8 Heroic Movie Sacrifices That Ultimately Meant Nothing

8. Ron Weasley €“ Harry Potter and The Philosopher€™s Stone

Ron I'm going with a slightly different to start the list, insofar as Ron's the only entrant who doesn't die. It€™s the climax of the first Harry Potter film and Harry, Ron and Hermione are attempting to get through a series challenges set up by the Hogwarts faculty to protect the Philosopher€™s Stone. By a combination of skill, luck and judgement they finally make it to the final challenge, Professor McGonagall€™s transfigured massive chess set, and the trio take up positions in their respective roles where they€™re ordered around by the Weasley chess prodigy. Yet there comes a moment when Ron realises he€™ll have to sacrifice himself to the opposing Queen so the others can checkmate the King, so the ginger-haired one €“ who is on a stone horse as befitting his status as a knight in the game €“ takes up position and waits for the most ominous looking statue in the world to bring the pain. Now in the books Ron isn€™t on a horse, so him being obliterated by a stone giant is given slightly more dramatic risk, yet in the film his mount takes literally all the punishment. I suppose seeing an 11-year-old getting pummelled by a golem might call into question the kid-friendly rating this film desperately needed, yet it opens up a whole other can of worms. Namely, why didn€™t Ron just get off the horse and stay on his square? If he did, his whole €˜sacrifice€™ would have just been him watching a stone horse get demolished, rather than the risk-afflicted affair it turned out to be. The whole thing was frankly unnecessary, and just served to make Ron look a bit ridiculous, to be honest.
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Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League. You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.