Neville's Role in Books Six/Seven

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 82556

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "celebrimborcormacolindor" 
<henning2 at t...> wrote:
 
>  
>snip<
> So, it is certainly surprising 
> to suggest that Neville (and not Harry) could be the hero.

I don't think it is surprising at all. From the very first book, 
Neville has been one of the bravest characters in the books. After 
book 5, I would consider him as the bravest character, with MAYBE the 
exception of Harry. He fought Crabbe and Goyle single-handed, 
although he knew, that he had no chance against them. He sneaked 
during the corridors, trying to warn Harry and Hermione that Draco 
wanted to tattle-tale about Norbert. He tried to stood uo to the 
trio, when they wanted to sabe the Philosopher's stone. To Harry, Ron 
and Hermione, who were one of the few people, who probably even 
noticed him. He risked their friendship, because he stood up to them. 
This is a kind of bravery, I haven't seen, fo example, from Remus 
Lupin in the books. He admitted at once, that it was him, who wrote 
down the passwords. Would you? I probably wouldn't. Not to mention, 
that he faced his boggart regularly every week. 
>  
> But this is not only surprising; it is also *gratuitous*. The 
author 
> had no need whatsoever to invent this similitude between Harry and 
> Neville, which is neither necessary, nor useful to resolve any  
> mystery or to explain any piece of the story until now.

I actually think Neville holds a big clue for the solution of these 
books. And, memory charm or not, I think it has something to do with 
his bad memory. hat he needs to remember something important. But 
this is of course just a guess.

> If Voldemort 
> had attacked Neville in one of the early books, then would make 
sense 
> to write the passage cited above (Chapter 37 of OoP) to justify the 
> mistake of the villain in recognizing the hero. But as far as I 
know 
> there is nothing like this in the first books, nothing that 
suggests 
> the need to assimilate Harry and Neville.

Hmm, I might be mistaken, but I think, if Voldemort had attacked 
Neville, than Neville would either have been dead or the "chosen one".
>  
> Once I read the passage cited above, I started to think about 
> Neville, who Dumbledore says can be a true hero. What is the role 
of 
> Neville in the story till now?

Until now he IMO is a true hero. How else would you consider the deed 
of someone, who faced the curse that drove his parents insane, to 
help Harry. And he knew it was coming and still urged Harry not to 
give the prophecy to the dead eaters. 

> What were his actions? What difference 
> has he made to the events that have occurred in the Harry Potter 
> series? And the more I thought, the more I realized that *until now 
> Neville had no role in the conflict*. The important facts happen 
with 
> (or come from) Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, Snape, Hagrid, 
> Sirius; but not with (or from) Neville. In fact, it's entirely 
> possible to tell the tale of Harry Potter without mention Neville 
or 
> his actions.

Yes, it's also possible (at least until now) to tell the tale of 
Harry Potter without Professor McGonagall, Fred, George, Percy or 
Ginny. But they are all pretty big characters, and I would say 
Neville falls in the same category. In fact you can tell the story 
without Hagrid (surely Dumbledore could have taken Harry from the 
Dursleys). And Neville, in contrast to Hagrid or McGonagall or even 
Snape, was already part of one showdown. In fact, you can tell this 
books without most of the characters, but it are these characters, 
that make the flair of the books. I would even guess, that without 
characters like Neville or Ron's silblings, the books wouldn't be so 
popular. They bring reality in these books and many readers can 
identify themselves with these characters. I, for example, can 
identify myself with Neville. I was not bad in school, but surely not 
as brilliant as Hermione, I wasn't as popular as Harry is most of the 
time and I only sometimes had the snarky humor Ron has, but it is 
Neville's struggling, especially in the first and third book, where I 
can really see the most of my school-self. Also, there is a war 
coming, and Harry needs as many allies as possible. With the 
characters you mentioned above, they will have no chance to defeat 
all the Death Eaters and Dementors and possibly giants (especially 
because I am sure that the powerful Dumbledore will be dead before 
the ultimate showdown). They need as much allies as possible, and for 
this, JKR needs to introduce several characters, who can play that 
part in the later books.
 
I snipped the rest of your post. 

About Neville's future role:

I already mentioned that I think he will somehow give an important 
information.

I also can see Neville going several ways. I am pretty sure his magic 
abilities will become better (as they already did in OOTP), now, that 
he not only has a new wand, but also probably more self confidence 
after the fight in the DoM. Than, he will either become one of 
Harry's most loyal followers, who will fight with him till the end, 
as it was heavily forshadowed in the scene of the DoM, or he will 
continue to be sort of a loner and trie to get the Death Eaters, 
driven mostly by revenge. In this case, I hope Harry helps him to 
overcome his possible bitter feelings. Of course in OOTP, it seems 
that Neville is far more able to deal with his difficult situation 
than Harry is, but Neville soon needs to talk about his problems, or 
otherwise he might explode. Eather way, I am sure he will become a 
strong fighter for the good side. This might end in him dieing a 
heroe's death, but I am still a strong supporter that it is him, who 
will end up as a teacher (especially because JKR states that it won't 
be Harry, Ron or Hermione), so maybe he will teach Herbology in the 
end, or even DADA.

Hickengruendler