Analysis of JK Rowling

from Mugglenet's and The Leaky Cauldron's interview with her for the release of HBP

My comments are in green

MA: OK, big big big book six question. Is Snape evil?

JKR: [Almost laughing] Well, you've read the book, what do you think?

ES: She's trying to make you say it categorically.

MA: Well, there are conspiracy theorists, and there are people who will claim -

JKR: Cling to some desperate hope [laughter] -

I'm sorry, what was that?  Is it funny to cut down other people's well thought theories?  JKR, you don't need to cut down what other people think.

ES: Yes!

MA: Yes!

ES: Like certain shippers we know!

!!  Okay, that was Emerson.

[All laugh]

!!  Okay, all of them?  Well EXCUSE us for liking Harry and Hermione, or Luna and Ron *she stares at Ron so much!  It's great!*, or even Ginny and Draco.   hmmmpt

JKR: Well, okay, I'm obviously – Harry-Snape is now as personal, if not more so, than Harry-Voldemort. I can't answer that question because it's a spoiler, isn't it, whatever I say, and obviously, it has such a huge impact on what will happen when they meet again that I can't. And let's face it, it's going to launch 10,000 theories and I'm going to get a big kick out of reading them so [laughs] I'm evil but I just like the theories, I love the theories.
 

0_o  I thought she just said that she didn't approve of the theories.... called them "desperate."  And yeah, she IS evil (at least she knows it).  And apparently contradicts herself... Maybe she's a two minded alien!  Sweet!  No WONDER book 6 was so different from the rest of the series; the other part of her mind from outer space wrote it!  ahhh!!!

*******

JKR: I love Luna, I really love Luna.

Good!  Well them, have her get with Ron.  Do us ALL a favor.  In book 5, she kept on writing that Luna stared at Ron so much.  Well then, have them get together!  Heck, I wouldn't even mind Luna and Harry dating if it meant that Ginny wouldn't be with her "brother" type figure, Harry.  I've said it before, Ron and Hermione doesn't annoy me so much, but I rather have it H/Hr.  At least THEY respect each other...

*****

ES: Has the sorting hat ever been wrong?

JKR: No.

ES: Really?

JKR: Mm-mm. Do you have a theory?

?? Is she back to liking theories again?  I'm confuzzled...

ES: I have heard a lot of theories.

JKR: [laugh] I bet you have. No. [laugh] Sorry.

MA: R.A.B.

JKR: Ohhh, good.

[All laugh.]

LOL was there something funny I missed?  Must have been.  Is that really funny?  Hmmm....  O_o

JKR: No, I'm glad! Yes?

MA: Can we figure out who he is, from what we know so far?

[Note: JKR has adopted slightly evil look here]

Again?  hahahha

JKR: Do you have a theory?

Now she officially likes theories again.  Great.

MA: We've come up with Regulus Black.

JKR: Have you now?

MA: Uh-oh.

[Laughter.]

. . . . more laughter.  This is just getting weird.  My guess would be that there is laughing gas in the room.... *snort*

JKR: Well, I think that would be, um, a fine guess.

MA: And perhaps, being Sirius’s brother, he had another mirror –

JKR: [drums fingers on soda can]

MA: Does he have the other mirror, or Sirius’s mirror —

JKR: I have no comment at all on that mirror. That mirror is not on the table. [Laughter from all; Jo's is maniacal.]

!  Yup.  Definitely laughing gas.  And hey, why does she NEVER have a comment?  It's a little unnerving.  I mean, we ALL know that it's Sirius's brother that is R.A.B.

MA: Let the record note that she has drummed her fingers on her Coke can in a very Mr. Burns-like way.

[Laughter.]

. . .

JKR: Oh, I love Mr. Burns

I can actually see the resemblance.  haha

***

MA: How much fun did you have with the romance in this book?

JKR: Oh, loads. Doesn't it show?

She actually LIKED having Tonks go out with someone Snape's age?  ewww  No, it's okay.  They are cute together... But even to this day I'm at loss that Remus didn't like Sirius... I mean... uhhh... That would have been inappropriate, I guess.  And yet having Ginny kiss Harry (even though he felt like he was part of the family and that she was like a SISTER to him) wasn't inappropriate?  Kind of incest if you ask me.  Not to mention the fact that Ginny sort of reminds him of his mom.  That is wrong on ALL levels.  Talk about psychological problems.  He should have worked out his feelings of loss from his mom with a therapist, NOT by kissing.

MA: Yes.

JKR: There's a theory - this applies to detective novels, and then Harry, which is not really a detective novel, but it feels like one sometimes – that you should not have romantic intrigue in a detective book. Sorry, just a quick interruption.  Ummm... Wasn't that about the WHOLE book?  hehehehe Dorothy L. Sayers, who is queen of the genre said — and then broke her own rule, but said — that there is no place for romance in a detective story except that it can be useful to camouflage other people’s motives. That's true; it is a very useful trick. I've used that on Percy and I’ve used that to a degree on Tonks in this book, as a red herring.  What was the red herring?  That Harry had thought that Tonks liked Sirius, but really like Lupin?  huh.  Veerrrry clever... and yet ANOTHER instance of incest in this book.   But having said that, I disagree inasmuch as mine are very character-driven books, and it’s so important, therefore, that we see these characters fall in love, which is a necessary part of life. But not with your sister-type friend *aka Ginny* How did you feel about the romance?

[Melissa puts her thumbs up and grins widely while…]

ES: We were hi-fiving the whole time.

JKR: [laughs] Yes! Good. I'm so glad.

Huh.  Niiiiicceee But what else can be expected?  The whole book was like a fan fic.  Not a very good one, romance wise, either.  Vvveerrryy predictable.

MA: We were running back and forth between rooms yelling at each other.

Hahaha really?  I wish I could have taped that ^__^

ES: We thought it was clearer than ever that Harry and Ginny are an item and Ron and Hermione — although we think you made it painfully obvious in the first five books —

JKR: [points to herself and whispers] So do I!

Well, she shouldn't have put all the H/Hr stuff.  *rolls eyes*

ES: What was that?

JKR: [More loudly] Well so do I! So do I!

!  Warning!  Overload, overload!  She's about to explode!  GAHHH!

[All laugh; Melissa doubles over, hysterical, and may have died.]

ES: Harry/Hermione shippers - delusional!

JKR: Well no, I'm not going to - Emerson, I am not going to say they're delusional! They are still valued members of my readership! I am not going to use the word delusional. I am however, going to say — now I am trusting both of you to do the spoiler thing when you write this up —

[More laughter.]

What's WITH this?  She just dissed half her readers, and now she's laughing about it.  Hmmmmpt

JKR: I will say, that yes, I personally feel - well it's going to be clear once people have read book six. I mean, that’s it. It’s done, isn’t it? We know. Yes, we do now know that it's Ron and Hermione. I do feel that I have dropped heavy -

[All crack up]

. . . .

JKR: - hints. ANVIL-sized, actually, hints, prior to this point. I certainly think even if subtle clues hadn't been picked up by the end of “Azkaban,” that by the time we hit Krum in Goblet...

Ooh, I'm sorry.  Anvil sized hints?  Where was Ginny when Harry was being shunned by everyone for the GOF tournament?  It seems to me that it was HERMIONE helping him through his hard times.  But what do I know?

But Ron — I had a lot of fun with that in this book. I really enjoyed writing the Ron/Lavender business, and the reason that was enjoyable was Ron up to this point has been quite immature compared to the other two and he kind of needed to make himself worthy of Hermione. What, making out with some girl to make another girl jealous?  Niiiiiiice.  Veeerry worthy.  It just didn't seem like a Ron thing to do.  Now, that didn't mean necessarily physical experience but he had to grow up emotionally and now he's taken a big step up. Huh.  Seems like he acted like an overemotional 4 year old.... ah, well... Because he's had the meaningless physical experience She just said that it wasn't "necessarily physical experience" but now she says that he HAD physical experience.  Well, which was it?  Did Lavender help him grow emotionally?  Whaaat? - let’s face it, his emotions were never deeply engaged with Lavender -  *Is confused*  Make up your mind!!!

[Much laughter in which Melissa emits a "Won-Won"]

JKR: - and he's realized that that is ultimately not what he wants, which takes him a huge emotional step forward.

.... then why did he go out with her?  To make Hermione mad?  That's so stupid and childish.  Not very 16-year-old-ish at all.  I should know, as I'm 16.

ES: So he's got a little bit more than a teaspoon, now there’s a tablespoon?

Funny, I thought he went DOWN emotionally....

JKR: Yeah, I think. [Laughter]

*mutters* Laughing gas!

MA: Watching all this, were you surprised when you first logged on and found this intense devotion to this thing that you knew was not going to happen?

JKR: Yes. Well, you see, I'm a relative newcomer to the world of shipping, because for a long time, I didn't go on the net and look up Harry Potter. A long time. Occasionally I had to, because there were weird news stories or something that I would have to go and check, because I was supposed to have said something I hadn’t said. I had never gone and looked at fan sites, and then one day I did and oh - my - god. Five hours later or something, I get up from the computer shaking slightly [all laugh]. ‘What is going on?’ And it was during that first mammoth session that I met the shippers, and it was a most extraordinary thing. I had no idea there was this huge underworld seething beneath me.

ES: She’s putting it into a positive light!

JKR: Well I am, I am, but you know. I want to make it clear that delusional is your word and not mine! [Much laughter.]

You didn't have to agree to the word by laughing at your "delusional" readers.... *pouts*  I wonder how many kids she hurt with all these nasty statements?

MA: You're making our lives a lot easier by laying it on the table -

JKR: Well I think anyone who is still shipping Harry/Hermione after this book -

ES: [whispered] Delusional!

JKR: Uh - no! But they need to go back and reread, I think.

. .. . . hmmpt.  I haven't reread HBP yet.  It's such a bad book compared to the rest of them.  I hope that the 7th book will be better.  Even if H/G and R/Hr happen, at least have it happen in a cute way.  And make Hermione not be such a naggy hag like she was in that book!  It was so demoralizing to her.  I couldn't believe how horrible she was in HBP.

ES: Thank you.

JKR: Yeah.

MA: That is going to -

JKR: Will it make your lives slightly easier?

[All three]: Yeah, yeah.

Why is JKR agreeing to this"  Why does she even care?  All she has to do is write books and get paid.  lol

JKR: I think so.

MA: I have to tell you, I'm looking forward to [this coming out], because, you know, a lot of this is predicated upon a necessary hate for another character. Ron has suffered horribly at the hands of Harry/Hermione shippers.

. . . . That's not true!  Ron is just a really strange character is all.  He is mean to Harry half the time, and then foul to Hermione the other half!  But it's nice to have a comic relief sidekick.

JKR: That bit makes me very uncomfortable, actually. Yeah, that bit does make me uncomfortable.

Hmmmm well, that's nice.

ES: Honestly, I think the Harry/Hermione shippers are a very small percentage of the population anyway.

Another not true moment! 

MA: Yeah, if you do a general poll -

The polls are on biased sites, IMO.  If you did it on a H/Hr site... hahaha just kidding.

ES: They seem more prominant online, but that’s just because the online fandom is very -

MA: Militant was the best word I heard -

JKR: Militant is a beautifully chosen word. Energetic. Feisty.

[Laughter.]

MA: What does it do to you to see a character that you love, for people to express sheer hate -

AKA Ron...

ES: Or vice versa.

JKR: It amuses me. It honestly amuses me. LOL!  I thought she said it made her uncomfortable!  lol lol lol

People have been waxing lyrical [in letters] about Draco Malfoy, and I think that's the only time when it stopped amusing me and started almost worrying me. I'm trying to clearly distinguish between Tom Felton, who is a good looking young boy, and Draco, who, whatever he looks like, is not a nice man. It’s a romantic, but unhealthy, and unfortunately all too common delusion . . . geez, for a writer, she doesn't have much of a vocabulary... of — delusion, there you go — of girls, and you [nods to Melissa] will know this, that they are going to change someone. And that persists through many women's lives, till their death bed, and it is uncomfortable and unhealthy and it actually worried me a little bit, to see young girls swearing undying devotion to this really imperfect character, because there must be an element in there, that "I'd be the one who [changes him]." I mean, I understand the psychology of it, but it is pretty unhealthy. So, a couple of times I have written back, possibly quite sharply, saying [Laughter], "You want to rethink your priorities here."

ES: Delusional!

[Laughter]

JKR: Again, your word!

. . . I swear, anyone want to count the number of the word "delusional" in this interview??

[Laughter.]

ES: On our Web sites we have a tendency to have very different stances on shipping. On The Leaky Cauldron they tow this fine political line —

MA: Down the line. We say, "If that's your thing, that's your thing."

ES: And on MuggleNet, we say -

JKR: [Laughing] You say you're delusional lunatics?

There's another one!!!!!

MA: He basically says, “If you don't think this, just get off my site.”

[JKR cracks up]

ES: We say, “You're clearly delusional!”

And AGAIN!  This is getting stupid now.

***

ES: Delusional, like I said. It’s my word of the day.

. . ..  I won't even say it.

[Laughter]

JKR: Sorry, I just snorted my drink. Sorry, go on.

Ewww that's gross.

 

So what HAVE we learned?  1) JKR likes to contradict herself.  Perhaps she is part alien.  2) She doesn't give a.... *care* about H/hr shippers.  Aaand there are a lot of other things learned *such as the fact that there was laughing gas in the room*, but I won't bore you with all the nit-picky stuff.  hehehee