Wizard Angst Blog Post 2

I believe empathy to be a very important and sometimes underrated theme throughout the Harry Potter series. Each character, just like each human being, experiences his/her own unique level of trauma. What is trauma to one person may seem like nothing to another. What is important in life and in the novels is how each character is able to relate to the others and overcome their own unique traumatic histories in order to form a relationship. Empathy is at the root of this discussion, without characters that are capable of at least attempting to understand the pain the others have gone through no relationship would be able to be formed.

The trauma in Harry’s life alone could have driven a normal person off the edge. The sheer fact that he was not a) dead from suicide by the age 11, and b) belligerent and slightly insane, is a miracle (even though it is a story…I know that…I think…). But anyways, taking into account a character like Ron, whose only trauma consists of having to de-gnome the garden when he really wanted to play quidditch with his brothers, and making him be able to empathize with Harry is truly interesting. Ron cannot get on Harry’s level of pain, he can sympathize sure, try to understand, but he cannot fully comprehend what it is like to have your parents die, grow up in an abusive household, have your godfather die, see a friend die, have a dark wizard after him who cannot live while the other survives, and…should I go on?

 However a character like Luna can grasps Harry’s pain, she understands what he is experiencing and can get on his level. There are so many examples of this in the last 3 novels. From the first time we see her in book 5 when she states to Harry why she can see the threstles too, we know that this is going to be a unique relationship for Harry. Luna, in my mind, was the perfect addition to Harry Potter. I know this is a strong statement to make but I believe that her introduction in book 5 was the most brilliant decision Rowling made in the entire series. This is the point in which things in Harry’s life change, they “get real”, everything is darker, he’s got all that teen angst going on (see photo below!), in which his close friends, Ron and Hermione, cannot fully understand. Luna, however, gets it, she has seen pain, she has experienced real trauma, on the same level that Harry has. Her spirit is what brings a unique and vital twist. She is a voice of hope to Harry in his darkest hours. When Harry believes his world has come to an end at the loss of Sirius (so freakin sad!) Luna reassures him that it isn’t a big deal because they will see their loved ones again someday. She too could hear the voices behind the veil and she has a belief system that can bring hope in a terrible time.