Personally, (a) I love your interpretation of Luna and (b) I *think* JKR is trying to go for the trope of the blind/seemingly crazy person actually having greater insight into life than other people, as in Teiresias in Greek mythology or Mercutio in Shakespeare. Because they don't see things as we see things, they see more/better.
I don't think Luna's crazy at all. I *can* see some kind of interpretation where she has forced herself to believe in certain things the outside world finds crazy so that she can win approval/attention from her father, as he's her only care-caregiver from a very early age, but I don't like it as much as the interpretation you gave her.
The real problem is that we just don't know enough about her, because it's clear Hermione thinks she's loony and Ron thinks she's annoying and Harry thinks she's odd *except* there's that bit at the end when Sirius has died and he asks her (or maybe she volunteers, I forget) and she tells him her theory about the veil and an afterlife, and he clings to it. But since the whole narrative of HP is from Harry's POV and since Harry has a very narrow scope of interest and is not the most reliable of narrators, bless his little heart, it's hard to know what she's "really" like. But I do think/hope JKR is going for the trope I mentioned above, because it's a nifty trope and also Luna deserves better than just being some crazy kid all the Ravenclaws laugh at.
(Off topic, but I find it interesting that the people who lingered by/heard voices from the veil were Harry, Luna, and Ginny, the former two who lost people and the latter who was touched by death and evil in CoS...)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2004-09-30 12:37 am (UTC)I don't think Luna's crazy at all. I *can* see some kind of interpretation where she has forced herself to believe in certain things the outside world finds crazy so that she can win approval/attention from her father, as he's her only care-caregiver from a very early age, but I don't like it as much as the interpretation you gave her.
The real problem is that we just don't know enough about her, because it's clear Hermione thinks she's loony and Ron thinks she's annoying and Harry thinks she's odd *except* there's that bit at the end when Sirius has died and he asks her (or maybe she volunteers, I forget) and she tells him her theory about the veil and an afterlife, and he clings to it. But since the whole narrative of HP is from Harry's POV and since Harry has a very narrow scope of interest and is not the most reliable of narrators, bless his little heart, it's hard to know what she's "really" like. But I do think/hope JKR is going for the trope I mentioned above, because it's a nifty trope and also Luna deserves better than just being some crazy kid all the Ravenclaws laugh at.
(Off topic, but I find it interesting that the people who lingered by/heard voices from the veil were Harry, Luna, and Ginny, the former two who lost people and the latter who was touched by death and evil in CoS...)