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Why exactly is the Harry Potter epilogue so despised?

V

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Would have preferred nothing at all. Leave it open. What we got sucked, but I wasn't clamoring for a tight epilogue to begin with.
 
Dr. Buni

Dr. Buni

Member
It is like Boruto or I don't know, Eureka Seven AO to me. It feels off.

Sequels/epilogues focusing on the kids of the main characters of the original works just don't sit well with me, even if technically there is potential for the work to be great.
BoogieWoogie said:
In the movies, it was so dumb that they just didn't recast some older actors as them but instead tried to make these young kids look old:
Click to expand...
Although I agree it was dumb, the relevant actors and actresses weren't really kids at that point in their lives anymore.
 
C

cartographer

Member
Random Human said:
I agree it's not despised, but it's definitely... divisive, and it's not just a neogaf thing.



Rowling's souring on Hermione/Ron is so odd, and I can't help but wonder if it's because she saw herself as Hermione and doesn't want to end up with a Ron, lol.

The real problem relationship is Harry/Ginny, who have absolutely nothing going on.
Click to expand...
Harry / Ginny is worse buy both it and Hermione / Ron just aren't completely convincing as adult relationships. Which is part of the problem with that ending. It's just sort of an idealized depiction of how these teenagers would live out their lives. Of course they end up with their high school sweethearts.

Just such a weird tone.
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
What the hell does shipping mean in this context?
 
C

Crimson_Echidna

Banned
Sheroking said:
I actually wonder if she saw herself as a Ron.

If you know her life story, you know she WAS a scrappy underdog. Not the genius prodigy or the chosen one, but somebody who dealt with a great deal of rejection. She's on record as saying it was important to her personally that Ron get the girl, but I think she sees now that the story would have benefited from Harry/Hermoine more.
Click to expand...

I think she looked back and cringed at how she built up the relationship. Leaving shipping stuff out of the question, Ron and Hermione constantly needed Harry to act as a buffer between the two of them to keep from bite each others heads off.

And as she had written them, whenever they'd stop talking to each other, they'd never actually talk our their issues. It'd take extreme situations for them to start communicating again.

I think that's why she clarified that, as they were, they'd need a shit ton of counseling to be able to function as a couple.
 
C

chrisPjelly

Member
Because they're fanservice-y (and I'm sure J.K. Rowling was as big into the shipping as any other fans). However, I liked that it closed the book on Harry's adventures. They lived a happy life, the end. No open-ended conclusion that could be conveniently continued if they wanted to Star Wars it up.
 
Dr. Buni

Dr. Buni

Member
kirblar said:
Rowling has come out and said she made a mistake sticking to it like she did (specifically in regards to Hermione/Ron being a horribly mismatched pair personality wise)
Click to expand...
Hermione and Ron are like the worst couple ever. Zero chemistry. Hermione had more chemistry with that Viktor Krum dude in a super limited amount of time than she had with Ron during the whole series.
 
P

Prompto

Banned
Did Ginny get any say on naming the kids? You would think she would have wanted to name one of them after her dead brother. But no, Harry had to name one of them based on the teacher who tormented him through all of school.
 
N

NipplesAndToes23

Member
googleplex said:
Right here.

How the Fuck you name your kid after someone that basically bullied you your entire childhood because he couldn't Fuck your mom.
Click to expand...

When you put it like that
ueZ4byU.gif
 
F

Fancyarcher

Member
People don't like the ten years later, lets do Harry Potter: The Next Generation type of shit, can't say I blame you, but it never really bothered me. I just saw it as Rowling going "and the saga continues" or something like that.

Prompto said:
Did Ginny get any say on naming the kids? You would think she would have wanted to name one of them after her dead brother. But no, Harry had to name one of them based on the teacher who tormented him through all of school.
Click to expand...

Hey man the kid might at least be emotionally "scarred" for life like Harry once was, that was probably his thinking.
 
U

UnemployedVillain

Member
Because it's corny as fuck. Naming your kids after your middle/high school teachers? Everyone you knew back then conveniently shacking up so no one was left out. I hate epilogues like that. That isn't how reality works. It's why Boruto is so stupid as well
 
C

Crimson_Echidna

Banned
Prompto said:
Did Ginny get any say on naming the kids? You would think she would have wanted to name one of them after her dead brother. But no, Harry had to name one of them based on the teacher who tormented him through all of school.
Click to expand...

Well they gave their daughter Lily Luna Potter, so that makes it even...sort of. lol
 
T

TraBuch

Banned
chrisPjelly said:
Because they're fanservice-y (and I'm sure J.K. Rowling was as big into the shipping as any other fans). However, I liked that it closed the book on Harry's adventures. They lived a happy life, the end. No open-ended conclusion that could be conveniently continued if they wanted to Star Wars it up.
Click to expand...
The epilogue took place, what, 20 years after? Who's to say in that 20 year span, Harry didn't travel the world, fucking celebrity witches and killing Dark wizards before finally settling?

Do it, Rowling.
 
N

NipplesAndToes23

Member
The epilogue is fine though with exception of naming the son after Snape. If i was Harry I still wouldn't be cool with Snape even if he sacrificed himself.
 
I

inky

Member
Because it read like awful fan-fiction. The names and the perfect families and the new cycle. Ugh.

It's kinda like Mass Effect's Citadel DLC, a useless add-on that only tumblr obsessed readers enjoy thematically.
 
P

Poor GRIMES

Banned
It felt like reading the first chapter of some fanfic about Harry's children's lives.

The end of the last chapter of the book (the one right before the epilogue) was a perfectly fine way to close off the series. Harry fantasizing about eating a nice sandwich and getting some sleep.
 
C

cartographer

Member
Ginny is such a nothing character outside of book 2 that I don't know why she even deserves an epilogue mention, much less prominence.
 
G

gforguava

Member
I think overt 'wrapping things up in a bow' style denouements are just not looked upon fondly anymore. Especially in movie form where it can feel like a strong closing image is sacrificed for said denouement, like the image of the trio on the bridge is a more striking moment than the time jump forward in Harry Potter's case. Or in The Shallows,
with Nancy on the beach grasping the sand(LINK) and looking up at her mother(LINK).
 
S

SalvaPot

Member
I liked it, mostly because it validated all the "ships" I was part of and where the story was going from the start (Snape been good, all of them surviving, etc)

I think people take issue with it because its a very definitive ending. All the characters are married and have children and have their lives figured out so far, so it doesn't leave much room to impose your head canon.

I think the names are fine, magicians have always had silly names, I'll argue Harry was the most normal of them, and Albus Severus is not any dumber than Draco Malfoy or Hermione Granger or Remus Lupin.
 
W

waveuponwave

Member
It's corny af as everyone has said. And because it's a story about hormonal teenagers, the paired off characters spend more time not talking to each other because of some imagined slight than actually dating (especially Ron/Hermione)... so it seems weird they end up marrying

And because of the time jump a lot of things are left unresolved. The obligatory feast and last conversation with Dumbledore('s painting) are tacked onto the chapter with the last fight against Voldemort. There's no time to really say goodbye to the characters and the world
 
H

Hazmat

Member
I hate that every one of Harry's kids' names, first and middle, is for someone from the story. And, it's five important dead characters...and Luna? I want the scene that's Mrs. Weasley pestering Ginny after that kid's birth.

"Luna?"
"Yes, mom."
"That's some girl he knew in high school, isn't it?"
"I know, mom."
"You went out of your way to name your kids after everyone you ever met that died except your own brother, plus some blonde your husband knew in high school."
"Mom! I know!"
 
K

Korigama

Member
Random Human said:
Rowling's souring on Hermione/Ron is so odd, and I can't help but wonder if it's because she saw herself as Hermione and doesn't want to end up with a Ron, lol.

The real problem relationship is Harry/Ginny, who have absolutely nothing going on.
Click to expand...
Can't it be both? Neither pairing made much sense to me. That said, though I'm going on the movies here, Harry x Ginny always felt like it came out of nowhere.
 
W

waveuponwave

Member
Korigama said:
Can't it be both? Neither pairing made much sense to me. That said, though I'm going on the movies here, Harry x Ginny always felt like it came out of nowhere.
Click to expand...

That's more to do with the casting I think, Ginny had zero personality in the movies and seemed like the polar opposite of the character in the later books
 
P

PoeticProse22

Member
It was rather saccharine, excessively so, tarnished further by some shoddy writing, but the happy and conclusive ending was, for the most part, well-earned. Cursed Child was a considerably more detrimental and poorly written extension of the original series (excluding several of the new characters, as well as the largely well-handled and satisfying continuation of Ron and Hermione's relationship).
 
Z

zeemumu

Member
Indifferent to the epilogue. It felt weird and unnecessary but I'm not frothing at the mouth over it.

Not a fan of Cursed Child though
 
P

Poor GRIMES

Banned
SalvaPot said:
I liked it, mostly because it validated all the "ships" I was part of and where the story was going from the start (Snape been good, all of them surviving, etc)
Click to expand...

But the book already established all of these before the epilogue?

waveuponwave said:
That's more to do with the casting I think, Ginny had zero personality in the movies and seemed like the polar opposite of the character in the later books
Click to expand...

Yeah, Harry/Ginny came out of nowhere in the books too (not as much as it did in the movies though) but at least Book Ginny is described as this fiery, extremely attractive woman full of personality.
 
D

DeathyBoy

Banned
BoogieWoogie said:
In the movies, it was so dumb that they just didn't recast some older actors as them but instead tried to make these young kids look old:

harry-ron-hermione-ginny-epilogue.jpg
Click to expand...

This was done because someday they'll do more films and want to use the original actors.

That and it'd be weird that the characters happy ending was with brand new actors. A fat, greasy Ron...
 
A

Albino_Yeti

Member
UtterlyPerplexed said:
I don't necessarily despise it, but I don't particularly care for these super idyllic fanfic endings where most characters are matched up with each other (mainly their school sweethearts), happily all marry and have kids at roughly the same time.

Plus, yeah...Albus Severus Potter. No, you moron. As much as you want to honour Snape for the sacrifices he ultimately made to the cause against Voldemort, he was still a man in a position of care and authority who bullied you and fellow kids incessantly, likely gave Neville some long-term psychological trauma and was just a fucking dick. If I were Ginny I'd pummel his arse for suggesting the Severus name.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I can't stand the amount of love Snape gets. Yea his story with Lily is nice, and he did ultimately fight for the good side, but he was an absolute jackass to so many students.
 
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