#This is extremely Irish. Like to the point it’s not even funny

[hearts4pearlescentmoon]

I would like to add to this!

my uncle is gay and he’s known it for a very long time, he says since he was like 10-ish in the early 80’s. My grandmother is a very religious woman. While she doesn’t go to church much anymore she still prays the rosary every night and day.

She was born in the mid 50s and raised 4 children while being a paperboy and cooking for a family of six every night. My grandmother also had to deal with a very strict father and basically raising her younger sister (from what I heard their mother wasn’t very attentive. Like she was there but not always or when needed.) now of corse my grandfather help a lot with these things when he could, he worked a very long tiring job but was there for his kids whenever possible. My point is that my grandparents worked very hard in uncertain times and they were dead set on caring for their kids while also leaving behind a legacy I could never dream of.

when my uncle was in his 20s he had already came out to my mom and it turned out well. She was in catholic school and was thought to love thy neighbor and all that (I’ve never been to catholic school I just did ccd for a few years so sorry if this isn’t really that accurate) Though he was nervous to come out to my grandmother as said, she was very religious and he didn’t know how she would take to it. He waited till his last year of college to come out. Do you wanna know what my grandmother said when he came out? “Well I’m Irish” this is in the early 90s and in a very small suburban Christian/catholic town where everyone knew everyone and all that. they had this whole heartfelt chat afterwards that I won’t go into detail with (partly because I don’t remember the story lol)

”Well I’m Irish” is (imo) one of the best was to respond to that. It’s like “yeah ok, it’s whatever, your still my son and I love you. Nothing will ever change that.” my grandfather had a similar response but he was just happy to see his kid in college and doing alright.

My 90yr old Irish Catholic grandpa doesn’t miss with my gender. He’s never gotten my name wrong, or my pronouns, never even faltered over it.

It’s all so natural too: son, big man, young man…

We’ve never talked about it. He’s the only one who hasn’t pushed for details. He just accepted it and carried on because it’s not a huge deal.

It’s so comforting.

[someonesrealityshifting]

Celebrities I Think Shifted Here~

Anne Hathaway~

I’m sorry, she’s too unproblematic, she’s been an icon for years, she ages like a fine wine, and the Shakespeare thing? C’mon, that’s not a coincidence

Walker Scobell~

Dude spends his entire childhood telling everyone he is Percy Jackson, only to become Percy himself? Is absolutely obsessed with Marvel, ends up in a movie with Deadpool, Bruce Banner, and Gamora? And also Mobius (in a different film, but the point stands). No one is just that lucky.

Taylor Swift

No one manages to get that famous that fast and young while also being so self centered and, quite honestly, annoying, for as little talent as she actually has. Too much drama around her, too many heartthrob boyfriends, too many queer rumors, and too many famous friends who don’t make sense at all. Having said that, I don’t like her much, so that might have something to do with it. I don’t know.

Sabrina Carpenter~

I’m sorry, but this girl has had a model career. She’s kind, funny, extremely talented, and has had very minor celebrity drama that has only added to her success. Not to mention it makes zero sense for her to be dating the Irish guy, and yet here she is, dating the Irish guy. And I’m not even saying that negatively, he’s hot as fuck. She, in an of herself, became a TikTok trend, not just her song, and she did this twice in, like, two months. She’s iconic, she’s an amazing actress, she’s inspirational (I know I wanted to be just like her when I was a kid).

Josh Gates

While I’m not entirely sure everyone counts him as a celebrity, but in my home, he definitely is. He’s been a part of sooo many discoveries and he’s played such a massive part in modern history. Most of the history stuff I know came from him, not textbooks.

Let me know if you have any more, I’d love to hear y’all’s opinions on this, too! (Swifties don’t come for me)

[cecilioque]

The Submas Designs are a lot more clever than you thought.

First lets look at the Submas overall design.  We know that the original design was intended to make the Subway Bosses look like clowns and kind of creepy (that backfired); hence the comically large shoes and exaggerated expressions. Let’s start to break down each part of the design. 

To begin, The Submas extreme expressions are a possible reference to the symbol of theatre; the mask of Tragedy and the Mask of Comedy.  The mask of tragedy is commonly portrayed frowning ( not necessarily cry) on a black base mask while the mask of Comedy is portrayed smiling on a white base masks. Sometimes these masks are gold or split black and white color.  The masks together represent the two extremes of the human psyche. Definitely the contrast we see between Emmet's smile and Ingo’s frown.

Next up, the coats.  These are obviously designed to look like train tracks.  The vertical grey lines representing the rails, the red brown the tie (the wood connecting the rails), and the buttons are the spikes that secure the track.  You can see the pattern best on the back of the Submas coat.  Looking at it you could laugh and say “I guess that makes the Subway boss themselves the train”, and you know what? You’re right.

This brings us to the most interesting part of their design, the color and pose.  Yes, there is an explanation to the silly pose too.  It’s so silly that we can just brush this whole design off as being another funny Pokemon character design; but unfortunately it’s actually thought out.  

The Submas themselves are the New York Subway. Or at least they are the personified version of it.  Let’s look at the colors again.  Black and White.  Very fitting for a game literally called Pokemon Black and White.  That alone brings us to some interesting comparisons with the game themes and pokemon.

Kudari or (Emmet in the English version) wears all white. He values routine and rules and is ultimately pretty point blank.  We can easily make that conclusion that  Emmet represents Reshiram and truth. If we break down his name we see that in Japanese it means something along the lines of “down train” or moving away/going down hill.  The different translations usually mean the same, except the name “Emmet” is a bit out of place.  A lot of people say the Submas names in English are most likely to be puns of “Ingoing and Emitting”.  But my crazy self did more digging and found that Emmet means “truth” specifically universal truth.  This name goes back to old German, Irish, and even Hebrew. All looping back to Reshiram and themes of the game. (On a funny side note, Emmet is also the Cornish word for ant; so Emmet having a Durant is really funny. ) 

Next up is Nobori or Ingo who wears a black coat and appears frowning. Despite that , his is very encouraging and excited about moving forward. This makes sense since the name Nobori in Japanese more or less means to move up/forward ( specifically up a mountain).  That’s why a lot of people believe that the poor man was eebie deebied for the pun because Warden Ingo works on Mt. Coronet. In English, Ingo is thought to be a shortened version of “Ingoing” which also aligns with not only the Japanese name but the character’s reoccurring theme of progress, moving forward, and ideals. In this sense Ingo very much represents Zekrom and ideals. 

Truth and ideals, Reshiram and Zekrom, Tragedy and comedy, white and Black.  All very good interpretations and symbolism for two funny train men. I would be satisfied with just knowing that, but no; the Submas are also a funny gijinka of the New York Subway.  This is the part the has me laughing at how simple it is and yet we just easily accepted that they were just a bit strange.

Take a look at this. This is a Zebra Board.  

Yep, it’s black and white. And do you know what? This MTA sign only appears in the New York subway.  What does it do?  These are used by conductors to indicate safety and that the train has lined up in the station. Every time the subway comes into the station, the conductor has to physically point at this board/bar to indicate that it is safe for the doors to open. The action is called "point and call" or "point and acknowledge".  This practice is used in a few other train/subway stations (such as Japan), but the black and white board is New York specific. The pose of the submas suddenly makes a lot of sense.

Other Important notes observations.

The Submas face represents the front of the train.  So their eyes are the lights (hence Ingos glowing eyes in PLA), their side burns are cow catchers ( see graphic), and the Medalion on the hat is round like a train number plate.  Another interesting thing is that the Submas use airline Captain Pilot hats like Japanese train conductors use.  The only part of their outfit that confuses me is the arm bands.  This is more of a police uniform element and not a train conductor thing.

so to conclude, the Submas are basically a reference to in game themes, Reshiram/Zekrom, Trains, and literally the New York subway

I am not an expert. These are just my observations. I could be completely wrong.  Take and add what you would like to.  If you have more to add about the design, feel free to reblog that info. I would also like to see your interpretation.

[elodieunderglass]

Setting all other discourse about fiction and reality aside, I really love and appreciate how book-readers have decided that SOME little fake guys are actually extremely Real(tm). Like, even in the same BOOK, there will be fictional characters where the reader agrees that the author made a series of conscious and unconscious choices about this character, and there will in the same book be a little guy who absolutely DID exist and DID sentiently do these things.

Okay you need some examples. Most of you will understand Sam Vimes/Terry Pratchett. Everyone understands intellectually that Pratchett was a writer moving his little puppets around (except that Vimes is real, actually.) Pratchett could write Vimes doing ANYTHING and readers would believe it. When you see footlong discourse about Vimes it’s always presented as if he’s a Man who Chose To Do those Things, never a well-worn literary mechanism. People respect him: Sam vimes arrested a dragon - No he didn’t!! Man’s not real! Pratchett could’ve made him do anything! By some apotheosis Sam Vimes is a real little guy.

The character who is the most real is Stephen Maturin, who is much more Real but too obscure to start with. Stephen is the most character ever. He is Irish-Catalan active in 7 different anarchist separatist movements and also serves the British empire also. He is a horrible little scientist doctor surgeon spy, he is VERY dirty, addicted to 3 drugs, plays the cello, has broken every bone, and is smelly also. He has a sloth. He is the predecessor of all “put them in a jar with a twig” blorbos, but unlike YOUR degraded blorbos, he is real, actually. Look at how I write about him. He is our son Stephen who speaks every language. At no point do we accredit Patrick O’B for coming up with any of this hard work, let alone do we accuse him of making Stephen unbelievable or inaccurate. He is a real horrid little man.

With the possible exception of Paddington Bear, who is very polite, most Meta-Real entities are consistently horrid little men. This quality (plus the fact that ACD looms SO VISIBLY and distractingly over his shoulder) may be why Sherlock Holmes is beloved but unreal. He is horrid and detailed, but not little?

As you can see, I am trying to characterise the qualities of these entities, and whether there is a spectrum of reality. Jesus, for example, feels somewhat real, with cloudy edges possibly due to translation artefacts. Gilgamesh might be, ditto. Ishmael is NOT. Lizzie Bennett is a funny one (also a rare real female) because she is not at all real, but you could 100% encounter her ghost. Do you see what I mean here.

[oneluckygoose]

House of the Rising Suns

Info post about my Marauders era fanfic! It will be edited and added to as things about it change, so if you plan to regularly read, I suggest checking in every once in a while to see if something's changed.

It will be posted on Ao3 exclusively, so if you see it anywhere else it means someone has stolen my work. Don't be afraid to report it.

Here's a link to the first chapter: Dear Minerva

It is a fic starting in 1971 and ending 1981 following the Marauders, the Slytherin Skittles, and the Valkyries through their journey through Hogwarts and the First Wizarding War. I don't yet know if it is cannon compliment or not, but I will figure it out with time. All posts I make about it will be tagged with "#house of the rising suns" and "#house of the rising suns oneluckygoose"

Here are the characters that will have POVs: Minerva McGonagall, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadowes, Mary MacDonald, Regulus Black, Barty Crouch Jr., Evan Rosier, Pandora Lovegood (Rosier), Frank Longbottom, Alice Longbottom, and (ew) Severus Snape.

For the shippers out there --- Endgame ships: Wolfstar (Remus and Sirius), Jily (James and Lily), Dorlene (Dorcas and Marlene), Rosekiller (Evan and Barty), Fralice (Frank and Alice), the Lovegoods (I don't actually know their ship name, but it's Pandora and Xenophillious). --- Ships in the story: Jegulus (James and Regulus), Marylily (Mary and Lily), Pandalily (Pandora and Lily), Remus and Marlene, Sirius and Mary, and characters with OCs that I've added (none of them will be endgame or treated like well known and endgame ships, they're all destined to end eventually).

NO SMUT AT ALL! I'm asexual, I do not feel comfortable writing it. It'll happen eventually, but it won't be explicit. When it does, though, it will be fade to black or very very vague descriptions. They're teenagers, I get that, but I refuse to write it in detail. Sorry, but no.

There is a greater description of it all under the cut! (and in the reblogs, this got really long)

!!!!Disclaimer: The last one is extremely important, so if you don't want to read all of these, at least scroll down and read the last bullet point (which will be in the reblog)!!!!!

Scottish and Desi James; Welsh/Jewish Lily; Welsh Remus, and Severus; French/English Blacks; IRISH Peter; SCOTTISH Marlene; Dutch Dorcas; French Mary; British Rosiers; and British Barty, Italian/British Frank, Taiwanese/British Alice.

Jegulus, personally I think Jegulus is a very important thing for James’ growth and for Regulus to distance himself from his family’s ideals, but I also don’t think it could ever last. It will probably be a 5th-6th year arc and they break up after Regulus gets the Mark beginning of James' 7th.

Endgame Jily because their story is one of my favorites, and if I do make it a canon compliment ,then I would need to write it with natural progression. Also I just love Jily.

Get ready for a lot of 70's music. It becomes a big deal when Lily brings her record player in second year and then when Queen debuts in 1973 and Sirius falls in love.

I’m on the fence about making it a canon compliment because I choose to be HAPPY, but I don’t need to make that decision now and so I won’t (also I like the idea that Peter is good, screw me)

Aroace Peter, my little boy loves his friends and doesn’t understand why he doesn’t love like they do. A dating spree probably in 5th year but he just cannot figure out how to do the romance thing.

No sex, sorry guys we’re keeping this M rated. I’m asexual and do not feel comfortable writing that in the slightest, it would all be fade to black

Asexual Lily, to whoever HCed that, can I marry you? I love ace Lily and I think it just adds an arc to her story that is normally extremely sexualized. My girl will punch you in the face if you look even a tiny bit lower than her eyes.

*Side note* Lily's taste is also so funny. Like it goes: badass, rolemodel, stunning woman to badass, loving, protective, also stunning woman to badass, ethereal, insane, overwhelmingly beautiful woman to that one guy over there making love eyes and doing finger guns. God I love Jily so much. *End of side note*

Asexual Regulus. I am sick and tired of seeing Jegulus being completely sexualized in every single piece of content I encounter. I firmly believe their story can be extremely compelling and beautiful without falling into sexual stereotypes and just literally making everything about them sexual. All that aside, being asexual makes a lot of sense for Regulus' character, in my opinion. I want to make it clear I'm not doing this just to change Jegulus, I genuinely believe that Regulus' character is compelling with him being asexual, and I don't see a lot of asexual representation in the marauders fandom, so why not add in something good? (There'll be a lot more to Regulus' character though, trust me.)

More in reblogs

[idridian]

for the reverse unpopular opinion thing: here's a blank check to talk about douglas rain 😘

thank you kindly for activating my trap card, here's a NON-EXHAUSTIVE list (in no particular order and pulled entirely from memory) of delightful facts about douglas rain:

cared so incredibly much about the canadian theatre scene and tried to improve it wherever he could, be that by performing or by teaching younger actors. he had many opinions about how to get people interested in theatre

rehearsals were apparently his favourite part of acting and he was highkey intense about it for understandable reasons, which does NOT detract from the ???? factor of finding out that he straight up built a partial replica of the stratford festival theatre stage in his fuckin attic at home so he could practice his lines and blocking there. like what the fuck douglas, can you chill

the only thing funnier than this is the line immediately preceding this nugget of info in his stratford festival archives entry, where one of the artistic directors of the shaw festival is like "douglas rain had the uncanny ability to be word-perfect by week two of rehearsals" like yeah bitch, i wonder why. he went home from rehearsals and went to his attic to continue rehearsing there lol

during the very first season of stratford, he understudied alec guinness as the title role in richard iii, and one time the director 'Big Man' guthrie challenged him to imitate mr guinness' performance as closely as he could, which resulted in guinness grabbing a two-by-four and chasing douglas around the stage with it???? douglas was not entirely sure if it was because he did it really well or really badly

apparently kept a vegetable garden. this has nothing to do with anything; i just think it's cute that he had hobbies

spoke in a particular (now basically extinct, from what i understand) version of canadian english called canadian dainty, which veers slightly towards british pronunciation. combined with his very precise diction, this makes him say some words kinda funny, which i find very endearing/entertaining

he was apparently also really good at doing other accents. the only physical evidence i have of this is his performance in william lyon mackenzie: a friend to his country, where he does a scottish accent (and again, i am delighted), but i've read in Extremely Old Newspapers that he could do like,,, a perfect irish accent as a child??

i tracked down his yearbook entry from when he graduated in 1950 (in my defence, the manitoba university has an archive of decades worth of yearbooks freely available as pdfs on their website; what else are they for if not this) and the last sentence of his entry says "future is undecided, but indications are good" which is incredibly funny. they really said 'yeah idk what his deal is exactly, but he seems to be having fun'. and they were RIGHT

my honest impression of him is that he would never intentionally cause chaos because that would be impolite, but if you dropped him into a chaotic situation he would take a look around and then immediately refuse to leave, which imo is even more hysterical

"all the best sweetie"

while i categorically enjoy everything he's involved in by pure virtue of him being there, i harbour a particular fondness for roles where he plays just,,,, an absolute DUMBASS. like i cannot express in words the joy i felt when listening to tartuffe (1968) and hearing him make indignant grumbling noises as he crawled under a table while martha henry, his irl wife playing his wife in the play, made fun of him. 11/10 it means everything to me

i find him very handsome also. again, nothing to do with anything, i just like to look at him y'know

anyway i have to stop now because if left to my own devices, this post would just keep going forever, but you get the point. i adore him <3

[ygoartreviews]

Dragunity Knight - Areadbhair

I have no idea where to start when it comes to pronouncing this card's name, but it's a cool dragon so hey whatever. The name itself means "Slaughterer," and it comes from a sentient, magical, bloodthirsty, flaming spear wielded by an Irish god. Saying all that kinda makes me wish this dragon was at least partially on fire, but I think the flame colored background suffices. Speaking of the background, the addition of Dragon Ravine in the lower background feels a little unnecessary because of how unnoticeable it is; I feel like the card would look essentially the same even if it wasn't there. I do like the multi wing look Areadbhair has going on (feel like you don't see that enough), and its extremely pointy face shape is fun too. Dragunity Legatus being so super tiny to the point he's almost unrecognizable is funny. Like there's no way he's actually directing Areadbhair to do anything, he's just along for the ride.

Rating: 8/10

[thebreakfastgenie]

can your nasty ugly ass stop repeating sinophobic bullshit? cho chang is a real cantonese name. just because you're a racist who thinks a word being a korean surname means it can't be a first name in another separate language doesn't make that true. try a little harder and you'll realise we're completely different people and languages despite your hideous spicy white ass seeing slitty eyes and assuming we're the same. if YOU think cho chang sounds like chingchong then you're the racist and i hope you get blown to pieces by hamas.

I'm not super inclined to trust what you have to say because I think if you had a good faith point about the etymology of the name "Cho Chang" you probably wouldn't have undermined that point with all that antisemitism. I'm not really sure what your motive is here other than being rude to someone who incidentally identified herself as Jewish.

I honestly don't know anything about this, I've seen this criticism a lot from people who know a lot more about the languages and ethnic groups involved than I do, so I tend to trust that information. There's also a pattern in that series of characters of color being tokens with extremely stereotypical names and being side characters who aren't really developed. Even the Irish character is kind of like that (although I should note here that Seamus blowing things up is an invention of the movies). So I used that character's name as an example because it's widely-known and easily recognizable. And you obviously know that's a popular criticism of the series because "it sounds like chingchong" is something other people have said, not something I mentioned in that post and not something I'm particularly comfortable repeating because I think it's still rooted in the idea that Chinese names sound funny.

Maybe Cho Chang is a believable name for an East Asian girl of mixed ancestry, I wouldn't know. What I do know is the author is white and English and the series is extremely white and English. Even if it is technically possible for someone to be named "Cho Chang," knowing what I know about the author it's much more likely that was an accident when she was coming up with a random Chinese sounding name.

If anyone here knows more about Chinese and Korean names and would like to weigh in I'm now genuinely curious.

[margridarnauds]

Hi,

So I finished the novel Queen's Gambit by Elizabeth Freemantle and am now extremely angry need to decompress and filter out her garbage I'm shocked that Penguin House published this book and that it is getting made into a movie. To portray young Princess Elizabeth as willingly seeking Seymour out and seducing him is vile. Parr's bitchy handmaid Dot finds them in bed together. What on Earth? No evidence for that. Then Catherine Parr gets angry, blames Elizabeth and they don't reconcile after she leaves. Heartbreaking. Plus, the portrayal of Catherine Parr is horrid there is no evidence she or her stepdaughter Meg were raped during the Pilgrimage of Grace, a devout woman like Catherine wouldn't be contemplating killing either of her husbands, or rejoicing in the prospect of being damned to hell as she puts it after Henry VIII dies. (Maybe with Henry she would think about it but not actually go through with it). I got the impression that this author had an anti-Christian as well as anti-Elizabeth attitude. Tried Sisters of Treason another book of hers but it was also bad. I want to send her an angry letter now calling out her disgusting portrayal of young Elizabeth. Did you send in a review or a note to the author after you read it?

Don't forget Dot's final monologue about Why Elizabeth Is Such A Bitch -- It's Almost Understandable That She's Such a Bitch-Slut.

It's common with historical fiction, really, to not understand the way that religion historically worked. It's very easy to put our feelings on religion, whatever they might be, onto historical figures in an attempt to make them More Like Us, but the simple reality is that they were living in a totally different cultural context. Characters are either religious fanatics so extreme that they make Frollo think "Hm, maybe they're overdoing it a tiny bit", they're Secretly Atheists, or religion just doesn't cross their mind ever (unless, in Tudor media, it's to establish them as a Cool Modern Protestant.)

As for what I did...honestly, put the book aside and thought about every single decision in my life that had led to me both reading and finishing it. As you can see by the fact that I still remember it in vivid detail, it holds a special place in my Hall of Shame. (And it isn't even batshit insane enough to be FUNNY, unfortunately.)

But, my piece of totally unsolicited advice that you are perfectly free to discard at your earliest convenience? ...when you do medieval Irish stuff. Or medieval Celtic stuff in general. You will NEVER see your field faithfully or even sensitively portrayed on page. Every single depiction you get will be based on old stereotypes, colonialist tropes, and outdated information. I've read things about my faves, in particular, that would make most people's hair stand up on end. Things that are truly, deeply vile, that are on par with the depiction of Elizabeth here, or even worse. And it is easy to be angry, it's understandable to be angry, and God knows that my friends have heard me ranting in the DMs. And when I was younger, I was, regularly. And then I got exhausted, because anger is exhausting, especially when it's you and your anger versus a tidal wave of misinformation. I didn't stop getting angry, no. But I started to use it as a tool, not as an explosive -- I let it fuel me, I used it for my scholarship, putting all these different pieces of pop culture about my field in conversation with one another and noting common trends, as well as making comparisons to trends in other areas to figure out what, in our contemporary cultural landscape, is causing us, as a general group, at this point in time, to portray these things in a certain way, as well as how we have portrayed them over time. I have built my career, at least in part, on defending the undefendable, on studying the ink blotches of historiography to see where the historical or literary records meet the popular image, specifically looking at figures who are frequently portrayed as villainous and monstrous. I don't deal in happy endings, I can't when I step in after their final death scenes, after the point where even the possibility of their deaths meaning *something* is gone, because they don't even get the satisfaction of being well remembered. I never expect to see my faves well portrayed -- sometimes, I'm surprised, but it is truly, deeply, RARE.

You send a note to an author, no matter how well-intentioned, and it's easy to write off. The author submitted that work for publication, it's done. They're still getting royalties off of them, whatever that means in the current hellacious publishing landscape, in this case, she even has a movie. They might care, but honestly? They probably won't. They can dismiss you as a crazed, unhinged fan, regardless of how much thought and effort you've put into the critique. You've wasted all that high quality, undiluted anger for something that won't have any tangible effect. My advice, instead? Feel your anger, let the hate flow through you, especially when it reflects biases like sexism, racism, and homophobia, sharpen it, and then use it -- it doesn't have to be in conference presentations or journal articles or any of the trappings of academia, but use it.

Write reviews, absolutely, put it into conversations with other pieces of Tudor and Elizabethan fiction, especially about young Elizabeth (Hell, compare it to, say, Elizabeth R, Becoming Elizabeth, Young Bess, or Lady Bess (Toho 2014/2018), just for examples of the young Elizabeth's life off the top of my head that dramatize the life of Elizabeth), see what other people have said, in journal articles, sure, but also in blog articles or GoodReads reviews online, without necessarily even talking to them, but just to get a survey of what they think and why they think it, and see what you can do. Why do we want to portray Elizabeth this way? Is it a desire to "knock her off her throne?" Portray her as a nymphomaniac bitch slut to contrast with the "Gloriana" image? Is it that we're uncomfortable with the topic of CSA? Or we don't like to think of it as something that historically occurred? (Especially when you compare it to the ongoing bimboification of Katherine Howard, even in allegedly sympathetic biographies.) Is it that we still don't want to believe that it could have happened? That we're willing to give more sympathy to a man than to a child? Some combination of all of them? And are we seeing progressively more nuanced portrayals, or are we seeing more of the same across the board? (I feel like Seymour, at least, has gone from being a romantic hero in Young Bess to being portrayed as genuinely manipulative, even if the execution is still lacking.) On the reverse side, are people more willing to defend, say, Elizabeth I and Catherine Howard than other historical women, specifically because of what they represent and because of their high profile status? Is there a double-edged sword here? Let your anger fuel you.

[sendandburn]

An Analysis of the hogwarts teachers

This iwas included in the Analysis of Severus Snape as a teacher but i decided to put it in a separete post 'cause i feared it would be to long for Tumblr.

"Fake Moody  [a Death Eater, but a Death Eater who fooled everyone, meaning his behavior was not that OOC for real Moody, whom Dumbledore hired]:

Transfigures Draco and slams him repeatedly against the stone floor while Draco is squealing in pain

tortures spiders with Crucio in front of Neville, which causes him such distress Hermione interrupts the lesson. Then, he “comforts” Neville. Now picture how Neville must have felt when he found out it was one of his parents’ torturers. That had to be more traumatic than watching your toad not get poisoned

curses students in class - “The rest of the class was very eager to leave; Moody had given them such a rigorous test of hex-deflection that many of them were nursing small injuries.” (r/harrypotter)

Ok , we don't know if the REAL Moody was even good at transfiguration so he might not have used that to punish Draco and as for the unforgivables....maybe...i mean, the reason Barty gave to show them that was a good one but Moody knew of the backgrounds of Harry and Neville so i'd like to think that he wouldn't use the unfogivables that affected them most with them in class.

"Flitwick:

does nothing about Luna’s bullying

has Seamus repeatedly write "I am a wizard, not a baboon brandishing a stick". The Irish were once openly compared to apes in England in the past, so that’s in extremely poor taste

Lavender bursts into tears during Charms, Flitwick doesn’t notice"

(r/harrypotter)

Ok, so i can't in good conscience say anything to defend him against points 2 and 3 'cause, quite frankly, there's no excuse for that, in fact point 2 makes him no better than Snape when he called Hermione the M word and he dosen't even have the excuse of once being anti-irish and trying to change,like Snpe does.

as for point 1 however the Harry Potter Wiki clearly states that when heads of houses decided to live at Hogwarts, they most likely had private quarters NEAR their House's common room. " note that it says Near, not In and as Luna's bullying happened In the dorms & common rooms, Flitwick would have no way of knowing about it unless she reported it, wich she never did.

"Trelawney:

predicts a death every year and generally distresses students with her predictions

To Hermione: “I don’t remember ever meeting a student whose mind was so hopelessly mundane.”

takes her anger about Umbridge’s performance review out on students: throws a book at Dean and Seamus, and thrusts another one so hard into Neville’s chest that he falls. She then calls the entire class a bunch of idiots: “You know what to do! Or am I such a substandard teacher that you have never learned how to open a book?”

Points 2 and 3 make her no better than Snape who is also often criticized by snaters for insulting his students, wich is funny if you consider that we clearly estabilished that he is not the only one who does this. As for predicting people's deaths, i understand that it's a part of her character, just like is a part of Snape's character to be snarky, however i can't help but think that she is incredibly stupid for doing that as it not only, as said distresses the students, but makes the theory that she is a fraud seem much more belivable.

"Slughorn:

starts an elitist club to promote his favorites and doesn't even bother to learn Ron's name. This clearly affects Ron (Molly is still raw about Arthur being excluded from the Slug Club, years later)

Ron is poisoned and he just stands there

was Tom Riddle’s mentor and his influence on Tom is apparent in Tom trying to become a teacher to influence young minds, and testing poisons on house elves; he is openly prejudiced, though non-violent. Further, Slytherins were groomed into the DEs under his nose." (r/harrypotter)

Ok, i'm not even going to defend him cause i never liked him and there are honestly no good arguments to defend his actions in any of those instances. Honestly, i can agree that Snape is a bad teacher but at least he never picked favorites or did nothing when a student was endagered in front of him.

"Dumbledore:

silenced student Snape after Sirius tried to kill him, and did not expel Sirius

His attitude toward Harry in OOTP was emotionally abusive

recruited students into the original Order while they were still his students in the Marauders era, and continued to use children for his war against Voldemort."

Look, i get silecing Snape as he didn't whant to put Remus in danger but Sirius punishment was fairly light in face of what he did, though i will disagree that he actively TRIED to kill Snape as the same point that was made in the original post about Snape and Trevor can be made about Sirius, to semi quote "Sirius  is competent enough that if he’d wanted Severus dead, he would be. " i mean....He is the son of Walburga OFF WITH THAT ELF'S HEAD Black and grew up having acess to more dark artefacts and dark arts spells than Snape could ever dream of having, thus it would be as the host of screen rant says " super easy,barerely an inconvenience" for Sirius to kill Severus without being caught. However, it was still Involuntary manslaughter and thus " a Friday afternoon detention for the rest of the year, along with being banned from playing Quidditch for the rest of the school year." is not a suitable punishment

As for Dumbledore in OOTP, i get that he was afraid that Voldemort could read Harry's mind but that could be solved by simply writting a porpusfully vague letter like " Harry, I'm afraid Voldemort can read your mind, that's why I can't look at you and I can't share my plans with you. I need you to trust me, I have a plan and the best thing you can do to help is put all your efforts in learning Occlumency. I would teach you myself but that may allow Voldemort to see my plans, but I happen to know of another expert at Occlumency who may be of help. You might not like him but he is by far the best person for this job. Don't worry, i will talk him into curbing down his behavior so that he is more civilized with you during those lessons"

There Harry won't know for sure who his teacher is going to be (thus neither will Voldemort ) but at least he won't be compleatly in the dark.

Point 3 was always something that irked me about him, but i suppose i can't say much as age is also not a factor in the recruitment of death eaters, though it can be noted that while Voldemort did manipulate his potential recruits, he never lied to them about what he expected of them wich can't be said about Dumbledore.

"Hagrid:

gives Dudley a tail because Dudley’s father insulted Dumbledore. Dudley has to get surgery to remove it. He intended to transfigure him into a pig

gets the Trio involved in his illegal and dangerous dragon hatching scheme, which results in them being caught and punished and in Ron being gravely injured, for which he blames Ron

calls Draco an idiot

first sends Draco and Neville alone, after the unicorn killer, then sends Harry and Draco alone, despite seeing that Draco is trying to cause trouble

sends Harry and Ron into the forest to speak with Aragog

Draco gets injured in Hagrid’s lesson

His blast-ended skrewts lesson result in multiple injured students

threatens Draco with transfiguration again after Moody’s stunt

asks Harry and Hermione to secretly look after his incredibly dangerous brother

makes a fuss about the Trio dropping his subject and guilt-trips them about it" (r/harrypotter)

ok so lets go in order:

Point 1: IRL, it was clearly another demonstration of Jk Rowlling's fatphobia. In potterverse, it was clearly irresponsible and constitutes as a violation of the status of secrecy as, although the Dursley's know about magic, the staff of the hospital where Dudley goes to remove his tail do not.

Point 2: once again, Irresponsible, but in character for Hagrid who seemingly fails to see how something like a Dragon could hurt the students.

Point 3: and Yet another teacher who insults his students ladies and gentlemen.

Point 4: One of his worst offences on this list, Investigating the Unicorn deaths was HIS JOB!!!! Honestly, call Snape what you will but he never used detentions to send students to get dangerous potion ingredients for him or set any detentions past curfew. Hagrid should have them do something like clean the owlery instead.

Point 5: i get that he though Aragog wouldn't eat them, wich is in character for him as he always sees dangerous creatures as inoffensive but he didn't know for sure and could have just told them to research Tom Riddle's geneology wich would have been just as effective and way less dangerous.

Point 6: Ok let's get this out of the way first: YES, Draco is partly to blame for this injury as he insulted Buckbeak when Hagrid specifically told him not to! However, in any class there will always, and i mean ALWAYS be a student that, for whatever reason, fails to follow instructions so if Draco hadn't said a word, you can bet that another student who wasn't paying attention would have! thus the end results would still be the same, with the only difference being how much power the parent's of said student have at the ministry and if they decide to press charges or not. The risk was always there and that's what he gets for bringing a XXX beast to a third year class.

"Lupin

endangers everyone for an entire year by covering up for a mass-murderer just to look good, even after said murderer has infiltrated the castle twice, once attacking and traumatizing the Fat Lady and once pulling a knife on Ron

is negligent with his Wolfsbane - Snape has to nag him about it. This leads to him transforming in front of the Trio

Hermione doesn’t get a chance to fight the boggart, leading to her first less than perfect grade, which affects her confidence well into her 5th year. As the DADA OWL exam included banishing a boggart, this is presumably why she doesn’t get the O she deserves

Has no apparent issue with executing Peter in front of three children" (r/harrypotter)

Point 1: Ok,so i believe that his reason for not telling people about Sirius being a dog animagus wasn't to, as the post said, "Look Good" but to be loyal to his friends whom,being who they were,probably made a pact in their first year to not tell any figure of authority about their mischiefs, wich included becoming animagus. Was it a bad decision? Yes,as he should have put the safety of his students above anything else but i understand his reason. it dosen't excuse it though.

Point 2: while i can understand that, as anyone would forget it with all that was happening, i can't defend him for that one.

Point 3: "his teaching style was obviously not good for Hermione, who got an E in DADA because she couldn't defeat a boggart, because she didn't get the same chance as everyone to practice in Y3. She remained insecure about her DADA skills, for no good reason" (pet_genius on reddit) Honestly, the fact that he let any of his students leave without having defeated their boggarts is something that i think no one could defend and is worrisome that, if it weren't for the Patronus lessons, Harry might not have gotten the chance to defeat his either.

Point 3: Ok i need to remind you that: LUPIN IS A WEREWOLF WHO DIDN'T TAKE WOLFSBANE AT THE TIME AND IT WAS THE NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON! meaning, the freaking Wolf while not in control of his body, was very active inside his mind and it, being an animal, dosen't care about the emotional impact Peter's execution could have had on the children and with it being so close to the front of Remus' mind, it was very capable of clouding Remus' rationality and common sense, making him focus only on his anger.

"McGonagall:

forces Harry to become Seeker without asking him if he wants to, threatening him with punishment if he doesn’t practice hard (in the process, ignores Draco’s attempt to steal Neville’s Remembrall)

pulls 1st-year Draco by his ear in addition to assigning detention and docking 20 points, doesn’t give points back or apologize when it turns out he wasn’t lying

sends 1st years to the Forbidden Forest to find a unicorn-slaying horror, in addition to docking the trio 150 points, thus making them a target for hatred, for breaking curfew

Doesn't notice 1st-year Ginny’s obvious distress

Allows Ron to study with a broken wand

catches Harry and Ron wandering the hallways alone, at a time when teachers escort students everywhere, and lets them get away with it because Harry lies that they’re going to see Hermione in the hospital wing; does not escort them there

Locks Nev out of the common room with a mass murderer on the loose for having his passwords stolen, a humiliating and dangerous punishment for something that's not Neville's fault, in addition to a ban from Hogsmeade visits and detention.

Lets Harry practice Quidditch outdoors in POA despite the danger he is in, because, as she explicitly says, she wants the Quidditch Cup

reacts to “Moody” torturing Draco by ordering Moody to take Draco to Snape to be punished some more, and doesn't check on him

humiliates Neville because she doesn’t want to look bad in front of the foreign delegations

punishes Harry for losing his temper with Umbridge, proceeds to do the same thing in front of him

admits she treated Peter poorly because he wasn't as talented as his friends

The worst two sets of troublemakers in school history were her charges and she failed to control them." (r/harrypotter)

Point 1: “threaten” changes the entire context. She says she “may change her mind about punishing him” but it’s not made to sound very serious, especially since she smiles immediately after that. " (Fae_Faye) That said, while, as Fae_Faye said, she might have allowed him to give up Quidditch after trying out should he want to, it wouldn't be Oc for her to pull a Voldemort emphasizing the fun and glory that Quidditch can bring more than the dangers it can cause,suibitably manipulating harry into trying out should he decide that he dosen't want to play or wants to wait for y2. Yes, she would respect his opinion should he make his denial clear but she would still try.

Point 2: "Pulling somebody by the ear is a common way for adults to punish children but the fact that physical abuse is extremely common does not make it right. Would you find it acceptable if your employer dragged you around by the ear if you spent too much time on break? No? Why not? Why would that be cause for a lawsuit, but not an adult doing it to a (physically much weaker) child in their care?

At worst, the child will actually come to believe that he deserves being psychically abused if he's done something wrong, which, later in life, will turn them into an adult who accepts domestic violence. (

At worst, the child will actually come to believe that he deserves being psychically abused if he's done something wrong, which, later in life, will turn them into an adult who accepts domestic violence. (Fae_Faye and to a lesser extent Vrajitoarea) Sure, she took more points of the trio than of Draco, but as his only misdeed was being out of the Snake's lair past curfew, a simple detention would have suficed.

Point 3: "There’s no evidence that McGonagall knew what the students were going to do for detention. It’s possible Hagrid asked for them without telling her why but the fact that she accepted to send three 11 y.o. to Hagrid, at 11 o'clock at night, without even asking what he would be doing with them? That's... somehow even worse.

Besides, Filch was the one McGonagall assigned to take them to Hagrid, and Filch knew what they'd be doing. Do you think Hagrid told Filch, whom he couldn't stand, but not McGonagall? And Filch didn't tell her either, for whatever reason?

About the point deduction –Harry and Hermione not only got into trouble themselves, but also put Neville and Draco into trouble as well, and already Harry and Draco have been troublemakers (having fights at the Hall over the Remembrall, breaking the rule about flying, and maybe some more- I can’t remember right now), so she was probably trying to discourage them from doing such a thing ever again by giving such a harsh punishment, especially since the school just recently had an issue with a troll on the loose and attacking students. In any case, Neville also had 50 points deducted, and Harry, Hermione, and Neville all became the target of bullying because of it. It doesn't matter what they did, putting a target on three 11 y.o. children's backs is wrong in itself. That it happened just for breaking curfew, and in addition to the detention in the FF, just makes it worse. (Fae_Faye and Vrajitoarea, semiquoted 'cause Vrajitoarea assumed Ron was involved)

Point 4: "Heads of Houses (i.e. real-life Housemasters) are parental stand-ins, and they're supposed to watch out exactly for this kind of situation. Ginny was visibly unwell, and Percy noticed, but couldn't force her to talk about it. Ron was a 12 y.o. child, he had no responsibility.But, anyway most people at that time were distressed with the opening of the Chamber, even the teachers. Which isn't an excuse. Checking up on 11 y.o. children who have just been separated from their families, for the first time in their lives, is the Head of House's job. After a superficial inquiry, it would have become clear that Ginny was having serious issues, which should have prompted further investigation." (Fae_Faye and Vrajitoarea)

Point 5: None of his teachers did anything about it. And Ron himself makes the decision not to get one because he doesn't want to suffer a howler: "Write home for another one," Harry suggested as the wand let off a volley of bangs like a firecracker. "Oh, yeah, and get another Howler back," said Ron, stuffing the now hissing wand into his bag. " `It's your own fault your wand got snapped-'" (Fae_Faye)

Point 6: McGonagall has no way of knowing that they’re lying; all she knows is that three thick friends have had one of their own petrified and so are desperate to see their friend. This scene showcases her empathy and kindness despite usually coming off as a disciplinarian. Also, the Hospital Wing is on the first floor and at the time McGonagall catches them, Harry and Ron were on the second – I don’t think it reflects that badly on her that she allowed them to go unescorted just one flight of stairs down, especially since she was rather too emotional at that time to think rationally (when Harry and Ron leave, McGonagall is tearing up and blowing her nose).(Fae_Faye)

Point 7: All McGonagall knows is that a boy habitually known for forgetting and misplacing things wrote down every password of the Gryffindor Common Room in the last week and then lost it while a mass murderer was on the loose and trying to get into the Gryffindor Common Room. Neville endangered every Gryffindor classmate of his by losing that parchment, and could have been the cause for all their deaths if Sirius had turned out to be the psychotic mass murderer he was painted as (especially since at that time, Ron was screaming about Sirius standing over him holding a knife). Sure, there were security trolls there to protect him ( “Poor Neville was forced to wait outside the common room every night for somebody to let him in, while the security trolls leered unpleasantly at him.” ) But, setting aside the sheer mental and emotional trauma Neville was experiencing by being forced to wait outside, fearing for his life, and to humiliate himself in front of his classmates by begging to be let inside his own "home"... Sirius Black was believed to be an extremely skilled killer, who walking around the castle without being seen. The trolls were not even a small guarantee that Sirius couldn't endanger Neville.

All this, for Neville supposedly having lost something (so, not a voluntary action, but the consequence of him being naturally forgetful, and of the fact that Cadogan was inventing harder and harder punishments, to the point that other students complained).

And Neville is an extremely sensitive child, so a punishment that would have been terrible for anyone, would be excruciating for him. McGonagall, as his Head of House, should know that. It's also extremely poor pedagogy - by having him there, it's a constant reminder to everyone else that he supposedly endangered their lives, which would prompt bullying." (Fae_Faye and Vrajitoarea)

Point 8: "Bad news, Harry. I've just been to see Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt. She -- er -- got a bit shirty with me. Told m' I'd got my priorities wrong. Seemed to think I cared more about winning the Cup than I do about you staying alive. Just because I told her I didn't care if it threw you off, as long as you caught the Snitch first." Wood shook his head in disbelief. "Honestly, the way she was yelling at me... you'd think I'd said something terrible... then I asked her how much longer she was going to keep it. He screwed up his face and imitated Professor McGonagall's severe voice. 'As long as necessary, Wood'..."*When it comes down to it, she clearly cares for Harry’s safety more than winning the Cup. I also doubt that Harry would have been in any danger out on the Quidditch field, since it’s part of the school, a wide open space and shooting spells at a person flying in the air would be almost impossible" (Fae_Faye)... so yeah that point is null and void but it is the only póint so far that is null and void.

Point 9: " I must say I don’t like how you word some of your points. McGonagall didn’t “order” Moody; she told him there were alternatives to transfiguring a student as punishment, which includes seeing their Head of House - and Moody immediately says he’ll do that.McGonagall’s reaction to “Moody torturing Draco” is thus: she "shrieks", drops her books, untransfigures Draco and then she scolds Moody "weakly". It’s made clear that she’s extremely stunned by what happened, still ,she didn't even bother to ask the Draco, who was visibly in pain, if he was OK, instead letting him be dragged away by his torturer, who was still threatening him." (Fae_Faye and Vrajitoarea)

Yes,his fall would probably not be considered serious but it dosen't change the fact that she should have asked about his wellbeing regardless of that: a scraped knee is not serious but it can still be painfull.

"In case of injury, you don't send the injured person to the "proper authorities", who will then send them to the hospital. Internal bleeding and ruptures are a thing.

About the pain, Draco might be slightly hurt by the ten-feet fall, but I doubt it's any more serious than a kid scraping their knee on the floor.

... repeatedly smashing someone into the floor isn't any more serious than a kid scraping their knee? Never mind the emotional trauma.

“I don’t think so!” roared Moody, pointing his wand at the ferret again—it flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and then bounced upward once more. “I don’t like people who attack when their opponent’s back’s turned,” growled Moody as the ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. “Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do…” The ferret flew through the air, its legs and tail flailing helplessly. “Never—do—that—again—” said Moody, speaking each word as the ferret hit the stone floor and bounced upward again. [...] “Hello, Professor McGonagall,” said Moody calmly, bouncing the ferret still higher. [...] Draco Malfoy had reappeared, lying in a heap on the floor with his sleek blond hair all over his now brilliantly pink face. He got to his feet, wincing. [...] Malfoy, whose pale eyes were still watering with pain and humiliation, [weeks later] The Gryffindors roared with laughter. Malfoy flushed with anger, but apparently the memory of Moody’s punishment was still sufficiently painful to stop him from retorting.

It's made very clear that the experience was a truly traumatising one. (Vrajitoarea)

Point 10: "She scolds Neville for not being able to do a spell properly, and does so by mentioning the delegates. Neville has a history of endangering the class by melting his cauldrons (see PS, where the students have to climb on tables); Neville was supposed to have studied that particular potion over the summer; living in a magical household, he could have even practised brewing it (unlike a Muggle-born); Snape had also given them exact instructions as they were brewing; Snape is clearly frustrated with Neville's seeming intentional incompetence, and wants to make him learn - which is why he tells Neville he'll have to use the potion on Trevor - he tries to scare Neville into paying attention, because he thinks Neville can get better (not a good tactic for someone like Neville).

McGonagall, on the other hand, may belive in Neville ( as can be seen from the quote: You cannot pass an O.W.L.,” said Professor McGonagall grimly, “without serious application, practice, and study. I see no reason why everybody in this class should not achieve an O.W.L. in Transfiguration as long as they put in the work.” Neville made a sad little disbelieving noise. “Yes, you too, Longbottom,” said Professor McGonagall. “There’s nothing wrong with your work except lack of confidence." ) however, she never explains to him what he's doing wrong .

It's also mentioned that the only time she says something positive to Neville is in HBP, and then it's only because he was willing to die for Harry at the Ministry... which was actually the sort of reckless gesture that a teacher should not have been encouraging. If they had all stayed put, Sirius would have lived.

And, again, she was his Head of House - she was supposed to nurture him, help him gain self-confidence, not further undermine it.

She was often sharp with him, as she is with everybody. McGonagall holds all her students to high standards because she believes in them, and Peter probably didn’t meet those expectations often

(Fae_Faye and Vrajitoarea) Fae_Faye said and i agree that Minerva appears to not care what others think of her, but she knows that Neville does so her mentioning the delegates might have been done because she donse't want HIM to look bad in front of the foreign delegations.

Point 11: " There’s a difference. Harry is a student who can easily be punished by his professor for cheek and he is, after all, the person that the Ministry is trying to discredit as hard as they can. Though McGonagall’s job can be on the line, punishing her is a lot more difficult than with Harry, considering her stellar record of service in Hogwarts (thirty-nine years, wow). Their situations are nowhere near the same.

Point 12: "that is not what she said. Let’s see that quote, shall we? "Hero-worshipped Black and Potter,’ said Professor McGonagall. ‘Never quite in their league, talent-wise. I was often rather sharp with him. You can imagine how I – how I regret that now …’ She sounded as though she had a sudden head cold. ' She was often sharp with him, as she is with everybody. McGonagall holds all her students to high standards because she believes in them, and Peter probably didn’t meet those expectations often, , along with him being a troublemaker as part of the Marauders. She regrets her sharpness, as most people tend to regret their actions regarding a dead person, even if they were right in those actions." (Fae_Faye) and here we have the second null and void point.

Point 13: "She constantly tries. It’s not her fault that they are completely unwillingly to change and, no you can't use Lily's morals to imply James's. It's the sort of reasoning used to dismiss domestic abuse, for example - X can't possibly abuse Y, because Y is a good person who wouldn't stick with them/wouldn't tolerate a bad person.

Plenty of decent people are partnered with terrible ones.

Besides, in Y5, Lily downplayed James's actions, and even "almost smiled" at him tormenting Snape. JKR had also said she was already attracted to James, even while he was being the school bully. She wasn't a saint Sure, Plenty of people seemingly have a good relationship and marriage.

The Marauders, i.e. James's friends and accomplices, tell Harry, who is highly distressed, that his father's head "deflated a bit." Then admit that James lied to Lily (why would he, if he wasn't at fault), and continued hexing Snape behind her back (the idea that Snape was the initiator falls flat on its face, when Sirius admits James was the one to decide when the hexing would occur; similarly, if James had grown as a person, he could have just used the Map to avoid Snape).

James' maturity is, as far as I know, collaborated by every person who knew the two, except Snape, who is biased to hating James

It's not. Only Lupin and Sirius say James got better, and Sirius is the only person, throughout the books, to call James "a good person." Seriously.

Hadn’t people like Hagrid and Sirius told Harry how wonderful his father had been? (Yeah, well, look what Sirius was like himself, said a nagging voice inside Harry’s head… he was as bad, wasn’t he?)

Hagrid only says, to James's orphan son, that James was brave. Which he was, of course. The best that McGonagall has to say about James, while looking back through rose-tinted glasses, is that James was brilliant… and the leader of a gang.

“He is his father over again—”

“In looks, perhaps, but his deepest nature is much more like his mother’s.

Considering Dumbledore usually reflects the authorial voice, there you go.

As for James's behaviour post-Hogwarts, JKR wrote two short stories that portray James as reckless, arrogant, mocking of Muggles, and responsible for the collapse of Lily's relationship with Petunia. Which I honestly find weird, considering she clearly intended for James to have become decent, yet never got around to actually writing it.

In any case, "toning down the bullying and the sexual assaulting" != "becoming a good person."

I don't blame McGonagall for the Marauders' behaviour itself, just for the complete lack of consequences. I find it hard to believe she didn't know about t.On the other hand, Draco was Snape’s student but he never managed to make him a better person bu that's because Draco was the subject of heavy indoctrination, and Snape had the mission of pretending he agreed with said indoctrination. Draco actually acts behind Snape's back a lot, like in PoA, when he's taunting the Trio behind Snape's back, while pretending to be very injured in front of him."

Holly shit that was long! and looking back i find it interesting that Pomona and Aurora Sinistra were the only one's not criticized by the original post (not couinting  Septima Vector and Bathsheda Babbling who we don't see teaching cause the books were written in Harry's perspective and he never took their subjects), perhaps because they were the one's that actually deseve the title of best teacher at Hogwarts.

[mmelanch0ly]

Hi, hello I have never posted about this anywhere due to me feeling so crazy about this. My family makes jokes all the time saying how there isn't anything or I'm just anxious ect. Ever since I was little, I have always been terrified of my great grandmother's basement. Now I know what you are thinking, "Wow, you're not original with this. Everyone has been scared of a basement at least once in their life." Please hear me out on this though.

Tw for those who are any bit sensitive at all to anything like death or religions

Ever since I was young enough to start having memories, I can remember having these dreams about our property. For more info, our whole family lives on one big property along with woods and a large field for farming. The dreams would be normal, but for some reason, we would have native Americans on our property just come to pray in our woods. They would stand at the edge of the property line and mumble something in what I think is Cherokee (my mother is half-Cherokee, not that it matters cause she technically never lived on or near the property other than for a few months when I was around 8) which is the only native American culture I am aware of being in this area. The ones that spoke english would tell me "It's cursed" or others would say "they stole it from us!" I think they meant they cursed the land someone from my family stole. The dreams repeat but each time they get more extreme. The dreams started taking more of a turn from the praying when I started having dreams of the basement. The all seemed to be terrified of me or any family member that came out of the basement, they would even urge you to quickly come with them. Remember, all of this is a dream. I have never met a fully on Cherokee Indian other than my mother and her mother (you couldn't tell seeing how we are as white as can be, having also a lot of German and Irish in us).

Then the dreams would have people start being dead. Some of the Native Americans would be found dead in our basement, like one being hung from her neck under the basement stairs. I remember that one the most because she looked most like me. I remember just waking up screaming and gasping for air too after that dream.

In the more recent dreams, the entire tribe that prayed on the property line are dead. The dreams will start off as your normal dreams, but as soon as I start walking to my dad's house at night (in the dream, we aren't at the real events yet), I hear someone yell something about dancing at night. If I turn around I will see a contorted woman twitching her way at me dancing. She rises from the ground near the basement. She will do a weird dance where she just follows me and catches me no matter how fast I run to my father's house. They keep repeating! Anytime I have a dream now that starts on that property, I am chased by her in the night of the dream. I don't know who she is or what she is. I learned about the moon eyed people, I haven't done much research currently on them so I will update after I have on them specifically, but from the brief description I got that is almost exact to her. She is terrifying to me and my hands shake even just thinking about her for some reason.

My family, especially my dad's family that owns the property, are VERY religious. They are Christian and their domination is Baptist like most of the South is. Anytime you mention to them there might be something evil all they do is say, "Darling, just say 'I rebuke you in the name of Jesus!' if you feel scared. Besides, there isn't anything wrong. Your grandparents are good honest people." The only person who even agreed with something weird was only saying that because my old stepfather helped with the basement at one point and she hates him.

These are also the type of people who think it is funny to scare you. They will pick on you about it. For example, I am terrified of spiders due to something that happened when I was little and my step-brother throws them on me to watch me scream. So one day, they got tired of me saying I was scared of the basement and made me go down there for 5 minutes. I didn't last 2.

Now, this is one of the only many events I have evidence of. I felt like something was wrong, so before I even got to the bottom of the steps I pulled out my phone to record. I went around touring the basement with my camera. After a bit, I do feel a bit at ease but can't shake the feeling of someone staring me down. Suddenly as I am coming to the end of the tour and going to relax for a moment, something suddenly being thrown against a wall of a room I was looking at. I tried my best not to show obvious fear cause I have heard that can fuel it. I as calmly as I could got my ass up the steps.

Days later I did sadly have to go back down there. I was crying the whole time. I just couldn't stop as soon as I opened that door. I don't know if it was from fear or just me being lazy and mad someone made me get out of bed for something I hate. I was sent down there to get a bag for a present, but while I was down there decided to check what was thrown. There was a lamp that fell over and was on the other side of the room from where it was placed. This lamp was not a circular shape or in any bit a round shape. It is a rectangle. It couldn't have fallen and rolled, even if it did fall how did it fall? Why did it fall? It could have only fell if someone physically threw it or hit it hard. Also, wasn't one of those big lamps it was one we use for camping.

Last time I went down alone, I decided I should try religion. Maybe that would put my mind at ease. I started reciting parts of the bible I knew off the top of my head, but I was quickly silenced by my throat suddenly feeling like someone was grabbing it from the inside if that makes any sense at all. I couldn't breathe or even speak. It only stopped when I got out of the basement. I do have an inhaler for asthma, but that wasn't my normal asthma.

Everytime I am down there, someone or something is watching me. I don't know how to tell. I can't even show my family the video of the lamp incident because I know they would dismiss it or get mad I filmed their messy basement. I don't know where or who to go to about this cause the only people who ever believe me are people who aren't related to my family.

Also, I have no idea if this is even remotely relevant but I am very sensitive to energy and can see stuff that most do. The simplest way I feel I can explain is by saying I am a medium. This post is all over the place I am so sorry! I just get excited or hopeful that someone may read this or listen. If any of you know how to deal with this or at least help me with my family please comment! I may post the video here later if anyone is even interested in this.

Reasons I think it's targeting me:

1. It knows I know its there

2. I am the youngest by blood of my family

3. I am very anxious and have been diagnosed with depression from a young age so I am the most vulnerable. Melancholy and Eeyore have been my childhood nicknames given by by family.

4. I do have a hard time with religion. So much has been tried to be forced on me that I just slowly drifted away over time.

Thank you for reading if you have, please comment if you have any advice or at least like so I know someone is reading.

[keepsmagnetoaway]

X-Men 96 (December 1975)

Christ Claremont/Dave Cockrum

After the breakneck pace of the initial revial issues, this is sort of a breather in which some groundwork is laid and some important threads introduced - albeit a breather in which the X-Men fight and kill a demon from beyond time and space, so. This demon arrives in a very funny way: Scott is out in the woods angsting about his failure to save Proudstar and eye-beams right through an ancient cairn that somehow entombed a demon. This is the sort of hazard you should have checked fore before moving a bunch of mutants here, Xavier. Also, this isn't even the first time that Scott's angst-blasting has awoken an underground evil!

Meanwhile all the newbies are training, and Banshee - who is sort of not a newbie, you'll recall, and settling into the role of "elder statesman who isn't the leader" - is wearing an absolutely atrocious outfit.

Nothing worse than being dressed like an idiot when you run into someone you really fancy, but that's what happens when he opens the door to the first appearance of a major supporting character - it's Moira MacTaggert! Here introduced as "housekeeper", but this changes, like, next issue to "genius colleague of Xavier" which is certainly for the better.

This is also the issue that gives us this iconic panel.

Moira has been at the mansion for like an hour when this happens. One sign of a good housekeeper is that she immediately locates the armoury and familiarises herself with the weaponry there. Moira's Scottishness is obviously as cartoonish as Banshee's Irishness but somehow I find it less annoying, Moira's great. What is yon kelpie, though? Well, it's this guy.

This is sick, obviously (in the good way). This guy is just some random demon, there's a bunch of dialogue in the issue that attempts to establish lore for him but doesn't really matter, what matters is how fucking bonkers the art gets. Look at this!

That's fucking amazing! One of the wildest, most ambitious panels published in X-Men to date. There's a view that Cockrum's art is quite conservative but I think stuff like this shows that's just not true. Anyway, the demon is defeated by Storm resealing the cairn while Wolverine fights it off, but in the process we get two fantastic little character nuggets, first this:

And then this:

That's it, in both cases: we learn nothing more at this point about either of their pasts, but it's extremely intriguing and thrilling to get a glimpse of complex, unknown backstories for both of them (and, we presume, for the others too): this, even more than Moira, is the major bit of setting-up that's being done in this issue, the suggestion that all these new characters are already deep and storied, we just haven't heard the stories yet.

[rmsstevielol]

Ok hello im back to rant again!

Todays topic is Kilts, Tartan and the importance of them to our culture 😜

So, kilts and tartan have been a part of Scottish and Irish culture for CENTURIES right? And don’t even come at me with “oh Victoria introduced clan tartans🧐🧐” they still had them before! Anyways my main issue is that it’s becoming a worldwide type thing or a thing that can be used by anyone.. it is literally somebody’s culture and it should not be used just for fun.

I am CONSTANTLY seeing stuff like “GRWM kilt addition” and it’s someone who has no Scottish or Irish relation and they aren’t even wearing it properly, mostly Americans and English people which is very annoying becuase they don’t even acknowledge where it’s from or how to wear it properly. Another thing is that tartan is being made for different religions Or sexualities and even an English one exists now.. can we not do that because it, once again, belongs to a culture and by making different tartans for all these different things, it takes the meaning and importance of it to our culture. I literally see SO MANY schools in England and people wearing it in general wearing it, referring to it ‘plaid’, like no, it’s tartan.

Also I definitely do not fw the royals wearing the Stuart tartan or any tartan in general because im not being funny but they literally have barely traceable Scottish genealogy and they even went as far as BANNING the Stuart tartan for anyone apart from the royals, even though they literally not Stuart’s and there are actual Stuart’s out there, who still wear them, but still the fact there is a law that they cannot wear there own family tartan is actually disgusting. The royals aren’t Scottish or Irish therefore should not wear them. I swear i see many wealthy English people wearing kilts like it’s a thing of nobility for everyone.. it’s not.

Tartan and kilts are not just a thing to show off your wealth and high status, they are our culture and something that is very much valued and appreciated in modern day, bringing me on to my next point, that “clan tartans aren’t relevant” or “kilts aren’t that important anymore”, which is extremely false. I know many families, including my own, who wear their own family tartan and kilts all the time and they’re something that is highly valued and respected by them, it is something that is important to us because it gives is pride in our family, culture and history. We wear them to important events too! So by random non Scottish/Irish people wearing them anywhere (in the wrong way) it takes away the whole meaning of that. Also wearing someone’s clan tartan and not knowing anything about it, does not sit right with me at all, like just wear your own cultural clothing.

I saw a very specific example of taking kilts and using them as an “accessory”on a TikTok video, a couple months ago, where a young English woman was showing how she “styles” a kilt. This kilt was a proper, authentic, Scottish kilt and the way she was handling it and talking about it was very disrespectful and just rude. She first stated how she didn’t like the length, as it made her look like a granny, where she then started to pin it up to make it a mini skirt.. how much more do I really need to say. It’s plain rude and disrespectful, if you cannot wear it respectfully and properly then don’t wear it at all, simple as. Another thing with this woman, is that she was completely arrogant to the comments trying to correct her and call her out on her behaviour, she was pretty much disregarding them as “petty” not admitting her wrongs in any way.

Now, before you all come at me, hear me out. I know cultural appropriation is a very very controversial topic but if people are truly outraged by it then why is the appropriation of tartan and kilts not taken more seriously, it is the same exact thing. If i were to compare, the issue with the appropriation of Native American culture and how there are awful costumes made of them on Amazon, is very similar, if not the same situation as i am talking about with the kilts and tartan, for example, the cheap, stereotypical costumes of Scottish people on Amazon or the “sexy” mini skirt “kilts” with the matching hats.. see how similar the situations are. I do believe that a lot of what im seeing regarding how kilts and tartan are being worn, is cultural appropriation and is not being paid attention to nearly enough.

I used to brush it off as “not that deep” or “not as bad as others”, as a lot of other people do, but as i see more and more of it, the more offensive and disrespectful it is getting and nobody is doing a single thing about it. So, yes, it is that deep and If you say you respect all cultures, yet find yourself doing these things, then you aren’t really the person you thought you were.

My culture isn’t a joke, isn’t a costume, is not something to be altered or changed to your satisfaction and it is not something to show off your wealth, so please stop and let us have it back as something to be proud of.

Share this around if you can 🤍

That was a long rant but it was needed, so, if you made it all the way to here, thank you for reading it :))

just to clarify, as always, i do not hate English people or American people and I don’t completely hate the monarchy, I am just using them as examples, as they are the ones I’ve seen most doing the things that i mentioned :)))))

[velvetboyette]

I just want to say for all my ancestors gave up to be called white when they can tell the difference they're still cruel it isn't the same but the way I was grassed in all white places for standing out with red hair hypersexualized since childhood and always touched without consent from tugging and pulling to weird caresses and little braids ppl left when I wasn't looking waiting I Lines and siut when it was real long (my hair was like ass length at one point)

I'm still a specifically because ... they really don't think redheads are real

Short stocky and red is like "oh wow aren't you a funny a relic I thought we threw you all away"

The only ONLY people who ever asked politely were older Irish people who'd say I reminded them of someone they'd loved and lost or had to leave behind esp when I was a young girl

And id happy let them hold my hair up or whatever they wanted

I'm like shaking with rage thinking about how we set our own culture on fire for THAT

So I could be in these extremely white situations (read Christian private school ) and still be what? Ostracized but I'm still allowed to attend so it's fine? Give me a break like literally

It's nothing compared to what I've witnessed the same people who did that to me do to black and brown people but it's not how they treat eachother I just

Wish I had any word for it growing up because it was more than bullying and my family didn't believe that they .. didn't trust me and I didn't understand why I thought something was wrong with me or that I'd done something

My crime was looking different in a way they'd been taught even as children to reject

I'm so angry I literally can't even think about how alone I felt and how when I moved to a public school with majority minorities it stopped right the fuck away. So much kindness and cultural exchange even tho I didn't have alot to give.

[eolewyn1010]

Dragging Frankenstein - Chapter 20, part 2

Second half of the chapter that is, at least for me, the highlight of the book; we left off at the Creature's confrontation of Victor about destroying the unfinished Distressing Damsel.

And then the slave speech. What even is this. I don’t know what to do with this. The sheer fucking hubris which he has picked up from Victor and now tries (and fails!) to turn against him. Finally, the assumption of his own superiority, declaring himself Victor’s master and, in extension of that, humanity as a whole his destined slaves, proving Victor’s fears right after all.

DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR: 14

That’s for his emerging Übermensch mentality.

With the Creature setting himself above Victor, he has completed his Lucifer character arc. Interestingly, he fails to take up where Victor left off; all things considered, now would have been a good time for the Creature himself to start playing God and repair the almost-complete ladymonster using Victor’s notes. He sure is clever enough for that, and he would have some time for it while Victor is out having himself a little angstfest. The fact that he doesn’t even try leads me to the conclusion that the Distressing Damsel was more of a character test for Victor, a plot device for the Creature to escalate the conflict.

On a merrier note, “you have proved yourself unworthy of my condescension”? XD Okay? Don’t be condescending then?

Gawd, these guys are terrible. My last shred of sympathy for the Creature has finally vanished, and for once I feel a tiny bit of admiration for Victor’s thought process and taking a moral stance. Fine work, Shelley.

Oh, and the infamous “I shall be with you on your wedding night.” Well, first off – let’s be honest, this sounds like a threat of the sexual kind. DAS GAY: 33

INCEST VIBES: 15

Then, Victor gets one of those, too, bc he actually thinks he’s in a place to threaten the Creature. “closed with him in mortal strife”, eh? DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR: 15

And finally, his imagination can’t get him any further than to his wedding night being “the hour I should die”. Not like, y’know, the Creature has promised to make you miserable by destroying all you ever loved. Nah, IT’S ALL ABOUT ME: 23

Back to form. Whew, I was floundering for a second there!

…I have to give him another, because he does think of Elizabeth – in terms of her mourning for him. IT’S ALL ABOUT ME: 24

We reach a point where Victor not only fantasizes of being wretched and alone for the rest of his life, feeling isolated from the rest of humanity, but also falls asleep in the grass. Huh, they really have switched roles.

A letter from the boyfriend who’s missing him dearly! Henry, my sweetie! DAS GAY: 34

Oh, good, he does tidy up the laboratory.

…throw the parts into the sea?? Are you kidding me, you dumbass? Can’t you cremate them decently? Ugh, gross.

“I felt as if I was about the commission of a dreadful crime.” Once again, Victor fails to acknowledge that he has, in fact, committed numerous crimes. And tossing rotting corpse bits into the sea, bits that presumably originated from Christian people who thought their body safe in sacred ground, is at the very least defiling graves. (Also, gross.)

The travel across the Irish Sea is just confusing, tbh, and I only really got it when the text outright said he had reached Ireland.

“As I was in a state of extreme debility” …aren’t you always? You just got lost at sea instead of doing the simpler, and way more thorough, stake burial.

“Fortunately I had money with me.” ??? WHY? Do you always take money with you when you go out to destroy the evidence of your crimes?

Thesaurus syndrome strikes again (at least I had to look up “promontory”, sue me; it’s not my mother tongue), and then, finally, some clear information. And someone who snaps at Victor, and makes him indignant at the bad manners. If Henry weren’t dead, I could find this funny.

Not to forget, his bitchy attitude (“instead of offering me any assistance”, “inhospitably” and so on) gets him one for the I SO PRIVILEGED: 11

Get offa that high horse, will you?

Why does he think they should be friendly to him, anyway? They’re Irish, and for all they know, he might well be an Englishman. Granted, this is about 50 years before the Great Famine, but weren’t the English already getting all over the country and helping themselves to all of the land?

And from here on out, it's all downhill. Okay, factually, it was all downhill since Victor decided to play God, but the next few chapters are mainly dedicated to me hating him with all my heart. I'll try to spice it up with a little bit of character analysis regarding his similarities with the Creature, but there is the one or other capslock tantrum on the horizon. Our protagonist got one golden moment here, then continues to be the literal worst. Charming.

[maybeiwasjustjade]

The insane part about all these arguments that Nesta and Elain neglected Feyre because she had to hunt for their survival (never mind that Feyre’s survival was also on the line) or because she was illiterate at 19–you would think that both sisters were much older than Feyre. Yet, the age gap between all three is basically the closest you could have three kids without making any of them twins. Nesta’s 3.5 years older than Feyre. Elain’s age is still a mystery, but assume there’s either a 1.5 year ish gap between sisters or Nesta and Elain were irish twins. Either way, it was never a large enough age gap for it to matter.

A LOT of the Archeron’s background and early acotar characterizations made no sense anyway, so I really don’t understand anti’s obsession with bringing it up constantly. Sjm retconned Nesta’s character within the same book ffs! But even if she didn’t, Feyre does have a massive ego when it comes to her sisters, and a sense of moral superiority that people tend to ignore.

Feyre is supposedly illiterate in the beginning, and her narration blames Nesta (and Elain, but not their father interestingly) for not noticing or helping her learn. Which is extremely strange given that Feyre was eleven when the Archerons fell to poverty. Acosf established that Nesta was put into rigorous training and abuse to be the perfect lady from a very young age, which meant the girls were most likely given the proper tutoring befitting their station. An argument could be made that only Nesta was, but clearly Elain is educated, and both sisters never expected that Feyre wasn’t. That itself is already a plot-hole into their background.

Mama Archeron dies when Nesta’s eleven. They survive another three maybe almost four years in high society. Long enough for Nesta to seduce a duke through dance at fourteen anyway. Even if their education went completely backburner by that point (which i sincerely doubt), that means Feyre at least had a governess till the age of eight. And considering Elain’s barely older than her yet is clearly literate, the fact that Feyre wasn’t is already odd as hell.

The Archerons miraculously survived another three years before Feyre was old enough to begin hunting for survival. It’s simple really: it’s a tragedy Feyre had to hunt at such a young age, but it was not her sisters’ responsibility either. The same way that their mother groomed and abused Nesta to seduce and marry older men so that Elain (and Feyre) could marry for love was not her sisters’ fault. The funny thing is that one happened before fourteen, and the other after, but only one is considered a crime. The other is a tool for the IC to take advantage of.

And now, Feyre is fae (by choice, because she went back for Tamlin knowing she could die) and happy with it, powerful, and essentially queen of a territory (more like a mayor of a city). While Nesta and Elain were kidnapped and then murdered as part of a war they had no business being involved in, forcibly turned against their will, and lost their entire mortal lives in one fell swoop. All because Rhysand sucked at his job (not surprising, or maybe he did it on purpose who knows).

Respectfully, elain and Nesta both had their life taken from them in the cauldron as a consequence of Feyre’s actions. Never mind that the father was responsible for his children, even if you blame Nesta and elain for not hunting— they both got their comeuppance when they were dragged from their beds in the middle of the night. They both housed Feyre and her friends at their home despite the steep risk and rightful fear of the fae. Everything they do to help Feyre after Turning is extra. If the sisters were to keep count and tally points against each other, Feyre needs to step up her game.

The narrative is admittedly warped but any level of reading comprehension should let readers see that continuously ragging on Nesta and elain under the banner of them being older and therefore responsible for hunting is ridiculous. Even if you’re willing to die on that hill, Nesta and elain literally died.

When Feyre was killed UTM and turned fae it happened because she went back for true love, she went for Tamlin. She fell in love with a fae and was friends with lucien. Nesta and elain were killed for their involvement with Feyre. They hated the fae, lost everything after turning. Feyre was given more and more power, friendship, love and acceptance. Nesta and elain lost their home, their inheritance, and forced into indentured servitude, with Feyre herself thinking about how to force Nesta to do her bidding during the war.

At the end of the day, Feyre has 5 mansions and became the very thing she hated in those first few chapters everyone wants to bring up so much. Feyre went hunting and her sisters didn’t. Now, Nesta is forced to hunt the trove and fight in their wars and seduce court allies while Feyre sits on her ass and does nothing.