The world of Harry Potter was born from the books of JK Rowling. From those books came 8 movies that went on the become a successful franchise worth billions. And from those movies, we got three amazing stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson.
Daniel Radcliffe’s Harry Potter, Rupert Grint’s Ron Weasley, and Emma Watson’s Hermione Granger are the golden trio of the franchise. But moving away from the books the character of Ron was pretty diminished in the movies. Instead of the Golden trio, Ron became more of a sidekick to Harry and Hermione, than their partner. And fans are still not over this disservice to the character as well as the actor.
The Harry Potter Movies Did Not Do Right By Rupert Grint and Ron Weasley
Ron’s character is that of the lovable best friend with his moments of genius. While the books had the perfect balance to the character, the movies turned him into more of a background character. Rupert Grint‘s character played second fiddle to Harry and Hermione, with many of his moments snatched away. The character of Hermione was brought front and center instead of both her and Ron getting to share that space alongside Harry.
Many fans have complained over the years that Hermione was given a lot more lines, even those that belonged to other characters, including Ron. It seemed like Hermione ended up getting everyone’s good lines, and her character flaws almost disappeared. She became more of a protagonist than Harry, and Ron became like a comic relief in the franchise. Rupert Grint was a way better actor than Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson when they joined the series, having already worked on projects before. And though the other two grew with time, Grint wasn’t given the same opportunities.
The movie made it seem like Harry was the male lead and Hermione was the female lead, which pushed Ron to become a supporting cast. It is also the reason that Harry and Ginny’s relationship was not developed smoothly over the years. In one movie, there was nothing, and in the next, they were in love (which looked forced at best). And this does not sit well with many fans.
Fans on How The Movies Wasted The Character of Ron
Book fans always end up finding issues with movie adaptations, and that’s a fact no one can deny. While some franchises try to stay true to the source material as much as possible, it is not always possible. Fans have always believed that Harry Potter is one of the better book-to-movie adaptations, but even they aren’t devoid of criticism. In a Reddit thread on the harrypotter subreddit, a discussion was posted by user Tylerroosky, saying:
Is just me or did the HP Movies really lean into Harry x Hermione?
Many fans joined the discussion thread to give their two cents on the topic, so let’s take a look.
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Whether you think the movies did a disservice to the character of Ron by bringing Harry and Hermione to the center or not, it is not far off to say that fans of the fandom are always ready to reread the books and rewatch the movies as many times as possible. All the Harry Potter movies are available for streaming on Max.
