I just had a thought about a novel explanation for Luna's oddness.

In GoF, Arthur Weasley mentions that memory charms can cause people to become disorientated. The muggle that caused the explanation was IMO opinion acting more than disorientated, saying Merry Christmas in mid summer. Sort of like how Luna acts.

Made me think, is it possible, she is perhaps getting regularly memory charmed. Perhaps the conspiracy theorists here are right, Dumbledore is actually the person behind all the evil in the world, and Luna is a seer. He regularly obliviates her to stop her giving away his secret.

Just a thought on the matter. Anyone care to add to it?

 

I'm pretty sure I read a fic where Dumbledore obliviated everyone about anything bad but Harry and Hermione suddenly became impervious to it. Luna remembered parts or something and so was turned into a vampire so that she couldn't be obliviated.

 

There are plenty of fics where DUmbles is more trigger happy than Lockhart, but the point of this thread is that there may be some cannon backing for it.

 

interesting idea but JKR wouldn't have DD do it. More than likely if you are correct than it would be somone like the Malfoys or something. Maybe i've read too much FF but doens't Luna live in Ottery St.Catchpole? If she does, and she is being obliviated regularly than it could be someone like the Malfoys or another DE family spying on the Weasleys. Good theory though, haven't seen it before..

 

I think sits only in fanfiction that she lives near the weasleys. Only the diggories and some other family do according to GoF

 

Pretty sure the "Lovegood" family is mentioned in Ottery St. Catchpole or near it. Now whether that group of Lovegoods is or includes Luna and her father, hasn't been explicitly stated.

(Lexicon says its in ch 6 of GoF.)

 

Has anyone ever considered the fact that Luna may just be...... a loon? I have read several stories were people come up with reason yet she may just be one of those people who has lost some of her marbles.

 

If anyone wanted the exact quote.

I think it is more likely that it was her dad who snapped after his wife died and being raised by him made her a little loopy too. Making it something reversable weakens her charm in my opinion.

 

...Why try to explain it? She's just nuts, that's why I love her. I'd stop reading book 7 the moment it was stated that she's memory charmed or something similar.

 

The idea has some merit to it, perhaps an over anxious healer or first responder type realized that Luna had witness her mother's death and had her obliviated, but it didn't go off as expected. There are plenty of stories where 1-2 year old Neville gets obliviated from witnessing his parents torture, but it would be far more traumatic for a 9 year old to witness a parental death IMO. I can't remember back that far, but I can remember when I was 9.

What would make for an interesting angsty fest story is if said first responder was rookie auror Tonks on her first assignment, carrying the guilt for messing up that girls mind with her....

Jim

 

Erm... I think Tonks was still at Hogwarts if Luna was 9. And I can see Neville perhaps struggling from a malformed memory charm. But Luna was nine. And Mom dying is a bit more significant than something you can just charm away (and obviously didn't work or hold as she's always seen thestrals). Maybe you can try and block the visuals and memories, but the knowledge 'Mommy's never coming back' is there. And *not* knowing about how it happened would be worse. Personally, I dunno why more people can't tell that as a baby she was dropped on her head repeatedly. Or maybe she ate a time turner. Or maybe she breastfed herself. Could be anything really.

 

Aye, I like Luna the way she is, I think its just her personality. But these Ideas can work and many have been used already.

But like someone has said in another thread, I dislike it when people try to write away that part of her character with a half assed reason.

 

I just like the idea of her being odd with out a reason. Giving it a purpose or cause takes away from her as a character and makes her just another person.

Back on topic thou I can see it being used in a fic it would make good sense. Her mother didn't die by accident she died because DD killed her and obliviated Luna.

 

Well how about the other popular reason, that is that she is a seer.

Would explain some things and who knows maybe she'll say something in book 7 that helps them win.

 

Well, I won't say that there's no way she's a seer, but does she have to be? Trelawney has made fewer prophecies than I have fingers on my right hand, and she acts as odd as Luna all the time!

Well, I suppose it could have been a memory charm, but would those give her all the delightfully creative hypotheses she comes up with? It's still a valid suggestion, but an author would need to be careful.

My favorite theory is that Luna is odd because it's her, and because it's fun! I was a bit Luna-esque as a little kid, because I thought it was fun and terribly funny. I could come up with interesting ideas and daydreams and saw no reason not to share. I assumed other people knew when I was talking about their reality and when I wasn't. Daydreaming is a good way of functioning through grief or trauma, which could link it to her mother's death if one really wanted to.

That last sentence sucked out the fun again. Drat. Um, Luna just doesn't care what the other characters think, and is fascinated with both her ideas, and the reactions she can get from other people? Because, after all, if they think you're crazy then society lets you break the rules. And then play hopscotch with them.

I'm here agreeing with everyone who thinks we should leave Luna her weird self.