maisiewilliams:

Yeah, I’ve heard. And I’ve gotten a lot of asks about it, so I guess I’ll try and say a little something.

I find it extremely disappointing that JK Rowling decided to make that statement publicly, and it actually made me lose a great deal of respect for her. It reminds me of Faulkner in a way - who was famously known for making huge declarative statements about his work after he had finished it, which made little sense and always contradicted each other. It almost feels to me like she’s been dwelling on Harry Potter for too long and in that time, has started to overanalyze herself. Her reasoning why - that it was “wish-fulfillment” which wasn’t based on literature - makes absolutely no sense; what tradition are you trying to fulfill here, JK? There is absolutely nothing wrong, from a writing standpoint, with putting Ron and Hermione together; in fact, it makes more sense in a greater literary tradition - opposites attract, we like to watch people who bicker fall in love, etc, etc. What would Harry and Hermione even do together? Talk about the weather? There is NO literary reason for the two of them to be together - unless, of course, that was the books that she had written, and the choice she had originally made. Which she didn’t. New information - like facts about Remus growing up, or that Dumbledore is gay - is one thing. But to openly challenge what she has already written, a couple that created such a core storyline throughout the series? I don’t understand why she’d do that.

Even if that is genuinely what she believes, it’s unfortunate that she decided to share that with a wider audience. It has the potential to poison some people’s experience of the books, especially because Romione is such a huge thing for so many people. For me, it was a storyline that showed me what true love could be like, what I wanted it to be like for me in the future. And it’s really shitty to hear that the creator of that is now backpedalling, saying that my view of romance since childhood is simply wish fulfillment for her, and not realistically viable. To hear Emma say that people wonder if Ron could make Hermione happy. If you take their opinions seriously, that’s extremely crushing. What’s the point of Ron’s character, if Harry and Hermione were together in the end? If they had been able to function on their own, it might as well be a golden duo instead of a golden trio. But JK Rowling, herself, said that he was the heart, she was the one who wrote “Harry liked Hermione very much, but she just wasn’t the same as Ron.” Those words will live on, whether or not she intends to uphold them. 

The truth of it is - the books are written. We’ve read them, we know the story, and we know that Ron and Hermione get together in the end. Those books are decades old now and have taken on a life of their own - creating a theme park, an interactive website, hundreds of parodies, an entire music scene, a particularly hilarious musical. This isn’t really in her hands anymore. We know these characters, no matter what her opinion about them is. And I know, with every certainty and without a single doubt, that Ron and Hermione were meant for each other - and that they were happy. Fuck hindsight. 

yes. yes. and yes.