Ron's opinion of Hermy; happy endings; H & H are funny (was lots o' other stuff)

[ftah3]

No: HPFGUIDX 31501

Penny wrote:
> Liquidfire asked if we might talk about something else & basically 
asked 
> if the Shippers would shut up (although slightly more politely).  
It 
> seems other non-shippers have joined the general outcry.  

Hmm, well, I don't think I joined up with an outcry of "shut up, 
shippers!"  I believe I just said that shipping was to me the least 
interesting possible topic.  Doesn't mean I won't read about it, nor 
find it occasionally interesting.  Some angles make for stimulating 
intellectual convo.  I'm not interested and won't participate in 
discussions of who I *prefer* to have fall in love and the canon 
details that support that it might happen, but I like the discussion 
of what in straight canon does or does not show inter-character 
interest.  It goes to characterization, which, *drool: 
characterization, drool*.

> Joshua said:  
> > That's certainly a debatable "fact."  I've said many times and 
I'll
> > say again, I see nothing whatsoever to indicate that Ron had any
> > attraction for Hermione before about one third of the way through
> > book 4 when suddenly he's desperate to have a date for the Ball. 
> >  >From that point on, his attraction for Hermione is fairly 
obvious,
> > but not before.

Penny replied:
> As much as I agree with most of Joshua's points on this subject 
(<g>), 
> even I can't agree with this.  I do think there are subtle clues to 
> Ron's growing attraction to Hermione, starting perhaps with the 
belching 
> slugs incident in CoS (and certainly his determination to brave the 
> spiders in CoS).  Of course, the characters aren't anywhere near to 
the 
> point of having acknowledgeable romantic feelings at that stage, 
but I 
> think JKR was setting up the foundation for what would become 
crystal 
> clear by mid-way through GoF.  Let's just say that Ron's behavior 
in the 
> entire Yule Ball sequence wasn't exactly surprising to me.

I guess I didn't see any events in books 1-3 as being indicative of 
Ron's growing, while boyish, interest in Hermione.  I saw it as, boys 
act differently around girls-ish.  So when I suddenly saw what I 
thought was implications of Ron's interest in Hermione in GoF, I 
recall being jarred.  It seemed sudden.  On the other hand, I don't 
deny that such things actually do happen suddenly.

Penny wrote:
> I think this interpretation of the potential ending of the series 
may be 
> one of the most fundamental differences amongst the shippers.  On 
the 
> whole (and speaking in huge generalities), I would say that many or 
most 
> R/H and/or H/G shippers believe that the books are essentially 
> well-written fairy tales, essentially childrens' lit (I know you 
don't 
> agree on that particular point, bbennett!), and will have a happy 
> fairy-tale ending.  By contrast, many of the H/H shippers don't 
think 
> these are childrens' books per se, don't think they fit the fairy 
tale 
> formula & doubt seriously that the ending will be "happily ever 
after" 
> for everyone.  I know my own take on the potential ending is that 
it 
> will be optimistic & forward-looking but not syrupy sweet & all 
wrapped 
> up in a bow.

Hmm, I'm not a shipper ~ I have vague notions of, it would be cute 
and unsurprising if Hermione and Ron hooked up and Harry and Ginny 
hooked up (for example), but I'm not looking for said events 
to "make" the denoument of the series for me.

On the other hand, I'm dead set on a happy ending.  I think that the 
structure of the stories so far indicate that happily ever after is 
inevitable *in general*.  I suspect that the main threesome will 
survive, but that others might be marked; whether or not romance will 
be in the future for any of the trio remains to be seen, though.
 
Regarding Hermione's sense of humor, though apart from 'who best 
could help her lighten up':

Penny:
>...some fans think that Ron is the only funny person in 
> the Trio.  

Which is unfortunate, because Harry & Hermione are a hoot, too!  
Argh, for a photographic memory!  Or an office set of the 
books....  :-P  There have been times I've laughed out loud at 
Hermione's words or reactions ~ especially because I think sometimes 
Ron and Harry don't get her humor at all.  Hermione is not a clown, a 
la Ron, but she does have a growing mischievous streak.

> Penny
> (who really is going to someday catalogue all the interactions of 
the 
> Trio with each other so that it can be proven that Harry is funny 
> sometimes, Ron & Hermione really aren't exchanging witty repartee 
> constantly & Hermione is not a bossy wet blanket when she's not 
with Ron)

Yes! And I'll work on cataloguing incidents of Hermione's subtle 
sense of humor someday, as well.

Mahoney