Ron is given Charlie Weasley's old, chipped wand, which is made out of ash and has a unicorn hair sticking out of the end. He holds the wand together with Spellotape after nearly breaking it in half at the start of Chamber of Secrets, but it malfunctions dreadfully after this, backfiring spells, making strange noises, and emitting objects from the wrong end. Ron's new wand is fourteen inches, willow and unicorn hair, which he procures before the start of his third year at Hogwarts. He also shows signs of exceptional tactical ability, as evidenced by his skill at Wizard's Chess (which is played exactly like normal chess but with living pieces). Ron's talents are rarely shown, but he, like the other DA members, survives a violent encounter with adult Death Eaters in Order of the Phoenix, and it is implied that during the Death Eater assault in Half-Blood Prince he held his own quite well because he was being helped by Felix Felicis, the good luck potion. In Deathly Hallows, Ron loses his original wand, and takes Peter Pettigrew's wand for his own. Following this, Ron begins to demonstrate more aptitude and general knowledge, along with a sudden spurt in maturity after a terrible row with Harry. For a while, he effectively leads the trio in the hunt for the Horcruxes while Harry suffers a major depression.
Rowling has stated that Ron's Patronus Charm takes the form of a Jack Russell Terrier, "a really sentimental choice"
as Rowling herself owns a Jack Russell.[8]
Family
The Weasley family as shown in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, for left to right: Fred or George, Ron, Charlie, Molly,
Arthur, Ginny, Bill, Percy, and George or Fred.
Ron was born into the Weasley family on 1 March 1980,[9] [HBP Ch.18] the sixth of their seven children, and the youngest son. His middle name, Bilius, is the same as that of a deceased uncle. Ron grew up in the family home, The Burrow, near the village of Ottery St Catchpole in Devon. Ron has six siblings; his five older brothers, Bill, Charlie, Percy, twins Fred and George, and a younger sister, Ginny, each with their own distinct personality trait. One recurring factor in Ron's siblings is that they often appear to be more confident, self-assured and, to varying degrees, more outwardly talented than he is.
The Weasley family is one of the few remaining pure-blood wizarding families, though they were considered "blood traitors" for associating with
non-pure-bloods. Moreover, they are far from rich, and are looked down upon by snobbish "old families" such as the Malfoys. All of the Weasleys have been sorted into Gryffindor House at Hogwarts. All of the Weasley children, except Bill and Percy who both were Head Boy, are known to have played on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, with Charlie being the captain of the team for at least one of his school years. Charlie, Bill, Percy and Ron were also chosen as the prefect of their House. The Weasleys also all work for the Order of the Phoenix, and all are members except for Ron, Percy, and Ginny, who (as of the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) are not known to officially have been inducted into the Order. Arthur is distantly related to Sirius Black and is part of the famed Black family, though he and the rest of his immediate family have been considered "blood traitors" and are disowned.
Other distant relatives include Draco Malfoy, Nymphadora Tonks, and Bellatrix Lestrange.
Reception
Ron was chosen by IGN as their third favourite Harry Potter character, who said that Ron's status as comic relief made him "instantly endearing" and that his frustration and flirtation with Hermione Granger was a "highlight".[10]
In popular culture
Ron has made several appearances in parodies of Harry Potter. Seth Meyers appeared as Ron in Saturday Night Live in the sketch in which Lindsay Lohan portrays Hermione.[11] On his The Big Impression show, Alistair McGowan did a sketch called "Louis Potter and the Philosopher's Scone". It featured impressions of Anne Robinson as Ron.[12]
In 2003, Comic Relief performed a spoof story called Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan, in which Jennifer Saunders appeared as both Ron and J. K. Rowling.[13] [14] In Harry Podder: Dude Where's My Wand?, a play by Desert Star Theater in Utah, written by sisters Laura J., Amy K. and Anna M. Lewis, Ron appears as "Ron Sneasley".[15] In the Harry Bladder sketches in All That, Ron appears as ReRon and is played by Bryan Hearne. Ron also is a regular character in Potter Puppet Pals sketches by Neil Cicierega. In one of the episodes,
"The Mysterious Ticking Noise", Ron, along with Snape, Harry, Hermione and Dumbledore, is killed by a bomb placed by Voldemort; the episode being the seventeenth most viewed video of all time as of 2008 and the winner for
"Best Comedy" of the year 2007 at YouTube.[16] In the 2008 American comedy film Yes Man, Carl (portrayed Jim Carrey) attends a Harry Potter-themed party hosted by Norman (Rhys Darby), in which Norman disguises as Ron. In Team StarKid's theatrical productions A Very Potter Musical (2009) and A Very Potter Sequel (2010), Ron was portrayed by Joey Richter.
References
[1] Conversations with JK Rowling, p.37-8 (http://www.accio-quote.org/themes/ron.htm)
[2] "Harry Potter and Me" (BBC Christmas Special, British version), BBC, 28 December 2001 (http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2001/
1201-bbc-hpandme.htm)
[3] "Anelli, Melissa and Emerson Spartz. "The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part Two,"" (http://www.
accio-quote.org/articles/2005/0705-tlc_mugglenet-anelli-2.htm). The Leaky Cauldron,. 16 July 2005. . Retrieved 27 August 2008.
[4] "JK Rowling's Interview with Meredith Vieira" (http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/19959323/), 26 July 2007 'Todayshow.com' Retrieved on 26 July 2007
[5] "Online Chat Transcript" (http://web.archive.org/web/20071012230751/http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter/content.
asp?sec=3&sec2=1). Bloomsbury Publishing. 31 July 2007. Archived from the original (http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter/content.
asp?sec=3&sec2=1) on 12 October 2007. . Retrieved 31 July 2007.
[6] "Rowling Reveals `Marriage' to Harry Potter at Reading (Correct)" (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aM7.
gGQAM7Bw). .
[7] "Interview with J.K. Rowling for Release of Dutch Edition of "Deathly Hallows"" (http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/11/19/
new-interview-with-j-k-rowling-for-release-of-dutch-edition-of-deathly-hallows). . Retrieved 27 August 2008.
[8] Anelli, Melissa and Emerson Spartz. "The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part Three," The Leaky Cauldron, 16 July 2005 (http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2005/0705-tlc_mugglenet-anelli-3.htm)
[9] "JKRowling.com Archives: Birthdays" (http://www.mugglenet.com/jkrcom/birthdayarchive.shtml) from MuggleNet
[10] Brian Linder, Phil Pirrello, Eric Goldman, Matt Fowler (14 July 2009). "Top 25 Harry Potter Characters" (http://uk.movies.ign.com/
articles/100/1002569p5.html). IGN. . Retrieved 3 April 2011.
[11] "Saturday Night Live Transcripts" (http://snltranscripts.jt.org/03/03rpotter.phtml). . Retrieved 27 July 2007.
[12] "BBC One press release" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2002/03_march/14/entertainment.pdf). 2001. . Retrieved 20 May 2007.
[13] "Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan" (http://www.tv.com/french-and-saunders/
harry-potter-and-the-secret-chamberpot-of-azerbaijan/episode/255720/summary.html). tv.com. . Retrieved 8 July 2007.
[14] "French and Saunders: Harry Potter and the Secret Chaberpot of Azerbaijan" (http://www.frenchandsaunders.com/rnd03/lineup/
0302192116.shtml). .frenchandsaunders.com. . Retrieved 8 July 2007.
[15] "Calendar" (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20050605/ai_n14655523). Desert News (Salt Lake City). 5 June 2005. . Retrieved 20 May 2007.
[16] "PotterPuppetPals Top at YouTube Awards" (http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2008/3/22/
tic-tock-potterpuppetpals-top-at-youtube-awards). www.the-leaky-cauldron.org. 22 March 2008. .
External links
• Ron Weasley (http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/ron.html) at Harry Potter Lexicon