Neville: Memory, History, Legacy, Power (LONG!) (Was:: Still Life)

[jtdogberry]

No: HPFGUIDX 38418

Thank goodness this topic been bought up again, I have for the past 
two weeks been getting very worried about Neville. It seems that my 
ideas change every couple of days and its now very un-nerving.
I don't want Neville to become another Harry, one of my reason for 
liking him so much is that he is kind and compassionate. I don't want 
him to lose this. He could be powerful and great but learn to use his 
power to help others and defend those weaker then him, I see no 
reason to have him change personality and become a symbol of 
vengence. You need someone like Neville, to keep a grip on the value 
of life. I rather like the idea of "to err is human, to forgive is 
divine" for Neville. 

I think everyone agrees that Neville is repressing something which 
holds him back, we don't know very much to say what, was it just his 
parent he saw tortured? Is there something else there? It could be 
that Neville may blame himself in some way. It also strikes me, that 
Neville is very lonely. There isn't really anyone he can talk to, 
that he really trusts, this is shown that a) He has never mentioned 
his parents b) He is never seen with anyone for company. I think that 
this is why he can't face his past. Harry has Ron and Dumbledore and 
now Sirus, Neville has no one, the way he speaks about his Gran, 
implies that he can't really go to her and the idea of facing 
something as big as that alone, is enough to scare anyone into 
silence.

I think that when he sees Snape that he does see a possible future 
self and it scares him. He is also very intimidated by his gran and 
his family, and is more concerned about what others want of him and 
so he doesn't know what he wants. This all adds to his confusion.
I really want to see Neville happy, I don't want him to become 
the "Super Neville" although I would love to see him defend those he 
cares about, defend but not attack.

Dogberry