J.K Rowling has no need to panic – real Harry Potter fans say Ron was the right match for Hermione
J.K. Rowling told Wonderland magazine this week that the romantic climax of the Harry Potter series – Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley’s marriage (Emma Watson and Rupert Grint in the films) – was conceived “for reasons that have very little to do with literature”. Hermione and Ron, she said, would have ended up needing relationship counselling; Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) should have been her husband.
"Am I breaking people's hearts by saying this? I hope not."
But there's really no need for J.K Rowling to worry – real Harry Potter fans think she made the right decision in the books.
A new YouGov survey finds that among those who have both read the books and seen the films, more people (40%) say the best pairing to end the Harry Potter series was Hermione and Ron than say Hermione and Harry (24%).
Maybe this is due to readers having a more imaginative picture of Hermione and Ron, before the films, perhaps, made Harry appear a better suitor.
Less dedicated fans – those who only watched the films (33%) – may well agree: 32% of them say Hermione and Harry would have been the best couple, compared to 21% who stick with the plot and say Ron was her ideal partner.
Mrs Rowling says she decided to wed Ron to Hermione, in the end, because she was "clinging to the plot as I first imagined it... It was a choice I made for very personal reasons, not for reasons of credibility."