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Neville Longbottom: The Other Chosen One
 by David Haber
 On the night that Sirius died, after the battle at the Ministry of Magic at the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore showed Harry the complete Lost Prophecy. It is then we learn that it was possible that Neville could also have been the Chosen One. Dumbledore tells us this, and then immediately insists it could only have been Harry. Why mention it then, in the first place?
 > Read the full articlePages: << < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 > >> Reader Comments: (Page 2) Neville's poor memory would seem to be on par with what has appeared in the books regarding memory modification charms. Bertha Jorkins had trouble remembering things after Barty Crouch Sr. put the charm on her. I don't think that Neville is distracted after Moody-Crouch shows the Cruciatus is connected to the memory modification. He just witnessed something that brought back a traumatic memory, of course he would be a bit out of it; it was almost like reliving the incident of his parents' torture. This does indicate that he is upset, and also remember that he didn't really want people to know, so he's also been keeping this bottled up inside him for quite a while.
I've also toyed around with the idea that Neville might betray Harry or some such, but I don't think he . A big difference between Peter and Neville is that Peter never stood up for himself, relying on James, Sirius and Remus to protect him. Neville has not only stood up to Crabbe and Goyle (the two biggest blokes in the year from what I understand), but also to Harry, Hermione and Ron when he felt the were doing something that he did not think was right, even though he knew they were better at magic than he was. Posted by Monkeeshrines from Orlando FL on May 29, 2007 05:41 AM
Brilliant! Neville's memory problems, that must be the clue. I realy think that JKR is a genius! Posted by alicja from polska on May 29, 2007 05:48 AM
Well, it is a real nice theory except for dumbledore saying that Harry and only Harry is the chosen one.
Another thing why Voldemort chose Harry as his biggest threat is because harry is just like Voldemort, a Half blood. Posted by Dennis from Netherlands on May 29, 2007 06:23 AM
i do think that neville could betray harry, ron and hermione at some point, as i realised the similarities between harry, ron, hermione and neville and james, sirius, lupin and pettigrew when reading order of the phoenix and harry is inside snapes memory. the thing that got me thinking of the similarities was the description of how pettigrew admired james becasue he was good at everything (such as magical abilty and quidditch). could this also be true about harry and neville as harry is one of the best students at hogwarts (maybe even the best). at first i thought it was a bit of a coincidence, that there were similarties between them but having read this article i now beleive that it have an important effect on the outcome of the story. Posted by Carl from Birmingham, England on May 29, 2007 06:26 AM
hey Reg i was thinking of the same thing
it never said when Voldemort would mark the chosen one as his equal, yet i dont see how or when he might mark neville, its still a possibility though. in my opinion the more convincing part of the prophecy would be ' but he have power the Dark Lord knows not...' since none of us know of powers that Neville might have and if the prophecy is for this point in time voldemort is well aware of what powers Harry has. interesting article. Posted by sam on May 29, 2007 06:29 AM
Well, I think that the stuff about his Gran is all rubbish. Neville states in the the 6th book that he thought his gran would be mad that he broke his father's wand. But he said she was really pleased that he is finally living up to his standards. Also in the 5th book OotP, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermonie find him at St. Mungo's visiting his parents. Gran says that he sould be proud to have parents like that, standing up to voldemort. But what i want to know is where did neville's parents get tortured? That could be where i may agree with you.... could he have been nearby to watch, that could have been why gran could have put a memory charm on her grandson. Posted by Kevin Reilly from Arlington Heights, IL on May 29, 2007 06:49 AM
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The Neville/Pettigrew connection is interesting. As you say, there is the trio and the hanger on (as such) and then we also have the love interest unnoticed until HBP in Ginny. But everything is opposite to the original grouping of Sirius, Lupin,& James, then Peter, and the love interest Lily. We even have a Draco/Snape parallel. The whole thing is the same - but different (if that makes ANY sense), and so maybe where Pettigrew sold out his friends to Voldemort, Neville would sacrifice himself for them.
As to Neville being the Chosen One, well, he could be. We state that he cannot because Dumbledore has said he is not, but that is Dumbledore's interpretation of the prophecy, and Dumbeldore says himself that when he makes mistakes they tend to be big mistakes. Dumbledore's opinions could be unreliable - just because he said something it doesn't make it 100% accurate. If the omniscient narrator stated something such as 'Neville was not the Chosen One' then that is fact, but Dumbledore's interpretation is subjective. Yes he is usually correct in his opinions, usually - but not always.
Neville's bad memory, I don't recall if I read it on this site or on another site but somewhere I read about Neville's bad memory and his irrational fear of Snape being linked. The theory being that Snape is the person who performed a memory charm on Neville and it went wrong, leaving Neville with a dodgy memory and the fear Snape was supposed to eradicate from Neville was transferred to Neville fearing Snape instead. Might explain why Snape is so hateful towards Neville, as Snape doesn't seem to deal well with reminders of the past. I think Snape hates himself for messing up with Neville, but Snape deals with it by projecting this hate onto Neville himself.
Final point - why would Neville refer to himself as 'all muggle', why not say they thought I was a squib? Posted by Orlando from England on May 29, 2007 06:57 AM
I do think Neville may be to one the prophecy refers to. The books always seem to make something of little clues like this. I have a small feeling that Dumbledore may know Neville is the one and was going to take the Eaters by surprise by using Neville in book 7, keeping it secret for now. This would certainly explain why Dumbledore has put a tiny bit of doubt in Harry's mind, knowing that Harry is smart enough to figure realise it is Neville after all in book 7, without giving away the 'secret' the night he tells Harry that Neville could theoretically be the one. If Neville is the one and Dumbledore has kept this a secret from Voldemort, I pressume a few other Order members know of this, just in case Dumbledore did . Of course, I could be 100% wrong! Posted by James from England on May 29, 2007 07:11 AM
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I'm glad someone else other than me thinks that Neville is going to play a bigger part in the next book than in the previous books. Here are a few of my opinions on him:
1- He is not the chosen the one Harry is, why else would the books be called Harry Potter and the........ other wise.
2- I do believe that he was there when the eaters tortured his parents and his gran has put a spell on him to forget, and this is what makes him forgetful.
3- There is a likeness between him and peter pettigrew, but there is also a likeness between Harry and tom riddle. And like dumbledore told Harry it's not our qualities that make us what us we are its our choices. And Neville has always choosen to back Harry, Ron, and Heriomine and after what happened to his parents do you really think he would join the eaters.
4- I believe that the reason why the sorting hat took so long to sort him is because it was debating weather to put him Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. I say this because Hufflepuff seems to take all those who dont really have much magical qualities which we know Neville didnt seem to have many. And Gryffindor takes all those with brave deeds to their names. So I believe that the sorting hat saw Bravery in neville but wasnt sure if it was enough to be put into Gryffindor. And in the next book we are really going to find out how brave Neville can be. Like Dumbledore said, it takes bravery to stand up to your enemies but even more bravery to stand up to friends.
5- Not really important to the story but I think he should get together with Luna LoveGood. Posted by catherine price from Neath, Wales, U.K on May 29, 2007 07:20 AM
By ing Harry when he was 1 year old... Wouldnt that make Neville the choosen one? With Harry there would only be one person left that could be the chosen one... So by ing Harry he would mark Neville as the chosen one? Posted by David from Copenhagen on May 29, 2007 07:22 AM
Neville really has the worst memory of everyone I know. I also think he play a big part in hp7. But I don't think he betray the trio, because he is a real friend, and in hp5 he shows us that he is good in magic, but he just needs motivation.
About the bubble gum wrappers, I always thought they meant something. Maybe it is a message to her son, or maybe it means something. If you scrambble the letters of 'Drooble's best blowing gum' up, then you get 'Bribery under st mungo's', or something like that. I don't think it is significant to the story, but it is curious. Posted by Claudia on May 29, 2007 07:34 AM
JKR has always said through her characters and in interviews that Dumbledore knows what he is talking about, I think Harry IS the chosen one but Neville help in some way and fill his potential, maybe taking Ron or Hermione's place if either of them . I also think he may rally the remaining DA for the FINAL battle because I think they be involved. Posted by Katherine from Southend, England on May 29, 2007 07:53 AM
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