Ron x Harry: Why Isn’t This Ship More Popular?

We’ve all heard of Wolfstar (Remus x Sirius), Dramione (Draco x Hermione), and even Snarry (Snape x Harry). But why isn’t the Ron x Harry ship more popular?

In most fandoms, the main character and his best friend have a significant fandom following. Take Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings or Captain America and Bucky Barnes in the Marvel franchise.

It’s baffling to me, and I find it completely bizarre that even crack ships like Drapple (Draco x Apple) and Chickron (Chicken x Ron) have more of a following.

There is no doubt, canonically, that Ron is one of the most important people to Harry and that their friendship claims a huge amount of the reader’s emotional investment. Despite this, the ship has barely taken off.

One of the arguments constantly aired regarding Hinny (Harry x Ginny) is that Harry only wants to be connected to the Weasley family ( i.e., Ron. This is usually used to support Harmony, but it is interesting to note).

Even viral images that ostensibly ship Ron x Harry haven’t made much impact on the fandom.

The Ron x Harry ship doesn’t have any works on MuggleNet Fan Fiction, and googling Ron x Harry (or Rarry, or Rorry) yields barely anything.

When I started taking this ship seriously, there were so many moments that are obvious shipping fodder. First and foremost is the second task of the Triwizard Tournament:

Harry Potter has to go into the lake and find his Wheezy – ”
“Find my what?”
“– and take his Wheezy back from the merpeople!”
“What’s a Wheezy?”
“Your Wheezy, sir, your Wheezy – Wheezy who is giving Dobby his sweater!”
“What?” Harry gasped. “They’ve got… they’ve got Ron?”
“The thing Harry Potter will miss most, sir!” – Goblet of Fire

We’ve all read this, and it’s telling that Harry is sure when he gets to the bottom of the lake that his hostage is Ron, despite the presence of Cho (his crush) and Hermione (his other best friend).

But the moment with the Felix Felicis made me start to seriously ship Ron x Harry over Romione (Ron x Hermione).

I didn’t put it in!” said Harry, grinning broadly. He slipped his hand inside his jacket pocket and drew out the tiny bottle that Hermione had seen in his hand all morning. It was full of golden potion, and the cork was still slightly sealed with wax. “I wanted Ron to think I’d done it, so I faked it when I knew you were looking.” He looked at Ron. “You saved everything because you felt lucky. You did it all yourself.” – Half-Blood Prince

Harry’s faith in Ron is stronger than Ron’s faith in himself. It has (in my view) far more romantic potential than Hermione’s “trick” with the Confundus Charm, which showed she cared about Ron but didn’t actually believe in his abilities.

There is a plethora of moments in the books and movies that could be construed as supporting the Ron x Harry ship, and I wish the fandom had taken advantage of that.

Do you have an under-appreciated ship you wish were more popular? Tell us in the comments!