J.K. Rowling regrets Ron and Hermione’s relationship

[RandomPasserby]

www.hypable.com/2014/02/01/jk-rowling-ron-hermione-relationship-regret-interview/

More will happen later when the actual interview happens but this made my morning (and it's only been February 2nd for half an hour)

Some quotes

“I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment,” she says. “That’s how it was conceived, really. 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.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” she continued, “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. Am I breaking people’s hearts by saying this? I hope not.”

Watson didn’t seem shocked by these comments and agreed with her. “I think there are fans out there who know that too and who wonder whether Ron would have really been able to make her happy.”

Rowling also says that Ron and Hermione would have needed “relationship counseling.”

Excuse me, I need to go console my seven-years-ago self that even JKR thinks the epilogue kind of sucked now.

[Kitty279]

Oh, thank you so much for that, it made my morning, too! Finally JKR sees sense! At first reading, I didn't mind that one too much, because I was too busy with the end of Voldemort, but when I started thinking about it, the pairings were all wrong, and to this day I think Harry/Hermione would have been much more logical, if there had to be a pairing among the trio in the first place. Harry/Ginny was bad enough, but Ron/Hermione? I know many thought it normal how they act around each other, but for me, that was not familiar teasing, but they hurt each other too much for that pairing to work out.

(On a side note, when I see Watson, I don't think Emma Watson, but Dr. John Watson from Sherkock Holmes instead. Confusing!)

[RandomPasserby]

I actually went and bought a Sunday paper for the first time ever, just for this article.

Full transciption of the article (with pictures) here

[Kitty279]

Thank you very much!

Needless to say, I agree with the counseling part Though a friend of mine still insists that the Harry/Hermione pairing is practically incest - but then, she never saw what was wrong with the canon pairings. She was much less happy with that article than I am.

[RandomPasserby]

The 'Romione' tag on Tumblr is pissed too.

The various HHr tags are like one giant party. Because the only thing we have to pretend doesn't exist now is the epilogue and frankly, I think most of us were ignoring that anyway.

What strikes me as hilarious is that there's basically nobody saying 'but Harry and Ginny are so perfect for each other' the way they are with Ron/Hermione.

[Kitty279]

Ha, I can imagine that the canon pairing fans are upset and the others celebrating

Of course I am ignoring the crapilogue. Shortly before DH was released, it was leaked on the internet, I had a look, saw 'Albus Severus' and declared it fake. Imagine my shock when it proved true! It never made sense to me, and a friend of mine simply cut the thing out of her book. (Which counts as book murder *grumbles*)

Might have to do with the fact that the Harry/Ginny relationship was never satisfactorily explored, she just turned from annoying fangirl to coveted girlfriend and future wife out of nowhere. Ginny was never as fleshed out as she should have if she got the hero. Ron and Hermione even less compatible in my eyes, but at least they were properly developed.

[Miss Wings]

I despise ALbus Severus Potter as a name. Imagine HP naming a son after a snake. Is it any wonder people make him a slytherin?

If he wanted one of Dumbledore's names I'd have gone for the Brian, at least it's normal. Or the first 3 letters: Albert George would have been better.

[physicssquid]

I agree that Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny aren't my favourite pairings, but I can read stories with them in, and, for some probably unfathomable reason, I also like the name Albus Severus, and can't really imagine Harry's second son with any other name.

[RandomPasserby]

Frankly I thought it was a little creepy to give his parents names to his kids as first names.

Middle names, certainly, but the fact that we now have two James and Lily Potters and one pair are siblings kind of creeps me out.

Other dead people whose original names were not 'Potter', less creepy.

[Kitty279]

On the one hand, it's nice that he is remembering his parents and Sirius that way, on the other hand I can see where you are coming from. Plus, it might sometimes be a tad confusing.

[RandomPasserby]

Yeah, imagine taking them to visit their grandparents graves for the first time. Awkward.

Frankly, I think Sirius James would have worked just as well as James Sirius (while taking away the creepy factor). Or he could have used his mother's maiden name. Evan would have been a neat, subtle way of acknowledging his mother.

Also, as much as I am not a Harry/Ginny fan, I can't help wondering where her influence is in the children's names. I could definitely understand her being OK with James, Sirius and Lily as names (they're relatively obvious when it comes to Harry) but surely Ginny had some ideas about naming her kids. I mean she had a huge crush on Harry since she was tiny, so she probably accounted for the surname Potter (and possibly even James and Lily).

[Kitty279]

Sirius Potter? Like that And the old dog would have been happy. Pity he didn't live to see it.
True, Evan is a first name, too. In fact, the son of a friend of mine is named Evan.

Ugh, now you are giving me an image of Ginny wanting to get her older and younger child together, just for the third James-Lily-look-alike pairing in a row *reaches for brain bleach*
Coming to think of it, I'd like to blame Ginny for Albus Severus, but sadly, that's very unlikely. It's one of the worst ideas JKR ever had.

[RandomPasserby]

Sirius' death (and Hedwig's) are two I will never get over.

I thought Evan would be cute, because it's tied to his parents but it's not quite so obvious.

That's...disturbing. But I feel like my point stands - we can tell that the kids are Harry's, but where is Ginny in their naming? Hell, where is Ginny in them at all. Both boys are dark haired (like Harry), daughter is redheaded (which Harry probably carries), two kids have brown eyes (like James) and one has green eyes (like Harry).

The names of Harry's kids (plus the pairings) were part of the reason I loathed the epilogue. I still loathe it, but I can feel a bit smugger because of the article which created this thread.

Speaking of, the magazine with the actual interview is out tomorrow. I can't wait.

[Miss Wings]

Lots of people have their mother's or grandmother's maiden names as a middle. In fact I've found that it's a tradition in Mums family to do that.

Harry Egglestone Phillips
Sarah Cornforth Phillips

The same could have been done for Harry's kids, or at least Albus & Lily anyway. James would have a completely different name.

James Gryffindor Potter, James Peverell Potter since we don't know the true names of James Senior's parents at all.

Albus Evan Potter, Albus Black Potter or the names could have been the other way round if there's no Evans or Black's left.

Lily Prewitt Potter, Lily Weasley Potter or whatever Molly & Arthur's Mums were.

[Kitty279]

Sirius' death was definitely the point when the series was ruined for me. The fifth book was annoying enough, but to destroy the man she had built up as Harry's most trusted adult before, and then kill him was the icing on the cake. And I never liked HBP, which didn't help. Hedwig's death was completely unnecessary, she could have stayed with the Weasleys or something like that, instead of just killing her off so Harry didn't have to care for her any more. Or was that just to saddle him with even more losses?

Yeah, I know, it's disgusting. Don't ask where that thought came from! Particularly as I certainly don't like it.

Ginny had brown eyes as well, according to the HPL, so that is probably as much from her as from James, and the red hairs of Lily, too.

*grins* You're not the only one. There was a 'always knew it' feeling for me, too. There were too many people who insisted that the canon pairings were the perfect ones, and I never saw it like that.

Here maiden names for the kids aren't really used, but first names from the parents or other relatives as middle names are used often. There are a few of the sort in my own family, too.

Arthur's parents were very likely Septimus Weasley and Cedrella Black, so Lily Cedrella Potter. But I'd rather protest the Gryffindor part. Naming a child like that without being a direct heir seems rather pretentious.

[RandomPasserby]

You know, I think the saddest thing about Book 5 was the two-way mirror. Harry gets it, shoves it to the bottom of his trunk and forgets about it. Meanwhile Sirius is sitting in Grimmauld Place thinking 'maybe today he'll call', 'maybe today', 'maybe...'. He probably would have been a lot more stable if Harry had just given him the wizarding equivalent of a phone call one in a while.

Hedwig's death was just cruel. Didn't have to happen, was utterly unnecessary and (from what I remember) barely got a reaction from Harry. I always think that animal deaths are, in a way, worse than human ones. Humans are able to make choices (Sirius chose to protect Harry, Dumbledore chose to die, the Order chose to fight), animals are just along for the ride.

I understand why she did it, but the most unbelievable thing for me was that they were still together. Hermione finishes her seventh year at Hogwarts (and I assume Ginny would as well), Ron and Harry immediately transition into being Aurors. I don't doubt they would all remain friends but, as I've said, distance and new experiences can kill couples (especially since both relationships weren't exactly strong at that point).

So yeah, I think in a more realistic setting the Trio would have remained very close friends but would have ended up marrying totally new people. Hermione would meet somebody else intellectual who was interested in equal rights through the DMLE. Ron would find somebody who didn't have quite so much drive as Hermione. Ginny would meet somebody else on the pro-Quiddich circuit. Harry...would have a lot of therapy.

I can see why JKR wouldn't do that though, since it would mean introducing a lot of new characters right at the last minute.

I think if they wanted to use Gryffindor, or honour the house that shaped them, using the house founder's first name could work. Godric is a pretty cool name.

As for their daughter, I still don't like using Lily as a first name. Maybe something Shakespearean/Greek as a nod to Hermione and then Lily as a middle name.

[Kitty279]

Yeah, that was just cruel. I wish Harry had used the mirror. Sometimes I wonder why JKR even added it, seeing as she was not going to have Harry use it for the sake of that stupid stunt at the end of the book. Somehow I find it hard to believe that she had already planned ahead enough to have that rescue from Malfoy Manor in mind, seeing how many plotholes she wrote where things between earlier and later books don't add up (Fidelius, Patronus ...)

Completely agree. In the real world, your scenario would be much more believable. But then, I've been wondering about JKR's idea of a good relationship many times already.

[RandomPasserby (CBA to log in)]

I think JKR writes really good friendships but doesn't do so well at on-screen romantic relationships.

What is annoying me since the article came out is the people who are treating Hermione like she's some sort of prize to be won. That Ron is owed a relationship for the (relatively minor) growing up he did and for being Harry's friend despite having an inferiority complex. Or that, if Harry and Hermione were in a relationship, then there would be absolutely no platonic male/female relationships in the book. Or that if Harry and Hermione got together then it would just be one more thing that Harry got that Ron didn't.

Hermione is not a prize to be won. She doesn't owe anybody anything. And frankly, Ron's feelings of inferiority are his own business.

[RandomPasserby]

GOT WONDERLAND ARTICLE. ADSKFGL

*happy noises*

[Kitty279]

And, is it as good as you hoped?

Agreed. Romance isn't her forte.

Oh God. How typical. We'll probably have to be glad if they don't argue that Ron's a pureblood and has the right to get what he wants ... their thinking reminds me too much of that sense of entitlement certain parties show in the books.

As for Ron - remember the Mirror of Erised? Ron saw himself as better than all his brothers. But what did he ever do to achieve just that? It's not as if Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George just got their success and good jobs handed to them because they had a right to them; they all worked hard to get what they did in the end. Ron, however, was mostly busy playing Chess, Quidditch and eating, and keeping with Harry as long as the fame of the BWL reflected on him, too. He abandoned him twice, after all. And when he was given something Harry did not have - the prefect's position - he slacked off and let Hermione do the work. So, how does that mean he's entitled to get the girl?

While Ron may have an inferiority complex, I'd put that down to his overbearing mother who was smothering him and put him down often enough, and maybe in part to his brothers who used it against him at times. But when you think about it - Ron did a lot what his brothers never achieved, even if mostly in Harry's shadow. If that didn't help to boost his confidence, if he never managed to use that to his advantage, then it's Ron's own fault. How that means he deserves Hermione, I really don't understand.

[RandomPasserby]

frogsgointhemicrowave.tumblr.com/post/75896365658/wonderland-article

'That is just it, you are so right. All this says something very powerful about the character of Hermione as well. Hermione was the one that stuck with Harry all the way through that last instalment, that very last part of the adventure. It wasn’t Ron, which also says something very powerful about Ron. He was injured in way, in his self-esteem, from the start of the series. He always knew he came second to fourth best, and then he had to make friends with the hero of it all and that’s a hell of a position to be in, eternally overshadowed. So Ron had to act out in that way at some point.

But Hermione’s always there for Harry. I remember you sent me a note after you read Hallows and before you started shooting, and said something about that, because it was Hermione’s journey as much as Harry’s at the end.'

'It was a young relationship. I think the attraction itself is plausible but the combative side of it… I’m not sure you could have got over that in an adult relationship, there was too much fundamental incompatibility. '

- JK Motherfucking Rowling everybody

[Kitty279]

Thank you so much for the transcript, you are an angel *saves interview*

Wish fulfillment ... yes, that explains a lot. Just wish she had realised the 'fundamental incompatibility' a bit earlier.
Well, if Ron knew he only came second best or worse, then he always had the option to find other friends, right? But he rather stayed in the shadow of the BWL than going out on his own. So, how is that an excuse?

[teehee100]

I do agree that JK writes frindship better than romance. I didn't like what the moives did for it either. To be honest, I could totally see them needing therapy because they're both strong willed. I still don't mind them as a couple, but had JK gone down a different road in her writting I would see things differently. Although part of me wishes that there hadn't been any romantic relationships amoungst the trio. I would like to see a story like that.

[Kitty279]

Me to, teehee, me too! Never going to understand why every story needs a pairing or two. But we seem to be a minority, I've been rolling my eyes a lot about reviewer who read a story where Harry's barely out of his diapers, if even that, and they *already* are demanding to know who he's going to date and marry. Because they can't read a story about Harry's childhood if he in a (never going to be written) sequel in the distant future might marry someone they don't agree with. Besides, for most readers romance seems to be an irreplacable element of a story. I guess even if JKR hadn't written one, her publisher would have demanded it. The market has to be heeded, after all.

[8lottie8]

Feb 13, 2014 11:33:33 GMT -5 Kitty279 said:

I've been rolling my eyes a lot about reviewer who read a story where Harry's barely out of his diapers, if even that, and they *already* are demanding to know who he's going to date and marry.

I'm with you on that account.
However, if it is in his late childhood/early Hogwarts days then I would like to know what pairing it is likely to end up as, just because one of the first HP RtBs I read was set in their first year and they didn't warn anyone that it was Dramione from the start!! *gags*

[Kitty279]

Okay, then it is understandable; I'd not want to read such a story, either. When Harry is already at Hogwarts, then it is different. But a simple childhood story with an 1-3 year old Harry? (And btw, that sounds as if it was that pairing in their first year already. They were eleven, for heaven's sake!)

But why do have stories to have a pairing at all? In the HP world enough happens to make a story interesting without romance, after all.

[ginnyrules27]

As someone who shipped Ron and Hermione together (long story, my best friend reminded me of Ron and I was at the stage of my life where I longed for true love--I was a Hermione only instead of two wonderful friends I got bullied every year of my 12 long years of mandated schooling), I actually was annoyed by the ending. Why not leave it up to the imagination of the reader if they got together or not? Like with the kids...I always imagined Ron as a single kid kinda guy, as to not have any other kid have the complex he gained through his life.

Pairings are like death and taxes in some genres--you can't escape them. If you could, it'd just depress you. I think the reason why the market demands parings is because unlike real life, there's always a chance for all the characters to fall madly in love and get married and have their happily ever after.

[Miss Wings]

I've noticed that a lot of people who were originally R/HR shippers have suddenly changed to H/HR because it's what JK said it should have been.

So basically if JK said that Molly WAS manipulative with potions etc then would those that protested suddenly start writing stories for it? Or that Grindlewald & Hitler joined together.

The list can go on...

[Kitty279]

That's funny, you know. For them, JKR's word is law - even if it causes even more potholes than the story already has.

[8lottie8]

Feb 14, 2014 1:31:55 GMT -5 Kitty279 said:

Okay, then it is understandable; I'd not want to read such a story, either. When Harry is already at Hogwarts, then it is different. But a simple childhood story with an 1-3 year old Harry? (And btw, that sounds as if it was that pairing in their first year already. They were eleven, for heaven's sake!)

Yes, yes it was in first year (I think... it was definitely before fourth but I can't be sure). What's worse is that for the first few chapters Ron and Hermione clearly fancied each other, but then Draco had suddenly moved to the Gryffindor table (without any of the Gryffindors talking to him full stop) and in the next chapter Hermione was sitting in Draco's lap and everyone seemed completely fine with it (despite having detested Draco two chapters ago).

But why do have stories to have a pairing at all? In the HP world enough happens to make a story interesting without romance, after all.

Yes, but there is only *so* much you can do without having some sort of paring (after all, a character needs to have parents).