Character Strengths and Differences/Importance to the Story Line

[gintonic3103]

No: HPFGUIDX 56191



Quotes from Linda's post: 
 
> I was reading the discussions about the level of magical talent
> possessed by each of our three heroes. I don't think that how much
> magical talent they have is the point at all. I do agree that Harry
> seems to have the most innate talent in that respect and that helps
> define his character.
> 
> However, without Ron the story would have been stopped in its  
tracks in SS/PS. They couldn't have gotten by the chess set without 
him. 

> OK. That is Ron's talent! Neither Hermione nor Harry possess
> the analytical skills to reason through things like Ron can.
> 
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Quote from Cathy's reply to Linda's post:

> I'm supposed to be on my way to work, so this will have to be 
brief...
> 
> Hermione worked out the step in SS/PS to determine which bottle 
would get them safely through the fire (in either direction).  That 
takes a bit of analytical skill.  Also, Harry was able to work out 
the riddle given by the Spinx. That wasn't a piece of cake, either.  
While they may not be as good as Ron at chess, they do possess 
analytical ability.
> 
>
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Hi all, after reading Linda's first post and Cathy's response, I have 
the following comments:

First, some thoughts on Ron Weasley -- I can't for the life of me 
understand why some people dislike his character so much. He does 
have certain flaws, but I believe that Harry and Hermione are just 
as flawed as he is (just in different aspects). Even Rowling herself 
thinks that "Harry could have cut Ron some slack in GoF" 
and "Hermione was being too self righteous about SPEW" (Sorry, I 
don't have the links for these quotes; I read this on another Harry 
Potter forum some time ago). 

Back to the discussion. I'm sure all three of them have analytical 
abilities -- all of us do to some extent. But what Ron has, which 
distinguishes him from Harry and Hermione, are strategic skills. 
It's worth noting that Rowling never fails to mention in various 
books either Harry or Hermione each playing chess against Ron in the 
common room during the school holidays or during school, and always 
losing to him. I've read some posts where people think that Ron has 
an edge over Harry and Hermione because it's wizarding chess, but I'm 
not very convinced by that. Wizarding chess is no different from 
Muggle chess, save that the chess pieces move. It was impressive how 
Ron overcame McGonagall's chess pieces in PS (don't forget, it's 
McGonagall (and not some quack like Lockhart) who set those chess 
pieces in place).
 
Strategic skills are different from analytical skills, as you have 
to be a few steps ahead of your opponent and anticipate the moves of 
your opponent to reach your desired goal. What Harry and Hermione 
do (e.g. in PS where Hermione solves the potions riddle, and in GoF 
where Harry solves the riddle given by the Sphix) is to analyse 
the situation at the moment that it's presented to them. Of course, 
there is no question that Harry and Hermione both possess analytical 
skills.  

I'm curious to see if Ron's strategic skills will play a part in 
the war against Voldemort or in the Gryffindor Quidditch Team since 
he's now the keeper. I do agree with Linda that each person in the 
trio possess different strengths and that they play on each other's 
strengths. However, it does seem that Ron's character development 
has been shunted to one side (to Hermione's favour) and we may never 
get to see his full potential simply because Rowling has written him 
as the less developed sidekick in the series. Personally, I find this 
a real pity because I think a lot could be said from the coming of 
age of Ron (whether he overcomes his insecurities over his lack of 
wealth, whether he becomes confident of his own abilities, whether he 
accepts himself as he is, whether he becomes as powerful a wizard as 
his brothers seem to be, etc). The other reason why we may never 
discover Ron's full potential is because I believe Harry is going to 
deal with Voldemort and other Voldemort-related incidents more and 
more on his own as he grows older (it's after all not called the 
Harry Potter series for nothing:-)). I can foresee a situation where 
both Ron and Hermione's strengths are played out less and less in the 
books and they act more as emotional support for Harry, leaving Harry 
to deal alone with Voldemort in the final face-off.

Ta Ta,
Anne
(who hopes that I've now reached the moderators' standards for decent 
capitalization. *Grin*)