This is our last vote together, we’re down to the final two badasses. In spite of my fear of being pitchforked, this has been one of the most fun projects I’ve ever done. I’m going to miss doing this every day. Not enough to do it again until next year, but you know what I’m sayin’.
The Winners
Moving on to the championship game are Hermione Granger, who beat Anne Shirley by 3 votes to 1; and Jo March, who beat Granny Weatherwax by a slightly smaller margin.
The Latest Bracket
Seek and find Middlemarch Madness Bracket #20 here.
The Final Poll
24 replies on “Middlemarch Madness: Championship”
In my make-believe world, Offred took the whole thing. She’s a survivor!
Mine, too! I am honestly shocked that Offred did not take it all. I am going to just chalk it up to not as many people having read The Handmaid’s Tale. Otherwise, I have no explanation for it.
Didn’t Lady MB take her down?
A moment of silence for Miss Anne Shirley. No one could beat Hermione. Nothing to be ashamed of.
Only three votes too … that’s pretty impressive considering how long Anne’s been around! Hermione is more in the public awareness right now, I would have thought the spread would have been wider.
I read that as the ratio of votes being 3:1, meaning that Hermione got three times as many votes as Anne. :-p
Yep, Hermione got slightly less than 75% of the vote.
The Potter fans don’t futz around.
The biggest HBiC, BAMF, MILF etc. in literature is sadly not known to very many–The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes, Du Bose Heyward. The Country Bunny had 21 kids, was a single mother, was one of the five Easter Bunnies, and was so brave, wise, kind, and swift that she became the Gold Shoe Easter Bunny. She completely trumped the snobs, misogynists, and naysayers.
Hermione’s big thing was punching a guy in the third book (THREE YEARS IN)
Anne Shirley broke a slate on a guy’s head a couple of chapters in. How on earth is Hermione more awesome than Anne????
Um. I’m sorry. But I think Hermione’s “big thing” was surviving the Battle of Hogwarts, and ultimately being the brains that enabled to bring down Voldemort. Violence and displays of one’s physicality aren’t everything.
You know what is good about this? I will be happy if either of them win. Jo is very much an OG – how many others wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for her? And this is perhaps an unpopular opinion, but Little Men? Freaking awesome book, and a great way to continue her story.
Hermione is a BAMF in her own right, too.
Also, really, once Meg was out of it, I didn’t have a horse in this race anymore. I love both of these characters, I will be happy either way.
I liked reading Little Men way better than Little Women, and read it many more times. It’s so much more fun and so much less simpering.
I totally saw it coming down to Katniss v. Offred. But I am happy with a win for Hermione.
IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU, TURTLE.
Still not over it.
The voting booth is on fire, I think we’re going to set a record for how many people vote! Yay!
I do love Jo, but I think I have to go with Hermione. Even though we all know that Meg is the real winner here.
I just feel that with Hermione being as bookish and awesome as she is, if she takes the whole thing it’s really a win for all the ladies, as Hermione wouldn’t be Hermione without ladies like Jo, Jessica, and Meg.
Bravo! [slow clap]
HERMIOOONNNEEEEEEEE
I voted for Hermione but now I don’t know! Jo is awesome too! Let me vote for both!
No Anne :( My first real heroine. The first character I really saw myself in Anne. She was not perfect, she wanted so much to be accepted and loved for who she was. She had a temper. She hated her hair. She got her best friend drunk by accident. She didn’t let a dude tromp all over her. She pursued education. She was positive and helpful and strong.
Hermoine is OK. But man, she is no Ann-with-an-e.
But Hermione rhymes with Ann-with-an-e, so that’s something, right?
Personally, I’m still depressed that Meg Murray didn’t make it to the final two. Braces-wearing-math-geniuses-ftw!
But Hermoine isn’t the star of her story – she is a part of someone else’s. Anne was her own. Meg was her own. Jo was her own.
So, I am sort of bummed about that.
I think it really says something about the books in general when someone who is secondary to the main character resonates so powerfully with its readers. The author crafted not only a strong main character, as is expected, but she also took care to build the other characters with the same amount of attention (if not more).
(Also, I just really don’t care for Meg or Anne.)
Hermoine probably came into my life too late to make an impact. She came after Anne, after Meg. She was NBD. But I know how much others care about her as a character. I am glad she exists. I am just bemoaning the loss of my last favorite from the competition.