Luna Lovegood

Template:HP character Luna "Loony" Lovegood is a fictional character from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. She is described as looking like an embodiment of dottiness, with her wand tucked behind her ear for safekeeping and a necklace made of butterbeer caps. Luna's father is the editor of The Quibbler, where he prints "important stories he thinks the public needs to know." The stories are often untrue and silly; however, Luna believes them and she thus has many weird beliefs. Luna defends her beliefs, father and his magazine against insults from other characters, most notably Hermione Granger.

J. K. Rowling says Luna is sort of the "anti-Hermione," as Luna believes things on faith alone and Hermione grounds her beliefs on facts and logic. Hermione repeatedly tries to convince Luna that her beliefs are nonsense, to no avail. Luna sees Hermione as being narrow-minded and Hermione sees Luna as being very gullible. Hermione seems to have realised that Luna would not falter in her beliefs by the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: when Luna said she and her father were going on an expedition to Sweden to catch a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, Hermione responded in a polite manner rather than try to convince her that there is no such thing as a Crumple-Horned Snorkack.

Luna is in Ravenclaw and Ginny Weasley's year, her fourth in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and must consequently have entered Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. She is called "Loony Lovegood" behind her back, although she is aware of this and doesn't seem to mind (or even notice.) Some of her classmates regularly steal her possessions and hide them for the fun of it. When she tells Harry this in an offhanded conversation, she unintentionally wins his sympathy. Harry offers to help her find her lost things, but she refuses. It is interesting that while Luna does not care about her own image, she does care what people think of her father's magazine.

Though Luna is aware of how she is teased, she does seem to be somewhat naive about others' views on her. She is not aware that some of her friends, such as Ginny, take part in calling her "Loony Lovegood," and that Harry does not find being told he is just as sane as Luna very comforting. Luna believed Harry's story about his escape from Lord Voldemort, and defended it in front of a group of skeptical students. Luna joined Dumbledore's Army and was involved in the battle in the Department of Mysteries (along with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley.)

Luna has straggly, waist-length dirty blond hair and is described as having a dazed look on her face. Her eyes are described as "silvery" and "misty," which suggests they may be pale grey. They are also described as "protruberant," which adds to the peculiarity of her appearance. A common speculation is that the largeness of her eyes is not merely a comedic exaggeration, but as in many classical artworks, is symbolic of a keen sense of awareness, insight, or profound spirituality.

Despite her eccentricity, Luna seems to be to legally sane, as she is always aware of who she is and where she is. Her main abnormal quality of absentmindedness, helped by her strange beliefs and unusual attire, is enough to give her the reputation of being mentally unbalanced.

The name "Luna" is Latin for the Moon. This obviously refers to Luna's absentmindedness and clearly unconventional patterns of thought, since in ancient times the Moon was thought to induce insanity in people (hence the word "lunatic," which is, unsurprisingly, the source of Luna's nickname, "Loony"). The origin of the surname "Lovegood" is more ambigious. Obviously, it combines the English words "love" and "good", both of which have very positive conotations (as in "a fight between good and evil, love and hate.") This could refer to her kind character, or be simply an idiosyncrasy of the author. Her last name could also be a reference to Elliot Lovegood Grant Watson, who wrote numerous books highlighting the insufficiencies of Darwinism after he was raised by a mother who adored Darwin. It could, therefore, be a reference to how The Quibbler attacks widely accepted beliefs.

Luna was never mentioned before Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, though in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire it was mentioned that the Lovegood family lived in the area of the Burrow. It is never stated that this is Luna's family, but J. K. Rowling rarely throws away connections, and it can be presumed that even if the people living near the Burrow are not Luna's family, they are probably related in some way.

There is no declaration as of yet regarding who will play the part of Luna in the fifth Harry Potter film.

Luna says her late mother was a "quite extraordinary witch" who liked "to experiment". She died when one of her spells went "rather badly wrong." Luna says it was "rather horrible" and admits she still feels sad about it sometimes, but is relieved she still has her father. As Luna witnessed her mother's death at the age of nine, she has been able to see Thestrals since she arrived at Hogwarts.

In the Department of Mysteries, Luna claims to be able to hear voices behind a mysterious veil (often referred to in the world of fanfiction as the "Veil of Death" or the "Black Veil", though it is never named in the book itself) in the Death Chamber. Harry could also hear these voices and Luna appears to believe that dead people, including her mother, reside behind the veil.

When she explains this to Harry, who was having trouble getting over Sirius Black's death, he does not know what to make of it -- another unusual belief of Luna's, or perhaps a comforting metaphor? This question will probably be answered in the forthcoming Harry Potter books, as we see to what extent Harry's deceased godfather still plays a role in his life.

Nevertheless, it is worth noting that Harry felt like discussing Sirius' death with Luna, when he did not feel comfortable talking about it with anyone else. Many fans believe this is because they share horrible tragedies in their past and that they have both been considered to be mentally unbalanced by others and thus can relate to each other.

External links

• Luna's entry in the Harry Potter Lexicon (http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/luna.html)
• Unique: The Fanlistings.org approved Luna Fanlisting (http://www.rictusempra.com/luna/)
• Harrypotterfanfiction.com: The site of many Luna-centered stories (http://www.harrypotterfanfiction.com)
• Luna fanfiction (http://loony.vanishing-glass.net/)

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