#I cannot think of any other Harry Potter characters

[licorice-lips]

Okay, so I was thinking about Snape and although I'm avoiding like hell speaking online about Harry Potter, I think it needs to be said because it falls onto the rest of fantastical literature as well, especially those stories that have parallels to fascism/nazism/colonialism in their magical world.

I'd like to start by saying I don't like Snape for a variety of reasons, some of them because of Rowling, others because of the character himself, and others because of his fans, but today I'd like to talk about how Snape's Redemption Arc actually sucks and why, and also about how we're treating redemption arcs as a whole.

Okay, so let's begin by making a sort of timeline on Snape's life: he grew up in an abusive household, suffered bullying by the Marauders through school years, bullied other students as well, called his best friend a slur, "apologized", joined a fascist hate group that actively persecuted and hurt people for things they had no control of, acted on behalf of this group for years, turned against the hate group not out of morals but because their actions began to threaten the people he cared about (like they always said they would, how shocking), bullied his teenage students as a grown adult, acted as a spy against the hate group when it came back, died.

Right, so before I dive into all those things, what we also have to add is that Art isn't made in a vacuum. Just like science can never be done by a completely neutral party, our productions of art are completely based off of our views, especially when we're talking about writing. As a writer myself, I can see exactly how my experiences as a person in the context I was born and grew up in affect my writing and my production of art.

For example, it's very common that I find enemies calling themselves by their last names in American/European fiction but in Brasil, we don't normally call people by their last names unless it's very unique and as a nickname. So when I write enemies, they always call each other by their first names, simply because it doesn't feel right to me any other way. On a more serious example, most of the countries in my fantasy books have some history of colonization or dictatorship because it's a part of my history and I feel it's impacts to this day, so it's something that reflects my own thoughts and ideas in politics.

So when we talk about Snape as a character, we cannot escape the fact that Rowling created him. And as a European author, it's more than clear —and that's especially obvious to people who suffer under colonization to this day— that Rowling has a deeply ingrained colonizer mentality. The goblins in Gringots are a clear and problematic representation of Jewish people, the domestic elves LIKING being enslaved and not changing the status quo by the end of the books, and even Hermione being ridiculed for her militancy on it — these are all representative of how Rowling views the world.

Although there's more, all of those examples make it clear that, when she looks at fascist ideology as a whole, Rowling doesn't think the ideology itself is the problem: the ending is the depiction of them getting rid of the "bad apples" instead of making the "roots of the tree" healthy again is parallel to blaming bad individuals for a system that is corrupted and therefore corrupts. So basically, what the Harry Potter books tell us by the end is that it's okay for you to perpetuate a racist system, just don't do it so openly. The problem for her is not the system, but these people she considers "bad apples" which is basically right-wing ideology.

And my problem with Snape starts here: because Rowling sees purist views as an acceptable way of thinking as long as you don't kill people because of it (because for some reason that's a step too far — but when the system oppresses, beat down, and hates on marginalized people, that's okay) — in her mind and in her writing, Snape's ideological affiliation earlier on in his life is not that big of a problem, especially when he "changes sides".

Snape's active participation in a hate group is dangerously and irresponsibly downplayed both by Rowling and by Snape's apologists and fans when this is, in reality, one of the two greatest offenses his character has to compensate for in his "Redemption Arc". So when he hesitates at nine yo to say to Lily that being a Muggleborn doesn't make a difference (even when he knows it does in a practical sense of what's happening in the Wizarding World), when he despises Petuney for being a Muggle, when he says to Lily that what he, Mulciber and their "death eaters" friends did to Mary McDonald was "just a laugh (btw, I'm sure the Marauders also think what they did was "just a laugh" as well), all of this is not only extremely reprehensible, it's the kind of thing that makes a fascist, a fascist.

And it's not that I don't believe teenagers cannot change their minds and grow with more ease than adults, it's just that this alone would've been enough grounds to understand why Snape's redemption arc sucks. His beliefs from early on, even before he goes to Hogwarts, are extremely problematic and hateful, and they uphold the very corrupted system that is perpetuated against Muggle-borns in the Wizarding World.

Then we reach the point I wanted to make: it's very clear throughout the books that child and teenager Snape struggles with feelings of deep hatred against his parents (especially his father, who's a Muggle), inadequacy in social life even among his peers (wizards and witches) and isolation, all of which make a person undeniably vulnerable to extremist ideology.

And here's my first issue with Snape and his Redemption Arc: his trauma and feelings should not be an excuse for his bad choices and yet, they are used exactly as such. Yes, Snape was an impressionable teenager and yes, he was influenced by an ideology in his desperation to fit in and find solace in a community, but that doesn't matter.

None of it matters because, at the end of the day, his actions for this ideology are just as harmful, just as awful, just as cruel, as the actions of someone who joined the Death Eaters for thoroughly believing Muggleborns were scum. He harmed people just as much as Yaxley, Mulciber, or any other Death Eater who joined Voldemort for their hatred just for his support alone.

And more than that, even if Snape was in a vulnerable state and impressionable, he was still receiving other kinds of influences, influences that were contrary to the bigotry and cruelty of Voldemort — and he still chose to ignore those influences. There was still a level of choice to what he became as a young adult.

But even if there wasn't, Snape is —or at least he should be— responsible for his own choices regardless of influence. As they say in the Kingdom of Heaven film, when you're before God and he asks you why you did something, you won't be able to say that others told you to do so or that it wasn't convenient to do the right thing — it'll not be enough. And it's not enough because your actions matter more than your intentions. Your actions will be the thing that will determine what happens next, not your intentions. It'll be actions that will shape your path and influence or directly impact the path of others around you, not your intentions.

The older I get, the more I understand the power of action and how it says more than any intention or feeling ever will. At the end of it, Snape's actions are what matters, not his feelings or intentions. But as humans, we're so prone to empathize with others that we actually believe that, because someone feels guilty or regrets the things they did, that's enough to forgive them.

We forget that it's not.

Earning forgiveness must come with 5 major steps —

Accountability — do they acknowledge the way their actions hurt us? Do they acknowledge the way they hurt us? Do they acknowledge their role in our pain?

Apologies — do they apologize? Is their apology sincere? Do they hold themselves accountable in their apologies?

Acceptance — do they feel entitled to forgiveness? Do they accept the consequences of their actions? Do they accept the boundaries you impose on the path to forgiveness?

Amends — Did they take steps to mend what's broken? Do they make choices to prevent them from doing this again? Do they try to help without crossing your boundaries?

Alteration — Did they change the behavior that hurt you? Did they take steps to improve themselves?

Those steps are fundamental in a Redemption Arc because it'll exemplify to the (young) readers what is forgivable and how forgiveness is earned, not deserved. That's what grits me the most about Snape's "Redemption Arc":

There is no accountability, at least not for joining and upholding a hate group, and we kinda get accountability for what he did in his friendship with Lily, but in a fucked up way, let's see:

It was nighttime. Lily, who was wearing a dressing gown, stood with her arms folded in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, at the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. “I only came out because Mary told me you were threatening to sleep here.” “I was. I would have done. I never meant to call you Mudblood, it just – ” “Slipped out?” There was no pity in Lily’s voice. “It’s too late. I’ve made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Death Eater friends – you see, you don’t even deny it! You don’t even deny that’s what you’re all aiming to be! You can’t wait to join You-Know-Who, can you?” He opened his mouth, but closed it without speaking. “I can’t pretend anymore. You’ve chosen your way, I’ve chosen mine.” “No – listen, I didn’t mean – ” “ – to call me Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?”

It's very important to me that we dissect this piece of dialog because it shows a lot about Snape and how every time he's tried to apologize, there's no accountability.

He didn't say he's sorry he said that slur (to LILY and only Lily, might I add, when at all would've been ideal but I'll have some leniency because of the situation) — he's said he's sorry, but not for what he has done, just for Lily. He didn't take responsibility for his words as he should — he says it 'slipped out' or that 'he didn't mean, again just to LIly.

He accepted no boundaries Lily tried to impose — sleeping outside Gryffindor? Really?

Most importantly of all, he took absolutely ZERO steps to alter his behavior so that he could never harm someone again like he harmed Lily. And that's very important, I cannot begin to explain how: when we regret doing something, the most fundamental step to take in change.

Change is fundamental to forgiveness but it shouldn't be conditioned by it. If we regret doing something harmful, the first thing to do is to change our behavior. Instead, Snape not only doesn't change his problematic behavior, he doubles down on it, joining the hate group Lily pointed out as one of the main problems in why their relationship couldn't continue, acting in the name of said group for years and only backing down on it when Lily is threatened.

And that reveals something about Snape's worldview: for him, since that day he called Lily a slur, the problem wasn't that he was a bigoted piece of shit (like Lily said it was), the problem, in his head, was that he hurt Lily. And that's not true. The problem is, one hundred percent, his bigoted behavior, and Lily says as much, more than one time. He just does not listen to it. He doesn't listen to her.

More than that, though, you can try to point out that he redeems himself by acting against Voldemort but I'm sorry: what Snape did is not enough. He was part — and believed in — a hate group, it's not enough that he changes sides not because of values, but because one person who is being threatened is dear to him (which was the whole prerogative anyway so I failed to see how he's even surprised by this). You can say that this is good or honorable or "love" but it's not cute to base your entire life around one person.

It's not honorable to prioritize one person over a whole world he was threatening before and not caring at all about them. Disregarding other human beings in favor of one is not as pretty as people think it is and Snape represents this very well: it makes you bitter, it makes you become abusive, cruel, a bully to everyone else. It's not pretty, it's not understandable. Be a fucking decent human being, it's actually not that hard.

But I digress again: my point is, that just because Snape regrets the things he has done for Voldemort (not even out of morals, which drives me mad) it doesn't mean he deserves forgiveness. He doesn't and he hasn't earned it, he didn't even try. Actually, he's so stuck in his regret, he's harmful because of it: guilt is a trap, babes. It sucks you in if you let it and makes you miserable as well as anyone around you. You'll be so remorseful and yet you'll hurt people because of it.

And it's the same thing I've been saying since the beginning: we need to stop associating feelings with deserving forgiveness because you don't deserve forgiveness, you earn it. Either you earn it from someone else, from yourself, or from both, but either way, it's earned, not deserved. If I were to excuse my harmful behavior every time just because I regretted doing something instead of earning their forgiveness by taking steps to apologize to the people I've hurt, I would be compared to my father all the time. And THAT would've been an insult.

Anyway, let's just stop feeling sorry for characters, especially fascists, just because they regret something. Please, let us hold our characters accountable for the shit they've done adequately and make our writers actually put in the work to make them earn the forgiveness they crave instead of just wallowing in their own misery, stuck forever in a vortex of hurting and being hurt that sucks people in. It's not a good example for us readers, it's not a good example of behavior, it's not what a good person who did shitty things should strive to be and we shouldn't think it is.

#snape slander #severus snape bashing #anti severus snape #pro james potter #pro marauders #sirius black #writers #writers on tumblr #female writers #books #harry potter #hp fandom #severus snape #snivellus #james potter #the marauders #marauders era #james potter is actually a good person #i really hate snape #sorry not sorry

[casasupernovas]

so many harry potter fans completely erase snape's past and write it over to make him a snobby rich kid who speaks like he's a 40 year old count and i think it is so interesting.

because it proves to me that the reality of snape being a kid living in a poverty stricken and abusive household on spinner's end makes you all uncomfortable.

i sure know it made me uncomfortable to re-read the books for the first time and see all the comments about his greasy hair and sallow skin with the new knowledge that these were markers of his poor upbringing. we've heard the saying how being poor never really goes away. snape keeping these two markers as an adult is the author's way of doing it. he's an adult with a better income now but he never quite shakes off spinner's end.

he also stays there as an adult as a way to punish himself, if the front room described as a 'padded cell" is any indicator. he can't move on and he won't allow himself to, and dumbledore won't allow it either. it is he who twists the knife with harry's eyes and tells him this is the only thing he can do to prove he truly loved lily. despite you know, dumbledore apparently not believing this due to his shock at snape's patronus 17 years later.

both times in snape's past when he butts heads with petunia is because she insults his background, something he cannot control. she calls him the 'snape boy' from spinner's end, a clearly 'turn up my nose' moment. harry goes through most books referring to snape as 'snape' because snape is a bully and therefore does not have harry's respect. many times adults correct him to say professor. and his first name isn't said often. so this puts a distance to him, almost others him to this 2D character. but 'snape' is an actual person, with feelings and a past, present and future. so severus snape doesn't take kindly to people insulting his family which is why he claps back at petunia.

we also know snape is a muggle name, his muggle father tobias' name. we only find out in book 6 that snape is a half blood. because what wizarding family do you know with the name 'snape'. and prince isn't part of the sacred 28 either. when harry breaks into snape's memories accidentally in occlumency, seeing those three quick snapshots of his life, it's the first time snape starts to become a real person to harry.

moreover, 8 year old snape is described as dirty, unwashed, wearing clothes that are so mismatched it looks deliberate. he hasn't got clothes of his own, wearing an adults jacket and a woman's smock. snape's family either cannot afford to properly clothe or wash their child or they simply don't care too. when petunia insults him again, this time instead of his father she goes for his mother, as she points out snape wearing his mother's blouse, we get another example of underage magic as he causes a tree branch to fall on her.

now despite this, we know it is likely snape really did want to cause her harm due to her insult. snape already is shown to have poor social skills and snaps rather quickly at any point of animosity, but he was also raised in an abusive household. his father whipped him, and shouted at his mother and god knows what else. makes sense that an 8 year old responds to tension with either insults or violence, mirroring his home. snape is also very reluctant to talk about his homelife at all, ending the conversation very pointedly with "he doesn't like anything much." so it's not surprising that a child raised in this kind of environment would respond violently. even worse, he does it without really realising what he has done considering he looked confused when petunia and lily ran away.

on platform 9 and 3/4, snape is eager to get out of his muggle clothes and when put next to james potter, the stark difference between someone who has been loved and adored and someone who hasn't is explicitly put in the books. and lastly when snape calls lily a mudblood after being yanked upside down exposing dirty underwear, lily points that out. her way of saying 'don't you dare say you are better than me - im filthy? how about you wash your clothes.'

all in all, i think the fans write over this backstory because people do not want to give snape any sympathy. he's not the right kind of sympathetic character. he's an unpleasant adult who made terrible decisions. therefore his tragedy doesn't count. it's much easier to hate him when in your head, snape is a rich, snobby supremacist, rather than a penniless, neglected and woefully misguided teenager.

odd that peope can understand the impact of certain characters childhoods like sirius, regulus, draco or harry and how it affected their actions as teens and later adults...

but not snape.

in fact, snape is probably the poorest character in the entire series apart from maybe voldemort, although the orphanage didn't seem underfunded or anything. fans characterise lupin as poor but there is little evidence for him being poor as a child, more as an adult. i've seen people say this was because of the fact that his father worked at the ministry and arthur weasley worked there and he is not rich but the weasley's are poor because there are 7 of them living on one income. and we can assume lupin's muggle mother worked. if anything, lupin's childhood was comfortable but became unstable due to them constantly moving after he was bitten.

and that's pretty much it, we don't know too much about anyone else. the dursleys are middle class as are hemrione's dentist parents and while the weasley's are poor, they are not poverty stricken - ron never goes hungry. snape also never really adresses his muggle past either. he doesnt bring it up ever. for all his 'life is unfair', he never speaks about that part of his life, choosing to solely reference the marauders. and the two main bullies, james and sirius both being rich kids bullying the poor boy is not lost on me. especially when they constantly reference his greasy hair all the time.

poverty greatly affects a person well into adulthood and we see with snape; it never really goes away. sure he's well spoken now, and doesn't wear mismatched muggle clothing but the remnants are still there. in fact, one of the reasons he hates harry intially is because he thinks the boy has been pampered. quite unlike his upbringing. so i think it's telling how many people refuse to acknowledge its very existence or the how it shaped snape as a person.

because i think it all makes you feel really uncomfortable. why else would you ignore or completely erase it?

#harry potter #severus snape #pro snape #snapedom

[foundfamilyadoptionagency]

Welcome + Rules

Welcome to the Tumblr Found Family Adoption Agency! Here, we present your blorbos to the masses to have them vote upon whether they should be added to the collective tumblr found family or ditched on the roadside. Submit your blorbos here:

See which blorbos have already joined the found family HERE! To avoid seeing the results posts, mute "ffaa results" The rules are: 1. Play nice; be respectful to others 2. Blorbos can be of any age, since a found family can be just that. So feel free to submit a one-day old infant or a ten thousand year old tree, if those are your blorbos 3. No Harry Potter 4. No real people (might make an exception if it's funny) 5. "No real people" includes no individual tumblr users, youtubers or streamers (this might seem obvious, but there were still a lot of them submitted) 6. No OCs. All your OCs are great and I'd feel sad if they got rejected from the found family F.A.Q. under readmore:

(No one has actually asked any questions, but these are the ones I'm anticipating) Some of these questions have been asked now lol Q. How does this work? A. A post featuring a blorbo shall be made, stating who they are and their source material. A poll will be attached set to one week, asking if we should "adopt" or "ditch" the blorbo. At the end of the week, based on the result, I will announce if they blorbo has been adopted into the tumblr found family or ditched on the roadside Q. What is a found family? A. A found family is a family you find for yourself. It is a term often used in fandom to describe a group of characters who aren't related by blood (although a few members might be) but have come to think of each other as a family through circumstance. Alternatively, they might not be officially recognised as a found family in canon, but wider fanon regards them as such Q. Is this a tournament bracket? A. Nope, blorbos aren't competing against each other, they're only here to be judged by you. We are here enternally submitting blorbos (at least until I run out of steam or pass away lol) Q. I'm not sure if my blorbo counts because of ___ reason? A. If it's not any of the reasons mentioned in the rules, then feel free to send an ask. Or just submit them anyway and I'll decide Q. I submitted a blorbo and they haven't been posted. Did you get them? A. Again, feel free to send an ask. I don't have a regular schedule for posting these. Somedays there'll be batches of polls, others there'll be one or none Q. My blorbos are a duo/trio/etc., who cannot be separated. Can I submit them as a group? A. While I would prefer to stick to individual characters, if you have some who absolutely cannot be separated, I might make exceptions. Most likely, I'll make a poll asking if they should be judged as a group or individually, since there's a lot of media I won't be familiar with Q. My blorbo got ditched on the roadside! Fuck you! A. Friend, as a fan of Theseus from Hades Game, I understand what it's like to have your fave hated by fandom. Anything decided on this blog can never affect your personal headcanons, so go in peace with your middle finger held high Q. What are your icon and header? A. The icon is of the Pokemon Bouffalant and Natu, based on a series of trading card art where Bouffalant finds two Natu and rescues them - the true spirit of found family. The header is a group of characters called the Black Ravens from the Professor Layton series - a group of ragtag working-class kids who make a black market together Q. I wrote some propaganda on the submission form, can you post it or send it back to me? A. Submissions are deleted as the polls are posted, so I can keep track of how many I have left to post, which means I can't do this. Please save your propaganda for the post and not the submissions form Q. Did you know you used fan art on ___ poll? A. Unless I'd mentioned getting permission from the artist, then please assume that I did not know and let me know. I hate art theft and wouldn't want to partake in that, but I'm just not familiar with a good 80% of the series submitted, so sometimes it might slip through the cracks Q. Can I submit a character who isn't my blorbo? A. Also fine! I enjoy it when people submit controversial characters to see how they'll do Q. What happens if there's a tie? A. The blorbo in question becomes an occassional family member who appears with our found family for some important cutscenes, but isn't officially considered part of the found family

Q. No, but seriously, my blorbo got ditched. Do they get another chance? A. At the beginning of each year we host a Redemption Event, where any past blorbos who were submitted get another chance. Because of the high volume of ditched characters, to be included in the event your character will need to be submitted with propaganda via a form that will be released a month before the event Q. I think the image used is a big reason why my blorbo got ditched. Why did you use that image? A. If an image hasn't been submitted, I will just grab one from an image search result in most cases. You know your blorbos best, so if you have a specific (non-fan art) image that you think shows them in their best light, please do submit it when you submit them Q. Did you mean the book version or movie version of that character? A. Whichever version of the blorbo that gets submitted, that'll be the one I use. If no specific version is mentioned, I'll just post that blorbo in general and use whatever image is most common when I look them up, unless an image has been submitted or a book cover has been requested to be used Q. My blorbo is a character played by a youtuber and/or streamer, not the youtuber or streamer themselves, is that okay? A. If it's a character, then it's fine. But please mention this on the submission. Because if I look them up and the result looks to be just some real person, that won't be included Q. What counts as a "sweep"? A. Any character who gets 90% or higher in either adopt or ditch is counted as a sweep. This doesn't give them anything extra, it's just for bragging rights Q. What counts as a "close call"? A. Any character who's poll results are within the 49%-51% range for adopt/ditch is counted as a close call Q. How many characters can I submit at a time? A. There's no hard rule, since the form doesn't track emails, but please be considerate to others and try not to submit more than 10 characters per submission period. See next question for more details Q. How many characters from the same series can I submit at a time? A. Four (4) characters per series per submission period. I'll be lenient for if they've been submitted by multiple people, but from my experience running this blog, it's only the current Hot New Thing that'll be submitted by multiple people and anything else is usually one person submitting one character after another. I used to allow more, but people took this for granted and submitted 50+ from the same series, so now 4 is the cap Q. You missed a tag from that poll! Can it be added? A. Sure! Tags are either provided by the submitter or where left blank, I'll use my best guess. At minimum, you'll get the name of the character and series as they've been submitted. If you know more, let me know and I'll add them to the post during the voting period. Please note: The polls themselves cannot be edited after being posted, only the tags Q. I don't understand what this blog is A. Don't worry about it, friend. Just keep driving and whatever you do, don't wind down the window. We'll be safe soon :)

#tumblr found family #found family #found family adoption agency #pinned post #welcome #rules #FAQ #signal boosts appreciated

[thefloatingstone]

Not to be like "haha I'm better than you guys!!!" or elitist or anything because that very sincerely is NOT the point of this post.... but I never really understood people extremely love for Harry Potter.

I read them as they were coming out. Most of the time they came out soon enough that I was the same age as Harry. I liked them. They were cool. Goblet of Fire was my favourite and I was always happy to see what story the next book would bring but that's all it was. Interest to see the next story whenever it came out. Like a sitcom you enjoy but you didn't set your tv to record for you in case you missed it.

And then the word "Chosen one" was uttered and, just like that, I fucking lost all interest. Honestly there was "Chosen one" talk in the 4th book and already I was like

Honestly I think I liked Goblet of Fire the most because there was no friggen Quidditch. And there was less focus on the SCHOOL part of Harry Potter and more this weird Video game Quest setup which just appealed to me more.

In retrospect, I think that might be a big part of why I enjoyed it but never LOVED it like other people.

Like

"Oh boy my absolute biggest most favourite fantasy! THE BRITISH EDUCATION SYSTEM!!!!"

The fact that the books take place in a school seemed like a default to me because, well, most teenage focused cartoons and shows I watched had the main characters at school. Because they're teenagers. But the school wasn't why I enjoyed the books. The school was just a location. No I didn't want to go to Hogwarts. No I didn't want to get attached to a specific school house (although I feel it worth mentioning that when I was 13 I did the online house quiz thing on the official site and it said I was Hufflepuff so make of that what you will).

I really disliked whatever the one was that came after Goblet of Fire. So much so that it completely killed any and all enjoyment I had in the series. Which, considering I was only mildly entertained by them wasn't a massive loss or anything.

I know I read whichever book it was where Dumbledore died but I very genuinely cannot remember one single thing that happens in that book whatsoever. I read half of the Deathly Hallows after coming back from College and gave up because I wasn't enjoying any of it and I never picked the book up again.

I saw the first movie in theaters when I was 13 and I did not like it. It was visually very very dark and gloomy and just... extremely uninteresting to me. Idk how to explain it. The first book just felt so much more vibrant than what I was watching on screen.

I know I saw the 2nd movie although I have no memory of where or why. And I... THINK I saw the third one??? I think??? I'm actually not sure. But that's about where I just stopped and completely lost interest.

Because it wasn't very good.

They just weren't very good books.

They weren't TERRIBLE or anything like that but they were just so.... blah. The earlier ones 13 year old me enjoyed the one time I read each of them but I don't think 13 year old me had the best taste considering I also disliked the Princess Bride at this age.

But I was reading other books because I was a kid with ADHD in high school who desperately needed something stimulating to stop myself from going insane. And frankly, there were just far better books out there. Books I actually re-read. Books I borrowed from friends which ere just... so much better and more interesting.

So I just don't understand this insane appeal so many people have for it, even if they have severed that connection due to Jowling Kowling Rowling's bufoonery and showing herself to be a withered old crone with a shrivled heart and mind every time she opens her mouth.

I grew up with these books the same way as a lot of people. I was the exact age to go through the series' highest popularity and I just did not click with them despite reading them.

So seeing so many people my age or a little younger try and do their best to re-analyse and de-tangle what the books actually are and that... maybe.... just maybe.... they might not have been very good?? Maybe?? is very weird to me because I'm just like.

"Yeah they're overrated as hell and not that interesting."

It's a very weird thing to live through because it's like looking into a bizarro version of the world you remember living through... but not like THAT. I remember the Pokemon craze and yes, it was like that. I remember when anime started to become big and yes, it was like that. I remember DBZ airing and yes, it was like that.

But this insanity around Harry Potter while it was releasing?

Yeah I don't remember it being like that at all.

They were just mediocre books I read because I needed something to occupy my attention and eventually they got worse and worse and I just stopped reading them. That's all.

#I'm watching a youtube essay on the weak writing in the HP books #and it's like looking into an insane alternate reality where people really were THIS obsessed with this franchise #It's a very uncomfortable feeling #Like your memories don't line up with everyone else's despite knowing you were there #text post #cw #Harry Potter #JK Rowling #rambling #For context I grew up reading Terry Pratchett #I read my first Pratchett book when I was 11 #14 year old me groaning at the concept of a chosen one probably says a lot about my media criticism even as a child

[cadwhatalad]

alright I’ve been thinking about it all weekend and I’ve figured out that what I find so compelling about exu: calamity is how, for the first time in a critical role campaign, we’re working from the point of view of The Establishment.

It’s weird because the thing that really set cr apart for me in the grand scheme of high fantasy media is that in the mainstream campaigns so far, they’ve been incredibly dedicated to playing the underdog. One of the things I really like about Matt and the cast is that they don’t generally go in for the Star Wars/Harry Potter bullshit of “oh it seems like this character comes from nothing but they’re actually secretly special because [insert weird theme of genealogy as an indicator of good character]”. In a wide sprawling world of Lost Princesses and One True Kings, critical role gives us genuine, bona fide nobodies. I’m so in love with the fact that Orym was only ever supposed to be a random bodyguard standing in the corner, that Nott’s big backstory reveal was that she used to be a housewife, that Launda’s character is literally meant to embody the idea of collateral damage.

Even Vox Machina, to date our most respectable party with connections/claims to power from the outset of their arcs (as opposed to clawing their way to legitimacy through adversity Mighty Nein style), only have that to a very limited extent. Percy is an aristocrat, yes, but in a place so small and isolated that it could be seized and ruled by necromancers for a solid half-decade without the neighbouring royal power noticing. Vax and Vex are the children of a high-level ambassador but they’re outcast, bastards, literally illegitimate. Pike is a respected cleric of a god nobody follows. Grog would have led his herd, but was first ousted by his uncle and then willingly ceded the position of power to his cousin. Keyleth was in the same position as Percy, royalty in a way that didn’t matter to anyone outside her civilisation before the conclave arc dragged them into relevance. As a party they spent a pretty big chunk of their early arc half-fighting with Sovereign Uriel in their quest for respect. Compared to our new exu folks they’re still very definitely underdogs. And, y’know, there’s a reason for that – underdogs make for some of the most compelling stories. It’s immensely satisfying watching maligned people gain respect, unloved people become loved, weak people become strong, disempowered people become powerful, etc.

So then I was thinking about all that and wondering why I find these new six so interesting, especially because. It really cannot be overstated how much power they have. We’re shown up front how competent and respected they all are, but more than that, we get all these hints in the build-up to the gala – Nydus being confronted with an NPC whose concerns are “too low” for him as if that’s ever been a thing at the cr table before now; that comment about Laerryn being so fundamental to the workings of the city that most people don’t recognise her on sight because they straight up don’t understand what it is she does; Patia’s exchange with Eldemir the wise – this guy is supposed to be one of the city’s seven highest government officials, and he’s senile. The way as we meet them we bounce from public to secret, statesman to merchant, the very guts of the city to its absolute peak. By the time they all converge at the party and Brennan says that thing about these being the six people who actually get shit done, it’s like. Oh. These are the people who are physically keeping the city afloat. They control infrastructure, information, public opinion. In a room full of the most powerful people in the most powerful city on Exandria, these are the ones who direct it all.

And then it’s hammered home by Purvan’s entrance, because in any other story, he’d be the audience-surrogate character. He walks into this glittering party with his muddy boots and his wolf pal, brings a message from the gods into this monument to arcane hubris, gets laughed at for his trouble by a roomful of wizards in fancy robes. The contrast between this young low-ish level ranger and the ring of brass is so fucking strong. And then even more, by the time he gets done asking to meet with the septarium, we already know that wouldn’t do him any good. We’ve seen what those guys are like already, we know that if he wants to get anywhere he’ll have to speak to our six. They’re the ones who are gonna be able to fix it.

And then I was like, oh. Wait. Calamity.

The reason we like underdogs is because we like watching them rise up, but these folks have already risen as high as it’s possible to go. And we already know how this story ends.  

We’re not just gonna see them fall. We’re gonna see them fall further and harder and faster than any other group of people possibly could.

Not to be too dark about it, but. I’m quite excited.  

#cr spoilers #exu: calamity

[let-them-fight]

Do you want SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS to square off with CTHULU?

What would happen if REI PLUSH was pit up against 1 BILLION LIONS?

Well, my friend, THIS DUMB FUCKING STUPID BLOG IS RIGHT FOR YOU!

Welcome to THE TOURNAMENT! That’s it; it’s a tournament, in which YOU (the tumblrina) submit a random bitch from ANY FICTIONAL MEDIA to me (the tumblrine) via either the submissions tab and/or the inbox. Depending on the popularity of this blog, once we hit 100 individual submissions, we begin.

I will pair up two random characters out of the list. They will fight. They do not move onto some… new round, nor do they receive some cool swag sexy prize.

They, as in YOU, merely receive the notion that your fave survived a go in

THE TOURNAMENT.

I cannot guarantee how quickly polls will be out, and between the limits I will most definitely be doing other stuff apart from this blog.

Anyways here are da rulez:

No real people preferably! (With exceptions)

No ism, ist, or phobia here, thank you very much. Any and all occurrences of that will be blocked and/or denied.

No Harry Potter or DSMP please <3

Be respectful to each other and me. Lest I bawl like a big fat baby and pound my fists into the floor

Do not whine to me if your fave doesn’t win one of these silly little rounds. This is what queer infighting leads to /j

Anyways… I think I got the point across well. Bye!

Tagging for exposure (sorry that these have like 0 correlation):

@haveyouheardthisband @haveyoureadthisbook-poll @haveyouseenthismovie-poll @ao3topshipsbracket

@autistic-anime-girls-bracket

@dumbass-duo-showdown

@hot-take-tournament

@who-do-i-know-this-man

@copaganda-clobberfest

@toxicyuribracket

@fave-fight

@tournament-winners-tournament

@fictional-idol-tournament

@cinderpoll

@silly-name-tourney

@badass-queer-couples-battle

@shinypokemonshowdown

@ffshipbracket

#let them fight #Tournament #tumblr tournament #tumblr #poll tournament #poll #tournament poll #announcement #pinned

[opheliasadventures1]

Giyuu headcanons

Please request what other characters you’d like to see!

I take requests for Naruto, Demon slayer, and Harry Potter <3

general

🌊Giyuu prefers to be left alone and the quiet, compared to how most people perceive him to dislike it

🌊Giyuu finds loud and obnoxious people to be annoying, like Sanemi, Tengen, and Inosuke.

🌊Giyuu knows how to sew, and sometimes after missions he will sew up and fix his haori incase it got torn or cut

🌊Giyuu can always locate where water is for some reason

🌊Giyuu cannot cook to save his life

🌊Giyuu enjoys hanging out with Mitsuri and Gyomei as they are calmer than the other hashira and kind, even if they don’t even share a word or two

🌊Giyuu reads and keeps all of Tanjiro's letters in a stack at home, all meat and organized.

🌊Giyuu never understood the hype of the red light district

🌊Giyuu never runs out of toilet paper

Friendship

🌊Giyuu does not enjoy loud, obnoxious and aggressive people, he will not want to befriend others who have that type of personality

🌊Giyuu will listen to every word you have to say and every letter you send will be read

🌊Giyuu may not show affection in these friendships but he is tolerating and enjoying your presence just by being there with you

🌊Giyuu will definitely protect you if you are caught up in a sticky situation

🌊Giyuu appears not be unchanged if you call him a friend but he is melting on the inside at your words

Giyuu watches as you rush up to him, although he continues walking, not slowing down to give you a chance to catch up. “Giyuu!” You would call out, Giyuu glancing back as you finally catch up to the man. “Giyuu! You could've at least slowed down!” You would whine, causing him to hum and look straight ahead again, beginning to walk, making you gasp. “G-Giyuu!” You yelp out, going to quickly follow him once again

Relationship

🌊you have to be very close for him to even consider you

🌊whenever in private he always has a soft smile on his face around you

🌊treasures anything you get him and random stuff will just show up in y’all’s( or your ) bedroom in which you’ve wanted. He will not elaborate on it lol

🌊Giyuu says nothing if someone makes him jealous or flirts with you, and it can sometimes make you think he doesn’t care. He does.

🌊holds you softly whenever he hugs you (which is rare) like you will break if he hugs you any tighter

Giyuu gently brushes your hair through his fingers, his eyes downcast on your head as he hugs you. The man lets out the softest sigh as he lets his head rest against yours. “Giyuu. . .” You would murmur as he hugs you just the slightest bit closer. “Giyuu,” you repeat, causing him to sigh a little harsher. “I don’t want to…hurt you..” he murmurs as he takes his chin off your head. “I’ll be fine. It’s just a hug. . .” You would murmur, making his eyes soften. “I’ll be fine, Giyuu,” you repeat, gently moving your hand to caress his soft cheek, making him smile softly and close his eyes, resting his cheek into your hand. “Okay,” he whispers. “Okay. .” You’d whisper back.

#kny giyuu #giyuu tomioka #giyuu x reader #giyuu x y/n #kimetsu giyuu #tomioka giyu x reader #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #request #requests open #pms open #multifandom writer #multifandom imagines

[dracoxsworld]

Hey, could you do a fluff one shot for any of the chapters you write for, maybe the reader had been handed back a test she scored lower on than she had expected/ she’s being hard on herself and the character tells her she did great and he’s proud or something like that?

A/N: Bestie you asked the right person because i did SO SO bad in school lol, so i’d definitely relate to this situation. I haven’t written for Harry lately, so I decided to write for him if that’s okay. :) I hope this meets your expectations!

Proud - Harry P. x Reader

“Y/N, please don’t stress. I’m sure you did fine!” Ron assured you as you both walked to your potions class.

“Ron you don’t understand. I couldn’t even guess an answer on some questions. I couldn’t focus, I have so much on my plate,” You rambled.

“You’re smarter than you give yourself credit for,” Ron pointed out.

“Y/N! Ron!” A familiar voice called out.

You both turns around and saw Harry, your boyfriend, run up to you. “Sorry, I-“ Harry was huffing and puffing as he caught up to you.

“Breathe, Potter.” You said, patting him on the shoulder. You tried your best to hold back your laughter.

“I was running late- and” Potter sighed again.

“Well, we’re gonna be late if we just stay here, you can explain on the way” Ron stated, looking at the time on his watch.

You and Harry nodded, you took Harry’s hand in yours, and you all proceeded to walk to class.

Potions was hands down, the worst class. Snape taught it, and of course hated you, Ron, Hermione, and Harry. You struggled with the subject to begin with, and today was even more nerve-wracking; you were getting test results back.

You knew you had done poorly on this test, you didn’t have time to study with Quidditch practice, homework from other classes, and having time to actually feed and take care of yourself.

You, Ron, and Harry took your seats. Hermione was already in class, sitting in front of you three. She turned around, smiling.

“I cannot wait for these test results! The test was so easy, it was basically free points.” Hermione beamed.

You groaned loudly and put your head down. Hermione looked at you confused, shrugged and turned back forward.

“What’s wrong with her?” Harry asked Ron, concerned.

“Eh, afraid she didn’t do so swell on Snape’a test.” Ron explained.

“Y/N, love.” Harry comforted you.

“Humph.” You said, muffled from your sleeve.

Before Harry could continue, you heard the classroom doors dramatically slam, which always means class has started.

“Head up, Y/L/N.” Snape scolded, coming out of seemingly nowhere, quickly walking up the aisles.

You quickly popped your head up. Your chest felt heavy, like it was hard to breathe.

“I strongly suggest you pay attention, I am not impressed by these scores.” Snape said lowly, looking directly at you. You gulped.

Snape handed back all of the students tests, he handed yours back facing downwards, so was Ron’s. Ron sighed. “That’s never a good sign.”

You flipped your paper over.

FAILED

I strongly suggest you start to pay attention in my class, Y/F/N. - Prof. Snape

“Shit.” You said, tears immediately rushing to your eyes. You knew you didn’t do great; but you didn’t think you had flunked the test. Harry looked over at you sympathetically.

“Y/N-“

“Potter. You can continue your conversations with Miss. Y/L/N some other time. Now your time will be mine.” Snape said, snarling at you both.

-

Class had ended, you stuffed your test in your bag and rushed out of the classroom, leaving Harry and Ron in the dust without another word. You swiftly walked to your dorm room, other students noticing your upset manor and stared at you; making it worse. You opened your door, and flipped in your soft, cushioned bed.

Your face was smothered in your pillows, you were cursing yourself out, frustrated.

“I’m such a fucking idiot,” you cursed yourself.

You hear your door open.

“Go away.” You groan.

“No, please, baby. Let me talk with you.” Harry said, slightly out of breath. You sit up and face him. Once again, he was out of breath.

“It’s a lot of stairs to get here,” Harry complained, still trying to catch his breath.

You laughed softly. A small smile grew on Harry’s lips, he was grateful he could get you to at least laugh.

“Darling, plead don’t be upset about your score.” Harry said in a comforting voice. He walked up to your bed, and you automatically wrap your arms around his waist, still sitting up on the bed.

He stroked the back of your head with his fingers, curling it between two, letting you settle down. You were quietly sobbing into his stomach, definitely leaving tear stains on his shirt.

“Babydoll, it’s not that serious.” Harry said lovingly.

“It is!” You said, pulling away from him. “Everyone knows I’m an idiot from what stupid Snape said! I knew I did bad but I thought I’d do better than failing, at least a C. I’m so stupid. I guarantee I did the worst in class.”

Harry shook his head, looking down at you. He then crouched down to be in your level, brushing your hair out of your red and swollen face from crying.

“Ron got the same score as you, I didn’t do so hot either. I almost failed.”

“And what about Hermione?” You said jealously. Hermione was your friend, but she always seemed to show her test scores in your face unintentionally.

“Well…it’s Hermione. She got the best score.” Harry said, rolling his eyes. It seemed everyone was jealous of the brilliant witch. She seemed to have the ability to do everything and make it look easy.

“But that doesn’t matter, love. You set impossible expectations for yourself, potions is a hard class.” Harry said sympathetically. You grabbed his hand that was on your face, and toyed with his fingers as you listened.

“Lovely, it is one test. One. Please don’t test yourself as a failure for one bad test. You’re so intelligent, in so many ways. You’re smart in ways Hermione is not, even. You have common sense, you’re intuitive, you are so charismatic. You can start a conversation with anybody, that takes intelligence, too.”

You look up at your boyfriend, and had a small smile grow on your face.

“Really?” You sniff.

“Really, you’re doing great, love. You really are. Tell you what; we can have a study date to prepare for the next test. We can set aside time together and study.” Harry suggested.

You nodded, wiping off your tears. Harry smiled, and pulled you in for a tight hug. You were finally able to take a deep breath, and he pulled away from you.

“I love you, so much.” Harry said softly.

“I love you too, thank you.” You replied.

Harry leaned in again, only this time to kiss you softly. The kiss was innocent, and light.

“It’s my job, love. Now, let’s get something to eat.”

#harry potter x you #dating harry potter #harry potter #harry potter fluff #harry potter x reader #harry potter x y/n fluff #harry potter x reader fluff #harry potter masterlist #harry potter series #harry potter fandom #harry potter fanfiction

[readychilledwine]

do you ever feel awkward writing for Eris? I saw your poll about doing an SJM bad guys week, so I'm guessing not.

Warning - This is going to become SJM critical. Please know I am not anti any of these characters. I am, however, critical of SJM as a long-time fantasy reader.

You answered your own question in your ask there, friend.

I do not have issues writing for Eris. The main issue the fandom has with him is the situation with Mor, and here's my stance on that:

We have an issue with the timeline around this incident, so I will make my judgement call when SJM does her eventual retcon and fixes it.

We know Eris is younger than Mor and Rhys, who are around the same age. Mor was sold to Autumn as Eris's bride at the tender age of 17. When Helion is giving us his gorgeous monolog talking about his love for Momma Autumn, we find out that she and Beron were married young and had barely been married for two decades around the start of the first war. Meaning Eris was around 19 at the time.

This passage from Rhys is a little hazy and unclear, but from how I and several other people took it, he was around 28 at the start of that war, meaning Mor was also around 27 to 28. That makes Mor at least 8 to 9 years older than Eris. Meaning, he potentially was a LITERAL child when he and Mor were engaged. He would have been around the age of 7 to 9 and already had the mindset to fear Beron.

This where I am going to look SJM critical. She is great at a few things, creating plotholes by retconing, and fucking up timelines due to her retconing.

Let's say she retcons to correct that issue. We still know Eris is younger than Mor by a year or two. So, let's say he was 15 to 16. At 15 to 16 years old, I want you to think about what you would have done in this situation:

You are a young prince or princess. Your father is a known abuser and racist. You all have just found out your betrothed has sullied themselves with a person your father considers below all of you, and you know it was done to get out of a marriage she did not want to be in. You and your men find her on the border of your father's court, beaten and with a nail in her womb. Here are your options:

1. You take her back to your father, the known racist and abuser. Thus making her, in reality, his problem. You have witnessed how your father likes to handle his problems. You also know he's angry and embarrassed this female made the choice to sleep with a lesser born bastard Illyrian over marry his high fae princeling.

2. You cannot risk touching her, so leave her somewhere her friends can find her without risking her or them having to enter Autumn. This will allow her to go home, where she is safe, and heal.

In both scenarios, Eris could not win. He either took Mor to his father and risked her death and was blamed for that, or he left her knowing her friends were more than likely coming and be blamed for that as well. He was now the villain in Mor's story regardless of what actions he took, and he was that villain as a teen. A literal child. As a child he picked to allow Morrigan life. To allow her to live without being trapped the way he and his mother are.

Eris, in theory, made a selfless choice. He made the choice to damn himself and his reputation for the sake of Mor and as he says, it cost him..

As for me being willing to write other SJM bad guys-

It is perfectly normal and acceptable in every other fandom to be attracted to the bad guys and to write dark fanfiction about them. You see it all time in Tolkien, Harry Potter, and (grossly since they are all children) it has resurged in the Percy Jackson fandom. Please have several seats and let me, and the several other people who are excited for it, enjoy my little story about Pollux, my reader, and his heavy cock that sways to and fro.

It's also, as someone pumping out the amount of content I am right now, really nice to get to write a dark fic with a villain here and there for a change of pace, so thank you to everyone who is supportive and open to me doing that.

#send anons #send asks #send questions #elizabeths.updates

[litres-of-cocaine]

you people don’t know what death of the author is.

it’s from Roland Barthes’ essay of the same name about the viewpoint of academic interpretation. the essay argues that literary criticism should base itself around the reader’s interpretation rather than authorial intention. essentially saying what the author was TRYING to convey is irrelevant in comparison to what the text ACTUALLY conveys. there is some debate about the value of this method, but it is almost universally preferred by academic literary circles.

crucially, it does NOT refer to amputating a writer from the ownership/creation of their work for whatever reason. so people claiming death of the author to justify buying harry potter stuff is just plain wrong. what they are doing is (unsuccessfully) separating the art from the artist which is a dumb as fuck concept anyway but also notably different to what death of the author is.

death of the author does have some relevance to jkr if we are thinking about her attempts to retcon/add/change elements of the books outside of the narrative (i.e. on twitter and even on pottermore to an extent), as it problematises the literary norm to decenter authorial intention that has been a standard since Barthes’ 1967 essay.

(this does get tricky though if we are thinking in terms of popular culture rather than academic standards, as authors commenting upon their work and elaborating on the world their characters inhabit is a perfectly acceptable thing in modern publishing. i would say jkr’s excessive interest in exerting control over her fiction does encroach upon both lines, however, as she tries to alter the potential interpretations of her work without any textual basis and problematises academic interest as well as just the leisure associated with understanding)

this is mostly in response to people saying that death of the author doesn’t work when the author is alive and /no/ you are thinking of ‘separating the art from the artist’ which is a separate but not unconnected idea.

what annoys me about this is that it not only completely misuses death of the author but also suggests that separating the art from the artist can ever work. (it does not).

although they might seem fairly similar they actually assume completely different things. decentering authorial intent does not mean that the artist is unconnected to their output. if we were to analyse The Importance of Being Earnest, ignoring Wilde’s own experience with living a scandalous double-life would be short-sighted. we can’t isolate literature from their contexts and death of the author doesn’t try to do that. The implicit attributes of Wilde’s life seeping into the play’s narrative is a fact and we can talk about that without considering what Wilde intended. What Wilde wanted in his narrative is irrelevant, whether he intended the parallels to his own life is irrelevant, the fact that these similarities are there is interesting. The artist is the creator, a very significant factor in the text’s construction, but they don’t get to decide what their text means with any more authority than the next person.

if we ‘separate the art from the artist’ this is negated. suddenly we cannot analyse the text with any kind of seriousness as the foundations of the text have disappeared. you cannot separate jk rowling from harry potter because so much of the text is built upon white english middle class sensibilities. what we write and how we interpret what other people write is based on our identities, and who we are. you take that away the book might as well be empty.

so yes separating the art from the artist doesn’t work in jkr’s case because it never works, and what you are talking about is definitely NOT death of the author.

if someone wants to buy crummy wizard hats then they should go for it, but pretending that you’re safe from blame is ridiculous .

#if you are going to do something bad knowing it’s bad accept it #don’t try and pander your way out of it #do it!!! accept that human beings do shitty things!!! #and if it makes you feel bad about yourself - good. don’t do it next time #jkr #jk rowling #harry potter #death of the author #separating the art from the artist #terfs suck also 👍 #hope this helps #long post #discourse

[atlasdoe]

Unpopular Marauders opinions

i'm bored so here are some opinions that i'm too scared to say on any other platform

Deciding that Pandora Lovegood had to be from a death eater family (Rosier, Malfoy, Lestrange) was the worst thing this fandom ever did to her character

The fannon characterisation of Marlene McKinnon gives me massive self inset pick me vibes and i hate every part of it (and i really mean every part of it)

This fandom isn't misogynistic y'all are just too demanding and expect the fandom to be the exact same as any other where we have a hardcore cannon source for every one of these characters and ships. we do not. we know more about Barty Crouch Jr then we do about Marlene McKinnon, Mary MacDonald and Dorcas Meadowes combined. it's unrealistic and stupid to expect everyone to care about the same characters and ships to the same capacity as you do when we are not watching/reading the same thing. (if any of that makes sense)

Barty Crouch Jr, Evan Rosier and pretty much every single other death eater were villains. it's okay to like them and want to expand on them but stop trying to make every bad guy secretly good

We cannot keep blaming Dumbledore for everything. Dumbledore had nothing to do with half of the deaths that you are accusing him of. blaming Dumbledore and headcannoning that he obliviated Mary and turned Regulus away and all that takes away from everyone else's characters, sacrifice and choices

The Marauders weren't child soldiers. They had a choice on if they wanted to join the Order or not and they chose to because they're Gryffindors and they're The Marauders and probably thought of themselves as some invisible hero's. They don't need to be seen as victims to Dumbledore for them to be tragic

There is a cannon and you cannot be mad at people for wanting to stick by it

Similarly Fannon Sirius is against cannon. Sirius is one of the primary adult characters in the Harry Potter series. He is literally the title character to the fan favourite book/film. We have so much information about how he acts and "oh Remus i'm your little bitch please let me sit on your lap because i'm only small" ISNT ONE OF THEM

Death to alpha male Remus. DEATH I SAY

This fandom is so obsessed with making every character tragic that the word has lost all meaning. It is possible for Mary to be happy yknow???

Someone in the fandom: "hey look at this cannon character who seems quite interesting" The rest of the fandom: "how can we make this character have some kind of relation to every other character that we already care about??" IM SO SICK OF IT!!! NOT EVERYONE HAS TO BE DATING EVERYONE

Stop trying to change the name of the Slytherin Skittles. Yes it's a stupid name but it's somehow stuck and you're not changing that. just let it be

I ship Remus with anyone who is not more then a year younger then him and i mean literally everyone. Give me Remus and Voldemort fanfic for all I care

I've already said this before but the prank is overrated

Leave my girl Emmeline alone. Why are y'all shipping her with Barty?? Why are you making her the other women to Marlily?? Why are you making her anything but a Ravenclaw?? Do you hate her?? She hasn't done anything to you😭😭 (no but seriously tho i get that headcannons are headcannons but Emmeline is my girl and i have been expanding on her character since 2019 when no one gave a rats arse about her so seeing her shipper with BARTY ruined my life)

That's all i can think of for now please don't hate me but if you wanna talk send me an ask or reply cause i love talking about this kind of stuff :)

#the marauders #harry potter #the marauders era #wolfstar #jegulus #james potter #remus lupin #sirius black #regulus black #dorlene #pandora lovegood #emmeline vance #barty crouch jr #evan rosier #rosekiller #marlene mckinnon #mary macdonald #aces unpopular opinions

[disgracefulthings]

Someone has asked me to recommend some fics, I don't think this is what they meant, but here is a list of my favorite fanfiction I have read over the years

Harry Potter

Text Talk

merlywhirls

Summary:

Sirius is in boarding school, Remus is in hospital, and they don't know each other until Sirius texts the wrong number.

My thoughts: I don't know if there is a wolfstar shipper who hasn't read this story, but it is amazing. A majority of the story is told through text messages, which is a real creative choice and I absolutely believed the author pulled it off!

I Know Not, and I Cannot Know; Yet I Live and I Love

billowsandsmoke

Summary:

Severus Snape has his emotions in check. He knows that he experiences anger and self-loathing and a bitter yearning, and that he rarely deviates from that spectrum… Until the first-year Luna Lovegood arrives to his class wearing a wreath of baby’s breath. Over the next six years, an odd friendship grows between the two, and Snape is not sure how he feels about any of it.

My thoughts: A fanfiction that explores the relationship between a student and a teacher that doesn't make it romantic??? Hallelujah, never thought I would see the day. Not gonna lie, this is my favorite fanfiction of all time. While I like Snape in the original story, he doesn't develop as a character, like, at all. Which is why I can see why people don't like him, but this story gives him some development, and his relationship with Luna is absolutely heartwarming. And to those fans who think Harry got over his abuse of Snape too fast, I recommend this to you. Not sure you know, but Snape fucking dies in the book (spoilers, I know), and the author makes sure to give Harry some development too. Bring tissues, because you're gonna cry.

The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

we'll get him falling for a stranger (or a catfish)

sweetlolixo

Summary:

Lan Wangji: Yingying? Lan Wangji: Are you busy with class? Lan Wangji: Won’t disturb you if that’s the case. Lan Wangji: (´• ω •`) Wei Ying wants to cry. What jock uses kaomojis? Ever? Or, Wei Ying is hired by a client to catfish Lan Wangji online, as a hot girl, for revenge. Except, Lan Wangji is not the playboy jock he expected...

My thoughts: This is a pure fluffy and hilarious story. If you like it when characters face consequences for their actions, then probably skip this because people do a whole lotta shit and completely get away with it (except Su She, but fuck Su She)

how to fall in love with a catfish: a guide by wei wuxian (disaster rat)

bwyn, Yuisaki

Summary:

A new plan hatches in Wei Wuxian’s head. If this nocturnal, bottom-feeding, slimy, invasive mudcat posing as a beautiful actor thinks he can sway Wei Wuxian with animal pictures and a sob story and an unbelievably stilted way of texting with still no dick pictures in the first five minutes of conversation, he has another thing coming. Wei Wuxian’s got it, alright, he has this in the fucking bag. Wei Wuxian plots to expose a catfish using strategic memes and turtle pictures while wiggling his way out of family dinner. Lan Wangji just wants companions.

My thoughts: Another catfishing story?!?! Except not really because Wei Wuxian has issues. Not gonna lie, I've only read this once, but god damn, did it destroy me. I don't reread it because I don't like it, but because I'm afraid of feeling all those emotions again. You know how I said the last story has no consequences, well this one has all of them. Watch Wei Wuxian as he slowly destroys his life, before finally putting himself back together and allowing himself to accept love. Another story you will need tissues for.

A Corpse Called By Name

jaemyun

Summary:

A continuation of zombie drabble! She loses her brother in a hoard of the undead. She finds a corpse wearing his face in a convenience store. The corpse calls her name.

My thoughts: I hate zombie movies, but I am absolutely fine with zombie fics. The story starts like how all good Wei Wuxian stories start: with him fucking dying. Watch a dead man build a family and slowing piece himself back together (metaphorically, he isn't falling apart due to decay)

Scum Villain Self Saving System

Bros before... well everything I guess

Icannotthinkofapenname

Summary:

Shen Yuan tried not to think of his original family too often, his parents, his brothers, and sister… Nope. Done with that train of thought. He’s Shen Qingqiu now. This was a new life, and he has a new family to look after. Sometimes a family consists of 12 martial sibilings and a whole lot of disciples. Just a buncha fluff of Shen Qingqiu, Shang Qinghua, their martial sibilings and the kids. Shenanigans ensue.

My thoughts: Another purely fluffy fic, though I have to mention something I really like about it. You see, I have a bit of a pet peeve when canon divergence fanfiction basically follow all of the important plot points from the original story. This story does that, but it doesn't do the scenes in full and only really mentions that it happened, and I think it's great. I don't need to read about Sha Hualing's demon invasion for the 50th time, let's move on and get to the things that matter! Like Shang Qinghua in wedding robes. Also there's a lot of platonic cumplane, which I could never get enough of.

Recovery

Moonsheen

Summary:

Luo Binghe returns to Cang Qiong Mountain with a grievously injured Shen Qingqiu. The trouble is, it's the wrong Shen Qingqiu. AKA The original Shen Qingqiu gets a happy ending, whether he likes it or not.

My thoughts: There aren't many fanfictions I have found that depict Shen Jiu in all his cruel glory. People usually sand him down, like, 'oh, he didn't actually give Luo Binghe his cultivation notebook, that was Ming Fan', or, 'he was more neglectful than monstrous'. I don't mind these interpretations of Shen Jiu, but I feel like stories are more rewarding when you try to heal the man at his scummiest. Recovery is a multi part serious that slowly shows Shen Jiu recover (see what I did there??) from what Bingge has done to him, while also finally finding happiness with Yue Qingyuan.

We Are Not Wise

Boomchick, Suzoomie

Summary:

When Shen Qingqiu drew Shen Yuan’s soul sword, it felt like being burned from the inside out. The fire wasn’t cruel, but it was still fire—hot and destructive, searing the softest pieces of him.   When Binghe’s fingers touch the hilt, he is ready for pain. Transmigrated into a version of Proud Immortal Demon Way where cultivators manifest their own souls into spiritual weapons, Shen Yuan finds himself sort of kind of…accidentally blackmailing Shen Qingqiu into taking him on as a disciple before Luo Binghe joins the sect. That should give Shen Yuan plenty of opportunities to make sure nothing goes wrong for his favorite protagonist, right? RIGHT!? A story of twists, turns, hope, despair, and soul swords. Written for the Bingqiu Reverse Minibang 2023, illustrated and conceptualized by the incredible Suzu!

My thoughts: The last fic has Shen Jiu healing arc, this one has his father arc. Another story you need tissues for, and for multiple chapters, my god is it hard to read and cry at the same time. Another really good premise that was knocked out of the park by the authors.

pride is not the word I'm looking for

Tossawary

Summary:

Shang Qinghua goes to take a self-indulgent peek at his baby protagonist son and gets a kick to the shrivelled heart for his troubles. He gave up on changing the story years ago! Yet he finds himself helping his protagonist son's adoptive mother anyway. Just this one change won't matter too much, right? One little change leads to more. Shang Qinghua never meant to care, but he becomes invested in making sure that his new family survives the looming plot. With the changes to the world cascading around him, with his position as a traitor pulling him between his sect and a certain ice demon, and with the protagonist growing up so quickly, how is one displaced author meant to ensure that everything turns out all right? A Pre-Canon to Canon Divergence story.

My thoughts: I'm gonna be honest, this is the only story on here that I have not finished. I struggle with reading fics that are 400k words long (and by struggle I mean I don't finish them), but this is a story I come back to and reread (and attempt to finish), mostly for one arc. There is a part of the story where Shang Qinghua help look for Luo Jiahui's (Luo Binghe's mom) missing sister, and it is without a doubt the best arc I have ever read in fanfiction. If you are like me and don't like long fanfiction, I still recommend reading this story at least up to that arc, you wont regret it. I also have to say this is my favorite interpretation of Luo Binghe's mom.

Servant to a Different King

Tossawary

Summary:

As the head disciple of An Ding Peak, Shang Qinghua threw the plot out the window and abandoned his sect, and now he enjoys a luxurious life as Tianlang-Jun and Su Xiyan's most treasured and trusted advisor, as the happy couple rules over the Demon Realm together with iron fists. He has everything a transmigrator could want. Unfortunately, there's only so long that the Imperial Advisor can continue to avoid another of Tianlang-Jun's favorite underlings: Mobei-Jun, the new Northern King. An attempt on Shang Qinghua's life inside the Underground Palace itself forces him back into the company of the demon who was once destined to kill his character - and who also once promised to kill him if they ever met again.

My thoughts: Another Tossawary story! This time Shang Qinghua saves Luo Binghe's mom (wait didn't that happen in the last one?) and dad (ok, so it's different). A Moshang focus story where Shang Qinghua tries to avoid having an awkward (and possibly deadly) conversation with Mobei-Jun, which becomes an impossible task because he is now his personal guard. I love the cocenpt of having Shang Qinghua work under Tianlang-Jun, and the interactions between those two are always hilarious.

YuGiOh

An Apocalypse Means Nothing Because You Are The World In Which I Live

sitabethel

Summary:

When an old tomb-keeper steals the Millennium Tome in order to raise the dead, the gods are forced to send Atem back to the world of the living to end the crisis; however, Bakura doesn't trust him to save Marik, so the thief finds his own way back. Meanwhile, the goddess Isis makes a deal with a certain dark entity, offering him a soul in exchange for his services.

My thoughts: Ok, it's been many years since I have last read this story, but I still have to add it to my recommendations because of how batshit insane it is. This is a zombie apocalypses story taking place in yugioh, the story where everything is solved by card games. Do you know how they stop the zombie outbreak? CARD GAMES! Like holy shit, this story is crazy, but it's also on brand. I used to be into thiefshipping and other yugioh ships, so if you're like that then I definitely recommend this one.

Annnddd those are my recommendations. Feel free to judge my taste, but I will unapologetically love these stories till the day I die.

#fanfic recommendation #fanfiction #harry potter #wolfstar #sirius black #remus lupin #severus snape #luna lovegood #wangxian #wei wuxian #lan wangji #mxtx #mxtx mdzs #mo dao zu shi #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation #mxtx svsss #scum villian self saving system #bingqiu #qijiu #moshang #shen qingqiu #shen jiu #luo binghe #shang qinghua #yue qingyuan #mobei jun #yugioh #thiefshipping #yami bakura #marik ishtar

[velaryqns]

Velaryqn's Masterlist

Hello! Welcome to my new Masterlist, this contains all of the fics I have written as well as the fandoms I will write for and rules, please make sure to look closely before sending requests at what I will write for!!

Fandoms Include/Masterlist:

Criminal Minds

House MD

ASOIAF

Harry Potter

How to Get Away With Murder

Succession

911

Marvel

I will not write...

Smut

Child Loss

Professor x Student (or anything that creates an illegal age gap)

Physical, Mental, or any other kind of abuse

Incestuous relationships

Characters I will not write for... (these reasons are either because I do not like these characters, they're overhyped, etc.)

Aegon Targaryen II

Aemond Targaryen

Bucky Barnes

James Potter

Sirius Black

Tony Stark

Wanda Maximoff

Alicent Hightower

Criston Cole

There's more I cannot think of, but do not be afraid to ask if I will write for someone or not!

#fanfic #fanfiction writer #oneshots #reader insert #gregory house x reader #house x reader #james wilson x reader #gregory house #robert chase x reader #robert chase #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner #derek morgan x reader #derek morgan #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid #emily prentiss x reader #jennifer jareau x reader #luke alvez x reader #daemon targeryen x reader #how to get away with murder #frank delfino x reader #asher millstone x reader #wes gibbons x reader #succesion #kendall roy x reader #roman roy x reader #tom wambsgans #shiv roy x reader #steve rogers x reader

[luna-rainbow]

I think both critique and criticism of the MCU needs to occur in context of its genre.

What I mean is, the MCU is a superhero genre, which is distinct from plain action films or sci-fi films. It is meant to be a fairytale for adults, and comes with all the necessary conventions.

The story is meant to be short and by nature a simplified (rather than simplistic) version of the real world. It is okay that not all the complexities of the world is captured on screen (* as distinct from when it introduces complexity then fails to follow it up).

Its core components consist of a hero or heroine, a villain, and a journey of good overcoming evil. In this simplified framework, an entire concept (e.g. fascism) is usually represented by a single character or entity (e.g. Pierce or Hydra), whose defeat symbolises the defeat of his ideals. We know that in the real world the loss of a single man does not defeat an entire movement, but this is an acceptable genre convention. There is usually magic involved: even in the most "grounded" of MCU's franchises, e.g. the Cap series or Black Widow, there is still a magical component even if it is explained away as pseudoscience.

As part of this convention, superhero movies are inherently about exploring morality. It positions its heroes as inspirational, and their moral character as aspirational. Unlikely fanfiction, these Hollywood movies have incredible cultural reach and impact, which is why critical analysis of their themes are not only worthwhile, but necessary. You can choose to not think critically about the media you engage with (god knows I switch off my brain too), but you cannot fault other people for critically analysing a franchise that regularly rakes in billions for what sort of message it is projecting through its heroes.

It is why discussions of who MCU chooses to frame as villains are worthwhile. Why pre-Disney MCU villains consisted of profit-chasing warmongers, eugenics spouting Nazis, governments proposing to execute its citizens before they have committed a crime; and why post-Disney MCU villains consisted of disenfranchised workers, disenfranchised immigrants, disenfranchised racial minorities. Why pre-Disney villains represented the cogs in a broken system, and post-Disney villains were often those who were trying to buck the system.

It is why discussions of what MCU chooses to frame as "heroism" is important. Why pre-Disney MCU heroes demonstrated the many permutations of associating power with responsibility, and strength with protection; why post-Disney MCU heroes simply...just are. They are passably nice folks who passively allow the plot to push them along and they seem to do acceptably decent things when forced by circumstance, but they present no belief of their own.

It reminds me of that long meta about Harry Potter and a particular brand of essentialism that says you are a hero only if you are the chosen one, and if you are in that special cohort then you can do no wrong, because heroism is simply you. It is in direct contrast to early MCU where the heroes have to learn what heroism means to them, and then to earn it by choosing to make a sacrifice of some kind.

The earlier MCU heroes dreamed of a better world, and their fairytale was one of activism. The current MCU heroes wait for trouble to chase them down before they make any stance. They are a fairytale in essentialism, in which heroism is an embedded, quintessential, eternal inner quality they are born with, and their choice - regardless of who they're fighting for or the context it is made - is always heroic.

#anti mcu #meta #anti disney

[saintsenara]

Hi! for the Snape asks game I propose you 1, 4, 45, 46, 48 and 49 . If that's too much you can cut it and keep only the ones you find interesting :))

thank you very much for the ask, @big-scary-bird! all of these were interesting :)

also tagging @bronzeagepizzeria here, since you asked the exact same sequence of questions.

[snape ask game here]

1. do you have a snOTP? what is it?

in an extremely cultured move… it’s severus snape/lord voldemort. i just think they belong together! once they move past the whole ‘using nagini to rip your throat out’ thing…

voldemort is obviously incredibly fond of snape - not only because he must recognise so much of himself in him (feral working-class children with muggle names and disappointing dads need to stick together, after all), but because they have a shared attitude towards magic, the defining force in both of their lives.

voldemort describes himself in goblet of fire as someone who dabbles in creating potions, we know he’s a great inventor of spells, and we - of course - know that he’s someone who’s experimented deeply with all sorts of magic, macabre or otherwise. in this, he understands snape’s attitude towards magic exactly - it’s clear in canon that one of the tensions between snape and dumbledore prior to half-blood prince is that dumbledore cannot countenance someone having even a theoretical interest in dark magic. but snape clearly does, even as his willingness to use that magic to harm and control disappears.

voldemort can appreciate that - it’s what he’s talking about when he tells harry that there is no good and evil, only power - and i can very easily picture the two of them ending up in bed together the first time when a discussion about potions theory got out of hand. you can decide for yourself if voldemort is still hot at this scenario…

it’s also clear from canon that voldemort is one of the few people in snape’s life who takes an active interest in improving it - snape must become a death eater because voldemort offers him a chance to transcend the restrictive class structure which rips opportunities away from poor half-bloods unless they have a slughorn-esque patron - which i think is an aspect of his personality which is too often overlooked.

plus - the adult snape clearly models how he speaks and comports himself on voldemort (seriously, they have near-identical speech patterns, they get a lot of the same movement and dialogue descriptors), which is cute. maybe the dark lord took him shopping for his first set of bat-like robes. (he did - he was getting sick of the brown corduroy bell-bottoms which snape was obsessed with in the seventies.)

and - of course - the reason that snape is the only death eater to whom voldemort teaches the principle of unaided flight is because they were going on lots of romantic midnight swoopings over the countryside. i love that for them.

4. do you think snape remained a virgin?

i don’t think it matters either way, but i think it is worth interrogating why saying no to this question often provokes the response that, if snape had slept around, then his love for lily would no longer be as profound or legitimate as it would have if he’d never had anyone else since he couldn’t have her.

the harry potter fandom has a real issue with conflating sex and love [just see any discussion of whether voldemort actually slept with bellatrix, even though it’s canon that he did] and with having slightly puritanical views on people having meaningless sex for no reason other than the fact that they enjoy it [it feels like every time i see a character written as promiscuous in something, it’s always because they have a reason™, usually a traumatic one, rather than because fucking is fun]. but indulging in sex for physical pleasure and pleasure alone does not make you any less capable of being stalwartly committed to the mission you took for yourself in honour of the dead love of your life. it’s just sex.

so no, i don’t think snape remained a virgin. all teachers need to blow off steam every once in a while, and i think he probably had a sequence of one night stands while on the piss in knockturn alley which meant nothing to him. i’m sure his capacity for self-loathing meant that he felt very bad for doing so, but that sounds like a him problem.

[as an aside, it also seems to me that the scepticism about whether snape had a casual sex life is also rooted in the fact that he’s canonically unattractive - whereas the fact that many people headcanon sirius, who i think was actually infinitely more likely not to have slept with anyone, since he spent his teen years pining for james and his sowing-wild-oats years in azkaban, as a womaniser is entirely because he’s described as hot - but ugly people get to bone too.]

45. what is your opinion on snape's sexuality?

snape’s a bi disaster.

i am convinced, for example, that his canonical vibe with sirius is caused by the fact that he fancies him - he loves acting up in an attempt to get sirius’ attention (him making excuses to pop into grimmauld place to neg sirius about how he’s spending all his time cleaning… immaculate), despite the fact that the way he behaves around lupin suggests that he ought to be avoidant of him, given their history.

plus, his obvious thing for powerful men is what gets him into trouble in the first place. lord voldemort only had to flutter his eyelashes a couple of times and snape was done for… and when it comes to dumbledore, well you know what they say about men with supremely powerful wands…

46. which of the marauders do you think snape could have gotten along with?

sirius, for the reason outlined above.

48. did you feel that snape was the "good guy" even before the reveal?

answered here - the tl;dr is that i did because i'm built different.

49. do you prefer tall!snape or short!snape?

snape is, canonically, a short king. he’s five-eight and feral and i love that for him.

#snape ask game #severus snape #asks answered