Of the golden trio, Ron may be the least popular - and the least useful! While Hermione is one of the smartest characters in film, and Harry is (of course) the Chosen One, Ron often seems like the sidekick, and an addition that serves only to provide Hermione and Harry a wizarding family to connect to. However, for every fan who thinks that Ron is the worst of the main characters, there are others that recognize just how important he is.
In many ways, Ron is the reader/audience surrogate, the one who doesn't have the extreme intelligence or prophetic destiny of the others, but who is just kind of a normal kid (for a wizard, anyway). He also goes through some impressive growth over the course of the series, and while some of his story arcs were a bit pointless, others were absolutely incredible.
Best: Leaving Harry & Hermione
ittedly, this was a terrible decision to make, and Ron should have stayed with his friends on their hunt for Horcruxes, but it was still a great story arc. Over the course of the series, Ron often struggles with jealousy over Harry, and always feeling second best (not just with Harry, either, but with his brothers as well). Seeing him finally bring this out in the open is powerful, and needed to happen. It's also a great arc because it shows just how powerful the Horcruxes are, and how stressful their hunt is. Had they all just been a bit tired, it wouldn't have had the same impact at all.
Worst: Reaction To Viktor Krum
When Ron and his friends go to the Quidditch World Cup at the start of The Goblet Of Fire, Ron is a huge Krum fan. In fact, he even buys a magical Krum figurine in the books. However, when his sporting hero ends up coming to the school, Ron almost immediately starts acting like an idiot. He is rude and cold to him, and then at the end of the book, finally asks for his autograph. This is meant to be setting up his relationship with Hermione, but his behavior is overblown and unrealistic.
Best: Becoming A Prefect
This is one of those minor arcs that doesn't really have the same impact in the movies, but in the books, Ron's promotion to prefect is a big deal - and rightly so. This is an arc that isn't just important for Ron, either, but for Harry - who finally gets to experience a little of that 'second best' feeling, and learn how to be more empathetic to Ron. It also shows Dumbledore at his perceptive best, knowing that Ron could use the boost of the position.
Worst: Flying Car Theft
It may be a hilarious scene, but Ron and Harry's decision to steal his father's flying car when they can't get onto the platform to take the train to Hogwarts is just ridiculous. As Molly later points out, they could have very easily just waited there for his parents to get back, then sent an owl to Hogwarts and gone another way. The Floo network could have fixed this in a moment, but instead they choose to do something utterly pointless and reckless.
It's also not clear whether Arthur perhaps enchanted the car to work with a wand, not car keys, but if not - how did they even get into the car in the first place? This whole plot point exists to basically put the car in the Forbidden Forest, so that it can be used to magically get them out of Aragog's lair.
Best: Quidditch Keeper
Seeing Ron become Keeper was a fantastic arc on multiple levels - and not just because any more Quidditch screen time is a good thing! It was great to see Ron dealing with issues of confidence, and seeing Harry sneakily get him past them. The lesson here might be a little heavy handed at times (yes, the magic was just about believing in yourself all along), but it's still a solid one, and one that gives Ron some decent screentime.
Worst: Scabbers And Crookshanks
Ron's pet rat, as everyone knows, turns out to be the animagus form of Peter Pettigrew, something that Hermione's cat figures out right away. However, this whole plot line is just a bit... strange.
Crookshanks' ability to see through the disguise is never fully explained in the books or the films, and Ron's reaction after he thinks the Crookshanks killed Scabbers is completely over the top and doesn't really add anything to the character.
Best: Romance With Lavender
While the relationship itself was far from healthy or positive, the actual story arc was a great one. Like Harry's budding relationship with Cho, Ron and Lavender were a great example of pretty realistic teen romance - and a reminder that while this is a fantasy series, it is also a series about the characters coming of age. For young fans, seeing how obnoxious this relationship was is a fantastic lesson.
Worst: Jealous Over Ginny's Relationship
Ron's reactions to Ginny dating Harry are somewhat reasonable, but something that comes up far more in the books than the films is his reaction to her dating... anyone. Despite the fact that she is a teenager, and it's totally reasonable for her to date a classmate, when Ron finds out that she is seeing Michael Corner, he freaks out, and then when he finds that the next year she is dating a second boy, he essentially calls her a 'slut' for it. He spends a lot of time treating her like a child, and it's just not explored enough to make it a great arc.
Best: Kreacher & SPEW
SPEW is yet another story that didn't make it from the books to the screen, and the story is worse for it. In the books, when Hermione learns about house elves, she is appalled, and sets out to try and create a charity for their protection. Well-intentioned as it is, it was a dud - but Ron's reactions to house elves is a phenomenal story arc. Despite being a generally 'good' person, Ron has no respect or care for house elves, he simply accepts that this is the way things have always been (although he does, eventually, start to question these beliefs). This is a brilliant metaphor for how some people can simply accept a damaging status quo, without being a terrible person in every sense - and it shows just how Ron's upbringing has shaped him, and how little he challenges what he knows. For the character, and as a broader commentary on human nature, this is an incredible storyline.
Worst: Romance With Hermione
Ron and Hermione's romance is definitely one of the more controversial parts of Harry Potter, with many fans believing that this would actually be a terrible relationship. In the series, these two end up married with children - but given how different they are, and how Hermione is constantly having to take care of Ron, it's easy to speculate that this wouldn't be a happy marriage. In addition, it's frustrating to see this romance shoehorned in - and in many ways, seeing the trio remain close friends without needing to pair anyone off would be significantly more satisfying.
