#probably lots of grammatical errors but i cannot be bothered to re-read

[elysianymph]

i’m curious about the walburga defender!! (like genuinely not like a gotcha thing) because i see most people hate her and whatnot so i wanna know more about how you see her

ooooooh thank you for giving me a reason to talk about this 🤭🤭 this is gonna be really long bc i gotta talk about the entire black family if i wanna explain this properly and it differs a lot from how the majority of the fandom views them

i used to be one of those people that didn't really care for walburga, like i just didn't think of her at all. i thought the idea that the fandom had of her was a little weird bc they seemed to be putting all of the abusive traits onto her and completely ignoring orion in the black family dynamic. all i saw was walburga being portrayed as the only abusive one between the two of them, the crazy mother using the criciatus curse on her children and it left a really bitter taste in my mouth

bc then again, the wizarding world is very patriarchal and orion would've had the last word no matter what walburga would say or do. so even if walburga was the only outright abusive one orion would've been at least silently supporting it, if not actively engaging in that abuse alongside her.

in my head the family was very divided bc walburga and orion didn't like each other at all. walburga used to be a very loud and outspoken as a child, she was raised to believe she was better than everyone else because of her blood and she acted like it. then when she got older, her family pushed her away to be silent and obedient, to fall in the shadows of her younger brothers bc at the end of the day she was a woman. she couldn't be the heir, all she was useful for was marriage. her and orion's marriage was arranged obviously and she absolutely despised him bc she thought he was weak (and he was if we're talking about magic) and undeserving as the heir of such a noble house. in a similar fashion orion hated her because he thought she was crazy, too independent and sure of herself when she should be obedient

because of this animosity between them, when sirius was born walburga immediately took sirius under her wing to make sure he was raised 'right'. she thought orion would only mess him up. she saw potential in sirius because of how powerful he was even as a child, she was satisfied with him and thought he would make the perfect heir. she saw a side of herself reflected in him, the wildness and freedom of her younger self lived inside sirius and because of that she almost had a soft spot for him. she let him have a lot more freedom than she did and orion saw this as a bad thing, he knew sirius would take and take until walburga realized she had made a mistake but by then it would be too late (and to his credit, he was right)

because walburga had taken to raising sirius and was proud of the progress he was making, she kinda left regulus behind. he was less talented, less powerful, naturally quieter than sirius and she saw all of those as weaknesses. orion saw it as an opportunity to raise a child in the way he wanted without walburga getting in the way so he basically raised regulus to be his perfect son and manipulated him so he would be easier to control.

a lot of my view of walburga is dependent on the relationship between her and sirius specifically bc i see them as broken mirrors of each other. sirius was everything walburga could've been (free) and walburga was everything sirius could become (cold and cruel). the world wasn't kind to walburga, she was pushed aside as a child and forced into a toxic marriage that she had never wanted but sirius was a little light in her life and in his early childhood she genuinely cared for and loved him. she never stopped loving him even as he grew and broke free of the clutches of his family. to an extent the love was conditional because that was all walburga had ever known but i don't doubt for a second that sirius leaving hadn't broken her heart.

i truly believe she had mourned for him when he left because that was the biggest loss for her. the son that she had single handedly raised had left and now the house was left with an unworthy heir. that's specifically why she had pushed regulus into taking on the dark mark even though he was so young. she needed him to amount to something, to do what sirius couldn't even though she knew regulus couldn't measure up to the greatness that was lost. in a way she was resentful of sirius because deep down she wished she had been able to do what he had done, to run away and break free, but it was far too late for her.

losing regulus was the last straw for her, all hope for the house was lost. losing orion was almost a relief, she could finally breathe without him there. finding out sirius was sent to azkaban was heartbreaking because she knew what sirius was like, she knew he would've never done it. she went to visit him, still wearing her mourning robes and not even knowing for which son she was wearing them, but he wasn't there when she arrived. she had cried then, begged for sirius to come out so she could see him but it went unanswered.

she died resentful and lonely, losing her mind after everything she had dedicated her life to had been destroyed.

in my head she's just a product of her circumstances, unable to escape the cycle because she was given no opportunities. i don't think people realize how lucky sirius was that the stars literally aligned for him to be able to escape and live (somewhat) normally (for a couple years at least 💀)