Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Harry Potter Countdown!

The last installment of the insanely popular Harry Potter movie franchise comes out later this summer and book bloggers from all over are chomping at the bit waiting for it. Kayleigh from Nylon Admiral is spending the next few weeks counting down to the movie in her own way: she's posting about it. Every week she'll post about a different topic on her blog. She's inviting anyone and everyone to join in.

This week's topic: The relationships in Harry Potter; which worked and which do I wish Rowling never even attempted?


When you get as involved in a book series as I did with Harry Potter, you tend to see the characters as friends (or enemies) and you feel the need to either give these characters encouragement or tell them when they're being stupid. Of course, as they are fictional characters living in a book, they obviously aren't going to hear you or take your angry shouting into consideration.

I like to call this the "Don't Go into the House Alone!" syndrome. We all do it. We do it when we're watching our favorite TV show and our favorite character has just started dating the slimeball that no one likes. Or we could be watching a horror film and the beauty queen is making a fatally stupid move by, as the title suggest, going into the house alone. We know the killer is there but she doesn't and, no matter how much we yell at our TV, the person on the screen continues on her merry way...until she gets stabbed with an ice pick.

When I read the Harry Potter books the first time around, I suffered from "Don't Go into the House Alone!" syndrome like nobody's business. I yelled at Harry not to go find Sirius at the Ministry. I told him not to go with Moody after the return of Voldemort during the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Harry is just not a good listener.

Anyway, some of my yelling had to do with relationships, which, after all, is what we're supposed to be talking about today. There were some couples that I was so glad got together in the end, there were some that I was disappointed never made it together, and there were others where I started to wonder if maybe J.K. Rowling had officially lost her ever-loving mind. We'll look at each of these in turn.

The Good: 


First Place: Ron and Hermione:

This is my favorite eventual pairing in the books, although they aren't my favorite couple in the world of Harry Potter. Ron and Hermione's relationship grew naturally over the course of seven years and because of that it was a much stronger, much more realistic relationship. These two went through periods of intense dislike towards each other, never fully comprehending that their supposed hatred was actually love. Unlike quite a lot of the couples in this series, Ron and Hermione didn't just magically fall in love one day with no real explanation. They formed a deep bond and a lasting friendship and then they built up a romantic relationship...without even realizing they were doing it.

Runner-Up: Molly and Arthur Weasley

Miss Congeniality: Hagrid and Madam Maxime

The Bad:


First Place: Lupin and Tonks:

I have a feeling that Lupin and Tonks take the prize in everybody's "What the Hell Was Rowling Thinking?" contest. Not only was there no evidence of actual love between the two of them, the whole thing just happened out of nowhere. I know, I know, there was that whole Patronus thing and a few other vague "hints." Even with all of that, the relationship always seemed so one-sided. Tonks obviously had a thing for Lupin, but he seemed only to be in it for her sake. Granted, he was a werewolf and was worried about having a family, but not even that was enough of a reason for him to not want to get together with her. Personally, I just never really bought them as a couple. Even Ginny and Harry were somewhat realistic. Lupin and Tonks, not so much.

Runner-Up: Harry and Ginny

Miss Congeniality: Bill and Fleur

The Imaginary:


I admit that I'm a shipper. Some of the couples that I wish would get together are conventional, others are not. Here is my list of ships, both het and slash.

First Place: Sirius and Snape

Judge me all you want, but for some reason I always wanted the two of these guys to get together. Even with the bad blood between them, I wished for even just a little sexual tension. I know Rowling would never have done that (although I give her mad props for saying that Dumbledore was gay) so this pairing only exists in (usually) poorly written fanfic.

Runner-Up: Neville and Luna

Miss Congeniality: Draco and Ginny

-Gabe

6 comments:

  1. I honestly thought at one point that Neville would be paired with Ginny (book 4 i think?), but he could have worked with Luna as well. As for Draco and Ginny...can you imagine if Rowling actually matched them up, it would have been a madhouse!

    Overall I was so disappointed with the relationships in HP, so many of them were weak and never seemed at all believable. There were very few I really loved, which I realised this week when I tried to write a longer list!

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  2. LOL! That's why I like the idea of Draco and Ginny. Even though it's completely unbelievable, it's still more believable than Harry and Ginny. Technically the Malfoys and the Weasleys are distant relatives, but I think they're far enough removed that the two of them snogging wouldn't have made me lose my lunch.

    Agreed about the relationships. They were very flat and underdeveloped. She's great at world-building, but not so much at romance.

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  3. I always wondered if she was caving to pressure from editors or even fans who (as could be expected of teenage girls) wanted to see their fave characters paired up. The only thing I disliked more than the relationships was that terrible final chapter, horrible, horrible, horrible.

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  4. Ah, you mean the one that went "And they all lived happily ever after with a bunch of kids and really corny dialogue. Oh, and they were all intermarried with the Weasleys. The end."? That one? :)

    Snape probably rolled around in his grave knowing that Harry named a kid after him. I couldn't even find it sweet or touching, especially after Harry blabbed all of Snape's secrets to a huge crowd of people while battling Voldemort. Book Seven was not a good time to be a hardcore Snape fan. I was left feeling like I'd been betrayed and that I knew Snape's character better than she did. Funny enough, I've heard people who HATE Snape say the same thing.

    Okay, ranting done.

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  5. I skip that chapter each time I reread Deathly Hollows, it makes my blood boil. The worst thing is that they've actually included it in the film! So unnecessary, I might have to walk out of the cinema to avoid it!

    The whole naming of the kids after all the dead characters was a horrible touch, especially since they all had two or three names which just seemed absurd. I must admit, when Harry tells his kid that Snape was the bravest man he knows I get a little choked up, but I completely agree with you about the rest of the Snape stuff in book 7.

    Have you heard they're changing his death in the film? He's dying in a crystal house or something?!

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  6. Haha, Sirius and Snape would make a hi-larious couple. I absolutely love both of them (esp. Snape).

    I really liked Ginny and Harry as a couple, before they actually became a couple. Then it was just boring.

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