So JK Rowling has said that she
regrets coupling up Ron and Hermione. We have Opinions about this (obviously) as both writers and Harry Potter fans. We thought this post would function best as a conversation.
KP: My main objection to this comes from the part of me that really responded to the Harry/Hermione friendship. I didn't want Harry and Hermione to end up together because I appreciated the story of a genuinely platonic pair of friends who love each other, rely upon one another, respect each other and DON'T WANT TO HAVE SEX. I like the idea that this can exist. I think that it's harmful to treat every female character as a sexual prize for the male protagonist and I appreciated that Harry found any implication of a romantic attachment between them to be laughable.
AEE:
Wait, we need to have a main
objection? Crap. I object to this on SO many levels. I’m not certain which objection I would like
to tackle first… No wait, I found
it. What about the fact that Ron spent
so much time in the books playing second fiddle to Harry? Not that, as you mention, every female
character should be a sexual prize, but I found Ron and Hermione’s relationship
to be a believable catalyst to the bond that Ron and Harry shared – he stuck
with Harry many times not only because they were friends, but because the three
characters together were such a great team, and because he not only loved and respected
Harry, but loved and respected Hermione.
He was rewarded by this blossoming into something more, and I thought
that this was a really beautiful thing.
Sidenote:
The comment about Ron and Hermione needing marriage counseling in the
future is bullshit. Of course they’d
need marriage counseling! All couples
could likely benefit from marriage counseling at some point in their
relationships/marriages! Plus, look at
Ron’s example of a married couple – Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are every bit as ‘compatible’
as Ron and Hermione, but I don’t see J.K. Rowling saying that they need
counseling. One of the reasons Ron and
Hermione get together is that they enjoy the way they fight together. It’s part of the spark between them, part of
the passion that underlies their conversation and interactions.
Okay, I’ve had two. Kelsey?
JK is not exactly the model of creating realistic human relationships. See also: every character (including the Weasley parents and Mr. and Mrs. Potter) ends up with their HS sweetheart unless they are "damaged" in some way (a werewolf (Lupin) Gay (Dumbledore) existing solely to be a supporting character (Sirius) I think one of the things she fails at as a writer is pulling the books out of the storybook childlike innocence in regards to human relationships. The conflict becomes darker and more mature but 16 year old boys literally never talk about sex. Everyone's parents are married, unless they died or are black (Dean Thomas, Blaze Zabini) and everyone has One True Love and that is it. And, while I think there are a number of things that are compelling about JK's writing and characters, she's not great at writing complex romantic relationships. I find the idea of Harry/Hermione tediously immature and harmful to one of the more interesting relationships that she DID manage. But we should also discuss how we object to this as fans, given the material is already published...
EXACTLY! It's in print, right there! What kind of message are you sending your fans when you undermine - at a foundational level - the story that you have already published? I understand looking back at your work and wondering how it could have turned out were you to have made a different decision - this is the nature of memory and retrospect. But to say that you made a mistake with your work when your work has become such an integral part of pop culture and the basis of a vast empire? This feels like something played for cheap thrills. Currently, I feel as though the entire structure of the 7-book series is quaking -- I'm waiting for the next comment from JK to send it crashing to the ground. This is extremely disrespectful to fans; she has carefully crafted a story so as to direct us in one particular direction, only to pull the rug out from under us and say that her story is incorrect in one of its most basic (and beloved) plot lines. To say nothing of the fact that it calls the intelligence of her readers into question, as though to say that had they truly been in tune with her project, they would have been able to tell that her plot was incorrect...
This is part of the problem of writing a series that is so popular. I think the push to come out with the next books was so strong that she was writing for her life and not able to breathe and look at what she'd done and how the story had written itself away from her original plan. I think this led to a number of flaws including some circular plots and cheap devices (Crabbe just HAPPENS to summon the right kind of fire that can destroy Horcruxes? REALLY?) that were totally forgivable for the sake of such a beautiful story. But I don't think any authors are ever really satisfied with their work and at some point you have to stop changing it and let it go. This may have happened too quickly for JK but it's DONE it's printed and she's got to stop retelling it. WRITE SOMETHING NEW. Personally I think she should go with Marauder prequels...
My problem with this is that she said several times that she had planned everything out in advance. Maybe that's my biggest problem with this revelation: if it's such a huge, glaring mistake, shouldn't she have noticed that if she had planned such intricate plotlines? Plus her claim that she put the two of them together as a form of "wish fulfillment." Isn't that one reason to become an author? To be able to do stuff like that? It created a stronger story to have Ron and Hermione end up together, precisely BECAUSE Harry didn't end up with Hermione. I thought it was one of the more brilliant structures she plotted. She planted seeds for it early on. If she really kept a shoebox under her bed with the seven books planned out, and knew that early that she wanted Ron and Hermione together, and made it such an integral part of the story, she can't expect to tug on that plot thread and not have the whole web feel the vibration. Now I'm unconsciously questioning what else she thinks she did "wrong." It's weakened the whole thing.
And you're right - Marauder prequels would be amazing. Or even prequels as to how Hogwarts and the original four houses were founded.
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