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okay, i'm going to nerd myself out a little bit here and talk about harry potter. i've read all the books multiple times and i love the series. i'd say my favorite character is ron in both the books and the movies. but i came across this article and i have a newfound appreciation for none other than neville longbottom. i think i've always loved him right from that first train ride to hogwarts in the beginning all the way to the head chopping of the snake at the end. but this article put his role into a great perspective in my opinion. here are some of my favorite excerpts :
"See, Rowling largely operates
Harry’s generation in a clear system of parallels to the previous generation,
Marauders and all. Harry is his father—Quidditch star, a little pig-headed
sometimes, an excellent leader. Ron is Sirius Black—snarky and fun, loyal to a
fault, mired in self-doubts. Hermione is Remus Lupin—book smart and meticulous,
always level-headed, unfailingly perceptive. Ginny is Lily Evans—a firecracker,
clever and kind, unwilling to take excuses. Draco Malfoy is Severus Snape—a
natural foil to Harry, pretentious, possessed of the frailest ego and also
deeper sense of right and wrong when it counts. And guess what?
Neville Longbottom is Peter Pettigrew.
Or, at least, he could have been.
Neville is a perfect example of how one single ingredient in the recipe can
either ruin your casserole (or stew, or treacle tart, whatever you like), or
utterly perfect your whole dish. Neville is the tide-turner, the shiny hinge.
And all because he happens to be in the same position as Wormtail… but makes
all the hard choices that Pettigrew refused the first time around. Other
characters are in similar positions, but none of them go so far as Neville.
None of them prove that the shaping of destiny is all on the individual the way
he does.
But that lack of confidence from
his peers doesn’t lead him to throw in the towel; his self-deprecation
eventually turns into a dogged insistence on growing his skill set, on offering
his help whether or not it’s been called for, on figuring out how he can best
be of use in the coming fight.
More important than Neville’s
defense of what’s right is his role as a keeper of hope. Neville comes to
Harry’s aid when no one believes what he says, fights alongside him when most
flee at the prospect of real danger, then keeps his platoon going from inside
Hogwarts during Harry’s absence. He has the hardest job of anyone, and it’s a
responsibility he takes on without being asked or expected to do so. He houses
refuges in the Room of Requirement, lets everyone know that Dumbledore’s Army
is alive and well. Epic tales always demand that someone never give up the
cause no matter how bleak things seem, and that’s Neville through and through.
His friends are kidnapped, tortured and gone, but he stays at Hogwarts while
two Death Eaters are teaching classes and keeps the candle burning for Harry,
Ron, and Hermione’s return. If he hadn’t, who knows if the Battle of Hogwarts
could have even taken place. Still, Harry didn’t come up with Neville’s role in
a brilliant moment of strategic awareness—they simply got lucky that Neville
decided he wanted the job.
That distinction makes Neville
Longbottom the truest of Gryffindors and a surprising balancing point of the
entire Harry Potter narrative. Who Peter Pettigrew might have been had he
understood that courage wasn’t about blind action, but about doing what was
needed even if no one ever asked. In a world of leaders and followers, there
are some who don’t attempt to fit either mold, and it is those distinct few who
really determine the future of us all. That is what Neville Longbottom can
teach us."
so basically, neville is the kind of friend i want to have and the kind of friend i want to be. gosh i love books and movies. this article is a good read for all my fellow harry potter nerds.
now im going to go have a marathon.
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