Extra Credit Blog Post: Luna Lovegood

The emergence of Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix adds a spark of joy and depth to the series.  Throughout the series, Harry Potter continues to encounter the oddities of the wizarding world. Ron Weasley had grown up with things like Floo Powder, gnomes, and dishes that washed themselves, but Harry had not. Luna Lovegood is another one of these oddities. Luna is first introduced as Loony Lovegood. She kept her want behind her left ear and wore a necklace of butterbeer caps (Rowling 185). She read her father’s offbeat magazine The Quibbler upside down. She is not what is considered normal in the wizarding world. Luna only does not seem to have friends, except Ginny Weasley, who is just especially nice to her.

Luna and Harry make their first real connection with he can see the threstrals pulling the carriages. “I’ve been able to see them ever since my first day here. They’ve always pulled the carriages. Don’t worry. You’re just as sane as I am” (Rowling 199).  After this connection is made, Luna becomes a part of the Harry Potter support group. She joins Dumbledore’s Army when Professor Umbridge is controlling the school and not letting the students learn proper defense against the dark arts. She becomes another friend, another love one, and another connection for Harry Potter and her new friends. She protects both Ron and Ginny when they are being attacked by Death Eaters in the Ministry of Magic.

Luna’s continuous loyalty, honesty, and good-nature are all apart of her development in the books, she is another strong-willed woman J.K. Rowling creates. She knows about stuff that no one else knows, which is how she becomes so important in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. She is the one Ravenclaw that knows about Rowena Ravenclaw’s lost diadem, which is one of Lord Voldemort’s Horcruxes. She takes Harry to the Ravenclaw Common Room to find the Grey Lady, who is actually Helena Ravenclaw. Without Luna’s help Harry may not have been able to find the last horcrux and the ending of the series could have been better.

J.K. Rowling’s choice to make Luna the one to help Harry find the lost diadem helps Luna’s character develop into a truly strong and loyal person and friend. The reader is not introduce to Luna into the fifth book, her physical development is unknown, but in the last three Harry Potter books her loyalty and honesty continues to development and makes her such an amazing character.