For the question meme train_lindz asked me something that makes my heart a-flutter with joy. The answer deserves its own post, yes indeed. And here it is.

Why is Luna so awesome?

Um... because she is. Obviously.

No, okay, I have an actual answer. For me it's all about her perspective. I'm fascinated by the way she looks at the world. I feel like she sees things the rest of us don't and understands them in a way that is totally logical, if only you take the time to pause and think. Too many people, in my humble opinion and with myself included here, get so caught up in trying to finish everything they don't take the time to think properly. And thinking is a good thing. We should all do more thinking.

She's more mature than most people, Luna is. Probably losing her mother and then dealing with passive aggressive bullying did that to her, which is tragic, but somehow not because of how strong she is. And Luna is strong. She's stronger than most of the people in the book, I feel, because she doesn't ask anything of anyone and she doesn't put up with nonsense or worry about the crap that surrounds her. She just does what she thinks is right and says a kind word when she has one available.

Her scene with Harry after Sirius died is the moment she became my girl. I liked her from the moment she appeared (the wand behind her ear? genius) but that was when the true depth of her character became apparent. Strange as she is, and screwed up as her logic is to the rest of us, Luna understands people and she understands how to help them. That's no small thing.

Also the idea of her giant inappropriate laugh just plain tickles me. I love it. Those are the kind of random quirks I love, the little things that authors do that just make me so damn happy. Because it's such a contrast from the serene girl Luna usually is and yet, for me at least, it's a contrast that works.

Notice I've said nothing about the crazy animals and conspiracy theories. These are, for me, the least interesting aspects of her personality. I have very little tolerance for conspiracy theories (we went to the moon and Shakespeare wrote his own stuff; deal with it) so I just... ignore those aspects. Or use it for humor in fics. I don't feel too badly doing this, either, because I feel like her crazy theories are tangential to her character. They're a manifestation of her different perspective or even, I sometimes suspect, a mask for her to hide behind. Because despite what I just said about her strength, she is a young child teased by her peers and missing her mom and misunderstood by pretty much everyone and, yeah, she probably had to hide some of herself to get through the day. No faults there.

So yes. Luna is my girl. She's my favorite character outside the trio but she's also my favorite sole character. Because I think of the trio as a unit, as three parts that need to be together to be a whole. But Luna? Luna is a whole character all by herself. She may not be in all the books or take up many pages but she is a fully realized, independent, fascinating individual. Props to JKR for creating her. Mad props.

( More Luna talk within, this time about fanfiction. )

But one more thing: LUNA FTW!