7 Harry Potter Fan Theories J.K. Rowling Debunked (And 3 She Approved)

Approved

3. Krum Mispronouncing Hermione's Name Was Written To Teach Us All The Correct Way

Viktor Krum
Warner Bros.

The Theory: In The Goblet Of Fire, Hermione ends up getting involved with Bulgarian beefcake Viktor Krum, and the pair attend Hogwarts' lavish Yule Ball together.

Throughout their courtship, Krum - on account of English not being his native language - struggles to pronounce her name properly (he calls her "Her-My-Own" rather than "Her-My-Oh-Knee"). So, Hermione decides to teach him the correct way.

There are plenty of book-readers who have difficulty with the pronunciation too, and as a result, some fans posited that Rowling had written this part of the novel in order to teach us all how to say "Hermione" properly.

The Approval: And... they were right! Rowling recently confimed that she had indeed included the "Hermione schools Krum" passage as a way to school her readers.

Now if only she'd included a paragraph that told us all the "t" in Voldemort is silent...

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!