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austenpoppy · 6 years

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Unpopular - or very rare - opinions about Ron, even for a Ron-lover or a Romione-lover

I am quite a strange person, because I have the impression that no one agrees with what will follow. I won't even list the obvious, since I think most of the people who will read this are Ron-lovers like me.

I am not going to explain everything in details, mostly because I will post some comments and analysis to do so... soon ;) !

1. I am glad Ron dated Lavender, and I am slightly unnerved every time I read that he has been a "prat" in sixth year. Why ?

Because of double standarts, people.

Why is it okay for a girl to want to feel good about herself, to feel special, to be assured that she can achieve things and look good, and not for a boy ?

Feeling okay with oneself is a very important part of one's teenage years. My mum, as a teacher, often talks to pupils who loathes themselves (I have no right to spill their secrets here, but I hope everyone understands)... and that is heartbreaking.

Ron reminds me of them.

Ron dated Lavender at a moment in his life when he thought he was "pathetic", when he thought the girl he loved thought him pathetic too (and he had reasons for thinking so...) when one of his teachers was unable to remember his name and kept looking through him as if he didn't exist while lavishing praise on his best friends and sister, when nobody except Lavander told him he was worth something, when his own team hated him, when his sister had humiliated him, when everyone was looking at Harry in awe, when he had just got scarred for life (scars oddly reminding me of cutting) and had lived through a traumatic event, when nobody except Lavender was doting on him, when nobody seemed to care about him but her.

It did not solve everything. Ron is extremely prone to self-hatred, and I don't believe it ever disappeared after the locket. But for once in his life, Ron actually felt good about himself for a while.

It is not that he did not care about Lavender's feelings. Not at all. Just see the way he felt when they broke, extremely guilty about having made her cry. She fancied him, he appreciated her and he was trying to get over Hermione. (and realised he couldn't, but that is another story...) Why would dating her be wrong ? He did not use her. He did not manipulate her. He appreciated her.

Why would that be wrong, although Hermione and Ginny did the exact same thing ?

I am all for Hermione when she dated Krum at the Yull Ball and Ron tried to guilt her over it, and she yelled at him (even if it I don't want to imagine Ron's feelings the night after, crying himself to sleep because "he would never be good enough for her"... Yeah, Schopenhauer was right: you only fully realise how much something is important once you lost it - or think you lost it). It was important for her to realise that she was not just a "bookworm", but a person who had just as everybody the right to feel desirable, and special.

Ginny dated other guys than Harry, and she was fully aware she had absolutely no feelings towards them (see Dumbledore's funeral) and ... ? She was trying to be herself, to get over Harry. She did not use guys, she genuinely appreciated them and it was important for her. It helped her becoming the person she became.

It was important for Ron too, and I wish people saw that.

2. I don't blame Ron for leaving in DH. It is not that I am cutting him slack, or that I just forgave him. It is more than that. I am admirative.

I think, and this is something I will defend to death after some research I made, that Ron has been mentally tortured by the locket.

Yes, I repeat it, tortured. This is not a hyperbole.

Note that I don't blame Harry or Hermione for the fight. They were manipulated - not tortured yet. The only one I blame is the locket

People don't realise that things could have gone horribly wrong. Under torture, people are led to do awful things. And that cannot be judged. Their pain is so huge they are not in their right mind.

When Ron faced his torturer again after he left, in a state of mental exhaustion, terror and anguish, for another mental torture session, he went very close to possession -actually he has been possessed one moment - and he could have killed Harry. That was exactly what Voldemort wanted : killing the Boy-who-lived by all means, weakening him, destroying the Trio.

It is out of sheer courage and thanks to his golden heart that Ron resisted torture and possession.

Wow indeed.

It could have been another way : with all the self-loathing stuff he always thought being repeated over and over again, he could have committed suicide. I think he could have attempted to do it if he had not left, but this is Ron who never gives up we're talking about, so who knows ?

3. Ron is not insensitive at all. It is the other way around.

Another thing I am ready to die defending it

We have a problem of vocabulary : being insensitive means that you don't care about others' feelings, that you don't feel empathy for others, or that you don't feel empathy at all. Sociopaths are often insensitive.

So... Ron, according to this definition, insensitive ???

I think it would be better if people just said that he was tactless sometimes.

4. Ron is not carefree. An optimist, yes, a boy trying to see the fun in life, yes, often immature, yes, sometimes insensible, yes...

But carefree ? No.

Look at the way he is often very anxious, the way he feels so very strong feelings, the fact that he is overly emotional, the fact that he worries so much.

The emotional range of a teaspoon, my arse.

Ron is a mix of raw emotion, passion, fire, and sunshine, wind and freedom.

5. Ron is romantic.

I see you laughing in a corner, because really, Ron, who had so much problems with dealing with girls, romantic ?

Well, being romantic means that you have idealistic ideas about love (I know what I'm talking about).

And look at Ron, squealing with delight on the floor when Harry received his first kiss, getting desperate when he learnt that Hermione had given het first kiss to another, playing matchmaker (this SCENE at the end of OOTP), grunting because "he thought that (Ginny) had a crush on Harry...", being ready to commit himself to love for eternity at seventeen...

6. Ron was not "the prat who walked out on Harry out of jealousy" in fourth year.

Both boys were to blame here. And acted out of a feeling of betrayal.

Better even : Ron first tried to swallow his bitterness.

7. Ron was not that prejudiced towards giants, house-elves and werewolves

Giants : what did he say ?

That they were violent and "awful", because they were killing one another.

Well, look at what Hagrid, a half-giant, says about it (conversation after his return in OOTP)

House-elves : what did he say ?

--> that they didn't want to be freed : apart from Dobby, whom he respected very much, he was right

--> that they loved doing what they did : once again he was right

--> that they were not human beings, and that you could not talk to them the same way : he was both right and wrong. You have to consider them as equals, and if you don't see them as human beings, you can be prone to forget it; however, house-elves are another species with other needs and expectations; and you have to be careful about what you say to them and the way you say it (house-elves are much more naive, innocent and emotional)

Werewolves : what did he say for people to think that ?

--> the "get away from me, werewolf !"

Ah, the hypocrisy. Let me remind you of something :

"'NO!' Hermione screamed, 'Harry, don't trust him, ge's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead - he's a werewolf !"'

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling

But people, think about it one second : these circumstances were NOT normal. They were hurt and TERRIFIED teenagers who had just seen one of their teachers hug and being really friendly with a seemingly mass murderer. They felt betrayed.

Imagine if Sirius had been a mass murderer : Lupin would have been like Greyback, who identifies himself as a werewolf and as a beast.

Ron and Hermione did not really think what they said. They were just TERRIFIED.

--> the "Dumbledore hired you, he's crazy"

Same thing.

It is crazy to expect perfection from terrified and feeling-like betrayed teenagers.

8. Ron does not lust much after other girls

I won't count Fleur, because the state he was in when he was seeing her was only due to her Veela-abilities (and let's face it -Harry too was influenced by it - just look at the way he described her when she entered his room at the beginning of HPB; Ron was just more sensitive to it)

He had a cute crush (oh god I hate this word) on Mrs Rosmerta.

He found Lavender nice, but did not lust after her.

And...?

That's all.

Full stop.

9. Ron's Boggart is not a spider

It may have been the case in the first books, but not in the last ones.

Otherwise let's assume that Parvati's Boggart will always be a mummy, that Seamus's will always be a banshee and that Dean's will always be a severed hand...

Nope. People grow and change, and their fears too.

I think that Ron's Boggart, once OOTP ends, has most likely been a dead or hurt Hermione that he had not been able to save, or a locketlike vision.

10. Ron is not so relatable and ordinary.

Well, maybe he is relatable for the way he feels inadequate, and his tendency to self-hatred reminds probably some people of their own struggle.

The fact that we can read him like an open book is perhaps relatable as well.

His arachnophobia ?

Maybe his bad luck.

But I never thought him ordinary. Or else being ordinary has never been so extraordinary.

The day you find a boy who is ready to die for others and to sacrifice himself at the age of twelve, call me.

The day you find somebody who is arachnophobic and is ready to follow spiders into a dark forest without complaining and even trying to appear enthusiastic, call me.

The day you find a fourteen-years old with a bitten arm and a broken leg, and standing on it without complaining once to tell somebody everyone thinks is a mass murderer and that he had seen with a knive above his bed some months ago, "If you want to kill my best friend, you'll have to kill me too", call me.

The day you find a boy who begs to be tortured instead of the person he loves and who is ready to give up everything he is for her or him, call me.

The day you find somebody who defies a dictator and a murderer when all hope is lost, call me.

And then I dare you to tell me they're ordinary.

I am sure some people imagine that I think Ron has no flaws, mostly because the things people blame him for are things I am often glad he did.

That is not true.

But the things I criticize Ron about are often smaller : imitating Hermione in Charms in HPB, his comment about Neville to feel better about himself before asking Hermione to the ball, his comment during a party during the Scabbers/Crookshanks fight...

However, I do worship Ron to the stars.

And I am proud of it.

#i worship ron to the stars #ron weasley #hp #unpopular opinions

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