Meeting Luna Lovegood

I wasn't sure if I would ever have a reason to go to Comic Con.

In August, I told Porch that I might go to Comic Con if certain voice actors or Muppeteers ever came but that I couldn't think of any live-action actors I cared enough about to spend the money on. I've just never been that into movie stars. For example, I would consider going to Comic Con to see Elijah Wood, but only because he did such a fantastic job voicing Wirt in Over the Garden Wall, not because he played one of the leading characters in a critically acclaimed and financially successful film adaptation of one of my favorite book series.

Just days later, I texted Porch.

Awkward Mormon Girl: Looook. Somebody that I would go to Comic Con for: [and then I sent a link to the Comic Con website but I'm not including it here because it will probably be obsolete soon]

If you read the title of the blog post, you might have an inkling of who this person was. If that inkling is any good, then it's pointing you in the direction of Evanna Lynch, Luna Lovegood herself.

Luna Lovegood is my favorite female Harry Potter character. Why? First of all, when I read through the first through fourth books as a child, I found that there weren't many blonde characters that I liked. Petunia Dursley, Dudley Dursley, Gilderoy Lockhart, Rita Skeeter, Draco Malfoy, Fleur Delacour—they weren't exactly sympathetic. I really wanted a character who looked like me but was likable. Lo and behold, the fifth book came out! And Luna was not only blonde, but dirty blonde—the kind that nobody wants to be but most people actually are. By the time the fifth book came out, the white-blonde hair of my childhood had darkened considerably and only got darker from that point. I cherished that similarity between myself and Luna.

Second of all, apart from the looks, I identified with Luna personality-wise. Over the years, a few people have told me, unprompted by me, that I remind them of the book version of Luna Lovegood because I march to the beat of my own drum and don't make decisions based on what everyone else does. And, as I've gotten older and refined aspects of my personality, I find that I, like Luna, am a little too honest and a little too intense.

Last but not least, Luna adds so much to Harry Potter. Before I read the fifth book, I couldn't imagine how another main character could possibly fit into the story. It seemed like it was too late in the game to introduce anyone very significant. I was wrong, obviously. Now when I reread, I wonder how the first four books are as good as they are without Luna.

Having sufficiently proven my love for Luna Lovegood, I have to warn you that I'm no huge Evanna Lynch fan. Not that there's anything wrong with her, personally. It's just that when I saw the first photo of her ten or eleven years ago, I was disappointed. Luna Lovegood, champion of dirty blondes, was going to be played by someone with white-blonde hair? I told Viola that I thought she looked too much like Tom Felton, that people who hadn't read the books were going to think that Luna and Draco were secretly related, and that everyone would be confused.

I believe this was the first photo of her that I saw.

When I saw the movie, I found that the variation of vague and serene that the director had chosen for Luna was not the same variation that I'd pictured in my head. However, Evanna did a really good job of portraying what they'd decided to go with. I had to respect that. And, in later years, I followed her on Twitter, and she seemed cool and everything, but I cared more about the fact that she was the face of Luna than about her personally.

After that initial text to Porch, I spent a few weeks in debate.

On the one hand, it seemed like it would be cool to meet her.

On the other hand, it would be expensive.

On the other other hand, I have money to spare.

On the other other other hand, I try to save a lot of that money for the future.

On the other other other other hand, nobody is financially reliant on me but me. I can spend my money on whatever the huckleberry I want.

On another hand, I had no one to go with.

On another another hand, Favorite Cousin showed an interest in going when asked.

Round and round I went in my decision making. Finally, two things decided the question for me.

The first is the connections game. In the connections game, you pick a person and try to connect yourself to them through association. For example, Jim Henson. Here's my connection to him: I know my grandmother. As a child, my grandmother met Walt Disney. Walt Disney worked with Julie Andrews on Mary Poppins. Julie Andrews appeared on The Muppet Show, which meant that she would have met Jim Henson. Or we could do it this way: Runner Bean and his family once appeared on Extreme Home Makeover. The host of Extreme Home Makeover, Ty Pennington, later appeared in a Sesame Street video with Count von Count. At the time, Count von Count was played by none other than the incomparable Muppeteer Jerry Nelson, who worked for years with Jim Henson. Bonus: no matter how you connect me to Jim Henson—and this may be the best part—from Jim Henson it's just one connection to my favorite Muppeteer, Steve Whitmire!!!

Now, I already had a fairly direct connection to J. K. Rowling. A classmate of mine from college has a cousin who is married to Broadway star Audra McDonald, who is playing the wardrobe in the upcoming adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. As all humans and maybe some inhumans know, Emma Watson is playing Belle in said adaptation, and obviously Emma Watson knows J. K. Rowling. So I can trace myself to J. K. Rowling easily. Yet the idea of meeting someone who was just one connection away from one of my favorite writers—well. That was even better.

And the second deciding factor? It seemed like maybe I should live a little. Meet Evanna Lynch? Why the heck not? Why not do something expensive and unnecessary and oh-so-cool every now and again? Ya know? There are so many things that I want to do with my life that I haven't been able to. I hope that they will come, in time, but I can't put off living a fun and rewarding life until then.

And thus it was decided. And thus Favorite Cousin and I bought tickets to the last day of Comic Con and to the Evanna Lynch photo op.

On the day we were going, I was bouncing off the walls. I wore my Gryffindor/Mulan t-shirt and golden teacup earrings. I'd brought my Luna Lovegood wand and a notebook to take notes at panels. I was rearing to go!

Here are some impressions of Comic Con:

1. There were so many creative costumes! I saw Pacha, Chicha, and Kuzco. I saw Disney princesses galore and Meg from Hercules. I saw Bert and Mary Poppins. I saw Finn the Human. I saw so many Avatar: The Last Airbender characters:Toph, Aang, Katara, Ty Lee, Azula, and Sokka. I saw Wirt and Greg, Astrid and Hiccup, and Schmendrick and Amalthea from The Last Unicorn.

2. Comic Con needs more pens. I usually carry a pen in my purse, but when I arrived at the convention I realized I didn't have one. Favorite Cousin and I scoured the booths, looking for pens for sale. We saw some specialty pens that cost $65, $35, but nothing at a more...reasonable price. Get rich quick scheme: bring a box of Bic pens to Comic Con, sell them for a buck apiece to people who want to take notes at the panels.

3. It was really cool to see so many famous people! I saw the girls from The Hillywood Show. They had a booth selling merchandise, and they were actually selling the merchandise themselves rather than having others do it. Favorite Cousin and I did a walk-by of Billy Boyd's autograph booth and were able to see him from afar! I tried to catch glimpses of Jeremy Shada and Jess Harnell, too, but was unable to.

Now here's the thing. I found the atmosphere at Comic Con to be very strange. Overall, it just...wasn't uplifting. I don't know why that was, because I've heard nothing but good things about it in the past. Yet the overall spiritual impression I got from Comic Con was a dark one.

When we saw Billy Boyd, I was drawn to him immediately. He just...he really stood out, and not just because he's famous. It's hard to describe, but he was really...full of light.

I had a similar experience with Evanna Lynch. We waited in line for a long time for our photo op. Favorite Cousin and I were exhausted at that point; we left shortly after, even though we'd been planning to stay longer.

Now, Evanna's photo op was running late. We always knew that we weren't going to get much of a chance to talk to her, but Favorite Cousin's experience at conventions in the past was that during a photo op, you got to shake hands and at least say hello. As we drew near to the photo area, however, the security people announced that Evanna had to catch a plane. They instructed us to dash up as soon as the flash for the photo before us went off and get into place quickly. We'd take the photo and exit immediately. No talking, no handshakes, no nothing.

As we drew closer, I studied Evanna. She was wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt and a pencil skirt. I noticed that she was even shorter than I am, and (with some amusement) that her white-blonde hair was showing dirty blonde at the roots. She looked exhausted, but she was still smiling for every picture.

It was almost time for our photo. The girl before us stepped forward swiftly. The flash went off. Favorite Cousin and I, tensed to move, started towards Evanna, but she cried, "Stop! Stop! Can we do that again? I wasn't looking at the camera."

It was a little thing, but it impressed me deeply. It told me that she really cared about her fans getting their money's worth. I was drawn to her the same way that I was drawn to Billy Boyd. Even in just a few seconds, I got the feeling that she was a good person worth admiring. Which was so strange...because I'm usually not the kind of person who takes to people instantly.

They did the photo over. Then it was our turn. We said a quick hello as we got into place for the picture. The cameraman snapped the photo; the light flashed. And I said, "Thank you!" to Evanna, and she said, "Thank you," back, and now I have an experience that I will always remember.

The photo turned out great. I was practically crying, I was so happy. Favorite Cousin seemed to share the deep thumbprint that had been pressed in my heart by the brief experience, because he, too, was nothing but giddy as we rehashed it through conversation over sushi.

Later, I went to visit Porch. I tried to explain how great Evanna was, but it was difficult. I felt like I sounded completely ridiculous; after all, I'd only been in her presence for a few seconds. However, Porch's face lit up, and he started gushing about Evanna. He'd gone to her panel the day before, and he seemed to share my sentiments exactly.

So that was my experience meeting Luna Lovegood. I'm not sorry I did it, in fact I'm very very glad, but I don't think Comic Con is going to become a regular haunt of mine. Unless Steve Whitmire comes. In which case I am going to buy all the tickets and go all the days and follow Steve Whitmire around and probably get arrested.