Ginny Weasley

Template:HP characterGinevra "Ginny" Molly Weasley (born 11 August 1981) is a fictional character in the Harry Potter book series. She is the youngest of Arthur Weasley and Molly Weasley's seven children, as well as being their only daughter. She is small, with vivid red hair (trademark of her clan) and bright brown eyes. She is a talented witch, especially noted for her skill with the Bat-Bogey Hex.

Ginny is a descendant of the Weasley family, one of the oldest pure-blood wizarding families in existence, and is also a descendant of the Prewett and Black lines through marriage (her mother was a Prewett before marriage). She is sister to Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, and Ron.

She is perhaps best known for her long standing crush on the title character of Harry Potter himself, who until the sixth book shows no signs of sharing her feelings, but also refrains from showing any insensitivity on the point. In an interview following the publication of the sixth harry potter book J.K. Rowling stated that her plan from the beginning was "that the reader, like Harry, would gradually discover Ginny as pretty much the ideal girl for Harry". She goes on to state that Ginny is the first female born into the Weasley line in "several generations", which was intended to show that "she is a gifted witch."

In the films, she is played by Bonnie Wright.

Behind the Name

Ginevra is the Italian form of the name 'Guinevere', which comes from the even older Welsh name: Gwenhwyfar. Gwen meaning 'fair' or 'white' and hwyfar meaning 'smooth'. Guinevere was also the Queen consort of the legendary King Arthur who abandoned Arthur for Lancelot; there seems to be somewhat of a running theme of Arthurian legend with the family's names.

It was fanon for many years that Ginny's full name was Virginia, as the name Ginny is usually short for Virginia, but Rowling eventually revealed on her website that Ginny's given name is actually Ginevra.

Ginny in the Books

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Ginny is introduced in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. She is the first girl of about Harry's age seen in the series. She makes only two appearances in Philosopher's Stone, both at King's Cross Station. The first is a scene where Harry and her brothers are leaving for Hogwarts; Harry sees her interacting with her family and then watches her chasing the train as it leaves the station. In this first scene, her connection to Harry is established with Harry overhearing a scene in which Ginny begs her mother to be able to go on the train and see the famous Harry Potter. Ginny's mother does not permit her to do so, stating that Harry is not an animal to be gawked at by the zoo. The second is a brief appearance at the end of the book where she is excited to catch a glimpse of Harry when he returns from Hogwarts.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Ginny becomes more involved in the storyline when she starts attending Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, a year after Harry and her brother Ron. While she appears to play a mostly behind-the-scenes role in the book — looking mysteriously ill and providing light humour with her obvious crush on Harry, Ginny turns out to be involved in the year's biggest mystery, a series of unexplained attacks that leave several Muggle-born students petrified. Harry eventually discovers that a magical school diary made by Tom Riddle (the young Lord Voldemort) had been possessing her in order to access the Chamber of Secrets and unleash a Basilisk on the school.

It turns out that Lucius Malfoy was responsible for making sure that Ginny got the diary; he hoped to use her actions to discredit her father, who had proposed a Muggle Protection Act that he opposed, and to have Dumbledore thrown out of Hogwarts. After Ginny naively tells "Tom" about Harry's survival and the destruction of Voldemort, Riddle puts his own twist on the plan. Instead of using Ginny to attack Muggle-borns, he decides to bring her down to the Chamber and kill her by absorbing her life energy, restoring himself to full life in the process. More importantly, he, already understanding Harry's hero-complex from the information which Ginny has unwittingly provided him with, knows that her abduction will lure Harry into the Chamber as well. Riddle is very curious about how Harry "defeated" him, and wishes to kill him. Harry does in fact enter the Chamber, but with help from Fawkes and the Sorting Hat manages to destroy both Riddle and the Basilisk, and thus saves Ginny's life. Following this, he expressed a strong concern over Ginny's not being expelled. Harry notes at the end of this that Ginny seems to be recovering from her trauma.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Ginny is not involved in the storylines of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and she only directly interacts with Harry three times. In book three, she catches Harry's eye and laughs over Percy's efforts to impress his girlfriend. In the movie, however, her only appearance is to announce that The Fat Lady has gone missing. In book four Ginny grins at him and they speak freely in each others' presence, though not to each other. A few months later, she honours a promise to attend the Yule Ball with Neville Longbottom despite Ron telling her to attend with Harry - whom she still fancies. She appears in the background in these two books, however, minimally interacting with other characters or just being mentioned in passing. She is badly affected by the Dementors on the train in Prisoner of Azkaban (most likely remembering her experiences of being possessed by Riddle the previous year), and on another occasion she stands up for Neville, demanding that Ron and Harry stop laughing at him.

In the first four books, Ginny's overall portrayal has a streak of a damsel in distress to it, an impression created chiefly from her role in Chamber of Secrets, where the adhesion to this formula goes as far as her heroic rescuer slaying the proverbial dragon to save her (see princess and dragon).

Her background appearances, however, give the reader glimpses of her personality when she isn't hamstrung by her crush on Harry. In book two, Ron remarks to Harry that, "You don't know how weird it is for her to be this shy, she never shuts up normally." It is made clear that around her family and those she is comfortable with, she is talkative. She is shown to enjoy laughter, to stand up for her beliefs, and to be adverse to violence. These glimpses seem to contrast to the "damsel in distress" stereotype, and foreshadow the more active character she becomes in book five and beyond.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix finally begins to show Ginny's true character in ways hinted at previously. No longer letting a crush affect her behaviour around Harry, she starts to emerge as a forceful personality with considerable magical ability, a sense of humour similar to her twin brothers, and a talent for Quidditch.

Ginny is shown to be one of the very few characters who can address Harry calmly during his worst moods. While others address him as well, they do not take the 'cool' tone that Ginny and a few adults (like Phineas Nigellus and Albus Dumbledore) are able to employ. In one scene, Harry wallows in miserable thoughts of himself being a weapon Voldemort might use to attack people, feeling "contaminated" and unworthy of the company of his friends. After Ginny fiercely reminds him of her own experience in Chamber of Secrets, he sincerely apologizes to her for not remembering and she helps assure him that he could not have been possessed by Voldemort. Ginny is also involved in another notable scene in which she joins Harry in the library, notices how down he looks and listens intently as he confides that he wishes he could talk to Sirius. She responds that she's sure that there is a way, leaving him relieved and hopeful. However, in other instances, notably at the end of the book, her cool tone does not do anything to pacify the angered Harry.

When Dolores Umbridge gives Harry a "lifetime" ban from playing Quidditch, Ginny replaces him as Gryffindor's Seeker. She is quite successful, though everyone (including herself and Harry) admits that she is not nearly as good as Harry. She also joins (and suggests the name for) Dumbledore's Army, a group started by Harry, Hermione, and Ron to provide students with practical instruction in Defense Against the Dark Arts. She is one of the few DA members who join Harry's attempt to rescue Sirius Black from the Department of Mysteries. During the fight she breaks her ankle but it is mended by Madam Pomfrey, back at Hogwarts.

Hermione tells Harry in Order of The Phoenix that Ginny "used to" like him, but "gave up" on him "ages ago". She met Michael Corner at the Yule Ball and is dating him at the end of Goblet of Fire. They remain a couple for most of the fifth book, but Ginny breaks up with him when Ginny finds him to be 'sulky' over Gryffindor beating Ravenclaw at Quidditch. He goes on to date Cho Chang, Harry's recent ex-girlfriend. She tells Ron in the ending scene that she has "chosen" Dean Thomas as her next boyfriend, in a way which makes it ambiguous as to whether she is truly dating Dean, or merely saying it to ruffle the feathers of her overprotective brother.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

In Half-Blood Prince, Ginny is primarily involved in the Quidditch and romance subplots. Harry learns at the end of Book 5 that she has started going out with his classmate and dorm mate Dean Thomas. Also, it is revealed that by this time, she has become one of the more popular girls at Hogwarts, and has blossomed into a very pretty and intelligent fifth year. She does not become a prefect (the only other person in her family besides the twins who isn't named a prefect), but she is widely considered very attractive and the Potions professor Horace Slughorn respects her magical abilities enough (after seeing her bat-bogey hex on Zacharias Smith) to invite her to join his "Slug Club", an exclusive group of students hand picked by Professor Slughorn as promising young achievers or students from influential families (Harry and Hermione Granger are also reluctant members, but Ron Weasley isn't included). She also becomes a Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, alongside Katie Bell and Demelza Robins, and is very good at it, though she returns to playing Seeker for the last match of the year when Harry is stuck in detention with Snape.

As Harry witnesses Ginny repeatedly refuse his company in favor of Dean's (although sometimes reluctantly), he starts feeling odd, unexplained twinges of annoyance. During Professor Slughorn's first potions lesson, Harry notices the scent of "something flowery he might have smelled at the Burrow" coming from a love potion (one which smells different for each person, according to what attracts them). Later in the chapter, he notices the same flowery scent when Ginny joins them in conversation - though he again fails to make the connection.

He finally realizes his feelings for her during an incident in November where he and Ron find Ginny and Dean kissing in a corridor. Ron is outraged because he feels over-protective of his sister, while Harry is seized by the urge to "jinx Dean into a jelly." Afterwards, Harry initially tries to convince himself that his feelings are just brotherly, but eventually accepts that he is attracted to Ginny as a romantic interest and struggles with a major crush on her from then on, alternating between fantasizing about her kissing him in the same abandoned corridor (and the book hints that he fantasizes about other things, as well --"...she kept popping up in his dreams in ways that made him devoutly thankful that Ron could not perform Legilimency...") and worrying about Ron bursting into the said corridor shouting about betrayal. This completes an ironic role-reversal of the situation in Chamber of Secrets: It is now Harry who to struggle with a one-sided crush and not vice-versa (or so it seems)...

Ginny and Dean's relationship turns sour after Christmas, and they finally break up in April (with a helpful "nudge" from Harry's Felix Felicis lucky potion). Though still worried about Ron's reaction, Harry can't help but take advantage of the chance to spend more time with her. After Gryffindor wins the Quidditch Cup, Harry spontaneously kisses her during the euphoric post-match celebration, to almost everyone's surprise. This marks the beginning of their relationship, to which Ron gives his reluctant blessing and to which Hermione gives her enthusiastic approval.

When the Death Eaters attack Hogwarts, aided by Draco Malfoy, Ginny joins the fight, along with Ron, Neville, and several members of the Order of the Phoenix. She is much more effective in combat than she was the previous year, holding her own against the Death Eaters and escaping without injury, though this can be partly credited to small doses of Felix Felicis that she and the others took just before the battle.

After the death of Hogwarts headmaster and Harry's mentor Albus Dumbledore, Harry decides to break off their relationship, as he fears Lord Voldemort would use their relationship against him with dangerous results for them both. Ginny accepts this decision, noting that given Harry's priorities she expected something like that to happen, and that his heroic instinct - most notably, his unwillingness to rest until he has gone after Voldemort - might even be one of the reasons she likes him so much. She also confides that she never really gave up on him noticing her. In the end, Ginny also hints at renewing their relationship after Harry defeats Voldemort.

Though their time as paramours was brief, Harry felt that his time with Ginny made him happier than he had ever been before, and considered it as being like "something out of someone else's life." Ginny is also referred to as Harry's "best source of comfort". Interestingly, his father, James, also fell in love with a red haired girl - Lily, Harry's mother.

The Seventh Harry Potter Book (name as yet unknown)

Rowling has promised fans will see some "pretty impressive stuff" from Ginny, and that "we will see how Ginny is powerful", in Book Seven, implying that at some point, whether Harry likes it or not, she will become involved in the fight against Voldemort.

Ginny in the Films

Ginny is played by Bonnie Wright in the film adaptations. She makes only a brief appearance in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone at the beginning of the film when Harry wants to know how to get onto platform 9 ¾ - after her mother tells Harry what to do, Ginny wishes him good luck.

Ginny's role in the second film is considerably larger, although many elements found in the book, such as her crush on Harry and most of the hints about her involvement with the Chamber are given considerably less attention in the film version. Since Ginny doesn't play a major role in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, she only appears in the third film as an extra, though she has one line.

After those sporadic appearances in the first three films, Ginny becomes much more visible in the movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. She still only has a handful of lines, but she is a frequent presence in the background (and sometimes the foreground) through most of the movie. While she seldom deals directly with Harry, she spends quite a bit of time in the company of Hermione, Ron, Fred and George, and Neville Longbottom (her date to the Yule Ball), and both her friendship with Hermione from the books and her relationship with her brothers are clearly shown for the first time in the films. Subtly, she also displays some of the qualities that Ginny shows in the fifth and sixth books, and it has been suggested that Steve Kloves was steadily building up both Ginny and Neville for their larger roles in the fifth film.

Ginny in the Harry Potter Fandom

Fan reaction to Ginny has always been mixed. Many fans liked her prior to The Order of the Phoenix, while many others either dismissed her as unimportant or were quick to label her as being simply a fangirl. Her portrayal in The Order of the Phoenix and especially The Half-Blood Prince has further inflamed opinions on both sides, owing at least in part to her involvement in the resolution of the fandom's so-called "ship debates".

Some of those who dislike Ginny argue that she is a Mary Sue, played up as being beautiful, popular, funny, and athletically gifted with great magical talent while her more unsympathetic character traits are supposedly "glossed over" by the author. Many also point to Ginny's strong resemblance to Harry's mother, Lily Potter, who was also described as a perfect saintly character yet was seen little in the books. Some fans find Ginny's actions to be unnecessarily callous, while others find them to be justified. Her actions speak of a hot-headed temper and a forceful personality: calling her prospective sister-in-law 'Phlegm' (notably with Hermione's agreement), tripping her brother to embarrass him, smashing into a Quidditch commentator for giving a commentary biased against her team, taunting her brother about his lack of experience with girls after he almost insulted her and cursing a fellow student for persistently asking about Harry's role in the fight against Voldemort. Some argue that Ginny's actions are similar to the actions of the antagonists in the books, yet her actions are admired by Harry, while the arguably similar actions of other characters are shown to be signs of their malice. Others argue that she is vindicated in these actions, which, they point out, take place in very different circumstances, and with different intentions, than those of the "villains", while the majority just see her as a "playful" troublemaker, following in the footsteps of her older brothers Fred and George.

Although it is sometimes said that Ginny seems hard and detached, and though the scenes listed above seem to indicate that she may be so, there are also moments of compassion which indicate a more gentle side to her nature. When her father is attacked by Voldemort's serpent Nagini she rushes to Grimmauld Place with her brothers and Harry, and stays up with them through the night, worried about their father; later in the same school year, when fighting Death Eaters at the Ministry of Magic along with her peers, she is afraid that the "brains" that attack her older brother Ron will strangle him, although she is knocked unconscious before she can take any action on the matter. Also, when Ron is poisoned by Madam Rosmerta's wine in the Half-Blood Prince, she and Harry have a heated debate over how the wine had been poisoned, who had done it, and why Ron. Along with her brothers, Harry and Hermione, Ginny was by Ron's bedside whenever she didn't have class and until he was released from Hogwarts' hospital wing. On the whole, Ginny shows concern for her family, but almost always maintains her composure. The exceptions to this are found at the end of the Half-Blood Prince, when the eldest Weasley brother Bill (who Ginny hero worships) is savaged by a werewolf and Dumbledore dies. Ginny's voice trembles as she tells Harry of her brother's condition. At Dumbledore's funeral Ginny sobs violently, and later reveals that since Dumbledore's death she hasn't been sleeping very well. Ginny also had cried in Chamber of Secrets when she thought that she would be faced with expulsion.

One common complaint from fans on both sides of the debate is that too much of her character development, especially the growth of her relationship with Harry, is told rather than shown, though Ginny's "hidden" development appears to be an intentional part of the way Rowling structured the romance.

J.K. Rowling on Ginny

"The plan was, which I really hope I fulfilled, is that the reader, like Harry, would gradually discover Ginny as pretty much the ideal girl for Harry. She's tough, not in an unpleasant way, but she's gutsy. He needs to be with someone who can stand the demands of being with Harry Potter, because he's a scary boyfriend in a lot of ways. He's a marked man. I think she's funny, and I think that she's very warm and compassionate. These are all things that Harry requires in his ideal woman. But, I felt — and I'm talking years ago when all this was planned — initially, she's terrified by his image. I mean, he's a bit of a rock god to her when she sees him first, at 10 or 11, and he's this famous boy. So Ginny had to go through a journey as well ... I feel that Ginny and Harry, in this book, they are total equals. They are worthy of each other. They've both gone through a big emotional journey, and they've really got over a lot of delusions, to use your word, together. So, I enjoyed writing that. I really like Ginny as a character."

External links

• Ginny's entry at the Harry Potter Lexicon
• Essay about Ginny posted at the Harry Potter Lexicon
• The Harry-Ginny Network
• Virtual band that writes and records songs based on Ginny and the Weasleys.

References

• ^[1] "JKRowling.com Archives: Birthdays" from MuggleNet
• Rowling, J. K. (1997). Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747532699.
• Rowling, J. K. (1998). Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747538492.
• Rowling, J. K. (1999). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747542155.
• Rowling, J. K. (2000). Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Bloomsbury. ISBN 074754624X.
• Rowling, J. K. (2003). Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747551006.
• Rowling, J. K. (2005). Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747581088.