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| Truly great characters seem to really come to life outside of the work they exist in. Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
“I'm not really sure which parts of myself are real and which parts are things I've gotten from books.”
― Beatrice Sparks, Go Ask AliceI find myself feeling that way a lot- not knowing what parts of my personality are me and what parts are emulated bits of my favorite characters. I read so much, and get so involved in the story, that it's almost impossible for me not to try to be a little bit like my favorite characters. When added to my exposure to TV and movies, I'm just a bit mishmash of bits of other characters. But is that really a bad thing?
Sometimes, when I'm reading a book or watching a tv show or movie, I feel a connection with a character. Sometimes it will be the way they're written, other times it will be the way they talk, but they'll feel real to me. Truly great characters seem to really come to life outside of the work they exist in. They make me wonder why the book isn't about them. This blog will focus around the characters I would read a book about, no matter how important or unimportant they seem in their original work.
Of everything I've ever read- and trust me, it's a lot- my very favorite series is Harry Potter. The way J.K. Rowling wrote them makes it really easy for me to believe her story. All of the characters in this series are amazing- even background characters like Hannah Abbot have backstory- and don't even get me started on Snape. But of all of the amazing female role models (McGonagall, Lily Potter, Ginny and Molly Weasley, Tonks, Fleur, Umbridge {hahaha, no. If you think Umbridge is a good role model we need to talk}, even Petunia, Narcissa, and in some respects Bellatrix), I connect most strongly with two. Hermione Granger (Obvious, I know) and Luna Lovegood. But as far as characters go, as amazing as Hermione is, I'm far more interested in Luna.
Daughter of Xenophilius Lovegood, an... eccentric (to say the least)... single father, Luna is certainly something else. Since she is brought up by the Editor of the Quibbler, a magazine known for printing strange and occasionally downright insane material, she seems like the publication personified. She's known as 'Looney Lovegood' to her peers, who constantly make fun of her for her crazy statements. She'll go off about 'nargles' or Ministry conspiracy theories at the slightest hint. Luna Lovegood is seriously quirky.
But what makes her so amazing, to me, is that she doesn't care what people think. She has achieved that pinnacle of self-assurement, that no matter how she is teased or taunted she's still happy. She doesn't let the people she doesn't care about define how she thinks of herself, and for that I think she may be the bravest character in the series.
Her story could easily have been a tragedy. For starters, she saw her mother die when she was nine. That's why she can see the Thestrals- she saw one of her brilliant mother's spells go terribly wrong. That kind of thing could turn a person into a waif- and yet she has come to terms with it. She's teased and alienated, and her things are stolen, but she still sees the good in the people who are mean to her. She has no friends at first, and then, even when she does have friends, in the D.A., she doesn't see it. And when she does realize, she's incredibly loyal. She follows the main trio into certain danger and possible death to the Department of Mysteries, people she'd only known for a little while. When Harry, Ron and Hermione visit her house and go to her room, that mural on the ceiling nearly broke my heart. She cares so much about the people who care about her because it doesn't happen that often.
Harry likes her. Not romantically, of course- but he really does like her. He invites her to Slughorn's party, and has several conversations with her about things he usually doesn't talk about.
And she's good. J.K. Rowling has an amazing way of creating characters that are both good and evil at the same time- as Sirius says in book 5, "We've all got both dark and light inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are." And yet, Luna seems to be solely made of light and quirky sunshine. She is the only character in the series who I feel is wholly good. If there is any dark, it isn't significant and she doesn't let it show. In the 7th book, she's being tortured, pumped for information, and she still cares for the people trapped with her- she's still bright and cheery. And she gets a happy ending.
Luna Lovegood is what I aspire to be. Luna, I wish I was as sane as you.
Luna Lovegood and all of the other characters and situations from Harry Potter do not belong to me.
