OoP: Luna and the Ravenclaws (was Re: OoP: Evans kid & Loony Loopy Luna)

[Liz Muir]

No: HPFGUIDX 62235

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "kaizer_ken_ichijouji" 
<kaizer_ken_ichijouji at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Christine Acker 
> <hphgrwlca at y...> wrote:
> > I really like Luna.  Someone said on the OT list that
> > Dreamy/Spacy!Luna is a good counter for
> > brainy/logical!Hermione, and I think this is exactly
> > right.  I must confess that I had that rule above in
> > my head the entire time I read and I could not make
> > heads nor tails of Luna's presence in the book.  She
> > really doesn't do much except present a foil to
> > Hermione.  So why is she there?  Once again I place a
> > bet: Luna will be VERY IMPORTANT in future books (like
> > no one already knew that.)  I read very quickly, but
> > even so I still don't remember seeing that Luna helped
> > Harry at all except to amuse him and be in his way.
> > 
> > Any Luna feedback would be wonderful!  
> 
> One reason I think Luna is there is so Harry - Or us - can learn 
> things without neccesarily knowing what is true and what isn't. She 
> is always going on about creatures tha everyone else knows are not 
> real, but some of what she says, like the thestrals, is. When she 
> talks about the veil, for instance, who is to know what part is 
real 
> and what is just Loony Lovegood talking again.
> 
> -Rachel

As for me, I feel that Luna may show up again as Harry's guide to 
the "Wonderful World of Death." She doesn't seem to be afraid of it 
at all (talks so causually about her mother's death) and also knows a 
bit (the people behind the veil). Think maybe her dad used to/does 
work for the DoMysteries? Interesting. Maybe all his stuff in the 
Quibbler is stuff the DOM is working on . . . .

And, this may just be me, but does JKR have it in for Ravenclaws? I 
mean, the only ones we've gotten close to are see as mostly social 
animals, a quality I associated with Hufflepuff. Cho is almost a 
valley girl to me and very polite and sporty but we never see her 
being smart, only emotional. Ginny's boyfriend, Mark Corner (?), is 
again merely a social device as is Penelope Clearwater. They have no 
distinct cleverness or personality. (All of these love interests in 
Ravenclaw could have a message though: Smart is Sexy! Ha! At least 
that's positive.) Luna is the only close-to-exception but she's, 
well, Luna. She's smart, she knows some things but she sure hides it 
well under her wierdness! 

Every other house seems to display its characteristics obviously. We 
see Gryffindors being brave (reckless), Slytherins being ambitious 
(nasty gits), and even Hufflepuffs being loyal (Ernie) all the time 
and consistantly. But the Ravenclaws are always ditzy or weird or 
nothing at all, just the girl/boyfriend. I don't think that JKR has 
ever even had the Gryffindors have a class with them. It's always 
Potions with the Slytherins and Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. Where 
is Ravenclaw?

I am especially offended because I have always felt that I would be a 
Ravenclaw. But seeing what we see of them, I'm quite offended. Is 
this a social commentary on smart people or what? Or am I 
misperceiving? Help!

Rowen (with an E)