The importance of Luna... and the New Trio

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 80169

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> 
> Luna has a calmness and emotional detachment to her, I think Harry
> picked up on that when he talked to Luna about her missing things 
nearthe end of OoP. Harry felt calm around her, he didn't feel 
threatenedor challenged, no sign of hero worship, no strong emotional
> attachment, no guarding her words because of emotional uncertainty. 
> 
<snipped large portion here> 

I like the Luna character in the current book, but thought she was
> pretty much a one trick (one book) pony, but now that I have thought
> about it, and read other people's opinions, I think Luna will be one
> of the most important characters in the next book. 



Jen: I had a similar reaction to Luna on my first read-through--why 
the heck was this character suddenly plopped down in the middle of 
Book 5, with quite a bit of page time at that....

Then after Sirius's death and the interaction with Harry described 
above, I realized that like the mythical "good Slytherin" people are 
hoping will be revealed, Luna is the "good mystic" who contradicts 
the previous negative sterotypes of seers, prophets and intuition in 
general.

It's amazing really, that a series depending on a prophecy to create 
the story we see before us has so many characters who are derisive of 
the metaphysical foundation it's built on! 

But JKR makes it work. She can have the characters show irreverence 
toward Trelawney, divination, even the centaurs to a lesser extent, 
but when the time comes to change the character's (and our) reality, 
she gives us Luna, the Prophecy, and the Veil to light our way. I 
can't wait to see what's next....