#barty analysis

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Justice for Barty Crouch Jr: Part 1/2

(Part 2)

This is a bit of a weird theory, and I'll confess, some of the evidence is not all that conclusive. But I didn't see anyone mention anything about this anywhere else...

When I reread the books recently, I noticed I really liked Mad-Eye Moody in Goblet of Fire. Moody in the fourth book is actually one of my favorite characters, he makes the top 10. But then I reached Order of the Phoenix and realized (again) that I hate Moody's guts.

The only conclusion I could draw was that I really liked Barty Crouch Jr. because, Moody in book 4, wasn't really Moody. So, I went back to Goblet of Fire to try and find out who Barty is, how his behavior as Moody, differed from the real deal in the later books, and why I liked him when I didn't like the real Moody.

And let's just say, I came to some interesting conclusions...

This post ended up being pretty long, so I've divided it up into two. But my thesis is:

Barty was a Death eater, but he didn't torture the Longbottoms.

He didn't want Harry to be hurt during the Tornoment and actually cared about him.

And I can prove it!

Reasons for Doubt

When reviewing all the scenes of Barty Jr, it was made clear pretty quickly that Barty wasn't really trying to fool anyone. Actually, he seemed to be actively sabotaging himself.

“Maybe someone’s hoping Potter is going to die for it,” said Moody, with the merest trace of a growl. An extremely tense silence followed these words. Ludo Bagman, who was looking very anxious indeed, bounced nervously up and down on his feet and said, “Moody, old man ... what a thing to say!” “We all know Professor Moody considers the morning wasted if he hasn’t discovered six plots to murder him before lunchtime,” said Karkaroff loudly. “Apparently he is now teaching his students to fear assassination too. An odd quality in a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dumbledore, but no doubt you had your reasons.”

(Goblet of Fire, page 279)

From the very beginning, Barty is outright telling everyone what happened. And exactly how:

“Because they hoodwinked a very powerful magical object!” said Moody. “It would have needed an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm to bamboozle that goblet into forgetting that only three schools compete in the tournament. ... I’m guessing they submitted Potter’s name under a fourth school, to make sure he was the only one in his category. ...” “You seem to have given this a great deal of thought, Moody,” said Karkaroff coldly, “and a very ingenious theory it is — though of course, I heard you recently got it into your head that one of your birthday presents contained a cunningly disguised basilisk egg, and smashed it to pieces before realizing it was a carriage clock. So you’ll understand if we don’t take you entirely seriously. ...”

(Goblet of Fire, pages 279-280)

He goes as far as to explain how he got Harry into the tournament. To the point even Karkaroff thinks it's strange Moody would bother putting so much thought into it. And he's right, it is super strange.

Barty shouldn't be explaining that to the people he is supposedly trying to deceive. It's so incredibly revealing and counterproductive. And it's not that Barty is stupid, he shows he is both intelligent and competent to a degree it's clear that if he really wanted to not be discovered he wouldn't be (he transfigured his father's corpse to a bone and buried it in the forest when he didn't wish to be found out, clearly, he can get away with murder when he wants to). So why all of this? Why try so hard to tell them exactly what's going on? Why is he showing his hand?

It won't be out of character for Moody to not mention all of it. He could not go into as much detail easily. But, he chooses to go into detail about the very method he used to get Harry chosen for the tournament. Like he's trying to get himself caught.

“So . . . whoever conjured the Dark Mark . . .” said Hermione slowly, “were they doing it to show support for the Death Eaters, or to scare them away?” “Your guess is as good as ours, Hermione,” said Mr. Weasley. “But I’ll tell you this . . . it was only the Death Eaters who ever knew how to conjure it. I’d be very surprised if the person who did it hadn’t been a Death Eater once, even if they’re not now. . . .

(Goblet of Fire, page 143)

This is an earlier note from Hermione, and I agree with her 100%. The goal of Barty when casting the Dark Mark isn't clear. We know he is a marked Death Eater, but so are Regulus and Snape. We know not all Death Eaters agreed with everything they did, and some of them had regrets. And it's kind of interesting this idea that Barty cast the Dark Mark to scare the attackers off was planted this early in the book.

“What — what are you doing?” said Professor McGonagall, her eyes following the bouncing ferret’s progress through the air. “Teaching,” said Moody. “Teach — Moody, is that a student?” shrieked Professor McGonagall, the books spilling out of her arms. “Yep,” said Moody.

(Goblet of Fire, page 206)

I wanted to add this scene just because of the "yep" as his response to McGonagall, but this entire conversation, actually is noteworthy. Why? Well, the mannerism.

Moody whom we meet in book 5 and onwards doesn't speak or act like this. The mannerisms and speech patterns we see in this conversation are 100% Barty Crouch Jr. And this isn't the only scene in which his own mannerisms peek through because he isn't putting much effort into his act.

Here are some examples of how Moody talks in book 5, for comparison:

“Well, congratulations,” said Moody, still glaring at Ron with his normal eye, “authority figures always attract trouble, but I suppose Dumbledore thinks you can withstand most major jinxes or he wouldn’t have appointed you. . . .”

(Order of the Pheonix, page 169)

“Yeah, well,” said Moody, “there’s something funny about the Potter kid, we all know that.” “Dumbledore seemed worried about Harry when I spoke to him this morning,” whispered Mrs. Weasley. “ ’Course he’s worried,” growled Moody. “The boy’s seeing things from inside You-Know-Who’s snake. . . . Obviously, Potter doesn’t realize what that means, but if You-Know-Who’s possessing him —”

(Order of the Pheonix, page 491)

He's more gruff, more blunt, more paranoid. He isn't as gentle with Harry and Ron as Barty was (I'll showcase some of these moments later). And he shows full faith in Dumbledore's decisions. Something, Barty doesn't do even when pretending to be Moody.

Some Background

I want to talk about Barty's trial and Azkaban sentence for a bit, along with his relationship with his father as it explains a lot about him as a character...

and a boy in his late teens, who looked nothing short of petrified. He was shivering, his straw-colored hair all over his face, his freckled skin milk-white. The wispy little witch beside Crouch began to rock backward and forward in her seat, whimpering into her handkerchief. Crouch stood up. He looked down upon the four in front of him, and there was pure hatred in his face. “You have been brought here before the Council of Magical Law,” he said clearly, “so that we may pass judgment on you, for a crime so heinous —” “Father,” said the boy with the straw-colored hair. “Father . . . please . . .” “— that we have rarely heard the like of it within this court,” said Crouch, speaking more loudly, drowning out his son’s voice. “We have heard the evidence against you. The four of you stand accused of capturing an Auror — Frank Longbottom — and subjecting him to the Cruciatus Curse, believing him to have knowledge of the present whereabouts of your exiled master, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named —” “Father, I didn’t!” shrieked the boy in chains below. “I didn’t, I swear it, Father, don’t send me back to the dementors —”

(Goblet of Fire, page 594)

Does this look like a hardened Death Eater who was happy to torture the Longbottoms and proud to serve his lord?

No, this is a terrified nineteen-year-old kid who was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people.

Barty continues and calls:

“Mother!” screamed the boy below, and the wispy little witch beside Crouch began to sob, rocking backward and forward. “Mother, stop him, Mother, I didn’t do it, it wasn’t me!”

...

“No! Mother, no! I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it, I didn’t know! Don’t send me there, don’t let him!”

(Goblet of Fire, page 595)

Barty calls this as Bellatrix and the Lestranges are completely calm, taking credit for torturing the Longbottoms. Shouting at Crouch Sr, that Voldemort would return. Barty isn't doing that, he isn't the fanatic Death Eaters, he's a scared boy:

But the boy was trying to fight off the dementors, even though Harry could see their cold, draining power starting to affect him. The crowd was jeering, some of them on their feet, as the woman swept out of the dungeon, and the boy continued to struggle. “I’m your son!” he screamed up at Crouch. “I’m your son!” “You are no son of mine!” bellowed Mr. Crouch, his eyes bulging suddenly. “I have no son!” The wispy witch beside him gave a great gasp and slumped in her seat. She had fainted. Crouch appeared not to have noticed. “Take them away!” Crouch roared at the dementors, spit flying from his mouth. “Take them away, and may they rot there!” “Father! Father, I wasn’t involved! No! No! Father, please!”

(Goblet of Fire, page 596)

Barty keeps swearing he wasn't involved and that he didn't do it. that it wasn't him. Compared to how calm the three Lestranges are — it's clear something's up.

I think Barty is telling the truth here. I think he really didn't torture the Longbottoms.

Barty was still acting as a scared boy, just like in his trial, even in front of only dementors and Death Eaters, when there was no need to act. He is described by Sirius when he arrived in Azkaban:

I saw the dementors bringing him in, watched them through the bars in my cell door. He can’t have been more than nineteen. They took him into a cell near mine. He was screaming for his mother by nightfall. He went quiet after a few days, though . . . they all went quiet in the end . . . except when they shrieked in their sleep. . . .

(Goblet of Fire, page 528)

Barty was young and scared and kept to the same behavior even with no audience to convince — which means it wasn't a lie. It wasn't an act. He really didn't do it.

Sirius talks a little bit about Braty's childhood, his relationship with Crouch Sr and the events leading up to his trial:

“Crouch’s own son was caught with a group of Death Eaters who’d managed to talk their way out of Azkaban. Apparently they were trying to find Voldemort and return him to power.”

...

“Nasty little shock for old Barty, I’d imagine. Should have spent a bit more time at home with his family, shouldn’t he? Ought to have left the office early once in a while . . . gotten to know his own son.” He began to wolf down large pieces of bread. “Was his son a Death Eater?” said Harry. “No idea,” said Sirius, still stuffing down bread. “I was in Azkaban myself when he was brought in. This is mostly stuff I’ve found out since I got out. The boy was definitely caught in the company of people I’d bet my life were Death Eaters — but he might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, just like the house-elf.”

...

“...Crouch’s fatherly affection stretched just far enough to give his son a trial, and by all accounts, it wasn’t much more than an excuse for Crouch to show how much he hated the boy . . . then he sent him straight to Azkaban.”

(Goblet of Fire, page 528)

Barty, at the time of his trial and sentence, wasn't even for sure a Death Eater. He wasn't actually caught doing anything, he was caught with Death Eaters who escaped an Azkaban sentence, which means Death Eaters other than the Lestranges. This means he wasn't even caught on the scene of the Longbottoms torture, but somewhere else and unrelated. It proves even more that Barty was innocent regarding the torture of Frank and Alice.

We know he was a Death Eater because he could cast the Dark Mark. But, I think he wasn't involved in torturing the Longbottoms or anyone, for that matter. I don't think he had it in him before Azkaban and years of torment by his father.

The other thing of note is Crouch's treatment of his son. He was an absent father, caring more for his ministry position than his family. And we see later in GoF that Barty despises his father. I think he disliked him even before being kept under the imperious curse for years. I think that's what pushed Barty to become a Death Eater, it was something to spite his father. To create a distance between them.

His murder of his father during GoF is probably the only murder he wanted a part of. Actually, his father is the only person we know he killed. He didn't get the chance to kill the real Moody, and he never killed anyone else.

Once the boy [Barty Jr] had died, people started feeling a bit more sympathetic toward the son and started asking how a nice young lad from a good family had gone so badly astray. The conclusion was that his father never cared much for him

(Goblet of Fire, page 529)

More from Sirius that strengthens my former point. Barty joined the Death Eaters, in large to go against his father.

This vendetta against his father is the main reason I believe Barty chooses this plan to aid Voldemort. Well, there are some other reasons, but using the tournament is a good way for him to mess with his father's reputation. That same reputation that was more important to him than his own son.

As a Teacher and Mentor

A lot of fans like to say Remus Lupin was the best DADA teacher Harry had, I'd actually argue it was Moody (aka Barty). I'm saying that because Barty-as-Moody was the one who taught Harry many of the techniques and approaches he keeps going back to in the books.

The constant vigilance that saves him multiple times is from Barty, not the real Moody.

His resistance to the imperious curse.

When Harry quotes Moody in his head under certain situations for the advice he was given, it's not advice from the real Moody but from Barty:

He raised the cup to his lips and then, just as suddenly, lowered it. One of the horrible painted kittens behind Umbridge had great round blue eyes just like Mad-Eye Moody’s magical one, and it had just occurred to Harry what Mad-Eye would say if he ever heard that Harry had drunk anything offered by a known enemy

(Order of the Phoenix, page 630)

This above quote is based on Barty's advice in GoF, not the real Moody.

Barty made Harry think of becoming an auror. He was the one who convinced him he could become one:

“You ever thought of a career as an Auror, Potter?” “No,” said Harry, taken aback. “You want to consider it,” said Moody, nodding and looking at Harry thoughtfully. “Yes, indeed . . . and incidentally . . . I’m guessing you weren’t just taking that egg for a walk tonight?” “Er — no,” said Harry, grinning. “I’ve been working out the clue.” Moody winked at him, his magical eye going haywire again. “Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas, Potter. . . . See you in the morning. . . .”

(Goblet of Fire, pages 477-478)

Barty did more for Harry's self-esteem than any other teacher.

“Now, that’s more like it!” growled Moody’s voice, and suddenly, Harry felt the empty, echoing feeling in his head disappear. He remembered exactly what was happening, and the pain in his knees seemed to double. “Look at that, you lot ... Potter fought! He fought it, and he damn near beat it! We’ll try that again, Potter, and the rest of you, pay attention — watch his eyes, that’s where you see it — very good, Potter, very good indeed! They’ll have trouble controlling you!”

(Goblet of Fire, page 232)

In the above scene, Barty is delighted by Harry's resistance of the imperious. He is so proud and fond. I already mentioned and will continue showing how Barty did very little acting when he pretended to be Moody, as such, I don't think he's pretending here either. I think he actually is delighted.

And, I mean, think about it, why would a servant loyal to Voldemort teach Harry Potter how to resist the imperius? Why would he keep practicing with him throughout the year to make sure he was good at it? Why make sure Harry knows people would want to control him and he should make it hard for them?

The only conclusion I can come to is that he is trying to help Harry from a limited position. Why and How will be discussed later.

Neville was standing alone, halfway up the passage, staring at the stone wall opposite him with the same horrified, wide-eyed look he had worn when Moody had demonstrated the Cruciatus Curse. “Neville?” Hermione said gently. “Neville, what — ?” But an odd clunking noise sounded behind them, and they turned to see Professor Moody limping toward them. All four of them fell silent, watching him apprehensively, but when he spoke, it was in a much lower and gentler growl than they had yet heard. “It’s all right, sonny,” he said to Neville. “Why don’t you come up to my office? Come on . . . we can have a cup of tea. ...” Neville looked even more frightened at the prospect of tea with Moody. He neither moved nor spoke. Moody turned his magical eye upon Harry. “You all right, are you, Potter?” “Yes,” said Harry, almost defiantly. Moody’s blue eye quivered slightly in its socket as it surveyed Harry. Then he said, “You’ve got to know. It seems harsh, maybe, but you’ve got to know. No point pretending ... well ... come on, Longbottom, I’ve got some books that might interest you.”

(Goblet of Fire, page 219)

And he wasn't only the best DADA teacher for Harry, he was the best teacher for Neville too. He actually helped the son of the Longbottoms he was sent to Azkaban for torturing.

Just, he is the only adult attempting to build up Neville's confidence in himself and his abilities. He encourages Neville's love of Herbology and doesn't ridicule him like most other adults in Neville's life.

Also in the above quote, he clearly wants to tell Harry more. "but you’ve got to know", he says. He is trying to prepare Harry for what's to come. Why would he do that if he wants him dead?

As a Defender of Harry

To continue off Barty actually steps up to defend Harry a lot throughout the book. Even at times, he won't necessarily have to. I mean, the real Moody was never this protective of Harry. Sure, he kept him safe, but he didn't really care for Harry's feelings and self-esteem. Barty did.

“Yeah, that’s Harry Potter,” said a growling voice from behind them. Professor Karkaroff spun around. Mad-Eye Moody was standing there, leaning heavily on his staff, his magical eye glaring unblinkingly at the Durmstrang headmaster. The color drained from Karkaroff’s face as Harry watched. A terrible look of mingled fury and fear came over him

(Goblet of Fire, page 258)

He's scaring Karkaroff and the Durmstrang students away from Harry. The moment before this quote had the Durmstrang students and Karkaroff noticing Harry for the first time as they were leaving the Great Hall on the day they arrived at Hogwarts. They all freeze and stare at Harry, knowing his story and probably about to ask him questions, it's not like Karkaroff would've done anything in the Great Hall. But Moody (Barty) steps in to fend off Harry's discomfort! Hes not even in actual physical danger! Just discomfort!

Harry hesitated. He’d been afraid of this — but he hadn’t told Cedric, and he certainly wasn’t going to tell Moody, that Hagrid had broken the rules. “It’s all right,” said Moody, sitting down and stretching out his wooden leg with a groan. “Cheating’s a traditional part of the Tri-wizard Tournament and always has been.” “I didn’t cheat,” said Harry sharply. “It was — a sort of accident that I found out.” Moody grinned. “I wasn’t accusing you, laddie. I’ve been telling Dumbledore from the start, he can be as high-minded as he likes, but you can bet old Karkaroff and Maxime won’t be. They’ll have told their champions everything they can. They want to win. They want to beat Dumbledore. They’d like to prove he’s only human.”

(Goblet of Fire, pages 343-344)

Moody is glad Harry knows about the dragons, and that could be explained by wanting him to win so he could get to the graveyard (that plan had so many problems in it that I'll get to later) but that isn't the only thing he reveals here. He calls out Dumbledore and his attitude. He shows his dislike towards Dumbledore and his moral flexibility regarding cheating - two things the real Moody will never say. And he would definitely not phrase them like this. This whole conversation — that's all Barty.

Barty, who is actually encouraging Harry and belittling Dumbledore.

That sentence about proving Dumbledore's human, I think Barty shares that feeling. He agrees with the other headmasters on that. Even if he hates Karkaroff's guts.

Because he actually does hate all the Death Eaters that got away genuinely, but not for the same reasons as, let's say, Bellatrix. Bellatrix dislikes them for their lack of loyalty to their lord; Barty hates them out of envy.

Barty was sent to Azkaban for his mark even if he never tortured or killed anyone. And these other Death Eaters, ones he might know killed or tortured, got out scott-free. He was fought alongside them and still sent to the dementors instead of being let go. And he is bitter.

Also, important to remember, that a year in Azkaban and then twelve years under the Imperius curse didn't leave him unscathed. He is not mentally or emotionally well or anything close to it when we meet him in the books.

“Well, I’m not going to tell you,” said Moody gruffly. “I don’t show favoritism, me. I’m just going to give you some good, general advice. And the first bit is — play to your strengths.” “I haven’t got any,” said Harry, before he could stop himself. “Excuse me,” growled Moody, “you’ve got strengths if I say you’ve got them. Think now. What are you best at?”

(Goblet of Fire, page 344)

I love this scene. Like, this is the first ever time an adult with authority, a teacher, tells Harry how great he is. I talked about the fact Harry is clever and magically powerful but has really low self-esteem. And Barty actually argues with him. Bart (as Moody) makes him believe he could become something. That he has things he is good at.

One of this book's antagonists is the first person to tell Harry he has strengths. That's just all levels of messed up.

It shows Barty Crouch Jr actually does more for Harry's emotional well-being than any other professor he had. More than McGonagall, more than Lupin. Actually, the only adult who tries to help Harry with more care than Barty, is Sirius Black, Harry's godfather. It's just insane that Barty, a Death Eater, actually understood Harry and went out of his way to help with his insecurities and make him comfortable more than Molly Weasley did.

Now, let's talk about the Farret Incident because it's interesting too. both regarding his defense of Harry and his hatred of the Death Eaters that got away.

“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. ...”

(Goblet of Fire, page 205)

Barty steps in to defend Harry because he does it a lot. It's why I placed this moment in this section. One would expect someone who wants Harry to die to not mind if he was cursed a bit, it's not like Draco was about to kill him, but no, he defends him even when no one sees him there.

But specifically in this incident, I want to mention how personal he gets about this. Barty's disdain towards the Death Eaters that escaped Azkaban is very real and very dangerous to Draco. He's furious they didn't need to spend a year in hell on earth only to then be enslaved by a curse for 12 years by their father who kept them like a dirty secret in the basement.

As I mentioned above, I don't think Barty is mentally sound, but I think he genuinely cares about Harry and didn't torture the Longbottoms.

In the next post, I go through the final scene of Barty in the book, and explain the whole plan Barty had.

Part 2 >>

[ihatehomework]

yall i miss jily😭😭😭 not like its gone but like the marauders used to be so happy sunshine gryffindor vibes. but also i feel like we collectively all forget how much james potter HATED slytherin. idk i also think that yes death eaters were humans BUT they also killed so many people like are we forgetting that barty crouch jr literally tortured alice and frank longbottom he is at fault for neville growing up without his parents😭 i genuinely think that people forget that evan, barty etc. actually killed people and killed people who were probably friends with the marauders. ik that everyone deserves a second chance but seriously???? do you actually think that the rosiers were good people and didn't hate and discriminate against muggleborns??? NOT EVERYONE HAS A TRAGIC BACKSTORY IDK SOME OF THEM ARE JUST EVIL. the way everyone defends evan rosier (love his character but i have beef with the way he gets away with being a death eater later on) but snape, who i absolutely detest, hate and think should have died earlier, who also actually did something that was not evil in his lifetime, is the most hated marauders character like????? and the black sisters???? yes love a complex female character but are we seriously trying to redeem bellatrix? do we not remember WHAT SHE SCARED ON HERMIONE LIKE WHAT. and love the newer marauders fandom but everyones so emo and depressed this is supposed to be FUN. also the characters feel so ooc. everytime i see casanova remus lupin im like 'huh thats supposed to be sirius and james???' love remus but my boy aint rizzing anyone up hes a shy af introvert. and jegulus is so cute but remember that james is #no.1slytherinhater and he was absolutely smitten with lily evans FROM THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. REMEMBER WHEN JILY WAS THE BACKBONE OF THE MARAUDERS? like they ate fr. this became a whole ass paragraph damn i did not know i had so much to say about this. i can lowkey already sniff the comments or thoughts saying 'oh let us have our fun its just a story' im not stopping you this is just my opinion. 'oh none of this is actually proven' please give me a break😭🙏 like most of the source material goes against the fandoms perception of the marauders. 'fuck jkr we'll do what we want' youve basically just made 10 million ocs and give them names of characters like im eating up all the marauders content but genuinely can we go back to the happier times??

[gwenlovesreggie]

Proof Regulus is all 3: a jock, a goth, and a prep

This is a companion peice to my poll.

Regulus is all 3 in one; a jock, a goth, and a prep. this is why he is so sexy and why we all worship him so much. In this post I will explain why and how regulus is all 3 of these things at once.

Jock: Ok, I am pretty shocked by how much Jock is losing this tournament. Because I feel like Jock is a very obvious aspect of his personality? I mean, him being a quidditch player is one of the only things we know about him besides his death... and it was so focused upon by Harry... But yes, Regulus is very obviously a Jock, he is on a sports team.,... and he is more strong than he looks.... so yeah, regulus is a Jock! I am guessing maybe people struggle to see this because they are too busy imagining him getting bent over a table or something

Goth: I already explained this in detail, but yes, Regulus is gothic, please read my post about it. I have seen some people say he cannot be gothic due to the origins of the goth movement but we are talking about the modern usage of the word "goth" a word to describe an aesthetic, if you saw regulus walking, you would be like, "whoa, who is that goth guy with the massive sexy ass?" the term goth has changed meanings over time, it refers to an aestehtic more than anything else. and also, I don't think you can try to say the standards of the muggle goth movement apply to wizards. I am using goth in an anachronistic sense; a modern person looking at regulus would say he is goth, and this has nothing to do with what goth meant at the time he was alive.

Prep: Well I don't need to explain this one since everyone Is already voting for it, but yes, regulus is 1. rich and 2. pretentious (see: the note he has on his bedroom door), so yes, I would say he is a prep.

So yes, he is all 3, goth, jock, and prep, which is part of what makes him so sexy, that he is able to encompass everything on this earth all at once, this is why I love him so.

[licorice-and-rum]

On Fascism, DEs and Dumbledore

I really think we should be talking more seriously about how dangerously close to condoning fascism and actually villanizing those who oppose it we are getting as a fandom, especially on TikTok and especially when we talk about the Marauders Era

Anyone interested in my rant/book and characters analysis?

[emily247]

I feel like sometimes there are those characters, that I don't like as in I like them for an action they did or because they're good people, or that I just put my morals aside because they're hot (which I sometimes still do), but I like them because I think they're a good, well written, complex character, while acknowledging that they're horrible people. An example for that is bill cipher and the joker, two characters I absolutely fucking love and yet I understand why some people don't, and I can still acknowledge the bad things they did because I don't like them like I like my friends, I like their character

Also I do sometimes feel bad for those characters, but I wish to remind people that you can have trauma and hard stuff happened to you, and still be an objectively bad person that should not be forgiven. Just because someone had a reason to do something, doesn't mean their actions are justifies, it just means that like anything else, things have a cause and effect (which is something I wish people would understand when that show about Jeffrey Dahmer came out but oh well)

[addsalwayssick]

what if hades was just sirius black. a guy who was able to separate himself from the family abuse, and now lives alone with his wife (remus) and his dog (james) and the dogs wife (lily/the red ball)

[ruepotterblack]

Regulus likes reading poetry more than writing it, not for lack of talent or writing skills and knowledge, he loves seeing the ingenuity of poets more and, above all, analyzing them.

From the meter in which the poems are written to the rhetorical figures that the authors use to exalt the text.

He is a nerd about poetic analysis and when he finds one with an ingenious structure to analyze he can't stop commenting on it with his friends.

Barty doesn't understands him because half the time he doesn't kwons what Regulus is talking about.

Evan may understand it but Regulus can talk about the same poem for more than a month and Evan gets bored when Reg starts talking after the first week about the poem.

Dorcas would read the poem that Regulus is obsessed with in order to give her own opinions and interpretations, but they would not be interpretations as extensive or deep as those of Regulus.

Pandora would ask question after question about the poem or Regulus' opinions making him more excited to talk about the poetic text, Barty would get annoyed with her from time to time because "he's just feeding his fanaticism" but never in a way that would make Regulus feel like a bother.

+

James would see everything from afar and try to eavesdrop so that when he finds Regulus he would just mention about the poem and try to get Reg to talk to him. Regulus wouldn't do it because he would be embarrassed to become a fanatical poem analyst with James since he wants him to think of him as someone more "serious and mature." He doesn't know that James loves all versions of him but more where he shamelessly demonstrates his tastes, his love for poetry.

I hope this makes sense because I'm using google translate because my brain doesn't work to do this the right way.

[here-for-a-good-time-hopefully]

Sorry but Strangers by Ethel Cain is so the relationship between regulus and Tom riddle

Like the vindictive way Ethel asks if she’s making her murderer feel sick is the same way that Reggie taunted Tom in his letter after taking the Horcrux

And the way Ethel still somewhat cares for the guy who literally eats her is so Reggie vibes cos of course he’s still gonna care for the man who put all this energy into him

Not to mention Ethel making references to her lover in ‘A House in Nebraska’ Is just Reggie talking about James

[morsmortish]

talk more about bartydora pleaseee, i'm actually obssessed

my immediate reaction to this is to send you over to irene at @katakosmos, who is the driving force behind any bartydora thoughts i’ve ever had and ever will have. my little genius!!!

ok so. what i’ve been thinking lately. they thrive in the 1950s. barty wakes up every morning and goes off to work in a suit and tie, holding his briefcase in one hand and using the other to caress the side of pandora’s face as he kisses her goodbye on the doorstep. she styles her hair into a bouffant (with a black headband), and wears pink swing dress adorned with a bow at the front. and pearls and white gloves. they go out for dinner every sunday evening and she wears his hat. he opens every door for her. they hold hands in the street. she points out all the things she finds interesting as they walk home and he listens intently, but his eyes are focused on her and never at what she is pointing at. she sings in the shower when they get home whilst he sits on the toilet reading the paper and hums along. they never ever invite people over, happy to exist in their own domestic bubble.

[a-lilypad]

someone on hinge called barty crouch jr a spoiled brat so i’m sending him an in depth detailed character analysis to tell him exactly why he’s wrong

[nigrumnotcis]

I just wanna say "Children of the grave" by Black Sabbath is THE Marauders era song.

"Revolution in their minds, the children start to march

Against the world in which they have to live

And all the hate that's in their hearts

They're tired of being pushed around

And told just what to do

They'll fight the world until they've won

And love comes flowing through, yeah"

The first war with Voldemort is happening right in the time of their youth, in the time that's supposed to be carefree, simple, a time to learn, discover themselves and simply have fun. That was taken away from them and we know how much they wanted to fight back.

I think the last verses here are especially fitting for Sirius, who is a Black, who's family was very abusing, telling him what to do and pushing him around. He did get tired, so he fought back. He moved out.

"Children of tomorrow live in the tears that fall today

Will the sun rise up tomorrow bring in peace in any way?

Must the world live in the shadow of atomic fear?"

We know that Voldemort's tactic of recruitment was based on fear, a lot of his followers joined only because of that and I think this fragment shows just how much this fear and negative things overall in adults, the ones that are responsible for decision making, influences the children. Especially with the ones like Regulus, Evan and Pandora, or even Barty.

"Can they win the fight for peace or will they disappear? Yeah"

This one is so on point with the story of all of them tragic queers, I don't even know how to describe it. Some of them fought, some of them couldn't, but (practically) all of them dissapeared sooner or later. So, can they win?

"So, you children of the world

Listen to what I say

If you want a better place to live in

Spread the word today

Show the world that love is still alive, you must be brave

Or you children of today are children of the grave, yeah"

On one hand, we have those of marauders era characters that fought against the dark side, they did what the lyrical subject said to do. The saddest thing? They didn't get a better place to live in, because all of them didn't live long enough to see it. They still ended up as the children of the grave.

On the other hand we have those who found on the dark side. Those who didn't have any other choice. They were the children of the grave as soon as they took the mark. There's no hope for them. There never was.

Yet, Regulus Black decided to fuck that. He did become one of the children of the grave, but he did it on his own terms. He did "start to march" "revolution on their minds". He broke out of the fear, which brings us to the very beginning of the song, but even such an act of bravery didn't break the cycle of death.

So, the lyrics, the hope goes to the next generation. It's on them now.

"Can they win the fight for peace or will they disappear? Yeah"

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Justice for Barty Crouch Jr: Part 2/2

(Part 1)

So, what was Barty's plan? Why did he care about Harry? And what about what he said under Veratiserum?

What I'm going to do is go through the final scenes in the GoF relevant to Barty's characterization and then write down all the conclusions together. For more of the evidence that led me to this point, see Part 1.

After The Third Task

Barty (as Moody) takes Harry away to his office the moment he returns with the cup. And there are quite a few interesting things to note in this scene...

“In here, Harry . . . in here, and sit down. . . . You’ll be all right now . . . drink this. . . .” Harry heard a key scrape in a lock and felt a cup being pushed into his hands. “Drink it . . . you’ll feel better . . . come on, now, Harry, I need to know exactly what happened. . . .” Moody helped tip the stuff down Harry’s throat; he coughed, a peppery taste burning his throat. Moody’s office came into sharper focus, and so did Moody himself. . . . He looked as white as Fudge had looked, and both eyes were fixed unblinkingly upon Harry’s face. “Voldemort’s back, Harry? You’re sure he’s back? How did he do it?” “He took stuff from his father’s grave, and from Wormtail, and me,” said Harry. His head felt clearer; his scar wasn’t hurting so badly; he could now see Moody’s face distinctly, even though the office was dark. He could still hear screaming and shouting from the distant Quidditch field. “What did the Dark Lord take from you?” said Moody. “Blood,” said Harry, raising his arm. His sleeve was ripped where Wormtail’s dagger had torn it. Moody let out his breath in a long, low hiss. “And the Death Eaters? They returned?” “Yes,” said Harry. “Loads of them . . .” “How did he treat them?” Moody asked quietly. “Did he forgive them?” But Harry had suddenly remembered. He should have told Dumbledore, he should have said it straightaway — “There’s a Death Eater at Hogwarts! There’s a Death Eater here — they put my name in the Goblet of Fire, they made sure I got through to the end —” Harry tried to get up, but Moody pushed him back down. “I know who the Death Eater is,” he said quietly.

(Goblet of Fire, pages 673-674)

Now, this scene is after Voldemort came back. Barty is about to tell Harry he's the death Eater who put his name in the goblet. I already covered how he didn't actually act like Moody throughout the book, and I don't expect him to start now once the charade is over. So, in this scene, we have Barty at his most honest. Just him and Harry.

and what is the first thing he does?

Give Harry a Pepperup Potion.

The peppery, burning taste Harry describes along with the calming effect after he drank it fit the description of the Peperup Potion. It's a healing and warming potion meant for the common cold, but would generally make the drinker feel better. What's interesting here, is that the first thing Barty does is give Harry a healing potion, why? he's about to reveal himself; all he needs is for Harry to tell him if Voldemort is back or not, he doesn't need Harry calm for that, not really. He still goes out of his way to help Harry, even once he really doesn't have to.

The second bolded part is Harry's description of Moody. He is pale and terrified. Why is he scared? Harry already told him Voldemort returned, isn't that what he wanted?

Well, I don't think so. I think that the fear he sees on Barty/Moody, that is a fear of Voldemort. He fears Voldemort's return just like Fudge (well, maybe not just like, but you get the gist). Barty proceeds to assert Voldemort is indeed back. And he's scared by Harry's answer that yes, he is.

He then asks about the Death Eaters, and some of it is still his envy, but part of it now, is fear. He knows another war is coming and he's scared. He doesn't actually want the death and torture. The only death he actually wanted was his own father's, not anyone else's. Not even Harry's.

I think Barty is similar to Regulus in that respect.

He joined the Death Eaters willingly, for his own personal reasons (spiting his father, rebelling against him, but also trying to get his father's attention), and then realized what he got into and had no way out. And even worse, he ended up in Azkaban for it, for Death Eater crimes, he personally didn't commit.

I mean, why would Barty hiss in sympathetic pain at seeing Harry's injury moments before he tells him he's a Death Eater? The only explanation is that it's real. That it isn't an act. That he does sympathize with Harry's pain and doesn't want this 14-year-old hurt.

Look at how he says he knows who the Death Eater is. It almost looks like regret and shame. Because it might very well be just that.

And what does he do then, after he tells Harry? You'd expect a loyal Death Eater to take him straight to Voldemort, maybe kill him himself. But that's not what Barty does. Barty starts monologing:

“You didn’t . . . it — it can’t be you. . . .” “Who put your name in the Goblet of Fire, under the name of a different school? I did. Who frightened off every person I thought might try to hurt you or prevent you from winning the tournament? I did. Who nudged Hagrid into showing you the dragons? I did. Who helped you see the only way you could beat the dragon? I did.” Moody’s magical eye had now left the door. It was fixed upon Harry. His lopsided mouth leered more widely than ever.

(Goblet of Fire, page 676)

Barty explains to Harry everything that he did. Every part of the ploy he was so obvious about it's a wonder Dumbledore didn't call him out. But why? What's the point in telling Harry if he's about to die?

I wondered this and I noticed the sentence I bolded. His magical eye was looking at the door.

So what? he was watching to see if he had time to kill Harry. He couldn't kill him if he got caught.

The thing is, I think it's the opposite. I think Barty planned to get caught. I mean, why else would he spend so long monologing? He's buying time.

Moody’s wand was still pointing directly at Harry’s heart. Over his shoulder, foggy shapes were moving in the Foe-Glass on the wall.

...

The foggy shapes in the Foe-Glass were sharpening, had become more distinct. Harry could see the outlines of three people over Moody’s shoulder, moving closer and closer. But Moody wasn’t watching them. His magical eye was upon Harry.

(Goblet of Fire, pages 677-678)

Moody's eye is magical, if the Foe-Glass saw the professors coming, Barty saw them too when he looked at the door. And yes, he's pointing his wand at Harry, but he isn't actually doing anything. Just pointing it and buying time, like he's waiting for Dumbledore to arrive and stop him.

The same way he bought time this whole year. I think the reason the plan took the whole year to execute was mostly this. Barty had plenty of opportunities to get Harry to Voldemort, but he didn't. No, instead he helped him through all the tasks while doing a really bad job of acting like Moody. I think he took so long because he wanted to be caught. He hoped someone would catch him and stop Voldemort from returning — Dumbledore mostly.

After all, we see Barty is scared of Voldemort's return, not joyous.

Veratiserum

So, now we need to talk about the scene where he was questioned under Veratiserum. Veratiserum is a truth serum that forces the drinker to only speak the truth.

A note about the evidence received with the use of the Veratiserum: The potion can't be legally used for testimony since some wizards can resist it. It is considered: "unfair and unreliable to use at a trial". This is the same as lie detectors (like a polygraph test) being generally not admissible as evidence in court here in the real world.

As such, anything Barty says under the influence of Veratiserum comes with the caveat of it potentially being a lie. Considering he did learn to resist the Imperius Curse marginally and thought Harry to resist it as well, it is possible he can resist Veratiserum as well. We even see hints, that he potentially does resist it.

Crouch’s son opened his eyes. His face was slack, his gaze unfocused. Dumbledore knelt before him, so that their faces were level. “Can you hear me?” Dumbledore asked quietly. The man’s eyelids flickered. “Yes,” he muttered.

(Goblet of Fire, page 683)

Here we have the description of how someone should look under the effects of Veratiserum. The drinker would have a blank face and expression, gaze not focused on anything. They are emotionless and hazy. Remember that description for later.

“And what did your father do with you, when he had got you home?” said Dumbledore quietly. “Staged my mother’s death. A quiet, private funeral. That grave is empty. The house-elf nursed me back to health. Then I had to be concealed. I had to be controlled. My father had to use a number of spells to subdue me. When I had recovered my strength, I thought only of finding my master . . . of returning to his service.” “How did your father subdue you?” said Dumbledore. “The Imperius Curse,” Crouch said. “I was under my father’s control. I was forced to wear an Invisibility Cloak day and night. I was always with the house-elf. She was my keeper and caretaker. She pitied me. She persuaded my father to give me occasional treats. Rewards for my good behavior.”

(Goblet of Fire, pages 684-685)

This is Barty's explanation of how his father controlled him with the Imperius. But I want to point out one odd part here. The part I outlined is odd because Barty hesitates. there are three dots indicating a pause like he is considering his words, something that shouldn't be possible under Veratiserum. And notice what he talks about when it happens. He talks about Voldemort.

I am uncertain why he would choose to lie about that... I assume it's out of fear. Knowing the way Voldemort tracked down and killed Karkaroff when he turned traitor, I assume Barty knew his fate would be the same if he betrayed Voldemort. After a whole year of trying to get Dumbledore to notice he wasn't acting like his friend, Moody, and failing, I don't think he trusted Dumbledore's ability to protect him from Voldemort.

This is also why he didn't just openly tell Dumbledore what was going on. He was scared of a fate much worse than what the ministry would throw at him if he was found by Voldemort to be a traitor. But also, if he turned traitor, nothing would stop Voldemort from sending someone else to finish Barty's mission, someone who'd actually want to do it. By pretending to be loyal, Barty is ensuring he can buy Harry time. Time, Dumbledore isn't using.

“Now it was just Father and I, alone in the house. And then . . . and then . . .” Crouch’s head rolled on his neck, and an insane grin spread across his face. “My master came for me. “He arrived at our house late one night in the arms of his servant Wormtail. My master had found out that I was still alive. He had captured Bertha Jorkins in Albania. He had tortured her. She told him a great deal. She told him about the Triwizard Tournament. She told him the old Auror, Moody, was going to teach at Hogwarts. He tortured her until he broke through the Memory Charm my father had placed upon her. She told him I had escaped from Azkaban. She told him my father kept me imprisoned to prevent me from seeking my master. And so my master knew that I was still his faithful servant — perhaps the most faithful of all. My master conceived a plan, based upon the information Bertha had given him. He needed me. He arrived at our house near midnight. My father answered the door.” The smile spread wider over Crouch’s face, as though recalling the sweetest memory of his life. Winky’s petrified brown eyes were visible through her fingers. She seemed too appalled to speak.

(Goblet of Fire, pages 687-688)

Again, before talking about Voldemort, he thinks of his words. He stutters and pauses his speech. He changes his expression, he's grinning. Veratiserum should keep the drinker's faces slack and emotionless. To me, this indicates something suspicious, not Barty's insanity.

Especially when considering his behavior throughout the books that indicates he's trying to sabotage Voldemort's resurrection.

“And what did Lord Voldemort ask you to do?” said Dumbledore. “He asked me whether I was ready to risk everything for him. I was ready. It was my dream, my greatest ambition, to serve him, to prove myself to him. He told me he needed to place a faithful servant at Hogwarts. A servant who would guide Harry Potter through the Triwizard Tournament without appearing to do so. A servant who would watch over Harry Potter. Ensure he reached the Triwizard Cup. Turn the cup into a Portkey, which would take the first person to touch it to my master. But first —” “You needed Alastor Moody,” said Dumbledore

(Goblet of Fire, page 688)

Again, his speech is odd for Veratiserum. He speaks with convection and emotion, repeating his statements, his language is more flowery and not short and truthful, all things I wouldn't expect from someone dosed with Veratiserum.

Also, risk everything? What did Barty have to risk? He was a prisoner under the Imperius Curse in his father's basement. He had nowhere worse he could go.

He was desperate to leave the hell that was his life for 12 years, he'll tell Voldemort anything he wanted to hear. And, well, it's not like he could say no to Voldemort, could he?

“For a week I waited for my father to arrive at Hogwarts. At last, one evening, the map showed my father entering the grounds. I pulled on my Invisibility Cloak and went down to meet him. He was walking around the edge of the forest. Then Potter came, and Krum. I waited. I could not hurt Potter; my master needed him. Potter ran to get Dumbledore. I Stunned Krum. I killed my father.”

...

“You killed your father,” Dumbledore said, in the same soft voice. “What did you do with the body?” “Carried it into the forest. Covered it with the Invisibility Cloak. I had the map with me. I watched Potter run into the castle. He met Snape. Dumbledore joined them. I watched Potter bringing Dumbledore out of the castle. I walked back out of the forest, doubled around behind them, went to meet them. I told Dumbledore Snape had told me where to come. “Dumbledore told me to go and look for my father. I went back to my father’s body. Watched the map. When everyone was gone, I Transfigured my father’s body. He became a bone . . . I buried it, while wearing the Invisibility Cloak, in the freshly dug earth in front of Hagrid’s cabin.”

(Goblet of Fire, pages 690-691)

I have two main notes about this part. The first is about not hurting Harry because Voldemort needs him. That explanation is bullshit. Barty said he stunned Krum, nothing stopped him from stunning Harry, it wouldn't have actually harmed him. A single, not very powerful stunner would've been nothing. I wouldn't really consider it harmful. Barty just didn't stun Hary because he didn't want to.

The second is when he speaks about how he hid his father's body. The reason I bolded it, is because it shows Barty is reasonable (to a degree) and intelligent. He is magically talented enough and smart enough to come up with a great plan to get away with his father's murder. It shows that all the odd inconsistencies, his choice not to act like Moody, to help Harry when he doesn't have to, to not stun Harry with a stupid senseless excuse, monologing to give Dumbledore time to catch him — it was all deliberate.

He's too intelligent for it not to be deliberate. And here too, we see that pause again. Like he was considering whether to reveal where his father was buried or not. He decided to reveal it because they could dig up the bone and check his testimony, and he needed them to believe him. So he had to be mostly truthful, just cover up some of the minor details, like what he thought about Voldemort.

I believe, that when he chose to get caught, he knew he was likely to die. But a quick death is probably better than the treatment of a traitor Death Eater.

Conclusions

Barty Crouch Jr didn't torture the Longbottoms.

He joined the Death Eaters to spite his father. He realized he was not cut out for it, but it was too late, he was already marked.

He was then sent to Azkaban for a crime he did not commit. He was then broken out only for his father to keep him imprisoned. Both weighed on his psyche heavily.

In the Quidditch World Cup, Hermione theorizes the person who cast the Dark Mark tried to scare the attackers away — she was probably right and that was Barty's intention.

He didn't go searching for Voldemort, Voldemort came for him, not giving him a choice but to comply.

So he went to Hogwarts, but he went far beyond necessary to protect Harry and encourage him. Along with giving him advice that Harry continues living by even after learning Barty's true identity. Showing Barty did truly care for Harry, at least to some degree.

His plan, during the year, had two layers: The first was to ruin his father's reputation (the reputation his father cared about more than his son). The second is to drag Voldemort's mission for him as long as possible with the hope of alerting Dumbledore without alerting Voldemort. All this while helping Harry along the way as much as he could without revealing to Voldemort he is a traitor.

Barty was terrified of Voldemort's return and actively worked against it, if in a limited way.

When what he feared (Voldemort's return) did come to pass, he bought as much time as he could, at the cost of his own life, so Harry and he could get the word out.

[ambrosiustheunknown]

I just went through your whole blog and liked and reblogged most stuff (sorry about that) but I really liked your character analysis of Regulus and Snape, I would love it if you would do one of Barty (you obviously don't have to but I saw you wanted suggestions of more)

Barty Crouch Jr - Character Analysis

I was SO excited when I got this so THANK YOU!!! The notifications aren't a problem and are actually appreciated. Okay, let's break down his character.

Was born 1962-1963

Sirius Black states in Goblet of Fire that Barty's father didn't pay any attention to Barty, implying neglect

His mother dearly loved Barty

We don't know much about his early/Hogwarts life, other than the fact that he achieved 12 O.W.L.s, causing some fans to think he was a Ravenclaw, although he is still popularly headcanoned as a Slytherin

Joined the DE's in his later teens

After Voldemort's first defeat, he, along with the Lestranges, went to Alice and Frank Longbottom's place of residence, supposedly torturing them to insanity

All four were arrested, although at different times, and are brought to trial by Barty's father

Barty insisted on his innocence, pleading to all in attendance to be cleared of all charges by claiming he didn't participate

Barty's father (who was head of the law enforcement) sentenced him to life in Azkaban when Barty was around 19

In 1982 (a year after Barty was put into Azkaban), Barty and his mother were ailing

His mother convinced Crouch Snr to polyjuice her into Barty as she was dying so they could trade places and Barty could escape

Barty was nursed back to healthy by his father and their house-elf, Winky

Barty was then placed under Imperius and and hid him under an invisibility cloak for 12 years, only being given occasional rewards for 'good behavior'

During the Quidditch World Cup, Barty was hidden and imperiused, taken only because Winky convinced his father

During the attack, Barty escaped and cast Morsmordre, although he was found by his father and re-imperiused

Barty was found by Voldemort and freed, then going on to act as Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody for Harry Potter's fourth year while keeping the real Moody in a trunk

He killed his father

At the end of the year he was exposed and given the Dementors Kiss on-sight

While we don't know much about Barty's early childhood, much of the fandom agrees that the signs point to a childhood of neglect, with only his mother and house-elves to care for him, and I'm inclined to agree. I believe that he was in Ravenclaw due to his excellent O.W.L scores and the fact that - going by his father's behavior and status - he most likely would have been disowned or snubbed as a Slytherin. He's never mentioned to have strong relations with anyone other than Voldemort, which leads me to believe that due to his fathers neglect, he heard about Voldemort, thought joining would greatly anger his father, and later found a mentor and father figure in Voldemort, with no one to stop him. I believe that this newfound attention lead to an intense loyalty and even love that we see very clearly in canon. I don't think he was insane before his conviction, but after Azkaban and 12 years of abuse (and yes, being imperiused and hidden for 12 years is abuse), he was certainly teetering the edge of sanity, most likely only being held together by his desire for revenge, his high intelligence, and loyalty to Voldemort.

Overall, Barty is a highly-intelligent, calculative, possibly sadistic, yet traumatized and insanely loyal character. I believe he had a potential to be a good person. His father most likely wasn't around to teach Barty morals, and we know little about his mother, so the first person to gain Barty's loyalty taught him his morals, and that was Voldemort. I believe that Barty Crouch Jr is a bad person, but a misunderstood one, who was far more intelligent than he was ever given credit for. He was almost definitely a rebellious teen in order to gain attention, but was a mostly-blank slate due to never receiving it from really anyone, up until he met Voldemort. Outside of canon, I enjoy Barty's fanon personality a lot and think that's it's fairly accurate, although he was probably a little less insane and impulsive as the fandom makes him out to be. He also most likely wasn't friends with Regulus Black, Evan Rosier, Pandora Rosier, and Dorcas Meadowes, although I love the dynamics lol.

Credit to the Harry Potter Wiki for providing me with information. If I got anything wrong or missed anything then feel free to let me know! If anyone want's any more character analysis I am SO happy to give them! I have two other analysis' posted if anyone is interested! Stay safe, drink water, and don't give your undying loyalty to a genocidal maniac! :D

[licorice-and-rum]

On Fascism, DEs and Dumbledore - the actual essay lol

Hey, guys! Sorry it took me so long to write this one, I really had some themes to mature before I could put all of my thoughts in writing but I finally feel like I’m ready to talk about what I want to. Before I begin, however, I want to point out a few things:

First of all, I ask all of you to enter this with an open mind because not everything I’ll say here is exactly popular opinion in the HP fandom. And, although I recognize that my perceptions and interpretations are frayed by my own background and way of thinking, my literary analysis is still based off, on some level, of academical knowledge. It doesn’t make it true, of course, but I believe it’s a solid base to have.

Second, this is, in no way, an attack on people who like the Death Eaters (Barty, Regulus, Rosier, Draco, and so on). These people are not the problem I’m talking about here because, to begin with, the characters they like are not exactly the Canon version of them, and then, because a work of fiction doesn’t determine a person’s character.

It's completely normal for popular works of fiction — and that’s especially true in Literature — to have their characters remodeled to fit a better narrative to the time they are inserted in. It happens with Fairytales, it happens with classical books — Sherlock Holmes is one of the greatest examples I can give —, it just happens. And the new interpretations are an attempt to almost self-insert: is a mirroring of our interpretations and experiences in those characters we like so much.

That said, I still have a problem with how normalized it has become in our society to make a sad backstory to fascist-like villains and that’s where I would like to start this rant/analysis. This issue is not focused on the Harry Potter characters, however: it has happened in Star Wars (both with Anakin and more recently with The Acolyte), in The Hunger Games (with Snow, although it wasn’t the intention) and many other big films/books/series in the industry.

It has a reason: we’re living through late-stage capitalism, which means capitalism is in shambles and it needs a “emergency button” of sorts, something it can use to establish some kind of control back. That’s why we’ve seen so many far-right parties win elections lately: it’s a normal thing for people to be attracted to fast and simple solutions when things are bad, even though they might not be solutions at all.

Anyway, I digress: the point is, when fascism (capitalism’s emergency button) arises, it needs to have a cultural support so that people can assimilate it better, accept it better so it can maintain itself. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not, by all means, saying that a bunch of men sat down on a white room and decided that now they would start creating Art that endorses/romanticizes fascist narratives, of course not.

This is a natural process, it happens because we, as a general rule, already lean into right wing theorical thinking by living into a capitalist mode of production. So, when capitalism collapses, many of us pull our values farthest into capitalistic mindset because that’s what we understand as secure, as stable. And this translates into art through some favored tropes or classical narratives, such as the Chosen One or the “the system is not corrupted, the people running it are” narrative.

Both of those tropes fit into the Harry Potter series in obvious ways, of course. But lately, I’ve been noticing a really particular characteristic of these narratives/tropes that are used to endorse fascism, which I believe has to do with the time period we’re at right now and who the target-audience is, and that is what I called the “individualization of narratives”.

I’m not gonna be arrogant here and say that I’m the only one who noticed this, of course not, but I haven’t found any works on that, so I’m gonna describe, in my own words, what I think this phenomenon is:

The individualization of narratives, as I call it, refers to the details some characters’ backgrounds have when they are into the “dark side”, the side that is supposed to be the fictional version of fascist-like groups. And those details — or lack thereof — are done in a way the reader can fill in the gaps in such a way to identify and empathize with them.

Again, that’s is not the problem, this happens to every character ever, it even happens with celebrities. Our brains are wired to fill in gaps in a person’s personality or character when we don’t have all the information, it’s a natural reaction. Problem is that, as it’s becoming popular to write a villain with a purpose, a “morally gray” character if you will (although I take issue with how that’s portrayed, which I’ll treat more carefully when I talk about Dumbledore), the fascist-like narratives that became so popular with post-war people, gain a new meaning.

That’s not the doing of the Art itself, it’s just a reflection of political issues that are already here but that are also perpetrated and continued by Art and material cultural production, just like anti-socialism dystopian books were in the Cold War scenario, for example. However, it’s undeniable that this movement serves a purpose, a political purpose, and that is to endorse fascism and fascist narrative. Let’s not get over ourselves here: again, this is not the evil doing of some unknown entity, it’s just a natural process of the current political climate reflecting in cultural production.

But it still serves a purpose, and what I aim to do with this essay is to demystify a bit this movement in Harry Potter. But first, we have to understand what fascism is:

Capitalism, which begun more or less in the 1600s, is a mode of production (a mold to which our society fit to work within capitalism’s needs of existence). It is based on profit, which means our society is shaped to produce that profit, everything in a society is shaped to serve this purpose, from the industry to our perception of reality — it’s all a capitalism-based ideology.

Again, reminding: that’s not a secret plot to convince people, it’s a natural process of building identity within reality. It happened in feudalism, and before that with Ancient Empires, and so on and on. There’s nothing inheritedly evil in this process.

However, capitalism is a mode of production that demands, in order to continuing to exist, more than society can provide, so it collapses from time to time. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the following Great Depression is one of the most striking examples of capitalism collapsing, and it’s not by happenstance that fascism arose right after this collapse.

As I said before, fascism is capitalism’s emergency button: when systems collapse, that’s where they get more vulnerable to radical change, and the extreme hardships the masses had to endure after its collapse in the 1930s could easily signify a chance for a change in the modes of production throughout the occidental countries of Europe — something that couldn’t happen if capitalism was to survive.

What I mean by bringing all this to the essay is that I want to be very clear with what fascism defends and what it means: it’s the supremacy of not only a country, or exaggerated nationalism, it is also the management and upkeeping of a society’s very structure. And, to be even clearer: that society is white, rich, and patriarchal-based.

There’s a reason why fascism is considered a white-supremacy political movement: because it defends capitalism. And capitalism was built over the need of cheap work force.

Many of you may have thought slavery when I said that, and you’d be correct.

However, with the times progression, that changed into a new form of exploration: because of the past with slavery and exploration of resources of colonized countries, it became easier — and also a natural progression from the dehumanizing of non-white communities to justify slavery — to just cheapen the work force by making non-white communities poorer, more vulnerable and more desperate to fulfill their needs.

That forces those communities — and third world countries as a whole — to accept the money and the exploration of not only first-world countries (colonizer countries) but also big corporations. I could go on and on about all the effects this policy has in non-white communities, from police brutality until the banalization of the violence in large scale (such as the Palestinian genocide) but I want to stay within the scope here.

This justification of slavery, the dehumanization of non-white peoples, is one of the main pillars of capitalism, and as such, it’s the main pillar of fascism. In Harry Potter, the intention is that those characteristics don’t present themselves in race but in blood — not that Rowling is very successful with this, considering the amount of veiled and not-so-veiled racism in her books but whatever.

Now, as I see it, Harry Potter is not a good portrayal of fascism and that has a very clear cause: Rowling’s lack of understanding of what fascism is to begin with, or how the root causes of it affect the system of the wizarding society.

As someone who have studied it, I can say that the blood purity issue wouldn’t be present only in some rich people’s minds, it would be structural to the wizarding world, in a way that would present itself in hardship for muggleborns to get jobs, in jokes that are not funny, in opinions that are degrading, in isolation and discrimination in a day to day level. And of course, there is some of it in the HP books, but it’s not treated as a structural issue — it’s treated as an individual problem.

And that’s where the real problem begins: if we treat fascism as a problem that stems from a person’s own choices instead of a political and collective movement that elevates to a highest level the structural issues that are already there, we fall into the trap of minimizing the problem because, if someone is a fascist because they’re evil, the next question to make is: why are they evil?

Currently, what we’re doing with our villains becomes a problem in these situations: in an attempt to individualize our villains, we make them human. Human in the sense that we can empathize with them, we can understand them. And, for a fascist-like narrative, that’s extremely dangerous because it makes us unconsciously start to endorse their trajectories and choices when we absolutely shouldn’t.

Fascism is not equivalent to rebelliousness.

“Oh, the good side is not so good because they treated this character bad and now he had to turn to a fascist group and decimate people because he’s traumatized.”

See how, when I say it like that, it sounds ridiculous?

But of course, you probably know that. Again, I’m not accusing people who like those characters of endorsing fascism, what I am saying, however, is that the political climate of today is doing it and it’s reflecting on our art production. What I am calling for is for people to recognize that their view of those characters as they really would be if they were anywhere near reality is not only flawed, it’s entirely wrong.

Snape, Barty Crouch Jr, Evan Rosier, Draco, Bellatrix, the Blacks as a whole — they are not the abused little teenagers who had no choice but to join the Death Eaters. They are fascists, they have always been fascists, even when they suffered. And sure, to some of them, there is more to their characters than this but the truth remains that they, in some capacity, not only endorsed a fascist narrative, they actively perpetuated it to the detriment and the suffering of marginalized peoples.

And none of them had a good, believable, and more importantly, complete redeeming arc.

Our interpretations of them are cool, I love it, I prefer them to many HP characters, to be honest. But that doesn’t change the fact that, if HP was a little bit more real, a little bit closer to reality, those characters wouldn’t be bullied teenagers forced into fascism as a means to become powerful enough to escape their abuse — as if that makes it so much better —, they’d be incels, they’d be bullies themselves.

And that’s not an opinion: we, as a fandom, tend to forget that the DEs are the ones with real societal power in the wizarding world. Most of them are purebloods, most of them are rich, most of them are friends with rich and pureblooded wizards, and they are privileged. They are not ostracized as we like to imagine, they are royalty.

For them, to fight for blood purity is to fight for their own benefit, is to fight to maintain the pillars that keep them unaccountable for their behaviors and privilege whilst at the same time, pushing marginalized people — muggleborns, fantastical creatures, even half-bloods — to a dehumanizing condition. And they don’t feel sorry for this.

Now, the truth is that this is partially Rowling’s fault: her lack of understanding of how deep the issues she’s portraying really run makes it possible for her to interpret her own characters as redeemable because they somehow exchange sides when it fits them.

That’s mostly seen with the Malfoys: neither Draco, Narcissa, nor Lucius ever change sides because they see the suffering of others and think of it as wrong. They change sides when Voldemort’s cruelty starts to weigh on them — their change of loyalties are not coming from empathy for marginalized peoples or decency, it comes from self-preservation.

Kind of the same thing with Snape (I wrote some essays focused on Snape, so if anyone is interested, here’s the first, then the second).

Now, of course, that’s not to say those characters weren’t abused on someway or suffered but that’s the thing: no abuse in the world justifies the persecution, torture and killing of innocent people. To offer a counterpoint, the marginalized peoples the Death Eaters persecuted are also traumatized in some, they also can have had abusive parents and/or families but that is not taken into account when we talk about the Death Eater’s own traumas.

The narrative that the Death Eaters were abused their whole childhoods is so strong today in fandom that most people don’t stop to think that those teenagers probably were horrible people. Yes, maybe horrible because some of them were abused, I’m not denying that, but still horrible, which means they wouldn’t accept help. To hold them responsible for their own doings and their own privileges would seem for them as a persecution against them — just like fascist-like narratives often portray pro-LGBTQ+ or non-white policies and/or narratives.

It is also one of the reasons I take issue with the Slytherin portrayal of abused kids ostracized by the rest of the school. It’s really just isolating fascist narrative and only partially based on truth but I don’t think I want to stretch this conversation now (I can write more about it later if you want though).

So no, respectfully, I refuse to accept that those people — mostly men and rich people, I am forced to point out — would be anything but disgusting, and that’s where I take issue with some behaviors within the HP fandom. Because we’re being influenced by almost two decades of fan fiction and the current political climate, it’s very often that I find people who are sincerely incapable of dissociating fandom to canon.

Hence, the actually infuriating villainization of Albus Dumbledore.

Now, that’s a topic that makes me impatient AF. Not only because it is based on a strong fetishization of who Dumbledore really was, and what he could and couldn’t do, but also because it is a clear example of most people’s inability to differentiate between what they’re reading for fun and what they are internalizing from that media.

Let’s begin with that: Dumbledore is not some evil mastermind, and he is not equivalent to Voldemort. He is a flawed character, that’s true, but he is not a villain. And to think so is to play into the narrative that, because the “good side” fails, or makes wrong decisions, or even actively makes bad decisions, or immoral decisions in times of war, that is somehow equivalent to the “bad side”.

It is not.

That narrative is the same narrative that allows Israel to build an equivalence between Hamas’ violent acts and their own when in truth, as reproachable as some Hamas’ decisions may be according to various perspectives, their violence is a reaction to heavy and even more violent oppression.

What I mean is, even if Dumbledore failed in some of his decision-making in the Harry Potter books, even if we may believe we could do better, Dumbledore is a true morally gray character. But first, to make the point I want to make, we have to understand him:

For this, I will first separate his two identities as they appear throughout Harry Potter: as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Dumbledore plays a role as a leader and role model, but he is also a person with flaws and mistakes like anyone else. These are the two main “faces” of Albus Dumbledore for this defense post, so now let's analyze them more closely:

The first "face" we see of Dumbledore is that of the leader, and this is primarily because of Harry who, at eleven years old, sees Dumbledore as the kind of man he would like to emulate. This also happens with many other wizards throughout the story: it's clear to anyone that most of the people within Harry’s personal circle like and admire Dumbledore, while those who despise him are often the “bad” characters (Lucius Malfoy is probably one of the earliest examples of this).

Although that doesn’t mean they are somehow starstruck by the headmaster: Sirius, Snape, the Weasley parents, Moody, even James and Lily, they all question Dumbledore and his decision making at some point in the books. They end up following through more times than not, that’s true, but trust in someone is different than blind-faith. Those characters accept Dumbledore’s leadership because they trust him, not because they think he’s some type of a god.

However, we see things through Harry’s point of view, and Harry is a child who has no parents, no model figures, no one who really supports that role to him until his eleventh year. It's easy, then, to see how the leader face Dumbledore presents is one of someone the characters (and readers) can trust not to fail, and even easier to view him as someone with great power. This is the fandom’s biggest mistake in viewing him.

Shall we now remember a bit of Dumbledore’s history and delve into his personal side?

As a young man, he met Grindelwald and, according to J.K. Rowling, fell in love with him, as well as with his goal of seeking the Deathly Hallows and becoming the most powerful wizards of all time. 

In the last Harry Potter book, in the King's Cross chapter, Dumbledore himself confesses to Harry how the desire for power blinded him to what was truly important, how power was his greatest weakness, and therefore what made him unworthy of it. This is why Dumbledore remained as the headmaster of Hogwarts when he could have so easily become more important in the wizarding community (besides, of course, his love for the students): to keep himself away from power.

Here's the quote (It might be a bit different in the original, considering I’m translating it from Portuguese):

“‘I was gifted, I was brilliant. I wanted to escape. I wanted to shine. I wanted glory... Invincible Masters of Death, Grindelwald and Dumbledore!... The years passed. There were rumors about him. They said he had obtained a wand of immense power. Meanwhile, I was offered the position of Minister for Magic, not once, but several times. Naturally, I refused. I learned that I could not be trusted with power.’

‘But you'd have been better than Fudge or Scrimgeour!’ said Harry.

‘Would I?’ asked Dumbledore heavily. ‘I am not so sure. I proved as a very young man that power was my weakness and my temptation. It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well.’”

This is what the fandom most fails to understand: the admiration of wizards for Dumbledore makes him influential, but not powerful, and this becomes especially clear during the end of The Goblet of Fire and throughout The Order of the Phoenix.

One of the first signs of this in the fourth book is when Fudge refuses to believe Dumbledore about Voldemort’s return: let's remember that, until that point, Fudge sought Dumbledore’s advice for his decisions as Minister of Magic precisely because the headmaster had the respect of much of the wizarding population. But when Fudge, who has the actual power, puts his foot down and says that Dumbledore no longer has influence over the Ministry’s choices, Dumbledore lacks the power to deny it, to stop it.

If he did, it would be safe to say that he would have used his power over the Ministry to convince everyone that Voldemort had indeed returned, and more, to mobilize the Ministry against Voldemort. But none of this happens simply because Dumbledore does not have that power.

Thus, it becomes easier to differentiate power from influence.

It’s Fudge’s power that causes the Ministry as an organization and the wizarding media to turn against the Headmaster, and Dumbledore doesn’t have the power to stop it, but he has enough influence to still be heard by part of the wizarding population. It’s Fudge’s power that leads to Harry’s expulsion from Hogwarts at the beginning of Order of the Phoenix, but it’s Dumbledore’s influence that convinces the Ministry to agree to a trial, and it’s his influence that moves the people present to listen to his defense of Harry during that trial. If Dumbledore had power over these events, Harry wouldn’t even have had a trial — something the Headmaster categorically calls an absurdity.

Therefore, Dumbledore doesn’t have power; he has influence, and there’s a difference between what he can actually do and what the fandom seems to believe he can do. Dumbledore has no power over the Ministry; he can’t boss anyone around except, perhaps, the Hogwarts staff and the Order of the Phoenix, a group whose members agreed to make him leader.

What he really has are people willing to listen to his advice and thoughts, as well as inclined to follow him, but that doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily do everything Dumbledore says (Sirius, anyone?).

It’s important to separate these two concepts for this analysis to continue because it will make Dumbledore’s actions make much more sense in this discussion. That said, let’s now begin to analyze “The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore”:

The main criticisms I see regarding Dumbledore revolve around Harry’s life and the decisions the Headmaster made concerning him.

Before I begin, however, I want to point out that, despite Dumbledore’s flaws, he is still a leader (just like Harry), and as a leader, he bears responsibility for the lives of the people he has chosen to protect (just like Harry). It’s important to keep this in mind so that I can highlight a few things later.

So, let’s start with when the prophecy is heard and Voldemort begins hunting Harry instead of Neville. It’s important to emphasize here that, once a prophecy is made in the Harry Potter universe and the people the prophecy is about start acting according it, it’s going to happen; there’s no way around it, or at least that’s what we’re told as canon. That’s why, as soon as the prophecy is made and Voldemort actively choses to hunt them down, everyone knows that Harry (or Neville) will be the one to face Voldemort, and one of them will die — hopefully Voldemort.

Although he’s the one to whom the prophecy was made, Dumbledore has no control over it: there’s no way to avoid the fact that Harry (or Neville) would face Voldemort at some point in their lives once Snape overhears it and tells Voldemort. All he — and everyone else — can do is give the Chosen One the tools and knowledge necessary to face Voldemort with the best possible chance of winning — which he does later on by becoming Harry’s primary mentor.

Then the Potters are “chosen” and go into hiding in Godric’s Hollow, making Peter the Secret Keeper. Some more information on this choice: Dumbledore offered to be the Secret Keeper, but James and Lily refused and preferred to choose Sirius. However, they switched to Peter without telling anyone, not even Dumbledore. This is another thing I see the fandom complaining about a lot, but it’s explicitly canon that no one besides Sirius, James, Lily, and Peter knew about the switch.

This wasn’t because they didn’t trust Dumbledore, but because Albus was in the middle of the storm as one of Voldemort’s biggest targets. The Potters didn’t reject Dumbledore as their Secret Keeper because they didn’t trust him (they wouldn’t even be in the Order if that were the case, don’t you think?), but because they were thinking primarily of Harry’s safety, and placing their family’s safety in the hands of the second biggest target of Voldemort in that war simply doesn’t seem like a wise move.

So, there’s no reason, even up to the third book, for Dumbledore to suspect that Sirius is innocent and try to intervene to get him some kind of trial or chance to explain himself. There’s no indication that Dumbledore had contact with Sirius before he was sent to Azkaban, so how could the Headmaster be blamed for that?

Again, it’s important to emphasize that Dumbledore has influence.

Even if he wanted Sirius to have a trial, there’s no evidence that he could make it happen, since everything pointed to Sirius as the culprit — remembering that there’s a big difference between a trial for underage magic and the murder of thirteen Muggles, plus the whole Secret Keeper and high-profile situation. In fact, it’s also good to remember that as soon as Dumbledore learns the truth, he does everything in his power — even sending Harry and Hermione back in time — to save Sirius from being kissed by the Dementors.

But going back a bit, a week after Peter becomes the Secret Keeper, he reveals the Potters’ location to Voldemort, and on Halloween night in 1981, Voldemort goes to Godric’s Hollow and kills James, then Lily, then tries to kill Harry but fails.

This event needs to be broken down into two parts. The first is about Lily’s protection: when she chooses to die even though Voldemort gave her a chance to live, Lily protects Harry, and that’s the reason he survives that encounter with the Dark Lord, who also “dies.”

Since the fourth book, there’s a very specific characteristic of this protection that’s seen many times but never explicitly stated, which is the fact that Lily’s protection has a blood-related nature. In other words, Lily’s protection is especially tied to blood, which is why Voldemort chose Harry’s blood to resurrect himself: because in that way, he also “has” Lily’s blood and, consequently, her protection, which frees him to harm Harry in a way he couldn’t before.

And this is the point I want to reach: Dumbledore chooses the Dursleys to raise Harry not because he wants him to suffer, but because Petunia is the only one who carries Lily’s blood and, therefore, the only one who can ensure that Lily’s protection — the thing for which her sister died — continues to work. The blood Petunia shares with Lily even prevents Voldemort, even after the resurrection ritual, because her blood makes Lily’s protection even stronger.

And it’s good to remember that this measure ends up saving Harry in The Philosopher’s Stone — Quirrell and Voldemort couldn’t touch him because of Lily’s protection, guaranteed by his living in the same house as Petunia — and keeps him safe in the Dursleys’ house for sixteen years, until Harry turns seventeen and the protection finally stops working, even though he still lived with Petunia.

Once again, people overestimate Dumbledore’s ability to act: he had no control over the nature of Lily’s protection; he acted to keep Harry as safe as possible within what he could actually control.

Unfortunately, the choices presented in that situation were either to leave him protected from Voldemort’s assassination attempts or spare him the suffering of growing up with the Dursleys.

Neither choice was ideal, but this is where Dumbledore’s leadership character comes in: Harry’s responsibility to face Voldemort was no longer a choice, even though he was only a year old, because of the prophecy. So, it makes much more sense for him to protect Harry from the greater threat (Voldemort) while ensuring that Harry would have more time to develop and grow before having to face him again.

Dumbledore didn’t make the choice to give Harry to the Dursleys joyfully, wanting him to suffer, but thinking about giving him more time and more opportunities to be a child than he would have had if Lily’s protection weren’t ensured. Obviously, this doesn’t work out very well because the Dursleys are especially cruel to Harry in a way that Dumbledore hadn’t really foreseen, something he himself admits in The Half-Blood Prince:

“‘[...] Harry, whom Lord Voldemort has already tried to kill on several occasions, is in much more danger than on the day I left him on your doorstep, fifteen years ago, with a letter explaining that his parents had been murdered and expressing the hope that you would care for him as a son.’

Dumbledore paused, and although his voice remained light and calm, and did not betray his anger, Harry felt a certain coldness emanating from him. He also noticed that the Dursleys huddled together almost imperceptibly.

‘You did not do as I asked. You have never treated Harry as a son. In your care, he has only known neglect and often cruelty...’”

But it’s important to note that Dumbledore didn’t have good options regarding Harry’s custody; he didn’t have the power to change how Lily’s protection worked; he was working with what he had, which wasn’t much.

The second part of this event focuses more on Voldemort and Harry and is probably the most controversial regarding Dumbledore: the creation of the Horcrux inside Harry and how this is somehow seen as Dumbledore’s fault — hence the famous phrase about being “raised like a pig for slaughter,” but... let’s be honest? What, exactly, could Dumbledore have done against the fact that Harry became a Horcrux?

Once again, here’s the exaggerated view of Dumbledore’s power that the fandom seems to have: he had no control over what happened to the Potters in Godric’s Hollow on Halloween night in 1981. He had no power over Lily’s protection or the Horcrux in Harry. He has no power over Lily’s protection, nor over the Horcrux in Harry. The only thing he has the power to do is to act in a way that ensures his plan guarantees Voldemort’s ultimate defeat and thus saves the entire wizarding world.

I hate it when people say Dumbledore “raised Harry like a pig for slaughter” simply because he knew that Harry would have to die for the Horcrux to be destroyed, as if he had any other option in the matter. Harry’s fate was sealed as soon as Lily’s protection saved him and a part of Voldemort’s soul entered him; Dumbledore bears no responsibility for what happened that night.

So what Dumbledore can do regarding Harry having to die is exactly… nothing. He literally has no power to change this fact, no matter how much he wants to — and he does, because he loves Harry, as he himself says in Order of the Phoenix. But Dumbledore is still a leader, and he still needs to think about the best plan of action to ensure that people continue to have hope and that they can truly see that hope — of being free from Voldemort and his reign of terror — come true. And if that meant Harry had to die to destroy the Horcrux, then that was it. Period.

But it’s also important to point out that Dumbledore didn’t force Harry into anything: by the time Harry receives the information that he needs to die to ensure the salvation of everyone and Voldemort’s mortality, all the people who know this — Dumbledore and Snape, in this case — are dead and unable to do anything if Harry decided to simply run away and leave everyone to fend for themselves because he didn’t want to die.

But, as I pointed out before, Harry is a leader. And he fully accepts the responsibility of this role the moment he decides to face death: he goes to Voldemort willing to die by his own choice, wanting to save those who matter to him, those who trust him to end Voldemort. Not because Dumbledore ordered him, but because he — Harry — is a leader, and a leader sacrifices himself for his cause when necessary.

Saying that Dumbledore was the “cause” of Harry’s death, besides being wrong, also takes away from the greatness of Harry’s choice in that situation. Harry is the protagonist of his own story, and he is always making decisions based on his own mind and beliefs (going after the Philosopher’s Stone, entering the Chamber of Secrets, sparing Pettigrew, going after Sirius in the Department of Mysteries, pursuing the Horcruxes, etc.), so it’s completely unfair for people to place the responsibility for his choice to die on Dumbledore’s shoulders just because the Headmaster gave him the information that Harry was a Horcrux. Harry always acted according to his own mind based on the information he had been given — why would it be any different with the Horcrux inside him?

It simply wouldn’t be. Dumbledore gave the information, but it was Harry who decided what to do with it.

Furthermore, it’s worth noting that Dumbledore didn’t tell Harry about having to die to destroy the Horcrux inside him earlier because (a) Harry was a child, and (b) Dumbledore didn’t want to take away Harry’s hope. Additionally, after the fourth book, there was still the possibility that Harry could survive because, by performing the resurrection ritual, Voldemort intertwined his life with Harry’s, thus giving Harry a chance not to die when allowing the Horcrux to be destroyed. So why would Dumbledore tell a teenager that he would have to die at some point in the future… if there was a chance Harry might come back? It seems (to me, at least) like an unnecessary cruelty to place that burden on someone for so long.

So the biggest issue I see with the fandom in relation to Dumbledore is the belief that he had power over things that were completely beyond his reach. Dumbledore was a leader doing the best he could with what he had, within the limitations presented to him and his own experience.

Moreover, it’s admirable that Dumbledore had such a dark and flawed past and acknowledged each of his mistakes, always acting to ensure that he wouldn’t repeat them. It was the events of his adolescence that led him to always remember to value what truly mattered: love and people. He grew through his own pain, through the consequences of his own mistakes; he never forgot or repressed what happened to Ariana — which would certainly have been much easier — but instead, he used that painful event to become a better person.

That’s a morally gray character, that’s someone who had been stuck between a rock and a hard place and did what he thought was best, that’s a character who did the best he could with what he was given. And I really don’t like how fascist-like characters are more often than not considered more complex because of trauma than characters like Dumbledore.

But I guess that’s a bit because we can actually empathize with them better by being convinced that they didn’t have a choice, or that they were somehow forced into those choices even if they really didn’t want to and that might be the case, but to be honest, after seeing what fascist narratives do to marginalized people, I can’t say I care much about it. Anyway, be my guest to comment on my analysis but please be kind, I won’t engage in rage baits nor Zionists, Free Palestine loves <3

[steelycunt]

ridi im sorry i need to rant and i think youll get it 😭 like not to be a bitch but this fandom kinda going off the rails and annoying the shit out of me https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRbYASpf/ everybody in the comments unironically loving it,,, i mean wtvr ship who you want but its kinda getting delusional like ppl are just operating on thin air and pretty fancasts atp and i do Not understand or emotionally connect with any of it. at least w wolfstar theres so much material and foundation to explore but what is all the rest of this?? just hot celebrity fancasts and crack. to be fair part of me respects taking a terfs canon material and making everybody gay but the way it seems to be so oversaturating fics and the fandom that characters dont even feel like their original selves .. atp its all just surface level OCs

hello! yes! i'll be honest talking about things like this always make me a little nervous, and i feel obligated to preface anything i say with a disclaimer that none of it really matters, nothing i say matters, and you should do what you like, because--who cares. i am not an authority on--anything, frankly. my opinion holds no more weight than the next guy's, and all i'm doing here is giving it, so. essentially what im saying is--people are perfectly entitled to disagree with me, but people are not entitled to be mean to me about it xx

having said that. it is my personal opinion that s x barty is one of the worst fucking things i have ever heard lol. who even is barty who is that guy. why would s be interested in him at all. i do not understand it it does not make sense to me. from where are we sourcing the character traits and personality that we are giving barty that would ever endear sirius to him, because it objectively cannot be canon.

overall i do not get the new interest in barty + evan + pandora (+ regulus, but we won't go there)...at all, other than guessing that people were bored with the marauders and wanted a new version of them (and new celebrities to fancast) while simultaneously changing next to nothing about them other than superimposing them onto the first slytherin side characters they could rustle up. i expect ive become a bit of a broken record in regards to my dislike of the popular meow-meow-ification + complete absolution of regulus as a character in order to make him a loveable oc (just as i think erasing all the negative traits that r/s have in order to make them more likeable is just as boring), and all of that applies to those other guys as well (with the slight difference that they are, somehow, even less interesting and significant than regulus in canon), so i won't get into that too much. but i think what you say about having no emotional connection to any of it is exactly right lol--it is a sort of shift? i guess? in the fandom that is simply of no interest to me. they are characters that i just have no emotional investment in and admittedly struggle a little to understand why other people do. i am emotionally invested in, like, five characters overall (and even out of those--there's only two i'm really here for innit xx) and i personally cannot extend that investment to a creepy little side character who is mentioned maybe twice in the entire series.

and that is okay! i do not need to understand it. i don't want to say it annoys me because honestly--i don't go there, its nothing to do with me. if i dont like it i just wont interact with it, and the fact that it doesn't interest me has no bearing on what other people are into or want to do, and i couldn't give less of a shit what people do with the canon material, which is largely garbage anyway. take the bits you want from it, play around with those and ignore the rest. in that respect we are all doing exactly the same thing. but yeah i think s x barty is genuinely awful lol. hate it. very terrible. he's already got a loser werewolf boyfriend and he loves him so so much. leave him alone.

[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.