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Feb. 2nd, 2014 02:00 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
ladyzenobia.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
deathtocapslockhttp://www.hypable.com/2014/02/01/jk-rowling-ron-hermione-relationship-regret-interview/
“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.”
Have you seen this? I think it's interesting that she said that she was clinging to the plot as she first imagined it. That explains a lot about the epilogue!
“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.”
Have you seen this? I think it's interesting that she said that she was clinging to the plot as she first imagined it. That explains a lot about the epilogue!
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Date: 2014-02-03 09:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 11:30 pm (UTC)Someone else (although it might have been the same poster in a later post) pointed out that if Hermione *had* to pair off with either Ron or Harry, then Ron probably *was* the better choice. At least Ron fancied her (which Harry absolutely never did).
And for that matter, Harry never found her any fun to be around, either. The narration comes right out and says as much in PoA, and he never once at any point in the series seems to have thought any differently on the subject. Terribly sueful person to know. But no fun by his standards.
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Date: 2014-02-04 12:30 am (UTC)Truthfully, Hermione is the one that acts like a real friend. The boys however, never really seem to treat her as if she's more than homework help. At least not until Ron's jealousy acts up.
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Date: 2014-02-04 12:47 am (UTC)But no. They don't really treat her at all well. And she to all appearances puts up with it in order to have any friends at all.
And, Word, regarding Harry's skill at being a friend to anybody. Despite all of Albus's flannel-mouthed flattery on how Harry's great advantage over Tom was Love, it's made fairly obvious that the boy has serious attachment problems. Not as bad as Tom, certainly, but still...
In the last of my Potterverse essays I finally concluded that the power that Voldemort "knew not" was nothing more or less than the power to master the Elder Wand.
No one else had ever done it. Certainly none of the living holders of that wand ever admitted to having the mastery of it. I think that none of its holders *ever* actually had it. Death may have handed it over to Antioc Peverill, but it was always still *his*.
And Draco Malfoy had nothing to do with it.
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Date: 2014-02-04 12:51 am (UTC)That's largely the case, sadly. A lot of the material for H/Hr, particularly from the early books, was all one-way. Hermione really *worked* at the friendship. She had a 'saving harry thing'. But Harry rarely reciprocated to the same extent.
At least in the early books. The bulk of book #5 was 'The Harry and Hermione show'. In book 6 I was pleasantly surprised at the efforts Harry took to be a good friend to both Ron *and* Hermione; he made the choice to support both of them while they carrying on with Rowling's asinine 'jealousy flags real love' programme.
But then in book 7 he was a total bastiche when it came to the tent scene, leaving Hermione to sob herself to sleep night after night with almost no comfort coming from her 'best friend'.
There *were* some slabs of true friendship from Harry; enough for fanfic authors to use. :-) And heaps from Hermione, of course. Enough overall to have kept the H/Hr fans happy over the years.
(Their number now including one J. Rowling, it appears. :-))
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Date: 2014-02-06 05:04 am (UTC)Er, truth hurts?
Nothing worse than an utterfly unflattering mirror, eh?
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Date: 2014-02-04 12:55 am (UTC)I think there's substantial grounds for this; on a H/Hr site a fan mentioned this too. Apparently Rowling's first notion of the overall story arc was to have Harry found by Mr. Granger and raised as a foster-brother to Hermione. I vaguely recall hearing about that over the years myself, I think it's true.
So a lot of that 'sibling' context might have stuck in her head when she was writing the books?
But they *weren't* siblings, so we H/Hr shippers were able to take that closeness - such as it was - and extrapolate it for our own ends. :-)
At least Ron fancied her (which Harry absolutely never did).
Could have been so easy for Rowling to change ... but yeah, in the canon it's clear he never did. "Like a sister", right?
And for that matter, Harry never found her any fun to be around, either. The narration comes right out and says as much in PoA -
GoF? When Ron splits from Harry over the latter's selection as a 'Champion'?
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Date: 2014-02-04 12:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-07 04:17 pm (UTC)But this was a downright lie. Harry liked Hermione very much, but she just wasn't the same as Ron. There was much less laughter and a lot more hanging around in the library when Hermione was your best friend.
Useful company (she was spending her time drilling him on his Accio, not on her homework), but not enjoyed.
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Date: 2014-02-07 10:08 pm (UTC)But that's okay. The next couple of books cancelled that out totally!
Interesting that in the full Rowling interview - a transcript was doing the rounds 9+ hours ago - Rowling throws a crumb to the faithful disciples she'd betrayed with her conversion to H/Hr by saying that Hermione has a need for a 'funny man'.
She seems to have forgotten how often Ron was a source of *unhappiness* for Hermione.
Anyway, kids need laughter but mature adults need so much more. Sorry Ron, Hermione's not for you.
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Date: 2014-02-09 02:36 am (UTC)Did Hermione every find Ron funny?
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Date: 2014-02-09 02:49 am (UTC)I don't know. That's a good question; either 'yes', which just lets Rowling's comment remain afloat, or 'no', which will sink it. I'll have to ask.
I've been posing the same question regarding Harry - did Hermione ever find HIM funny - in a couple of places. I got a reply this morning saying yes, one such scene was in HBP:
Actually, he made her laugh in HBP, of all books, since that was basically the nail in the coffin for us Harmony shippers. He and Hermione were in the library joking about Filch and Madam Pinz being in love because of all the love potions being used, and Pinz actually threw them out of the library for laughing too loud. :)
Which makes me happy, neatly countering this one last straw that Rowling threw to the drowning R/Hr fans.But if it's also true that Hermione never laughed at Ron that makes things even more solid. A bit harder to prove a negative though.
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Date: 2014-02-09 05:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-09 07:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-23 07:45 pm (UTC)JK really need to put in more of that. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Hr/R is fighting.
We needed to see more of Ron being the one who could get her to relax, laugh and stop taking things so seriously when she become to stress out.
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Date: 2014-02-23 09:28 pm (UTC)As is the case so often with HP those readers who desire any particular depth or meaning have to go inventing it for themselves, inserting it in the space between Rowling's words ... because she jolly well didn't write it!
I dare say the R/Hr shippers - are there any left? :-) - believe that it was just one long stream of laughter between Ron and Hermione every time Harry left the room. :-)