Neville Longbottom's Character Development

I think that Neville Longbottom has probably developed the most as a character throughout the series, and undergone the most drastic character changes. Neville starts out as a shy, awkward boy who constantly loses things and is teased by Draco. In the first book, we can already see Neville growing up; he doesn’t want Harry, Ron and Hermione to sneak out again because they would get Gryffindor in trouble. Hermione uses Petrificus Totalus on him and they pass through anyway, but Dumbledore honors Neville’s bravery at the end. He says it takes greater courage to stand up to your friends than to stand up to your enemies. I think this is an important observation, because many horrible things have happened in history just because no one stood up to their comrades when they were doing wrong. Projecting this rather broadly, the Nazis had friends who knew they were in the wrong, but no one dared to say anything because they wanted to stay in favor with the Nazi party.
Our perception of Neville continues to change in Goblet of Fire as we learn that his parents were tortured by death eaters, and they are now vegetables in St. Mungo’s. He must have had a lot of strength to visit them and keep a brave face while his mother and father didn’t recognize him. This also reflects on one of Rowling’s major themes; suffering and empathy. Neville’s parents have suffered greatly, and so has Neville, but Neville is compassionate and takes good care of his friends. Neville truly blossoms in Order of the Phoenix. He joins the DA and learns several powerful spells so that he can learn how to fight the Death Eaters with the rest of his friends. He was also one of the six who flew to the Ministry of Magic to “save” Sirius Black, demonstrating his courage and his claim to the Gryffindor name. Then the real ball drops; Neville was the other boy who could have fulfilled the prophecy involving Voldemort. Neville could have just as easily been in Harry’s shoes this entire time, and he would have had a completely different life. The only reason it wasn’t Neville was because Voldemort chose to go to Harry first. I think that’s really shocking and strikes at Rowling’s other theme of choices and how they affect people. It also makes me view the entourage of characters a lot differently. Harry isn’t as special as we seem to think. We’ve become attached to him, and we’ve loved him, but he really isn’t any better in terms of power than poor Neville who keeps losing his pet toad.

SPOILER ALERT, Deathly Hallows info to follow



Neville finally seals his maturity in Deathly Hallows, when he kills Nagini and then also refuses to follow the Death Eater’s orders. He plays an instrumental role in the Battle of Hogwarts, showing that he is a capable wizard and a strong young man. Matthew Lewis, the actor who plays Neville, similarly reflects Neville’s drastic change. He looks nothing like he did when he was ten year old. Matthew is now tall, dark, and handsome, and has a lively acting career to look forward to. Many people even had trouble recognizing him as the original Neville.