Five Reasons Charlie Weasley Deserves Our Appreciaion
We all remember Charlie Weasley, don’t we? He pops up every so often as the member of a ginger-haired clan and then disappears to Romania again. He makes appearances in several of the Harry Potter books, but if we were to pick our favorite Weasley, would Charlie even be on the cards? Warner Bros. really didn’t help Charlie’s case when completely removing him from the movies either. However, despite a harsh discarding in the movie franchise, here at MuggleNet we think this Weasley deserves a little more love than he’s getting from the fandom. After all, despite sharing numerous traits with his siblings, Charlie is the revolutionary rebel of the clan.
1. He is the coolest brother.
No offense to any brothers of our own, but how can anybody deny Charlie’s coolness? Despite all their unique differences, every Weasley sibling clearly adores Charlie. No matter the distance between them, Charlie clearly still has a close bond with his siblings, to the point where he’s the best man at Bill and Fleur’s wedding in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. However, his true defining moment as an outstanding brother is his relationship with Ron in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. When Norbert needs to be removed from Hogwarts before Hagrid gets into trouble, Ron writes to Charlie seeking his help. Not only does Charlie so casually do this, but he also helps his youngest brother when in trouble with no questions asked. This and the fact that he evidently keeps in frequent contact with Ron show the true love he has for his siblings with the cool confident twist Charlie always delivers.
2. He works with dragons.
He works with dragons. Need I say more?
3. Of all the Weasley children, he’s the rebel.
It’s natural that Arthur and Molly want to protect their children and keep them close, and while for the most part, they do, Charlie defies their expectations in all manners of the word. Although this isn’t the reason that Charlie deserves more fandom love, it’s indicative of another true reason: being true to oneself. His choices aren’t necessarily always ones that his family wholly agrees with, such as working with dragons in Romania of all places, but he stays true to what he loves and the kind of wizard he wants to be.
4. He is a Hufflepuff secondary.
It’s true that Hufflepuff vibes hum through the Gryffindor-blooded Burrow. Arthur and Molly are filled with the warmth of Hufflepuffs, so it’s natural that some of their children also have the Gryffindor primary, Hufflepuff secondary gene. Ron is an obvious Gryffinpuff, but Charlie is clearly one too. As someone who works with dragons, it makes sense that he has an intense level of care and nurturing within his personality. There is no doubt that while at Hogwarts Charlie must have excelled at Care of Magical Creatures just like any true Hufflepuff.
5. He is a champion of asexual representation.
We’ve covered this before here at MuggleNet, but this final point is perhaps the most important. Though never directly confirmed by J.K. Rowling, her comment on Charlie never marrying or dating anyone but rather being “more interested in dragons than women” adheres to a fandom reading of Charlie as an aromantic asexual. As Shannen, who wrote about Charlie for Asexual Awareness Week, said, it’s so hard to find asexual characters in fiction of any form, and even if this isn’t confirmed by Rowling, we’ll take any evidence we can find. Again, Rowling could have done so much more for LGBTQIA+ representation within the Harry Potter series, but if as a fandom we can find this within the series, then perhaps this is the closest we have to confirmation of an asexual character within the series. For the asexual and LGBTQIA+ community, this is wonderful! This is why Charlie is so important – because he represents people who often are disgustingly silenced within fiction and instead gives them a voice in the form of such an incredible character.
Join us in Weasley Appreciation Week and let us know what you think of Charlie in the comments!
