SHIP: JKR: Recent Comment on the Shipping Controversy

[Tara]

No: HPFGUIDX 102146


 Peter Shea <harp66 at y...>
> > Am I the only surprised that JKR believes the answer is an easy one 
> > to work out since there are many diligent amateur Potterists who have 
> > analyzed the textual evidence who cannot answer the question beyond a 
> > shadow of a doubt? I had begun to believe that JKR wanted this 
> > question to be hard to answer.
 
"anasazi_pr" <srobles at c...> wrote:
> Hi, Peter. I believe the same way you do... I think JKR did want this 
> question to be hard to answer.

*snip*

> So you see, the so called "proof" is ambiguous at best and can be 
> manipulated to our heart's content.
> 
> JKR might try to hide the fact that she made Hermione's object of 
> affection ambiguous on purpose... but we know better!
> 
> She knows what she's doing... and is loving every minute of it!
> 
> Cheers,
> Anasazi
> -who feels strangely proud of finally making her first post on this 
> list.


Tara here:

This is my first post too.  (I can't believe I hadn't started
following this group sooner - I love discussing the books with
intelligent people!)

I'm not trying to get into the whole H/Hr v. R/Hr, because hasn't that
been done to death, but I do think people find "proof" of what they
want to find.

When reading the first three books, I had assumed that Harry and
Hermione were destined for each other because the hero always gets the
girl, right?  However, when I read GoF, I noticed that the evidence
seemed to be pointing distinctly at R/Hr (regardless of what I might
personally have wanted).  Now, I could have been stubborn and
continued to interpret things the way I had imagined they should be,
or I could relax and let JKR's master plan become more apparent.  I
think some people are not as open to seeing what the text is telling
them because it's not what they want to see.

We know that Jo doesn't want things to be too conventional (like Harry
getting the main girl, Hermione), so it would still be her little
twist to have Ron and Hermione get together in the end, even if many
of us saw it coming.

By the way, I think the most conclusive evidence is when Jo told Katie
Couric that it would be R/Hr and not H/Hr as Katie believed (I
apologize if that has already been discussed to death here).  But by
all means, pursue the ship of your choice.  I personally like
Draco/Hermione, but I knew it would never happen in canon long before
Jo confirmed it.

Sorry, tangent there.  Anyway, JKR seems to love the fact that we're
all here pulling the text apart and analyzing it nine ways from
Sunday, so why should she make it easy for us and simply say "X is
going to happen" unless she has a motive for planting particular
information?  (side note to that: she broadcast it widely that someone
was going to die in OotP, so that every time one of the important
characters was in a life-threatening situation we were thinking, "Is
it him?  Is it her?" and she put a lot them in peril at one point or
another.  Without her manipulating us, we might not have been too
worried.)

I think my point is getting muddied in my enthusiasm to discuss
everything at once, but I agree with you that "proof" is in the eye of
the beholder.

Ciao!