Staff opinions: Does Ron and Hermione’s relationship stand the test of time?

The Potter fandom was utterly shaken up last week when news outlets began reporting that J.K. Rowling had second thoughts about Ron and Hermione getting married. The story blew up before the complete context of Rowling’s statements were available, and it seemed like everyone from Bonnie Wright to the person next to you on the train was chiming in with their opinion on what really “should” have happened. If you haven’t had the chance to read the full interview, yet, you can read it on J.K. Rowling’s official site right here.

Here at MuggleNet we waited to make an official statement until we could read what Rowling really meant (read our full report here!), and as we predicted her statements were grossly exaggerated. She never said that Hermione should have been with Harry instead of Ron, and she even concedes that Ron and Hermione could have made it work with wizarding counseling. The happy ending that so many fans cherish remains unblemished! Still, many of us here on staff couldn’t help but start forming our own opinions – should Ron and Hermione have ended up together? Were there other romantic possibilities? Check out our responses and feel free to chime in with some of your own in the comments!

Catherine, News Writer

I never saw either Ron/Hermione or Harry/Hermione as particularly great relationships, and I would have been happy if they had all remained friends. But I do tend to agree with Jo’s new viewpoint on Harry and Hermione because their personalities are a much better match, and in reality, opposites rarely attract. In fact, I think it’s a good thing that Jo made these statements. The fandom sometimes seems overly invested in Ron/Hermione, and it shouldn’t be “heresy” to express another opinion.”

Alison, News Writer

When I first read the Harry Potter series, the character I connected to the most (and still do, as a matter of fact) was Hermione. From the frizzy hair to the bossiness to the hidden loneliness, we had so much in common. When I read the epilogue in Deathly Hallows, I was thrilled that she had married and had a family with Ron. Finally, this wonderful girl had found someone who would make her better but loved her for who she was, someone who was honest and open with her (sometimes too much so), and who would, to be sentimental, complete her. I loved it. It was the kind of relationship that I would want, and I was exhilarated that Hermione got it. Let’s be honest. Would they have worked with anyone but each other? We saw how their other relationships went, from the weird obsessive and overly physical Ron/Lavender to the intellectually uneven Hermione/Krum (that would have been an extremely emotional relationship) and the odd Hermione-trying-to-make-Ron-jealous/Cormac. Harry and Hermione may have a special connection, but it is that of best friends or siblings, nothing more. Time to accept that Hermione and Ron need each other to be better, and that is why they work perfectly together.”

Jessica, Senior Journalist

I’d always accepted Ron & Hermione as inevitable – it was clear from the Goblet of Fire, published almost 15 years ago, that Jo was scheming to put them together. I’d never really given it a second thought until the news started exploding last week. Looking back, their relationship does feel a little forced to me, especially towards the end of the series, and the epilogue has always felt way too contrived to me. Now that I’m older, I’m pretty suspicious of the fact that almost everyone in the wizarding world starts dating their future husband/wife as a teenager. I know the wizarding population is small, but that still seems a bit far fetched to me! For no character is this more true than brilliant, curious, independent Hermione – I just can’t see her staying with Ron her entire life. It seems more probable to me that Hermione would have met someone at college and maybe ended up with an academic with a quirky sense of humor. He could even be a Muggle, maybe one from Oxford or Harvard.

As for Ron, I think he would have grown out of his relationship with Hermione as well and eventually ended up with someone more like his mother. If I think about it too much, their relationship just doesn’t ring true to me. Outside of defeating the Dark Lord, they share few interests, and even the smallest things would have been a fight. Can you imagine them trying to sort out who was going to do the housework? Yikes. Without the common thread of school and Harry, it seems almost inevitable that this pair would have drifted apart romantically. That being said, I don’t resent the way the books ended. But it’s been fun to give it all a second look!”

Aimee, Source Editor

My position on the Harry/Hermione/Ron love triangle remains unchanged. I completely agree with the Ron and Hermione pairing and see Harry and Hermione as the siblings neither one of them ever had. What Jo’s statement in the Wonderland article did for me was to take me one step further than simply a happy ending for the characters I had come to root for, especially regarding a romantic entanglement. Of course Jo would think about the reality her characters would face after the Battle of Hogwarts ended – these characters are real to her, and she would want to tie things up, even if only for herself. To say that Ron and Hermione might need relationship counseling is looking at the pair from more than a simple story point of view. It’s natural for her to wonder how the relationship would have evolved realistically in order to bring them to where they ended up in the final pages of the series – married, with children heading off to Hogwarts, nineteen years later.”

Keith Hawk, Managing Editor

‘All was well!’ That was the last line in the seven-volume Harry Potter series by author J.K. Rowling that was published in 2007 and remains the canon for today in February of 2014.

In the movie, Harry and Hermione’s relationship was accurately displayed during that famous “O Children” tent scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, and Rowling acknowledged the relationship as such. It does NOT change the fact that Harry and Hermione are sibling-like in their friendship while Ron and Hermione are the real couple (in need of some counseling perhaps but still a loving natural match as intended).

This score is finally settled, and fans around the world should feel good knowing that “all was well” once again.”

How about you guys? Any second thoughts about Ron/Hermione after all the news this past week? Or like many on staff here, are you still firmly convinced of Ron and Hermione’s happily ever after?

The fabulous fanart used as the thumbnail for this article is from this Deviant Art page by artist mary-dreams.