Luna Lovegood

## History

### Early Life

Luna was born on 13 February 1981, the only child of Xenophilius and Pandora Lovegood. It is presumed that Luna had a nice family life based on her later attitude about her life. However, this was all changed when Pandora was accidentally killed while experimenting with a spell that she created when Luna was nine years old. Thus, Luna was subsequently raised by Xenophilius alone for the rest of her life. As she witnessed her mother's death, she was able to see Thestrals, the magical skeletal black horses that led the Hogwarts carriages, from that point onward.

## Physical Description

In 1995, fourteen-year-old Luna had waist-length, straggly, dirty blonde hair, protuberant silvery eyes, which often seemed to be dreamily distracted, and faint eyebrows. She had an aura of "distinct dottiness" about her, and was known to put her wand behind her left ear for safekeeping.
Luna had a unique fashion sense that other people usually found bizarre. She often wore odd pieces of jewellery such as a Butterbeer cork necklace and Dirigible plum earrings, and in 1996, a pair of Spectrespecs. Luna also did not wear shoes because students in her house would take her shoes and hide them.
At Hogwarts Quidditch matches, Luna supported Gryffindor against every House except Ravenclaw; to show her support for Gryffindor, she would wear a hat in the shape of a lion head that roars, and to show support for Ravenclaw she would wear an eagle hat with flapping wings. At Professor Slughorn's Christmas party in 1996, she wore spangled silver robes. At Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's wedding, she wore bright yellow robes because she was taught it brought luck to a wedding to wear sun colours and had a sunflower in her hair, as well. She was described as "pretty" on some occasions, despite her odd clothes.

## Personality

Luna was an extremely quirky girl, with a serene disposition and many eccentric beliefs and qualities. She was a complete nonconformist; she lacked self-consciousness and was not afraid to show who she truly was. Luna was also intelligent and unusually perceptive, having been sorted into Ravenclaw *"where those of wit and learning will always find their kind.*" A prime example of Luna's perceptiveness was when she pointed out the ironically drastic measures taken against Sirius Black when he escaped Azkaban, but when ten Death Eaters (including Bellatrix Lestrange) escaped, barely any measures were taken to recapture them.

Although many thought Luna was bizarre, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley, Dean Thomas and Ollivander eventually became very fond of her.

Luna's demeanour and voice were often distant and dreamy; she would drift away from a conversation she did not find interesting. However, whenever someone made fun of her father or his magazine *The Quibbler*, the dreamy quality in her voice would vanish and be replaced by one of steel, and she would immediately become very angry. She had an uncanny way of making others uncomfortable by being bluntly honest — Harry Potter described her as having a "*knack for embarrassing honesty*". She was also completely unflappable and rarely seemed anxious or stressed, even under difficult circumstances such as being a prisoner of Malfoy Manor. Luna was very good at comforting others. She comforted Harry after his godfather's death and Mr Ollivander while they were imprisoned together.

Luna was often the subject of ridicule and had difficulty making friends. Other students gave her the nickname of "Loony Lovegood" and even stole and hid her things. She was unfazed by this, and instead chose to be nonjudgmental and accepting of those around her. She once said that she did not like dancing much, though she did dance some at the wedding of Bill and Fleur, along with her father.

Luna seemed to have enjoyed artistic pursuits in her free time; her house was filled with various things that she painted. She even painted very life-like portraits of her friends that seemed to breathe. Luna was very loyal to the few friends she had — she published Rita Skeeter's interview of Harry Potter on *The Quibbler* (March issue, 1996) during the latter's fifth year and supported Harry even when he was outlawed by the Ministry of Magic. Ron stated that she certainly has far more courage than her father, who was at the time stressed when under duress. She also displayed admirable bravery during both the Battle of the Department of Mysteries and the Battle of Hogwarts.

### Luna's beliefs

"*The Aurors are part of the Rotfang Conspiracy, I thought everyone knew that. They're working from within to bring down the Ministry of Magic using a combination of Dark magic and gum disease.*"
— Luna after Harry Potter discussed his wish to become an Auror[src]

Luna believed in many things that few others do; given her inclination towards superstition, she would have probably liked Divination. However, as she grew older, she came to accept that some things simply do not exist.

She seemed to believe everything she read in *The Quibbler*, mainly because her father wrote it. Some theories she believed in included: Sirius Black being Stubby Boardman, that Rufus Scrimgeour was a vampire, that the Aurors were part of the Rotfang Conspiracy to bring down the Ministry of Magic from within using Dark magic and gum disease, that the Tutshill Tornados were top of the league by a combination of bewitched brooms and torture, that Cornelius Fudge ordered goblins to be made into pies, drowned, or assassinated in other various ways, had an army of Heliopaths, and used the Department of Mysteries to develop terrible poisons to feed to anyone who disagreed with him.

**Luna**: "*I still feel very sad about it sometimes. But I've still got Dad. And anyway, it's not as though I'll never see Mum again, is it?*"
**Harry Potter**: "*Er — isn't it?*"
**Luna**: "*Oh, come on. You heard them, just behind the veil, didn't you?*"
**Harry Potter**: "*You mean ...*"
**Luna**: "*In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, that's all. You heard them.*"
— Luna's perspective on her mother's death, showing her belief in the Afterlife[src]
Luna also believed in things that were proven true: Harry's story about Voldemort's return, the voices beyond the veil and the belief that there were people behind it, and that Hufflepuff Chaser Zacharias Smith was suffering from Loser's Lurgy. Loser's Lurgy is not proven to exist, but it was true that when Smith lost in Quidditch he thus acted accordingly.

Some of the animals she believed in were: Moon Frogs, Blibbering Humdingers, Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, Heliopaths, Umgubular Slashkilters, Nargles, Aquavirius Maggots, Wrackspurts, Gulping Plimpies, and Dabberblimps.

She also believed in the fable of Lost Diadem, a crucial Ravenclaw item and a horcrux, which turned out to be a turning point in Harry's battle against Voldemort.

## Skills & Abilities

Luna was shown to be a very powerful and talented witch. At the age of fourteen, she was able to conjure a corporeal Patronus — a very advanced piece of magic and proof that she possessed superior magical ability.

* **Defence Against the Dark Arts**: As a committed member of Dumbledore's Army, Luna learned how to cast numerous defensive and offensive spells under the instruction of Harry Potter. Luna demonstrated her excellent defensive abilities by fighting in both the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Battle of the Astronomy Tower and the Battle of Hogwarts against numerous Death Eaters, and surviving all of them.
* **Duelling**: Despite her young age, Luna was a very competent duellist. At the age of fifteen, she participated in and survived the Battle of the Department of Mysteries with no more than a few minor injuries. She also emerged from the Battle of the Astronomy Tower with no major injuries. During the Battle of Hogwarts she, Hermione, and Ginny duelled against the notorious Bellatrix Lestrange and emerged as one of the survivors.

"*I've never Stunned anyone except in our DA lessons. That was noisier than I thought it would be.*"
— Luna after having non-verbally stunned Alecto Carrow[src]

* **Charms**: In her fourth year, Luna learned how to conjure a corporeal Patronus in the form of a hare, which is an incredibly advanced, powerful and protective charm, as well as a mark of superior magical ability and talent, showing her proficiency for charm-work. She could also cast simple charms such as the Locking Spell, Reductor Curse, Stunning Spell, Levitation Charm, Revelio Charm and Wand-Lighting Charm successfully without difficulty.
* **Nonverbal magic**: In 1998, Luna wordlessly stunned the Death Eater Alecto Carrow with the Stunning Spell, while inside Ravenclaw Tower. The fact that she could effectively cast it nonverbally is a testament of sorts to her skill, since non-verbal magic is highly difficult, N.E.W.T.-level magic.

* **Care of Magical Creatures**: She may have studied this subject at Hogwarts. As an adult Luna became a famous Magizoologist, a wizarding naturalist. She discovered and classified many species that had never been encountered before. She was also shown to be very skilled at handling various magical creatures, such as Thestrals, showing her proficiency in Magizoology.
* **Study of Ancient Runes**: In the July/August edition of *The Quibbler* in 1995, Luna was able to read that issue's segment written in Ancient runes upside down, heavily implying she was able to understand and translate such runes. This also implies that she may have studied the subject at Hogwarts.
* **Creative intellect**: Luna was a very creative, artistic and witty witch. She invented a lion-shaped hat that, with a tap of a wand, made a realistic roar, and she made a flapping eagle hat of the same kind. She also painted on her bedroom's ceiling the portraits of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, and Neville Longbottom, woving them with a "chain" consisting of a single word, "*friends*", "*repeated a thousand of times in golden ink*", and it is suggested that she painted birds, flowers and insects on the walls of the kitchen of her family house. All of this show her impressive skills as an artist.
* **Leadership skills**: At the age of sixteen, Luna co-led Dumbledore's Army along with her friends, Ginny and Neville. Their leadership was so efficient that she was abducted in an attempt to force the resistance to surrender, though she was ultimately rescued by Harry and Ron.

## Possessions

* **Wand**: Luna Lovegood's first wand was of unknown length, wood and core material. This wand she used through out her life as a Hogwarts student, until she was captured and her wand confiscated and broken by Death Eaters in the middle of her sixth year. Her second wand was of unknown length, wood, and core material as well. It was made by Garrick Ollivander in the spring of 1998 after his rescue from Malfoy Manor.

* **Lion hat**: Luna created this hat that had the appearance of an ordinary pointed hat topped with a fake stuffed lion. When she tapped the hat with her wand, it let out an extremely realistic roar. She wore it to show her support of Gryffindor whenever they played against the Slytherin Quidditch team.
* **Eagle hat**: Luna wore this hat whenever the Ravenclaw Quidditch team played against the Gryffindor Quidditch team. On top of the hat is what appears to be a living eagle, which flapped its wings.
* **Dress robes**: Luna wore silver dress robes to the Slug Club Christmas party in 1996 when she was taken as a guest by Harry Potter. Luna also owned a pair of yellow dress robes that she wore to the wedding of Bill and Fleur in 1997.
* **Beetle wing earrings**: This was one of the items on her lost possessions list. She, at first, had believed they were stolen and taken away by Nargles, but then later realised it was just her classmates.
* **Silver star earrings**: Luna wore these to the Slug Club Christmas Party in 1996, along with her silver dress robes.
* **Dirigible plum-shaped earrings**: Luna wore these earrings when she expressed her belief in Harry, during 1995. In 1998 Harry noticed a bush covered in exceptionally strange and orange, radish-like fruit called Dirigible plum and notes their striking resemblance to Luna's earrings.
* **Hare bracelet**: This bracelet was owned by Luna. It was made of a golden material and adorned with a small hare penchant, similar to her Patronus.
* **Patterned shoes**: Luna has a pair of patterned Converse sneakers, with what looks likes strawberries on them. They were stolen by some other pupils and hidden, with the rest of her shoes. Luna had to walk around barefoot for most of the Order of the Phoenix because of this.
* **Purple Quill**: Luna owned this quill during the 1995–1996 school year before it was stolen by her classmates. It was produced from a feather of a woodpecker.

* **Butterbeer cork necklace**: She often wore it during her school days, to keep away Nargles. Many of the students found this odd.
* **Beetle ring**: Luna wore this ring in 1995 and possibly earlier.
* **Bubble Bow Booster:** Luna owned a kit that was still in its original packaging, but someone took it from her and hid it during the 1995-1996 school year.
* **Sum-solving ink**: This was a type of ink that presumably helped solve mathematical problems. Luna owned a bottle of turquoise sum-solving ink, but someone took it from her and hid it during her fourth year.
* **Dumbledore's Army coin**: Luna owned one of these coins as a member of Dumbledore's Army.
* ***Easy Spells to Fool Muggles***: Luna owned a copy of this book by Luca Caruso but, it was stolen from her sometime during the 1995-1996 school year.

* **Spectrespecs**: Luna owned and wore a pair of Spectrespecs on the train ride to Hogwarts in 1996. The spectrespecs were large and colourful and were given away free in an issue of The Quibbler in 1996.
* **Suitcase**: Luna formerly owned a suitcase similar to her husband's grandfather's that contained a Hippogriff and several Thunderbirds. In the 2010–2011 school year, she gave the suitcase to Rubeus Hagrid and an unidentified Hogwarts student.

## Etymology

* Luna means "Moon" in Latin (as well as in Italian, Russian, Spanish, Bulgarian and Romanian). People believed that the moon caused craziness, which may be why she's the way she is. Her nickname, "Loony", also references the moon and its ties with insanity, as it is short for "lunatic".
* *Lovegood* is a real surname and a compound word (Love and Good). Speaking in accordance of her having good feelings for every person she knew, hence Lovegood.
* Luna Lovegood is also alliterative, for effect.

## Trivia

* Luna is the only one of Harry's close school friends who is not a fellow Gryffindor.
* Harry names his daughter, Lily Luna, after her. Luna is the only person still living to give their name to one of Harry's children.
* The Dirigible plum earrings Luna wears in *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* were made by Evanna Lynch herself, as was a bracelet she wore (in the shape of Luna's patronus) in *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince*.
* In the film adaptation of *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*, it is Hermione Granger who introduces Luna to her friends, instead of Ginny Weasley, though the books imply that Hermione had never met Luna before.
* Luna was the last person in the books known to commentate a Hogwarts Quidditch match. It is unknown if she commented during the final match during Harry Potter's sixth year.
* In *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince*, Nymphadora Tonks rescues Harry from the Hogwarts Express after Draco Malfoy uses the Full Body-Bind Curse on him. However, in the film version, Luna is the one who rescues Harry, by using her spectrespecs to see the Wrackspurt buzzing around his head, alerting her to his presence under the cloak.
* In *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince*, Hermione points out that Harry put something in Ron's drink before the Quidditch match, but in the film version, it is Luna who notices, thinking it is a tonic.
* According to the film adaptation of *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* Luna sleepwalks at night and says because of that she wears shoes to bed.
* It was rumoured that Severus Snape was Luna's father and that Luna and Neville Longbottom were going to end up together at the end of *Deathly Hallows*. Both these rumours were false. However, in the film adaptation of *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2*, Neville confesses to Harry and Ginny that he is crazy for Luna. They are later seen sitting beside each other in the infirmary. However, Matthew Lewis has said that this is merely a "summer fling" before Neville marries Hannah Abbott and Luna marries Rolf Scamander..
* Luna and fellow Dumbledore's Army member, Neville Longbottom, both have compound last names. Love and good for Luna, and long and bottom for Neville.
* In *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2*, Luna seems to have an intimate friendship with Helena Ravenclaw, who knew the location of the diadem of Ravenclaw.
* Evanna Lynch, who plays Luna Lovegood in the film series, named her cats after Harry Potter characters: she has a cat named Luna and another named Dumbledore. She also had a cat named Crookshanks, although it is now deceased.
* In a deleted scene from *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2*, Luna leaves Shell Cottage to return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry tells her that it is not the same, to which Luna replies: "Neither am I." This is a reference to Luna's more mature and realistic worldview following the war.
* Scarlett Byrne auditioned to play Luna, as did the famous Irish actress Saoirse Ronan, and *The Dark Knight Rises* star Juno Temple.
* Evanna recently portrayed Luna again for one of Jessie Cave's Pindippy videos.
* In the film adaptation of *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2*, Luna did not show the Ravenclaw Common Room but instead shouted at Harry Potter because of his reluctance of listening to her attempts of her approach about finding Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem.
* A variant of Luna is available in the "Downloadable Character Pack" DLC for *LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7*. The variant is called "Luna (Lion Head)" because it portrays Luna wearing her lion hat.
* In Part 2 of the final film, Luna is not seen duelling Bellatrix Lestrange alongside Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley but can be seen duelling two Death Eaters alongside an unidentified student behind Bellatrix during her duel with Molly Weasley.
* IGN listed Luna Lovegood as their 12th top *Harry Potter* character, saying that loony-ness made her a "delight".
* Empire Magazine listed Luna as their 10th favourite Harry Potter character in "The 25 Greatest Harry Potter Characters".
* In the early drafts, Luna's name was "Lily Moon," until Rowling changed it.
* Luna is the only known member of the Lovegood family whose first name is not of Greek origin, rather it is of Latin origin.
* Rowling originally intended Luna and Neville to end up together. In an interview with USA Today, she stated that she "started to feel a bit of a pull between them" but added that if they were together by the end it would have "felt too neat". Additionally, she stated that "Neville would always find Luna's wilder flights of fancy alarming, despite their close friendship."
* Evanna Lynch has stated that she considers Luna to be a vegetarian, as it is her belief that Luna would not feel morally right eating animals who have suffered. However, Luna has eaten meat dishes in the books, such as Gulping Plimpy soup.
* Rowling has stated that she could imagine Luna as a Wiccan, but felt that the notion of Wicca was too different from wizardry as presented in *Harry Potter* for them to coexist.

### Author's comments

J. K. Rowling has said that the character of Luna took her by surprise, but that she was very fun to write, and contrasted her with Hermione Granger: "*She's slightly out of step in many ways but she's the anti-Hermione. Hermione's so logical and inflexible in so many ways and Luna is likely to believe ten impossible things before breakfast.*" Rowling has named Luna as one of her favourite characters. Together with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Draco, Luna is part of the "big seven" characters that Rowling considers to be the most major characters in the series. She was also noted to be very pleased with the casting of Evanna Lynch as Luna as she had had lunch with the actress and said she was "perfect".

J. K. Rowling's favourite character was **Luna Lovegood**.

### Luna in the films

Evanna Lynch plays Luna in the films, and since Evanna is Irish, Luna has a slight touch of an Irish accent. In the films, Harry meets her at the school carriages where she is introduced by Hermione instead of Ginny. Luna's Patronus is revealed to be a Hare, this is later confirmed to be canon in *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*. Luna is seen barefoot throughout the film because students had stolen her shoes. In addition, Luna seems to have a taste for pudding and introduces Harry to the Thestrals; she offers a young Thestral an apple, which was turned down, before offering it a bit of raw meat with an accepting smile.

She also skipped around the school. Her butterbeer cork necklace has only one cork, which she says is to repel Nargles. She also wears a beetle ring. During the battle at the Ministry, instead of being knocked unconscious, she was hit in the mouth by a Death Eater before using an unusual verbally-incanted version of *Levicorpus* to hurl her attacker away. When Ginny disintegrates the prophecy shelves with a Reductor Curse, Luna is so distracted by the light that she does not run away, but Neville saves her. She is then taken hostage along with all of Harry's companions but is rescued by the appearance of the Order of the Phoenix members (Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Kingsley, and Mad Eye).

In the film adaptation of *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince*, she states that she often sleep-walks at night and wears her shoes to bed just in case. Lynch was a huge fan of the series before she was cast.

### Luna in the games

Luna's role in the game is much the same as her role in the film, though we do not meet her until Harry goes to find the people who signed up for the D.A. to tell them about the Room of Requirement. The Player has to help Luna feed the Thestrals, and then she will appear in the Room of Requirement. Later in the game, Fred and George Weasley send Luna to tell Harry how to swamp the clock tower courtyard, with one of their Portable Swamps. At the end of the game, the player must help Luna find her missing objects, which are: a jumper, a newspaper, a lion mask, a pair of pink shoes, and her purse. Luna is also a playable character in the HBP game. She is a two-player duelling character and is unlocked (with Draco Malfoy) by retrieving two crests.