The strongest Weasley

[GingerCat1]

Except we never see or hear about any difficulties Ginny had after that in regards to Voldemort's possession. With no evidence of it what so ever you cannot just say that recovering from what happened was difficult for Ginny. In fact in PoA Ginny seemed to be completely back to normal.

[birdi86]

Originally Posted by GingerCat1

Except we never see or hear about any difficulties Ginny had after that in regards to Voldemort's possession. With no evidence of it what so ever you cannot just say that recovering from what happened was difficult for Ginny. In fact in PoA Ginny seemed to be completely back to normal.

She was left in the fetal position, shaking and crying after the Dementors swept through the train so no, I don't think she was back to normal.

[Melaszka]

Please can you refrain from character bashing (e.g. blanket negative descriptions in extreme language, like "a whiny, immature little brat"), claiming to know what JKR's intentions are (nobody knows that except her - all opinions and readings of the text are equally valid here) and telling other posters whether they are on or off topic/telling them off for character-bashing (that's what the mods are here for. If it's really bugging you, report the post.)

I am this far from closing the thread. Some of you are acting like you want to be forum banned.

Also, please can you make sure you clearly state how each of your posts relates to the topic. People shouldn't have to be forced to read previous posts to make sense of the link between your post and the topic. It would help if the words "the strongest Weasley" were used.

ETA: It looks like I'm going to have to delete some posts.

[Ripper]

OK, Dipping toe nervously back into the water....

1-Arthur
2-Bill
3-Percy
4-Molly
5-Ginevra
6-Ronald
7 & 8 - Fred & George
9-Charlie

Reasoning? Here goes. I did a list of emotional strength and then a list of magical strength as I saw it. I tried to bring in age, responsibility and the characters attitude to that, the fact that working for MoM takes hard work and good skills, knowledge of the character (which is why poor ol'Chaz is last) and so on. Then the lowest score won. I thought it would be Bill but Arthur is the man.

I think he must have a lot of skill to get into the MoM in the first place. He is strong enough to work outside the inner clique of the MoM whilst keeping good humour knowing he's seen as an oddball and even "traitor". He also shows interest in his kids and has passed on a tolerant ethos to them which he believes in. He works himself to exhaustion to be able to support his family and yet live by his ideals.

[ShadowSonic]

But wouldn't that mean that Auror Ron is most likely the strongest Weasley by the end of the series?

[Divvie]

I am not sure I am getting your point, so please clarify for me, if you don't mind:
You are ranking Arthur highest because - regardless of any skill (which you infer to be high on the basis that he was actually allowed to work for the MoM in the first place) -, he was dedicated to his family and his ideals?

Originally Posted by Ripper

I did a list of emotional strength and then a list of magical strength as I saw it.
I think he must have a lot of skill to get into the MoM in the first place. He is strong enough to work outside the inner clique of the MoM whilst keeping good humour knowing he's seen as an oddball and even "traitor". He also shows interest in his kids and has passed on a tolerant ethos to them which he believes in. He works himself to exhaustion to be able to support his family and yet live by his ideals.

This implies that "strength" from your perspective is related to family loyalty and personal values (which are referenced in various points throughout the books) rather than magical ability (which seems to be simply infered from "working in the MoM").

Did I understand your position correctly? Not meaning to argue here, just trying to understand your position.

[HedwigOwl]

Originally Posted by ShadowSonic

But wouldn't that mean that Auror Ron is most likely the strongest Weasley by the end of the series?

Becoming an auror takes additional training and strengthening/adding to skill levels. The way I see it, that could make Ron the "strongest" if we're only talking about skills training. But I don't see strength as only learned skills or abilities, as I think there are so many other qualities which contribute to that notion. So from my viewpoint, I wouldn't put Ron as the strongest Weasley. I'm inclined to put Arthur in the top position at the moment, and Percy the last.

[Ripper]

Originally Posted by Divvie

I am not sure I am getting your point, so please clarify for me, if you don't mind:
You are ranking Arthur highest because - regardless of any skill (which you infer to be high on the basis that he was actually allowed to work for the MoM in the first place) -, he was dedicated to his family and his ideals?



This implies that "strength" from your perspective is related to family loyalty and personal values (which are referenced in various points throughout the books) rather than magical ability (which seems to be simply infered from "working in the MoM").

Did I understand your position correctly? Not meaning to argue here, just trying to understand your position.

I am ranking Arthur highest because he combines both Magical skill and personal strength. I felt I could to do that as the thread seemed allow one to define "strength" and my perspective is that to be an "all-rounder" like Arthur makes him strong. As I also said, it surprised me a little as I thought it would be Bill but when I considered all the extra responsibility that Art carries it swung it to him.

The MoM generally requires high NEWT scores to gain entry (unless its more of a sinecure like Ludo Bagman seems to jag!)so I have rated Arthur highly for that by inference, yes. After all, NEWTs are assessed by trained wizards/witches to a set standard. I can't remember Arthur's magical talents ever being called into question by a trusted source - so not Lucius ( but stand to be corrected!) and he's a member of OotP. I omitted that in interests of brevity.

As I said in my post, he works hard in a difficult workplace (for him) whilst keeping good humour and his own set of values. And I agree with his values so that has influenced me, too. Especially as I feel that the MoM is quite a "Dark" place in many ways but don't think that's part of this thread so I'll look elsewhere for that or start one up.

Hope I have clarified things for you, Divvie.

[RikuStark]

Originally Posted by HedwigOwl

Personally I don't count that as brave. He came back when it was safe to do so, at the very end, even though he claims to have realized his mistake before that. For me, brave would have been coming back as soon as he knew his error, even though it would put him at odds with the Ministry line. He would have been back ages sooner if he had only thought about something other than his career and how he looked to the Ministry top dogs.

I think it was brave because he could have easily hid away, not apologizing or owning up to his mistakes because he couldn't be so sure if his family would want him back (Molly and Arthur would welcome him back, but his siblings aren't so forgiving). I think my main point is that he did it, even if it may have been long overdue. I don't condone what Percy did in the long run, but I do consider his return to the family a strong thing to do.

[HedwigOwl]

Originally Posted by RikuStark

I think it was brave because he could have easily hid away, not apologizing or owning up to his mistakes because he couldn't be so sure if his family would want him back (Molly and Arthur would welcome him back, but his siblings aren't so forgiving). I think my main point is that he did it, even if it may have been long overdue. I don't condone what Percy did in the long run, but I do consider his return to the family a strong thing to do.

Interesting. I see it as the easy thing for him to do. I don't think that Percy would ever think his family wouldn't take him back. It was just the embarassment of admitting his mistake, and finding the right moment to leave the Ministry (probably during the chaos at the breakout of the war). So in my book at least, not really brave because there's no downside for him.