[HPforGrownups] Re: SHIPPING of Love and War

[Aberforth's Goat]

No: HPFGUIDX 20994

Emma wrote,

> I have issues with Ron.  When we were reading Harry Potter together,
> my psycho ex always identified with Ron, the needy personality type.
> He never understood why Hermione wasn't more into him, why she wasn't
> more attentive to him.  And now, in retrospect, I see a lot of my
> ex's neediness in Ron.  He has some bluster, but really no deeply-
> ingrained self-confidence to carry him through the rough spots.  He's
> defined by his family more than by his own actions.  And he can't
> quite seem to go it alone, at least not to me.  This is what makes me
> really dread to see Hermione and Ron end up together.  Ron is clingy,
> yet oblivious.  I think he would wear down Hermione, much like my ex
> wore me down over the years.  And I want to see our fiesty Hermione
> do better for herself than get involved in a relationship with an
> emotionally needy individual.
>
> Now I shall patiently wait for all the Ron fans and the sailors on
> the Good Ship Hr/R to come out of the woodwork and eat me alive...I
> taste better with honey mustard, mind...

[A queasy pirate staggers onto deck with a cutlass in his teeth. Drops the
cutlass on his foot, retches over the bulwarks and blasphemes profusely as
he adjusts his eyepatch ... "Now who told that wench I'm allergic to
mustard?"]

Actually, I'm not much of Shipper, and you obviously have a point. I think
most readers are at least a little worried about Ron. His combination of
insecurity and jealousy, his lack of a defining quality or talent (apart
from chess-playing and bad jokes)--it's all a little worrisome.

OTOH, I wonder whether Jo really meant for him to come across like that.
Back in pre-GoF days, a lot of people (including me) were worried about
Harry. He seemed emotionally unengaged. He was always receiving presents
from his new friends, but he never seemed to be giving anything to anyone
else. People voiced these worries in interviews. Come GoF, Harry turns
philanthropist and has a big fight with Ron.

Now, we're worried about Ron. It could be that the weaknesses we see in Ron
are intentional and will have repercussions in the plot. But it also could
be that Jo will make OoP the book in which Ron gets to show *his* stuff. For
Ron's sake--and maybe because there's a little Ron in me too--I'd like it to
be.

Baaaaaa!

Aberforth's Goat (a.k.a. Mike Gray)
_______________________

"My own brother, Aberforth, was prosecuted for practising
inappropriate charms on a goat. It was all over the papers,
but did Aberforth hide? No he did not! He held his head high."