Oh, Harry...

[murasaki1200]

It's been a few days since I finished my marathon HP reading. I listened to Stephen Fry's version of Goblet of Fire, Order of The Phoenix and Half Blood Prince and Jim Dale's version of Deathly Hallows. Jim Dale has this old lady way of saying 'Sorry' which Harry, Hermione and Ron keep saying throughout DH, and 'Oh, Harry...', which Hermione says

Comments

[angharad_gov]

I still haven't read the first few books and I suspect this is the reason why I haven't warmed up too much to Ron. In the books I've read, he's mostly a self absorbed big whiner, and absolutely no help in talking sense into Harry. I have no clue why Hermione ended up with him except for the fact that she seems to have a soft spot for the people who need help.

i was never a big ron fan. even with our limited p.o.v. from harry (who is supposed to be his best friend) ron still comes off as a giant prat. i never understood what hermione saw in him and heaven knows why she ends up marry the little twerp.

[murasaki1200]

i was never a big ron fan. even with our limited p.o.v. from harry (who is supposed to be his best friend) ron still comes off as a giant prat.

That's too bad. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but from what I've read, he totally takes Hermione for granted and mostly cares about how she can help him get his homework done faster. Then the Lavender Brown episode shows he's got absolutely no taste or sensitivity.

He only changes his approach when he starts figuring out that sucking up to Hermione may help him get into her pants. Even though I can understand where he's coming from on the latter, it does make him come off as a total jerk.

At least he offered to take Hermione's place when he realized she was going to be tortured by Bellatrix and he seemed genuinely distressed during the incident but still, I was holding out for Hermione to snag Fred if she was going to go with one of the Weasley boys.

[angharad_gov]

fred is a good choice if she were to snag a weasley, although my default is always, "femslash whenever possible." it's too bad ginny was so underdeveloped character-wise. we get something, but not much. i like how some of the fan ficcers paired hermione and fleur. a surprising and interesting dynamic. secretly, though, i'd always hoped that it would be harry and hermione at the end. they seemed "right" somehow. in the movie versions, the relationship portrayed there seems like it could develop and grow into something more than BFF :)

[murasaki1200]

i like how some of the fan ficcers paired hermione and fleur. a surprising and interesting dynamic.

I've read a few Hermione/Fleur fics that I've liked. I agree the pairing totally works. In fact I read one where Bellatrix tortures Hermione so I assume the rumor was out there in fandom that this might happen.

secretly, though, i'd always hoped that it would be harry and hermione at the end. they seemed "right" somehow. in the movie versions, the relationship portrayed there seems like it could develop and grow into something more than BFF :)Yes, the relationship between Harry and Hermione is a lot more developed it seems. We're told Harry actually cares about her feelings (maybe because of the p.o.v thing). During the Lavender Brown thing for instance, Harry takes the time to sit with Hermione and give her a chance to vent and in DH a couple of times he reflects on her feelings and acts accordingly

[fembuck]

As annoying as I've found Harry's temper tantrums and general childishness ...

Word. Harry has annoyed me to no end in some of the other books, OoTP especially presented him as being an almost completely unbearable git. So I was very pleased that throughout and by the end of this book, that I saw Harry mature into a person that I could respect, instead of wanting to smack all the time.

It seemed a little too easy for Ron and Harry to defeat Bellatrix...Word again. I mean, I know that ultimately the good guys were gonna triumph, but J.K built up Bellatrix way too much for her to be diswanded by Harry and Ron, and then killed my Molly Weasely

[murasaki1200]

J.K built up Bellatrix way too much for her to be diswanded by Harry and Ron, and then killed my Molly Weasely.

Agreed. At least in the final fight Bellatrix is described as the most powerful of the Death Eaters. She's fending off three attackers. I never knew Molly Weasley was her equal or better either, although JK often says you have to mean it, and Molly really meant to protect her family.

There does seem to be inconsistencies in the description of the level of power of the various characters. Snape wiped the floor with Harry in Order of the Phoenix or HBP I think so that gives us a pretty good idea that Harry is not that great in absolute terms against anyone other than Voldy.

Hermione seems to hold her own pretty well in some bad situations but ultimately is not described as winning the key duels.

Bellatrix is described as very powerful, and yes it does make sense that she would defeat Hermione the first time out, but the Malfoy manor escape was a little too easy so it creates an inconsistency.

Luna, literally brought

[fembuck]

And to continue my long-ass response ...

I also expected Harry to try to step up to the plate or get Hermione to do it.

Hermione going on to great things I could totally see. I just never got the impression that Harry was really capable of stepping up to the plate. I can buy him as a good Auror, but not really anything more. That's one thing that got me about the novels, was that I never really felt like Harry did much worth noting on his own. And yes, I know he often admits as much, but if it hadn't been for this magical connection to Voldemort (which really anyone might have gotten) he would have been largely useless.

Peaking at 17 would be a little sad for our heroes.Yeah, and despite the epilogue I think that might be the case. Like a child star, only Harry managed to deal with it and go on to live a normal life relatively out of the spotlight. Actually, for Hermione all of it was probably just a beginning, and I can see it being an opportunity for Ron to break out from under Harry's shadow as well. But Harry, well he's

[murasaki1200]

I just never got the impression that Harry was really capable of stepping up to the plate. I can buy him as a good Auror, but not really anything more.

Nods. Yes, I got the same impression.I would have liked to see Dumbledore's legacy being picked up but it's going to have to be Hermione or the kids.

[amluv]

jumps in *waves hello*...in ronnie the bear's defense, ron is extremely insecure. he comes from a huge family where he doesn't particularly stand out and his best friend is like the jesus christ of the wizarding world. i think that's a lot to swallow, but he does and he does it in stride and janine said, he's the everyman, he does what needs doing. that's his function in the group. you point out that he never talks sense into harry, i think that's because he understands harry's need to be confident in making his decisions and he backs him up, that's what a best friends does. i love ron because i totally get him.

i think hermione is attracted to him because of the fact that of everyone around her, he seems to be the only one who can stand toe-to-toe with her and i think he that, she sees in him all the things everyone else can't, including him. say what you want about how much of a dick ron can be, but you can't deny that he is a fiercely loyal friend and when the chips are down he proves to be quite courageous as well.

[murasaki1200]

Hey there! I was hoping someone would help me understand Ron better. I do suspect he came off better in the early books where he probably helps Harry figure out the wizarding world since of the three he's the only one who was raised in it.

ron is extremely insecure. he comes from a huge family where he doesn't particularly stand out and his best friend is like the jesus christ of the wizarding world. i think that's a lot to swallow, but he does and he does it in stride and janine said, he's the everyman, he does what needs doing.I can see that. I think I was traumatized by Order of the Phoenix and how high maintenance Ron is about being on the quidditch team. That's one thing about audiobooks, you can't skip and being read out loud makes everything stay with you more. Those bits about Ron were very painful

[amluv]

what can i say...ron's the "xander" of the trio ;)

i think he suffers a bit in the last book because he's MIA for a good chunk of the time. and he redeems himself in a huge way...i love that she did that w/ him...

the thing that really makes the series cool is that the everyone is flawed. i love hermione but my girl suffers from an overwhelming self-righteousness in a huge way. but she too is very insecure and maybe that's the reason why she gets ron. i totally wanted to bash harry's head in in book 5, but after reading the next 2 books, i understand why it was necessary to portray him in that light because by the end, he truly emerges as a real man and you appreciate his journey all the more when you realize that level of growth and i think that rings true for ron too. okay, i'll stop now :)

i just get really excited when it comes to the awesomeness of the potter.

[murasaki1200]

Yes, I can see that Ron was meant to be the Xander of HP but I don't think it totally worked in the more recent books. Being insecure is not in and of itself a character flaw until Ron starts making it other people's problem. I don't actively dislike Ron, he just seems like he was a little neglected as a character in the last few books and that hurt the trio. I wish that Ron worked better if only to make things more interesting for the other two. Harry did show amazing loyalty for his friends in DH, sharing all the information he was privy to and making them into equal partners. I really enjoyed that aspect of the book

[fenris_wolf0]

Oooookay... so as a non-HP reader, how accurate is this?

*Warning: needless to say, this may contain spoilers (I wouldn't now if it did, but I will assume it does not matter since all HP fans have by now read the book?*

:)

[murasaki1200]

I saw this on the flist when astolat rec'd it and then pointed out that lj had permanently deleted the account in their latest purge.

It's funny because it dares to not treat HP as something sacred, but it's not really a fair description of the book.

I don't have time to comment on each point because I have to get up at 6am for a very long day, but I'm sure someone has already done this some place if you're interested. Otherwise ping me again and we can chat ;)