I have nothing against Ron and it should be obvious to everyone who red the books and is above 12 that Ron was for the most part a pretty good friend and even a war hero at the end.

Still I have to admit that I don´t particulary like him or would want as friend (though I would still prefer him over someone bossy like Hermione) he is just too immature I mean he is Harry´s best friend for years and he should know that Harry never craved attention or glory or the way he envys Harry sometimes is very annoying especially since he quite cleary must have seen what Harry´s life must have been like ( 2nd year Harry being caged in Privet Drive) not having parents a group of terrorist trying to kill him.

On the other hand he has many good quality´s and he is all around just a normal relatable kid with flaws but I wish he had other flaws because IRL I just can´t stand jeaulousy and people with a inferiority complex

I know many teenagers would probably feel inferior if there best friend would be a world famous hero but I dislike people who just can´t think rational and are completly controlled by their emotions despite evidence painting a different picture because he should know that Harry never wanted fame and instead wished for a family like the Weasley´s

I´m probably a bit harsh because let´s face it he was just a kid and I think at least by the time of the epilogue he grew out of his jealousy. But I still don´t like Ron as a character he is just far too normal and not complex enough for me to really invest any interest in him like every other Weasley I personally wished they wouldn´t have played as big a part in the books as they did and Ron not being Harry´s BFF but just one of his friends

I just wished J.K would have developed him better ( same for Harry) because both actually had potential to be awesome.

BTW Peter was a coward but you can´t deny that cutting your own Hand of takes some serious balls to pull off and it´s kind off badass to be able to kill a dozen of people with one spell

 

The only thing I have to say to AmerigoCorleone and the rest of the Ron-haters out (t)here:

Have a look at this posting and try some of the stories in the archives I linked there:
https://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?p=331543#post331543

You'll soon overcome your hate and embrace the beautiful romance they share.

 

I'm not one of those blokes who think Harry and Hermione would be a good couple. I mean, sure, Emma Watson is quite the looker, but J.K. Rowling said that canon Hermione is nowhere near that pretty.

And Harry Potter has only ever been attracted to beautiful women.

And Harry Potter would probably not want to be in a relationship with a controlling nag.

No. I wish Hermione ended up with Viktor Krum.

Why couldn't she have ended up with Viktor Krum?

 

I believe the common counter-argument is that Peter didn't cut off his hand because he was brave, but because he so scared of failing Voldemort that he'd rather cut off his own hand than displease his master.

Though yeah, he definitely has some skills and is fairly cunning when backed into a corner. Like a lot of cowards, he can be quite resourceful when it comes to preserving his own life and freedom.

 

Source for that please? like... actual sources from the books

I really really don't think that how Hermione interacts with a male best friend would instantaneously equate to how she would interact with a significant other

I don't know, why couldn't Harry "end up" with Padma? After all they went to the same one dance together! When they were teenagers they shared a feeling of "oh hey you're cute and I'm awkward and there's a dance so I guess we'll go togetherrrr~"

Actually I guess Hermione and Viktor both enjoyed each other that night which is more than can be said for Harry and Padma

 

Haven't read every post here, but I've perused the last page or two. Ron-hate is something I simply don't get, and much of it, it seems, comes from not reading the books for what is actually written.

For instance, in the fight between Ron and Harry their fourth year, if you go back and read the books, Harry is as much or more responsible for the fight that Ron. Not only does he crank his EMO amp to 11 and start yelling at Ron, but he does it completely ignoring the fact he already told Ron about cheating the age-line. Note also, Ron looked hurt, as if his best friend left him out of something important (a feeling I'm sure we all can relate with). Harry's response would therefore seem a cop-out, more than anything else. Even so, as I said before, it was Harry who finally took the lid off by exploding at Ron, and then refusing to talk to him until Ron came and apologized. IMO, that makes Ron and Harry equal, if not Ron a little better in that situation.

What I also think often is overlooked is Ron's willingness to face his fears because Harry needs him. I'm thinking especially of the spiders, here. But beyond that, Ron's relationship with Harry puts Ron in a lot of very bad situations, yet he (and later, he and Ginny) never agitate against it. The only time we see him doing that is on the Horcrux hunt, and as I've said a dozen times, most of that scene is driven by the Horcrux and what it's doing to Ron. We get that straight from JKR, and not Retconned, by Ron's explanation thereafter that he felt much better quickly after leaving and wanted to return, but couldn't find them.

No, I think a vast majority of Ron-hate comes due to failed wish-fulfillment—they wanted Harry and Hermione together and Ron was simply in the way, as was Ginny. Hence, the hatred in fanfiction.

 

I think a lot of people focus too much on Ron walking out and ignore the fact that he wanted to return fucking immediately but couldn't.

It's like having a fight with your friends, going "Screw this", walking right the fuck out, clearing your head and coming back, only to realize you no longer know the way back. If Ron could, he'd have been back right that evening. His 'abandonment' was an unfortunate result of circumstance.

 

Honestly, I'm not overly fond of Ron. As a person he's pretty awesome, really, but as a character I agree that he's Harry's anchor to a 'normal' life. Always whinging about his stomach or not wanting to do homework or Slytherins.

Ron is a lot like lots of fellas I knew. In turn annoying and boring and closed-minded or friendly and awesome and supportive, but when the chips are down they'll back you to the end.

Except, then he didn't.

People like to compare Hermione turning the broom in in Third year to Ron's betrayal in Fourth. But the difference is that Hermione has a valid point about the Broom possibly being trapped and all Ron has is hearsay and rumor and jealousy vs the Word of his Best Friend. Not only that, but Hermione makes her decision because she's trying to protect Harry. Ron makes his because he wants what Harry has been forced to endure at risk to his own life.

It would be one thing if they'd just had a bit of a falling out, if Ron hadn't believed him but had remained semi-cool about it. But he didn't. He doesn't just part ways with Harry over it, he actively becomes antagonistic, which is where I draw the line.

Then they made up, and that's alright, sure, everyone deserves another chance. But while forgiven, it was never forgotten. The problem was that he does it AGAIN. Yes, the Locket was influencing him. Yes, he was under major, massive stress, but that doesn't change the fact that he shows his lack of forethought and his petty jealousies and unrealistic expectations of Harry for the second time, in the midst of a literal Save-The-Country-Quest.

These two major events, combined with a host of little things which show how thoughtlessly cruel, self centered, and rude he can be in petty ways means that I don't like him as friendship material.

But I don't mean to imply he's a bad person either, and I don't hate him. He obviously has the right motivations at heart, he's just flawed like everyone else. Only, his flaws are more bothersome to me than other types of flaws.

Ron is generally a Bro, but he's immature, self-centered, and content with ignorance. I'd gladly share a drink with him or help him if he needed it or (mostly) trust that he wouldn't screw me over on something important, but I wouldn't want his influence on my day to day life.

It's really a matter of interpretation, and that's mine.

 

In fairness to him, the three girls Harry goes on dates with throughout the books are all described as being pretty. He explicitly notes that Cho is "very pretty", the Patil twins are described by Seamus (IIRC) as being two of the prettiest girls in the year, and it's noted that even Blaise Zabini finds Ginny pretty, which is apparently saying something.

Amerigo is talking a lot of bollocks, but that bits a fairly reasonable assumption.

 

Everything EC Scrubb perfectly summarises my own opinions on the matter. And now that I have my excuse for posting out of the way, Harry went to the ball with Parvati Patil, not Padma.

EDIT WalkingDisaster, do you not think that you're somewhat exaggerating the second situation? He left... and tried to return immediately after being basically mugged, right after he learnt that his family was going through shit, and as you said he was under the locket's influence.

 

Not really.

In situations like that, all parties have to be Above such things. Even if he had been able to return, the stress and tension caused by his outburst was one of the last things they needed. When your life and the lives of others is on the line like that, you need cohesion and trust and solidarity. This isn't about him walking away so much as it is about the way he reacts to Harry not being the perfect Savior/Chosen One with ALL THE ANSWERS. It's massively unrealistic.

Also, the locket influences, it enhances. It doesn't create feelings that aren't there. At least that's how I interpreted it. Which is really the crux of the matter. The locket notwithstanding, his actions belie his attitudes, which are what I'm judging based on.

 

I think it finds weaknesses/possible fears and whispers these things over and over to the bearer - I see it as being a far more subtle (and therefore more powerful against anyone over the age of... 14) version of the Diary's way of operation.

I suppose you could say that that's still just enhancing... but much like how a lens used correctly enhances diffused light into a small enough concentration of beams to generate significant heat/light and set things to burning.

 

Except,

Harry is the one at fault for parting ways, not Ron. Harry went to the extreme, yelling at him. Harry basically chose to end the relationship unless Ron came back to him and apologized. The text is pretty clear that Ron was hurt, but he wasn't yelling, mad, etc. He was literally floundering at how his best friend wouldn't include him in something after everything they'd been through together, just after his best friend told him exactly how he'd do the thing he's accused of doing.

In that situation, I think most of us would at least have some serious doubts. And, as for Hermione, I don't buy for an instant the angelic "she did it for Harry's protection alone." Her character at that point is still quite a bit a bossy know-it-all, and is acting in that context. Someone is doing something she doesn't agree with, so she takes matters in her own hands and forces the issue. That streak in her later comes out as a vindictive, cruel streak, seen with the curse on anyone who betrays the DA, her literally attacking Ron with birds simply because he was emotionally numb to her at the time, and her reactions when Ron returned during the Horcrux hunt.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Hermione's a bad person or Ron's a great person. Just the opposite, they're both just as flawed, and just as good and bad, along with Harry. The point of the entire thing is that the sum has always been greater than the parts with the three of them, which also dovetails into a major subtheme - love is the deepest magic. Their love for one another kept them driving forward no matter that cost, enabling Harry to make his final sacrifice. To miss that is to miss the reason for their entire relationship, IMO.

 

Why didn't they just keep the locket in the moleskin pouch or something instead of wearing it?

Actually, a ton of the decisions they made in DH seem really weird. They could have just stayed in a hotel room or something rather than camping out in the middle of nowhere and just Confund the staff.

 

I like Ron, and remember, He couldn't cast win....wundgurdum luvusa, first time he does it as saving Herms, i mean, Harry jumps on that thing, Ron becomes a better wizard.

Also,

Klassic

The low self-esteem....is normal, and human....and important

 

And perhaps the other reason I dislike Ron is that he's a constant reminder of how stagnant the characters are in the series.

Let's be honest, here. I don't care how petty Ron was at 11 years old; with all the things the trio went through together in those 7 years, it is very hard to believe, that after all that death, trauma, and near-death experiences, he would still be petty.

If the author of the series was not so stubborn on keeping the characters relatively the same, Ron could have turned out to be an outstanding character.

---------- Post automerged at 06:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:47 PM ----------

Some readers like to pretend that Harry Potter was some noble, gentleman, but if you reread the books, he actually comes off as controlling, narcissistic, and a sociopath.

 

Experiences often change a person, but that doesn't mean they change the entire person. In fact, those things might have ensconced his opinions of certain people or things in cement. It sounds like what you're looking for is a complete character change. The problem with that is you wouldn't recognize the character from the beginning to the end. That's not character development. That's switching to a new character. We see lots of growth in Ron (in all of them, actually). But we also see things that make them, them, in both the good and the bad parts of who they are.

---------
EDIT: yeah, Harry isn't the be-all-end-all either. BUt it's his faults that make him so fun to read, IMO.

 

Why didn't they have Kreacher just apparate in grocery shops at night to steal them food?

 

I also want to say that I like Ron the most in the first two books....and actually, I think the whole Crookshanks thing is why he starts thinking Herms looks down on him compared to Harry.

 

Would you have trusted him after 5th year? Even if he did start changing, there's no way I'd have let him know my position.