Line #41 Headscratchers/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallowsLunasBedroomWall


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3	* Luna's wall in Deathly Hallows. Am I the only one who thinks that was absolutely frakking creepy? If I had my friends painted on the wall, I wouldn't have friends anymore. I like Luna, but her creepy wall was way too much.
4	** Uh... why? It's not as if she'd painted them naked and doing unspeakable things to each other or anything like that, the painting was just a normal group portrait of people she considered to be her friends. It's common for Muggles to have pictures of their loved ones on their walls, it's just that these pictures are generally framed and hanging loose on said walls instead of being painted directly on. Luna's method was a little unorthodox, sure, but I can't see what's so creepy about it.
5	** Hmm ... Luna's wall. Put yourself in Harry's situation. You're going into the room of someone who is, at best, a vague acquaintance. What's the first thing you see? A ceiling with a huge picture of your face on it. Maybe I and the original poster are trope overdosed, but that kind of Reveal is normally the province of stalkers and other obsessive creeps. All that was missing was a shrine.
6	*** First off, by this time Luna is not just a vague acquaintance. While they didn't hang out ''that'' much, I think Harry considers her a friend. Secondly, I guess this is just her substitute for having photographs of her friends, which is quite normal. Obviously she has a talent for painting and therefore preferred this. Finally, while it may be kind of weird for a regular person, this is Luna we're talking about, and Harry is well aware of her eccentricities. Considering in the sixth book, she made his uncomfortable by saying the D.A was like having real friends, my bet is that the fact that she now considers him and the others to be her ''real'' friends is, to him, more touching than it is creepy.
7	*** Considering one of Harry's kids has Luna's name as middle name (Lily Luna Potter), I hope he doesn't consider her a stranger. And by this point, Luna's risked her life a few times by Harry, Ron and Herminone's sides (at the department of Mysteries and defending Hogwarts from deatheaters when Dumbledore died). Considering the other weird stuff Luna does, the wall thing actually struck me more as heartwarming then weird. That and I know quite a few artsy people who would do that kind of stuff.
8	*** Agreeing with the evidence of 'Lily Luna Potter'. While I also found this very creepy in the book, I think perhaps Rowling just failed to show us how close Harry felt to Luna. It's evident from 'Lily Luna' that he and Ginny consider her important and close enough that they gave their child her name, even over using Hermione's name. Let's also think objectively; no, most friends (even very best best friends) would not paint their friends' faces gigantically on their walls. We would probably find this bizarre in Ron or Hermione's room (though their personalities wouldn't lend themselves to it anyway, I suppose). But obviously Harry considers her very close - he also considers Ginny very close, but she's left out of a TON of things and doesn't have a significantly stronger presence than Luna in the books. Though I guess the fact that this isn't creepy in-universe makes me wonder why people expect Snape's love to have been treated as though it were creepy. This is much more obsessive and bizarre than continuing to love someone after their death, and doesn't have the added level of guilt that probably drove much of his choice to fight and die in Lily's name. But even he didn't paint gigantic portraits of her in his house. Rowling obviously feels that Luna's presence was much more important to Harry than perhaps how she came across to many fans, and as such he didn't react to it as being an overestimation of their relationship, and more a touching reminder of how much she cares about him and the other DA members.
9	*** How is painting a picture of your friends in the privacy of your own home more creepy than hating a child for the the fact that he's the son of the murdered bully who used to pick on you in school?
10	*** Couldn't 'Luna' as a middle name also be a nod to Lupin?
11	*** If that was the case, it probably would've been 'Lupa'.
12	*** Except that 'Luna' refers to the moon, and would be a nod to his werewolfishness, not his last name.
13	*** Also, Lupa isn't just the female name for wolf: It's also the name for whore.
14	*** ultimately it should be as simple as this: Harry knew someone called Luna. If his kid has Luna as a middle name then they're named after the Luna he knew. No need to starting thinking along the lines of stuff like, maybe Luna meant moon which is related to werewolves so it's really a nod to Lupin etc
15	*** A Vague aquantence? They speant months in the DA together, she and her father are directly responsable for winning most of the school and many civilians over to Harry's side after the Ministry started their smear campaign against him, she risked her life for his foolishness at the Ministry, they bonded over the death of their loved ones, he flat out prefers her company over that of cooler fangirls by the start of the next school year, takes her to Slughorn's party and is glad she enjoys herself, answers Hermione's summons to the DA and risks her life against the Death Eater's AGAIN and can recognise Harry in full magical disguise by just his expression. I'd say the Casual Aquaintence ship sailed after the fifth book and she's now bumped up to second tier best friend status.
16	*** Luna was bumped up to friend status after she helped Harry come to terms with the loss of Sirius. Harry recognized that Luna's personality made her kind and compassionate, not to mention forgiving of Harry's angry outbursts. When Luna told Harry how people treated her because she was different, Harry could relate because he had spent most of that past year being called a liar and a nutcase. Luna is the reason that Harry was finally able to make headway against the Ministry's propaganda, by having her father publish the interview. Harry probably would have found the paintings strange if anyone else had done the same thing, but he recognized that this was Luna's way of showing that she cared. Harry had spent many lonely summers in Privet Drive, and had actually even questioned (in Chamber of Secrets) whether or not Hogwarts and his first real friends had just been some wonderful dream. So Harry could easily relate to Luna's loneliness and her need to have reminders of her friends around at home.
17	** Consider what she said in Half-Blood Prince "I enjoyed the meetings too. It was like having friends." From this statement, we can assume that was nobody in the school she considered to be her friends even as far as the beginning of her sixth year. Harry and company are pretty much the only people in the school Luna considers friends, and even that took a long time from their first meeting at the beginning of the fifth year. It's only reasonable she feels so much emotion towards them, and she just expresses her feelings through her artistic talent. Also, Luna is either completely unaware or dismissive of many social norms, so I assume she either doesn't know or doesn't care that people might see her wall as "creepy."
18	*** Having known people like her (friendless for a long time) this really doesn't surprise me. People like that tend to be socially awkward due to not having anyone to compare their behavior to. They also may try too hard to gain friendship, which causes them to do weird things. Add that to a weird father and an artistic talent and you have this situation.
19	** What makes it creepy is that she did not ASK to do that. I love my friends but they have to ask to take my picture, let alone do what Luna did, weird or not.
20	*** ...But I thought she ''painted'' them, not took their picture.
21	*** Speaking as an artist, I use my friends as models...I don't ask, I just tell them to stay still and shush!
22	*** When I was in high school I had several friends who were artists, and they used me as a model a few times without asking. But they sketched me on paper or painted me on canvas, and they always showed me afterward. Never did they paint a giant image of me on their bedroom wall without even mentioning to me 'oh, yeah, I immortalized you on my bedroom wall where I stare into your face every night as I fall asleep'.
23	*** Who said she did it without permision? The only one to go into her room was Harry, who is also the only one whe wouldn't have been able to contact to ask/tell. For all we know Ginny, Hermione and the others were asked and gave full permision.
24	*** Painting a picture is different from actually taking a picture, the latter implies that you were following the subject around and recording stuff from their lives without their permission. Most people would consider that invasion of privacy. You do not need to stalk someone like that to paint them, that is the difference.
25	* I'm surprised no one has pointed out that Luna has been ostracized for all her years at Hogwarts. Even Ron calls her "Loony" and looks at her patronizingly. Only Ginny, Hermione and Harry (and the people painted on her wall, probably) have ever sincerely treated her with respectful affection. And we can tell that before these people, she'd never, ever had a friend before, and hadn't had the chance to develop social skills. For all we know, it's perfectly normal to her and the others just expect this kind of ... interesting ... behavior, since the majority of social interaction Luna has had has been bullying. My heart actually wrenched for Luna when I read about the "friends" and the portraits on her wall. Poor Luna.
26	** I agree. I thought it was much more heartBREAKING than heartWARMING. Seeing something like that would creep me out though, if I didn't like the person or had never shown them any interest. Otherwise, I'd just make a mental note to be nicer and even better friends with this person, who obviously needs it.
27	** Correction: Ginny called her "Loony" too.
28	** Good point. But I always found Ginny rather immature anyway. It's kind of like a child who innocently thinks something's hilarious without realizing it's actually incredibly unkind, but the child will still be nice to the person.
29	*** OOTP: in the corridor, Ginny says "Loony Lovegood, she's OK." Then Ginny enters the compartment and says "Hi, Luna." At age 14, Ginny is mature enough to know that calling people nasty names to their faces is hurtful. HBP, Ginny yells at Ron because by age 15, Ginny is mature enough to know that calling people nasty names behind their backs is hurtful.
30	*** I kind of get the idea that pre-OOTP, Ginny thought of Luna as a weirdo like everyone else, but she was a nice enough person to be polite to her face. It was only after they were in the D.A. together that she came to know Luna as a person and stopped thinking of her as some funny circus act.
31	*** To the comment above the comment above this one: I know, right? Talk about slow development - she's ''fifteen years old'' before she realizes that it's hurtful to call people nasty names behind their back? And not even necessarily then - she was, what, sixteen when she was calling Fleur "Phlegm" and ganging up on her with Molly? Kudos to Fleur for handling it with poise and grace. And - great insight on the comment above this one too! After working together with Luna, Ginny became friends with her and realized that Luna was a person too.
32	*** "she's ''fifteen years old'' before she realizes that it's hurtful to call people nasty names behind their back?" Truth in television.
33	*** How does this work, exactly? I knew that it was hurtful for, well, as long as I can remember. So how is it truth in television?
34	*** I'm guessing you've never met grown-ass adults who have never referred to people they didn't like/know by hurtful names. It actually takes a lot of balls to realize that that shit ain't okay for ANYONE, especially at 15 years old. We're taught that, yes, from very early childhood, but many adults don't ever realize this... or maybe they just don't care. Even Ron, at 16 or 17, is still calling Luna "Loony" behind her back. Granted, Ron isn't exactly the epitome of maturity, but you know that there's probably kids Ron's age or older who do the same. It's not 'maturity' as in 'milestones being reached' but rather 'maturity' as in 'Ginny, Ron, and Harry realizing Luna is actually a nice person who's helped them a lot.'
35	*** Oh, I get it now. Yeah, I've never met adults like that, but not being one, I don't really socialize that much with them . . .
36	*** You must live a damn lucky and sheltered life if you never have to deal with such people...
37	*** Was Ginny necessarily making fun of Luna behind her back when she said that? Or was she just identifying the girl using a term the others might well have heard before from other students? It everyone in Ginny's class calls Luna "Looney", she might have fallen into the habit of using that name simply because that way, her classmates recognize who she's talking about more easily than "Luna".
38	*** Also, I just didn't get the idea that Ginny and Luna were that close at the beginning of OOTP. I got the idea that Ginny ''knew'' Luna, because they were in the same year and thinks she's a decent person (similar to how Harry knows Justin Finch-Fletchley, for example, by sight and a few details about him, due to sharing classes, but they're not really friends), and therefore Ginny, being occasionally given to being abrasive, might not be bothered too much about whether Luna would be hurt by being called 'Looney'. By HBP, after fighting at the ministry together (as well as probably spending more time together, being the only two girls their age in the DA), they're friends, and Ginny doesn't tolerate anyone bullying her.
39	*** And would you really say that Hermione is always the nicest to her? Sure, she doesn't call her "Loony" but at times she's downright rude about Luna's beliefs.
40	*** Luna may have given Ginny, her closest person to a friend, the option to call her Loony since she knew Ginny meant in in jest, not maliciously. When others called Luna in a nasty way in Ginny's earshot, she would stand up for her friend.
41	* Also, knowing Luna, she may have been bored one day and just absentmindedly painted the mural. That might even be why the word "friends" is so repetitive. Either way, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville are literally all she has. You don't see her hanging out with her neighbors. Suggesting that it's creepy is just wrong, too. She's the most naive and innocent character I know. She definitely didn't intend it to be creepy, and Harry, who actually ''was'' painted, didn't see it that way, so I'm going to go with heartwarming over stalker-ish.
42	** Luna doesn't even seem to have neighbors, so she was stuck with her rather crazy parent(s) all of her life. She's naive and innocent because she's been isolated outside of Hogwarts, and everyone at Hogwarts thinks she's batshit insane, which wouldn't exactly do wonders for her social skills.
43	*** Luna lives fairly close to the Weasely's, considering Ron knew where her house was despite probably not visiting there a lot. Also Ginny knows Luna and is nice to her face because they knew each other before Hogwarts. Who do you think she hung out with in Harry's first year? None of her brothers were home.
44	** Building on the idea that she might have just been bored and done it for fun, keep in mind she's a witch, and a rather talented one at that. The main reason you'd find a giant mural of you on your friend's wall creepy is because it probably took them weeks to do it, and that implies obsession. Luna could have just magic'd it together in an afternoon.
45	* Forget absentminded, how about just this: she has few (read: no) friends, it's wartime, her only actual friends are at the front of a battle and away from her, she's worried and concerned for them and lonely to boot. This isn't walking in on some random girl in your class caressing a locket she made of your face; Luna isn't Helga Patacki; she's an artist who loves her friends dearly and can't do anything else at the moment. It also happens to be exactly what Harry needs to see at that point in the story; something pure, a sign that he has a place, and something to fight for---even if it comes from a place he might not have immediately considered. ( Though I do think that Harry thinks fondly of Luna; after all, being the only two people at a moment who can see Thestrals must be something of a bonding moment, no?)
46	** Let's also factor in that she hasn't been able to interact with Harry socially for months. Last she saw him was at Dumbledore's funeral then he was out of the wizarding world for his protection and sending him owls would be a security risk. Then she saw him at the wedding, which involved Harry being under cover, no way to chat as just friends without risking Harry's safety and ended with the party crashed by Death Eaters and the Trio disappearing for several more months. She may have just been laying on her bed, thinking about Harry and then decided to paint him, then added Ron and Hermione to complete the Trio and then decided to add in Ginny and Neville to complete the picture.
47	** Who says she painted it recently? She could've done it after the battle at the Ministry.
48	** "It's Wartime" This is a very important point. Regardless as to when Luna actually painted it, consider it from Harry's perspective. He's been hiding out in the woods for months and has been fighting for his life on more than one occasion. He then finds himself in a homely place and is under the impression that he's going to see Luna for the first time in almost a year. And during that time she's been fighting against the Death Eaters in Hogwarts herself. If he stumbled in there on a regular social visit Harry probably would find it a bit weird (and would probably use the word "eh"). But seeing it with all the context of everything in the book up until that point, touching is probably going to be closer to his mind than creepy. The picture is a very real representation of who this girl is to Harry (because it is an odd thing to do but odd is in character for Luna) and the friendship that he does have with her
49	* Well Harry and Hermione (Maybe Neville) are probably the only ones who like her for who she is.. and don't tease her unlike what her House does. I mean..her House steals her shoes?
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51	* I frankly don't see why this is even a question. Yes, it'd be weird if Harry found something like that painted on, say, Hermione's or Neville's wall, because he knows they've been weird enough to think of doing something like that. However, he knows what an oddball Luna is, and probably even sympathizes her over some of it likely stemming from the loss of her mother - it'd make sense for him to not be creeped out by it. "Oh, no, this lonely, friendless girl who I know is a total weirdo did something that only someone who's a totally lonely, friendless weirdo would do on their bedroom wall!"
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Context Headscratchers / HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallowsLunasBedroomWall