#blu3grl-blog

[hollowed-theory-hall]

What’s your opinion on Umbridge?

Besides evil; someone once mentioned that her rules and actions like the “hem-hem” could be a form of OCD and re-reading the series… it honestly could be.

Personally I think she was too 1 dimensional (but so are many antagonists).

Like, I think Umbridge is as hated as she is becouse unlike Voldemort and the Death Eaters, she's a kind of evil that hits closer to most people. Most people probably never met a Voldemort, but they likely have encountered an Umbridge. That's why I think the fandom treats her the way we do. her evil just feels real in a way that's easier to comprehend.

That being said, personally, I don't headcanon her as having OCD or anything similar. Becouse I don't think she actually cares about order or the ministry's law. Order is her excuse for seeking control. We see her pursue order as a means of controlling people, but if she could pursue power and control without order, she would. Like, she doesn't actually care about Hogwarts education standards, or Fudge, or the laws of the ministry.

Hell, she breaks these same laws herself multiple times. I mean, she sent dementors in secret after Harry because she knows she isn't allowed. She's willing to use Unforgivables because she doesn't actually care about law and order. She cares about her own personal power. I know most of the fandom considers her "lawful evil" which, she is, but only because it serves her in the books. If the law didn't serve her, she wouldn't have been lawful.

She uses the law, order, and hierarchy of the ministry as a ladder and a shield. These aren't things she actually believes in beyond their usefulness to her.

We see in book 7 how she easily throws her family (pretending to be a Selwyn), Fudge, and literally anyone else under the bus to become part of the new regime becouse that's where she can gain more power, even if the new regime is chaos. So, no, I don't think she has OCD.

If you read her backstory on Pottermore, she actually has more to her, I just think she's often misunderstood, since, as I said, I don't think she really cares about upholding the law. She cares to do so only becouse the law serves her.

Like, her background is that she has a muggle mother and a wizard father who worked as a lowly maintenance wizard in the ministry. Her brother was born a squib. To her, all her family is a disgrace. Not because they were unloving, or even poor or magicless — they had no power. They held no influence or respect, and that's what Umbridge always wanted:

In spite of her best efforts to secure the affections of one of her superiors (she never cared particularly which of them it was, but knew that her own status and security would be advanced with a powerful husband), Dolores never succeeded in marrying.

(From Pottermore)

She only cares for her own status in everything she does. She watched her father, mother, and brother be treated like literal dirt by the wizarding world and the ministry. Umbridge wants to be recognized, to show everyone how great she is and how wrong everyone was to think lowly of her because of her family.

She has all the blood purity ideals and anti-creature stances becouse of her family too. She blames her father for not doing what she does to gain respect. She blames him for marrying a muggle and dirtying their blood. Umbridge bought into this ideology, I think. I think she really does see her family and herself as lesser, dirtier, and she's been overcompensating for years.

That's why she hushes up anyone who dares mention her family. Why she does everything she can to appeal to the people who have the power and be of use to them. She wants the respect and recognition her family was denied.

Whenever she was asked (usually by workmates who did not like her) ‘are you related to that Umbridge who used to mop the floors here?’ she would smile her sweetest, laugh, and deny any connection whatsoever, claiming that her deceased father had been a distinguished member of the Wizengamot. Nasty things tended to happen to people who asked about Orford, or anything that Dolores did not like talking about, and people who wanted to remain on her good side pretended to believe her version of her ancestry.

(From Pottermore)

She is very similar to Peter Pettigrew in that respect:

You weren’t about to commit murder right under Albus Dumbledore’s nose, for a wreck of a wizard who’d lost all of his power, were you? You’d want to be quite sure he was the biggest bully in the playground before you went back to him, wouldn’t you?

(PoA, Ch19)

She wants to be backed by the biggest bully because that's where she believes the respect and power are. She isn't a woman of order but a power-hungry control freak with self-worth issues. Her search for control and order are means to exercise her power and influence, not her actual goals. Her hate of who she calls "half-breeds" is an extension of her shame in her family and herself.

That was always my read of her character, at least.

[browniefox]

Volkner being a cloud fits so well that it kinda hurts lol. But the real question is, how did Dawn harmonize with him? Was it an instant bond during the gym battle?

The characters shown with Dawn aren't necessarily her guardians, mostly I wanted somebody to show for each flame. But the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of him and her bonding, and that it is sort of an instant bond. which is really shocking for Volkner, considering it's been so long since he's felt much of any kind of interest in battling and other trainers.

Like, it sparked (literallly) something inside of him that reminded him what it meant to really battle, to lose, to give everything you have in a fight. I think, considering how young Dawn is at the time, she's not entirely aware she's bonded with Volkner, and Volkner kind of keeps it quiet because of course he's not entirely sure himself what just happened considering he's not really met many (any?) skies before.

[theticklishpear]

I have a few I am Death Colors to Destiny Archangel's Apprentice The Last of me The Third Wish Sing me a Lullaby 440 Candlewood way

(title stories meme)

Alright, there’s no commas here, so I’m doing my best interpreting where titles start and end. Sorry if I get any wrong. Always, always use commas in lists, my friend.

I am Death

The wars have burned for centuries, like the peat bogs out on the moors, perpetually belching dim smoke into the world. I clean it up. I put it out. When everyone else has had enough and the ravens circle, I’m there to secure their final rest and sew their eyes closed so the smoke can’t find its way into them again. Where I have been, they will not rise again.

Colors to Destiny

Destiny runs beneath the city, encapsulated in a pipe whose only access points are runic circles guarded by golems of wood opal. When the destiny levels in the conduit begin to drop at the same time a new drug starts making appearances in the back-alley black markets, a small mercenary band is hired to discover whether the colorful new vials contain the siphoned destiny or something else. Whether it is or not makes no difference in how dire the situation, but it would help explain the growing darkness in the river of destiny.

Archangel’s Apprentice

In heaven’s prayer call center, one young angel is picked from the crowd after a particularly spectacular, kind, and heartfelt prayer interaction to become Michael’s shadow. What they discover is that not all archangels are quite as they seem and perhaps more good is done in call centers than realized at first glance.

The Last of Me

Twelve clones ago, I opened a rescue shelter for aging cats. Sixty clones before that, I had my first daughter. Ninety clones before that, I started the most successful tech company in the nation. Staring my next clone in the face, I wonder if this will be the last or if the world still needs me to prod it along the Fate Thread it has continuously wavered from.

The Third Wish

The glass candles burn again in the upper floors of the Tower of Dreams. Some say it’s a good omen--that sleep will be long and blissful and uninterrupted by the nightmares that have long plagued us. I’m not so sure. Were it the first Wish candle, or even the second, I might believe them. This time, it’s the first lighting of the third Wish, and I don’t think we’re prepared.

Sing Me a Lullaby

It’s no longer the time of roving minstrels who paid call upon the lord of the manor, but Bellu never did know when to quit. Going from door to door with his harpsichord in its case under his arm and a mournful-sounding harmonica, he’s never once been turned away, until one night when a lullaby sung innocently enough produces a most undesired and unexpected reaction from the youngest child of the house.

440 Candlewood Way

At the edge of the forest is a small cottage, and that cottage has no address that any map can tell, but beneath its roof lives the wood witch of 440 Candlewood Way. In every windowsill and on every beam burn the candles she says she plucked from the antlers of the forest’s king, and as their wax drips from every sill, she’ll tell you your future if you want. Be wary, though, for the wood witch is friends with far worse creatures than the forest’s king.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

I always had this theory that the sorting hat was one of the founder’s Horocrux

Specifically Godric because the sword is in there. Thoughts?

Hello 👋

I think I mentioned this headcanon in the past, but I think ALL four founders enchanted their consciousness/sentience into the hat, kinda like we see with the Maurader's Map. I wouldn't call it a Hrocrux, since the magic that went into making it is probably more similar to what they do with portraits. I talked more about this here.

But, the hat can't be a Horcrux, becouse if it was:

It would think of itself as Godric, the way the Horcruxes see themselves as Tom Riddle.

Godric would still be alive somewhere, which I don't think he is.

Also, according to WW legends:

Legend has it that the hat once belonged to one of the four founders, Godric Gryffindor, and that it was jointly enchanted by all four founders to ensure that students would be sorted into their eponymous houses, which would be selected according to each founder’s particular preferences in students. The Sorting Hat is one of the cleverest enchanted objects most witches and wizards will ever meet. It literally contains the intelligence of the four founders...

(from Pottermore)

This is a quote I brought up in the post I linked above. The hat is said to contain all of their sentience/intelligence, not just Godric's.

So, I think the hat is kinda like a more complex magical portrait, not like a Horcrux.

The charm that returns the sword to the hat, is likely a different one that has nothing to do with the hat's sentience or sorting capabilities. If I had to guess, I'd say it's a charm Godric added on his deathbed, without any of the other founders knowing about it. Like, I like to headcanon the sword of Gryffindor was considered lost for a good century before a random Gryffindor succeeded in pulling it out of the hat in a moment of need, and then the story we know of the sword came to be.

We also know, from DH, that the sword returns to the hat when the goblins get it back. Griphook took the sword when the trio broke into Gringots and Neville could still pull it out of the hat. I think the charm Godric put on the hat allows a true Gryffindor to pull out the sword in a moment of need regardless of where the sword was before. As in, even when it was hanging in the headmaster's office, a true Gryffindor could've pulled it out of the hat if they needed to. It would explain what we see of the sword.

But, basically, I don't think the charm that gives true Gryffindors the sword has much to do with the hat's sentience. I mean, this is all very much in headcanon territory, but it's how I see it.

[browniefox]

No no no, better idea than Emmet not hating Dawn. It’s a comically one sided hatred similar to Yamamoto and Gokudera right up until he shakes Dawn’s hands and bam! Instant Harmonization. Speed run enemies to bffs with Dawn unaware that they’re enemies!

BUT WAIT hear ME out! Comically one-sided and unjustified anger, then he meets Dawn and is like 'in for a penny in for a pound, I'll be her storm guar-' and even while he's trying to haymonize with her, it's just not clicking. Not because they can't harmonize, but because Dawn is 1) not aware of what he's doing and 2) already had a storm guardian (barry) so she's not really on the look for one. Obviously a sky can harmonize with multiple of the same flame but she, like, doesn't have a nagging opening for one.

As a side note, she does have two rain guardians - both Rei and Lucas. Her harmonization with Rei, however, was brought about in a heat-of-the-moment sort of thing that spurred the connections into action.

[browniefox]

For the KHR PLA AU, how does Emmet feel about Ingo finding a Sky before him? I imagine that when they learned about Flames they swore to each other that they would Harmonize at the same time/share they same Sky.

Considering how rare skies are, I think that tbh, Emmet and Ingo never thought too much about every finding one they'd be able to harmonize with, but they did have a sort of understanding without barely having to talk about it that they would surely find the same sky if that every happened, right?

It becomes this other thing that distances Ingo and Emmet, even when they're eventually reunited. I don't think Emmet hates Dawn by any means, but I do think he kind of hates what she represents, and this connection she has to his brother that he doesn't have. There's a lot of things different about Ingo now, and one of them is the way he'd put his life on the line for this teen, that he has this entire family he's a part of now.

[browniefox]

Last question if the day, I promise! But wouldn’t Emmet be better suited as Lightning? Each Flame represents a certain trait right?

Sky: Acceptance

Storm: Desire

Rain: Reliability

Sun: Activity

Lightning: Ambition

Cloud: Independence

Mist: Creativity

Not to mention the fact that canonically every Lightning user we saw in the show being borderline obsessed with something/someone. Levi being Xanxus, Lambo with killing Reborn and even Verde with his creations.

From what I read in your other fic (which how the heck did I not read this before now?) Emmet strikes me as a Lightning if only because he wants to find Ingo. Also, he likes winning more than anything else right?

Ingo as an inverted Storm kinda makes sense? He’s be like Fon.

Sorry for all the questions and ramblings I’ll stop now!

Oh damn there's a list like that? That wasn't on the wiki - or I didn't look hard enough lol.

I believe my reasoning for Emmet having storm was never resting, very offensive and in the middle of battle, kind of more matches his energy. And then for Ingo it was that lightning users are the first line of defense, the protection of the family, and that's what he's focused on doing especially in detours (which, hey, hope you enjoyed it :) )

Although, they are brothers, and twin brothers at that, it's not like I'd be hard to say that they both have lightning and storm flames. In fact, I've been playing on and off with the concept that they were both storm before Ingo left, and when he got to Hisui he began to more main lightning.

also never apologize for asking about this au! I love answering questions and talking about it!

[browniefox]

You’ll have to forgive my rambling, if I have one other obsession besides Pokémon it would be KHR/flame theory.

But regarding Volkner and Dawn’s bond you could argue that while it was an instantaneous bond it might not be as strong as someone she purposely Harmonized with. Bonds that are created instantly are similar to snap decisions and thus weaker since no effort was put into it. Clouds are naturally creatures of instinct so Volkner could have subconsciously picked Dawn as his Sky without even realizing it. Which random question, would Ginter be a Cloud as well? Same typings typically run in families (Yamamoto and his Dad, Tsuna and the bosses ect). I wouldn’t be surprised if Dawn unknowingly tried to bond with him because of it (whether he was amused or not is up in the air).

Also, what are your thoughts about the Night Flame?

I think there's probably two ways that guardians - aspects? elements? - are formed between a flame user and sky. The first is in-the-moment adrenaline bond, and the other is 'I-pledge-myself-to-you' kind of bond. I think initially, the adrenaline bond is stronger than just pledged to the person, but then overall and overtime, the 'pledge' is usually stronger for exactly what you're saying - the harmonization between the two is more purposefully focused and created.

OOOOH I LOVE GINTER AS A CLOUD! I bet he gets to talk to Irida about being leaders and yet clouds :) I don't think Dawn ever tries to bond with him on purpose, but I could see it being sort of a subconcious thing, and him just kind of good-natured chuckling because he's a free agent in regards to those things and would like to remain that way. I had a motorcity/khr au years ago, and playing around with the idea of leaders who are not skies is something I really love

[browniefox]

So I’m seeing a lot of SPN posts… I haven’t been in the fandom since they killed Balthazar, what’s going on??

Uh idk what you know - uh do you know that it's dead?

Anyway, bc the actors are forever linked to spn, (from my understanding) misha collins, you know, the guy who played castiel, accidently said he was bi and then had to go on and say 'no i'm not bi i'm straight'