Ron Weasley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Harry Potter character | |
|---|---|
 Rupert Grint as Ron in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix |
|
| Ronald Bilius Weasley | |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair colour | Red |
| Eye colour | Blue |
| House | Gryffindor |
| Parentage | Pure-blood |
| Allegiance | Dumbledore's Army, Order of the Phoenix |
| Actor | Rupert Grint |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
Ronald "Ron" Bilius Weasley is a fictional character in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. He first appeared in the bestseller Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997) as the best friend of protagonist Harry Potter. Ron is a foil character to Harry. He usually receives little notice, while Harry's fame almost always puts him at the centre of attention. This sometimes creates a rift between the two friends. Because at their school, Hogwarts, he is in the same house as Harry, Gryffindor, Ron is present in most of the action throughout the series. In the films, Rupert Grint plays Ron.
Contents |
[edit] Publication history
[edit] First two books (1997–1998)
Rowling first introduces Ron with his family in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997). Harry is lost at King's Cross railway station with no instructions as to how to board the train to take him to his magic school, Hogwarts. The only lead he has is that it departs from "Platform 9¾", which he cannot find, when he overhears a family, the Weasleys, mention the word "Muggle", the wizarding term for a non-magic person. Harry seeks their help and they guide him through the barrier of Platform 9¾ into the wizarding world. Ron and Harry share a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, and they begin their friendship, Ron fascinated with the famous Harry, and Harry fascinated with the wizard Ron. It is here that they both meet Hermione Granger as well.[1] Ron and Harry share the same classes throughout the series, and generally have similar academic successes and disappointments. Ron plays a vital part in the quest to save the Philosopher's stone. His strategy at Wizard's Chess allows Hermione and Harry to proceed safely through a dangerous life-size, animated chess game. During the game, Ron, who plays as a knight, allows his piece to be sacrificed; when he is captured by the opposing queen and knocked unconscious, so that his friends can go on to save the Stone.[2] At the Leaving Feast, the last dinner of the school year, Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts' Headmaster, awards Ron fifty House points to Gryffindor for "the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years." These last-minute points help support Gryffindor's win of the House Cup.[3]
In the second installment, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), which takes places across the next year after the events of Philosopher's Stone, Rowling introduces Dobby, a house-elf, who goes to great lengths to prevent Harry from returning to Hogwarts for his second year. Over the summer, Ron attempts to write to Harry several times, but receives no reply. He becomes concerned enough that he convinces his brothers Fred and George to fly their father's enchanted Ford Anglia car to Harry's home with his aunt and uncle.[4] Harry spends the next month at the Weasleys' home. Again together at King's Cross station, Harry and Ron find themselves unable to enter the barrier to access Platform 9¾, because Dobby has sealed it off, still trying to prevent Harry from going to Hogwarts. With Harry, Ron conceives the idea of taking the flying Ford Anglia to Hogwarts. They are nearly successful, but the Anglia loses power at the end of the journey and crashes into the Whomping Willow. Ron and Harry survive the impact, but the car drives itself off into the Forbidden Forest, a forest at the edge of the Hogwarts grounds in which student access is prohibited. Ron receives a Howler from his mother, chastising him for taking the car.
Later in the novel, Ron, Harry, and Hermione discover that the "Chamber of Secrets" has been opened by the Heir of Slytherin. Suspecting their old enemy Draco Malfoy, Ron and Harry transform themselves using Polyjuice Potion to resemble Malfoy's close associates Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, so that they can spy on him, though they learn he knows nothing of the Chamber.[5] During the hunt to find the Heir of Slytherin, Rowling introduces Tom Marvolo Riddle after Harry discovers the name on Riddle's diary. Ron is responsible for providing the first clue to his identity, recalling that he saw the name "T. M. Riddle" on a trophy inscribed "For Special Services To The School".[6] Able to interact with Riddle through this diary, even though he lived fifty years prior to the action of the story, Harry tells Ron and Hermione that their friend and Hogwarts gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid must be the Heir. When Hermione is petrified by the Basilisk, the monstrous creature infesting the Chamber, Ron and Harry must work together without her. Ron is forced to come face-to-face with his biggest fear, spiders, in the Forbidden Forest, when the two learn that Hagrid is not the Heir of Slytherin. A giant spider, Aragog, nearly eats the two of them, but the Ford Anglia, lost in the Forest since the start of term, saves the two of them by scaring the spiders.[7] Ron and Harry then discover the entrance into the Chamber, and enter it in the hopes of saving Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister, who had been kidnapped and kept in the Chamber. Due to an accident with Ron's wand, the Chamber's ceiling collapses, trapping Ron on one side and Harry on the other. Harry goes on to rescue Ginny and defeat the memory of Tom Riddle, who Rowling reveals is a younger version of Harry's nemesis Lord Voldemort. Ron and Harry are rewarded Special Award for Services to the School for helping find the Chamber of Secrets.[8]
[edit] Middle three books (1998–2003)
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), Ron's role is minor compared to his in Chamber of Secrets, and Hermione's role, which was more sidelined in Chamber of Secrets, is larger. However, Ron's rat, Scabbers, whom Rowling introduced in Philosopher's Stone, goes missing; he blames Hermione's new cat Crookshanks, and the two have a falling out.[9] They eventually make up when Hermione has a nervous breakdown from taking too many classes. Meanwhile, Buckbeak, a hippogriff owned by Hagrid, has been put on trial for allegedly injuring Draco Malfoy, though in reality Malfoy feigned his pain as a result of his family's hatred for half-breeds like Hagrid, who is half-giant, half-human. As compensation, Ron offers to help with the preparation of Buckbeak's defence for Hagrid. Harry, Ron and Hermione go to see Hagrid on the execution day where they discover Scabbers hiding out in Hagrid's hut.[10] As they leave, Scabbers bites Ron and runs away. Ron chases him to the Whomping Willow where he is grabbed by a large black dog and dragged into a tunnel hidden inside the tree.[11]
Harry and Hermione follow the tunnel which leads to the Shrieking Shack. The dog is actually the animal form, or Animagus, of Sirius Black, Harry's godfather who has been an escaped convict from the wizarding prison Azkaban since the start of the book. Throughout the book, Harry has vowed to kill Black for supposedly turning Harry's parents, James and Lily Potter, over to Voldemort. The school's Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Remus Lupin arrives just after Harry and Hermione. Along with Black, Lupin casts a spell on Scabbers, who also turns out to be an Animagus by the name of Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew was Black, Lupin, and James Potter's school friend, thought to have been murdered by Black.[11] Hiding his death by transforming into a rat, Rowling reveals that he has been a servant of Voldemort, and it was he who divulged the secret whereabouts of Harry's parents, leading to their murder. Initially, Ron does not believe Sirius and refuses to turn over Scabbers to him, but he is disgusted when he learns his rat's true identity. Unfortunately, Scabbers escapes when the main characters lead him out of the Whomping Willow for execution.[12] Ron, injured by the bite Black gave him as a dog, is taken to the hospital wing, and is not part of the adventure Harry and Hermione have as they travel back in time to save Sirius and Buckbeak.[13] At the end of the novel, Sirius sends Ron an excitable little owl whom Ginny names Pigwidgeon, who Ron refers to as "Pig".[14]
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000), the Weasleys invite Harry and Hermione to the Quidditch World Cup, Rowling's imitation of the FIFA World Cup in football. Ron is in awe at his favourite Quidditch player, the famous Viktor Krum.[15] Ron is even more excited when Krum, still a student at the Durmstrang wizarding school, comes to Hogwarts to take part in the Triwizard Tournament, a magical wizarding tournament uniting the top three magic schools in Europe.[16] When an underage Harry is mysteriously chosen as a Tournament champion, Ron and Harry have a falling out and don't speak for nearly a month.[17] Ron believes Harry somehow cheated to enter his name into the tournament without telling him. Whenever they do speak, it is usually to insult or threaten one other. Ron and Harry reconcile shortly after Harry successfully gets by a fire-breathing dragon in the first task; Ron realises how dangerous the Tournament is and believes that Harry didn't enter himself.[18] At Christmastime, the Triwizard Tournament's tradition is to host aYule Ball. Ron becomes overcome with jealousy when he sees Hermione, unexpectedly attractive, having the time of her life with Krum. When an overjoyed Hermione comes over to Ron and Harry for a friendly chat, Ron loses control and accuses her of "fraternising with the enemy", shocking and appalling her. At evening's end, the two have a heated row.[19] Ron's jealousy over Krum is countered by Hermione's dislike of Fleur Delacour (of the Beauxbaton Academy and a Triwizard competitor), on whom Ron has an obvious crush.[20] Rowling believes this Ron–Hermione quarrell are some of the beginning signs of their eventual relationship at the end of the series.[21] In the Second Task of the Tournament, Ron is the person selected for Harry to rescue from the depths of the Hogwarts lake, as he is the one whom Harry would most miss. Harry successfully saves him, on top of saving Fleur's captive for her.[22]
In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003), Ron is appointed a Gryffindor prefect, much to the surprise of himself and everyone else, especially Hermione, the other new prefect.[23] His brother, Percy, now distant and disconnected from the family, sends Ron an owl congratulating him and advising him to "sever ties" with Harry and side himself instead with Professor Umbridge, the abominable new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts; the letter angers Ron.[24] Ron explicitly shows his support and loyalty for Harry when his classmates imply Harry is lying about the return of Voldemort, sometimes using his power as prefect to threaten them into silence.[25] Though they spend their usual amount of time bickering, Ron and Hermione present a united front endorsing Harry. Ron supports Hermione's suggestion of Harry teaching students practical Defence Against the Dark Arts, which Umbridge, using the Ministry of Magic to slowly take over the Dumbledore-run school, has all but banned. He helps to found the secret students' group called Dumbledore's Army.[25] At the climax of the novel, Ron battles the Death Eaters alongside Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom at the Department of Mysteries. He is injured in the fight, but makes a full recovery by the end of the novel.[26][27]
[edit] Final two books (2005–2007)
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005), Ron receives fair grades on his O.W.L. examinations, Rowling's parallel to real-life GCSEs. He passes seven subjects and only fails History of Magic and Divination, but he receives no top scores of "Outstanding" like Harry or Hermione.[28] Ron, who has grown taller over the summer, attracts the attention of Lavender Brown. Harry, the new Quidditch Captain, picks Ron as Keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, over Cormac McLaggen, who performed as well as Ron though towards whom Harry took a deep disfavouring.[29] Upon learning Hermione most likely had kissed Viktor Krum, Ron's Quidditch performance increasingly grows worse, thrown off by jealousy of his former idol and causing him to be unkind to Hermione. To bolster Ron's confidence, Harry pretends to give him Felix Felicis, the "luck potion." Believing he has actually taken it, Ron performs admirably and Gryffindor wins the Quidditch match. However, Hermione and Ron have a falling-out when Hermione accuses Harry of helping Ron cheat. When Harry reveals the truth, Ron berates Hermione for having no trust in his abilities. At the celebration, Ron kisses Lavender Brown, leaving Hermione heartbroken and jealous. She tries getting even by inviting Cormac McLaggen as her date to new potions professor Horace Slughorn's Christmas party, but he proves to be an egomaniac.[30] After Christmas, Hermione continues to ignore Ron, stopping only to give him disdainful looks and occasional snide remarks. By now, Ron is visibly discontent with his relationship with Lavender.[31] On his birthday in March, Ron accidentally drinks poisoned mead in Professor Slughorn's office. Harry quickly saves his life by forcing a bezoar, a poison antidote, into his mouth, and Ron is transferred to the hospital wing. A panic-stricken Hermione arrives, forgetting her past anger. While sitting by his bed, Hermione, Harry, Ginny and the twins hear Ron mutter Hermione's name while half-unconcious. Upon recovering, Ron and Hermione reconcile. [32] A little while later, Ron and Lavender break up.[33]
Initially, Ron does not support Harry's belief that Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater, a follower of Voldemort, but later is convinced. Before leaving Hogwarts with Dumbledore to recover a Horcrux, a piece of Voldemort's soul stored in an object, which, if destroyed, would make Voldemort mortal, Harry arranges for Ron, Hermione, and Ginny - together with any of Dumbledore's Army they can summon - to keep a close watch on Malfoy and Snape. Harry also provides them with his Felix Felicis, to aid them in the effort.[34] Despite the D.A.'s watch, Malfoy provides the Death Eaters entrance into Hogwarts, and a battle ensues. Thanks to the luck potion's protection, Ron, Hermione and Ginny are unharmed by the Death Eater's hexes during the battle.[35] Snape kills Dumbledore during the battle.[36] During his funeral, it is Ron who comforts a weeping Hermione. Ron and Hermione vow to help Harry find and destroy the Horcruxes and kill Voldemort, even if it means leaving Hogwarts.[37] With these parting remarks, Rowling leaves the door open for Ron's future in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007).
[edit] Attributes
[edit] Personality and traits
Rowling introduces Ron as "tall, thin and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose."[1]
[edit] Magic and skill
Ron inherits Charlie Weasley's old, chipped wand, which is made out of ash and has a unicorn hair sticking out of the end. He holds the wand together with Spellotape after nearly breaking it in half at the start of Chamber of Secrets, but it malfunctions dreadfully after this, backfiring spells, making strange noises, and emitting objects out from the wrong end. It eventually exploded. Ron's new wand is fourteen inches, willow and unicorn hair. He receives this new wand before the start of his third year at Hogwarts.
[edit] Family
Ron was born on 1 March 1980 [38] to Arthur and Molly Weasley, the sixth of their seven children, and the youngest son. His middle name, Bilius, is the same as that of a deceased uncle, who is mentioned in Prisoner of Azkaban. Ron grew up in the family home, The Burrow, near the village of Ottery St Catchpole in Devon. Ron has five older brothers, Bill, Charlie, Percy, twins Fred and George, and a younger sister, Ginny.
Rowling has described the Weasleys as an old pure-blood Wizarding family. The family is relatively poor, and despite Ron's father's promotion from head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic to Head of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects in 2005's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, they remain financially strained. Ron is particularly self-conscious, frustrated, and even resentful of his family's modest means;[1] indeed, his school enemies, including Draco Malfoy and his father, taunt him for his lack of wealth.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c [HP1], chapter 6
- ^ [HP1], chapter 16
- ^ [HP1], chapter 17
- ^ [HP2], chapter 3
- ^ [HP2], chapter 12
- ^ [HP2], chapter 13
- ^ [HP2], chapter 15
- ^ [HP2], chapter 18
- ^ [HP3], chapters 11 and 12
- ^ [HP3], chapter 15
- ^ a b [HP3], chapters 16 and 17
- ^ [HP3], chapters 18 to 20
- ^ [HP3], chapter 21
- ^ [HP3], chapter 22
- ^ [HP4], chapters 7 and 8
- ^ [HP4], chapter 12
- ^ [HP4], chapter 17
- ^ [HP4], chapter 20
- ^ [HP4], chapter 23
- ^ [HP4], chapter 22
- ^ Anelli, Melissa and Emerson Spartz. "The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part Two," The Leaky Cauldron, 16 July 2005. Accio Quote! (2005-07-16). Retrieved on 2007-01-14.
- ^ [HP4], chapter 26
- ^ [HP5], chapter 9
- ^ [HP5], chapter 14
- ^ a b [HP5], chapter 15
- ^ [HP5], chapter 35
- ^ [HP5], chapter 38
- ^ [HP6], chapter 5
- ^ [HP6], chapter 11
- ^ [HP6], chapters 14 and 15
- ^ [HP6], chapter 17
- ^ [HP6], chapters 18 and 19
- ^ [HP6], chapter 20
- ^ [HP6], chapter 25
- ^ [HP6], chapter 29
- ^ [HP6], chapter 27
- ^ [HP6], chapter 30
- ^ "JKRowling.com Archives: Birthdays" from MuggleNet
[edit] Bibliography
- [HP1] Rowling, J. K. (1997). Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (in English). London: Bloomsbury/New York City: Scholastic, et. al. UK ISBN 0747532699/US ISBN 0590353403.
- [HP2] Rowling, J. K. (1998). Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (in English). London: Bloomsbury/New York City: Scholastic, et. al. UK ISBN 0747538492/US ISBN 0439064864.
- [HP3] Rowling, J. K. (1999). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (in English). London: Bloomsbury/New York City: Scholastic, et. al. UK ISBN 0747542155/US ISBN 0439136350.
- [HP4] Rowling, J. K. (2000). Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (in English). London: Bloomsbury/New York City: Scholastic, et. al. UK ISBN 074754624X/US ISBN 0439139597.
- [HP5] Rowling, J. K. (2003). Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (in English). London: Bloomsbury/New York City: Scholastic, et. al. UK ISBN 0747551006/US ISBN 043935806X.
- [HP6] Rowling, J. K. (2005). Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (in English). London: Bloomsbury/New York City: Scholastic, et. al. UK ISBN 0747581088/US ISBN 0439784549.
[edit] External links
- Harry Potter Lexicon entry on Ron
- Ron Weasley on the Harry Potter Wiki
