You Never Forget Your First

[redbrunja]

It's apparently Harry/Hermione vs. Hermione/Ron time on my tumblr.

Again.

A decade later.

*sits back and enjoys the pretty*

ETA: but what prompted this? Does anyone know? I feel like there is a story I'm missing.

Comments

[chomiji]

Maybe this?

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Definitely. That. And whaaaaaaat?

[blackestfaery.livejournal.com]

Half the people I've seen talking about it don't believe it's real. For myself, I think it is, and the only thing that matters to me is that she said it.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Half the people I've seen talking about it don't believe it's real. For myself, I think it is, and the only thing that matters to me is that she said it.

I think it's really, and to be honest, I'm a little annoyed. Both that she said it when she HAS TO KNOW how many people are going to be upset by it, and because THAT IS NOT THE RELATIONSHIP SHE WROTE. Own what you actually put on the page.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to be, like, fair minded and imagining that I was on the other side of this and what not, but at the same time it's kind of...I don't even know.

Because I don't think it's a matter of getting to the end and Harry and Hermione ending up together. It never was a love triangle. All three of their characters (plus Ginny and Lavender and Mrs. Weasley and God only knows who else!) get changed too, and I don't know when that would start or how it would look, and I love the people that they are. It's not just who kisses who and who gets married and has kids. It's everything about them. It's a different freaking story.

Mostly I'm pissed off that somewhere, Steve fucking Kloves is patting himself on the shoulder, thinking that he was right the whole time.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to be, like, fair minded and imagining that I was on the other side of this and what not, but at the same time it's kind of...I don't even know.

I'd be pissed, honestly. If this was say, the writers of Avatar going, 'oh, you know, Zuko/Katara would have been a better pairing' I would have been LIVID. Because THAT IS NO WHAT THEY WROTE. They can't erase the text. All they can do is taint the resolution for the people who liked it the way it was originally resolved.

It never was a love triangle. All three of their characters (plus Ginny and Lavender and Mrs. Weasley and God only knows who else!) get changed too, and I don't know when that would start or how it would look, and I love the people that they are. It's not just who kisses who and who gets married and has kids. It's everything about them. It's a different freaking story.

Exactly. This wasn't a last-minute, it could go either way thing. Ron/Hermione (love it or hate it) was foreshadowed and written into the series explicitly from BOOK FOUR. Like, you had four books where you explicitly worked with this pairing.

[sugar-fey.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's a ship war blast from the past.

At least it serves to remind me that no matter how bad ship wars are now, they're nothing like the Harry/Hermione vs Ron/Hermione vs Harry/Ginny wars of yore.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Weirdly, I feel like I managed to accidentally avoid the ship wars when it was my main fandom...

[sugar-fey.livejournal.com]

I was aware that the ship wars existed, but I managed to avoid encountering them somehow. They weren't my ships, so that helped.

I did ship Draco/Ginny.

It was not my finest moment.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I am going to refrain from even mentioning how many Draco/Ginny or Draco/Hermione fics I read. There was a lot. Or Snape/Hermione. I read a fair chunk of those too.

[backtothesea.livejournal.com]

Ah, ship wars. I managed to stay on the outskirts for most of the fandom drama, but Hermione/Harry versus Hermione/Ron was pretty unavoidable. I still stand by Harry/Ron/Hermione, though! I'm a little sad to hear all of this a decade later---I may agree with some of her comments about Hermione/Ron but she wrote that pairing into the books from the start. (I know we've had this conversation before!)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Weirdly, I feel like I managed to avoid the ship wars back when I was first in the fandom?

I still stand by Harry/Ron/Hermione, though!-I may agree with some of her comments about Hermione/Ron but she wrote that pairing into the books from the start. (I know we've had this conversation before!)

Exactly! That's what's so frustrating about this?

[qualapec.livejournal.com]

I'm just like, sitting on the stunned periphery of all this while my dash is IMPLODING.

It's also bled over into Hunger Games fandom somehow and people bashing Katniss/Peeta, which I just do not understand the connection for the life of me. Displaced anxiety?

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Fuck, I just knew that Katniss/Peeta was going to come up.

It's also bled over into Hunger Games fandom somehow and people bashing Katniss/Peeta, which I just do not understand the connection for the life of me. Displaced anxiety?

That's 'this one popular author recanted her canon pairing ALL CANON PAIRINGS ARE FOREVERMORE THE ~WRONG~ PAIRING, DOWN WITH ALL ACTUALLY WELL-DONE, FORSHADOWED PAIRINGS!

[qualapec.livejournal.com]

IKR? Nevermind that the circumstances surrounding Katniss/Peeta are COMPLETELY CONTEXTUALLY DIFFERENT.

'this one popular author recanted her canon pairing ALL CANON PAIRINGS ARE FOREVERMORE THE ~WRONG~ PAIRING, DOWN WITH ALL ACTUALLY WELL-DONE, FORSHADOWED PAIRINGS!

YAY FANDOM LOGIC.

I will say, I didn't, as a reader, like Ron/Hermione, but it's not on the list of pairings I hate or despise, so a lot of the vitriol here is kinda going over my head. And while I can see how it's sort of annoying that Rowling would take it back, I think her reasons might be interesting to examine, since I think that while owning your work is important, so is being able to be critical in retrospect and ask yourself what you could do better - I think that's just part of the process of being a writer, and I would be really curious to know what her reasons are and why she didn't think the choice she made was literary, and also what she thought could have happened instead.

EDIT: OH GOD THAT'S WHAT THE ADAM/EVE ADAM/LILITH POST WAS ABOUT EARLIER I LITERALLY THOUGHT IT WAS ABOUT LILITH BEING AWESOME. I AM SO FUCKING DISAPPOINTED IN FANDOM RIGHT NOW.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I think her reasons might be interesting to examine, since I think that while owning your work is important, so is being able to be critical in retrospect and ask yourself what you could do better - I think that's just part of the process of being a writer, and I would be really curious to know what her reasons are and why she didn't think the choice she made was literary, and also what she thought could have happened instead.

I guess I'd be sort of interested in her answer, but I feel like 'that was the pairing I was most excited about and spoke to something inside me' is a pretty great reason to write a couple together, and I think that if Harry and Hermione had gotten together, she would have needed to kill off Ron (which she considered doing, as well).


EDIT: OH GOD THAT'S WHAT THE ADAM/EVE ADAM/LILITH POST WAS ABOUT EARLIER I LITERALLY THOUGHT IT WAS ABOUT LILITH BEING AWESOME. I AM SO FUCKING DISAPPOINTED IN FANDOM RIGHT NOW.

*lightbulb moment* I didn't realize that either. Fuck, I'm going to go delete my reblogging of that post now.

[qualapec.livejournal.com]

I guess I'd be sort of interested in her answer, but I feel like 'that was the pairing I was most excited about and spoke to something inside me' is a pretty great reason to write a couple together

This is very true (esp because if it spoke to you somehow, then it probably spoke to other people in a meaningful way).

I almost wonder if what she meant was that she regretted the way Ron and Hermione got together? Edit: not that what she may have meant negates what she actually said

*lightbulb moment* I didn't realize that either. Fuck, I'm going to go delete my reblogging of that post now.

I stubbornly refuse to delete it because I want to believe that it's pro-Lilith. I did, however, reblog it expressing my disappointment.

Seriously. Who would not be on the Lilith Forever team?

[nocturnalrites.livejournal.com]

I'd call it wishful thinking.

[nocturnalrites.livejournal.com]

Dammit, the link's not working, because I would have liked to have read the article. Any chance of a reposted link?

And I agree: changing a ship (or even changing backstory) can completely and totally ruin a character for me, not to mention the story. It's that single butterfly stomp that makes all the difference.

It's the main reason I am not and will never be a true comic geek. My better half accepts what I consider to be just mind-blowing so-called 'reboots' without a flicker of an eyelash and for me, that just ruins it.

I liked who Ginny turned out to be, so I was pretty happy with Harry/Ginny. I wouldn't have cried too hard at Harry/Hermione, but I think Ron needed her more than Harry ever would have. Hell, I was always fond of Luna, too. I think I have a secret wish that she ended up with Neville, somehow, because I grew to be rather fond of him.

Edit: Googled and got the story. All I can say is, huh. I can't pretend to know what was in her mind; she'll always know *her* characters more than anyone else can. Still...nah. I still like how things turned out. I'm not surprised, though. I don't think I've written anything where I haven't second-guessed myself a few years later when I re-read it. If she re-wrote it that way, she'd probably realize the story was fine the way it was and put it back.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Hell, I was always fond of Luna, too. I think I have a secret wish that she ended up with Neville, somehow, because I grew to be rather fond of him.

I really thought that Luna/Neville would have been FABULOUS. Because Neville would have rolled with her weirdness and just thought she was AMAZING (whereas Harry always seemed a little embarrassed by her) and I think Neville would have treated her great and been grounding without limiting her.

[nocturnalrites.livejournal.com]

Perfectly said and exactly why I'd've liked to see them together. And in my mind, they are!

[unperfectwolf.livejournal.com]

ITS AMAZEBALLS. ITS LIKE FANDOM KNEW WE NEEDED TO BE REMINDED OF WHY POPCORN IS THE BEST FOOD.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

maybe it could be that you have a queer character that you only said was queer OUTSIDE OF THE BOOKS?!


RIGHT? Or your inconsistent moral narratives? Or fucking Ginny/Harry? Or that fact that 1/4 of the children that go to hogwarts are sorted into House Evil?

[leobrat.livejournal.com]

I'm just surprised she said it so bluntly. She could have been more diplomatic, like, "Time and distance has made me see that Harry/Hermione made a lot of sense as a couple also."

[phemyscira.livejournal.com]

This is my response to this whole thing:

http://aquietrevolutionary.tumblr.com/post/75313002667/76110065-gets-up-on-a-table-amidst

Please no one kill me. It's just so nice to not give any fucks about ship wars, for a change.

However, I really do wonder what possessed JKR to say this because she is aware of how bad ship wars can get, right? It just seems a bit unnecessary to bring something like that up after a decade, without a bit of an explanation.

Also, although I don't like Ron/Hermione anymore, I still can't believe that's the thing she regrets most. I love HP, but some things about that series was really messy. As latenightcuppa said, what about not making Dumbledore canonically gay and what about the somewhat shitty treatment of the ladies of colour? cuddles Cho. What about not using characters of colour to discuss racism?

Although I really do want to know why JKR is suddenly team Hermione/Harry.

[mistaria.livejournal.com]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't see JKR saying it should have been Harry/Hermione anywhere? Harry/Ron/Hermione were never a love triangle in anyones mind but Ron when he was addled. Ron/Hermione was always a thing I just wanted Hermione to grow up and realize they had nothing in common and that they weren't right for each other. Soooo this announcement made my shipper heart happy in at least that JKR gets that and I honestly thought Ron/Hermione was more about wish fulfillment for her given this interview she did once saying Ron was modeled after some guy that was a "it might have been" for her. I still think Harry/Hermione wouldn't have happened either. Hermione can get with some nameless wizard who I will pretend is Snape. :p

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't see JKR saying it should have been Harry/Hermione anywhere?

This is true, there's not direct quote, even though that's what all the headlines and such are saying.

[mistaria.livejournal.com]

Yeah I think they're click baiting. They know not what they do! ::hides from the renewed ship war::

[sharkflip.livejournal.com]

I never like it when two people in a three-person friendship hook up. It just undermines the friendship to me. I've yet to actually finish the series, and part of the reason I haven't is knowing the endgame -- I'm just not interested in reading it.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

To be honest, the series peaked with POA. Goblet of Fire was decent enough, but the series took a sharp downturn with OoTP and never fully recovered, imho.

[sharkflip.livejournal.com]

I vividly remember reading Sorcerer's Stone in 11th grade math class, and being so immersed in the world that I was actually disoriented when the period ended. The whimsy of the series has always irritated me, but there's something about it that's, well, spell-binding.

I read Order of the Phoenix in basically one sitting my senior year of college (it was winter, it was my first or second menstrual cycle after getting an IUD, and I was cramping like I'd never cramped before). It was still spell-binding, but also no longer the series I'd started reading. And the movies were mostly disappointing -- they cut out too many scenes that made the story work for me.

But the fact that I just devoted this much time just now discussing it (which is cutting into my last Sunday off when I can go down to the F Sunday Market guilt-free) is evidence of how special the series is despite its flaws.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

But the fact that I just devoted this much time just now discussing it (which is cutting into my last Sunday off when I can go down to the F Sunday Market guilt-free) is evidence of how special the series is despite its flaws.


*nods* As everyone's reaction to this interview show, HP has a place in a LOT of people's hearts.

And the movies were mostly disappointing -- they cut out too many scenes that made the story work for me.

I feel like the HP movies are a good example of when over-faithfulness to a source can really hamper an adaptation. Because there were just too much source material and the movies don't stand on their own at all.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

My only argument to that is that Luna's first appearance is after what you consider to be the peak. The series reaching a point at which it contained Luna is a point at which it can't be considered all bad.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I just never loved Luna the way other people love Luna. It didn't help that her intro was my least favorite book.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

The thing about Luna is, she's calmly unconcerned about the things that make other characters act like idiots thorough the back half of the series. She calls Dobby 'Sir' because she's polite and sees no reason not to; she keeps herself open to possibilities and thus doesn't accept rumors that Harry's crazy when he isn't acting crazy, and she has the ability to let insults flow past her like water over a river stone.