#thinkingtoohardaboutmedia

[kiera-raelyn]

Huh. I've never really thought about him this way. Good points. Love the quote backups. Going to need to take all this into account when next I write HP fic.

your post on harry’s handwriting was an eye-opener for me! ik his writing resembled his mother some and is decent overall, but i’ve never seen pics of it!

idk where the horde of fanfic writers came up with the weird notion that harry has bad/chicken scratch handwriting, which triggers me every. time. they make out his handwriting to be messy, his eating habits sloppy, his speech behaviour bumbling, his appearance unkempt, and that he’s rather messy as a person. which boggles the mind, because he’s used to cleaning up after the dursleys and probably enjoys an orderly space, if not super spic and span??? is it only certain fandoms, cuz they make the other character(s) all elegance personified and well-mannered? like, harry already is a well-mannered boy, otherwise petunia would’ve been tutting, clucking, and dying of shame even more before the nieghbours lmaoo. idk whether to cry or laugh, and sometimes it’s such a turn-off that i choose to rage quit fics.

please, if you have the time, i would love a thorough breakdown/meta on how harry actually comes across as a person!

Okay, I have so much to say about this. And omg, Harry's chicken scratch handwriting is one of my pet peeves in fics (here's the handwriting post, btw). Harry's characterization when done wrong in general, tbh is a huge turn-off for me. Becouse I love Harry, he's my boy.

So, what we're gonna look at is how other characters in the books perceive Harry, how he comes across in universe to people who can't read his mind (like we can, as the readers).

I'll start with a general note about how most characters in the books don't really know Harry. This is mostly because Harry, contrary to fanon interpretations, is a very private person and rarely talks about himself/his feelings/his thoughts out loud. This is a habit I believe was ingrained into him by the Dursleys.

Like, I mentioned in the past Harry doesn't talk as much as other characters. Scenes of the trio usually consist of mostly Ron and Hermione talking, for example. This is not becouse he doesn't have thoughts (he's quite judgmental inside his head, and we know he has a lot to say), but becouse he's used to not voicing a lot of them thanks to the Dursleys.

This essay turned out pretty long, but here we go:

How do others see Harry?

Harry comes off as confident. Harry is a defiant and courageous person, and this often comes off as confidence to other people. It's why Snape thinks Harry is arrogant and why most students are always sure Harry meant to do what he did. They think he has shit together because he comes off like he does:

Harry stayed silent. Snape was trying to provoke him into telling the truth. He wasn’t going to do it. Snape had no proof — yet. “How extraordinarily like your father you are, Potter,” Snape said suddenly, his eyes glinting. “He too was exceedingly arrogant. A small amount of talent on the Quidditch field made him think he was a cut above the rest of us too. Strutting around the place with his friends and admirers . . . The resemblance between you is uncanny.” “My dad didn’t strut,” said Harry, before he could stop himself. “And neither do I.”

(PoA, Ch14)

Snape sees Harry as arrogant, when in fact Harry is just defiant and intelligent.

“But you’ve been too busy saving the Wizarding world,” said Ginny, half laughing. “Well ... I can’t say I’m surprised. I knew this would happen in the end. I knew you wouldn’t be happy unless you were hunting Voldemort. Maybe that’s why I like you so much.”

(HBP, Ch30)

Ginny (and other characters) believe he likes to save the wizarding world. That he is this confident hero and savior. I mean, they believe her lie about the tattoo, which says a lot:

and all Romilda Vane does is ask me if it’s true you’ve got a hippogriff tattooed across your chest.” Ron and Hermione both roared with laughter. Harry ignored them. “What did you tell her?” “I told her it’s a Hungarian Horntail,” said Ginny, turning a page of the newspaper idly. “Much more macho.”

(HBP, Ch25)

Harry doesn't see himself as leader material, but it's clear everyone else does:

“I think we ought to elect a leader,” said Hermione. “Harry’s leader,” said Cho at once, looking at Hermione as though she were mad, and Harry’s stomach did yet another back flip. “Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly,” said Hermione, unperturbed. “It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So — everyone who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?” Everybody put up their hands, even Zacharias Smith, though he did it very halfheartedly. “Er — right, thanks,” said Harry, who could feel his face burning.

(OotP, Ch18)

Neville Longbottom, who gave a roar of delight, leapt down from the mantelpiece and yelled. “I knew you’d come! I knew it, Harry!”

(DH, Ch28)

“Look who it is! Didn’t I tell you?” As Harry emerged into the room beyond the passage, there were several screams and yells: “HARRY!” “It’s Potter, it’s POTTER!” “Ron!” “Hermione!” [...] “Are you all right, Harry?” Neville was saying. “Want to sit down? I expect you’re tired, aren’t—?” “No,” said Harry. He looked at Ron and Hermione, trying to tell them without words that Voldemort has just discovered the loss of one of the other Horcruxes. Time was running out fast: If Voldemort chose to visit Hogwarts next, they would miss their chance. “We need to get going,” he said, and their expression told him that they understood. “What are we going to do, then, Harry?” asked Seamus. “What’s the plan?” “Plan?” repeated Harry. He was exercising all his willpower to prevent himself succumbing again to Voldemort’s rage: His scar was still burning. “Well, there’s something we—Ron, Hermione, and I—need to do, and then we’ll get out of here.” Nobody was laughing or whooping anymore. Neville looked confused.

(DH, Ch29)

Everyone expected Harry in DH to have a plan of attack the moment he arrived because that's how he acts. Even in the above scene, he's in terrible pain from his scar, but the others don't see it. What they see is a Harry who looks exhausted but says no to rest because there's work to be done and they expect this of him. They see someone fearless and capable with a plan who could lead them, but this isn't what we see because we're inside his head.

How Harry doesn't speak much and acts overall quite distant, as in, he actively avoids the girls who fancy him:

Then he blinked and looked around: He was surrounded by mesmerized girls. “Hi, Harry!” said a familiar voice from behind him. “Neville!” said Harry in relief, turning to see a round-faced boy struggling toward him

(HBP, Ch7)

And he only has two close friends and barley knows the other students in his year. Most students only know Harry Potter from the stories, rumors, and Dumbledore's end-of-the-year speeches about his heroism. They have no clue who the real Harry is — so they expect the hero they do hear about.

He stands his ground a lot (again, defiance):

Harry turned to McLaggen to tell him that, most unfortunately, Ron had beaten him, only to find McLaggen’s red face inches from his own. He stepped back hastily. “His sister didn’t really try,” said McLaggen menacingly. There was a vein pulsing in his temple like the one Harry had often admired in Uncle Vernon’s. “She gave him an easy save.” “Rubbish,” said Harry coldly. “That was the one he nearly missed.”

(HBP, Ch11)

And more often than not, he does so coldly and calmly. A lot of his more fiery anger is a sign of trauma with Harry, his baseline anger reaction is cold.

All of this adds to him appearing to others as controlled, confident, and like he has everything together and could never have any issues. He comes off as this bigger than life person to most people. Snape isn't the only one who reads Harry's behavior as confident. But it's actually far from the truth.

We, as the readers, see how depressed Harry is. How lowly he thinks of himself and how much he doesn't think of himself as anything special when he very clearly is. But the fact he doesn't say any of it and has mastered the skill of acting cold and like everything is fine when he literally wants to die at the age of 5, no one knows. Even Ron and Hermione didn't truly realize the full extent of Harry's low self-worth until 5th year.

The other students are shocked to see Harry as angry as he is in book 5 because he's often way more controlled and well-mannered than that. They're used to seeing him cold and quiet, not firey. Most of his fire stays inside his head unless he's really angry or emotional in general (or traumatized):

Professor Umbridge sat down behind her desk again. Harry, however, stood up. Everyone was staring at him; Seamus looked half-scared, half-fascinated. “Harry, no!” Hermione whispered in a warning voice, tugging at his sleeve, but Harry jerked his arm out of her reach. “So, according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord, did he?” Harry asked, his voice shaking. There was a collective intake of breath from the class, for none of them, apart from Ron and Hermione, had ever heard Harry talk about what had happened on the night that Cedric had died. They stared avidly from Harry to Professor Umbridge

(OotP, Ch12)

The shock of the other students, I believe, is because of what he's saying, yes, but it's also because Harry is behaving very unlike him here. He usually doesn't shout at teachers or anyone, really. He rarely speaks in classes actually.

And regarding his confidence, everyone, Ron and Hermione included, was sure Harry is super skilled and that that's how he evaded Voldemort:

“You don’t know what it’s like! You — neither of you — you’ve never had to face him, have you? You think it’s just memorizing a bunch of spells and throwing them at him, like you’re in class or something? The whole time you know there’s nothing between you and dying except your own — your own brain or guts or whatever — like you can think straight when you know you’re about a second from being murdered, or tortured, or watching your friends die — they’ve never taught us that in their classes, what it’s like to deal with things like that — and you two sit there acting like I’m a clever little boy to be standing here, alive, like Diggory was stupid, like he messed up — you just don’t get it, that could just as easily have been me, it would have been if Voldemort hadn’t needed me —” “We weren’t saying anything like that, mate,” said Ron, looking aghast. “We weren’t having a go at Diggory, we didn’t — you’ve got the wrong end of the —” He looked helplessly at Hermione, whose face was stricken.

(OotP, Ch15)

They didn't for a second think he wasn't confident in his own abilities because Harry acts in a way that comes off as confident and capable. It's why everyone so easily accepts him as a leader under various circumstances. He acts level-headed while he's terrified, so everyone thinks he knows what he's doing except Harry (and the reader). Ron and Hermione had zero doubts Harry's skill was a big part of why he survived book 4, it's only Harry who doesn't think that.

The fact Snape bothered to extract his own memories during his Occlumancy lessons goes to show how he thinks Harry is talented, contrary to his words. He feared Harry would reverse the connection and see into his mind, otherwise he wouldn't have taken these precautions.

Think of Voldemort’s resurrection even. Inside his mind, we know Harry's terrified. We know he has no idea what he's doing.

But imagine being a Death Eater in the crowd and you see this 14-year-old kid stand up after being Crucio-ed by their lord, and he stands up, resists the imperius, and shouts at your lord like he thinks of himself as equal to him — or, perhaps, better than him:

“I asked you whether you want me to do that again,” said Voldemort softly. “Answer me! Imperio!” [...] I WON’T!” And these words burst from Harry’s mouth; they echoed through the graveyard, and the dream state was lifted as suddenly as though cold water had been thrown over him — back rushed the aches that the Cruciatus Curse had left all over his body — back rushed the realization of where he was, and what he was facing. . . . “You won’t?” said Voldemort quietly, and the Death Eaters were not laughing now.

(GoF, Ch34)

That's pretty badass. Harry comes off like a confidant badass. And he gets more badass and confident as he matures (even if he isn't actually as confident as he appears).

Even in the DoM, Lucius Malfoy, who was in the graveyard, takes Harry seriously:

“Don’t do anything,” he [Harry] muttered. “Not yet —” The woman who had mimicked him let out a raucous scream of laughter. “You hear him? You hear him? Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!” “Oh, you don’t know Potter as I do, Bellatrix,” said Malfoy softly. “He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Potter.”

(OotP, Ch35)

Bellatrix makes fun of how Harry gives the other kids orders as if they're going to fight, but Lucius knows better, he knows Harry is going to fight, and I think, he's scared of what would happen when he does. Even Bellatrix quickly starts taking Harry more seriously:

“Oh, he knows how to play, little bitty baby Potter,” she said, her mad eyes staring through the slits in her hood. “Very well, then —”

(OotP, Ch35)

And she changes her tone completely after he casts a Crucio at her:

“Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?” she yelled. She had abandoned her baby voice now.

(OotP, Ch36)

His aura is one of competence and confidence even when he's frightened and has no idea what he's doing. Especially when he's frightened and has no idea what he's doing.

And for the most part, he doesn't come off nearly as judgmental as he actually is, because he doesn't say a lot of what he thinks. We only see him start to actually speak his mind and be more sassy out loud around 5th and 6th year. And even then, his highly judgmental physical descriptions stay part of his narration, they aren't spoken:

“That’s the bell,” said Harry listlessly, because Ron and Hermione were bickering too loudly to hear it. They did not stop arguing all the way down to Snape’s dungeon, which gave Harry plenty of time to reflect that between Neville and Ron he would be lucky ever to have two minutes’ conversation with Cho that he could look back on without wanting to leave the country.

(OotP, Ch12)

Ron and Hermione banter while Harry feels done with them, but he doesn't really say anything or complain. He keeps a lot of his thoughts inside his head.

If we look at how Ron, Hermione, and Sirius see Harry, they're the closest to who Harry actually is as these three know Harry best. (They're also more objective than Harry who looks down on himself)

After the book 5 conversation I mentioned above, Ron and Hermione are more aware of Harry's insecurities, but they find them silly. They see Harry as incredibly capable and skilled:

“Did he?” said Harry. Behind him he felt rather than heard Hermione passing his message to the others and he sought to keep talking, to distract the Death Eaters.

(OotP, Ch35)

“What are we going to do with them?” Ron whispered to Harry through the dark; then, even more quietly, “Kill them? They’d kill us. They had a good go just now.” Hermione shuddered and took a step backward. Harry shook his head. “We just need to wipe their memories,” said Harry.

(DH, Ch9)

When danger comes, everyone's instantly following Harry's lead. Harry's the planner when the situation is dangerous, he calls the shots, not Hermione. Hermione and Ron look to Harry for a plan when things get tough, and Harry always figures something out. Now, we see Harry thinking he has no idea what to do:

He could not think what to do but to keep talking. Neville’s arm was pressed against his, and he could feel him shaking. He could feel one of the other’s quickened breath on the back of his head. He was hoping they were all thinking hard about ways to get out of this, because his mind was blank.

(OotP, Ch35)

But Ron and Hermione don't. No one does. They just see Harry coming up with a plan to save them. Every time. They don't see him wracking his brain for a way to keep everyone alive.

Hermione never considers Harry stupid, not even in first year:

“I’m not as good as you,” said Harry, very embarrassed, as she let go of him. “Me!” said Hermione. “Books! And cleverness! There are more important things — friendship and bravery and — oh Harry — be careful!”

(PS, Ch16)

And Ron clearly doesn't expect stupid behavior from Harry. He's surprised and shocked when Harry does something he considers stupid:

“What the hell,” panted Ron, holding up the Horcrux, which swung backward and forward on its shortened chain in some parody of hypnosis, “didn’t you take this thing off before you dived?”

(DH, 19)

Both Ron and Hermione trust Harry's opinion and they trust him to know what to do when shit hits the fan. When things are dangerous, both Ron and Hermione (and everyone else) turn to Harry to know what to do becouse that's the aura he has:

“I’d tell him we’re all with him in spirit,” said Lupin, then hesitated slightly. “And I’d tell him to follow his instincts, which are good and nearly always right.” Harry looked at Hermione, whose eyes were full of tears. “Nearly always right,” she repeated.

(DH, Ch22)

Hermione agrees with Lupin's assessment here. Dumbledore did too, he's the one who told Kingsley and Remus to trust Harry's instincts. Harry doesn't give the impression he's messy and bumbling, quite the opposite. Yes, Harry and Hermione have their doubts, they don't agree with Harry on everything, especially when he has no evidence for his claim except his intuition. But, it's telling Harry can make claims based on gut feeling and Ron and Hermione ask him why he thinks that instead of just instantly rejecting the claims.

Like I mentioned above, he looks like he has his shit together even when he really doesn't. He's an expert in keeping a mask on and bottling up his feelings.

Sirius, also sees Harry as mature and capable for his age. It's why he's so insistent on telling him things while Molly wants to cuddle Harry:

“I don’t intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly,” said Sirius. “But as he was the one who saw Voldemort come back” (again, there was a collective shudder around the table at the name), “he has more right than most to —” “He’s not a member of the Order of the Phoenix!” said Mrs. Weasley. “He’s only fifteen and —” “— and he’s dealt with as much as most in the Order,” said Sirius, “and more than some —” “No one’s denying what he’s done!” said Mrs. Weasley, her voice rising, her fists trembling on the arms of her chair. “But he’s still—” “He’s not a child!” said Sirius impatiently.

(OotP, Ch5)

Between them, Sirius sees Harry more accurately. Harry is incredibly mature and capable and wants to be in the know. He'd be better off in the know. Sirius understands Harry's curiosity which Molly seems unaware of. Lupin also remarks on how Harry is going to find out things anyway, he's aware of how curious and determined Harry is. Sirius considers Harry capable even during PoA and GoF:

I know better than anyone that you can look after yourself and while you’re around Dumbledore and Moody I don’t think anyone will be able to hurt you.

(GoF, Ch18)

Molly, on the other hand, never really sees Harry's capabilities. Molly only ever sees a polite, intelligent kid. In the early years at the Weasley, Harry barely talks to Molly and Arthur because he doesn't really know how to talk to them. So they talk to him, the other Weasleys talk around him, and he's polite in turn:

“I don’t blame you, dear,” she assured Harry, tipping eight or nine sausages onto his plate. “Arthur and I have been worried about you, too. Just last night we were saying we’d come and get you ourselves if you hadn’t written back to Ron by Friday. But really” (she was now adding three fried eggs to his plate), “flying an illegal car halfway across the country — anyone could have seen you —”

(CoS, Ch3)

Harry acts around most adults like this, especially when younger. It's clear he acted this way around his teachers too:

“You see what you expect to see, Severus,” said Dumbledore, without raising his eyes from a copy of Transfiguration Today. “Other teachers report that the boy is modest, likable, and reasonably talented. Personally, I find him an engaging child.”

(DH, Ch33)

Snape got it a bit different. Because Harry is defiant and sassy — it's how he responds to the Dursleys, and this is how he responds to threats he can't do anything about in general. Sass. It's why we see Harry do this with Umbridge, Snape, and Scrimgeour:

Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?” inquired Professor Umbridge in a horribly honeyed voice. “Hmm, let’s think . . .” said Harry in a mock thoughtful voice, “maybe Lord Voldemort?”

(OotP, Ch12)

“Do you remember me telling you we are practicing nonverbal spells, Potter?” “Yes,” said Harry stiffly. “Yes, sir.” “There’s no need to call me ‘sir,’ Professor.”

(HBP, Ch9)

“...You may wear that scar like a crown, Potter, but it is not up to a seventeen-year-old boy to tell me how to do my job! It’s time you learned some respect!” “It’s time you earned it.” said Harry.

(DH, Ch7)

Harry appears confidant and arrogant not only to Snape but to Scrimgeour too (I think other students at Hogwarts see Harry as arrogant too. His demeanor can come off as arrogant if you don't know what he's thinking. It's why they could believe the Daily Prophet, it fit what they got to see). It's because he is rude and sassy when speaking his mind. It's because he acts more confident when he's terrified. It's because he's cold, distant, and uncaring towards most people and actively avoids talking to most.

And even that's mostly when he's older. In 4th year, he responds to Snape by glaring at him silently and wishing he could cast a Crucio at him:

Harry sat there staring at Snape as the lesson began, picturing horrific things happening to him. . . . If only he knew how to do the Cruciatus Curse . . . he’d have Snape flat on his back like that spider, jerking and twitching. . . .

(GoF, Ch18)

Harry is overall really quiet, which does create the impression of him being put together. More than he thinks of himself, for sure. It also adds to why many students feel as comfortable talking about him as they do because he feels distant to them. His quiet makes him feel mysterious, unknown, and far away. Like a symbol rather than a person.

Something I want to note, specifically with Umbridge, is this scene:

Harry looked around at Umbridge. She was watching him, her wide, toadlike mouth stretched in a smile. “Yes?” “Nothing,” said Harry quietly. He looked back at the parchment, placed the quill upon it once more, wrote I must not tell lies, and felt the searing pain on the back of his hand for a second time; once again the words had been cut into his skin, once again they healed over seconds later.

(OotP, Ch13)

Part of why Harry comes off as such a put-together badass is that he doesn't let others see his pain. He doesn't show he's in pain to others, especially when it's people he doesn't like. He acts though, constantly.

He hates crying in front of others becouse Harry does everything he can to not appear weak:

Harry suddenly realized that there were tears on his face mingling with the sweat. He bent his face as low as possible, wiping them off on his robes, pretending to do up his shoelace, so that Lupin wouldn’t see.

(PoA, Ch12)

And it works, people see him as confident, and capable, and heroic. Most people don't see the struggle because Harry keeps bottling it in.

Even with Hermione, he tries not to let her see how upset he actually is. We know in his head, that he is devastated by his wand breaking, that he's mourning it like it was a dead loved one, but this is what he's willing to show Hermione:

“It was an accident,” said Harry mechanically. He felt empty, stunned. “We’ll—we’ll find a way to repair it.” [...] “Well,” he said, in a falsely matter-of-fact voice, “well, I’ll just borrow yours for now, then. While I keep watch.”

(DH, Ch17)

All this means, we, as the readers , see Harry's pain, his struggles, his vulnerability — but the other characters almost never do.

The only character who is consistently aware of Harry's struggles is Sirius who Harry confides his weaknesses to more than any other character:

“Never mind me, how are you?” said Sirius seriously. “I’m —” For a second, Harry tried to say “fine” — but he couldn’t do it. Before he could stop himself, he was talking more than he’d talked in days

(GoF, Ch19)

Harry is so used to saying his fine and bearing his burdens in silence. It's what he does. It's what he did for years. Most characters think Harry is unshakable because that's how he acts.

Even when Harry tries to lie so Sirius won't worry, Sirius sees through it:

Nice try, Harry. I’m back in the country and well hidden. I want you to keep me posted on everything that’s going on at Hogwarts.

(GoF, Ch15)

As for his room and appearance, he is a little messy actually when he has the chance to be in seventh year:

Harry had spent the morning completely emptying his school trunk for the first time since he had packed it six years ago. At the start of the intervening school years, he had merely skimmed off the topmost three quarters of the contents and replaced or updated them, leaving a layer of general debris at the bottom—old quills, desiccated beetle eyes, single socks that no longer fit.

(DH, Ch2)

As in, his trunk is a bit of a mess. But this makes sense, I think. He allows himself to be messy when he doesn't have the Dursleys over his head. It's like a sort of freedom he didn't have before, so he indulges in it. I think the mess in his trunk is also a result of him actually living from it for 6 years, as he couldn't really leave everything at home with the Dursleys, could he? Still, his room and belongings are nowhere near as messy as Ron's.

As for his appearance, the only thing mentioned to be messy is his hair:

His jet-black hair, however, was just as it always had been — stubbornly untidy, whatever he did to it

(PoA, Ch1)

But from other characters (including Hermione) thinking Harry's hot:

“Oh, come on, Harry,” said Hermione, suddenly impatient. “It’s not Quidditch that’s popular, it’s you! You’ve never been more interesting, and frankly, you’ve never been more fanciable.”

(HBP, Ch11)

We can conclude Harry's messy hair comes off as cool and attractive and not like a bird's nest.

We also see from Hermione and others that Harry looks scary. He is 5'11 by book 6 with an intimidating glare and that he looks like he can throw a punch, (and can definitely throw a punch when he wants to). So he has a physical intimidation factor when older:

“Well, it’s like Hagrid said, they can look after themselves,” said Hermione impatiently, “and I suppose a teacher like Grubbly-Plank wouldn’t usually show them to us before N.E.W.T. level, but, well, they are very interesting, aren’t they? The way some people can see them and some can’t! I wish I could.” “Do you?” Harry asked her quietly. She looked horrorstruck. “Oh Harry — I’m sorry — no, of course I don’t — that was a really stupid thing to say —”

(OotP, Ch21)

Harry was not aware of releasing George, all he knew was that a second later both of them were sprinting at Malfoy. He had completely forgotten the fact that all the teachers were watching: All he wanted to do was cause Malfoy as much pain as possible. With no time to draw out his wand, he merely drew back the fist clutching the Snitch and sank it as hard as he could into Malfoy’s stomach — “Harry! HARRY! GEORGE! NO!” He could hear girls’ voices screaming, Malfoy yelling, George swearing, a whistle blowing, and the bellowing of the crowd around him, but he did not care, not until somebody in the vicinity yelled “IMPEDIMENTA!” and only when he was knocked over backward by the force of the spell did he abandon the attempt to punch every inch of Malfoy he could reach. . . .

(OotP, Ch19)

To summarise

Harry bottles up a lot of his emotions and tends to be quiet, this creates the often wrong impression he is confident and has his shit together.

He doesn't show pain and weakness to others and doesn't cry or show he's upset to basically anyone (except Sirius). This means basically no one sees his struggles or how depressed and traumatized Harry actually is. It even surprises Ron and Hermione in book 5.

He is defiant and rude to people he doesn't like, especially when scared, the result is that he appears like a very capable and confident badass especially when under pressure.

He can be intimidating with his glare alone and once he's older he is a physical presence. He's not someone who can disappear in a crowd post-book 5.

His rudeness oftentimes stays in his head except when someone really annoys him. This makes him appear defiant, but overall polite because he keeps most of his mean comments to himself.

When younger, he is very polite and quiet, especially toward adults. When he's older, he gets a little sassier (as in, he says some of his internal monologue out loud). But he is a polite, well-mannered kid for the most part.

The character who has a messy room, is a bit of a slob, has chicken scratch handwriting, and is lazy with schoolwork, is Ronald Weasley, who I love dearly, but these descriptions have nothing to do with Harry and everything to do with Ron.

The only unkempt thing about Harry's appearance is likely his Potter hair, which is more messy hot than messy bad (if all the girls' reactions are anything to go by).

[kiera-raelyn]

All of that.

Got news for Bryke: if your work can't stand on its own (i.e. communicate the message you intended), you failed as a creator. You can try to clarify all you want after the fact, but... some people will never see those clarifications. They will only ever see the work itself. This becomes more true the further away from the time of creation you get. If people are taking away a mixed, or even the opposite, message of what you intended, you need to listen when they explain why they took away the messages they did. Evaluate where the breakdown was in your work. Then learn from it. You aren't perfect writers! There's no such thing! And that's ok, if you take the time to learn where your weaknesses are and work on them!

I seriously can't fathom how these two are supposed to be professional writers and yet don't seem to understand this. If you think a piece of art you created almost 20 years ago is perfect/has no flaws - you're doing it wrong. And the answer is not "well, fans are just choosing to interpret it wrong" or whatever. No. You made mistakes. Own them.

Personally Kat.aang looks bad to me because Aang gave his most lightest skinned child special treatment 💀 there were air acolytes who weren’t air benders themselves but were still dedicated to keeping the culture alive so leaving Kya and Bumi out on account of them not being air benders is absolute bullsh*t. You don’t see Zutara shippers calling Kat.aang shippers racist because of it 🤔

yeah see this is one of those things that again ties back to bry.ke being totally oblivious about the implications of what they were writing because the optics of the kat.aang family are… troubling, to put it nicely.

the darker-skinned woman is a waterbender. the lighter-skinned man is an airbender. the nonbender is conveniently in-between. their clothing all correspond strictly to their individual elements (except bumi who gets chucked to red for the audacity of not being born an airbender — at least till he conveniently turns into one). if you knew nothing of these characters you’d never know they were biracial at all.

which is just… so disappointing. part of the reason i love zutara is how the fandom handles the incorporation of both cultures, and yet bry.ke couldn’t even be bothered to do the bare fucking minimum of at least having the kat.aang kids in blue and yellow clothes. if you’re going to claim that a significant aspect of this new, postwar world is the increased cultural exchange across nations then the kat.aang family of all people should be emblematic of that change! but no, instead of taking the opportunity to actually delve into and depict the intricacies of a blended household, we might as well just stick to the same shit we’ve been doing since atla because why think of something new, right?

it’s even more troubling that within the strange cultural division of the ka kids, it’s katara’s culture that gets the shaft. tenzin’s entire family might as well be air nomads through and through, and while bumi and kya seem to have been intentionally excluded from air nomad culture through no fault of their own, they don’t seem to know (or care) any more about their swt heritage either. the natural conclusion to draw from that is evidently that katara’s culture just doesn’t matter as much as aang’s in their family, and that paints a very disturbing picture of how aang views his wife’s heritage (especially with the worldbuilding of atla portraying the air nomads as ‘spiritually pure’ in comparison to everyone else).

i have no patience for the common ka defense that aang is a survivor of genocide so his culture should take more priority because a) katara is also a genocide survivor, as ka stans are so fond of pointing out until it doesn’t work in their favour and b) why are we acting like cultural integration is some sort of zero sum game? tenzin, kya and bumi aren’t going to run out of space for their air nomad traditions and practices just because they know more about their swt background as well. there’s no arbitrary limit on how much you can learn of your heritage.

yes, i know bry.ke didn’t intend for the ka family to come across this way. but whether the implications were purposeful or not, they still exist, and it’s fucking galling that the fandom will call zutara and zutara shippers racist all while defending the shitty writing choices of two american white men — and then pat themselves on the back for being progressive, as if genuine activism means harassing real poc in the name of fictional ones.

[kiera-raelyn]

No, but that's low-key fascinating. I'm a little obsessed with this concept. What about Aang would change in this scenario? If he had a little more time to mature and learn more about his culture and the world? Assuming he got frozen because he ran during Sozin's comet and the Air Nomad genocide, then what changes about his personality? For him to have experienced that directly and escaped would have massive implications for his character. More guilt and anger, I think. But does he become vengeful? His temperament is laid back and fun-loving. Temperament is something you're born with and very difficult to change. But it can be. Does experiencing genocide firsthand do that for Aang? So many questions and considerations! And that's just for Aang! The dynamics of the group would be completely different.

I would read the hell out of an epic length rewriting of canon with this change. I would beta and soundboard for the person willing to do it.

au where Aang gets told he's the Avatar (and subsequently frozen) at 16 like he was supposed to.... I think it would change a lot honestly

[kiera-raelyn]

I did find it odd that Katara just magically gained mastery/was acknowledged as such after her fight with Pakku. Her bending against him was great, and she definitely proved her point.

But.

No one becomes a master on their own. The original show has Aang learning bending from masters of their element (who all happen to be of an age with him). But all of those masters learned from others: Toph learned from the original earthbending masters (badgermoles); Zuko was an average firebender who had been trained for years at the palace until Iroh took over in his banishment - he became a master after he learned from the original firebenders; and Katara learned from Master Pakku, which, added to her natural talent and creativity, made her a master herself.

It's not a bad thing to learn from others and it doesn't reflect poorly on someone that their natural talent didn't make them a master. Because talent alone doesn't make one a master; a prodigy, sure. But not a master. That comes from dedication, effort, and willingness to learn from others. All of which Katara does in AtLA.

But not, for some reason, in NAtLA. And I'm just baffled by it. It feels too much like a participation trophy. Despite his gruff, sexist demeanor, Pakku has worthwhile things to teach Katara about waterbending. Because he's a master of many decades. But we're just going to gloss over all that in NAtLA - apparently, we're going to entrust leading the Avatar to mastery of one of the four elements to a self-taught, literal child. That's going to turn out well. (I mean, it will, because plot reasons, but it shouldn't.)

I just - Katara's a badass. Learning from Pakku didn't make her less of one. It only made her more badass, because he helped her refine her technique. So this change actually kind of makes her less badass and diminishes the achievement it was for her to gain the title "Master".

/endrant I guess. I've got feelings about this but I think I might be going in circles now.

Netflix, I don’t know how to tell you this but a woman doesn’t have to be self taught to be a strong female character. It’s ok to let her know her limitation and ask for help. It’s ok to let her get angry, it’s ok to let her be jealous, it’s ok to let your female character have flaws and WORK on them. Your female character doesn’t have to become a master on her own to be memorable, it just makes her accomplishment feel unearned.

[kiera-raelyn]

Yeah, there was a lot about the American magic system, such as we saw, that just... didn't jibe with how I, as an American, think it would be.

Not the least of which is that we got one school while Europe got three? And Europe can fit multiple times into this country? I think tf not. The First Nation peoples would definitely have at least one of their own schools. The NE, of course. And the South. Prolly the Midwest, too, because let's be real, the corn is alive. The SW would 110% have its own school. I can't speak to the NW, though. Frankly, it's baffling to me that such disparate places over such large areas identify as one (1) discrete political/cultural unit.

Anyway. The other magic schools and the details on the American Wizarding World make it pretty clear that JK doesn't understand cultures outside her own more than on a very basic surface level, if even that. Which, y'know, you do you, boo. But the arrogance required to confidently put that (blatantly ill-conceived) stuff out on your global platform is... astounding. Like bish really said I've got the resources at this point in my career that I could have at least A Conversation with anthropologists from the regions I want to plop schools in willy-nilly to try and get a feel for cultural nuance, but nah. I got this. Research? Stop! That's my purse! I don't know you!

I have always imagined the American magical community in Harry Potter to be significantly less… structured than that of Britain. America is just so big, and the states can be so different, and history is so fucked up and complicated that a whole secret society with a completely separate government and people who’re totally clueless about the muggle world just makes no sense to me.

American wix participate in general elections and watch tv and their kids go to muggle school during the day and learn magic at home or in after-school programs and play quidditch and football and only your great grandma has owls while everyone else just has a phone and generally don’t obliviate muggles who see magic shit bc lol who’s gonna believe them anyway.

And European wix haaaate dealing with them bc they won’t do things the Proper Magical Way they just do whatever the fuck they want bc AMERICA FUCK YEAH.

*eagle noises*

[kiera-raelyn]

This is a bit tin foil-y, but it brings up good points. Again, we come back to: how much say did other writers have? I don't believe for a minute that the show was "meant" to end differently than it did, at least from Bryke's perspective. We've seen too much else from them to think differently, honestly. A last minute deus ex machina and loose plot threads tracks. But there was a whole lot of setup for Zutara that neatly addresses a lot of this.

It's funny. The more I think about all the canon material we have to fuel Zutara vs. how militantly Kataang Bryke are, the more I'm reminded of an exercise I did in high school. The teacher broke us up into groups of four. We each had a paper and wrote one sentence on it. Then we passed it to the next person and they wrote the next sentence in the story. And my group's experience was particularly amusing because three of us were dark, emo, and angsty but the final member of our group was decidedly not. Any time it was her turn, she tried to steer our stories into more pleasant/cheerful territory. And each time, we delighted in jerking it back. And the writing in the show just kind of gives me those feels.

okay tin foil hat conspiracy theory time

I’ve always wondered why the AtLA writing team bothered to set up Aang’s attachment to Katara as the thing that was holding him back from the Avatar State in the book two finale if they weren’t ever going to do anything with that narratively. Like I know some people say “well he only had to let go of her temporarily and he did that in Ba Sing Se” but that is just weak storytelling. And like…is it really letting go if it’s temporary? Sounds like a massive copout.

Of course, there’s also the question of why Aang’s attachment to Katara is a problem. Avatar Roku was able to control the Avatar State and be happily married so it’s not like Avatars have to be celibate to fulfill their destiny or something. So there has to be something specific about Aang’s feelings for Katara that is getting in his way, beyond just being romantically interested in her.

So what would neatly square this circle, explaining why Aang’s feelings for Katara were something he had to give up, as well as pushing him to really do so in a meaningful way? If Katara didn’t reciprocate. 

If Aang’s feelings are one-sided, and Katara’s not interested in a romantic relationship with him, that’s very different from Roku’s situation. In fact, it’s a good illustration of the difference between authentic love, which is selfless, and attachment, which is selfish. It would be selfish of Aang to hold on to those romantic aspirations towards Katara once it became clear she didn’t share them. It would make it only an attachment, and not really love.

And not only does making Aang’s feelings for Katara a roadblock to fulfilling his destiny in book two seem to set this up, it actually tracks with a lot of how Aang and Katara’s relationship is written in book three as well. Katara does not react positively either time that Aang kisses her - she’s even angry about it the second time. And of course it’s a common complaint that none of this is really resolved - we’re never shown on screen how or why Katara’s feelings apparently change.

What if they were never meant to?

What if, instead of the infamous rock-in-the-back, Aang was originally supposed to clear his last chakra in the finale by actually letting go of his attachment to Katara? What if the twist was not supposed to be that what was established by Guru Pathik in book two didn’t mean what the audience thought it meant, but that Aang had to mature enough to realize that his feelings for Katara didn’t mean what he thought they meant, i.e. that they weren’t actually destined to be together just because he had a crush on her? 

And, bear with me here, what if, hypothetically, there were another character who, as a narrative counterpoint Aang’s immature attachment, actually loved Katara selflessly, to he point that he was willing to lay down his own life for her?

Oh right.

[kiera-raelyn]

I don't hate Aang, but for serious. He was so wrong for Katara. Don't even have to bring anyone else *cough*Zuko*cough* into the conversation for that to be a true statement.

Also, wtf Bryke. You created these characters. How can you misunderstand them so fundamentally?

I am like, nothing short of absolutely disgusted at Bryke's portrayal of Katara in the comics and TLOK???

And apparently a majority of the audience is okay with this portrayal??

Just a recap:

This is Katara

A girl with severe abandonment issues because her mom was murdered by a Fire Nation soldier and soon after her dad left to right in the war, leaving her alone to take care of her brother and the village.

This is Aang

A boy with chronic running away issues. This fault of his has led to a war extending up to 100 years causing death and destruction all around the world.

Katara does not acknowledge this fault of his because she idolises him as the Avatar but still his actions hurt her. A lot.

Katara: It's not brave, it's selfish and stupid! We could be helping him and I know the world needs him, but doesn't he know how much we need him, too? How can he just leave us behind?

Logically speaking, a person with abandonment issues should never be with a person who has a tendency to run away from their issues. But Aang and Katara get together anyway.

But then the comics happen.

Literally anyone who cared about Katara as a character of her own (and not just as Aang's love interest) was infuriated at how she was portrayed. She was stripped of all her autonomy and characterization and was made into "The Avatar's Girlfriend". Nothing of her own.

Some people actually call this relationship sweet. Yuck.

But the thing is, it has panels like this:

Katara, the girl with abandonment issues looks— that's right, abandoned and forgotten.

Even if the "abandonment issues" angle is thrown out of the window, the above panel from Katara's pov is a very unhealthy and shitty experience. (I can vouch with personal experience)

When you clearly don't have anyone else and the one person who you completely dedicate yourself to is completely avoiding you in favour of other people who don't really matter that much just because it makes them feel better/superior, how lonely and abandoned does that make you feel?

Also this sort of behaviour is undeniably selfish and self centred.

This problem of "Aang paying more attention to fangirls" exists in the show as well but atleast Aang corrects his behaviour or accepts that it was incorrect. The comics however:

Katara, who was abandoned, ignored and lonely in this entire comic is reasonably upset about this. But instead of the comic validating her feelings, it makes her feel guilty???

What the fuck??

If this isn't a fulfilment of the male fetish of gfs/wives putting their own mental issues and feelings on a back bench just for the sake of the man's hApPineSs, then what is this?

Not to mention this fetish is pretty disgusting.

This is what young kids are supposed to learn form the comics?

This is harmful for boys AND girls.

But sure couple goals and soulmates or whatever.

Moving on,

The very existence of LOK!Katara is just—

Like what—?

This definitely isn't the Katara I know and love.

Katara, who was completely devastated by her mother's death but got her shit together immediately and seamlessly slipped into the role of her mother and was so damn good at it that her elder brother could conveniently use his coping mechanism to supress their mother's memories with Katara's instead.

You're telling me this same girl grew up to be a sad old lonely widow who spent her days and nights wallowing in the grief of the death of her husband—

Bullshit.

That's straight up romanticization of "life is nothing without you" trope where the wife just becomes a non-functional person after the death of her husband. That, and Bryke not giving a shit about Katara's character.

There's the evident drama of Aang ignoring his two other kids in favour of the Airbending one; leaving Katara with the other two kids. Just like how she was left alone in charge of things as a child.

And then there's this:

They actually take the time to show us that Katara is sad and lonely and abandoned??

What family does she have left at the South pole? None.

And yet, people manage to think Katara is perfectly fine and happy.

Katara, a person with severe abandonment issues spends her entire life being abandoned??

What the fuck Bryke?

Like, it's pretty clear that they didn't give two shits about Katara as a character; she was just supposed to be a pretty arm candy for the Hero™ with some handy dandy waterbending abilities.

But if other people have done a spectacular job of turning this cardboard character into a fully fleshed out, multi dimensional character, why would you throw it away??

Like, that's just dumb.

Why would they take an infinite number of steps back to turn Katara back into a cardboard character and fulfil romanticized misogynistic tropes?

Much wow, many thanks.

[kiera-raelyn]

For the love of god, please interact with the creator of the work you love. If you've got the energy to gush about it elsewhere, then use just a fraction of that to do so with the person who actually made it. They're the ones who need to hear it most. Gushing about it to other readers may make more readers, but there's only one writer. And if they decide it's not worthwhile to share their hearts with the world, because that's what they're doing, then the readers will not have more to read.

Fanfiction is interactive by its nature. We write and then we share because we want others to like what we've done. If that were not the case, we wouldn't share in the first place. Fanfiction, especially long form fics, are a labor of love for your fellow community members. It takes considerable time and effort to not only conceive of a story, but to get it in a form fit to be shared with others and to continue to do this over months and sometimes years. Fanfic writers do this without pay and, if they're not getting interaction with their works, without appreciation. Do you honestly think you would put weeks, months, or years of effort into something you got no pay, appreciation, or recognition for? If so, show me. Prove it. I don't think you would. And expecting it of others is an astronomical level of selfishness and entitlement.

I say all this mostly from a reader's perspective. While I have written a bit, I am by and large more of a reader than a writer. While my experiences as a writer enforce what I've said here, my experiences as a reader confirm it more. I've seen authors say that the only reason they came back to finish a story was because of their readers. Because they knew there were people out there who cared, that they didn't want to disappoint. Authors who have said that their readers comments gave them the motivation to keep going when the story (or life!) got hard.

I am by no means perfect at always leaving comments. I would be lying if I said I commented on every chapter of every story I read. I don't. But, I'm trying to be better about leaving something, even if it's not the essay I feel the story deserves. Which is why I've pinned the kudos image post to the top of this blog, so that I can easily access it when I just don't have the energy to write out a long comment, but I want the author to know their work is appreciated. I encourage you to do the same.

A writer friend told me something that broke my heart a little bit today; they're going to quit publishing their fanfic.

My instant thought was that they had been trolled or attacked or that something terrible had happened in their life because this person is so passionate about their writing. It wasn't any of that. Engagement with their works has been going down, as it has for many of us. Comments are like gold dust a lot of the time, and just looking through the historical comment counts on old fics on ao3 demonstrates this trend very clearly. It was not simply the comments dropping off which caused them to decide to stop posting, however.

My friend came across a discord server for their fandom (I should point out here that their fandom interest and mine diverged a couple of years ago, we stay in touch but don't currently read each other's posts because I'm not into their fandom and they would rather gouge their eyes out with a wooden spoon than read anything Star Wars) and specifically to share fic in that fandom. They joined, because we all love a good fic rec, only to discover that their latest multichapter fic, which has almost no comments and very few kudos, is being hotly discussed in this server as one of the best stories ever. Not one of these people has bothered to say this to them on the fic. When they asked, none of participants could see the point in telling the author of the fic they apparently loved so much that they love it.

This discovery has absolutely destroyed my friend's love of sharing fic. They share because they love seeing other people's enjoyment, and fic writers do that through comments and kudos/reblogs/likes because we don't get paid. There is no literary critic writing a blog post/article about how amazing the story is for us to copy and keep/frame. There is no money from royalties. All we have are the words of the people reading our works.

Those people on that server could have taken five minutes of the time they spent gushing about how amazing my friend's story was to other people and used it to tell the one person guaranteed to want to hear that praise how much they loved it. They could have taken a moment to express their opinion to the person who spent hours upon hours plotting, writing, editing, and posting those chapters. Instead, they deprived my friend of thing that keeps them sharing their writing, and in the process have killed their love of it. My friend now feels used and unmotivated.

I won't be sharing a link to their fic, they said I could share their experience but not their identity. I know they plan to post one final chapter. I know they intend to express their hurt at being excluded from the praise for the thing they created, and I know they intend to announce that as a consequence they will not be posting for a long while, if at all.

So please, I beg you, don't hide your love of a story from the writer. It's just about the only thing we have.

[kiera-raelyn]

Ginny's character being just utterly mangled remains one of the most infuriating things about the movies to me. I mean, my list of complaints for the movies is extensive (PoA wasn't even in chronological order!), but that's pretty high up there. My girl's a badass bitch and you don't see like, any of that, in the films.

i love the silver trio so much but it always grinds my gears when i remember that while neville and luna still don’t have that much screen time, you still get an essence of who they are as people. their personalities, their morals, their relationship dynamics with other characters (like harry) and yet ginny, despite being a bigger character than both of them, and being harry’s future partner, mother of his children, most important person in his life (to name a few), ginny has exactly ZERO opportunity to shine. unlike her pals, she gets little to no screen time, let alone scenes one-on-one with harry (which both neville and luna have), her entire personality is erased. everything that makes ginny who she is is removed.

it’s absolutely infuriating to watch. as an audience, how are we supposed to get to know her? to understand her? to understand why she is the woman harry wants to spends the rest of his life with? like i love luna and neville, they’re wonderful characters and additions to the story, but prioritising them over ginny in the films (and giving them additional scenes like luna and harry in the forest alone?? it’s a sweet scene but also??? harry & luna don’t interact like that in the books, not to mention luna is much more eccentric and unintentionally amusing in the books, more so than she is perpetually wise and friendly… like we couldn’t have the library scene or the ‘lucky you’ scene in ootp - arguably the most important scenes for ginny (and harry’s) development but we have time for luna to share some nice slightly ooc wisdom with harry? again, i love luna, and i love that scene too, but cutting other important scenes…?)

i could go on and on about this. but i just hate that she is so sidelined, and discarded in the films, despite being such an important character as an individual and in relation to harry. i’ll never understand you david yates. ginny, sweetie, i’m so sorry.

[kiera-raelyn]

And again, the whole first half of this post stands on its own. Irrelevant of all else, Aang is not right for Katara romantically.

Katara’s abandonment issues: Zuko comes back, A/ang doesn’t

Something I’ve just realized about Zutara vs Kat/aang is that… Zuko comes back to Katara, but Aang doesn’t.

We all know Katara has abandonment issues. After her mother was killed by Yon Rha, her father and the other men in the Southern Water Tribe left. These are literally some of the first shots in The Boy in the Iceberg (1.01).

Those abandonment issues never leave (no pun intended) Katara. She carries that weight at least up until The Awakening (3.01). These issues cause her frustration and her subsequent outburst against Hakoda.

But what does trigger Katara’s breakdown? What brings her to that breaking point, where she can’t keep it in (which would have happened eventually anyway, but it’s still important to specify why) anymore? 

A/ang has left.

And I think it’s quite telling that Hakoda and Katara have this conversation.

Katara: He left.

Hakoda: What?

Katara:  A/ang. He just took his glider and disappeared. He has this ridiculous notion that he has to save the world alone, that it’s all his responsibility.

Hakoda:  Maybe that’s his way of being brave.

Katara:  It’s not brave, it’s selfish and stupid! We could be helping him and I know the world needs him, but doesn’t he know how much we need him, too? How can he just leave us behind?

Hakoda: You’re talking about me, too, aren’t you?

Now I think it’s important that A/ang leaving is being compared to Hakoda leaving. Aang exacerbates her abandonment issues. And it’s nothing new. He left in The Storm (1.12), in The Desert (2.11), and it’s literally the reason why the Avatar has disappeared a hundred years ago. Because he ran away.

And even then, A/ang doesn’t come back. It’s always Katara (and the others) who have to go and find him.

In The Storm:

(Where Katara tells him that maybe running away from his problems wasn’t that bad, maybe it was meant to be, which is… debatable, to be honest. When the Fire Nation attacked, I’m sure the Air Nomads would have found a way to hide A/ang, the literal Avatar. And if he had been killed (which is terrible, I’m sorry) during the attack, the Avatar Cycle would have resumed and another Avatar would have been born. But that’s beside the point.)

And in The Awakening:

He only really comes back in The Desert, but if he wasn’t hopeless, exhausted and still had food/water left, I’m sure he wouldn’t even have come back. He would have kept looking for Appa. 

Besides, he never apologizes to Katara or Toph, and Katara still has to take it upon herself to do the emotional labour.

And on that note, while A/ang doesn’t run away in The Serpent’s Pass, I still think it’s important to point out that Katara has to find him to, again, be the emotional labour in their friendship.

I wouldn’t have as much of a problem about A/ang always running away from his problems. 

If he actually learned from it. 

But even during the series finale, he still runs away because he doesn’t want to kill Ozai. That’s how he finds the lionturtle. By running away and leaving the others - and Katara - to worry.

And to find him.

Now, what does that have to do with Zutara?

Well, throughout the show but especially from season 2 onwards, everything points Zuko in the Avatar’s direction. He has to find the Avatar to restore his honour. He has to come back to teach Aang firebending. He has to come back to fight the good fight. He has to come back to defeat Azula and Ozai.

And who is, of course, always following the Avatar?

Katara.

But this isn’t just about Aang. This is about how the whole show is structured in a way that brings Zuko and Katara together. And he always comes back.

To her.

They always end up together. Somehow. Someway.

As enemies:

As almost friends:

As “I’m sorry, could you allow me to be your friend again?”

As “I’m trying to right my wrongs, what can I do to make it up to you?”

(Something A/ang never did.)

And, of course, as friends:

There’s a reason why it’s always Zuko and Katara who share a moment during every season finale. Because it’s thematically important in the show.

But it’s also important to point out that while A/ang doesn’t come back to Katara and exacerbates her abandonment issues… 

Zuko comes back. Always.

[kiera-raelyn]

What.

Are we serious? You don't get to talk shit about people coming up with a term, that follows the shoddy conventions you laid out in your world, without also providing the correct term. I mean, frankly, I don't feel like you should do that, either, because your world should be able to stand on its own. There's no reason other than poor storytelling for why we didn't know what the Fire Lord's spouse is called. It wouldn't have been hard to slip a reference to Azulon's wife in using her honorific.

And yes, using a masculine term for the "neutral" term is still male centric. It assumes the masculine, and all of its connotations, to be the norm. When the male is the norm, female is not (obviously). We can see in our own society the variety of ways this is harmful to females. If they're trying to set up the FN as a gender neutral or equal place, then defaulting to the male term for their ruler categorically fails to achieve that goal.

You know what's so funny about Bryke's little dig at Zutara shippers in their book- you know, the one that has Gyatso showing the same kind of dangerous nationalism that led to Sozin and his Hundred Year War? That one. They made fun of our use of the term Fire Lady for the queen of the Fire Nation, but Fire Lord, the term they came up with, is just as lame. We were just operating within the framework they created. They can't get on us for Fire Lady when they came up with Fire Lord. All of their naming conventions are really lame. Water Tribe? Earth Kingdom? Fire Nation??? They didn't put any thought at all into these names. So for them to try to have a little kiki at the idea of Fire Lady Katara (and let's be real, that's almost definitely what they were doing) is wildly ironic.

As for having a separate term for a female ruler, I'm going to do that because the show only has one term for the ruler of the Fire Nation. They didn't even care enough to consider what a Fire Lord's spouse would be called, and their idea of gender neutrality for the main leader is to use Fire Lord for men and women. I can't speak for every Zutara shipper, but I resent the idea that "gender neutral" just means using the masculine term for everyone. I'm fine with the idea of using the same term for both the male and female ruler, but it needs to be something actually gender neutral. Not to grandstand, but I think that using the masculine term for men and women is still male-centric, and feels like a continuation of the idea that anything feminine is inferior. I don't like that, so until someone comes up with a not lame title that isn't inherently masculine or feminine, I'm going to use what I'm okay with using.

[kiera-raelyn]

Seriously, what does Katara get out of a relationship with Aang? When does Aang support her, emotional or otherwise? When does he spend time connecting with her about things that are important to her?

Takes deep breath: at the beginning of ATLA I really liked that the writers seemed to be setting up this thing where Aang’s the person who reminds Katara that she’s still a kid. Because the flying spaghetti monster knows my favorite parentified waterbender needed to have some fun, but then it devolves into this dynamic where he becomes another person she feels responsible for. It’s not wrong to want to be there for your romantic partner. But it’s this situation where Aang doesn’t totally get her and it’s about Aang’s feelings and Katara’s just there to be his forever girl who performs emotional labor for him or waits around for him or absorbs his beliefs (if the panels I’ve seen in the comics are accurate). She deserves better and tbc I really fault Bryke for this b/c imbalance ironically seems to be their jam for romantic pairings. With K@t@@ng Aang gets someone to take care of him, which is great for him. I just want Katara to have more. She deserves agency and time to heal and become herself and realize that taking care of everyone else isn’t the only thing she has to offer and then to have a partner who sees her for who she is the good and the bad and accepts her and I think that’s Zuko. 

[kiera-raelyn]

You have to wonder how much input and say that the other writers had over the relationships in the show. Given how hard Bryke goes for Kataang, it's hard to believe they had final say or we wouldn't have gotten episodes like this. Or, alternatively, they don't understand story construction on a deeper level and think the 16 seconds of Kataang overpowers everything else. Like, it's no wonder not everyone is on board with Kataang (even if those people don't ship Zutara). We were given far too much evidence as to why they don't work.

But like, i can’t really be the only one that considers “The Fortuneteller“ the second (or third)* most anti-kataang episode of the show?

(*Number one is without a doubt “The Ember Island Players“, number two or three, depending on my mood is “The Southern Raiders”)

Like, it’s an episode that dedicates 22 minutes and 43 seconds of it’s 22 minute and 59 second run-time to showing the audience how Aang’s crush is jut that: a crush.

It isn’t even subtle about it:

Her name is Meng, which is phonetically nearly identical to Aang, AS THE SHOW ACTUALLY TAKES TIME TO POINT OUT TO YOU (“That rhymes with Meng!“) and she’s two years younger then the object of her affection.

THIS IS NOT A SUBTLE PARALLEL PEOPLE

Like, it all but rubs in our faces how it’s superficial:

(It even plays the same music.)

Then it has them using the same technique in an attempt to flirt:

Meng: “Hey, Aang. Don’t you think that cloud looks like a flower?”

Aang: “Hey, Katara, don’t you think that cloud look like a flower?”

And getting dismissed.

Then the object of their affections shows complete and utter disinterest:

(Because, they aren’t actually interested at all.)

And so on.

And then this happens:

Meng: “You don’t like me, do you?” Aang: “Of course I like you.“ Meng: “But not the way I like you.” Aang: “Oh, I guess not.” Meng: “It’s okay. It’s just really hard when you like someone, but they don’t think of you that way.”

Aang: “I know what you mean.” Meng: “She’s beautiful, by the way.” Aang: “Huh?” Meng: “That Water Tribe girl. I can see why you like her so much. She’s sweet, she’s a bender and her hair seems so manageable.”

Aang: “Don’t worry. You’re going to meet a great guy who’s going to completely fall for you. I know it.”

And it’s just… such a GOOD and PURE scene? and such a good message to send to children? “You don’t like me the way i like you and, while it’s hard for me, that’s okay.“ What a wonderful thing to put in a children’s cartoon! Especially considering that we live in a world where “first-love-is-forever” is the norm.

I thought that those 16 seconds where Katara actually seems to consider him in a romantic light were there just so that they could milk the will-they-won’t-they for all it’s worth. I thought that there was just no way anyone could spend all that time telling one story, sending one message only to completely disregard it in the end. (aaand looooooool @mini-me what a fool i was, chakra opening rock anyone?)

Like, honestly, the first time i watched this episode I was completely convinced that this scene was foreshadowing the ultimate resolution of Aang’s crush on Katara: Aang realising that it’s one-sided and displaying emotional maturity and self-awareness. And giving his blessing for Katara to pursue other people.

Instead, the poor boy regresses completely, forces a kiss on her and is then rewarded for it by the narrative.

[kiera-raelyn]

You know, I used to be big into Wolfstar and I don't think this is a take I ever saw for Sirius. Both about his parents loving him and him loving them just as much. About leaving being hard for him. It's an interesting take for me.

do you think there are similarities between Petunia & Lily and Sirius & Regulus' relationships? P and S are older siblings, and L and R are younger "golden childrens", because i somehow feel jealous in olders and incomprehension in youngers in both cases, plus youngers died earlier, actually due to Voldemort's fault

Like, yes, there are similarities, but I think it's the opposite sort of similarity.

Like, we know Lily was the golden child on her family:

Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that — that school — and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was — a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!” She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years. “Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you’d be just the same, just as strange, just as — as — abnormal — and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!”

(PS)

A golden child whose sister felt abandoned by. Which makes Petunia sound more like Regulus and Lily like Sirius.

I think, that when Sirius and Regulus were children before Sirius ran away, Sirius was the golden child, not Regulus:

“Well, anyway, he was a big pal of your father’s at school. The whole Black family had been in my House, but Sirius ended up in Gryffindor! Shame — he was a talented boy. I got his brother, Regulus, when he came along, but I’d have liked the set.”

(Slughonr in HBP)

He had the same dark hair and slightly haughty look of his brother, though he was smaller, slighter, and rather less handsome than Sirius had been.

(DH)

Regulus is consistently described as "less" than Sirius. Less handsome, and less talented, and I think that was true at home, too. I think the reason Regulus went all out on blood purity and the Black family pride was that he was the second best to everyone except Kreacher. He wanted to prove himself worthy.

I headcanon Sirius was Walburga's favorite child. Kreacher does say that Sirius leaving broke her heart:

“Master Sirius ran away, good riddance, for he was a bad boy and broke my Mistress’s heart with his lawless ways. But Master Regulus had proper pride; he knew what was due to the name of Black and the dignity of his pure blood...”

(DH)

Sirius, contrary to popular fanon, wasn't unloved at home. I think Walburga and Orion loved him. I think Walburga saw herself in him. I think leaving them, realising everything they stood for was wrong hurt Sirius as much as it hurt his mother. After all, in OotP we see he chooses to stay in his parents' bedroom in his depression, not his own. He left Regulus' bedroom untouched, like a mausoleum. He still misses them, he loved them, and it makes his story all the more heartbreaking. Because you can love people who are wrong and who you know have evil ideologies, it doesn't mean you stop loving them instantly.

So, I think there is more of a connection between Lily & Sirius — golden, preferred children who are different among their families. Lily is the only witch in her family, and Sirius is the only Gryffindor in his family. Both are the smarter, more talented, more attractive sibling. Both of them ended up leaving home, leaving their families, for James Potter.

Then, you have Petunia & Regulus — stuck being second best, craving their parents' love and affection. The less talented, less attractive sibling. Both stick as close as possible to their society's version of "normal" to get the affection and pride they crave. Both hang out with people who are probably more extreme in these views than them and are more violence-prone than them (Death Eaters, Vernon).

So, yeah, I think there are similarities, just, not quite the ones you illustrated.

[kiera-raelyn]

Bless you OP.

This makes me think of the notebook I've got where I recorded a whole bunch of info from the books (like the layout of the Great Hall, the locations of various rooms, etc) in an effort to be canonically correct in my fics. And that is when I discovered that I was putting more effort into consistency than JK did. Womp womp.

The books may not be consistent, but I appreciate the effort that OP put into this. I feel like it's useful information to have for fic writing purposes. Where information is consistent, I feel you can generally assume that's canonical and not to be messed with. But where the info is inconsistent or not present, that's where you can play. Assuming, of course, that sticking as faithfully to canon as possible is a goal you have. Not everyone does and even those that do, don't always do so for every story. I'm not trying to be prescriptive here, btw. Do what you want. I'm more just sharing my philosophy on writing canon compliant fic.

I don't think I'm saying anything earth-shatteringly new when I state that the inner workings of the Ministry of Magic aren't exactly expanded upon in the hp books. it's safe to say that Rowling herself probably didn't think too deeply about the executive, judiciary and legislative powers of the magical government since the information we do have is scant and often contradictory; nevertheless, I have attempted to compile all the relevant facts disclosed in the books.

When researching the subject, I have not used any external material (i.e. Pottermore, JKR interviews, facts gleaned from post-7th book canon) because, having been written ex post facto, they are by nature unreliable. In the time inbetween writing the original books and the disclosure of post-canon details, jkr had time to do some revisionism and fill in existing gaps (the existence of which she may have been alerted to by others) and I'm not interested in any of jkr's attempts to rewrite history, regardless of the subject.

That said, I give you

The Definitive HP Law Compendium

a) THE MINISTRY

Our most exhaustive documentation on how the Ministry of Magic is structured comes by courtesy of the ministry elevators, which helpfully list all departments floor by floor.

on level 1: Minister of Magic and Support Staff (Umbridge's offices in DH are located here)

on level 2: Department of Magical Law Enforcement (henceforth shortened to DMLE), which includes the Improper Use of Magic offices, Auror Headquarters and the Wizengamot Administrative Services.

although not specified by the lift, this is also where the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office (where Arthur Weasley works) is located, which tells us that the lift's announcements are not necessarily exhaustive.

on level 3: Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes composed of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, Obliviator Headquarters and Muggle-worthy Excuse Committee

on level 4: Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures which includes of the Beast, Being and Spirit Divisions, the Goblin liaison Office and the Pest Advisory Bureau.

on level 5: Department for International Magical Cooperation including the International Magical Trading Standards body, the International Magical Office of Law, and the British chapter of the International Confederation of Wizards (also referred to as the "International Confederation of Warlocks")

on level 6: Department of Magical Transport which includes the Floo Network Authority, Broom Regulatory Control, the Portkey Office and the Apparition Test Center (considering that Hogwarts student seem to take their apparition test at school, this is likely where adult wizards take and/or retake their tests)

on level 7: Department of Magical Games and Sports, which includes the British and Irish quidditch League (is magical Ireland not divided? unclear), the Headquarters of the Official Gobstones Club and, bizarrely, the Ludicrous Patents office (I'd be inclined to think this is a sports-related patent office if it wasn't the only one mentioned in the books)

on level 8 is the atrium, which Harry describes as a "very long and splendid hall" with many gilded fireplaces on both sides (left is for arrivals and right is for departures). This is also where the Fountain of Magical Brethren and the security desk are located. At the end of the hall, golden gates lead to a smaller room where the lifts (at least 20 in number) are.

on level 9: Department of Mysteries and beyond

The lift stops here but we know from OotP that there's at least one more floor that is only accessible by stairs from level 9 (which also brings up the question: are the upper floors also connected by stairs or is it an either/or scenario?). On this additional floor is Courtroom 10, which is supposedly no longer in use as of OotP but was still being used in the immediate aftermath of the first wizarding war. The courtroom's name implies the presence of at least 9 other courtrooms and, though their location is unclear, they do not seem to be located on this floor.

b) KNOWN GOVERNING BODIES

Going purely off of the only two law-adjacent departments mentioned by the ministry lifts, there's both and international and state law department (on level 5 and 2 respectively) but seemingly no distinction between civil and criminal law.

Besides what described above by the lift, level 2 also appears to be where some offences are judged, as Harry's trial in OotP was originally scheduled to take place here, right inside the office of the head of the DMLE.

We know that, during Harry's time, the DMLE is headed by Amelia Bones, who gets quietly offed between OotP and HBP. She is succeeded by the imperiused Pius Thicknesse (who goes on to become minister of magic during the second war), who is in turn succeeded by noted Death Eater Corban Yaxley.

We further know that, prior to Amelia's tenure (though it's unknown if directly preceding), the department used to be headed by Barty Crouch sr., who later went on to head the office for International Magical Cooperation (where he was Percy Weasley's boss). This is implied to be a lateral career move at best since Sirius describes Crouch in GoF as being "shunted sideways".

The International Federation of Warlocks (part of the Office for International Cooperation) seems to be a legislative body of sorts, as we'll see later that it originated many of the laws mentioned in the books. We know that it was established prior to the advent of the Statue of Secrecy (and the subsequent creation of the Ministry of Magic) because professor Binns mentions they convened in 1289 in one of his lectures, implying that its existence precedes that date.

The books make no mention of the presence of a parliament in the wizarding world, not even in a Chamber of Lords-type fashion.

[note that Dumbledore seems to have had high positions in both the International Federation, where he was Supreme Mugwump, and the Wizengamot, where he was Chief Warlock. It's unknown what either of these titles entail]

Moving on to the judiciary branch, we know of the existence of the Wizengamot. It's described as "the wizard high court", which (to me) implies the presence of a lower court. The Council of Magical Law may be the lower court's name, as it may be the court presiding the trials Harry witnesses in Dumbledore's pensieve

(from PoA)

As we'll see later, the postwar trials of Igor Karkaroff and Ludo Bagman, and the joint trial of Rabastan Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix Lestrange and Barty Crouch jr are described quite differently from Harry's trial before the Wizengamot, which is what led me to believe that they were presided by two different courts.

The magical world doesn't appear to have an appellate court although, if jkr modeled the wizarding judiciary after the ones present in British Law, the Wizengamot may be modeled after the Crown Court and thus also serve an appellate function.

Finally, the books make no mention of barristers, solicitors or any other type of lawyer. The trials we witness are not presided by judges but by government officials and there is no indication that the Wizengamot members (who serve the function of a jury) have any type of legal training.

The defendants in the trials we happen to witness don't appear to have counsel of any type. Dumbledore acts as a defense lawyer of sorts for Harry in OotP but he announces himself as a "witness for the defence". Seeing that Dumbledore appears to be a living exception to all magical laws and customs, this doesn't actually tell us much.

The government officials acting in the function of the prosecution and the judge both do exhibit some knowledge of wizarding laws, as does Dumbledore (who was at one point chief Warlock) although, since Dumbledore is Dumbledore and therefore omniscient, this may not be indicative of any skill requirement for the position he held.

c) KNOWN LAWS

1.1 legal documents referenced in the books (in tentatively chronological order)

the Statute of Secrecy, decreed by the International Confederation of Warlocks in 1689

unnamed law decreed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709: it outlaws dragon Breeding (as per Ron in PS)

The Decree for the Reasonble Restriction of Underage Sorcery (1875), which partly states in clause seven that "magic may be used before Muggles in exceptional circumstances, and as those exceptional circumstances include situations that threaten the life of the wizard or witch himself, or witches, wizards, or Muggles present at the time of the..." (as quoted by Dumbledore in OotP)

unnamed law punishing the use of Unforgivables

unnamed law delineating the purposes and limitations of the Trace

the Wizengamot charter of rights (mentioned on OotP): it partly states that an accused has the right to present defence witnesses (as stated by Dumbledore in OotP)

law fifteen B "any attack by a magical creature who is deemed to have near-human intelligence, and therefore considered responsible for its actions..." (as incompletely quoted by Dolores Umbridge in OotP)

the Decree for Justifiable Confiscation, which gives the ministry power to confiscate the contents of a will. It was created to stop wizards from passing on dark artefacts (as mentioned in DH)

unnamed law written by Arthur Weasley regarding the possible legality of flying cars/ enchanted muggle vehicles (as mentioned in CoS)*

unnamed document establishing an embargo on flying carpets, implied to have been drafted by Arthur Weasley (from GoF)*

Arthur Weasley's Muggle Protection Act (proposed legislation c.a. 1992, unknown contents, unknown if put into law)*

the International Ban on Dueling, implied to be an international agreement, Transylvanians haven't signed it as of summer 1994 (from GoF)

*: it's unclear how Arthur Weasley, who is not a lawyer, an elected official or a member of the only known legislative body in the books (the International federation of wizards), is able to both draft and propose legislation

1.2 educational decrees

I am including these because they are treated like laws. They are pushed for by a minister and they need to "pass", presumably through a parliament of sorts, in order to be enacted. Prior to the events of OotP there seem to have been 21 educational decrees, the contents of which we are unaware of. The ones added in book 5 by the Fudge administration (with the help of Dolores Umbridge) are as follows:

n.22 "in the event of the current headmaster being unable to provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry should select an appropriate person"

n.23, creates the new position of "Hogwarts high inquisitor"

n.24:

n25:

n.26 "teachers are hereby banned from giving students any information that is not strictly related to the subjects they are paid to teach"

n.27 "any student found in possession of the magazine The Quibbler will be expelled"

n.28 "Dolores Jane Umbridge (High Inquisitor) has replaced Albus Dumbledore as Head of Hogwarts School of Wichcraft and Wizardry"

n.29: never enacted, concerning the use of physical punishment at Hogwarts

unnamed order for the expulsion of peeves, possibly part of decree 29, also never enacted

d) HARRY'S TRIAL

In OotP, Harry is tried for underage magic following his use of the Patronus enchantment to protect both himself and his cousin Dudley from dementors.

This is Harry's second infraction of the Decree for the Reasonble Restriction of Underage Sorcery and he is being made an example of for political reasons since, in recently claiming that Voldemort had returned, he made an enemy out of the Fudge administration. It's therefore unclear if the Decree has a two strikes and you're out policy or if Harry's prosecution is just caused by the Ministry's desire to throw the book at him. By the time Harry receives the letter informing him of this upcoming trial, he'd supposedly performed underage magic outside of Hogwarts thrice but only received a written warning once (in Cos, when said magic was actually performed by Dobby). When Harry blew up his aunt Marge in PoA, Fudge himself dismissed the event as a non-issue, claiming:

The circumstances in this case being Sirius's escape of Azkaban and his presumed intention to target Harry. Of course, Harry's notoriety may have also played a factor.

Despite being a minor, Harry doesn't seem to be allowed an escort as Arthur Weasley is unable to enter the courtroom. Harry goes in alone (as does every other defendant we meet); it also appears that the trial is closed to the public.

Harry's trial is described as a "disciplinary hearing", both before it was supposed to take place in front of the Wizengamot and after:

and

Despite this, the hearing is presided by the Ministry of Magic himself, (Cornelius Fudge). A Wizengamot trial seems to be, by nature, a criminal trial and Dumbledore, in his defense of Harry, implies it is highly unusual for disciplinary hearings to be tried as such. Indeed, before the trial was moved from Amelia Bones's office to Courtroom 10, the judgement of the head of DMLE was deemed to be sufficent.

The Wizengamot members act as a jury of sort, they are described to be:

The Wizengamot appears to have elders; we are introduced to only two - Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden - so it's unclear how many there are and, furthermore, we are never informed of their function.

Wizengamot proceedings require the presence of interrogators. In Harry's trial they are Cornelius Fudge (Minister of Magic), Amelia Bones (Head of the DMLE) and Dolores Umbridge (Senior Undersecretary to the Minister).

For some reason, Percy Weasley acts as court scribe despite it not being his job title. It's unclear wether this is an extraordinary case or if stenographers really don't exist in the magical world. (also, why do they even need stenographers when wizards have quick quotes quills?)

Dumbledore describes himself as a witness for the defense, even if he takes on a role that seems more similar to that of a defense attorney. Mrs Figg is also described as a witness but, unlike Dumbledore, she was not allowed to enter the court by herself and required an escort in order to join the proceedings (Percy Weasley).

For some reason, Dumbledore was informed of the trial's change of location, which implies he was also aware of the time and location of the original hearing. At no point in time does Harry retain his services (he is in fact surprised to see Dumbledore there) despite the fact that Dumbledore speaks for Harry throughout.

Interestingly, though the trial also serves to determine wether Harry is going to be expelled from Hogwarts, Dumbledore's judgement in his role as Headmaster is not required. The Ministry, it appears, can decide to expel students without the approval of the school's headmaster (can the headmaster expel students without ministry approval? unclear).

The proceedings seem to be very formal, as Harry is being interrogated with yes and no questions and is given no time for elucidations. Despite this, Dumbledore is allowed to have multiple very informal conversations with the minister of magic himself and at no point does he use court lingo, in complete opposition to how Umbridge, an interrogator, is treated.

Harry observes that, in order to speak, she has to lean forward, at which point the Minister states

This is the only time in all of the books that this happens. The other interrogator, head of DMLE Amelia Bones, appears to speak whenever she pleases, as she interrupts Harry mid-sentence and addresses the Minister like a peer.

It's quite likely that Dumbledore was allowed free rein on account if his status and fame and his presence likely threw a wrench in what were otherwise going to be very strict bureaucratic proceedings.

Finally, Wizengamot rulings are made by show of hands and it doesn't look like they need to be initiated by the person heading the proceedings. For Harry's trial, it's Amelia Bones that calls onto the jury's decision and not Fudge.

e) OTHER TRIALS

The first trial we see in the books happens at least six months after the first wizarding war, since that's the time it took for Alastor Moody to track down the defendant, Igor Karkaroff.

What Harry witnesses (by wading through Dumbledore's pensieve memories) is not, however, Karkaroff's sentencing but a follow-up hearing to determine wether he is in possession of information that may lead to the capture of more Death Eaters. Karkaroff is taken from Azkaban in order to do so and he is accompanied/carried by dementors.

The case takes place in open court, as Harry sees that "rows and rows of witches and wizards were seated around every wall on what seemed to be benches rising in levels"; these proceedings, in stark difference to Harry's, are open to the public (possible proof n.1 that this is not taking place in front of the Wizengamot but in a different court).

At this moment in time, Dumbledore could very well be chief warlock of the wizengamot (we don't know when he was instated) but he sits among the spectators (possible proof n.2 ). Despite being a member of the public, Dumbledore is seen interrupting proceedings without permission (to defend Snape, whom Karkaroff implicates). Because it's Dumbledore doing it, it's again unclear wether this is permitted or if the court is making an exception for him.

This first trial is, like all the trials Harry witnesses indirectly, presided by Barty Crouch sr., who at this point in time heads the DMLE. (possible proof n.3, maybe all wizengamot trials are presided by the minister and all council trials are headed by the DMLE chief?)

The Second trial Harry sees in Dumbledore's memories is that of Ludo Bagman (for passing information to Rockwood, whom Karkaroff implicated in the first memory). Dumbledore is once again not there in any official capacity and is sitting among the public; the proceedings are implied to take place at a later date, as Harry remarks that Crouch's appearance has changed.

We join Ludo in his trial's sentencing phase and indeed Harry notices the presence of a jury, which is not described as having the monogrammed plum robes of Wizengamot members (possible proof n.4 although, since the events take place in GoF and Harry's trial occurs in OotP, jkr may have simply done an oopsie).

This trial seems to be more informal, as the crowd appears to behave quite rowdily (with no intervention) and a member of the jury waylays the proceedings in order to compliment Ludo's flying at his most recent Quidditch match. This is most likely because of both public sentiment and the perceived innocence of the defendant.

Notably, Ludo's trial is the only one that we know for sure was attended by the press, as Harry notices a young Rita Skeeter sitting near Dumbledore.

The final trial witnessed by Harry appears to once again be a sentencing, that of Barty Crouch jr, Bellatrix Lestrange and the brothers Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange (who were seemingly all tried together and received a single sentence). Harry once again remarks that Crouch Sr's looks have changed, helping us determine that time has once again passed between the memories. This sentencing is once again done through show of hands by a jury (who, again, is not described as wearing Wizengamot robes) and Dumbledore is still sitting among the public.

Despite it being another sentencing, it appears that the defendants were already being detained in Azkaban as they are accompanied by six dementors, unlike Ludo Bagman, though this may be due to the difference in the severity of their actions; Bagman was seemingly a free man when he entered the courtroom as he'd participated in a quidditch match not one week before.

It's during his trial that the Council of Magical Law is mentioned by name (the only time in the books). Since all three of the pensieve trials share multiple similarities - way more than they do with Harry's- this, together with the evidence shown above, leads me to conclude that

1 All three trials take place before the same court

2 the Council of Magical Law is not necessarily another the name for the Wizengamot and therefore

3 there's at least two different courts codified in the magical law system

Of course, these discrepancies may very well be oopsies on jkr's part. Although Dumbledore's role as chief Warlock can be ascertained as early as PS (thanks to the header on Harry's acceptance letter), the Wizengamot doesn't get mentioned by name until OotP. Furthermore, the pensieve trials and Harry's take place in different books which means jkr may have added on to the concept in the interim.

f) CONCLUSION

There is none, I have nothing else to say. Class is dismissed, I need to go have a lie-down.

[kiera-raelyn]

Tfw you're on the cusp of making this big mind-blowing connection, but you can't quite get that last inch. Like, I know there is something here but I can't articulate it. So frustrating.

Also, I feel like this is true of the general populace in S5. Like, the Alliance rings are helpful in so many ways, but also make slaves of them to Monarch.

Rings clearly have thematic significance in MLB.

Something something rings being used to symbolize Adrien’s freedom but also his imprisonment something something