X is for Xenophilius Lovegood

Here is a man who, despite everyone thinking he's completely mad, never gives up on what he believes in and never stops trying to discover new things.  For that, I respect Xenophilus Lovegood, father of one of my favorite characters in the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood.

As the editor of the Quibbler, Xeno publishes his wild stories, which most people discount immediately as a rule because they are coming from the unreliable paper.  Of course, the Quibbler does report some true stories, as I've mentioned in my Quibbler post, including the articles about Voldemort's return.  He also was right in believing that the Deathly Hallows existed, which most people thought was ridiculous, including Hermione:

"Mr. Lovegood, how can you possibly believe -?"

"Luna has told me all about you, young lady," said Xenophilius.  "You are, I gather, not unintelligent, but painfully limited. Narrow.  Close-minded" (The Deathly Hallows, 410).

It's not only the magazine that has the reputation of being a little off, it's also the man behind the writing.  Harry described him as "a most eccentric looking wizard. Slightly cross-eyed, with shoulder-length white hair the texture of candyfloss, he wore a cap whose tassel dangled in front of his nose and robes of an eye-watering shade of egg-yolk yellow" (The Deathly Hallows, 139).

Xeno may be eccentric and a little too anxious to believe any myth, but his daughter Luna is his priority, and that perhaps makes him more sane than we give him credit for.  Their bond is undeniable as she defends Quibbler and spreads his theories.  Luna was so proud of her father's paper because he didn't pay to have articles written and he didn't care about the money.  All he wanted was to share the things he thought the world needed to know.

Q is for Quibbler

From unreliable, rubbish articles to the only news source reporting the truth about Voldemort's return, The Quibbler underwent many changes during the Harry Potter series.

Harry first encounters the magazine in The Order of the Phoenix, when he picks it up after noticing there's an article on Sirius Black: "SIRIUS - Black as He's Painted? Notorious Mass Murderer OR Innocent Singing Sensation?"  Since he had never heard of the magazine before, he "had to read this sentence several times before he was convinced that he had not misunderstood it" (191).

Other articles included one talking about the Minister of Magic cooking goblins in pies, flying to the moon on a broomstick and retrieving "moon frogs", and ancient runes that make your enemy's ears turn into kumquats (193).

"Anything good in there?" asked Ron as Harry closed the magazine.

"Of course not," said Hermione scathingly, before Harry could answer, "The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that."

"Excuse me," said Luna; her voice suddenly lost it's dreamy quality.  "My father's the editor."

When the Daily Prophet, the previously respected wizard newspaper, refused to tell the truth about Voldemort's return, The Quibbler took over the important role of reporting another side of the news.

Hermione coerces Rita Skeeter into reporting the true events, but Rita Skeeter says, "The Prophet wouldn't print it.  In case you haven't noticed, nobody believes his cock-and-bull story.  Everyone thinks he's delusional" (567).  Luna jumps in though and talks about how her father's paper "publishes important stories that he thinks the public needs to know" (568).  However, Rita Skeeter is not impressed by The Quibbler:

"'Important stories he thinks the public needs to know'?" she said witheringly.  "I could manure my garden with the contents of that rag."

 [...]

"The Quibbler!" she said, cackling.  "You think people will take him seriously if he's published in The Quibbler?"

"Some people won't," said Hermione in a level voice.  "But the Daily Prophet's version of the Azkaban breakout had some gaping holes in it.  I think a lot of people will be wondering whether there isn't a better explanation of what happened, and if there's an alternative story available, even if it is published in a" - she glanced sideways at Luna, "in a - well, an unusual magazine - I think they might be rather keen to read it." (568) 

As usual, Hermione ends up being right and the article is a huge success, selling out and requiring Xenophilius to print more issues!  His magazine is regarded as reputable by a much wider audience for the first time:

"The Prophet?" scoffed Ted.  "You deserve to be lied to if you're still reading that muck, Dirk.  You want the facts, try the Quibbler."

There was a sudden explosion of choking and retching, plus a good deal of thumping; by the sound of it, Dirk had swallowed a fish bone.  At last he spluttered, "The Quibbler? That lunatic rag of Xeno Lovegood's?"

"It's not so lunatic these days," said Ted.  "you want to give it a look.  Xeno is printing all the stuff the Prophet's ignoring, not a single mention of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks in the last issue." (The Deathly Hallows, 299)

Xenophilius's daughter Luna is taken by Death Eaters (Voldemort's supporters) as a punsihment for all of the pro-Harry Potter articles he was publishing.  The truth filled articles stop and are replaced by more lies about Harry.

Despite Xenophilius's betrayal of Luna's friends, the articles he published prior to that switch were incredibly brave and probably helped a lot of good people get information they needed.


Join me tomorrow for R is for Room of Requirement in my Harry Potter themed April A to Z Challenge.