Although named after one specific character, Harry Potter is a series that predominantly follows the exploits of three major figures: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. While super fans may argue that Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape are both important figures in the context of the overall narrative- and they wouldn’t exactly be wrong- Ron and Hermione are the only two characters alongside Harry to develop over the course of each book while also playing a crucial role in the plot. Without Ron or Hermione, Harry wouldn’t have made it out of the first book alive. As a result, they’re two of the most interesting characters in the series, arguably more than Harry.
Hermione herself is quite the interesting character. The only girl in the golden trio, she has a natural chemistry with both Harry and Ron. While her relationship with the former is more familial, her bond with Ron is inherently romantic. At the same time, Hermione is never bogged down by her dynamics with her male cohorts. She’s very much her own character and is capable of distancing herself from both of the boys when it comes time for her to properly develop. She’s weird, she’s fun, and she’s beyond fascinating. She’s Hermione Granger.
24 Hermione Is Older Than Harry And Ron
Logic dictates that not every person born in the same year will be the exact same age. This is just common sense, not even JK Rowling can finagle the rules of age. That said, we kind of take for granted this fact in fiction. Hermione, Harry, and Ron are all in the same year so they must be the same age. Doesn’t mean someone isn’t older, though.
Someone DID have to be the oldest.
Where Harry and Ron were both born in 1980, Hermione was actually born in 1979. Of the golden trio, she’s the oldest of the bunch. Granted, it’s only by a few months and it isn’t as if the story ever places focus on it, but it’s an interesting detail worth making note of. Both Ron and Ginny end up with older partners.
23 Hermione Is The Only Muggleborn Protagonist
This is one of those details that’s simply hiding in plain sight. Nothing in the story shines light away from it, but nothing particularly places emphasis on the fact that Hermione is our only Muggleborn lead. Between Harry, Ron, Neville, and the other main adults, Hermione is the only one to come from Muggleborn parents.
This is actually quite important narratively as it gives Harry an immediate bond with Hermione. Despite being Pureblood, Harry was raised as a Muggle. He and Hermione can relate to one another’s upbringings (from a Muggle perspective.) Of all of Harry’s friends, Hermione is the only one who can understand what Harry’s life was like before Hogwarts. Logistically, of course.
22 Hermione’s Major Arc Was Cut From The Films
In the books, Hermione’s character undergoes a major shift during the build up to the Triwizard Tournament. Wanting to correct how the world views House Elves, she starts SPEW, an organization dedicated to promoting Elvish welfare and raising awareness to their very casual enslavement.
Master, Dobby has no freedom.
In the movies, however, said plotline is cut out entirely, leaving Hermione without a character arc. It’s worth mentioning that SPEW plays a role in her growth for the entire series, meaning she naturally misses out on some very important character beats. As a result, she ends up taking a good chunk of Ron’s in the films, which is a problem in and of itself.
21 Viktor Krum Was Used To Help Fans Pronounce Hermione’s Name
For the first three books, there was no direction confirmation on how to actually pronounce Hermione’s name. Unless you were JK Rowling or familiar with the works of Shakespeare to some extent, there’s a good chance you would have read her name as “Hermy-own,” so long as you were young at least.
Recognizing this issue, JK Rowling decided to use Viktor Krum, Hermione’s Yule Ball date in the fourth book, as a means of correcting the situation. Constantly mispronouncing her name, Hermione would be forced to say her name phonetically in-text, saving her pronunciation in the process.
20 Hermione Pursues Magical Law After Hogwarts
In a conversation with Rufus Scrimgeour near the end of the series, Hermione mentions offhand how she has no desire to pursue magical law as a career. She says this in a rather heated moment as Scrimgeour had been more or less antagonizing her gaggle of friends and we immediately forget she ever said such a thing.
Flashforward to her actual career, and you’ll notice that Hermione actually did end up pursuing magical law, albeit briefly. For a time, Hermione served as the Deputy Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement for a set few years. It didn’t end up her main career, however, as she transitioned into a far more interesting job.
19 Hermione Becomes The Minister Of Magic
If there’s one character who would realistically end up Minister of Magic, it would be none other than Hermione Granger. Easily the most intelligent and most ambitious of the golden trio, it was really only a matter of time before Hermione eventually found her career niche and carved herself a role of real power. Unfortunately, Hermione’s role as Minister of Magic is precisely featured in the Play Who Shall Not Be Named meaning that very little is actually done with her in the role. A shame as it’s quite the fitting position for her.
18 The Sorting Hat Was Going To Put Hermione Into Ravenclaw
The Sorting Hat is quite the interesting entity. While it does place students into Houses based off their personalities, it also takes feedback. Harry genuinely was going to be put into Slytherin, but he fought hard against it, solidifying himself as a Gryffindor. It’s only mentioned in passing, but the same happened with Hermione. Originally, the Sorting Hat was going to be put her in Ravenclaw, but she fought against it and asked to be put in Gryffindor. It’s funny how all three major characters represent different Houses.
17 Hermione’s Patronus Is An Otter
Not every wizard has a Patronus and not every wizard who has a Patronus has one that actually plays a vital role in the plot. Harry’s Patronus is quite narratively important, but Hermione never gets much of a chance to show hers off. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a Patronus, though. In fact, Hermione’s Patronus is an otter.
Like author, like character.
A rather gentle animal, the otter represents Hermione’s more docile nature. It’s also worth noting that Hermione is something of a stand in for JK Rowling and otters are her favorite animals. That alone is worth making note of. What is effectively Hermione’s spirit animal represents a major aspect of Rowling’s tastes.
16 Hermione And Harry’s Subtextual Relationship In Deathly Hallows
In one of JK Rowling’s stranger out of series excerpts, she mentioned that “something” very well may have happened between Harry and Hermione during the last book. While this reads as just another of her recent string of retcons, the text does support this idea to some extent. There is an undeniable fire between Harry and Hermione by the end.
They’re alone together for quite a long time, separated from the entire world. Harry and Hermione only have each other during this portion of the series. We also know through text itself that there is some element of physicality, even if just base level. Considering Rowling’s comments, “something” may have indeed happened.
15 Hermione Becomes The Defence Against The Dark Arts Professor In An Alternate Timeline
The Cursed Child’s time travel plot seems interesting at first glance since it allows the play itself to tackle several alternate continuity scenarios head on, but it also creates a very strange problem where the Time Turner is no longer stabilized by a concrete loop and instead alters the fabric of time entirely.
One such created timeline has Hermione actually becoming the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Considering the fate of most Dark Arts professors in the series, it’s unlikely the position would do Hermione much good in this continuity. It’s also just strange that this is a possible endpoint for her. Hogwarts professor, yes. Dark Arts professor? Dubious.
14 Hermione Kept Her Maiden Name
Taking into account how well Hermione does for herself career wise, it’s really only fitting that she keep her maiden name after marrying Ron. You could argue that it might just be wizard custom not to take a spouse’s name, but Lily Potter flies in the face of that notion. Hermione outright rejected the Weasley name. And why shouldn’t she? She’s a magical lawyer and the Minister of Magic. She built the Granger name up as far as the wizarding world is concerned and it deserves its time in the limelight.
13 Hermione Knows What A “Mudblood” Is In The Films
In the books, Draco calling Hermione a “Mudblood” is a big deal not only because it introduces the term to the audience, but because it introduces the term to Hermione. This is a character who, after excitedly embracing her wizarding heritage, is told that she is lesser against her knowledge. She is a “Mudblood.”
Who called Hermione a Mudblood before she got to Hogwarts?
The reveal of what it means is equally massive and it’s important Hermione not immediately recognize the term. Unfortunately, the films actually feature Hermione knowing the term beforehand, losing quite a bit of the nuance of her not knowing what a Mudblood is. One has to wonder how Hermione in the films came upon the term.
12 Hermione’s Boggart
Hermione’s not exactly one to wear her insecurities on her sleeve, but she isn’t particularly well guarded either. She has her fears just like anyone else and her Boggart shows Hermione’s psyche quite well. While most characters have traumatic Boggarts, Hermione’s is simply Professor Mcgonagall informing her that she’s failed. Although silly on a surface level, it does demonstrate how much Hermione values the opinions of her professors, especially in regards to her performance and who she is as a person.
11 Hermione Has A Wizard Ancestor Despite Being Muggleborn
Hector Dagworth-Granger is an interesting figure in the books, especially since he’s very much a figure and not a character. Hector Dagworth-Granger not only never appears, he’s only mentioned once and in passing. So why does he matter? Because he links Hermione to a wizard ancestor.
We all come from wizarding stock.
As all Muggleborns are descended from Squibs, and traditional analysis dictates we take in-text evidence at face value, we can immediately connect Hermione to Hector Dagworth-Granger. Somewhere down Hector’s line, one of his descendants lost the ability to use magic and became a proper Muggle, leading to Hermione.
10 Hermione And Crookshanks Never Reunite
Given the circumstances surrounding the final book, Hermione ends up needing to separate herself from Crookshanks as she goes into refuge with both Harry and Ron. Crookshanks is left behind and we never get any mention on their status again. Which is quite telling. For a series that focuses quite a bit on little details, we cannot ignore the fact that Crookshanks never gets any resolution. The only logical conclusion is that Hermione never reunited with her schooltime pet. It makes sense when you consider what happened to Hedwig. The series’ finale is ultimately about the loss of innocence.
9 Hermione And The Mirror Of Erised
Between the Boggart and the Mirror of Erised, JK Rowling has created two of the most interesting ways to analyze a character’s psyche in all of fiction. Where the former shows one’s most deepest fears, manifesting them in physical form, the latter reflects the desires of the person who peeks inside the mirror. Through secondary information, we know that Hermione’s two Mirror of Erised reflections are: her with Harry and Ron, likely during the final book; and her embracing with “someone special.” While the “someone special” is suspiciously unnamed, we can assume that this someone is Ron considering her series long crush on him.
8 Hermione’s Name Is Taken From The Winter’s Tale
Hermione in The Winter’s Tale is an inherently maternal figure. She is the traditional mother figure who embodies a certain goodness ripe for matriarchal analysis. She suffers quite a bit, as expected for a woman in a Shakespeare play, but it only makes her a more compelling and dynamic character. Although Rowling’s Hermione may not fulfill these said thematic qualities as the Shakespearean Hermione, The Winter’s Tale did serve as Hermione’s namesake. If nothing else, our Hermione is certainly the most protective and responsible of the bunch.
7 Why JK Rowling Named Hermione “Hermione”
Although The Winter’s Tale certainly serves as the main inspiration for Hermione’s naming, it’s not exactly “why” JK Rowling named the character such. When it comes down to it, very few children reading the series would actually have been named “Hermione.” As a result, Rowling could effectively bully the character and have other characters mock her for being a know-it-all without anyone feeling too bad about themselves. Which is strange as Hermione has arguably the most redeeming qualities of the main three.
6 Hermione’s Buck Teeth
Hermione’s buck teeth are arguably her most defining physical feature in the books. While her frizzy hair is mentioned quite a bit, it’s her teeth that she resents and her teeth that she actually manages to fix. After Draco places a spell on her to elongate her teeth, Hermione gets them shrunk back down, but games the system so that they’re not nearly as big as they once were. It’s an interesting resolution to her buck teeth as it genuinely was one of the more interesting facets of her character’s design. Naturally, Emma Watson lacks them from the get-go.
5 Hermione’s Middle Name: Jane Or Jean?
In an early interview for the series, JK Rowling revealed that Hermione’s middle name was Jane. As the series continued, however, Dumbledore’s will referred to Hermione as “Hermione Jean Granger,” essentially retconning the Jane out of the series. This in itself raises a question, though: was Jane actually her middle name?
Hermione Jaene Ganger.
Since the middle name was revealed in an interview and not in the text itself, it inherently presents itself as a lesser piece of canon. Rowling’s interview, while important as she is the author, cannot actually inform the text as a primary source. If nothing else, the books get priority over interviews, meaning that Jane could only be canon IF nothing contradicted it.
4 Hermione Originally Had A Muggle Sister
In the original drafts of the first book, Rowling had actually written in a Muggle sister for Hermione. While this character wouldn’t have any importance on the plot, her presence would have established rather early on that blood relatives, especially siblings, wouldn’t necessarily both inherit magic. Of course, her lack of narrative importance is very likely the reason she was cut. The Weasleys were already a large family out of the gate and expanding the Granger family would just muddy up the main cast while shining a very suspicious lack of focus on Hermione’s home life.
3 Hermione Practiced Underage Magic
Practicing and performing underage magic is one of the worst actions you can commit in the Wizarding World. This is an issue that gets Harry nearly expelled more than once over the course of the series. Interestingly, Hermione mentions in her first appearance that she’s practiced magic herself. Considering her extensive knowledge of Hogwarts (A History,) it seems unlikely that she wouldn’t know that this was a faux pas. It’s entirely likely Rowling just hadn’t concotted this detail yet so we should take this moment in stride.
2 Hermione And “Ronald”
One of Hermione’s most prominent ticks in the books is her use of “Ronald,” a name she directs at Ron any time he does or says something he perhaps shouldn’t. This is a minor vernacular thread that comes up quite often throughout the series, mainly as a joke. While later books do tend to drop them less often- which makes sense given how serious the last three entries are- the early series makes some solid, comical use of Hermione’s consistent distress at Ron’s antics.
1 JK Rowling’s Mixed Signals Regarding Hermione And Ron
Between their depictions in The Cursed Child and JK Rowling’s strange comments regarding Ron, it’s hard not to perceive Hermione and Ron’s relationship with anything but mixed signals. While they seemed like a natural fit in the books, Rowling continuously portrays them as a bit dysfunctional.
According to Rowling herself, the two have a rather strained relationship and argue quite often. She reconciles this statement by assuring fans that the two wouldn’t have it any other way, but that in itself is still the sign of a profoundly unhealthy dynamic. The two are certainly happy, but are they the happiest they can be?
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