Love in HP

Feb. 6th, 2019 08:20 pm
[identity profile] torchedsong.livejournal.com
Since Valentine's Day is close by, I thought this topic would be fitting to bring up and ramble about until I get it off my chest.

Here comes a few (potentially) silly questions I have about love as a reoccurring and major theme in the HP books: is love a redemptive and saving force? Is it a reflection of our inner nature and morals? Does it make us better or worse than we are? Is it proof we’re capable of good? Or is it simply a nice message to have in a children’s series i.e. love is more powerful than anything?

Read more... )
[identity profile] torchedsong.livejournal.com
(I've been lurking in this community for a couple of days now, reading posts from way back and enjoying the discussion [and snark]. I know this topic has been done before numerous times, but I hope it's okay for me to offer my thoughts as well.)

It is over a decade later and I am still disenchanted with how Severus Snape was flattened as a character in DH by having everything connect to Lily. I rarely encounter fans of Snape on Tumblr who feel the same way, so I decided to post this here to find other people who can empathize.

From books 1-6, I found Snape to be a fascinating character. He was a mean teacher and a bitter man, but also (seemingly) on the side of the good guys with his own mysterious agenda. Despite his cruel nature, he was presented as capable of protecting and helping those whom he loathed or did not care for. He had a sense of right and wrong when it counted, even while remaining bitter. This unpleasant man left a group of prejudiced and dangerous criminals because even unpleasant people are capable of stepping away from evil. All of this made him an intriguing character full of potential, and I hoped that JKR wouldn’t waste that potential by making everything he’s done be for the Love of a Good Woman that Got Away.
Read more )
[identity profile] fatairuq.livejournal.com
I have loved Severus since I first read the Harry Potter books. Before the Snape discourse in Tumblr, I basically felt annoyed at how J K Rowling (JKR from here on) explained his motivations in DH. As someone who has gone through everything he went through except for poverty, I felt that she robbed us off one of the most important representations abuse and bullying survivors ever. You see prior to the Prince's Tale, Severus was angry and bitter even his thirties, he was competent in his line of work as a Professor, Potioneer and spy, he fell in with a fascist cult in order to survive and get ahead in life, and then he redeemed himself. He's everything survivors aren't allowed to be. He is the epitome of Bad Victim. To be Good Victims, we're supposed to forgive those who hurt us, be kind and compassionate to everyone without fail, work in small business or social work because we're not cut out for anything bigger, and while we are expected to help ourselves without support systems, we need someone us to guide us to redemption.
Read more... )
After the discourse which highlighted Severus' association with Lily to a ridiculous level, I hated that chapter even more. I could understand Severus loving Lily for years after her death because she seemed to be the only who gave half a crap about him but enduring torture, hate and even killing someone he cared about just for Lily? It felt so cheap. JKR didn't seem to think a Slytherin could do good and if they do it's for a Gryffindor. She takes this complex character, one of the few in her books, and constantly reduces his reasons to Lily and Severus' bitter, petty tendencies. It was maddening. I spent hours thinking about it and I'm starting to change my mind.

The truth is people don't trust survivors. It's why so many villains are survivors of some kind of violence. They think we're backstabbers and that we are taught to be selfish and violent. In pop culture Bad Victims aren't often loyal to anyone but themselves and if they are it's usually loyalty to another antagonist. Severus Snape is different. The people he is loyal to are considered the best people in canon. Lily is practically a saint and Dumbledore is a deity. Severus' loyalty is steadfast and it helps him do a lot of good. It could potentially be a powerful story on its own.

The problem is I'm not sure. I could be forcing myself to justify what felt like the flattest part of the series. What do you guys think?
[identity profile] annoni-no.livejournal.com

I've spent some time archive binging recently and got to thinking about what the new conclusions meant for old issues that weren't directly addressed.  In particular, I was reminded of all the old complaints about Lily's sacrifice being held up as exceptional even though most parents would die for their children.  And if sacrificial magic is as ancient, wild, and Dark as it is claimed, without needing any channeling incantations or rituals, there should be thousands, if not millions of people throughout the history of humanity clearly benefiting from such sacrifices.  Yet canon says there aren't.  Few people are even aware of the possibility that it could happen, let alone happen reliably.  Why not?

Well.  What is one of the most essential things we learn about the Dark Arts?

You have to mean them.

And that was just in reference to such highly domesticated spells as avada kedavra and cruciatus.  (They have incantations!  They give consistent results!  And people want to call those Dark?  Puh-lease.)  I suspect that the further back you go, the more vital will and intent becomes to any manipulation of magic.

So of course most parents would be WILLING to die for their children, but how many would WANT to? Would PLAN on it? )

[identity profile] sweettalkeress.livejournal.com
Harry: S-so…this is it? I’m j-just supposed to go and die? No…it can’t be true. I must be dreaming. Somebody, please, tell me I’m dreaming!

Read Chapter 34 )
[identity profile] oneandthetruth.livejournal.com

Unfortunately for the Hs and us, things don’t stay so peaceful. As they leave the churchyard, Hermione is sure someone’s shadowing them. Harry tries to dismiss it as an animal, but he doesn’t really believe it; he’s just trying to reassure her. In fact, he’s right, but not in the way he means, as we find out later.

As they wander through the town, they come to the ruin of the Potter cottage. It’s invisible to all but the anointed magicals, of course, and includes a commemorative plaque recounting the events of 10/31/81. The plaque has graffiti on it, of the “Go, Harry! We’re on your side” variety.

Read more... )

[identity profile] terri-testing.livejournal.com
I was in the middle of crafting an extremely ingenious and elaborate explanation of why, uniquely in the WW, Lily’s sacrificial death could possibly have powered a shield so extraordinarily strong as to have deflected the unblockable Avada Kedavra, when the question hit me: but did it?

Or did something else happen that night?

This meta is dedicated to Erastes’ Random Death Eaters, Chuck and Lance, who I think would appreciate my final supposition.

(If you never read the posts in “Deadly Hollow” sporking DH, why not? Do that first.)

We inferred )
[identity profile] sweettalkeress.livejournal.com
So I was following this rather lively discussion on my latest post and I got to thinking about a possible AU in which Lily had died giving birth to Harry (i.e., in addition to or instead of that whole Merope thing). We all know the situations between Harry's and Voldie's mothers weren't analogous (a fact that seems to have sailed clear over Rowling's head) but what if they were? What if Harry's mother had suffered exactly the same fate as Merope's (with the possible exception of the inbreeding part)- or alternatively, what if Voldemort's mother had died in some other fashion? How do you think the conversation between Harry and Dumbledore would be different if this had been the case? Ideas?
[identity profile] chocedric.livejournal.com

Hello all,

I just had someone review a fanfic I am writing, and one of their comments prompted me to pose this question on the journal here. I would really appreciate your opinions!

My fic is a rewrite of GoF through DH. The Priori Incantatem scene in the graveyard is included, and I portrayed Lily and James a little differently than in canon. In my fic, I had them tell Harry they loved him.

When I read GoF for the first time back in 2000, I was only 14. Even then, I wondered why they didn't tell him that. These were the two people who lay down their lives for him because they loved him so much. But yet, after not seeing him for so many years, there was not even a simple "we love you, Harry," said by either of them. I do understand that Harry was in a situation where he needed to get out super fast, but it would have literally taken all of two seconds to have either Lily or James say that. I understand why JKR didn't have Cedric tell Harry messages to send back to his loved ones, because the two boys weren't at all close in canon. I think his simple "take my body back to my parents" was sufficient enough for him. But Lily and James? That was the one thing I didn't like about that scene. At least in the movie, Lily calls him "sweetheart," as he's about to break the connection, and I admit I got a little choked up over that. But I was expecting an "I love you" from Lily or James in the book.

Of course, we did have the forest scene where Harry was walking to his death, when they told him how proud they were of him. But I really did wish for something more in GoF.

What do you guys think?

 


 


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