Luna Lovegood, She's got a secret Options

[Perseus_Evans]

Just what do we know about Luna?

Her mom died, performing a spell.

Her dad is a conspiracy theorist publisher.

She lives near the Burrow.

We know JKR never names her characters without some intent.

And Luna is another word for moon. People call her Loony Luna... just like Loony Lupin... (anyone see where I'm going with this?)

This has probably been theorized, but Luna is a werewolf.

We know Fenrir Greyback loves to infect children, so it makes sense that there would be some young werewolves out there who he couldn't steal and raise to hate wizards.

It would also explain her bizarre behavior to a certain extent. Luna doesn't make friends because often because she doesn't want to have to explain her monthly absences. And she doesn't really care, because she's already seen death and knows how her life is going to be different than everyone else's. She doesn't worry what people think.

She also feels sorry for Hermione's belief in everything she reads, since she knows that there are things the Ministry won't let the Daily Prophet publish...

Loony Luna Lovegood... Anyone else have this theory?

[Fizzing_Whizzbee]

Interesting theory I'll admit, but I don't think this is the case.

It's been a few months since I have last read through the series (I know I know..shame one me), but I don't recall any instances where Luna makes an unexplained absence each month. Not that Jo would come out and say that so bluntl, but even in her subtle ways I don't remember anything liek that mentioned. But, if I'm wrong I hope someone will point it out.

As for the similarity in the name calling...something else I don't think quite adds up.

Remember, other than the rest of the Marauders and Dumbledore, nobody else knew about Remus' secret. Plus, Remus was one of the more popular students at Hogwarts in his day. Last I checked, the popular kids aren't called names. In Remus' case, only Peeves does the name calling (and he calls everyone names). For Luna, she is just the weird wallflower type that ends up blossoming into a more popular person later in life. (You know...the type of person you wouldn't date in a million years while in school, but at the class reunions you'd give your right arm to date).

As for Fenrir, I think he was caught shortly after Voldemort's downfall, so I don't think Fenrir would have had time to go after an infant. Besides, I don't think Jo likes revisting an idea more than once unless it's crucial to the overall plot. So us knowing about Fenrir was probably thrown in to give a little background on Remus and Bill's current situation.

Just to go over a few of the other points you made, I think secretly everyone has a little pity on Hermione for only believing what is in a book. As for living close to the Weaselys, I would think that with Arthur being a ministry worker, we would have a vague idea as to who is or isn't a werewolf (especially if they live so close).

Luna's dad...well, everyone has a friend who's parent is a little weird. Look at Ron's dad, good person, but someone could easily peg him as being on the same level of weirdness as Luna's dad because of his love of all things Muggle. As for her mum, it is magic she was worknig with. Luna herself said (I believe) that her mom liked to experiment. So just like chemistry in the real world, even a good experiment can turn deadly unexpectedly, so nothing to out of the ordinary there.

After all that though, I do agree with one thing. I totally agree that Jo usually has a meaning behind each of her characters names. I think in Luna's case we are just traveling down the wrong path and there is a connection we haven't picked up on yet. Or we it could be we are used to al lthe other characters having meaningful names that this is jsut thrown in to throw us off a little and that it was just a name that happened to go well with "Looney".

Sorry to bash the theory Perseus, but you did ask for other's ideas. Hopefully I didn't sound to mean in my bashing. But who knows, there is still one book left, alot could happen and I could be proven totally wrong.

[Perseus_Evans]

No problem Fizzing. Better to poke holes in my theory so I can shore it up.

Some of your points are definitely true, and I've been known to have convoluted theories... So here goes...

Luna has no friends to notice absences every month, except maybe Ginny, who'd probably notice. But... if Ginny did notice, who's to say that she'd tell anyone, even Harry...

I had forgotten the details of Fenrir's history, but if he died shortly after Voldy's downfall, Luna could have been a newborn, just taken from her parents after being bitten... They catch him... and Luna is returned to her parents, thought to be unharmed maybe...

So what do you do if you're the parent of a baby that is a werewolf? Especially the mother of such a child? You experiment until you find a cure or die trying.

Now seriously, it's not a LIKELY theory, but certainly not entirely impossible now is it?

It's actually very JKR.

And I might as well keep trying to solve the riddle before the answer at the end of book 7... :)

[Fizzing_Whizzbee]

Just to poke a few more holes in the theory...

If Ginny did know, I would guess she would not keep info like that from Harry. Keeping a secret as to who Hermione was going to the Yule Ball with is one thing, but after having Remus as a teacher in her second year and more than likely knowing about Remus at the end of her second year (and definately by now) she would have told Harry in hopes he could help.

As for Luna being bit as an infant, I still find it hard to believe. We don't know exactly how near the Lovegoods and Weaselys live to each other, but I would still think that given the close distance Arthur would have known something. Granted back then he was probably of even lower stature than in the "Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, but something as important as werewolves in an area would kind of be worthy of a major office memo.

As for Luna's mom experimenting to find a cure, I was under the impression that the Wolfsbane potion had been invented by then (but don't quote me on that). I know that it wasn't around while Lupin was a student, but again, I'm fairly sure it was invented by the time Luna was born. In which case, I would think that it would be available either on the open market or brewed by a good friend who excelled in potion making.

Who knows. My personal belief is that her back history isn't overly important and that is mostly there to give a little comic relief and to introduce us properly to a new character rather than just throwing out a name from nowhere.

But hey, its all good. Its fun to theorize on stuff like this. May/may not be important who knows, but if gives us something to do until we are thrown a few more hints for the final book. Then the real debates can begin.

And dont wory about your theories being convoluted. I'm sure others will say some of mine have been out there too.

[the_prisoner_of_...]

Who knows. My personal belief is that her back history isn't overly important and that is mostly there to give a little comic relief and to introduce us properly to a new character rather than just throwing out a name from nowhere.

I think JKR realised that Fred and George's direction had led them away from Hogwarts and thus, left a huge comic gap in the story. Fred and George provided countless comic situations whilst at school & I think JKR realised she still needed some comedy in the books. So she added Luna, not so much to replace the twins (because we know thats impossible) but maybe just to fill a bit of the gap they left comedy wise inside of Hogwarts.

[Perseus_Evans]

Good point prisoner. It may well be that simple. Comic relief is important...

My last points to counter Fizzing's:

If Luna had asked Ginny not to tell anyone, I'm guessing Ginny would honor that, but that's just my opinion.

And the Wolfsbane potion is not a cure as much as a treatment. The potion leaves the werewolf in control, but doesn't prevent the transformation. My theory was that Mrs. Lovegood was searching for a cure that stops the transformation as well... But of course, it's still a lot of extrapolation that I'm doing, so it's pretty unlikely...

Remember though, that we, the reader, only see from Harry's point of view, so if Harry hasn't been told that Luna's a werewolf, we wouldn't have been told yet either. My point being that the Weasley's (Arthur and Molly) may be aware of Luna's condition, but don't talk about it, because they wouldn't want to divulge a secret that would invite prejudice from other wizards.

I'm not arguing with you Fizzing.... My theory is a bit too out there even for JKR's plot-twisting ways... but until Book 7 on 7/7/07, I'll keep coming up with them... :)

[Fizzing_Whizzbee]

Looks like we will agree to disagree then :)