. I always sympathised with Harry a lot more than Ron. Initially, simply because he was the POV character and later because I realised I was in an emotionally abusive household. (My situation's a bit ore complicated than that /s, but it's still accurate). While I don't particularly remember the books properly, Harry's brooding always seemed to me to be a perfectly natural response, and din't put me off him at all.

I don't think Ron is a particularly bad person. He's actually quite heroic. But he's still not someone I'd want to be friends with. Yes, I would unthinkingly put myself in front of a mass murder even if I had a broken leg, and I can unquestionably say that all of my friends would too, and not just for me, but for each other as well.

But he still has some very unpleasant character traits. Coming back to the GoF, yes, I do think Ron throwing a hissy fit about Harry and the Tournament was daft. He should have believed the word of the guy who's stuck with him for three years and counting, and has stood up for him just as much, if not more. Harry's life was unquestionably in danger at this point, and it shouldn't have needed another near death encounter for Harry for Ron to realise that.

From what I remember, the scene in DH I find almost forgivable. Tempers were running high all around, and Ron realised his mistake fairly easily. And abandonment is a serious issue (what I interpreted the Hocrux' illusion as), and people don't always deal with their issues logically or maturely.

The problem with that is Ron was never shown to have abandonment issues, but rather insecurities about his self-efficacy. He also should have understood how fucking important what they were doing was. If he still insists on putting his squabbles over saving the fucking world. He knew what the hell he was in for.

Yes, Hermione can be quite annoying at times. I really don't take it well when someone can't mind their own fucking business. But I still never found her to be quite as egregious as Ron, except in one instance. Your friend tells you he is being abused, and you refuse to believe him? Of course it's entirely believable that neither of the two know what abuse really is, but I wouldn't take claims of mistreatment so lightly either, and I wouldn't expect Hermione to either. But that was - I assume - more to maintain the status quo, in which case I think JK messed up. She could simply have had Harry not say anything.

In point of fact, I have a friend quite similar to Ron. He has feelings of inadequacy, he could be temperamental and he held a long grudge (years) for someone he didn't like for simply that reason, and he used to be jealous of me too, and we used to fight a lot. Like, a lot lot. Still, we always pulled through whenever we really needed the other. We understood that by then, our friendship would endure, and no matter how upset we were with each other, we would always help the other out. We talked it out and even though the guy had a lot of problems, and still does, jealously never remained one of them.

Of course, we had our parents to help us through it.


The following para is a long and somewhat irrelevant example. Feel free to skim it.

This brings to my hypothesis to why I think people - or at least I - dislike Ron. Note, I don't hate him. What he represents is a support system that Harry deserves and needs, but never really got. Yes, Dumbledore liked him and looked out for, even loved him, but he was still an unquestionable douche. While I'm not on the Dumbledore bashing wagon, I have a lot of problems with him. He never checked up on Harry despite leaving him with people who he knew despised his parents and the magical world, nor did he place any sort of safeguard. Once Harry told him about his situation at home, he had variety of solutions at his hand: move other people into the Dursely house to take care of Harry, move Harry and Dursleys to somewhere with supervision, use spells etc. As for the cliché training, he could actually have done that. First of all, the law of diminishing returns: Harry would inevitably catch up faster than Voldy could progress, otherwise Dumbledore and Voldemort wouldn't have been equals for so long, since Dumbles is significantly older than Tom by a significant margin. Besides, training is just as much martial as it is mental. It would have given Harry the tools to deal with his situation much better and would have saved him a lot of anguish. Then the whole knowing about Harry needing to die thing. I don't think he knew about Voldemort remaining alive, though I find this questionable since an alive Harry should have clued him in that the prophecy had some truth to it, despite their generally sketchy track record. He would have known the truth since CoS.

Of course, I know a lot of this stems from JKR not really thinking things through, but what can you do.

End rant.


Basically, Ron is the representation of the support system that Harry needed, but never got. He threw hissy fits in the middle of crises, justified or unjustified, and that really was not what Harry deserved. He also had other behavioural issues that I didn't like from my own personal experiences.

Ron might have to be an ordinary guy in an extraordinary world, but cruel as that may sound, it doesn't excuse him. Harry needed an extraordinary friend, and Ron was not that. This is not to say he wasn't a good friend, far from it, but his own issues always took priority for him until the reality of the situation was thrown into his face - which again, not unreasonable, but we're not looking for simply reasonable. Put simply, it's not Ron himself so much as what he should have been.

 

Is it really necessary to bump a thread this old to add two pitiful paragraphs?

 

I'm pleasantly surprised he didn't open a new thread about it.

Also James, forgiveness is also the sign of a good friend. It goes both ways.

 

So basically your average teenager? Who also is Willing to face down a werewolf or let's himself be knocked out by a gigantic Chess piece to save his friends.

Maybe your teenage friends were all saints and martyrs.