The Untold Truth Of Ron Weasley

J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" books gave birth to one of the most popular (and highest-grossing) film franchises of all time. They follow the title character, a boy who learns he's a wizard and is invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There he makes lifelong friends (and enemies), and he discovers it's his destiny to fight and ultimately defeat Lord Voldemort, the evil wizard who killed his parents.

At Harry's side are his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. We first meet Ron on the platform at King's Cross station, and Hermione introduces herself on the Hogwarts Express shortly after. By the end of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" the trio are best friends, and they only grow closer as the series progresses.

Over the course of eight films, we learn a lot about Ron and his family. As one of the franchise's central characters, Ron's life is well chronicled. However, there are actually a few things about him that weren't directly revealed in the films, or even in the books. From deleted scenes that show a different side of Ron to the hidden facts Rowling has revealed about the character, here's the untold truth of Ron Weasley.

J.K. Rowling spent six years writing "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (released as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the United States) and creating her magical Wizarding World. During that time, she subjected her work to a lot of re-writes and edits, but one thing that never changed is Ron Weasley's name. "Ron was the only one of three major characters whose surname never changed," Rowling revealed on her website. "He has been a 'Weasley' from start to finish," she added.

Rowling "discovered Ron" while on a train journey from Manchester to King's Cross on the very first day that the idea for "Harry Potter" came to her. She quickly came up with his surname, too. It was inspired by the weasel, one of her favorite animals. "In Britain and Ireland, the weasel has a bad reputation as an unfortunate, even malevolent animal," she said. "However, since childhood, I have had a great fondness for the family Mustelidae; not so much malignant as maligned, in my opinion."

Ron's greatest fear throughout the "Harry Potter" series is spiders. He explains in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" that this phobia stems from a childhood prank Fred played on him, turning his teddy bear into a "great big filthy spider." Rupert Grint conveys Ron's fear of spiders very convincingly on the big screen. The actor didn't have to do too much acting during the spider scenes, because Grint also suffers from arachnophobia. "I don't like spiders in real life," he told the BBC. "Even rubber ones I get really scared of." Grint said his phobia made several of the spider scenes "challenging."

Daniel Radcliffe praised his co-star for overcoming his fear of spiders during the Forbidden Forest scene, putting it down to willpower and the spellbinding practical effects. "He was helped slightly by the fact that Aragog was so impressive," Radcliffe said (via Screen Rant). "We couldn't really be scared when we were thinking, 'Wow, that's so cool!'" However, while Grint might have overcome his fear of spiders, Ron did not. During Defense Against the Dark Arts class in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," Ron's boggart manifests into his greatest fear, a giant spider which he eventually sends flying on roller skates. Of course, the boggarts were special effects creations and Grint was able to laugh when he told IGN about the "picture of a spider on roller skates" that he had to act next to.

Ron Weasley has a notoriously large family, and we're not just talking about his six siblings. He has aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, and all manner of relatives. Some have been mentioned once or twice in passing, like his uncle Fabian and his great aunt Tessie, but some you've probably never heard of — like Mafalda. Anyone who's ever read the first "Harry Potter" book might remember Ron mentioning her father, though. "I think Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him," he revealed to Harry.

J.K. Rowling later explained that Mrs. Weasley's second cousin was actually a stockbroker who'd been "very rude" to her and Mr. Weasley in the past. "But now he and his (Muggle) wife had inconveniently produced a witch, they came back to the Weasleys asking for their help in introducing her to wizarding society before she starts at Hogwarts," Rowling revealed on her website (via TeenVogue). Mafalda was going to be introduced during "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" as, believe it or not, a Slytherin.

The author explained that Ron's cousin was originally going to serve as a unwitting informant for the trio. "Mafalda was supposed to convey certain information about the Death Eaters to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, because as a nosy, eavesdropping Slytherin who likes to impress, she does not keep her mouth shut when she overhears their sons and daughters talking," Rowling said. The author ended up having to cut the character from the book, with Rita Skeeter fulfilling Mafalda's gossipy function.

Ron's enchanted radio is something of an enigma in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1." He appears to have had the radio with him since the trio left the Burrow and listens to it frequently while they are hunting for Horcruxes. It's often reduced to background noise and plays a nondescript Wizarding World news channel which, in the book, is Lee Jordan's "Potterwatch." Jordan's pirate radio show plays a much bigger part in the "Deathly Hallows" novel, but it's not introduced until much later in the story. When Ron reunites with Harry and Hermione, he has the radio with him. Ron spends weeks tuning it until he's finally able to access the show using a password.

In the movie version, the radio that Ron carries is a Muggle device that has been enchanted to report the magical world's news. We know this because there's a deleted scene that shows Arthur Weasley tinkering away on a bunch of radios, but sadly it didn't make it into the final film. "They're for the Order," he tells Ron. "So many on the run, it keeps them connected with the rest of us, [so they] know they're not alone." The scene is brief, but it ends with a close-up of an enchanted radio, and in the background there is one that looks just like Ron's.

J.K. Rowling was brutal in her ability to kill off beloved characters — from Albus Dumbledore, to Hedwig, to Dobby, to Fred Weasley. Even though she later admitted that the latter was perhaps too cruel a stroke from her mighty pen, she still seriously considered killing off another Weasley sibling. In 2011, The Guardian published a leaked interview Rowling did with Daniel Radcliffe for the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2" DVD. In it, the author said that although she never originally intended to kill off a member of the golden trio, Ron was on the chopping block for a while.

It was "midway though," Rowling revealed, "which I think is a reflection of the fact that I wasn't in a very happy place, [so] I started thinking I might polish one of them off. Out of sheer spite. 'There, now you definitely can't have him anymore.'" Thankfully, the author pulled back and said that in her "absolute heart of hearts of hearts," she wouldn't have done it. Ron survived the series, but it was a close call for a while.

Although J.K. Rowling expressed some doubts about their relationship after the fact, the author was committed to the Ron-Hermione pairing while writing the books and when the films were being made. Director David Yates transferred her vision to the big screen in both parts of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," but it ended up being one of the smaller storylines in the films. Ron and Hermione's romance often felt shunted to the sidelines, which is understandable given how much other action was going on. However, it's perhaps also due to the fact that scenes of their blossoming relationship were cut down quite a bit.

In one deleted scene from "Part 1," Ron and Hermione take a break from Horcrux hunting and enjoy a few happy moments together. The couple-to-be is simply skipping stones and laughing. It's one of the lighter scenes they share together, and Ron teaching Hermione to skip stones mirrors the scene where she teaches him some piano, which did make it into the film.

In another deleted scene from "Part 2," Ron tries his best to say those three little words to Hermione after their first kiss in the Chamber of Secrets, but she shuts him down. "I don't want you to say anything you wouldn't say if we weren't about to be killed by a giant snake," she tells him. "You'll just ruin it." Neither scene would have altered the plot, but they would have helped build up Ron and Hermione's relationship.

One of the first things we learn about Ron is that he's an avid collector of Chocolate Frog cards, which he teaches Harry about on the Hogwarts Express. Ron and Harry then bond over sweets, and he explains to the orphan that he has a big family of brothers to live up to. Each of them made their mark at Hogwarts either as Prefects, impressive Quidditch players, or Head Boys. "Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first," he tells Harry in the first book.

Even though Ron eventually rivals his brothers' success at Hogwarts as a Prefect and a star Quidditch player, and is then instrumental in helping to defeat Lord Voldemort, it isn't until after the Battle of Hogwarts that he earns his biggest achievement. Ron, Harry, and Hermione are all celebrated and immortalized on Chocolate Frog cards following the battle. It was a particularly big deal for Ron, who, like Dumbledore, considers this to be his best achievement ever. "Ron will describe this as his finest hour," J.K. Rowling revealed in a web chat (via The Leaky Cauldron).

Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe, and Emma Watson were the faces of the "Harry Potter" films for many years, and they have sometimes spoken about what it was like growing up in the spotlight. For Grint, it wasn't always as magical as it seemed. "There was definitely a time where it felt quite suffocating," he admitted on the Armchair Expert podcast. He told host Dax Shepard that he was only originally contracted for two movies, so the level of commitment changed a lot. "It was heavy going, it was kind of every day for ten years. It's a long time." The actor definitely has fond memories from his time playing Ron (the cast and crew became like family and overall it was a great experience), but there were ups and downs. "It was a great place to be, but sometimes it definitely felt like, 'I want to do something else, see what else is out there,'" he said.

A few years earlier, Grint had revealed to The Guardian that there was actually a time when he thought about leaving the franchise. "Filming 'Harry Potter' was a massive sacrifice," he said. "I definitely remember thinking during one extended break, 'This whole thing is so all-consuming, do I really want to go back? Maybe it's just not for me.'" He ultimately stuck it out, but that decision meant "the line between Ron and me became thinner," he said. "I think we became virtually the same person."