Oddball Characters

Another thing I am is a writer, and as such I’ve been watching the Harry Potter series of movies again on DVD to reacquaint myself with them in anticipation of the last two movies arriving at a cinema near me somewhere in the near future. And here’s the connection between being a writer and those movies. Oddball characters.

In a series that’s full of them my favourite is Luna Lovegood.

Although not a main character, she, and all oddball characters (hereafter known as ObC’s) fulfill several unique requirements of any story.

a) They tend to be a manifestation of the author’s quirkier personality traits. These traits need to be exorcised regularly or the author might implode (or explode) and thereby depriving their readership of the next instalment of their trilogy or ten-ology.

b) The ObC’s true role is that of the Fool who points out that the Emperor really isn’t wearing any clothes and bursts bubbles of pomposity with clever humour.
Those who regard their dignity highly might laugh at or with the Fool, but later, alone, may reflect on why they laughed and find an ounce wisdom at the bottom of that well and change their perspective a little.
Luna is one of my favourites, both in the books and the movies because the tragedies of her life are so shallowly buried underneath her surface persona that they shine through so eloquently when she speaks.

There aren’t enough Fools in our polarised world and we can so easily dismiss the ones we have as eccentric or a comedic flash-in-the-pan, then swiftly move on to the next distraction. But that is a dangerous thing. Imagine the world where the Fool never spoke out about the Emperor …


Quote of the Blog (hereafter known as QotB!)

No-one went to their deathbed saying, “you know, I wish I’d eaten more rice cakes – Amy Krouse Rosenthal