Harry Potter: Why Ron And Hermione Are A Perfect Endgame Couple (Sorry, JKR)
Ever since she finished writing the original seven "Harry Potter" novels, Joanne Rowling has been trying to, for whatever reason, add canonical information to the entire fictional universe. First, she declared that Albus Dumbledore was gay — which is great, but should've been part of his character in the book, then, instead of just being a tweet years later. Then, she wanted everybody to know that Rubeus Hagrid didn't have a Patronus. At one point, after absolutely nobody asked, she revealed that wizards went potty on the floor and magicked it away before plumbing was a thing. The point is, a lot of these additions were really weird and unwarranted.
One of Rowling's biggest post-"Potter" sins, though, concerned one of the series' most beloved couples. In 2014, Rowling told the British magazine Wonderland — which was then reported by outlets like Variety — that she thinks pairing up Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, Harry Potter's two best friends, was a misstep.
"I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment," Rowling said. "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. 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."
Sorry, Joanne, but you're dead wrong. Ron and Hermione are a great couple, and here's why.
Ron and Hermione complement each other perfectly
As soon as Harry sets off for Hogwarts, he meets Ron, as they board the train from Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross ... and they meet Hermione shortly thereafter, when she barges into their train car looking for a lost toad. After an incident with an escaped troll in a girl's bathroom, the three become inseparable, which is when readers really learn about the personalities of Harry's two best friends.
Ron is often unserious, but very quick-witted, and even though he sometimes lets his jealousy or temper get the better of him, he's an incredibly good friend to Harry. Hermione is, on the other hand, extraordinarily serious, especially when it comes to school — she might not be the funniest girl in any given room, but she is the cleverest, and she keeps the two boys in line (and usually saves them with some powerful magic to boot).
Ron and Hermione, despite what Rowling says after the fact, complement each other wonderfully. Ron is able to lighten Hermione up a little bit, and she's always most drawn to him when he has moments of true thoughtfulness. The two kiss in the books for the first time after Ron says he wants to make sure Hogwarts' house elves are safe during the battle against Voldemort. Hermione, on the other hand, keeps Ron's more ridiculous impulses in check and grounds him. Her brilliance helps Ron become a better wizard, in that he learns powerful spellcasting right alongside her and Harry.
Pairing Harry and Hermione together would have been really boring
Even if you take Harry and Hermione's personalities out of the equation — and we'll come back to that momentarily — the choice to pair up the hero and the female best friend would, ultimately, just be so boring. It would make Hermione, a genuinely brilliant and neurotic witch whose intelligence and personality are so carefully drawn by Rowling, into nothing more than an object, a prize to be won by Harry as the story comes to a close. Hermione and Harry genuinely love one another, but Rowling is just contradicting herself — Harry and Hermione aren't compatible, and it's right there in the text.
There are two specific moments in the books that serve as concrete proof. In "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," Harry and Ron aren't speaking because Ron genuinely believes Harry put himself forward for the Triwizard Tournament for attention. When Hermione accuses Harry of missing Ron, Harry denies it, but his internal monologue continues on without him: "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."
Then, in "Deathly Hallows," after a Horcrux torments Ron by telling him Harry and Hermione are in love, Harry steps forward to comfort his friend without hesitation: "'She's like my sister,' [Harry] went on. 'I love her like a sister and I reckon she feels the same way about me. It's always been like that. I thought you knew.'"
Ron's character is really different between the books and films
Maybe Rowling has been spending a little too much time watching the film adaptations of her own books instead of just rereading her own text. In the movies, Ron, played by Rupert Grint, is a markedly worse character, and it would be easy to feel like he just doesn't deserve Hermione (Emma Watson) in that form. Steve Kloves, the screenwriter behind the "Potter" films, often elevated Hermione at Ron's expense. Fans have even put together compilations of every single time Hermione swooped in and stole one of Ron's best lines. That said, the petulant Ron seen in the movies does seem like a bad romantic partner, and the two's most romantic moments don't even really get fairly represented.
Take that house elf moment from "Deathly Hallows." In the book, Hermione throws herself into Ron's arm and kisses him because he wants to save the house elves from being killed by evil forces, and she's typically the only person who cares about them. In the book, they're down in the Chamber of Secrets collecting basilisk fangs and they get, uh, scared by some water and decide to kiss without saying a word. In the movie, it feels much more like an item on a checklist, whereas the book presents the moment as a real connection between two different people who bring out the best in one another.
Ron and Hermione are right together — and so are Harry and Ginny
Ron and Hermione's compatibility isn't the only reason that Harry and Hermione would make a terrible couple. Harry is, at least in the books, a perfect match with Ginny Weasley. Ginny starts off the series in "Chamber of Secrets" as a timid young girl with a huge crush on Harry, but after he saves her from one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, she backs off — and by the time her character rises to prominence again in "Half-Blood Prince," she's a self-assured, bright young woman whose wit matches that of her brother and whose Quidditch talents are undeniable. The way Rowling writes their story is, honestly, really romantic, as Harry grapples with his feelings for his best friend's youngest — and only — sister, and their chemistry is painted as nothing short of explosive when they finally do kiss.
Bonnie Wright plays a perfectly adequate Ginny in the films, but she's barely ever on screen ... and her chemistry with Daniel Radcliffe's Harry is sorely lacking. Maybe people are obsessing over who Hermione should end up with, Rowling included, because the movies do such a poor job of making it clear that Harry and Ginny belong together. In any case, Rowling got it right the first time, so she should probably just be at peace and be okay with the story she wrote that sets up two couples really, really well.