Neville’s character arc in the Harry Potter films was certainly touching, but details from the books reveal why his sad story was so shocking.
Summary
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Neville Longbottom’s character arc in the Harry Potter series was his most dramatic and he ultimately proved his bravery and importance by defeating Voldemort.
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Neville faced bullying and ridicule from his own family for not demonstrating magical abilities, which greatly affected his self-confidence.
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Neville’s connection to the Trelawney prophecy, his final moments with Harry before his sacrifice, and his journey to overcome his parents’ heavy legacy make the story in his book that much better.
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The story of Neville Longbottom was dotted with some sad moments in the Harry Potter movies, but that was nothing compared to the books. Kind but totally lacking in confidence, Neville had the most dramatic arc of all the Wizarding World characters. By the end of the series, he had proven that the Sorting Hat had not been wrong in placing him in Gryffindor, and Harry’s victory would have been impossible without him. He Harry Potter The movies also captured this change, but the resolution wasn’t as satisfying without the additional context of the full story from Neville’s book.
He Harry Potter The films revealed that Neville was the son of aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom, who were tortured to insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry’s classmate revealed in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix who was proud to be his son and watched him steadily grow into a more confident character. At the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Neville was unrecognizable and played a crucial role in Voldemort’s downfall by killing Nagini with the Sword of Gryffindor. It was a touching character arc, but compared to the Harry Potter books, Neville’s story was much less tragic.
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7 Neville Was Bullied By His Family For Not Demonstrating Magic
Although Neville’s family rarely participated in any scenes of the Harry Potter In the books, they were talked about frequently and the way Neville described their behavior was quite disturbing. In Harry potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the boy explained that his family had thought he was a Squib since he had not shown any magical abilities when he was seven years old (when magical children are supposed to have revealed their abilities). When Neville was eight years old, his uncle hung him out of an upstairs window, hoping that it would scare him into using magic. Unfortunately, Uncle got distracted and accidentally dropped Neville. If he hadn’t been a wizard, he would surely have killed him.
Fortunately, Neville’s magical ability finally surfaced and he jumped to safety. His family was delighted, but that didn’t stop the harassment. Just as Severus Snape tormented Neville for having minimal magical ability, his family, especially his grandmother, constantly ridiculed him for not being as good as his Auror parents. This meant that when Neville started at Hogwarts School in Harry PotterHe was already convinced that it had been a huge disappointment, which certainly didn’t help him do better.
6 The Chosen One prophecy may have also applied to Neville
One of the key aspects of Neville’s story was his involvement in Trelawney’s Chosen One prophecy, but the Harry Potter The movies skipped this. In the book, Dumbledore told Harry that the prophecy had indicated that a child born at the end of July would be the downfall of the Dark Lord, which Neville could also have meant. Voldemort only chose to attack the Potters because of Lily’s status as a Muggle-born. The villain felt that his adversary was more likely to be a half-breed like him. Still, Neville’s pureblood family probably would have been next on his list after the Potters were killed.
The fact that Harry or Neville could have been the Chosen One further supported the idea in Harry Potter that a person’s destiny comes down to their choices. It is implied that if Voldemort had attacked the Longbottoms first, it would have been Neville who the wizarding world would have called “the boy who lived“Ironically, if that were the case, Neville’s family would have been much prouder of him, and might have discovered his strong magical ability much sooner.
5 Neville’s parents survived torture but lived in St. Mungos’
He Harry Potter The movies were never very clear about the fate of Neville’s parents. When Sirius showed Harry the image of the original Order of the Phoenix (something done by Mad-Eye Moddy in the books), he said that the Longbottoms met a fate worse than death. However, when Harry spoke to Neville about his parents after a Dumbledore’s Army lesson, the boy made it seem like his parents were dead. He Harry Potter The books were much less confusing about this and even saw Harry meet the Longbottoms.
Frank and Alive Longbottom were tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange after the fall of Voldemort. The Death Eaters probably knew that the Dark Lord’s plans had involved the Longbottoms, so they thought the Aurors might have known what happened to him. In truth, Frank and Alice had no more answers than anyone else, so they couldn’t have given in to Bellatrix’s torture even if they had wanted to. By the time these last Death Eaters were stopped by the Ministry of Magic, Frank and Alice’s minds could no longer be saved and they became residents of St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
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4 Neville Thought The Golden Trio Bullied Him At The Philosopher’s Stone
One of the most significant changes in Harry potter and the Philosopher’s Stone From the book to the movie was the scene where the Golden Trio were arrested after Malfoy ratted out the group for sneaking out at night. In the original text, Ron was in the infirmary that particular night, thanks to a bite from the dragon Norberto. So, only Harry and Hermione were out of bed. Just like in the movie, they were followed by Draco Malfoy, who had overheard Harry talking about Hagrid’s dragon. Unlike the movie, they were also followed by Neville Longbottom.
Neville had heard that Malfoy was planning to get Harry into trouble, so he left the Gryffindor common room in hopes of warning him. Unfortunately, McGonagall found him first. The professor assumed that Harry had lied about a dragon to get Draco in trouble and stated that he was probably very happy to know that Neville had also fallen for the trick. The poor first year was heartbroken to think that Harry would do this, and since everyone was punished, Harry didn’t get the chance to set the record straight.
3 Neville only got his grandmother’s approval after risking his life in Harry Potter
Neville’s grandmother, Augusta Longbottom, was always critical of her grandson. Whenever he spoke about her, she often referred to her feelings that he never lived up to her father’s legacy. Aside from allowing himself to be hanged from a window without knowing if she could save herself, there was never any indication that Augusta was physically abusive, but the way she treated Neville made it clear why her trust was so low. So, the fact that her tone completely changed after the events of Harry Potter and the Order of the phoenix It made this relationship even more tragic.
After Neville fought alongside Harry in the Order of the Phoenix at the Ministry of Magic, Augusta finally felt proud of her grandson. There was little concern about the very real danger she had put herself in at just 15 years old; She was just glad to see that Frank and Alice’s son wasn’t so different from them after all. Neville had always been a child worthy of pride and praise, but his grandmother was only able to see him after he demonstrated bravery.
2 Neville’s Lack Of Skill May Be Due To His Wand
Everything changed for Neville after the events of Order of the Phoenix. Of course, this had a lot to do with Dumbledore’s Army. Harry turned out to be a great teacher for Neville, so his skills developed much faster in that year than in all the previous ones. Still, Neville had trouble with the spells at first and required much more practice than his classmates to decipher them. However, at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince In the book, Neville revealed that until that year he had been using his father’s old wand. After the events at the Department of Mysteries, his grandmother was finally proud enough to buy him hers.
He Harry Potter The series has been consistent that a wand that hasn’t been chosen by a wizard will never work as well as one that has. Still, Augusta Longbottom seemed to believe that her son’s ability would pass to Neville if she used the man’s wand. Although he is just a Harry Potter In theory, it makes sense that Neville’s magical ability would improve once he starts using a wand that had chosen him as its owner. This is especially tragic as it shows that if Augusta had accepted her grandson as she was instead of trying to make him her son, Neville would have had a much easier time.
1 Neville was the last person to see Harry before his sacrifice in The Deathly Hallows
Neville’s role in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows It was significant as if it weren’t for his quick action against Nagini, Harry would not have been able to defeat Voldemort during their final battle. Furthermore, his speech to Voldemort after Harry’s supposed death demonstrated how his fight would not end, no matter how many heroes were lost. Still, this moment was much more shocking in the Harry Potter books since Neville had been the last to see Harry before he entered the Forbidden Forest to sacrifice his life.
Although he Deathly Hallows In the film, Harry said goodbye to Ron and Hermione and ordered them to kill Nagini, the final Horcrux; he specifically avoided this in the book. After leaving Dumbledore’s office, Harry knew that seeing his two best friends would only make him lose his temper, so he headed into the forest under his invisibility cloak. On the way, he saw Neville tending to the bodies of the fallen. Harry decided to reveal himself to Neville and, although he did not tell him about his sacrifice plan, he did ask him to kill Voldemort’s snake. Neville agreed, and his last words to Harry before the Boy Who Lived left for the forest were: “We’re all going to keep fighting, Harry. You know it?”
Before sacrificing himself, Harry had passed his mission on to the boy who looked most like him, who had lost his parents at the hands of Voldemort and had also been prophesied to take down the villain. Neville didn’t quite understand this, but he took the responsibility seriously. After seeing what he believed to be Harry’s dead body, Neville wasted no time in making good on his promise. He stood in front of Voldemort and shouted that he would not back down, and shortly afterward he killed the great snake. It was the grand conclusion to Neville’s sad but heroic character arc, something that Harry Potter the movies just didn’t capture it adequately.