Harry Potter Author Admits Ron Shouldn't Have Ended With Hermione

[Amaror]

Weird.
I reread the books a few weeks ago and i could find quite a few hints in the earlier ones of Hermione and ron liking each other.
I mean it only got really obvious in the fourth one, but that's just a bit behind the age were you expect teenagers to get an increasing interest in the other gender, so on my account they were quite a obvious couple.
Most certainly not as out of the blue as harry and ginny were.

 

[CarlsonAndPeeters]

I really wish J. K. Rowling would stop doing this. She wrote some great books that inspired a generation of young people to fall in love with reading. Now stop meddling with your own creations. Either actually start writing new books set in the Harry Potter universe, or let the books speak for themselves. There's a lot about the series that isn't perfect, and that's just the way I like it.

 

[Lyri]

Am I missing the part where Rowling actually said that Hermione should have ended up with Harry? Or is the title just clickbait?

It seems that way, I've read the quote and checked other sources but they all just say the same. Hermione shouldn't have married Ron, but that is about it.
Nothing about Harry there at all, the authors are just inferring.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Come on Escapist, I love you guys, but putting headlines like this is just clickbait, bordering on lies. She never said anything on Hermione/Harry and it's not like people need incentive to read any article on HP.

As much as I hate it when the Escapist uses deliberately misleading clickbait titles, in this case I suspect they've just not bothered to check their sources they've lifted this from.

Which is lazy and bad journalism, but not as bad.

 

[Xman490]

These match-ups certainly "cling to the plot". The characters match up quite well:

Harry and Ginny have been mostly just archetypes of "activist hero" and "damsel in distress." With Harry saving her in Book 2 and Ginny using a love potion on him in Book 6, it makes enough sense that they're together, though the last 2 movies pushed it with them at least almost kissing in every scene together.
Ron and Hermione are foils to each other. He is sensible and caring. She is intelligent and serious.
Neither Neville nor Luna appear in the movies much, but in the later movies, their influence shines bright. Luna reassured Harry and us with her calm attitude and silly outfits. Neville stood up against Voldemort and gave his friends hope in their darkest hour. I think Luna was the prettiest girl/woman in the series, while it seems that Neville became the most handsome man.

 

[Alex Co]

Am I missing the part where Rowling actually said that Hermione should have ended up with Harry? Or is the title just clickbait?

At any rate, this kind of reminds me of the whole "Dumbledore is gay" thing. Does it really matter in the end? The worse that can happen is that ten dozen fanfics about how Ron and Hermione's marriage is falling apart will be created - if they have not already.

Though I do question the necessity of pairing any one of the Main Three with another. This coming from someone who likes that Harry wound up with his best friend's sister.

Sorry for that, assumed Rowling meant for Harry to wed Hermione, as it's also the title The Sunday Times is going with in their feature.

Come on Escapist, I love you guys, but putting headlines like this is just clickbait, bordering on lies. She never said anything on Hermione/Harry and it's not like people need incentive to read any article on HP.

Read above. Amended the title and added an update to reflect this. =)

 

[Thaluikhain]

With Harry saving her in Book 2 and Ginny using a love potion on him in Book 6,

That was some random stalkery type that did that, not Ginny.

...

As an aside, I don't see it as that weird that they end up together, but them staying together for decades is another matter. How many people end up with their high school sweethearts?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Out-fucking-standing JK, out-fucking standing. Anything else you'd like to add that you forgot to include in your book? AGAIN? It's not a work in progress lady, own up to your fucking book for once.

 

[Headsprouter]

I would've picked Luna Lovegood. Gotta love loopy in the laid back sense. But maybe I'm just being led that way by the lovely actress who played her in the movies...

Big thinker over here.

 

[EeveeElectro]

Bah!

Bah I say! Hermione and Ron 5ever!

Srsly, I wouldn't have liked her with Harry. I don't mind her as much with Ron but them marrying cos she's a girl and obviously had to end up with one of them is a bit blah. Seriously Hermione, you had SO MANY MEN TO CHOOSE FROM? And you ended up with your best friend? Krum wanted a piece! I'd have taken Krum, he was a babe!

I suppose it was better than 'Hero gets the main girl' trope but eeeh. I think the way it ended was nice enough. I'm sort of glad Rowling is still trying to expand on the universe but I don't really think it matters any more.

 

[Ratty]

"Need to buy a new Castle, better make a comment to remind people Harry Potter exists."

Eh, I was never a big enough fan of the series for this kind of stuff to bother me[footnote]Thought the books were ok except the last 2, the movies dropped in quality pretty quickly because of conflicting directorial styles and trying to cram too much in.[/footnote] but I'll agree with those saying Harry/Ginny was very poorly done. Heck Harry and Luna had more chemistry even. It was just sort of "I don't like you, I don't like you. Ok I love you now."

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Meh, I've pretty much accepted it by now. It's been years since the last book, so why worry about it? Unless you're one of those people who take fictional character relationships way too seriously...

 

[PunkRex]

I think we can all agree she should have ended up with Crom, dude was pure man in it's rawest form, like a brick with stubble.

 

[blackrave]

Wait, why should Hermione end up with Harry?
Only because he is main protagonist?

I'm not big HP fan, but the fact that female protagonist doesn't end up paired with main protagonist was awesome.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Out-fucking-standing JK, out-fucking standing. Anything else you'd like to add that you forgot to include in your book? AGAIN? It's not a work in progress lady, own up to your fucking book for once.

Eh, I sorta feel sorry for her.

Once Harry Potter became big, there was...what, over a decade of people waiting for the next HP thing to come out. Then, all of a sudden, that's it, the end.

I'm not surprised she ends up making in-universe books and writing prequel plays. Give it a few years, and they'll be new extra special editions of the books and movies.

...

OTOH, she is a bit richer than me due to all this, so my feeling sorry for her has limits. She should totally buy a submarine and make a documentary about traveling the oceans of the world or something.

 

[Diegolomac]

Yes, and a lot of people think the time travelling depression that happens in Childhood's End is really stupid, but you never saw Arthur C. Clarke talking about changing it, because he knew how to stand by what he wrote.

I really don't get this whole thing of going back (or talking about wanting to go back) to a finished work and tinkering with it. It's done, it's over, people watched it/read it/ played it, the end. That's exactly the reason why I despise the peer pressure that the public gave to Bioware until they changed Mass Effect 3's ending. You hated it, so what? You're not supposed to like everything, that's how blandness and lack of variety are born.

And why the hell when Bioware does it, it's listening to common sense, but when George Lucas does it, it's because he's an idiot? What, just because YOU liked Star Wars the way it was, you thought everyone else did? I was perfectly fine with Mass Effect the way it was, non-exposition dump ending and everything. Is your personal taste the wordly parameter for what can and cannot be changed? No! So the people should leave the authors alone, and the authors should learn to accept that they're not going to please everyone and should just go to their next film/book/game/whatever.

 

[Rednog]

So if Harry did end up with Hermoine he'd end up being the biggest d-bag.
Ditches his best friend's sister to steal his best friend's girl...ouch.

On a serious note though, Rowling is either a mad marketing genius by keeping her brand in the public eye by "telling" this nonsense every once and a while. Or she's just mad and going the route of George Lucas.

 

[Alex Co]

There seems to be absolutely no logical reason for them to end up together.

But then, that didn't stop her from writing book 7, so....

The same could be said regarding Ron and Hermione, though.

Poor Ron, his one unmitigated success in the series that had the least to do with Harry Potter, and the creator admits that he really shouldn't of had it all. Well I for one am on your side RON! Ron+Hermione=4ever! And don't be dumb, Luna is totally in with Neville Longbottom!

Well, Rowling should have made Ron achieve more. When I was reading Deathly Hallows, it mentioned that Dumbledore had no interaction with Ron aside from one instance (I think). This was the part where Scrimgeour was handing out the stuff Dumbledore left for Harry, Hermione and Ron. The second "lead" of the series hasn't had more than a few minutes' chat with the headmaster and they're both in every book! Can you imagine that?!

 

[mattttherman3]

Don't worry, on the first book's 25th anniversary, Rowling will re-release the books one at a time: Harry Potter: The Special Edition, thus correcting this travesty and others. My bet is that Voldemort will be rewritten to be harry's father. Then of course Ron will die, but it will be a one off, he gets killed in the chess game of book one. Hermoine ends up with Madeye, which is the real reason he leaves Hogwarts.