Significance of Ginny

[Vivamus]

No: HPFGUIDX 124182

Note: this was originally posted to OTChatter, but it is being reposted to
the main list by Elf request

> Jennifer:
>
> Sorry if this has already been discussed, I am newish to this group, 
> but does anyone think there is significance that will come into play 
> due to the fact that Ginny is the first female Weasley in many 
> generations?

Vivamus:
Hello Jennifer.

I think there must be.  There is a lot to Ginny still that we haven't seen
-- and there has been a lot that we have seen, but Harry didn't notice it,
so it just slides on by and gets forgotten in the text.

I haven't pulled them together in my head yet, but I'm pretty sure there are
two female archetypal trios for Harry.  The older trio would be his mother,
MM, and Molly Weasley.  The younger trio would be Hermione, Ginny, and Luna.


I recognize this pattern (the archetypal trio of women who make the hero
complete) from the wonderful Childe Cycle of Gordon Dickson; but he may have
gotten it from earlier literature.  (He wrote the first book using it
[Dorsai!] in 1960 or thereabouts.)  

In that series, the hero is a convergent result of three different kinds of
man, emphasizing extremes in body, mind, and spirit: the ultimate warrior
(Dorsai), the ultimate philosopher (Exotic), and the ultimate faith-holder
(Friendly).  In the Childe Cycle, each aspect of the masculine must be
balanced and completed by the complementary feminine, different in each
case.  In Dickson's books, there are also two trios who perform this
function; one trio is maternal, and one is of equal partners.  

There is a twist in Dickson's books, however, which may be relevant to who
Ginny is as the first girl Weasley in several generations.  Just as the man
goes through three lifetimes and three personality developments to become
the first truly complete man, there is a woman who is developing similarly
through three lifetimes to become complete as well, and they ultimately find
true completion only in each other.

It's very well done, and I won't spoil it for those who haven't read it by
saying more about it, but it is well worth reading.

What is relevant to Ginny is that the woman who finally becomes the full
complement of the hero, Amanda Morgan, is a chosen child who waited several
generations to be born.  There are three Amanda Morgans, each of whom is a
great leader of a great people, but there is a strong sense that the child
Amanda Morgan will be the child of destiny.   The analogy goes deeper than
that, but I would have to run on for pages to go farther.  Suffice it to say
that I think Ginny may have been born at this time because Harry will not
win without her.  (In fact, we may find that another prophecy points to that
-- maybe even the "and none shall come after" one that broke.)

Getting back to Potterverse, Harry as a young man is quite incomplete.  He
has some extraordinary abilities, but he is also lacking many of the things
that would come with growing up in a loving home with one's parents.  He
needs to be raised up by that body/mind/spirit trio in maternal form.

The first woman in the WW he meets is Molly Weasley, who is motherly to him
from the moment they meet.  Molly strengthens and comforts his spirit.  The
second woman he meets in the WW is Minerva McGonagall, who is smart, strict,
and sharp -- the completer of his mind.  His mother, of course, represents
the third in that trio -- and she has protected his body with her own, and
he carries the blood of her sacrifice for him within his own body.  He also
has her eyes, which JKR has said is important (but not why.)

The second trio of women who complete Harry as equals are still developing
into their roles, but Hermione as McGonagall's protégé has been obvious from
the start.  Luna, with her silvery eyes, name, personal grief, touching
struggles with being picked on, and matter of fact compassion, seems to be
stepping into the role of spiritual complement to Harry.  That leaves Ginny
to pick up the third area of body complement, or soul-mate.

One thing I *don't* like about this analogy, strong as it is, is that it
most likely means that the older trio will have to be put out of the story
before the younger trio can grow into their full roles.  That's bad news for
both MM and Molly, and I would hate to see either of them go.  I fear,
however, that may have been JKR's plan from the beginning, and I have to
admit that the plot development aspects of losing either of them are
stunning.

BTW, I don't agree at all with those who complain that Ginny changes from
books 1-4 to book 5.  She acts in book 5 exactly as I've been seeing her act
all along, but behind the scenes, as it were.  The clues are there all the
way through, even though Harry doesn't notice them.  She does mature a lot
in her fourth year, but not by any sort of a stretch.

In short, I think Ginny was chosen to be born just as Harry was, and two of
them will defeat LV, not Harry alone.  Without Ginny, Hermione, and Luna,
Harry will never be complete enough to do it.  Hermione and Luna will in
turn be completed by Ron and possibly Viktor.  Ginny, of course, will be
completed by Harry.

Vivamus