• Neville's Character
• Neville's role in the plot
• Neville's memory and magical capacity
• Neville and the conspiracy of silence

Neville Longbottom, one of Harry's fellow students in the Gryffindor house, is as clumsy, shy and awkward as he is brave and loyal. When we first meet him in PS at Kings Cross Station, platform 9 3/4, he is looking for his toad. Four books later, the toad seems to be as elusive as ever, and Neville is still trying to elude the shadow of his patient but eccentric grandmother.

For a good introduction to Neville the ardent fan should start with Karin's character sketch. [11114 with subsequent discussion in 11169, 11172, 11173 and 11199.] Even more ardent readers should take some time to peruse some the links to several other extended HP4GU discussions about Neville in this FAQ. And if this isn't enough, the truly obsessed Neville fan should pay a visit to the shrine of all compulsive HP fans, The Longbottom Family.

A final incentive to the careful study of the following material: Neville was nominated as one of only three HP characters (besides Hermione and Percy) with whom our esteemed list mom, Penny, identifies herself:

I could also be said to be a bit like Neville in that I've always largely been a background person, someone who didn't seek out the limelight & actively shied away from it in fact (perhaps to the point of not realizing my full potential -- much like Neville. [3585]

There it is: conclusive proof that, even if nice guys do finish last, at least there are nice gals who admire them.

Neville's character

Does Neville have the makings of a failure, a traitor or a hero?

Though he doesn't enthrall us with the sort of internal tensions Snape shows (which may explain why female fans rarely write poems about giving Neville a leisurely shampooing in the prefects' bathroom), Neville is a complex character. On one side, he is uncoordinated, shy, ineffectual and weak. Some list members find him comical [Y:735, Y:739], and others have wondered why Neville even ended up in Gryffindor, when Hufflepuff seems like a more appropriate house for someone of his talents and disposition [1947].

In fact, many fans have noted that in PoA Harry imagines Peter Pettigrew as an older version of Neville. And the parallels are considerable. Both are plump, both are weak, both are at the edge of a more talented trio of friends -- in Pettigrew's case, James, Sirius and Remus; in Neville's case, Harry, Ron and Hermione. This has led some members to speculate that Neville may end up betraying Harry and his friends the same way Pettigrew betrayed James [2544, 8762, 8813].

However, members have more commonly pointed out that these parallels are contradicted by Neville's other character traits -- in particular his bravery and honesty. Neville is fundamentally different from Pettigrew. [2544, 2553, 2557 and 2569.] True, Peter is frightened of Snape -- but that doesn't make him a coward, since Snape is cruel to him. And unlike Pettigrew, Neville doesn't need to hide behind his more capable friends. In fact, in PS he tries to stop the trio from leaving the Gryffindor common room -- and is rewarded by Dumbledore for this bravery. Later in PS he attacks Crabbe and Goyle single-handedly and tells Malfoy, "I'm worth twelve of you." In PoA he admits to having written down and lost the Gryffindor passwords, which Sirius used in his break in. Even in romantic questions, Neville seems to have more guts than either Harry or Ron: in GoF by the time Harry and Ron have made up their minds to ask Hermione and Ginny, they discover that Neville has already been accepted by Ginny after being turned down by Hermione. [See 11172, 11235, 5907, 5908, 5910.] And at the end of GoF we discover that Neville pays regular visits to his parents, who were driven insane the Cruciatus Curse.

In one of her essays on the 7 cardinal virtues in the HP books, Peg Kerr chose Neville as a particularly good example of fortitude:

A very subtle example of [fortitude], perhaps, might be Neville Longbottom, who earns Harry's belated respect once Harry realizes that Neville has lost his parents to Voldemort, too. Neville carries on, nevertheless, trying to conquer his fear of Snape in Potions class, without a murmur of complaint, without even telling anyone. Just quietly going on about his life and humbly doing his best, while continuing to faithfully visit his parents at the hospital on his holidays, although they are unable to even recognize him. Harry is ashamed that he has never truly seen the truth about Neville before learning it in Dumbledore's Pensieve, but it is understandable why he did not -- this kind of fortitude does not draw attention to itself. [Essays: Fortitude]

Neville's role in the plot

Is Neville a major or a minor character?

Members have not always agreed about whether Neville is gaining or losing status in the books [8762, 12775]. We should certainly note that he plays a key part in a variety of subplots in all four books. (Though we see somewhat less of him in CoS than in the other books.) Among his fellow students, only Ginny, Fred and George, Percy and Malfoy share this honor. This suggests that Jo has more in store for Neville than losing toads, forgetting passwords, flummoxing Snape and generally getting in the way.

Members have wondered whether the revelations at the end of GoF indicate that Neville will gain ground in the future. Now that Harry knows of his secret, he may help other students begin to take him more seriously; perhaps he'll even be promoted to full membership in the triumvirate [6013]. It has also been noted that Jo has said that a student will someday become a Hogwarts professor -- though not necessarily the person we expect. Many HP fans have reached the conclusion that the person in question could be Neville -- and quite possibly in Herbology, the only subject at which he excels [5718, 5741].

Jo has also stated that we will be surprised at the next captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team. I place my bet on Ron for this position -- but if she really wants to surprise everyone, she could always send Neville to quidditch camp next summer and bring him back as the new Gryffindor skipper.

Neville's memory and magical capacity

Is Neville just a near-squib with absent-minded-professor syndrome or did something traumatize his natural capacities for recollection and magic?

This question has surfaced a number of times, dating back to a post suggesting that Neville may have witnessed his parents' torture and subsequently have been put under a spell to suppress the painful memories [1768]. This theory has appeared in at least three different flavors:

1. Neville's family used charms to spare him the pain of a horrible memory -- and in so doing damaged both his cognitive and magical capacities [1768].
2. Same as (1), but the Lestrange couple placed the memory charm on Neville to keep him from giving evidence against them [12835, 12664, 5787, 5303, 5323].
3. Neville couldn't process the experience, leading to a repression not only of that particular memory but of his memory and magical capabilities in general [1995].

At this point, any (or none) of the theories above could prove true. However, I would recommend particularly careful consideration of the last. Many of Neville's difficulties do seem to be connected to an inability to bring his essential bravery and loyalty to concrete and constructive expression. Something is holding him back, and this could very well be his inability to confront his past. A few weeks of intensive therapy at Flying Ford Anglia's clinic could unleash a whole new Neville on Hogwarts.

Of course, fans should keep in mind that Neville's whole family is highly eccentric. Neville's oddities might simply turn out to be part of his personality, and something other students will come to respect. There's no denying that it adds color to the stories.

Neville and the conspiracy of silence

Why don't any of Neville's fellow students know his parents' story?

One further question that has surfaced several times is why no one at Hogwarts was aware of the tragedy in Neville's past. After Harry has discovered the story of Neville's parent's in Dumbledore's pensieve, Dumbledore cautions him, "Please do not speak about Neville's parents to anybody else. He has the right to let people know, when he is ready."

However, he has just told Harry that the Longbottoms were well known and that their torture "caused a wave of fury such as I have never known." The obvious question is why Neville's story wasn't common knowledge.

In an extended discussion of this difficulty, members have suggested that this may simply be a "Flint," or an inconsistency in the plot. On the other hand, members have pointed out that by the time Harry's generation of young wizards were ready for Hogwarts, Voldemort's reign of terror was, if not forgotten, at least a topic which the wizarding community discussed as seldom as possible [5204, 5213, 5229]. The wizarding community is notoriously reluctant to discuss Voldemort, many parents don't even want the true cause of Cedric's death to be publicized at the end of GoF, and even Ron, a member of a very well informed wizarding family, doesn't know the meaning of the Dark Mark at the beginning of GoF -- so one shouldn't presume that students' parents would have given their children much information about Neville's past. And in any case, kids often take little information in their parents' affairs.

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