Ron (was Hermione's Reaction to... )

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 106089

I, Del, wrote :
> I don't care anymore what JKR has to say about Ron, not since she
> proved that she's prejudiced against him (see : Ron the Prefect
> thread).

Arya answered :
> See, I now have to ask--what are you hoping for if you sound to me
> like you're admiting that JKR's Ron is likely not *your* Ron?  Do you
> forsake the rest of the books now and vow your eyes only to fanfic? 
> JKR's Ron is the ONLY Ron there is. 

Del replies :
And that's the only one I read. Must have been at least 2 or 3 years
since I read my only half-dozen of HP fanfics (it was at the time when
PoU was still being written, that should tell the older fans something
:-). 

But I see where our problem is, on that particular issue. 

You think that JKR knows better than anyone else the Ron who is
described in the books, because she wrote him. I say that's not
necessarily true, for several reasons.

1. JKR knows many things about Ron. She probably knows more about his
background than she wrote in the books. Which means that the Ron as
written in the books might not be exactly the Ron she is writing
about. A good example of that is Dean Thomas. For us, if we read from
the books only, Dean is a Muggle-born wizard. Except that in JKR's
head, he's a halfblood.
So maybe JKR has good reasons to dismiss Ron so easily, because she
knows more about his personality than I do. But because what she put
in the books is not enough to convince me that I shouldn't waste my
time with Ron, because basically she didn't give me enough evidence to
make me see Ron her way, I differ with her. And it so happens that *I*
am the one who is more in accordance with the books *to date*, not JKR
! I am basing my opinion of Ron only on the published books, she is
basing her opinion on the whole series. Our Rons ae bound to be
different, but mine is the one who sticks to the canon so far.

2. Characters have their own peculiar way of taking on life
independently from their author's intention. JKR herself explains that
many characters changed between the moment she created them and the
moment she wrote the story. And other authors have explained that they
were surprised at how some characters seemed to be different in the
end from what they were supposed to be at first. (I'm an amateur
writer, I've been researching those things almost forever :-) Even a
story can change completely : JKR said that CoS was originally
supposed to be called HBP, but that when it was finished, it held too
little relevance to the HBP to be called that way.
So it could very well be that Ron took a life of its own, but JKR
didn't notice that.

3. Maybe JKR simply doesn't like people like Ron, so she doesn't like
him, but I do. In that case, it would be similar to what happens in RL
when two people discuss someone else of whom they have different
opinions : they simply don't see that person in the same way. It could
explain why she said that Ron alone didn't know the Prefect rules,
when Ernie, Draco and Hermione didn't know any better : because she
doesn't like him.

Arya wrote :
> Unlike a real person, his future is not up to him, it is up to the 
> author. So, if you're saying that JKR is prejudiced against Ron in 
> your opinion and view, than I'd say it's time to just fret more 
> about his future in canon than other readers seeing him as less than 
> you do.  

Del replies :
I'm doing both. But I feel entitled to defend my Ron, because he is
based entirely on the books. And if I have to change my opinion of him
later, because of what happens in the next books, I won't die of it. I
was a HUGE fan of Sirius after PoA, my interest decreased A LOT in
GoF, and I found myself wondering quite often what I had ever found in
him while reading OoP. Does that mean I mourn the time when I loved
Sirius so much ? Nope. It was a highly enjoyable moment, and I am glad
JKR didn't tell us then that he would turn like he did and die the
stupid way he did. Similarly, I'm enjoying my Ron the way I see him
now. He will evolve, everyone does. If he changes for the best, I'll
be right there to cheer on him. If he doesn't, well, it's life.

Del