Reflection and Analysis

Harry Potter - If Ron Died (Or Neurodiversity Isn't a Plot Device) (8/7/2024)

Note - A bit of forewarning that the subject of suicide comes up in this reflection, but it is within Wattpad site guidelines and is, I also think, important, but if you are contemplating suicide, please, please reach out to the hotlines in your area.

...

In one of my random searches--

Egads, I honestly didn't expect an opinion piece on the Harry Potter Wiki called "Why Ron is Useless to lead into this discussion, but I'm under the distinct impression before actually diving into the article that it suggests Ron as a character would have been better off dying narratively, which I am not going to argue for or against yet, because that isn't even what drew me to commenting on the post.

No, what is resulting in my current reflection was catching sight of one particular line from one of the comments, as I found myself bumped to the end of the comments for the post and according to Littlebluebubble, if Ron died, that, "Not everything would have played out the way you're depicting it. Maybe, after Ron's death, Hermione would have committed suicide."

And right there, I've got to draw a definite line in the ground and go, hell no.

That particular line disturbs me, as it should ANYBODY reading that line. More importantly, I find this response inappropriate in that it majorly trivilizes what those contemplating suicide are going through, not to mention shows a major lack of understanding regarding the subject matter -- in fact, it feels more like a knee jerk reaction to someone noting a canon character would have served a better narrative purpose dead than alive at the end rather than an accurate one.

Because for the life of me--

Why is it that certain fans DON'T understand how out of character THIS is for Hermione?

I mean, this isn't the only time I've seen it crop up. There are way to many stories where her reaction to "trauma" is to become suicidal that THAT is how PTSD works when PTSD and grief are so much more complicated than that and those contemplating suicide, while on the grand scale, it is a very complex picture, the tendency towards suicide does fall under the category of neurodiversity, which is best described as a part of the brain not properly functioning like a normal person's does.

No, I'm going to take it a step farther and say I am sick and tired of people assigning THIS particular neurodiversity, or any neurodiversity for that matter to characters that the neurodiveresity issue DOES NOT FIT!!! And I say this as someone who has quite a few headcanon for various canon, including quite a few autism headcanon, but I think the instrumental point here is that I don't headcanon these characters as such for the sake of the plot in the stories I write, but because the canon in the first place supports it, thus it is treated as a part of their character and a story element regarding their character.

Neurodiversity as the extra title suggests is NOT a plot device, and if you want to be taken seriously as a writer you'll not use it as a plot device.

Mind you, there are series such as Daily Dose of Sunshine where people may mistake the neurodiversity as a plot device, but in reality the actual plot device is the setting, while the neruodiversity is one of the things that makes each character in the series unique and is a part of their journey and growth as a character.

As such, it is super frustrating to see comments like this, claiming so-and-so would die if they didn't have their love interest, when there is example after example in fiction of people doing just that. And I think that's something the commentors are missing in this, that character death is in fact a legit form of narrative device, nor are responses to the matter this black-and-black response of those who care having overly-extreme reactions to it where they can't function day to day.