Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), best friend to Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), is of vital importance to the story… at least, he is in theHarry Potterbooks. In the books, Ron finds himself on a hero’s journey of his own as he helps his best friend take down the most powerful wizard of all time, but the movies substantially fail when it comes to Ron — and the entire Weasley family for that matter, but it is most notable with Ron, the character closest to Harry. While never failing to show Harry’s brilliance as a wizard or Hermione’s wisdom far beyond her years, the movies consistently refuse to show Ron for who he is and the qualities that made his friendship with Harry so special, which later came at the cost of Hermione and Ron’s romantic relationship because Ron had become a person quite different from who he was in the books.
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One of the most egregious changes from book to screen is the choice to make Ron practically nothing more than Harry’s goofy, insignificant, and empty-headed sidekick. This is particularly true inPrisoner of Azkaban,Goblet of Fire, andHalf-Blood Prince, but is present in all eight films. It’s disappointing because that’s not who Ron is in the books in the slightest. Sure, he has his moments, like all teenage boys do (including Harry), but he’s fairly intelligent. It’s repeatedly said that Harry and Ron are on the same level academically with Harry having just a bit more skill as a wizard. Ron is very knowledgeable about the things he feels passionate about, like Quidditch or Hermione, but he’s capable of learning and becomes a mighty fine wizard capable of handling himself in the final battle with the Death Eaters and Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). However, the movies usually used Ron simply for a quick laugh, like taking advantage of his fear of spiders for some comedic relief or making light of his near-death poisoning experience with the mead in Slughorn’s office. This often reinforces the idea that Ron is lesser than Harry and Hermione, lessening his character development and harming his relationships with the two of them along the way.
In theSorcerer’s Stonebook, when the three are trapped in Devil’s Snare after their near-miss with Fluffy the three-headed dog, Ron helps to ensure that they survive. Hermione has the knowledge of the plant and its weakness, but neither she nor Harry yet have the instinct to use magic to set the fire to save them. Ron, on the other hand, does, and tells Hermione to create a fire with magic, helping to save them. In the movie, Ron does nothing but panic, needing to be saved by his friends. Another example of diminishing Ron’s abilities is making Ron’s Quidditch prowess a complete joke, even having Ron be hit in the face with his broom in the first movie despite spending much of his childhood practicing while flying at the Burrow. Anything for a quick laugh, even if it changes everything about Ron’s personality and leaves out all of the characteristics that got him sorted into Gryffindor in the first place.
This change in Ron’s character also comes at the expense of his relationship with Hermione, too, which is later a beautiful romance. The entire dynamic of their relationship changes (except in the final two films, which are the most accurate portrayals of Ron over the entire franchise). Often, Ron is fiercely protective and loyal to Harry and Hermione, like when Snape calls her a “know-it-all” and, in the books, Ron stands up for her and gets a detention because of it. In the movie, Ron says “he’s got a point, you know,” which is ultimately the beginning of movie Ron not being worthy of Hermione. They emphasize his fights with Hermione, and Ron is often throwing low blows and able to really get under Hermione’s skin, with Harry left to comfort her and bridge the gap between them. An example of Ron’s cruelty is his reaction to Hermione bringing Krum to the Yule Ball, which ends with Hermione crying on the stairs because she’s so hurt by how nasty Ron was to her about it. In the books, Hermione storms off (and Ron isn’t as terrible to her). Additionally, while being generally mean to her in the movies, Ron is written as a blithering idiot while Hermione is the smartest witch alive, so altogether they are just completely incompatible.
Even Ron’s most crucial contribution to his friendship with Harry and Hermione is nearly completely wiped away in the movies, which is that he is the expert on the wizarding world as the only one to have grown up surrounded by magic. For example, inChamber of Secrets, after Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) calls Hermione a “Mudblood,” the books see Ron, with Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) to assist due to the slugs Ron is actively vomiting up, enlightening both Harry and Hermione to what this word means. In the movie, Hermione is passing the knowledge to Harry, knowledge that she wouldn’t yet have considering her short time in the wizarding world, while Ron sits in the background and vomits.
With how undervalued Ron is in the movies, it comes at the expense of unarguably the most important relationship in the books: Harry and Ron’s friendship. Ron is the first person to see Harry for who he is. He’s the first person of his own age to treat Harry with respect and friendship, and the two quickly form an unbreakable bond. Likewise, Harry understands Ron and sees Ron for more than just beinganotherWeasley or the younger sibling of one of his many brothers. Harry doesn’t ever have to hide what’s going on from Ron, who is always there (with two notable exceptions) to support him. When Harry is hearing the basilisk through Hogwarts walls, the book has Ron telling him that hearing voices in the wizarding world isn’t a good thing (whereas Hermione says it in the movie), but Ron also reassures Harry that he believes him. When his scar hurts and he’s seeing into Voldemort’s mind in the books, Ron is the only person who doesn’t shame him for allowing that connection. Hermione, like Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) and others, understand the severity of the situation a bit more but aren’t open to hearing Harry say that he’s trying or understanding the difficulty of it. Ron is the person he’s closest to, the only person who is always at his side, which is why the two times Ron deserts him hurt so much, and his best friend — by far, as Harry often points out when it’s just him and Hermione.
The foundation of Harry and Ron’s friendship is hardly built in the movies, but over time they become less and less believable as best friends. Hermione fills the role with Harry on practically every occasion possible, becoming Harry’s closest confidant. Meanwhile, Ron is often left to stand in the background during emotional moments, especially in those created just for the movie, like when Hermione is comforting Harry after he learns that Sirius Black is his godfather or when Hermione hugs Harry and offers to come with him when they are faced with his inevitable death at Voldemort’s hand after learning he’s a horcrux. Or, when Harry and Hermione are talking about the journey to find the horcruxes after Dumbledore’s death in the sixth movie with Ron sitting in the background, whereas that moment in the book has HermioneandRon reinforcing to Harry that they are coming with him and will do whatever it takes to help him. Ron isn’t allowed the same emotional connection with Harry that Hermione is, even though it’s the reverse in the books. It’s great to see Hermione’s importance emphasized in the movies, but it should not have happened at the expense of Ron and the importance of the trio as a whole.
In the books, Ron’s loyalty to Harry knows no bounds, and vice versa. (Hermione is also very loyal to Harry, but it’s not the same.) Harry’s primary concern when recognizing his romantic feelings for Ginny (Bonnie Wright) is how Ron will react. Harry puts off his pursuit of these feelings, despite knowing that Ginny feels the same, because of his loyalty to Ron. Ron’s loyalty is shown in other extremes, though. In Prisoner of Azkaban, when Sirius (Gary Oldman) drags Ron to the Shrieking Shack and the trio learn the truth, it’s Ron who. while injured with a broken leg, exclaims that if Sirius wants to kill Harry then he’ll have to go through them. Ron even attempts to stand on his broken leg to try to defend Harry. In the movies, Hermione shouts this, while Ron whimpers in the corner, wiping away probably the most important moment up to that point that had occurred in Ron and Harry’s friendship. Because these important moments in Harry and Ron’s friendship are stripped away, the two times when Ron turns his back on Harry (albeit temporarily) don’t quite have the same impact. In theGoblet of Firebook, when Ron stops talking to Harry after his name comes from the fire until after the first task, it’s because of Ron’s jealousy due to his best friend overshadowing him once again, something Ron has experienced countless times as the youngest of six brothers. In the movie, there’s no real reason, at least not one that’s fleshed out, so Ron just seems like a bad friend and Harry’s ability to let Ron back into his life so easily doesn’t make sense. Likewise, when Ron leaves inDeathly Hallows, it’s because of his own insecurities and the feeling that Harry and Hermione would be better off without him. This is shown, a little, by Riddle’s locket before Ron destroys it, but because of the lack of exploration of Ron over the sixth previous movies, it just makes him seem like a bad friend and the weakest link of the trio. The emotional impact these moments have on Harry (and Hermione) falters because the movies consistently show that Harry and Hermione are fine without Ron, something that is very much not the case in the source material.
Coming from someone whose favorite character is Hermione and has always adored the relationship between Hermione and Harry, it’s a shame that Hermione and her friendship with Harry getting even more development in the movies came at the expense of Ron. The movies could have shown the trio as equals, easily, and used other characters for comedic relief, like the Weasley twins or Peeves the Poltergeist who never appears on-screen despite his prominence in the books. Ron needn’t be sacrificed for something that was already readily available in the books from other characters that circled the trio at Hogwarts, and to prop up a relationship that was already quite special to begin with. It’s a shame how terribly the movies treated Ron Weasley, making him a shell of the character he should have been.
