#but i do think james had a solid canonical base that’s often overlooked

[padfootastic]

not to be rude or anything but i wanted to ask, why do you like james so much? i love sirius almost unhealthily, but james always gave me the ick. idk tho maybe i'm over analysing it, but he always gave me slightly creepo vibes because of the whole asking lily out constantly thing yk?

:o

no one’s ever asked me something like that hahaha

idk, man. i guess it’s like sirius—the traits that james has (and what i envision him to be like) kinda just speak to me, yeah? i mean, obv we don’t have a lot of stuff about him, but i fill in a lot of blanks on my own and the rough picture i came up with, i adore. he’s also a character that i can relate to & project on, which is always fun.

it’s also like—if i go to my earliest works, it’s all about james and his friendship with sirius so that dynamic if is what really, truly drew me in. like the j/s relationship (platonic or romantic) has me in a literal chokehold and i think everyone here knows that lol in addition to that, i adore james as a dad and a son & i think he just lends himself to some really good interpersonal interpretations ykno? the centrality i believe he held in the marauders, is another thing.

also like the barebones traits he has—loyalty, protectiveness, moral fortitude, generosity, helpful—i just find him to be a really decent guy lol.

the lily thing—i mean, fair ig. he was kind of an ass in SWM but i personally just don’t believe he was asking her out constantly, ykno? like. it doesn’t fit what i think of him; it doesn’t exactly feel like something a 11-15yo would do; and i’m so sure that this perception of him came from all those jily fics (and even r/s let’s be real) where he’s portrayed as a near stalker bc lily has to be deified and morally superior. i mean, i personally believe most of the fics with james in it have done him a great disservice and entirely ruined his character for the sake of fandom or wtv (but again, it’s a character we never saw alive in real time lol so what leg do i have to stand on anyway)

so that in mind, i’ve personally always hated the lily connotations of his personality and tend to stay away from that.

in general, i’d say, i love the possibility/potential that james has? a bit like sirius, he feels like a larger-than-life character, a little fantastical. and it’s just downright fun plying around with him ykno? there’s also this, element of subversion with him for me. one, how close he is with sirius. (how close i write him to be). him being such a caretaker contrasting w his cool dude jock vibes. being the protective mother hen in jily. being emotional and sensitive and crying and not being ashamed about it. he just. seems like a much deeper character than what we get on the surface *shrugs*