I think we all know that Ron isn't exactly the most beloved character around. Personally I think this is unfair to him, but others disagree.

That aside, though, can Ron still be made popular in the fandom, or is too late for him? How would this hypothetical PR push best be achieved?

 

If you wanted to make him super popular all of a sudden you'd probably need a massively popular fic which resulted in him being beloved by all the readers. Thats how trends start in the fandom.

That said, I don't agree that Ron is unfairly treated. I think if anything Ron is one of the characters with the most wide ranging portrayal in fandom. Sometimes he's the super loyal sidekick, sometimes the jealous former friend, sometimes the comedy relief, sometimes the dumb muscle, and a million other variations. Many characters have a tiny number of common characterisations and just about nothing else gets a look in, indeed anything else draws complaints about them being too out of character. With Ron you can write him damn near any way you want and most folk will accept it - major exception being a portrayal of substantial intelligence, unless there's a reason given for it.

 

Go back in time and stop the movie director(s) from ruining his character and letting their nearly-bashfic script be seen by the public.

I really don't think there's any other way to do it.

 

Pay no attention to the people who think he's a traitorous traitor because these are the same people with shit taste in fic?

 

Using ffn.net's search function and sorting by Favorites and Completed (since that tends to be what new readers sort by), there are about 5 Ron bashing fics on the first page. Get those shitfics off of there, and perhaps the fandom's perceptions may start to change.

 

Dial back Hermione's hyper competence (both book and movie versions) would help, too. Reestablish the fact that both Ron and Harry have good moments without her doing everything of value and saving their bacon.

 

I'd rather push Harry and Ron up instead of pulling Hermione down. There's room for a story about Hermione, brightest witch of her generation, Ron, chessmaster extraordinaire highly competent everyman, and Harry, his generation's answer to Albus and Riddle. Play it as Ron being the one who keeps the three of them on track and helps them turn grand dreams into reality.

 

Ron is a very competent wizard in canon, we know this. He's just been a scapegoat for teen angst fanfiction writers who watched the movies bring him down.

I'd argue it's too late. You could have the most popular fic in the fandom with Ron being great in it but it won't help.

No fic is going to reverse sixteen years of fanon Ron bashing.

It's over, he's dead. Let's try to stop raping the corpse though.

 

I agree with Crowton, the fact that there are a lot of Ron bashing fics in the first page of favorites does not help the community's opinion of him. Also, a lot of the bashing that is directed to Ron is also directed to Hermione, just to make Harry the rebellious, indie teenager in those angst fanfics.

However, in the end, I share the same opinion with Seratin, I don't think anything will ever reverse what was done to him in all these years of fandom.

 

I think in some ways it's because Ron is the most normal of of all the main characters. He has a fairly standard two parent family, siblings and his desires are of the normal everyday sort. He just wants to be recognized and successful in school and life.

It's inevitable that he receives less love from the fandom because of it. Hermione appeals to the intellectual vanity we all have of wanting to think we are smarter. Rowling has admitted to her being somewhat of an idealized version of herself. Similarly, Harry stands out because he is the extraordinary one. The one with a destiny.

I think of Ron as the heart of the story in a lot of ways but most people aren't in the fandom because they want to read about good hearted normal people.

 

Echoing the already expressed views, I think Ron is the most realistic of all canon characters. Ron could be anyone -- your best friend, the class clown, the slob, that one friend who turned out to be unreliable in need or paradoxically the one who can always be relied upon to come through in the end. No matter how you portray Ron he is always relatable.

Ron-bashing fics generally bash canon-Harry too. Most of the writers and many readers of such fics are extremely dissatisfied with the source material. They are mostly movie fans or those who read the books pretty late in their lives.

Changing the fandom opinion of Ron will take a lot of quality fics. It will require dedicated effort. I remember when Hermione was the 'bestest witch' ever, and then came a time when in every other fic I was reading she was at best ignored or at worst bashed as bad as Ron.

 

I think it's easy because while none of the trio had a satisfying arc, Ron's was definitely the worst. He was also the one with the most damning flaws. Betrayal is readily understood and people can latch on to that and spin whatever they want. Goblet of Fire should've been a pivot book for Ron. He was tempted to be a poor friend, was a poor friend and came back around. Voldemort's return does little to light a fire under him.

Harry at least had to put up with the horcrux in his head turning into a gopro and we see that struggle. He makes bad choices in the next three books, but he makes a lot of good ones. Hermione continues to have a colossal impact on the story in that same vain. She makes questionable and dodgy choices, which makes her human, but also utterly drags both of them as the author's Dumbledore without Dumbledore. Ron is a loyal friend, but his struggles and his impact are all pretty lame in comparison. Quidditch, dreadful, utterly boring Quidditch feels like it takes up 90% of his reason for existing over the next two books. His romance subplots with Lavender and Hermione. They're just... lame. No better way to put it. The R/Hr subplot was so overdone and overwrought and even their shippers are utterly disappointed in the payoff. How better would it have been if, like Harry and Ginny, that was laid to rest in HBP and in seven we saw the fruits of such a partnership (so that we could see that dynamic at work in the trio).

Ron provides insight as a sort of every man who can see things and there's a thread there that could be pulled, could be made into something satisfying, but it isn't. Then we have Deathly Hallows, which is just not one of my favorite books to begin with. We've got 6 years of gradual arc that needs to be sped up. Ron who can now mimic a magical language, which is just a plot contrivance, is all of a sudden the most effective member at destroying horcruxes. His comments regarding magical creatures just feels lame and undeserved. Where is the struggle and arc and payoff for that? And of course, the just... weird leaving scene. The horcrux has to effect someone, so of course it doesn't effect Hermione really, fucks with Harry somewhat and utterly devastates Ron in a moment of weakness. Then we're left with the weird reality that Dumbledore expected and accounted for this. If your agency can effectively be resolved by someone who knows you better than yourself... is it really Ron's agency at all? Dumbledore effectively says Ron's a flake but a remorseful flake and will always be one and here's the instrument to keep it in check so you don't fuck up my plans.

That isn't powerful at all to me. It's just a sad resolution to a thread that cropped up randomly in the back half of the series. Ron literally placed himself in front of a mass-murderer he believed was Lord Voldemort's right-hand man four years prior.

But like I said, I don't think the trio got much in terms of satisfying arcs. And that's because seven books is a lot, and it's made difficult when the first three are whimsy and have little to do with the latter three that feel like they take place in an alternate universe. There is nothing that will feel as good or as easy as reading the first three HP books. They are truly some of the finest books to get lost in. The trio in those books is pure fun as well. They've got their issues and they all get to work through them.

With Avatar-fever reignited with it being on Netflix, I would just point to that trio (that became a sextet) for what good arcs look like. Ron didn't need to be Sokka but there's overlap there and there's the same insecurities in a lot of ways. And it was a satisfying arc for an average individual surrounded by people who could do extraordinary things.