In Part I, we learned the following:
- Ron Weasley's positions as a Weasely brother and Harry's best friend place Ron in a perilous situation.
- A relationship with Hermione could lead to or stop Ron's future death.
- The components of Ron's wand, unicorn tail and willow, are omens for death.
- The fact that Ron sacrificed himself in the first book for Harry to continue could be a foreshadow of Ron having to give the ultimate sacrifice in order for Harry to succeed in defeating Voldemort.
Without further ado, I will now continue analyzing the MANY auguries associated with Ron's death. Please note, these are probably the hardest articles to write. Therefore, they may not be the best written and sometimes will not follow essay formats at all.
Items of Interest (continued)
Another possible item of interest that Ron had was Scabbers, the rat that was actually Peter Pettigrew. There is a rumor out there (as no sites that show this fact have indicated where the information comes from I will label this a RUMOR. Judging by comments from reader "carina" and the lack of evidence, I'm almost positive it is false.) that there was a King named Running Weasel. Weasel was a great chess player that owned a yellow rat. Remember Ron trying to turn his rat yellow? He was the king of the 6th dynasty, which is interesting because Ron is the 6th Weasley of the family. Apparently, the rat knocked over something that caused the fire that killed Weasel. If this story is true, this cannot mean anything good for Ron. Will Peter Pettigrew kill Ron, or at the very least try? This would go well with the idea of Voldemort using Ron to trap Harry. However, I still think this is a rumor.
Another item of interest is the Veil.
"Nobody's talking, Harry!" said Hermione, now moving over to him.
"Someone's whispering behind there," he said, moving out of her reach and continuing to frown at the veil. "Is that you, Ron?"
Book V, pg. 774 US
As reader Béné suggested, Harry's adventure with the veil could foreshadow Ron's death. The fact that he thinks he hears Ron behind the veil, which seems to be a doorway to death or the afterlife, could foreshadow that Ron will die. (I did go back and read this part and I didn't see him asking if Sirius was behind there, however. So I don't know how much of a foreshadow this really is).
Jokes
A number of sites have also mentioned that many of Ron's jokes do come true. For instance, in Book IV he joked about dying by drowning. In later chapters, he was put under the water for over an hour. One of the jokes that Ron makes in Book V is, "From now on, I don't care if my tea leaves spell die, Ron, die..." (pg. 718 US) Is this going to be another one of Ron's jokes coming true?
I do think that one should be careful not to assume that all of Ron's jokes will come true. Ron is often right when he is not joking, and Ron does say some jokes that I doubt will happen. At the very least, they will happen in a way that people don't expect. For instance, in Book I Ron said, "And Neville will be playing Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down." (pg. 264 US) Hagrid did give away the secret to how to get passed Fluffy (which Ron was referring to), but somehow I doubt Neville will play Quidditch for England. However, many of his jokes do come true and should not be swept aside without some consideration. Also, remember Ron predicted his death twice by drowning, and then changed one of them to getting run over by a rampaging hippogriff. Somehow I doubt the latter will happen. Ron dying by drowning is still possible.
Mental Capacity
Ron's mind is generally weak when it comes to defense, but strong when it comes to sensing danger. Ron's mind has a hard time thwarting unfriendly curses or other mental attacks. One instance of this is Ron falling for Fleur, a half-veela, when Harry doesn't appear as affected by her. Ron even asks her out to the Yule ball! This is hardly an unfriendly move, but it could be the sign of a weak mind. Another instance of this is Ron's failure in fighting the imperious curse.
"Yeah, I know," said Ron, who was skipping on every alternate step. He had had much more difficulty with the curse than Harry, though.
Book IV, pg. 232 US
In the fifth book, Ron is hit by an unknown curse that makes him temporarily crazy.
"Harry," said Ron, giggling weakly, lurching forward, seizing the front of Harry's robes and gazing at him with unfocused eyes. "There you are . . . Ha ha ha . . . You look funny, Harry . . . . You're all messed up . . ."
Ron's face was very white and something dark was trickling from the corner of his mouth. Next moment his knees had given way, but he still clutched the front of Harry's robes, so that Harry was pulled into a kind of bow.
Book V, pg. 795 US
Clearly, whatever curse hit him was one that attacked the mind. It is also interesting that this curse leads him to summon the brains that scar his arms. "There were still deep welts on his forearms where the brain's tentacles had wrapped around him. According to Madam Pomfrey, thoughts could leave deepescaringng than almost anything else, . . ." (Book V, pg. 847 US) It may not be indicative of a weak mind, but it is a reminder of what thoughts could do to a person. Will Ron go under the imperious curse; will his thoughts be manipulated by someone; or will his weak mind somehow else lead him to an early demise? All of these suggestions are possible.
However, Ron's mind is strong when it comes to sensing danger and knowing how to deal with it. He's still hesitant to trust Snape, and until more is learned about the Potions Master, I think Ron is smart to keep wary. Ron told Harry that he must be the one to move on at the end of Book 1. In Book 3, he could tell that something was wrong with Crookshanks.
"There's something funny about that animal," said Ron, who was trying to persuade a frantically wiggling Scabbers back into his pocket. "It heard me say that Scabbers was in my bag!"
Book III, pg. 147 US
In fact, I don't know why people claim that Ron is only right when joking. He's been right about a lot of things. He was right about Crookshanks; he's probably partly right about Snape; he was right that Harry should tell McGonagall about Umbridge's detentions; and he was right in taking Hermione's side about Harry needing to fight the dreams. Ron may not trust to easily, and this could cause problems. However, his caution and presence of mind could come in handy. After all, it was Ron that reminded Hermione to use her wand to start a fire when Hermione was in panic mode. All of this could help in Ron surviving, even if his mind is weaker that Harry's.
Other Considerations
- Ron's relationship and anger towards Percy could lead him into a trap.
- Ron's lack of trust for people like Snape could cause more disunity for Voldemort to take advantage of.
- Ron is a Prefect. This could lead him into danger, but also shows that Dumbledore thinks he can defend himself. (Moody, Book V, pg. 169 US)
- I believe Ron is going to live all of his dreams that he saw in the Mirror of Erised. If this is the case than he will survive at least until the seventh book
Conclusion
Now it's time for me to be honest. I think everything above is rubbish. It is all plausible, but I still think it is rubbish. Why? There is simply too much evidence for it to be credible. I think it is more possible that Rowling is having fun at our expense. In recent interviews, she admitteded that she carefullyly plans red-herrings. I think the wand and the rest are exactly this. Why? I think Rowling has already given us the reason. Trelawney spends so much time trying to predict the future, but where does it get her? How often is she right? Yes, some of her predictions can be construed as coming true (such as Hermione leaving class), but most of it is rubbish. Remember, she always predicts a students death. Yes, she did this even before Harry was taking her class. In Rowling's eyes, we are the Trelawneys. Look at us, we sit around constantly predicting characters deaths, especially Ron's. The truth is everyone dies, so even if we don't see Ron's death in the books, in some way the character is not immortal. Will we see Ron's death before the end of Book VII? I don't think so. (Or at the very least, I really really hope we don't.) Placing all of these superficial reasons for Ron to die in the books is a lesson to us in just how hard it is to predict the future. There are too many variables, and even the centaurs get it wrong sometimes. "The planets have been read wrongly before, even by centaurs." (Firenze, Book I, pg. 259 US)
"But--I stopped Sirius and Professor Lupin from killing Pettigrew! That makes it my fault if Voldemort comes back!"
"It does not," said Dumbledore quietly "Hasn't your experience with the Time Turner taught you anything, Harry? The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed. . . . Professor Trelawney, bless her, is living proof of that. . . . You did a very noble thing, in saving Pettigrew's life."
Book I, pg. 426 US
However, this does not mean that Ron won't die. It just means we should not be too quick to condemn the character. Due to the possibility of red-herrings, I give Ron a 50/50 chance of survival.
(edited 9/11)
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