Author’s Note: Many
of my Christian friends find Rowlings’ Harry Potter series objectionable
because it seems to glorify witchcraft. The use of magic in the series is at
least the conjuring style with magic words and formulas rather than the
summoning demons and dark forces style of magic. At least the rules of her magic
world divide the use of magic by good and evil, right and wrong. Rowling, based on
her own comments in various interviews, tries to cast her books as politically
correct, but when she is honest about it, she gets in trouble with the cancel
culture. Rowling says this book is not a Christian allegory and it is not set
in the sort of magical fantasy allegorical worlds that openly Christian authors
like JRR Tolkien, John Bunyan, George McDonald and CS Lewis built. But it’s
hard to miss that Rowlings’ Harry turns out in the end to be a Messiah figure.
Both he and Dumbledore willingly lay down their lives for others. Like John the
Baptist, Dumbledore doesn’t come back. Like Jesus, however, Harry does. I think
that in tackling the messiah theme, Rowlings could not help herself
incorporating Christian themes. Even though not an exact allegory, the series
definitely held ancient themes common to Christian literature. The messiah theme
repeats itself in literature all down the ages from The Garden of Eden to Christ,
to King Arthur to Aslan and Frodo. It echoes in our stories and songs down through
the age, because, I believe, it is true. This article came from a discussion by
disgruntled Harry Potter fans complaining because Harry didn’t wind up with
Hermione. I think Rowlings was exactly right and revealed a great deal of
wisdom. Her recent troubles with cancel culture have shown her to be made of
sterner stuff than the left thought she was. I felt like I should defend her choice from wrong-headed critics.
J.K. Rowlings, author of the wildly successful Harry Potter series, drew her
characters well. Her ability to draw distinct and likeable characters was
responsible for most of the seven volume series’ success. The character that is often cited as the
least-liked of all the characters is Harry’s ultimate love interest, his best
friend Ron Weasley’s kid sister, Ginny.
I utterly disagree.
Ginny was a wonderful girl. She had her
mother's fierce devotion to family and her father's sense of wonder. She was
devoted to Harry and wound up being pretty amazing in her own right. Fans of
the series, especially female fans often criticize Rowlings for not getting
Harry and Hermione together as a couple. Instead they had that rare and
improbable male-female friendship that many less insightful readers believe is simply
impossible.
Rowlings, however was smarter than that. She
could clearly see that Harry and
Hermione would never have worked – they were too much like brother and sister. Heroes
in stories need an ally like that, and a sister can be a powerful ally. But a
sister is not a suitable mate. Harry and Hermione were both very powerful
characters and they needed soul mates who were strong enough to be themselves,
without needing to contend with them for dominance. Ginny adored Harry and had
a very healthy ego of her own and had few doubts about herself or about Harry
for that matter. The same was true with Ron toward Hermione. She always amazed
him and he always trusted in her gifts even when she, herself, didn't. I think Ron and Ginny got that from their
father. Mrs. Weasley was always something of an overwhelming character and he
was content to let her be so.
Remember that Ron ran away from Harry and
Hermione for a time during their hunt for the horcruxes. He had to. It was in a
way, too much having to live with the two of them running along at full power.
As friends Harry and Hermione could work together and stand the heat, but as
mates, I think the addition of a sexual component would have sent them both up
in flames the way high-powered actor or politician couples tend to flame out
and wind up divorced or worse.
Ginny and Ron got the best characteristics
from their parents - stability, devotion and enough fire from their mother to
hold their own in Harry and Hermione's considerable shadows. From their father
they got that flexibility, good humor and common sense. It allowed them to provide their more fiery
mates a stable rock from which they could spring to even greater heights.
Look at all the people out there who
achieve the kind of "greatness" Olivander predicted for Harry. The
very best of them have friends like Ron and mates like Ginny.
Margaret Thatcher had Denis
Ronald Reagan had Nancy
Queen Elizabeth had Prince Philip
George W. Bush had Laura
George H.W. Bush had Barbara
JFK had Jackie
Dwight Eisenhower had Mamie
FDR had Eleanor
Harry had Bess
Abe Lincoln had Mary with all her flaws
George Washington had Martha
A recent example of a flawed pairing of two
alpha personalities would be Bill and Hillary Clinton. Both were powerful in
their own right and as such, they very publicly went up in flames during his
administration. Bill still has trouble letting Hillary take center stage as she
did when he was president. In her most recent political activities, Bill has
hovered like a grim ghost in the background, his past history casting a
poisonous cloud over her aspirations.
I think J.K. Rowlings got the pairings
exactly right in the Harry Potter saga. Not many authors are brave enough to
suggest that that type of relationships between a man and women may be idea! Harry was close friends with Hermione and mate to Ginny and the distinction between those relationships became ever more clear as the series went on. Many people want to
believe that two powerful alpha type people can make it together, but the
odds are always against them and their relationship will never be quite secure.
Like it or not, Harry and Ginny were made for each other and Hermione and Ron
were too. From the moment she told him he had dirt on his nose that first day
they met on the train to Hogwarts, it was always inevitable they would wind up
together. Ron was an amazing young man from the first and his character grew
right along. But Hermione's confidence and self-assurance helped to bolster
Ron's own confidence. Ron was always confident in Hermione and realized what a
treasure she was. Like his father, Ron was devoted to her and quite content to
live in the powerful presence of "the brightest witch of her day"
without burning up or needing to challenge her position.
That's why J.K. Rowlings sold so many
books. She wrote truth, however politically incorrect it might be. People are
starved for truth. Some of the things J.K. says outside of the books might be
suspect or an attempt to cull favor with the politically correct, but within
the books, she got it dead to rights.
A lot of Potter fans complain that Ginny
and Harry “suck” as a couple.
Balderdash! They only suck if you're
looking for a soap opera and not a happy marriage. They only suck if
well-adjusted, happy couples bore you to tears.
It's amazing to me how girls always get
irate over the jock or the BMOC (big man on campus) who overlooks the shy,
unassuming girl in favor of some tempestuous floozy who only makes his life
miserable when the shy girl would have been a devoted supportive companion and
helpmate. Then they turn around and complain if there aren't enough fireworks
between the couple to pique their prurient interest.
I got news for you, tempestuous
relationships tend to wind up in divorce a few years after the movie's happy ending.
Having wild passionate sex, contrary to the romantic poets, doesn't fix all
that’s wrong with a bad relationship. It
blows it up! Fiery relationships are all well and good for soap operas and
movies of the week, but they suck as a foundation for a happy marriage.
JK gave us not one, but two wonderful
relationships - Harry and the devoted Ginny and Hermione and the devoted Ron
instead of some cliche'd romantic triangle (although we did get a bit of that
with Ron on the horcrux hunt even if it was all in Ron's imagination.
Harry Potter was about good vs. evil. It
was about making the right choice even if it didn't seem like it was in your
best interests. It was about relying on your friends and family instead of
trying to go it alone. It was about doing the right thing. Look at the quintessential romantic
triangle - Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot. Guinevere was too much of a power in
her own right. Arthur was competition. Lancelot was powerful, but he never
challenged her for right of place. It cost Arthur his kingdom and almost cost his
legacy.
I think Harry came out far better than
Arthur did in choosing Ginny. And the Ginny in the books was far more fleshed
out than in the movie, although Bonnie Wright's subtle performance in the films
revealed all you might want to know about Ginny's character - starting from
that first contact in the train station. Bonnie really played Harry's mate to
the hilt, even when Harry barely realized she was there.
I hate soap opera - stupid people who
shouldn't be together torturing each other. Where is there anything to be
gleaned from that besides the whole post-modernist "Life is meaningless
and then you die" nonsense?
Why would you want to screw up a heroic
tale like the Harry Potter series that way other than because you either have a
perverse need to see people make themselves miserable so you don't feel so bad
about your own misery or because you have a literary axe to grind and want to
show how smart you are and "above all that schmaltzy happy ending
stuff".
That's why so many English majors wind up
bitter cranky old schoolmarms and never contribute anything meaningful in the
way of literature. I'd rather learn from great authors than set myself up as
their judge and jury. Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. And those who
can't even teach become critics.
As River Tam described such persons in Firefly, "Sad
little king of a sad little hill."
Many Potter fans complain that Ginny is too
“bland”. I think her character is subtle
and subtle is not bland. You want an exciting couple, there's always Voldemort
and Bellatrix.
Again, it amazes me that people will
complain a couple is bland and get royally furious when the "jock"
spurns the "plain" girl for the more exciting one in real life. Maybe
you have to be female to understand what these critics are talking about. For
me, Ginny was a wonderful character, book and movie. She wasn't flashy or
exotically beautiful, but for someone like Harry who was risking his life
almost daily, fighting evil wizards and witches, giving up his very life to
save others.......Ginny would have been a fresh, uncomplicated breath of fresh
air and devoted companion.
You got a glimpse of the stuff Ginny was
made of in the final battle, in the kiss she initiated in the room of
requirement, in her steadfast devotion to Harry. Harry needed that. Hermione
and Harry would have gone up in flames.
In the hero quest, the hero's mate gives
him (or her) one of two things - a happily ever after or a tragic ending. Harry
and Ginny were right together as were Hermione and Ron; that is, if you wanted
them to have that happily ever after.
Rowlings was brilliant in putting them
together the way she did. And with Harry and Hermione, she perfectly captured
that fascinating and rare relationship, a male-female true friendship without
sex. Nature provides us with pheremonal cues when two people are not
genetically compatible. When you're together you feel like siblings. Anything
else just seems wrong.
I've had relationships with women that were
like that. My wife has a long-standing relationship with a guy from school
that's like that. They even tried dating once and it just didn't feel right to
either of them. They're great friends and all, but that's all.
I'm so glad J.K. placed that element in the
Potter novels and didn't go for the whole "men and women can never be just
friends" malarkey. Remember the scene in the tent where they danced
together. It showed how their relationship worked and did so brilliantly. There
weren't any sexual overtones in it. It looked like friends comforting one
another.
Everything isn't about sex. Fully mature
people understand that. Hormonally charged teenagers so seldom do. Both
Hermione and Harry matured at a surprisingly young age. Remember how Hermione
was always encouraging Harry in his relationships.
And did you catch the scene on the bridge where
Hermione said, "At least you accomplished one thing tonight.......Cho
couldn't keep her eyes off you." And if you keep your eyes on Ginny in
that scene as she is walking along behind him, you'll see this tiny little
flinch from Ginny when Hermione says it. She is already carrying a torch for
Harry and Harry doesn't yet see it.
The romance between Harry and Ginny is one
of my favorites in all of literature. It's not a bonfire, but the kindling of a
warm hearth - the sort of fire that lasts a lifetime.
Hermione and Ron have a sparkier
relationship, but mostly because Ron lacks the self-confidence to move forward
with Hermione. Hermione is in love with Ron long before he has the courage to
recognize that he is in love with her. Hermione was ready to close the deal
with Ron early on. She loved Ron, not in spite of his flaws, but because of
them. To me that's incredibly selfless and what love ought to be.
Ron was afraid to put himself forward with
Hermione. It's not that Ron isn't brave; he just doesn't see how someone as
brilliant as Hermione could possibly love someone as flawed as he sees himself
being. After he becomes separated from Harry and Hermione and Dumbledore's
light catcher leads him back, you see a new Ron, filled with a new sense of
self-confidence - enough to push his way past Hermione's anger. From then on,
they are pair-bonded for life and you can see it in everything they do. That
time away was Ron's 40 days in the wilderness just as the time when Harry
surrendered to Voldemort and was "killed" was Harry's. Once that job
was done, Harry could allow Ginny fully into his life without fearing that
being close to him would get her killed.
Rowlings did such a good job with those
relationships. The books are very wise and the films captures that quite well. The Harry/Ginny naysayers inevitably make arguments for Harry and Hermione make arguments of the sort junior high school girls for putting together the big jock and the head cheerleader back in the hormone-fueled days of early adolescence. You don't hook up with your sister and Hermione was always that to Harry. JK was dead on.
The fact that practically everyone wants
more of Harry and the gang, is a testament to how brilliantly and truthfully
Rowlings drew the characters. I may have to watch the movies again now. Rowlings
has given us a wise and truly remarkable body of work that will likely stand
the test of time and gets all the pineapples I have. An author that can hold the attention of children and adolescent through not just one thick volume, but seven knows her stuff, so y'all just shut up about Ginny being the wrong gal for Harry.
© 2021 by Tom King
