Who Does Luna Lovegood Marry In The Harry Potter Universe?

Because the "Harry Potter" book series is written mostly from Harry's point of view, many minor characters get remarkably little page time to make a proper impression. Particularly in the first few books where the author was trying to keep the pace light and breezy, you'd be surprised on reread by how little material we got of fan-favorite characters like Neville, McGonagall, the Weasley twins, and so on. The focus is pretty much always on the core trio of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, with everyone else just stopping by here and there. Even Dumbledore, whose presence looms so large over the entire series, only talks to Harry about once every two hundred pages or so. In fact, the two barely converse at all in "Prisoner of Azkaban." (Hermione actually gets more time with him than Harry in the film.)

Luna Lovegood's one of many characters who punches way above her page count. She pops up out of nowhere in "Order of the Phoenix" and she's absent for large stretches of "Deathly Hallows," but through sheer force of quirkiness she's become a top ten character for a ton of readers and viewers. It helps that she's the series' first in-depth introduction to the house of Ravenclaw, and that her aloof airiness means there's a refreshing lack of relationship drama with her compared to the rest of the teen characters. 

The result is that, 17 years after the final book concluded, a lot of fans are still invested in what happens to Luna after the Battle of Hogwarts. We have no doubt she'd succeed in life, perhaps as the new Hogwarts divination professor, but who would she marry? A lot of fans wanted her to end up with Neville and a lot of other fans wanted her to end up with Harry. But assuming J.K. Rowling is to be believed, Luna's husband is someone no book reader could've predicted. As Rowling explained in a 2007 interview:

"Luna became a very famous wizarding naturalist who discovered and classified many new species of animals (though, alas, she never did find a Crumple-Horned Snorkack and had, finally, to accept that her father might have made that one up)... She ended up marrying (rather later than Harry & co) a fellow naturalist and grandson of the great Newt Scamander (Rolf)."

The picture above is not of Rolf (who doesn't show up in any movie), but of his grandfather Newt Scamander, who you can see in the "Fantastic Beasts" films.

Is Rowling's explanation canon? I'd say it's about as canon as the events of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" – by which I mean it's entirely up to you, regardless of what Rowling says outside the text. But if you do accept Rowling's answer, then you're probably wondering who Rolf is. He's not in the books, after all. Given that everyone else in the main trio marries their high school sweetheart, who is this strange outsider Luna ends up settling down with?

There's not a whole lot of information for fans to work with here. Rolf is only mentioned in an early draft of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," not the published version, although he was apparently important enough in Rowling's mind that she was keeping Luna's actress, Evanna Lynch, constantly updated about him while writing the book. What would Rolf have been doing if he'd been included in the final novel? Reportedly, he would've been the one who told the main trio about the Tale of Three Brothers, rather than Xenophilius Lovegood. 

In 2014, the Potter-themed website Pottermore included a Daily Prophet article written by lovable sleazeball journalist Rita Skeeter, describing Rolf as a "swarthy grandson of celebrated Magizoologist Newt," and noting that he and Luna had twin sons together. (The kids were named Lorcan and Lysander, which sounds about right for Luna's kids.) It seems that Rolf is the more "normal" half of the couple, although he still shares Luna's fondness for learning about strange and unfamiliar magical creatures. It seems like the two are a good fit, based on the very few details we've got to work with.

Although book Luna ends up with Rolf, the movies end with the somewhat jarring implication that Luna might marry Neville Longbottom. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" doesn't go into a ton of detail on the topic of course — the characters are all very busy fighting the Dark Lord and all — but Neville briefly mentions how he's "mad for her," and wants to tell her how he feels before either of them potentially die in battle. When the battle's over, there's a brief clip of the two sitting side by side on the stairs. 

It's sweet, I guess, even though there's nothing in any of these previous movies to even hint at these two being interested in one another. It feels like a case of the screenwriters wanting to give Luna a memorable note to close on, since the book doesn't give her any big hero moments like it does with Neville. Even worse, it sort of feels like the writers simply paired Neville up with the only major female character they could think of who didn't have a boyfriend yet.

Maybe the biggest issue with these two pairing off, if you subscribe to the theory that movie Neville/Luna was a permanent thing, is that it makes the wizarding world feel too small. If so many main characters are marrying their high school sweethearts, it creates the feeling that Hogwarts is the only thing of substance here, and none of these characters are having meaningful experiences outside of school. 

The good news, at least for Neville/Luna haters, is that Evanna Lynch doesn't think the two are a long-term goal. "Luna wants to go out and explore the world and different creatures, and I think she wants to have several different relationships and not be committed forever," she said in a 2016 interview. "Neville would want a good sturdy wife who cooks, and that's not her."

Luna's post-Hogwarts life is a slight disappointment to some "Harry Potter" fans because, well, they would've preferred if Luna ended up with Harry. That may seem like a strange pairing to some, especially since Harry in the books often cringes at Luna's oddball behavior, but some Potterheads are so invested in the ship that they'll write 70k+-word fanfiction about it anyway. 

The gist of the Luna/Harry shipping is that the two have personalities that contrast in fun, compelling ways. Harry is a straightforward guy who just wants to feel normal and accepted by his peers, whereas Luna is an eccentric hippie who doesn't care at all about what others think of her. The two could learn a bit from each other; much like how Ron and Hermione's contrasting personalities complement each other nicely, some fans argue that the extreme ends of Harry and Luna's personalities could balance each other out in a serious romance. 

Of course, the main reason Luna/Harry gets shipped so often is that the canon ship, Ginny and Harry, is considered so lackluster. Especially in the movies, Ginny as a love interest gives fans nothing to work with: there's no chemistry between the actors, and their entire storyline feels tacked on top of a group of movies that are more than convoluted enough. Book Ginny's a little better, by sheer virtue of having way more time to build a lasting impression for readers, but she still lacks that spark as a character that Luna had from day one. Luna is effortlessly likable and cool, whereas it feels like the books are trying their hardest to convince us that Ginny is cool, with mixed results. Ginny and Harry may be canon, but in the hearts of some fans, Luna and Harry are the perfect pairing.