Recently, J.K. Rowling confessed that she regrets pairing Ron and Hermione together. She also mentioned how she thought they would need marriage counselling.
“For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it, Hermione ended up with Ron,” Rowling said in an interview for a magazine “I know, I’m sorry, I can hear the rage and fury it might cause some fans, but if I’m absolutely honest, distance has given me perspective on that. It was a choice I made for very personal reasons, not for reasons of credibility.”
What. The. Heck. You can’t just drop a bomb like that. Rowling regrets marrying Ron and Hermione because their relationship isn’t credible or realistic? That they would need marriage counselling? Well, first of all, they are fictional characters in a work of fiction. Being realistic isn’t exactly the more important element of the book. IF it was her focus to be more realistic, wizards and the world of Harry Potter shouldn’t exist. Second of all, a LOT of couples need counselling nowadays. Who knows? Perhaps Harry and Hermione would have needed it too if they got married.
But what really irks me is that that little piece of information couldn’t have been kept quiet. The books ended and we all thought that was that. Now it’s all these questions come swirling around. “Would it really have been the right decision to pair Harry and Hermione together?” Honestly, I like the Ron / Hermione pairing. Why? For a numerous amount of reasons. One, Harry and Hermione would have been really cliche. In fact, in the beginning, I expected Harry to end up with Hermione mainly because that’s what’s common in literature nowadays. Two, had Harry married Hermione, neither of them would have be officially considered as part of the Weasley clan. By having Ron marry Hermione and Harry marry Ginny, it’s like Rowling made the three of them all family. Officially. And three, Ron spent most of the series as Harry’s loyal best friend and partner in crime. He’s almost always in Harry’s shadow. If Hermione was to choose to become romantically involved with one of the two of them, I would rather her choose Ron. If Harry and Hermione were to end up together, I feel like Ron would have ended up feeling like the third wheel when he already has kind of been one. (Of course, he could always find a girlfriend, but just saying if the three of them were to hang out by themselves to reminisce about their old adventures, for example.)
If I was telling the truth, the pairing of Harry and Hermione wouldn’t really have bothered me had it happened in the books. But now that we all know Ron and Hermione end up together, putting Harry and Hermione together just seems… wrong. It doesn’t matter if it would have been more credible, thinking of Harry and Hermione together instead of Harry & Ginny and Ron & Hermione just seems foreign and weird to me.
For more on Rowling’s confession, here’s the article I got her quotes from: CNN – JK Rowling says Hermione should have married Harry Potter, not Ron
I agree with you on almost all these points. I don’t think Harry/Hermione would have worked entirely well either because Ron and Hermione balance one another out more. The only thing that irks me about this post is how your wording makes it seem like Hermione is a prize to be won or fought over. Hermione makes her own choices too. Maybe if she weren’t with Ron, she’d be with someone else. She’s not just there for one of the two boys to “get.” I know the point you’re trying to make, but I think that was a poor choice of wording.
Great post! 🙂
Good point about the wording. Thank you so much for bringing it up! I’m going to revise the post ASAP. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. I guess that what I get for not proof reading…
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Read about this in the local newspaper (!) Metro here in the UK. Opinions seem to be divided- majority going for your opinion of ‘Couldn’t she just leave it alone, why she has to re-open this’ – I guess taking away a bit of the magic of the characters who come to life for us and her brining us down with a bump in saying ‘Yeah I’ve created it all and could have created it in a different way’. That’s how I see it, what you think? Some people said in the paper though ‘OK, i knew they were really meant for each other …’ Hmmm
Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have cared if she had paired Harry and Hermione together in the books. It’s just the fact that she just had to say something after so many years…
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I too thought this was a little strange. It seemed pretty realistic to me for them to be together because they could always lean on each other when Harry was off saving the world. I do like them together but when I first watched the movies I did assume that Harry would end up with Hermione.
I think that’s what made the pairing of Ron and Hermione so appealing to me – they could lean on each other while Harry plays the hero, and it was the couple not many people saw coming.
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I just wrote my discussion post for Sunday on this very same topic. I couldn’t help it. We have almost the exact same thoughts on this, though! I think an author’s regrets should pretty much stay a personal thing, not become something you share with the world. Especially about books as big as Harry Potter. Romione is one of my favorite ships, and I think Harry and Hermione have a strong friendship. I wouldn’t like to see that ruined, especially at Ron’s expense.
I could not agree more. It’s okay if she regretted creating Romione, but she didn’t have to announce it to the whole world!
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Books belong to their readers. She really should have just left it up to our imaginations.
EXACTLY! People are allowed to think what they want and say what they want, but some things are better off kept hidden.
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