Mlj user="mike_smith"> did a great sum-up of Ron in his read of HBP where he basically said that Ron gets treated so many different ways he doesn't know who he is: at home he's treated like a baby, at school guys treat him as sort of an affable loser, but then there are these girls who are attracted to the better qualities they see in him. JKR keeps him bouncing back and forth between those things so he never knows which end is up.

It's funny because I think many of us girls see him through the lense of the girls in canon--we see his better qualities and want them to win out so everyone can acknowledge them, only they never seem to do that!

And ITA on James and Lily. Yeah, we hear they defied the Dark Lord, but all I'm seeing is a young couple who had a baby and died. Big whoop. Even James' animagus form, to me, suggests that he's just a majestic sacrifice. Not that I'd want to tangle with a full grown stag myself, but I just do associate them with being prey.