Theory: Knight 2 King
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I will write about the rest later, but about the pieces...
Several people have pointed out how odd it was that Ron didn't make Harry or Hermione the King in the chess game. Not only does Ron have to keep himself along with Harry and Hermione safe, he has to also make sure the King isn't taken out, otherwise the game is over. Wouldn't it be more prudent to defend three pieces instead of four? Yes, of course it would, but prudence was not JKR's intent. Her intent was to construct a metaphor.
Is an assumption, which can be met with a very easy explanation:
It is very logical of Ron not to make Harry, Hermione or himself to make the King. If they had lost, there was a certain likelihood that their King would have been killed... much likelier than a killing of the surviving pieces. If would have been prudent to defend three pieces instead of four, but only if they had known the exact risk of playing the game. And they didn't. It's better to lose ( ... )
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Never shall there truly be Padfoot/Draco.
Unless...There was something before Sirius died.
Draco, 'dogging your footsteps.'
Methinks the boy knew a bit too much of dogs.
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Ok, first... it is true that taking out the King is the goal, and if they lost, the King would be taken out, HOWEVER, The King is not taken out until the end, and the Knight, Rook and Bishop are at greater risk of being taken out during the game because they must be in play. The King basically sits in one spot the entire game. If it looked like they would lose, the trio could have made a run for it (forfiet). Ron himself took the most at risk piece in play (other than a Pawn). If Ron was *really* smart, and the game were just a game, he would have made himself a Rook (or a Bishop), not a Knight. The pieces would still do what he asked anyway. For these reasons, I believe the chess pieces assigned had meaning.
Second problem with the King. The King is not powerful in Chess. He is actually quite a weak piece, only a bit more powerful than the pawns, really. He has no say and is just the goal, you have to reach. He ( ... )
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All other pieces move in straight lines. The Knight does not. He also has the ability to jump over other pieces. Won't go into deep symbolism there, but his moves are erratic and the Knight is also, well, a KNIGHT. The cavalry. Why is Ron's "knightness" more powerful? Well, he's Dumbledore. No really, Sirius was simply taken out of the game by Bellatrix. I mean, it is canon. It happened in OotP just like it happened on the chess board. Don't know what else to say. The pieces on the board have the same move. There really is no difference. Sirius just got taken out. Ron didn't... at least not until later in the game.
The most powerful piece within the Game, the piece without the most people would give up, is the Queen. The Queen calls the shots in a way, that is unrivaled by any other piece. If the Chess metaphor was true, Voldemort would have to be King and Queen for the metaphor to work, as Bellatrix ( ... )
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In PS/SS it's Ron, in "reality" it's JKR, but who would it be in Potterverse? If it's Ron, then the books would need to be re-titled into "Ron Weasley and...." If it's an effort a group (and that looks likely) the whole player metaphor and Ron as the player gets seriously messed up. Who is the player?I think we can dismiss JKR as the metaphorical player on the good side, because, well, she's playing both. It's too meta, even for me ( ... )
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During the chess game we really don't hear much about the black queen. She is important but stays behind the scenes more than not just like Lilly
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