#how is he just as bad as jkr for not using the book he made in the early 2000s an exact script for the TV show being released in 2024? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

neroushalvaus · 1 year ago

Text

Okay I am going to use the Somerton situation to talk about something that is very important to me. Following the discussion I have seen former Somerton fans being disappointed in themselves and questioning how they can ever trust another video essayist again. I have also seen some people being smug because to them Somerton was obviously unreliable from the start. As a person who also saw the "red flags" in Somerton, I would like to skip the smugness and talk a bit about what the red flags were to me.

Someone else has probably posted something similar and Hbomberguy's & Todd in the Shadows's videos touched a few of these points, but they didn't focus on them or how to spot these things. I think it is a good thing: I think it would have reinforced the idea that Somerton's fans were to blame for being lied to, and these youtubers didn't want to pin any blame on the fans. Also, some of the things I'm going to talk about were not by any means proof of him being unreliable, they were common tropes I personally associate with people who are bullshitting on internet. Think of it as something like spotting terfs: If you consider following a tumblr user and find out they have at some point posted "males will always be a danger to females no matter what they say", it is very possible that they are not a terf. Maybe they were having a bad day and were just wording their post badly – But you should probably search "trans" from their blog before following them, just to be sure.

So, the tropes in James Somerton's content that I consider red flags:

Lack of sources. This one may seem obvious and Hbomb talked about this in his video, but the lack of sources in his videos was outrageous. Video essays are called essays for a reason, they are not supposed to be just a guy talking about whatever comes to his mind, they should be well researched essays. Obviously video essays should contain one's own thoughts and interpretations and those do not need citations. But James Somerton didn't come out of the womb knowing everything about LGBT history, Disney and film theory, if he actually knew something about all this stuff, he should have learnt it from somewhere. There should be sources he could point to. It is very common that even when a video essayist doesn't tell you where they got all their information, they open their video by saying stuff like "when I prepared for this video I read the book Also sprach Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche and this one thrilling blog post about lesbian cruising in 1960s Sweden". From what I've seen, James does not really do this. From watching his videos you could arrive to the conclusion that James Somerton does not read any books, he just knows everything. There are situations where people don't feel the need to add sources, like when the information is considered common knowledge or when the topic relates heavily to the essayist's actual academic field or profession. This is okay and very understandable, but can sometimes be dangerous, since if the video essayist markets himself as a marketing specialist, people are more likely to take his word for stuff that has to do with marketing, even without sources. It is understandable that in many situations an essayist may think "why should I cite a source? I know this thing!", but doing your research well is partly about checking if the information you are certain of is actually true. Also, as Hbomb pointed out, if you can cite a source, your audience can go learn more about the subject. It's not about anyone doubting you know your stuff, it's about learning. That's why well-respected video essayists usually cite their sources very clearly.

Lack of pictures and screenshots. This is about different kinds of sources again, many things on this list are kind of about sources. An example: When James Somerton made a video about JKR, he mentioned something about Rowling at one time saying that trans students in 30-50Feralhogs (or whatever the wizard school is called) could use magic to present as their gender. If this was any other video essayist, you'd expect a tweet to pop up, or something else confirming Rowling ever said this. Nothing pops up, obviously because Rowling didn't say this, but you can't see anything fishy in that because things rarely pop up in Somerton's videos. He doesn't show you court documents when speaking about a court case, he doesn't show you the comments apparently mad at him for implying the gay anime is gay when he is complaining about people being mad at him. There is a reason people show screenshots and tweets in video essays. When a good video essayist says JK Rowling has tweeted that all people who menstruate should be referred to as women, the video essayist shows the tweet so people know they are not making it up. If there were hoards of annoying bitc-- I mean, angry white women whining about gay sex in HuffPost articles or Somerton's youtube comments, he should have no trouble showing you those. Remember that you should not trust someone just because they show you pictures or screenshots. Pictures can be photoshopped, screenshots can be doctored. Many youtubers are aware that you listen to their videos while cleaning or while walking your dog and don't actually see the screen all the time, and some may take advantage of that by saying something like "and here she threatened to kill me" while showing a text message where someone said "die mad about it". A screenshot alone isn't much but you should demand to see the screenshot.

Passive voice. I am once again bitching about this. Somerton repeatedly says things like "it's been said that" or "it was common knowledge that" or "a legend says that" or "according to most interpretations". He doesn't say who says it, making it very hard to fact check and that seems to be his goal in some cases.

Relying heavily on anecdotes. Writing a dense, analytical video about film theory or history can be exhausting and you may want to pepper in little fun facts. However Somerton seemed to rely on these heavily; he can't just talk about how he has totally bought every lie told by The Pink Swastika, he also needs to tell a cute little anecdote about SS men forcing sexual favours out of men. He can't just tell a story about a court case, he needs to add in ridiculous stuff about the jury booing. This is what I mean by not all the things on this list being necessarily proof of someone being unreliable. Many people use anecdotes and little stories in their storytelling, it makes the videos flow better and it's hard to decide which anecdotes are valid and which are not. A source obviously makes an anecdote a bit more believable, but here are some things that instantly make me fact check an anecdote:

It's a bit too convenient, poetic or ironic. Sometimes real life is weirder than fiction but if an anecdote is "perfect" and has an amazing punchline and you could write twelve poems about it, there is a possibility it was invented by pop science books.

It assumes your political enemies are stupid. Dunking on conservatives, MRAs and transphobes is always fun and after you've seen a lot of this kind of content it's easy to believe anything about these people. You must resist the impulse to believe everything that may make your opponents look stupid.

The person telling the anecdote implies it is an example of a larger, systemic problem. You know what's worse than taking a random happenstance from human history or internet and basing an entire political theory on it? The said random happenstance being made up. You should in general be wary of people telling one story and explaining why it's an example of everything that's wrong in the world. We live in a huge world. You can always find a white woman who loves cute gays but hates the idea of Nick Heartstopper and Charlie Heartstopper getting nasty but that doesn't mean it's an indicator of a larger issue.

Simplifying complex issues. We all know that "only the boring gays survived the AIDS crisis, and that's why gays started to only care about marriage equality and military" is a horrible, insensitive thing to say, but you also have to think about it for like two seconds to realize that it can't be correct. It kind of reminds me of the "roe v wade caused the crime drop of 1990s" claim in Freakonomics. It sounds logical and simple, like a basic math calculation. Societal issues rarely are like that, though. You should never believe anyone who tells you about a huge societal shift and says it happened because of one thing and one thing only.

These were some of the things I noticed in Somerton's content that caused me to distrust him. I hope these were helpful to you and feel free to add your own "red flags" if you feel like it!

#phew. maybe that's enough salt for one day.#james somerton #hbomberguy #todd in the shadows #edit:// embarrassingly many mistakes in the original post. in my defence i have a fever and english isn't my first language. forgive me #edit2:// made the text bigger!

2K notes · View notes

wisteria-lodge · 7 months ago

Text

JK Rowling & the Color Pink

So I'm working on a thing about queer coding in the Harry Potter books... and first I needed to do a sidebar on how the color pink is used. I’ve made a list of every time a character either wears pink, or is heavily associated with a pink object. We actually get some pretty clear categories that are unintentionally very revealing, and say a lot about how JKR sees "girly" femininity.

Let’s start off with the obvious:

PINK = VILLAIN (FEMME)

Petunia Dursley: “salmon-pink cocktail dress," "neat salmon-colored coat." Also paints her walls "a sickly peach color."

Gilderoy Lockhart: “lurid pink robes to match the decorations”

Pansy Parkinson: “very frilly robes of pale pink”

Rita Skeeter: “long nails were painted shocking pink”

Aunt Muriel: “feathery pink hat gave her the look of a bad-tempered flamingo.”

(Aunt Muriel only shows up briefly at Bill and Fleur’s wedding, but then proceeds to insult pretty much every other character, and give Harry an existential crisis by spilling the tea on Dumbledore)

Dolores Umbridge: “a horrible pink Alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan.”

(Also: has pink stationary, and her pamphlet MUDBLOODS and the Dangers They Pose to a Peaceful Pure-Blood Society has a pink cover)

Cho Chang

(Okay. Not a villain per se, BUT. Cho is the reason the mole gets into the DA in the books (and just is the mole in the films.) And given that she is a sort of Umbridge-aligned sub villain in book 5, at least structurally... it IS interesting that the place she brings Harry for a date has this very pink, Umbridge-coded description.

It was a cramped, steamy little place where everything seemed to have been decorated with frills or bows. Harry was reminded unpleasantly of Umbridge’s office. “Cute, isn’t it?” said Cho happily. “Er . . . yeah,” said Harry untruthfully. “Look, she’s decorated it for Valentine’s Day!” said Cho, indicating a number of golden cherubs that were hovering over each of the small, circular tables, occasionally throwing pink confetti over the occupants.

Fleur Delacour: “[her wand] emitted a number of pink and gold sparks.”

(Also not quite a villain, and I adore Fleur BUT… she’s written hyper-femme in an intimidating, borderline threatening way. She’s very opinionated, bordering on rude. She’s “full of herself” as Ginny puts it. And when she gets engaged to Bill and becomes an unambiguously good guy, she has this interesting moment of ~Pink Rejection~)

“. . . Bill and I ’ave almost decided on only two bridesmaids, Ginny and Gabrielle will look very sweet togezzer. I am theenking of dressing zem in pale gold — pink would of course be ’orrible with Ginny’s ’air —”

Hermione Granger: “Wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown”

(Hermione wears pink exactly one time, and it is at her most villainous… during Book 1, when she tries to stop Harry and Ron leaving in the middle of the night to go duel Malfoy.)

A voice spoke from the chair nearest them, “I can’t believe you’re going to do this, Harry.” A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Granger, wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown. “You!” said Ron furiously. “Go back to bed!” “I almost told your brother,” Hermione snapped, “Percy — he’s a prefect, he’d put a stop to this.” Harry couldn’t believe anyone could be so interfering.

(She literally does the sitting-in-the-dark, villain-lamp thing. Also, in case you were wondering, yes Hermione DOES get a moment of ~Pink Rejection~)

Near the window was an array of violently pink products around which a cluster of excited girls was giggling enthusiastically. Hermione and Ginny both hung back, looking wary.

Which brings us too:

PINK = SILLY/FRIVOLOUS (FEMME)

Sybill Trelawney: “after you’ve broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue-patterned ones? I’m rather attached to the pink.”

(She’s a fraud. Also hides empty bottles of sherry in the room of requirement. (I’m going to have to be uncharitable in this section, so am sorry.)

Parvati Patil: “robes of shocking pink"

(Often described as “giggling,” thinks Professor Trelawney is amazing, the real deal.)

The Fat Lady: “a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.”

(Often described as giggling. Drinks too much during the holidays. JRK is unfortunately well known for being fatphobic. Also the Fat Lady has a friend named Violet, and Parvati has a friend named Lavender. Not really going anywhere with that, just funny that they’re both shades of purple.)

Hepzibah Smith: “an immensely fat old lady wearing an elaborate ginger wig and a brilliant pink set of robes.”

(So… almost identical description to the Fat Lady. And I think we should maybe talk about her more, maybe? Because the way she’s framed… I think she might be Tom Riddle’s sugar mamma?)

“I brought you flowers,” he said quietly, producing a bunch of roses from nowhere. “You naughty boy, you shouldn’t have!” squealed old Hepzibah, though Harry noticed that she had an empty vase standing ready on the nearest little table. “You do spoil this old lady, Tom. . . .”

(Or maybe we… shouldn’t talk about that. Either way, Tom Riddle does kill her, steal her stuff, and frame her house elf so thats… not great.)

PINK = EMBARRASSING

“Everyone take a pair of earmuffs,” said Professor Sprout. There was a scramble as everyone tried to seize a pair that wasn’t pink and fluffy.

(Pink fluffy earmuffs are adorable.)

“Wash out your mouth,” said James coldly. “Scourgify!” Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape’s mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag.

(The next two example are 'pranks' as well, I think the pink-colored soap is there to add a kind of insult to injury.)

Shocking-pink Catherine wheels five feet in diameter were whizzing lethally through the air like so many flying saucers.

(This is a bit from Fred and George’s farewell firework show, it's funny that they’re specifically pink fireworks that Umbridge can’t get rid of.)

“Headless Hats!” shouted George, as Fred waved a pointed hat decorated with a fluffy pink feather at the watching students. “Two Galleons each — watch Fred, now!” Fred swept the hat onto his head, beaming. For a second he merely looked rather stupid, then both hat and head vanished.

(also just, pumping up an embarrassing moment)

PINK = OUTSIDER, WEIRDO

Hagrid

Hagrid’s flowered pink umbrella, which contains his broken wand, is brought up a lot. In this case I think we’re meant to see it as a joke. Hagrid’s so big, and so masc, but the pink umbrella makes him non-threatening. However… the pink umbrella, it’s not a totally positive thing, is it? It doesn’t match, it isn’t *him.* Hagrid wouldn't have chosen to carry this around, totally on his own, if he'd had any other choice. It sets him apart, both visually and socially (because it's a constant reminder that he doesn't have a wand.)

Dobby

Dobby, once he is freed, gets pink-and-orange striped socks, and they’re meant to communicate that he’s… kind of a lot. “Yeh get weirdos in every breed,” as Hagrid puts it. JKR has a very strange, honestly antagonistic relationship with Dobby. He’s the victim of book 2, but structurally kind of the villain? He describes the house-elves situation as “enslavement,” but Hermione’s treated as overdramatic for calling house-elves slaves two books later. And then everything is ret-conned and Dobby is… just kind of weird for liking freedom (and socks) as much as he does.

Tonks

Book!Tonks defaults to “bubblegum-pink” hair. Her hair is described as pink a lot. (Movie!Tonks defaults to purple hair, because they were worried that pink would visually align her with Umbridge.) And this is the oddest one on the list to me, because Tonks is such a universally beloved, fan favorite character. But I really do think that *as written*... we’re supposed to put her in a category with Dobby. The two of them leave (unintentional) destruction in their wake. They’re loud, they’re a lot, they take up too much space. Harry thinks they’re both kind of annoying. (and yeah, Harry 100% thinks Tonks is “a little annoying at times.”)

#jkr critical #anti jkr #hp #gender stuff #fashion history #nymphadora tonks #dobby #hepzibah smith #hermione granger #pink!#literary analysis #hp close reading

387 notes · View notes

severus-snaps · 17 days ago

Text

Snape: Points and Punishments

Snape has something of a bad reputation when it comes to discipline at Hogwarts, and is, I think, often accused of being unfair in his treatment of his students (especially if that student is Harry).

So, I've turned to science.

Using potter-search.com, I searched the terms: "snape points", "snape detention" and "points from gryffindor". What follows is a list of instances I've identified where Snape dispenses discipline in the form of point deductions and detentions, what the detentions entail, and what causes Snape to react to the students in the first place.

I'll tally points taken by Snape in each book, and also compare some of his methods to other Hogwarts professors.

This post will cover books 1-4, since there's quite a lot I've collected for the later books, which I haven't read in a while so I couldn't remember all of the context, 1-4 are the pre-Voldemort years, JKR took a break writing them at this point, and most importantly - it was getting long.

So, to quote Ron:

"Snape’s Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favours them — we’ll be able to see if it’s true."

Favouring Slytherin

First, we never see Snape in the books awarding points - to Slytherins, or to anyone else. With that out of the way, let's see how he disciplines the students - not just Harry - including docking points, detentions, revoking privileges, expulsion, and threats of doing the same - categorised by book.

Philosopher's Stone

Points & detentions

There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, “And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter.”

One single point taken in Harry's first potions class for talking back, and telling Snape to ask Hermione a question instead of him.

“You — Potter — why didn’t you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he’d make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That’s another point you’ve lost for Gryffindor.” *

* Worth noting as well that nobody considered this particularly outrageous - Ron tells Harry not to "push it", because he's heard that "Snape can turn very nasty" and later tells Harry that Snape's always taking points from the twins. So Ron, whilst on Harry's side, clearly does not consider this incident to be especially nasty behaviour.

Unfair, sure - Snape had put everyone into pairs, but Harry had been working next to Neville with Ron, not in Neville's pair (Neville was paired with Seamus).

As we'll see as we go through, this is one of the few occasions where Snape is being petty and ignoring the rules, and one of the few occasions where Snape doesn't give a valid reason.

But then again, it's only one point - and if we're thinking in-universe, Harry's been cheeky to him already, and Snape is probably feeling all kinds of weird about having Harry in his class, as the son of his bully and his former best friend, who was supposed to have been something of a potions prodigy herself.

“Library books are not to be taken outside the school,” said Snape. “Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor.” “He’s just made that rule up,” Harry muttered angrily as Snape limped away.

We don't know whether Snape made the rule up or whether Harry's being indignant here at having Quidditch Through the Ages taken from him. It doesn't seem like an unreasonable rule not to take library books out of the building, where they have a greater chance, perhaps, of getting lost or damaged - especially if they are rare or expensive.

I personally think it's unlikely that Snape made it up, and it's definitely the sort of thing Madam Pince might insist on - she certainly seems like a real stickler for that sort of thing, spending her time polishing gilded spellbooks (e.g. CoS). However, it could be a rule Madam Pince insists on but nobody else really enforces.

Final conclusion: we can't be sure whether Snape made it up or whether it's a legitimate rule (unless someone can remember another time Harry has a library book outside near a teacher).

Contrast this to Filch in CoS (admittedly, post-petrification of Mrs Norris - though this isn't especially far from Filch's usual behaviour):

When Filch wasn’t guarding the scene of the crime, he was skulking red-eyed through the corridors, lunging out at unsuspecting students and trying to put them in detention for things like “breathing loudly” and “looking happy.”

We'll see continually that Snape tends to stick to the rules:

Ron dived at Malfoy just as Snape came up the stairs. ... “He was provoked, Professor Snape,” said Hagrid, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. “Malfoy was insultin’ his family.” “Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid,” said Snape silkily. “Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn’t more. Move along, all of you.”

Snape obviously didn't believe or care for Hagrid's explanation here, which is fair when you consider that even though he's just the groundskeeper, Hagrid's a 50-ish-year-old staffmember who could've stepped in before it reached Ron throwing himself at Draco. Five points also isn't too harsh, given that when Snape arrived, Ron had started the physical fight.

It's also worth noting that McGonagall doesn't listen to excuses either - it is, obviously, down to staff to resolve issues like that, without students resorting to fistfights:

“Provoked you?” shouted Professor McGonagall, slamming a fist onto her desk so that her tartan biscuit tin slid sideways off it and burst open, littering the floor with Ginger Newts. “He’d just lost, hadn’t he, of course he wanted to provoke you! But what on earth he can have said that justified what you two — ” “He insulted my parents,” snarled George. “And Harry’s mother.” “But instead of leaving it to Madam Hooch to sort out, you two decided to give an exhibition of Muggle dueling, did you?” bellowed Professor McGonagall.

And she follows it with:

"I do not care if he insulted every family member you possess, your behavior was disgusting and I am giving each of you a week’s worth of detention!"

Favouring other houses

Snape had just awarded Hufflepuff a penalty because George Weasley had hit a Bludger at him. Hermione, who had all her fingers crossed in her lap, was squinting fixedly at Harry, who was circling the game like a hawk, looking for the Snitch. "You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team?" said Malfoy loudly a few minutes later, as Snape awarded Hufflepuff another penalty for no reason at all.

"For no reason at all". Are you sure, Harry? Moments ago, he was having Bludgers hit at him.

Things didn’t improve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. ... He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Malfoy, whom he seemed to like. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus’s cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people’s shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs. “Idiot boy!” snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. ... “Take him up to the hospital wing,” Snape spat at Seamus.

More of an honourable mention really in terms of Snape favouring Slytherin, but I think there's a few things to note here. We never really see Snape giving out compliments, but here we do. As someone from a well-to-do family, one which in CoS it's revealed has illicit potions to get rid of, Malfoy might really have been more prepared than the others - and Snape was criticising almost everyone, which includes some of his own Slytherins. Slytherin was also not awarded any points for this. Snape also does not punish Neville for his mistake but instead sends him to the Hospital Wing (although he does punish Harry, so I'm not sure how fair it is really. Harry is a 'special case', to quote Sirius).

Moving on.

“Cheer up,” said Ron, “Snape’s always taking points off Fred and George. Can I come and meet Hagrid with you?”

I think it's safe to assume that Fred and George are breaking rules and not quietly minding their own business, keeping their heads down at all times. Seems fair.

“Will you stop messing around!” [Oliver Wood] yelled. “That’s exactly the sort of thing that’ll lose us the match! Snape’s refereeing this time, and he’ll be looking for any excuse to knock points off Gryffindor!” ... “We’ve just got to make sure we play a clean game, so Snape hasn’t got an excuse to pick on us.”

Probably true that Snape would take points where he could - but I (and Oliver Wood) think he'd play it like he apparently does throughout the rest of this summary, and "knock points off" by carefully adhering to the rules. I wonder what that means for the second penalty for Hufflepuff, mentioned above, in terms of Harry's biased narration.

“You want to be more careful,” said Snape. “Hanging around like this, people will think you’re up to something. And Gryffindor really can’t afford to lose any more points, can it?”

This occurs when the trio are hanging around inside on a nice day. It's post-dragon-smuggling, after McGonagall gave Harry, Hermione, Neville (and Draco) detention in the Forbidden Forest (which I'll circle back to shortly), and docked each of them 50 points. But Snape does not make up a rule here, nor does he actually dock any points.

Snape's face was twisted with fury as he dropped his robes quickly to hide his leg. Harry gulped. "I just wondered if I could have my book back." "GET OUT! OUT!" Harry left, before Snape could take any more points from Gryffindor.

Harry hasn't broken any rules by approaching the staffroom. And still, Snape is flustered and probably in pain, but he does not take points - once again, it's someone else (Harry) thinking that he would.

“You can’t!” said Hermione. “After what McGonagall and Snape have said? You’ll be expelled!”

Re: Harry going to get the stone.

Honourable mention:

“But this is servant stuff, it’s not for students to do. I thought we’d be copying lines or something, if my father knew I was doing this, he’d — ”

It's entirely possible that other teachers have given Draco lines, but it's also possible that Snape himself gives his students lines as detentions (especially if their father is both influential, on the Board of Directors, and an "old friend") - but I'll circle back to this later. Here, McGonagall deducted 20 points from Draco (and 50 points from Neville) for what she believed was Harry telling Draco a story about a dragon for the explicit purpose of getting Draco in trouble:

“Detention!” she shouted. “And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you — ” “You don’t understand, Professor. Harry Potter’s coming — he’s got a dragon!” “What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on — I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!”

Followed by:

“I think I’ve got a good idea of what’s been going on,” said Professor McGonagall. “It doesn’t take a genius to work it out. You fed Draco Malfoy some cock-and- bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I’ve already caught him. I suppose you think it’s funny that Longbottom here heard the story and believed it, too?”

Like... if anything, in her mind, Draco and Neville should be at lesser fault here; Harry and Hermione were out of bed, telling stories to get other students out of bed and into trouble for a laugh. She must think that Harry did this deliberately, and the others are caught up in it. It's giving The Prank in that she probably gave the Marauders detentions (that didn't deter them, obviously) for telling Snape stories, but then would've also punished Snape for believing the cock-and-bull story about a werewolf beneath the Willow. Also worth noting, however, that McGonagall takes 20 points from Draco and 50 each from Neville, Hermione, and Harry, and sent them all to the forest to hunt for a dangerous creature. And she thought Neville had nothing to do with this and was a victim of a prank.

But Snape gets the worst reputation.

Anyway.

Points deducted during PS: 12

Punishments given: Snape might have agreed to send the students to the Forest, or he might have been outranked by McGonagall.

Chamber of Secrets

Points & detentions

Absolutely no mention of "Snape" + "points" on potter-search.com; Harry technically does not get a detention, either. The best I could find is:

Harry had been held back in Potions, where Snape had made him stay behind to scrape tubeworms off the desks.

Not sure whether this was for a particular reason pertaining to that lesson, or whether someone had to clean the tubeworms and Harry is Snape's 'favourite' (unlikely; I'm sure Snape could've cleaned it with a lazy flick of his wand), or - because this was immediately after the scene in which it's discovered that Mrs Norris has been Petrified, which is listed below* - whether Snape knew Harry had been lying to him and wanted his own punishment where Minerva had prevented it.

Preferential treatment for Slytherins

“But I booked the field!” said Wood, positively spitting with rage. “I booked it!” “Ah,” said Flint. “But I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape. I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker. ’ ”

He also allowed Lucius to buy his entire team new brooms - but then, how and why would Snape have stopped him? And what would stop Harry from doing the same for Gryffindor? And who bent the rules and probably got Harry a broom despite first-years not being allowed brooms and never making the House teams?

Suggested punishments

“Silence!” snapped Snape again. “Most unfortunately, you are not in my House and the decision to expel you does not rest with me. I shall go and fetch the people who do have that happy power. You will wait here.”

Re: Harry and Ron flying to school in the enchanted car and breaking not only the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry but also the Whomping Willow. He gives them a lecture, but deducts no points, perhaps expecting them to be expelled - or perhaps waiting for McGonagall, whose decisions he tends to respect (which we see again when McGonagall returns from St. Mungo's in OotP).

“Professor Dumbledore, these boys have flouted the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry, caused serious damage to an old and valuable tree — surely acts of this nature — ”

A sad day for Snape when Harry was Sorted into Gryffindor, otherwise he'd have been out on his ear in CoS.

Snape prowled through the fumes, making waspish remarks about the Gryffindors’ work while the Slytherins sniggered appreciatively. Draco Malfoy, who was Snape’s favorite student, kept flicking puffer-fish eyes at Ron and Harry, who knew that if they retaliated they would get detention faster than you could say “Unfair.”

Some people say that Snape ignores his Slytherins taunting the trio, which is a fair accusation - he did so in PS when Ron went to fight Malfoy and again in GoF when Malfoy and Harry duel in the corridors. But one could also assume - based on some quotes I'll go through later - that Snape also punishes his Slytherins in private, because in later books especially, the Slytherins wait until his back is turned in Potions before doing any taunting, and his Slytherins do receive detentions, which Harry wouldn't ordinarily know about (i.e. Crabbe and Goyle in HBP).

I also wonder whether Snape was being intentionally waspish to the Gryffindors or whether Harry interpreted it as Snape making waspish remarks when really he was just critiquing all of the incorrect potions and Harry noticed it more because he felt it was unfair when directed at a Gryffindor. Harry can be rather indignant - but so can Snape.

“I suggest, Headmaster, that Potter is not being entirely truthful,” he said. “It might be a good idea if he were deprived of certain privileges until he is ready to tell us the whole story. I personally feel he should be taken off the Gryffindor Quidditch team until he is ready to be honest.” *

Quickly shot down by McGonagall because she saw "no reason to stop the boy playing Quidditch", Mrs Norris "wasn’t hit over the head with a broomstick", and there was "no evidence at all that Potter has done anything wrong"... but really probably because she's competitive with Snape over Quidditch (which might also be why he suggested it lol).

BUT I was reading here that Snape is doing something else: Snape knows Harry isn't telling the truth; he wants Harry to tell the truth; he knows that points aren't as important to Harry as Quidditch, and so threatening to withhold Quidditch was Snape's attempt at getting Harry to be truthful. It's Minerva who takes it as a threat to her House's Quidditch score, not Severus. The explanation here also suggests that this is perhaps how Severus punishes his Slytherins - not with points, but by withholding things they want/enjoy.

“Midnight,” said Harry. “We’d better get to bed before Snape comes along and tries to frame us for something else.”

But...Snape asked for the truth and pointed out, correctly, that Harry was not telling the whole story. That's hardly framing Harry for Petrifying Mrs Norris.

“I think I’d better do the actual stealing,” Hermione continued in a matter-of-fact tone. “You two will be expelled if you get into any more trouble, and I’ve got a clean record. So all you need to do is cause enough mayhem to keep Snape busy for five minutes or so.”

Hermione seems to think that Snape would get his way, and that McGonagall would expell them for messing around again and stealing from a teacher for the sake of making a potion they're not supposed to be making, just to break into another House's common room. For Snape's sake, I hope that's true - stealing from a teacher to spy on other students and not being expelled would have Snape like:

“If I ever find out who threw this [firework into a cauldron],” Snape whispered, “I shall make sure that person is expelled.”

Snape's greatest dream is, as we all know, to expel Harry. I'm certain that given the events of the year Snape knew Harry/the trio had set off the firework in class, stolen from his personal stores(?), tricked Lockhart out of a signature to enter the Restricted Section to get a book, illegally brewed Polyjuice Potion, etc - but they received no punishment. Even in GoF, when Snape reasonably suspects Harry, he still waits for proof:

Hermione had taken the boomslang skin back in their second year — they had needed it for the Polyjuice Potion — and while Snape had suspected Harry at the time, he had never been able to prove it.

Points deducted during CoS: 0

Punishments given: maybe scraping tubeworms off a desk. A quiet year for Snape.

Prisoner of Azkaban

Points & detentions

“This lesson began ten minutes ago, Potter, so I think we’ll make it ten points from Gryffindor. Sit down.” “Five more points from Gryffindor, and if I have to ask you to sit down again, it will be fifty.”

Harry was late, Harry didn't sit down. Typical school rules; nothing out of the ordinary here.

“That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger,” said Snape coolly. “Five more points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all.”

Hermione spoke out of turn twice (but no points were taken the first time).

“You asked us a question and she knows the answer! Why ask if you don’t want to be told?” The class knew instantly he’d gone too far. Snape advanced on Ron slowly, and the room held its breath. “Detention, Weasley,” Snape said silkily, his face very close to Ron’s. “And if I ever hear you criticize the way I teach a class again, you will be very sorry indeed.”

Ron's detention turns out to be cleaning out bedpans in the Hospital Wing.

Snape doesn't tolerate speaking out of turn, yet both Hermione and Ron seem keen to do just that, repeatedly, despite Snape's reputation and strict classroom manner - even if your hand is up, you wait to be selected to answer, you don't just shout out. Worth noting, however:

“We told you,” said Parvati suddenly, “we haven’t got as far as werewolves yet, we’re still on — ” “Silence!” snarled Snape.

Snape doesn't deduct points for the first time speaking out of turn - but he does so immediately in response to insubordination and rudeness (especially if it is Harry).

Snape, looking sour, pulled a small bottle from the pocket of his robe, poured a few drops on top of Trevor, and he reappeared suddenly, fully grown. “Five points from Gryffindor,” said Snape, which wiped the smiles from every face. “I told you not to help him, Miss Granger. Class dismissed.”

Ah, The Trevor Incident, favourite of Snaters the world over. I've talked about this method of teaching not being unusual for the context of Hogwarts/old schools here, but essentially giving Neville something to care about and a reason to pay attention was probably Snape's game here, not just to mess with Neville. As such, the points were taken from Gryffindor because Neville was asked to work independently, and he and Hermione disobeyed him - which Snape helpfully tells them at the time. It's only five points, Trevor was always going to be fine, and nobody in the fandom would care, except for the fact it's Snape. Nobody else cares about the other animals mistreated at Hogwarts - for example, the presumably real hedgehog that Dean was just...stabbing with pins for lessons on end:

“Miss Granger remains the only person in this class who has managed to turn a hedgehog into a satisfactory pincushion. I might remind you that your pincushion, Thomas, still curls up in fright if anyone approaches it with a pin!”

Or even when Flitwick used Trevor as an example:

Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try since they’d seen him make Neville’s toad zoom around the classroom.

Sure, Snape sounded way more menacing about it and - given that some of the ingredients in potions are, like, pickled frogs, cockroaches, and the like - Snape was probably not that bothered about a dead toad. But Snape can tell at a glance whether or not a potion is in good condition, so he knew Trevor wasn't going to die. We don't know whether Snape looked sour because Trevor got to live (unlikely), whether he was sour because Hermione and Neville had disobeyed him, or whether that's just his face.

Malfoy spent much of their next Potions class doing dementor imitations across the dungeon; Ron finally cracked and flung a large, slippery crocodile heart at Malfoy, which hit him in the face and caused Snape to take fifty points from Gryffindor.

I think in my old school if you threw something at someone's face you'd get sent out of class and possibly suspended, so... fair. However, Snape was either ignoring Malfoy's taunting (which he's done before) or Malfoy did it behind Snape's back; we're simply not told which on this occasion. And, once again, Malfoy provoking retaliation is ignored in favour of punishing an actual behaviour. McGonagall taught Snape as a student; he probably got that from her.

Suggested punishments

One of the essays, a particularly nasty one about shrinking potions, was for Harry’s least favorite teacher, Professor Snape, who would be delighted to have an excuse to give Harry detention for a month.

Probably true, but he's not actually given Harry a detention in this book.

Malfoy didn’t reappear in classes until late on Thursday morning, when the Slytherins and Gryffindors were halfway through double Potions. He swaggered into the dungeon, his right arm covered in bandages and bound up in a sling, acting, in Harry’s opinion, as though he were the heroic survivor of some dreadful battle. ... “Settle down, settle down,” said Professor Snape idly. Harry and Ron scowled at each other; Snape wouldn’t have said “settle down” if they’d walked in late, he’d have given them detention. But Malfoy had always been able to get away with anything in Snape’s classes; Snape was head of Slytherin House, and generally favored his own students above all others.

Harry does walk in late to class in this book and again in HBP - and gets 10 points deducted each time, not a detention. Harry is quite an unreliable narrator, as we've said before, and is also prone to being indignant when Snape gives him largely reasonable punishments.

The above passage is shortly after Draco was injured by Buckbeak in Hagrid's first lesson. In this book, Harry was late because of Quidditch practise, not an injury, and in HBP he was pacing in front of the Room of Requirement instead of getting to class, so there's really no excuse here. Harry can be such a drama queen (unreliable narrator) when it comes to Snape.

Further, if one were being charitable, one could say that Madam Pomfrey kept Malfoy in the hospital wing all that time, and therefore Snape would have good reason not to punish Malfoy for reappearing when Malfoy was feeling better. However, there's a very strong chance Snape let Malfoy milk it for all it was worth, and it's probably the same reason that Madam Pomfrey/the school wouldn't tell Draco to get his shit together: Lucius Malfoy, rich and influential helicopter dad, whom Draco tells every little inconvenience, and who's more trouble than it's worth to provoke.

And, some things to note here.

Snape's explains the reasons behind his threatening of punishments; he likes to stick to (and exploit) the rules

Typically, Snape goes from a proportionate punishment to threatening something more severe for continued misbehaviour

“And if I ever hear you criticise the way I teach a class again, you will be very sorry indeed.” / “Five more points from Gryffindor, and if I have to ask you to sit down again, it will be fifty.”

“Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school,” Snape spat. “You, Potter, and Weasley are out-of-bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. For once in your life, hold your tongue.”

Snape, as already discussed in CoS, also waits for proof of an accusation - even when Draco has informed him that Harry was in Hogsmeade, and he could've easily taken Draco at his word:

Harry stayed silent. Snape was trying to provoke him into telling the truth. He wasn’t going to do it. Snape had no proof — yet.

Points deducted during PoA: 75

Punishments given: One detention for Ron, cleaning the bedpans in the Hospital Wing - and threatening a toad

Goblet of Fire

Points & detentions

“Fascinating though your social life undoubtedly is, Miss Granger,” said an icy voice right behind them, and all three of them jumped, “I must ask you not to discuss it in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor.” “Ah . . . reading magazines under the table as well?” Snape added, snatching up the copy of Witch Weekly. “A further ten points from Gryffindor … oh but of course …” Snape’s black eyes glittered as they fell on Rita Skeeter’s article. “Potter has to keep up with his press cuttings. …”

Talking in class and reading things other than the work is standard "not allowed" stuff in school. Fair enough. What follows - reading it out to the class - is no more heinous than a teacher reading the notes we all passed in class when we got caught. Not fun for the students, but hardly one of Snape's greatest crimes. Read it on your own time, guys, and this wouldn't have been an issue.

Snape and Karkaroff came around the corner. Snape had his wand out and was blasting rosebushes apart, his expression most ill-natured. Squeals issued from many of the bushes, and dark shapes emerged from them. “Ten points from Ravenclaw, Fawcett!” Snape snarled as a girl ran past him. “And ten points from Hufflepuff too, Stebbins!” as a boy went rushing after her. “And what are you two doing?” he added, catching sight of Harry and Ron on the path ahead. Karkaroff, Harry saw, looked slightly discomposed to see them standing there. His hand went nervously to his goatee, and he began winding it around his finger. “We’re walking,” Ron told Snape shortly. “Not against the law, is it?” “Keep walking, then!” Snape snarled, and he brushed past them, his long black cloak billowing out behind him.

Clearly cavorting in the bushes is not allowed at school dances, otherwise there wouldn't be chaperones and staff present at Muggle ones. Fair.

Interesting that Snape doesn't dock points for Ron talking back like he has done in the past - he simply tells them to fuck the fuck off. Perhaps it's the one-time rule we've seen with Parvati and Hermione - if Ron had spoken back again, he'd have gotten points docked. I wonder if Snape adheres to this rule with everyone (except Harry).

It was lucky, perhaps, that both Harry and Ron started shouting at Snape at the same time; lucky their voices echoed so much in the stone corridor, for in the confused din, it was impossible for him to hear exactly what they were calling him. He got the gist, however. “Let’s see,” he said, in his silkiest voice. “Fifty points from Gryffindor and a detention each for Potter and Weasley. Now get inside, or it’ll be a week’s worth of detentions.”

Post Densaugeo-gate, where Snape insulted Hermione's teeth. Their detention: forced to pickle rat brains in Snape’s dungeon (probably for potions, not just out of spite). Once again, his punishment starts reasonable (one detention for shouting/swearing at a teacher) and would escalate with further retaliation (multiple detentions).

Obviously, insulting a student's appearance was not his finest moment. It's also slightly out of character. I've written about this already. Snape doesn't seem to value appearances; every other insult he gives throughout the books are skill/character/competency based, not appearance-based; he is described as unattractive himself in ways that could presumably be magically or normally altered, i.e. with potions (or even with shampoo) but he doesn't care to alter them; and he has even been bullied on account of his appearance. Theories range from him just being spiteful/finding it funny - even though his typical M.O. is to ignore Hermione until she annoys him by speaking out of turn - to him doing it as a 'cover' because Draco is there and his Dark Mark is returning, and has been for some months; to my personal favourite - doing it so that he could punish Ron and Harry within the confines of the rules.

And also my other favourite headcanon: he's autistic as fuck, and pickling rat brains sets off his sensory issues.

The next two days passed without great incident, unless you counted Neville melting his sixth cauldron in Potions. Professor Snape, who seemed to have attained new levels of vindictiveness over the summer, gave Neville detention, and Neville returned from it in a state of nervous collapse, having been made to disembowel a barrel full of horned toads.

Another one I've seen some drama about, made worse by the fact that JKR doesn't know what a horned toad is, so she described the aftermath as Neville removing "frog guts" from beneath his nails:

The horned toad, or "horned lizards, horny toads, or horntoads" according to Wikipedia. Definitely horned; definitely not a toad (or a frog). Even assuming that horned toads are some sort of toad/frog-like creature in the Wizarding World, it's just another potion ingredient, and nobody cares when Ron was made to pickle rat brains (although it is funny to me that both Snape and Harry might have been imagining doing the same to Peter Pettigrew).

Suggested punishments

Snape loved taking points from Harry, and had certainly never missed an opportunity to give him punishments, or even to suggest that he should be suspended from the school.

True, but Harry also rarely missed giving him the opportunity to suggest it by doing things that are anywhere from against the rules (e.g. fighting, misbehaving in class) to actually illegal (i.e. flying an enchanted car, theft).

Harry didn’t answer. He knew Snape was trying to provoke him; he had done this before. No doubt he was hoping for an excuse to take a round fifty points from Gryffindor before the end of the class.

True, but even Harry/the narration now accepts that there's mostly an "excuse" (read: reason) that Snape docks the points. Harry's hardly a saint.

“You were out of bed on the night my office was broken into!” Snape hissed. “I know it, Potter! Now, Mad-Eye Moody might have joined your fan club, but I will not tolerate your behavior! One more nighttime stroll into my office, Potter, and you will pay!”

Again, Snape's waiting for proof, even though he knows (strongly suspects) that Harry was out of bed. But, even now, he's still giving a warning - only this time accompanied by the (probably very real) threat of Veritaserum:

[Harry] didn’t like the sound of that Truth Potion at all, nor would he put it past Snape to slip him some.

Points deducted during GoF: 70 from Gryffindor, 10 apiece from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff (90 total)

Punishments given: One detention for Ron and Harry pickling rat brains, disembowelling horned toads for Neville (which are not toads)

Summary (so far)

Snape never awards points - not even to his own house

Snape does sometimes reward the other houses in other ways (who aren't Gryffindor), e.g. awarding Hufflepuff two penalties when he refereed Quidditch, praise for Slytherins

He also punishes other houses, not just Gryffindor e.g. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff at the Yule Ball

He tends to follow the school rules, and will typically use/exploit them to punish students within the confines of these rules, rather than making things up/punishing for non-issues (with exceptions; the exception being Harry)

He also waits for proof of accusations against Harry - e.g. when he suspects Harry's stolen his ingredients from his personal stores in CoS, again in GoF, and even in PoA when Harry has left Hogwarts to visit Hogsmeade

Often, he will give a warning before taking points. Then, the initial point deduction/punishment is proportionate to the misdeed

He threatens further punishments if the student(s) do not listen the first time and behave after the first punishment; he threatens punishments he would give if Harry were in his house (e.g. expulsion in CoS)

Harry often thinks that Snape will punish him, and then Snape ultimately doesn't

Harry also takes things personally. If he's late to class, for example, and he gets points docked as a result, Harry believes that that is unreasonable, in the same way he assumes that the book rule in PS is made up

Snape's neutral or fair actions are overlooked, like his proportionate punishments early on in the series, not punishing Ron for being disrespectful at the Yule Ball, etc

Harry exaggerates Snape's cruelty and personal vendettas, and dismisses when Snape behaves like other strict teachers. He merely notices when Filch is threatening detentions for students breathing; Filch's threats of physical punishments on the students are normally overlooked; Harry finds it amusing when Hagrid or 'Moody' are cruel to Draco; Harry finds McGonagall's much more severe punishments acceptable because he admires her

With the Slytherins waiting until Snape's back is turned to misbehave, it's hinted that Snape deals with Slytherin discipline privately. This is also confirmed in the later books, because Crabbe and Goyle have received detentions - and, ovbiously, Harry wouldn't know about it most of the time

Snape takes far fewer points than other teachers - namely, McGonagall - and also does not use or threaten excessively harsh or unfair punishments like 'Moody' or McGonagall (e.g. turning Draco into a ferret and physically harming him, docking 50 points each in the first book and sending them to the Forest, threatening the students with chains, etc)

Snape's crimes

Snape does exhibit bias and favouritism by overlooking Slytherin cheek and misbehaviour (especially Draco's), whilst simultaneously cracking down on similar behavior from Gryffindors - especially Harry

He's more likely to praise Slytherins and criticise Gryffindors. He's even more likely to praise Draco and criticise specifically Harry and his friends

This is particularly obvious during Densaugeo-gate, where he punishes only Gryffindors, despite Slytherins being involved - and even may have provoked the students so that he could punish the Gryffindors, by upsetting Hermione, Ron, and Harry. Which leads me to...

Snape can be cruel. Sometimes I think he's just being blunt - Snape's "waspish" comments are probably just blunt feedback on their potions. Sometimes it's how Harry perceives what would otherwise be normal dialogue if delivered by another teacher (e.g. McGonagall) - but at other times, Snape resorts to cruelty to try and get a message across, or specifically to needle Harry

Snape has a tendency to assume Harry is up to something (but can this be considered a crime? Harry is usually up to something, and he also usually gets away with it). but...

Snape has a tendency to 'confuse' Harry for James, especially from PoA onwards - and this makes him also assume the worst of Harry. It also makes him more volatile, and prone to meltdowns and extreme measures like the use of Veritaserum, especially as the stakes increase for both Snape and Harry with the impending return of Voldemort

Final conclusion: Snape is a strict and blunt teacher, and although he does particularly dislike Harry and is more prone to singling him out for punishment, it is not (in his first four years at school) always the case. Harry has a tendency not only to misbehave, but to imagine punishments Snape might give him, and also to overreact and feel indignant if Snape punishes him reasonably for something he's actually done wrong. It's never really acknowledged when Snape lets things slide, either because he can't find proof or presumably when Dumbledore silences him (a notable exception being his shrieking accusation that Potter had something to do with Sirius Black's escape, but... Snape was a little bit beyond reason at that point)

At some stage, I'll finish re-reading the series so I can comment on OotP and beyond, hopefully add some more context to GoF, and pick out any further threats or punishments I've missed. In the meantime if there's anything essential that I've missed, I'd love to know.

#pro snape #severus snape #snape #snape fandom #professor snape #pro severus snape #snapedom #half baked meta #philosopher's stone #sorcerer's stone #chamber of secrets #prisoner of azkaban #goblet of fire #snape meta #snaps-meta

118 notes · View notes

youareatragedy · 2 months ago

Text

I personally think SJM is a great writer, or at the very least, she’s good at weaving her own twist into things we already have in fantasy stories (like wyverns, incorporating myths from various cultures, etc.).

CC is so-so, take it or leave it. But when it comes to ACOTAR, it’s different. I’ve seen how protective people are about ToG, and I think that’s totally fine and makes a lot of sense. But the way some ACOTAR die hards use arguments like, "ACOTAR made me fall in love with books again, so I don’t want to hear anything bad about it" is just pure ignorance.

Because see, a lot of us grew up with Harry Potter, and when we became adults, we started seeing it with a different perspective. Sure we’re protective of Harry Potter, but at least most of us are not delusional. We don’t say no one can criticize Harry Potter or that no one can call out JKR. Just because Harry Potter was our "friend" growing up doesn’t mean we have to be defensive and unwilling to examine its flaws.

And just because SJM didn’t use an obvious zio flag in her bio doesn’t mean we can’t call her ignorant or tonedeaf, or even a supporter of problematic ideologies. Using a reason like, "ACOTAR is how I fell back in love with reading" doesn’t excuse people from being critical thinkers. If you liked reading in the first place, you should be able to think critically about the books you enjoy.

Again, like I’ve been saying before, people in no way need permission to like ACOTAR. You can like Rhysand, you can hate Nesta, of course. The thing is, I’m sure these people have already seen the arguments about why Rhys is problematic or why Nesta is actually nuanced, but they refuse to absorb these reasons and are stuck wearing their horse blinders. To them, challenging their initial beliefs feels like a personal attack, which it shouldn’t. Because I assume everyone who reads ACOTAR is an adult and smart enough to not just read. Especially something they know is heavily criticized left and right—with their "brain turned off."

Every time I criticize Rhys and his cult IC, I’m pointing out how incredibly toxic and hypocritical they are. But the stans just keep denying it. Babe, Rhys is a bad leader. He did SA Feyre. He did do something incredibly wrong by hiding an important medical issue about Feyre from Feyre. And the IC is a shit government full of tone-deaf, self-serving people. SJM obviously won’t admit that because SJM thinks Rhysand is the ideal man, and she essentially lives as an elite member of the Velaris of our real world. The IC is correct to her.

So, the next time someone says, "Don’t attack SJM or ACOTAR" I’ll just say, "Shut up. I will still criticize it if people still want to think Feyre wasn’t SA or that she was SA’d for 'good reason.'"

As long as SJM herself doesn’t openly support Palestine, I’ll think of her as complicit in genocide based on her history.

And as long as she keeps writing Rhysand and his "family" as the best kind of leaders who should never be held accountable, ACOTAR will always be a shallow book.

And honestly, anyone who reads it without even trying to view it from different angles? They’re also just ignorant, tone-deaf, and entitled as hell, living so privileged they can’t even bother to understand why something is wrong.

#anti acotar #anti acotar fandom #acotar critical #anti sjm #anti rhysand #acotar fandom critical #anti feysand #anti ic #anti inner circle #anti rhys

61 notes · View notes

v-a-l · 6 months ago

Note

Hi! I was just thinking about what made Hermione come to the conclusion that Sirius wants to live through them. Now I last read OOTP a month ago, but I can't remember anything from the conversation that suggests that he wants to live through them, he only said that they should know how to defend themselves because of the environment that will come and that is why the DA is a good idea. And even if Hermione was influenced by Molly during the summer what makes her think that the DA is a bad idea after Sirius says it's a good idea? He gave valid reasons why it is a good idea. Hermione is very smart but this scene just felt and she felt ooc here.

I know that sometimes JKR used characters like Hermione and Dumbledore as spokespersons about what she wanted the audience to know that's why we get Hermione saying that but if that's what she wanted us to think, she did a poor job because Sirius actually kind of right and it makes Hermione look biased against Sirius.

Same with Dumbledore in that conversation with Harry after Sirius's death and it sucks. She wanted us to think Sirius saw Kreacher as inferior because of his species but that's not true at all. Now, some scenes with Sirius and Kreacher made me uncomfortable and I am not going to lie about it. But Sirius hated Kreacher because he was a part of his abusive childhood and repeated the same bigoted stuff his family thought and let's not forget Sirius only got violent with him when he called Hermione a slur. So Dumbledore saying that just feels so ooc because usually he is so wise (but once i read a meta about him seeing Sirius as Grindelwald and thinking by that meta it gives us an interesting perspective about this conversation as well).

Sorry this is getting long 😅. Anyways my point is that none of it makes any sense. It is clear that JKR was biased against Sirius and to show that she brought two other characters down (though these moments can be seen as interesting flaws in them)

Have a lovely day! (Sorry about the long ask, I hope it makes sense)

Honestly, while JKR is a brilliant writer, I also find her fairly reactionary in her writing style. Sirius was one of the most popular characters in the story because she wrote him that way, he inadvertently became more popular than a lot of other characters she preferred because again, she WROTE him that way. Perhaps the creation of a character as multi-faceted and dynamic as Sirius is was entirely by accident, as she really seems to double down on the character assassination as the books go by, but regardless, there's little in the way of canonical proof to suggest that Sirius is trying to live a vicarious life through the kids. Especially cause he's the one who seems to understand what they actually need after all they've been through instead of just patronising them.

Sirius is the only one who takes Harry seriously, he is the only one who tries to not just physically be there like the others, but actually also provide emotional support. He's constantly been doing this since he escaped Azkaban, and at this point, both in the case of Harry generally, and the Weasleys specifically when Arthur was injured, he's repeatedly looking after others at his own personal cost. He gets Ron an Owl, almost tells Harry how to beat a dragon (and that's the kind of stuff Sirius Black simply just goes around knowing, how to take down Dragons), gets Harry his firebolt and Hogsmeade slip. Sirius is generally an emotionally intelligent person, and this is after 12 years of forced isolation from civilisation.

The tragedy of Sirius' arc in OOTP is that there's no one around him who can relate to his experiences. This makes it impossible for Sirius to find the kind of empathy and support he needs from the members of the order. By OOTP, Sirius' mental health, whilst constantly deteriorating is also displayed on technicolour before the entire cast. He's not allowed any secrets, his abusive childhood, his unprocessed grief, years of dementor and solitary confinement related trauma, the fact that he lost his entire twenties, his burgeoning alcoholism is all on display and not spared judgement from the self-righteous members of the Order who did not support him at 21 and are not going to support him at 33.

Furthermore, the narrative repeatedly validates him. He insists that Harry should be told the truth, and he's right, he insists that he can do more instead of just being locked up and left alone and he's right, he wants Snape to restart Harry's lessons and he's right, he repeatedly and actively disagrees with Dumbledore's opaque methods and again, he's right. He gives Harry the two way mirror because Harry needs him to be there, and as Godfather, it is Sirius' responsibility to find a safe way to ensure that happens.

Whilst he's not at his best, he's still trying, he's trying so hard to be what everyone needs him to be even when its contrary to his own instincts and emotional needs which are either dismissed entirely by the people around him or mocked with derogatory catchphrases like "fit of the sullens" that its genuinely heartbreaking that despite him going out of his way to help the Order, not only is his devotion not returned it's barely even acknowledged. They never try to acquit him, there's no mission run by the Order to try and recapture Peter or get Sirius a trial or even an opportunity to give a press conference (which, with the political climate in OOTP would actually be a great way to discredit the ministry), Dumbledore pretty much just locked him in and threw away the key, a circumstance not entirely different from the past 12 years of Sirius' unfortunately short life. An acquitted Sirius would mean a discredited justice system and ministry and also a powerful wizard to run missions again, but this prospect is not even brought up let alone addressed. He gets a posthumous consolation through a footnote in the Daily Prophet, like that could compensate for the trauma and the decade he's lost.

I think it's very binary to put people into boxes and go "this person is only these set of traits and that's all they can be." Sirius is more than his grief for the Potters and love for Harry and years of isolation and torture. He's a brilliant detective, one of the order's most powerful duelists, someone who is blatantly not afraid of calling people out, be it Walburga or Crouch or Dumbledore, someone who despite growing up in a cesspit of bigotry and violence fights for people like Lily Potter and Remus Lupin and Hermione Granger. The guy who barely tolerates Kreacher but is distasteful of Crouch's treatment of Winky. Sirius, like most people, comes with facets and is possibly one of JKR's finest creations. Not that she seemed to realise it herself.

Not that that's surprising.

The most interesting thing about Sirius and Dumbledore, and Dumbledore's repeated refusal to trust Sirius is that unlike pretty much everyone else in the order, Sirius knows that Dumbledore and Grindewald used to be friends. Lily wrote it to him and Sirius read it. If Sirius could figure out the GoF plot while being half starved to death and living in a cave, a free healthy Sirius with a very much alive James Potter would probably have put the whole plot together. I wonder how much that influenced their dynamic in OOTP because whilst the others have nothing on Dumbledore, Sirius does. If Sirius can spare Dumbledore his judgement despite knowing the truth, Dumbledore can get over Sirius being a Black.

#sirius black #albus dumbledore #marauders #harry potter #Order of the Phoenix #I no longer remember how to tag

136 notes · View notes

maxdibert · 4 days ago

Note

Lily’s not selfless because she didn’t want her baby to die. Anyone who isn’t a psychopath doesn’t want their baby to die! Defenceless Petunia also throws herself in front of a wand for her baby! Narcissa lies to Voldemort’s face and goes behind his back to Snape for her baby! Both of these women are selfish creatures! By book 6, JKR has firmly made the point that Lily’s actions were admirable but unexceptional in this universe. Joining the Order out of school is arguably her most selfless act (yeah, she’s personally affected, but she could’ve run to Australia).

Lily’s attraction to James is pure ego. She’s flattered the hot rich elite publicly validates her by desiring her. An actually selfless person would think of James’ victims (and I’m not just talking Severus here). Her condescension to Severus is ego (she enjoys having a worshipful puppy who won’t call her out on anything until he finally snaps and bites back - neither of them see each other as a person). We know a lot more about her than ‘she was selfless’ through her relationships, and not all we know is flattering. Which is good! Because the angelic figure the fandom makes her into - when JKR gave us more than that even in the little page time she has - is so fucking boring.

Absolutely, I couldn’t agree more. What I find especially interesting is how so many Lily fans insist that pointing out her flaws is misogynistic, when in reality, they’re the ones preventing her from being a fully realized, three-dimensional character. By reducing her to nothing more than a morally flawless young woman and a sacrificial mother, they’re stripping her of the very things that make characters compelling—nuance, contradictions, and the ability to make mistakes.

It’s ironic because these same people will often argue that female characters should be treated with the same depth and complexity as male characters. But if we’re unwilling to analyze and critique female characters the way we do male ones, then we’re falling into the same trap we claim to oppose. What’s the point of demanding better female representation if we’re just going to infantilize female characters and refuse to engage with them critically? If we want true narrative equality, we have to be comfortable with the idea that women in fiction—just like in real life—can be selfish, can make questionable choices, and can sometimes just be plain unlikable. And that’s not a bad thing. That’s a good thing.

Lily is an interesting character because she isn’t just a saintly martyr. She clearly had an ego, she was flattered by James’s attention, she tolerated Severus’s bigotry for far too long, and when she finally did cut him off, it wasn’t out of some grand moral reckoning but because it affected her personally. That’s not a bad thing—it makes her human. And as you said, her sacrifice, while undeniably tragic and moving, is not some uniquely selfless act in this universe. Plenty of characters put their children before their own survival, and many of them—Petunia and Narcissa included—don’t get the same moral pedestal that Lily does. The difference? Lily is framed by the narrative as an untouchable paragon of goodness, and fans have followed that lead uncritically.

The reality is, if we actually want better-written female characters, we need to stop being afraid of giving them flaws. Otherwise, we’re just trading one kind of misogyny (women as lesser) for another (women as perfect). And neither of those is real progress.

#lily evans #lily evans potter #lily potter #jk rowling #harry potter #harry potter women #female characters #female characters in media #feminism #feminism in media #feminist media studies #feminist analysis #harry potter meta

36 notes · View notes

iamnmbr3 · 5 months ago

Note

As a massive Drarry fan myself I just want to know your reasons for loving them? <3

To some extent I think it's the "I just think they're neat" meme. On a certain level, it's hard to define why I like anything. I just do, ya know? But yeah I love their characters and the complexity of their relationship and how it deepens both their arcs.

I love how they have been part of each other's lives since day 1, each one's story divergent from the other's and yet inextricably linked. Draco is present for/involved with so many pivotal moments for Harry - becoming a seeker, successfully conjuring a Patronus for the first time, learning he is a Parselmouth, learning Expelliarmus, using Sectum Sempra, gaining the Hawthorn wand and consequently defeating Voldemort etc. And many many more.

Similarly Harry is indirectly the cause of the Malfoy family's downfall, the only person Draco willingly tries to use an Unforgivable on, the only living person to witness Draco's hesitation on the Astronomy Tower, the cause of Draco's courageous decision at the Manor to lie to Voldemort, and the center of Draco's whole life for 5 books. I mean really - everything Draco does in books 1-5 is just summarized as: "Draco Malfoy and How Do I Get Potter to Pay Attention to Me?" Everything from spying on Hagrid's illegal pet dragon to going after the hippogriff to joining the Inquisitorial Squad centers around Harry.

Their stories are inextricably linked in so many ways - both petty and profound. And for all that they are in one sense enemies (first rivals at school and then soldiers on opposite sides of a war) they can never bring themselves to hate or even distrust each other like you'd expect. Whenever one is actually in trouble they always save each other immediately and without question. In book 6 Draco sends the other Slytherins away before confronting Harry and turns his back on Harry to get his wand, safe in the knowledge that Harry will not attack him, or if he does, it won't be that bad and then when Harry finds himself totally at Draco's mercy a moment later he doesn't for a minute fear that Draco will kill him or turn him over to Voldemort or even seriously hurt him. I can't imagine Harry reacting this way if he was in a similarly helpless position around Lucius or Pettigrew or Bellatrix or any other Death Eater.

And they also understand each other so deeply. Harry immediately can tell when something is off with Draco - in book 6 as well as in earlier books. Draco never for a moment believes that Harry is the Heir of Slytherin even when the whole school thinks he is and understands that Harry hates his fame (while even Ron sometimes struggles to accept this).

I am fascinated and compelled by how they circle each other and are enemies who can't quite hate each other and who are inexorably drawn to each other, how they understand each other so deeply and so intuitively, how their wit and personalities and abilities are so complimentary and so compatible, and how their stories connect but also diverge. There's so much potential there and it just feels so right to me. Plus, hilariously, JKR accidentally made it outrageously canon. Draco and Harry's fascination with each other is a major part of their characters and their stories which really can't be ignored or removed.

#it's why it's hilarious to me that cursed child tried to queerbait and capitalize on the drarry popularity with scorbus #but totally misunderstood it bc other than their surnames and hair colors scorpius & albus's dynamic and personalities are totally differen #from drarry #asks #hpdm #drarry #dmhp #harco #harry x draco #Draco Malfoy #Harry Potter #harry potter/draco malfoy #Harry Potter x Draco Malfoy

76 notes · View notes

greenerteacups · 1 month ago

Note

What are your thoughts on the magic system, both how JKR has created it in canon and also how you have tried to deepen or change it in Lionheart? In a lot of fanon/other series there’s more clear rules surrounding use of magic and magical strength or talent than it seems like JKR developed in canon.

Current fantasy publishing has trended hard towards hard magic systems, i.e. systems with clear rules, limits, and costs, because those systems make it really easy to establish stakes. Sanderson's books are a great example of hard magic used well, because his books are really interested in how societies built around magic would use them to solve problems.

Soft magic, in contrast, doesn't operate on clear limits. But that doesn't mean it's bad, it's just a different kind of worldbuilding. In his article, Sanderson points out that while hard magic systems thrive on getting the reader invested and scheming with the characters, it de-mystifies the "magic" of it all; it basically becomes technology. Meanwhile, soft magic systems are great at mustering awe and wonder. The risk of a hard magic system is you make your world feel mundane. The risk of a soft magic system is you make your stakes feel irrelevant. Neither of these are necessarily true, they're just risks you need to manage when you're writing. And good authors can manage them. For soft magic writers, you need to be really careful to show that your universe has problems that magic can't solve, even if you don't break down why it can't solve them. Martin and Tolkien are great examples of this. Why can't the eagles fly everyone to Mount Doom? I dunno, but I know they can't! And I trust that a world with his richness and verisimilitude, things happen for reasons, and those reasons, if explained to me, would be satisfying. When Tolkien tells me the eagles aren't a viable solution to the problem of the Ring, I just trust him. Because he's put in the work to make this world believable. Do I need him to invent some fictional rule about eagles being, like, physically unable to cross over that mountain range? What would that accomplish? The thing about magic being soft is you can just accept that sometimes It Doesn't Work, and you're fucked. So there's still a sense of tension and stakes for your characters, because they can't always depend on magic to get the job done. Another way around this problem is just to make the stakes of your series rest on something that magic can't solve, like emotional conflict, or a mystery. This is actually most of the Harry Potter books, in my opinion; they have pretty good stakes that almost always stem from human beings in conflict with each other, which isn't something that you can wave a wand and make go away.

Rowling's magic system is somewhere between hard and soft, whereas you can do X and reliably expect Y magical outcome, but also, it's pretty soft where the limit is. I don't mind this, because I'm pretty willing to handwave glitches in the magic system where it improves the story — so long as it's not a glitch that opens a plot hole, I'm fine not understanding How or Why Exactly a given piece of magic was executed. Dumbledore's escape from the aurors in fifth year, for instance. I don't know how he did that! Doesn't bother me. Because plot-wise, it doesn't make a difference. Because whether or not Dumbledore uses a mechanic I'm familiar with doesn't change the impact of the scene or my understanding of his abilities. The point is that he's super powerful and it would take way more than four aurors to nab him. Cool! Got it. No problem. But if Dumbledore was able to cast a spell that made Umbridge resign? I would be pissed. I don't want magic to fix that problem! I want the characters to develop and emotionally respond to challenges! Don't fuck with my stakes, man!

What also bothers me is when the books introduce technology that does work like straight-up hard magic, i.e., Time Turners. There is no reason a Time Turner should ever fail. It doesn't have a cost; it doesn't have a limit. This is insanely OP, and Rowling has admitted that it kind of fucked her worldbuilding. So I took it out in my fic, because I didn't want to be assed. I've peppered in a few limitations of my own on some things; I've hardcore nerfed Apparation, because I like travel sequences and I think teleportation is boring. The nature of the resurrection magic used by Voldemort seems big enough that there frankly should be a cost, so I'm thinking about that as I'm writing Book 6. Same with the horcruxes. In general, I think the nature of "dark magic" wants more explanation, so I'm trying to get into that more in the future. Plus also Lily's blood protection, and the horcrux/soul-splintering thing, and basically What All Went Down, Magically Speaking, With The Potters—? I'm interested in that. It implies the existence of much older and weirder magical mechanics than we've seen in the rest of the series. How can you do magic unintentionally? Was it unintentional? Much to figure out.

The spell system in general I don't mind, although I think Avada Kedavra is a terrible idea. you have this beautiful unbounded combat system that could be so creative and then you just. gave every wizard a gun. Sad! Also, I really like the idea in the last book of "you have to mean it," with respect to the Unforgivables, which ties in with how the Patronus requires an emotional component; it implies something about intention and willpower that seems like a potentially interesting mechanic.

#greenteacup asks #lionheart spoilers #not really but like. Too Bee Safe #prognosticating

39 notes · View notes

aroaceleovaldez · 2 months ago

Note

Your blog is the only blog where I feel safe enough asking this question. What do you think of Percy Jackson fans who feel as though they and the series have a moral superiority to Harty Potter ? Obviously, Harry Potter and its author are laden with questionable and sometimes straight-up hateful takes and views. But the way PJO fans constantly compare the two, its authors (even though RR is far from flawless), and the two MCs (ignoring how the two both share similarities in the fact that they are both traumatised, abused, angry teenage boys). I'm sorry that this ask got so long, but this has been annoying me for a while now.

This is an interesting question - for one, fandom fights over superiority is a concept that has been around for ages and has never been constructive. PJO and HP fandoms have been fighting in that exact way (and it has gone both ways!) for literal decades (remember, PJO turns 20 this year) so this isn't new, it's just taken on a moral flavor. Let's go over some things though (but please keep in mind i never got into HP and never read the books or fully watched the movies so my knowledge of HP is primarily pop culture absorption/secondhand from my family and friends):

Are either series perfect? No. HP absolutely is full of hateful sentiments and JKR is a hateful person and I do not respect her for that. Disney's marketing recently has absolutely fully leaned into trying to put Rick above her as a moral paragon and emphasizing how progressive he is and his support of diversity in middle grade series, despite some failings to reflect that in the actual text. Are Rick and JKR equally bad? Definitely not. Rick has had tangible good influence on adhd/dyslexia awareness that very directly impacted people like me as a neurodivergent kid going through school in the 2000s. JKR meanwhile has directly negatively impacted trans laws internationally very recently.

Rick absolutely isn't perfect, but he's vocally supportive, has made a lot of effort in the past to be inclusive, and still attempts to do so. Most of his issues simply stem from his own unaddressed internalized bigotry/biases and his research on varying topics not being great (plus poor management decisions such as not hiring a sensitivity reader actually fit for the story he's trying to tell). But he's not hateful. JKR is. JKR is very vocally hateful and bigoted and this is absolutely reflected in her work as well even in earlier HP. They are comparable in that they are both middle grade authors of easily two of the most popular middle grade fantasy (or specifically hidden world fantasy) series out right now. They are not equivalent in the slightest in their bigotry or tangible damage.

In terms of Percy versus Harry, I personally don't think they're very comparable. They share some similarities, but mostly just in that they're both the protagonists of their stories and thus serve protagonist purposes. Beyond that their use within the narrative is pretty different functionally. Their worlds' magic systems are not comparable. The hidden world aspect in both their universes isn't even comparable, since in PJO the "hidden world" aspect is very different from most hidden world fantasy formats because the entire point is that it's functionally not a hidden world. The characters themselves are very different as well - Percy's personality and the way he behaves and reacts to his environment is absolutely nothing like Harry's.

Most of the anti-HP-in-general sentiments stem from wanting to cut off JKR's notoriety, which I think is valid to want to do. And I do think there are a lot of issues with continuing to support JKR's work especially in ways that functionally promote her work or support her financially. Obviously, we will never be able to scrub HP from the cultural zeitgeist. It's just not feasible and I'm very anti-book burning so I do think it's important to acknowledge the role HP has had in pop-culture alongside acknowledging its harmful materials. HP is a text you absolutely can't death-of-the-author your way out of because a lot of the vitriol is baked into the text and worldbuilding in very overt ways - and there are plenty of other pop-culture staple novels like this. But fandom in general, at least true fandom and not mainstream fandom, is so obscure most of the time that I don't think, so long as people are not ignoring negative themes of the source material and are being thoughtful as they navigate engaging with it, that it is an inherently bad thing for HP fandom to just exist at all. It's never going to just stop existing no matter what people do. And HP fandom are not the only ones who should be thoughtful about how they engage with their source material - PJO fandom is not exempt from examining some of the problematic aspects in our own text and figuring out how to be respectful with those topics. It's just a lot easier for PJO fandom to tune it out without it being noticed because there's less of it and it's (at least sometimes) less overt. Honestly if HP fandom decided to go more down the path of a fandom like Warriors or Miraculous Ladybug, where the average sentiment is more along the lines of "Oh god no don't read/watch the source material it sucks/we stopped paying attention to it year ago and it's not relevant at all to what we're up to. We're over here functionally rewriting everything from the ground up/doing our own thing" I would very much support them in that endeavor. I do think there is merit in limiting promotion of the HP source material as much as possible, though.

Hopefully that all makes at least some amount of sense.

#pjo #riordanverse #hp #harry potter #< hm. was kind of hoping those tags would never end up on this blog #long post //#i will say i dont like. have any particular stake in this game again vis a vis i have never had any sort of connection to hp #so it doesnt hold any kind of nostalgia or affection for me. i do not care what happens to anything relating to it at all #other than potentially wanting the franchise to crumble #if anything regarding my experiences with it i potentially hold a minor grudge towards it cause one time when i was younger at Universal #i nearly fell out of whatever that one ride i think with the hippogriff cause the lapbars on it are SHIIIIIT and i am a Very Small Person #like im small now i was even smaller then #so it just would not secure far enough down to actually hold me in the seat and the ride goes like at a 90 degree angle on some turns #anyways thats like. the extent of my experience with HP. i do not care for it #but yeah never forget your history - pjo and hp fandoms have like literally always had beef #i cannot begin to describe how not new it is for either fandom to claim superiority over the other #it is literally one of those classic fandom arguments except the book fandoms flavor of it #i think one of the old big arguments as far as i remember was HP fans lording having a faithful movie adaptation over pjo fans #im pretty sure in fandomstuck they're kismeses #then again pjo never got much stuff in fandomstuck #< sentences that only make sense if you're old like me #ask #Anonymous

32 notes · View notes

forestdeath1 · 11 months ago

Note

I see many Snape Stans (I dislike Snape but I see why he turned out the way he did) saying James sexually assaulted him, especially on TikTok, when it’s not the truth at all, we don’t know if he ever actually took off his pants because and it wasn’t his fault that Snape wasn’t wearing any trousers. While he did bully him he never sexually assaulted him, and so many people are now saying this and I’m just flabbergasted, why did no one read the books? Why does everyone get their informations off TikTok and Twitter?

I don't really like this topic, to be honest. But here's how I perceive it.

1. In the canon, as far as I remember, it wasn't even implied that wizards wore trousers under their robes. They all just wore their underwear. And Lupin says:

"Oh, that one had a great vogue during my time at Hogwarts," said Lupin reminiscently. "There were a few months in my fifth year when you couldn’t move for being hoisted into the air by your ankle."

"Yes," he said, "but he wasn't the only one. As I say, it was very popular. . . . You know how these spells come and go. . . ."

So Snape not only created this spell himself, but it also became popular at school. So many students were hanging upside down, showing off their underwear.

From this, we can infer that wizards perceived it slightly differently than we do now, and even than Harry. It was "fun" bullying, but nothing more. Even Lupin himself sounds like he's justifying it, although he probably got hung upside down too ("There were a few months in my fifth year when you couldn’t move for being hoisted into the air by your ankle.").

2. We don't know for sure if James ended up taking Snape's pants off. Logically speaking, JKR simply didn't describe it, assuming that he did. Given the time the book was written, she probably didn't intend to invest it with such a horrible meaning. This all happens in the 70s in the WW. For our time, of course, it's SA. And that's awful. But the perception of that time could leave its mark. For example, when I was in school, many things that are now considered "awful" were seen as "not so bad". Those who did those awful things back then didn't even really understand how awful their actions truly were. Society evolves and we increasingly respect people's personal psychological and physical boundaries. What we didn't perceive as SA back then is considered SA today. A simple example you've probably seen in movies, spanking children was considered normal and right. That's how society raised those people. Surely today those same people wouldn't spank their children, because they would understand it's bad.

So it's likely that nobody at school perceived this action as SA. Moreover, James always played to the crowd. And if he really, according to the author's intention, took Snape's pants off, and the whole school saw it as normal, and didn't start looking at James with disgust... it raises big questions for the school students, doesn't it? If my friend did this today, he wouldn't be my friend anymore. Most people would look at such a person with disgust. But James's popularity didn't diminish at all.

This brings us back to the fact that nobody back then saw it as worse than bullying. So the society of that time hadn't yet formed enough understanding of what SA was and how bad it was to expose someone else's genitals. So James didn't fully understand either how awful it was, much more awful than pink bubbles out of your mouth or doubling someone's head in size. So for them it was all on the same level — taking someone's pants off or making them hang upside down or doubling their head in size.

I'm not justifying it, but the wizarding world is pretty harsh. Neville was thrown out of a window, Harry almost killed Draco, Fred and George literally made a kid disappear for a week, and Hermione kept Rita Skeeter captive in a jar for over a month. All of this is awful, but the wizarding world operates by different moral standards.

If judged in terms of our morality, there are almost no morally pure characters in these books.

I especially don't understand Snape stans (I mean I like Snape, but I don’t understand their logic). In terms of our morality, both Snape and James deserve to be punished. Snape would have got a much bigger sentence for joining and helping a terrorist organisation. What are Snape stans trying to prove? That Snape was better? No, he wasn't. They're all arseholes in terms of the muggle world of 2024.

#james potter #severus snape #james potter meta #hp meta #severus snape meta

91 notes · View notes

thepulsatingflapper · 3 days ago

Text

Lucius Malfoy is an anti-trans allegory.

First and foremost, in The Deathly Hallows, Voldemort (who I have previously established as an anti-trans allegory) enters Malfoy Manor against the will of the inhabitants including a cis woman (Narcissa) and a minor (Draco). This is an obvious metaphor for how JKR thinks trans women are invading women's spaces like bathrooms and locker rooms and are child molesters. Compare this to how Voldemort forced his way into Lily and Harry (cis woman and child)'s room earlier just to harm them.

And then, Voldemort publicly takes Lucius's wand from him. Since wands are a phallic symbol, this is another instance of Voldemort acting as a gender-affirming doctor and performing bottom surgery on Lucius (removing his penis). Like with Wormtail who was hesitant to cut off his hand, Lucius is also hesitant of giving up his penis, representing how JKR thinks doctors coerce trans people into having gender-affirming surgeries.

The narrative clearly wants us to see Voldemort removing Lucius's wand as bad, because JKR thinks gender-affirming surgeries are bad. We're supposed to see Lucius as weak without a wand and no longer able to be the "man" of the house.

JKR punishes Lucius for being trans and emasculates him throughout this book by removing his wand (his penis), punishing him by removing his control in his own home, and, making him looking sick and tired (a reference to mental illness which is sadly common for trans individuals).

Bellatrix shows disdain for Lucius in his wandless state and expresses that he no longer has authority without a wand. This shows how JKR believes trans woman are no longer "valuable" or worthy of respect after they transition.

After Harry, Ron, and Hermione escape from Malfoy Manor towards the end of The Deathly Hallows, Lucius is shown to have visible wounds and injuries inflicted on his body by Voldemort. This is representative of how JKR falsely believes that doctors who do trans surgeries are maiming and injuring their patients.

Of course, at the end of the book, Lucius is shown betraying Voldemort, which is meant to be read as that trans people will always betray their surgeons because they realized they were being coerced, and they never actually wanted to be trans, and then they destransition, just like JKR thinks every trans person should. (See my other meta for how JKR uses betrayal as a metaphor for transitioning).

Lucius is shown running through the crowd with his wandless hands (his vagina) visible, representing how trans woman are objectified and their bodies are made into a spectacle.

Also in the movies he's shown to have long hair which is gender non-comforming aka trans woman coded. And he wears robes which are reminiscent of a dress.

Anything else I missed? Let me know

~The Pulsating Flapper~

#fuck jkr #anti jkr #fuck jk rowling #harry potter #harry potter fandom #harry potter meta #hp fandom #hp meta #lucius malfoy #narcissa malfoy #voldemort #voldemort meta #lord voldemort #tom riddle #tom marvolo riddle #pro jkr #jk rowling #deathly hallows #harry potter series

22 notes · View notes

junkgatorswritings · 1 month ago

Text

The Order of the Phoenix

Hello friends, fiends, and everything in between I started reading the Harry Potter books specifically to prove that part of the reason it's such a mess is that JKR never sat down and actually figured out her timeline, also I don't like being a liar so I will eventually be using all these notes I make to do other things not just yelling about how many plot holes there are. I was really busy and very annoyed by Harry so it took me a while to finish this book but I'm done now and that's what matters. So this is everything we learn about the Marauder's area during this book.

Also, I do not support JKR, I got all the books second hand.

I'm using the version printed by Arthur A. Levine Books.

Lily Evans:

James told Lily about dementors somewhere where Petunia could overhear them speaking (pg. 32 ch. 2).

She was in the picture that Moody has of the old Order (pg. 174 ch. 9).

She was decent (according to Hagrid pg. 564 ch. 25).

She told James and Sirius to leave Snape alone (pg. 647 ch. 28).

She had thick dark red hair and startlingly green almond shaped eyes (pg. 647 ch. 28).

She calls James an arrogant, bullying toerag. And tells him to leave Snape alone again (pg. 647 ch. 28).

She says she would rather go out with the giant squid than james (pg. 647 ch. 28).

She tries not to laugh when Snape is turned upside down, and demanded that he be put down (pg. 648 ch. 28).

She pulls her wand on James and Sirius and again demands that they leave Snape alone (pg. 648 ch. 28).

Lily seems somewhat surprised (?) by being called a mudblood, but recovers quickly and says she won't help Snape again and calls him Snivellus (pg. 648 ch. 28).

She says she doesn't want James to make Snape apologize because he's just as bad as him (pg. 648 ch. 28).

James makes her sick (pg. 648 ch. 28).

She started going out with James in 7th year (pg. 670 ch. 29).

She didn't hate James at Hogwarts (Sirius pg. 671 ch. 29).

She didn't know much about James jinxing Snape after he stopped jinxing random people (pg. 671 ch. 29).

She narrowly escaped Voldemort three times by the time the prophecy was given (pg. 842 ch. 37).

James Potter:

Sirius ran away to his house when they were ABOUT 16 (pg. 111 ch. 6).

His parents treated Sirius like a second son (pg. 111 ch. 6).

James spent too much time in detention to become a prefect (pg. 170 ch. 9).

He was in the picture Moody had of the old order (pg. 174 ch. 9).

Risk is what made things fun for James (Sirius pg. 305 ch. 14).

He wouldn't have taken orders from Umbridge or someone like her (Sirius pg. 371 ch. 17).

He was so arrogant that criticism bounced off of him (Snape pg. 520 ch. 24).

He was decent (Hagrid pg. 564 ch. 25).

His eyes were hazel, his nose was longer than Harry's, he had the same thin face, mouth, eyebrows, his hair stood up in the back the same way, his hands could have been Harry's hands, at 15 he would be within an inch of Harry's 15-year-old height (pg. 641 ch. 28).

He purposefully messes up his hair (mentioned several times pg. 641, 647, 648).

He doodled on spare parchment and wrote down Lily's initials (pg. 642 ch. 28).

He embellished Lily's initials but also crossed them out (pg. 643 ch. 28).

He waited for Sirius to join him before walking out of the room (pg. 643 ch. 28).

He wasn't patient with Wormtail or quiet while talking about spending full moons with Remus (pg. 643 ch. 28).

He thought the paper portion of the DADA O.W.L. was easy (pg. 644 ch. 28).

He stole a snitch so that he could play with letting it go and catching it again in order to show off (pg. 644 ch. 28).

He put away the snitch after Sirius asked him to (pg. 645 ch. 28).

He points out that Snape is sitting nearby as a way to entertain Sirius (pg. 645 ch. 28).

Sirius and James got up while Remus and Peter stayed sitting. James is the one who called out to Snape (pg. 645 ch. 28).

James is able to use expelliarmus as well as impedimenta, he uses both of them on Snape (pg. 646 ch. 28).

He checks to see if Lily is watching him act like a jackass (pg. 646 ch. 28).

He scourgifies Snape's mouth (pg. 646 ch. 28).

He deepens his voice when he talks to Lily (pg. 647 ch. 28).

Says he's bullying Snape because he exists despite the fact that Snape shows later that there are plenty of reasons to bully him (pg. 647 ch. 28).

He's an arrogant, bullying toerag (Lily pg. 647 ch. 28).

Says he won't raise a wand at "Snivelly" again if Lily will go out with him (pg. 647 ch. 28).

After Snape cuts him James pulls him into the air by his legs (pg. 647 ch. 28).

He threatens to hex Lily once she draws her wand (pg. 648 ch. 28).

He takes the locomotor mortis curse off of Snape when Lily told him to (pg. 648 ch. 28).

He gets mad when Snape calls Lily a mudblood, much angrier than when Snape cut him (pg. 648 ch. 28).

He says he would never call Lily a mudblood (pg. 648 ch. 28).

He hexed anyone who annoyed him because he could, he was big-headed (Lily pg. 648 ch. 28).

He did care what Lily thought of him, but he also used his hurt feelings as a reason to further torment Snape (pg. 649 ch. 28).

He and Sirius were described as the forerunners of the Weasley twins (pg. 653 ch. 29).

James and Snape hated each other from the moment they set eyes on each other (pg. 670 ch. 29).

James always hated the dark arts (pg. 670 ch. 29).

James and Sirius were the best in school at whatever they did, everyone thought they were the height of cool and they could get swept up in that feeling (pg. 670 ch. 29).

He always made a fool of himself when Lily was around, he couldn't stop himself from showing off (pg. 671 ch. 29).

In seventh year James was less arrogant and had stopped hexing people for the fun of it (pg. 671 ch. 29).

Snape never passed up an opportunity to curse James, and he didn't take it lying down (pg. 671 ch. 29).

James was an idiot at 15 but like most people he grew out of it (pg. 671 ch. 29).

He narrowly escaped Voldemort three times by the time the prophecy was given (pg. 842 ch. 37).

James and Sirius used to use the two-way Mirror he gave to Harry to talk when they were in different detentions (pg. 859 ch. 38).

Sirius Black:

He was a nasty ungrateful swine who broke his mother's heart (Kreacher pg. 108 ch. 6).

Sirius' mother hated and was disapointed in him (pg. 109 ch. 6).

He was burned off the family tapestry when he ran away at about 16 (pg. 111 ch. 6).

He ran to the Potter's house, where James' parents sort of adopted him as a second son (pg. 111 ch. 6).

He stayed there over school breaks and when he turned 17 he used the money left for him by his Uncle Alphard to buy a place for himself (pg. 111 ch. 6).

He was always welcome back to the Potter's house for Sunday Lunch (pg. 111 ch. 6).

He left because he hated his parents and brother. He was sick of his parent's pureblood mania, who were convinced that being a Black made them practically royalty, and of his brother who believed them (pg. 111 ch. 6).

Sirius spent too much time in detention to become a prefect (pg. 170 ch. 9).

Sirius had short hair while in the Order, at least when the picture Moody has was taken (pg. 174 ch. 9).

He looks at least a little bit like Stubby Board the lead singer of the Hobgoblins (pg. 192 ch. 10).

He wouldn't have taken orders from Umbridge or someone like her (Sirius pg. 371 ch. 17).

He was very good-looking at Hogwarts, and the girl sitting behind him in the O.W.L.s exam had a crush on him. But he didn't seem to notice (pg. 642 ch. 28).

He's not afraid to tease Remus about being a werewolf, it's not mean spirited (pg. 643 ch. 28).

He says that he found the DADA O.W.L.s paper easy, and that he'd be surprised if he didn't get an outstanding (pg. 644 ch. 28).

He's not impressed with Wormtail being a suck up to James (pg. 645 ch. 28).

He says he wished it was a full moon because he's bored, completely disregarding what that means for Remus (pg. 645 ch. 28).

He says he doesn't need to study for transfiguration because he already knows it all (pg. 645 ch. 28),

He takes a lot of joy out of bothering Snape, he's described like a dog that just scented a rabbit (pg. 645 ch. 28).

He and James were described as the forerunners of the Weasley twins (pg. 653 ch. 29).

Sirius and James were the best in school at whatever they did, everyone thought they were the height of cool and they could get swept up in that feeling (pg. 670 ch. 29).

He wanted to die in battle (Hagrid pg. 855 ch. 38).

Sirius and James used to use the two-way Mirror he gave to Harry to talk when they were in different detentions (pg. 859 ch. 38).

Remus Lupin:

Remus was a Prefect while he was at Hogwarts, he thinks it's because Dumbledore hoped he would be able to control his friends (pg. 170 ch. 9).

He seemed to be okay with joking about being a werewolf with his friends (pg. 643 ch. 28).

He rather reasonably wants them to be quiet while they talk about it (pg. 643 ch. 28).

He was good about studying (pg. 644, 645 ch. 28).

He didn't join James and Sirius when they went to bother Snape, he seemed uncomfortable with it (pg. 645 ch. 28).

Remus didn't laugh with everyone else when James was insulting Snape (pg. 647 ch. 28).

He never told his friends off for what they were doing (pg. 671 ch. 28).

He did make them feel ashamed of themselves sometimes (pg. 671 ch. 28).

Peter Pettigrew:

He was sitting between James and Lily in the photo that was taken of the order (pg. 174 ch. 9).

He tried to look at his neighbors' papers during the O.W.L.s and seemed generally concerned (pg. 642 ch. 28).

He watched James catch the snitch over and over getting progressively more excited and vocal about his awe (pg. 645 ch. 28).

He didn't get up with James and Sirius to bully Snape, but he did watch the interaction between the three with anticipation (pg. 645 ch. 28).

He jumped to his feet and watched hungrily when they actually start using spells on Snape (pg. 646 ch. 28).

Voldemort:

He tricks, blackmails, and jinxes people rather than showing up at their front door. He's well practiced at opperating in secrecy (pg. 96 ch. 5).

He didn't know the full contents of the prophecy when he tried to kill Harry (pg. 839 ch. 37).

Death Eaters:

Snape (Petunia just says "that horrible boy", Harry assumes she's talking about his father, but I think that it makes more sense for Petunia to be talking about Snape) told Lily about Dementors somewhere that Petunia could hear it (pg. 32 ch. 2).

Regulus Black was an idiot who was soft enough to belive his parent's pure blood mania (Sirius pg. 111 ch. 6).

Regulus died about 15 years before the events at the begining of the Order of the Pheonix (pg. 112 ch. 6).

Regulus was younger and much better than Sirius as the elder was constatly reminded. He joined the Death Eaters (pg. 112 ch. 6).

Bellatrix and her husband Rodolphus, his brother Rabastian, and Barty Crouch Jr all went to Azkaban at the same time (pg. 114 ch. 6).

Bellatrix got sent to Azkban for using the cruciatus curse on Neville's parents until they went insane (pg. 515 ch. 23).

Antonin Dolohov was convicted for the brutal murders of Gideon and Fabian Prewett (pg. 543 ch. 25).

Augustus Rookwood was convicted of leaking Ministry of Magic Secrets to Voldemort (pg. 544 ch. 25).

The crimes of the Death Eaters who were released from Azkaban during the first wizarding war were legendary (pg. 549 ch. 25).

Snape's parents argued a lot. He killed flies as a teenager (pg. 592 ch. 26).

Snape wrote at least a foot more on the essay portion on the O.W.L.S. than his closest neighbors (pg. 641 ch. 28).

Snape cuts James' face open with a spell that is implied to be Sectumsempra but could have been any kind of cutting curse/jinx/spell in response to their bullying (pg. 647 ch. 28).

Snape called Lily a mudblood after the DADA O.W.L.S. in fifth year (pg. 647 ch, 28).

The Death Eaters seem to not know that Voldemort is a half blood, or Bellatrix at the very least is horribly offended by the idea (pg. 784 ch. 35).

Snape only heard the first part of the prophecy and left to report it to Voldemort (pg. 843 ch. 37).

General Information:

Tonks' father Ted is muggle born and a slob (pg. 50 ch. 3).

In the current era there are at least 20 people in the order but we never really get an accurate headcount for in the Marauder's era so I'll assume that it's around this (pg. 67 ch. 4).

Walburga was heavily against any and all blood status that wasn't pure blood. she calls Sirius the shame of her flesh (pg. 78 ch. 4).

Back when Voldemort was in power there were a lot of strange deaths (pg. 91 ch. 5).

In the Marauder's era Voldemort had huge numbers in his army, people he'd bullied and bewitched, blood purists, and a variety of dark creatures (pg. 93 ch. 5).

A lot of people wanted Dumbledore to take over the Minsiter's job when Bagnold retired but he never wanted it (pg. 93 ch. 5).

Tonks is to young to be in the previous order, and having Aurors on their side is a massive advatage (pg. 95 ch. 5).

The Order ONLY comprises of over age wizards who have left school (pg. 97 ch. 5).

Sirius broke his mother's heart (Kreacher). Walburga didn't have a heart (Sirius). Walburga would have haed that Kreacher was serving Sirius because she hated him (Kreacher pg. 109 ch. 6).

Walburga loved the family tapestry it'd been in the family for seven centuries (pg. 110 ch. 6).

Sirius' parents were blood purist maniacs and were conviced that being a Black made you practically royalty (pg. 111 ch. 6).

Andromeda was Sirius' favorite cousin, she married a muggle born Ted Tonks and was blasted off the family tree (pg. 113 ch. 6).

There were severaly highly dangerous or at least very painful artifacts in Grimmauld Manor (pg. 116 ch. 6).

Moody, Dedalus Diggle, and Marlene McKinnon were all part of the Original order. Marlene and her entire family were murdered two weeks after the picture was taken (pg. 173 ch. 9).

Fank and Alice Long bottom were also part of the original Order, Neville has Alice's round and friendly face (pg. 173 ch. 9).

Emmaline Vance was part of the original Order as was Lupin (pg. 174 ch.9).

Benjy Fenwickwas a member of the Order he died as well, they only ever found pieces of him (pg. 174 ch.9).

Edgar Bones was a member of the Order and the brother of Amelia Bones. He died and so did the rest of their family except for Amelia (pg. 174 ch.9).

Sturgis Podmore was part of the original Order (pg. 174 ch.9).

Caradoc Dearborn was a memeber of the original Order and he disapeared and was never found six months after the photo was taken (pg. 174 ch.9).

Hagrid and Elphias Doge were part of the original Order and Elphias used to wear a stupid hat (pg. 174 ch.9).

It took five Death Eaters to kill Gideon and Fabian Prewett, they fought like heroes (pg. 174 ch.9).

Aberforth was at least in the Order's picture but Moody says that was the only time he saw him so who knows how involved he was (pg. 174 ch.9).

Dorcas Meadows was killed by Voldemort Personally (pg. 174 ch.9).

During the first wizarding war they weren't prepared and they didn't know what Voldemort was up to (Remus pg. 177 ch. 9).

Stubby Boardman was born around the same time Sirius Black was and probably looked something like him (pg. 192 ch. 10).

The sorting hat gives warning whenever it feels that the school is in great danger, theoretically it gave at least one during the first wizarding war (pg. 209 ch. 11).

Frank Longbottom was more talented than his son (Neville's grandmother pg. 513 ch. 23).

Frank and Alice were tourtured to insanity by Death Eaters (pg. 514 ch. 23).

Alice and Frank Longbottom were aurors and well respected in the wizarding comunity. they were highly gifted (Neville's Grandmother pg. 514 ch. 23).

Fabian and Gideon Prewett were brutally murdered by Antonin Dolohov (pg. 543 ch. 25).

Being an Auror is a difficult career path that seems to go years without new recruits (pg. 662 ch. 29).

Dumbledore placed a charm on Harry using Lily's sacrifice and that's what's been keeping him safe (pg. 837 ch. 37).

Dumbledore wanted to get rid of divination as a subject and realized that Proffessor Trelawney didn't have any talent when he went to interview her as a courtesy (pg. 840-841 ch. 37).

Trelawney gave the prophecy, changing Dumbledore's mind (pg. 841 ch. 37).

A lot of stuff is mentioned in the prophecy but I think the most important part is "Born to those who have thrice defied him" (pg. 841 ch. 37).

The prophecy fit two couples and two boys to be born at the end of July. The Potters and the Longbottoms. Both couples had narrowly escaped Voldemort three times when the prophecy was given (pg. 842 ch. 37).

Questions:

Why did the Order exist during the first wizarding war? The majority of the members were Aurors who were already searching out Death Eaters for the Ministry and even though there were a few people spying for Voldemort none of them were in a high enough position to actually imperio the Minster of Magic. In fact as far as we're aware the Order didn't do jack shit to help in a way that the Ministry wasn't. Also for a secret society their members were very well known, of course Peter was spying and feeding information but they really didn't have a spy within the Death Eater's in return?

Why aren't Lily's friends even named? We see her hanging out with them at the lake but we don't get anything else about them.

Why was James Head Boy? He was magcially powerful but it was also common knowledge that he was breaking rules all the time, he was in detention a LOT.

Also how many actually Death Eaters were there? It's supposed to be an inner circle but we know there were at least 25 members who lived through the war, plus other's who died like Regulus and Evan Rosier... for such an elite group it seemed to be pretty large.

#james potter #currently reading #lily evans #lord voldemort #albus dumbledore #mauraders #sirius black #books and reading #harry potter #reading #time line #questions

20 notes · View notes

blorger · 1 month ago

Note

jkr doesn't like Draco but is also desperately trying to make some sort of point with his depiction, I just think it doesn't translate very well to her audience. - can you explain more?

and jkr is terminally incapable of making a femme-coded villain that doesn't read as attractive - what do you mean by this?

Just to clarify, you're not asking me to prove that jkr dislikes Draco, right? Because that would take ages.

If you're wondering what point jkr was trying to make with Draco's depiction, well... in the post you're referring to I pointed out that we as readers often end up interpreting Draco as good looking (because of the way he's described) and that is just one of the many things that proves the huge disconnect between what jkr wanted Draco to be perceived like and how he's generally understood by the fandom.

Draco was deliberately created to be an amalgamation of things jkr dislikes:

he's evil wealthy

With the unquestioning belief in his own superior status he has imbibed from his pure-blood parents, he initially offers Harry friendship on the assumption that the offer needs only to be made to be accepted. The wealth of his family stands in contrast to the poverty of the Weasleys; this too, is a source of pride to Draco, even though the Weasleys’ blood credentials are identical to his own.

[x]

Notice how jkr herself compares the Weasleys, her genteel poverty-coded ideal family, to the nasty rich Malfoys. Reading jkr's books gives you the impression that she feels some type of way about rich people; on the one hand she started writing hp at a time in her life where she didn't have much money so she gave Harry a secret fortune as a sort of wish-fulfillment, on the other hand, despite what she says she definitely believes that experiencing poverty makes you somehow a better person.

2. he's pathetic

jkr has stated multiple times that Draco is someone to be pitied; in a series where courage=nobility of spirit Draco is a consummate coward and his deliberate femme-coding is there to further give you an overall negative impression of him.

3. he' s a Bad Guy

Like, Draco is on the wrong side of things for a reason, not only that he's on the wrong side in a way that jkr considers to be near irredeemable. Despite jkr herself acknowledging that Draco's beliefs are a natural result of his upbringing

I pity Draco, just as I feel sorry for Dudley. Being raised by either the Malfoys or the Dursleys would be a very damaging experience, and Draco undergoes dreadful trials as a direct result of his family’s misguided principles

[x]

She still considers him to be fundamentally unlikeable.

[x, x, x]

We're not supposed to like Draco, we're not supposed to sympathise with him, we're not supposed to see him as fundamentally redeemable. jkr (as clearly shown by her terf ways) is frankly incapable of feeling empathy for people whose experience cannot in some way shape or form relate back to her and will therefore never truly understand why people like Draco.

Draco, just like Pansy, is built in the image of a standard bully

[x]

and in the hp books, a series with a very black and white depiction of morality, a grey character like Draco can never truly be redeemed.

I don't know about you but my image of Draco differs greatly from jkr's. As I pointed out previously, the books read very differently if you don't hold the exact same worldview as jkr and that is precisely why Draco is a popular character; people are still able to empathise with him, despite jkr's intentions, and many people get a completely different, more nuanced read of his character.

As for the femme coding thing, I'm afraid I was using a hyperbole. I was thinking of jkr's bonkers depiction of Tom Riddle when I wrote that but there's quite a few characters that read very feminine but aren't described very flatteringly (Percy and Slughorn come to mind).

Hopefully this is the answer you were looking for,

xoxo

#hp #hp meta #D Malf my main man #the blorger special #AMA

20 notes · View notes

severus-snaps · 4 months ago

Text

a ramble and some open questions for fandom elders (and others) about whether Snape was only made more sympathetic on account of Alan Rickman's popularity/casting, and similar things

so I stopped engaging with a tiktok creator for a while who I'd previously found very interesting because nearly every time they brought up Snape, they'd throw in some casual "if Harry was a girl, Snape would be really creepy/predatory about it" or some other weird Snape take not rooted in anything (to my mind). Like, it was weird to me because they bring in book quotes or pottermore/interview snippets to other analyses of other characters and ideas, but never Snape - for Snape, it was always just about vibes and feelings. For Snape, the fact we never hear that he killed someone or the fact we never heard that he stalked Lily is, in fact, strong evidence that he did do those things - or certainly thought about it - and certainly enough to be considered predatory and likely to dose Lily (and later a hypothetical Harriet) with a love potion or keep them in his basement, or something.

I disputed that idea in the comments one time, and some Snape supporting comments outside of mine got removed and users blocked, meanwhile my comments were (I think deliberately) misinterpreted. I stopped using tiktok entirely for a while, and never went back to see if the comments got deleted or whatever. Tiktok never gave me any further notifications about it upon re-downloading, so I guess they were removed? Idk. I have no desire to check.

but all of that is background really; she's lately posted some videos (I still find the rest of her content interesting, but apparently snape content is a no-go lool) saying that Snape's whole characterisation is different after the 'three year summer' - that is, that JKR saw how popular Snape was in the films, that she had to find a way to keep Alan Rickman on board when he wanted to leave, and that when she took her break between writing GoF and OotP I think, Snape sort of morphed into a new character and she had to attempt to redeem him (which, in her eyes, he's not redeemed even at the end which is like. ok). She implied that there's no evidence of James' bullying prior to OotP, no evidence of Snape ever having had a relationship (much less a friendship) with Lily, and that all of that was tossed into the later books retroactively to 'redeem' his character. (Obviously, I have Thoughts on that, which I'll come back to).

Of course, with the sort of... bad vibes she's built up around pro-Snape comments on her videos, all of the comments were in agreement with her. I'm also new to HP/Snape in terms of actively engaging with the fandom online, as it somehow passed me by at the time. But now I have Thoughts

So with all of that in mind, and just because I want to hear other people's thoughts but TikTok comments are a nightmare on their own with the character limit, inability to read them properly/in order, and general vibe of TikTok comments (even without the creator deleting/getting antsy about pro-Snape ideas), if anyone wants to discuss this lot, I am keen to hear people's thoughts:

Was Snape always a popular book character, or did that change/skyrocket with Alan Rickman? (For my part, I don't remember hating Snape when I read the books the first time around - in fact, I hardly remember registering him at all - but I do remember hating Umbridge).

How true is it that Snape was made 'more sympathetic' following the films? To me, it doesn't make sense; the first big, weighty suggestion of the marauders bullying Snape was in PoA, which was released mid-1999; the first evidence that Snape was spying was in GoF, in mid-2000. The first film didn't even come out (Alan Rickman's charisma included) until 2001. Weirdly, the PoA stuff the user is convinced just says that Snape was jealous of James (probably true, not denying it) but in the exact same book Remus/Sirius all but admitted to Sirius trying to kill Snape, which seems like a massive overreaction to Snape being an annoying little hater of a teen that she never comments on because, I guess, Snape deserved it?

Also, does it matter if he was made 'more sympathetic'? ootp was published in 2003, and in early 2002 Alan considered leaving. sure, JK might have added/exaggerated SWM to make him more sympathetic, but the reasons for adding in scenes don't change the fact that that's now part of the fabric of the character - a character who, by this point, had already been revealed in PoA to be the subject of a near-murder plot at the hands of the Marauders and was Very Not Okay about it; the marauders had already been described as troublemakers; Snape was already shown to be wary of Lupin for reasons that weren't solely about him being a werewolf, but about the Prank/Trick/Willow incident. An incident, much like SWM, that occurred because Sirius thought it would be "amusing" to put Snape in a horrible position. if JKR wanted to, she could've made Sirius the ringleader in SWM - but for Snape, I think she just wanted to solidify why a grown man hates a child who looks exactly like his father, which was also referenced in the early books and strongly prefaced by the events of PoA in the Shack (I don't think she had it 'all planned out' from day dot, however, but went with the vibes and fleshed out the details later). Obviously, to this creator, Lupin's idea that Snape was solely a little bitch because he hated that James was better at Quidditch is to be taken at face value, despite the fact the conversation then moves on to Snape's near-death following Sirius 'trick'ing Snape into the willow

Same as above but with his characterisation; she acknowledges that the later books are darker and have a more adult tone, but somehow it's still suspicious that Snape's sympathetic backstory was never once alluded to in earlier books (which, again, I think it's fair to say it was alluded to, but in sufficiently lacking detail so that JK could deal with it when she got there). Also with PoA and GoF especially, there are hints of Snape going from his more 'silly evil teacher' which he kind of was in books 1 and 2, heading towards the more realistic, but still delightfully bitter and flawed, adult character as the books aged up. I haven't read the books in a while I'll admit, but from the Snape passages I have read, I never noticed a sufficient difference pre or post three-year-summer that didn't match the wider tone of the books changing also.

Unlike the tiktok creator, I also think that Snape's reaction to Harry in general is almost entirely to do with James, rather than Lily's so-called rejection, and so there's no evidence that Snape would be weird to a 'Harriet' that resembled his mother, or weird to Lily if he saw her again; I think with his characterisation it's more likely that Harriet would've been treated like Hermione, Ron, or Tonks - being largely ignored with the occasional insult and told off for causing trouble - aka, how Snape would treat most people. Outside of the one isolated 'mudblood' incident, Snape was a bit of a doormat when it came to Lily (bless his heart). He followed her from the train carriage without comment, backtracked when she appeared angry in the post-prank conversation, even the "I won't let you" seemed more "I won't let you turn him into some kind of hero" or even, at a stretch, an "I won't let you be with him" out of Lily's own safety or something than "I won't let you leave me", to me - because he did just let her leave him in school? James and Snape continued hexing one another in 7th year, but there's no suggestion that Snape ever tried to be weird to Lily.

To my mind, there's no suggestion that Snape stalked Lily, no suggestion that he asked Voldemort to capture her - just to spare her. And then Snape went to Dumbledore anyway, probably immediately based on how harried he is on the windy hilltop scene, because he knew Voldemort wouldn't spare her, and even if he did, Snape would probably have to keep up the ruse of 'desiring' Lily, and do the sorts of thing Snaters suggest he wanted to do, just to keep her alive. But with Dumbledore involved, Snape wouldn't ever have the chance to imprison/love potion her - and that wasn't what he wanted. He just wanted her alive so he wouldn't have played a part in her death. I also doubt that Snape had much time to think when Voldemort revealed who he was choosing to kill; it's not as though Voldemort makes decisions by committee. He'd have revealed his plans and Snape would make a quick, panic-stricken decision to tell Voldemort that he desired Lily (which he may have done, to an extent; he'd need to draw on something to back up his request when Voldemort undoubtedly looked into his mind to see why Snape wanted to spare his Priority #1 victim). And like I say, he then set up a meeting with Dumbledore, probably immediately/as soon as he could, sensing that that wouldn't work (was he not convincing enough? Did he just know Voldemort too well? I have so many questions about how that conversation went down, and subsequent conversations about Lily which presumably occurred after V's resurrection).

anyway, no conclusion, only thoughts too rambly for tiktok comments

#these were in my head and now they're written down i can stop thinking them. nobody is actually obligated to engage even though i'd enjoy it #severus snape #pro snape #snape #professor snape #snape fandom #pro severus snape #young snape #snapedom

68 notes · View notes