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| pipedreamer |
 Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 1:54 pm |
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Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 44
Location: Newcastle, UK
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I am personally convinced that our dear Hermione isn't going to survive the HP series. And before I get flamed/yelled at, allow me to set out my reasons as to why.
It started with a kind of nagging doubt about what we really know about her. Granted, as the only time we see Hermione is from Harry's point of view, we can only draw so many conclusions. However, we can draw some of our own from what we see her doing and the way she acts.
And so, we come to the reasoning.
1. She's not entirely useless at the whole action thing, but let's face it, she's she brains. The great thing about Hermione is that for all her intelligence, she's not Wonderwoman. She's not great at life-or-death duelling. She avoids being killed in book 6 because she's taken Felix Felicis. She's only saved at the Department of Mysteries because Harry casts a Silencio before Dolohov casts the curse that knocks her out. If there's some form of "Final Battle" scene where both Harry and Ron are occupied elsewhere, I'm not sure Hermione will cope on her own.
2. How much do we actually know about her? Lets compare what we know about her, and what we know about Ron.
- Parents: Ron: Arthur and Molly Weasley, obviously.
Hermione: ???? We only know they're Muggles.
- Home: Ron: Ottery St. Catchpole, nr. Stoatshead Hill. Harry has been there regularly.
Hermione: ???? We don't even know which town, mythical or otherwise, she lives in. Harry has never been, never met the parents, nothing.
-History: Ron: Throughout the book, we gain snippets of family life when all the kids were younger. Remember Ron brooding over the hole in his tongue that Fred's Acid Pop gave him? The time Ron nearly got himself into an Unbreakable Vow? The list goes on.
Hermione: ???? She never talks about things like that; when she first started exhibiting magical powers, what her Muggle parents reactions were, what they think of having a witch for a daughter, and perhaps most importantly, what they think of Hermione being in all these dangerous situations because her best friend is top of Voldemort's hit-list. Do they even know? My guess is they don't.
-Platform nine and three quarters: Ron: Arthur and Molly come say goodbye each year. The parents escort their kids (and Harry) to the platform every single year.
Hermione: ???? Where are her parents? Why aren't they on the platform in books 1-4? How does she get there, and does she go on her own?
(I realise none of these questions may make interesting reading, but don't you think it's wierd that we actually know very little about Hermione in comparison with Ron?)
3. We obviously know what Harry's thinking all the time. Ron wears his heart on his sleeve, bless him, and so most of the time we can take a good, accurate guess as to what's on his mind. We don't often, however, get into Hermione's. I'm talking through good solid canon evidence here.
-We know she's an overachiever, intelligent, and unconcerned for the most part about what she looks like.
-She's loyal, and not afraid to speak out with the unpopular viewpoint if she believe's it's right.
-She preaches caution over action. She reminds me a little of Lupin in that way.
-She places implacable trust in the Order and Dumbledore.
All this tells us who she is, but we don't really ever get into her inner though processes like we do with Ron and Harry. She doesn't let her emotions run wild, she often doesn't show what she's thinking, only that she is in fact thinking (if you see what I mean). We don't know a hell of a lot about canon-Hermione, in my view. And there's a reason for this:
1. Obviously, as Harry and Ron spend more time together than Harry and Hermione, we learn more about Ron.
2. Harry is safer at the Weasley's because he is surrounded by wizards and witches. But that doesn't mean he could never visit Hermione's home. Why doesn't he? Even for a day?
3. The most important------she's destined to fall in book 7. Hermione is a central character, there's no doubt about it. She comes up with some wonderful one-liners and she obviously cares for Harry as a friend very deeply. She'll follow him even if it's dangerous, and even if she believes he's wrong. Could it be that the non-information about Hermione is deliberate, so that when she dies, we don't "feel it" as much?
Compare, if you will, the reaction you'd have to Hermione dying, and Ron dying. These are my gut reactions when I though about it. Most people would grieve more over Ron, am I right? Because Ron's brilliant, funny, and Harry's best mate. He's...well...Ron!
As for Hermione...she's a great character! Rowling can't kill such a great character!
So Ron is a great person, and Hermione's a great character. Can you spot the difference? Like I said, there were my gut reactions. I don't expect everyone to agree.
So there you have it. I personally believe Hermione kicks it in book 7. She's been made into a background central character. We know her, like her, find her annoying, exasperating and funny; but we have little canon info on her. This means her death won't hit the readers, or indeed Harry, as hard as Ron's, for example. Ron's death would, in my opinion, destroy Harry. Hermione's would devastate him but I suspect he'd be able to carry on. It's not to his detriment; he's simply that much closer to Ron.
So there you go. I hope the evidence I have presented is suitably compelling. I might be totally wrong, of course. Completely and totally off the mark. *Shrug* It's been known to happen to me...
But I'm still convinced. |
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"Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
~Terry Pratchett~ |
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| anna_kat |
| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:22 pm |
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Joined: 01 Jan 2005
Posts: 33
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pipedreamer wrote: Parents: Ron: Arthur and Molly Weasley, obviously. Hermione: ???? We only know they're Muggles.
Quote: Hermione: ???? She never talks about things like that; when she first started exhibiting magical powers, what her Muggle parents reactions were, what they think of having a witch for a daughter, and perhaps most importantly, what they think of Hermione being in all these dangerous situations because her best friend is top of Voldemort's hit-list. Do they even know? My guess is they don't.
Quote: don't you think it's wierd that we actually know very little about Hermione in comparison with Ron?)
Quote: We obviously know what Harry's thinking all the time. Ron wears his heart on his sleeve, bless him, and so most of the time we can take a good, accurate guess as to what's on his mind.We don't often, however, get into Hermione's.
Quote: All this tells us who she is, but we don't really ever get into her inner though processes like we do with Ron and Harry.
Quote: Harry is safer at the Weasley's because he is surrounded by wizards and witches. But that doesn't mean he could never visit Hermione's home. Why doesn't he? Even for a day?
Quote: Most people would grieve more over Ron, am I right?
Quote: Because Ron's brilliant, funny, and Harry's best mate. He's...well...Ron!
Quote: Ron's death would, in my opinion, destroy Harry. Hermione's would devastate him but I suspect he'd be able to carry on. It's not to his detriment; he's simply that much closer to Ron.
Will Hermione die? I doubt it. |
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| Madam Hermione Snape |
| Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 5:35 pm |
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Joined: 10 Aug 2006
Posts: 1
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I don't think Hermione will kick the bucket in Book 7, she's an integral part as one of the more interesting characters. Sure, we don't know as much about her as other characters, but that doesn't stop us from imagining and I was watching a cast interview on GoF DVD w/ her, Dan, and Rupert. Most q's were directed at her or Dan. Rupert kinda just sat there and said as little as he could, nothing against him personally. But I prefer Harry and Hermione as characters to live and if Ron dies in Book 7, it won't be too big a loss. There's plenty more Weasleys where he came from   !!! However, I like reading fanfiction stories about most of the characters from the HP books. One exception I will not read is any story to do with Ron and any other character in a romance or anything. Because Ron doesn't appeal to me that way. I'd rather read about Draco, Harry, Snape(of course) or even Lucius(sometimes). I'm not beating Ron down, I'm just saying that possibly more people like Hermione than him. |
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| pigwig |
| Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 1:41 am |
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Joined: 23 Feb 2006
Posts: 74
Location: Potions Dungeon
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I think people are more worried that Ron will be killed, actually. I think most people feel that while Hermione might not be brilliant at dueling, she's smart enough to take care of herself. Also, I agree with most of the reasons presented why we don't know a lot about Hermione. Her life is utterly normal, and uninteresting from Harry's POV. 
Rowling has hinted that she may kill 2 characters in 7, not including the possibility of killing Harry.
I think these two characters are likely to be Ron and Snape, and here's my reasons.
Hermione has to live to help Harry work out the rest of the Horcruxes and Ron's death would put Harry in a very vengeful state of mind.
Severus will redeem himself in the end, but he'll die in the process.
As to Harry getting killed, I think Rowling's joking about it to put us off track. 07/07/07 needs to get here faster![/i] |
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Harry Potter's Library @ K-State University
http://www.k-state.edu/english/nelp/rowling/s2006.html
Accused: Severus Snape Crime: Continued service to Lord Voldemort Verdict: Innocent in a 14-11 vote. Speaker for the Defense: Me! |
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| ELX |
| Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:46 am |
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Joined: 21 Aug 2006
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I also disagree that the punters would grieve more for Ron than Hermione. Ron can be thoughtless and stupid even though he's not unintelligent by any stretch.
I suspect we know more about Ron's life than Hermione's, not because Harry thinks hers is normal--to him it wouldn't be, look at the Dursley's--but because to US it would be normal. We, the reader, want to see the wizarding world and all its eccentricities. While the book is from Harry’s pov it’s still aimed at us.
We do see glimpses of the Grangers here and there, but they are not part of the wizarding world, which is why I think we don't know as much about them. Remember, Harry spends time at the Weasley's and what we get is largely what he sees. We don't know as much about the Weasley's that we don't see, either (Charlie comes to mind here).
Hermione can be a bit of a caricature at times and that does her no favours. Perhaps in spending so much time and energy on the plot, the flaw in JK's writing is in some of the characterisations. That would be a matter of opinion, obviously. It was interesting, for example, that JK didn't realise she had never said what Ron's eye colour is. That is hardly concrete evidence of anything, but it does say something.
One other thing, JK has stated that her views are often given through Hermione. If there is a reason why she needs to live this would be it. Hermione will have sage words of wisdom--those of the author herself--to make sense of the mess at the end.
As to who will die? I'm guessing many will. The Weasley's will not remain intact, I'm sure, and most likely not Snape. As to whom else; well, we can spend the next eleven months guessing. |
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| Mathstarlette |
| Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 11:30 pm |
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Joined: 03 Mar 2006
Posts: 33
Location: out of my mind, leave a message at the beep
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There are some ideas about who will die in the last book, and most of them are pointed at Ron, while almost none are aimed at Hermione. I think it's pretty safe to say that Hermione is most likely good at planning and would be able to handle herself.
Ron on the other hand.... |
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| Overhill |
| Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 3:58 am |
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Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 263
Location: Central Oregon, near a wyer, but the dragons are downstairs....
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| I think it was a Mugglenet where there is an essay about how Hermione is due to get her "comeupance". She's been breaking rules left and right, and getting pretty tyrantical, as in she was furious about the possibility of Ron drinking the "good luck" potion, but she was the one who did the befuddlement charm on Cormac. That she didn't turn in Rita, but she ordered Harry to turn in the HBP potions book. And other examples. I don't know if she's due a death sentence, though. |
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What else is there in the Forbidden Forest? http://chaos.sycophanthex.com/viewstory.php?sid=2111
The Goblin King (Jareth) pays a visit at St. Mungo's, much to Goodfellow's dismay: http://chaos.sycophanthex.com/viewstory.php?sid=2287 |
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| M |
| Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 8:56 pm |
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Joined: 21 Apr 2007
Posts: 11
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| I remember reading that essay, I think this is it. |
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| Overhill |
| Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 9:39 pm |
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Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 263
Location: Central Oregon, near a wyer, but the dragons are downstairs....
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