thalthanmadanus

[thalthanmadanus]

I want to know what you think about the whole dudley and draco comparison. In terms of both their upbringing and behaviour or rather as generally labelled as their “bullying nature “

Cause i genuinely dont understand it and i want to know how and why people draw this inference.

Honey, I can answer you but my answers will only be a direct copy of other posts that talked better about this "Draco and Dudley parallel"

Some posts that I loved that try through watsonian analysis to dig deep into this:

Why does Harry see Draco as a worse bully than Dudley? by @wisteria-lodge

Is Draco even a bully? by @wisteria-lodge

On Draco and Harry's first meeting by @blorger

These are good metas.

Now if you ask me why people always bring up the parallel, well it's because Harry said it. And Harry is the protagonist so he must be right.

If Harry said this person this evil, then this person must be evil. And if he said they're good then they must be good.

If Harry said Draco is worse than Dudley, then Drack must be worse than Dudley.

The idea that Harry could be a *biased* narrator doesn’t cross these people's minds.

That maybe it isn't as simple and deterministic as jkr wants it to be. That the reason why Harry thinks Draco is worse than Dudley could be much more complex and influenced by internal psychological factors.

Just because Harry judged a person so and so, doesn't mean he's right on the account of him being the protagonist.

Another favorite post of mine is this haha

Dudley vs Draco redemption

[thalthanmadanus]

What do you think about the take that Lucius is a little neglectful towards Draco?

It comes from how 1. When Harry and Draco met, Draco is by himself in a street, feeling bored. 2. Lucius scolds Draco about his grades and complaining about Harry yet seemingly failed to get a tutor or therapist or consider Draco’s feelings. 3. During Hogwarts Mystery, Lucius often leaves Draco in the Hands of others or by himself. (Even During a Christmas event, Draco is found on the streets by himself, upset and annoyed because he felt Lucius was not spending enough time with him.)

Okay, I'll play.

1 ~ Draco and Harry meet in a clothes shop, not the street, and here's the quote:

“My father’s next door buying my books and Mother’s up the street looking at wands,” said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice. “Then I’m going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don’t see why first years can’t have their own. I think I’ll bully Father into getting me one and I’ll smuggle it in somehow.”

I actually don't think Draco's bored at all. I think he's having a good time being independent and showing off in front of the new kid. He's got a bored-sounding voice, which is different. A bored-sounding voice is low energy, too-cool-for-school, which is very Draco. And apparently, Lucius is running Draco's errands, and Draco thinks he can get him to buy him an extra present. That seems the opposite of being neglectful.

2 ~ Therapists aren't a thing in the wizarding world, and mind-healers are fanon, so I don't expect that would be on Lucius' radar. But here's the complaining about Harry bit:

“. . . everyone thinks he’s so smart, wonderful Potter with his scar and his broomstick —” “You have told me this at least a dozen times already,” said Mr. Malfoy, with a quelling look at his son. “And I would remind you that it is not — prudent — to appear less than fond of Harry Potter, not when most of our kind regard him as the hero who made the Dark Lord disappear —"

I wouldn't describe this as scolding. If anything, this is just advice. Yes, Lucius is clearly pretty done with the subject - and if this is indeed the twelfth time Draco has brought it up, I get that. But just the fact that Draco has been able to complain about Harry Potter so much to his father does mean that he had to have been around his father a lot in order to do it. And Lucius wasn't completely zoning out. So, that also does not read as neglectful to me.

“Ah, the Hand of Glory!” said Mr. Borgin, abandoning Mr. Malfoy’s list and scurrying over to Draco. “Insert a candle and it gives light only to the holder! Best friend of thieves and plunderers! Your son has fine taste, sir.” “I hope my son will amount to more than a thief or a plunderer, Borgin,” said Mr. Malfoy coldly, and Mr. Borgin said quickly, “No offense, sir, no offense meant —” “Though if his grades don’t pick up,” said Mr. Malfoy, more coldly still, “that may indeed be all he is fit for —" “It’s not my fault,” retorted Draco. “The teachers all have favorites, that Hermione Granger —” “I would have thought you’d be ashamed that a girl of no wizard family beat you in every exam,” snapped Mr. Malfoy.

This is the angriest Lucius ever gets with Draco, and I think it's an interesting snippet. Yes, Lucius is embarrassing Draco by bringing up his grades - but in a way that seems to be intended to correct or undercut Borgin's attempt to flatter Draco and butter him up. Lucius has also switched out of the more respectful "Mr. Borgin" he was using earlier in the scene to just "Borgin" - communicating to Draco that Borgin isn't actually important (unlike Draco, who is.)

Draco then talks back a little, comes up with an excuse which is - a lie. Hermione is a muggleborn, which Lucius comments on, so she's unlikely to be every teacher's favorite. Especially since one of those teachers is Snape, Lucius' buddy, and he knows for a fact that Draco is Snape's favorite.

This whole scene is really about Lucius telling Draco that he needs to be more tactical, and check his privilege. Lucius is in this shop because he's selling dark artifacts - he's powerful, but he's worried. He's not so powerful that no one can touch him. Draco's the same. Lucius is telling him he can't afford to make an enemy of Harry Potter, and he can't afford to just coast through his classes and blame bad grades on teachers playing favorites. Draco's catchphrase at this point is "Wait Till My Father Hears About This," and I think that's slightly worrying to Lucius. He *can't* swoop in and solve all Draco's problems.

(although he does try - buying the Slytherin team brooms is basically just a way to buy Draco friends, and when Draco says he's been mauled by a hippogriff, Lucius does everything he can to get rid of it. And Hagrid says, "’Spect Lucius Malfoy would’ve come marchin’ up ter school if yeh’d cursed his son [to vomit slugs]. Least yer not in trouble.” If anything, Lucius is slightly overprotective.)

Like, it's a plot point in Book 6 that Lucius cares so much about Draco that Voldemort is able to punish (and control) him through Draco. Also, just a detail I like - in Books 2 and 5, Lucius sends Draco newspaper clippings about the Weasleys getting in trouble because he (correctly) thinks that Draco will find them funny. I think that's kind of cute, in a very Malfoy sort of way.

3 ~ I've never played Hogwarts Mystery, and don't consider it canon. But honestly I just find it adorable that Lucius is taking Draco with him on errands? It's very bring-your-kid-to-work.

And getting your co-workers/employees to look after your kid on a bring-your-child-to-work day is pretty normal. In my experience anyway.

Draco "Wait Till My Father Hears About This" Malfoy is... kind of a daddy's boy, so it doesn't surprise me at all that he's kinda clingy and needy as a kid.

[thalthanmadanus]

What really unsettles me about the Harry Potter universe isn’t Voldemort, it’s how normalized the injustices are

You’ve got entire groups like house-elves and goblins treated as lesser beings, werewolves banned from work and the whole blood status system baked into their laws and culture

And barely anyone questions it. Not even the "good guys". Hogwarts teaches you how to cast spells, but not how to think critically about power, history, or ethics. Even Dumbledore, who knew how broken the system was, mostly let it be

It’s not a world that became dangerous because of a villain. It was already dangerous because of how little anyone was willing to change it

🦭

[thalthanmadanus]

This might be a sensitive question, but I genuinely want to understand why are Death Eaters often compared specifically to Nazis, and not to other fascist or extremist groups? I’ve seen the term thrown around a lot, and while I get the general idea for why it's used, yk extremist, bigoted terrorists, I’m curious about the specific parallels to Nazis not the general superficial ones.

From what I know, Jkr herself didn’t even intend for that connection. I read an interview where she’s mentioned that she was surprised by the comparison or something and that she didn't think about it. So it seems like this interpretation mostly comes from fans, maybe. I just wonder if people are really digging into the political structure and ideology of the wizarding world, or if “Nazi” is just the first word that comes to mind when describing evil authoritarian groups. I need to know because literally everytime there is a discussion about DE characters, especially Snape or Draco, there is always someone in the crowd who just utters: "they're nazis" to shut down any possible nuanced conversation about them.

That said, if there are meaningful and specific analogies to be made between Voldemorism (deatheaterism????? the fuck you call their ideology.. blood supremacy) and Nazism, I’d really like to understand them. Could someone kindly break it down for me?

[thalthanmadanus]

Alternate Sixth-Year Bathroom Scene for @the-forbidden-forest Creature prompt!!🤗

[thalthanmadanus]

rip harry potter, you would’ve definitely won the hunger games. and i don’t just mean because he can go ages without food due to the dursleys’ starvation.

you’re polyjuiced as a muscular, scary wizard running through the ministry? lean into the intimidation and threaten everyone to get them to comply as you get the muggle-borns out.

you need to free a house-elf whose being poorly treated? wrap your sock over the diary knowing lucius will throw to the side towards dobby and hence free him.

you need your shitty relatives to sign the permission slip? tease them about revealing your horridly abnormal identity as a wizard to the guests coming over.

you need to get your shitty relatives to let you go to the quidditch cup? tell them your godfather is a murderer and that you write to him and intentionally leave out the part that he’s innocent.

you need to manoeuvre a literal dragon to get the egg? fly in circles to make it dizzy and back and forth so it can’t blow fire and high up so it’ll eventually move up so you can zip down and snatch the egg.

you’re trapped in the department of mysteries with your friends? get you and your friends to topple all the shelves and make a run for it.

need to eavesdrop on snape and karkaroff’s conversation? intentionally spill your potion and pretend that you’re innocently just cleaning up.

you need to get back to hogwarts after enduring the cruciatus curse and then duelling voldemort? run at full speed, while dodging spells, with an injured leg and the weight of cedric’s body to the portkey and successfully get away.

your friend needs a confidence boost? successfully gaslight him and everyone else into thinking you added a lucky potion.

the new minister of magic is insinuating that you should be more involved with the ministry and use it to become an auror? actually, no, what he’s actually doing is trying to milk my fame to control public opinion into thinking i support them so that they’ll support them.

oh dobby, you say that malfoy always goes up to the seventh floor with other students? actually what’s happening is that draco flinched in the robes shop be cause he didn’t want the person to see his dark mark, and he went behind the desk in borgin and burkes to show the mark in his left arm. oh, and the reason he’s on the seventh floor is because he’s going to the room of requirements which is also why it isn’t showing on the marauder’s map. oh and hermione, that girl who dropped the brass scales, that was crabbe or goyle polyjuiced to watch the door and alert malfoy if the coast was clear as well as the girls who were following malfoy and the one who dropped the toadspawn.

dumbledore wants me to get information out of slughorn? refill the wine bottle so he drinks more to make him susceptible, reminisce about my mother who was his favourite student and guilt trip this member of authority by mentioning his reluctance to help defeat the wizard who killed lily evans and who gave her life to save me and emotionally manipulate him by saying he should be brave like my mother and tell him how noble he’d be for doing it.

a true icon.

[thalthanmadanus]

ok but like… Dramione makes way more sense than Drarry and idc what anyone says. like yeah yeah enemies to lovers blah blah, but w/ dramione there’s actual room for character growth?? hermione would force draco to face his bs, and draco’s the type who needs that kind of intellectual/emotional check. it’s spicy and smart. plus, she wouldn’t let him get away w/ anything. not the blood purity stuff, not the fake bravado. and draco would have to grow the hell up to even deserve her. that dynamic is ripe for something meaningful. now drarry? nah. it’s just rivals and trauma-bonding vibes but like… where’s the actual connection?? harry barely pays attention to draco unless he’s doing something shady and draco is mostly just being annoying or petty. it’s not tension, it’s just background noise. also let’s be real, if draco wasn’t a pale sad boi with daddy issues, would people still ship it?? or is it just the redemption kink + gay enemies aesthetic combo. anyway, w/ dramione you get real conversations, moral tension, mutual challenge, and the chance for earned redemption. drarry is just vibes and no foundation lol.

Alright. No bellamort now. Dramione shippers can entertain me more than that Bellamort shipper.

First of all: yes, enemies to lovers is a tired trope unless it’s two traumatized, morally gray disaster boys staring at each other across a war they didn’t ask for, both one snide comment away from either a duel or a kiss. That’s not just enemies to lovers. That’s rivals with unresolved tension, layered resentment, and “I know you better than anyone because I’ve been obsessing over you since I was 11.” That’s intimacy through hatred. That’s poetry.

Drarry isn’t about “fixing” Draco — Harry’s not Hermione with her clipboard and her moral high ground. Harry is a deeply tired, complex person who’s been used as a weapon his whole life, and Draco is someone who’s spent years trying to prove himself in a system that ultimately used him too. These are two people with actual parallels in their trauma, their isolation, and their need for someone who sees past the masks. Hermione would therapize Draco. Harry would understand him, even if he doesn't forgive him immediately. There’s no savior complex. Just real, raw, “I see you because you’re broken in the same places I am” energy.

And don’t even get me started on the chemistry. Every scene they have is charged. There’s nothing background noise about it. Their eye contact could cause power outages. The obsession is mutual. The tension is practically radioactive. Even the “petty” moments are just foreplay. Like, who do you think was watching the other brood across the Great Hall like a gothic Victorian ghost with a crush? Yeah. That’s right.

And look. Yes. People love a good redemption kink. But Drarry isn’t just about Draco getting redeemed. It’s about Harry finding softness in unexpected places. It’s about letting go of the binary of hero vs. villain. It’s about nuance. Mutual healing. Mutual pining. Not to mention the insane amount of emotional repression that needs to be unpacked with a kiss and a half-accidental hand graze.

Meanwhile, Dramione? It's fine. But it’s giving...debate club romance. It’s giving “You should read this book I annotated for you.” Cute. Structured. But lacking the sheer feral energy of two boys who would rather fight to the death than admit they’re in love.

Drarry isn’t just vibes. It’s vibes backed by unspoken longing, years of built-up tension, and enough emotional repression to power the British Empire. That’s storytelling.

So yeah. Drarry supremacy. Dramione can proofread their essays while Drarry’s busy healing generational trauma and redefining masculinity. Let the sad boys smooch in peace.

🍏

[thalthanmadanus]

#Flirting… kind of

[thalthanmadanus]

no Draco doesn’t paint his nails bubblegum pink, man is heavily traumatised and probably evading taxes while drinking black coffee looking out a rainy window thinking hes in a music video

[thalthanmadanus]

every so often i remember those painfully awkward photoshoots they did for the films. iconic. 

[thalthanmadanus]

I resent the accusations that Lucius would EVER be abusive towards Narcissa. Hes a WIFE GUY, he ADORES her, she is his LIFE, his BEST FRIEND AND CONFIDANT. Lucius abraxis malfoy is many things but cruel to his wife he is not. Even more I'm annoyed I have to defend Lucius honor on this matter BC he is a dick but not like that.

[thalthanmadanus]

To think that Harry and Draco always pulled faces at each other in the great hall, gives me immense joy.

[thalthanmadanus]

this rant is outside HP but I really really dislike when you have a male character that is so sexist/ has internalised misogyny in Canon and the fandom just decides to fully ignore that. They ship him with another guy (or he's in a relationship canonically with anothey guy) and now he's gay so it's okay 🫶........

I cannot count how many times the characters are so sexist and yet you don't find one person discussing it or criticizing it.. This why I dropped many fandoms aaah

[thalthanmadanus]

hey do you think you could expand a bit on separating the art from the artist? clearly you’ve done it with jk rowling but what are your thoughts on it as a general idea?

okay, but you’re not going to like the answer.

here’s the truth: you can’t separate the art from the artist. not entirely. HP Lovecraft was an incredibly talented, but much more incredibly racist man. It would nice to say you don’t agree with his views but you can enjoy his works without that leaking in but…. well, I’m afraid that would be misunderstanding his books entirely.

Consider, for a second, that Lovecraft’s works were horror stories about extradimensional alien monsters having mutant children with humans, they were about invasions from distant monsters, they were about the purity of quaint European towns being tainted. Consider how this may have all been inflicted by the fact that he just simply despised anybody who wasn’t white. Consider how is opinions on “mixing the races” might fight into this; consider why being unable to maintain the “purity” of white Europe was the scariest thing of all to him.

This extends to Rowling too.

I would love to say we can just acknowledge that she is an awful, racist, antisemitic, transphobic person and then say “but at least her books are good,” because, well, they are, aren’t they? I would say so, for sure. But to suggest that one can separate her from them is…. ridiculous.

Consider why an antisemitic woman wrote about a species of goblins who live among us, but who for the most part keep to themselvesand are maybe a little bit oppressed by the institution, but also hold all the cards, all the money, run the banks.

Consider why a racist woman would write about a species of slaves who loved being enslaved, who enjoyed working for no pay, and cleaning up after humans, with the only small caveat of that they didn’t want to be beaten. Imagine that only the most radical of their species wanted to be free, and he still spent the rest of his life working for no pay and helping out a little white boy and his friends wherever he could. Consider why the only person in the story who thought they should be free, that they should have rights, was treated as an overzealous joke, who was acting against the wishes of those slaves who really LOVE being enslaved. Consider that Rowling went on to say that she kind of considers that girl to be black, now.

Consider why JK Rowling, an open and proud transphobe, wrote Rita Skeeter as having a large square jaw, thick “manly” hands, and dressing incredibly gaudily with the most obvious fake nails and fake teeth and fake hair and fake everything. Consider why a woman who tweets about how trans women are “foxes pretending to be hens to get in the hen house” might write this Rita Skeeter to then illegally transform her body in order to spy on children.

Harry Potter is full of Rowling’s bigotry, start to finish. Not even tangentially, like, “oh the goblins are bad, Rita Skeeter is bad, the house elves are bad, but most of it’s good!” because the deeper you dig and the longer you think the more you realise the entire story is based on her prejudices.

Harry Potter pretends to be an aracial story about found family, but if that were true, why are Harry’s distant ancestors important to who he is today even in the seventh book? Why does Harry have to live with his cousin and aunt and uncle? Because magic inherently prefers blood ties. Whilst Rowling was writing a story that seemed to say, “your heritage is not that important and doesn’t make you better than others” she was still writing a story about a boy who got all of his money through his bloodline, who was protected by living with his bloodline, no matter how evil, who was uniquely able to stop Voldemort because his bloodline passed down the invisibility cloak for generations and generations. Any step Harry takes he is compared to his perfect parents who were exactly like him — he looks just like his father, but he has his mother’s eyes, you know! — consider WHY a woman who is racist might’ve written a story like this. A story that on its surface, condemns a blood caste, but still in every step it takes, validates the idea that blood is thicker than water, and your geneological origin is what makes you special.

You can enjoy Harry Pottwr, of course you can. There are fantastic parts. I love a small group of teenagers deciding to become anarchies rebels and train to fight against fascism in secret. I love the murder mystery plots, I love how the series tells kids that it’s a good thing to be brave, and a good thing to fight injustice, and a good thing to challenge the government. But I cannot separate it from its author because it is such a product of its author. All of the structures of the world, the way things work in the universe, and drenched in Rowling’s beliefs, her bigotries. Of course they are: she made them.

Again. This doesn’t mean you cannot enjoy it. But I think we are past the day where we can pretend that disavowing a bigoted author is enough, and that that somehow separates the text from its bigotry. I think we are past the day where we can pretend that Harry Potter isn’t a deeply, inherently bigoted piece of media. Even the bits we love. I think we are beyond the day where we can truthfully pretend to separate it from her, because she is present through all of it. We MUST recognise its flaws. We MUST admit that she is in every part of it.

[thalthanmadanus]

There are many reasons why I think Draco is so interesting, but if I had to choose one that is most compelling to me, it would be his contradictory nature. He is an emotional and sensitive person, yet he is good at occlumency. He is mean-spirited and loves to antagonize people, but he is also averse to violence. He wants to seem cool and aloof, but his natural personality is expressive and reactive. There are so many layers to his character, which makes him really fun to explore.

But I also think his contradictions make him quite difficult to understand, even for those close to him. In a drarry context, I don’t think Harry would ever fully understand him either, and there would always be sides of Draco that surprise him, even after years of knowing each other. But that might be a good thing for them because Harry thrives on curiosity, and Draco being a puzzle would keep things interesting for him.

[thalthanmadanus]

Let's do 3, 10, 11, 17 for harry, I'm just curious

3. Least favorite canon thing about his character

This is a lil bit paradoxical because I love this trait of him from a watsonian perspective but from a Doylist one and as a lover of protagonists, I personally kinda dislike his passivity as a protagonist. and what I mean by that is the narrative sometimes choosing to prioritize or focus on Ron, Hermione or anyone else's opinions about problems and issues that matter over Harry's reaction. It's smtg like this

It's like when Harry knew about what Horace does to those House Elves (he tests poisons on them) and his first thought was wondering what Hermione will think about this. Bro, I don't give no fricks about Hermione????? I WANNA KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

In the house-elf discussion he comes off like an uncaring passive observer when bro SHOULD be about these discussions. He literally freed a house-elf and yet he talks only to tell Hermione to shut up and when will she move on. He was treated as a house-elf back in Privet Drive. What do you mean Harry is sick of Hermione talking.(Harry is lowkey done wrong by jkr in this)

Again, Harry's lack of opinion in things could actually indirectly give out his opinions on things and could be explained watsonianly. Ron or Hermione telling/shwoing us their opinions about a certain issue and Harry siding with either of them is another indirect way but still..

Harry is the protagonist. We're literally in his mind.  He doesn't have to tell us his opinions, he just needs to have one and just *think it*. Those opinions don't even have to be right or good, or even coherent if you understand what I mean. (basically not "Harry thinks this is bad" or soemthing lik that) I just wanna see them. Can I know what you think Harry??? Why are you making things difficult for me? 🫠 I have to do mental gymnastics to know your stance on some things.

Which is fun but also just tell me aaah.

10- Could you be best friends with this character?

The question is would Harry be willing to be friends with me. Have you seen how he only started seeing Luna and Neville as friends and cool when they almost sacrificed themselves for him? Bro call me Usain Bolt the way I be bolting away so fast. Troll? leaves the kids fighting and runs away. Harry talking to snakes? I was already running when I saw Draco conjuring a snake. Umbridge? I dropped out of the school.

11- would you date this character?

Hi, Draco. No, I would not date your boyfriend. You can rest in peace.

17- What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

I would say the only ship I'm indifferent about and by indifferent I mean I would never seek it out but it doesn't piss me off when I see it is probably Harry/Luna. It's cute.

[thalthanmadanus]

There are many reasons why I think Draco is so interesting, but if I had to choose one that is most compelling to me, it would be his contradictory nature. He is an emotional and sensitive person, yet he is good at occlumency. He is mean-spirited and loves to antagonize people, but he is also averse to violence. He wants to seem cool and aloof, but his natural personality is expressive and reactive. There are so many layers to his character, which makes him really fun to explore.

But I also think his contradictions make him quite difficult to understand, even for those close to him. In a drarry context, I don’t think Harry would ever fully understand him either, and there would always be sides of Draco that surprise him, even after years of knowing each other. But that might be a good thing for them because Harry thrives on curiosity, and Draco being a puzzle would keep things interesting for him.