Okay, okay, don't snap my head off. I know I'm late. I won't try gauging just how late I am (three weeks?). I apologise. Will saying 'I forgot' help? Probably not. I've just been so caught up with stuff these days that I completely forgot this, even though the Neville DoTW was pinned up there. Why? Because they're always the same topics, my eyes usually just pass over them.
But now! Here's this week's Discussion of The Week. And who are we discussing? None other than… you guessed it (or probably you didn't, since I just took a random pick a second before typing this line), Luna Lovegood! Yay! I thought it was apt to discuss her since we have now found an actress for her—Evanna Lynch. However, keep in mind that we are discussing Luna and not Evanna.. Um, so, moving right along, HP Lexicon's take on Luna Lovegood—
Luna Lovegood
"Wit
beyond measure is man's greatest treasure..."
-- Luna Lovegood, unexpectedly
"You
can laugh, but people used to believe there were no such things as the
Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack!"
-- Luna Lovegood
"I
think I'll just go down and have some pudding and wait for it all to turn up -
it always does in the end -"
-- Luna Lovegood
Ravenclaw, Y12 - Y19.
Hair: dirty blonde, waist-length
and straggly.
Eyes: protuberant,
with very faint eyebrows.
Distinguishing features:
dreamy look, often seems to have turned up wherever she is completely by
accident .
Age: b. ca. Y1 .
Interests: holds a
variety of rather strange beliefs which seem to have no basis in fact, but her
steadfast faith and calm demeanor are in some ways her finest strengths. While
she believe in Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, she also believes that she will see
her deceased mother again after death, and it is this belief which comforts
Harry
House: Ravenclaw,
same year as Ginny.
Name derivations
"loony" Eng. slang - 'crazy,' from
"lunatic", which is from luna = Latin, 'moon', derived from the
belief that sanity is affected by the phase of the moon.
"love" + "good"
could refer to the fact that Luna shows the rather peculiar but admirable
quality of loving those who don't show much affection toward her (judging by
the way she acts towards those she knows are ridiculing her and stealing her
things).
Profile
Luna Lovegood is a witch in Ginny's year who is considered a bit weird by her
classmates. She comes by this reputation honestly: Luna simply isn't like the
other kids at all. She dresses unusually, she proclaims her strange beliefs to
anyone who will listen, and in some ways she seems to be completely out of
touch with what's going on around her. She has a somewhat bizarre sense of
appropriate social behavior. For example, for a Quidditch match where the
students wave banners and wear rosettes in team colors, Luna sports a hat with
a life-sized lion's head on it which roars very realistically.
Luna is often the butt of jokes. She is called Loony Lovegood behind her back. She has a habit of tucking her wand behind her ear for safe-keeping. Others steal her possessions all through the year and she is forced to put up notices on the last day of term, asking for her things back. Her peculiar habits -- wearing butterbeer corks and radishes for jewelry, for example -- make her the target of teasing and ridicule. Through it all, Luna is surprisingly patient and accepting. She doesn't fight back or even seem to notice, although she is certainly aware of much of the teasing. She knows that her nickname is Loony, for example, but mentions it to Harry in a very matter-of-fact way.
Harry met Luna for the first time aboard the Hogwarts Express on September 1, Y15. He, Ginny, and Neville shared a compartment with her on the train. She was reading a copy of The Quibbler magazine upside down. She informed the others that her father is the editor of The Quibbler, a magazine which most in the Wizarding World consider a joke. She laughed a little too loud, she stared at the other kids, and generally made an odd traveling companion. Harry privately thought, when Cho happened by their compartment to say hello, that he would much rather have been sitting with "cooler" kids than Luna and Neville.
Harry was unsure about her, especially when it turned out that she was the only one that he knew who could see the Thestrals. She told him that he was as sane as she was, which wasn't all that comforting to hear. Over the course of the year, Luna proved to be a faithful friend to Harry and his friends. She supported the Gryffindor team against every other house except Ravenvclaw. She took a stand in favor of believing Harry in front of a group of other fourth and fifth year students. She joined the DA and worked hard. That training paid off in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, during which she fought bravely against the Death Eaters.
Perhaps Luna's greatest moment, however, came at the very end of the school year. Harry was suffering terribly from the loss of his godfather and he spent a frantic few hours trying to find some way to contact Sirius. He tried methods similar to sances and contacted ghosts to try to talk to the dead but found comfort in none of these things. When Luna encountered Harry, she spoke of the comfort which she has in knowing that she will see her dead mother again. This spoke of an almost Christian belief in an afterlife, and it is this kind of belief, coming from a girl who believes so many unusual things, that brought true comfort to Harry.
Interestingly, Luna seems to be more serene and composed than most of her peers. She often stares off into the distance and seems detatched from what is going on around her. Her deeply-held beliefs, although not understood or accepted by those around her, do give her a certain dignity. By the end of the Y15-Y16 school year, she was much more accepted as a friend and comrade by Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Luna's family is possibly the Lovegoods mentioned as living near Ottery St. Catchpole. Her father is the editor of The Quibbler. Her mother was a "quite extraordinary" witch who loved to experiment. When Luna was nine years old, one of her mother's spells went rather horribly wrong and she was killed. Luna still misses her terribly sometimes, but she finds comfort knowing that she'll see her again one day in the afterlife.
Essay: Luna's Place in the Expanding Circle of Friends by Antosha
*
So, what are your takes on Luna? She's certainly an odd one, but also a completely loyal person. How do you suppose she'll be vital in the future? Frankly, I see her very calm and composed, and probably someone who can handle great stress. Or maybe, she doesn't know what great stress is, because she's always dreamy.
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