Ron Weasley

Ronald "Ron" Bilius Weasley (born 1 March 1980) is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series of children's books. He has been portrayed by actor Rupert Grint in all Harry Potter films so far.

Ron in the films

As of 2005, Rupert Grint plays Ron in the three released Harry Potter films and the upcoming fourth Harry Potter movie. Though Ron is no doubt a humorous character in the books, in the films his role seems more geared towards providing comic relief than it is in the novels. This is especially evident in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which features Ron as an archetypical sidekick.

Related Topics:
As of 2005 - Rupert Grint - Comic relief - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Sidekick

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In the third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Ron is even more so the sidekick, serving no purpose past helping Harry on his way. This is partly due to the fact that in the original novel, Ron's role was fairly small, but it should also be noted the film created several gags involving Ron, in contrast to how Harry and Hermione seem to be becoming more "serious" characters. Ron's character has been denied some of his canon strength, a pivotal line being attributed to Hermione (see Prisoner of Azkaban section), which is not uncommon as film Hermione is made out to be far more powerful and wise than she is in the books (his line of "If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too," was given to Hermione). Also, in the films Ron breaks down to the verge of tears quite frequently, for example when he broke his wand in CoS, despite the fact this rarely ever happened in the books. Ron is also cast aside, and more of a comic-relief character than a best friend of Harry Potter in the movies.

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The differences in the portrayals of Ron and Hermione by the writers grows even more so as the fourth film is released. Ron has now been coined as a timid friend (GoF poster) while Hermione is turning into a beautiful bombshell (GoF poster).

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The attraction between Ron and Hermione, which does not really manifest itself until the fourth Harry Potter book, and only unequivocally in the sixth, is introduced much earlier in the films, with a scene as early as the end of the second film suggesting that there are feelings between them.

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