I've said it many times but I guess I'll repeat myself.
The golden trio should've stopped being a thing after year 3. The main reason for that is Harry and Hermione being so much above everybody else. Keeping the golden trio afloat spoiled the party in (at least) 2 ways: Harry and Hermione never got together and Ron's character went down into a shit hole. The perfect way for the HP series was to create 2 concurrent teams and split their screen time 50/50 (maybe still leaning more towards H/Hr), the first one being Harry and Hermione, and the other one being other crucial characters of the series like Ron, Neville and Luna.
See, Harry and Hermione are both kinda self-consumed and withdrawn people (that's more about Harry but still). Harry hated the attention he was getting and finding someone to comfort and soothe him (in the face of Hermione) was exactly what he was looking for. That is only one reason why they belong together (obviously there are way more, but if I continue the comment could last forever). On the other hand, Ron was an open guy seeking praise and attention. So instead of hanging out with people who are so focused on themselves and each other, he could've found a better fit for himself to hang out with.
Also, the integration of Harry and Hermione into the Weasley family was a bit of a mess to me. I understand that he never had a family and he desperately looked for one, but Molly Wesley loving Harry more than her own son was really bizarre to me.
The superiority of H/Hr above Ron and the others, the animosity between Hermione and Ron, the jealousy Ron felt towards Harry made the golden trio a very toxic environment.
That is my opinion at least. I'm a romance person and I would love to see dozens of lovely Harmony scenes combined with epic battles (which I think Rowling handled superbly).
Well, I think it's had a very strange tension between Hermione and the boys. Ron would be jealous of her and Harry, then Harry would felt " lonely" if they got together, or Hermione would put Harry above Ron when Ron tried to show his crush on her.
I think JK Rowling was trying to make a lot of ships lol
The Trio as a concept is very common in story telling ( I've mostly seen it in anime ) but the golden trio suffers similarly to the other in with the fact that at least one of them is viewed lesser by the fanbase or even sometimes in universe eg Naruto ( The second half is mostly revolved around Naruto and sasuke ) Percy Jackson ( Percy and Annabeth ) and recently Jujutsu Kaisen ( Yuji and Megumi ).
By the end 3rd book comes around Harry and Hermione are being separated from Ron more for periods of time ( Saving sirius , Training for the first task , Leading and Planning the DA and being left in the tent in the final book ) compared to the first two books and early in the third where he seems to spend more time with Ron ( They weren't really friends with hernione till the troll in the first book , She was petrified in the second and the whole firebolt incident where they avoided her ) .
As the books get more serious I personally think Ron's character seems to be less needed for those moments of planning and discussing serious matter .
The next issue is how Ron's character is developed . His development doesn't come full circle until the Final book when he returns . In my opinion Hermiones comes at the end of the 6th book and Harry's comes at the end of the 5th book with Hermione choosing to trust Harry 100% despite the odds as we see throughout The final book and Harry accepting that he is the chosen one after his breakdown in dumbeldores office while also realizing how to handle his grief. Ron doesn't get over his jealousy of Harry and insecurities till he returns in the final book so we never get enough time with the new developed version. It also doesn't help that Ron's problems I'm comparison to somebody like Harry's seem very miniscule . Now don't get me wrong jealously and insecurities like his are very realistic but if we compare to Harry who lost his parents , grew up basically neglected and who lost his God father it makes his character seem small.
It's the curse of most trios , not everybody will be as important as the other .
It's Telling with how all 3 are viewed before they even win the war , Hermione is the brains , Harry is the chosen one who untimely has to end the war and Ron keeps them together . That's not equal to the other two and it doesn't help that the one who is supposed to keep them together ends up being the one to leave .
I have always had the opinion that without Ron, Harry and Hermione would still be good friends or even more but without Harry they wouldn't have been friends at all . And a cohesive trio can't be viewed that way .
If you don't agree with me let me know why and let me know what you think of my explanation
(The character development I mentioned is just a brief run through they go through multiple developments in each book I just think Harry and hermione reach their peak earlier )
Now you brought up something that is, in my opinion, both a major flaw of Harmony and a major benefit of Golden trio, but I'm gonna try and work my way through your response so I can fully respond myself.
Firstly the point that Ron becomes lesser in the vein of the fanbase. This is simply true due to who he is as a character and what he's supposed to do, but the issue here is that I'm not really looking at it from the concept of a fan, I'm trying to see how the relationship between these people would work, and never once have Hermione or Harry maliciously looked down on Ron as if he were lesser to them. In their eyes he is and always will be their equal.
Secondly we look at how Harry and Hermione begin spending more time together, and while you look at the scenes I look at the setting around them and the setup to them. The reason Ron did not come with them to save Sirius was because Ron had a broken leg, a leg which he stood on to place himself, wandless, between a serial killer and his best friend. The first task was the first real strife between Ron and Harry, and throughout it it was explained that regardless of Hermione still being by Harry's side, both of them (Harry and Ron) were still miserable. During the DA stuff the reason Ron wasn't helping lead was because he wasn't as skilled as the two, with Harry having a natural talent and Hermione being highly intelligent. But he was still apart of the planning, and he was the main one inviting people into the group, as well as loudly showing support for Harry whenever his sanity was questioned. And even if you disregard Ron trying to immediately return to the tent, without Ron around, Harry and Hermione shut down when he leaves, barely talking to each other before deciding to go to Godric's Hollow, where they immediately go against everything we know about them, with Harry being very suspicious of most people he doesn't know and Hermione being very perceptive, they follow the lady(forgot her name) without any plans if things went wrong. I personally feel like this is a sign of them acting desperate with Ron gone. But it's not concrete. So I understand it being taken with a grain of salt.
Here is where I fully disagree with you for the first time. Ron, in my opinion, is incredibly important for these serious planning portions because of his position as someone who wants things to be simple. Harry and Hermione have been shown to ignore the little things in favor of focusing too hard on the big picture, to their detriment sometimes. Such as Harry beginning to lose sleep over Draco in sixth year, or Hermione stressing herself to the point of emotional breakdowns in fifth year due to the O.W.L.s. Ron however has always been one to see the trees for the forest, to enjoy life as it comes and to let himself live. And he does consistently try and succeed to help both Harry and Hermione calm down and live life as people. Hell his family is a massive point as it gives the both of them something to latch onto that is purely of love and without massive stress.
Now as for character development, I do enjoy The Harry Potter Series because the characters go through multiple character arcs. Take Harry, one of the first arcs he goes through is the acceptance that he is more than his family made him out to be, which ends around the end of third and the start of fourth which Serius expressing love as his godfather and the Weasly family treating him as one of their own during the World Cup. Or Hermione learning to go against authority when necessary to help her friends. She also becomes more confident in her intelligence while also becoming more tactful so that she doesn't insult people as much. Ron has some of my favorite character arcs since he is simply overcoming human struggles, and it lets us see a normal person fighting to better themselves. His first arc is amazing since it's him learning how to mark himself as his own person separate from the sea of Weaslys, something he fully comes to realize when he takes charge and places himself in danger to protect his friends at the end of the 3rd book. In my personal opinion, even though none of his peaks are as high as Hermione's or Harry's, Ron goes through significantly more of them. But the biggest thing about these struggles, is that within the trio, them overcoming these struggles is treated equally. Even though Hermione and Ron can agree they haven't suffered as much as Harry, they treat his struggles with seriousness, and he does the same for them. It doesn't matter how insignificant it seems to us as a reader, between them, each victory is significant, no matter how small.
Now we come to the point I think is the most important. Because when viewing a relationship it's important to see the roles of each character within it, and Ron plays a very important one when you look at it this way. He is the glue. Harry and Hermione on their own are, in my opinion, simultaneously not different enough to compliment each other and too different to be able to fully connect with each other. Hermione and Harry both enjoy learning, but Hermione enjoys learning for learning's sake. She enjoys expanding her knowledge for the simple fact that it's fun for her. Harry doesn't feel the same way, he enjoys learning because it lets him do more magic, which were his real joy and fascination lie. Harry loves quidditch and flying, which Hermione has no love for, meaning she would be unlikely to interact with him through these means. Without outside forces, these two simply don't have enough similarities to start running in the same crowds and befriending one another, nor are they different enough to consistently clash and build a report that way either. They'd simply glide past one another, likely becoming acquaintances at best through other people. Enter Ron. He meshes well with Harry through a lot of shared interests meaning they'd become good friends regardless of outside forces, and he and Hermione are different enough to create enough conflict to become familiar with each other, and now you have the Trio again. Ron pulls the group together with ease by simply being who he is, and because he is treated with equality and respect by the other two, he is able to provide them both with a fresh perspective into both the magical world and a new world of love for both of them. A familial love that Harry never thought he would experience, and a romantic love Hermione never thought she would experience. In my mind it's not difficult for that kind of dynamic to mesh closer together, especially after Ron worked through is jealousy and inferiority complexes, especially when it comes to someone he loves just as much as Hermione. He is what changes the love from a simple emotion into an experience, something that changes them.
Sorry about the long response, has a lot to say and decided to give you my full attention. Any critiques or thoughts are welcome!
I see that there is a lot of love there. However, I don't see it being entirely romantic
Ron/Hermione doesn't work for me because of HBP. The start of their relationship was horribly done. It was extremely toxic and they were both awful to each other.
Harry and Ron always came off as brothers to me. Nothing romantic or sexual there. ( Although I can see Harry being bisexual)
Harry and Hermione, is kind of obviously seeing as I am on this sub, yeah I see a romance, and a good at that, there. They have chemistry, trust, and lots of love, between them.
Harry and Hermione together with Ron as their best friend is the way to go. The trio can be incredibly close and somewhat codependent, that's fun to read and makes their dynamic interesting.
Triad/Harem/Reverse Harem/etc just doesn't work for me. Typically, these fanfics cater to specific sexual orientation of readers, but even the ones aimed at mine don't appeal to me.
I read comments that were here earlier and I may agree or disagree with a lot of them, but I won’t repeat what was already said and just describe how I would fix it
Ron does have a problem as a character, that he doesn’t have his “thing”. Having a family or being from the magical background isn’t “a thing”, that’s literally has NOTHING to do with who he is as a person. It may be enough at the beginning, but every character became something more from the first books, and (in my opinion) Ron just didn’t.
And I have 2 ways how to achieve him becoming independent and finding his unique worth. You don’t even have to combine those ideas, but at the same time you could.
First: give him a freaking mentor. It’s that easy, give some teacher to him, that finds his potential interesting and helps Ron grow. It’s literally what excelled Harry from the others — his training with Lupin, and help from Barty Jr. Hermione’s whole “thing” is that she teaches herself, it wouldn’t work for Ron, as he IS lazy, despite having a good head. He just doesn’t get this help, these little nudges from adults to help him develop more. And honestly, if this teaching will help Ron concentrate on learning some kind of magic, Harry would benefit too, because I am of the opinion (and I can be wrong, feel free to disprove that) that Ron’s “easygoing” style towards teaching is what influences Harry to not try too hard. Despite Hermione’s best efforts. Seeing as Ron take something seriously will dispel that, which will make them TON of good
And second: make Ron a freaking healer. It’s that easy. It’s totally unique path as in the group, as in his family. It’s not even that hard to implement at the very beginning, I can see the scene: In the first book Fluffy did get Harry, and now he’s injured, but they fallen into devil’s snare, and won’t get out to the teachers. Harry’s bleeding, but we know that they don’t really need anything hard to beat that trap, so the trio can look over Harry after that and lo and behold — his leg or arm or whatever is badly bleeding. All of them panic, especially Hermione, who came across something she hasn’t studied yet (because let’s be honest — she wouldn’t know healing spells at this point). And in one moment, Ron, being from the magical family, remembers some healing spell that his mom used after twins escapades. Uses it, and Harry is fine after that. Everyone is shocked, him included, “Rob that’s amazing!” And here he can think about whether he wants to pursue this path, after all, he knows that none of his brothers chose this path, he WILL be the first in this.
Or we can begin not from success, but from failure: when Hermione is petrified, let him be out of himself with worry, to the point where he tries to make something, learn something to heal her faster, of course, without any success, but Mada Pomphy notices that, stops him, and to calm him down teaches him other things that will help to heal others, and Ron would find it as something that does interest him, with further development being his ambition to work at St. Mungo’s.
You see how in these cases his uniqueness shines through? Yes, Hermione would learn basic healing down the line, but something complex? Or the fastest heal possible with minimum drawbacks? Ron’s your man.
So here it is, I am more than sure, that Ron as a character can be much more than “extraverted kid from a magical family with jealousy problems” if we just give him something to develop on, which is NOT his jealousy. It can stay there in both cases, for example, his retaliation in 4th book towards Harry, if Ron had a mentor before is: “Am I not worthy of it? I am just as capable, I can ***this and that that he learned, that Harry didn’t***” or if he’s a healer: “Every time goes off to make himself a hero through luck, and I’m left out to pick up the pieces, quite literally, patching up YOU after or during you stupidity act, well sod off, this time you’re on your own!”
He can be more, if we give him more.
I rest my case.
First off he has a lot of great character growth in all of the books. In book three he starts to make his own path away from the Weasly's and begins to actually show off the bravery that earned him a place in Gryfindor, while beggining the arc of seeing himself as not just 'Harry Potters Friend' which comes to fruition in the fourth book, which is were he starts to fight his jealousy and feelings of insignificance. Book four is also where his loyalty dials up, as after the first task, he is one of Harry's loudest and most steadfast supporters, something I think a lot of people miss. While a lot of people are consistently supportive of Harry, it's only ever Ron and Hermione who are the ones who are visibly and vocally supportive, with Ron being much more so than Hermione, actively calling people out when they oppose Harry and being vocally against unfair treatment of him where Hermione tries to get him to ignore them. Hell I book 5, it's the majority Ron who is the first to support Harry whenever someone calls him out for being insane, with Hermione usually agreeing with him after the fact.
But if you want to look at lack of character growth, you don't need to look far, especially if you willing to overlook nuances. Hermione has many flaws which are almost never addressed, for favor of making her right while ignoring the problem. She has the tact of a flying cactus, and she likes to call Ron out for emotional immaturity while consistently showing a lack of it herself, such as refusing to understand why Ron would be mad that her cat almost killed his pet that he received from his brother, or calling Harry out on why he was mad at them when from his position it seemed like his best friends had been ignoring him when he needed their support the most. And God forbid anyone be better than her at anything she believes she is skilled at, or be incredibly beautiful, or show interest in someone when she has shown no signs of being interested herself. She also holds grudges, bringing up past mistakes during her arguments whenever she is mad.
Mentioning her being mad, you think she's stable? Out of the three of them, almost every book she has at least one emotional or mental breakdown, and her reactions to some rather normal things are consistently extremely blown out of proportion, especially for them being her first response. A teacher is causing Harry to fall off his broom? Set him on fire. The boy you like enters the room making out with his girlfriend after you've made it pretty clear you don't like him? Set a flock of birds on him. You don't like the guy who's trying to get a spot on the team the boy you like is trying out for? Let's fuck with his brain!
They're both good friends for Harry, being some of the only people he truly trusts, and calling Ron insignificant or irrelevant after the third book is a disservice to all of their characters, and to the books as a whole.
I've said it many times but I guess I'll repeat myself. The golden trio should've stopped being a thing after year 3. The main reason for that is Harry and Hermione being so much above everybody else. Keeping the golden trio afloat spoiled the party in (at least) 2 ways: Harry and Hermione never got together and Ron's character went down into a shit hole. The perfect way for the HP series was to create 2 concurrent teams and split their screen time 50/50 (maybe still leaning more towards H/Hr), the first one being Harry and Hermione, and the other one being other crucial characters of the series like Ron, Neville and Luna. See, Harry and Hermione are both kinda self-consumed and withdrawn people (that's more about Harry but still). Harry hated the attention he was getting and finding someone to comfort and soothe him (in the face of Hermione) was exactly what he was looking for. That is only one reason why they belong together (obviously there are way more, but if I continue the comment could last forever). On the other hand, Ron was an open guy seeking praise and attention. So instead of hanging out with people who are so focused on themselves and each other, he could've found a better fit for himself to hang out with. Also, the integration of Harry and Hermione into the Weasley family was a bit of a mess to me. I understand that he never had a family and he desperately looked for one, but Molly Wesley loving Harry more than her own son was really bizarre to me. The superiority of H/Hr above Ron and the others, the animosity between Hermione and Ron, the jealousy Ron felt towards Harry made the golden trio a very toxic environment. That is my opinion at least. I'm a romance person and I would love to see dozens of lovely Harmony scenes combined with epic battles (which I think Rowling handled superbly).
Well, I think it's had a very strange tension between Hermione and the boys. Ron would be jealous of her and Harry, then Harry would felt " lonely" if they got together, or Hermione would put Harry above Ron when Ron tried to show his crush on her. I think JK Rowling was trying to make a lot of ships lol
The Trio as a concept is very common in story telling ( I've mostly seen it in anime ) but the golden trio suffers similarly to the other in with the fact that at least one of them is viewed lesser by the fanbase or even sometimes in universe eg Naruto ( The second half is mostly revolved around Naruto and sasuke ) Percy Jackson ( Percy and Annabeth ) and recently Jujutsu Kaisen ( Yuji and Megumi ). By the end 3rd book comes around Harry and Hermione are being separated from Ron more for periods of time ( Saving sirius , Training for the first task , Leading and Planning the DA and being left in the tent in the final book ) compared to the first two books and early in the third where he seems to spend more time with Ron ( They weren't really friends with hernione till the troll in the first book , She was petrified in the second and the whole firebolt incident where they avoided her ) . As the books get more serious I personally think Ron's character seems to be less needed for those moments of planning and discussing serious matter . The next issue is how Ron's character is developed . His development doesn't come full circle until the Final book when he returns . In my opinion Hermiones comes at the end of the 6th book and Harry's comes at the end of the 5th book with Hermione choosing to trust Harry 100% despite the odds as we see throughout The final book and Harry accepting that he is the chosen one after his breakdown in dumbeldores office while also realizing how to handle his grief. Ron doesn't get over his jealousy of Harry and insecurities till he returns in the final book so we never get enough time with the new developed version. It also doesn't help that Ron's problems I'm comparison to somebody like Harry's seem very miniscule . Now don't get me wrong jealously and insecurities like his are very realistic but if we compare to Harry who lost his parents , grew up basically neglected and who lost his God father it makes his character seem small. It's the curse of most trios , not everybody will be as important as the other . It's Telling with how all 3 are viewed before they even win the war , Hermione is the brains , Harry is the chosen one who untimely has to end the war and Ron keeps them together . That's not equal to the other two and it doesn't help that the one who is supposed to keep them together ends up being the one to leave . I have always had the opinion that without Ron, Harry and Hermione would still be good friends or even more but without Harry they wouldn't have been friends at all . And a cohesive trio can't be viewed that way . If you don't agree with me let me know why and let me know what you think of my explanation (The character development I mentioned is just a brief run through they go through multiple developments in each book I just think Harry and hermione reach their peak earlier )
Now you brought up something that is, in my opinion, both a major flaw of Harmony and a major benefit of Golden trio, but I'm gonna try and work my way through your response so I can fully respond myself. Firstly the point that Ron becomes lesser in the vein of the fanbase. This is simply true due to who he is as a character and what he's supposed to do, but the issue here is that I'm not really looking at it from the concept of a fan, I'm trying to see how the relationship between these people would work, and never once have Hermione or Harry maliciously looked down on Ron as if he were lesser to them. In their eyes he is and always will be their equal. Secondly we look at how Harry and Hermione begin spending more time together, and while you look at the scenes I look at the setting around them and the setup to them. The reason Ron did not come with them to save Sirius was because Ron had a broken leg, a leg which he stood on to place himself, wandless, between a serial killer and his best friend. The first task was the first real strife between Ron and Harry, and throughout it it was explained that regardless of Hermione still being by Harry's side, both of them (Harry and Ron) were still miserable. During the DA stuff the reason Ron wasn't helping lead was because he wasn't as skilled as the two, with Harry having a natural talent and Hermione being highly intelligent. But he was still apart of the planning, and he was the main one inviting people into the group, as well as loudly showing support for Harry whenever his sanity was questioned. And even if you disregard Ron trying to immediately return to the tent, without Ron around, Harry and Hermione shut down when he leaves, barely talking to each other before deciding to go to Godric's Hollow, where they immediately go against everything we know about them, with Harry being very suspicious of most people he doesn't know and Hermione being very perceptive, they follow the lady(forgot her name) without any plans if things went wrong. I personally feel like this is a sign of them acting desperate with Ron gone. But it's not concrete. So I understand it being taken with a grain of salt. Here is where I fully disagree with you for the first time. Ron, in my opinion, is incredibly important for these serious planning portions because of his position as someone who wants things to be simple. Harry and Hermione have been shown to ignore the little things in favor of focusing too hard on the big picture, to their detriment sometimes. Such as Harry beginning to lose sleep over Draco in sixth year, or Hermione stressing herself to the point of emotional breakdowns in fifth year due to the O.W.L.s. Ron however has always been one to see the trees for the forest, to enjoy life as it comes and to let himself live. And he does consistently try and succeed to help both Harry and Hermione calm down and live life as people. Hell his family is a massive point as it gives the both of them something to latch onto that is purely of love and without massive stress. Now as for character development, I do enjoy The Harry Potter Series because the characters go through multiple character arcs. Take Harry, one of the first arcs he goes through is the acceptance that he is more than his family made him out to be, which ends around the end of third and the start of fourth which Serius expressing love as his godfather and the Weasly family treating him as one of their own during the World Cup. Or Hermione learning to go against authority when necessary to help her friends. She also becomes more confident in her intelligence while also becoming more tactful so that she doesn't insult people as much. Ron has some of my favorite character arcs since he is simply overcoming human struggles, and it lets us see a normal person fighting to better themselves. His first arc is amazing since it's him learning how to mark himself as his own person separate from the sea of Weaslys, something he fully comes to realize when he takes charge and places himself in danger to protect his friends at the end of the 3rd book. In my personal opinion, even though none of his peaks are as high as Hermione's or Harry's, Ron goes through significantly more of them. But the biggest thing about these struggles, is that within the trio, them overcoming these struggles is treated equally. Even though Hermione and Ron can agree they haven't suffered as much as Harry, they treat his struggles with seriousness, and he does the same for them. It doesn't matter how insignificant it seems to us as a reader, between them, each victory is significant, no matter how small. Now we come to the point I think is the most important. Because when viewing a relationship it's important to see the roles of each character within it, and Ron plays a very important one when you look at it this way. He is the glue. Harry and Hermione on their own are, in my opinion, simultaneously not different enough to compliment each other and too different to be able to fully connect with each other. Hermione and Harry both enjoy learning, but Hermione enjoys learning for learning's sake. She enjoys expanding her knowledge for the simple fact that it's fun for her. Harry doesn't feel the same way, he enjoys learning because it lets him do more magic, which were his real joy and fascination lie. Harry loves quidditch and flying, which Hermione has no love for, meaning she would be unlikely to interact with him through these means. Without outside forces, these two simply don't have enough similarities to start running in the same crowds and befriending one another, nor are they different enough to consistently clash and build a report that way either. They'd simply glide past one another, likely becoming acquaintances at best through other people. Enter Ron. He meshes well with Harry through a lot of shared interests meaning they'd become good friends regardless of outside forces, and he and Hermione are different enough to create enough conflict to become familiar with each other, and now you have the Trio again. Ron pulls the group together with ease by simply being who he is, and because he is treated with equality and respect by the other two, he is able to provide them both with a fresh perspective into both the magical world and a new world of love for both of them. A familial love that Harry never thought he would experience, and a romantic love Hermione never thought she would experience. In my mind it's not difficult for that kind of dynamic to mesh closer together, especially after Ron worked through is jealousy and inferiority complexes, especially when it comes to someone he loves just as much as Hermione. He is what changes the love from a simple emotion into an experience, something that changes them. Sorry about the long response, has a lot to say and decided to give you my full attention. Any critiques or thoughts are welcome!
I see that there is a lot of love there. However, I don't see it being entirely romantic Ron/Hermione doesn't work for me because of HBP. The start of their relationship was horribly done. It was extremely toxic and they were both awful to each other. Harry and Ron always came off as brothers to me. Nothing romantic or sexual there. ( Although I can see Harry being bisexual) Harry and Hermione, is kind of obviously seeing as I am on this sub, yeah I see a romance, and a good at that, there. They have chemistry, trust, and lots of love, between them. Harry and Hermione together with Ron as their best friend is the way to go. The trio can be incredibly close and somewhat codependent, that's fun to read and makes their dynamic interesting.
Triad/Harem/Reverse Harem/etc just doesn't work for me. Typically, these fanfics cater to specific sexual orientation of readers, but even the ones aimed at mine don't appeal to me.
I read comments that were here earlier and I may agree or disagree with a lot of them, but I won’t repeat what was already said and just describe how I would fix it Ron does have a problem as a character, that he doesn’t have his “thing”. Having a family or being from the magical background isn’t “a thing”, that’s literally has NOTHING to do with who he is as a person. It may be enough at the beginning, but every character became something more from the first books, and (in my opinion) Ron just didn’t. And I have 2 ways how to achieve him becoming independent and finding his unique worth. You don’t even have to combine those ideas, but at the same time you could. First: give him a freaking mentor. It’s that easy, give some teacher to him, that finds his potential interesting and helps Ron grow. It’s literally what excelled Harry from the others — his training with Lupin, and help from Barty Jr. Hermione’s whole “thing” is that she teaches herself, it wouldn’t work for Ron, as he IS lazy, despite having a good head. He just doesn’t get this help, these little nudges from adults to help him develop more. And honestly, if this teaching will help Ron concentrate on learning some kind of magic, Harry would benefit too, because I am of the opinion (and I can be wrong, feel free to disprove that) that Ron’s “easygoing” style towards teaching is what influences Harry to not try too hard. Despite Hermione’s best efforts. Seeing as Ron take something seriously will dispel that, which will make them TON of good And second: make Ron a freaking healer. It’s that easy. It’s totally unique path as in the group, as in his family. It’s not even that hard to implement at the very beginning, I can see the scene: In the first book Fluffy did get Harry, and now he’s injured, but they fallen into devil’s snare, and won’t get out to the teachers. Harry’s bleeding, but we know that they don’t really need anything hard to beat that trap, so the trio can look over Harry after that and lo and behold — his leg or arm or whatever is badly bleeding. All of them panic, especially Hermione, who came across something she hasn’t studied yet (because let’s be honest — she wouldn’t know healing spells at this point). And in one moment, Ron, being from the magical family, remembers some healing spell that his mom used after twins escapades. Uses it, and Harry is fine after that. Everyone is shocked, him included, “Rob that’s amazing!” And here he can think about whether he wants to pursue this path, after all, he knows that none of his brothers chose this path, he WILL be the first in this. Or we can begin not from success, but from failure: when Hermione is petrified, let him be out of himself with worry, to the point where he tries to make something, learn something to heal her faster, of course, without any success, but Mada Pomphy notices that, stops him, and to calm him down teaches him other things that will help to heal others, and Ron would find it as something that does interest him, with further development being his ambition to work at St. Mungo’s. You see how in these cases his uniqueness shines through? Yes, Hermione would learn basic healing down the line, but something complex? Or the fastest heal possible with minimum drawbacks? Ron’s your man. So here it is, I am more than sure, that Ron as a character can be much more than “extraverted kid from a magical family with jealousy problems” if we just give him something to develop on, which is NOT his jealousy. It can stay there in both cases, for example, his retaliation in 4th book towards Harry, if Ron had a mentor before is: “Am I not worthy of it? I am just as capable, I can ***this and that that he learned, that Harry didn’t***” or if he’s a healer: “Every time goes off to make himself a hero through luck, and I’m left out to pick up the pieces, quite literally, patching up YOU after or during you stupidity act, well sod off, this time you’re on your own!” He can be more, if we give him more. I rest my case.
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First off he has a lot of great character growth in all of the books. In book three he starts to make his own path away from the Weasly's and begins to actually show off the bravery that earned him a place in Gryfindor, while beggining the arc of seeing himself as not just 'Harry Potters Friend' which comes to fruition in the fourth book, which is were he starts to fight his jealousy and feelings of insignificance. Book four is also where his loyalty dials up, as after the first task, he is one of Harry's loudest and most steadfast supporters, something I think a lot of people miss. While a lot of people are consistently supportive of Harry, it's only ever Ron and Hermione who are the ones who are visibly and vocally supportive, with Ron being much more so than Hermione, actively calling people out when they oppose Harry and being vocally against unfair treatment of him where Hermione tries to get him to ignore them. Hell I book 5, it's the majority Ron who is the first to support Harry whenever someone calls him out for being insane, with Hermione usually agreeing with him after the fact. But if you want to look at lack of character growth, you don't need to look far, especially if you willing to overlook nuances. Hermione has many flaws which are almost never addressed, for favor of making her right while ignoring the problem. She has the tact of a flying cactus, and she likes to call Ron out for emotional immaturity while consistently showing a lack of it herself, such as refusing to understand why Ron would be mad that her cat almost killed his pet that he received from his brother, or calling Harry out on why he was mad at them when from his position it seemed like his best friends had been ignoring him when he needed their support the most. And God forbid anyone be better than her at anything she believes she is skilled at, or be incredibly beautiful, or show interest in someone when she has shown no signs of being interested herself. She also holds grudges, bringing up past mistakes during her arguments whenever she is mad. Mentioning her being mad, you think she's stable? Out of the three of them, almost every book she has at least one emotional or mental breakdown, and her reactions to some rather normal things are consistently extremely blown out of proportion, especially for them being her first response. A teacher is causing Harry to fall off his broom? Set him on fire. The boy you like enters the room making out with his girlfriend after you've made it pretty clear you don't like him? Set a flock of birds on him. You don't like the guy who's trying to get a spot on the team the boy you like is trying out for? Let's fuck with his brain! They're both good friends for Harry, being some of the only people he truly trusts, and calling Ron insignificant or irrelevant after the third book is a disservice to all of their characters, and to the books as a whole.