robkelk Wrote:Another cliche: Hermonie Granger, Super-Genius (and not the Wile E. Coyote type).The other end of that cliche is Ron Weasley, Moron.
She's book-smart, not all-around-smart.
Ron's not stupid; he's average. In the American public education system, he'd attend class almost every day (probably skipping on nice spring days), do his homework and pray that the teachers don't call on him, and make Bs and Cs. He's just a guy, but his best friend is the Chosen One and his girlfriend is the smartest girl in school. It makes him look stupid. He's not; Rowling goes out of her way to show that he's got knowledge of the Wizardling World that neither of the other two characters (being Muggles) have, connections throughout the community through his father and older brothers (Percy not so much, but it's still a connection), and he's got a keen eye for strategy (he's cited as being one of the best chess players among the First Years in Sorcerer's Stone). And yet, people play him off as an idiot. (Rupert Grint's generally clownish expressions probably influence it as well; I saw a film with him that was done just before or just after Deathly Hallows where he plays a competent character that's still played up as something of a buffon, and he does it pretty well with that dopey grin of his. "Wild Target" with Bill Nighy, Emma Blunt, and Martin Freeman, if anyone's interested.)
Ebony the Black Dragon
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