#it's just based on the harry potter world and not with jkr's views

[theguywithaoriginalname]

man, don't you just love when you search up your fav creator who helped a ton of people and is nice and welcoming and the first results you get is people hating on him because he played hogwarts legacy and that's it?

[youareatragedy]

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.

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

Here we go again. Another institution, brimming with self-righteous faux outrage, is trying to airbrush JK Rowling’s name out of history. This time it’s the turn of the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Seattle, Washington, which has removed the world-famous author’s name from its Harry Potter exhibition. Last week, the museum announced that while it will continue to display memorabilia from the Harry Potter books and films, it wants no association with their supposedly problematic creator.

Explaining the decision in a 1,400-word blog, the museum’s exhibitions project manager, Chris Moore, brands Rowling a ‘cold, heartless, joy-sucking entity’. Moore, who identifies as trans and uses ‘he / them’ pronouns, takes exception to Rowling’s ongoing interest in preserving women’s hard-won rights over the ‘right of anyone who insists they are who they say they are’. Once again, Rowling’s reasonable and rational defence of women’s sex-based rights is being presented disingenuously as ‘hateful’ or ‘harmful’ towards transgender people, and therefore deserving of cancellation.

Moore even seems to think it would be better if Rowling had never existed. ‘We would love to go with the internet’s theory that these books were actually written without an author’, he writes, ‘but this certain person is a bit too vocal with her super hateful and divisive views to be ignored’.

Strikingly, Moore goes a few steps further than most of Rowling’s critics. He doesn’t just accuse her of transphobia. He also accuses the Harry Potter books of peddling ‘racial stereotypes’, promoting ‘fat shaming’ and, perhaps most heinous of all, lacking ‘LGBTQIA+ representation’. Surely to goodness there must have been a few pansexual / nonbinary students in the imaginary, magical school of Hogwarts? Shame on JKR for not giving them a voice, eh? The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, might have been gay, but apparently that’s not enough in our world of 764 genders.

I find myself torn about this particular non-event, to be perfectly honest. On the one hand, I realise this is simply the latest in a long line of attempts to shut Rowling up. ‘I saw Goody Rowling, in the barn, consorting with the devil!’ is the tone of every such outburst. By now, these tricks have become cheap and obvious to anyone observing closely. The smears are always baseless.

On the other hand, the attempts to erase Rowling are deadly serious. Each attempted takedown inevitably leads to her receiving the vilest, cruellest abuse. Abuse which, if you’ve ever taken the time to read it, contains some of the most horrific things one human could say to or about another. Rowling is no doubt a tower of strength and resilience, having been on the receiving end of this bile for years. But it’s probably still having an effect on her, deep down.

Perhaps there is an upside to this stunt by Moore and the MoPOP, however. Removing Rowling’s name from the museum, and condemning her as ‘super hateful’, is so infantile that most right-thinking people will likely see it for the foolishness it really is. Sunlight, on occasions such as these, has a remarkable effect of highlighting the absurd and often cruel behaviour of the gender ideologues. People are getting wise to these smear tactics now that they are so regularly churned out. The problem is it is difficult to get people to speak out against them.

Sadly, most people are still too scared to speak up. This shouldn’t surprise us when the extremist factions of the trans movement use threats of rape, violence and torture to bring people into line. They doxx people’s addresses and workplaces, so the heretics can be hunted down and vilified, resulting in the loss of earnings, jobs, reputations and more. There are countless examples of this. And no doubt there will be many more to come.

Faced with this, we cannot simply stand by and shrug. We have to stand up to the smears. The truth is that Rowling has never said anything untoward about trans people. She has been critical of the behaviour of some trans fanatics. She has been vocal in her support for single-sex spaces for women and girls. And yes, she has vociferously defended herself against hourly abuse. As she damn well has a right to do. But she is not the bigot she has been made out to be.

It’s time we all speak up for what is right. It’s time to break the cycle of fear. It’s time we called out this public assault on JK Rowling – and on all the other gender-critical feminists who’ve been similarly maligned. We need to put a stop to this authoritarian movement.

----------------------------

James Dreyfus is an actor who has starred in Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, Absolutely Fabulous and The Thin Blue Line.

[bonesandthebees]

hello Bee!

I’m not sending asks and comments often, but I read almost all of your works and just wanted to say that I, as many others, will keep reading them no matter what characters you will write because you are incredible author and your works are so much much much more than fandom they are based on <3

I’ve read some of your recent answers to asks and whether you will continue writing Wilbur’s character or not I wanted to say that for me, (and I am sure for many others) it will not be weird or smth to read those works because your depiction of character is always so much more than original roleplay. You add a lot of new layers to the character and make him kind of original one, and that’s the thing I love a lot about your works. I can change all the names in my mind, and I will be still interested in reading because it’s not work of cc!Wilbur, it’s work of Bonesandthebees and her amazing ideas. And, keeping in mind that as far as I see you really love your ongoing works and character dynamics, it will suck to throw them away just because one man turned to be shitty person, right? cc!Wilbur kind of just don’t deserve to be the one ruin such a beautiful thing. Regarding to this situation, I also remembered the J. K. Rowling case. (I hope you don’t mind those parallels because I feel like this can be helpful) Rowling is very questionable person and was canceled a lot, but the Harry Potter world keeps living and fans keep creating their works not because they support Rowling, but because they love the characters and want to create. Because it’s about the emotions of fans and their desire to create and share their art and not about her. And your works are too about your art, not CCs.

Anyway, I don’t want to pressure you into continuing and I just wanted to give you another point of view. Once again it’s a question of what’s comfortable to you and I will be happy to be able to read your works no matter what.

stay safe ❤️❤️

this means a lot thank you. I'm very glad it won't be weird reading my past works with him in it because yeah, let's be real at this point I've done a lot of the legwork with fleshing out his character in my stories. though I will say I did always take care to keep my characterization as accurate as possible, but either way I don't want this to take my work away from me. I'm proud of everything I've created since joining this fandom and I'm not letting it be ruined because of this.

I will say, I wouldn't exactly compare this situation to JKR and harry potter for many reasons that I really don't feel like getting into (JKR's influence in transphobic politics being a major point) but I get the gist of what you're going for.

it's about what we as a community have built. it's about the love and passion we have for these characters. it's about our shared creativity that's flourished over the years. we don't have to lose that just because the guy turned out to be shitty. we're so far past him at this point.

regarding the future of my own ongoing wips, as I've said I'm just taking time to think it over and see where my own comfort level is. but it's reassuring to hear so many of you are going to be supporting me no matter what.

[dhr-ao3]

Rituals for Remembering

Rituals for Remembering https://ift.tt/OFodrLs by Alexis_Vale A researcher intent on curing memory disorders. A musician yearning for his forgotten muse. After Dr. Helene Farmer is asked to treat a famous singer with amnesia, her own memory loss resumes plaguing her. Maybe she doesn't need to remember. Helping others restore their memories should be enough. But his music beckons her, and as she learns more about him, her buried memories begin to resurface. Vessel is compelled to summon his lost love through his lyrics. She’s out there, somewhere. He wants her back. Even if he drove her away. Even if she doesn’t want him. But the beautiful doctor consulting on his case has her own mysteries, and as he learns more about her, he senses she might hold the key to his longing. Their pasts are tangled together. And they each have their Rituals for Remembering. This story is neither canon nor timeline compliant, and based on characters originally created by JKR ( I do not support her views,eww) and inspired by the brilliance of Sleep Token. I had to take some liberties with timelines--I am not smart enough to plot time travel! Updates weekly. Please don’t post this on Goodreads! Enjoy! Words: 4597, Chapters: 1/13, Language: English Series: Part 1 of Forget, Remember, Forgive Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/M, Multi Characters: Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Vessel (Sleep Token), Harry Potter, Sleep Token Ensemble, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Victoire Weasley, Charlie Weasley Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom/Pansy Parkinson, Sleep & Vessel (Sleep Token), Vessel (Sleep Token)/Original Female Character(s), Theodore Nott/Charlie Weasley, Theodore Nott/Everyone Additional Tags: Theodore Nott Being a Little Shit, BAMF Hermione Granger, Doctor Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy is Good at Sex, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Timelines, Draco Malfoy in the Muggle World, Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy In Love, Endgame Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy Smut, Draco Malfoy Has a Large Cock, Protective Draco Malfoy, Draco Malfoy Has a Different Name, POV Hermione Granger, POV Draco Malfoy, Vessel (Sleep Token) Needs A Hug, Draco Malfoy Needs a Hug, BAMF Blaise Zabini, Protective Theodore Nott, Memory Loss, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Pining Draco Malfoy, Simp Draco Malfoy, Dark Magic Rituals (Harry Potter), I Wrote This While Listening to Sleep Token's Music, Modern Era, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Just Kick Rocks Canon, in every lifetime, Hermione and Draco are not OK but they will be, it will only hurt a little, HEA I swear, Harry Potter The-Boy-Who-Shreds, slytherin gang gang, Are you Sure Ginny and Harry are Gryffindor?, BAMF Theodore Nott, Researcher Hermione Granger, Musician Draco Malfoy, Charlie & Theo are poly get into it, Theo can't help if Sleep Token Fans are Sexy, Lucius Regrets His Interference and Earns his Redemption, Narcissa Tried to Tell him, Sleep Token is Dramione Coded, The Venn Diagram of Dramione fans and Sleep Token Fans is a circle, BAMF Pansy Parkinson, Supportive Harry Potter, ron who?, BAMF Neville Longbottom, Neville Has Rhythm Yes Indeed, The Best Support System Ever, Come Get Your Man Hermione, Draco Your Lady Is Right There, No One Does It Like Draco, doctors are the worst patients via AO3 works tagged 'Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy' https://ift.tt/FwsJpUo November 22, 2024 at 07:10PM

[huthurheartsdramione]

Hiii! It’s been a long time since I’ve posted on here and I thought I would maybe try to be more active again so here’s some information about me to introduce myself.

Name: Heather

Age: 33

Screen name: huthurheartsdramione

Reasoning for screen name: my brother used to call me huthur and I love Dramione fanfic.

Reading Fanfic Since 2000: After The Goblet of Fire was published. Like many people, I read a little too much into Draco warning Hermione and friends about the Death Eaters at the Qudditch Workd Cup, and it spiraled from there and I started looking for stories/people who also thought Hermione and Draco would be a great couple. In the early days, I was on many now defunct sites including Coloured Grey and Granger Enchanted. I even printed out fanfic to take with me places where I didn’t have internet so I could read it. There are likely many half-stories lying around my childhood home. So I’ve been reading Dramione in particular for over 24 years, and within the Harry Potter fandom.

I also just want to make note that I don’t endorse, condone, or believe in JKR’s views. I know we can never fully separate the fandom from her and her work, but I do not condone transphobia in any way shape or form.

Fandom Realted Fun Facts:

1. I have a spreadsheet of fanfics I read this year. I felt bad about not reading traditionally published books as much this year and tracking my word count makes me feel better about that. My goal is to reach 10 million words by the end of the year. I’ve only been tracking since April of this year. I’m a big data nerd and it makes my heart happy to track random things.

2. While I rate fanfic in my tracker, I only rate things 3-5. If I read it, it was at least a 3. I also rate traditionally published books this way. It has to be at least average if I finished it. I do not rate fanfic on any other websites or through my collections or any of those things. Fandom is free and the rating system is more for me to keep track of things I might want to reread in the future or that I was really moved by than anything else.

3. I still think about a song fic that I haven’t been able to find again. It was based off a song by Rilo Kiley and every time I hear that song I think about the fanfic.

Real Life Job: Event Planning

Published Fics: 0, but I have many half written drafts of things.

Some Favorite Tropes/Tags: War AU, BAMF Hermione/Draco, Burn the World for Hermione, Pining, Hurt/Comfort, Marriage Law, Marriage of Convenience, Theo Nott is A Menace

10 Favorite Fics this Year in no Particular Order:

1. Bloody, Slutty, and Pathetic

2. Green Light

3. Measure of a Man (I followed this as a WIP and then fell off reading and finally went back and read all of it. I wish I had saved the original version before it was edited though).

4. Amina Gemella (my first ever Harry/Blaise and a companion to The Fear of Letting Go which is a Dramione. It’s just so dang good).

5. EXIT and REBEL (I want to go back and tandem read these so badly)

6. These Ties that Bind

7. Of Sun Swords and Worms (listen this is a WIP but I can already tell it’ll be a favorite. It is so heart aching and well written).

8. Crimson and Clover

9. Stop All the Clocks (This Is the Last Time I'm Leaving Without You)

10. an ever-fixed mark

I would love to learn more about all of you! What do you like to read? What’s your favorite fic? What are your favorite tropes? Do you have a fic tracker? If so, do you want to compare?

[joannerowling]

(regarding the Hilton article that you were sent by that anon)

Hilton’s "criticism" is so frustrating because my favorite thing about the Strike novels is that the crimes the team are investigating are not treated as crazy one-offs, but as single *instances* of more frequent problems, and so of course on the way to uncovering one truth, they uncover several. Similarly, the act of investigating those single instances will bring up similar circumstances from characters’ pasts, because again, they are not entirely infrequent occurrences.

But what also shocks me is that this particular criticism ("How dare the world not be split into good decent people and The Criminal!") is the perfect opposite of the criticism everyone loves to return to with Harry Potter ("How dare she write a book where there are Good Guys and Bad Guys"). Of course, actually reading HP will show that the books aren’t so clear cut, but they are still children’s books which tackle good vs evil.

So which one is it? Does Rowling write books with painfully black-and-white views of the world, or does she need to be reminded that only one person can be evil at a time, and the morally perfect heroes must defeat him before someone else can take the reigns? Do we want more variation and imperfection and bad-people-on-both-sides or less?

Well there are two things you have to consider in order to answer your question.

Number one, most if not all criticism thrown at JK Rowling since 2020 has to be read as bad faith because, 9 times out of 10, it's motivated by ideology rather than an actual desire to engage intellectually with the text. It doesn't matter if the criticism makes sense or constitutes rigourous analysis, what matters is how much criticism gets thrown out there. If there are enough articles titled "10 Reasons Why Harry Potter Is Actually Terrible For Children", most people won't read the articles, but they will eventually get a sense that Harry Potter MUST be wrong for children to generate so much controversy. The goal is to discredit JKR's opinions by any mean necessary. That's why Pink News's strategy in June 2020 (following Jo publishing her essay on self-identification) was to publish multiple "articles" a day attacking her and her positions.

Number two: i've read a lot of bad faith "criticism" of JKR and HP over the years (long before 2020). This thing you're talking about - accusing her of promoting black and white morality in HP - is mostly no longer "fashionable" discourse. At its height, it was only ever promoted by, ahem, let's call them "passionate" fans of Slytherin. Context: the marketing strategy of Harry Potter (especially post-release) heavily relies on encouraging fans to pick one of the four houses and identify with it. The problem with that marketing strategy is, to sumrise, no Slytherin is supposed to be a good guy in HP (because the way the "recruits" are picked is based on a racist/classist premise), and there is no real redemption arc for any of the Slytherins kids we see in the books, so some fans eventually started to resent that and became mad at JKR for not just… redeeming Draco and making him Harry's best friend or or whatever. Honestly the psychology behind this particular outrage and why so many people rallied behind it against Rowling ever since the 2000s is fascinating and could easily make for an entire post on its own. But, not the point of this reply!

In short: it was always a very niche criticism from a very petty and nerdy side of the fandom. And nowadays, that specific subset has by and large decided that engaging AT ALL with Harry Potter would make them a Bad Person™. So they no longer protest that specific, perceived issue, because that would mean admitting they care about HP in the first place. They have moved towards basically saying that JKR's morals IN GENERAL are wrong, so if you read her books (which you shouldn't!!) every good guy should be seen as bad (or badly written) and vice versa. This is the reasoning behind people calling for an entire "rewriting" of the books by anyone else, preferably multiple people, or aggressively pursuing the building of a "counter" HP universe, via fanfiction.

Which, again, is really interesting to me from a psychological perspective! This need not to simply erase, but rewrite JKR's work in the "correct" way. The only reason one would feel the need to do that if if they perceived the original work to have so much resonance, so much power, that it can't just be left to be forgotten, because it will NOT fade on its own. Instead you have to rewrite it to confuse future readers, to "drown" the original work essentially under a pile of bullshit. It is not a goal one would ever pursue so relentlessly if they perceived the writing to be bad – wrong, maybe, but not bad. On the contrary it's probably the highest compliment to Jo's writing skills that people feel so threatened by her and the longetivity of her work.

[fugamalefica]

What are your thoughts on buying Hogwarts Legacy and supporting JKR? Obviously I'm okay with being a Harry Potter fan because I am myself one but giving her money is just a big NO.

I don't support Rowling's transphobic views at all but she also donates money to Afghan and Iranian women, so I absolutely would give her my money as an Iranian woman myself. I don't play video games, nor do I buy official merch which is movie based anyway, but I am not going to criticise anyone for giving her money that can (and will) help women who are brutally oppressed under evil Islamic regimes.

You might say 'just donate the money yourself', but let's be honest, how many people are going to do that? I absolutely do but most people won't. I mean I would never spend $70 on a game that can be pirated even if I were a gamer – I already pirate everything from movies and books to hypnosis audios – but thousands of people apparently do and if that money helps Muslim women, probably the most oppressed class in the world, it is very well spent.

I have the same opinion on giving her a platform. Her Twitter is full of support for Iranian and Afghan women and for me, that is a very big deal.

If she was only transphobic, I would have agreed with you, anon, but as it happens, she might be a terrible person on one front but she is greatly helpful on another one. My own (very anti-regime) relatives live in Iran and they are at a high risk. If her money helps them and other people from my country, I am not going to oppose that.

[dm-clockwork-dragon]

I don't know much about economy, but while I certainly trust what you say about it, I think there are a lot more reasons than just that to boicott the game

JKR doesn't just use the money she gets to lobby for transphobic laws (lets be real she'll do that anyway she's rich enough), but uses the continued popularity of her creation as a springboard for her cause. She has outright stated that as far as she is concerned, everyone who buys anything Harry Potter related is endorsing her views, which she also uses when arguing for TERF bullshit. Money speaks but it's certainly a lot easier for it to speak when the power behind it is one of the world's most (in)famous authors.

And then there's the whole antisemitism thing. I'm not Jewish, but even without the countless posts and articles going around from Jewish folks pointing it out it's not hard to see why the game based on fighting a rebellion of evil hook-nosed creatures who run the banks and want to destroy the dominant group and also kidnap children is fundamentally antisemitic. And since the game's lead designer has ran a youtube channel peddling this kind of conspiracies, it's hard to deny that it was intentional or at the very least shows very fucked up views on the creators' part.

Yeah, and I'm in no way sitting around trying to defend the game, or the content. It's all full of terrible shit. But I will defend the people engaging with it. JK can use the platform as whatever springboard she wants, but a big part of why that springboard continues to have power is because we give it leverage by hunting down our own.

If JK says "anyone who buys or engages with HP agrees with me" and we respond by hunting down and vilifying those people within our community, all we are doing is falsely validating an utterly ridiculous claim. Vs if we as a collective just stood together and said "no, we fucking don't"

Idk. I don't claim to be right about everything. I'm just putting my opinion out into the world. And that opinion is that there's way more meaningful and effective ways to fight against Racism, Antisemitism, and TERFdom than to argue about which of our own are traitors and heretics.

If anything, we should be trying to find any and all ways to prove to the terfs that JK isn't TERF enough for them. No one burns their own at the stake better than Radicals and Extremists

[beetplease]

on being in the HP fandom

I felt like I had to write something maybe just for myself to get some coherence on this. I discovered Harry Potter (if you don’t count movies, I don’t) in the ninth grade when my bestie was really into it. A bunch of us read the entire series back then. I loved the magical parts, and I was very much in love with Snape. The biblical allegories irked me and I could understand why some church people advised against reading it.

What made the series more special to me was how much other people seemed to like it. I made so many friends online because of the fandom, and it was such a quick and easy way to connect with people. And that meant a lot to me, because I was really struggling with peer relationships back then with all the middle school politics, bullying, and puberty. Unlike other pop culture things, there was a lot to talk about in the HP fandom and a lot one could dream of.

There came a point where after watching the last movie and having made enduring friends both in school and college, I didn’t really need the fandom and I was able to leave it behind. My friendships were based on many other things - like shared experiences, genuine curiosity, and proximity. The pandemic tore me apart from this social world where I didn’t have to look too far for small comforts. Amidst the teeming stress of graduating, finding a job, and struggling so much to see any future for myself, I once more took solace in the series and found an online community, which was quite immersive and engaging. At the same time, JKR’s transphobic agenda came to light, causing harm to so many trans fans and allies, who now had to grapple with the choice of staying or leaving the fandom they held so dear.

My ninth grade bestie left the fandom. Any mention of HP triggers her. She feels betrayed, like most others, and I do too.

I stayed, because the community gave me hope like nothing else at that point did. There are many who have justified continued engagement with the Harry Potter fandom. My own city has a recently established HP-inspired café, where I caught up with another high school friend who read the series with me. People have made so much with the fandom, and made it their own. Even the “Death of the Author” argument has been invoked - cancel JKR, participate in HP fandom in a queer-affirming way, don’t economically contribute to JKR etc.

Staying has been disappointing. The community keeps letting me down. JKR just gets worse and worse, and reads our engagement as support for her views. Reading the books feels irksome again, because the author continues to cause harm, and benefit from our attention.

I was not particularly looking forward to Hogwarts: Legacy. But I saw how happy it made my friends. Then I found out it’s transphobic, antisemitic, and racist. Yet, a majority seem to be brushing this under the carpet. This includes people who vocally cancelled JKR but stayed in the fandom - people like me. We can definitely do without a game like this. There might be other HP games that are not so horrible. But interpreting the series through a critical race lens, I feel like the problems are so entrenched and a lot of fan labour would go into acknowledging and righting wrongs (through fan fiction, alternative reading lenses etc). I’m very appreciative of the people who are already doing this!

I considered slowly leave the fandom behind in the pandemic - I knew being in it was wrong, and I tried to make it not that way, but I believe I haven’t succeeded. There’s nothing extraordinary about the fandom to me save for the community I found, but even that community keeps letting me down. A friend asked me how I can continue to stay, and I did not have a good answer.

Having witnessed the myriad resistances one faces while reclaiming Harry Potter, I feel it might be better to just leave it all behind, perhaps. Move on to the next fantasy world (there are so many that are constructed with so much more care and compassion). Find community in other places, where people actually try instead of making excuses or ignoring the obvious. If anything this speaks to our potential for online communities.

I’m already filling the void with other things. But I hope I don’t come back to HP again during other earth-shattering times.

[lady-raziel]

I can’t believe I’m choosing to dive into Harry Potter analysis right now but here we go

Yes I’m aware that based on the actual written text Voldemort is an evil fascist snake man. But I think the point of literary analysis is to differentiate between “what is the STORY’S explanation for this thing” and “what might be the subconscious reason the AUTHOR wrote this set of things in this certain way.”

If you wanted to depict a character as unquestionably evil and utterly irredeemable, a person representative of all that’s wrong in the world and the things ripping society apart, making them a racist megalomaniac who wants to commit genocide is a pretty simple way to do that. I think that is the PROBLEM with Voldemort and just saying “well he’s evil so we shouldn’t think about how JKR’s prejudices might have affected his character.” He IS depicted as totally evil—which is why it’s a problem that ALLEGORICALLY his story shares fantasied elements of how terfs and transphobes see transgender people.

Transphobes DO see trans people as something wrong with society and DO view them as dangerous radicals who are hurting women and children. I think the interesting key point of the thought experiment in the original post was that “if JKR had chosen to make Voldemort transgender, how much of what we know of the character would actually change?” Because that’s the point— JKR would still depict Voldemort as an evil fascist. And it’s problematic that a character that could be read as trans-coded is also made so overwhelmingly evil.

There are more elements of this interpretation here than just the name issue (more on that in a second.) If you do a deep look at Tom Riddle’s backstory there’s much more— the young age he made his first horcrux, out of a desire to defy the “natural order” of things (to cheat death) and starting him down a path of irreversible physical change (which can be read through the lens of anti-gender affirming care for youth/allowing youth to transition); there’s the heavy emphasis on manipulation present in young Tom Riddle’s character in reality and in the horcrux-diary form where he corrupts people around him and gets them to do bad things too, particularly with the case of vulnerable 11 year old Ginny Weasley in Chamber of Secrets where he literally takes over her mind and attempts to steal her soul (transphobes fear of trans people corrupting children); there’s the element, again referring to physical change, that Tom Riddle is said to be very handsome and physically attractive but becomes hideous due to corrupting his soul (transphobes saying transitioning makes someone ugly etc.).

To go back to Dumbledore calling Voldemort by “Tom” (…and yes I do actually know how titles work, thanks…) I think it would be a mistake to wholly accept the STORY’S explanation for this unquestionably. In the context of the story, reminding Voldemort that he’s a man and “not indulging his delusions of grandeur” is the reason given for why Dumbledore does this. But in the context of analysis, I think it would be important to point out that for a transphobe, the motivations for refusing to use a trans person’s chosen name and instead deadnaming them might be insanely similar— to remind them that they are (in the transphobe’s eyes) biologically a man or woman and not to indulge “delusions of grandeur” of being a different gender.

In the context of canon Harry Potter, Dumbledore IS deadnaming Voldemort and while it might not be for reasons related to gender, the REASONING behind doing this is very similar for what I’ve just mentioned and what I said in the original post (using a chosen name as a privilege/whether or not someone is worthy of respect as reason to treat them with dignity) and also the power dynamics of belittlement and patronization in play. There’s the grand story reason for Dumbledore’s behavior, and then there is the fact that in practice it’s still just a way of dismissing Voldemort and Dumbledore saying “you’ll never be anything but worthless orphan Tom Riddle and you can never change who you are.” Let’s be really honest— if the whole “fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself” thing was the real motivation for Dumbledore doing this thing, in the context of the story or otherwise, then Lord Voldemort, the big scary grandiose name Tom Riddle chose, SHOULD be the name Dumbledore is using BECAUSE people are afraid to say it. If you can’t engage with an adversary and make people not afraid of them when they are at their strongest, what good is using “Tom” going to do when most people, including the Death Eaters, don’t know who that is? Characterizing your enemy as weaker and more pathetic doesn’t work as a tactic if you say you are doing it to reduce fear of them at their most powerful, and more importantly, it doesn’t hold water as an argument if you are only using the deadname tactic to the person’s face and don’t use it elsewhere (because again there are very few people who know who Tom Riddle is).

…whew. Okay. I think I’m done. But yeah I think it’s important for literary analysis to ask questions beyond what the story itself says is the explanation for certain things and also to ask questions about what real-world traits are coded into “good” and “bad” characters in any story and why those traits were associated with those moral alignments.

hate to put anything about JK Rowling on your dash but I saw this post and immediately thought about how much of Rowling’s future ideology was foreshadowed in Harry Potter looking back and how much the really shitty things both the “good” and “bad” characters do are all totally reflections of herself…

Like I was specifically thinking about how much Dumbledore’s insistence on calling Voldemort by his birth name bothered me more and more growing up…and now it’s like oh my god duh it was because Dumbledore was literally deadnaming him because using a person’s chosen name (and by extension, pronouns!!) is something that Rowling thinks should be a privilege you receive if someone respects you that can be instantly taken away if you are “bad” and not worthy of respect

Dumbledore refusing to call Voldemort by his chosen name and calling him “Tom” instead (and keep in mind how Voldemort willingly changed his body to a form he was more comfortable with) was literally just thinly-veiled transphobia wasn’t it and the only reason Voldemort isn’t explicitly trans is because Rowling wrote these books in the early 2000s and Voldemort probably IS a trans woman but the whole damn time she’s being misgendered by an unreliable narrator

[goldenrubymandrake]

JKR spends her millions of dollars Harry Potter fans like you give her even by just platforming her shit to fund transphobic bills and politicians in the UK

You cannot separate art from the artist in the case of Harry potter

Just say you love shitty children's books more then you care about trans safety and leave

Books literally have nothing to do with trans safety.

There are literally so many books in the world with controversial themes with famous authors that have their stories still being enjoyed today.

Yes, you can separate politics from stories rarely easily.

Perhaps the book was bought or was given to you years ago before you noticed the themes in them.

So what Merge do you actually have to buy to enjoy a story that you already had the book of.

What profits are being made by me personally if there's no Merge being bought.

Enjoying a story does not mean enjoying any bigotry that may of been around when a book was based or from who the author is.

It is understanding that, yes, the author may think this but but we, the readers, don't have to agree with any bigotry in the book to enjoy the underlining themes and plot there.

To negate so many factors of the stories that have been written and not making even the attempt to understand the other point of view makes you seem quite the fool.

[stedewards]

wip tag meme

tagged by @181230 and @ulfie-by-osmosis thanks for the tag bestie <3

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your wip folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it.

okay so i opened quotev after a while for this and here's what i found!

my main wips (aka the ones i think about most / have most focus on)

the price of war: this is a riordanverse fic. to sum it up briefly, it's got an overpowered mc who passes out as much as hearthstone, and not a lot of happy stuff

shattered: this is literally just a feel-good fic about a bunch of queer friends and overcomplicated storylines. (it's set in marauders era - i will address this under the cut if for some reason u want to know about fandom stuff)

goldfish (aka heather): the lily rosier fic, no description needed bc she is world famous actually

demons: a marauders/pjoverse murder mystery

????: set in the star wars universe, it follows one of my ocs who's present in every fic i write and i view as a personification of the timeline. it's a bunch of angst and just super fun for me

trans gwen au: @ulfie-by-osmosis beloved, title says it all

fate and time: a mattfoggy fic inspired by the themes of the starless sea. i love mattfoggy sm they are gay ok goodnight

the ones i am not as focused on / other wips include the following. some of them have 0 written fic content

broken world: this is literally my mcu brainchild fic. it's mcu-universe compliant except aos was canon and my oc exists. she's desi btw and married to daisy and i love them

whatever it takes: to be honest, i forgot this existed. it's set in the shadowhunters universe and spans like. all the shit to be honest. it's a universe at this point

broken blades: it's set in the same multiverse as broken world is, but it's set in the fox x-men universe and follows a different oc. (for eye ra, her name is cas)

broken space: this is the timeline lady from ???? except make it mcu. yes there is a theme i am aware. yes the stories overlap. no they are incredibly different and quirky and unique

unbroken: this is my game of thrones fic! that takes place mainly in my head! it has three main ocs of mine. one is the timeline lady (re: ???? above) and struggles between keeping a promise to a dead friend and her present loyalties, one is hellbent on revenge for her brother's death, and the last is trying to escape the war

saving grace (title is under works): four best friends. chaos. absolutely no content available. hp era

oh my god we're all gonna die (title is under works): four best friends. chaos. absolutely no content available. pjo/hoo era

roses of summer: this is marauders again and loosely based off august by taylor swift

the lucky one: this is set in the mcu (mine maybe, maybe not) and it. doesn't really have a plot tbh; still a wip

i'm pretty sure i missed a bunch of fics but this is all my brain could come up with so YEAH

tags: @dishaashitposts and anyone else interested!

RE hp fics - i do not support jkr and the things she's said about the trans community. at the same time, i acknowledge that the harry potter books and universe have been so important in my personal life and i do not want to separate that. i have had fanfics before the onslaught of transphobia, and to be honest, i don't really need to sit and justify my writing of fics to strangers on the internet. a shit ton of these fics are purely for my personal enjoyment. they are my brainchildren. they make me happy. if u read this for whatever reason, i hope u have a lovely day and take care <3

[fantastic-nonsense]

If I’m remembering right, you’ve been a Harry Potter fan for a long time. Has JKR’s transphobia affected your relationship with the franchise?

It hurts. A lot.

I don't claim to have ever been a Harry Potter superfan like some people were. But I remember being 10 and wanting to go to the local Deathly Hallows midnight release party...not because I was actually genuinely interested in the books, but because I thought it would be fun to go to a party and stay up until midnight. I remember being 11 when I read the books, about six months after that. I remember Harry Potter being my first true foray into fandom (after Nancy Drew), first through Mugglenet and then through FFN. I remember being 15 at summer camp when the final movie came out and having to wait until I got home to see it. I remember being 16 and considering Harry Potter one of my three "base fandoms" that I always returned to when a new hyperfixation ran its course. I remember being 18 and my family going to Universal Studios as my high school graduation present and buying Ginny's wand at Ollivander's while we were in Harry Potter World. I remember studying abroad in London at 20 and taking a special trip over to King's Cross/St. Pancras station to take pictures at the Platform 9 3/4 exhibit with my friends. I remember being 21 and buying a (book accurate blue and bronze) Ravenclaw-themed scarf on a whim because I thought it looked nice and was a subtle way to wear fandom-inspired clothing.

I'm not a stranger to engaging with creative work I love whose authors have believed, said, and done awful things. I read comics. I was an English major. I spend quite a lot of my free time consuming sci-fi and fantasy, genres which have offered great creative freedom but also contain a lot of unfortunate history to sort through when it comes to opportunities for and treatment of marginalized groups. Every piece of media (no matter how well-intentioned its creators are) has problematic elements that you have to deal with. My attitude towards most types of creative media has long been a sense of "death of the author" paired with a critical understanding of how the author's views might have impacted the work I enjoy.

But Rowling has largely made that impossible. You cannot separate Harry Potter from Joanne Rowling and her awful views and actions. You cannot separate the franchise from the causes she supports with the money we give her. You cannot separate yourself from the knowledge that the woman who gave you great joy as a child is causing you and people you care about great pain as an adult. She has placed herself at the focal point of her work and as a consequence has killed it as a standalone entity.

It's incredibly sad and depressing to think about. It also makes me unspeakably angry, especially as someone who has done LGBTQ+ advocacy work and pursued a career in public policy in pursuit of making the world a better, more equitable place. She could have done anything with her billions. And she chooses to do this. To use her work and her platform and her time to support bigotry and create an easy pathway to fascist ideology for her supporters. To harm others while claiming all she wants to do is "protect" people like me (a cis woman). She could have done anything. And she chooses to betray an entire generation of fans who enjoyed her work for fear, hatred, and cheap ego points. There's so many problematic and/or outright fucking awful authors whose work I enjoy but am able to maintain a critical distance about (Marion Zimmer Bradley for example), but everything about Harry Potter is just tainted for me now, and it sucks.

And it's all well and good to say "just love different books," but the experience of having your childhood memories weaponized against you like it has been with her bullshit is something that just...isn't replaceable by choosing to obsess over another franchise as an adult? Nor does it actually do anything to help the people who are harmed by her words, actions, and money?

I drifted away from the series and fandom naturally as I grew up, found other books I loved and wanted to interact with more, and began to want different things out of the media I enjoyed, of course. By the time that Rowling revealed her true spots and started using her money to hurt people, it felt a lot easier to largely cut it out of my life.

But I still remember being 11 and reading Prisoner of Azkaban by flashlight under the covers after bedtime. But I still remember being 12 as the Mugglenet fan community encouraged my first "true" attempts at writing fanfiction. But I still remember being 14 and roleplaying as a Hogwarts student through that website's fan-created "student experience" function. But I still remember being 16 and playing Quidditch at summer camp. But I still remember being 18 and winning a trivia game at college orientation because I remembered obscure Harry Potter factoids. But I still remember being 20 and talking about our favorite beasts with my friends as we walked out of the first Fantastic Beasts movie. But I still remember being 21 and arming myself with a document of book quotes, Harry Potter among them, as I went through a minor existential crisis trying to figure out who I was outside of school.

It's a hard thing, to have a creator systematically destroy the personal enjoyment you derive from her work through her loud and proud hypocrisy and hatred of other people. It's a hard thing, to have something that was formative to your childhood and adolesence and have to come to terms with a creator whose beliefs and work undermine the themes you saw in her work. It's a hard thing, to have a piece of your childhood weaponized against you in a way that makes it impossible to simply enjoy and look back fondly on. It's a hard thing, to love something and have that well poisoned irreparably because you can't escape seeing what you wish you'd never been able to see. It's a hard thing, to love something for the joy it gave you but to be unable to love it in peace because you can't escape the spectre of a creator who uses your joy to promote and fund bigotry.

It's a hard thing, being 26 and remembering what it felt like to be a lonely 11 year old who just wanted people to accept me for who I am and wondering why Joanne can't seem to remember the same.

So yes: Rowling's transphobia has impacted my relationship with the franchise. It's impossible for it not to have impacted it. Do I still read HP fanfiction? Occasionally. Will I still sort characters into Hogwarts houses if specifically asked? Yes. Am I going to get rid of my copies of the books or the few pieces of HP memorabilia I still have? Probably not. But will I ever buy or financially support anything related to the franchise again? No, because as long as people keep promoting the series and giving her money, she'll use it to hurt people. I can't in good conscience support that woman in any way knowing what she'll do with the money that gets back to her. And will I ever be able to look at, participate in, or enjoy anything related to Harry Potter again without feeling a vague sense of sadness, betrayal, and disgust? Probably not. It sucks, but that's life I guess.

[potions-of-dark-devotion]

We aren’t clashing exactly- but our opinions are.

I know you don’t like JKR and I don’t either-she ruined something dear to me in a way that I can’t even put into words. I am non binary not trans and she hurt even me with her hateful rhetoric. I’ve struggled with it, and ultimately the books are ours not hers. Headcannons are part of fandom and fannon and important to keeping the love for the story as it was and is apart from her alive. It’s another reason to avoid the new series and avoid giving her any profit. These characters are ours now not hers and I respect that. ,

I am totally agreeing that fannon is an important aspect of fandom, but the books as they are written is the foundation of all of that. As someone who has been in this fandom for close to 30 years I can say that it has evolved and changed over time, and that the books themselves have always been the basis for that branching tree. That said? It’s totally valid for people to come ups ith headcannons out of left field. The main issue, is that these headcannons have become so pervasive over cannon that I have been attacked for like Snape as a character based on nothing but made up nonsense that has nothing to do with the character that I love and have loved based upon the books for again close to 30 years.

The thing that gets to me is you admit that morality, something that comes form within without any reference to asthetic appeal, comes with an expectation of conventional beauty and you don’t seem to have an issue with that. It’s totally ok for you to like villian characters. Totally, I get that. I like Voldemort as a character even though I’d hate him in real life. What I don’t understand is why you are trying to come for Snape with this comparison. “He isn’t cute or babygirl” ok? So? That means he’s worthless? I guess to you but if you put things like this in the main tag and basically call a beloved character not worth liking because they’re ugly, expect some backlash of that opinion. Basically I find this very reductive of a complex situation and a complex character.

Maybe your post was just a joke but, honestly? It kind of hurts. I will be the first to admit that as a former “ugly child” and possible “ugly” adult, being constantly compared to others and reminded that your worth in the world is less because of your appearance is kind of sad. Watching other people hurt me and hurt others and get away with it because they are attractive is really sad to me.

Also, both characters “suck” is not completely accurate to me. One of these people spent his entire life torturing and hurting people, and the other one who sacrificed his life and health to protect others is not the same thing to me. And no- being a mean teacher does not equate with torturing Neville with the memories of his parents horrific maiming. Yes, for sure, Severus is mean and snarky. No question. Harry did not deserve to be treated that way nor did Neville. The problem is people like Barry Crouch and Bellatrix are celebrated for that and much much worse in the marauders fandom with their “Slytherin skittles” while for some reason because he is “ugly” Snape is viewed as useless and worthless in the same narrative. Makes no sense to me. I mean I just have to say personally I find it frustrating. I’m not even angry at you as a person, like I say even I have my own headcannons. I get that fannon is important.

But just think of it like if I started going around calling James Potter a rapist when he is not, and then I spread that headcannon so far and wide that people forgot the original story that made you like James Potter in the first place. Then I drove that home and wrote a fic about him hurting other people to that extent and it became so popular that people forgot James Potter wasn’t a rapist in the original text. Then all the fans of my story went around playfully harassing people or even maliciously harassing them for liking James Potter on the basis of “how can you stan a rapist”. Then when they argued that he wasn’t a rapist in the text they said “well, who cares it’s my headcannon”. This is what it is like for Snape fans on the daily who just want to enjoy this character as he is written or close to how he is written and are constantly called names, told they are racist and sexist and child abuser lovers. It gets personal very quick when you factor in the amount of constant abuse that this side of the fandom has to put up with just to enjoy the same kinds of fandom making that you enjoy all the time without thinking about it.

That said: I’m sure you’re a nice person based on your reply, but I do t think you understand what it’s like to enjoy a character just for the sake of it and constantly have to defend them over accusations that are ridiculous or constantly being reminded that they are ugly, or constantly have it shoved in your face that of course fantasy equals reality and of course that means you support said characters every action in real life. It’s exhausting

Also as a final note; I think Severus Snape is the Bitchiest character in the narrative and I adore him for it. So again? Not an issue of not seeing characters can be complex.

“how can you hate snape but love barty crouch jr?”

first of all snape isn’t cunty OR babygirl

[nuatthebeach]

What's your top 10 Harry Potter favorite characters?

To start off, just want to make it clear that while I like some characters more than others, I actually appreciate each and every one of these characters for the roles they exercise in the books. Appreciating vs liking do not always equate, and certainly nor do respecting vs liking. This Top 10 is purely based on my opinion, and the reasons that are subsequently provided are simply that - reasons - and not evidence. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Also, after writing all of this, I realized this ended up being a very long character analysis instead of being purely based on liking, so please enjoy this very chaotic list because I felt chaotic writing it for sure.

With that being said…

10. Lily - I know. Crazy. You must be thinking what the hell is wrong with me to put her last in the first place. I can already feel the backlash from fandom, but I’m kind of beyond caring by this point because this fandom is crazy as hell. My issue with Lily is that from my standpoint, she’s truly not developed enough for me to gravitate to her. The main characteristics that we get from her is that she’s smart, funny, selfless, and cool. However, not only do we not see real canon evidence of these traits (besides being selfless), but that’s pretty much all the details we get of her personality. I guess you could argue that she learned to see the nuance in people and overcame her stubbornness by falling in love with James - in this case, I agree, she had some development there, though how much of it was her “overcoming” her stubbornness and not just James becoming more “worthy” of her, it’s hard to tell. For the most part though, I think she was mainly written - by JKR, not fandom - as a plot device: a prize to be won by either James or Snape to determine who is more “worthy” of her love and a sacrificial lamb that must represent the ideal Harry must hold to successfully kill Voldemort - love. All in all, it’s a pass for me, sorry. Still makes the ranking though, so there’s that!

9. Snape - I know, I know. How in the world am I putting Snape above Lily in my ranking? I need it to be known I really dislike Snape from the bottom of my core. He is cruel, petty, and arguably never really cared about Harry beyond his “love” for Lily. I think Alan Rickman definitely made his character a lot more palatable because when I first read the books, not a single tear shed for him when he died (in contrast, it did while watching the movies, but that doesn’t come as a surprise since the two mediums are so different). However, saying this dude didn’t absolutely nail his double agent role and completely throw people off in his complexity is just simply dismissive. He’s just…really complicated, and reading that in books, not real life, is incredibly fascinating from a literary point of view. Don’t like him, but I don’t exactly hate him either.

8. Draco - speaking of annoying assholes. Honestly I kind of want to rank him lower but alas I went through a Drinny/Dramione phase ten years ago and unfortunately fanon Draco (who as we all know - regardless whether you like him or not - is very different from both book and honestly movie Draco too) seems to loom occasionally. In the books, he’s classist, racist, snobbish, spoiled, an actual bully, and a bunch of other adjectives I’d need a dictionary to pull out to describe him with. With that being said, his sixth year was quite troublesome for him and I don’t put a lot of blame for his actions and conflict there because he was a kid who like Ginny was manipulated by Voldemort in his own way, even if he played a more conscious role in it. I give him a 3/10 for personal preference, 5/10 for development.

7. Luna - I gotta say, when I was a kid, I liked her a lot for all the reasons you normally would gravitate toward a whimsical, strange, funny-without-trying character, and though I still appreciate all of these characteristics - and her value as friends to Harry and Ginny in particular - I see some flaws in her arc now. I am a firm believer that often times, whenever authors want their characters to appear more complex, they just tack on a tragic backstory (one we never really saw on scene) and call it development while keeping their characterization relatively static. Case in point, Luna. There’s no argument that she’s one of the most loved characters in Harry Potter, and I think the reason for that is because there’s simply nothing to not like about her. She almost doesn’t seem real. Though I can appreciate the beauty in that too because she - just like the things she believes in - are open to interpretation as well.

6. James - surprisingly, I don’t have a lot of strong feelings for James either way. This just seemed like a neutral area to put him in so here we are. He’s pretty decent. He reminds me of the perfect mix between Harry and Ginny: brash, arrogant, impulsive, but also caring and willing to do the right thing when it counts. It actually really surprises me when people bash James - a lot of the times, I think it’s because they only really watch the movies, which never show the positives of his character. He’s even shoved to the side further in DH2 movie with dead Lily saying “Always” to Harry in the Forest of Dean, which I’ve always considered a big fuck you to the supposed great love story that is meant to symbolize the main theme of love and everything it means to fight for it. He even has GREAT development mentioned in the books as well, considered he, I don’t know, changed by helping out Snape in the end, proving he’s not the senseless bully others make him out to be? And yet, people feel more sympathy for Snape even though he continues his petty rivalry by enacting it on literal kids who did nothing to him? Anywho.

5. Hermione - I’ve always had mixed feelings about Hermione, unfortunately because of the ever present shit show that is the movies. Seriously. Fuck the movies. With that being said, I actually think her characterization is not bad…it’s similar to Lily’s arc (but a lot more actualized in my opinion) in that she went from being stubborn and single-minded in some ways to understanding there is a lot more to life than books but rather friendship and bravery (her words, not mine). She’s smart, intense, scary, and compassionate, and honestly just writing about her gives me the chills. However, my problem with her character arc is that it just keeps repeating in every single book (SS, OOTP, HBP especially). She learns this lesson over and over and it makes me feel like JKR kind of didn’t know where to go with her after a while.

4. Neville - speaking of character arcs that keep repeating. I like his arc because it’s the typical shy/awkward boy finds grounding and confidence, which with me having gone through that myself (and lowkey still going through it lol), many can relate to this a lot. Because this arc is repeated so much though - particularly in the movies - he’s a bit overinfantilized and babied when he’s proven himself time and again that he’s actually quite capable. He doesn’t really have much flaws like in the case with Luna (unless you count being shy and awkward, which it seems he’s more endeared for it than anything), but overall a great lad.

3. Ron - probably one of the most developed characters in the books because both of his strengths and flaws are clearly shown page after page, time after time again. Also probably the most hated. And probably the most relatable. I’m, uh…starting to see a correlation. Honestly I could talk about him for hours, but to quote Ms. Marvel: Good is not something that you are, it’s something that you do. And Ron’s actions speak for themselves. He leaves the Trio in DH? He comes back and atones for it. He treats Hermione badly in HBP? He makes efforts to improve his “lack of an emotional range” (which is BS btw) by reading the book about How to Charm Witches. He has an argument with Hermione about Crookshanks and Scabbers? He offers to make up for it by helping Hermione in her research on Buckbeak. And c’mon. Don’t tell me that when you read the scene in DH of him crying (NOT being angry, jealous, petty) after killing the Horcrux that your heart did not absolutely shatter for this tender, precious moment of vulnerability that hardly any other character besides maybe Harry displayed in the books at that age. A King 👑.

2. Ginny - honestly, this one alternates with my number one sometimes but because I’m going with the answer I know in my heart is right, I’m sticking her here for now. This girl. If she were real, I’d give her my babies. She is almost the most developed female character in the book series, considering the little number of relevant scenes she was given. I say almost because I actually do think JKR missed the concluding bulls-eye with her arc, particularly in HBP and DH. I, like everyone else, expected her to do a lot more than she did (c’mon she’s one of the only kids connected to fucking Voldemort, that had to have counted for something?!?!). With that being said, she’s the only female character who has a consistent rise in characterization throughout the books: starting off as a bubbly 10 year old waving and crying to see her brothers leave, a shy 11 year old who can’t speak around Harry but can to her diary and trauma ensues, a quiet 12 year old who still doesn’t talk to Harry but is overcoming her reputation as the girl who opened the Chamber and was victimized by literal Voldemort himself, and so on and so forth to the flawed, stubborn, angry, petty, defensive but also caring, compassionate, funny, clever, sassy girl we have by HBP and DH. As the books go on, you really see her shine and become a woman in her own right. And interestingly enough, her arc doesn’t repeat, like Hermione’s and Neville’s does; it has a clear direction that journeys from Book 1 to the end. For all of these reasons, I notice a lot of people claim she isn’t very developed - and while I agree she could definitely be more - I’d also argue she’s one of the most obviously developed too. Plus, I’ve always been fascinated by her connection to Voldemort and wish JKR explored it more herself: from her wand being made of the same wood as his (while Harry’s is made of the same core…hmmm interesting) to the interactions being much more gendered and personal than I’d even argue Harry’s. If I had to read about someone’s relationship with Voldemort other than Harry, Ginny definitely takes the cake, sorry Draco. I could go on and on about her, but if you want more Ginny meta, just check out my other posts dedicated just for her.

1. Harry - …MAN does this boy deserve more recognition in his own damn franchise. I don’t think the book series would have been more interesting if it was told in literally anybody else’s point of view. He is so witty, caring, headstrong, brave, stubborn, and beautifully flawed that I can’t help but adore him. I will forever hate the Steve Kloves and company for making him appear one-note, static, and absolutely positively bland in the movies because the truth is that he has so much freakin’ depth. Order of the Phoenix was the book that sold me on him. He had every right to be feeling angry at not just the adults in his life but the system and those who keep it under cover and even with a lot of that hurt and anger he STILL let Bellatrix go after she killed the closest loving parent figure he bloody had. Like, dayum. And what’s even more heartbreaking than that is only after all of the death and hurt and suffering in Deathly Hallows did he even further surprise all of us by throwing the Cruciatus curse at a Carrow for just simply talking bad about McGonagall. Talk about a Reputation album Taylor Swift era. You just can’t help but root for him while also being just the tiniest bit (okay, a large bit) intimidated by him. Regardless, he deserves better and if you want more examples of my defense for him (or anyone I’ve mentioned thus far), you need not but ask.

Honorable mentions include Fred, George, and Sirius, who I do adore but my feelings still tend to stay in the neutral area such that they couldn’t make it on this list.

If you couldn’t already tell, my love for characters stem from the amount of development they go through - it’s not always based on their “likability” or “toxicity.” I think an environment like fictional books provides a safe medium to explore morally gray, complex, dynamic, complicated, nuanced characters, and to completely dismiss or even “cancel” fictional characters is a bit…well, naive. That’s why for others it seems a little contradictory to put Snape and James in the same list together, but to me, it feels appropriate considering the complex traits the two have.

This was fun. I might consider doing a Top 5 or Top 10 ship ranking if this gets enough attention or if anyone wants one.

Thanks for the ask!!!