by Jamie Elizabeth

Created on: November 20, 2010   Last Updated: April 23, 2011

Cho Chang appears throughout the Harry Potter series, and though a minor character, she is a dynamic character throughout the book series. When readers are first introduced to Cho, she is the pretty, popular girl who Harry has a crush on.

Cho plays Quidditch, is established as an intelligent girl by virtue of belonging to the Ravenclaw house, and is much sought after by the boys of Hogwarts. Readers know Cho primarily as Harry’s romantic interest. It is because of Cho that Harry spills water on himself at the Quidditch World Cup; it is his initial shyness that prevents him from asking Cho to the Yule Ball in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire that results in her attending with Cedric Diggory. As a result, Cho’s character seems to be constantly in need of attention from famous, popular boys. Cedric , though not as famous as Harry, is certainly popular as a Quidditch star at Hogwarts and a competitor in the TriWizard Tournament. Cedric dies at the end of the book, and his death is what results in many changes in Cho for the rest of the series.

Harry eventually begins dating Cho, but only after she joins ‘Dumbledore’s Army’ as a way of avenging Cedric’s death. At the point where Cho joins this group she is no longer the outgoing, successful personality that she was in prior books. Instead, she relies on her friend Marietta, who readers later find out to be about as unreliable person as you can be, and is constantly crying. Cho even cries on a date with Harry and during the initial kiss that she and Harry share.

However, by the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Cho seems to have returned to her strong self, though still reliant upon boys being attracted to her. She joins in the battle for Hogwarts, but readers merely see her in the context of a brief exchange where Ginny insists that Luna, rather than Cho, will escort Harry to the Ravenclaw common room.

Cho is essential as a character because she allows Harry to grow up – it is in his attraction to Cho that readers see Harry first turn from child to adult. The rest of the series is contingent on Harry being willing and able to make mature decisions about life and death, and to stand up for himself in the face of the wizarding world not believing that Voldemort has returned, and then to stand up for himself in deciding to hunt for the Horcruxes rather than return to Hogwarts in the seventh book.

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