Oh Neville!

J.K. Rowling is wonderful at creating characters that are very unique and interesting. Throughout the series, she builds her story around those characters, and she sometimes surprises the readers with unexpected details about certain protagonists. Neville Longbottom is a perfect example of a character that had unexpected details revealed about him that allowed the readers to understand more about his personality.

First, Neville Longbottom comes off as a shy and clumsy boy. He seems very genuine and loyal, but it is difficult to imagine him as a mentally and physically strong person, and we feel sorry for him that he is so terrible at everything he does. 

The first event that made us think that he was brave was in the first book, when he tried to stop Harry, Hermione and Ron to sneak out again and said "You can't go out, you'll be caught again. Gryffindor will be in even more trouble... I won't let you do it. I'll — I'll fight you!" (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, 272). He was raised by his grandmother, which makes us think that he is innocent and naïve and never good enough in anything, but in this scene he is not afraid of fighting his friends and standing up for a good cause. This is the first time we have hope for him that he will finally succeed in life, and we start liking him more.

Also, we learn that his parents are not dead but that they have been tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange, a Death Eater, and that they lost their minds to the point that they do not even recognize their own son. Knowing this allowed us to have more compassion for Neville because we know that he went through a traumatizing event very early in his life. When Bellatrix escaped from Azkaban in the fifth book, it pushed Neville to become more focused and determined to get better in magic for his parents, and he “worked relentlessly on every new jinx and countercurse… working harder than anyone else in the room” (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 553). We feel terrible for him, and we want Neville to be happy and feel better. Seeing that he reacts this way by fighting for his parents' honor is very touching, and it proves us that he is a really good person. Therefore, we know now that he is a brave and strong person mentally because it takes a lot of strength to have parents who are alive but who do not recognize you anymore. 

Neville started as a very awkward and clumsy character, but book after book he became more confident and essential to the story. He went from a fragile boy to a strong teenager, and we like him this way!