I've been asked if this is now just a reading blog. Reading will always feature here, since you're supposed to write what you know, but I will try to get to some real-world topics.
Tomorrow.
Not today.
Today is HARRY POTTER PREMIERE DAY!!! Yeah I'm more excited than Rowling is, and I don't get to go swimming in a freshly-filled money pool tomorrow. I can't help it - it's almost as good as the days new books came out. Sadly this will also be the good-bye to the regular Harry Potter What-If series. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have.
What If Harry hadn't friended Ron on the Hogwarts Express? Seriously, what would he have missed? What did Ron EVER provide that a substitute partner-in-crime (Dean? Seamus? Neville?)? The Weasleys would all still have been in the Order, his path to Ginny would have been far more open, and I just can't see what would be missing. Harry's foster family would be missing, although if he dated Ginny, I think they would've loved him just as much. The locket wasn't wrong - Harry and Hermione were doing fine without him.
Maybe it didn't make a difference to Harry, but Ron's life was MUCH better... he got perspective about his functional family, what "real" riches is, and all that stuff. I think Ron is yin to Harry's yang. One got fame and fortune, the other got stability and a happy family. Each envied the other, but ... and now my argument fizzles out. However, I DO think that Ron was a good sidekick.
ReplyDelete~Karen
I think it would have made a difference because it provided Harry with more contact with the Order (whether the Order wanted certain information to be know or not), the twins might not have given Harry that special map-which led to the discovery that rat guy was really alive (sorry i'm terrible with names), ron might not have told harry that dragons were going to be the next test in the goblet of fire...i'm sure i could think of some more later. enjoy the movie
ReplyDeleteChristina
Best HPWI yet. I suspect that Harry wouldn't have had quite such an easy friendship with the Weasley twins, meaning he may have never come across the Marauder's Map, or had the benefit of their general mischief when dealing with Umbridge. Without the map, the plot line that leads to discovering the truth about Sirius falls through. Seems like Ron's greatest contribution was his family. Well, and the fact that he ate the love potion-tainted chocolates before Harry got to them.
ReplyDeleteI kinda think the twins might have liked Harry better if he hadn't been with their little brother. Just based on siblings I know. Maybe Harry could've taken Lee's place, and his inter-Voldemort activities would've been pranks instead of watching Ron and Hermione fight!
ReplyDeleteI think that Harry, Ron, and Hermione all benefited from Harry meeting Ron. I wouldn't really want to see how the world continued without that meeting and friendship.
ReplyDeleteIf Harry's best friend wasn't one of his roommates, nighttime mischief (key in so many ways to the stories) would have been much harder. Neither Dean nor Seamus would have helped Harry learn about the wizarding world, being raised by Muggles themselves. Neville would have been a pretty difficult best friend to have, especially early on. Ron provided a strong link to the wizarding world and its history, a friend who was pure-blood but not "purebloodist", a substitute family, and a friend who was about the most loyal you could have found. Few other people would have stood by him during the Chamber of Secrets debacle, for example. One could also argue that without Ron, Harry wouldn't have become friends with Hermione (via the troll incident). I think Harry would have been much worse off without Ron as his best friend.
ReplyDeleteI have another what-if to contemplate. Let me see what you would do with this. In the first book, Harry has a couple of opportunities to start a friendship with Draco, who was actually the first wizard his own age that he met, in Madam Malkin's. What if, feeling insecure, he grabbed the first friend he could find? Would he have sat with Draco on the train, and even been put in Slytherin (as the hat considered)? He still may have fulfilled his destiny, but what a radically different story it would turn out to be, if he had to betray his best friend and his school house to do so.
I could see an initial clinging to someone, but I can't imagine either Draco or Harry following the other. Both a little too take-charge to coexist. Raises an interesting question: if you didn't fit with your House at all, could you ever change?
ReplyDelete