J.K. Rowling's Biggest Regrets About Harry Potter

Harry Potter scribe JK Rowling has created a wizarding world that has sparked the imaginations of millions across the globe. And while her accomplishments have made her a very rich and powerful person, that doesn't mean she lives entirely without regret.

To many fans, the decision to pair Ron Weasley with Hermione Granger was a strange one. Ron, the goofy sidekick, had almost nothing in common with Hermione, whereas Harry always recognized her status as the secret MVP of the story’s central trio. Sure, Ron had a few moments of bravery, and there was that tenuous connection with her being a muggle and his dad having a fascination with the non-wizarding world, but please. Even Rowling knows that Hermione and Harry were the real endgame of the series. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Rowling admitted:

"I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment. That's how it was conceived, really. For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it, Hermione ended up with Ron. [...] It was a choice I made for very personal reasons, not for reasons of credibility."

Of course, it’s possible that the personal reason she's alluding to here is the fact that Ron Weasley was based on a close childhood friend of hers, while Hermione was based in part upon herself.

In 2007, J.K. Rowling revealed that Albus Dumbledore was meant to be a gay character, even if it wasn't completely spelled out in her books. During a reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, she answered a fan question as to whether Dumbledore had ever fallen in love, saying:

While the news was received warmly by the crowd, she expressed some regret that she hadn't been more clear about that before,

The matter would become a point of contention later on, however, when Dumbledore's sexuality was again left ambiguous in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. LGBTQ advocates were dismayed when director David Yates revealed that the film would "not explicitly" address his homosexuality. Although Rowling still openly defended her decision to make Dumbledore gay, she chose to ignore those who criticized the film's lack of attention to that detail. For the third instalment in the franchise, Yates has maintained that they will make Dumbledore's romantic history with Grindelwald a little more obvious.

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Harry and Hermione | 0:13
Dumbledore’s sexuality | 1:12
Diversity missteps | 2:09
Fred’s death | 3:31
Lupin’s death | 3:56
Snape's controversial end | 4:50
Here lies Dobby | 5:51
Mispronunciations | 6:42
Bulldogs | 7:37
Fan theories | 8:23
The ending that got away | 9:14