Hermione's age

[kyntor70]

No: HPFGUIDX 119792


Salit wrote:

"An older Hermione also makes her character more believable in my
opinion - she is so much more mature than the two boys, that it
stretches credibility to believe she could be even younger than they
(yes I know that girls are more mature than boys the same age but not
that much...)."

I don't really know if you can say that Hermione is much more mature 
than the two boys or not.  Hermione is a very studious and a very by 
the rules types of person.  This actually makes her seem more mature 
than she really is.  There is no doubt that she is more mature in 
some things than the two boys are.  However, in other things, she is 
not so mature in.

As far as emotional maturity goes, Hermione is the most mature.  She 
not only knows how to control and deal with her own emotions, but she 
is also quite empathic towards the people around her.  Ron has always 
had a bad temper problem as well as bouts of jealousy.  Living with 
the Dursleys for 10 years, Harry has hardly ever dealt with his 
emotions, he mainly just surpressed them.

However, the area in which Hermione is not that mature is 
understanding what is truly important.  In this area, Harry is much 
more mature than she is.  Her by the rules personality makes it 
difficult sometimes to see anything beyond the rules.  Harry like 
Dumbledore has a tendency to follow the spirit of the rules rather 
than the letter of the rules.  I think this also causes her to 
misunderstand house elves as well.  As far as Ron goes, I don't think 
he is very mature in this area either.  Harry's fame and wealth has a 
tendency to appeal to Ron a little too much.

It will be interesting to see how the three change over the course of 
the final two books.

kyntor70