In a very important piece of non-Super Bowl related news, J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, recently admitted that she made a mistake in pairing Hermione Granger with Ron Weasley rather than Harry. That was always my view as well. It seemed implausible that the highly intellectual and perfectionistic Hermione would fall for the utterly unintellectual (though not unintelligent) and seriously immature Ron. Harry was also far more accomplished and successful than Ron, which should make a difference to the ambitious Hermione. And if that were not enough, it’s hard to understand why Hermione would ever forgive some of Ron’s behavior in Book 7. It’s arguable that Harry was not the best possible choice for Hermione either. But surely she could have found someone at Hogwarts who was more suitable than Ron. If not, she could always have waited to find a spouse until after high school!
That said, I think this was only a minor flaw in a great series. The story was about a lot more than this potential love triangle.
Economist Eric Crampton has some additional thoughts here.
