Daniel Radcliffe had originally signed on for three films. After The Prisoner of Azkaban , he had the opportunity to renegotiate his contract and, therefore, possibly leave the franchise if he wished, without risking a lawsuit from the producers.
And that’s precisely what he wanted to do.
In an interview with the daily newspaper The Guardian , the actor confided that he feared being typecast in the role of Harry Potter if he continued to film other films in the series.
“After the third film, I told myself that if I wanted to give up the role, it was now or never. There was still time for the producers to find an actor to replace me and take over the role. At the time, my big worry was that I wouldn’t be able to play other roles afterwards.”
In the end, the producers were able to reassure Daniel Radcliffe, and certainly also adjust his remuneration to convince him that he was making the right choice…
Emma Watson also wanted to leave the franchise at the same time, but not for the same reasons. For the young actress, the problem was school-related. She absolutely wanted to concentrate on her studies and considered that filming films would prevent her from having a satisfactory education.
To keep her in the cast, the producers promised to arrange her schedule so that she could study as much as she wanted.
She was therefore able to carry out her studies and the filming of the saga at the same time. And today has a university degree.
Why didn’t Harry Potter become a couple with Hermione?
There are several reasons why Harry Potter and Hermione Granger did not become a couple in the Harry Potter saga. Starting with common sense. However, let’s try to elaborate further.
First of all, the real question here should have been, why didn’t Harry become a couple with Cho Chang? That would have made a lot more sense.
Indeed, the question of a potential relationship between Harry and Hermione does not arise for a single second in the books. This idea is entirely due to the movies. So some people who only knew Harry Potter through the films believed, rightly, that Harry should have ended up with Hermione. However, it actually makes little sense when you read the literary saga.
In fact, it is essential to clearly distinguish between the personality of these different characters, namely, their way of acting in the books, and the way in which they were transcribed on the screen. So, let’s not confuse the two supports.
What actually happened during the film adaptation?
The scriptwriter of the saga, a man named Steve Kloves, has said many times that his favorite character was Hermione Granger. Which is not at all difficult to believe when you watch the franchise.
It is rather easy to see that, consciously or not, this character was greatly praised during the adaptation. She was endowed with all the qualities there. Beautiful, intelligent, brave, independent, confident and strong in every way. Best friend and right-hand woman of the hero, saving everyone and never losing her cool.
Certainly, Hermione is a clearly amazing character in the books. Just like Harry and Ron. That goes without saying. However, this description remains far removed from the reality of the books.
All of this was done to the detriment of Ron and Ginny Weasley’s characters. Deliberately or not, it is obvious that these characters were both spoiled and demeaned by the film adaptation.
Indeed, we see that Ginny has become a very bland character, practically non-existent. Without any background, development or reply. Making her relationship with Harry something very awkward, seemingly out of nowhere.
It’s no wonder some still wonder how they ended up together.
As for Ron, he was shown as the jester of the trio at times. A somewhat simple and sometimes cowardly wizard, who could not act alone. An image far removed from reality. In fact, Steve Kloves didn’t even hesitate to go so far as to give the lines and sometimes the big moments of certain characters, particularly Ron, to Hermione.
Likewise, it is not surprising that some still wonder what the brilliant Hermione could have found in him.
That’s why, because of all that, some people “logically” didn’t like Ron, and had no use for Ginny. And above all, they didn’t understand the relationship that kept Harry and Ginny together. But who could have blamed them after what they saw during the adaptation?
They also didn’t understand Ron and Hermione’s relationship. Thus, aberrant couples such as Harry and Hermione were born. And much worse and even more aberrant, the couple Hermione and Draco were born.
Please understand that the Ron and Ginny that we have just depicted have absolutely nothing to do with the original work. These are excessively important and necessary to the plot.
Ginny is a funny, bright, beautiful, courageous and determined young girl, who is not afraid to use her voice. A bit like Hermione from the movies. As for Ron, he is a loyal friend. Courageous, intelligent, a fine strategist, honest and insightful, who knows how to judge people well and knows when to lighten the mood with a good joke. Yes, in the books we laughed with Ron and not at him.
It is important to understand that the trio cannot function, only because they are all on an equal footing and all bring something to the group.
So, we come to Harry’s loves.
Subconsciously, Harry needed two things to be fulfilled in a romantic relationship. Obviously, physical attraction is the essence of a non-platonic relationship, but also humor. Having had an unhappy childhood, and living with the Dursleys, Harry clearly needed to laugh.
To understand Harry’s relationship with Ginny, we must compare it with the two other female characters in his direct entourage, namely Hermione and Cho Chang.
Let’s start with Hermione. What was Hermione really like? And above all, how did Harry perceive Hermione?
The latter was very intelligent and caring, did not hesitate to help those she loved, even if it meant mothering them. She fought to defend the oppressed and what she thought. Sure, there’s no denying that Hermione was great, but she also had her flaws. She had weaknesses, she is human and that’s precisely what made her an identifiable character.
In the books, Hermione was very bossy and had a rather difficult character. Moreover, this is why she had great difficulty making friends. However, she will end up evolving through contact with Harry, and especially Ron.
The young witch had little self-confidence and often lost her temper in the face of adversity. His sense of humor was cruelly limited. Moreover, she never hesitated to frequently express her disapproval of Fred and George’s jokes, and often threatened to give them detention.
Therefore, it is precisely because of this lack of humor that the couple Harry and Hermione could not function.
Certainly, Hermione was the first real relationship Harry had with the opposite sex. He had an excellent friend since the age of eleven. Without a doubt, she gave him great moral support, excellent advice, her intelligence saved him on several occasions and she was unfailingly loyal.
Indeed, she swore with Ron to stay by his side during his quest to rid the world of Voldemort. It is through her that he will begin to approach women, and she will logically become a confidante for him. In short, it’s clear that Harry cared a lot about Hermione and needed her in his life.
However, it must be understood that Ron was Harry’s real best friend. Hermione was also his best friend, but this was different. Certainly, Harry adored Hermione, like a sister, but he did not have at all the same relationship as with Ron. Probably linked to the fact that Harry was more comfortable with boys than girls. It was with Ron that Harry liked to spend his free time, and he logically preferred playing Quidditch with Ron to studying in the library with Hermione.
Perfect example, in Goblet of Fire , when Harry gets into serious trouble with Ron. He will then be in really bad shape. She missed Ron terribly. Conversely, when they get angry with Hermione in Prisoner of Azkaban , we see that they miss her, but it’s much less obvious.
“You know it makes you sad not to talk to him anymore,” Hermione replied with an annoyed look. And I know that it makes him sad too… – It doesn’t make me sad at all! Harry said in a firm voice. It was an outright lie, of course. Harry really liked Hermione, but it wasn’t like with Ron. When we had Hermione as a best friend, we laughed a lot less and spent a lot more time in the library. » — Excerpt from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In truth, Harry definitely needed someone to stand up to him, and that person couldn’t be Hermione, because Hermione also needed to be stood up to as well. These people will therefore logically be Ron and Ginny.
A sort of polite silence had settled between the two friends over time. Sure, they were like brother and sister, but Harry had more difficulty communicating with Hermione than with Ron. We saw this very well in Deathly Hallows , when Ron left them on a whim. Harry and Hermione then had great difficulty communicating. As if time had frozen. They both realized that without Ron, they were nothing.
Harry tried to avoid conflict with her as much as possible, and let Ron lose his temper in his place, because unlike them, Harry associated arguments with something very negative. When Ron took Hermione’s side, Harry could become very curt, even if it meant making her cry, or simply ignore her. And it was obvious that Hermione liked the fact that Ron never ignored her when she spoke.
Besides his lack of humor, Harry felt no physical, and therefore sexual, attraction for Hermione.
Which logically leads us to his relationship with Cho Chang.
Cho was Harry’s very first romantic relationship. He thought he loved her, because she is beautiful and loved Quidditch like him. But, unfortunately, they were unable to communicate properly, because they never really got to know each other.
The image he had of her was skewed, because he idealized her. Which is normal, because he was still young. It’s not surprising to be disappointed in your first relationship. Harry will learn from his mistakes, and he will know what he doesn’t want afterward.
The problem was that Cho was sad all the time, constantly bringing him back to Cedric’s death and Harry certainly didn’t want that. He wanted to lead a normal life and especially did not want others to constantly bring him back to his misfortunes.
As said before, Harry was someone who needed humor in his life. He needed to laugh to forget his tragic fate. That’s why he loved being in the company of Ron, the twins, and finally, Ginny. This is also why he will give his reward, from the Triwizard Tournament to Fred and George.
So, this is why Harry doesn’t end up with Hermione and more broadly with Cho. Harry doesn’t feel any attraction towards Hermione, and although he really liked her, she didn’t make him laugh. As for Cho, Harry was clearly attracted to her, but it wasn’t the right time for them. If it hadn’t been for Cedric’s tragic death, Harry could have had a nice first relationship alongside Cho, but such is life.
Therefore, it is only natural that Harry will end up falling in love with Ginny. Her status will go from Ron’s little sister, bullied and having a crush on Harry, to very close friend, and finally girlfriend.
Harry is very attracted to Ginny because she is intelligent, beautiful and brave. They have quite similar characters . Which is not really the case for Harry and Hermione.
Besides the fact that they obviously shared the same unconditional love for Quidditch, Ginny and Harry both had the same very sarcastic sense of humor. They also had the same expectations from life and shared the same values.
Obviously, Ginny understood this perfectly, because she knew very well what it was like to suffer directly from Voldemort. She was also never afraid to stand up to him unlike Hermione. She will also be the only one to tell him her way of thinking in Order of the Phoenix , when Ron and Hermione no longer dared to speak to Harry, out of fear.
It’s clear that Harry needed to be with someone with a strong personality, capable of carrying the heavy responsibility of dating the chosen one. This person couldn’t be Hermione, because she herself needed to be with a strong personality. Let’s not forget that Harry was a broken man, and it’s no small thing to share your life with someone marked by so much trauma.
Additionally, growing up with the Dursleys, Harry had a lot of trouble dealing with other people’s emotions. So, he wasn’t attracted to overly emotional girls at all, because he wasn’t able to handle that kind of character. Hermione and Cho could often cry and Harry never knew how to react. This is also what will put an end to his relationship with Cho. While he will recognize one quality in Ginny, she was certainly sensitive, but she rarely cried.
“She didn’t have tears in her eyes. It was one of Ginny’s many wonderful qualities, she rarely cried. He often said to himself that having six brothers must have toughened him up. » — Excerpt from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
So, that’s why Hermione and Harry couldn’t end up together. They had a perfect and fulfilling relationship as friends, but it is clear that they would have destroyed each other and been very unhappy together.
It was fitting that Harry ended up with Ginny, as their personalities were perfectly attracted to each other. How consistent it was that Hermione ended up with Ron, because conversely, their personalities complemented each other.
Why does Harry Potter survive in volume 7?
Obviously, the end of the Harry Potter saga remains confusing for some readers. Indeed, it seems that they still wonder about the reasons which allowed young Harry to defeat Lord Voldemort during the final battle of Hogwarts.
Many believe that the main reason Harry survived was that he was in possession of all the Deathly Hallows during the final duel. Thus making him the Master of Death, therefore an immortal being.
However, this fact is completely inaccurate. In truth, Harry Potter manages to survive for three reasons.
Firstly, he survives in part thanks to Lord Voldemort’s monumental error in wanting to gain possession of the Elder Wand at all costs.
The latter possibly does not know the Tale of the Three Brothers , or at least does not care about it. Nevertheless, he firmly believes in the power of the Elder Wand. Wand being reputed to be the most powerful that has ever existed.
As a reminder, this tale tells the story of three brothers, who arrived at the edge of a river that was too deep and dangerous to cross. So they made a bridge appear. In the middle of the bridge, they encountered Death. The latter was angry that these wizards could cross without perishing, while other brave people had all died drowned in the waters of the river. She then imagined a Machiavellian plan to restore what seemed right to her and pretended to be happy that they had survived, and proved it by giving them each a gift.
Thus, Death created three relics for each of these three brothers.
Some sorcerers, believing in the legend, therefore concluded that the sorcerer who held all of these relics would logically become the master of death, since he would master all its aspects . Thus, he would logically become invincible and immortal.
Indeed, in the legend, it is possible to bring death with the wand, to hide from death thanks to the invisibility cloak, and finally, to bring the dead back to life thanks to the resurrection stone.
However, we understand, at the end of the saga, that this legend is just a legend. The reality is quite different.
The three Deathly Hallows were in truth created by the three Peverell brothers and their powers were very different in reality.
First of all, the cloak did not hide from death, but only made the wearer invisible. As for the stone, it did not bring the dead back to life, but simply brought them back in the form of ghosts for a short time. Ultimately, the Elder Wand remained the most powerful wand in the world, but it absolutely did not make one invincible. As proof, it was possible to defeat the person who possessed it with a simple disarming spell.
In fact, it is precisely at this last point that Lord Voldemort will make a serious error.
Consequently, the union of the three relics did not give any power. Above all, the latter in no way made the person who possessed them immortal or invincible. Besides, if we follow the story to the letter, Harry could logically have been immortal, because he had the invisibility cloak. So he could have hidden from death. However, this was not the case.
In fact, it must be understood that Harry did not become the master of death because he “possessed” the three hallows. He became one simply because he accepted death like an old friend. He will accept the fact that he is mortal.
Indeed, he was ready to die when he went to the Forbidden Forest to find Voldemort. At that moment, he understood death and its implications. He then completed his apprenticeship.
“What does it mean to be the master of death? — JK Rowling: As Dumbledore explains, the true master of death accepts that he will die one day, and that there are much worse things in life. This is not seeking immortality, it is accepting mortality. » – Cat by JK Rowling: the translation!— The Daily Prophet
Albus Dumbledore did not put Harry on the trail of the relics so that he could find them. Besides, Harry won’t actually look for them. Above all, the old man wanted to make him understand, via the Tale of the Three Brothers, that he should not try to conquer death, but that he should just accept it. Which Lord Voldemort was incapable of doing. Voldemort’s greatest fear was death, hence his perpetual quest to defeat it.
“Simply taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit…” “There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore,” Voldemort growled angrily. “You are completely wrong,” replied Dumbledore. » – Excerpt from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Albus Dumbledore wanted to make Harry understand that there were much worse than death for a Man, and above all, that Voldemort was going completely wrong in looking for the Elder Wand. Moreover, the director understood this very well, since he himself paid the costs of his quest for glory and omnipotence.
“ The true master does not seek to escape death. He accepts the fact that he must die and understands that there are things in the world of the living worse, much worse, than death” – Excerpt from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
So, when Harry learned that he was a Horcrux, thanks to Snape’s memories, he understood that he had to sacrifice himself to destroy it. Of course, he was afraid, but he was also resigned. At that moment, he understood, thanks to the Tale, that death was not an end in itself.
Dumbledore’s plan was very clever and clever. He knew Harry would be strong and brave enough to understand what was at stake. In truth, Albus Dumbledore never betrayed Harry. On the contrary, he made sure that the latter learned his destiny at the last moment, to be less afraid. Above all, he gave him the Resurrection Stone so that Harry would be surrounded by those he loved at the time of his death.
Let’s not forget that Harry Potter is a learning saga. So there is a morality. At the end of The Deathly Hallows , Harry has completed his apprenticeship.
Thus, Harry was not the literal master of death during the Battle of Hogwarts. He was the master of death, because he accepted death by sacrificing himself. A sacrifice which will be partly responsible for his survival. We will come back to this.
Second, he survives because Voldemort was not the true master of the Elder Wand.
As the wand merchant, Ollivander, said, the wand always chooses its wizard and not the other way around. In a sense, wands also had feelings and obeyed the wizards they chose.
Lord Voldemort eagerly searched for the Elder Wand, in vain. Then, he will learn that Dumbledore was its master since his victory against Gellert Grindelwald. So, he desecrated his grave to take possession of it. Unfortunately for him, she will not obey him. He logically believed that it was because he had not killed Dumbledore himself. Therefore, he decided to kill Severus Snape. Except that he was unaware that Snape was indeed the one who killed Dumbledore, following the latter’s plan, but that Draco Malfoy disarmed him before him. The wand therefore owed allegiance to Malfoy.
Once again, Voldemort made a mistake in thinking that only a powerful Killing Curse could change this wand’s allegiance.
As a result, when Harry in turn disarmed Draco in Malfoy Manor, the Elder Wand changed allegiance and Harry became its new master. Even though he did not physically possess the wand, it still owed allegiance to him and obeyed him .
Thus, in the Forbidden Forest, Harry having understood the moral of the Tale and accepted his fate, accepted death and deliberately surrendered to Voldemort.
So it wasn’t a real fight. Thus, he remained the master of the wand. The latter, not obeying Lord Voldemort, will not allow him to send a killing curse powerful enough to kill Harry, because she could not kill his true master.
The spell still remained strong enough to destroy the Horcrux inside Harry and send him to death’s door, in his imagination at King Cross station.
Eventually, Harry was able to return from the dead thanks to the magical protection , bound by blood, bestowed upon his mother’s sacrifice when he was a baby.
By recovering his body thanks to Harry’s blood, Lord Voldemort became a sort of Horcrux for Harry, since his blood now flowed through his veins. Thus, Voldemort preserved Lily’s magical spell, so Harry could not die by his hand.
” – Exactly ! Dumbledore exclaimed. He took your blood and used it to rebuild a living body! Your blood runs through his veins, Harry. Lily’s protection lies within both of you. He connects you to life as long as he himself is alive! » – Excerpt from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
So, paradoxically, while Harry had to die so that Voldemort could be killed, Harry also could not die as long as Voldemort lived. So they had a double bond. Harry could not die as long as Voldemort lived, because his blood flowed through his veins, and Voldemort could not die as long as Harry lived, because this money was one of his Horcruxes.
The main sentence of the prophecy then took on its full meaning, because they had both become sort of Horcruxes of each other.
“… And one must die by the hand of the other for neither of them can live as long as the other survives…” – Excerpt from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The moment the spell, which was supposed to kill Harry, hit him, the part of Voldemort’s soul in Harry’s body was finally destroyed, but did not kill him. The latter was therefore able to choose to come back from the dead.
Thus, during the final battle, all the Horcruxes being destroyed, Voldemort had logically become mortal again. Harry disarmed him and Voldemort’s killing curse backfired since he was not the true master of the wand.
All these factors saved Harry from death, but not only that. What saved him above all was his courage. He kept a cool head until the end, he was a true Gryffindor. He did not let himself be fooled by the Tale of the Three Brothers and did not seek omnipotence. He understood the quest he had to accomplish and completed it with maturity and great moral strength. He came out of it grown, because he understood that death was not the worst thing that could happen to a man.
Which Lord Voldemort unfortunately failed to understand. Ignorance led to his downfall.