#everything I write is anti-snape

[wisteria-lodge]

About the gender in hp thing: I know JKR wrote the books wanting the patriarchy to have minimal impact on the world but even through a couple of the metas you wrote you can see that that’s not the case. In your character crying post there’s a clear implication that showing that kind of emotion is a weakness but also that it is not masculine. Equating strength with masculinity is foundational for cultures with strong patriarchies, and this idea infests every other aspect of their lives. Idk because of that and many other reasons I have a very hard time of writing the wizarding world as anything other than a patriarchy

This is a watsonian analysis vs doylist analysis issue.

I 100% do think that JKR went out of her way to really, really downplay the importance of gender in her worldbuilding - and this contributes a lot to the specific feel of the world. You could genderflip, idk. Neville. Snape. Draco. Hermione. McGonagall. and almost no plot elements or character dynamics would change. (Maybe James would bully Severus slightly differently? Idk. He honestly might not.)

Compare HP to something like His Dark Materials, another British fantasy series released at the same time, marketed to the same demographic... in which gender politics are REALLY important. Lyra conforming or not conforming to specific gender norms hugely impacts the way a lot of other characters treat her. So much of Mrs. Coulter's character has to do with how she's navigated the back ways and side avenues into power, because the patriarchy that runs *that* world is extremely explicit and plot relevant, and there's a lot she just can't do.

Now is JKR *good* at writing a gender-blind world? Not really no. So she's stripped out the importance of gender in a fairly surface way, while leaving evidence of the foundations intact. Everyone's a het couple, women take the husband's last name, Molly and Petunia are at home while their husbands work and there's no inverse of that situation, Fleur's father walks her down the aisle at her wedding, it's important that Hermione be able to tame her hair when she wants to, but for Harry it doesn't matter...

There is ALSO the narrative voice poking through and putting its own spin on everything. This is where we start getting judgment (for example) directed both at girls who are too feminine, and at girls who aren't feminine enough. Or sexual assault not really "sticking" if it's directed at boys. We don't have a character talking, in-universe, about how it's wrong for a woman not to want children. We just have a book where the only women who don't have kids (or take care of kids) are villains. Same thing with masculinity = strength = no crying. That's something the narrative framing / bias of the author brings to the table, but it's kept out of the mechanics of the magical world. I guess you could say Harry and Draco equate crying/fainting with weakness (but not explicitly anti-masculinity)... but then Lupin goes out of his way to separate 'fainting' from 'weakness' anyway.

Interestingly, gender is much more baked into the muggle worldbuilding. (Part of why I think leaving that aspect out of the wizarding world was a deliberate choice.) Smeltings is an all-boys school, so is St Brutus.' Dudley teases Harry about his "boyfriend" Cedric, Vernon sizes up Arthur and Mad-Eye by how masculine they are. At the beginning of Book 4, Dudley's diet is this very gendered conflict between Vernon and Petunia, where Vernon doesn't want a "little nancy boy for a son" - and that is one of the only truly gendered insults in the whole series. "Crybaby" almost counts... but the Slytherins tease Hermione for crying too, so idk. They tend to go for pretty gender-neutral insults, like "poor" "unimportant parents" "looks like a chipmunk" ... etc.

Like... I'm trying to imagine a scene were Lucius lays into Draco for not being masculine enough, and I can't. I think that in a canon-compliant fic, a scene like that would feel odd. The conflict would need to be framed more like a "you disgrace the name of Malfoy with your weakness" or "never tell anyone outside the family what you're thinking" or "your believe yourself to be more intelligent than you truly are." Not "you need to man up."

[adh-james-version]

Why have I been seeing so much Regulus, Barty, Evan, and Jegulus hate? And hate on every James ship that ISNT jily?

To all the older people in the fandom that are hating on the new ships, and characterization: This is NOT the same fandom it was 10 or so years ago!!

#1 - Fandoms evolve!

Everything you don’t like isn’t racist, everything you don’t like isn’t facsist, everything you don’t like isn’t fetishizing, everything you don’t like isn’t misogynistic, everything you don’t like isn’t destroying the fandom, shipping James with someone else isn’t anti-Lily, personality head cannons that don’t perfectly align with yours aren’t gonna bring the fandom to its knees.

Every fandom changes as people leave, join, create, write, draw, etc. So when I started seeing people hate so extremely on certain characters, ships, and headcanons, to the point that they are willing to tell someone to off themselves and/or call people stupid/racist/facsist ect. It took me by surprise because not likening something and talking about it or keeping it to yourself is different than telling someone they are misogynistic for liking a mlm James ship over Jily.

#2 - Hypocrisy Regarding Deatheaters

One thing that I see a lot of is people hating on is the fact that canonical deatheaters like Regulus, Evan, and Barty got revamped or “babygirled”. My first point here is that the same people who believe that are also Pro-Snape. While there is nothing wrong with being Pro-Snape, you can’t be Pro-Snape but Anti-Regulus. Both of them defected from the death eaters! They both laid down their lives to try and help! Even if the impact wasn’t the same the want to be on the right side was. You can definitely not like the personality that a lot of the fandom has given him, but you can’t hate him merely on principle without kinda looking like a hypocrite.

Now onto Evan and Barty: yes they were terrible adults and did horrible things, BUT, we don’t know them as school students. That’s why the fandom took them and fleshed them out how they wanted to, they were a virtually blank slate. That’s why many people like the headcanon of them being forced by their families into getting the mark. We don’t know what truly happened so we took some artistic liberties. Again the same sentiment about Snape from earlier can apply: you can’t hate Evan and Barty on principle when in canon (because most people making this argument care religiously about canon) Snape took the dark mark willingly and again canonically we don’t know why Barty and Evan took the mark.

#3 - The Whole Jily Thing

Okay, look. Liking a James ship that’s not Jily, not a big deal. Liking Jily and not liking other James ships, not a big deal. Not liking any of the James ships, not a big deal. Liking some, one, or none of the first two options, not a big deal. Calling someone misogynistic for liking Jegulus or any other James mlm ship, however, is odd. Saying all people fetishize mlm just because they like an mlm James ship over Jily, is odd. That’s the equivalent of someone who ships Jily over an mlm James ship being called homophobic.

This really ties back to points 1 and 2, the fandom evolved and more ships were added. And calling someone a misogynist for not shipping Jily but shipping Jegulus or another mlm ship when in reality they could be the biggest feminist on the planet but just not a Jily shipper.

#4 - Personally

They’re ships, characters, and headcanons that I really don’t like/hate but you don’t see me saying that the ship is going to end the fandom or that it is fetishizing the characters?

For example, I don’t like Snape (as a person, no knock to his his accomplishments) AT ALL, but I don’t think the people who do are racist! I don’t really like the trans ftm Remus headcannon, but I don’t think all the people who do are fetishizing the trans community. I like the Mary x Pandora x Lily ship but I don’t think the people who don’t are anti polyamory!

#5 - Conclusion

Older members of the fandom and people who have been in the fandom a long time really need to calm down a little bit.

And for the people who say things along the lines of “what about canon” and “it can’t severely affect canon”

The EXISTENCE of this fandom goes against canon! You ship wolfstar and nobleflower but you “care about canon”?!?

Okay that’s it.

[maxdibert]

Why do you think Sirius gave up on his family? Do you think he thought they would forgive him for becoming friends with a blood traitor so he just did what he wanted but as the war progressed he realized he has to actually make a choice? Like he took it as a rebellion and angst at the beginning and only later realized how real the pressure was? Did he not love them enough? What was the deal there? (I know you are a Snape account but I love your takes on other characters as well that's why I'm asking for your opinion on this. Btw I read your fic and I love the way you write Snape's internal dilemas)

Well, you can ask me about any character—I don’t exclusively talk about Severus hahaha and i love to rant about things so... Also, Sirius? Can’t stand him. But I like him as a character because I find him so cynical and hypocritical that he’s absolutely fascinating. I’ve always had this love-hate relationship with rich kids from ultra-conservative families who play at being progressives and think they’re these righteous justice warriors but, at the end of the day, are still just privileged kids with privileged prejudices and privileged habits. And I mean that sincerely—no irony intended. I’ve met plenty of people like that in my life, and I think Sirius is a very realistic representation of the cognitive dissonance that people like this tend to have.

That said, here’s something I’ve always thought. Obviously, this is a personal headcanon based on my own experiences with people who fit his profile, but I think it holds water. Usually, people like this—those who grow up in oppressive environments and eventually become atheist anti-religion types, join the communist party to scandalize their ultra-right-wing parents, or turn into crypto bros after ditching the vegan hippie commune their parents raised them in—do this stuff in late adolescence, almost as adults. But Sirius? He starts rebelling really early, as a kid. By the time he’s 11, he already feels the need to rebel against his family.

It happens the moment he meets James, when James establishes that Slytherin is the worst. Sirius comments—offhandedly, without any resentment or anger—that his whole family’s been in Slytherin. He doesn’t seem like he’s at war with them yet, but you can tell he kind of likes the idea of not being in Slytherin just to piss them off. Add to that the fact that he hints in OotP that his dad was a pushover and calls Regulus an idiot—like he was just a fool—but he doesn’t seem truly resentful toward either of them. Sure, they didn’t have a great relationship, but when he talks about them, it’s more with antipathy than hatred. All of this leads me to the same conclusion: mommy issues.

Sirius had major mommy issues—or at least, that’s how I see it. Rich boys with daddy issues rebel by trying to become powerful men, detached from the arena where their fathers succeeded, but determined to surpass them. Rich boys with mommy issues? They turn into psychos. Seriously, that’s just how it works—I don’t make the rules. I think Sirius always clashed hard with Walburga because (and this is my favorite part, because this isn’t just a headcanon; I’m absolutely convinced of this from the little we see of their interactions—or of him with the portrait—in the books) they had the same shitty personality.

Walburga was a dominant, explosive woman with an imposing, even despotic, character. It’s very reminiscent of Bellatrix and, by extension, very much like Sirius. I think Regulus and Orion had similar personalities—the same kind Narcissa shows: arrogant, smug, classist, but restrained and composed. Egocentric, but calm. Walburga, Sirius, and Bellatrix are the other side of that aristocratic coin: the type who believe they’re entitled to everything and everyone, the kind who bulldoze over everything in their path. They’re wild and uncontrollable personalities, especially if someone tries to rein them in.

In my mind, Sirius took after his mom, and Walburga couldn’t stand having someone so much like her constantly challenging her authority. Sirius, meanwhile, couldn’t stand her trying to control him. So at age 11, his rebellion was probably just a tantrum aimed at his mom, a way to piss her off as much as possible. From there—and thanks to James’s influence, as well as the credit Sirius gave James because, spoiler-not-spoiler, James was also a rich pureblood wizard like him—he started adopting James’s worldview. Not because it was rooted in firm beliefs or clear reasoning, but because James had a family that wasn’t insane, so he was probably right. And if parroting James’s ideas at home gave his mom a few gray hairs, all the better.

It snowballed and escalated until the relationship was unsalvageable. James offered him a place to stay if he wanted to leave, and Sirius moved out. But the start of it all? A tantrum aimed at mommy. Sirius has some massive mommy issues he just can’t handle. And the funniest part? He’ll do anything to avoid being like her. He’ll go to any length to do the exact opposite of what she would do. But in the end, because they share the same awful personality, he behaves in the same violent, despotic, narcissistic way she did—just with different victims: Kreacher or Severus, for example.

It’s a brilliant little Oedipal case study.

[zombee]

I feel like the luckiest Our Flag Means Death fan in the world after the season 2 finale. By a series of incredible circumstances - including a significant metatextual realization that came in at the 11th hour - it was close to perfect for me.

This essay has everything. Completely normal behavior over a television series. Steven Universe references. The David Jenkins School of Whatever is Best for the Bit. Humbling catharsis.

First: this piece does not exist with the central thesis of “it’s okay to not like something but that’s not the same thing as it being bad.” I feel like thousands of words have already been written on this since Thursday, so I’m going to try to not get too in depth on that.

Second, cards on the table, because it’s relevant and I don’t want to waste your time if this is going to sour your ability to hear me out: I’m an Izzy Canyon hater. For MANY reasons, but from way before the concept of the Canyon existed, (some) Izzy fans pinged me in the same way as Snape/Kylo Ren fans did, and before May 2022 was over I went from genuinely enjoying Izzy’s character and place in the narrative to hating him because his fans made it impossible for me to enjoy him anymore.

(SOME! of his fans. Please don’t keep making me say this, although I’m not going to talk about the Canyon directly anymore after this. I know there are a ton of normal Izzy Enjoyers and even Canyonites, I am literally friends with many of them, please take this all in the good faith it’s intended and if you’re not One Of The Bad Ones then you’re fine! I very carefully don’t go anti-Izzy on main, and when I stopped enjoying his character, I stopped writing him into fics. I’m not trying to be a dick, I just want to be honest. Anyway.)

The season 2 finale made me weep over Izzy Goddamn hands.

ALL season long, I was disgruntled. All season long. I really, truly, DEEPLY appreciated what they were doing with his character and arc, I thought it was wildly on brand for the themes of community/queerness in the show, I saw the vision, I liked it!!! But. I wanted a fucking apology, yall. I needed three seconds of “sorry I called you a slur, Ed :/” and that would have been enough. But I had to let it go. It was poisoning my enjoyment of the whole season, which I loved with very little exception (not none!) and I just had to let it go. I wasn’t getting an apology. That didn’t negate what they were doing with his character.

Yall. They withheld the apology on purpose.

THIS FUCKING SHOW!!!

Let’s go back a bit. I was at the episode 6 + 7 screening, and the breakup shook me. Probably a LOT more than if I had watched it alone in bed at 3am on my laptop - five days of no sleep after NYCC, lots of emotions, seeing it on a big screen with a hundred other intense fans, etc etc - but I did see other folks reacting in parallel ways to me when the episodes aired to the regular public, so maybe I would have felt the same way. Regardless, I was mad at Stede and to a lesser extent Ed. I NEEDED AN APOLOGY FOR THAT FISH LINE. I needed it! “Whativah” autocorrects to “WHATIVAH” in my phone. I was going through it.

(When I rewatched the episode when it aired it was not nearly as bad as I remember, lol)

So now the episode 8 screeners go out and the reviews drop and I think I catch one half-glimpse of a “What a heartbreaking ending!” kind of snippet, and some of my friends who are spoiler fiends unintentionally drop little hints about similar ideas (devastating/heartbreaking/split the fandom) type shit.

And I was a fucking WRECK! about it.

I do love this whole show with my whole chest. I do!!! But I’m not rotted because this is an excellent television show, I’m rotted because two old men kiss each other! On the MOUTH!!! in an excellent television show. You get it, right? I’ve written 700,000 words across almost 100 fics and 98% of them are dedicated to those two men falling in love in different universes. 

So it just did not even occur to me the “heartbreak/devastation/fandom split” would be about anything but Gentlebeard.

Another piece of this that was fucking me up - David Jenkins and his “satisfactory” ending biz. My brain was reacting like this show was ENDING ending, even if I knew logically! that this is just season 2!!! And I wasn’t ready for that, because what if it wasn’t personally satisfying, and I’m a mess about it? Why was I so worried about not liking it? I’d liked the whole season! Even if they didn’t nail the landing I wasn’t going to stop writing fic or hanging out with my pirate community & friends. 

…is what I kept trying to tell myself, but the way anxiety disorders work is funny like that lol. What if I did stop writing fic and hanging out in pirate spaces? That would hurt much more than a show I like disappointing me. And for anyone who’s having that experience with ofmd s2, I’m so very, very sorry. It sucks and that’s where my epiphany came from on Wednesday before the finale.

Because it has happened to me before.

I flit from hyperfocus to hyperfocus, as ya do when you’re spicy, but the last thing to get its hooks in me PROPERLY like pirates was Steven Universe. And I did NOT like the way the regular season ended!!! (I actually really did like most of Future; that’s not what I mean. I mean season 5). I don’t like how they handled the Diamonds, tldr; I think the scope of their villainy got too out of hand, and I was left grieving the thing that had meant enough to me I ran a fan convention for four years based around it. 

Side note: imagine if I had channeled the hyperfocus of almost a million words of fanfiction into an American OFMD con instead. We could have made magic :( I did consult with Our Con Means Death though so I am at least a teeny tiny bit of that one!

I did not like the way Steven ended… but I do respect the story they were telling and think they told it well.

I’m still sad about it. Steven is still one of my most beloved, it will always be beautiful and great to me, but that experience did and does sully my memories. There is so, so, so, SO much more good than bad from being in that fandom, and I cherish it. And I hope, if you’re having this experience with OFMD right now, that you’ll find similar comfort.

But, like I said at the top, “it’s okay to not like something but that’s not the same thing as it being bad” has been belabored already by people better at writing about it than me. I just had the incredible privilege to remember my brush with lower case T trauma and having that experience in my last REALLY big deal fandom. That’s why I had been so extra anxious about being disappointed. Because it happened to me before. It helped so much to connect those two.

So the finale happens, and it’s actually about twelve hours of me going from “eh, rushed but fun, whole season was great” to “THIS MAYBE IS THE BEST SHOW OF ALL TIME, ACTUALLY!”

BECAUSE THIS SHOW MADE ME CRY OVER IZZY FUCKING HANDS!!!!

They literally told me this was the story they were telling this season. “Men can change” “The end  of piracy” “Ed leaving Blackbeard behind (ish).”

As for me? I didn’t get an apology for the fish. Instead, I got “Sorry I was a dick.” “You weren’t a dick. Life’s a dick.”

Just… fuckity BAM. THREE FUCKING SENTENCES resolving that fight. Saying so much in so little.

In real life, should these two men have an actual conversation about this shit? Sure!!! But that’s not how OFMD tells its stories!

It works in symbolism. It works in vibes. It works in an hour’s worth of content into each half-hour episode, and for how much lamenting I have done about the pacing, I would prefer that 100x to having to stretch it out too much.

I have said since March 24, 2022 that OFMD wields anachronism as a weapon. First and foremost, it’s fucking funny, but in addition to that, it’s stating clearly: “This is a fantasy world. This is not real history. This show is about romance (and so much more than that), and the rest is just VIBES!!!”

Sometimes vibes can be historical accuracy. Sometimes vibes can be true emotional poignancy. Sometimes vibes can be Ed finding his sunken leathers in the sea, changing underwater somehow, and coming out of the ocean like the Birth of Fucking Venus, because water and rebirth and mermaids and shit is all very prominent this season. And ALSO, and this is very important! BECAUSE IT LOOKS FUCKING COOL!

I don’t want to do much real Izzy meta here. It’s been said by others, and better than me. But it was telegraphed and it was symbolic – he was the paragon of Traditional Piracy in season 1, for goodness’ sake, and Traditional Piracy is Toxic Masculinity, and he was a part of Blackbeard and Ed had to leave Blackbeard behind (yknow, ish), and he got this ABSOLUTLEY FUCKING LOVELY! storyline about appreciating what a (queer) community can do, and god fucking shit fucking dammit… most of all, best of all (for me), was Buttons landing on Izzy’s grave at the end. Men can change. And Izzy DID!!! He did it for Ed. For love. For community. I am puzzled by “it’s fucked up to use Izzy to further Ed’s storyline” because… this was Ed’s season, in the way that season 1 was Stede’s. And Ed cannot be removed from piracy as a whole (neither can Stede!) so to have this old, set in his ways, coded-queerphobic character blossom to the point he can give this gift to Ed and to piracy… idk man. I just find it so fucking beautiful.

It is okay not to like what they did. It’s okay!!! It’s okay, and it’s okay to mourn, and while it’s not okay to do [insert vile behavior here], it’s okay to carefully examine what you think is “bad writing” vs “what you would have preferred to happen” and give good-faith, textually-based criticism on that.

But I want to remind you over and over and over again, this show works on vibes. It tells its stories leaving many, many, many gaps. There are many things I would have liked to see, and y’know what? I would have told the Izzy story differently. I would have personally done it differently. But it’s not my show! It’s not my show, and I am humbled and delighted to remember that, and to appreciate Our Flag Means Death for what it is and not what it isn’t.

Other words have been written better than I could about the 18 months between seasons 1 and 2 and what that does to us as rabid fans with expectations of how things will go. Millions and millions and millions of words have been written about OFMD, fictional and non, and that is going to color our expectations and experience. We had built it up SO MUCH in our minds and along the way I think some of us forgot (INCLUDING ME!!!) that it is first and foremost about Vibes.

The vibes of Izzy’s death are about rebirth and forgiveness and leaving traditional piracy behind. And he got to die in Ed’s arms, knowing (HAPPILY!) that he had been wrong, and giving Ed the gift of letting him know he is loved, and being a part of something. We had a funeral but we also had a wedding. The only constant is change. Men, piracy, Blackbeard; it all changes. And Izzy found peace in that.

Before my last point, I want to @ myself on things I felt versus realizing in the end it is (I will say it until I’m blue in the face) about vibes.

· I was convinced they left Buttons’ transformation ambiguous because they wanted to leave room for it not having been real. NO!!! It is real, until they decided it isn’t. Magic in the OFMD universe? Fucking why not!!! IT’S SYMBOLIC!!! IT’S IMPORTANT TO ED’S STORYLINE AND THE CENTRAL THESES OF THE SHOW!

· I was unhappy, and still am a little, about the Polycule Situation, but now that I realize Oluwande is Zheng’s Stede… I am less so. The Zheng : Auntie :: Ed : Izzy vibes, btw? Fuckin immaculate.

·        Obviously they touched on Stede/Ed’s “killing people trauma” but I’d reallyyyy like Stede to address it, and even though I think Ed’s is left on a very satisfying note, I’d like him to dip a bit more into it as well. But if they don’t, oh well! It’s not like they ignored it, they just didn’t have a Deep Dive like I Wanted Them To!

· They didn’t deal with Ed throwing Stede’s shit away. They just ignored it! Stede started to collect new trinkets, and I believe that was as much about giving the audience back the old feeling of the Revenge as it was anything important (not to say it wasn’t also important thematically!!!). Just like Ed going back to his leathers is both Extremely Important thematically and about putting Taika back in the leathers because that’s what Blackbeard should be wearing for the epic final scenes for the sake of visually keeping the show consistent. That’s Blackbeard’s uniform.

· Stede’s frilly little outfits my beloved. God I hope they give him back some of his frippery in season 3. I think they will re: cursed suit BUT his journey this season was about something else, so!

· Ed’s stupid little non-profit non-apology, oh my god. It was so funny. And there is a transition from eps 5 to 6 where Ed is back in his leathers and the crew is more comfortable around him. They didn’t have to have him do a Real Apology, it’s implied it was all settled. What was the timeline? A day? DOESN’T MATTER, BABY, VIBES!!!

· Lots more, I’m sure, but now that I’ve tried to let it all go, I’m remembering less of what I wanted and appreciating what I got!

And, last point here, I think it is also very very very important to remember that a lot of people are normal about this show. In fact, WAY more people are normal about this show than aren’t. And that is EXTREMELY! IMPORTANT!!! because otherwise it wouldn’t be profitable and we all know what would happen then. We are the core of it, to be sure. Without word of mouth that stems from our intensity, this show would not be NEARLY as successful as it is. I truly, truly believe that.

But.

Do normies need deeply emotional discussions dissecting the central relationships? No. What normies need is Ed and Stede running dramatically toward each other on the beach and kissing. And I am happy, so fucking happy, to realize that’s what I need too. I’ve got fanworks for the rest.

I love this fucking show and this fucking fandom and its fucking creators so much. Fuck.

[sideprince]

I've seen the same post a hundred times now. Sometimes it's a few days old, sometimes it's from years ago, but it's always the same. Some anti posts about how they don't understand how anyone can like Snape because he was so awful, and then there's a long reply that goes something like, "imagine this happens to you, and then this, and then this" to describe Snape's experience. Sometimes there's some James Potter hate thrown in.

Look. You can go through describing a character's entire experience but you don't really need to. Here's the thing that antis don't understand:

For all her faults (and they're big, bigoted ones) Rowling understood a really integral part of the human experience and conveyed it through Snape. Everyone needs love and to feel accepted. It's that simple. Snape became a Death Eater to seek acceptance (Rowling has confirmed this, though I can't remember the source - whoever wants to add it please do), because it was the only way he could find any.

Snape's understanding of morality, like everyone's, is subjective. Some readers understand this and some don't. When faced against a morality that says there is good and bad in the world, everyone makes choices based on their personal experience. Context is everything. Someone who experiences pain and suffering will not see the person inflicting it on them as moral. That's it. 'How can this person be good when they caused me so much suffering?' = human psychology. Most of the people who think 'I'm a bad person and deserve this' have been gaslit and abused into thinking so, because it's not a natural reaction - it's one that has to often be socialized into someone at a young age, exactly because it's not natural. Everyone is the hero of their own story; no one sees themselves as a villain, because they see the valid aspects of their own perspective.

You can write essays on how vulnerable people needing acceptance is what cults and fascists exploit to recruit vulnerable people, or on how the standard anti's un-nuanced reading of Snape both ignores canon and displays a disturbing lack of empathy or compassion, but at its core it just boils down to context. From Snape's perspective he experienced cruelty, therefore the people inflicting it must be cruel. Again, it's that simple. He was a person, like any other, except he was fictional so he wasn't even real. On the flip side is James Potter, who, for all his faults, didn't get to live long enough to get a chance to change and grow unlike Snape, and I think the Snapedom also needs to acknowledge that.

They're fictional characters representing things an author wants to say, not sports teams, not martyrs, and not all good or all bad emblems that define your identity depending on how you feel about them. It's depressing how much time is wasted arguing with bullies and trolls whether from the Marauders fandom or just random antis. I literally can't find more than three blogs to follow without this argument coming across my feed daily. I know the Snapedom is Not OK™ and that's kind why we're all here, and I know that my take is super unpopular but like Snape, I don't care what others think: this fandom has been having the exact same argument for years and nothing has changed. There's fanart and meta and fic and so much content out there appreciating this character, you're not going to change an anti's mind who's deliberately trolling in the tags, so why are you trying? What are you getting out of it? What does it give you? It's exhausting just scrolling past it.

[thedoewitch]

THE TRUTH ABOUT HARRY POTTER CHARACTERS

In the last few weeks, I've seen many arguments between the stans of different characters in the HP Fandom. And this, this exact post is about my opinion, mixed with canon (books) and how they normally should have been perceived.

This is part one of the series explaining the characters in the Harry Potter Universe. It will be long, seeing as many are hateful towards characters who did nothing wrong, or love them for all the wrong reasons.

Two big arguments will be explained in this post. Two biggest arguments about Anti-Character vs Pro-Character.

Anti-Dumbledore vs Pro-Dumbledore;

Now, there are many people who are on the anti-Dumbledore side of the fandom, and I can understand why. It is not a surprise, considering what has been done by Dumbledore in the series.

However, Albus is one of the many-layered characters. He was a Blood Supremacist throughout his life, even as an adult, until his sister Ariana Dumbledore died.

He is, like many others, a flawed character, just like us real humans are. He was in love with Gellert Grindelwald (Which he has no fault in, you cannıot control who you fall in love with), and was willing to take the world under their control just because Gellert wanted to.

In the Marauders and Lightening Era timeline, he did many horrible things. He went as far as using Fudge to gain things to his favor, he used Severus and Harry, and even Remus and Sirius and Rubeus (Hagrid) as the events unfolded, and he even neglected other students while trying to control everything that he can, even though he is a HEADMASTER, a person who s supposed to keep the school's students safe. And the fact that he left Harry in the Dursleys' footsteps and not checking on him properly was disturbing, no matter if Arabella Figgs was there. He didn't care to check up properly.

He did all of that, yes. There is no arguing about it, it is in The Fantastic Beast, in the Harry Potter books, in the Secrets of Dumbledore, in the Crimes of Grindelwald. He did all of those things that nowadays seem impossible to do.

But- He also did good things. He accepted Remus into the school, albeit it was stupid of him to do so with only a place he can transform that he can break free easily if not strictly controlled. He accepted him because he wanted people like him to have a chance.

We even see another werewolf student in the game called Hogwarts Mystery, which I liked and enjoyed. He is not prejudiced against them, and it makes their life easier.

He gave Harry and other students support throughout their life at Hogwarts. It excluded Slytherins, sadly, but he did try to be a good role model and also tried to relieve the students from stress by doing things like canceling the exams and even saying seemingly ridiculous words during the meals. He was truly afraid that Ginny was taken into the chamber, it is obvious in the CoS book when Lucius paid a visit to Albus.

He supported the adults like Alastor and Kingsley and Tonks, warned Sirius and the like against doing things that could be dangerous for their lives. He did care about them. Even, I'm sure, Marlene and Dorcas had a place in his heart because he does everything to help them win the war and live in peace.

Anti-Snape vs Pro Snape;

Severus Snape, like Albus, is a many-layered character. He is defensive and strict and is a bully throughout his adulthood. He is brave and courageous, stubborn and selfless.

Snape is not dark or light. He is not black or white. He is a Morally-Grey character through and through. There is no arguing against that.

Severus as a kid has done nothing wrong. The argument of him being obsessed with Lily when he was NINE is a very wrong thing to say. He was, as explained in the Pottermore likely abused by his father who was a drunkard, and from the writing in the books, his mother was likely neglectful as well. A kid who has gone through that will not have good social skills, or know how to talk to anyone politely. The fact that he is living in a dark neighborhood is probably an aspect of this as well.

He used accidental magic on Petunia, and he had no fault in it just like Harry had no fault when he deflated his aunt. Petunia insulted his mother, just like Marge insulted Lily. He had no control over his emotions, and thus, the accidental magic is not him being a hater.

During the train ride, all he said was he wanted to be in Slytherin. Why? Who knows, maybe his mother was sorted there and he wanted to feel closer to her. James and Sirius immediately attacked him with their words after that. Again, he is a kid. An 11 years old kid. He did not have a fault in that.

During his years at Hogwarts, he faced many more of the Marauder's bullying. And, yes, it was bullying, J.K Rowling said it, in the books even Harry thinks it is bullying, and Sirius accepts that fairly easily.

In his fifth year at Hogwarts, he is a fifteen-year-old and Sirius is 16 years old, Sirius sent him down the Willow Tree in the full moon. Why? Of that, I have a few theories but we don't know if any of them are true. He sent him down there on a FULL MOON, where Remus transformed, wanting to get a laugh of it.

He was almost killed, but saved by his enemy James Potter at the last second. He was forced to keep shut about this, which definitely added to his many traumas throughout his life. He was punished while he was the definite victim in this situation, along with Remus who was used by his best friend.

After this werewolf prank, it is obvious that the bullying got worse. It is probably because the Marauders had to do something to not let their friendship crumble, and blaming the whole situation on the victim, who is someone they hate or at the very least dislike seemed a good idea in their eyes. And thus, Snape's Worst Memory happened.

Lily and Severus' relationship was already falling apart by the fifth year. After the prank, they confronted each other and talked about the things they witnessed.

It is very disturbing how Severus did not care that Mulciber and Avery used dark magic on an innocent Gryffindor called Mary MacDonald. However, he also points out that the Marauders used a hex to grow Bertham Abrey's, a Slytherin's head grow his head twice its size. It is not Dark Magic, but clearly illegal. This hows that Marauders bullied everyone they could from Slytherin, and Sirius even admitted that himself.

Both of them are set in their ways. Lily doesn't acknowledge that Severus has to spend time with the Slytherins as he is a Slytherin himself. And Severus doesn't acknowledge that using Dark Magic to harm others is disturbing when others use Light Spells to hurt others instead, not realizing that both of them are wrong.

In SWM Lily definitely doesn't do everything she can do, along with Remus. They both are prefects but Remus stood back, and Lily only confronted the Marauders, not bothering to inform a professor at the very least.

Severus was very wrong in saying Mudblood to Lily. Sure, he was under a lot of stress, and he is a Half-Blood so the term also applies to him, but it was the last damage to crumble the wall of friendship the two had between them. But he did not deserve to get his trousers to get taken down and get threatened to be stripped completely. That was sexual assault, and no one deserves that.

After all of that, he apologized and left Lily alone. He was not obsessed with her. I'm sorry, but no one is saying that you cannot love a person who is in another relationship. It is not a crime, and he didn't even tell Lily about his feelings. (And I do not believe that 'feelings' were romantic. It was most definitely platonic, It is written like one, and the strong lesson the HP Series has is the power of Love.)

He went Dark after graduating, but when he discovered that he was going to be the cause of his ex-best friend's death he deflected quickly. I do not understand how people find this creepy. Regulus 'deflected' (not fully) for Kreacher, Narcissa, and Lucius for Draco and Albus for Ariana.

He agreed to be a spy for Albus and took a Vow to completely submit himself to a cause he had not yet believed completely in. After Lily's death, his life was devoted to protecting Harry.

He was a bully during his adult years. Now, it is mostly because traumatized people act mature, but their mentality goes backward, and the proper age of becoming fully mature comes later on. With his state, it would be at the very earliest when he was 53 that he would be fully mature, but it is also because he cannot let go of the past and heal from it.

He treated Harry and Neville horribly when not in class. And in class, he was strict with everyone. Even the others were the victim of his bad attitude.

However, no matter how mean he wanted his students to be safe. He protected Harry because of the Vow, that is true, however, he also protected and attempted to protect every other student, like the time he was worried for Ginny when he was taken into the Chamber.

He was a shitty person with a shitty backstory. He had no control over his emotions when he was with Harry, and bullied him because of his looks leaning towards James. It was not acceptable, and he was most definitely a bully, but he was not an abuser.

He despised physical punishments and refrained from physically attacking others, and the only exception was when Harry invaded his privacy when he looked into the pensieve.

He truly believed in the reasoning of the Light after all those years under the Vow. When it was clear that Harry was going to die no matter what he did, he did not go off to Voldemort to give him the secrets Dumbledore told him, no, he tried to protect his students and aided Harry secretly to destroy the Hocruxes.

He died a hero. Without him, the first Wizarding War would be won by Voldemort and everyone would be at Riddle's service to torture or kill or use. If he was loyal to Voldemort, the Battle of Hogwarts would end up with Voldemort truly killing Harry, and the whole fate was on his shoulders.

He is the bravest man throughout the series. He is a Hero, He is an Anti-Hero, he is an awesome spy, he is a bully, he is bitter, he is selfless, he is stubborn, he is loyal, and he is many more combined together.

He is not a villain, and he is not an evil reincarnate of a Nazi. He is a good person with bad doings. He is not innocent but he definitely deserved to be both praised and put down for all of the things he did.

[winters-on-the-wing]

In your latest post about regulus (asking why people like him) someone told you to check the anti regulus tag and you expressed confusion, because you never heard about the tag.

so like...I don't know if you're still confused? Because you have to use "anti (character)" tags when you're posting (character) critical content. People who love (character) can filter the tag out, that way they wouldn't have to see that type of content.

(it's fandom etiquette, also there are anti (ship) tags as well, if you don't like Jegulus or something else)

So when you answered that anon ask about Severus with criticism under only the "Severus Snape" tag without the anti Severus tag, I'm wondering if you realize this was going to come across as attack? Because it's entering Severus fan spaces, bypassing the filter?

Which means Severus fans will respond to you...hence why you're getting attacked?

Did you mean to start the argument? Or was that you not knowing how tags work? It's fine if you didn't know btw, this whole thing is just confusing me.

- 🎀

hey i'm gonna try to be nice here but this is sort of getting on my nerves.

this whole thing is confusing me so much.

i made a post about severus snape. so i tagged severus snape. because severus snape is mentioned in the post. that's how you categorize. if a book talks about cooking, you put it in the cooking section. regardless of favor, that's how you categorize. for example, people write books about thomas jefferson. one book may talk about the good things thomas jefferson did, and another may talk about the bad things thomas jefferson did. regardless of this favor or lack of favor, both books will be categorized by the topic being thomas jefferson. i don't understand why it isn't the same way here?

i love a great many fictional characters, and when i see a critique of them, i read it carefully, and then i either respond to it with my opinion, make my own post discussing my opinion, or i scroll past it. and it's great! i got to see someone else's opinion, and regardless of whether or not i agree with it, i've learned a new perspective on a character i love. why wouldn't people want the same? don't people want to learn everything about their favorite characters? don't people want rich and diverse perspectives on worlds that they adore?

besides, i think the notion that i "asked to be attacked" by posting and tagging snape is simply ridiculous. it's like me saying "i hate bread because it tastes bad and it has a funky texture." and then someone responding with "you are so stupid for hating bread. bread has all of these benefits. you're reductionist and simple for hating bread". like i didn't ask for those insults at all! all i said was that i hated bread! it would be one thing if i said "everyone who likes bread is disgusting and slimy and will never get married". but i didn't say that. i just said that i hated bread.

also if you know me (which you don't, so it is fine), then you know how i feel about censorship. i refuse to engage in censorship of any kind unless it has to do with shielding children from danger. and this is not shielding children from danger. it's having a differing opinion from my fellow man, which is one of the largest stepping stones in the pond of humanity. i refuse to hide my opinion behind an "anti" tag when someone reading it can simply stop reading it. i find the notion of trying to avoid any nuance or anything that pops your ignorant little internet bubble absolutely ridiculous and i refuse to contribute to that culture.

do i like that snape defenders are up my ass and targeting my intelligence and being horrifically rude to me for expressing an opinion? no! i despise it wholeheartedly. but at the same time, it's an engagement, a discourse, a conversation with my fellow man in which i learn more about the world. like for example, i learned that there hasn't been a single snape defender i've talked to about snape who is actually mature and decently kind. and if i had to choose between hiding the post and getting no rude replies or showing the post and getting rude replies but also an interesting perspective on something that can be interpreted in many different ways, then i'll choose the latter every time.

i have thick skin, i can take a bit of internet harassment, though i won't hesitate to complain about it, because again, it is unwarranted!

not to be rude, but i personally don't care what fandom etiquette is. i don't have to do anything. i don't care that everyone else is doing it. i'm going to do things my way, and if people don't like it, they can block me and stay in their bubbles.

[cruelsummer-ficfest]

Hey Kids—Reading is Fun!

Dear Readers,

Your mods (@femme--de--lettres and @greyeyedmonster-18) are beside themselves with how many of you have participated in Cruel Summer Fic Fest: The Eras Tour this year.

From full novel-length fics to poetry, from microfics to multi-chaptered works and everything in between, we've been blown away—enchanted, even—by this year's submissions. This fest started as a labor of love for both of us as avid Swifties and HP fic authors and we couldn't have imagined in our wildest dreams the way you've embraced it with open arms.

With that said, we're pleased to offer the below list of this year's love stories. Due to tumblr restrictions on tagging, we weren't able to tag all of the individual author tumblr accounts (something something look what you made us do something something) so we've tried to link to ao3 as much as possible, but if you like a fic—check out that author's ao3! We've tried to connect you as directly to the mainstream of what each author writes in that respect, so if you happen to find a new fave, you can show them more love on the rest of their works!

To make a long story short, the majority of these works can be found in the Cruel Summer Fic Fest: The Eras Tour collection on ao3—with a catalogue of over 100 works, there's something for everybody, and we hope you'll take a peek at this year's truly incredible works.

We've had the time of our life fighting dragons with you, but sometimes, you know in your soul when it's time to go.

Thanks for making this cruel summer another one for the books.

Until Next Time,

Your Mods (Grey and Andie)

Cruel Summer Fic Fest: The Eras Tour

(all fics are followed by the character, relationship, or pairing that each work focused on. for the purposes of our list, both "x" and "/" indicate some level of romantic relationship, while "&" entails a platonic or otherwise friendly one)

Era One (Debut/Midnights)

Stay Beautiful (Regulus x James)

Sweet Nothing (Ted Tonks x Andromeda Black)

Midnight Rain (Sirius x Remus)

A Perfectly Good Heart (Harry/Fred/George)

Bigger Than the Whole Sky (Lavender x Pansy)

Anti-Hero (Sirius x Remus)

Tim McGraw (James x Lily)

Invisible  (Harry x Ginny)

Should've Said No (Ron x Hermione)

Dear Reader (Draco x Astoria, Part 1 of 6)

Glitch (Bellatrix Black x Voldemort)

The Outside (Ron x Hermione)

Bejeweled (Ron x Hermione)

Maroon  (Ron x Hermione)

Teardrops on My Guitar (Ron x Hermione)

Mastermind (Ron x Hermione)

Era Two (1989/Evermore)

Wonderland (Snape x Trelawney)

Dorothea (Sirius x Remus)

New Romantics (Regulus x Lily)

You Are In Love (James x Lily)

Wildest Dreams (Sirius x James)

Long Story Short (Draco x Harry)

This Love  (Pandora x Lily)

All You Had to Do Was Stay (Hermione x Pansy)

Shake It Off (Draco x Harry)

I Wish You Would (James x Lily)

Blank Space   (Ron x Hermione)

I Know Places (Draco x Hermione)

Gold Rush (Ron x Hermione)

Welcome to New York  (Sirius x Remus)

Style (Bellatrix x Voldemort)

Happiness (Narcissa Black x Emmeline Vance)

Tis the Damn Season (Harry x Bill Weasley)

It's Time to Go (Teddy x Victoire)

Cowboy Like Me (Astoria x Hermione)

Champagne Problems (Draco x Astoria, Part 2 of 6)

Era Three (Red/Lover)

The Moment I Knew (Ron x Hermione)

You Need to Calm Down  (Draco x Harry)

Sad Beautiful Tragic  (Draco x Astoria)

Nothing New (ft. Phoebe Bridgers) (Ron x Hermione)

All of the Girls You Loved Before (Sirius x Remus)

State of Grace (James x Lily)

Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince Draco x Astoria, Part 3 of 6)

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Harry x Tom Riddle) 

The Last Time (ft. Gary Lightbody) (Ron x Hermione)

All Too Well (Ron x Hermione)

The Archer  (Pandora Lovegood x Lily Evans)

Babe  (Ron x Hermione)

Run (ft. Ed Sheeran) (Narcissa x Lily)

Cornelia Street (Percy Weasley x Oliver Wood)

Everything Has Changed (ft. Ed Sheeran) (Sirius x Remus)

The Very First Night (Ron x Hermione)

Girl at Home (Alecto Carrow x Narcissa Black)

Forever Winter (Draco x Astoria)

Afterglow (Ron x Hermione)

Holy Ground (Romione)

Stay Stay Stay (Blaise Zabini x Daphne Greengrass)

False God (Bellatrix x Voldemort)

Era Four (Fearless/Reputation)

Come in With the Rain (Ginny & Hermione)

Look What You Made Me Do (Ron x Hermione)

That's When (ft. Keith Urban) (James x Lily)

Fifteen (James x Lily)

Tell Me Why (Harry x Charlie Weasley)

The Best Day (Percy x Oliver Wood)

Call It What You Want (Ron x Hermione)

You Belong With Me (Ron x Hermione)

Untouchable (Narcissa x Lily)

Change (Ron x Hermione)

Superstar (Draco x Hermione)

Forever and Always (Piano Version) (Draco x Astoria)

King of My Heart (Ron x Hermione)

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things (James x Lily)

Fearless (Ron x Hermione)

The Way I Loved You (James x Lily)

Gorgeous (Ron x Hermione)

Bye Bye Baby (Ron x Hermione)

White Horse  (James x Lily) 

…Ready for It? (Blaise Zabini x Daphne Greengrass)

Don’t You (Ron x Hermione)

I Did Something Bad (Draco x Astoria, Part 4 of 6)

The Other Side of the Door (Sirius x Remus)

Era Five (Speak Now/Folklore)

Haunted (Bellatrix x Lily)

Enchanted (Ron x Hermione)

Innocent (Draco & Narcissa Malfoy) 

Back to December (Ron x Hermione)

The 1 (Ron x Hermione)

Exile (ft Bon Iver) (Ron x Hermione)

Mad Woman (Draco x Harry)

Invisible String (Sirius x Remus)

Cardigan (Ron x Hermione)

Epiphany (Padma Patil x Theodore Nott)

Mirrorball (Draco x Harry)

Mine (Harry/Fred/George)

Mean (Ron x Hermione)

This Is Me Trying (Marcus Flint x Percy Weasley)

Timeless (Ron x Hermione)

My Tears Ricochet (Ron x Hermione)

Seven (Sirius x Remus)

I Can See You (Sirius x Remus)

Foolish One (Angelina Johnson x George Weasley)

[pweaselbee]

MY unpopular HP opinions

(part 1?)

As someone who’s been a “fan” since 2008

Draco Malfoy is not an innocent

Regulus Black is not an innocent (and jegulus… just doesn’t do it for me)

Lily Evans is sidelined far too fucking much

Snape is an interesting character, but not a good person. Literally that male friend you’ve had forever who you bear your heart to and then he says “i have something to tell you” and if you reject him he calls you a slur. holds onto childhood grudges at his big age. BULLIES CHILDREN?? to the point where he is the WORST FEAR of a 13 yr old boy??

(more under cut)

ATYD, while a great AU fic, has damaged the personalities of characters. ex. in this fic it’s understandable that Lupin has a backbone but in canon it is SO IMPORTANT to his character that he never really had enough backbone to stand up to his friends when they took it too far?? and he grew INTO gaining that backbone

Percy Weasley is overhated, sure he was a bit of a pompous prick at times but that was 1. when he was a literal teenager (aka when everyone’s an arse) and 2. when the job he’d been working towards his entire life spoonfed him propaganda… yeah he’s not perfect but he was trying to do the right thing

All the Weasley’s being in the same house is lazy writing (percy should have been a slytherin and he’s not the only one)

JKR, on top of all the racism, transphobia, etc etc is also… not as good of a worldbuilder as everyone says. Look deep enough into it and everything just falls to bits. Her ‘wizarding world’ (specifically BWW) is just European folklore thrown at a dartboard, with aesthetic English Boarding School dumped on it. and don’t get me started on the rest of the wizarding world. (wym there’s only one school for all of south america. joanne i’m coming for you) at best it doesn’t make sense or is ignorant but at worst it’s actively harmful.

It is not enough to separate the art from the artist when the artist is actively profiting off the art. Especially when the art itself is steeped in Racism, Transphobia, Anti-Semitism, Fatphobia, and more. JKR has her platform and money from these works and is using this platform to spew rhetoric that is directly harmful to Transgender people, ESPECIALLY trans women. As much as you are consuming HP content you better also be actively doing whatever you can to help the people directly affected by her hatred. Instead of merch, maybe donate to a goddamn gfm. Next time you reread the series, put some time aside to analyze the text you’re reading. I guarantee it’s not as good as you thought.

The books could have survived as beloved children’s literature is Joanne had never gotten a twitter. Am I saying there’s nothing harmful in the books? No. But the harmful content would have been overlooked if JKR had kept her mouth shut.

“slytherin skittles” is a stupid ass name and i view anyone who mains baby death eaters with utmost distaste. babygirl those are fascists. literally wizard nazis, joanne was not subtle but perhaps you’d prefer the subtlety of a brick to the face

yeah so this was long and i’m probs not making any friends lol. but hey. new blog! maybe i’ll get hate mail

[seriousbrat]

Your anon doubting whether Snape ever protected Lily from anti-muggleborn taunting at school has me wishing we saw a lot more of that friendship in The Prince’s Tale. Because Snape was *openly* calling her his best friend as late as fifth year when the first war was in full swing, they’re not sneaking around meeting in abandoned classrooms, which must’ve caused them both a huge amount of grief. We get a hint of the peer pressure Lily faced - ‘none of my friends understand why I talk to you’ - but I can’t imagine the Slytherin common room was a remotely nice place for a poor half blood who refuses to deny or abandon his association with a muggleborn Gryffindor. But we don’t see enough of that relationship to really understand why Lily likes him enough to keep swimming against the tide (Severus obviously clings because he tragically has nobody else).

me too!!! my fave dysfunctional friendship of all time 🥺 I wish we could've seen more of them but it just means I've got to write it myself!

Also, yes absolutely. I might talk a lot about the problems in their friendship because that's so interesting to me but they wouldn't be nearly as interesting if there wasn't also good aspects to it. And honestly despite everything I think it's admirable that they both defied peer pressure in order to openly remain friends for so long, especially at that age. Personally I think it would go against Lily's morals to abandon her friend because he wasn't popular or cool, which is why she stuck by him. Before Sev was scouted by Mulciber I imagine he was shunned by Slytherins as well as the rest of the school, so I don't think Lily would have abandoned him just because her housemates thought he was a weirdo.

You're right that on the face of it, it seems strange that Lily would like him, and as we know her Gryffindor friends didn't understand it; but I think the bonds of childhood friendship can be very strong. As kids they had a lot in common, being the only magical children in Cokeworth. Sev was clever, he was Lily's introduction to the Wizarding World, and they were the only two people who had one foot in Cokeworth and one foot in Hogwarts, so nobody else could really understand them the way they did each other. Nobody else had that wealth of unique shared experience. Also, I really do believe that she liked him as a person haha, and that Sev has likeable qualities if you get to know him-- but only Lily ever really did. So she saw a side of him that nobody else did. If you have a bond like that with someone, years of history and inside jokes, it's easy to overlook the negative and make excuses for it.

[cassiaallen]

I have had this in my notes forever, and since I’m not sure if I’ll ever turn this into a fanfic, I thought I’d post it here.

A lot of this is my own version of canon, but it’s also partly inspired by wonderful accounts such as @halfblood-princes-crown, @moonlightdancer26 and more.

Hope you enjoy!

Severus Snape’s Death Eater Journey

-Eileen married Tobias because she was the eldest of her siblings and thus the "heir" and hated it

-she was in Gryffindor (hat stall, almost in Slytherin)

-Tobias was a misogynistic wife-beater and child abuser

-he hated magic

-he didn’t like feeling his wife was superior to him

-he beat his wife to "get the magic out of her" and when that didn’t work, he did the same to his son

-Severus started to resent T when he was about 5

-his first bit of magic showed during a time when he was defending himself against his father

-he started thinking "are all muggles this bad?", but slightly changed that view whenever he spoke to his muggle neighbours and the Evans family

-Sev is excited to go to Hogwarts as he thinks he can finally escape his family’s tormenting

-he latches onto Lily as she’s A) magical (and thus, an "outsider" like him) and B) a complete contrast to everything he had ever known

-encounter in the train 01.09.1971

-at first, he brushes it off

-Lily being Sorted into Gryffindor upsets him mainly because it reminds him of his miserable home life (Gryffindor as a symbol of badness)

-first week of school, J&S play a prank on Sev

-they find his reaction funny, play some more pranks on him during the next few months and decide to make him their main target

-part of J&S detentions are the result of Sev telling prefect Lucius (this in turn contributes to their hatred of Sev and Slytherin)

-the pranks are physically harmless at first, "just" humiliating

-Sev throws himself into his studies, becoming a very skilled wizard

-in year 2/3, the "pranks" become more and more physically violent

-in year 4, Sev accidentally hexes an OC as he believes them to be one of the marauders (he just saw someone coming in his direction from the corner of his eye)

-he apologises and takes the OC to the hospital wing

-the only people that somewhat listen to him when it comes to the M are Slytherins

-he is not close to any of them though

-he starts hanging out with Avery and Mulciber

-he’s happy to be somewhat included, so he doesn’t openly criticise their anti-muggleborn views

-despite his friendship with Lily, Sev associates the Light™️ with his oppressors

-he begins to learn more about the Dark Arts to fight back (he focuses on the opposite of what his bullies stand for)

-he hears slurs in his common room all the time and often they refer to his bullies (which is largely why he calls Lily that)

-he never says the slur out loud, only in his head/under his breath

-one time Sev and Mulciber bitch about the Gryffindors/his bullies in particular and Sev calls Remus + Peter the slur under his breath (he wants to get back at them for all the pain they’ve caused him by supporting J&S)

-Sev says he dislikes an OC as much as the M, which leads to people believing he calls everyone of Lily’s birth the slur

-January 1976 Werewolf Incident

-February 1976 Mulciber tries doing something to Mary MacDonald ("They don’t use Dark Magic though.")

-Sev's anger and bitterness increases as Dumbledore forces him to keep quiet about the WI

-May/June 1976 Lake Incident (+ failed apology)

-Sev comes home that summer to find out his father had (accidentally) killed his mother ("She fell down the stairs.")

-the summer holidays are awful as A) Sev misses his mum and B) his father now takes all his anger out on him

-he spends as much time outside as possible

-he spends some time on the playground where he first saw Lily

-he writes her a letter, delivers it personally, and Lily’s parents promise to give it to her (she never responds)

-year 6 is the worst bullying ever, as J&S A) realise Sev no longer has Lily’s support and B) Sirius’s disowning fuelled their anger at Slytherins

-Lily pointedly ignores him

-Sev's only safe haven is the Dark Arts, but he is also hesitant as this is what drove Lily (=the Light) away

-due to the increased bullying that year, Sev ends up in the hospital wing every other week

-summer 1977 is when he starts getting caught in the loop of "I want power to protect myself from my pain (J&S, Gryffindor, everything they represent)" and "but I don’t want to commit evil acts (Cruciatus Curse etc)"

-through spies at Hogwarts (Lucius?) Voldemort finds out about a skilled and vulnerable Sev and starts preying on him

-he is on the fence, but when he finds out Lily is dating James (his tormentor) in 1978, that tips him over the edge

-his motivation for joining the DE is revenge for the pain the light side caused him (the M bullying, Dumbledore covering it all up, Lily "betraying" him by joining his tormentors), gaining power to protect himself against future attacks, and to protect Lily from "their clutches"

-he comes home that summer to find out his father died in a car accident (he was driving while drunk), so he owns the Spinner’s End house

-he receives the Dark Mark a few months after graduation September 1978

-Voldemort instructs Sev to use his home to make potions for the DE

-he occasionally takes part in battles, but during his first year, his main job is brewing potions

-while spending so much time at home, he goes through his old belongings and discovers things from his friendship with Lily

-guilt starts to manifest, but the DE are the first people who value him and his skills and don’t make fun of him, so he ignores their pure-blood ideology even though he doesn’t believe in it himself

-in 1979/1980 Voldemort starts using Sev as a spy as he recognises his talent for it during previous battles

-15.05.1980 the Prophecy

-August 1980 Voldemort decides to go after the Potters and guilt hits Sev in the face so hard he can barely breathe

-"well, I don’t care about Potter, but I can’t leave Lily dead or unhappy"

-asking Voldemort to spare her (had he asked for the whole family, it would have been suspicious)

-asking Dumbledore to spare all ("Anything.")

-starts teaching at Hogwarts (V believes it is to spy on D but it’s actually the opposite)

-Halloween 1981

-guilt and grief times ♾

-"Always."

[sunnysaystuff]

THIS IS SUNNY'S PINNED POST

feel free to tag me in anything if we're moots! i love it

i made a taglist a while ago with all my moots—it's not to date at all lmao + these days i just say open tags because i'm too lazy lmfao

my mizisua sideblog is @literally-everything-mizisua so if you're into alnst you should check it out :)

i'm sunny!! i write occasionally + read a lot of fanfiction

this do be a fandom blog! i mainly post on alnst, arcane, hazbin/helluva etc, & marauders rn

i'm in a bunch of others but lowkey don't say much on them; the minor fandoms i sometimes talk about are atla, mlp, assassination classroom, wof, gilmore girls, spiderverse, wednesday, the locked tomb, gomens, stranger things, six the musical, ginny & georgia, hazbin hotel, septimus heap, great gatsby musical, heathers the musical, the great gatsby

i love getting new moots!!

the only relevant tag that i use is #sunnysays — i use it for when i say stuff (original posts, comments on rbs)

my old, better formatted pinned post under the cut + some meta of mine

notes

𖤓 feel free to tag me in any post if we're moots, even if we don't know each other well! i love being tagged in things!

𖤓 here's my taglist / moot list, which you should definitely check out if we're moots, and leave a note so i can add you to it!

𖤓 you should totally follow my mizisua sideblog if you're an alien stage fan!! ( @literally-everything-mizisua )

about

𖤓 call me: sunny / (if you know me) whatever name you already use

𖤓 would recommend following me on the basis of these fandoms: marauders, helluva boss!!, alien stage, ARCANE!

𖤓 wouldn't recommend following me on the basis of these fandoms (which i'm in regardless): atla, mlp, assassination classroom, wof (the fanfiction is surprisingly really good like read dark seas by riokodragon), gilmore girls, spiderverse, wednesday, the locked tomb, gomens, stranger things, six the musical (sam pauly!!), harry potter other eras, ginny & georgia, hazbin hotel, septimus heap, great gatsby musical, heathers the musical, the great gatsby

𖤓 if you follow i'll probably follow back! i love getting new moots

tagging system

𖤓 #sunnysays - when I have thoughts! (non rbs; stuff I say) --- used often

𖤓 #sunnyficrecs - when I give fic (fanfiction) recs --- hasn't been used in a while

𖤓 #sunnytrack - posts of mine that I wanna reread --- sometimes used

𖤓 #sunnyquotes - incorrect quotes (& normal quotes) posted by me !! --- hasn't been used in a while

𖤓 #sunnysaved - self explanatory --- sometimes used

𖤓 #q - queued post --- sometimes used

fics

𖤓 I have about forty wips and...one posted on ao3, so.

meta

𖤓 [#MARAUDERS]: my thoughts on the jegulus drama + all death eaters are bastards

𖤓 [#MARAUDERS]: anti tall alpha remus x needy sirius

𖤓 [#MARAUDERS]: quick note on anti alpha dom james

𖤓 [#MARAUDERS]: quick note saying EVAN AND SNAPE WERE FRIENDS!!

𖤓 [#HELLUVA BOSS]: underlying meaning of stolas's "'cause i am not a thief"

𖤓 [#HELLUVA BOSS]: analysis of the first scene of apology tour

[controversial-blorbo-bracket]

Anti-Snape propaganda: his whole reasoning for opposing wizard fascism was ‘oh no, my tragically unrequited crush (who hates me because I called her a slur when she was trying to help me and cruelly married a man who bullied me in highschool) might be in danger!’ If Lily was a Pureblood, he would have no reason not to stay a Death Eater. He’s the one who puts her life in danger in the first place, while spying for the mass-murdering blood supremacist, and he only feels regret and switches sides when it affects him personally.

(In addition, it’s highly insinuated that there was more to the end of the friendship than Snape calling Lily a slur, although, you know, that’s reason enough. She mentions that he’s already hanging out with future death eaters who make her uncomfortable, which definitely presents the possibility he’s already entrenched in the gross racist views whether or not he likes her personally).

This is the quote where he goes to Dumbledore:

“The — the prophecy . . . the prediction . . . Trelawney . . .”

“Ah, yes. How much did you relay to Lord Voldemort?”

“Everything — everything I heard! That is why — it is for that reason — he thinks it means Lily Evans!”

“The prophecy did not refer to a woman. It spoke of a boy born at the end of July —”

“You know what I mean! He thinks it means her son, he is going to hunt her down — kill them all —”

“If she means so much to you, surely Lord Voldemort will spare her? Could you not ask for mercy for the mother, in exchange for the son?”

“I have — I have asked him —”

“You disgust me.”

Yeah, he was totally cool with trading away the lives of his high school bully and his supposed true love’s newborn baby (who she died for! But he cares so much about her happiness, right?) as long as he got to keep Lily Potter like a muggleborn pet. Because let’s be honest, muggleborns weren’t considered equals by the Death Eaters, and I can’t imagine the woman who sacrificed herself to save her child’s life would be super fine with just letting her family be slaughtered in exchange for ‘mercy.’ How would he deal with her horrified trauma? Would he be keeping her under lock and key, or…? I think it’s reasonable to assume some pretty fucked-up implications for the whole ‘I asked the Dark Lord’ comment.

Also, lots of people justify his creepy sadman act (where he used his academic authority to bully the abused orphan who dared to be related to his highschool bully) by saying he was abused and bullied himself, like that doesn’t make it worse? He knows what that’s like, and he inflicts that pain on others, while remaining constantly self-pitying. Additionally, as though his motivation for actively trying to make the eleven year old orphan’s life miserable wasn’t stupid enough, Harry is absolutely not the only one he treats this way. He torments a ton of Gryffindors over the years, so either he just enjoys preying on the weak, like Neville (who in no way resembles James Potter, and whose family life was ruined in part due to the prophecy Snape revealed), or he’s taken his childhood bullying trauma to the next level by assigning it to a quarter of the school population! I’m not saying getting bullied isn’t terrible. It’s very traumatising in some instances and I do feel sympathy for his experiences. But Snape is not a sympathetic figure or hero to bullied children, he’s just a hypocritical self-pitying incel who wilfully plays straight into the circle of generational trauma. If anything, the fact that Harry didn’t grow up to bully children who reminded him of Snape makes him the true champion here.

Sorry, this is stupidly long. I guess I have a lot of repressed rage about the TERFiest of books and how much crap I’ve heard justifying poor writing in the past.

[regheart]

i hate character bashing in fanfiction so much it's nothing but a lazy excuse to have a scape goat for everything antagonizing and outright bad reading and writing skills

having characters (even the ones you don't like) as full flashed elements of the narrative is much more interesting and compelling to the reader, not to mention it makes more sense when there's actual motivation or contradiction in the way your antagonist thinks and acts

(one minute of silence for all of the ron weasley bashing tags that live alongside good draco malfoy tag and so on) (another minute for the marauders fics that completely erase peter and snape because the author is lazy) (dumbledore bashing and yknow what maybe voldemort isn't as bad as we think but it's also a dark harry au so he is supposed to be as bad as we think) (anti molly but the reasoning is a conspiracy that makes less sense than death eater hagrid)

[smittenbyvillains]

Severus Snape Masterlist

Our best emo anti hero works

PLS

[goldsteinheads]

Things about me

Name: Aubrey

Zodiacal sign: cancer ascendent Leo

Birthdhay and age: 3rd july 2007 (17 y.o.)

From: Italy

MBTI/Enneagram/Socionic: ENFJ/8w7/837/IEE

Sexual orientation: hetero

Things I like: make up, beauty, read, write, draw, colors, classical/pop/melody/romantic ballands music, arts, movie, tv series, food, interior design&fashion design, coquette etc...

Favourite color: fucsia

Hogwarts house: Ravenclaw testurbant Slytherin and Huffleppuf

Livermorny house:Horned Serpent Wampus Indecisive

Favourites Singers/musicians: Mew, Angelina Mango, Emanuele Aloia, Lindsey Stirling and Ludovico Einaudi

Favourite actress: Katherine Waterston (DON'T TOUCH HER}

People I like: Katherine Waterston (obv), Eddie Redmayne (celebrity crush), Lindsey Stirling, Mew and Angelina Mango

Favourites movie: The Fantastics Beasts Saga, Murder on the Orient Express, Carla and The theory of everything

Series tv I like: Just Add Magic, Wednesday, Bridgerton, La legge di Lidia Poet, AGGGTM

Favourites Characters: Tina Goldstein, Eloise Bridgerton, Severus Snape, Enid Sinclair, Luna Lovegood ( DON'T TOUCH THEM)

Favourite song: Try

DNI: Racists, Habilists, Anti femminism

I'm pro LGBTQ+🌈

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Ship: Eddrine, Newtina, Snily, Dramione, Polin, Theloise, Wolfstar, Weyler

Family: Snape-Evans

Patronus: horse

I'm NOT proshipper