Luna Lovegood is a compelling character because she strikes the perfect balance between vulnerability and strength.

Luna is sincere. She has integrity. She remains true to herself in the face of adversity. This is something we can all admire and aspire towards. Luna mostly acts as if it doesn’t bother her, but that’s precisely how we can tell that it does bother her.

Luna is lonely. Luna doesn’t really have any friends until the D.A. which Ginny brought her to. Lonely characters always strike a chord with the audience, and they’re popular in every media. Luna is sort of a distorted reflection of a younger Harry: friendless and bullied. That scene where Harry sees her decorations with the label “friends” is beautifully poignant. It’s one of the most touching scenes of friendship in the whole series — not least because we actually know Luna isn’t safe and sound at home but imprisoned at Malfoy Manor.

Luna is adorable. What I can say about that? Luna is adorable. I think that sort of personality would grate on me after a while, but in small doses, it would be funny and absurdly cute. My favorite adorable Luna moment was her Quidditch commentary. It made the Quidditch scene entertaining.

Luna is reliable. This is one of her best qualities. Luna only met Harry during Book 5. There were a lot of members of the D.A.; she wasn’t the only one. Yet she was one of the few to keep her D.A. galleon with her when most other D.A. members did not. There were more than 25 students in the group, but Luna was one of a handful that took it very seriously instead.

Luna is a great friend. Friendship is one of the overarching themes of the series. Luna knowingly walked into danger at the Ministry of Magic. When has she ever been mentioned as one of the best duelers? Not once. She went with no confidence that she would be alright; she went without any experience in dangerous situations. She went because that’s who she is. It all turned out to be a trap. Although they were all injured, neither Luna nor any of the others reproached Harry for it. That’s friendship.

Luna is insightful and empathetic. She went to support Hermione after Ron was being insensitive. She was able to comfort Ollivander even though she was also imprisoned. She’s quite honest too and admits that Ron can be mean even though he’s funny — something no one else in the entire series has ever bothered to point out.

Luna Lovegood is special. She has so many incredibly good qualities. Her remarkable goodness shouldn’t be overshadowed by her radish earrings.

Think of a show or hobby you really like. There you go. That's what it feels like.

As for public appearance, that varies greatly. Some go out in full costumes or with tails on their belts (which I find gaudy, embarassing, and generally horrid, even to the point where I can feel physically sick). No shame, no modesty, no sense of self-image. I can't imagine doing that. Others may just don a T-Shirt with their favorite pony on it, probably to attract other bronies or start a conversation. Individuals like myself may just wear something small, like my Vinyl Scratch dog tag, just because. The reason why I'm talking about this is because it brings in a huge part in the conflict of the fandom- public conception and reaction. Some bronies obviously don't care what others think, some give a bit of mind to it, and others actually care about making positive relations with a variety of people. I see my dog tag as equivalent to if someone wore a wristband of their favorite football team. As such, however, normal people don't usually walk around in an entire NE Patriots uniform.

As for relations and conversations about the show, we talk about it and follow it like one would any other. I read news articles on my Equestria Daily app like you might read about football on whatever news source that likely covers it. Some just watch it casually, not really caring about what's new or about a returning guest star. It really depends on how much you care to keep up with it. Honestly, most people I know never even suspect I watch the show until I or someone else tells them outright.

• Many people think they can ‘relate’ to Luna. Because Luna is unique, and uniqueness is something that quite a lot of people want to have. I mean, you can see the ‘not like other girls’ things circulating around in almost every media. ‘Uniqueness’ is a trend, weird as it sounds. People like to interpret themselves as unique, so naturally, they like to think that they can relate to Luna, whether they really do is a whole different matter that we won’t discuss here. But when you relate or think you relate to someone, it’s hard for you to not like them.
• Loners, especially quirky and dreamy ones, easily get the fandom’s sympathy as well as capture their interest.
• Luna honestly has a sad life. Even her own house bullies her. Again, it’s easy to sympathise with her.
• It’s hard to hate Luna. I mean, just what can you hate about her? She has enough flaws to be safely out of the Mary Sue category, but not blatantly annoying flaws that make you dislike her.
• Apart from that, she has a lot of good qualities like resilience, bravery, nerve, etc. But I didn’t put this as the main point because almost all of the Golden Trio and Silver Trio possess these qualities, whereas the above four points make Luna stand out from the other five.

I think Luna is popular not only because of the fact that she’s a cute, kind and, a brutally honest (in a hilarious way) character but because she’s someone a lot of people can relate to.

Hear me out.

Luna never really quite fit in with the others at Hogwarts and all of us can relate to that on a personal level (at least in my opinion). She was the quirky one, the one who had her own style, the one who never really conformed but not in a rebelious manner. Now, I say this as a person who doesn’t fit in herself and I guess that’s why Luna is so popular. I think it’s because all of us, no matter what age or popularity or gender or race or anything, all of us have the yearning to fit in somewhere. Luna’s character gives us someone who isn’t afraid to be different and she shows us how to be comfortable with who we are. She’s the person who doesn’t care about how you look or anything of the sort but she just cares about your heart as a person.

For me, this would be why Luna is so popular. Hope this helps! ;)

Good question.

I think Luna allows readers to indulge a little bit where most of the other characters fulfill roles laying down hard aspects of the plot or confirming suspicions or acting in one way or another to fulfill some higher purpose of the author. Luna is therefore a big surprise.

There's so much suspended belief in the Harry Potter books, that we don't even realize how much of an orthodoxy has set in around it (us) as we're reading.

My own example would be that I just assume that Hermione is 100% right about House Elf Libertation (haha). Lots of other readers accept on its face that Dobby is an outlier. Fair enough. But when we enter into any orthodoxy - any organized and officially mandated system of beliefs then we give up our fair share of autonomy.

Luna is that free spirit that reminds us we needn't cling to belief quite so fervently - and that sometimes, perhaps often - fervent belief is a mask for a lack of faith.

She is therefore utterly reassuring.

There are things Harry can not simply believe. The death of Sirius is a good example. Death is always a challenge to belief because we have so little means for grasping or comprehending its implications. It's the supreme act of nature that sweeps in and reminds us that after all we were only ever natural beings. Being supernatural has to wait for a different frame of mind and a leap of faith. And the belief we have in Hogwarts or Magic or Love is of very little use.

When I read past that conversation in the corridor, when Harry has desperately sought understanding - belief - throughout the castle, from the mirror and from Nick the ghost, it is still bone-chillingly refreshing.

This simple girl has lost her things because she is different. She doesn't want pity or even understanding. And yet she bears this well of faith and compassion and plain honesty that is precisely what Harry did not ever know he needed. It is as if the two of them occupy an orthodoxy that is quickly turning to dust and, most importantly, he feels it. I certainly have, and this passage always reminds me.

It doesn't imply that Harry will don radish earrings tomorrow. But his steps are markedly different thereafter.

1. She is honest. Honesty comes hard to see in the Order of the Phoenix, when everyone sees Harry as an attention seeking prat. However, Luna still trusts him.

2. Luna lost her mother. We fans have a soft spot for those orphans in HP, including Harry himself and Neville Longbottom.

3. Her different personality is the reason why people like her. Her belief in multiple things and open-mindness makes fans like her even more.

I personally like Luna second, next to Dumbledore. Hope this helps and make you like Luna~

Within the show and related media there are a couple nods to the Brony fandom, including the acknowledgement of Derpy's fan-created name and personality in Season 2 Episode 14, The Last Roundup, and the inclusion of fan-created memes in the songs My Little Pony Friends (a song cut from the movie Equestria Girls which included the phrase "Love and Tolerate" in its lyrics) and the extended version of Awesome as I Want to Be (which brought back the 20% cooler meme).

But by far the biggest nod to the fandom the creators of MLP have ever created (and probably ever will create) was the 100th episode of the show, an episode called Slice of Life. And I don't mean just one part of the episode or a few scenes in it. I mean the entire episode.

Slice of Life was hailed by critics within the fandom as "a love letter to the brony community", and I can tell you without a doubt that they weren't exaggerating.

The episode focused on the so called "background ponies" in the show. These characters were created as extra characters to stick in the background of scenes of the show where a crowd was needed, or where not including them would make Ponyville look like a ghost town. Basically, they were extras. But the fandom made them more than that, they gave them names, personalities and backstories. Slice of Life was an episode focused exclusively on these characters, and it used all the same names, personalities, and backstories originally created by the fandom.

But it didn't stop there; this episode went all out. There were fan-created memes thrown everywhere (can you spot the twilicane in the picture above?), references to fan-created videos (like this reference to ponies with hats, a ponified version of Llamas with Hats), and meta-jokes about the episode and characters (like this joke about the length and content of a typical episode). Not to mention the subtext behind the mayor's speech at the end of the episode which seemed to be about the brony fandom itself, and the impact its members have had.

So yes; it's pretty clear that the brony fandom has had at least some impact on the show itself.

A lot of it is blink-and-you-miss-it sort of things. The major nod is fannon ideas becoming cannon (viz: Derpy liking muffins, Lyra and Bonbon being close friends, etc.) The references to adult material (The Big Lebowski, I Love Lucy, etc.) aren't really catering to Bronies per say, it's the writers and storyboard artists amusing themselves and throwing stuff in for parents that coincidentally appeal to Bronies. There were lots of adult references in Season 1, which was fully written and in the pipeline before the Brony phenomenon was even a twinkle in 4chan's eyes.

The biggest way the fandom is being appealed to by the show makers isn't in the show itself, but in the way that the staff and talent have made themselves accessible via Twitter and other social media.

To me Luna has always been one of the most interesting characters in Harry Potter books/movies.

I think her attitude towards everything is just admirable. I absolutely love her outlook on life, she's all like "well, things happen but we move on." She is free-spirited and carefree, and nothing seems to shake her mind. She is in all truth comfortable with herself. She is not plain or bland at all, she is all about contradictions and surprises, which always makes an interesting character. Who knew that this vague, quirky-dressed outlandish girl is actually very wise.

I think she is a lightning spark among the other characters, so different in personality compared to, for example, the main characters.

Luna is a very comforting character, reminding us that not everything in this life has to be taken so seriously or verbatim. I think this is one of the main reasons for Luna being such an intriguing character.