#thecarnivorousmuffinmeta

[rankheresy]

Tom Riddle's Horcruxes Episode

New episode has dropped! @therealvinelle and I spend over an hour talking about Tom Riddle's horcruxes: which are real and how real are they, what are horcruxes, and did Harry really jump into a frozen over pond in winter that one time?

Here on spotify.

Also, in all the usual places.

[therealvinelle]

Why do you think Jasper also slept with Peter and Charlotte?

Because @theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin and I differentiate between fic and canon.

We write our thoughts on canon on tumblr, but in fanfiction we are free to make our own rules and have fun.

Lines become blurred, however (bullet pointing for legibility):

What we extrapolate from canon impacts the canon of our fics Fun fact, therealvinelle only exists because people kept asking me questions about my choices in Nebuchadnezzar's Dream, and I thought replying to the same questions in the comment section was silly. So I made a blog, which became a beast unto its own. In other words, fic is impacted by how I view canon, and when people ask me my opinion on canon I tell them my view on canon. Example: Carlisle and Aro are not intended by Meyer to have been anything more than friends, but we think it's there and write metas with that starting point, and have it explicitly canon in our fics.

We keep our fics consistent with one another, sometimes using a minor tidbit from canon to justifty it and sometimes making it up Muffin and I are very stringent about this sort of thing. Our view on the characters is fixed: if something changed from one AU to another, the question is "Why?". If it just changed for no reason and the people remain the same, they're no longer real people and nothing really matters. Example: the Volturi guards all having consistent personalities, life stories staying the same, nevermind that we made up Demetri's personality or Aro's ridiculous collection of Carlisle art.

We write metas explaining our fics on our tumblrs See my fic meta tag. Anon asks "Why did character do thing?" and we go "well, character is a person who does things like that thing, remember in canon when they did that thing? So we had them do this thing in our fic." Nevermind that character didn't actually do thing in canon, because this was all in a fic. Example: see the fic meta tag on my blog or Muffin's masterpost.

Now to answer your question: to my recollection Jasper/Peter and Charlotte is first mentioned in For the Love of a Woman, where Bella learns that not a single one of the Cullen men are straight and she despairs (as does Emmett, who wonders what this means for him).

It was justified as a "Jasper was in a state of ennui, they were all beautiful, they went for it" type of thing, and perhaps more to the point it tells you, the reader (and the scandalized Cullens, per fics like Bleach on the Brain) something about vampire sexual norms being different than 21st century western humans and those humans already have plenty of casual, recreational sex.

So, canon doesn't indicate it, but we had Jasper/Peter and Charlotte be a thing that happened in our fics and the argument for it can be made (I do believe sexual norms among vampires, being excempt from diseases, pregnancies, children, and the type of obligation and routine human lives have, would be... recreational).

(As it is I recall this coming up on the blog before, but I think whichever of us got the question responded with essentially the above - "We don't know, but possible".)

[therealvinelle]

I’ll add that Character A may be selectively observant.

Say that Character A grew up with Character B, but barely knows Character C. Character A may then catch subtler things happening with chapter B, but have more trouble with C. Character A may also have made up some very strong opinions about character D, now nothing D says or does will change A's mind. A's every observation of D will be colored by this.

This can extend to things other than personal relationships. Character A may be very good at noticing people, but doesn't pay attention to his surroundings at all. Character B does, and because he grew up poor he notices materialistic things and how much something might have cost, while character A never thinks about such things (think Katniss Everdeen observing the Capitol).

An on topic reading recommendation I'll give you is Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie, where Poirot uses what the murder suspects describe to him to not only inform him of who's leaving something out, but also of their characters - who was noticing the others in the room, and who was paying attention to the card game?

In short, even an unobservant character will have things he focuses on that a more observant character might miss, and the best advice I have is that you ask yourself "what is it in Character X's nature to notice?" when writing a given character.

How do you write in the perspective of an observant character?

As usual, very flattered you've come to me, but I also don't claim to be an expert/what I describe is what I've found works for me.

The First/Usual Bit of Advice

Read things. Watch things even, though reading is better considering it's the same medium. When has a character struck you as particularly observant, make note of it and try to determine why they struck you that way.

What was it they noticed about themselves/the world that put them above and beyond in your opinion?

The easiest way to start learning how to do something is see how others have done it and try to figure out why it works (or why it doesn't work).

Other Advice

In my case, it's actually a relief to have an observant character. Observant and introspective characters are, by their nature, allowed to pick up more hints of things going on in a story.

They'll be aware that something different than usual is happening, that someone's behavior is a little strange, and they may even be able to remark upon why. These are people who pay attention to the world around them and as such are great conduits to tell a reader "pay attention to X, this is important"

And introspective characters, while not what we're talking about here, are much more in tune with themselves and able to point out "oh, I'm feeling X likely because of Y" or simply have deep thoughts on themselves and their place in the world. So, as an author, I'm allowed to be much more up front with these types of observations, because it's natural for the characters to have them.

Unobservant characters, on the other hand, would never notice these things and so it always hits them by surprise. Further, as an author, your hands are tied relaying things to the reader as the character isn't going to pick up on them on their own until something becomes extremely obvert. Hints either have to be given extremely subtly (where even the character doesn't really notice or react to whatever they see), not given at all, or relayed to the character in such a way that it still makes sense.

Something @therealvinelle often catches in edits and cowriting for me is "X is too fucking stupid to think this" or "X is too unobservant, cut it" and I cry tears of blood because man I made a cool point there, but I have to take it out because X would never ever think or notice that thing.

So, that's my problem.

Back to Observation

The obvious place to start is what can a character notice and is it reasonable for them to notice this thing. What are they physically sensing (seeing, hearing, touching, etc.) that allows them to take in whatever information that may or may not be able to be taken to a conclusion.

Do they see characters acting in a way that's not like themselves? Are they hunched over, furtive, with a nervous expression? Character A may notice this, because they tend to look at the people around them, but just because they notice it may not mean they know why it's happening or even realize what it's indicative of.

It's important to ground anything in what's possible for the character to know/observe and also what they're likely to know/conclude based on their personality, biases, and ground state knowledge.

For example, Character A may see someone fiddling with a box with wires, this may be a bomb, but they might not have the knowledge to realize this item is in fact a bomb.

What being observant does is allow for Character A to easily see such things in the first place, not to necessarily put all the clues together.

[callisteios]

You should read the twilight meta by @therealvinelle & @thecarnivorousmuffinmeta and their fanfics i think you would rly like their deconstruction of twilight

you are so right because I already love the muffin and vinelle’s work! Paranoid Bella and Caveman Bella have special places in my heart! They along with the release of midnight sun reignited my love for twilight and were an inspiration for my vamp quiz

[iamnmbr3]

Hi! You mentioned in an ask about a year ago just as an aside that you thought Harry was wrong when he believed Stan Shunpike was a victim. Can you elaborate on why?

You’ll have to jog my memory. Do you have a link to the post? If I recall correctly @saintsenara and @thecarnivorousmuffinmeta and @therealvinelle have made compelling arguments on that front so maybe I was referencing one of their posts.

[just-another-weird-artist]

Recovering from the winter exam season by rereading some good @therealvinelle and @thecarnivorousmuffinmeta fics, in this case this amazing one that inspired me to paint THE most satisfying moment to ever appear offscreen the murder and immolation by fire of the ever annoying Eleazar and poor Carmen, whose main fault is her horrible taste in men. Poor Carmen. Also I love Jasper in this fic.

As per usual the casting is consistent with the muffinelle verse as per this post.

[swarnim29]

@thecarnivorousmuffinmeta

Steve rogers is just one fake self righteous asshole whose arrogance knows no bound. He has never faced any consequences. He thinks he's right why? Cause he's captain fucking america. A glorified superhero. Irl just a proganda.

And they call tony arrogant hahahahah

[blorger]

I honestly don't understand JKR's thoughts she has great hate for Slytherin but why does she praise Tom/Voldemort so much? But when you read it Tom/Voldemort never actually do anything at all or wasn't really that much of a big bad he didn't do anything worthwhile as an antagonist (It's just that he is made out to be a big bad villain but he gets defeated easily, basically has others do the work and he honestly didn't do much) She was trying to make him as a great villain but nothing really I don't find him interesting

I'm not much of a Voldemort scholar, my major is more Harry's gen focused with a concentration in Malfoy studies, so I don't think I can give you as exhaustive an answer as, say, iamnmbr3 or thecarnivorousmuffinmeta. That said, here are my Thoughts on the subject:

I honestly don't feel like jkr praises Tom Riddle in her writing, unless by that you meant she describes his looks glowingly and in detail, in which case that is an attempt to vilify him via femme coding and therefore shitty of her for a plethora of reasons.

I do agree that Voldemort doesn't read like your typical villain and I think that has to do with his weirdly opaque motivations. Like, what was Voldemort's end goal? We never really find out, partly because he gets sidetracked by Harry's existence, but also because, for all that Voldemort loves a good villain monologue, he never really elaborates on his master plan.

We know a great deal about Voldemort's desire to cheat death, we know that he views Dumbledore, and only Dumbledore, as someone who can throw a wrench in his plans and we know that he sees Harry as unfinished business but that's about it. What are his long term plans? No clue. He doesn't seem terribly involved in the ministry when it's under his control and he doesn't seem terribly interested in his followers either. thecarnivorousmuffinmeta wrote a very compelling meta that put forth the theory that Voldemort doesn't want to rule magical Britain insomuch as he wants to destroy it and that rings very true to me but, again, that is not something that is stated outright in the books.

I do think that Voldemort has a very compelling villain aura, his scenes always feel charged and he does read as very intimidating and powerful; his little speeches always sound suitably villainous and when we see him behind the scenes via Harry he is always up to something interestingly evil, be it murder via snake or recreational torture.

In that way I feel like Voldemort is a successful villain, since he plays the part well, but I feel like we are never truly sold on his motivations. Personally I feel like jkr fumbled things a bit in book 6, when she had Dumbledore give Harry a crash course on all things Tom Riddle. Like, I came out of that with more questions than answers, I gained some sympathy for Tom and I got quite disillusioned with Dumbledore, and I think that's not what jkr was trying to convey at all.

I recommend reading some meta on him since it could help you find a reading of his character that appeals to you but ultimately it's really no skin off your back if you continue to find him uninteresting; go seek things that spark joy instead and live your truth my friend, there's no wrong way to experience a fandom.

xoxo

[smallcatwoman]

I am too tired to correct the errors here but I hope you get what I was thinking.

What do you think the hypothetical kid of Jasper and Alice gift would be?

My sums of money on hallucinations cause survival reasons. (to combat Renesmee's gift)

Alice I imagine has resentment to Renesme because she blocks her visions. Hence the to combat part. Jasper's gift is emotionally based..SO I was thinking Alice's feelings would also become his cause he feels everything...

First of all, I am shocked in the best way that someone is asking a Twilight question like this to me as if I know anything. I'll try my best.

For the sake of this ask, lets assume Alice inherited Bella's horrendous taste in names and named her child Greige.

As of canon, Jasper can already sense and manipulate Alice's emotions, including her frustration at Renesmee blocking her abilities. If her and Jasper's child is a hybrid, they would also block visions by default.

But let's say, that Greige doesn't block Alice, adopting this as part of their gift, similar to how Renesmee isn't blocked by Bella. This is if we're going off of the theory from @therealvinelle and @thecarnivorousmuffinmeta that hybrids gifts are very powerful and versatile, and focused on helping them survive. This would make Greige significantly less annoying to their mother than Renesmee, especially if Alice also gets to dress them up in adorable outfits and hyper control their life to an even greater extent than she controls Bella.

I do think Greige would have some skills of emotional manipulation, similar to how Renesmee seems to enthrall others and make them love her. But in terms of combining Alice and Jasper's gifts, the only thing I can think of is sensing the emotional outcome of decisions.

So like, if it's going to rain and Greige doesn't put on a coat, they can't see themselves getting rained on, but they can sense the annoyance and discomfort they would feel. If Carlisle decides to kiss Aro in front of everyone, Greige can't see the horrified expressions of the Cullens and everyone arguing about it, but they can sense the horror, disgust, jealousy, etc that the Cullens would feel, as well as the happiness and love that Carlisle and Aro would feel. Maybe not as useful as Alice's visions, but still helpful in a pinch.

[remus-poopin]

Hi! Sorry to bother you but I’m looking for specific pieces of HP meta and I’m kinda lost.

Do you have any reading recommendations about homosexuality in the Harry Potter world? I’m trying to decide a couple of things about the world-building for a fic and I’d love to read about other takes on the topic.

Hi! It's not a bother at all, I love this stuff! I have a couple metas on this and I also have my own thoughts about this as well! This is a question I often think about and I was planning on writing something on this eventually anyways, so I'm glad I got this ask because now I have an excuse to! (And I can talk about some gripes I have with the author as well so yay)

CW: Homophobia and misogyny

Here is a meta by @thecarnivorousmuffinmeta on homophobia in the wizarding world.

Here is @hchollym's take on gay marriage in the WW

My thoughts:

The books give no mention of homosexuality explicitly, but the author has slightly expanded on the topic at later times in interviews and tweets. In 2007 she confirmed that Dumbledore was gay and later she gave us more details about his sexlife. She then said this in 2007 about homosexuality and homophobia in the wizarding world:

"MA: 'We wanna talk about Dumbledore so bad. We know that you've created worldwide intrigue when you said that he is gay. But I wanted to ask you about homosexuality in the Wizarding World in general. Is it a taboo?' JKR: 'Now, that's something I never thought of. I would think that that would be-- it would be exactly what it is in the Muggle World. But the greatest taboo in the Wizarding World is, well, for some wizards... I mean if we're talking about prejudiced people within the Wizarding World, what they care most about is your blood status. So I think you could be, um, gay, pure-blood, and totally without any kind of criticism from the Lucius Malfoys of the world. I don't think that would be something that would interest him in the slightest. But, you know, I can't answer for all witches and wizards because I think in matters of the heart, it would be directly parallel to our world.'"

She also says this in a tweet when asked about homophobia in 2014:

“Only by ludicrous Muggles. The wizards don't give a damn - it's all about the magic for them.”

Now whether or not you take this to be canon is up to you. What I find interesting here is that I feel from the second statement we are being made to believe that homosexuality is a non issue in the wizarding world and not a point of prejudice. From her first statement she says that it's “something she never thought of” and that “it would be exactly the same as the muggle world”, I'm guessing her second statement is contradictory because she wanted to please LGBT+ fans and reassure them that Hogwarts is a safe space (for some, lets not ask her about the other letters in the acronym). 

This is a pattern I've noticed JKR exhibiting in a lot of her post work words, where she tries to communicate how egalitarian the world she created is through new information, even though the text itself does not reflect this worldview. I think a good example of this is how when she listed the ministers of magic she included several women, going back as far as the 1700s to try to show there are not as many barriers to entry for women in the WW. Yet we see many instances of sexism throughout the series from the characters and the culture which they live in. I think what she was trying to do is have her world primarily focus on blood purity and creature rights and have the issues we face either go on the backburner or not be present at all. Now I understand this choice, (though I really don’t think it's necessary, more interesting, or remotely realistic) but I also think her execution is pretty awful because you can (and I'm about to) make an argument that these issues are still very much present in the wizarding world. I think the biggest issue here is that she doesn't understand the structures and systems of oppression that she hand-waved to the side to truly write a world where they would not be a real problem. To me, given what we've seen of the wizarding world, homophobia would still very much be an issue. 

So I think if we're going to talk about what homosexuality looks like in the wizarding world we would also need to talk about what homophobia would look like in the wizarding world. Homophobia has many factors contributing and working with it to make it function as a prejudice and system. If I had to break it down to its biggest parts I would say our big three is: religious fears, rigid gender norms, and disgust. Those often play off of each other to create an effective tool; and this tool is used to uphold a gender and class-based power structure. Let's examine this in the context of Harry Potter:

Religious fears: 

Religious fears resulting in homophobia is very common in the real world but for this factor to apply to the WW I think we would need to determine whether or not the wizarding world is even religious. We have examples of christianity showing up across the books in casual ways: Harry has a Godfather, he was christened as a baby, and Lily and James have a quote from the bible on their tombstone. From this we can at least make the assumption that the Potter family is religious to some capacity. We also see that one of the Hogwarts ghosts is called “The Fat Friar’. But to my knowledge this is where the references end. If the wizarding world is religious, or at least wizarding Britain, they seem to be casually so. So I don't see this being a huge driving factor in any homophobia we would see in that universe. 

Rigid gender norms:

I think if you take away any religious influences you're still going to see homophobia even in its most violent forms and this has a lot to do with rigid gender norms. If gender norms are established to sustain a power structure that a society relies on to maintain a certain order, any breaking of those norms will be met with punishment (socially or physically). In a heteronormative culture, homosexuality can be seen as a breaking of these norms.   

First off, Pureblood culture seems to be obsessed with lineage and creating heirs, one of the metas I linked talks about how homosexuality would be a threat to that. At least in pureblood society, your job as a man is to make pureblooded babies and your job as a woman would be to give birth to them, anything else would be looked down upon.

If we step outside of pureblood society, we can see that the general wizarding population also seems to believe in strict ways in which men and women should act.

So what are the gender roles the wizarding world has? Well there's the clothing; all wizards wear robes, but dresses are traditionally for women and any robe that looks a little too dress-like for a man could be seen as embarrassing: 

“'What is that supposed to be?'  He was holding up something that looked to Harry like a long maroon velvet dress. It had moldy-looking lace frills at the collar and matching lace cuffs. - ‘Mum, you've given me Ginny's new dress,’ said Ron, holding it out to her. ‘Of course I haven't,’  said Mrs Weasley. ‘Thats for you, dress robes’.- “You've got to be kidding’ said Ron in disbelief ‘Im not wearing that, no way!' - In some trepidation Harry opened the last parcel on his camp bed. It wasn't as bad as he expected, however. His dress robes didn't have any lace on them at all - in fact they were more or less the same as his school ones, except they were bottle green except black” (GOF, pg 155 and 156)

“Harry, Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Neville changed into their dress robes up in their dormitory, all looking very self conscious, but none as much as Ron who surveyed himself in the long mirror in the corner with an appalled look on his face. There was no getting around the fact that his robes looked more like a dress than anything. In a desperate attempt to make them more manly he used a severing charm on the ruffs and cuffs." (GOF, pg 411)

Ron’s dress robes are old, moldy, and out of fashion, but the emphasis on his embarrassment is put on the feminine style of them. To be seen in a dress-like robe as a boy is to transgress an established gender norm; this transgression is to be recognized as humiliating. This isn't the only instance we have of a man in a dress being perceived as funny/embarrassing:

“‘When the boggart bursts out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume the form of Professor Snape,’ said Lupin. ‘And you will raise your wand — thus — and cry ‘Riddikulus’ — and concentrate hard on your grandmother’s clothes. If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced into that vulture-topped hat, and that green dress, with that big red handbag.’ There was a great shout of laughter. The wardrobe wobbled more violently.” (POA, pg 135)

The weapon to a boggart, your greatest fear, is laughter. After Lupin hears Neville's boggart is Snape he decides the way to make him appear less intimidating is to put him in a dress with a handbag. The rest of the class finds this highly amusing as well. There is a direct connection being drawn here between masculinity with strength and power and femininity with weakness and frivolity. Snape as a big, mean, scary teacher is rendered impotent in his intimidation when he has this dress on.

There are gendered cultural roles in the wizarding world as well:

“‘Come on, Ginny's not bad,’ said George fairly sitting down next to Fred. ‘Actually , I dunno how she got so good, seeing how we never let her play with us…’  ‘she's been breaking into your broom shed in the garden since the age of six and taking each of your brooms out in turn when you weren't looking’  (OOTP, pg 574) 

There is no real reason for Ginny to not be able to play Quidditch with her older brothers. Even if she was too young at one point, very soon after she should have been able to, considering Ron was only a year older. The only notable difference between all of them is their gender. From this we can assume that wizards, or at least the Weasleys, have a view of femininity as more fragile, or weaker than masculinity. 

This idea of weakness is reinforced through the founders of Hogwarts making separate dorm rooms for girls and boys where boys cannot enter the girls dorm but girls can enter the boys

“‘It says in Hogwarts, A History that the founders thought boys were less trustworthy than girls.” (OOTP)

This rule positions men as the aggressors and women as the victims in a sexual context. It also indicates the heteronormality of their society.

There are established sexual roles for men and women in the WW:

The sexual roles of the wizarding world celebrates male sexual action but also shames females for the same. Any time there is slutshaming in the series a woman is at the end of it.

Hermione is seen as a “scarlet women” for appearing to toy with Harry's heart:

“I told you not to annoy Rita Skeeter! She's made you out to be some sort of - scarlet women!’ Hermione stopped looking astonished and snorted with laughter. ‘Scarlet women?’ - ‘It's what my mum calls them’ Ron muttered." (GOF, pg 513)

The term “scarlet woman" is a reference to the novel “The Scarlet Letter”, a story about a woman who commits adultery and is shamed by her puritan community for it. The term itself invokes the image of a promiscuous, scandalous woman of ill repute who is deserving of her shame. Molly uses this term frequently enough for her children to recognize it and reference it. This signifies that there is a belief of proper standards in which women are supposed to behave sexually.

Ginny is at the mercy of these same beliefs from her family members: 

"'But we're not selling them to our sister,' he added, becoming suddenly stern, 'not when she's already got about five boys on the go from what we've — ' 'Whatever you've heard from Ron is a big fat lie,' said Ginny calmly'" (HBP)

“'Let's get this straight once and for all. It is none of your business who I go out with or what I do with them, Ron -' ‘Yeah it is!’ Said Ron just as angrily. ‘D’you think I want people saying my sister’s a-’" (HBP, pg 287)

"'my tiara sets the whole thing nicely, said Aunt Muriel in a rather carrying whisper, 'but I must say, Ginevra's dress is far too low cut.'" (DH, pg 145)

Merope Riddle also experiences criticism from her family after running off with Tom Riddle Sr.:

"'dishonored us, she did, that little slut!'" (HBP, pg 365)

All of these instances of women asserting their sexuality is perceived as negative by the men in their community because they are breaking a societal norm. The norm being women as chaste, demure figures of virtue.

However men’s sexual activity is looked at as an accomplishment (usually by the other men)

After Harry kisses Cho, Ron has this reaction:

“Ron made a triumphant gesture with his fist and went into a raucous peal of laughter that made several timid-looking second years over beside the window jump. A reluctant grin spread over Harry's face as he watched Ron rolling around on the hearthrug. Hermione gave Ron a look of deep disgust and returned to her letter.” (OOTP)

Ron’s joy for his friend can be seen as not only just a happiness for Harry's journey to maturity or him finally getting with his crush, but also as the affirming of Harry's masculinity. This is backed up by Hermione's less enthusiastic reaction to this news and her disgust at Ron's display of triumph.

So we've established the gender roles, and we've seen there are consequences when you fall out of line. So, what if the gender role calls for you to be masculine as a man and then defines that masculinity in part with obtaining women and sexual prowess? Homosexuality would be in direct conflict with that. And with that lets tie it into disgust.

Disgust:

The disgust that a homophobe feels can be stemming from a couple different places. Maybe it's religious fears like we talked about or maybe it's because of gender norms. But that disgust is only taking place because they perceive that something they hold to be pure is being tainted and violated; the word of god, the sanctity of masculinity, or hegemonic gender roles. In a society where these beliefs are upheld and treated as sacred, any conflict with that will be met with judgment at best and violence at worse. 

I don't see the wizarding world as a progressive space where homosexuality or anything LGBT+ would be considered a non issue because the text does not reflect that. The text shows the same misogyny, the same disdain for femininity, and the same reverence for masculinity that we see in everyday life and because of that I feel it only makes sense to see the wizarding world just as bigoted as ours.

Ok so what does homosexuality look like in the wizarding world then?

Well if we've established the wizarding world as a society that would be hostile (in any way) to gay people I think its easier to move forward on how to imagine how they fit into that society since we have ours for reference. However, It's important to remember that our oppression doesn't define us and it's not the only thing to consider while writing. Think about what the fashion would look like, what the music would sound like, what the spaces would be like and just generally what the culture would be. Have fun with it!

Hope this helped a little!

[rankheresy]

Who Dunnit? Again? The Riddle Murders

Rank Heresy is back with a new episode, another murder mystery, this time asking if we're really sure Tom Riddle murdered the Riddles. (Once again, the answer is, it's probably the person it looked like which was not Tom Riddle and god that boy isn't murdering all the people we thought he was).

Check it out on our usual platforms.

[therealvinelle]

i understand yalls headers now. me trying to explain to other hp fans your heretic metas like you see, theres canon backing for this, it makes sense,

If it makes you feel better, I don't talk about this outside of my blog or @rankheresy. "Akshually Harry was hoodwinked in Deathly Hallows and Voldemort must still be alive, let me get into this horcrux by horcrux. I have Deathly Hallows memorized" is rarely a winning subject.

Look, @thecarnivorousmuffinmeta, people having trouble!

[therealvinelle]

I'll also add that the evidence for these dates is thin, it's extrapolated from the argument that: "Dumbledore likely became headmaster between 1965 and 1970, he mentions that Voldemort left the country ten years earlier, ergo he was still at Borgin and Burke's between 1955 and 1960".

People are free to make it (and many similar arguments), I personally dislike these sorts of arguments as they depend on Dumbledore meaning exactly ten years and not a few mor or less, which we don''t know, or the date for Dumbledore making headmaster being correct which is another extrapolated date.

Dates are even more obscured with the First Wizarding War, which supposedly started in 1970 - but what is described was something more like a campaign that started out with Voldemort simply saying things, and gradually becoming violent. Is 1970 when he first made an appearance, or is that when he became violent? Was there a particular incident considered the start of all of it, or will different people disagree on when it started? More, the year "1970" is never actually named by anyone in canon (which I double checked just now), instead people refer to it as "ten years" - but if the war ended in October of 1981, then assuming they meant ten years exactly that's 1971, not 1970.

All this to say: I take the fan extrapolated dates with tremendous grain of salt.

Hi, quick question, I'm rereading man who would be king and trying to figure out what pushed Tom to start the Voldemort con

So, it looks like the timeline is:

Finished school 1945

Hepsiba, leaves Britain 1955-60

Interview Hogwarts 1970

Then right after gets his idea of destroying wizarding Britain? Since Alphard mentions 10 years since he started hearing about the Voldemort fellow and we are in the ~1980.

P.s. love your stories and ur writing is fabulous 💜

The Man Who Would Be King by me and @therealvinelle

(Look, @therealvinelle, praise!)

@therealvinelle and I deviate a bit from the standard wiki timeline, in part because we can, we're not given exact dates for a most of these things, and also to better serve the story.

Timeline for the fic/generally the one we stick to

1945: Tom Graduates

~1947/1948: Hezpibah Smith Dies and Tom Leaves Borgin and Burkes and goes abroad

1955: Tom interviews for Defense for the second time, is denied.

1970: Voldemort starts showing up at parties and telling the youth of today how cool he is

We don't see him lasting more than a few years in Borgin and Burke's, just enough to build up funds he needs to go abroad, and while Harry doesn't describe his exact age, he doesn't feel thirty or even in his late twenties yet.

The trigger of what set Tom off, why he would do this, is one of the mysterious mysteries of the fic.

[iamnmbr3]

Who's alphard black and why do you ship him woth tom riddle? I'm just curious

*Gasps* What? What do you mean you don't know who Alphard Black, the star of this singular line in the whole series is?

Jkjk. Ok so Alphard Black gets mentioned once in the books (in the above line from Order of the Phoenix) and also appears in the offical Black family tree here:

Obviously that makes him a very minor character. Although it is interesting that we know he never married and produced children as would have probably been the norm for purebloods (*cough* "confirmed bachelor" *cough*) and that he never left the family/was disowned over ideology the way Andromeda or Sirius were, but also doesn't seem to have been mentioned as one of the ones who was actively involved in the Death Eater cause, apparently maintained something of a relationship with Sirius and even left him money even though he'd already left home and broken with his family over their politics (which apparently angered Sirus's mom so much that she burned him off the tapestry, and thus obviously wasn't the expected thing). He also is in the age range to have attended school with Tom Riddle.

That all provides some interesting fodder to work with. Which but for a twist of fate I never would have thought twice about or even noticed because once upon a time I, like you, would also have said "who is Alphard Black and why would anyone ship him with Tom Riddle?" In fact I did say just that to myself when I came across the fic Amulette d'amour by @therealvinelle and @thecarnivorousmuffinmeta.

I can't even remember how I happened to stumble across it. It was purely by chance. "What a wild and random concept for a pairing" I thought with a level of naivety and hubris that would shortly spell my downfall right into rarepair hell. "I'll just take a look out of curiosity" I thought.

Well the fic was both amazing and hilarious and contained a brilliant characterization of Alphard (and Tom) and a fascinating relationship dynamic which I have now decided is canon and I am now stuck shipping an extremely rare pairing to the hilt and having to explain to people why one of my all time favorite characters is mentioned precisely once in 7 books. You should totally read the fic though so that you, too, can suffer. Tom & Alphard are dysfunctional soulmates and Alphard is also genuinely a fascinating character (as he now exists in my head and in the few fics he appears in). It's canon in my heart. I am also deeply entertained by the humor potential of the ship.

[just-another-weird-artist]

To recover from the stress of med school (exams in September are a sign of Satan's influence on the world) I've been re-reading some of @therealvinelle and @thecarnivorousmuffinmeta 's brilliant fics (seriously, I spent whole afternoons laughing like an idiot).

To have it set in the muffinelle-verse I used these for the casting:

Carlisle

Renata (with a charming fur hat)

Aro

Here's a some quick paintings of a scene from Nebuchadenezzar's Dream, as screenshots form an hypothetical movie.

(Luckily all other characters don't have any close up shot and can have vague and blurry features.)

Overall it was a fun exercise in working fast and loose and not getting bogged down in the details as I usually do when I work digitally.

[cassiaallen]

I’m like halfway through with my Marauders headcanon series, so here’s my version of Sirius Black's life.

Once again, this is partly inspired by gorgeous accounts like @halfblood-princes-crown, @moonlightdancer26, and @thecarnivorousmuffinmeta - thanks to you all for the inspiration!

PS: I think there are minor inconsistencies between my Marauders hcs, such as on what exact day a specific event happens, but that’s minor and is largely because I wrote those on separate occasions and in the middle of the night. Apologies in advance.

I will also post the referenced Jily Wedding at some point (the one referenced at the end of this post).

The Marauders’s Journey - Sirius

Full name: Sirius Orion Black

DOB: 03.11.1959

Born in: London, Grimmauld Place

Parents: Walburga & Orion Black

House: Gryffindor

In Hogwarts: 1971-1978

-he grows up with massive blood purists as parents

-had the pressure of being the oldest/heir on him and hates it like Bellatrix

-unlike her though, S rebels by not buying into the pureblood ideology

-he is on good terms with his younger brother and feels protective of him

-despite not believing in the Ideology, he does have internalised classicism

-he meets James on the H Express and likes him instantly (both are rich purebloods, both hate the Ideology)

-to him, Slytherin = bad, so when he sees Sev he takes an immediate dislike to him (Sev wishes to be in Slytherin and looks poor [internalised classicism])

-was terrified of being Sorted into Slytherin, but more than relieved to be in Gryffindor with J

-latches onto J as an escape from his awful family and because he actually likes him

-his internalised classicism makes him pick Sev as his punching bag

-likes Peter because he idolises him and J; Remus because he’s nice and helps with homework

-gets shite at home for being in Gryffindor and being friends with non-blood supremacists

-this contributes to his hatred and bullying of Sev

-R's frequent disappearances pique his interest

-when he finds out about 🐺, he is supportive but mainly sees it as a challenge and adventure (and "aren’t I such a good person for befriending an outcast")

-the longer S is in Gryffindor and has those Friends, the more shite he gets at home

-meanwhile, Regulus is now favoured as he’s in Slytherin and buys into blood purity

-all of this fosters his hatred of Sev

-he is the last person to become an animagus, which upsets him (he of course lets it out on Sev)

-he loves the adventures once a month, and focuses much more on that rather than Remus being in pain

-February 1976, he bullies Sev and when it does not have the desired effect, he tells Sev that if he wants to stop the bullying, he must touch the knot on the Whomping Willow and follow the tunnel

-he is not punished for this

-SWM

-summer 1976 he has another huge fight with his parents and for the first time they actually hit him across the face

-that is the final straw for him and he leaves and moves in with the Potters

-this fuels his hatred for Slytherin and everything Sev stands for, so S bullies him even more

-he becomes more and more aware of the war and wants to fight

-he slowly changes his mind about Lily and actually starts rooting for Jily

-tries his very best to get them together

-likes both Peter and Remus, but mainly sees them as charity friends

-moves into his own house after graduation (inherited from Alphard)

-starts auror training, but drops out after a few months to fully focus on the war

-is J's best man

-is overjoyed to be named Harry’s godfather

-R often goes on long solo missions around the time Peter starts leaking information, so S suspects R of being the spy

-S is made the Potters's Secret Keeper in 1980

-he goes on a few missions where he watches many people die

-is torn up because of suspecting R to be a spy

-in October 1981 he is on a mission with members of the Bones family (they die and S is gravely injured)

-he decides that him being SC is no longer safe (if something were to happen to him, the Secret would become weaker or at least he thinks so) and suggests P instead (since he mistrusts R who’s on another long Order mission)

-switch 26.10.1981

-[Jily Wedding]