Ross’ Rants: The boy who shouldn’t have

J.K. Rowling is a monumental name to readers around the world and over the past week has inspired a worldwide rage over voicing her regret over how she finalized the romance of the main characters in Harry Potter.

Rowling went viral with comments that Hermione Granger, book-smart heroine and female inspiration to many, should have ended up with the titular hero instead of Ron Weasley — who is often regarded as the comic relief of the three.

“I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment. That’s how it was conceived, really,” Rowling revealed in an interview with Wonderland, which was, guest-edited by Emma Watson who played Granger in the film adaptations of the books.

“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.”

She then went on about how the two would not have made the perfect couple (which apparently we as readers need to relate to our perfect lives) and thus twisted the dagger into the hearts of many Harry Potter fans.

Granger was a character that was an inspiration to women everywhere. From being self-reliant, to being the smartest of the bunch, she was not one to fall into the trap of being solely utilized in romantic plots. This, among many other admirable traits, made her endearing to girls — and readers of all genders. For many of us that grew up with the series having a character to look up to that was also a non-romantic heroine was a rarity (and still seems to be to this day).

While Rowling didn’t give the wedding stamp to Granger and Potter, she mentioned they were a better fit. To drop this kind of bomb on Potter fans seven years later seems unnecessary. While she has made changes to perceptions about the characters before, she has never attempted to shed new light on a situation that was clearly set in stone — or finalized in ink.

After mixed reception of her works since Harry Potter — including her work under the pen name Robert Galbraith — and how much she has invested in that universe, it is no surprise that it seems as though she’ll never be done with it. With a new movie set to be coming from that world in Fantastic Beasts — and surely other surprises I’m sure — it seems as though her best bet would be to accept all the great she has done. Rowling should acknowledge that it would be too much of an upset to change one of the most iconic fictional worlds we’ve ever known.