#literally what else can you want from a book

[delulupunk]

How the batboys react to you only speaking in meme references:

Dick Grayson

This is the Robin who used to unironically use turns of phrase while busting crime lords with Batman, so of course he’s going to match your energy. If you say “What the fuck Richard?” He’s just going to reply something even sillier.

“They are my crocs.” He does this in the most deadpan tone and these two memes aren’t even related to one another.

He loves it though and finds the funny way you react to situations similar to his demeanour so you bounce of each other very well. It leads to the pair of you having meme wars- you try and outdo each other in how many memes you can reference.

“Bethany I made BiScUiTs!”

“Look at all those chickens!”

“So no head?”

The pair of you now have inside meme jokes that you say to each other, that earn you weird looks from everyone else when you say them to each other. Mainly because the combinations barely make any sense. However it brings you two closer and sometimes helps break the ice after an argument.

“It’s Wednesday my dudes…”

…

“AHHHHH!”

Jason Todd

Jason isn’t much of a social media person anymore. He tells everyone he finds it jarring and that it’s like peer pressure on steroids. He only uses Pinterest for book recommendations. So you can only reference memes that went viral before his death, at the beginning of your relationship otherwise he just ignores you.

When he does recognise a meme he’ll either roll his eyes or give you an annoyed, yet affectionate smile. Over time though as he notices you making more relevant meme references with your friends, he finds himself getting jealous. Jason wants to experience that with you.

So he pushes aside all his reservations with social media and watches as many meme videos as he can. Eventually he tries incorporating them into your conversations, albeit sheepishly as he’s unsure of himself.

“Brother Eugh?” He’ll state in a reluctant tone and you’ll just laugh and say it right back.

Tim Drake

Tim is far too focused on being a detective to watch memes, instead the way he relaxes is by doing something that still stimulates his brain in a way, so he’s a fan of puzzles.

“You look like the polite cat sometimes.” You told this to him once absentmindedly and he looked at you like you’d grown two heads. He immediately researched it and saw some similarities. You continued the meme reference when you bought him a puzzle of the polite cat for his birthday. It was safe to say he wasn’t that impressed. However he finished it in record time.

Whenever you quote any memes though he gives you a factual answer, “Roadworks mean that construction workers are fixing the road.” In retaliation you begin sending him all the memes you reference and then one day he just starts saying them. At first you’re shocked and he doesn’t do it often, but he’ll have a smug smile on his face every time.

Damian Wayne

Due to Damian’s harsh upbringing from the league of assassins he isn’t well versed in meme culture.

“What is aura? How have I lost -10,000? What was my starting amount?” He takes your meme references too literally, but when you offer to show him some and explain them he accepts. He’ll scoff and tell you he was only doing it to humour you, but in reality he wanted to regain some of his childhood and he felt this would be a good way to do it.

This bitch empty… yeet!

“She could have hit an innocent bystander with that.”

“I think she did Damian.” You play the video back a million times just to see whether or not she had.

He doesn’t ever reference memes back to you or say them in the first instance. Despite this he learns when you’re most likely to quote them and which one it would be. If you choose not to he’ll raise an eyebrow and ask you why you hadn’t. He wants to make sure you haven’t stopped because of him, he likes it he’s just not sure how exactly to show it.

When you do quote memes to him, he’ll have the ghost of a smile on his face. You’ll only see it if you look closely.

[alligatorjesie]

I love how OP is complaining 'capitalism isn't an answer to these questions' when if we just sit down with a shit scoop and dust away the clean surface litter of 'why people vote against their own interests' the stinky cat turd that is capitalism is right there under the surface.

Capitalism explains a lot of why people are stupid and vote stupid, and if definitely explains why a lot of us who are not so stupid and don't vote against our own interests still have to deal with corrupt corporate legislation that force shit options upon us.

In America we've turned schooling into a numbers and testing game that punishes schools who don't test well. That sounds correct on the surface but then when you dig around in the bullshit a little you realize they're literally only teaching these kids how to test and not how to do fucking anything else.

human restoration project did a long fuckin' video on how teaching the test is dicking over American public school systems

skip intro did one about a fictional school but it reflects a lot about what is wrong with real schools.

It's money.

It's always money.

Now we have schools filled with students who can't read good and teachers who ain't really allowed to teach anything but 'the test' and ain't even being paid well enough to babysit and a lot of this isn't this way because voters are stupid. It got this way because corporations own school book publishings. They decide what we learn and how we learn it from lobbying the fuck out of Congress to make it this way. Schools don't get a choice how they teach, and if they don't do it the way Congress wants then they don't get funding.

It's not even a conspiracy.

It's very look-up-able.

We literally just had a ballot measure in my state that was 'hey should we give the already poultry amount of we designate for public schools to private schools instead of public schools?' and thank fuck it lost but that shit got over 30% yes votes. Most of the houses that had 'vote yes on 2' signs in their yards didn't even have children living there.

I also noticed how a lot of those yards also had trump signs in them but that's a conversation for another day.

We don't have healthcare because we're told there's no better system out there besides the one with the absolutely fucking useless middle man who can deny you help because they deemed that cancer you developed from DuPont pouring Teflon into the waterways was pre-existing condition just to ensure shareholders get more of the pie at the end of the quarter. This wasn't even a measure we got to vote on this was just forced on us because of greed. Cooperations have corporate interests and lawyers and lobbyist that are paid very well to make that company as much money as possible.

This is one of the reasons you can't walk into a hospital in America and ask 'hey how much would it cost to do x?'. They won't tell you a price because it's fucking made up.

No joke. You can't find out how much it will cost to have a baby in a hospital in America and the hospital won't give you a price ahead of time because that price is heavy influenced by things like; if you have insurance or not, what income bracket you belong in, if your paying some shit in cash, just to name a few bullshit reasons.

We keep getting food recalls because huge food corporations have have financial interests to demand to monitor their own food safety rules instead of allowing the government to do it. We have a whole government agency that could be better staffed to handle this but there isn't a financial incentive to do that so we don't.

9 times out of 10 the reason shit sucks is because someone wanted to make money over being a decent human being.

It's not even fascism it's just regular ol' corporate greed.

which has roots in fascism no doubt.

Honestly, we could fix most of the problems in America if we just got rid of lobbying.

surely we could educate the people in matters of economics and social theory to make them less stupid in their voting.

Perhaps, but that's a multi-generational project of improving education, which doesn't solve the short-term problem of winning political campaigns. Indeed, the former is rather predicated on the latter.

[orangepanic]

Why do you think that Asami has no friends at the beginning? With Korra it’s because she grew up in isolation and with Mako and Bolin it’s because they were homeless- but why doesn’t Asami have any friends? A girl like her should’ve had a million friends

First of all, bless you, anon. I'd literally opened up a window to talk to some friends about how alone in fandom I feel these days because so many people have moved on or stopped creating and interacting. Then I saw this message! Don't underestimate how motivating it is to get asks about characters and headcanons, or even just to know someone else is interested in your thoughts and wants to talk about mutual interests. You really brightened my day. I hope I can do the same.

As for Asami, I have three theories. The most likely and most boring of these is that it's simply convenience on the part of the writers. In book 1 we didn't see much of her personal life outside of interacting with the Krew so there was no need to waste precious screen time on Asami's other friends. After the show got renewed the writers had to scramble for reasons Asami would still be around - because let's face it, who winds up hanging out with your ex and the girl he left you for as your main friend group? IMO there's zero reason for Asami to be in the show after the first season if she has other friends and sources of support.

A more interesting proposition and the one I mostly go with in my own fics is that Asami did have other friends initially, but that they all abandoned her after her father's arrest. She'd have gone to a fancy private school full of other rich kids with other rich and important parents who'd know that a connection to the daughter of a convicted felon was now social suicide. Suddenly nobody returns her calls, everyone is busy, that invite to Su Li Lim's party happens to go astray, etc. With so many social doors now shut to her, hanging out with the former Fire Ferrets makes more sense. She might even do it initially out of spite in a "well FINE, I'm gonna go be important to the Avatar and go fight crime and be awesome" kind of way.

My last theory is that Hiroshi Sato didn't really let Asami have friends. Acquaintances, sure, but he wouldn't want her growing too close to any dangerous benders and there wasn't an easy way to do this without it being obvious that's what he's doing so he didn't let her grow close to anyone. I think of this as the Victorian novel scenario where Asami is disincentivized from doing kid stuff to "take care of father" and from an early age assumes some of the duties her mom had taken on in terms of household management. She's somehow always too busy for friends. When the class field trip comes around her dad needs her for something important. This might also explain how an 18-year-old thought they were qualified to be CEO of a huge company. She's already managing half the staff at the estate as well as the vendor contracts. How hard could it be?

But what do you think?

[delulustateofmind]

Love

SatoSugu x Reader Blurb

TW: Angst. No Comfort

WC: 2k

a/n: Just a thought. Might write a full-fledged fic at some point. Two angsty fics in one weekend? Man, I need to touch grass.

It began subtly, with a sense of stillness, like a candle flickering before it goes out, its warmth not so much extinguished as quietly abandoned.

The words you once shared, rich with meaning, now sounded like echoes in an empty room. Touches that once felt familiar began to feel... unfamiliar. The silence, once comforting, now grew awkward. The spaces between you widened, unnoticed at first, until they stretched so far apart that the distance slipped right through your fingers. 

A quiet mourning settled in—a grief not loud or dramatic but heavy, like a book once beloved now gathering dust on a shelf. This was what it felt like to fall out of love.

You sat there, resting against the countertop, waiting for the water to boil in the kettle. The soft hum of Suguru’s voice in the shower drifted down the hall, a gentle melody. He always loved to slow dance with you in the kitchen when you first moved in. Humming a tune as he would twirl you around in the kitchen. You used to love moments like that.

Satoru was at the dining table, papers spread out before him, focus etched into his forehead, his brows furrowed, dark-tinted glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. You remembered teasing him for how much he used to hate babysitting; now, he loved his students as if they were his own. 

You could recall how it felt to love them, but the feeling seemed to belong to someone else—a distant version of yourself, as if it had existed in another life. You stared off into the distance until Satoru’s teasing voice pulled you back.

“The water’s boiling, baby. You too busy thinking about our trip to your parents? Man, I’m so excited to see Mom—I mean, your mom. Well, she is practically our mom, right?” His playful voice faltered when you didn’t respond immediately. “Right?” he repeated.

You offered a soft smile, one that didn't reach your eyes before reaching for a mug from the cupboard. 

They weren’t bad partners—far from it. They were amazing, loyal, loving, and considerate. You had never felt more cherished. Despite their duties as the world’s strongest sorcerers, they always made time for you. Satoru brought back gifts from his travels, treats you used to love sharing with him. Suguru noticed the little things, stocking up on your favorite snacks, making you tea after a stressful day, pressing a kiss to your temple with a knowing smile. 

Your reverie shattered—quite literally—when the mug slipped from your grasp, splintering on the floor.

“Baby?” Satoru’s voice was sharp with concern as he rushed into the kitchen, finding you sinking to the floor, tears brimming in your eyes. “Oh, honey, I know it was part of a set, but we can get a new one. Are you hurt? Let me see your hands, please?”

He knelt before you, eyes wide and filled with worry as he took your trembling hands in his. The warmth of his touch, once so reassuring, now sent a wave of guilt coursing through you, making your tears spill over.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, the apology spilling out in a broken mutter.

“Hey baby… honey bun…” Satoru continued, one of his hands drifting to your cheek to pull your face up so your eyes met his. The concern etched into his features clashed with the forced softness in his voice. “It’s just a cup… Is the trip stressing you out? You know we love seeing your parents, right? They’re like ours, but way better... if you want, we can postpone it. We can set the tickets for a later date.” His voice was so gentle, stripped of the teasing lilt he so often carried.

The sight of him like this—the cracks forming in his confident facade—only made it worse.

“I’m sorry,” you breathed out in a sob, your body trembling. The words came from somewhere deep, somewhere raw and exposed. “I can’t…I can’t do this anymore. I want... I want to break up.”

You could almost hear another shatter, louder than the mug. It was the sound of something precious fracturing beyond repair. You met his eyes—the once bright blue eyes that resembled the ocean on a summer’s day, that once mirrored the clear sky. Now, they seemed dull, storm-clouded, as if the life had been siphoned from them in an instant.

“What?” His voice cracked, disbelief painted on his face, twisting into desperation. “Honeybun… it’s just a... we can postpone the trip! We can tell Suguru right now… he’ll be a bit disappointed, but he’ll understand… We can fix this. We can fix us.”

Satoru’s breathing became shallow, each inhale a ragged attempt to hold onto something slipping away. His fingers tightened slightly around yours, as if trying to anchor himself—or perhaps, to keep you from drifting further.

The room felt too small, too silent. The only sound was the erratic thumping of your heart and the soft patter of your tears hitting the floor. Between you lay the shattered remains of the mug, glinting under the harsh kitchen light. Was the room always this dim?

You heard the padded footsteps of Suguru entering the kitchen, droplets of water trailing behind him. His honeyed, melodic voice was tinged with concern and confusion. 

“Everything alright?” he asked, his eyes sweeping over the scene—Satoru on the floor beside you, his face stricken with panic, and you, a trembling mess cradling the broken pieces of what once was whole.

“We have to unpack,” Satoru said in between breaths, hurriedly rushing toward the backpack on the dining room chair. “I’ll call your mother... everything’s fine... everything’s fine.” He gasped between words that came out broken, tears now brimming in his eyes.

Suguru grabbed him by the shoulder, anchoring him. His violet eyes scanned his love, searching for answers. 

“Satoru…” Suguru began.

You spoke up first. “I want to break up.” The words came out meekly, as if you were speaking through someone else’s voice, a stranger in your own skin.

The calm and collected Suguru—the smooth-talking Suguru—was now silent. He stared at the floor, unable to meet your eyes as the weight of your words settled around him.

“I’m sorry... I just... I don’t love you both anymore.”

It was as if those final words made Satoru panic more. His gaze flicked down to the small ring box that had fallen to the floor from his bag. The shiny blue box with a silver ribbon.  

Every breath you took felt like it took more effort than the last, as though the reality of what you were doing was a slow, painful suffocation you couldn’t escape.

You shifted your gaze to look at Satoru, whose eyes were wide, still full of disbelief, and yet there was something darker in them now—something raw. His breath came in shallow bursts, like he couldn’t quite catch up with the truth, like he was trying to find something to hold onto before it all slipped away. He wasn’t ready for this. And maybe, deep down, you weren’t either.

Suguru’s silence was worse than Satoru’s desperate words. Suguru, always the calm one, the steady anchor between you three, stood frozen. His eyes moved from you to Satoru, as if looking for the words, for some kind of lifeline he could throw into the drowning space between you. But there was nothing. The room had already become too heavy, the space between you all too wide.

Satoru’s voice cracked again, desperate, pleading. "We can fix this," he choked out, his hands shaking as they reached for you. "I swear to you, we can fix it… I'll do anything. Please don't say that. Please." His knees hit the floor with a muffled thud as he fell to his knees, his hands grasping for yours like a lifeline, but you could feel the way his grip trembled, how the pressure wasn’t comforting anymore. It wasn’t love, or at least not the kind you recognized anymore. 

You pulled your hand away slowly, as if his touch burned, as if his touch itself was a reminder of something that was slipping away—of a love you couldn't hold onto, no matter how tightly you tried. The absence of his warmth seemed to create a coldness inside you that you couldn’t ignore, couldn’t push away. "I don’t... I don’t know if I can anymore, Satoru," you whispered, the words barely escaping your lips, heavy and hoarse.

Satoru stood abruptly, his knees knocking against the floor as he scrambled to his feet, wiping at his face with the sleeve of his shirt. But the tears, those damned tears, they refused to stay hidden. They gathered in the corners of his eyes, threatening to spill over. “Don’t do this,” he pleaded, his voice breaking on the edges of each word. “I—I don’t understand. What do you want from me? Just tell me what I did wrong. Please… I’ll change. I’ll be anything you need. Anything. Just don’t leave me. Don’t leave us.” His voice cracked on the last word, a fissure in the facade he always wore so confidently.

You sat there, frozen, unable to look at him. At them. The love, the passion, the certainty of your connection—it was all still there, somewhere. But it felt so far away, like it belonged to someone else—a version of you who wasn’t sitting in this kitchen, watching everything slip away. "I just… I don’t think I can do this anymore. It’s not fair to you both." You let out a shaky breath, trying to hold onto the clarity in your words even though it felt like they were slipping from your grasp the more you spoke them.

The truth of it crushed you. How could you be the one to pull away when they both needed you? How could you betray the love they had shown you, the life you had built together, just because something inside you was empty? But it was true. The love that had once seemed so full and unbreakable had worn thin, stretched too far to the point where it no longer made sense to keep pretending. The band had finally snapped.

Satoru’s face crumpled, his lips trembling as he shook his head, as though the words you’d spoken didn’t quite reach him. “Please,” he begged, voice small and broken. “You’re our family. You are family. I don’t care what’s changed... We can fix this. We can work through it. Together. I’ll do anything. Anything, just—don’t leave us. Don’t leave me.”

Suguru stepped forward then, his silence heavier than ever before, his gaze unreadable. He moved as though to reach you, but he hesitated—just for a moment, as though unsure whether touching you would make it worse. But then his voice, soft and gentle, cut through the tension. “Don’t go,” he said quietly, his eyes meeting yours. “Please” Suguru was never one to beg. To plead. 

You felt a tear slip down your cheek, but it wasn’t just for the love that was fading, for the love that you couldn’t bring yourself to hold onto. It was for them, for how badly they wanted this, how much they needed you to stay. It felt like an impossible weight pressing on your chest. Your hands trembled at your sides as you tried to steady your breath, but it was as if the room itself was spinning. 

"I don't know how to fix this," you whispered, more to yourself than to either of them. “I’m sorry” 

[zahri-melitor]

Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths:

I finished working my way through this as an event, and I've got to say that DC can't decide what it wants to do with the Multiverse. We've just gone from restoring the 52 Earths (Mostly around Convergence/Multiversity) to discovering the Dark Multiverse (Dark Nights: Metal, 2017), to rebooting the Multiverse at the end of Dark Nights: Death Metal to form the Omniverse (2020), but also restrict things back to 52 Earths only, to rediscovering Infinite Earths in Dark Crisis (2022), to the conclusion of Absolute Power being "we have once again cut off the Multiverse, but now we're going hard for Elseworlds instead" (2024). Make up your minds! Do you want to use the multiverse or not??? Please stop switching it up every 2 years!

Okay that rant aside, this is yet another event that cares very deeply about plot points and characters from COIE that have barely been seen in the intervening 36 years (and generally only in other events that reference COIE heavily). I don't have any emotional attachment to Pariah and the Anti-Monitor.

Structurally, it was an interesting event, in that there were about 4.5 plots going on.

Plot 1: the Justice League get trapped on dreamstate Earths born out of their subconscious wishes. In terms of commentary, Barry trapping himself in a 1950s comic book, Clark wanting to raise Jon (on the farm, with literally no other heroes from the Superfamily around), and J'onn J'onzz creating a future where he's merged humans with cephalopods/octopus so that they're psychic were probably the most interesting of the lot. Barry proves once again he's disconnected from the present, Clark is obsessing over his loss of Jon's childhood at the expense of everyone else, and J'onn...is once again mourning the loss of his culture and looking for a way to feel less disconnected from Earth. Still not quite turning into the sands of Mars tho boyo. Blah blah the League are feeling they're not communicating properly, they need to take a break and focus on themselves.

Plot 1.5: The Flashfam go to extract Barry and work out WTF is going on because they're the most reliable multiverse jumpers, and the Lanterns recruit everyone as bodies are needed (as all the heavy hitters are as stated trapped in dreamstate Earths).

Plot 2: Jon Kent forms the most underskilled novice Justice League since the early 1990s that largely consists of the latest legacies of various families, getting some direction from Black Adam. Their collective experience as superheroes MIGHT total 20 years active, and if it makes that it's because Booster and Ted are supplying most of that experience.

I am underwhelmed by this team, to put it mildly. There's a lot of "I need to be Superman as my father isn't here!" from Jon, and a lot of boring "Damian grows up to be Batman" foreshadowing where Damian outright insults people a lot, and Yara looks confused and irritated over why she's hanging out with them both. Jackson's trying his hardest, bless his heart, but because nobody really cares much about the Aquas they get that bit of the plot out of the way early on. I'm not sold on what this lot were actually trying to accomplish, despite once again being presented at the future of the DCU.

Plot 3: Dick and the Titans realise they have to step up to actually take leadership, because as noted Jon Kent's Justice League is out there competing with Justice League: Task Force days of "there are four warm bodies here, and only half of them are under the age of 18, we're good to go right?" for level of threat defence. Also Slade's busy trying to kill both Dick and Gar because he can something something dark forces corrupting him mad about Grant's death for the 87th time blah.

Plot 4: Young Justice get kidnapped into a further separate reality to keep them out of the way while the two generations on either side of them try to step up to leadership, and have a bunch of angst about being left out/left behind (I am going to discuss this separately. Spoilers: I thought it was one of the most interesting parts of this event).

My general impression of the entire event was the intended purpose was to showcase both Dick and Jon's leadership abilities. I think it achieved this, but not necessarily in the hoped for way. Dick showcased once again why he is the centrally trusted character of the DCU and can convince everyone and anyone to follow him. Jon showcased that he is absolutely not a leader, he needs to stop thinking that he is required to fill Clark's shoes, and DC need to stop trying to make it happen.

The bit where I most started rolling my eyes is when they decided that Jon Kent, half-Kryptonian powered by sunlight, from a species famously incredibly vulnerable to magic, needed to lead the team going into the magical pure darkness/demon dimension that has no sunlight "because his connection to the sun protects him". Jon's biggest weakness not starting with K is magic. So let's put him in a dimension consisting of magic and have him have to survive off the power of his sunlight...which he immediately wastes and burns off a lot of power by trying to fly. Power that he can't recover, because he's in said dark demon dimension with no sunlight.

Jon, sweetheart, you are not the brightest bulb.

My second biggest eyeroll was meeting Red Canary, Sienna, who accomplished exactly nothing when she accidentally got caught up in Damian's strikeforce that otherwise consisted of "a teleporter for travel, Peegee for her experience with the Cosmic Tuning Fork, and Dr Light because Kimiyo is both COIE linked AND has strong light based powers to fix the situation". I am still unsure of what the point of Red Canary being there was, because she mostly just snarked with Damian and got into trouble. Even if she was intended to eventually be revealed to be Sin Lance with memory problems or something she was not a convincing character.

The Flash storyline in and of itself was fun, but I'd actually already read it when I was reading through Adams' Flash run. It worked just fine in context of the event and it worked as a tie-in where you just skimmed over the event. Adams' Flash run is very entertaining.

As far as DC big summer events go, this one felt more about 'we want to reach these end conditions' (Justice League disbanded for a while, Justice Society of America back, Titans to step up as the headline team) than the actual content of the event itself. It was an event for the sake of having an event, you know?

I dunno. Maybe I would have cared more if I'd actually read COIE, but it felt derivative and like there was a lot of time wasting for the sake of referencing specific things that happened in COIE, whether or not they made sense for this storyline.

Oh and as a note, one other useful thing this event did do was specify that Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is supposed to be in continuity for Kara, and basically contemporaneously too.

[anghraine]

this is entirely unprompted on your end, but i love your darcy and faramir takes and wanted to get your opinion on aragorn/faramir as a ship.

i'm salivating over it and nobody. cares. but i just love how it can show the possibilities of book faramir being a "threat" to aragorn's kingship in a way that nobody else is...how they can relate through their shared ancestry but the entirely different ways it impacted them in their respective lives - something about aragorn being the heir of isildur, growing up surrounded by elves, arnor. something about faramir being distinctly aware of the legacy of the stewards, his numenorean heritage and how it's fading away in the world of men, gondor (my fav world in lotr, you are so under-appreciated, gondor.) i personally adhere to the stewards-were-most-likely-also-royalty headcanon because of that extra juicy tension. throw in the i-knew-your-father-as-a-young-man aspect, the whole steward-quite-literally-serving-in-wait-of-the-true-king aspect? it's everything.

i dunno. the natural cause and effect of "return of the king" & "departure of the steward" is so interesting to play with in a romantic context, especially if it keeps both of them in the limelight when naturally, it should only be one of them? i think it's the aragorn ship that pushes his character and ambition the most, and in the same way, it can push faramir to show more machiavellian traits, more of him utilizing his political power and/or personal strengths. especially since his canonical fate is extremely satisfying but also...very conclusively an *ending* if that makes sense.

i might just want to see faramir clashing with aragorn wanting to wage more war. let him cook! let the man speak about "queen among other queens: not a mistress of many slaves"!!!!

also must admit that it's my contrarian ass wanting to rebel against the fanon "aragorn never ever wanted to be king" + "faramir is a pathetic meow meow" headcanons. the existing faramir x aragorn fics i've read all adhere to it which is frustrating.

anyways, any thoughts on this ship i randomly latched on to?

Anon, this is my #1 Tolkien ship and actually one of the only m/m ships I've ever been super into. I used to guiltily sneak-read Aragorn/Faramir as a teenager because I grew up in a conservative community and hadn't come to terms with my own queerness at the time, and was still figuring out how to get by in that community just as a Democrat, much less a lesbian.

Anyway, I got a huge kick out of your ask because it's basically point-for-point my own feelings about them. If you haven't seen it, I even wrote a ship manifesto for them over ten years ago.

And unfortunately I do also agree that the (very PJ film-inflected) fanons around both characters have made it very difficult to find fic for the ship that isn't deeply OOC for the original versions of the characters (tbh the last time I looked, it was hard enough to even find F/A fics where Faramir had black hair, much less his deeper canon characteristics). Add in the fanon depictions of Gondor and the Stewardship, and a lot of what appeals about the pairing is lost for me. I read some good ones a longggg time ago, but wouldn't begin to know where to find them now.

(I know I should be the change I want to see and write some myself, but apart from the AU f/f and m/f/f versions, I think the closest I ever came to it was this post about a mostly-the-same-as-LOTR AU only with Faramir/Aragorn and this feeling explosion about "Faramir actually does accepts the dream-visions obviously intending him to be the one going to Rivendell but also it's Faramir/Aragorn.")

And if you haven't found it yet, my ship tag is #otp: love was kindled.

I hope you enjoy <3

[slitheringghost]

Lily Evans as Master of Death, Part 2: Flight From Death

This is part 2 to Unweaving Canon Lily: Master of Death. You don't have to read that meta to understand this, but it might help if you do.

In this meta I will address two major points: (1) how Lily is constantly associated with flight throughout the series, and how that ties into point (2) which is that for six books, we are told that Voldemort laughed as he murdered Lily:

As Hagrid’s story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before — and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh. (PS) When the dementors approached him, he heard the last moments of his mother’s life, her attempts to protect him, Harry, from Lord Voldemort, and Voldemort’s laughter before he murdered her... (PoA) “It is, isn’t it?” said Harry, in a voice barely more than a whisper. “But she didn’t move. Dad was already dead, but she didn’t want me to go too. She tried to plead with Voldemort... but he just laughed..." (HBP)

But in the actual scene in DH, Voldemort never laughs while Lily's pleading or while he kills her - he laughs while killing James. This isn’t an inconsistency. Because the laugh Harry heard wasn't Voldemort laughing - it was Lily laughing at Voldemort.

Lily and Voldemort as a duo are compared to Sirius and Bellatrix:

Bellatrix laughed, the same exhilarated laugh her cousin Sirius had given as he toppled backward through the veil, and suddenly Harry knew what was going to happen before it did. (DH)

Lily laughed a laugh so identical to Voldemort’s that Harry mistook it as Voldemort laughing instead.

And just as with Lily being Death, the text doesn’t come out and explicitly say it, because JKR weaved Lily in as a riddle and a mystery for readers to solve - and we have to follow the clues and the Easter eggs she put in to reach the answer. In this meta, I’ll go through all the clues that hint to this.

Note: This analysis positions Lily's defeat of Voldemort as deliberate planning by her, which ties into why she'd give a sort of triumphant laugh that mirrors Voldemort's. IMO JKR's portrayal of Lily as Death/Master of Death implies there's more going on with her sacrifice even from a Doylist perspective.

1.0 Flight And Laughter

Voldemort’s name means “flight from death” in French, and the text makes constant references to the true meaning of Voldemort’s name in fascinating - and hilarious - ways.

A hugely important point to this analysis is the Lily is portrayed as Voldemort’s metaphorical sister the way Harry and Voldemort are “brothers”. See more on this here, here, and here. 

More specifically, Lily and Harry are Voldemort’s symbolic twin sister and twin brother, Flight From Death #2 and Flight From Death #3, regarding Harry’s immortality and Lily being the reason for both her son’s immortality and for Voldemort’s death, by her sacrifice deflecting the Killing Curse. The HP series is their sibling rivalry with Voldemort - who can fly from death higher?

Lily and Harry invariably win, and just as Lily is portrayed as the true Master Of Death, the true Death, she’s also the true Flight From Death.

There is a recurring motif of Lily laughing at or making fun of others in flight, or laughing in flight herself - because it’s meant to represent Lily laughing at Voldemort's death and his suffering as he tries to kill Harry and repeatedly fails, Lily laughing because Voldemort calls himself “Flight from death”, and yet she and her son flew from death better than him.

There was undisguised greed in his thin face as he watched the younger of the two girls swinging higher and higher than her sister. “Lily, don’t do it!” shrieked the elder of the two. But the girl had let go of the swing at the very height of its arc and flown into the air, quite literally flown, launched herself skyward with a great shout of laughter, and instead of crumpling on the playground asphalt, she soared like a trapeze artist through the air, staying up far too long, landing far too lightly. “Mummy told you not to!” Petunia stopped her swing by dragging the heels of her sandals on the ground, making a crunching, grinding sound, then leapt up, hands on hips. “Mummy said you weren’t allowed, Lily!” “But I’m fine,” said Lily, still giggling.

“It’s not hurting you,” said Lily, but she closed her hand on the blossom and threw it back to the ground. “It’s not right,” said Petunia, but her eyes had followed the flower’s flight to the ground and lingered upon it. “How do you do it?” she added, and there was definite longing in her voice. (DH)

Then we have Lily laughing as Snape tries badly to fly on a broomstick:

a hook-nosed man was shouting at a cowering woman, while a small dark-haired boy cried in a corner... A greasy-haired teenager sat alone in a dark bedroom, pointing his wand at the ceiling, shooting down flies... A girl was laughing as a scrawny boy tried to mount a bucking broomstick — (OoTP)

The text leaves it ambiguous who the girl is, but it’s clear with later context - and the repetition of Lily laughing at others in flight - that the girl is Lily.

Similarly, we have this moment in SWM:

a second flash of light later, Snape was hanging upside down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of graying underpants. Many people in the small crowd watching cheered. Sirius, James, and Wormtail roared with laughter. Lily, whose furious expression had twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile, said, “Let him down!” (OoTP)

There’s a reason that Lily almost smiles specifically when Levicorpus is used on Snape rather than any other spell he’s attacked with - because Lily is laughing at Snape in flight, tying this into the other similar instances.

Likewise, Lily also insults James’s ability to fly in the same scene:

“Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you’ve just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can — I’m surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK.” (OoTP)

Then we have Lily’s letter, and the contents of the letter and the passages related to it are full of hidden messages through coded language:

Harry bent down, picked up a few of the pieces of paper, and examined them. He recognized one as part of an old edition of A History of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot, and another as belonging to a motorcycle maintenance manual. The third was handwritten and crumpled [...] it proved to be most of the photograph Lily had described in her letter. A black-haired baby was zooming in and out of the picture on a tiny broom, roaring with laughter, and a pair of legs that must have belonged to James was chasing after him. [...] Then he ripped in two the photograph he was also holding, so that he kept the part from which Lily laughed, throwing the portion showing James and Harry back onto the floor (DH)

The sequence of things mentioned matters here - Before Snape took the part of Lily laughing, it would’ve been next to the picture of Sirius’s motorbike manuals, so this can be read as Lily laughing at Sirius’s method of flight, just as she was laughing at and insulting Snape’s and James’s.

Dear Padfoot, Thank you thank you, for Harry’s birthday present! It was his favorite by far. One year old and already zooming along on a toy broomstick, he looked so pleased with himself, I’m enclosing a picture so you can see. You know it only rises about two feet off the ground, but he nearly killed the cat and he smashed a horrible vase Petunia sent me for Christmas (no complaints there). Of course, James thought it was so funny, says he’s going to be a great Quidditch player, but we’ve had to pack away all the ornaments and make sure we don’t take our eyes off him when he gets going. (DH)

Harry nearly killed the cat while flying on the toy broom and broke Petunia’s vase - the joke here is that the cat represents Tom Riddle, because Tomcat, and Tom and Jerry, which first aired the year Tom Riddle was 13 (Voldemort is also compared to a cat in GoF - the red eyes, whose pupils were slits, like a cat’s, gleamed still more brightly through the darkness.).

AKA Harry nearly killed Tom Riddle while flying from death and broke the Potter house as he broke the vase (you could say Voldemort gave her the house for Halloween, because James died first and thus Lily technically inherited the house…)

The cat’s state of existence is left ambiguous, whether it perished in the blast or ran away when there was no one left to feed it - just like Voldemort is hovering in the boundary between life and death, existing as a wraith, neither dead nor alive.

Harry’s only one year old and flying from death, only one year old and nearly killing the cat aka Voldemort - this is Lily saying proudly her son will fly from death higher than them all.

Likewise, the photograph also has a double meaning. James isn’t fully in the photo for a reason, to the point that Harry can’t even tell for sure it’s him, because Voldemort is also represented by James here - and this photo’s second meaning is Lily laughing at Voldemort as he chases after Harry as Harry “flies from death”.

He read the letter again, but could not take in any more meaning than he had done the first time, and was reduced to staring at the handwriting itself. She had made her “g”s the same way he did: He searched through the letter for every one of them, and each felt like a friendly little wave glimpsed from behind a veil. (DH)

There’s a reason that specifically the letter “g” was chosen - this is another coded message. Lily made her g’s the same way Harry did, because Godric Gryffindor and Gellert Grindelwald, and Lily and Harry the true Gryffindors and the true masters of the death, linking them to Grindelwald’s quest for the same.

1.1 St. Mungo’s Sequence

[...] a young wizard was performing an odd on-the-spot jig and trying, in between yelps of pain, to explain his predicament to the witch behind the desk. “It’s these — ouch — shoes my brother gave me — ow — they’re eating my — OUCH — feet — look at them, there must be some kind of — AARGH — jinx on them and I can’t — AAAAARGH — get them off —” He hopped from one foot to the other as though dancing on hot coals. “The shoes don’t prevent you reading, do they?” said the blonde witch irritably, pointing at a large sign to the left of her desk. “You want Spell Damage, fourth floor [...]" The wizard hobbled and pranced sideways out of the way (OoTP) The sunlight was dazzling on the smooth surface of the lake, on the bank of which the group of laughing girls who had just left the Great Hall were sitting with shoes and socks off, cooling their feet in the water. (OoTP)

The wizard above represents Voldemort. (JKR often does this, uses random characters to represent or evoke main characters - another example of this in the last section with the German woman representing Lily.) The wizard “dancing on hot coals” evokes how Lily’s blood magic burns Voldemort’s skin, the “yelps of pain” evoke Voldemort saying Lily’s sacrifice caused him “pain beyond pain”, and him not being able to get his shoes off is a reference to Priori Incantatem:

And then — nothing could have prepared Harry for this — he felt his feet lift from the ground. He and Voldemort were both being raised into the air, their wands still connected by that thread of shimmering golden light. They glided away from the tombstone of Voldemort’s father and then came to rest on a patch of ground that was clear and free of graves (GoF)

This is a reference to the Talaria of Mercury, or the winged sandals of Hermes, given to him by his half-brother Hephaestus. The magic in Priori Incantatem lifts his his feet into the air - like he's wearing the winged sandals.

Then the passage of Lily laughing in SWM is tied into the man in St. Mungo’s - While the man representing Voldemort can't get off the shoes eating his feet, Lily has her shoes and socks off; while for him it's like his feet are burning on coals, Lily is cooling her feet in water. Voldemort can’t get the shoes off that his sister Lily gave him.

In short, Lily is laughing at Voldemort being burned by her blood magic, laughing at Voldemort in the graveyard being made to fly and being hindered by her magic yet again, laughing as her son flies from death and escapes him.

“That’ll have to do,” he [Ron] said, slamming the diary shut, “I’ve said I dreamed I was buying a new pair of shoes, she can’t make anything weird out of that, can she?” (OoTP)

You’ll notice that in OoTP Ron starts sounding like Voldemort, “performing” the part of Voldemort in the series. For example, Ron asks, 'What's worse than death?' and Voldemort later says, "There's nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!"

So Ron dreaming a new pair of shoes hints at Ron’s link to Voldemort, because it references the wizard in St. Mungo’s with the shoes eating his feet, who represents Voldemort (perhaps evidence for Seer!Ron).

Again, notice how this text is speaking to us in riddles, in coded messages.

(Also note that just as Ron is performing the part of Voldemort, Hermione is performing the part of Lily. See more on this in my meta Hermione As Teacher And Connections To Lily.)

The wizard with his winged daughter in St. Mungo's an allusion to Lily and Harry as Deadalus and Icarus, because in addition to being aegis-bearing Zeus, and Arachne exposing Voldemort's victimization of mortals in her light-spun web as in Priori Incantatem, Lily is Deadalus crafting wings for her son to fly from death - also referenced in the duo in the St. Mungo’s line after the wizard with the jinxed shoes:

A harassed-looking wizard was holding his small daughter tightly by the ankle while she flapped around his head using the immensely large, feathery wings that had sprouted right out the back of her romper suit [...] the man disappeared through the double doors beside the desk, holding his daughter like an oddly shaped balloon (OoTP)

This is especially funny given Ron says this later in the same book:

“I thought we’d settled that?” said Luna maddeningly. “We’re flying!” “Look,” said Ron, barely containing his anger, “you might be able to fly without a broomstick but the rest of us can’t sprout wings whenever we —” “There are other ways of flying than with broomsticks,” said Luna serenely. (OoTP)

The description of the balloon also evokes flight, and the wizard emphasized specifically as holding his daughter by the ankle is an allusion to the myth of the Achilles heel - to Lily and Harry as Thetis holding her son Achilles by the ankle to dip him in the River Styx, giving him immortality.

Lily and Harry as Deadalus and Icarus are also referenced with Dedalus Diggle, who was one of the earliest Order members mentioned and one of the earliest wizards to interact with Harry:

A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. (PS) “Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can’t tell you, Diggle’s the name, Dedalus Diggle.” “I’ve seen you before!” said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle’s top hat fell off in his excitement. “You bowed to me once in a shop.” “He remembers!” cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. “Did you hear that? He remembers me!” (OoTP)

And Dedalus Diggle also comes to get Harry from the Dursleys right before Harry deflects the Killing Curse while both him and Voldemort are in flight - Harry flying on his broom and Voldemort flying unsupported, another reference to flight from death.

Then there’s Harry’s History of Magic O.W.L., during which Voldemort lures Harry to the DoM with his vision of Sirius, as another important Deadalus and Icarus allusion:

The sun was very hot on the back of his head. Harry closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands, so that the glowing red of his eyelids grew dark and cool. But somebody screamed as Voldemort lowered his wand again; somebody yelled and fell sideways off a hot desk onto the cold stone floor. (OoTP)

The repeated mention of sunlight shining on them is a reference to Lily and Harry as Deadalus and Icarus, because Harry flew too close to the sun - and now their wings are melting and injured, now they’re about to fall from the sky and drown in the sea of despair, because the man both Lily and Harry love - Sirius - is about to die.

Harry dived behind a marble angel to avoid the jets of red light and saw the tip of its wing shatter as the spells hit it. Gripping his wand more tightly, he dashed out from behind the angel — (GoF) It was only then that he realized that Hedwig’s feathers were oddly ruffled; some were bent the wrong way, and she was holding one of her wings at an odd angle. “She’s hurt!” Harry whispered [...] “Look — there’s something wrong with her wing —” (OoTP) Fawkes swooped down in front of Dumbledore, opened his beak wide, and swallowed the jet of green light whole. He burst into flame and fell to the floor, small, wrinkled, and flightless. (OoTP)

2.0 Associations with all flying things

Now I’ll go through all the times Lily is associated with flight - this will circle back to the laugh in the last section, because it ties into how Lily is laughing as her son "flies from death", and laughing at Voldemort as Voldemort himself "flies from death" aka is forced to "fly from death" because he's nearly murdered. (Her associations with flight of course also symbolize her as a God figure and angel)

2.1 Fawkes

Note: Since exact wording really matters when analyzing Lily, it's important to use the first original version of Priori Incantatem, where Lily comes out of the wand last instead of James.

In addition to the above reference - Fawkes swallowing the Killing Curse that was about to kill Dumbledore and then “dying” symbolizing how Lily took the Killing Curse for Harry - an important thing to realize is that the graveyard scene in GoF, where Harry and Voldemort’s phoenix wands connect, is in many ways entirely about Lily.

Lilies represent Christ's resurrection, and are said to have sprouted from the ground where Christ's blood and tears fell during crucifixion.

Harry's tied to the tombstone of Voldemort's father, Peter takes Harry's blood for Voldemort's rebirth, then Voldemort brings up Lily:

“You stand, Harry Potter, upon the remains of my late father,” he hissed softly. “A Muggle and a fool... very like your dear mother. But they both had their uses, did they not? Your mother died to defend you as a child... and I killed my father, and see how useful he has proved himself, in death...” (GoF)

Voldemort mentions Lily's death/sacrifice like 4+ times through this scene. And then when their spells connect:

And then — nothing could have prepared Harry for this — he felt his feet lift from the ground. He and Voldemort were both being raised into the air, their wands still connected by that thread of shimmering golden light. They glided away from the tombstone of Voldemort’s father and then came to rest on a patch of ground that was clear and free of graves... (GoF)

It first lifts the both of them from that ground by Tom Riddle Sr's grave and places them somewhere else - because flight from death, lilies are sprouting from the ground where Harry’s blood was spilt for the ritual and where Voldemort mentioned Lily, etc. (This comes full circle in DH, where Hermione leaves a wreath of Christmas roses on Lily’s grave as Harry cries on it, so here roses sprouted on the ground where "Christ's tears" fell.)

Which brings me to this passage in OoTP which references it in coded language:

Then a burst of fire in midair illuminated the dirty plates in front of them and as they gave cries of shock, a scroll of parchment fell with a thud onto the table, accompanied by a single golden phoenix tail feather. “Fawkes!” said Sirius at once, snatching up the parchment. “That’s not Dumbledore’s writing — it must be a message from your mother — here —” He thrust the letter into George’s hand, who ripped it open and read aloud, “Dad is still alive. I am setting out for St. Mungo’s now. Stay where you are. I will send news as soon as I can. Mum.” (OoTP) And then an unearthly and beautiful sound filled the air. . . . It was coming from every thread of the light-spun web vibrating around Harry and Voldemort. It was a sound Harry recognized, though he had heard it only once before in his life: phoenix song.It was the sound of hope to Harry... the most beautiful and welcome thing he had ever heard in his life... He felt as though the song were inside him instead of just around him... It was the sound he connected with Dumbledore, and it was almost as though a friend were speaking in his ear... Don’t break the connection. (GoF)

“Your mother’s coming…” he said quietly. “She wants to see you… it will be all right… hold on…” And she came… first her head, then her body… a young woman with long hair, the smoky, shadowy form of Lily Potter blossomed from the end of Voldemort’s wand, fell to the ground, and straightened like her husband. She walked close to Harry, looking down at him, and she spoke in the same distant, echoing voice as the others, but quietly, so that Voldemort, his face now livid with fear as his victims prowled around him, could not hear... “When the connection is broken, we will linger for only moments... but we will give you time... you must get to the Portkey, it will return you to Hogwarts... do you understand, Harry?” (GoF)

Harry associates the phoenix song with Dumbledore, but this isn’t Dumbledore’s doing, it’s a message from Lily, it’s Lily coming to save Harry.

Notice how the wording echoes - Harry hears a voice saying “Don’t break the connection” and Lily’s shade says “When the connection is broken”; Voldemort calls Lily’s blood magic “lingering protection” and Lily’s shade says "we will linger". Voldemort says “My curse was deflected by the woman’s foolish sacrifice, and it rebounded upon myself. Aaah… pain beyond pain, my friends; nothing could have prepared me for it” and when Priori Incantatem lifts Harry and Voldemort into the air the wording is “And then — nothing could have prepared Harry for this — he felt his feet lift from the ground”. These details consistently connect this all back to Lily.

Harry also goes from thinking “There was no hope… no help to be had" and "His mother was not there to die for him this time”, losing faith in Lily, to “It was the sound of hope to Harry” - and lilies are called the “white-robed apostles of hope”, another giveaway.

The OoTP passage about Molly’s letter continues, with more coded connections to the GoF graveyard scene:

[...] George looked around the table.“Still alive...” he said slowly. “But that makes it sound...” He did not need to finish the sentence. It sounded to Harry too as though Mr. Weasley was hovering somewhere between life and death. (OoTP) “My curse was deflected by the woman’s foolish sacrifice, and it rebounded upon myself. Aaah... pain beyond pain, my friends; nothing could have prepared me for it. I was ripped from my body, I was less than spirit, less than the meanest ghost... but still, I was alive.” (GoF)

Voldemort here is represented by “Dad” because he, like Mr. Weasley, is presented as a father figure to Harry.

This comes full circle in the graveyard scene in DH, where Harry mistakes Voldemort’s magic for that of Dumbledore’s, just like he mistook Priori Incantatem for Dumbledore’s magic when it was actually Lily’s magic:

Was it possible that she had been waiting for them all these long months? That Dumbledore had told her to wait, and that Harry would come in the end? Was it not likely that it was she who had moved in the shadows in the graveyard and had followed them to this spot? Even her ability to sense them suggested some Dumbledore-ish power that he had never encountered before. (DH)

Then we have Fawkes healing Harry right as he mentions Lily:

Harry described how the figures that had emerged from the wand had prowled the edges of the golden web, how Voldemort had seemed to fear them, how the shadow of Harry’s mother had told him what to do, how Cedric’s had made its final request. At this point, Harry found he could not continue. He looked around at Sirius and saw that he had his face in his hands. Harry suddenly became aware that Fawkes had left his knee. The phoenix had fluttered to the floor. It was resting its beautiful head against Harry’s injured leg, and thick, pearly tears were falling from its eyes onto the wound left by the spider. The pain vanished. The skin mended. His leg was repaired. (GoF)

The other time the phrase "beautiful head" is used is for the doe patronus: "She stepped toward him, her beautiful head with its wide, long-lashed eyes held high." // "She turned her beautiful head toward him once more"

2.2 Hedwig

Just as he limped past the window, Hedwig soared through it with a soft rustle of wings like a small ghost. “About time!” Harry snarled, as she landed lightly on top of her cage. “You can put that down, I’ve got work for you!” Hedwig’s large round amber eyes gazed reproachfully at him over the dead frog clamped in her beak. (OoTP)

Hedwig here is meant to evoke Lily - described as a “small ghost", the reference to her eyes, and the beak full of dead frog may be a reference to Lily having her “pockets full of frogspawn”.

Hedwig dies during the Battle of Seven Potters in DH - when Lily's magic saves Harry from the Killing Curse a second time, while Harry and Voldemort are both in flight - much like how Fawkes falls dead and flightless after swallowing the Killing Curse, Hedwig dying here represents how it took Lily’s death to make Harry "fly from death". Likewise, Harry first heard Lily’s murder and deflection of the Killing Curse in PoA while he was in flight - because flight from death.

2.3 Lily as the Golden Snitch

“Did you ever discuss codes, or any means of passing secret messages, with Dumbledore?” “No, I didn’t,” said Hermione, still wiping her eyes on her sleeve. “And if the Ministry hasn’t found any hidden codes in this book in thirty-one days, I doubt that I will.” “I notice that your birthday cake is in the shape of a Snitch,” Scrimgeour said to Harry. “Why is that?” Hermione laughed derisively. “Oh, it can’t be a reference to the fact Harry’s a great Seeker, that’s way too obvious,” she said. “There must be a secret message from Dumbledore hidden in the icing!” (DH) He had drawn a Snitch and was now tracing the letters L. E. What did they stand for? (OoTP)

There's a reason that DH includes this bit about Dumbledore leaving secret codes in a book and the Snitch cake potentially containing a secret message - JKR is being incredibly meta here, because when James writes Lily's initials beside the Snitch in OoTP, this is JKR giving readers a secret message: that Lily is the Golden Snitch.

What do we know about the Snitch? The Snitch is tiny, golden, very difficult to see, and notably the only ball in Quidditch that has wings - like how Lily is constantly associated with flight, and an allusion to Lily as an angel to Harry. Snitches have flesh memories - only opening at Harry's touch, as Lily's touch is emphasized, and her blood magic keeping Voldemort from touching Harry.

Harry's the Seeker and Lily is the Snitch - because Lily's playing hide-and-seek with her son through the narrative and Harry has to seek her.

Most celebrated of these half-magical dwelling places is, perhaps, Godric’s Hollow, the West Country village where the great wizard Godric Gryffindor was born, and where Bowman Wright, Wizarding smith, forged the first Golden Snitch. The graveyard is full of the names of ancient magical families, and this accounts, no doubt, for the stories of hauntings that have dogged the little church beside it for many centuries. (DH)

It was invented where Lily died and vanquished Voldemort, where Lily Harry and Voldemort all had their "flight from death".

The long game was ended, the Snitch had been caught, it was time to leave the air… The Snitch. His nerveless fingers fumbled for a moment with the pouch at his neck and he pulled it out. I open at the close. Lily waited until Petunia was near enough to have a clear view, then held out her palm. The flower sat there, opening and closing its petals, like some bizarre, many-lipped oyster. (DH)

It’s time for Harry to leave the air - to fly from death yet again because of Lily's lingering magic and Lily having conquered death.

Lily is playing hide-and-seek with him, and where does Harry find her? Inside the Golden Snitch, where the Resurrection Stone is hidden, and as I said the previous part to this meta, that was Lily’s soul creating the versions of James, Sirius, and Remus just as Riddle’s soul in the locket created Riddle-Harry and Riddle-Hermione.

That Harry’s excellent flying is actually about his “flight from death” is why his Quidditch skills are often mentioned when he faces Voldemort.

Voldemort raised his wand, but this time Harry was ready; with the reflexes born of his Quidditch training, he flung himself sideways onto the ground (GoF) And Harry, with the unerring skill of the Seeker, caught the wand in his free hand as Voldemort fell backward, arms splayed, the slit pupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upward. (DH)

2.4 Charms

“You have your mother’s eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work.” (PS)

Lily having a wand good for Charms has significance tying to this narrative thread. The very first spell they learn in Charms (or at least, the first one the text points out iirc) is the Levitation Charm - in other words, how to make something fly, which they then practice on a bird feather.

Hermione is the one to do it perfectly and teach Harry and Ron how to successfully do it - and Hermione performs the part of Lily. Again see this meta.

They learn this spell specifically on Halloween - the same day Harry had his “flight from death” in 1981.

On Halloween morning they woke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try […] “Now, don’t forget that nice wrist movement we’ve been practicing!” squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. “Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. ” (PS)

In general the stuff they learn in Charms is often associated with making things fly - Levitation Charm, Hovering Charm, Summoning Charm, Banishing Charm, etc. Likewise, Flitwick's section for the Stone protections also have to do with flight - they're winged keys that remind Harry of birds and also evoke a Snitch, and Harry uses his Seeker skills to catch them.

2.5 Flying out of a window

The action of flying through the window is repeated by those associated with the Elder Wand and therefore the Master of Death thread in DH.

Lily as represented by the doe patronus:

“For him?” shouted Snape. “Expecto Patronum!” From the tip of his wand burst the silver doe: She landed on the office floor, bounded once across the office, and soared out of the window. Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears. (DH)

Harry and Hermione escaping from Voldemort in Godric's Hollow, with Hermione playing the role of Lily:

Glass cut his cheek as, pulling Hermione with him, he leapt from bed to broken dressing table and then straight out of the smashed window into nothingness, her scream reverberating through the night as they twisted in midair... And then his scar burst open and he was Voldemort and he was running across the fetid bedroom, his long white hands clutching at the windowsill as he glimpsed the bald man and the little woman twist and vanish (DH)

Voldemort as he meets Grindelwald to question him about the Elder Wand:

— and he rose into the night, flying straight up to the window at the very top of the tower — [...] — The window was the merest slit in the black rock, not big enough for a man to enter... A skeletal figure was just visible through it, curled beneath a blanket... Dead, or sleeping...? [...] — as he forced himself through the slit of a window like a snake and landed, lightly as vapor, inside the cell-like room — (DH)

Grindelwald as he steals the Elder Wand:

Gregorovitch burst into the room at the end of the passage and his lantern illuminated what looked like a workshop; wood shavings and gold gleamed in the swinging pool of light, and there on the window ledge sat perched, like a giant bird, a young man with golden hair. In the split second that the lantern’s light illuminated him, Harry saw the delight upon his handsome face, then the intruder shot a Stunning Spell from his wand and jumped neatly backward out of the window with a crow of laughter. Harry could still see the blond-haired youth’s face; it was merry, wild; there was a Fred and George-ish air of triumphant trickery about him. He had soared from the windowsill like a bird, and Harry had seen him before, but he could not think where... (DH)

Snape as he flies with the Elder Wand in his hand:

When Harry looked up again, Snape was in full flight, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout all thundering after him: He hurtled through a classroom door and, moments later, he heard McGonagall cry, “Coward! COWARD!” […] Harry dragged her to her feet and they raced along the corridor, trailing the Invisibility Cloak behind them, into the deserted classroom where Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout were standing at a smashed window. “He jumped,” said Professor McGonagall as Harry and Luna ran into the room. “You mean he’s dead?” Harry sprinted to the window [...] With a tingle of horror, Harry saw in the distance a huge, batlike shape flying through the darkness toward the perimeter wall. (DH)

3.0 1981 Memory

Onto the laugh, there are multiple possibilities - one is that since the memories Harry hears near the dementors are blurry, Harry simply heard the laugh and Lily's death out of order, and what he heard was actually Voldemort laughing as he murdered James. It's also possible that it just got left out/implied.

But that doesn't change the fact that the text emphasizes this laugh very specifically in relation to Lily's murder continuously.

As I said before, Voldemort and Lily as a duo parallel Sirius and Bellatrix, and the way Sirius, Bellatrix, and Harry echo each other in this Department of Mysteries sequence (expanded on in my meta "When Lily Cast Her Life As A Shield": Analysis of the Shield Charm) is mirrored by the Voldemort, Lily, and Harry trio:

“Laughed,” said Stan. “Jus’ stood there an’ laughed. An’ when reinforcements from the Ministry of Magic got there, ’e went wiv ’em quiet as anyfink, still laughing ’is ’ead off. ’Cos ’e’s mad, inee, Ern? Inee mad?” (PoA) “Get it himself?” shrieked Bellatrix on a cackle of mad laughter. Only one couple were still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix’s jet of red light: He was laughing at her. “Come on, you can do better than that!” he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room. " [...] And he knows!” said Harry with a mad laugh to match Bellatrix’s own. “Your dear old mate Voldemort knows it’s gone! He’s not going to be happy with you, is he?” (OoTP)

Remember all the instances of Lily laughing related to flight - in fact every instance of Lily laughing in the series has something to do with this narrative thread. And it's the same thing in the memory of her death:

The child was laughing and trying to catch the smoke, to grab it in his small fist... “Lily, take Harry and go! It’s him! Go! Run! I’ll hold him off!” Hold him off, without a wand in his hand!... He laughed before casting the curse... “Avada Kedavra!” he looked up into the intruder’s face with a kind of bright interest, perhaps thinking that it was his father who hid beneath the cloak, making more pretty lights, and his mother would pop up any moment, laughing — (DH)

Lily is imagined as laughing right before Voldemort casts the Killing Curse on Harry - right before the curse rebounds on and (nearly) kills Voldemort, just as Voldemort laughed before he murdered James.

Note that this echoes Sirius and Bellatrix laughing specifically right before they’re killed - as Voldemort and Lily both laugh as they’re both dying in 1981 (or in Voldemort’s case, his near-death).

How and when did Lily laugh like that and Voldemort not hear it? There are several options. Remember, there are multiple instances where Lily is mentioned to have said something that Voldemort couldn’t hear:

She walked close to Harry, looking down at him, and she spoke in the same distant, echoing voice as the others, but quietly, so that Voldemort, his face now livid with fear as his victims prowled around him, could not hear... (GoF) A door opened and the mother entered, saying words he could not hear, her long dark-red hair falling over her face. (DH)

This may be a deliberate clue to Voldemort not hearing the laugh that Harry can.

It’s possible Lily laughed soon after screaming when Voldemort was still climbing the stairs, knowing she was luring him to his death, or that she laughed hovering between the boundary of life and death right before she died, much like Bellatrix and Sirius are said to have known what happened in the second before they died (“Molly’s curse soared beneath Bellatrix’s outstretched arm and hit her squarely in the chest, directly over her heart. Bellatrix’s gloating smile froze, her eyes seemed to bulge: For the tiniest space of time she knew what had happened, and then she toppled”).

It’s also possible Lily was laughing after she died, from behind the veil, and Harry could hear it because of the magical connection between them, sort of like he can hear her whispering to him from the Veil in OoTP.

Lily knew that in killing her, Voldemort sealed the agreement, sealed the "binding magical contract" that would destroy him when he broke it (more on that here) - the agreement to take Lily's life instead of Harry's. And therefore, in one way or another, she was laughing triumphantly at Voldemort.

That Bellatrix is a clue to Lily is further implied in the parallel here:

“Yeah,” said Harry, tearing his eyes away from Bellatrix Lestrange’s face to glance up and down the High Street. “Yeah, it is weird...” (OoTP) How long he stood there, he didn’t know. The reflections did not fade and he looked and looked until a distant noise brought him back to his senses. He couldn’t stay here, he had to find his way back to bed. He tore his eyes away from his mother’s face, whispered, “I’ll come back,” and hurried from the room. (PS)

The way the language around Voldemort, Lily, and Harry and their movements and actions mirror each other in general in addition to the laughs in the 1981 memory is another big clue.

And then his scar burst open and he was Voldemort and he was running across the fetid bedroom, his long white hands clutching at the windowsill as he glimpsed the bald man and the little woman twist and vanish, and he screamed with rage, a scream that mingled with the girl’s, that echoed across the dark gardens over the church bells ringing in Christmas Day... And his scream was Harry’s scream, his pain was Harry’s pain... He could hear her screaming from the upper floor, trapped, but as long as she was sensible, she, at least, had nothing to fear He was nothing, nothing but pain and terror, and he must hide himself, not here in the rubble of the ruined house, where the child was trapped and screaming, but far away (DH)

Again Hermione here is representing Lily - most evident in this scene, where it’s her spell that saves Harry from Nagini-Bathilda and lets them escape as Voldemort comes, just like Lily saved Harry in 1981, so Voldemort's scream mingling with Hermione's alludes to it mingling with Lily's. (The locket soul piece is also described as "trapped and screaming" later).

He forced the door open, cast aside the chair and boxes hastily piled against it with one lazy wave of his wand... and there she stood, the child in her arms.  The child had not cried all this time: He could stand, clutching the bars of his crib, and he looked up into the intruder’s face with a kind of bright interest  And now he stood at the broken window of Bathilda’s house, immersed in memories of his greatest loss (DH)

Additionally the three of them aren’t named in the memory, while James is named 4 times, again tying Voldemort, Lily, and Harry as a trio with identical “twin” (or triplet) movements.

As explained in part 1, Voldemort and Lily are both described as “hooded figures”, both are Death, both enter through a doorway (because as in the Cain and Abel passage in Genesis 4, sin is crouching at the door), and the wording here echoes:

A door opened and the mother entered, saying words he could not hear, her long dark-red hair falling over her face. The gate creaked a little as he pushed it open, but James Potter did not hear. His white hand pulled out the wand beneath his cloak and pointed it at the door, which burst open. (DH)

All of which is to say, if everything else echoes - then so must their laughter. On first glance, Lily laughing seems to be only Voldemort's imagination, but once we put together all the clues, we can see how that's meant to hint at Lily actually laughing in this scene.

The green light flashed around the room and she dropped like her husband. The child had not cried all this time: He could stand, clutching the bars of his crib, and he looked up into the intruder’s face with a kind of bright interest, perhaps thinking that it was his father who hid beneath the cloak, making more pretty lights, and his mother would pop up any moment, laughing — He pointed the wand very carefully into the boy’s face: He wanted to see it happen, the destruction of this one, inexplicable danger. The child began to cry: It had seen that he was not James. (DH)

The above passage is the situation flipped. While Voldemort believes that Harry thinks he's James, baby Harry actually thinks Voldemort is Lily, because it's Lily whose face is covered by her hair as a dementor's is hidden, resembling the hood of a cloak or the Veil of Death, while James's face is seen clearly. Basically, while with the laugh Harry mistakes Lily for Voldemort, here he’s mistaking Voldemort for Lily. Harry, looking carefully into Voldemort's face, presumably sees Voldemort's eyes, realizes it's not Lily, and starts crying.

He approached one of them, then saw the whiteness of his own long-fingered hand against the door. He knocked. He felt a mounting excitement. . . . The door opened: A laughing woman stood there. Her face fell as she looked into Harry’s face: humor gone, terror replacing it. . . . “Gregorovitch?” said a high, cold voice. She shook her head: She was trying to close the door. A white hand held it steady, prevented her shutting him out. . . . He raised the wand. She screamed. Two young children came running into the hall. She tried to shield them with her arms. There was a flash of green light — (DH)

This clearly evokes Lily - "The door opened: A laughing woman stood there" parallels the language of 1981 - "A door opened and the mother entered", "There she stood", and Voldemort forcing his way in also parallels "He forced the door open".

Then the rest evokes Lily’s scream, her spreading her arms and “shielding” Harry from Voldemort’s sight, the flash of green light always connected with her murder. Note again how the language echoes to draw certain connections.

So, if this represents Lily, the fact that she's described as a "laughing woman" is significant - this is another clue that the laugh was Lily.

4.0 Conclusion

To summarize, Lily is constantly associated with laughter, and constantly associated with flight, and the two link together in her laughing at others in flight and, finally, laughing at Voldemort because she and her son are the superior "Flight from Death".

If you read this whole thing, please let me know if you were convinced by this theory.

Thank you to @regheart, @keepmycandleburning, and @remus-poopin for reading this over for me!

[lexidius]

Let's think of it this way:

Book!Annabeth was written in a time when dumb blonde was a common trope, and it was important at the time to empower young women who needed to see a smart, blonde, female lead representing them.

TV!Annabeth is cast in a time when racism - especially towards women of colour - is still prevalent, and it's important at this time to empower young women who need to see a smart, black, female lead representing them.

That's literally all it is. This is a children's author - and his ghostwriting team because let's be real here, Di$ney and the other big publishing executives in the higher ups have likely driven the direction of the series as well - probably trying to hamfist in as much diversity as possible not because they actually want to make any particularly strong points about which Annabeth is the better Annabeth, but because at the end of the day, the Percy Jackson universe is a franchise that Di$ney is trying to Sell. And what's likely to get a series to continue making money and pulling in newer fans in the 2020s? Marketing to a wide demographic that wants any representation they can get. Why else do you think the newer Riordanverse books have so much emphasis on shipping, queer rep, disability acceptance and racial diversity, a fairly new book with emphasis on the fandom's favourite ship between two male characters, a previously established relationship between Jason and Piper getting broken up to turn Piper into wlw rep? Yes these are all things Rick Riordan felt strongly about in the first series, especially the disability representation given that the first Percy Jackson book was written for his own children, but let us also not forget that this is Di$ney we're talking about. Di$ney cares about Money. Queer, disabled people of colour are a demographic that Di$ney can profit from by catering to a specific audience. They know newer fans will see a POC annabeth and go YEEEAAAAHHHH BLACK REPRESENTATION and slurp that shit up, just like older fans saw a blonde Annabeth and went YEEEEAAAAAH SMART BLONDE REPRESENTATION and, you guessed it, slurped that shit up.

Hot take — there was not a point to Annabeth’s blonde hair. If y’all want to find me some evidence, I’ll totally change my mind, but I’ve read The Lightning Thief a thousand times, and she is literally just *blonde*. That’s it. It’s not even mentioned much more than once in that book, and as far as I know it only ever comes up later on when Percy is falling in love with her and starting to pay attention to her appearance. The idea that her being blonde is social commentary on stereotypes is a super sweet thought, but I really don’t think 2005-trying-to-get-out-of-teaching-middle-school Rick Riordan was really thinking about it that hard…

And also, a lot of people act like this is a milestone, because suddenly a blonde girl is seen as smart, as if that stereotype isn’t incredibly outdated. But like, Elle Woods did it first in 2001???

And it’s also not like that stopped after Annabeth. Sophie Foster was a senior in high school at 12 years old, and she’s literally based on Legolas, so of course she’s blonde. Cress Darnel from the Lunar Chronicles is like one of the most intelligent hackers of all time. AND SHE’S BLONDE.

Annabeth’s hair is literally not a big deal. And Leah is amazing.

[nedlittle]

need the historical romance girlies to go back to their roots and read forever amber (1944)

[fromtheseventhhell]

Arya watched them die and did nothing. What good did it do you to be brave? One of the women picked for questioning had tried to be brave, but she had died screaming like all the rest. There were no brave people on that march, only scared and hungry ones. (Arya VI, ACOK)

--

The night she was caught, the Lannister men had been nameless strangers with faces as alike as their nasal helms, but she'd come to know them all. You had to know who was lazy and who was cruel, who was smart and who was stupid. You had to learn that even though the one they called Shitmouth had the foulest tongue she'd ever heard, he'd give you an extra piece of bread if you asked, while jolly old Chiswyck and soft-spoken Raff would just give you the back of their hand. (Arya VI, ACOK)

Arya: *restrains herself from acting out when captured by the Mountain and his men because she knows fighting back/being brave wouldn't accomplish anything*

Arya: *takes note of the temperments of several Lannister guards so that she can learn how to navigate around their behavior*

Fandom: Arya is a feral idiot with no self-control uwu 🤗

[unproduciblesmackdown]

no context no details "these days ppl can't Work Through Conflicts or they don't Try hard enough & this is why Communities are broken :(" how is it meaningfully different from "look at the divorce rates Today vs in the '50s :( everyone just throws marriages away. Women aren't having Kids everyone just throws Families away"

"oh these days people can think about their experiences as Trauma or Abuse simply if they Want to :( you can't even talk to anyone anymore, if you make them uncomfortable (through no fault of your own. they're too sensitive & i'm simply always Being Normal) they'll be crying victim :(" how is this meaningfully different from "ugh how can a man talk to a coworker woman anymore or even look at her. how can men try to flirt with and date women anymore :( everythinnng's misogyny ohh harassment assault oppression because you breathed in her direction :("

[andiatas]

I swear you people (yes, I'm talking about those of you in the comments & who have reblogged this post) get up in arms over the smallest of things...

Did you guys completely miss that Marius literally flew out to Italy for a friends wedding right after the charges were filed? Where was this energy back then?

Yes, Haakon took today off for "personal reasons" & therefore won't meet with the Council together with Harald (something that happens every Friday). However, Haakon used to study in London, Mette-Marit & Marius lived with him in London during that time, Ingrid Alexandra's boyfriend either used to or still lives in the UK. There is nothing unusual with them travelling to the UK.

Some of you need to take a look in the mirror. You can't get livid at Catherine having her privacy violated & people trying to find out every single detail about her medical treatment, but then not extend that same courtesy to others. Yes, Marius has done horrible things which he needs to stand accountable for but what everyone wants is for him to get the help he needs to ensure no one else has to live through what his three victims have lived through. How Haakon, Mette-Marit & Marius decide to give Marius the treatment & help that he so obviously needs, is none of our business.

I'm not asking you guys to suddenly like Marius, personally I don't like the guy either, but what I'm asking is that you guys keep in mind that this is a human being. For goodness sake, most of us just had this conversation a couple of weeks ago around Liam Payne! Just because you're an addict, just because you've abused others, just because you have mental struggles, that doesn't mean you don't deserve a second, third, fourth, or fifth chance of getting treatment, help & the chance to better yourself so you can make up for the wrongs you have done.

If you can only extend sympathy, care & respect for the people that you like, get off the internet, pick up a self-help book & start working on yourself.

It's probably clear in between the lines what I think this trip is for & if it turns out that I'm wrong, that this was just a quick little city holiday for no good reason, well then I'll hold my hands up & eat up my own words. Then we truly have a reason to be angry & judge these people. But the facts are that the only information we have at the moment is that Haakon took the day off from work & that he & Marius flew to London.

“Passengers on board SK805 from Gardermoen to London could observe at 1pm on Thursday that Crown Prince Haakon entered the flight as a flight attendant - together with Marius Borg Høiby”

The future king cancelling engagements in Norway so he can fly his stepson who is facing criminal charges to another country….

[floral-hex]

Writing is stupid! It’s dumb! It doesn’t make any sense! It’s all just jumbles that don’t mean anything and I hate it forever goodbye!

[strwbrymlkshake]

LOVE ME THE MOST THE MOST YOU POSSIBLY CAN!!!!!! LOVE ME THE MOST I NEED TO BE THE ONLY THING IN YOUR MIND

[cruelsister-moved2]

I think people have confused the fact that it's definitely possible to go "look this magical guy told me these are the rules so now you all have to obey" with believing that religion is intrinsically just that. and it's like they just discount the possibility that anyone has ever earnestly believed in a higher authority or genuinely had a mystical experience or whatever. the thing is if you actually observe how religious people behave, especially if you look outside of like evangelical megachurch pastors who are clearly just grifting, it immediately becomes pretty hard to ignore that.

for every example of religion maintaining inequality u have muslim charities successfully preventing FGM by informing muslim communities who perpetrate it that it's haram, sikhs opposing casteism, early christians fighting gender inequality etc etc etc + on an individual level literally countless people who have fought against poverty and oppression on the basis of religious belief. like... IS it really something specific about religion or is it the fact that hegemony will naturally pick up and spread whatever supports it and suppress whatever doesn't?because the same can also be said of like... music... so are u going to say music is just a tool of the elite or whatever? bc it definitely can be. but it's equally a tool for resisting oppression and also just a significant part of the human experience.

aren't we meant to be postmodernists now like i think maybe things sometimes do just happen sometimes. what Society does with it after the fact is another question, but if you look at the history of religion I'm surprised if you don't come away with some awareness that genuine belief in some sort of authority or mechanism which is outside of human control can be something very transformative. like the fundamental innovation of the torah was to say that every human life is equal to every other human life in opposition to the code of hammurabi which said that some people's life = other people's pocket change. only a power which comes from somewhere outside human society would be able to ensure that law was applied fairly and equally to all rather than manipulated on the whim of the human with the most power to enforce it. if the "abrahamic" religions can be said to have anything in common at all, it's probably a call to humbleness and the value of every human being. much to think about!!!!

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

the vitriolic hatred most people have for things that look weird is so upsetting to me sometimes :(