boysenberrybrew

[boysenberrybrew]

More Voldemort! I don’t think I’ve ever drawn so much of him

I love how Tom Riddle turned out.. like.. what a punchable face! He’s the most beautiful person ever but you freaking hate him, you know? It’s perfect!

At one point I want to draw a progression of Harry’s scar, I have a very cool idea for it

[boysenberrybrew]

[boysenberrybrew]

Im gonna be so real can yall actually talk about ways we can support trans women in the UK instead of giving all the attention to fucking JKR. I already know that Harry Poter sucks, I wanna know how to actually HELP people. Something something you have to love the oppressed more than you hate the oppressor

[boysenberrybrew]

Senara, as a resident serious adult with a good grasp on the UK political and cultural landscape, AND the Harry Potter fandom, may I ask:

What impact does the fandom actually have on policies that impact transgender people?

I want to be the best ally I can be to trans folk, and I have seen discussions advocating that the Harry Potter franchise falling into oblivion is the only real way to de-platform JK Rowling.

I don’t entirely disagree - but I also suspect that the fandom as we know on Tumblr and Discord could be a much less influential bubble than it thinks itself to be, and not the main target audience for new movies, shows, and merchandising.

Is simply not consuming products from the franchise enough, or is engaging in extremely niche discussions on a cloudless micro-blogging platform still fanning the fire of Harry Potter, and giving ammunition to JKR to continue on her rampage of infantilising those who challenge her and targeting trans rights?

I don’t want to be naive or wilfully ignorant about my participation in this culture. But I want to know if blogging about Snupin smut and reading fanfiction on free independent platforms still trickles down to making JKR’s voice louder.

I also sometimes think that Harry Potter achieved the status of undeniable cultural staple, and oblivion is simply not an option - much like Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. I can force myself to forget and never engage with it again, but is it at all realistic in a global scale?

Is there an erroneous assumption that most of us on tumblr and discord are on team “fuck JKR, read fanfcition and pirate the books”? Or are offline elder millennials buying HP merch and reading the books to their kids carrying the franchise on their backs?

Or none of this matters, because HP is already part of the popular imagination, and it’s the tragedy of our times that big corporations will inevitably milk it forever?

Hope this is not too much of an awkward question, I really appreciate your insights

the way that the fandom impacts trans rights is by earning jkr money.

jkr's public transphobia - her comments on twitter etc. - absolutely contributes to recruiting others to the anti-trans cause, and that shouldn't be downplayed.

but being loud and wrong on social media isn't the same as having political or legal authority - jkr doesn't have this, and she doesn't deserve people thinking she does.

how she causes material harm to trans people in the uk [which then hurts all trans people, because other places may choose to follow suit] is because she donates colossal sums of money to legal cases which challenge trans people's rights. it's not just yesterday's judgement from the uk supreme court - in which the plaintiff was an anti-trans group she's on the record as having donated £70,000 to - she does it all the time.

she can donate this money because it's loose change for her. she makes millions every year.

and it doesn't come from mid-tier detective fiction, does it?

so, yes, here is the first truth - if she doesn't earn any money from you, you're not contributing to the overarching way her anti-trans crusade has an impact, and that matters.

but there is also a second truth - that you need to go beyond that.

several things need to be borne in mind:

jkr is one of the most visible - if not the single most visible - transphobes in the world. but she's not the only one.

the tendency to make her the figurehead of a transphobic movement, and to assume that disengaging with harry potter without doing anything else is enough may be comforting. but it's also wrong.

indeed, a lot of the people who have the greatest power to harm trans rights are nowhere near as visible as jkr - politicians, lawyers, journalists, academics, doctors, and so on. the supreme court did not reach its judgement because of jkr. the assault on trans rights which will unfold from the judgement will not happen because of her.

i'm not saying this to deny jkr's influence or to imply that she's not dangerous.

i'm saying it because i think it's important to remember that she has a vested interest in you feeling tiny and hopeless in the face of her money - in you thinking that she's the head of a movement and that movement is winning.

instead, the uk terf movement is fragmented and riddled with internecine beef. plenty of its factions don't actually like jkr - and she doesn't like plenty of them.

it can be fought, and it can be fought at the grassroots while she's in her mouldy tower being a bigot on twitter.

it's worth being absolutely clear that yesterday's supreme court ruling was not - in and of itself - new legislation. the uk supreme court does not have the power to make new laws. only parliament can do that.

it was a "clarification" - which is to say that it was an interpretation - of existing legislation. it - by itself - doesn't compel an institution or organisation to change anything. and it is, therefore, an interpretation which can be pushed back against.

this has already started - there's an excellent summary of objections to the judgement, which also provides a rebuttal to the crowing many terfs are doing about how trans rights are being rolled back by pointing out all the ways in which they will not be surrendered:

sadly, this is behind a paywall. it's summarised here, in an article from the same writer, a practising barrister who is a specialist in employment and discrimination law:

and all of us can do things which enable that pushback to continue, above all, in making clear to our mps that they only have our votes if they - at a bare minimum - continue to defend trans rights.

find their contact details here:

if you have an mp who is clear that they support restrictions on trans rights, then actively oppose them - call for them to be reselected at the next election [sadly a while away...], canvas for an opponent etc.

support institutions which continue to defend trans rights. the supreme court judgement doesn't force places to, for example, ban trans women from entering women's toilets [parliament could pass legislation which does, but that doesn't exist yet, and that's why you need to contact your mp], but plenty will be frightened into doing so. be loud about how you value and will continue to use businesses and services which don't bend to transphobic pressure.

donate to trans charities. lots are circulating, but here are some specifically northern irish options, which tend to otherwise get overlooked:

boost stories about the impact of transphobic legislation. it's crucial that you don't underestimate how little the average person knows about this [and about jkr's role in it in particular] - and this is something which helps anti-trans messaging sound more reasonable. but we can reach them first.

what you do with harry potter as a thing beyond this is always going to be subjective. i've set out more on my personal approach before - here - and, of course, you may do what you want.

but - since you've asked - i think two things are true:

on the one hand, harry potter is a juggernaut. the tumblr subsection of the fandom could disappear tonight and the impact would be minimal - harry potter is probably one of the most mainstream cultural products in the world.

and that's how it makes jkr money - branded merchandise, the theme parks, the studio tour, royalties from streaming, and so on.

fandom doesn't require you to engage with any of these. and i do think it's acceptable to understand a commitment not to give jkr money as a viable and sincerely significant harm-reduction strategy.

however.

on the other hand, the vitality of the fandom plays a role in making harry potter marketable. this is undeniable.

and this is the case for all areas of the fandom - i see a lot of cope ["jkr would hate my queer otp!"], but people can get sucked into liking harry potter through anything. having a non-canon take on things, or writing dead dove, or whatever doesn't prevent that.

but it's especially the case for areas of the fandom which are prominent in pop-culture independently of jkr.

i don't just mean the marauders subfandom here - i think we can all stand to grapple with this implication, and i think there's a tendency from people in less prominent fandom subsections to think that they don't have to, which exists at the other end of a spectrum from the tendency from people in the marauders subfandom to assume that their lax approach to canon absolves them from any connection to jkr.

this is a difficult circle to square because it's something which gives jkr visibility indirectly. there's no way, for example, that she's in contact with e.g. artists whose songs go viral in marauders tiktoks, whose youtube comments are then flooded with "can't believe i'm thinking about harry potter's dead dad 😭". and she doesn't earn money from it.

fanfiction and fanart also lives in this indirect space.

jkr doesn't gain any money from it - and that is important. it's also a medium which may engage with the subject matter of the series critically - through taking issue with how she writes about gender, for example - and this is important as well.

but she doesn't gain nothing from it either.

my personal view is that the only way to remain in fandom is two-fold:

as discussed, make sure you're actually doing something in defence of trans people in your real life...

and make sure that your indirect contribution to jkr's nonsense never becomes a direct one.

that is to say, don't spend any money.

and - and this is the important thing - actually mean that.

i think that a very important thing to do if you want to stay in the fandom is to work on building yourself a mental defence against the fear of missing out.

by which i mean... in the circles in which i move, people seem - at the moment - to universally agree that they won't be watching the new television adaptation.

but i find it very striking - and very concerning - that lots of people seem to be taking the view that doing this will be easy, because the tv show won't be any good.

i strongly - strongly - advise you to prepare yourselves for the opposite. expect that the show will be absolutely outstanding. deal with your disappointment in missing out in advance. and do not engage with it, no matter what it tries to tempt you with.

we are about to see an unprecedented level of fan service. every single complaint people made about the film series will be addressed. it's going to make sure that ron is written book-accurately. it's going to give romione or hinny or whatever as it "should have been" in the films. it's going to whip out some really big name casting [cillian murphy has had months to shut down the rumour that he's voldemort... and if it comes to pass, his casting will bring a legion of peaky blinders fans on board. do not be one of them.]. i would bet my house that it's going to make wolfstar canon.

and it's going to do this because it knows that's how people who have committed to not watching it will waver - that, when faced with "i've got the chance to see x done properly" or "god, i love y in everything else they're in", people will go "lol, no ethical consumption under capitalism" and consume anyway.

but there is a more ethical strand of harry potter consumption, and that's consumption which does all it can to limit its impact to only benefitting jkr indirectly, and which takes that task seriously.

[boysenberrybrew]

Somewhere

[boysenberrybrew]

40 Tomarrymort Recs for 2024 — Longfic Edition (Part 3)

Part 3 of 2024 recs! See below for a round-up of some of the most engaging multi-chaptered works/longfics that I came across in this ship in 2024 🤍

As with last year, I found each of these fics, in their depiction of the ship, to be a fresh or surprising take on our familiar beloved characters of Harry and Tom|Voldemort, with an emphasis on underrated fics and/or fics that made me think about the ship in some new way. It's amazing to me that even after 20+ years of writing in this ship, there are still so many new themes and tropes and angles to explore. 

Criteria for this list: multi-chaptered, Tomarrymort-centric, with at least 1 update published in 2024. 

Overall, for 2024, I've split up my year-end recs into 3 parts: (1) Completed Multi-Chapter Fics, (2) One-Shots, (3) WIPs. Here’s the link back to Part 1: Completed Multi-Chapter Fics with 30 fics and Part 2: One-Shots with 30 fics. And with these 40 fics, this wraps up 100 recs for Tomarrymort for 2024!

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a cool drink of water by @zolpidem105 (E, 10k, WIP)

Harry Potter, an apprentice at Police Scotland, wakes up to find he’s not in his bed.  "Awake? Excellent. We should get going," Tim?—Tom—says from the side, sounding far, far too alert for what Harry feels is catastrophically early in the morning.

A Simple Request by @shyinsunlight (E, 70k, WIP)

Harry can't sleep because of his neighbours' constant fighting, and he ends up falling asleep at work. Tom Riddle, CEO, is not particularly happy.

Accidents happen by @themothatyourdoor (T, 51k, WIP)

Harry must have been London's first accidental sugar daddy.

And the Living Will Envy the Dead by @k-s-morgan (M, 114k, WIP)

When Tom looks at Harry, he feels nothing. Until he does, and then Harry’s world starts drowning in blood.

Anytime, Anywhere, Always by @moontearpensfic (E, 30k, WIP)

Tom expects to feel victorious at his greatest enemy's confession. Instead, he develops a crush on him.

Auror Potter by @albondiguilla007 (E, 21k, WIP)

Harry Potter is done. He's been in the past for months now, working undercover. Enter Tom Riddle. Impulse control has never been a strong suit of Harry’s, and this mission is proving to be the most difficult one yet.

By Any Means by @corpium (E, 101k, WIP)

Harry Potter will do anything to protect his little brother, whether that means facing the Dursleys' wrath, dogging his brother's footsteps, or taking down the Dark Lord himself. Absolutely anything.

Crush by @chiocchi (T, 4 chapters, WIP)

Tom Riddle doesn't know what it's like to have a crush. So when his heart starts beating fast every time he sees Harry Potter, it can only mean one thing: His instincts are telling him that Harry Potter is a threat that must be eliminated.

Do It Over by @marrythemonstersao3 (T, 57k, WIP)

Harry wakes up on the morning of his eleventh birthday, ready to do things differently this time. He has no grand plans, just the instinct to be close to the man whose soul he shares.

draw me after you (let us run) by @toast-ranger-to-a-stranger (E, 287k, WIP)

“Harry Potter,” comes the soft, sibilant hiss of a voice he has heard in his dreams, in his nightmares, in his waking hours for years. “It seems I have finally caught you.” 

Echoes by @dracomort (M, 4k, WIP)

Across a thousand worlds, Harry and Tom find each other.

Embryo by @cannibalinc (NR, 112k, WIP)

This is Tom’s destiny, a King among men. No—a god. He need only rise to that which is his for the taking… if only one strange boy weren’t so determined to get in his way.

Hole in the Wall by @elddrmot (E, 77k, WIP)

Voldemort survives the final battle and is imprisoned in Azkaban. After a series of unfortunate events, Harry Potter ends up in the cell next to him.

Ills of Murder by @shadow-of-the-eclipse (M, 90k, WIP)

Harry Potter is a time-travelling, furious mess, and he is going to kill the Dark Lord. Like most of his plans, things do not work out. Tom should not be so obsessed with his would-be murderer.

Liquida Tenebris (Remastered) by @dymis (E, 595k, WIP)

When Harry Potter cast his first Cruciatus Curse, he was successful. In doing so, he awoke the darkness in his head. It whispers, and it's never wrong. The darkness is hungry, and won’t be denied.

Moon Rite by @isalisewrites (E, 15k, WIP)

Voldemort learned the truth: Harry was his horcrux. With a sudden offer of a ceasefire, the decades long war could be over - lives saved and protected - if Harry swore to one agreement: a magically binding marriage contract with Voldemort himself.

No Glory by @obsidianpen (E, 313k, WIP)

The Dark Lord divines what Harry Potter is in the Forbidden Forest, and revelations lead to incomprehensible consequences. Lord Voldemort has won... and the dystopia is damning.

Of Kings, of Pawns, and of Men by @ambivalens999 (E, 166k, WIP)

When Harry succumbs to dementors in Little Whinging, the last thing he expects is to wake and find Tom Riddle’s face staring back at him in the mirror. It only goes downhill from there.

of various storms and saints by MaidenMotherCrone (E, 36k, WIP)

“I am the last Lector. I am my people’s very last hope,” Harry bites out through the teeth of his fury. He is done throwing curses and spells. He is reduced to this, divine rage.  And then, Voldemort is there, looming and dark and great and terrible. “And I will stamp it out.”

One Year In Every Ten by @saintsenara (E, 207k, WIP)

A decade after the final battle, just when the wizarding world thinks itself safe, a serial killer emerges, leaving a trail of dead women in his wake. Each of the bodies bears a gruesome message for the Aurors. A message which claims the Dark Lord has risen again.

Reckless Cartography by @meles-merrivale (M, 39k, WIP)

Featuring Harry and Tom attending Hogwarts together and slowly ruining each other’s lives.

Revolution of Configured Stars by @tollingreminiscentbells (E, 162k, WIP)

In another world, Harry Potter was spared. Raised in Lord Voldemort's Britain, he enters his seventh year wanting to keep his head down. But after a chance encounter with ‘Marvolo Gaunt’, it looks like it may not be so simple.

Saint Harry by @alenablack @chaos-bear (E, 70k, WIP)

The moment Harry is struck by the killing curse, it’s not death that awaits him, but ascension. A story of faith, obsession, and the burden of divinity.

Seaforth by @kippipies (M, 10k, WIP)

For as long as he can remember, Harry's had a normal life, looking after a precocious child named Tom on an isolated island. But everything in his normal life is shattered when he finds out a terrible truth: that a powerful leader called Voldemort is after him.

Seeing Sand by @valkyrie-chemist (T, 95k, WIP)

Anticipation bubbled in Tom’s stomach as he imagined fear and shock Harry’s green eyes. Eyes that snapped open the instant Tom's hand touched the frame of the hospital bed. Eyes that burned gold.

some like it hot by @duplicitywrites (E, 12k, WIP)

When Tom Riddle applies for an internship at the Ministry of Magic, he is assigned to the Department of Magical Fire Control and Containment, a department that boasts a very impressive headcount of one: Harry Potter.

Strings of Fate by @solelyseeking (E, 58k, WIP)

“When I touch you,” Tom says, bitterness clinging to every syllable, “I feel whole.” Harry might just be the first interesting thing that Tom has ever encountered.

Stygian by @crowcrowcrowthing (E, 71k, WIP)

There's a book in Voldemort's private library that can explain this kind of magic. The cover is black and shiny and looks like it's breathing. Harry really wants to take a look at chapter three, no matter what it takes.

Tender Reigns Our Night by noumena (M, 103k, WIP)

Sent on a Ministry mission to fight for magic's survival, Harry goes back in time with two simple objectives: find and destroy any existing Horcruxes, and stop Tom Riddle ever evolving into Voldemort. Harry thus finds himself working alongside Riddle at Borgin and Burke's.

The Longing by @aglassroseneverfades (M, 41k, WIP)

What is possibly most damning of all is that Harry is not thinking of his parents right now as he trudges alongside his companions up to Voldemort’s eerie castle. He is thinking instead, as he often does, of a name that burns too brightly on his wrist in the pre-dawn light.

The Runemaster by @kazisstillawake (E, 43k, WIP)

Harry trips on a rock and leaps through time. 1940s Hogwarts is very different from the home he is familiar with. To make matters worse, he is dumped into Slytherin – Riddle’s territory. But it’s hard to be invisible when you’re a novelty, a new student that knows too much for your own good.

the stars, my destination by @milkandmoon-ao3 (E, 47k, WIP)

Harry is sent through time to the relative safety of 1963 and adopted into the Potter family. Now he’s entering his sixth year at Hogwarts in 1976, with a war brewing just outside the school walls. The last thing he needs is to catch the attention of the rising Dark Lord.

The Unintentional Consequences of Prison Reform by @badluck (E, 28k, WIP)

Harry Potter, newly licensed Mind Healer, puts personal history aside to take on his hardest job yet. “Talk to me, please. Give me a chance to make you better.” Lord Voldemort looks downright murderous.

The Word of Your Body by @ictyn (E, 7k, WIP)

“Have you heard from him?” Albus asks. He only means one person when he asks Harry this question. He’s asked it five times in twenty years, and the answer is always the same. The only thing he knows about Tom is that he’s not dead. Harry would know if that happened. He’d feel it beating inside his heart, inside of his very soul.

Timeless by @perhaps-sunlight (E, 3k, WIP)

In which Master of Death Harry Potter time travels to the 1940s, only fixing Tom Riddle isn’t quite what he had in mind.

To the Hilt by @izharmilgram (E, 28k, WIP)

Voldemort had trusted him with the task of bringing Prince Gryffindor under his control, thus securing the future of Gryffindor within their hands. Tom would do so easily—the prince was a mere omega, docile and sweet, easily swayed—and then Gryffindor Kingdom would be folded into the Slytherin Dynasty. He would prove himself undoubtedly useful, and Voldemort would finally let him rule at his side.

Venom or Valor by @lightningant (M, 52k, WIP)

20 years old and unemployed, Harry decides to use a time turner to travel to 1946. But what he finds isn’t the proud, charismatic Dark-Lord-To-Be, but a neurotic 19-year-old Tom Riddle living quietly in the tiny flat that his retail job barely pays for, isolated and addled by chronic illness.

we made universes out of bitten lips and broken hands by @boyneptunee (M, 68k, WIP)

Seer Harry who tries to write his own future, fuck prophesies and mastermind darklords and evil teachers. He will live his life, and he will enjoy it, dammit. Oh, and there's also Tom Riddle.

What In Me Is Dark, Illumine by @telelli-writes (M, 80k, WIP)

There was a new transfer student, Tom observed at the Start-of-Term Feast as he idly twisted the Gaunt ring around his finger. Featuring a schoolboy on the precipice of becoming a monster, a powerful and mysterious newcomer to Hogwarts, and an initial spark of interest that becomes an obsession.

With a resolute heart by Act_Naturally (M, 243k, WIP)

Triwizard Tournament, but Hunger Games: Tom Riddle needs to win to fulfill his plans. Cedric Diggory wants to make his family proud. Hermione wants her friends to survive. Harry wants a lot of things, including Tom Riddle. 

you speak of the devil (like he's not your friend) by @amuria (M, 64k, WIP)

When Harry wakes a seventeen-year-old Tom Riddle from the Gaunt's Ring, it is to a world where his future self has achieved none of their goals except one. Harry is proof that he's a great wizard after all.

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[boysenberrybrew]

[boysenberrybrew]

Don't let go

[boysenberrybrew]

The Death Eaters: a contradictory anti-State narrative in the HP universe

From Prisoner of Azkaban onward, the Death Eaters (formally introduced in Goblet of Fire) emerge as a violent, prejudiced force; primarily against the Ministry of Magic. However, instead of being an anti-state organization, as initially presented, the Death Eaters are more concerned with maintaining existing power structures, albeit with a more extreme, blood-supremacist agenda (that's basically Deathly Hallows). Indeed, the Ministry of Magic itself is already prejudiced and violent, even before Voldemort.

I will explore key instances that highlight the contradictory nature of the Death Eaters and their relationship with the wizarding state’s power structures.

1. The conflict in DEs’ aims and their misrepresentation through real-world historical parallels

The Death Eaters' role as villans is evident in their modus operandi and in their belief system, particularly blood supremacy. This is why, while their ideology resembles Nazism, they operate as a terrorist organization.

For clarity: terrorist organizations operate outside the framework of a formal state structure, relying on violence, fear; their focus: undermining established power, creating instability, mistrust, etc. This is essentially the First Wizarding War:

"...this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too — some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. " - Rubeus Hagrid, PS "You don't know who his supporters are, you don't know who's working for him and who isn't; (...) Every week, news comes of more deaths, more disappearances, more torturing... The Ministry of Magic's in disarray, they don't know what to do, (...). Terror everywhere... panic... confusion... that's how it used to be." - Sirius Black, GoF "...You-Know-Who and his followers sent the Dark Mark into the air whenever they killed. The terror it inspired... you have no idea, you're too young. Just picture coming home and finding the Dark Mark hovering over your house, and knowing what you're about to find inside... Everyone's worst fear... the very worst." - Arthur Weasley, GoF

On the contrary, institutionalized authoritarian regimes align more closely with the description we have of the Ministry of Magic (although I don’t believe it is a totalitarian regime in the FWW). However, if one thinks about it, in a completely corrupted Ministry of Magic, power is concentrated in the hands of a small elite (purebloods) that controls state institutions, including the military (Aurors), law enforcement (The Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Hitwizards), and the legal system (Wizengamot), enabling them to enforce their policies (e.g., the Statue of Secrecy), maintain order, etc. Voldemort and the Death Eaters are far more dangerous in such a structure (see DH).

(Had Hitler remained the leader of a violent terrorist group and never risen to power as the dictator of a nation, he could never have been responsible for the deaths of six million people in CC, nor would his expansionist war have led to the deaths of over 30 million.)

That being said, while most authors base their world-building on a singular historical event (e.g., the rise of Fascism in Italy) or comparable historical events (e.g., the rise of totalitarisms), JKR mixes terrorist organizations with institutionalized authoritarian regimes. This blend leads to a disjointed narrative, and it is deeply problematic.

The IRA parallel

i. Historical accuracy (for historical background, check here):

Voldemort’s rise to power in the late 1960s, his decline in the late 1980s, and his resurgence in the 1990s closely parallel the timeline of The Troubles—a complex conflict between factions in the Republic of Ireland and the big island. To put it very, very simply, this period of unrest stemmed from centuries of English colonialism, during which the English conquered and subjugated Northern Ireland. This colonization led to widespread violence, cultural destruction, and systemic repression of the Irish people. As a result of the poverty, exclusion, and repression, a reprehensible terrorist organization rose: the IRA (Irish Republican Army).

Mirroring the timeline of the First Wizarding War, the conflict in the 1970s was marked by street fighting, bombings, kidnappings, and the assassination of both civilians and high-ranking figures. The arguments about the Ministry becoming nearly as vicious as the terrorists they were fighting—using torture and murder (Aurors casting Unforgivable Curses) and internment without trial (as seen with Sirius Black)—parallel real-life arguments about the British security services' brutal response to the IRA.

ii. Contrasting ideologies

The IRA emerged from decades of oppression faced by Irish Catholics, aiming to challenge a discriminatory system, while the Death Eaters seek to reinforce and perpetuate existing power structures. By positioning the Death Eaters as anti-state, it obscures the fact that they are objectively fighting to preserve and enforce the status quo. The parallel with the IRA oversimplifies, and arguably dangerously misrepresents, political movements and conflicts.

The Hitler parallel

i. Convergence in worldview

There are several reasons why many people, JKR included, associate DEs with Nazism, one of which is the unambiguous nature of their ideology. Both Nazism and the DEs' ideology are grounded in notions of racial supremacy and purity, with the premise that a person’s worth is determined by their ancestry. For the Death Eaters, this belief is reflected in their conviction that pure-blood wizards are inherently superior to Muggle-borns and Muggles. But DEs are not terrorists because of their belief system; they are blood supremacists who carry out terrorism to impose their belief system. If you want to impose your belief system, institutions are the answer, as true dominance is easely maintained through ideological control, which is exactly how wizarding society already operates. Here, DEs modus operandi fails.

ii. Historical inaccurancy

A key distinction between the DEs and the Nazis lies in the structural dynamics of their respective rises to power. Hitler's ascent was marked by the systematic institutionalization of mass violence and control. Once in power, Hitler's government passed laws (e.g., Nuremberg Laws) and engaged in legal political moves (e.g., Munich Agreement). The Nazi leadership was public and institutional, with high-ranking officials known to the public (Göring, Himmler, Goebbels, etc.). The DEs never sought or achieved official political power in the same way. They never formed party, they operated in secrecy (using masks) and they kept their membership a secret within their own ranks. As the terrorists they are.

In Deathly Hallows, when the they take formal control of the Ministry of Magic, they maintain this secretive approach. The coup is swift and quiet, with Voldemort not openly declaring himself as Minister. He imperiused key figures (like Pius Thicknesse) to create distrust and prevent some form of rebellion (this doen't make sense btw, rebellion from who, at this point? Only the Order would have continued its resistance activities.... but whatever....).

When, in HBP, Slughorn says, "I confidently expect you to rise to Minister for Magic within twenty years," and Tom Riddle responds, "I don't know that politics would suit me, sir. I don't have the right kind of background, for one thing," it's clear that Riddle has his own agenda (which sometimes conflicts with the DEs' aim, but that's a different discussion). However, this alone doesn’t explain why pure-blood supremacists like Lucius Malfoy don’t leverage their influence to establish a more radicalized and enduring power structure (such as totalitarianism), especially given the entrenchment of their ideology within society. Again, why would Lucius Malfoy act like a terrorist, risking his reputation, life, and endangering his family, when he could already do whatever he pleases? It's still not clear.

KKK paralel (I swear is the last one, here for historical background)

While the DE' ideology echoes Nazism, it also resembles many other supremacist and bigoted ideologies. Our final group (which also inspired the aesthetics of Goblet of Fire) is the violent, white supremacist terrorist group called Ku Klux Klan.

i. Historical context and differences with DE

The KKK expanded into almost every southern state by 1870 and became a vehicle for white southern “resistance” (forgive the word) to the Reconstruction-era policies, which aimed at establishing political and economic equality for Black Americans. While some leaders later attributed KKK violence to poorer southern white people, the group did attract people from across the socioeconomic spectrum.

By comparison, the DEs were not a response to a period of social progress or societal change (but more on that later). It is also arguable that the Death Eaters were not a heterogeneous group. Aside from Snape, who was a half-blood with a working-class background (though he obviously repudiated his origins, that's the bloody point of HBP), the rest were rich purebloods— one might even say the purest of purebloods, as many of them were Sacred 28, (part of what seems to be) an aristocracy akin to feudalism.

The KKK never started a civil war (basically FWW and SWW), and in terms of proportion, it never had the numbers that the Death Eaters did. (However, KKK violence is real and it did contribute to an ongoing racial conflict, so it’s hard for me to say that DEs were “bigger”). One can only imagine what would have happened if it had reached a 50/50, or one could think that a more domesticated version it's currently seated in the White House (see: the point made earlier about institutions...).

2. DEs and the inconsistency of their portrayal as anti-State

The Death Eaters do not fit neatly into any real-world ideological or political framework. They don’t represent a subversive anti-state movement, as they seek to reinforce and uphold the existing power structures within the canon, making them both ideologically and narratively inconsistent with the groups they are meant to represent. Their violence and blood-supremacist ideology do not stem from institutionalised oppression or inequality, nor are they based on misinformation. This mess is rooted in JKR’s limited understanding of politics and discrimination (I will never forgive her for having Hermione shout "I'm proud to be Muggle-born" and stop, as pride is the problem when it comes to discrimination and racism).

3. Adjusting mess with extra-canon

I firmly believe that, unless you delve into supplementary materials, there is little to prevent these lunatics from operating in board daylight. DEs make sense in a political climate where their power feels threatened, even if it's made up. That's why...

What happened when HP ended: Pottermore

...at some point, JKR (or her team) must have realized these inconsistencies. On Pottermore, new information surfaced that contradicted the canon. When woman, gays, Black people and other marginalized groups gain greater social equality, those who have traditionally held power by birthright see their unjust dominance begin to crumble, and suddenly they have to do something. This aligns with Rowling’s portrayal of Muggle persecution, suggesting that historical anti-Muggle sentiment was largely unfounded (Fantastic Beasts movies). Again, by what is implied in the tale of The Wizard and the Hopping Pot, she suggests that wizarding society had little to fear from Muggles, thus minimizing the historical violence and oppression wizards may have faced. Other examples that come from extra-canon are Nobby Leach and hints of progressivenes. In 1962, Leach became the first Muggle-born to be appointed Minister for Magic (in canon, this would be absurd. Is there a Muggle-born working in the Ministry? Is there any Muggle-born working at all?). Then, there were Squib Rights marches in 1968-1969 (a parallel to the Civil Rights marches in the real world).

Conclusion

It's absurd for me to write something like this, but it's obviously NOT pointless to examine the motivations of prejudiced groups that seek power through violence. Take that moment in Order of the Phoenix, where Harry and Sirius talk about Dolores Umbridge:

"I know [Umbridge] by reputation and I’m sure she’s no Death Eater—" "She's foul enough to be one…" "Yes, but the world isn’t split into good people and Death Eaters," said Sirius with a wry smile. "I know she’s a nasty piece of work though."

Someone like Umbridge, though not a literal Death Eater (for now, but it's not the point), exhibits similar traits—prejudice, abuse of power—which can be just as damaging. But Sirius isn't suggesting that she occupies some middle ground between good and evil (I blame the movies for this shit). Rather, he’s acknowledging that Evil takes many forms and expresses itself in different ways. This is the core difference between prejudice and terrorism: the latter is a violent, organized force, whereas the former usually manifests in a less overt, everyday bitch. While racial slurs or internalized discriminatory tendencies are undeniably harmful—the cancer of our society, if you ask me—these groups actively unite to fight. People risk their lives, they believe themselves heroes of a greater cause.

If you oversimplify the rationale behind why a bigoted terrorist group holds such views and acts on them, thinking it's not as complicated as it truly is, you're part of the problem. History repeats itself because we often dismiss the importance of understanding our past. We rely on our moral superiority, believing that others are or were easily manipulated by forces we are too righteous to fall victim to. But this is exactly why they thrive.

Anyway thank you @artemisia-black and @tedwardremus, you'll find some of your words here.

[boysenberrybrew]

olga_snow on Instagram

[boysenberrybrew]

Hi!! I was wondering, what are your thoughts on Voldemort & Hagrid' s dynamic, parallels and opposition? My mind has lately been gnawing at this particular detail of Voldemort keeping Hagrid tied up in DH. Hagrid, one of his first victims and perhaps the cobaye of his manipulation/delation/ weaponization of wizarding bigotry tactics. Hagrid, one of Dumbledore is protégé, Hagrid who is also half-blood, whom Voldemort projects his own loathing for mixed heritage, as well as disdain for Hagrid 's clumsiness, kindness and candeur, everything he hates that embodies some of the main themes of the books. Also I imagine Tom plucking Hagrid off those giant spiders and keeping him alive, specifically, to witness him winning his war and probably killing Harry - the pettiness and cruelty, that is anything but casual. How personal it feels. Can you think of any instance where Hagrid acts as personal towards Tom/Voldemort as Voldemort acts towards him? There's the generic fear when Hagrid speaks of Voldemort to Harry in HP, perhaps because he didn't know it was Tom, but even in later books, he doesn't pronounce his name. While Voldemort... Somehow, I have this idea that Hagrid pushes his buttons... Thoughts?

So I can't recall an instance in the books where Hagrid has made the connection between Tom = Voldemort. I think you are onto something interesting there with how personal Voldemort's treatment of Hagrid seems - "Pick up your little friend, Hagrid" when Hagrid believes Harry is dead

But, I am still forming my thoughts on Voldemort. I know who Voldemort is in relation to Harry and the parallels between them. (Very HJP stan coded of me, I know - I analyse lots of things in relation to Harry)

As an independent character of his own, I haven't found my own unique understanding of the character that is not informed by Doylist reading. I am going to direct you to @saintsenara who writes plenty of Voldemort meta and stories. I am sure she has something insightful to say about this.

Anyone else can also chip in!

[boysenberrybrew]

the absolute angel @shelter-maki0 drew these beautiful masterpieces inspired by my fanfics Contrapasso and Mary Magdalene. I can't describe how touched I am. @shelter-maki0, to me, is probably the greatest Tomharrymort artist there is and her works, that always look haunting and fairy-tale like, inspire me endlessly. These are so beautiful and I can't stop looking at them. 私は光栄です。どうもありがとうございます！

[boysenberrybrew]

You fucking wish the author was dead. The author is on twitter

[boysenberrybrew]

One thing I find really compelling about ronmort is that the horcrux which targets ron is the one most "maternal"-- tom's mother's locket, which you so cleverly pointed out was also the one which he erected a complicated defense for in a place that was meaningful to his childhood. Everything the locket says to Ron just feels so charged? Wym you've seen his heart and it's yours? Wym you've seen his dreams and his desires? The fact that Ron can hear the locket's heartbeat before anyone else... I don't know how to explain it except that the locket's antagonism of Ron feels almost intimate in a way. The shenanigans would be sexy. Not least because Ron can apparently do a passing imitation of parseltongue (hot).

that each of the trio destroys the horcrux which most connects to something fundamental about themselves is a detail which obsesses me.

the diary

harry - an orphan, desperate to meet someone else who can understand the strangeness and isolation of his experience; searching for the truth about himself, and what in his life is inherited, but unable to ever fully uncover it - destroys the diary, not only the sole horcrux which is an explicit link to lord voldemort's upbringing as an orphan in the muggle world, but also a metaphor for the state of orphanhood itself.

the diary is a quasi-palimpsest - an object which has to be written in; an object in which a layer of text is written and then overwritten by another; an object in which these layers of text can be stripped back until only the original layer remains only with extraordinary difficulty - just like the orphan's search for meaning, trying to decipher the layers of themselves which were inherited from their parents, but only ever being able to see these partially, with the text missing or corrupted.

voldemort's creation of the diary-horcrux is explicitly connected in canon to him coming to learn who about himself, his parents, and his heritage - and, connected to this, to him refusing to sit with the grief of orphanhood, refusing to understand his parents as whole, complex people, and refusing to embrace his "real" identity [which, as the text understands it, is that of a half-blood named tom marvolo riddle] by creating a fake one [that of lord voldemort].

harry destroys it after rejecting voldemort's self-constructed view of his own exceptionality - "the greatest wizard in the world is albus dumbledore" - his refusal to acknowledge the complexities of lineage and orphanhood, and his refusal to embrace his muggle heritage - "my mother died to save me. my common, muggleborn mother". he does this using a tool directly connected to voldemort's rejection of all but his slytherin heritage - the basilisk's fang - in a location similarly connected to voldemort's rejection of his muggle blood - the chamber of secrets.

the cup

hermione - an outsider, whose place in the wizarding world is unstable - destroys the cup, one of the horcruxes to which voldemort has the least personal connection, but which he selected to hide his soul because of its historical significance, anchoring him to a millennium of wizarding history and culture he was otherwise brought up disconnected from.

voldemort's creation of the cup-horcrux comes at the end of a period of his life in which he is disadvantaged in wizarding society purely on the basis of his name and background. he rejects the ministry jobs which would have made him dependent for the rest of his life on slughorn's patronage - and, therefore, pressured him to do what slughorn wanted - and ends up, as he himself puts it, as "a poor shop assistant". hepzibah smith is a pureblood, who is also descended from one of hogwarts' founders - yet she doesn't make use of this superiority ["all sorts of powers it's supposed to possess too... i just keep it nice and safe in here..."], and she doesn't realise [and he can't prove to her and hope to keep his job] that voldemort is someone she should think of as her equal [or even superior]. she - as harry observes - essentially treats voldemort as doll she can play with, posing him with her treasures and pretending his glacial politeness is really repressed affection, she speaks to him like he's an idiot, and she evidently considers him to be her social inferior.

hermione destroys the cup after seven books in which the discrimination she faces on account of being muggleborn are explicit. obviously, she's the victim of violent bigotry - she's petrified, she's called a mudblood, she's the only one of the trio who also has to worry about the muggleborn registration commission - but she's also the victim of seemingly benign, genial bigotry too - the muggle world is treated as a quaint side-show, even by characters like the weasleys; she's praised for her intelligence by slughorn, but this intelligence is still considered in some way unusual for someone with muggle heritage. she gets spoken to by many wizards in ways which aren't far removed from the way hepzibah speaks to voldemort.

as a result, she - like voldemort - spends a lot of time trying to acquire enough knowledge of the wizarding world that she appears to be native to it [this is why she's so obsessed with hogwarts: a history]. but - unlike voldemort - she then embraces her heritage and refuses to hide it - "mudblood and proud of it!".

and - shortly after this - she destroys the cup, in a place - the chamber - and using a tool - the basilisk's fang - which are both directly connected to the bigotry she experienced, since they're part of slytherin's belief that people like her should be driven out of hogwarts and out of the magical world more broadly, and therefore send a big "fuck you" to voldemort's blood-supremacy.

the locket

and ron... whose greatest desire is to be recognised for his individual achievements, who has a complex and uneasy relationship with his place in his family [simultaneously longing to be something other than "one of the weasleys" and fiercely loyal to his parents and siblings], who is the only pureblood of the trio, whose childhood we hear the most about in canon, and whose childhood appears to have been happy...

destroys the locket, which is voldemort's only link to his mother, and the only horcrux for which he constructs an elaborate defence in a place meaningful to him from childhood.

we don't actually know who voldemort kills to create the locket-horcrux [jkr has said in interviews that it was a muggle tramp, although this contradicts dumbledore's statement in half-blood prince that voldemort created his horcruxes from murders which were significant to him], which is a neat metaphor for how little he knows about merope - since he doesn't know morfin's name, for example, we can assume he doesn't know hers; everything he ever tells harry about her is something he's invented [especially his belief that his parents' marriage was consensual, and that tom riddle sr. abandoned her because she was a witch].

the horcrux attempts to torture ron with his insecurities about being a mammy's boy who's always been afraid that he's a bit of a flop at the task - especially when compared to siblings like ginny, bill, and percy. and ron is so susceptible to it because voldemort is also an inherent mammy's boy [ronmort nation, rise up] who never got a chance to have a mam, and who responded to the grief this caused him by suppressing it, pretending it never existed, and convincing himself that the only viable thing to be is unique.

ron destroys it after he returns to the trio - having attempted to strike out on his own [the thing he's wanted since philosopher's stone, when he sees himself standing alone in the mirror of erised] - and accepts his place as part of a group. he does so using the sword of gryffindor, which again represents him embracing not being exceptional - his entire family have been in gryffindor, something he's shown to feel simultaneously proud of and uneasy with right from his first appearance.

[boysenberrybrew]

Boosty

Telegram

[boysenberrybrew]

“the order has more reliable means of communication”

earlier, in the ootp group chat:

Severus: hey fucko u @ hq??? Sirius: yeah why… Severus: lmao ofc u are u lazy shit 😂😂😂 @ the others pls go to department of mysteries asap

[boysenberrybrew]

This is purely a headcanon of mine, but I love the idea of Harry looking a bit.. uncanny. His scar is more of a lichtenberg figure, his eyes look avada kedavra green in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of way, he usually slouches, but when he straightens, he looks rather intimidating. Maybe if we go far enough, a couple of white streaks in his hair due to his death experiences. If you stand close enough to him when he performs magic, you feel it crackling around you, and the area just gets a bit chilly. Just little things that take a while to get used to, but it's easy bc Harry is actually a chill dude lol

I love it, honestly. I think I mentioned it in my HP headcanons, but I love an AK-eyed Harry with some white in his hair and a very visible scar. I love a slightly unsettling Harry. And I think the AK eyes, which look like a normal green unless you see them from a very specific angle and then they gleam like a killing curse don't actively contradict canon either (the white hair and the obvious scar are not canon though, as he can hide his scar with his hair usually, so it's likely on the smaller side. I think they're cool concepts though and make for a striking image). Also, canonically, Harry has some strange reactions to the veil and the Killing Curse and I love connecting him with death when I can in headcanon and fic.

Also, canonically, Harry isn't short. I believe he's around 5'11-ish in HBP and DH, and we know he can look intimidating when he straightens up and glares at you:

“You never really tried!” she said hotly. “I don’t get it, Harry—do you like having this special connection or relationship or what whatever—” She faltered under the look he gave her as he stood up. “Like it?” he said quietly. “Would you like it?” “I—no—I’m sorry, Harry, I didn’t mean—”

(DH)

That's canon.

I also love the idea of his magic being powerful enough to be felt. And considering how instinctively it reacts to Harry's emotions, it's halfway canon as well. His magic sort of just does things when Harry's upset or wants something enough. I think it's loads of fun and has tons of potential for fic purposes. (God knows I overuse the AK-green to describe Harry's eyes from Theo's POV in my fic)

Also, canonically, characters who don't know him think he is powerful, capable, and confident (which he is, he's also just more awkward inside his head and has low self-esteem), so he acts colder than we know him from inside his head, which I think would work well with a slightly unsettling aura for Harry.