The Nerd and The Class Clown

It was reported on BBC News today that J K Rowling admits she probably made a mistake in allowing Ron and Hermione to end up together at the end of Harry Potter. This is the latest in a series of such revelations that make me a increasingly more frustrated.

 I loved the hopefulness of the nerd and the class clown getting to be together. As I identified equally with both Ron and Hermione in the books, I always looked forward to the next stage of their burgeoning romance in a new sequel. I am a hopeless romantic, and I found it really refreshing that for once it wasn't the archetypal hero who wins the girl, but the sidekick. In my younger years of always being the sidekick to my friends, Ron succeeding always gave me hope that someday I could succeed as well. Likewise with Hermione, it isn't often that the smart girl gets a look in, or that a female character is given any sort of freewill in a book to make up her own mind. I liked that she didn't simper after the hero like all the other girls in the book, but that she went for the less attractive, less heroic and subsequentially more realistic male character. It represented realistic life in a Utopian invention. I also really liked Harry and Hermione's brother/sister relationship, as I think it is important for females to have males who are their friends only as this likewise reflects real life.

J.K Rowling admits that she put Ron and Hermione together because it was "wish fulfillment" which proves that J. K. also found it a hopeful situation, as she previously said she most identifies with Hermione, and perhaps in writing this ending, she succeeded where she might have failed in her own past.

She further adds that she hopes she isn't "breaking people's hearts" with her latest revelations. I can't speak for everyone, of course, but I think a little bit more of my retained youthful hopefulness and faith in Harry Potter's realism has been thwarted.

So, in my view, I think this revelation has been merely mentioned due to the unimaginative fans who think that automatically the hero gets the nearest available and most mentioned girl. I don't honestly believe that this is a more realistic depiction.

But there you have it, looks like the hero continues to win, and the faithful friend must trail behind and pick up any crumbs of plot that fall their way.