Don't let me die here... There must be something more!
Debunking Harry Potter rumours. I know I've said most of this already on this blog before, but no one reads this so I doubt anyone will notice.
Myth: Rowling said she regretted pairing Ron and Hermione, and admitted that Harry and Hermione would have made more sense.
Truth: Rowling said that Harry and Hermione are in some ways a better fit than Ron and Hermione, but also pointed out that there are many ways in which Ron and Hermione make a good couple too (e.g. he's funny and therefore a good contrast to Hermione's more serious personality). She said she imagined that Ron and Hermione would need some marriage counselling at first, but that they would be alright in the end.
Myth: Rowling called Harry/Hermione shippers delusional.
Truth: The interviewer (from Harry Potter fansite Mugglenet) called them delusional, and Rowling's response was to laugh and say "Well, no, I wouldn't say that!" before steering the conversation towards more neutral ground.
Myth: Rowling based Gilderoy Lockhart on her ex-husband.
Truth: Rowling did confirm that she based Lockhart on someone she knew in real life who was "an enormous blowhard", but refused to say specifically who it was - not for fear of being sued, but because she didn't want to give him anything else to brag about.
Myth: Rowling confirmed that the snake Harry freed in the zoo in the first book was Nagini.
Truth: This is from an invented quote that can be found floating around the internet. Rowling never said anything like it, and in fact it's easy to prove false. The snake Harry frees in the zoo is a boa constrictor in the books and a python in the movies. Neither species is venomous or has fangs. Nagini is and does.
Myth: The title of the first book was changed from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in America because the publishers thought Americans wouldn't know what a philosopher was.
Truth: The myth of the Philosopher's Stone wasn't that well-known in America at the time, and the publishers thought American kids wouldn't want to read a book with the word "philosopher" in the title, since they thought it would conjure up images of boring old men for them.
Myth: Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book on napkins.
Truth: She did write it in a café, but she wrote it the normal way. She may have jotted some notes down on a napkin, but she certainly didn't write the whole thing on napkins. When she heard that rumour, she laughed and said that next they'll be saying she wrote it on teabags.
Myth: Rowling admitted she may have subconsciously taken the name Harry Potter from the Troll movies.
Truth: Rowling always wanted her main character to have a very "ordinary" name, to contrast with his magical nature and the magical nature of the world around him. She took "Potter" from the surname of a family she knew when she was little, and "Harry" simply because she has always loved that name.
Myth: Rowling said she regretted pairing Ron and Hermione, and admitted that Harry and Hermione would have made more sense.
Truth: Rowling said that Harry and Hermione are in some ways a better fit than Ron and Hermione, but also pointed out that there are many ways in which Ron and Hermione make a good couple too (e.g. he's funny and therefore a good contrast to Hermione's more serious personality). She said she imagined that Ron and Hermione would need some marriage counselling at first, but that they would be alright in the end.
Myth: Rowling called Harry/Hermione shippers delusional.
Truth: The interviewer (from Harry Potter fansite Mugglenet) called them delusional, and Rowling's response was to laugh and say "Well, no, I wouldn't say that!" before steering the conversation towards more neutral ground.
Myth: Rowling based Gilderoy Lockhart on her ex-husband.
Truth: Rowling did confirm that she based Lockhart on someone she knew in real life who was "an enormous blowhard", but refused to say specifically who it was - not for fear of being sued, but because she didn't want to give him anything else to brag about.
Myth: Rowling confirmed that the snake Harry freed in the zoo in the first book was Nagini.
Truth: This is from an invented quote that can be found floating around the internet. Rowling never said anything like it, and in fact it's easy to prove false. The snake Harry frees in the zoo is a boa constrictor in the books and a python in the movies. Neither species is venomous or has fangs. Nagini is and does.
Myth: The title of the first book was changed from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in America because the publishers thought Americans wouldn't know what a philosopher was.
Truth: The myth of the Philosopher's Stone wasn't that well-known in America at the time, and the publishers thought American kids wouldn't want to read a book with the word "philosopher" in the title, since they thought it would conjure up images of boring old men for them.
Myth: Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book on napkins.
Truth: She did write it in a café, but she wrote it the normal way. She may have jotted some notes down on a napkin, but she certainly didn't write the whole thing on napkins. When she heard that rumour, she laughed and said that next they'll be saying she wrote it on teabags.
Myth: Rowling admitted she may have subconsciously taken the name Harry Potter from the Troll movies.
Truth: Rowling always wanted her main character to have a very "ordinary" name, to contrast with his magical nature and the magical nature of the world around him. She took "Potter" from the surname of a family she knew when she was little, and "Harry" simply because she has always loved that name.
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