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“So we’ve just got to try on the hat!” Ron whispered to Harry. “I’ll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll.”

-The Philosopher's stone

And they did in fact, wrestle a troll.

“My turn…” Ron peered into Harry’s teacup, his forehead wrinkled with effort. “There’s a blob a bit like a bowler hat,” he said. “Maybe you’re going to work for the Ministry of Magic…” He turned the teacup the other way up. “But this way it looks more like an acorn… what’s that?” He scanned his copy of Unfogging the Future. “‘A windfall, unexpected gold.’ Excellent, you can lend me some.

-The Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry did join the Auror department, post-Hogwarts. And he won a thousand gold Galleons in the Triwizard Tournament.

“I’m sorry,” Ron said, moaning a little as he raised himself to look at them, “but it feels like a – a jinx or something. Can’t we call him You-Know-Who – please?”

-The Deathly Hallows

Ron seems to have sensed the Taboo on the Dark Lord's name too.

Was all of this pure chance, or, did he miss out his opportunity on becoming the Second Cassandra Trelawney by not recognizing his own talent?

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11
  • 1
    This Quora post lists a couple more times when Ron seemingly predicted the future.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Apr 20, 2018 at 13:04
  • 3
    I'd just like to point out though that this could just be bias because you don't take note of the times when he said something about the future that didn't come true.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Apr 20, 2018 at 13:05
  • 3
    Not only did Harry win all that money in the Triwizard Tournament, he then lent it to Fred and George to start their joke business (IIRC). So Ron's suggestion that "you can lend me some" wasn't that far off either.
    – F1Krazy
    Apr 20, 2018 at 13:06
  • 1
    Me too, just thought it was worth pointing out
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Apr 20, 2018 at 13:09
  • 1
    @MishaR, so far, that's still a 12:1 success ratio. Anything better than 1:1 or so is unlikely to be a coincidence, so we'd need at least another 11 counter-examples to make the premise look significantly less likely.
    – Harry Johnston
    Apr 20, 2018 at 22:40

1 Answer 1

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17

From the examples you show plus those in the following posts.

Quora

Book 2

  • (About why Riddle received the award for special services to the school): "Maybe he got thirty O.W.L.s or saved a teacher from the giant squid. Maybe he murdered Myrtle” - Riddle truly murdered her and in a roundabout way truly received price for it

Book 4

  • To Harry when doing homework for Trelawney: “Why don't you get stabbed in the back by someone you thought was a friend?" - Harry is truly later betrayed by spoiler alert Ron both in books 4 and 7.
  • When discussing Crouch Sr. disappearance in the Forbidden Forest and Snape’s involvement in it: "Not unless he can turn himself into a bat or something," said Harry…"Wouldn't put it past him," Ron muttered. - Snape gains ability to fly in book 7 while using a bat-like wings.

The Things

  • He Offhandedly Predicted Harry Would Win The Triwizard Tournament
  • When Ron Knew Hermione Confunded Cormac McLaggen
  • Ron Predicted A Crouch Attacking Viktor Krum
  • He Predicted Moaning Myrtle's Friendship With Draco
  • He Called The Fight Between Him and Harry During The First Task
  • He Predicted His Own Betrayal Over The Horcrux Locket
  • He Predicted That Voldemort Would Be Connected To A Book
  • He Foresaw Percy Leaving The Weasley Home
  • He Knew Gilderoy Lockhart Was A Mess Before Anyone Else

Some of these could be explained away by him just making educated guesses at the time or just throwing out a lot of ideas. However, I think the evidence does lean towards him having a natural talent at predicting the future.

It is worth pointing out that Ron does fail Divination in hie O.W.L.S and whilst this doesn't disprove his natural ability it does shed some doubt on the possibility.

He looked round. Hermione had her back to him and her head bent, but Ron was looking delighted.
‘Only failed Divination and History of Magic, and who cares about them?' he said happily to Harry. ‘Here – swap –'
The Half-Blood Prince

However, this again could just be because he doesn't care about it and didn't really put much effort into it.

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6
  • 4
    Or because the teacher was (by and large) a fraud?
    – Liath
    Apr 20, 2018 at 13:24
  • 3
    Well reasoned...Can you prove a false positive, though? I mean, has Ron predicted anything that turned out to be false?
    – Simpleton
    Apr 20, 2018 at 17:24
  • 5
    I think that we should also keep in mind that, in writing, foreshadowing is a thing. So while it may possible be that Ron has special powers (I did hear that the HP universe has some magic in it), I think we should be careful. Fiction in general tends to have a lot of prophecy in it.
    – Misha R
    Apr 20, 2018 at 17:43
  • 8
    @MishaR - I'd agree in principle, and fandom likes fantheories, but that's a lotta examples. If the writer hands one character the foreshadowing stick and forgets to move it around, it's just easier to call him the prophet and move on.
    – Radhil
    Apr 20, 2018 at 20:14
  • 1
    @Radhill Yeah, and I don't think I necessarily disagree. But I had the thought too - I wonder if Ron is the only one like that, and if we'd find some similar connections if we examine the book's other characters. Let's also keep in mind the narrative device of the fool who says profound or prophetic things. Since Ron does fit some of the parameters of the fool, it could still be that he is prophetic for purely literary reasons.
    – Misha R
    Apr 20, 2018 at 23:07

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