Clash of Heirs

[vincentjh <vincentjh@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 53188

Kathryn wrote:
> I quite like your theory of the heirs and agree that there has been 
quite a
> bit of circumstantial evidence that Harry is the Heir of 
Gryffindor -
> although imho it's no more convincing than the circumstantial 
evidence that
> led the student body to believe that he was the heir of Slytherin, 
so maybe
> JKR is paralleling the way the students were fooled into believing 
that
> Harry was the Heir of Slytherin by fooling her readers into jumping 
to the
> conclusion that Harry is the heir of Gryffindor. Personally I would 
be
> happier making Ron the Heir of Gryffindor. If courage is the biggest
> defining characteristic of Gryffindor then I truly believe Ron is 
the
> bravest of the trio. Harry doesn't usually seem to really recognize 
how much
> danger he is in till after the event and I don't believe you can 
claim to be
> brave without experiencing fear. Ron strikes me as the true hero of 
PS
> because he willingly sacrifices himself for his friends. Also in 
CoS he
> faces something he is terrified of in order to help Harry and 
Hagrid. But
> then I may well be biased because Ron is one of my favourite 
characters.
> 

There have been a lot of theories floating around about Harry being 
the heir of Gryffindor, mostly based on the fact that he "pulled out" 
Godric's sword. However, I've always read this passage differently. 
When Dumbledore said that only a true Gryffindore could pull out that 
sword, I thought it left open the possibility that other people from 
Gryffindore House could do it, too. (And remember, Harry didn't pull 
out the sword. It fell on his head. Just like a lot of things simply 
happened to Harry without him seeking for them to happen.) But maybe 
I read it wrong. Will have to go back and check CoS again.

Although I don't usually buy into the "heir" theory for it defeats 
JKR's own claim that choice is more important than what one is given 
at birth,the idea that Ron's the heir is interesting. Everyone from 
his family is/was in Gryffindore. And Dumbledore said in CoS that it 
is one of the most prominent wizard families. This has always made me 
wonder whether or not there's more to the family and to Ron than what 
we can see on the surface. Maybe not the heir per se, but something 
else that connects them to the founders of the school. Just a thought.

VJH