Luna Lovegood

Template:Infobox Harry Potter character Luna Lovegood is a fictional character in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. The character first appears in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, in which she is described as having straggly, waist-length dirty-blond hair and a dazed look on her face. Her eyes are "silvery", "misty", and "protuberant" (the last quality serving to give her a "permanently surprised look").

The character is portrayed by Irish actress Evanna Lynch in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. On her website, Rowling described the actress as "perfect" for the role. Lynch had to bleach her hair a light blonde colour in order to play the role, and it has been confirmed that she will reprise the role in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Character development

Rowling has often said that Luna is the "anti-Hermione", as Luna believes things on faith alone, while Hermione grounds her views on facts and logic. Hermione repeatedly tries to convince Luna that her beliefs are nonsense, but to no avail. This is not to suggest that Luna is unintelligent; indeed, as a Ravenclaw, it is her belief that "wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure". Hermione sees Luna as gullible, whereas Luna views Hermione as narrow-minded. Although they have different views, Luna and Hermione eventually become friends.

Despite her quirkiness, Luna is often perceptive about human nature, and Harry notes her knack for blunt honesty. She also holds her friends in extremely high regard, as Harry notices (with affection) that she has painted portraits of her friends (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville) on the ceiling of her room, connected by chains made of the word "friends" repeated over and over. Clearly, and despite recurring rudeness from Ron and Hermione, she regards these five as people very close to her.

Both Luna's parents are magical. Her father, Xenophilius Lovegood, makes his first appearance in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, though he is earlier identified by his daughter as the editor-in-chief of The Quibbler, a magazine that, according to Luna, publishes "important stories he thinks the public needs to know". Her mother was, according to Luna, an extraordinary witch who died when a spell experiment went wrong. Luna witnessed the death of her mother when she was only nine and thus she is able to see Thestrals. Luna appears to be an only child as no mention is made of siblings. The Lovegoods live near Ottery St. Catchpole, a small village on the south coast of England that is also home to the Weasley family.

Appearances

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Luna first appears in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when Harry, Ginny, and Neville join her in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Luna is in Ravenclaw. Luna is isolated at school, but she appears to care little for what others think. She is aware of — but seems unperturbed by — the nickname "Loony", by which she is widely known among the students, and is largely unfazed when her classmates tease her by regularly stealing and hiding her possessions. Nevertheless, she values her few friends.

Harry, during this particularly turbulent year of his life, forms a strong friendship with Luna, who is the only person who can quell his anger and calm him down when many of his closer friends cannot, and she supports Harry many times during the series. She and her father, Xenophilius Lovegood, believe Harry and Albus Dumbledore when they claim that Lord Voldemort has returned; with Hermione, Luna persuades Rita Skeeter to interview Harry so that his views can be published in The Quibbler, the magazine to which Luna's father is the editor. Luna also becomes a member of Dumbledore's Army, and later in the book joins Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville in the conflict with Death Eaters at the Ministry of Magic Department of Mysteries and, when she is separated from Harry along with Ron and Ginny, appears to be the only one uninjured until hit by a stunning spell. Towards the end of Book 5, Luna consoles Harry by sharing her views on death after the loss of his godfather, Sirius Black.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Luna is first seen on the Hogwarts Express. When some other female students invite Harry to join them in their compartment by saying that he does not have to sit with Luna and Neville, implying that they are undesirable companions, Harry witheringly states, "They're friends of mine." Luna observes in her bluntly honest way that people expect someone like Harry to have "cooler friends than us". Harry's response, indicative of the increased fondness he has developed for the pair, is that she and Neville are cool.

At Christmas, Harry invites Luna on a platonic date to the party hosted by Horace Slughorn. Despite wearing a spangled silvery dress, she looks quite nice, Harry notices, and her conversation about the Rotfang conspiracy (wherein the Aurors are allegedly attempting to bring down the Ministry via a combination of Dark Magic and gum disease) has Harry coughing into his drink with laughter. Luna also does the Quidditch commentary for Gryffindor's game against Hufflepuff, during which she says little about the play - talking instead about "interestingly-shaped clouds" above the stadium and how nice Ginny is and referring to one of the Hufflepuff players as suffering from "Loser's Lurgy". Minerva McGonagall does not quite know what to do with her, but some fans find her commentary highly amusing. This wins over Ron, who remarks that Luna may be mad, but in a good way. The author noted in an interview that she "really enjoyed" writing Luna's commentary and considered it "blinding insight".

Later, when Death Eaters attack Hogwarts, Luna, Ginny and Neville are the sole D.A. members who answer the call to protect the school. During Dumbledore's funeral, Harry feels a "great rush of affection" for both Luna and Neville as the former helps the latter into his seat.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Luna and her father attend Bill and Fleur's wedding at the Burrow, during which she immediately recognises Harry, despite the fact that he is disguised with Polyjuice Potion, simply by the expression he has on his face. Luna later returns to school for her sixth year, where she and Ginny help Neville secretly revive Dumbledore's Army, to the fury of Alecto and Amycus Carrow, Death Eater siblings sent to teach at Hogwarts. During the first term, the trio break into the office of Severus Snape and attempt to steal the sword of Gryffindor to help Harry on his journey. They are captured and apparently punished for their crime, but the sanction was a visit to the Forbidden Forest with Rubeus Hagrid.

During Harry's visit to the Lovegood residence, he notices several pieces of evidence suggesting that Luna hasn't been home for weeks despite it being the Christmas break: dust over a photograph of her and her mother, no clothes in her wardrobe, and her bed, which looks like it hasn't been slept in for some time. It is then revealed that while travelling home for Christmas on the Hogwarts Express that year, Luna was kidnapped in an effort to prevent her father from publishing information in support of Harry Potter in The Quibbler. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione are at the Lovegoods' home, Xenophilius, desperate to save his daughter and only child, betrays them to the Death Eaters in the hope that doing so will secure Luna's release. The trio narrowly escapes - only to land in the cellar of Malfoy Manor as captives themselves a few months later. There, they find Luna being held hostage along with Mr Ollivander the wand maker. They are all rescued by Dobby the house elf, who brings them to Shell Cottage, the residence of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour, where protective enchantments keep them safe.

When Harry returns to Hogwarts in search of the Ravenclaw item that Voldemort had turned into a Horcrux, Luna helps him enter Ravenclaw's common room in order to view a replica of Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem. She stuns Alecto Carrow when they are discovered. Later, she fights bravely in the Battle of Hogwarts and summons her Patronus charm to help fight off hundreds of oncoming Dementors about to attack Harry, Ron and Hermione. After Harry's supposed death, Luna ends up duelling Bellatrix Lestrange, along with Hermione and Ginny, until Molly Weasley takes over and defeats Bellatrix herself. Finally, Luna is among the first to congratulate Harry when Voldemort is defeated. After the battle, she seems to be the only one who recognises that Harry needs some peace and quiet, so she provides a distraction in order that he can escape under his Invisibility Cloak.

Life after the book series

In Rowling's first televised interview after the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, she revealed a number of aspects of Luna's life after Hogwarts. Luna continues to be an eccentric individual and pursues a career that is "the wizarding equivalent" of a naturalist. She comes to terms with her father's sometimes-false beliefs, but Rowling explains that her background has fostered in her a singular open-mindedness that allows her to make discoveries that more "reality"-oriented individuals might be unable to recognise.

In a later webchat-based interview, Rowling explained that Luna discovered many new species of animals and became quite famous for it, although she eventually was forced to admit that Crumple-Horned Snorkacks do not actually exist. She married a fellow naturalist, the grandson of Newt Scamander, named Rolf.

In the JKR Documentary on ITV, she drew a family tree of the new generation of Weasleys, including Luna and Rolf. They had twin boys, named Lorcan and Lysander. The twins were born several years after Luna's friends had their own children. It was also revealed that Harry and Ginny named their third child and only daughter Lily Luna after their "dear friend".

External links

• Luna Lovegood on Harry Potter Wiki, an external wiki
• Luna's page at the Harry Potter Lexicon