#jkr is trash

[rincewind87]

[greencatalystcomet]

cant believe jkr created a prison that forces you to relive all of your worst memories, put a fairly major character in that prison for twelve years without a trial, and then just... didnt make it a commentary on the justice system OR the prison system. just like "lol thats a quirky thing that happened just for plot reasons, no bearing on reality tho"

[deathnguts]

I think jk rowling’s gonna die and go to hell and her punishment is gonna be that she can’t reincarnate until she’s read every single woke mob fanfiction of her beloved creation

[troythecatfish]

[imheredisappointingmyparents]

Sirius: Hey, guys, you remember that annoying queerphobic girl in school, Joanne? The one that asked questions when James offered to be Lilly and Mary's donor? Yeah. She wrote some weird book about son of James and Lilly? And everyone is straight and cis? Weird, right?

[messervixen]

Lily should have survived.

“Harry was saved by his mother’s love-“ Let me stop you right there.

I present to you: James Fleamont Potter.

You’re telling me that James didn’t love Lily and Harry enough to evoke the ancient love magic that Lily saved Harry with?

Mr. “Had an ego the size of a lake but a heart to match it?”

He loved both of them so much that he literally died trying to give them a chance to escape and that wasn’t enough?

I don’t buy it.

The only semi-logical explanation I can come up with is that he didn’t have his wand and maybe you can’t do something like that wand-less but did Lily have her wand?

Even then we’re talking about a guy who literally became an illegal animagus at the ripe age of 15.

He also loves and cares for people so deeply and it was LOVE MAGIC.

Look me in the eyes and tell me James Potter couldn’t have just saved BOTH of them without his wand.

Exactly, you can’t.

Honestly I could go on about all of the reasons James and Lily dying didn’t even make sense.

This is just another thing that makes me question why they died the way they did.

Them dying on an order mission would’ve been more realistic. There were just too many plot holes in them dying in Godric’s Hollow.

In conclusion, the ending of the first war didn’t make sense. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

Edit:

Guys this post is not that serious I just mean that everything about what happened that night and the explanation for all of it felt like a stretch and kinda vague to me 😭

Even with the stuff about James not having a choice. Like yeah Voldemort didn’t verbally give him the option to back off but James still made the choice to try and hold him off.

Also James was a Pureblood and Voldemort made it known that he would spare them if they didn’t fight him because his whole thing was blood purity.

So like the “Lily was given a choice” still feels so vague to me.

Also Voldemort making the promise to Snape feels weird. Snape asked him not to kill Lily but Voldemort said that he wouldn’t as long as she didn’t get in his way. And Lily did get in his way of killing Harry so he didn’t break that promise by killing her.

Yeah he probably could’ve just knocked her out or something but he still didn’t break any promises.

And the whole reason Snape joined Dumbledore before the end of the first war is because he didn’t think Lily would just let Voldemort kill her son. He didn’t make an unbreakable vow or anything so Snape knew that Voldemort would probably kill Lily.

[erinwantstowrite]

it's actually essential for the ecosystem that you write or draw harry potter but LGBT. i'm gonna write gay harry potter and watch the world thrive because of it. a flower blooms every time you write harry potter discovering he's bi. the mold grows stronger and can not be contained. it will eventually overcome

[vavuska]

J. K. Rowling vs David Tennant: where is the truth and where the lies?

Probably everyone have read something about an unpopular opinion posted by J. K. Rowling on Twitter (cough, I mean X), where she decided to go after David Tennant. She claimed that during an interview Tennant was talking about whinging f**kers who need to just shut up. These whinging f**kers who he is referring to are women who’s rights are being oppressed, according to J. K. Rowling.

Unfortunately, Tennant didn't say anything against oppressed and abused women. Actually, Rowling is *again* pursuing her personal crusade claiming female-only = no trans-women. Tennant, after accepting an award, took the microphone and gave a speech about the state of LGBTQ+ rights in the UK, and the sad need for awards like the one he received (he was honored at the British LGBT Awards with Celebrity Ally award).

During the speech, Tennant also targeted UK Minister for Women and Equalities, Kemi Badenoch, who had previously said she would exclude trans-women from single-sex areas. Tennant said:

“I suppose if I’m honest I’m a little depressed by the fact that acknowledging that everyone has the right to be who they want to be and live their life how they want to live it as long as they’re not hurting anyone else should merit any kind of special or award or special mention because it’s common sense, isn’t it?” Tennant said in his speech. “It’s human decency. We shouldn’t live in a world where that is worth remarking on. However until we wake up and Kemi Badenoch doesn’t exist anymore — I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up — whilst we do live in this world I am honoured to receive this.”

Tennant’s speech started a war of words with Badenoch, who later took to social media to say she would not shut up as the actor suggested. She went on to call Tennant “a rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology he can’t see the optics of attacking the only Black woman in government by calling publicly for my existence to end.”

Which, again, is a... Ehm... Lie, since Tennant didn't attack Minister Badenoch for her ethnicity or threatened her life. Tennant speech was critical of her position regarding trans rights and not her personal life. Tennant was calling out government bigots for their political opinions regarding social issues and not attacking anyone on personal basis and NEVER - NEVER said anything about institutional racism (which Minister Badenoch herself claimed it's not a problem in UK) and violence against women (both cis and trans) not being major problems.

In a separate red carpet interview on the awards ceremony, Tennant was asked to say something to the trans youth. He responded to don't feel judged or unloved, because transphobic politicians are just a little minority: “It's a tiny bunch of little whinging f**kers who are on the wrong side of history, and they’ll all go away soon.”

The whole interview is available under here and it's sweet and heartwarming:

As always, J. K. Rowling and conservative politicians are strumentalizing LGBTQ+ awareness contents to make the community and it's allies look like evil terrorists (“gender Taliban”) and therefore pursuing their anti-trans goals while also belittling abuse perpetrated on women in religious states and systemic racism. Since violence against women is overwhelmingly committed by cisgender men, why are the Tories blaming LGBTQ+ community and it's allies?

J. K. Rowling and Minister Badenoch demonstrated through their words, how danger narratives can be invoked not only to obscure (hetero) cis men’s violence and abuse against cis and trans women, but also justify violence against the whole LGBTQ + community in the holy name of (cis-hetero) women's safety. [Here my previous post about this]

[moattemptstoarticulate]

Seamus Finnigan and Irish Stereotyping

Hello,

This is my first attempt at a Tumblr post so forgive me if this lacks all sense.

For context, I was born and raised Irish, if that's important for this post.

I've been in the Harry Potter fandom since the age of eleven. During that time I've dipped in and out and have gained more knowledge and nuanced thought towards literature in-between. Admittedly these books are not well-written even if you ignore the immense bigotry drowning anything JKR does. I've seen many conversations surrounding the blatant transphobia of JKR and the racism, anti-semitism and homophobia within her work. All of these are extremely important topics that we, as a fandom, need to continue the discussion on. One of the more subtle forms of hate shown through her work that I don't often see talked about, is her treatment of Seamus Finnigan and her portrayal of Irish society and it's people through that.

The more obvious stereotyping is seen through Seamus and his "proclivity for pyrothenics" (a quote from McGongall in the Deathly Hallows Part 2). A key point to note about the books is that they were written during and in the aftermath of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. I'm not going to do an in depth explanation of the Troubles itself as that would require me to recap over 800 years of British Colonial rule and oppression over Ireland but I will give a brief run-through for clarity incase anyone reading is unaware of the conflict.

The troubles as it's known today spanned from 1968-1998 and resulted in an estimated 3600 deaths. The stereotype of Irish individuals having a supposed "proclivity for pyrotechnics" comes from the IRA (Irish Republican Army). This group was formed by Irish civilians to fight against Catholic Nationalist communities oppression through violent means. This post by no means is an attempt to jusitfy the horrifc actions of the IRA during the Troubles. It is only an attempt to shed light on the harmful stereotyping JKR imbedded in her primary Irish representation in the Harry Potter series. Saying your Irish Character has a penchant for explosives, during a time in which Irish people were in the midst or recovering from such a violent conflict, leaves the assumption that Seamus, the only real reoccuring Irish representation, is a part of the IRA or that Irish people in general love to blow things up and cause chaos. This is harmful, especially when being read by young british people. Political relations in Northern Ireland and between Ireland and Britain were incredibly strained and still are in some aspects. Pushing the narrative that Irish people are dangerous does not help heal these relations and subtly increases the bad image of Irish people in the eyes of British society.

Another issue with Seamus Finnigan's character is the mentions of alcohol. It's a common stereotype that Irish people love alcohol and this has been used to demonise our culture in other areas of media. In The Philosphers Stone (keep in mind Seamus would've been 11-12 years old at the time.) Seamus actively tries to turn water into rum. The spell itself can be implied to be of Irish origin "Eye of rabbit, harp string hum, turn this water into rum" as the harp is the Emblem of Ireland. Having your Irish character, at the assumed age of 11, try to turn water into rum is incredibly harmful and builds on this "drunken Irish" stereotype. Not to mention the spell results in multiple explosions, linking back to my first point of his "proclivity for pyrotechnics."

My final point, which is simultanously the most subtle but quite frankly the craziest and most damaging is Seamus' initials matching that of the party Sinn Fein. I've already given a brief synopsis of the Troubles and a key thing to note about Sinn Fein is that they were heavily intertwined with the IRA with the two initally starting out as the same group before splitting into an armed group (the IRA) and a political half (The party Sinn Fein.) So intertwined that their president during the 80s, Gerry Adams, was also the tactical leader of the IRA (alledgedly...). Once again JKR has managed to subtly (yet not so subtly if you know what to look for) imply her primary Irish character is a memeber of the anti- british violent organisation through his initals.

Another point that is more of a reach than my other points is that Seamus is the first of Harry's friends to turn on him in ootp. The only Irish character turning on the British hero and in a sense leading the hate train against him? Given the clear views JKR holds against the Irish, it's not too much of a jump to assume that she'd start by villianising Seamus.

Overall it's clear JKR had some very strong opinions on the Irish that she felt the absolute need to inform everyone on through her work aimed at children. Rather unfortunate as a young Irish reader who watched their idol not only begin a campagin agaisnt their rights as a trans individual but also perpetuate horrible ideas against a country still feeling the impact of decades long violent conflict.

Once again it comes far too easily to condemn JKR and her horribly damaging actions agaisnt her own readers.

[thepulsatingflapper]

It's really telling how much JKR romanticizes child abuse.

The Dursleys abuse Harry by keeping him in a cupboard and making him do labor. Sure we're supposed to know it's wrong but who just sits around fantasizing about child abuse (hint: JKR).

The Weasleys abused their children by yelling at them, not being able to tell apart Fred and George, and disowning them (Percy). And we're supposed to think The Weasleys are "ideal parents" according to JKR.

Sirius's parents are heavily implied to be abusive, in fact Walburga's portrait yells and insulted him constantly. He hates being in her house which speaks a lot to how abusive his family was.

James was shown to be abusive to Snape and Lily in Snape's Wormst Memory, which means he could have easily been abusive as a parent too, which JKR never bothered to describe because she thought other things were more interesting.

The Malfoys were clearly not great parents considered they allowed literal Voldemort into their house and put Draco in lots of danger.

In Harry's first year he has to go to detention in the forbidden forest which was extremeley dangerous, and the teachers all endorsed it.

Snape was obviously an abusive teacher and yet JKR clearly forgave him by the end of the story, as if we weren't meant to see him as bad at all. First he was bad, then he was suddenly good? You can't just ignore when someone is an abuser. Idk if she's an abuse apologist or just a bad writer but either way.

Abuse of house elfs including Dobby which is an allegory for child abuse since elfs are small and under the owndership of their families.

Harry named his OWN CHILD after Severus Snape, a literal Nazi. If that isn't child abuse I don't know what is.

Were in the series did JKR bother to condemn any of this? Nowhere. It's clear she doesn't consider the abuse of children something worth speaking out against. Particularly the elfs she just didn't condemn it at all in fact the whole narrative around them seems to condone their violent treatment.

~The Pulsating Flapper~

[troythecatfish]

Source: Mattxiv on instagram

[elisedonut]

Someone: jkbitch wrote them so poorly so I'm going to give them a whole new personality

Me: by expanding on whatever small amount it is that we do know about them right?

Them: c:

Me: b-by expanding on their canon character right????

[kalkaros-is-the-boss]

So I made recently a post on my main (hannaxjo) about the ages of the marauders era characters in the movies, which led to me creating this side account. But I should’ve known better than to think about their canon ages in the books, because I noticed something that doesn’t make sense to me, and I can’t stop thinking about it. That is the timeline between Severus hearing the prophecy and Voldemort killing James and Lily. What the fuck happened between that?

So, in the prophecy is this line: the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies. Meaning, that at that time, Harry has not been born yet. Which means, at the very least over a year is going to play out before that Halloween.

And that does not make sense to me. How can it take over a year, after this? In that (unspecific) time, the following things happen; Voldemort decides that the prophecy is talking about the Potter’s baby. Severus deflects, and begins spying on Voldemort. Due to Severus’ warning, Potter’s go into hiding. Dumbledore suggests a fidelius charm. Instead of Sirius, Peter is made into the secret keeper. Peter reveals the location to Voldemort and Voldemort kills Lily and James.

These things happen like a domino. There cannot be that much time between each of these actions. Severus isn’t going to wait around to defect once he knows Voldemort is targeting the Potter, because Voldemort is definitely not going to wait around to kill them. And I don’t think it took over a year for Voldemort to decide who the prophecy was talking about. Isn’t he supposed to be smart? Like I can buy him only deciding after Harry’d been born, but it still takes over a year after that for him to kill James and Lily.

But okay, let's say Voldemort was just really slow, and couldn’t make his mind. That would make the time between Severus’ deflection and the death of Lily and James incredibly short, and that makes no sense either. Because I don’t see Dumbledore trusting Severus after such a short while. And when would he then have had the time to spy on Voldemort? In the Goblet of Fire, when Harry goes into the pencieve he sees the trial of Karkaroff. And he lists the names of Death Eaters, one of those names being Severus Snape. Dumbledore then says, that he himself has witnessed for Severus’, and he tells that Snape joined them prior to Voldemorts downfall and that he risked his life spying on him. That means that Severus had to be a spy for at least a while.

So what the hell was happening while Severus was spying? Did they not use the fidelius as fast as possible? How did Voldemort not find them? See it would make sense if Sirius was the secret keeper for a while, and then they switched it, but Sirius was never the secret keeper. So did Peter actually keep the secret for months? Because that also seems unlikely. Then, there’s the letter Lily wrote to Sirius that Harry finds in Deathly Hallows. In that letter Lily mentions that ‘James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here’, so they must be already hiding. And they must be already under the fidelius because they must be in Godric’s Hollow because why else would Bathilda have visited. She also mentions that Wormy had seemed down, which I assumed was actually because he is going to/has betrayed them. That letter was about Harry’s one-year birthday! It was written in July/beginning of August. Voldemort didn’t attack until Halloween. What happened? Did Peter not betray them until October? Or had he already told Voldemort and Voldy just wasn’t feeling it. Was he waiting until Halloween for aesthetics?

Honestly, I have no point here, except that I don’t understand the timeline. Did I miss something? If you know how this timeline goes, please tell me, because I think about this too much. Istg if I’m gonna end up re-reading the books again just because this bothers me...

[beirarowling]

Is J.K. Rowling the one calling for violence? (3/x)

[emi-gelfling]

at this point, harry and voldemort are

both a little unhinged, but they're also

in love with each other and direct that

unhinged romance towards their bonding

the smut takes more of a backseat to h

and v's emotional adoration of the other.

LINK:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/58686337/chapters/149539207#workskin

[sxnshxnxxnddxxsxxs]

i really feel like we don’t discuss enough just how deep jkr’s white supremacy goes

like it’s way more than just:

cho chang’s name

almost every black character being tall and sporty

kingley’s name

the goblins

the house elves

the only south asian thing about the patil twins being their names

there’s way more but those are the talking points that are usually discussed in the white supremacy context of jkr’s bigotry.

but there’s something else that i find to be particularly insidious which i don’t see that many conversations about.

so for context when i did my a level i had had to research late 19th century pseudoscience because i was studying gothic literature. and i came across things like phrenology and the criminal mind and honestly it feels like jkr discovered these theories and just ran with them.

as a quick explanation phrenology is the theory that by studying the shape of someone’s skull you can see if they’re predisposed to criminality and lombroso’s criminal mind is the theory that criminality is hereditary and you can tell by observing someone’s physical features. it’s also the general consensus in both these theories that someone with physical ‘defects’ or deformities’ will be predisposed to criminality which also makes them incredibly ableist.

both are incredibly eugenicist and white supremacist theories because they’re essentially saying that you can tell if someone is inherently good or bad and thereby whether they deserve to be alive/within society/treated as equals by looking at their physical features.

they are both complete bullshit pseudoscience with no real basis in fact.

now where this comes into hp and jkr is that the antagonists and the villains of the series are disproportionately described as having these very negative physical characteristics.

like the very obvious one is voldemort with no nose and being snakelike.

but also the way peter pettigrew is described.

“His thin, colourless hair was unkempt and there was a large bald patch on top. He had the shrunken appearance of a plump man who had lost a lot of weight in a short time. His skin looked grubby, almost like Scabbers’s fur, and something of the rat lingered around his pointed nose, his very small, watery eyes.” (poa ch 19)

like the man is literally being compared to an animal (yes i know it’s implied in the lore that the longer one stays in their animagus form the more traits they take on but the point still stands).

then there’s marcus flint who as far as i remember is literally just a minor antagonist.

“Marcus Flint was even larger than Wood. He had a look of trollish cunning on his face as he replied” (cos ch 7)

like she really has a thing for comparing people to animals which is a very common tool in white supremacy for dehumanising people.

and then there’s greyback

“a big, rangy man with matted grey hair and whiskers, whose black Death Eater’s robes looked uncomfortably tight. He had a voice like none that Harry had ever heard: a rasping bark of a voice. Harry could smell a powerful mixture of dirt, sweat and, unmistakeably, of blood coming from him. His filthy hands had long yellowish nails.” (hbp ch 27)

now admittedly it’s slightly different with greyback since jkr is very openly saying in the narrative that he’s less than human and too dangerous for society because jkr only believes in equality for muggleborns and no one else.

but as is stands there are so many examples some big some small of the physical descriptions of villains and antagonists having negative connotations. the reason that it’s so insidious is because this is a children’s book series. and children soak up information like sponges including the implication that the further you are from the beauty standards the worse of a person you are (something that is reinforced by society). then when you place that in the context of the west where hp is most popular then it becomes the further away you are from whiteness (the western beauty standard) the worse of a person you are.

it seems like a really small thing which is why i don’t think it gets discussed nearly as much as the more overt things but even the small pebbles can have large ripple effects. besides i think think it’s incredibly important to discuss every aspect of jkr’s bigotry.