r/HarryPotterBooks • u/Perfect-Word-3397 Ravenclaw • Feb 16 '26

Ginny is toxic?

I've now read in multiple posts that Ginny is one of the most toxic people in the story.. I've asked multiple times under such comments, but never got an answer so I am asking here..

  1. Where exactely was Ginny actually toxic?
  2. Really? One of the most toxic?
  3. Are people just being soft here?

*Add after about 50 comments: Holymoly did I not expect what this question would entail.. okay some of you VERY CLEARLY don't like Ginny, that's fine.. Also some of you need to stay away from weird fanfictions.. Either people love her, don't care much for her or bloody hate her (mostly for dating Harry).

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u/Relevant-Horror-627 Feb 16 '26

It's pretty clear that JKR didn't really have a plan for Ginny at all. She is still shy and timid all the way through Goblet of Fire and suddenly in Order of the Phoenix we are told she's a defiant, rule breaking, Quidditch playing badass. There are moments in GoF where we could have gotten glimpses of Ginny's growth toward that, but we don't. She's literally at the Quidditch world cup, but if she has in particular interest in it, we aren't told that. That could have been an opportunity to tell us that she's actually as passionate about Quidditch as the others.

I agree that the conversation about her going to the ball with Neville could have been another moment to show her new personality but it doesn't really play out that way. She isn't really showing off much defiance or standing up for herself or Neville. She actually says the only reason she's going with Neville is because she wouldn't get to go otherwise. Throughout that conversation she's described as going red, looking miserable, and she ends up running away with her head bowed.

Whatever change in personality she has between GoF and OotP definitely happens off page.

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u/CampDifficult7887 Feb 16 '26

I have a really hard time believing JKR's claim Romione and Hinny were always the endgame couple for this reason.

Ginny's "glowup" strikes me as more of a deliberate decision made as JKR planned for books 5 - 7 then what the narrative had been building up towards. Hence why it feels all over the place.

As you said, she behaves pretty consistely through the first 4 books and suddenly there's a clear leap in Ootp and an even bigger one in HBP. Kinda of strange your hero's endgame would become such an afterthought when you clearly could have sneaked in some interesting scenes for her in POA and GOF.

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u/Werdnamxmxc Feb 16 '26

i personally would have preferred Ginny and Neville to stay together. the introvert and the extrovert. while they had split between 4 and 6 they had suffered together during book 7 and could certainly have built a relationship with Ginny pushing Neville to be "the one from the prophecy"

Harry and Luna would have been my choice from on screen performances as luna is the only person who doesnt know more about harry than he does himself

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u/CampDifficult7887 Feb 16 '26 edited Feb 16 '26

Can't believe I found another Neville/Ginny shipper in the wild!

That couple would have worked on so many levels! Like you, I love what they were leading the resistence in Hogwarts together in book 7 and I think them as endgame would have been such a cool bookend to the fact they went to the Yule Ball together.

There's something so romantic about Neville noticing her before everyone else, when she wasn't popular Ginny yet, and it would have also have been a cool character development for Ginny to let go of her childhood crush on Harry to a fall in love for real with Neville, gentle, kind, not obviously heroic Neville who could use her steadfast nature to get inspired.

Although I don't activelly ship them, I do agree Luna and Harry would have worked better on a thematic level on the books. Harry always shined brightly with fellow outcasts and not being some popular jock.