I'm a big reader. I own a lot of books. And with all the books I've read, it's hard to pick a favorite. But I do have a few favorite authors/series, and they include:
- Harry Potter
- The Chronicles of Narnia
- Maureen Johnson
- John Green
- Scott Westerfeld
- The Lord of the Rings
- The King Raven trilogy (by Stephen Lawhead)
And so on and so forth.
I get pretty defensive when people start criticizing my favorite books. I get most defensive about Harry Potter. So, with that being said, here is a list of things that people say about Harry Potter that really, really, really annoy me:
"I hate the epilogue. It sucks."
WELL TOO FUCKING BAD. Did you write the book? No, I don't think so. So just sit down, shut up, and accept what happened.
This really annoys me. When I first read the epilogue, I was like, "Oh, that's nice. Happy ending, yay." And that was that. But then later on, after more people had finished reading the book, the threads and forums started to buzz about the epilogue. Tweets and status updates and blog entries about how they hated the epilogue SO MUCH. Then I really started to think about it. Some arguments I heard were that she just got lazy and ended it like that (or something along those lines), it was just like a fanfiction, what a terrible ending, blah blah blah.
I reread the books from time to time, and after finishing the whole series (again), I got to thinking about what a hard life Harry really has. His parents are murdered, he has to live with his awful aunt and uncle, he constantly has to fight off Lord Voldemort, people turn on him at one point, and he really doesn't have anyone who completely understands what it's like to be him and all the hardships he faces. So maybe J.K. Rowling, after putting him through all that shit and making his life as difficult as it can be from ages 11 to 17, wanted him to live out the remainder of his days in peace. Why shouldn't he get married and have kids? What, should he just live alone and be miserable forever?
To the people who complain about the epilogue: What are you looking for? What did you WANT to happen? Did you want Harry to continue being miserable? Did you want the wizarding world to continue to live in misery and distrust? Like, seriously. Get over it. It's happened, it's done, you can't change it.
"Ginny is such a slut."
EXCUSE ME. NO. GTFO. NOW.
I really don't understand AT ALL how people manage to come to the conclusion that Ginny is a ho. Because she isn't, at all. She's one of my favorite characters (third to Hermione and Luna); she's a really well written and developed character. In the beginning of the series, she's really shy and awkward, especially around Harry, but once she gets to school, and as the years pass, she really becomes independent, tough but not too tough, smart, and attractive.
Being attractive and noticed by boys DOES NOT MAKE YOU A SLUT. Geez. Sleeping with them makes you a slut. She's like any average girl, who is testing out relationship waters, seeing what she likes in guys. She dated Michael Corner, Dean Thomas, and Harry Potter (who she eventually married). I wouldn't call that being a slut. Not even close. So she's been in three relationships. Big fucking deal. So have some of my friends. There's nothing wrong with being in more than one relationship in your life. Why was it such a big deal when Ginny was?
"The plan was, which I really hope I fulfilled, is that the reader, like Harry, would gradually discover Ginny as pretty much the ideal girl for Harry. She's tough, not in an unpleasant way, but she's gutsy. He needs to be with someone who can stand the demands of being with Harry Potter, because he's a scary boyfriend in a lot of ways. He's a marked man. I think she's funny, and I think that she's very warm and compassionate. These are all things that Harry requires in his ideal woman. But, I felt — and I'm talking years ago when all this was planned — initially, she's terrified by his image. I mean, he's a bit of a rock god to her when she sees him first, at 10 or 11, and he's this famous boy. So Ginny had to go through a journey as well… I feel that Ginny and Harry, in this book, they are total equals. They are worthy of each other. They've both gone through a big emotional journey, and they've really got over a lot of delusions, to use your word, together. So, I enjoyed writing that. I really like Ginny as a character." -J.K. Rowling
"Harry should have died."
No. He should not have.
How did you want the series to end then? Did you want Voldemort to take over and make everyone his slaves? Yeah, that's a great ending. NOT REALLY. Sure, I joked about Harry dying too. But IT WAS A JOKE.
Did you really expect, in the Harry Potter series that HARRY POTTER would die? "Oh, but then it would be boring and just like every other series where the main character is successful at the end." THEN GO WRITE YOUR OWN BOOK. You can write about how the main character dies and everyone is miserable and the dark wizard kills everyone. Yeah. Great story. Not.
Who would read a book where the main character died and nothing was resolved in the end? It's a story of conflict, and the conflict needs to be resolved.
And technically speaking, Harry did die. He just didn't stay dead.
"Why did she need to say that Dumbledore was gay? That's stupid, it wasn't in the series."
I've heard this several times and I don't have that much to say about it. Sure, it seems kind of pointless because, yeah, the series is over. Dumbledore being gay doesn't change anything that happened, and it was never mentioned in any of the books. But, being a writer as well (well, sort of), I've come up with some logical reasoning for why she did this.
I think it's simply because she spent so much time with these characters, it was like they had become real people. When you spend that much time writing and developing characters, they start to take on their own personalities. Yeah, it sounds silly, but it's true. And I think that Dumbledore just ended up being gay. That's all.
So why tell everyone? Well...why not?
"Snape sucks. I hate him."
DID YOU NOT FINISH READING THE WHOLE SERIES? Like, did you skip a few key chapters somewhere?
Like seriously, you're either a) a complete idiot, b) not done reading the series yet, or c) in need of a serious kick to the head, if you think that Snape sucks.
He was loyal, THE WHOLE TIME. What else needs to be said? Even when doing horrible things like killing Dumbledore or making Harry suffer or letting everyone think he was faithful to Voldemort, he was doing it all for Dumbledore and Harry and Lily and The Order of the Phoenix. He was Dumbledore's man, through and through.
"Harry Potter sucks. Twilight is so much better."
Go die.
