An HP question...

[malsperanza]

...for once.

I'm curious: Why do people think Luna is not a complete or well-rounded character, and why do some of you think she is going to remain a secondary character? Is it because she is introduced so late in the story?

I find Luna more interesting and faceted than most of the one-note female characters (exept maybe McGonagall). She has secrets, and therefore she has potential. And pity (compassion) is very easily transformed into affection. Harry, Luna, and Neville are a Trio of people who have lost parents.

But mainly, I think it's obvious from an alchemical perspective that anyone named Luna (the Moon, one of the seven alchemical planets, associated with the alchemical metal silver) is going to be an important figure. The Moon is on the one hand Diana the Huntress and Artemis the Virgin; on the other hand, she is also associated with Venus. Don't be too distracted by the association with female lunacy.

Comments

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I didn't think she was not complete or well-rounded, at least compared to any other student. Luna's already been shown with more depth and with more background than many other students, including some who have been there since Year 1.

I don't know whether she's going to be important the way somebody like Sirius Black turned out to be important, but I think she was treated surprisingly well compared to other characters in terms of development.

[(Anonymous)]

After all, there's Lupin too, an incredibly important character, also moon-related, also called "Loony" and a favorite of lots of people. ^^

[chresimos.livejournal.com]

I don't think she's not well-rounded, I just don't like her very much. :) She gets a lot of, er, 'screen time' in OotP, and we are given very clear characterization of her(the sort of goofy, dreamy, yet 'cool' image) and yet sometimes she acts in ways that give her more depth (like at the end of OotP). So there you have the charicature-like, typical portrait, which many of JKR's characters get, and something more in addition, which few achieve. If I'm making any sense at all by this point.