Emma Watson Just Said the Most Spot-On Things About Hermione Granger

I’m not even a colossal Harry Potter fan, but I know this fact to be true: Hermione Granger is a GD icon.

Seriously, Hermione (played by Emma Watson in the film series) is the best student at Hogwarts. Even real witches love her. She was brewing complicated potions in the girls’ bathroom at 12 years old! Nobody can do magic like her—not even Albus Dumbledore. (I hope the Harry Potter superfans don’t come for me for that statement.)

Aside from the whimsical stuff she does, Hermione is also a wonderful role model. She is fiercely independent and smart as a whip and has no time for Draco Malfoy’s nonsense. She positions herself as the leader of her male-dominated group of friends, which is something inspiring for girls—and necessary for them to see.

Emma Watson knows this, and she hopes people view Hermione in the same way they view other iconic heroines, like Princess Leia and Wonder Woman.

“Hermione was that perfect example of turning on its head this initial prejudice that she gets,” Watson told Entertainment Weekly. “Hermione finds a way to wield her intelligence and become really the leader in this group of two other boys, and that’s kind of the role that she assumes.…Harry is much more intuitive. Ron is just along for the ride. Hermione is the one with the plan. She’s in control.”

Watson also told the magazine that she thinks watching Hermione helped women take more agency in their own lives. “I think somehow that [Hermione] gave other women permission to feel that they were allowed to take up space,” Watson said.

Her comments are spot-on. Hermione is exactly the kind of heroine that young girls should be embracing. She stands for equality and going after what you want—two things we need to instill in women, now more than ever.

And men, too. In fact, it’s Watson’s dream that young boys will one day look up to characters like Hermione in the same way they do Superman.

“If I asked a young boy what superhero they looked up to, I feel a lot fewer would say a female one than in reverse, which is a shame because I feel like we need to live in a culture that values and respects and looks up to and idolizes women as much as men,” Watson said. “I think that’s starting to slowly change, but it is something that does actively need to be addressed.”

We couldn’t agree more. Here’s hoping everyone starts realizing that Hermione Granger is just as important (and badass) as Batman.