Hermione wins. No competition.
(This will make more sense to those who have actually read both books, not just watched the movies.)
First off, Hermione is a better story character. She has a very distinct personality. She has hobbies (ex. reading, studying), passions (ex. Dumbledore's Army, SPEW), good traits (ex. intelligence, loyalty, good-hearted) and flaws (ex. closed-minded, know-it-all). She has all sorts of relationships to all the characters. There's a love interest (Ron, of course), but there's also a best friend (Harry), Enemies (Draco, Pansy, etc.), close friends (Neville, Ginny, Luna, etc.), lust interests (Victor Krum), and many more relationships! She goes through things that many of us can relate to, and many things that, while we may not be able to relate to them (ex. erasing her parent's memory to keep them and herself safe), we certainly feel her pain.
Bella, however... not so much. She is an utter Mary Sue (which, for non-writers, means that she is an author insert, she is favored by the author and she has a notable lack of personality flaws. Can you name me just three personality flaws that Bella was given purposely by Stephenie Meyer? Or better yet, can you name just one? Yeah, didn't think so. Can you name me one hobby of hers? No, reading does NOT count because we only see her reading ONCE in FOUR books taking place over a two year time line. That's not a hobby. You can't say motorcycling either because she doesn't actually LIKE motorcycling; she does it because she wants to hear Eddykin's voice. She was planning on giving it up, anyway. With Hermione, she NEVER planned to give up reading and studying. Heck, she even insisted on bringing along a load full of books on their hunt for the horcruxes! Plus, Hermione went back to school for a year after Deathly Hallows! So no, motorcycling is no more of a hobby for Bella than cliff diving is. Does she have any relationships to other characters? Well, obviously there's Edward, being her boyfriend. There's Jacob, being her best friend/other love interest. Those are the main two. The Cullens... I mean, I guess they are kind of connections to her, considering they are her family and all. Any friends (other than Jacob)? Nope. She abandons her school friends (Jessica, Mike, Angela, Ben, etc.) several times and proves to us that she doesn't care about any of them in the slightest. She finds her parents to be a nuisance, and avoids them as much as possible, so they don't count. Only the most perfect people have the "honor" of having her actually consider them as people. Nobody else matters to Bella. I don't even count Renesmee as a relation to Bella! She ignores her baby most of the time anyway! She doesn't love her baby; she loves the IDEA of having her own baby. She gets it easy; she doesn't have to work at being a good vampire! She's a natural, of course! She doesn't have to worry about Edward reading her mind, or about Jane torturing her! She's immune to that! Of course, it's only the inconvenient things that she is prone to. All the good ones still work just fine on her! She sacrifices nothing, she works for nothing. Everything is handed to her on a silver platter.
Let's compare the two as role models now!
Hermione gives up so much for her friends and the entirety of the wizarding world. She puts herself at a huge risk to help defeat Voldy. She has horrible things happen to her numerous times; she gets petrified by a Basilisk, she gets cursed by a Death Eater in the Department of Mysteries which knocks her unconscious and gives her a painful few weeks of recovery, she gets attacked by Nagini, she gets horribly tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange, she goes through all sorts of pain in Gringotts... yet she never gives up. She continues to fight for what is right, even though she knows it will not be easy. Plus, she does extremely well in school. Harry and Ron are great people, but they are pretty irresponsible when it comes to school work, and their grades reflect that. Hermione, on the other hand, puts her all into her school and is rewarded for it. She stands by her friends right to the very end, and she keeps on fighting.
Bella? Not too good. She abuses her friends. She uses them and then she tosses them to the side like rubbish. They're not beautiful, so therefore they don't matter, right? She abuses Jessica, Angela, Mike and Tyler. The one she abuses the most, however, is Jacob. She is engaged to Edward, yet she continues to lead Jacob on, flirt with him, even kiss him! She feels sorry for a couple of minutes, then feels that that justifies her to do it all again. Sorry, honey, but that's not the way it works. This just makes her a slut. Then she breaks his heart ruthlessly. Yeah, she cries for a few minutes. Just like she cried for a few minutes all the other times before abusing him again. But that's not all! It doesn't end there! 18 years old, and what does she decide to do with her life? Skip college and marry her high school boyfriend that very same year? Then she gets pregnant at 18? What is this? Do you know what happens to people who do that in real life? The romance is hot for a while, then it dies down. Soon, it's disappeared. The parents hate each other, they struggle for money because neither can get a decent job, their kid grows up extremely troubled, and it's a whole lot of unhappiness, misery and regret. Bella also happens to be a terrible mother. She ignores her kid most of the time so that she can be a nymphomaniac with Eddykins, leaving the baby with Jacob - the one who went pedophile for her newborn baby. She doesn't care that Jacob went pedophile, however. No, she is angry because she doesn't like the NICKNAME he gave to her! This, once again, shows how Bella isn't so much in love with the baby, but of the idea of having a baby.
Let's go talk about feminism now!
Hermione is a huge symbol of feminism. Harry and Ron depend on her just as much as she depends on them. What are some things she's done for them, you ask? Here are a few examples:
-Snape's Potions Riddle Defense of the Philosopher's Stone
-Devils Snare Defense of the Philosopher's Stone
-Figuring out what the monster was and how it traveled in Chamber of Secrets
-Time Turner to save Sirius and Buckbeak
-Saved Harry from Lupin in werewolf form
-Helped Harry through the Triwizard Tournament (he really wouldn't have been able to do that without her)
-Went into the Department of Mysteries with Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna
-Brought Umbridge to Grawp, leading to her downfall
-Fought the Death Eaters in battle numerous times
-Helps Harry through Godric's Hollow
-Helps to find and destroy horcruxes
-Helps to break into the Ministry of Magic
-Helps to break into Bellatrix's vault at Gringotts
-Gets Harry and Ron safely out of Xenophelius's house while letting the Death Eaters get a glimpse of Harry so they won't harm Xeno and hiding Ron so the Death Eaters won't suspect the Weasleys too much... in about three seconds time
-The Final Battle, of course!
Her wits and intelligence save Harry and Ron several times. She can fight just as well the males in the series. Plus, Harry and Ron really do depend on her in order to pass their classes, seeing as they take no notes and pay no attention and have no idea what to write on their essays or what to do on their homework. Hermione is the one who came up with the idea of Dumbledore's Army. She also created other little clubs such as SPEW. She does indeed have as much power as a male in the series. (She's not the only one, either! Look at Ginny, Luna, Tonks, Molly, McGonnagall, Lavender, Angelina, Umbridge, Bellatrix, even Cho! These are all very powerful women in the series.) Plus, how did Hermione react when Ron leaves her in Deathly Hallows? She cries because she is in love with him. However, she does not allow it to take over her entire life. After a few days, she is back on her feet and fighting beside Harry again. She realizes that it's not the end of the world, that there are more important things than being with Ron. In fact, if she hadn't been able to pull herself together, it WOULD have been the end of the world (in a sense. Voldy taking over the world is close enough to the "end of the world".) She grieved, but she moved on with her life and continued to stand by Harry's side right on through.
How about Bella Swan? Is she feminist? My answer is absolutely not. How did she react when Edward left her? She went into "zombie-mode" for four months. No, that does NOT show how devoted she is. It shows how needy, pathetic and dependent she is. It shows that she is not at all a strong character. Quite the opposite, actually. She completely abandons her friends and family and everyone around her, she has even LESS of a life than before (who knew THAT was possible?) and she refuses to even TRY to feel better. Feeling better doesn't necessarily mean forgetting. It just means moving on with her life. No, she doesn't feel better until the next super hot guy in town starts paying attention to her. Then, all of a sudden, she feels COMPLETELY better! This proves that she did NOT love Edward after all; she merely lusted him. She has to be with the hot guy or with no guy at all, and if she cannot be with a guy, there's no point in her living. There must ALWAYS be a man right by her side. She cannot do ANYTHING for herself, except for cooking and cleaning. Cooking and cleaning for her father, who sits around watching football and drinking beer all day is the typical anti-feminist scene. Then, skipping college and any chance she may have of actually having a life in order to be a maid to her boyfriend to take care of her is typical anti-feminism as well. Nobody needs her. What does she do in the books?
-Cries constantly.
-Complains about how "horrible" her life is.
-Abuses her friends.
-Makes out with her boyfriend.
And that's about it. No, I don't think that using her power to ward off the Volturi's powers did much after all. If the Volturi were planning to attack, they would have done so much sooner. They would have attacked physically instead of testing the water with their toes. The Volturi backed off fairly quickly, walking away with nothing. This proves them to be a bunch of wusses, and therefore, pathetic excuses for antagonists. Heck, they are almost as pathetic antagonists as Bella is a pathetic protagonist! But you really can't beat Bella there.
Who is prettier? I guess Bella would have to win there. Bella is supposed to be so beautiful, after all! Hermione is actually not supposed to be so great looking; bushy hair and buck teeth. Hermione may beat Bella during certain events, such as the Yule Ball, but Bella is prettier, I guess. That doesn't say much about her character, however. Meyer seems to be under the impression that only beautiful people are good. Ugly people must be bad, right? JK Rowling, however, understands that looks are not everything. It's your personality that counts. At least Harry, Ron and the rest of the Harry Potter gang love Hermione for something more than her physical appearance; they love her for HER. I really can't say that much for Bella. Edward lusts her because she smells good, Jacob lusts her because of her baby, and everyone else puts up with her to make Edward or Jacob happy. Nobody really likes her for HER. That, however, is probably because she doesn't really HAVE a personality for someone to love. Oh, well. No big loss.
(This will make more sense to those who have actually read both books, not just watched the movies.)
First off, Hermione is a better story character. She has a very distinct personality. She has hobbies (ex. reading, studying), passions (ex. Dumbledore's Army, SPEW), good traits (ex. intelligence, loyalty, good-hearted) and flaws (ex. closed-minded, know-it-all). She has all sorts of relationships to all the characters. There's a love interest (Ron, of course), but there's also a best friend (Harry), Enemies (Draco, Pansy, etc.), close friends (Neville, Ginny, Luna, etc.), lust interests (Victor Krum), and many more relationships! She goes through things that many of us can relate to, and many things that, while we may not be able to relate to them (ex. erasing her parent's memory to keep them and herself safe), we certainly feel her pain.
Bella, however... not so much. She is an utter Mary Sue (which, for non-writers, means that she is an author insert, she is favored by the author and she has a notable lack of personality flaws. Can you name me just three personality flaws that Bella was given purposely by Stephenie Meyer? Or better yet, can you name just one? Yeah, didn't think so. Can you name me one hobby of hers? No, reading does NOT count because we only see her reading ONCE in FOUR books taking place over a two year time line. That's not a hobby. You can't say motorcycling either because she doesn't actually LIKE motorcycling; she does it because she wants to hear Eddykin's voice. She was planning on giving it up, anyway. With Hermione, she NEVER planned to give up reading and studying. Heck, she even insisted on bringing along a load full of books on their hunt for the horcruxes! Plus, Hermione went back to school for a year after Deathly Hallows! So no, motorcycling is no more of a hobby for Bella than cliff diving is. Does she have any relationships to other characters? Well, obviously there's Edward, being her boyfriend. There's Jacob, being her best friend/other love interest. Those are the main two. The Cullens... I mean, I guess they are kind of connections to her, considering they are her family and all. Any friends (other than Jacob)? Nope. She abandons her school friends (Jessica, Mike, Angela, Ben, etc.) several times and proves to us that she doesn't care about any of them in the slightest. She finds her parents to be a nuisance, and avoids them as much as possible, so they don't count. Only the most perfect people have the "honor" of having her actually consider them as people. Nobody else matters to Bella. I don't even count Renesmee as a relation to Bella! She ignores her baby most of the time anyway! She doesn't love her baby; she loves the IDEA of having her own baby. She gets it easy; she doesn't have to work at being a good vampire! She's a natural, of course! She doesn't have to worry about Edward reading her mind, or about Jane torturing her! She's immune to that! Of course, it's only the inconvenient things that she is prone to. All the good ones still work just fine on her! She sacrifices nothing, she works for nothing. Everything is handed to her on a silver platter.
Let's compare the two as role models now!
Hermione gives up so much for her friends and the entirety of the wizarding world. She puts herself at a huge risk to help defeat Voldy. She has horrible things happen to her numerous times; she gets petrified by a Basilisk, she gets cursed by a Death Eater in the Department of Mysteries which knocks her unconscious and gives her a painful few weeks of recovery, she gets attacked by Nagini, she gets horribly tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange, she goes through all sorts of pain in Gringotts... yet she never gives up. She continues to fight for what is right, even though she knows it will not be easy. Plus, she does extremely well in school. Harry and Ron are great people, but they are pretty irresponsible when it comes to school work, and their grades reflect that. Hermione, on the other hand, puts her all into her school and is rewarded for it. She stands by her friends right to the very end, and she keeps on fighting.
Bella? Not too good. She abuses her friends. She uses them and then she tosses them to the side like rubbish. They're not beautiful, so therefore they don't matter, right? She abuses Jessica, Angela, Mike and Tyler. The one she abuses the most, however, is Jacob. She is engaged to Edward, yet she continues to lead Jacob on, flirt with him, even kiss him! She feels sorry for a couple of minutes, then feels that that justifies her to do it all again. Sorry, honey, but that's not the way it works. This just makes her a slut. Then she breaks his heart ruthlessly. Yeah, she cries for a few minutes. Just like she cried for a few minutes all the other times before abusing him again. But that's not all! It doesn't end there! 18 years old, and what does she decide to do with her life? Skip college and marry her high school boyfriend that very same year? Then she gets pregnant at 18? What is this? Do you know what happens to people who do that in real life? The romance is hot for a while, then it dies down. Soon, it's disappeared. The parents hate each other, they struggle for money because neither can get a decent job, their kid grows up extremely troubled, and it's a whole lot of unhappiness, misery and regret. Bella also happens to be a terrible mother. She ignores her kid most of the time so that she can be a nymphomaniac with Eddykins, leaving the baby with Jacob - the one who went pedophile for her newborn baby. She doesn't care that Jacob went pedophile, however. No, she is angry because she doesn't like the NICKNAME he gave to her! This, once again, shows how Bella isn't so much in love with the baby, but of the idea of having a baby.
Let's go talk about feminism now!
Hermione is a huge symbol of feminism. Harry and Ron depend on her just as much as she depends on them. What are some things she's done for them, you ask? Here are a few examples:
-Snape's Potions Riddle Defense of the Philosopher's Stone
-Devils Snare Defense of the Philosopher's Stone
-Figuring out what the monster was and how it traveled in Chamber of Secrets
-Time Turner to save Sirius and Buckbeak
-Saved Harry from Lupin in werewolf form
-Helped Harry through the Triwizard Tournament (he really wouldn't have been able to do that without her)
-Went into the Department of Mysteries with Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna
-Brought Umbridge to Grawp, leading to her downfall
-Fought the Death Eaters in battle numerous times
-Helps Harry through Godric's Hollow
-Helps to find and destroy horcruxes
-Helps to break into the Ministry of Magic
-Helps to break into Bellatrix's vault at Gringotts
-Gets Harry and Ron safely out of Xenophelius's house while letting the Death Eaters get a glimpse of Harry so they won't harm Xeno and hiding Ron so the Death Eaters won't suspect the Weasleys too much... in about three seconds time
-The Final Battle, of course!
Her wits and intelligence save Harry and Ron several times. She can fight just as well the males in the series. Plus, Harry and Ron really do depend on her in order to pass their classes, seeing as they take no notes and pay no attention and have no idea what to write on their essays or what to do on their homework. Hermione is the one who came up with the idea of Dumbledore's Army. She also created other little clubs such as SPEW. She does indeed have as much power as a male in the series. (She's not the only one, either! Look at Ginny, Luna, Tonks, Molly, McGonnagall, Lavender, Angelina, Umbridge, Bellatrix, even Cho! These are all very powerful women in the series.) Plus, how did Hermione react when Ron leaves her in Deathly Hallows? She cries because she is in love with him. However, she does not allow it to take over her entire life. After a few days, she is back on her feet and fighting beside Harry again. She realizes that it's not the end of the world, that there are more important things than being with Ron. In fact, if she hadn't been able to pull herself together, it WOULD have been the end of the world (in a sense. Voldy taking over the world is close enough to the "end of the world".) She grieved, but she moved on with her life and continued to stand by Harry's side right on through.
How about Bella Swan? Is she feminist? My answer is absolutely not. How did she react when Edward left her? She went into "zombie-mode" for four months. No, that does NOT show how devoted she is. It shows how needy, pathetic and dependent she is. It shows that she is not at all a strong character. Quite the opposite, actually. She completely abandons her friends and family and everyone around her, she has even LESS of a life than before (who knew THAT was possible?) and she refuses to even TRY to feel better. Feeling better doesn't necessarily mean forgetting. It just means moving on with her life. No, she doesn't feel better until the next super hot guy in town starts paying attention to her. Then, all of a sudden, she feels COMPLETELY better! This proves that she did NOT love Edward after all; she merely lusted him. She has to be with the hot guy or with no guy at all, and if she cannot be with a guy, there's no point in her living. There must ALWAYS be a man right by her side. She cannot do ANYTHING for herself, except for cooking and cleaning. Cooking and cleaning for her father, who sits around watching football and drinking beer all day is the typical anti-feminist scene. Then, skipping college and any chance she may have of actually having a life in order to be a maid to her boyfriend to take care of her is typical anti-feminism as well. Nobody needs her. What does she do in the books?
-Cries constantly.
-Complains about how "horrible" her life is.
-Abuses her friends.
-Makes out with her boyfriend.
And that's about it. No, I don't think that using her power to ward off the Volturi's powers did much after all. If the Volturi were planning to attack, they would have done so much sooner. They would have attacked physically instead of testing the water with their toes. The Volturi backed off fairly quickly, walking away with nothing. This proves them to be a bunch of wusses, and therefore, pathetic excuses for antagonists. Heck, they are almost as pathetic antagonists as Bella is a pathetic protagonist! But you really can't beat Bella there.
Who is prettier? I guess Bella would have to win there. Bella is supposed to be so beautiful, after all! Hermione is actually not supposed to be so great looking; bushy hair and buck teeth. Hermione may beat Bella during certain events, such as the Yule Ball, but Bella is prettier, I guess. That doesn't say much about her character, however. Meyer seems to be under the impression that only beautiful people are good. Ugly people must be bad, right? JK Rowling, however, understands that looks are not everything. It's your personality that counts. At least Harry, Ron and the rest of the Harry Potter gang love Hermione for something more than her physical appearance; they love her for HER. I really can't say that much for Bella. Edward lusts her because she smells good, Jacob lusts her because of her baby, and everyone else puts up with her to make Edward or Jacob happy. Nobody really likes her for HER. That, however, is probably because she doesn't really HAVE a personality for someone to love. Oh, well. No big loss.
