#walburga black

[saintsenara]

why do people portray walburga and her relationship with sirius in such an exaggerated way? like torture??? i get that we don't have a lot of information about what went down, but its such an extreme choice

thank you very much for the ask, anon!

unsurprisingly, the answer to this is under the cut, because it comes with a trigger warning for discussions of physical and sexual abuse.

my interpretation of things is that it's a really interesting bleed-through into fandom of two real-world views a lot of people have:

firstly, that it's uniquely horrifying when a woman who is also a mother is cruel to children [or, indeed, when she's anything other than completely self-sacrificing and nurturing].

grimmauld place is a dozen different gothic literature tropes in a trenchcoat, and the text hammers that home with absolutely no subtlety whatsoever. it is walburga in the portrait - haunting sirius, serving as a physical manifestation of the rot of blood purity, making grimmauld place seem as much of a prison as azkaban - rather than orion because the reader wouldn't find it anywhere near as disgusting or frightening to see a man in that role, and the narrative meaning intended by the portrait therefore wouldn't come over as clearly.

[the subtext to walburga's character - that the portrait and the house are liminal spaces between life and death, a hint at the extraordinary grief she carries which will be revealed in deathly hallows - would also be interpreted very differently by the reader if they belonged to orion. walburga's grief - for both sirius and regulus - is inextricable from what the series thinks is "true" about motherhood and womanhood.]

and this - i think - is why, even though sirius does talk about the emotional abuse he experienced coming from both of his parents, the fandom is laser-focused on walburga. she's a bigger presence textually and she's a bigger presence textually entirely because she exists in defiance of deep-rooted societal opinions about how mothers should act.

[which we also see in the fandom's responses to petunia versus vernon and molly versus arthur...]

the second real-world view which bleeds through into the fandom's treatment of sirius' childhood is one which lots of people hold and which therefore has major, major repercussions for people in abusive households and relationships: the idea that abuse which isn't physically extreme [or, in the case of children, but much less often adults, sexual] isn't "as bad" as abuse which is.

and part of this is that the social norms we live by treat extreme physical abuse [and child sexual abuse] as objectively wrong, but treat abuse which doesn't meet this threshold of extremity much more subjectively.

a parent who beats their child so badly that they almost die will inspire outrage from all quarters. a parent who hits their child with a belt once across the backs of the legs as punishment for misbehaviour, but claims this is a form of reasonable physical discipline which doesn't cause their child any lasting harm, will find plenty of people willing to defend them as well as plenty of people willing to condemn.

and - of course - societal prejudices connected to things like gender, race, class, and so on play a big part in these splitting of opinions. a man who rapes his five-year-old child will be - in public, at least - unambiguously regarded as a criminal by everyone in a community. a man who rapes his female partner will find plenty of people willing to argue that it's her duty to provide him with sex and he was merely requiring her to fulfil that duty. a man who rapes his male partner will find plenty of people willing to say that gay men are all hypersexual and the victim loved it.

this subjectivity of response is also one of the reasons why emotional abuse, financial abuse, coercive control, stalking, and other forms of non-physical abuse still aren't taken as seriously as they should be. there's a widespread perception - and not just among police - that they're not dangerous in and of themselves.

from the fandom perspective, then, it seems to me that the writing of abusive situations often focuses on extreme physical violence as a way of authors offering "proof" to their readers that they take the fact that the character was abused seriously.

there is a worry - i think - in many authors' minds that if they wrote walburga never laying a hand on sirius, they would be accused of claiming his childhood was normal, his experience was fine, his parents' treatment of him was justified, or that he shouldn't be thought of as someone who was abused.

but - of course - something it's crucial for us to do in real life is be alert to just how complex and individual abuse is, and how poor our pre-conceived notions about what it is and what it isn't tend to be. i think the same is true in fandom, and it's why i think portrayals of non-physical abuse which take that abuse as bad enough are so important.

[reguluskeys]

i’ve had a thought i need to share.

Walburga and Orion weren’t abusive, they definitely weren’t the best parents by ANY means they were neglectful and often Sirius and Regulus had to fend for themselves.

However, (walburga specifically) wasn’t particularly COLD to her children either. Strict on their behavior sure, but never abusive. (Orion would slightly hex them for misbehaving which definitely not good but not as bad as some characterizations)

But they were still bad people. Avid plood purists and voldemort followers, constantly teaching their children the same.

That’s why it took Sirius so long to leave (besides regulus ofc). He had to leave because he realized how wrong it was and if he didn’t he would be forced into voldemorts circle. (Sirius learned how wrong his parents were at hogwarts from his friends)

In fact, that’s why Regulus hated Sirius so much. He was so confused why sirius would leave when their parents were perfectly fine?? sure they weren’t around much and worshiped a man who wanted all non-pure bloods dead and- oh. That’s why… (it took regulus longer to realize as most of his friends were either pure blooded or never spoke about it)

…that’s it thank you 😇

[starsarestories]

who's gonna tell walburga that there are AUs where she's a Muggle?

[viviandarkbloombartylusversion]

No thoughts except this one really big thought that Walburga murders James, cooks him and feeds him to Sirius but Sirius doesn't know that until afterwards and he loses it and then butchers Walburga and Orion and proceeds to cook them and consume them, also feeding them to Regulus, Regulus is aware of everything that went down but he'll gladly eat their parents for Sirius sake even if it makes him a little sick inside a first, this all jumpstarts secret cannibal black brothers, Sirius does most of the killing, Regulus will usually prep and cook and then they both feast!

[pandorasopenedbox3]

I hate Walburga and Orion so fucking much but I absolutely adore aus where they’re actually solid fucking people and Regulus and Sirius actually have a nice childhood bc Merlin knows they deserve it

[certifieddorianandcassiansimp]

I hate my brain

I was just peacefully scrolling through my Jegulus-possessed tumblr, not a care in the world when I started singing Blood // Water by Greyson in my head and I was over a trans regulus fic, and my mind went to that song being about Walburga (I think, Sirius and regulus’s mom) because of the line: “The price of your greed, you son and your daughter, what you gonna do when there’s blood in the water?” … they both died, I mean, Sirius after Walburga but still. I thought I should share my pain, thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[equippedtolove]

everyone paints walburga black as this strong, fierce, figure, when we often don't think about how it could be the other way round.

sexism was definitely a raging problem throughout the 70s, and in the house of black itself, women are portrayed as flowers in the tapestry (a show of daintiness and femininity), and don't hold a lot of power in regards to familial or political matters.

walburga could be a bystander. she could look on at how her children are mistreated, and not do anything about it, because she has no power to.

now tell me how much more deeper and conflicting her relationships would be with sirius and regulus. how they can't hate her, because she's never done anything to them, but they can't love her either, because she doesn't protect them from the blows.

how would sirius feel about leaving then? would she would cry? or laugh? or remain impassive to his absence? would she care?

bystander walburga black. forever an observer.

[righteousenjoymentofthunder]

just. dropping this here

[moutainrusing]

Walburga and Orion: You will marry a rich, pureblood girl and live a respectable life in a large, fancy mansion.

Sirius: No, I’m marrying a poor, half-blood boy, and we’re living a scandalous life in our shabby old flat, thank you very much.

Regulus: Stop lying out of your ass to juxtapose everything our parents say!!

Sirius: I’m being serious this time. Did I mention that he’s also a werewolf?

[moonyswarmsweaters]

Regulus: Sirius… I’m gay

Sirius *excited*: can I tell Walburga? Cause this WILL kill her

[that-bitch-kat3]

walburga: you’re not good enough for my son

remus: you’re not good enough for your son

walburga: excuse me?

remus: you heard me.

[nixnight1]

Sirius and Regulus going over Walburgas' stuff after her death:

(That one Shameless scene:)

Regulus *sad face* grabbing a knife carefully from a box: she used to throw this at us when we were kids

James: What

Sirius: Oh Yeah, she had a game..what was it called?

Regulus: Dodged the dagger

Remus: I'm so fucking confused right now

Sirius: Reggie and I would run around the house screaming, laughing, trying not to get stabbed

Regulus *tearing up*:

James: That's fun...

[not-rab]

Sirius: I don’t think I can mansplain, manipulate, or malewife our way out of it this time.

Regulus: *cracks knuckles* Manslaughter it is.

Sirius: What- no!

[guhmshuda]

Walburga: You’re not good enough for my son

Remus: you’re not good enough for your son.

Walburga: …

Remus:

Walburga: …

Remus: I did not stutter.

*meanwhile*

Walburga: you are not good enough for my son.

James: *pulls out his guitar*

James: *breaks into RUDE by MAGIC!*

[journeyfoot]

This was my first time drawing Tom riddle. He’s not top ten favorite characters but he is very handsome

[lexithwrites]

That one tiktok edit of Sirius and Walburga to ‘they both reached for the gun’ but fucking REGULUS is the gun changed my entire life you don’t understand