#just like the butterfly hannibal refers to in that scene

[kuroshika]

“i can feed the caterpillar, i can whisper through the chrysalis, but when it hatches, it follows its own nature and that is beyond me” okay so i need to see every single analysis that compares this line to how hannibal guides will into his becoming (“feeding” his encephalitis and his more twisted thoughts, speaking through the curtains to appeal to the darker parts of him) and how will has always instinctually known what fate laid ahead of him

[destielshippingnews]

Edvard's Supernatural Guide: 1x06 Skin

In my review of 1x06 Skin, I’ll be discussing serial killers with horrific childhoods, bisexual Dean threatening the heterosexual suburban ideal and

1x06 Skin is very much a Deancentric episode, and to those in the know, the cold open is a chilling insight into his psyche. The opening sequence of course is effective without knowledge of what it is a reference to, as it shows ‛Dean’ has been torturing somebody and is about to get shot by a SWAT team. This is a shock to any viewer on first viewing as it seems completely opposed to the Dean we know and love, yet here he is.

However, the choice of music for this scene is almost certainly not just because Kripke or Shiban like it, and the entire construction of the opening is likely an intentional homage to the 1986 horror film Manhunter, the first dramatisation of the Hannibal Lecter novel Red Dragon. In the film, the song In a Gadda da Vida by Iron Butterfly plays over the sequence of Francis Dolarhyde about to murder a woman whilst Will Graham smashes through the window and – after a short but brutal gun fight – kills him.

Francis Dolarhyde – the titular Red Dragon – is a serial killer suffering serious mental damage and trauma. Born with a cleft lip – hare lip – in 1938, his mother rejected him, leading to his adoption by his grandmother, which is where his trauma started. She physically and emotionally abused him as a child, including squeezing his penis between a pair of scissors and threatening to emasculate him if he wets the bed again. This mistreatment leads to him torturing and killing animals as a child, and the trauma is what likely led to his developing a fractured psyche, possibly dissociative identity disorder. One of the fractures or identities manifested itself in his mind as a figure called The Great Red Dragon, at whose request he murders so that he can one day become the dragon.

This backstory from the novel is inexplicably omitted from Manhunter, though it is present in Red Dragon (2002) and Hannibal (2015). This omission, however, is irrelevant, as the cold open of 1x06 Skin evokes this character and therewith his traumatic, abusive backstory, and associates him with Dean. Whether or not this exact comparison was intentional is also irrelevant: The Show draws a direct line between Dean and Francis Dolarhyde.

Of course, the directness of the line is debatable, as the Dean in the cold open is in sooth not the true Dean, but a shapeshifter taking his form. One can very much be of the belief that the shapeshifter is not Dean, but the end result of that is that the shapeshifter is just a shapeshifter. For reasons I’ll discuss below, I interpret the shapeshifter as a version of Dean and a narrative tool to reveal more of his character to us. As such, the line drawn between Dolarhyde and Dean is valid, and even the episode itself goes to great efforts to blur the line between the two on various occasions.

Let’s first take the scene where Shifter!Dean confronts Sam in the sewer whilst downloading Dean’s memories and thoughts. He reveals a lot of Dean, and the manner in which he accosts Sam for having left to go to university whilst Dean had to remain behind is not cold and detached. Rather, Shifter!Dean speaks as though he is Dean without the filter and the betrayal, loneliness and anger are his own, and not simply memories he downloaded from a victim which are entirely separate from his own.

We can interpret what he says and does as just ‘monster mind-frakking’, but that would be lazy writing and a lazy analysis. Shifter!Dean has Dean’s memories. Quite how this happens is uncertain: the shifter presents itself as a genetic mutant rather than a being of thaumogenesis, so in Supernatural’s universe, memories must be stored in the DNA rather than being electronic impulses in the brain. … Okay, I’ll go with it. If we can have wendigo in Colorado, then why not memories in DNA? Perhaps it’s psychic.

Whatever the case, it has Dean’s memories, and uses them to gain access to and hurt others. But why would the writers choose to have the monster do this? Why reveal so much of Dean’s internal conflict and resentment of Sam, if it is only MOTW mind-games? And why have a MOTW give the lines about being a freak, if it’s not truly related to Dean? It is, after all, very much Jensen Ackles delivering the lines.

To back this up, we have Shifter!Dean repeating Dean’s line almost word for word:

DEAN: Hey, man, like it or not, we are not like other people. But I’ll tell you one thing. This whole gig—it ain’t without perks. (He holds up a gun. SAM takes it and puts it in the back of his jeans. They walk away.)

‘SHAPESHIFTER: You left. Hell, I did everything Dad asked me to, and he ditched me, too. No explanation, nothin’, just poof. Left me with your sorry ass. But, still, this life? It’s not without its perks. (He laughs.) I meet the nicest people. Like little Becky. You know, Dean would bang her if he had the chance. Let’s see what happens. (He smiles and covers SAM with a sheet.)’

Is this not the script telling us that Shifter!Dean really is Dean in a different guise? If you’re not convinced, bear in mind that even Shifter!Dean says to Sam: “I am your brother.”

I hope you can understand why I see Shifter!Dean as an aspect of Dean, though John Shiban might not have intended this to be the case when he wrote the episode. Shifter!Dean is an opportunity to show what Dean might have become if his situation were different, whilst also speaking volumes about the horrors of Dean’s upbringing. Shifter!Dean’s father tried to kill him with a shovel when he was a child, but that’s apparently nothing compared to what Dean endured.

And remember, if you will, the connection to Francis Dolarhyde and his abusive grandmother. What exactly does this link tell us about what John did to Dean? Let’s take the bed-wetting: it is very likely Dean wet the bed as a child, especially considering his trauma and selective mutism as revealed in 1x03 Dead in the Water. Episode 1x14 Nightmare makes it rather clear to the hawk-eyed that John at the very least beat Dean, and Dean’s sexualisation of himself in front of authority figures to escape punishment comes up in 1x01, 2x07 and 2x19. Dean suffered, and it’s a miracle he didn’t turn into the Supernaturalverse’s Francis Dolarhyde.

But before leaving the subject of Dolarhyde behind for a moment, might we perhaps see an echo of The Great Red Dragon in Shifter!Dean? Dean and Shifter!Dean are opposite sides of a coin, sharing memories and a voice. The Great Red Dragon is a part of Dolarhyde, and it is to appease him that Dolarhyde murders. Shifter!Dean would then be The Great Red Dragon, the part of Deans mind telling him to kill, while Dean is Dolarhyde.

Viewed in this context, the MOTW’s lines about being born human but being made something else have much more impact than simply a monster’s whining. It is Dean talking to us through someone else’s mouth (a mouth that, oddly enough, is still his own).

Having established this, we can now view the rest of the episode with the understanding that Shifter!Dean is simply a vessel for Dean’s shadow self. But aside from this, class also plays a significant role, with Dean and Sam representing working class men from the periphery of society intruding upon suburbia.

As a side note for Americans wondering why I’ve left race for last, having grown up in Britain I generally don’t notice when a community is majority or exclusively white-skinned Europeans because that’s the environment most British people grow up and live in. In the 1990s and 2000s, black people only comprised around 2-3% of the entire population of Britain, compared with perhaps 4-6% brown and around 5% other European. ‛Race’ here is very different (even more so in Finland where I live, where even being white-skinned doesn’t save a person from Finns’ xenophobia and racism). However, this programme takes place in America where everything is racialised in a way that’s utterly absurd to a quaint Old Worlder like me, but having been force-fed American media and culture like a goose being fattened for Christmas for the last two decades, I’m aware that such a set up is regarded as very middle class and WASPish in the Colonies.

A discussion of suburbia and fear of the other is therefore appropriate. An early Lovecraft tale comes to mind about a pleasant New England street whose character is slowly changed and degraded by a long, steady influx of immigrants over the course of years. These immigrants are described in such a way that they seem like eastern or southeastern Europeans, possibly Turks, possibly Finns (who were regarded as ‛Mongoloid’ and ‛not truly white’ during the times of the great emigrations to North America), and their mere presence distorts and bastardises the wonderful New England ideal.

This fear of the unknown and the other is the basis of much of Lovecraft’s mythos, reflecting his own sheltered New England upbringing. This same fear of things we don’t understand or which doesn’t quite fit in properly with out lives likewise forms the basis of much horror fiction. Think, if you will, of the sheer ubiquitousness of horror set in stable, middle class homes and communities, such as Paranormal Activity, Scream, Nightmare on Elm Street, Buffy (technically horror, though hardly horrifying), or in wealthy British or New England manor houses and mansions such as Woman in Black. Homogeneity is also a staple trope, such as the mining community in My Bloody Valentine. A stable equilibrium is presented, often an affluent one, and the stability is threatened by the presence of somebody from the outside, or by somebody on the inside who doesn’t quite fit in.

Dean and Sam embody this in various ways, especially Dean. Sam managed to win his way into Stanford University on a scholarship. He is not from the middle class culture his peers are, not was he initially privy to their weird ways, but he managed to fake it until he made it, almost earning himself a place at law school before the proverbial manure made contact with the metaphorical air ventilation unit. As such, he is able to worm his way back into that culture in this episode by way of his affluent connections. Whether or not they know he is one of them or just New Money is uncertain, but they appear to embrace him as mostly belonging.

Dean, on the other hand, does not, and he much more than Sam represents the WASPish horror of inner city people encroaching on their territory. IN spite of the fact that Jensen Ackles has incredibly straight, white teeth which must cost a lot of money, that he is clearly very well fed and takes very good care of his body, that he very fluffy hair and nice looking clothing (except for that nasty, smelly-looking leather jacket he got from John) which make Dean look financially comfortable at the very least, Dean is very much a very poor man from a very working class background. He is not part of the refined world of American universities that get called colleges for some reason, or big wooden houses with ridiculous windows that would provide no protection from the zombie apocalypse: he grew up in dingy, stinky roadside motels and never had a home of his own since 1982. He has been killing monsters and ghoulies for approximately 14 years at this point, if not more, and is very, very violent if need be.

Shifter!Dean is what the WASPs are afraid Dean will do to their community. Because he’s the other and they don’t understand him properly, they fear him and what he will do to them if they allow him into their midst.

Apropos class, one thing I find difficult to believe in American television shows is how characters who are supposed to be working class always have fantastic teeth, so fantastic that they almost look fake and plasticy. Yanks will mock Brits for having bad teeth, but teeth are supposed to be faintly yellowish and we only straighten them if absolutely necessary because it’s expensive. I don’t think I’d be anywhere near as enthusiastic about the show to write these reviews nobody reads if if weren’t for Jensen as Dean, but he looks far too healthy and cared-for. Compare the British Shameless to the American Shameless, or the American and British Queer as Folk, and it’ll be apparent that American television is intensely uncomfortable with depicting normal, average people, much less the working class and poor. Everybody has fantastic make up, magnificent teeth, fancy hair and flawless skin, it’s so unrealistic. It took me reading other people’s reviews of this episode and the show in general for me to truly understand Dean and Sam are supposed to be working class, because they sure as hell don’t look it.

Returning to the plot, discussing the affluent’s fear of the poor leads me on to Dean’s own perception of himself. Shifter!Dean says he was born different, and that he was made into a freak. When we apply this to the shapeshifter, he is most likely talking about the fact he is a shapeshifter and that it pushed him to the margins of society. However, since Shifter!Dean is a vessel for revealing Dean’s shadow self, I must also believe that when the shapeshifter is giving Becca his sympathy for devil talk, he is speaking for both himself and Dean. What is it about Dean, then, that makes him a freak? What circumstances of his birth caused him to think that way of himself?

A few things come to mind. The first one is that he blames himself for the abuse he suffered at John’s hands, and perhaps for Mary’s death. This is unfortunately one of the effects of abuse: the victims blames himself for what his abuser has done to him. As with the discussion of survivor’s guilt in 1x05 Bloody Mary, this could be a way of attempting to feel in control of something in a situation that otherwise leaves the abuser feeling completely helpless and out of control. But what precisely is it about himself that he believes is to blame?

That he was not a good enough son, that he could never live up John’s expectations and demands to prove his value and worth. Probably. That he was a failure, a social outcast incapable of forming lasting, meaningful bonds with anybody even in his own family.

And one of the big things is Dean’s bisexuality. Some people bristle at the mere notion of Dean being anything other than straight, but I have yet to be presented with any evidence to prove Dean’s straight while having plenty of textual evidence strongly indicating he likes both women and the fairer sex. Dean being bisexual would of course be a major contributing factor in his perception of himself as a freak, especially considering he grew up in the 1980s and 1990s when the image of a gay man was as a corpse-like horror dying of AIDS or a mincing queer who was the butt of everybody’s jokes. Bisexual men, on the other hand, were sinister, untrustworthy, lying, cheating creeps responsible for infecting innocent straight women with HIV.

These were the images burnt into Dean’s mind growing up, and indeed it is this very idea of the existence of such horrific things as men who love men and men who love men and women that has been the driving force behind much horror since Victorian Gothic classics such as The Vampyre or Dracula. For a more in-depth discussion, do please watch Verily Bitchie’s video on the subject ‛Is Dracula Bisexual?’, as well as her videos ‛Why we Hate Bi Men’ and ‛Why we Hate Bi Women’, easily found on YouTube.

James Somerton also discusses at length the influence of mainstream society’s anxieties about gay, bi and trans people on horror films in his documentaries XXXX and XXXX. His ‛Sciety and Queer Horror’ is particularly salienct here, and the one forefront in my mind as I analyse 1x06 Skin. As horror in the 1990s often depicted affluent suburban fears of the Lovecraftian inner city gays and blacks infiltrating their lives and changing their neighbourhoods in the shape of e.g. the very homosexual murderers in Scream killing all their children, so too does Shifter!Dean enter the lives of the St. Louis middle class and makes people bleed.

Bisexuality and bisexual people seem to threaten the heterosexual social order in a way that homosexual simply doesn’t. Homosexuality is no threat to a heterosexual identity and vice versa: a heterosexual can prove s/he is not homosexual with ease by simply being attracted to the opposite sex. One cannot, however, prove one is not interested in the same sex, which brings a lack of surety into the assumption that everybody one meets is heterosexual unless proven otherwise. A woman’s husband might very be very attracted to women, but she can never be absolutely certain that he is not attracted to men as well. She can be confident he is not homosexual, but the spectre of the bisexual will always be hanging over their relationship is she allows herself to acknowledge the bisexual’s existence. Men tend not to be bothered by bisexual women, but heterosexual women are frequently very uncomfortable with the idea of dating a bisexual man.

Interestingly enough, Shifter!Dean mainly focuses on couples, brutalising or murdering the woman and framing the husband/boyfriend for the crime. If we take into account society’s general unease with bisexuality, especially heterosexual women’s discomfort with bisexual men, the fact that the shifter in the form of an undoubtedly bisexual man brutalises and almost kills women in heterosexual relationships fits very nicely into the gay/bi men as monsters theme James Somerton discusses in the videos linked above. It is not that gay or bi men are monstrous solely by virtue of their sexuality, but rather that horror represents the mainstream’s fears of the niche, the outsider and the unknown.

Dean, therefore, is horrific in two ways: he challenges the assumption of heterosexuality and threatens the comfortable middle class suburban ideal.

Ultimately, however, Deanis not a monster. He is just different and wants somebody to love him rather than what he can do for them.

Forgive me another slight sidetrack, but Paula R. Stiles calls the shapeshifter misogynistic in her revierw of the episode, but killing a woman is not the same as killing a woman because she’s a woman. Somebody might murder me because I think the American dub and translation of Thomas the Tank Engine is a disgusting sacrilege and Shining Time Station is a ridiulous pandering and dumbing down of the original material, but that person would be killing a gay man. Would his murder be classified as a homophobic murder? Were the women chosen the the shifter because they were women, or because they were home alone and therefore easy targets?

Most of the people to be brutalised and murdered on Supernatural are men, and I never see anybody raising accusations of androphobia at characters or the show. Why is that? Up to 1x06, 8 men have been killed compared to 3 women (4 if we count Becca’s brother’s girlfriend murdered off screen before the episode even started).

Whilst we’re on the subject of the shows vastly different treatment of men vs women, this episode stands out in that it actually shows brutalised women on screen. This is so that the audience can see that Shifter!Dean is truly evil. An antagonist can brutalise a man and most readers or viewers won’t care overmuch, but if the same antagonist so much as slaps a woman, he’s an evil, irredeemable villain.

Having watch this entire show several times, this is a trope Supernatural plays into over and over again ad nauseum. I commented on this as early as in 1x01, but please, Dear Reader, pay attention to the amount of times a man will be killed by the MOTW, often brutally and often on screen. The first one that comes to mind is the father pushed onto a circular saw in the cold open of 3x02 The Kids are Alright and whose entire chest is destroyed on screen for about 10 seconds whilst we have to listen to the saw slicing through his bones and organs and blood pours out of his mouth. We can take a look at 1x03 Dead in the Water,where the young woman is discretely dragged beneath the water in the cold opn, dying off screen, whereas we have to watch her brother dying on screen.Another that comes to mind is 13x11 Breakdown. Somebody is kidnapping people and auctioning their body parts on the internet. The victims are cut apart live on camera for the bidders. A young Mexican man is cut up, his body blocked by the ‛surgeon’, but we hear the saw, see his legs thrashing, hear him screaming… The young woman who’s kidnapped gets rescued just in time, though, so at least it ended well -_-

One commentator’s reaction to Shifter!Dean hitting and tying up Becca in this episode was than she was glad the scene finished before any real damage was done to Becca. The scene made her feel very uncomfortable. People are incredibly comfortable with seeing graphic, bloody violence committed against men, but violence against women is deeply unsettling.

That about does it for the main talking points surrounding my interpretation of this episode. Minor points are the sheer stupidity of Becca. If somebody like Dean turned up at my door in the middle of the night, I’d sure as hell be inviting him in for tea and chill, but not if his brother had lied to me about his being a policeman and having – in my limited, self-centred understanding of things – ruined my brother’s legal case. I don’t understand why she allowed him into her home, and it is equally as strange that she does not react in fear when Dean finds her in the sewers. How did she know he was Dean and not Shifter!Dean?

Worse still is the apparent blitheness with which she apparently allows Dean to take the blame for Shifter!Dean’s actions at the end. Her brother might have been going to prison, but the price of his acquittal is Dean’s unjust scapegoating. She’s rich, he’s poor, she’s straight (probably), he’s bi (if you’re paying attention), so he’s the one that has to take the fall so she can continue living her blessed suburban ideal.

This will dog him for years to come, and effectively cuts off any possibility of Dean leaving hunting and having a normal life, whilst not effecting Sam in the slightest. All of this, of course, is Sam’s fault and doing. Sure Dean went along with the lie that he was a policeman, but he could not have gainsaid Sam in front of Becca because their cover would be completely blown. Certainly Sam eventually gets in trouble with the law, too, but the police are willing to give him leniency or even acquittal if he betrays Dean to them. And what does Sam do at the end of the episode? Smiles the smug smile of an entitled douche who couldn’t care less.

This is a very strong episode that shows what Supernatural can be when its writers are on point. I’m aware it’s a cliché, but this was heavily reminiscent of The X-Files and I greatly appreciated its dark, grim tone. Supernatural was originally conceived of as a mini horror film every week, and 1x06 Skin is a perfect example of that. The next episode, however, is less so, and is one I might indeed skip or treat very briefly. It, too, is a mini horror film, but a shallow one with little to hold my interest.

And whatever Shapeshifter!Dean whispered into Becca’s ear that made her call him disgusting; I’m game for it. Whatever it is, count me in.

Click here to read my addendum to this analysis.

[therealsaintscully]

Mary and butterflies - the inevitability of death, murderous calling cards and collectors

Some ramblings with links to other people’s excellent meta, in which I suggest that butterflies (and/or moths) symbolize Mary as Moriarty’s reincarnation and or calling card, while also hint at her inevitable death.

Disclaimers: credits are below the cut. I’m not an expert in any of these topics. Thank you, @thewatsonbeekeepers​​ for the beta. In this post I’ll be using moths and butterflies interchangeably, apologies to any entomologists.

Mary’s appearance in the show brings with it new imagery we haven’t seen prior to The Empty Hearse - butterflies. Once Mary’s in the picture, there are butterflies in some very strategic locations, all are either visually or subtextually leading to her. The show has done that previous to season 3; Moriarty is connected to some well established symbols like magpies, apples and IOUs. 

When I first started reading meta I used to think these themes were a bit of a stretch, but I’ve since accepted  that this is a show that puts barely noticeable phoenixes in a restaurant scene that shows us Sherlock rising from his death.

Here are some of the butterflies I spotted so far:

Butterflies (and in the case of this piece of meta, moth) symbolize most commonly resurrection, change and renewal. Behind the symbolism stands the transformation of a small, ungainly creature into something full-grown and unbound. In that case, in the simplest way, one could argue that butterflies were chosen to symbolize her because the ‘Mary Morstan’ persona was a stillborn’s identity that was stolen and used ‘reborn’ to create a new person.

But more than this simplistic idea; butterflies carry multiple symbolisms. When it comes to Sherlock, I and many others tend to look at Victorian symbolism, considering the detective’s Victorian roots. 

I find the appearance of butterflies interesting in Mary’s context, much like I find the skull interesting in Sherlock’s. The skulls, in Sherlock’s case, serve plenty of purposes, but one of them is the idea of memento mori.

Memento mori (Latin for 'remember that you [have to] die') is an artistic or symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death. These are representations that can appear in any form of art such as paintings, literature, poetry etc. It’s a concept that existed in many ancient cultures but is also deeply rooted in early Christianity. It serves to remind people of the inevitable; that even if we choose to ignore it, not think about it, it’s always there lurking, and the purpose is not to scare us but to encourage us to make good use of our time when we’re alive. Memento mori was the philosophy of reflecting on your own death as a form of spiritual improvement, and rejecting earthly vanities.

Victorians were obsessed with the concept (weren’t Victorians obsessed with everything?). They would take photographs of the dead and keep locks of hair of those who died in mourning brooches. It is said that they found these practices comforting. 

Another expression of the ‘remember that you must die’ concept was vanitas art;  vanitas is a symbolic work of art showing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death. The Latin noun vanitas (from the Latin adjective vanus 'empty') means 'emptiness', 'futility', or 'worthlessness', the traditional Christian view being that earthly goods and pursuits are transient and worthless. It alludes to Ecclesiastes 1:2; 12:8, where vanitas translates the Hebrew word hevel (הבל), which also includes the concept of transitoriness. 

This concept reminds me, most especially, of the skull used in The Abominable Bride, which is actually Charles Allen Gilbert's 'All is Vanity' Illusion art.

Back to butterflies - butterflies are a staple component of vanitas art - paintings executed in the vanitas style were meant to remind viewers of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death. They also provided a moral justification for painting attractive objects - in a way, it’s a justification for the vanity, or the human need of enjoyment of beautiful things.  Below is a vanitas by Jan Sanders van Hemessen:

But butterflies are also considered an omen of death: 

“Butterflies and moths were associated with death, sometimes merely as omens, sometimes as the soul or ghost.” These butterfly omens came in many ways.  For example, in the nineteenth century United States, some people thought that a trio of butterflies was an omen of death.” [x]

Oh.

But I also think there’s more to the butterfly symbolism than Mary’s imminent death; I suggest that, in keeping with @loudest-subtext-in-tv​ M-Theory (suggesting that Mary was planted in John’s life by Moriarty), they symbolize Mary as Moriarty reincarnated following his death in TRF. That Moriarty had indeed not disappointed Sherlock - there was a posthumous game after all! That Sherlock was supposed to understand that while one form of Moriarty died on that roof, another had emerged, continuing the mission of burning Sherlock’s heart. Mary is Moriarty’s calling card, left behind in the crime scene. They’re different, but not separate, which is why Sherlock is so obsessed with Moriarty between HLV-T6T; he’s both wrong and correct at the same time.

So far, what I’ve suggested is that in Sherlock, skulls are Sherlock’s symbolic memento mori - the skulls are associated with Sherlock in some very significant ways. 

However, Mary’s character was doomed from the start - she dies during Sherlock’s hiatus in ACD canon. I believe many fans assumed Sherlock’s Mary expected the same fate when she was introduced to the show. Although the story of Samarra is told by Sherlock, who expects his own death in T6T, Mary is the one who ends up dying. 

Butterflies in ACD canon

Searching for the significance of butterflies in the ACD and BBC canon led me to a number of interesting directions in meta written by others. 

The first and probably the best place to start is this meta post by @tendergingergirl​​, which I strongly suggest you read in full: Butterflies, Sexual Deviancy & The Bloodline Theory in The Hound of The Baskervilles. 

Stapleton also has a hobby. He collects bugs…Butterflies, to be exact. This can often be seen as purely academic, but depending on the actions of the hobbyist, they can indicate more disturbing things. That of holding something vulnerable captive, treating it as your hostage, pinning it down. The torture of animals has come to be a good indicator of someone who would do this to a human. He had already shown callousness by laughing as he recounts to Holmes of ponies wandering onto the Moor, becoming trapped, and dying. In 1974, there was a release of a new edition of Sherlock Holmes stories, with the forward of The Hound of The Baskervilles written by British author, John Fowles. He is responsible for several well-known works, including The French Lieutenant’s Wife. Another, was a novel that Mason finds himself wondering why Fowles doesn’t mention in his introduction, since the villain is such a close parallel to Stapleton.(but as we have learned through the study of ACD, most writers will not come right out and say where they got their inspiration. They like for you to guess!)

A lonely young man, works as a clerk, and collects butterflies, becomes obsessed with a pretty young girl, Miranda, an art student. He chloroforms, and kidnaps her, taking her to his cellar basement, to add Miranda to his collection. That book was called The Collector. But what else does it sound like?

“So yes, I googled. From an article on the release of the movie’s Documentary. "The docu proves a poor reference point for anyone who wants to understand the literary and movie links for “Lambs.” There’s no mention, for example, of how Harris partly based the butterfly-loving Bill on John Fowles’ kidnapper in “The Collector” …And here I thought Mofftiss added allusions to Silence of The Lambs into Sherlock just for fun. SMH.”

@tendergingergirl​ also added this photo to their post:

So what we have here is a chain of metatextualities/inspiration, starting with ACD’s THOB, where Jack Stapelton inspires a book about a disturbed butterfly collector (The Collector by John Fowles), which inspires a the author of Silence of the Lambs in creation of his character Buffalo Bill, a serial murderer who inserts a death's head moth into the victim's throat because he is fascinated by the insect's metamorphosis. Silence of the Lambs served as inspiration for Sherlock  as analyzed by @garkgatiss​ in Bond, Hannibal, and Holmes (I suggest you read the whole Hannibal section) . 

Let’s look again at some imagery from His Last Vow. Mary shoots Sherlock’s heart, essentially burning his heart out, and who does Sherlock meet in his Mind Palace in a very cocoon-like straightjacket? Yes, the dead dude who encourages him to die already (“one more push, and off you pop”).

What’s the next thing we as an audience see once Sherlock opens his eyes? Mary coming to the hospital to hear that Sherlock had, in fact, survived. And what is she wearing? Her butterfly scarf, one which will another appearance later in the episode, during the tarmac scene.

I also find it interesting that in the context of Sherlock and Silence of the Lamb, there’s an element of gender-switching between Moriarty and Mary. Buffalo Bill, the murderer from Silence of the Lambs, skins bodies of women to create himself a woman’s 'suit’; in Sherlock, Moriarty is a man-villain who transforms into a female-villain in the form of a bride and/or Mary. 

By the way, who else is obsessed with his suits?

Also, let’s not forget the worms, maggots and other such crawlers in the grave scene:

Now, let’s go over some of the photos I included in the beginning of this post a bit further.

Mrs. Hudson’s butterfly tea set is first shown in TEH - she uses it to serve John tea when he comes visiting her and tellis her about Mary. We also see it near John’s chair on the day of the wedding. This isn’t Sherlock’s set - his set is different, featuring the British Isles. Moriarty drinks from it in TRF. The next tea set we see, now that Moriarty is dead, is the butterflies one. In TLD, Mrs. Hudson uses Sherlock’s tea set - the butterflies are gone.

Mary’s bedroom wallpaper is very feminine, with flowers and butterflies, both complementing symbols while also very common in vanitas art. Much like Mrs. Hudson’s wallpaper in Baker Street, Mary’s wallpaper is supposed to show the contrast between Mary’s flat/Mary and Sherlock’s flat/Sherlock.

There’s an interesting moth reference in The Empty Hearse, which in my opinion, is Mary & Moriarty related. In short, in a previous piece of meta I wrote, I suggested that the Jack the Ripper case in TEH is subtext alluding to Mary’s skeletons, which Sherlock ignores because he’s upset by his reception by John. And what’s one of the first things Sherlock notices about the skeleton? New mothballs smell, hinting at an attempt to get rid of moth/butterflies - maybe a hint to  the fact that Sherlock has a chance to discover the truth about Mary but misses it. Also, in the context of Mary and the Jack the Ripper case, notice this transition:

Transitions are important on Sherlock - they’re nearly always there to draw our attention.

This, I think, is perhaps the most telling about a possible connection between Mary and Moriarty: we have both magpies (a Moriarty hint) and butterflies together here. This isn’t the only hint of Mary’s past we get in the wedding; there is, after all, the telegram from CAM.

Mary’s scarf is colorful, and it appears by the time Sherlock’s subconscious suspects Mary. Mary’s black butterfly dress - an ominous dress, I’d say - is the one she wears during the labour scene in the car. The third photo is a behind the scenes photo uploaded by Amanda Abbington, although I’m unsure whether this necklace is AA’s or Mary’s (but I couldn’t pass on including this).

Interestingly, the butterflies do not appear in Rosie’s context - either because it’s a telling sign that Mary won’t be with us much longer, or because Rosie is spared being considered a part of the ‘burning Sherlock’s heart’ plan. Sherlock, on the surface, seems to love Rosie and accepts her.

Also, another BTS photograph I came across during my research which I’ve never seen before and ties nicely to the vanity topic is this one (found here):

The Death's-head hawkmoth and ‘Death with Interruptions’

You’ll recall that I referenced The Collector and Silence of the Lambs, both featuring butterflies on their cover art. 

The Silence of the Lambs cover features Acherontia atropos, otherwise known as the death's-head hawkmoth. It gets its name from the sinister-looking skull shape on its back. In many cultures it is thought to be an omen of death. In a bit of another coincidental but stunning piece of symbolism, all three species of the Death's-head hawkmoth are commonly observed raiding beehives of different species of honey bee; A. atropos only invades colonies of the well-known western honey bee, Apis mellifera, and feeds on both nectar and honey. They can move about in hives without being disturbed because they mimic the scent of the bees and are not recognised as intruders.

Anyway, the use of Acherontia atropos reminded me of the book ‘Death with Interruptions’ by Jose Saramago. Interestingly, this is another book about a deathly collector with a butterfly on the cover:

In Death with Interruptions death is a woman, and she falls in love with one of her future victims. She decides to spare his life: Every time death sends him his letter [notifying him of his imminent death], it gets returned. death discovers that, without reason, this man has mistakenly not been killed. Although originally intending merely to analyse this man and discover why he is unique, death eventually becomes infatuated with him, so much so that she takes on human form to meet him. Upon visiting the cellist, she plans to personally give him the letter; instead, she falls in love with him, and, by doing so, she becomes even more human-like.

It’s pretty common to read theories about Mary who maybe was one of the assassins due to kill John both at the pool and in front of Barts. So we have a death harbinger trying to kill someone twice and failing. She then falls in love with him.

But how does the butterfly fit in?

Well, at some point in the story, death (that’s her name, sans a capital d), contemplates that using the death head butterfly, instead of a violet piece of paper, would have sent a much stronger message to those whose death is coming for.

And here’s another last bit of coincidental reference to Sherlock: I’d argue shades of purple, among them shades of violet, are associated with Mary and her secrets. There’s the purple dress she wears in TEH, her bridesmaids’ dresses include various shades of purple (including what I would argue was a violet sash) and let’s not forget:

Oh and, by the way, remember the song Donde Estas, Yolanda from TEH, about a woman called Yolanda? Always thought it was a bit of an odd choice for a song?

Yolanda is a female given name, of Greek origin, meaning Violet.

:)

Thoughts?

Credits: thank you @lukessense​ for directing me to @tendergingergirl​ meta about butterflies. Episode screenshots are from kissthemgoodbye.net.

@sarahthecoat​  @tjlcisthenewsexy​ @devoursjohnlock​ @inevitably-johnlocked​ @shylockgnomes​ @possiblyimbiassed​ @raggedyblue​ @ebaeschnbliah​ @gosherlocked​ @waitedforgarridebs​ @helloliriels​ 

[writinggeisha]

How to write dialogue in fiction

Dialogue in the novel: tricks, tools and examples

Speech gives life to stories. It breaks up long pages of action and description.

Getting speech right is an art but, fortunately, there are a few easy rules to follow. Those rules will turn your dialogue from something that might feel static, heavy and unlifelike into something that shines off the page.

Better still, dialogue should be fun to write, so don’t worry if we talk about ‘rules’. We’re not here to kill the fun. We’re here to increase it.

“Ready?” she asked.

“You bet. Let’s dive right in.”

Dialogue rule 1: keep it tight

One of the biggest rules in dialogue is: no spare parts. No unnecessary words. Nothing to excess.

That’s true in all writing, of course, but it has a particular acuteness (I don’t know why) when it comes to dialogue.

If you include an unnecessary sentence or two in a passage of description – well, it’s best to avoid that, of course, but, aside from registering a minor and temporary slowing, most readers won’t notice or care.

Do the same in a block of dialogue, and your characters will seem to be speechifying rather than speaking. It’ll feel to a modern reader like you want to turn the clock back to Victorian England.

So don’t do it!

Keep it spare. Allow gaps in the communication and let the readers fill in the blanks. It’s like you’re not even giving the readers 100% of what they want. You’re giving them 80% and letting them figure out the rest.

Take this, for instance, from Ian Rankin’s fourteenth Rebus crime novel, A Question of Blood. The detective, John Rebus, is phoned up at night by his colleague:

… “Your friend, the one you were visiting that night you bumped into me …” She was on her mobile, sounded like she was outdoors.

“Andy?” he said. ‘Andy Callis?”

“Can you describe him?”

Rebus froze. “What’s happened?”

“Look, it might not be him …”

“Where are you?”

“Describe him for me … that way you’re not headed all the way out here for nothing.”

That’s great isn’t it? Immediate. Vivid. Edgy. Communicative.

But look at what isn’t said. Here’s the same passage again, but with my comments in square brackets alongside the text:

… “Your friend, the one you were visiting that night you bumped into me …” She was on her mobile, sounded like she was outdoors.

[Your friend: she doesn’t even give a name or give anything but the baresr little hint of who she’s speaking about. And ‘on her mobile, sounded like she was outdoors’. That’s two sentences rammed together with a comma. It’s so clipped you’ve even lost the period and the second ‘she’.]

“Andy?” he said. ‘Andy Callis?”

[Notice that this is exactly the way we speak. He could just have said “Andy Callis”, but in fact we often take two bites at getting the full name, like this. That broken, repetitive quality mimics exactly the way we speak . . . or at least the way we think we speak!]

“Can you describe him?”

[Uh-oh. The way she jumps straight from getting the name to this request indicates that something bad has happened. A lesser writer would have this character say, ‘Look, something bad has happened and I’m worried. So can you describe him?’ This clipped, ultra-brief way of writing the dialogue achieves the same effect, but (a) shows the speaker’s urgency and anxiety – she’s just rushing straight to the thing on her mind, (b) uses the gap to indicate the same thing as would have been (less well) achieved by a wordier, more direct approach, and (c) by forcing the reader to fill in that gap, you’re actually making the reader engage with intensity. This is the reader as co-writer – and that means super-engaged.]

Rebus froze. “What’s happened?”

[Again: you can’t convey the same thing with fewer words. Again, the shimmering anxiety about what has still not been said has extra force precisely because of the clipped style.]

“Look, it might not be him …”

[A brilliantly oblique way of indicating, “But I’m frigging terrified that it is.” Oblique is good. Clipped is good.]

“Where are you?”

[A non-sequitur, but totally consistent with the way people think and talk.]

“Describe him for me … that way you’re not headed all the way out here for nothing.”

Just as he hasn’t responded to what she had just said, now it’s her turn to ignore him. Again, it’s the absences that make this bit of dialogue live. Just imagine how flaccid this same bit would be if she had said, “Let’s not get into where I am right now. Look, it’s important that you describe him for me . . .”]

In short:

Gaps are good. They make the reader work, and a ton of emotion and inference swirls in the gaps.

Want to achieve the same effect? Copy Rankin. Keep it tight.

Dialogue rule 2: Watch those beats

Oftener than not, great story moments hinge on character exchanges,that have dialogue at their heart.  Even very short dialogue can help drive a plot, showing more about your characters and what’s happening than longer descriptions can.

(How come? It’s the thing we just talked about: how very spare dialogue makes the reader work hard to figure out what’s going on, and there’s an intensity of energy released as a result.)

But right now, I want to focus on the way that dialogue needs to create its own emotional beats. So that the action of the scene and the dialogue being spoken becomes the one same thing.

Here’s how screenwriting guru Robert McKee puts it:

Dialogue is not [real-life] conversation. … Dialogue [in writing] … must have direction. Each exchange of dialogue must turn the beats of the scene … yet it must sound like talk.

This excerpt from Thomas Harris’  The Silence of the Lambs is a beautiful example of exactly that. It’s  short as heck, but just see what happens.

As before, I’ll give you the dialogue itself, then the same thing again with my notes on it:

“The significance of the chrysalis is change. Worm into butterfly, or moth. Billy thinks he wants to change. … You’re very close, Clarice, to the way you’re going to catch him, do you realize that?”

“No, Dr Lecter.”

“Good. Then you won’t mind telling me what happened to you after your father’s death.”

Starling looked at the scarred top of the school desk.

“I don’t imagine the answer’s in your papers, Clarice.”

Here Hannibal holds power, despite being behind bars. He establishes control, and Clarice can’t push back, even as he pushes her. We see her hesitancy, Hannibal’s power. (And in such few words! Can you even imagine trying to do as much as this without the power of dialogue to aid you? I seriously doubt if you could.)

But again, here’s what’s happening in detail

“The significance of the chrysalis is change. Worm into butterfly, or moth. Billy thinks he wants to change. … You’re very close, Clarice, to the way you’re going to catch him, do you realize that?”

[Beat 1: Invoking the chrysalis and moth here is almost magical language. it’s like Hannibal is the magician, the Prospero figure. Look too at the switch of tack in the middle of this snippet. First he’s talking about Billy wanting to change – then about Clarice’s ability to find him. Even that change of tack emphasises his power: he’s the one calling the shots here; she’s always running to keep up.]

“No, Dr Lecter.”

[Beat 2: Clarice sounds controlled, formal. That’s not so interesting yet . . . but it helps define her starting point in this conversation, so we can see the gap between this and where she ends up.]

“Good. Then you won’t mind telling me what happened to you after your father’s death.”

[Beat 3: Another whole jump in the dialogue. We weren’t expecting this, and we’re already feeling the electricity in the question. How will Clarice react? Will she stay formal and controlled?]

Starling looked at the scarred top of the school desk.

[Beat 4: Nope! She’s still controlled, just about, but we can see this question has duanted her. She can’t even answer it! Can’t even look at the person she’s talking to.]

“I don’t imagine the answer’s in your papers, Clarice.”

[Beat 5: And Lecter immediately calls attention to her reaction, thereby emphasising that he’s observed at and knows what it means.]

Overall, you can see that not one single element of this dialogue leaves the emotional balance unaltered. Every line of dialogue alters the emotional landscape in some way. That’s why it feels so intense & engaging.

Want to achieve the same effect? Just check your own dialogue, line by line. Do you feel that emotional movement there all the time? If not, just delete anything unecessary until you feel the intensity and emotional movement increase.

Dialogue Rule 3: Keep it oblique

One more point, which sits kind of parallel to the bits we’ve talked about already.

It’s this.

If you want to create some terrible dialogue, you’d probably come up with something like this:

“Hey Judy.”

“Hey, Brett.”

“You OK?”

“Yeah, not bad. What do you say? Maybe play some tennis later?”

“Tennis? I’m not sure about that. I think it’s going to rain.”

Tell me honestly: were you not just about ready to scream there? If that dialogue had continued like that for much longer, you probably would have done.

And the reason is simple. It was direct, not oblique.

So direct dialogue is where person X says something or asks a question, and person Y answers in the most logical, direct way.

We hate that! As readers, we hate it.

Oblique dialogue is where people never quite answer each other in a straight way. Where a question doesn’t get a straightforward response. Where random connections are made. Where we never quite know where things are going.

As readers, we love that. It’s dialogue to die for.

And if you want to see oblique dialogue in action, here’s a snippet from Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network. (We don’t usually reference films so much on this blog, but there’s an obvious exception when it comes to talking about dialogue.) So here goes. This is the young Mark Zuckerberg talking with a lawyer:

Lawyer: “Let me re-phrase this. You sent my clients sixteen emails. In the first fifteen, you didn’t raise any concerns.”

MZ: ‘Was that a question?’

L: “In the sixteenth email you raised concerns about the site’s functionality. Were you leading them on for 6 weeks?”

MZ: ‘No.’

L: “Then why didn’t you raise any of these concerns before?”

MZ: ‘It’s raining.’

L: “I’m sorry?”

MZ: ‘It just started raining.’

L: “Mr. Zuckerberg do I have your full attention?”

MZ: ‘No.’

L: “Do you think I deserve it?”

MZ: ‘What?’

L: “Do you think I deserve your full attention?”

I won’t discuss that in any detail, because the technique really leaps out at you. It’s particularly visible here, because the lawyer wants and expects to have a direct conversation. (I ask a question about X, you give me a reply that deals with X. I ask a question about Y, and …) Zuckerberg here is playing a totally different game, and it keeps throwing the lawyer off track – and entertaining the viewer/reader too.

Want to achieve the same effect? Just keep your dialogue not quite joined up. People should drop in random things, go off at tangents, talk in non-sequiturs, respond to an emotional implication not the thing that’s directly on the page – or anything. Just keep it broken. Keep it exciting!

Dialogue rule 4: reveal character dynamics and emotion

Let’s take a look here at Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower as another example.

Protagonist Charlie, a high school freshman, learns his long-time crush, Sam, may like him back, after all. Here’s how that dialogue goes:

“Okay, Charlie … I’ll make this easy. When that whole thing with Craig was over, what did you think?”

… “Well, I thought a lot of things. But mostly, I thought your being sad was much more important to me than Craig not being your boyfriend anymore. And if it meant that I would never get to think of you that way, as long as you were happy, it was okay.” …

… “I can’t feel that. It’s sweet and everything, but it’s like you’re not even there sometimes. It’s great that you can listen and be a shoulder to someone, but what about when someone doesn’t need a shoulder? What if they need the arms or something like that? You can’t just sit there and put everybody’s lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love. You just can’t. You have to do things.”

“Like what?” …

“I don’t know. Like take their hands when the slow song comes up for a change. Or be the one who asks someone for a date.”

The words sound human.

Sam and Charlie are tentative, exploratory – and whilst words do the job of ‘turning’ a scene, both receiving new information, driving action on – we also see their dynamic.

And so we connect to them.

We see Charlie’s reactive nature, checking with Sam what she wants him to do. Sam throws out ideas, but it’s clear she wants him to be doing this thinking, not her, subverting Charlie’s idea of passive selflessness as love.

The dialogue shows us the characters, as clearly as anything else in the whole book. Shows us their differences, their tentativeness, their longing.

Want to achieve the same effect? Understand your characters as fully as you can. The more you can do this, the more naturally you’ll write dialogue that’s right for them. You can get tips on knowing your characters here.

A few last dialogue rules

If you struggle with writing dialogue, read plays or screenplays for inspiration. Read Tennessee Williams or Henrik Ibsen. Anything by Elmore Leonard is great. Ditto Raymond Chandler or Donna Tartt.

Some last tips:

Keep speeches short. If a speech runs for more than three sentences or so, it (usually) risks being too long.

Ensure characters speak in their own voice. And make sure your characters don’t sound the same as each other.

Add intrigue. Add slang and banter. Lace character chats with foreshadowing. You needn’t be writing a thriller to do this.

Get in late and out early. Don’t bother with small talk. Decide the point of each interaction, begin with it as late as possible, ending as soon as your point is made.

Interruption is good. So are characters pursuing their own thought processes and not quite engaging with the other.

[lilacsoutofthedeadland]

TR+HP Massive Fic Rec List

EDIT: Looks like this will be constantly updated whenever I see fit. ;U;

Before going through this, I want to address that anyone looking through this list should expect some really dark ideas/imagery, etc. Considering the pairing(s) we are dealing with, this should come as really no surprise. Most of these works will already be appropriately tagged for readers (by the original authors) to avoid anything they’re uncomfortable with, so keep an eye out and read things carefully. I think I only needed to really give a warning about one fic rec, so generally things should be fine.

LAST UPDATED: 04/09/2017

Note: Mostly alphabetical by author…If you see the same author listed several times, that’s a sign you should definitely check them out. These are only some of my most favorite fics and/or really good fic concepts, meaning that if you check the author’s other works, you might find other amazing works that I have neglected to mention. Warning for possible spoilers…I get…‘passionate’ about really great scenes, though I don’t think I outright spoil in great detail, any of the actual endings of longer fics. Anyway, happy browsing!

Mostly Tomarry, but there may be a few stray HarryMorts or other Harry+Tom+Horcrux+Voldy varieties. Straight-up smut is rare here, but occasional. Smut may be included in the fics, but not as the focus.

Going through this WILL take a while, especially with the longer fics, so I recommend taking your time, maybe relaxing with some tea or something. Have fun.

My reviews range from somewhat intellectual to just plain memespeak/swearing, to a mix of both. I will apologize in advance.

*******

ao3 links

Completed:

In Somno Veritas by ansketil, ladyoflilacs (I bookmarked it, and remembered it being quite good? It’s Voldemort/Harry, rather than Tomarry.) 

I Have Seen Your Heart by Arliene (This is exceptional. Instead of Harry being the one to brave the past, it’s Tom arriving in the future, although Harry’s perspective is more of the focus. DAT ENDING. TOTAL MINDFUCK. Last three letters of this fic: “TBC.” I AM SHOOK. )

and all I could hear was your pulse by belatrix (Very haunting and gorgeous.)

The Coffee Shop AU by BigJellyMonster (Short, sweet, and really cute!! Barista!Harry and author!Tom. I love oblivious!Harry and Tom making Harry his muse.)

Love Potion Disaster by BigJellyMonster (Really cute!! Exactly what you expect after reading the title.)

Petrified by BigJellyMonster (OK. BUT WOW, that ending! I had to reread that last line because damn, did it take me off guard.)

The Soul of a Statue by BigJellyMonster (I am a sucker for Greek mythology, and Pygmalion and Galatea was one of my favorites from an early age. Still is a favorite, in fact.)

Icarus by budchick (I really loved this one. The summary is precious. Tom’s father actually has a big role in this one~ So good!)

All For Show by cannibalinc (Harrymort. Whoo boy, this was incredibly intriguing. Very political. Lmao at Dumbledore’s portrait in Chapter 4. Also, poor Draco.) 

Ozymandias by chocowilliams (Ah, I love the title. And this fic is beautiful, sad, and creepy. That ending, wow.)

Drowned piano by Clarisse (transnymphtaire) (This is really pretty and haunting. From Tom’s perspective. Master of Death!Harry is beautiful and creepy. Love the imagery and tone of this.)

Lies by Clarisse (transnymphtaire) (A Soulmate!AU, though instead of the usual fare, it is lies that appear on the skin. Pretty dark in a beautiful way. Tom isn’t the one doing the damage this time, luckily. Time and place for that in other fics, haha.)

A Lesson in Defense by thecrimsonmonarch (Time Travel. Professor!Harry Charmingly awkward, embarrassed Harry trying to flee the advances of a student. *Gasp* how scandalous! Tom is so thirsty in the end. Boy needs Jesus.)

You’re a Parasitic Psycho Filthy Creature Finger-Banging My Heart by Cryptkeeper (orphan_account) (Damn, that title tho. One of the rare smuts in this rec list. The separating?? images are really cute and I aspire to grow up and look half as cute as some ghosts with skulls, flowers, candles, and incense sticks.)

Try series by d_aia (This is just a really great series. I recommend this.)

Don’t Trust Me by DeeDee (I’m pretty sure I saw flayu’s fanart of this fic floating around somewhere. Both the art and this fic are great.)

A Visit to Wool’s by Durrant (Short and sweet. Time travel at a young age. Tom is still in character, and it’s a very cute fic.)

Dream Boy by Evandar (Sin. Well-written sin. Dark and seductive.)

Butterfly Heart by The_Fictionist (I’m sure everyone and their pet cat knows who this author is, btw. This is a beautiful Hannibal-inspired fic. If you enjoy Hannigram and Tomarry, you will be extremely satisfied. Haunting, gorgeous, and captivating.)

The Circus of Riddles by The_Fictionist (I’m going to say this phrase/variations of it a lot, but I have a weakness for ‘blank.’ In this case, stories of the fey. This fic is exactly what I want out of a story like this. Excellent.)

Impressing Professor Potter by The_Fictionist (Damn, Tom is thirsty as heck and is one smooth mofo in this fic. Poor Harry does not stand a chance. my boi tommy you need jesus.)

Kisses Cursed series by Lydia_Theda, The_Fictionist (Damn, some of you are making it hard for me to arrange this alphabetically, but whatever it’s all good. Beauty and the Beast, Tomarry style, with some other works~)

Love’s Loathing by The_Fictionist (Damn, The_Fictionist, back at it again with the great fics. I’m so sorry for this stupid meme, end me. The summary on ao3 will basically give you the clearest message of the plot than anything I could ever write about this amazing work.)

in death we seek devotion by flat_teeth (onetrickpony) (A very dark Soul Mate!AU. Beautiful.)

falling slowly series by Flufferdoodle (This was a very good series. The first part was really well-written, while the second really gave me feels.)

Broom Closet by IsysSkeeter (Short and sweet. The ending from Tom’s perspective is amazing, my god.)

The Closing Of The Year by kcstories (The summary alone is amazing. A very interesting read with a focus on Albus Severus Potter’s take on Tomarry, and getting used to living with Tom.)

The Locket by ladydea (Holy smokes this is fine smut.)

Lucifer by leontina (Leontina) (Short and sweet, at least in comparison to some of the monsters in this list. Interesting, and I love the beginning! You’ll see why when you read the summary…)

Target by LittleMissXanda (Hitmen!Tomarry. Harry is accidentally assigned to Tom-it’s not his policy to attack other hitmen-and sneaks away before Tom could notice him…or so he thinks…)

An I for an I by lordmarvoloriddle (WOW. This was amazing. Harry doesn’t actually go to the past, in this one. It’s really, really good. Gorgeous. I have no words.)

Father figure by lordmarvoloriddle (Whoa, man. Poor Ginny, but at the same time, get rekt. Very hot. Dat ending. Why are there so many excellent endings?)

Lest You Are My Enemy by Maeglin_Yedi (One of the first fics I’ve read. Just realllllly well-written and gorgeous. God, Tom is just really charming and deceptive and seductive. I feel like I should go to straight to hell after reading this. Welp. It was well worth it and I don’t regret a thing.)

The Soul Adores by Maeglin_Yedi (I remember this fic being really good. Some Snape/Harry and the three of them together, as well, in addition to the standard Tomarry we come to expect and love.)

Voice in the Walls by MalignSensualist (Harry starts to hear things. Mature Tomarry with praise kink and some Voldemort.)

Don’t Fuck With Florists (They’ll Fuck You Up) by MayMarlow (What do I love? Time travel. Master of Death!Harry. Flowers. That’s all in here. Harry tries to convince Tom that being Dark Lord isn’t the way to go, and that politics are where it’s at. I adore this fic. Not to mention that there is gorgeous art by talented artists.)

Thy Pyrrhic Victories by MayMarlow (I love Alice in Wonderland-inspired works. Victorian literature generally interests me. I happily downloaded it, seeing that unlike the other fics on this list, this one is not actually readable on the site. The way this fic is presented is just creative and wonderful. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with some of the roles the characters take…)

Everything’s Fine in the Beast Division by Merrinpippy (This is part of the Tomarry Valentine Exchange. This has great characterization, and has the cast of Fantastic Beasts. Also has Tom giving Harry the locket. I am a complete sucker for fics where Tom gives Harry the locket and/or ring. I cannot reiterate that enough.)

Thank you Shakespeare by Merrinpippy (First, I love the Shakespeare references. Second, I loved Harry and Tom’s interactions. Just wow.)

To Be Set Free by Merrinpippy (I remember reading this and always anticipating the next updates. This is a Cinderella AU. The HP universe really lends itself well to things like this, though it also really helps that this was written very well, haha. Just read it. I have no more I can say.)

Gilgamesh by Morgan Steelgrave (m_steelgrave) (This one is pretty different from most time travels. Heavily-focused on Tom…and you’ll find out why once you read it. Very hauntingly beautiful.)

All The World by Nillen (This is really, really good! Tom is a detective. There is a really crazy twist. I had this bookmarked, but apparently it did not show up when I was looking through them? I’m really glad I remembered it by myself!)

The Fragrance of a Moon Orchid by nuttyasafruitcake (Soulmate!AU with a twist. When you meet your soulmate, you gain the sense of smell. I adore the descriptions of the flowers in this fic.)

Haunted and Hunted series by ObsidianPen (This is extremely excellent. I’m sure many people have already read this by now. Some minor Drarry, moreso Draco crushing on Harry, which Voldy is incredibly quick to try to eradicate. This series pretty much made me fall in love with piano-playing!Harry. Locket was my bae…)

Simple Request by AnOrcaLullaby (Harry’s era!AU with no Voldemort. Tom wants Harry to pretend to be his fiancé…)

To Kill You With a Kiss by Paimpont (I think a lot of people rec this…? With good reason. I vaguely remember something like that…or I’ve finally gone insane. It’s really good. Nothing more needs to be said. Tom is a professor. Take that, Dumbles.)

The Dream Eater by partofforever (Art and horror. My fam. God, this was beautifully creepy. OH SHIT THAT END. Btw, this author has more fics in their native language, for you lucky people who can read them~)

Forget Me Not by partofforever (I remember reading this a while ago. I also remember it was incredibly beautiful.)

The Journal of a Young Clerk by partofforever (Sad, but it ends happily. Soulmate!AU where you stay eighteen years old until you find your other half.)

The Swan Prince by partofforever (Ballet!AU. Memory loss.)

The Three Roses by partofforever (This was beautiful but IT MADE ME REALLY SAD. I don’t regret it in the slightest, however.)

Winter, spring, summer, autumn… and winter again series by partofforever (I read this some time before, but I do remember it was pretty cute. Very pleasant and pretty imagery. Also, like many Tomarrys, time travel shenanigans, though less emphasis on the shenanigans part. Interesting and profound. A lovely read.)

Try by ponnu (Short, sweet, and not happy. This isn’t your standard Harry-goes-back-in-time-and-things-mostly-work-out type of fic. AT ALL. Very interesting.)

Pianissimo by Apuzzlingprince (Harry’s kindness and compassion usually serve him well in many Tomarry fics. WELP. NOT IN HERE. Very dark, but definitely lovely.)

We’re going to be beautiful, Harry by Apuzzlingprince (Ohohoho. A reeeally nice soul mate one. Tom is reaaaaally darkly possessive towards the end. Whew!)   

The Perfect Murder by QuillOfFortune (The title and summary alone are simply amazing. Just read it. Starts out as shenanigans, but then gets much, much darker.)

How’s the weather (am I better) by RenderedReversed (Not into a/b/o, but this is written extremely well and focuses more on Tom and Harry’s relationship than actual physicality, which is pretty rare in most a/b/os. Lots of feels. I love how Harry was so convinced Tom would abandon him, and that Tom proved him wrong. Also, I love how protective Absol was. And Harry’s Altaria made me think of my first shiny Pokémon-Swablu, who I evolved into an Altaria in my Pokémon Ruby game. Nostalgia.)

Thomas Riddle and the Lamb of Dreams by RenderedReversed (This was a very interesting AU! Harry is a god here, specifically the God of Dreams, and Tom is his “champion.”)

Underneath the Boughs of an Elder Tree by RenderedReversed (I’m a sucker for fairy tales, The Tale of the Three Brothers, and wandmaker!Harry. This fic just happens to have all of those elements. Love the ending and closing line.)

Vernal Equinox by RenderedReversed (…The simple reason I didn’t get into Miraculous Ladybug was because I personally didn’t like her costume sorry not sorry I am very particular about my superhero costumes but the OTP is cute so I’m the only one depriving myself, but damn. You read this fic, and just go from…intrigued…’wait, wat,’ to ‘!!!’ This is a Soulmate AU+ ‘Dark’ Superhero AU. You’ll be very surprised at finding out what side people are on. This is a oneshot, but you can’t help but wonder about everything. It really works well as a standalone work, but the potential for so much drama and blood and betrayal… Oh god, and the ending.)

Bad Reputation by rightonthelimit (Role Reversal~ Very nice. Based on fanart.)

Can’t Get Enough by rightonthelimit (Holymoly, this is some fine quality smut.)

Counting Bodies Like Sheep by rightonthelimit (oh snap. Zombies, man. ALSO WHY DO SOME OF THESE TOMARRYS HAVE SUCH MINDFUCKERY ENDINGS. BEAUTIFUL. WOULD READ AND/OR HAVE READ AGAIN.)

Little Lion Man by rightonthelimit (Also based on fanart. Detective!Tom and Psycho!Harry. Very good!)

Running Up That Hill by rightonthelimit (Deaf!Tom, and heroic Harry. Draco and Gang are bullies. OH SHIT DAT TWIST AT THE END. Probably one of my favorite modern!au’s.)

Say Something series by rightonthelimit (Basically sin. Features Tom as Harry’s stepdad. Infidelity and a whole lot of other things. Some Cedric/Harry, though Tom does not stand for it for too long.)

Secrets by rightonthelimit (A fic where Tom is working at Borgin and Burkes and it escalates into some explicitness against the counter and Tom smugly thinking Borgin would be appalled by the actions taking place on said counter. Very good and a realistic ending.)

Stripped by rightonthelimit (Very fine smut. Consensual somnophilia.)

of demons and mortals by seulo (This is beautiful crack. It’s straight up hilarious. Our usually terrifying Dark Lord is a harmless knitted doll. Nice ending and the mention of Draco’s role in this, at the end, made me laugh in the ugliest of ways.)

Kismet by SweetSorcery (Egyptologist!Tom and curse breaker!Harry. Noice.)

The Love of a Good Wizard by SweetSorcery (I think this is another one I’ve seen recced frequently?? Pansy is time traveling with Harry, this time.)

Set the Sails (and don’t look back) by Terrific_Lunacy (Pirate!Au with physician!Harry and pirate captain!Tom. HARRY IS A COMPLETE BADASS. THAT’S IT EVERYONE ELSE CAN GO HOME. WE DON’T NEED YOU. HE’S NOBLE AND CARING BUT SNARKY AND IRREVERENT TO TOM AT THE SAME TIME. THIS YOUNG MAN DOES NOT CARE ABOUT DEATH AND GIVES ABSOLUTELY NO FLYING FUCKS. I want to grow up to be just like him. Man, is he a hardass. Also there are hints of him being some kind of otherworldly/ethereal being, or at least half? Ooh.)

The Hekan ritual by Titels (Demon!Tom, Exorcist!Harry.)

love is touching souls (surely you touched mine) by ToAStranger (This fic has a special place in my heart. I. Just. Wow. When I finished reading it for the first time, I was really moved. It’s so beautiful. I can’t count the number of times I’ve come back to read this fic. The fingers on both of my hands are not enough…I am not exaggerating. I love how Tom is presented as excessively charming but still unrepentantly evil, yet salvageable…gah. If I wasn’t on the aromantic side of the ace spectrum, I’d have a crush on both how he and Harry are portrayed in this fic. Precious, kind, strong, righteous Harry. Probably my most favorite characterization of the two of them, ever?? Read it.)

For the Good of Us All by toomanysunkenships (A very great Time-Travel fic.)

Fowl Pals by Watermelonsmellinfellon (I really enjoyed this one. The title basically sums up the fic, so none of my blathering nonsense is necessary.)

Ice Cream Stalker by Watermelonsmellinfellon (This was incredibly adorable. Again, the author is good at titles so I have no need to explain.)

Moments in Time by Watermelonsmellinfellon (Read this a while ago. I remember it being very good. M-preg at the end, not usually my thing, but DAMN I WAS JUST HAPPY THINGS ENDED WELL. THEY DESERVE IT.)

Póthosca by Watermelonsmellinfellon (I AM WEAK TO THIS ONE. A creature similar to boggart shows up, showing one’s deepest desire. Imagine the SHENANIGANS. Or you know, just read the fic.)

Backslash by wynnebat (This was really good!! Tom and Harry at Borgin and Burkes.)

Through My Veins by xxTwasADreamxx (Look me straight in the eye without blinking and tell me that its summary doesn’t sound at least a bit intriguing to you.)

The Gardens of Riddle Manor by VanillaGhost (Rapunzel/Beauty and the Beast fairytale-inspired. This one was absolutely gorgeous. Read it.)

My Name is Tom by VanillaGhost (HelpthisissogoodI’mdying. Android!Tom. The Golden Trio’s act of kindness backfires like you cannot even believe. Disturbing and pushing the limits of the Uncanny Valley. It’s gorgeous and has lovely art.)

***

In-Progress/Incomplete:

Hem of Your Garment by adVENTitiious (I really adore this one. One of the first time travels I’ve read. Really good!)

Macchiato by aquilagrey (This one is really adorable! Barista!Harry and CEO!Tom!!! Their interactions are very cute and in character! Luna is also here being cute! Why is this fic so cute?? )

Chasing The Careless Traveller by Arliene (THIS IS SO GOOD. Time travel, like one would expect. BUT. Wow. The inclusion of Blaise as a companion of Harry’s is something new and fresh. So good!)

Whirlpools series by asterismal (asterisms) (Very promising series, at currently one fic. Poor Tom, but damn, Harry’s thoughts in the closing lines are phenomenal.)

Moments by BigJellyMonster (So good so far. Lovely imagery within some dreams.)

Trapped Away From Sea by BigJellyMonster (Ohohohoho. Merman!Harry. This is based on the Little Mermaid AND Killing Stalking. …Judging by that, you know it’s gonna be good. DAT CLIFFHANGER. I also love the language barrier. And boy, do I love how unlike the readers, poor Harry has no idea that this particular human is more of a predator than any shark in the ocean.)

Consulting Dark Lord by Chess+Wraith (Tom the consulting detective. Partner Snape. And Harry…whoa. Very promising. Tom and Harry are so close to meeting, dammit.)

Times of Peace series by conquerorofheaven (This is some pretty good stuff. Time travel with Harry becoming the new DADA instructor or something of that nature. Very possessive Tom, which let’s face it, is probably a thing 99.8% of us like for this pairing.)

How to prevent a War by CrazyJanaCat (Read this some time ago. Actually my first bookmark for this pairing! I remember some really great scenes/ideas.)

The Root of All Evil Is Love by Crystia (This is so pure. I think I stumbled upon this fc because of a certain fanartist~ The summary is concise, but hilarious. Oh Harry, my sweet child you always have the worst luck, but that’s pretty much canon.)

The Portrait by DariaSilver (This is really, really beautiful. Tom and Voldy are portraits. Slight Drarry. Why is Tom so charming? I cry knowing this isn’t finished. The only thing giving me hope in humanity is that in some alternate universe, this fic is complete. Rest in fucking pieces.)

The Divine Right of Kings series by darklordtomarry (das_omen) (I’m surprised I haven’t found this series sooner! Grey!Harry that is incredibly interesting…and an information broker! The plot is concerned with slight au…focusing on royalty and politics. The plot, as well as character interactions and relationships are quite intriguing, particularly within Harry’s family. Also, the James and Sirius bromance is hilarious, especially regarding the scene in the very first chapter of the first fic that caused the nearby Draco to run away.)

Lord of Time by DebsTheSlytherinSnapeFan (I think I remember some really good ideas from this. It’s been a while since I first read through it, so I don’t think I can give it the summary it deserves. Luckily it’s very lengthy if you find yourself enjoying it. You probably will. A very interesting time travel fic with an epic length, drama, and a lot of consideration put into the time period it takes place in.)

Looking Ahead by dinopire (Art Student!Tom, Photography Student/Model!Harry. Jesus I really like this one. A whole a lot of potential!! What is here so far is reaaaallly wonderful!!)

The Wand Chooses by DreamerEye (Very interesting concept. Wandmaker!Harry.)

Dance with the Devil by Driverpicksthemooseic (Ratkinzluver33) (One of my slightly more recent loves. Harry with a Horcrux!Tom and Voldemort. Harry is amusing. Very promising potential.)

White Innocence series by emriel (This is one of the more recent fic series, and it has been very promising. It’s a Harry goes-back-in-time-but-as-a-kid fic. The way little!Tom is depicted is AMAZING. I really do love it. I especially adore fics that show a child!Tom with really accurate characterization.)

Dreams and Darkness Collide by Epic Solemnity by Dark_Cyan_Star (Holysmokes this was dark and violent and oh do I love it. Harry is so dark but it’s balanced with him being pretty relatively heroic about his killing intent, so it’s a bit closer to his character. I also love a good-by good I mean well-written, he is still beautifully pretty amoral and complex-Minister for Magic!Tom.)

Grimoire for the Devil series by fadingstarlight (Geneveon) (Slytherin!Harry aka Hadrian. Alternate Universe and very EXPLICIT, like wooooo, XXX-rated, man.)

Baby, You’re Mine series by Fairygirl34 (I love the idea behind this series. Tom just being an evil bastard and taking what he wants without remorse, which, in this case, is Harry, and to some lesser degree, little Albus. Harry already has Ginny, but apparently that doesn’t matter at all. Welp.)

Nursery Rhymes AU series by Fairygirl34 (I’m weak for this sort of fic idea. Many nursery rhymes have a creepy origin, and this series expresses a love for such a dark thing. Very promising.)

Phantom Love by Fairygirl34 (Another recent one I found. Tom obsessively watching and leaving gifts for the Phantom Harry. Harry not falling for his tricks and trying in vain to resist his advances. I love that while Harry is the Phantom of the Opera, Tom, in a twisted turn of events, is the Angel of ‘Darkness.’ That’s pretty great. And there’s only two more chapters left!)

Dancing With Deceit by The_Fictionist (Ahhhh, this one was very good. Just read it.)

Fine Green Eyes by grayclouds (Pride and Prejudice-inspired! I regret only subscribing to this and not bookmarking it because this took some time for me to rediscover. This is really amazingly written and I cannot wait for the next update.)

Lithium by grayclouds (One of my first Tomarrys. It’s really great! There is some Cedric/Harry, too. A very good read.)

Loveless by Hyoushin (Very good. The focus is more on Tom. I especially adored the Paradise Lost reference in Chapter 4. That was especially fitting for Tom.) 

The Fox and The Stag series by KaedeRavensdale (I really remember liking many elements of this one. There was a lot that made this pretty unique. Also, somewhere in the first story, Tom goes back to the future with Harry, which is relatively rare.)

Turn Back 53 by Kefalion (Sadly abandoned, but I’m honestly grateful for anything. Wow, this is so well-written. Lmao, at some point they kinda do a ‘meet-cute??’ with Harry and Tom meeting face-to-face while bumping into each other. They keep meeting this way, actually. Also why is Tom so hot in this fic like SIGN ME THE FUCK UP. Smoking those Muggle smokes, damn, man. Catching Harry like some fucking fairy tale prince. He needs to be arrested…and not even just for being a murderer.)

Would Be He: Lion or Lamb? by KillerInADress (Ahhhh, I really love the interaction between Tom and Harry in Chapter 2. Really hope this updates.) 

Field Theory by Machiavelli (Childhood friends!AU. Harry saves Tom…and the tags inform us that ‘this will probably get quite dark’…)

If Them’s the Rules by MayMarlow (Our glorious pairing, Tomarry, is essentially built on the time travel trope, so it should be no surprise that I’m reccing this particular fic. In this story Harry goes back in time to raise Tom. Usually when I read fics with similar plots, there’s always a little something I’m not really into. But not here. There’s also a very interesting plot with Grindelwald, outside of the Tomarry. The Grindelwald + Harry interactions were also pretty nice. Oh, silly Harry for forgetting about the other handsome genocidal dark wizard during this time period. To be fair, he does have his hands full with young Tom.)

The Train to Nowhere by MayMarlow (Who do I love? MayMarlow. One of the earliest Tomarry fics I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Very intriguing premise. I love Harry’s visits to the ‘train station.’ I love the feelings that accompany this sense of otherworldliness whenever I read about Harry is in this other realm.)

+

The Other Chapter 36 by Mavrick (This fic is one of the works responsible for why I said my list was, “’Mostly’ alphabetical by author.” Also, just realized. This fic is also in the incomplete section, despite being completed...mainly because I wanted to keep it together with “The Train to Nowhere.” Welp. That’s entirely fine because I adored this. A tribute to the above fic. God, I loved how creepy it was with the paintings. I felt chills. Beautiful and scaaaary, if that’s what you’re into. I’m definitely into that.)

Labyrinth by Mer_des_Miroirs (A regency!au with other references. Excellent and interesting.)

Kings of Flowers and Skulls by Merrinpippy (So basically if a fic was destined to become a fast favorite of mine…this one definitely embodies a bunch of things I love. And I sincerely love flowers, skulls, and fairy tales…which are all in here. Tom and Harry as opposite, but complementary otherworldly deities…also a HUGE plus. Ahhh…so good~)

Words Fail by NeaMarika (One of my favorite time travel fics. Really good, it’s different from most because people are aware of Harry’s status as a time-traveler. Also, oblivious!Harry strikes again, to my COMPLETE AMUSEMENT. Oh boy, poor Tom. Lmao, boi can’t even comprehend the possibility of anyone possibly rejecting his handsome, fiiiiiiine, genius self. )

Scarred Match in Time by NicoDiAngeloLover7, vampireangel389 (Tom is actually pretty nice in this one, but what really sticks out to me here is how Harry’s memory loss is treated. I really like the startling but distressing images we get from Harry, who only has vague notions of his experiences.)

Divine by ObsidianPen (I am weak for mythology. This is no exception. This has endless promise. Oh lord, this is so good.)

Incendiary by ObsidianPen (The summary and the tags are definitely what caught my attention! A very interesting au idea! Also, Harry’s parents are alive and he has a sister and is generally much happier, yay! Young Grindeldore and the Triwizard tournament. Also, despite this being an AU, poor Harry somehow manages to also be involved in the tournament, though his rival, Tom, is also a champion…Can’t wait for this story to progress to that point!)

No Glory by ObsidianPen (Incredibly dark and haunting. Another great work from the author. Voldemort/Harry with an incredibly well-thought-out plot.)

Wanderingly by ObsidianPen (Labyrinth!AU. This is incredibly promising. I’m honestly very excited to see how things are going to progress.)

Memory of Stars by Ownlildreamworld (morg) (Very intriguing plot, thus far. Kinda political, with Harry trying to come to some sort of compromise with Tom/Voldemort.)

Nature versus Nurture series by RenderedReversed, Zenithyl (I love the concept of the Seven Deadly Sins and Horcruxes being fused together. So. Yeah. Rereading this to refresh my memory while I’m compiling this list would be counterproductive, but from what I remember I spent some solid hours reading this with a lot of appreciation. The chapter amount might look incredibly daunting, but each chapter is only at least 100 words. So. Not so scary.)

this ain’t no fairytale series by RenderedReversed (One day, this series decided to slap me in the face-in the greatest of ways-and I soon became hooked after the first fic. Characterization is spot-on, and I love the world building. Their relationship is lovely and profound, and I love that both Tom and Harry are keeping secrets from each other about their pasts, though are slowly opening up to each other. My fantasy gaming experience is mostly in the Fire Emblem series, but this fic is encouraging me to look into the highly-rated Recettear, on Steam, which this au is based on.)

Until Death Do Us Part by Rendered Reversed (I really love fics where there is powerful imagery and otherworldliness. Tom and Harry and Gods, here, so yay. Also Yandere!Harry. BIG YAY.)

Zubats, Zubats Everywhere by RenderedReversed (Bruh, it’s a Pokémon AU. That’s honestly the only excuse I need. I love their roles in this. It’s a nice, playful breath of air.)

Not Strong Enough by Sayon_170 (Help me, child!Tom is the sweetest most and possessive little thing. Harry goes back in time to raise Tom. There’s an OC, but it’s actually very interesting to see the budding Tomarry dynamic from that character’s perspective. Tom has not yet matured enough to cultivate his cultured, charming mask to present to the rest of the world, and it’s pretty alarming and fascinating to think what will happen to Tom and Harry’s relationship in the future. Harry, good luck.)

that one mutant romance series by seulo (…Have I mentioned I’m also into comics? I AM. Hello, X-Men. This is Tomarry with mutants. Amazing concept, strong characterization, and beautiful, haunting imagery. My favorite scene is when Harry turns into his dead mother. Also, I’m sobbing over the author calling Tom ‘T-Ridds,’ in the notes somewhere. God, that’s funny.)

in blood our eulogies shall be drawn by shilu_ette (Time travel. Master of Death!Harry. Tomarry and Drarry.)

Lanificus Orsa series by Sineluce_Velius_Tristitia (Time travel. Master of Death!Harry. Very intriguing. I especially loved the second fic, and its later parts, like the ending.)

47 Days to Change (a translation) by snow_owl01 (This is a translation of a Chinese fic that someone was kind enough to translate! I remember really liking this. Basically, time travel where Harry goes back to raise Tom.)

The Spellmaker by SonnyGietzel (Very interesting ideas in this one. Very bookish!Harry. I cry because the only Tom Harry ever gets to talk to is the barkeep. And then you look at the last date updated…IT HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL.)

Good Intentions by Strange_Soulmates (I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT THIS FIC. PROBABLY ONE OF MY FAVORITES. Child!Harry is such a pure and precious cinnamon roll. Tom, on the other hand, is a sinnamon roll. There’s something both poetic and beautifully fucked up when you read about little Harry unknowingly helping his new BFF Handsome Prince Tom design the motherfricken’ Dark Mark. In which vandalism will probably be the least of Tom’s crimes. I also love how tiny Harry is so wise and kind, but is still unable to recognize the extent of Tom’s evil. He thinks Tom is being cool, I can’t even- Tom is so in love with Harry that you’ll feel like Lily and James in the beginning of the unlikely duo’s relationship, all warm and approving. It’s really so sweet. Also, the end of chapter 4 is glorious, pls read it. To quote chapter 3 and James’ decision of bringing Harry and Tom closer together: “It was the worst mistake he ever made in his life.” If that doesn’t make you want to keep reading, I don’t know what else will.)

Matelotage by Strange_Soulmates (A pirate!au for Tomarrytines. WOW, ANOTHER AMAZING PIRATE!AU. AND THIS ONE HAS JUST STARTED. The characterization in this is simply superb, and Harry is strong, but still retains his morals and selflessness. He cleverly bargains with Tom, and is just all-around awesome??? Tom is also described quite well with his propensity for cunning and violence, and Barty is winning a special place in my heart.)

More Precious than Rubies by Strange_Soulmates (I am waiting with bated breath for this to be finished. It’s beautiful. I’m not sure how else to describe this. A fairy tale turned on its head, where the princess, sorry Harry, wizard stuck in a tower falls in love with the dragon guarding him. Possessive Tom is already a thing I’m into. Possessive Dragon Tom? Hell yes.)

Light House by teecup_angel (…This is super great. Very nice concept. Check out the summary. I have no more words.)

Blurring Reality by Terrific_Lunacy (The first fic I found by this author. Oh no, it’s too good please save me. IT’S REALLY GOOD. Dancing!AU. The characterization and story are really great. I love this so much. Please read it.)

Let’s start the show by Terrific_Lunacy (…It’s probably a good thing if I rec most/all of the fics of a particular author. This fic has class issues, the circus, and political intrigue. It’s pretty fucking interesting, in layman’s terms. Harry is bae, but I pretty much love him in all of this author’s fics. So.) 

Rebuilt by Terrific_Lunacy (Really dramatic, magnificent Steampunk!AU. Lots of world building and characterization. Really, really good with a very intricate and impressive plot. I feel smarter after reading it, haha.)

An echo of the past by TosMichiyo (I reaaaallly liked this one. One of those rare Tom-comes-to-the-future fics.)

Twin Skeletons series by transpreussen (Time travel. What is different about this one is that poor Harry isn’t alone like he normally is. He has friends with him in the past, yay.)

Push and Pull by Vespairty (Time travel with Master of Death!Harry aka Hadrian. WWII, also focusing on Grindelwald and Dumbledore. Harry writes letters to Tom, and vice-versa. Can’t wait for them to finally meet up!)

Wear Me Like A Locket Around Your Throat by VivyPotter (I remember being really intrigued by this one. What caught my attention the most was the summary. It’s our old friend time travel, but the unique description of a time turner explosion leaving golden scars on Harry is really pretty imagery.)

I Waited For You, In The Shadows Of Time by watchingvfall_n_drown (This one is pretty special to me and close to my heart. I stumbled upon it one day, and was hooked ever since. It’s a bit different from some of the other fics I rec. Lots of purple prose and beautifully flowery language, if you’re into that. I just really love the general air of ethereal otherworldliness about it. Most of that vibe is from Harry, or at least how Tom/Voldy/Marvolo/whatshisname sees him as. Jesus son, are you moonlighting as a poet when you aren’t murdering people.)

Your Name on My Heart by whitedandelions (I remember liking this. A SoulMate!AU that’s a bit different than what we’ve come to expect.)

In Noctem by windwrites (Dark!Harry. Remember it being interesting. Politics. Doesn’t look like it’s going to update soon, sadly.)

Memento Mori, Memento Amor by You_Light_The_Sky (This is actually going to be rewritten, and I am incredibly excited for that day to come. I remember really loving this idea. Harry putting the pieces of Tom’s soul back together.)

Teaching History (is Old News) by You_Light_The_Sky (I love this one. It’s hilarious and crack-filled. If you read this one after a depressing Tomarry, you’ll feel much better. Read it, fam.)

*******

fanfiction.net/other links

Also known as I burned by brain going through my ao3 links.

*If you only post fics on tumblr, sorry for me being a pleb and not looking there.*

complete & in-progress:

Their Verdict of Vagaries by: Angstier (81 chapters. I remember it being pretty good. And it’s very LONG. So. Read. It.)

Framed & Fractured by: Antediluvian Poet (I am weak for fics about magical paintings..i.e. see earlier examples of this phenomena in the recs. This is time travel, though ‘unconventional,’ as the author puts it. It’s written with a very creepy and haunting mood. Ah, and Tom is so great. Very in character and I just love the way he’s trying to figure out Harry’s secrets. I’m really curious and excited, imaging how things are gonna turn out!)

Iridescent by: BloodyWar2411 (The plot is similar to this manhwa called Totally Captivated, but the author addresses this later. I have also read both works, and I think the similarities are coincidence. It really is not very hard to imagine Tom as a mob boss, after all.)

October by: The Carnivorous Muffin (It’s full of purple prose and incredibly verbose and full of interesting diction. Some may feel that these qualities are a turn-off, but as you can tell by my own ao3 username, I really appreciate the T.S. Eliot quotes in Chapters 9 and 10. The later plot might range from confusing to bizarre, but god do I love how otherworldly and inhuman Harry/Azrael is depicted.)

Fate’s Favorite

Destiny’s Darling

Past’s Player

(The Fictionist’s old stuff. One of my first Tomarrys. Bless.)

Secret Keepers by Hijja (Really good. Nice interactions, meaning written well…they are not especially happy together in this, haha.)

The Anti-Midas by Libertine (Really really good. Dat ending. Mindfuck-ish?)

Wand Cores by Lydia-kitten (Grindeldore side pairing. It’s been a while, but I remember this being good. Sadly doesn’t look like it’s updating any time soon…)

Rain and Regret by TheMuser (This is Harrymort. Beautiful and sad.)

The Diary of a Mad Wizard by Passo (Damn, that ending is priceless.)

love in lower case by Passo (It’s a very lovely and pleasant fic. The fourth wall is pretty much broken in a very fascinating manner. Harry basically escapes from the world of fanfiction, but still ends up with Tom, fortunately. Very poetic and pretty.)

Devil’s Advocate by Rose Ferguson (Incredibly good with nice art. The link to the sequel is on the bottom of the page, if you scroll down.)

Desirable Undesirable by SpiteSpawnsLies (Oh….oh my.)

*******

The dear god please help me section:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/451383/chapters/1905781

Right, so this is a link to a fic that, last I checked, was not dead??? Did I get the URL wrong?? Anyone have a pdf of whatever this may be?? I WAS ALREADY SHOOK BECAUSE OF THE MINDFUCK OF AN ENDING but I’m pretty much deceased because I cannot even read it anymore. To jog memories, Harry was a single parent and Tom was Albus’ teacher…and Voldemort was still a thing, but Tom’s well, MORE evil twin or something. It was really well-written. I think Cedric was in there, and his role was a twist. THE ENDING IS SOMETHING I’LL NEVER FORGET THOUGH. IF YOU READ IT YOU’D KNOW.

To a lesser degree:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11992546/1/Bombastic

I honestly cannot remember what this one was about, but I trust in my past self’s judgment. Anyone know what this one was?

No links, but summaries (most likely ao3 links):

One where Harry appears back in time and catches Tom’s attention. Not a lot of dialogue. There is a New Year’s party and Tom trying to make advances…only for Harry to flee.  Harry is angsting but Tom shows up later, telling Harry that he’s already guessed that he’s a time traveler. Tom also says something about hoping that his kiss wasn’t so offensive that Harry ran away like a damsel in distress or something.

I think there also was another one where Tom is working at Borgin and Burkes, but meets Harry, who time traveled??? Harry cannot stop Tom from killing and generally being amoral, and there is a really bittersweet scene of them banging after angst, with Tom covered in the blood of his unfortunate victim, and Harry just resignedly on the rocks. Literally.

Hmm…I think something might be wrong with my bookmarks. I keep remembering plots for fics I want to add here, go to the fic and see that I bookmarked it, but did not see it the 3-5 times I have been double-checking my bookmarks. Ugh.

*******

This list basically covers what I personally love about most Tomarry fics I like to read. I had to stop myself from adding any more before things became too crazy, haha. Generally, I love most time travel fics. I definitely have more fics bookmarked that I have not included on this list, and probably only subscribed to some so I don't have their links now. I’ve also probably missed a few I would have really liked to add to this list. Some fics have probably been deleted without me knowing, as well, though I thought ao3 informed you of deleted works you’ve bookmarked???

…Now that I’ve finally finished this list, I guess I should start going back and leaving some VERY BELATED kudos and comments, haha. The whole reason I haven’t already done so was because I didn’t like my username, and only found out how to change it, like a few days ago. Welp. I think the last time I tried, probs years ago, you could only make pseuds?? That or I’m dumb. I’ll be better from now on, though. I hope people find some new fics to read, or perhaps revisit some old favorites.

Please tell me if any links are incorrect/dead. If you want your work taken off this list, PM me immediately and I will remove it as fast as I can.

I’m also always up to chat about Tomarry, so feel free to stop by my askbox~