[HPforGrownups] Re: Why did JKR not explore H/Hr as canon?

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 168683

On 13 May 2007 at 21:32, Janette wrote:

> montims:
> I think I agree with Neri, though I have no idea who Mary Sue or
> Gary Stu
> are, and I'm quite well read, so I would not be surprised if JKR was
> also
> equally ignorant, and therefore did not base her story on them,
> whether
> positively or negatively.

Shaun:

Well, just for the record, a 'Mary Sue' or a 'Gary Stu' character is a term - originally drawn 
from Star Trek fanfiction - that is used to refer to a character in a piece of fiction who is based 
(consciously or unconsciously) on the author of the piece of fiction. The term is often 
derogatory because many 'Mary Sues' are all powerful, nearly perfect, idealised views of the 
author who do great things ('Mary Sue saves the Enterprise again!'), but it doesn't have to be.

So when people say Hermione is JKR's Mary Sue, they are saying that Hermione is a 
character that represents many of JKRs own characteristics and views.

To get to the question on shipping, though, maybe the reason why JKR doesn't explore a 
H/Hr ship in canon is simply because the idea isn't one she wants to explore. Sometimes it 
seems to me that some people think all novels, all stories have to have relationships as a 
major part of the story. That simply isn't the case. There's nothing wrong with an author 
exploring particular relationships in their stories if that is part of what they want to write about, 
of course - but there's also nothing wrong with an author not regarding these as a major part 
of their work.

The Harry Potter novels are not romance novels. Romantic relationships are not at the core 
of the story - and, in fact, the overriding storyline doesn't require them at all. JKR has chosen 
to have some relationships shown in her novels, in some detail - but they are not the core of 
the story. The same basic story could easily have been told without any romantic 
relationships developing at all.

Some people - and this includes me - are frankly rather bored with romantic relationship 
fiction. Personally I would be entirely happy if JKR simply had no romances going on in her 
books - no Harry/Cho. No Harry/Ginny. No, Ron/Hermione. No nothing/nothing. I don't object 
to these things being in the books because they're in there at a level that I don't find invasive 
- but if these were books that were *primarily* about the romantic relationships between the 
characters, I, for one, wouldn't be reading them.

And maybe JKR wouldn't be writing them. She has a story she wanted to write. Apparently, 
because she has written some romance into them, part of the story she wanted to write does 
include some romance - but they include as much as she wants, as much as she needs to 
tell the story she wanted to tell. If she hasn't explored Harry/Hermione in canon, maybe it's as 
simple as she doesn't see it that way. Or that she doesn't like it that way.

Or maybe she does, but she sees that coming later in their life than now.

Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia