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20 June 2013

A character's complaint to its creator

If a character was to speak and complain to his creator, what would he choose to complain about? Ron Weasley, from the Harry Potter series speaks to J.K. Rowling about how he thinks he is the least valued character. Disclaimer: I appreciate Ron Weasley and his role in the series; this is just a wild figment of my imagination!

Ron Weasley: Hermoine is the smart one; Neville is the clumsy one who suddenly grows up; Luna is the eccentric one; Harry is well, Harry. And I am what? The guy who always leaves? 


J. K. Rowling: Of course not, Ron! You are the one who always returns.

Ron: Don’t you give me Harry’s line again! I have heard it far too many times.

Rowling: Oh don’t you forget, I was the one who gave it to Harry in the first place. And I think you are unnecessarily complaining.

Ron: Okay, if this isn’t required, then tell me one thing the readers and the Magical community is going to know me for.

Rowling: If you insist, then here goes. You are the one who provided stability and moral support to Harry throughout his rather bumpy life. You stood by him and believed in him and his stories when no one else did.

Ron: Then why did you make me leave him during the Triwizard Tournament?

Rowling: Be reasonable! I needed to ensure that Harry is as unprepared as possible when he faces those dragons. How was I going to account for Sirius not being able to communicate with him?

Ron: So you make me the bad guy?! And what about the time we were looking for Hocruxes?

Rowling: You were influenced by the locket at that time, Ron. You tried to come back but by then these people had already left.

Ron: Fine! Then tell me, what was I good at? What was my place in the group?

Rowling: You were the guy who provided us with some wit and humour. Your emotional range was always some good fun! You were also the person who provided these two Muggle-borns with some background.

Ron: Which any library could have told them!

Rowling: You don’t get it Ron! Your job was to show that at the end of the day, you were humans! That, despite all that you faced and endured, it was still possible to find humour, to feel jealous, to be normal!

Ron: Anyone could have done that! Why me?

Rowling: Okay, do you want to know your tangible contributions to the cause? Here you go then. You ensured that they won the chess game back in part one.

Ron: Okay…

Rowling: You were the one who saved Harry from the Dursleys during that summer break where he would have starved otherwise. You were the one who understood the Parselmouth connection the second year. You stood by Harry when he learnt about Sirius, at the cost of your dear rat.

Ron: I was obviously going to choose Harry over Pettigrew!

Rowling: See that is the point! For all your complains about being the guy who left, you were the one who, unflinchingly, always choose Harry. In the fifth year you were the one who supported and facilitated Dumbledore’s Army and the one who believed in his dream.

Ron: Which killed Sirius!

Rowling: Now don’t you also take blame for that! Harry holding himself accountable was hard enough to write.

Ron: Well it was hard enough for him to endure, more than for you to write it! Anyway, coming back to the point, am I not the guy who could most easily be replaced by someone else?

Rowling: Don’t you forget how you supported Harry when Hermoine was bulldozing him to give up on the Prince’s copy of the Potions book. And remember the times when you were the only sane voice Harry had with Hermoine’s ideas? I am sure you haven’t forgotten SPEW!

Ron: Oh! I never will!

Rowling: And your most recent contributions during the Battle of Hogwarts! You were the one who remembered the house elves and it was your idea to re-enter the Chamber of Secrets for the basilisk venom!

Ron: Okay, let me rephrase my stand. Name one thing that people will remember me for. One distinct, distinguishing factor.

Rowling: Your wit and loyalty!

Ron: Okay, even if I do admit that I was known for being someone other than the person who always needed a good meal, why was I portrayed by such a forgettable character in the movies?

Rowling: Oh that. A little bit of fun does no one any harm now, does it?!





2 comments:

  1. It should be "complaint" not "complain" in the title. And why "it"? It's a person to whom you refer. And actually, the one thing people will remember Ron for, is that he scored Hermione :p

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  2. Thank you GK! Mistake in the title corrected.
    But I disagree with the second bit and so have left it that way. A character, at the end of the day is a figment of someone's imagination and however alive it may seem to be; it is a non living entity.

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