#i feel like that's only going to humiliate themself ngl

[uncanny-tranny]

some transphobic person was in a youtuber server run by a trans woman with a lot of trans people in it and we kept asking what nuts' pronouns were and deez said "deez/nuts" after deez was refusing to answer. even after deez got banned, the server continued to respect nuts' pronouns.

That's actually kinda sweet of the server omg

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

Ngl I honestly don’t understand what’s so “impressive” about a grown adult breaking a child’s wand. Like I’ve heard a few people say she’s the only one to defeat MC in a duel or whatever (before Merula in year 7) including you, but I honestly don’t even count as a duel. She didn’t even let them finish their sentence let alone begin to cast a spell so I don’t really agree with that sentiment cause it hadn’t even started for it to count in my eyes. Honestly I kinda consider it cheating a bit cause of that. It was a dick move, nothing impressive about it imo. And like I said it was a grown adult in her 30s breaking the wand of someone who was 16 at most, really don’t see what’s so amazing about that. If it was someone who was MC’s age or equal to them, then yeah color me impressed I suppose (even though I’d still consider breaking the wand before the duel officially started as cheating) but it wasn’t.

I can understand that perspective. I know a lot of people not only hate Rakepick, but also hold zero respect for her as a rival to MC or as someone they consider to be at all powerful. Thing is, the narrative really wants us to see her as powerful, like she’s totally supposed to be. That doesn’t always land (She infamously choked in the Buried Vault) but that’s what the story wants us to see her as. And I suppose in a lot of ways, it can depend on how you interpret the Potterverse and just generally how you look at it. 

I’ve likewise heard that some folks don’t consider this to be an official duel or one that “counts” because we didn’t actually go into the dueling mini-game, it was just a cutscene, etc. And sure, you can argue that it wasn’t fair, that her being an adult makes a difference, that she cheated. But that’s just not how Rakepick plays the game, and MC knew that. The challenge they issued was their attempt to play by her rules, to speak her language. Rakepick wouldn’t give a crap about “cheating” and she’d be the first to point out that, were this the real world, a Dark Witch wouldn’t be bothered by dueling a child, nor would she care about dueling fairly. Rakepick defeated MC because their challenge reflected a demand to be treated as an equal, not a student. To which she shut them down and proved beyond a doubt that no, they were not ready to play with the big kids, and they had better well remember that. I consider this a defeat because MC was the one who set the standard for this as an adult duel, they wanted to be taken seriously. Rakepick responded by taking it seriously. 

As for the significance of her breaking their wand...hey, you got to admit, it’s creative. We don’t really see anyone doing that most of the time. Which is odd, because it’s an easy and effective way to completely cripple an opponent without needing to kill them or even hurt them if you need them alive/unharmed. More than that, it’s a power play. Wands hold incredible cultural significance. Remember how Voldemort humiliated Lucius and made an example of him by taking his wand in front of everyone? Harry wasn’t just rendered powerless when he lost his wand, he was demoralized. It’s like an extension of the witch or wizard themself. That’s why it’s so effective. And yet, we really don’t see anyone breaking wands. I’ve never heard of a spell that can do that, and I feel like if one does exist, it would be used all the time. Which strongly suggests, in my opinion, that either Rakepick invented this spell herself, or The Cabal taught it to her. Either way, it was the perfect weapon to put MC in their place.