Clues for SHIPS

[antoshachekhonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 98693

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, squeakinby <squeakinby at t...> wrote:
> Jim Ferer wrote:
> 
> >
> > I've often said that the differences between Hermione and Harry
> > compliment each other - I used the words yin and yang.
> > 
> > Hermione, deliberate, thinking, deep; Harry, instinctive, acting,
> > emotional.  Harry needs someone who restrains him when he goes off the
> > deep end, which he is wont to do, and Hermione needs someone that
> > gives her more of a purpose and draws her away from bossiness. She
> > needs someone who needs what she's got.  They balance each other, or
> > so I always have thought.
> 
> You're right here.  So much of this speculation depends on what each 
> individual thinks is the appropriate or ideal way to choose a mate.  I 
> agree that Hermione acts as a balance but I would ask if one should be 
> doing that in an interior fashion (Harry balances himself) or if he 
> seeks this balance outside of himself (with Hermione).
> > 
> > To be honest, Harry's not going to be an easy mate for anybody.  He's
> > going to be seriously bent by the War, and anybody could respectably
> > argue he's going to be damaged goods not suitable for anyone.
> 
> I wouldn't say damaged goods.  People go thru war experiences yet manage 
> to stay emotionally intact--we could name quite a few political 
> individuals in America at the moment who seem to have gone thru fairly 
> horrendous experiences yet have gone on to long marriages, family and 
> service to the country.  I'm thinking John McCain at the moment.
> 
> And that's one reason why I vote for Ginny.  She has been touched 
> "intimately" by LV hence is the only other person who shares this unique 
> experience with Harry.  Yet she's definitely "the other".  Hermione for 
> me is detached involvement.  She loves him but as a friend, there's no 
> spark no frisson.
> 
> Of course there's currently no frisson with anyone now that, thankfully, 
> Cho is off the emotional canvas.
> 
> The outcome is what JKR instinctively believes makes a good pairing, as 
> personal a decision for her as for us.  Unless we wind up with Harry 
> Potter 10--The Travails of Divorce Court.  Daily Prophet headline 
> "Voldemort Defeater sued for child support!  He claims 'I have no gold!'"
> 
> Jem

This thread has made me think of something that may make no sense to anyone other 
than myself: what Harry needs is to turn the corner so that he actually pursues his desires. 
(Warning: TMI) When I was a young teen, it never occurred to me that any young woman 
might find me attractive. A few actually did--so they told me later--but I was oblivious. 
Harry seems to be stuck in the same mode. 

Two girls that we know have had crushes on him--Ginny and Cho--but while he was 
aware of Ginny's crush, he didn't know what to do with it. (In fairness, they were twelve 
and eleven at the time, so there wasn't much to do.) It strikes me that Harry will find SHIP 
when he finds the inner strength to see a girl, find her attractive, and actually act on his 
feelings.

Another thing that has come up this thread: the hero's journey. JKR *must* have read 
some Jung, Otto Rank, or Joseph Campbell (http://www.jcf.org/), because her books do in 
fact work out the hero journey cycle quite explicitly--both as individual volumes and as a 
series, so far. Now, in Campbell's hero journey scheme, which he set out in Hero with a 
THousand Faces, the hero heads out into the world of adventure and magic, goes through 
a series of trials, including being swallowed by and defeating the monster (eg LV) and the 
sacred marriage. THen he brings the boon that he has gained (and it can be a she, btw) 
back to the mundane world.

Say Harry loses some or all of his magical power in the final battle? (I'm embarrassed to 
say that I've written a fanfic in which this is a central issue.) Which of the likely candidates 
would follow Harry back were he to live, Mrs. Figg-like, in the muggle world? Pure-blood 
Ginny? At-least-half-blood Luna? Or muggle-born Hermione?

Having said that, another issue has come up that intrigues me: that the ship will involve 
Harry finding and integrating his anima. In the Jungian/Campbellian schema, the anima 
(for the woman it's the animus) represents all of those subconscious parts of yourself that 
you identify with the opposite sex. It is (in the male) the feminine ideal--what Freud would 
have called the mother figure that you subconsciously desire to marry. (I know, Freud 
gives me the willies too.)

In that view, which of the major candidates for Harry's true love make any sense? Let's see, 
what do we know about Lily? That she was spunky and independent (as seen in OotP 
"Snape' Worst Memory") and that she was extremely brave (as evidenced by the way that 
she protected Harry). Oh, and she's a redhead. Who does that sound like?

As I've said before, I'm open to any ship--or even Harry alone, still waiting for his OTP--so 
long as JKR doesn't pretend that a teen who feels as intensely as Harry does wouldn't be 
interested in romance at all....

Antosha, who himself has a bit of a thing for redheads.