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Posts: 170 · Joined: Jun 28, 2007 Location: Hong Kong Posts: 170

In articles or stuff I often read that as a weakness of her Hermione "freezes" when encountering situations which're unexpected or beyong her control. I kinda think this is consistent with my general impression reading the books, but when I come to think of some concrete examples it just doesn't get to my mind. Could anyone help me?
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Posts: 27242 · Posted: June 30, 2007 10:06 pm Post subject:

Absolutely.

In SS/PS when they are stuck in the Devils Snare. After spending a good prtion of the year creating small, portable fires to help them keep warm and to distract Snape during Quidditch matches... Hermione starts panicking. She struggles to remember what kills it.

SS/PS Ch 16; pg 278 US ed:

"Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!" said Hermione.

"Well, hurry up, I can't breathe!" Harry gasped, wrestling with it as it curled around his chest.

"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare... what did Professor Sprout say? - it likes the dark and the damp - "

"So light a fire!" Harry choked.

"Yes - of course - but there's no wood!" Hermione cried, wringing her hands.

"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Ron bellowed. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"

"Oh, right!" said Hermione.

I hated, HATED that they changed this in the movie... they had Ron panicking (literally) while Hermione remained calm. The fact that Hermione does not remain calm under pressure makes her more of a 3 dimensonal character. She's smart, but as with many people, when they freak out all the information leaks out of their head.
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Posts: 170 · Joined: Jun 28, 2007 Location: Hong Kong Posts: 170

Oh right.

I sorta think that the movies distort the characters' personalities a bit, too, which I don't quite appreciate.
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"You can laugh, but people used to believe there were no such things as the Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack!" - Luna Lovegood

Posts: 27242 · Posted: July 1, 2007 2:14 am Post subject:

Oh, absolutely. In the movie, it was Ron who is panicking and Hermione makes a pretty sunshine. They totaly reversed their character's reactions from the books. It was awful.
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Posts: 8666 · Joined: Nov 12, 2005 Posts: 8666

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Posts: 4552 · Joined: Nov 25, 2006 Location: Home of the hits Posts: 4552

I didn't even think about any of that while I was watching the movie. Surprised

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Posts: 3282 · Posted: July 1, 2007 6:05 pm Post subject:

yeah, no movie will ever be as good as the books. i guess its just because my imagination is better. i also don't like how a character is depicted different from what i imagined.
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Posts: 1006 · Posted: July 1, 2007 9:11 pm Post subject:

Even look at when Slughorn is inviting her to his parties, at first she didn't want to go but didn't know how to turn him down or get out of it and she stumbled over her words.

It's even in small instances like this that this characteristic of her comes through.
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Posts: 27242 · Posted: July 1, 2007 9:20 pm Post subject:

She's good at thinking ahead, but put her on the spot or when she's under pressure she freaks out. When exam time comes, she keeps checking her books before the OWLs, she panics when she takes her DADA final in PoA and isn't able to get rid of her McGonagall boggart... and throughout the book she flaps her hands or wrings them when she's worried or anxious.
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Posts: 1006 · Posted: July 1, 2007 9:26 pm Post subject:

Yes, sometimes it is the small things and the less obvious things that really don't jump off the page at you that really is the core of a character.
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Posts: 28373 · Posted: July 2, 2007 10:48 am Post subject:

yeah... she's quite vindictive. in ootp she cursed the one whe blabbed, instead of making the blabber forget what she is gonna blab about. in hbp, she went with cormac mc laggen just to annoy ron.

hahahah! i really like hermione.
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Posts: 1279 · Posted: July 2, 2007 10:57 am Post subject:

^ Ah but, I think Hermione wanted Cho's friend (cannot remember the name) not to ever forget what happened. Cho's friend still bears the marks of traitor or whatever the word was. In HBP when boarding the Hogwarts express Harry passes by Cho's friend and it says something along the lines of she was wearing loads of make up which still didn't hide her marks. Although Hermione should have also added a memory lapse curse like you side
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Posts: 1006 · Posted: July 2, 2007 11:01 am Post subject:

Well all that is a good example of Hermione thinking ahead.

But let's remember the Umbridge scene when Harry gets caught using her fire to contact Sirius.

Hermione didn't know what to do at first, she had no time to think ahead but Umbridge just kept on and Hermione was given time to think up a plan and then led her into the forest. It was spur of the moment, but not, because Umbridge was just sorta talking and wasting time, wanting Harry to admit things and calling Severus to get more truth serum and arguing with him.
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Posts: 28373 · Posted: July 2, 2007 11:04 am Post subject:

i wonder how she thought of that in just three seconds. or maybe she had been planning it ever since harry told her that he was gonna go to umbridge's fireplace
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Posts: 1006 · Posted: July 2, 2007 11:06 am Post subject:

But it was really longer than 3 seconds. At first, no one knew what to do but then Umbridge sent for Snape and then argued with him and then she almost put Crucio on Harry, so it did give her at least a few minutes to formulate something.
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Posts: 27242 · Posted: July 2, 2007 11:08 am Post subject:

Posts: 170 · Joined: Jun 28, 2007 Location: Hong Kong Posts: 170

Answerin' my own question... one example I now I just found when readin' bk 5 is that Hermione "gasped" under the invisibility cloak in Hagrid's cabin when the Umbridge woman told Hagrid 'bout the 3 sets of footprints in the slow outside, and Harry had to clapped a hand over her mouth. Funny.
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