#there are too many... jkr defenders...

[neverenoughmarauders]

Lily's meaningless sacrifice

One thing that irks me is when people suggest that in canon, Lily had any idea that Harry would survive (this is merely a canon post, nothing to do with fanfiction). It irks me, partly because it's just incorrect and that's the sort of person I am. More importantly, however, it irks me because Lily not stepping aside when she had nothing to gain from dying is fundamental to the story.

Let's start with JKR own words from an interview in 2005:

MA: Did she know anything about the possible effect of standing in front of Harry? JKR: No - because as I've tried to make clear in the series, it never happened before. No one ever survived before. And no one, therefore, knew that could happen.

Lily knew nothing about the possible effect of standing in front of Harry. Lily was faced with this choice:

Scenario 1: Steps aside, and Harry is killed.

Scenario 2: Be killed, and Harry is killed.

Scenario 1 is (on the surface) objectively better (unless you're a DE and thus want less muggle-borns around). To Voldemort, it's a simple choice: In both scenarios Harry will die, in one, Lily will survive. In fact, this is what makes a lot of people defend Severus' choice to only ask Voldemort to spare Lily. Severus could not save Harry (and apparently it's totally cool not trying to save others if they bullied you).

Lily could not save Harry.

Lily's choice, as far as she is aware, is not whether to save Harry or not, but whether to save herself. And yet, Lily cannot stand aside. As JKR points out earlier in the interview, what Lily did is not that surprising to us readers ("I don't think any mother would stand aside from their child"). Why? Love. Because, as Dumbledore reminds us on multiple occasions: there are worse things than death - most notably in DH:

"Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love."

Love, and life with and without love is an undercurrent in the story. Lily's sacrifice is meaningless when made, and yet it's the biggest and most understandable expression of love anyone can show someone else. Lily cannot, and does not want to, live in a world where she has witnessed her son being murdered - especially when her husband has been murdered too. A world without Harry and James is no world for Lily Potter.

It is also - bear with me - not that different from what it was like to be in the Order at that time:

[Y]ou weren’t in the Order then, you don’t understand, last time we were outnumbered twenty to one by the Death Eaters and they were picking us off one by one...

“He — he was taking over everywhere!” gasped Pettigrew. “Wh — what was there to be gained by refusing him?”

The Order operated against the odds and were being picked off one by one. As Peter asks - what was there to be gained by refusing him? What was there to be gained from standing (metaphorically or not) in front of Voldemort's victims? I've said this before and I'll say it again, Sirius' answer is powerful:

“What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed?” said Black, with a terribly fury in his face. “Only innocent lives, Peter!” “You don’t understand!” whined Pettigrew. “He would have killed me, Sirius!” “THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!” roared Black.

Only innocent lives. They weren't fighting this war because they were winning. In fact they were very much losing. But they were fighting because it was right thing to do. Many Order members chose to die, rather than to step aside and let Voldemort take over. Only in their case it didn't make a difference - or at least, it didn't feel like it at the time. Members were murdered, and Voldemort was just getting stronger and stronger.

What was there to be gained by refusing Voldemort?

I firmly believe this is a theme that is repeated throughout the book: not just love and choice, but the obligation to choose what is right, no matter the odds (the irony that this was written by JKR will never be lost on me), and how love is a powerful motivator to do just that. Doing the right thing might seem hopeless in the moment - wasteful even - but that doesn't mean it's not worth doing, or that in the end, it won't add up.

Imagine what Harry felt like at the end of PS/SS when he risked his life to stop Voldemort, only to realise that Voldemort would keep trying to come back:

“Well, Voldemort’s going to try other ways of coming back, isn’t he? I mean, he hasn’t gone, has he?” “No, Harry, he has not. (...) Nevertheless, Harry, while you may only have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time — and if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power.”

Harry Potter isn't about doing the right thing because it will bring you rewards, but because it is the right thing.

“Remember Cedric. Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory.”

This speech doesn't sit well with a few people because it sounds like you're asked to remember what happened to someone who did do the right thing (spoiler: he died). But that's not the point, of course. Cedric wasn't killed for doing the right thing or making a hard choice - Dumbledore asks the students to remember Cedric because the enemy is willing to kill innocent people indiscriminately. Standing aside will not be good enough against people like Voldemort. There is, as Dumbledore put it, a need to keep fighting what seems a losing battle. Why? Only innocent lives.

Both James and Lily die that evening because they are unwilling to let Voldemort near their innocent son as long as there is breath in their bodies. James had no choice (this irks me because he did, he could have run away - he could have not fought Voldemort in the Order to being with. They all had a choice, but not the point). Lily had a choice. And she chose, like many had before her, to fight what seemed like a losing battle. She died, not knowing that she had saved her son. Her sacrifice was meaningless - like so many before her - and yet her sacrifice changed the world.

In the end, by choosing to do what was right, she was granted the wish she most desired: Her son lived.

[pennies-rvclw]

No James wasn’t the devil and snape wasn’t his innocent victim.

Lately I’ve seen Snape Stans insisting that snape only became a death eater because of James or Sirius or his father or anyone else they want to blame, and that snape was innocent before hogwarts and innocent in all of his choices. It’s clear in the books that this is not the case. In the flashback scenes which take place before hogwarts, snape intentionally attacks a muggle with magic and makes it clear to lily that he sees her as an exception to blood purity and other muggleborns because she’s different. When lily asks him if her blood status matters he hesitates before saying it doesn’t matter, this is because it does matter to him but he thinks that she is special enough anyway. Not to mention that snape began using slurs against muggleborns before saying it to lily in fifth year, which she reveals she knew about when he tried to apologise for it.

Snape also already knew more dark magic than most adults as an incoming first year, which is listed as one of the reasons that snape was so hated by James, as Sirius and Remus say that James was always against dark magic and blood purity. Snape was using dark magic as a student early on, lily mentions he and his friends using dark magic - even against another student which snape says was just a “joke”.

I cannot find it reasonable to hate James for hating snape when snape was using dark magic and slurs on other students and clearly well on the way to being a death eater even in the early years. James learnt he took things too far as he grew up and began to avoid snape not wanting to provoke a fight, and snape would seek him out to attack him causing James to defend himself (ootp). This is not the actions of an innocent boy and his devilish bully this is a rivalry with the tensions of the war looming over them.

Also, the idea that snape was abused by his muggle father, and therefore it’s somehow okay that he became a death eater, is essentially a headcanon and a weird one. The only mention of his parents in the books is that they argue with each other and that his father is a generally miserable person- but not abusive. The idea of snape being whipped by his father came from a website, not the books or the movies or even written by jkr herself - it is therefore not canon. It is also so weird for people to try and justify snape becoming the equivalent of a Nazi because his father abused him and he happened to be a muggle, when snape grew up in a muggle neighbourhood and would have had many other experiences with muggles that were not abusive. It’s just nonsense.

Furthermore, trying to justify snape being a death eater by saying he had no other choice because he was a slytherin is again nonsense. Not every slytherin became a death eater and most people were not involved in the war based on the size of the order of the phoenix and the original named death eaters. Snape was not forced to be a death eater simply by proximity, he could have chosen to remain close to lily or other people who were not involved in the war- but he did not. He chose to be a death eater for the power and freedom to use dark magic, and because he was a blood purist as a younger man even if he grew out of it later in life.

Overall, it’s just not true to claim that the actions of James or anyone else are the reason snape “turned out” the way he did. The rivalry with James did not make snape turn out how he did because he was already like that before he even met James.

Snape is a very grey character, in my opinion more dark than light, and trying to justify his terrible behaviour by blaming everyone else takes away from the depth of his character and is also just not accurate to the canon.

[wisteria-lodge]

do you think lucius only realize he don't want to be a death eater after voldemort was defeated in the 1st war or even during it?

speaking of what are your thoughts/hc on why narcissa didn't take the dark mark despite her sister and her husband doing it? tbh i always wondered how she could've avoided it? i mean she was part of it right, she was in the meetings too

I always thought it made sense that Draco was a difficult pregnancy.

I say that because Lucius and Narcissa seem like the sort of couple who would have loved more children. Narcissa was close with her sisters before things fell apart, and Lucius was an only child... but he's so social I think that must have been lonely for him. I think he would have loved it if Draco had a younger brother or sister. And the only barrier they'd be dealing with there would be a medical one, so.

(also, I love whenever the the Malfoys and the Weasleys are foils, and the idea of Draco and Ron being born at pretty much the same time - but Ron is one of many, a little neglected, mom is a little disappointed he's not a girl etc. while DRACO is so wanted and so special. That's good stuff.)

I also think that if the Malfoys were dealing with fertility issues, Narcissa suffering, maybe even having a miscarriage - that would have made early-twenties Lucius grow up REAL fast. Because yeah, I do think that when Draco was born - about a year before Voldemort's downfall - Lucius' priorities shifted completely, and he started looking for a way out.

And I say that because Lucius rode the wave of the first war really well, coming out with his money and prestige so intact, which would have taken some planning. Lucius is also one of very few Death Eaters who actually got off using the 'imperius curse' defense. (I think the only other one is Avery.) I like the idea that he did actually plan that. Like - okay. You could have someone you trust (Narcissa, maybe Severus) put the imperius curse on you for a couple months, and that way when you're asked "Were you directed to follow Voldemort's orders under the imperius curse," you can say yes, even if you're under Veritaserum.

(Nott senior also seems to have also come out of the first war basically unscathed, but he also seems much more cautious than Lucius. I'll bet he was very good at making sure that there was never much actual evidence against him. Crabbe and Goyle senior also seem to be doing fine, and I tend to think it's because Lucius got them out (possibly because their wives were close with Narcissa? All three women would have been pregnant at the same time.) Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle are *quite* committed to keeping Draco Malfoy in one piece. I love Draco, but he does spend several books being a little shit with no ability to defend himself, so they do have their work cut out for them.)

I also think a Narcissa who spent the first Voldemort war dealing with pregnancy-related health issues could explain why she doesn't have a Dark Mark, when honestly she really should. Her husband, sister, brother-in-law, underage cousin... they're all getting them. So why was Narcissa skipped (but still allowed to remain in good standing?) I think she she stayed out of the spotlight, using her delicate health as an excuse. And then the second war comes around and she... fades to the background again, makes herself useful, and hopes that the issue never comes up. I don't think she'd say no to a confundus, or even a memory charm if she were really put on the spot.

(but the real, Doylist reason Narcissa doesn't have a Dark Mark is because JKR has a very strong aversion to writing villainous mothers. See: the very odd framing of Merope Gaunt.)

[scaramionee]

A long rant about something that's been eating my mind from the inside out so here we go (TW: Might be Controversial)-

Sometimes, I'm just very normal about James Potter and Lily Evans but then I'm not. So growing up, I watched the hp movies first so I never quite had any interest in their relationship, they just seemed like a tragic straight relationship to me so I never bothered with it. But then I read the books and I went immediately like this- "No wonder James Potter worshipped Lily Evans, I would too." Like, this woman is the legit reason why the whole harry potter thing started, and to see the fact that most of the time she's just blatantly ignored or being stripped out of her original identity to be a strong independent lesbian (I don't have any problem with her sexuality, people can imagine her with whomever they like but it kind of ridicules Lily's motherhood in some way) who absolutely either hates James Potter or Insults him for fun just bcz he has a crush on her or being a side chick for James's steamy cheating romance flings hurts me more than I think it should.

I get it, the marauders fandom wholly embraces the fanon so dearly to them like a warm blanket because of many obvious reasons, but sometimes I think we just totally miss the point of this whole franchise. It's obvious that jkr sucks at writing romances which is why most people don't get the spark of canon ships like romione, hinny and remadora but completely missing the point about Lily being a mother figure in Harry's life and as a lover figure in James's life truly pisses me off a lot. Even though everybody is allowed to dislike certain ships because not everybody has the same taste, but I think we miss the fact that Lily was always more than just a mother and a wife in a way that molded her into what she wanted to be.

The reason why I'm completely enamored by Jily is not because it's just a canon ship which literally started Harry Potter, but because the way Lily Evans just had an effect on everyone who crossed their paths with her. Professor Slughorn himself was so besotted with her, Professor Minerva McGonagall teared up at the news of her departing because who wouldn't like her? She's so brave, so full of joy and laughter that she always forgot her own pain in favor of sucking the pain out of another. James was indeed quite taken aback by her beauty and charm, but I'd like to think it developed into something more after seeing the way she treated her close individuals. Lily was the younger sibling, and because she was a witch, she constantly faced harsh behaviors from her elder sister for being a "freak" according to her sister's standards. She may have had an inferiority complex, and she also hanged out a lot with snape, despite facing discriminations in Hogwarts for being friends with a half-blood poor Slytherin. She was willing to change snape, always defending him left and right but it never worked out in the end. Which left her feeling very defeated, she gave up because she felt like she was not worth it, maybe those bullies were right and she really was just a mudblood. And James, developing a crush on her while continuously harassing snape didn't help either. But if we analyze James's character, knowing that he literally took in Sirius just so that he could escape his abusive family, he knew that Lily was downrightly getting used and snape was taking advantage of her kindness and her stubbornness, he knew it because Sirius was in Lily's place once too, always constantly reminded of how they were never enough, so he wanted to save her ( in his own pathetic loser way ofc ) I think there are many hints of Lily noticing James quite a lot because if you really claimed to hate your enemy then why were you so bloody obsessed with the way how their hair looked like after playing quidditch hmmm 🤨🤨

But not just that, let's also talk about how she literally single handedly MADE THE JAMES POTTER, the absolute arrogant toe-rag quit bullying and hexing people for fun, knowing that he's been like this for the most of his life, but he decided to change for her just like a snap of a finger! Not only that, but she also quickly befriended Sirius in a way that he literally turned out to be her future son's Godfather and the secret keeper. The absolute hold she had on the marauders really needs to be studied!

The love James and Lily had for each other was an act of rebellion in it's own way, because back in that time, muggleborns were seen as scums of the earth and inferior to the wizarding society. But James literally went against every single pureblood tradition just to be with someone he loves and believes with his whole heart. That was always the main point. The reason why both of them were so cherished. He literally went up against Voldemort without a wand not just because of his son, but also for Lily, who he absolutely trusts with his whole life, the only person worth loosing the pureblood title for, the only person worth taking the risk of taking the Avada curse to his heart, he just loved her so beautifully, just like the way she always deserved. And Lily, oh lily, always saw the good in everyone, but saw the best in James, decided to sacrifice her life for their one and only son out of pure love and devotion. And the sacrificial love was so strong that the strongest dark wizard of all time succumbed to his own curse and it tore apart a piece of his soul in revenge of separating the two soulmates whom were always destined to find each other and get woven together in every single timeline. It changed the tide of the entire war. She ended it single handedly.

Yes, she was depicted as a girl who was just a close friend of snape, as a sister who's facing discriminations from her own elder sister's profound jealousy, as a lover and wife of James Potter, as a mother of Harry Potter- the boy who lived. But I think there's so much beauty in every single role she was depicted in. It gives us a glimpse of how much impact she had on everybody around her, how much she meant dear to everybody who cared for her, of how much diverse and forgiving person she was, of the way she was always a reassuring shadow around harry even though she was no longer present in the mortal world. No, motherhood doesn't make her one dimensional or boring, it only enhances her ability of loving people the way they deserve. It makes her so complex, but so powerful at the same time. She was a proud mother, and a lover, a friend, and a woman.

Lily Evans, what an absolute Goddess you were. And you'll always be. No other fictional character ever had a hold so strong on me the way she has.

[maxdibert]

The question is: did Severus know that the death eaters were against muggleborns? Because we always see that argument against him, that he joined "an organization that wanted to kill people like Lily". But I don't think it makes any sense if that were the case. They probably manipulated him into believing the cause was about something else, to get him to join. Because cults don't show their true colors until you get in, so it wouldn't be smart for them to recruit members by saying "we are a violent group that wants to kill a bunch of people".

However, I'm not sure if JKR was clear enough when she wrote this backstory. It's like many people already knew the death eaters were bad, but somehow Severus didn't? Which is it: he was malicious and agreed with the cause, but was too dumb to realize his actions would also affect someone he loved? Or was he manipulated and truly didn't know their intentions until it was too late? I agree with the second option, but I'm not sure the narrative was able to portray that.

I think it would make more sense if the death eaters were more like a group that operated in the shadows, recruiting people in secret. Because, again, openly talking about killing people isn't going to help them get many members!

Let me put it another way:

You’re half-Muggle, half-wizard. The only thing you know about Muggles is what you’ve seen all your life, your Muggle neighbourhood steeped in absolute poverty, your abusive Muggle father, a violent environment that does nothing but deprive you of food, clothes, and even the slightest chance at a happy childhood. You see your magical side as the only way out of all that horror, because your mother’s told you about a place where you can be yourself, where there will always be food on your plate, where you’ll get a uniform, and where you won’t be surrounded by filth.

And then you get to that place, and it turns out that the ones who defend Muggles —the very Muggles you know as violent and discriminatory towards you (Petunia is clearly classist towards Severus)— are the same people who bully and mistreat you in this supposed promised land where you were meant to be happy.

And then the only people who accept you, who give you a place and make you feel safe, tell you that it’s the Muggles —those same Muggles who’ve always brought you misery— who are to blame for everything. Because it’s the Muggle-borns who bring the filth of the Muggle world with them, and that filth directly affects you, because you’re half-Muggle yourself and your experience of that has been nothing but years and years of suffering.

And they convince you. Because you’re a child, and you only know what you see and experience inside your small echo chamber, and in that echo chamber, everything connected to Muggles has always been bad for you, while the pure-blood wizards have never hurt you. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Do we get the point now?

[whinlatter]

sorry if you've discussed this before, but do you think ginny's quidditch talent came out of nowhere? it's a common criticism I see about her but I feel like that kind of overstates how much of a quidditch "star" she was at the beginning, like she was consistently described as good but not great until partway into hbp and I also think it makes sense she'd keep it a secret from her teasing brothers. but maybe they're right and I'm just biased towards defending ginny

thank you for the question, anon!

the short answer is - no, i think it's (just about) plausibly rendered in the books. i think the series gets away with it because:

the story is told from the perspective of a teenage boy aka peak obliviousness in corporeal form, so we see what harry sees (and harry notices big fat nothing)

there is an entirely adequate narrative explanation for ginny's sporting skills that most readers not operating in bad faith* can put together, as you suggest: ginny comes from a sporty family who are all good at quidditch; she is of middling-to-good seeking ability when she first joins the team in ootp; she then has a good few months flying several times a week where she would necessarily grow in confidence and experience, leaving her perfectly able to blossom in hbp in a high school sport where she is competing against other children. fine and dandy in my book.

also quidditch is a broadly dumb and pointless plot so ginny being good at it is just a fun extra that we don't need to deep too much because - let's be real - quidditch is a waste of page space.

*i say this because, most of the time, these takes come from those who don't like hinny as a pairing. which is entirely their right and prerogative! it personally doesn't float my boat to spend my days doing worst faith readings of the text in order to make the case against canon ships i don't like, but as this is a race to the bottom - we are all adults dissecting children's books written by a nasty spiteful woman rotting in her mouldy castle spouting slurs, after all - who am i to judge.

(i also suspect the 'ginny is good at quidditch out of nowhere' takes have enjoyed such a long shelf-life on eg. reddit because the films are still most people's primary reference for HP takes so complaints about them then get cast back on the books - and, in the films, ginny does in fact rock up in film 6 like she's mbappé, if mbappé had the charisma of an extraordinarily soggy bath mat.)

with that said... could it have done with a bit more foreshadowing? yes, probably. people who don't like hinny as a pairing and prefer another are never going to be convinced - that's fine! but here i am, a paid-up hinny supporter, and even i think ginny's character development is sometimes wanting, to a frustrating and problematic extent. good writing (usually) means showing not telling, and it's weird and lazy of jkr to be so slapdash about revealing this and other character details about ginny and other (often female) characters. i think it's particularly striking that jkr underserves characters (again, usually women) who exist to serve the emotional development of characters (usually men), rather than the mystery plot(s) that drive hp as a series. (wanted! tonks' personality! last seen making fake pig noses and being the only auror mad eye moody mentored as his successor, for no plot reason!)

while i'm not a die-hard adherent to the chekhov's gun principle, i think one of the strengths of many novels du jour - especially the nothing really happens postmodern novel that crowds the bookshop shelves these days - is that their conventions allow authors to add colour to characters without each tiny detail being pregnant with meaning and in service of a driving plot that must be marched forward at all times. that can be really nice! as readers, we like to get a sense of characters as well-rounded living breathing people who go for a wee and take the bins out and stick on an album because it slaps every now and then; in these novels, we're also happier with the idea that things can happen to characters beyond the protagonist that don't directly impact the plot or demand the protagonist knows more than their own very limited vantage point. you have more room to play with character as a result.

jkr, ofc, isn't that kind of author. jkr is in fact an author for whom everything about her characters serves the plot. this, after all, is the brain that brought you 'remus lupin' the werewolf, and named the bad-guy-turned-good-guy in a book using a big black dog as a red herring omen of death 'sirius black'. jkr wants her audience to notice clues and remember little details about characters because they might be significant later on. this is entirely her wont and - lupin and sirius aside - she's often very good at it. the hp books are all standalone mysteries, and, when they land, those mysteries slap. ginny being the culprit in CoS is a genuinely satisfying resolution to the whodunit plot: this was reflected in critical reception at the time and was part of the reason why hp was able to be marketed as a children's book adults would also enjoy thereafter. there are also very satisfying foreshadowing and mystery plots that straddle the entire series and that reward the reader with reasonably good pay-off at the series end. (my favourite is the foreshadow within the foreshadow - e.g. regulus black barrelling back from ootp in DH, but then regulus' plot turning out to ultimately exist to foreshadow snape's own double agent status... delicious).

for my part, it's also what i want out of the fiction i read and the stories i try to write. i want everything to mean something. i want the weather, clothing, setting, body language etc to all do heavy lifting. i want character work to do work. it makes it fun for me to write and (i hope) it can it a bit more fun for the reader.

the problem is that while jkr is good setting up some mysteries, she is bad at others, and the romantic plot is one she falls down (a bit) on. she sets herself up for this: she wants to be a plot-centred mystery writer, so she does have an obligation to do better in how she deploys character details. jkr does to try to write the harry/ginny romance like a mystery, with little hints throughout the series up to the reveal of harry's feelings for ginny in HBP. (even ginny's full name is nominative determinism, finally revealed in DH once the reader has been told her place in the plot - ginevra, so guinnevre, the hero's queen). and while i will never not tire of pointing out to all of reddit that harry/ginny didn't come out of nowhere, and there is some satisfying foreshadowing knocking about here and there, i think it's fair to say that the harry/ginny build-up is not as satisfying as it could have been because jkr is basically lazier about the clues that ginny is the character harry will ultimately fall for, while she is much better at dropping clues for the series' central plot. that ginny ends the series with no real resolution of the primary tensions that motivate her other than her love of harry is probably the most acute example of this. but there's lots about her character where jkr phones it in a bit in fleshing her out or taking it to any logical conclusions or interesting plot directions. a smattering of examples:

ginny is the character who spends the entire series demanding to be included and not underestimated ends the series... with no real major role in the battle other than causing harry panic, while all other central characters receive a satisfying narrative arc that speaks to their central motivators across the series as a whole. (for an interesting discussion of what should have happened with ginny and the horcruxes, see here. i didn't even pay @saintsenara to write this!)

there are lots of shades of colour to ginny's character that are introduced pointlessly. i have previously talked about my beef with arnold the pygmy puff. we know ginny is popular but we know nothing of her friends who are all faceless plotless nobodies. we know ginny supports the all-womens quidditch team in a way that implies a nascent feminist politics after a childhood being excluded from playing a sport she loves by her brothers - yet we know nothing of it. we know ginny loves the one wizarding band that seems to exist because she has a poster of them on her wall and it just.... is something we just get told about her. now, all of these suggest ginny is a good time gal and a right laugh at the pub. and that's nice! i too am fun at the pub! but why does it matter? it wouldn't, in another series. but in a series where Everything Matters, it really stands out.

now..... i don't think all of this is an unsolveable problem for those of us writing fanfiction about ginny or harry and ginny as a couple. i don't think this makes ginny an inherently bad character. i hope the amount of life i have wasted thinking about this character is testament to this (...) and i personally find trying to cook up some fleshed-out characterisation and a satisfying arc for ginny, and for female characters more generally, from the crumbs of the original source material to be a very rewarding way to pass the time and a fuck you to a woman who thinks she can gatekeep womanhood while writing some astonishingly antifeminist fiction. i think harry and ginny are a deeply compelling and eminently plausible couple, and i think i return to writing about them as much as i do because i think they have a ton of potential as narrative mirrors and as characters with a rich well of tension but also devotion between them. as i say a lot, i think one of the things the harry/ginny pairing does refreshingly well compared to other romantic lead couples in YA fiction is show a couple that, at heart, genuinely get on very well, have a laugh together and enjoy each other's company in completely mundane lovely day-to-day ways (laundry and taxes u know). i think that's a striking and refreshing dynamic that i like to spend time fleshing out and playing with and writing about. but i can also see that there is an inconsistency in jkr's character work here, particularly her character work writing female characters, of which ginny is among the most acute examples.

[isalisewrites]

I just read your addition to another persons ask where you said the Harry Potter fandom not being responsible for JRK bullshit and honestly thank you.

I am so freaking exhausted of having to defend myself for finding comfort in a fandom that has been with me since I was a kid. Just because I’m not burning the books I bought 20 years ago doesn’t mean I support anything about her now.

She has her billions. Even if no one on earth bought another Harry Potter thing again. She would still have it. Whether or not I read fanfiction or watch movies I already own make zero difference.

You said it better than I ever could. But One day she will be dead and gone. And no one will care. But Harry Potter will still be around. Because it and its community is bigger and better than JKR will ever be.

Anyway. Just wanted to say that. It felt good to read something other than hate for HP again. If you would be up for talking without the anonymity let me know?

*huggles*

I’m just as weary, too, sweetie.

“There’s no ethical consumption of Harry Potter.”

Let’s be brutally realistic here. If you’re not living off grid in the woods where you’re 100% self sufficient with growing your own food, making your own clothes, drawing up well water, generating your own power, and buying nothing, then you’re not living ethically either. If you’re getting a Starbucks, then guess what? You’re supporting genocide. McDonalds? Yup, genocide. Going to Target? Uh oh, you’re supporting racism and sexism.

The reality is there is no ethical consumption under CAPITALISM.

There are literally hundreds of companies that support Israel’s genocide of Gaza and hundreds who financially supported Trump. I wonder how many companies supported UK’s ultra conservative politics. It’s not just JKR, I can promise you that.

It’s impossible for the average person to avoid every company. You have to buy food. You have to buy essentials. You have to buy gas if you use a car to get to work. 

You have to survive.

It’s not our fault these greedy companies support the politics that preserve their power and their ability to make more and more money. JKR is a drop in the bucket of hate. She is one of MANY. Where the UK’s fucking 900 paged manifesto of hate? The American Project 2025 that’s currently being pushed by the Trump party wants to make it so that the mere appearance of wearing clothes that don’t align with your birth sex equate to pornography.

And then they want to make pornography a federal crime.

But I understand. We all feel powerless. So, what people do to give themselves power is they target someone easy. Instead of going after the roots of the problem, they attack the budding flowers on the tree. 

I’m aggrieved for UK’s transpeople. I’m devastated for them. But it’s bad everywhere and we’re not to blame for the actions of our government leaders. We can vote. We can protest. We can spend our money in the right places as best as possible. A storm is likely coming, but it’s not our fault. Evil people are in power. The wealth imbalance is astronomical. The world is controlled by oligarchs and there isn’t a ton that we can do, except survive and try to spend less money overall. 

In the end, I cope by taking these characters and creating something beautiful. Terrible, But Great is about love and redemption. Elysium’s Sanctuary is about love and healing. TBG contains my soul, while ES contains my broken heart. Badger Prey and Moon Rite are also about love; they're written to shake off the chains of purity culture. All of these stories are precious to me.

I’d hope that in a hundred years, there will still be readers discovering Harry Potter fanfics. Someone years to come will read our works and be touched by our words, both our stories and our author’s notes. JKR will go down in history as a woman who used her influence for terrible things while the Harry Potter fandom will stand as a beacon who rose above her. 

What she hates, we celebrate. We protect. 

Yes, you are absolutely free to DM me. Anyone can. Just DM me with more than a Hi, haha. Otherwise, I won't know it's more than a random bot or something.

I know it’s so very hard to maintain hope in these times. I keep having to repeat to myself, "Show me how good it can get." Even when it feels like everything is falling apart. Instead of falling into despair, I pour my soul into writing for both my own healing and the healing of others.

Spread love, not hate. And when you can, create. Keep trying. <3 Because it’s worth more than all of the combined wealth in the world.

Isa

[abstractdiagram]

i fail to understand how you can support harry potter after all the things JKR has done to the trans community. watching it gives her money, writing fic about it keeps it relevant and makes more people interact with her content, which puts money in her pockets. that money goes directly into anti-trans laws. i hope you know that what you're doing still supports her and harms every trans person you know. there are no excuses, none

I don’t understand cancel culture. Too many creators in my life have turned out to be horrible people for me to delete their works from my life. Bill Cosby turned out to be scum, but that doesn’t change that when I was little we’d listen to his comedy albums for fun. I can’t delete that positive time for me just because he’s awful. Same for Neil Gaiman. That was devastating but I still read the books I have because they’re good, despite him being bad. JKR is an unmitigated twat but that doesn’t mean that my continuing to write for an existing audience is going to victimize anyone. I highly doubt anyone would specifically search for non-canonical m/m smut fiction for a fandom they’re not already familiar with but if I inadvertently cause someone to get into the HP fandom, I hope they get used copies of the books. I haven’t purchased an actual product or book or anything from the franchise in… over a decade and a half I think. I’ve had the books since most of their release dates and just kept them. I don’t like the movies so I don’t have them. My minor purchases over previous years hardly pay JKR squat and the fact that I haven’t purchased anything likely makes no difference in the bottom line. I don’t go to Hobby Lobby or Chick-fil-a either but they’re trucking along anyway.

I also don’t understand how someone which such a massive dislike for all things JKR and HP would just happen across my insignificant blog without specifically searching for the tags I used. If you don’t like it, don’t read it please. I give tabs and warnings for what I post.

I’m not angry about this note. I’m really not. I mean no sarcasm and no irritability on my part in writing this post. I do my best to support my beliefs and I love my trans cousin and his trans husband. I’m just making my way along like everyone else and if someone becomes problematic after their career affects me (Gaiman, Cosby, etc) then I stop buying new content and I don’t defend them. But I can’t and shouldn���t have to permanently erase all works, memories, items, references because they’re assholes. That money is spent, those memories are made and for the few shitty fanfics I’ve written, well those aren’t exactly raking in the new readers that don’t already know the IP.

If you truly believe that once a person reveals that they’re predators or anti-something that you believe in or alien drag queens from beyond the moon then you have to drop and hate everything they’ve ever created, well, please drop me. I’m not a rapist and I’m inclusive to pretty much anyone (except certain political/religious people. If you think someone should die just because they exist, fuck right off away from me). But I’m agnostic and have reasons to dislike organized religion (enough for some to cancel me right there) and I won’t give up things I already have or have done from now-toxic fandoms. I don’t protest or march or petition or walk for causes that I believe in 99% of the time (though that’s mostly because I’m at work at night and either don’t know it’s a thing until too late or I’m sleeping). Some would even say I’m a bad person. Shit, I was arrested twice as a young teen for shoplifting. I eat THC/CBD gummies for fun. I’ve been so blackout drunk in the past that I don’t remember whole nights. I swear, I lie, I hate most politicians. I’m not a great human!

TL;DR. Your opinion is yours. That’s fine. I have mine. We will never meet in the middle because we are diametrically opposed. I don’t want to waste our time arguing over something neither of us will change. Please don’t seek out tags that actively piss you off and I won’t post without tags.

[theatre-heathen]

I think for the first time all Hunger Games casting I’ve been really let down. For HG I try not to have too many attachments of casting ideas bc one of my fave things about HG casting is they just always stun every time. From the newer/lesser known casting to the star studded ones too. And expecting Snow’s casting soon, I had a feeling it be a let down bc I had a strong feeling (while it would have been iconic for it to happen , I also understand if he declined) Kiefer wouldn’t be chosen/take the roll (if he was even asked) but despite that I really expected a decent person for Snow!! Like it really leaves a bad taste that someone so passionate as Donald will be succeed by someone who supports JKR. Like this has been really really disappointing!! I know Ralph Fiennes will do the job, he looks not that far off of Tom, not totally seeing much of the Ralph to Don comparison but I suspect they’ll be more of that when makeup/hair steps in. But damn I really thought if Susanne had anything to do with these movies she’d not let a JKR defender in her cast. 🫤

[liggy-not-potter]

hello :3 i’m liggy, i’m 15 (a minor, don’t be creepy), ace and possibly somewhere on the aro spectrum i’m too damn lazy to find a label.

hobbies

i’m in a lot of fandoms, so i probably can’t list them all here. harry potter, both canon era and marauders (fuck jkr) and the fanfic i’m writing where harry has a sister no one knew abt. (posting that on ao3). legendborn, percy jackson (i’m not done with it so no spoilers please), mcu, the owl house, gravity falls, amphibia

i write songs and poetry, i play piano, ukulele, violin and guitar i like drawing but i’m not good at it

dni the usual. if you discriminate against any minorities or hate people solely because of a group they belong to (religion/lack thereof, race, sexuality, gender orientation)(unless it’s stuff like terfs, neo-nazis and such bullshit if it’s a group that causes harm intentionally you’re right to hate them)

random shit

i have adhd and most likely a hint of something else neurodivergent (i think it’s the tism). i’m a mess, but at least i’m not boring i’m a minor so don’t be creepy, i don’t care abt interacting with adults as long as you aren’t being a creep i refer to myself in the third person sometimes, get the fuck over it gryffindor - enfp

the rats (my moots) @jamespotterbbg — kay — my first moot, chaotic, mentally ill as the rest of this site, is the reason i’ve even interacted with half of these people @garden-of-runar — runaround — talented poet, fellow defender of bagels, absolutely and entirely concerning, you’ll never know their next move @melonhead10 — wife of mine — silly little rat, one of the only people on here i know irl, rarely online bc strict parents, if she is online it’s to look at shiny duo and tangled the series @eef-stars — british ethan — the gay dad friend of this whole hellsite. king of deactivating and coming back out of nowhere. happily in love with @kawaiibarty @kawaiibarty — james the baked bean — short, gay and irresponsible. has too many doggies but we don’t care bc doggies are great. changes his url every two seconds. in love with @eef-stars @tequilaqueen — bea — possibly an alcoholic, you’ll never know. hates bagels and commits war crimes. @crowleys-mortalcounterpart — brie — my child. genderfluid lesbian variant of remus lupin. some unknown flavor of neurodivergent. i also know them irl. @0urazz — satan — brie’s sister and my daughter. chaos incarnate, addicted to regretevator and some other random ass roblox games. one step away from being gen alpha. the attention span and brain capacity of a grain of rice. violently affectionate. ik her irl as well @thejudeduarte — jude — cruel prince and legendborn fan. really nice and sometimes chaotic. @iamaladder — stepladder (ethan’s version) — chaotic aarakocra boi, also known as old man ethan, another person i know irl @thestrawberryapologist — mari — purchaser of jams, very goofy, does silly sitcom rp with me, recently returned to tumblr after disappearing on us

interactions

blow up my ask box, tag me on stuff, and message me all you want. i love being on here and talking to people and making friends <3

my pinterest poetry side blog: @liggy-attempts-poetry outsiders oc blog: @nya-rosalie ask game: here ask game 2: here ask game 3: here

my tags: liggy rambles: all my random ass posts liggy found an ask: i answer asks liggy attempts to sing: i sing liggy attempts poetry: my (likely reblogged from side-blog) poetry nonsense liggy special: i most likely did something fucking stupid jam murder sitcom: a silly sitcom thing i do with mari to the queue you go motherfucker: my queued posts, likely because i’m out of town. liggy rambles in the tags: i rant to everyone and no one in the tags

[joannerowling]

Have you read this? It's very interesting. What do you think about it?

https://www.tumblr.com/wisteria-lodge/757584816322543616/jk-rowling-hates-the-color-pink?source=share

That user blocked me, probably for defending JKR too much lol. Joke's on her cause i can still see her post <3

I don't understand how people can write so many words and produce reasonably articulated essays, without realising how ultimately pointless and uninteresting the core of their reflexion is.

Like, recently i've seen a different post that went: "what does JKR has against snakes? Did a snake kill her loved ones" or something of that effect. It really is the same bizarre reflexe as the post you linked, except without the annoyingly long analysis.

JKR didn't invent snakes as a Western symbol of evil and deceit. That would be the Bible and other mythologies before that. JKR didn't invent pink being a symbol of femininity, including flamboyant, and occasionally ridiculous, or toxic, femininity. It's just a common western trope (relatively recent, admitedly, but still). Yeah, no shit "pink = outsider, weirdo". Go to a gay club.

This is the exact sort of things people criticise "why are the curtains blue" analysis for, frankly. Trying to paint Umbridge's overuse of pink as a sign that JKR doesn't like femininity and women (when in fact, a first grader could tell you that Umbridge USES feminine codes to pass as demure and disguise her evil core) is already far-fetched. Trying to demonstrate that HAGRID'S PINK UMBRELLA is negative because it is "hiding his wand" so it's a Sign™ that he is Weird™ and therefore Bad™ because JKR hates gender non-conformity is hilariously nonsensical. I'm surprised Freud wasn't brought up.

But let's pretend, for the sake of giving a full answer, that this user is onto something. Let's pretend she's right and JKR doesn't like pink and femininity: so fucking what? Doesn't mean she doesn't like women. Does a black guy suffer from "internalised racism" if he doesn't like Kayne West? No, it just means he has good taste lmao.

But you know, women who embrace femininity always have a chip on their shoulders about women who don't. They build their self-esteem on how well they succeed at adhering to feminine standards; so of course, when a woman is successful, confident and happy without doing any of that, they're jealous and see it as a threat – epecially if said non-feminine women (or even women who don't put AS MUCH efforts to perform!) show zero interest in make-up, fashion, celebrity gossip, diet talk, etc. And if a woman has the GALL to make fun of it, it's straigth up an attack!! 🤣 Who do you think invented this "internalised misogyny" bullshit in the early 2010s, not men, it was women on tumblr, on online blogs and magazines! I've personally been at the receiving end of this kind of treatment many, many times. All for stuff like, not liking Taylor Swift or believing in horoscopes.

(And the worst of these women are so deep into the femininity cult that they can't accept any woman might simply just not be like them ; in their mind it HAS to be a sexual strategy we employ to GET MEN, like we pretend to be "cool girls" who enjoy [insert any normal hobby] and [insert normal food that is not salad] or [insert any music that isn't a boys band or a pop star]; but SECRETLY we really do collect gossip rags and nail polishes just like them!! It's very funny once you've learned to identify it. And kind of sad, to see women fall so low. For what, really? Men aren't worth it.)

Anyway, for proof that this post is confusing even to the people who share the OP's opinion (said opinion being "JKR IS VERY MEAN AND BAD"), get a load of this gem of a comment:

Yep, that's right, JKR introduced her favourite character, Dumbledore, by having him show up in Surrey wearing a purple cloak and high-heeled buckled boots, because she hates self-confident gender non-conforming individuals. What a bunch of stupid, hateful losers lmao.

[gudvina]

hopefully the fans will wake up after the louella/loulou casting 🙏🏻 tbh i've never really bought in “the seam is poc” propaganda because sc stated in an interview with the movie cast that she never wrote katniss as woc (she also added, and i'll give her that, that panem takes place centuries after our time; there was a lot of intermixing during those ages). poc seam always seemed to me a fandom hc or the fandom reading too much into her work. i've already seen people proclaim that sc is a white woman after all and i'll add that she probably doesn't know how to write about race at all - i don't think she thought that much about the implications of district 12 having a racial segregation and that's why she never explained or talked about her writing choises; we've given her too much credit imo (saying this as a woc btw). hopefully in a few years everyone will start notice her flawed writing for what it is and she'll be another jkr. i don't see her as a genius at all - she just gave a context to her writing plus she probably had an interest/had learned about roman history. like .. she went to college, she has a theater major. of course she knows about shakespeare and greek tragedies ??? it's not that deep as they say

Unfortunately I am seeing a lot of people defend this casting choice outside of Tumblr, so I am not sure the fandom will wake up.

I agree that the fandom has probably given her much more credit than deserved, and that a lot of her choices were probably dictated by less pointed reasons than many have thought. Here's my two cents though; while I understand Panem is a futuristic American dystopia, it's still based in the United States. Now, many of the descriptions and the things that have been established about D11/D12, while vague enough, do hint to characters that are anything but white. And that would check out. Her books are, after all, a critique of the USA's political structure and climate and the USA was built off the oppression of people of colour.

If it wasn't intentional her political commentary would be even worse than before, and the whole "SC only writes when she has something to say" makes even less sense than it already does.

[takaraphoenix]

I have incredibly mixed feelings on how much I enjoy the way the show writes Percy and his perception of the world.

Because episode 3 and the way they handled Medusa proved that it's all lip-service and there won't be an actual change. And that is going to be devastating.

Percy's perception of the gods and of what is going on, his anger - and the way he articulates that anger - feel so real, so refreshing and so reasonable.

This show perfectly sets up a better version of Percy Jackson. One where Percy actually rebels against the gods. Every single thing he says makes him sound like the future leader of the Demigod Rebellion. But they wouldn't stray this damn far from canon, so we get to hear Percy say all these things... just to end up defending the status quo, and that's going to feel even more unrewarding than it did in the books now.

Because the thing is, and I've had this thought on my mind for a couple of days when I came across a post comparing Percy Jackson and Harry Potter in a "JKR sucks and there are so many more superior children's book series out there" manner - which, in itself, is very true, and I do think PJO is a good book series and there are many things about it that I love. However, inexplicably, the OP of that post managed to pick the one angle in which PJO and HP are the exact same thing actually, but they still claimed PJO did something that HP didn't. That Harry fell back and defended a shitty system while Percy rebelled.

Percy Jackson in the books did not in fact rebel. He fell in line and he spent the entire damn series defending the shitty system. In-universe, the author explains this away with Percy's fatal flaw and him defending his friends and 'not the gods'. But that doesn't change that he ends up defending the gods and working on keeping them in power.

And the sequel series serves as a proof of that point. Because absolutely nothing changed. The children are still cannon fodder in the war of the gods. And still, the children fight for the gods, die for the gods.

Someone, some people in this fandom really deluded themselves into thinking of Percy Jackson as a great rebel against the gods, just because he... snarks at them and sasses them. But in the greater scheme of things, he always does what the gods want, he always saves their asses, he does not rebel or rise against them, he does not break down an oppressive system.

If this series were about actually rebelling against the oppressive force and breaking the broken system, then Percy Jackson would be part of the rebel army. Then he would be fighting against the gods.

But even the notion of "actually, these children who are rising against the gods who used and abused and neglected them all their lives might... have a... point" is stomped down with the fact that no actually Luke was influenced and corrupted by Kronos' force!!

In the version of Percy Jackson where it's about rebellion, Luke would not have been influenced by Kronos, because damn his mother's insanity caused by his father, his own homelessness, Thalia's death, the scarring he received during an entirely unnecessary quest in the name of his father, and literally every single demigod he has seen suffer and die because of the whims of the gods would have been motivation enough to start a rebel army against the gods.

And in that version about rebellion, Percy's friendship with Luke, and Annabeth's friendship with Luke, and Grover's ties to Luke from having been his satyr partner too, paired with all of the personal suffering endured by them all, would have lead to the Golden Trio joining that rebellion.

And we would have seen demigods rise up against the gods and, as in Greek mythology where the titans rose and took over from Uranus and Gaia and then the gods rose and took over from the titans, the next generation would have come into power, and actually changed the system.

But none of that happened. What happens is that children die, so the gods can stay in power because ~Kronos~ is actually behind the rebellion and hey, now the gods have to claim their kids and we will build more cabins and that's totally change, right? ...Right?

No. Because the kids are still cannon fodder. And the gods still don't give a damn about them, as proven by Hera just memory-wiping the greatest heroes and playing with them like dolls in the sequel, where the gods don't even have the basic respect for the heroes to... simply sit them down and tell them what the hell is going on.

And! That's not even necessarily a criticism of the books! Plenty of books are about keeping the status quo, especially children's books, especially books written by middle-aged white men. A broad variety of stories have a right to exist. This is a criticism of people who look at the books and pretend that they are about something they are not.

And this is a statement of personal disappointment in how much the show is setting up a potential to be something more, while I know very well it will never deliver on that.

The show is giving Percy so many good lines about what is wrong about this system, about the way the world works, is giving him so many doubts about it.

Just like it gave him doubts about monsters. And then it allowed Medusa her speech about being a victim. but never mind, she still asked something bad of Percy, so it's okay to behead her, because at the very core of this series... it's still about keeping the status quo.

The gods are in charge. The monsters get killed.

[sapphic-agent]

As a POC I could not handle any longer the way they excused Lea's actions on the Glee subreddit. I left permanently because of it. It angered me the day someone on the sub said that Lea apologised. Lea did not apologise. More than enough times, I've seen Lea be defended on that sub and people get upvoted for it and I couldn't stand it any longer.

The tipping point for me was that people started to say that Santana fans can't keep their feelings about Naya separate but at the same time they're known strong Rachel fans and Rachel defenders and have shown support to Lea multiples all the while being overly-critical about Santana. It was just brewing into hypocritical territory for me.

As a teen, Naya helped me in ways that's hard to explain. Her passing affected me deeply. To see that a few people, going off of the multiple upvotes, were agreeing with comments made accusing Santana fans of mixing their feelings about Naya with Santana in an unhealthy manner was hurtful. Lea fans also double down on putting Rachel on a pedstal to not talk about Lea's past actions on the glee sub but it's not spoken about.

So grateful that you spoke up about this major issue when it comes to Lea on the Glee sub. Your willingness to speak up about the issues on the Glee sub makes me feel less alone.

Omg thank you! That's so nice of you to say. I really do try to steer away from real people on this blog because I want to be primarily media-based. But the Glee sub makes me so fucking mad. They're the definition of performative activism and double standards. Supporting and/or forgiving Lea is just shitty, no matter how many times they try to justify it.

Naya- and Heather- helped me a lot too. They brought to life one of the healthiest, most important sapphic couple of the 2010s (my username was inspired by them lol, that's why they were my old pfp). They made me feel okay to be myself and comfortable in my sexuality. Her passing affected me for a long time too, it was like I couldn't process it.

I know exactly what you're talking about, when people would accuse Santana fans of conflating Santana because of Naya's passing. Like, right after it happened. It was really an awful thing to say because a woman was dead. Her life and memory were more important than their favorite character getting shit. They're vile.

If anyone can't separate the actor from the character it's Finn fans. Cory was a great guy- people always said him and Dianna were the nicest of the cast- and he also passed while the show was still running. A lot of Finn's "likability" came from Cory's charisma and comedic timing. If Cory was still alive I really don't think as many people would defend Finn.

(Tbh, I think Cory himself would shit on Finn. His mom once said that Santana slapping Finn was his favorite scene)

I also feel like people (including other POCs) don't actually understand why Lea was (is?) racist. Racism isn't just "I hate minorities and don't think they deserve rights." It's way more complicated than that. Lea might not have been throwing the n-word around (though, she was derogatory at least towards Samantha with that "shit in her wig" comment), but she absolutely viewed her being white as being superior to her WOC coworkers.

It's a pretty common thing for Black girls. Hell, I even experienced it from girls I called my friends. They're so "down✊🏾" but will be quick to remind you how more cultured and better than you they are.

If you haven't been taught about or experienced these things, you won't know that. But attempting to shut down WOC who have experienced it is shitty. Lea fans trip over themselves to defend someone who went out of her way to bully a younger Black coworker just because she could.

(Also, she was outwardly transphobic. Not letting anyone forget that either. If she was so willing to be transphobic, what makes you think she wasn't racist?)

Lea fans have no excuse. I liked and looked up to JKR too, but the people she hurt (and continues to hurt) are more important than how much I admired her or how much I enjoyed Harry Potter. I was disgusted by her and had no issues condemning her. Lea fans are hypocritical, self-righteous performative activists

[aconstantstateofbladerunner]

So, there’s a videogames website I used to surf some time ago. It was the early twitter era and the HP games were hot topic on the forums discussions. JKR was then relatively tamed, and their twitter feed was a constant barrage of feminism against old conservative guys… and she was so hated among the users. They called them feminazi, woke, etc. The HP games would receive poor reviews from staff and users alongside and memes ridiculing the franchise were shared in the threads.

I stopped visiting the site gradually, It’s been years since then. Curiosity dragged me back recently and things were so changed. Now the HP games have positive reviews, there’re entire threads mocking the attempts and calls to boicot. Anyone calling bullshit on the franchise is called woke, resented, child molester, etc. JKR is now an unfairly treated author. The general consensus goes about how authors have the right to do what they want with their money and the necessity to separate work and personal opinions.

Thinking about it, it’s not that big surprise. Some Xbox forums saw the raising of alt right on internet after all. But it would be funny if it wasn’t so alarming; how quickly the HP fanbase is shifting to bigotry, conspiracy and far right. While not so long ago those same (proto) groups were online crusading against what now defend and praise.

I can’t say I’m surprised. Folks who are already alt right will back whoever they think is on their side; ei republicans who what to fight “sexual immorality” backing trump the adulterer and (alleged) child molester because he tells them what they want to hear. But I saw political circles, not just fandoms, shift into the alt right over the years, actively supporting causes and ideals that once condemned. But the way they condemned them wasn’t always a matter of the harm they caused, but the intellectual inferiority of bigotry. So once the tides turned, so too did the targets of derision. This isn’t to undermine the specific marginalized groups that are targeted by bigotry, but a factor that allows it to spread is the more general sense of community superiority, which lines of perfectly with fandom toxicity. “We are better than those losers out the outside because we are the enlightened members of the in-group.”

For example, I used to follow the “New Atheist” movement on youtube, because it gave me some comfort and catharsis to see the kind of Christian extremists who were abusing me at the time dunked on. But it was just dunking. The real harm conservative American christians did to women, people of color, and queer people was used as proof that religion was a delusion held by intellectually inferior people. But then those marginalized groups started speaking for themselves and making demands, so the youtube atheists switched gears, and started dunking on the “social justice warriors” as the new delusional idiots that they were so much better than. Because the issue of American christianity was never actually the harm that was being committed, it was about how they were dumb and cringe for believing in something fake. The people who actually believed in stopping harm realized what was going on and left, so all that remained were the increasingly odious voices about how feminism and the gays were way worse than conservative christians and maybe they’re right about everything except the god part. (Though some of those bozos have “taken the god pill” in the fifteen years since because their belief system is based in perceived superiority and nothing else.)

As for Harry Potter specifically, I’ve never been in the fandom but based on the many interactions I’ve had with fans over the years, I’m not surprised by that shift. It always had an energy shared by all the worst of nerd fandoms: both the sense of superiority that their book/movie/game is one of the best things ever and it’d popular because everyone agrees that it’s great, but also it’s a special nerdy thing that the evil “normies” will belittle and bully them for enjoying because they’re too stupid to appreciate anything more complicated that reality tv. It maps pretty easily onto the facist idea that the in-group is simultaneously the superior order that effortlessly outclasses all others in everything and the poor perpetual victims of the all powerful other constantly out to get them. I’m not saying being in a toxic fandom automatically turns people into fascists, I’m saying that fascists are opportunists and pray on people who feel they have been victimized, and convince them the ones doing the victimizing are their current targets.

JKR herself was a victim of domestic violence, which is a prime recruitment ground used by terfs. That, and she was probably feeling the existential dread of her greatest success being behind her after the mainline HP franchise ended, her newer books weren’t doing well, and she wanted to feel like she was “positively” impacting the world. But that was years ago and she’s speaking her own words at this point. She’ll die remembered as a bigot who squandered the good memories propping up her overhyped franchise and not even her fellow terfs will miss her because they’re so paranoid about trans people, they’ll probably start “transvestigating” her posthumously out of instinct.

[kementari-art]

WAIT a minute...

If you're thinking to yourself, 'I've seen that art somewhere else,' then...I mean, I hope so. But if you're also thinking, 'Hold on, that signature doesn't say Kementari,' then, well done for noticing. There's actually a really good explanation.

I have, for the last two decades, operated in all fandoms as Slytherkins. I long ago ceased to consider the canon my online name was inspired by. When JKR turned out to be Queen Bigot, I stopped giving her money and attention, and what little interest I had left in HP fandom died, my joy in the canon dimmed to nothing...but I didn't really consider that the name I'd been using for over twenty years still evoked that canon. At this point it's...just my fucking name, divorced from its origin. But other people might not realize the anger and resentment I bear toward Rowling or how much I fucking hate terfs. Other people might just see my very HP inspired name, decide they better not chance it, and refuse to interact with my posts. Which I understand. But...I want people to interact with my posts. XD

Before I was Slytherkins, I was Kementari. I changed it because I was never active in the LotR fandom, but I was very active in the HP fandom at the time. So...I'm going back to that. At least, for my artsy stuff. I'm still Slytherkins over on my main blog. I'm old. I've made too many friends and done too much under that name to abandon it, no matter how disgusted I am with JKR. In fact, it fuels my resentment more than a little. Fuck her, I'm not sacrificing my online identity for the past fucking forever just because she's a hateful bitch.

I'm going to be reposting all my old art here. But I'm not bothering to try to change the signatures. And going forward, I'll be signing things Kementari. Not trying to dupe anyone, it just occurred to me that my handle (yes, I'm that old) might be one of the reasons I don't get much engagement. BUT PEOPLE NEED TO SEE THE PRETTIES.

(For the record, I don't hold it against people for still engaging with HP fandom. As long as you don't give the bitch any money or defend her awfulness in any way, there's no reason what she created can't still mean something to you. It meant so very much to so many of us for so very long. I know most people are like me and this whole business has soured us on canon and fandom, but I don't think less of you if all you do is engage with fanworks. So don't think my distancing means I think you're a terrible person for daydreaming about Remus and Sirius snogging. You do you.)

Also, Hey! Guess what you are allowed...nay, encouraged to do! That's right:

Reblog. Reblog to your heart's content. Do you like what you see? Someone else might too. SPREAD IT AROUND