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Hungary isn't the only one with knockoffs of Potter, Russia has one too. Tanya Grotter. Basically, genderswapped Harry Potter with Russian folklore mixed in it. Oh and it has their own version oh Harry Potter in it - Gooviy Poohpper. No, I'm not kidding
It isn't anything as simple as 'Harry teaches Malfoid empathy' or 'Malfoid makes Harry a chud', but more like showing how how two disparate but complementary perspectives can temper each other into new versions of the same basic people, that are now healthier and happier in regards to the world they live in.
Yeah that's how I'm seeing this. They both are supposed to change and grow from interacting with each other over the years. I know some people like to portray Malfoid as the chuddiest of chuds, constantly calling Hermione a "mudblood", sneering about blood purity and bullying people, but that's supposed to just be the beginning stage. Potter is himself a half (quarter?) blood after all, and he'd also never tolerate Malfoid constantly calling one of his best friends and allies a slur or that she bullies other people. Realistically she should be loosening her deathgrip on "chud" values and shifting away from her family's views on the world, just as Potter accepts that she'll never fully change her ways and understands he's marrying into an "evil" family (technically).
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Hungary isn't the only one with knockoffs of Potter, Russia has one too. Tanya Grotter. Basically, genderswapped Harry Potter with Russian folklore mixed in it. Oh and it has their own version oh Harry Potter in it - Gooviy Poohpper. No, I'm not kidding
I saw that yesterday. Rowling did a clitty leaky and sued them, unlike the Hungarian one, which is as parody as parody can be. Every second line is a clever fart joke.
Realistically she should be loosening her deathgrip on "chud" values and shifting away from her family's views on the world, just as Potter accepts that she'll never fully change her ways and understands he's marrying into an "evil" family (technically).
For me, there's always a vise versa and a follow-on effect. Potter would have the 'real' put into race realism for him and understand exactly why those kinds of sentiments still exist, even if he never explicitly agrees. Even for characters like the elder Malfoys, there's what to learn. What really makes a family strong? Is it just bloodline, or is there a value in itself to having a happy daughter who lets you dote on your grandkids, even if their father isn't exactly who you would have chosen?
Stream's underway, Yunayu started out talking for just a few minutes about how overwhelmed she was by recent events & that she's grateful for the support she's found but also that she knows nothing about politics & doesn't like it when her Malfoid art is repurposed for the American culture war. I can respect that tbh, she's clearly not American (seems to be Korean?) and shouldn't reasonably be expected to understand Current Year™ Western politics (like why the left wing, after years of holding up HP as peak fiction to the point where memes were made of everyone else telling them to read another book, now have to loathe it & the liberal feminist Rowling's guts b/c muh troons & progressive omnicause).
This woman's just an artist drawing cute apolitical stuff on the other side of the planet and is clearly content to remain as such, there's no need to make things weirdly political & cringe as some groypers have done. Anyway, she's long since stopped talking and has just been drawing lots more Malfoid, got over 2k viewers tuned in for what seems to be the first time in her drawing career too.
Also found some long-form theorizing on the history of Hellfire McGonagall's Cold War rivals. Probably the best stab at it I've seen so far, and it's not like Rowling said or will ever say anything about this subject in HP canon, nor would I expect her to. Drilling down details like how many Russian wizards joined the Cheka vs. the White Army's colored regiments back during their civil war or whatever is a task best left to autistic Malfoid fans, thank you very much.
The Red Mage Corps comes directly from my headcanon about how the Bolsheviks would have treated wizards in the Warsaw Pact countries.
Rowling opened this Pandora's box when she wrote of Bulgarian students visiting Hogwarts in the 90s. The following is a summary:
In Tsarist Russia, the wizards were among the Tsar's most loyal servants. They fought on the frontiers, be it the Caucasus, Central Asia, or Siberia. In military conflicts with major states, they often proved invaluable as spies and assassins.
Certain branches of prominent noble families were prone to produce wizards in large quantities. Half-bloods often occupied positions of power in both worlds.
During the Russian Civil War, the Bolsheviks begrudgingly tolerated wizards of humble origins as they were crucial to defeating the reactionaries. Noble wizards and their allies fled, continuing their resistance to the Soviets in exile.
Following the end of the war, the Bolsheviks cracked down on the wizarding world as inherently incompatible with the state's atheist and materialist outlook. Wizards were further seen as a troublesome class that refused to live and labor according to the Revolution's ideals. Wizard spaces from stores to schools were shut down across the vast country.
Small numbers of loyal wizards continued to be tolerated as lapdogs of the new elite, helping powerful Communists oppose dissent and navigate party politics. Individual patronage decided everything.
Felix Dzerzhinsky even went as far as to create a special wizard unit in the Cheka for dealing with supernatural affairs. So large a country was bound to have many in spite of one's best efforts. Known for their implacable ferocity, Squibs were eagerly welcomed into units that dealt with the magical world using Muggle means.
The situation deteriorated further under Stalin. Ordinary wizards were deemed untrustworthy as members of a hostile class and sent off to special camps notorious for high mortality rates. Many were killed for alleged counter-revolutionary sabotage in the chaos of the Great Purge. As some tried to hide in remote wilderness, others fled abroad.
Experiments were conducted on children who exhibited magical abilities. Scientists were eager to explain the phenomenon away in terms available to contemporary science. Highly lethal, these experiments ultimately proved fruitless.
When the USSR found itself invaded by a former ally, the Soviet leadership needed all the help it could get. The surviving wizards were mobilized en masse for the Great Patriotic War. But years of suppression left their mark.
Without access to education, afraid to use magic in daily life for fear of the omnipresent secret police, most were no match for the Germans and their exile allies. The casualties were enormous. Decades later, echoes of the civil war could be heard on the Eastern Front.
Ultimately, the Great Patriotic War gave a few ambitious wizards the perfect opportunity to restore a semblance of normalcy to their people.
The Molotov-Wronski Pact of 1943 made it legal for wizards to have exclusive spaces where no Muggles were allowed. An exception was naturally made for select NKGB agents tasked with monitoring the paranormal world for signs of counter-revolutionary sentiment.
When the war ended, the pact held as it became evident wizards could be of great help in subjugating the newly occupied territories. Communist puppet governments throughout Eastern Europe purged their wizarding communities of anyone who aroused suspicion with help from Soviet allies.
Wizarding communities continued to exist in every Warsaw Pact country. Any wizard who openly practiced magic or lived a non-Muggle life was expected to pledge loyalty to the new order and offer his services upon demand.
Their motivations for collaboration ranged from ideological conviction to greed and fear, as is the case for every group. The spread of Communist authority inevitably meant new waves of exiles, many of whom found a home in Britain.
As the Cold War gradually grew warmer, Warsaw Pact wizards found themselves involved in conflicts all over the world. Congo, Cuba, Vietnam. It's hard to name a conflict where they weren't present.
The two Germanies saw particularly intense struggle as wizards carried out clandestine operations in service of their nations.
During the Khrushchev thaw, wizards found themselves pressured by the government once again as the glorious leader pursued a policy of militant atheism. When a few wizards showed him their powers, he dismissed magic as hocus-pocus nonsense for children.
Dissatisfied, the leading figures struck a bargain with the reactionaries inside the Soviet system to help remove Khrushchev. Up until the USSR's demise, wizard apparatchiks would be invaluable to the KGB and the anti-reform forces.
There is more to it, but I deem this a sufficient introduction to the Cold Wizard War setting. If you've read this far, I appreciate it.
As for why they didn't leave in spite of persecution:
Wizards, as most citizens of any totalitarian state, hoped that the flames burning around them would avoid burning them in particular.
The Cheka wizards invented a reverse Hogwarts barrier that made apparating out of large swathes of Soviet territory impossible. Naturally, places of high importance had barriers that prevented people from apparating into the spot. Apparition is dangerous and hard to pull off by default.
Floo powder became a rare commodity after the Revolution. On the black market, entire fortunes were traded for small bags that enabled a family to flee the USSR.
Still, many were reluctant to leave as they had little to hope for abroad with neither wealth nor knowledge of the local wizarding world.
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Hungary isn't the only one with knockoffs of Potter, Russia has one too. Tanya Grotter. Basically, genderswapped Harry Potter with Russian folklore mixed in it. Oh and it has their own version oh Harry Potter in it - Gooviy Poohpper. No, I'm not kidding
Man, this trend had me do some things I never thought I cared for.
The question this trend presents: does this character work at all and as romantic plotline with otherwise minimal changes to the source?
Because this trend made me feel things and I'm autistic as fuck, I present to you the product of synthesizing dozens of 4chan threads on the matter.
My purpose is to create framework for envisioning variations of story lines with this character. For creators and audience alike.
Basically, principal things to consider and how it will pan out when adopted.
Like, for example, how to make it gradual, slow burn. Or when to accelerate. Stuff like that. To have a variation complete.
It's rough but whole. Critics welcome. Don't want to spend a lot of time polishing this.
Besieged Fortress metaphor
Malfoy - two roots word, can be translated as bad faith.
Existentialist term. Means self-identification with external objects instead of acknowledging one's absolute freedom to act as well as absolute responsibilities which come with that.
E.g. "I'm entitled to do stuff and get away with it because I'm rich pureblood highborn and you're filthy mudblood"
As a Malfoy she inherits these values from her family.
Throughout the story this worldview proves untenable and is getting progressively crushed, getting its adepts - Malfoys - killed under its weight.
Thus it is viewed metaphorically as a Besieged Fortress. The only salvation is to abandon it and let it fall.
But you only can do that if you stop being a Malfoy.
Interpretative effect is that their whole story can be viewed at its core as: She's stuck under duress and is sending distress signals for Harry to catch and save her.
It only works if she chooses to be saved by accepting his worldview that carries solution to her problems but is hard to accept.
The tricky part is that most of the meme's appeal comes from her being sort of active, bullying, etc. How do we reconcile that?
Obviously, there are layers to this, as she's real person and not every situation ever provides direct clash to this worldview. But it's always in the background.
She carries this worldview, but can't defend it in proper conflict. Crabbe and Goyle enforce it for the opportunity to be closer to the top of the pecking order it establishes.
She starts sheltered, not being directly challenged. Potter is a walking prove of its deficiency, thus perceived threat. She's trying to diminish this threat by humiliating and devaluing him.
Only for attempts at devaluing to fail.
Thus he proves he has value. Firstly - at all for her worldview, and then - for her specifically. And thus she starts to want him.
Her wanting him goes from abstract to conrete and then to ideal.
Also I omit a lot of particulars, otherwise it's just too many words. You should know the content of the books at least somewhat.
Application
Her worldview is simple. It's SECRET-like law of attraction shit. "Positives" should be attracted, "negatives" repulsed.
And you know. what those are in particular for her.
contrast:
She imitates family's behavior without understanding its meaning and consequences. Approaches strategically and abstractly.
He approaches from ground up, building rapport with his friends, having a good time.
Rejection is first hit.
Dissonance: positives should stick. He didn't.
Solution - he wasn't that in the first place. Devaluation starts.
Thus all this cruel talk about dead parents and how he should have died. From this perspective it's true.
However his actions are proving that he has worth even in her worldview.
Quiddich starts, he proves capable.
Dissonance: if he's nothing, how is he capable
Solution: his deficiency gets attributed to his friends' influence. They are at fault by infecting him with their loser vibes.
Thus racist ark starts.
Now, about their "rivalry" in general and in particular, in quiddich.
Females have different existential stategies. She wouldn't be his actual rival.
So we reinterpret the scenes, without changing actions. Only meaning behind them.
When he cathes snitch and beats her, she's not upset that she lost. Concern is different - he should have brought these points to Slytherin and thus to her.
Because of his losers-induced deficiency, he's doing it for Gryffindor - but that is merely accidental. He was seduced by these mudbloods and made a mistake in choosing allegiances.
By right these points and success are hers. Stupid pottah.
In book 2 some anons also suggest that she should be in the room instead of Ginny. But either way works.
in one of the scenes in book3 he's falling of the broom.
This and other moments like this make her realize for the first time that her values themselves are not invincible.
By internally viewing him as valuable, he now enters her world.
And he represents the big question for her worldview. How can he even exist and not conform?
Idea - "I can fix him"
This muggle-induced deficiency can be isolated, extracted, fixed. He just needs right influence.
This is where the biggest divergence starts in minor things, but important points are reinterpeted.
But previous phases are also present at the same time - these transitions are not absolute. (Potter stinks etc)
So the devaluing line and I can fix him line clash and mash.
Anons suggestions:
For Harry there needs to be an a bit older (wiser) female that rejects his ball invitation but points to Malfoid
She's one of the hostages he rescues at Tri-wizard Tournament
Mutual "losing bet" and other pretences to get to dance on the ball.
Leave ball as-is as it's "too soon"
Voldemort returns, Fortress status: besieged
While doing stuff for Umbridge, she realizes she's afraid or at least uncomfortable of the idea of him judging her
This makes her consider why. He's still a mystery, she wants to understand his perspective, if only to cover better from him.
Anons suggest:
Ginny dumps Harry as she noticed he really yearns to save that other girl undr duress
Ginny doesn't exist, they are seeing each other secretly
Unbridge hates cute girls, so it's somebody else like Crabbe. Leads to faster development in my view.
as-is, for "slowburn"
either way, she's a double agent and helps Harry either overtly or covertly, but leaving a trace as a plot device for somebody to note later
These two are linked, she doesn't just want salvation if it means he doesn't accept her.
She's with the death eaters under pressure.
She's tasked with the goal of killing Dumbledore.
Her worldview is attacked by voldemort as well - If Malfoys are with all the positives, how come they will be just killed?
Solution is to transfer the negative to Dumbledore - making him the "weak one" by killing him and thus regaining status.
In Malfoy worldview that tracks perfectly.
You kill the old fag to protect the family. Not even hard.
But now her world was thouroughly penetrated by Harry's - and in this world that doesn't fly.
Mind you, she still doesn't know where he's coming from. She can't tell. Only feel.
Duress is not a justification. She does a lot of bad shit here.
When he confronts her, he doesn't know exactly what his spell does, only that it has stopping power higher than usual and requiers intent to not only stop but harm.
And that's a mistake, he fucked up, he's not perfect.
Being hit with that, she curses herself for a fool, suppresses her desires about acceptance and also her budding moral judgement.
For Harry's perspective he should somehow know of her situation.
Anons suggets:
during the Dumbledore scene he's under invisible cloak but doesn't act (maybe can't)
the trace from earlier gets exposed, so he knows she helped them
Dumbledore knows she's torn between two worlds, uses WIS+SPEECH+LCK and appeals to the possibility that Harry can accept and save her but she has to choose it.
He has to appeal through Harry, because he's the intrusive element in her world and a window to a new better one. She doesn't have others.
This is the heaviest part here.
She wants to save her family but murder is unforgivable in her new world.
A lot of decision factors here. By forgiving his reckless spell she knows she, too, can be forgiven.
By her actions she's going to be made an orphan, like Harry himself. Her punishment for being cruel earlier.
But it would be the right thing to do. Lucius and Narcissa made their choices, too.
She abandons her old world for something she doesn't know much about, only that it is right.
And as far as she knows - her own life and family are forfeit.
Snape "saves" the situation. Voldemort is merciful and grants them forgiveness.
But the choice and a distress call were made.
All this war staff happens. She or Narcissa cover Potter from other death eaters.
He saves her from some building on fire - Material component of Besieged Fortress.
When Hagrid brings "dead" Potter, I personally suggest:
She's willing to confront Voldemort without hope, because it's right. Even being offered place close to the top in this new world order.
Being dismissed and mocked. Series of escalation. She has stuff to say. Maybe not only to Voldemort.
Her wand is made of unicorn hair and Hawthorn wood that "suits wizards dealing with internal conflict or turmoil. Great for bottle Dark Arts but also for kinder Healing magics."
Harry in limbo solved the "Riddle" (eh? eh? I mean, she chose the name) - that key to banishing Voldemort is love - for Riddle.
So that's what he tries to do. But it requires specific mind, so she has to trust him in this act, again without understanding. And she does, because she loves him and trusts him.
That's why they do it together and with her wand. It's different kinds of love mixed in one instance.
I'm not a big fan of Potter either, but my siblings were, so it was movie night many a time. So I guess like with Disney Adults it's a form of catharsis for me when I see the racist white-girl quote muggle crime statistics.
For me, there's always a vise versa and a follow-on effect. Potter would have the 'real' put into race realism for him and understand exactly why those kinds of sentiments still exist, even if he never explicitly agrees. Even for characters like the elder Malfoys, there's what to learn. What really makes a family strong? Is it just bloodline, or is there a value in itself to having a happy daughter who lets you dote on your grandkids, even if their father isn't exactly who you would have chosen?
You know you say that but wouldnt Harry realistically fall closer to Grindelwalds position? Hes never shown to have a good relationship with any muggles including his teachers who turn a blind eye and obviously considers that world as being unpleasant. Sure he wouldnt want to slaughter them or even want revenge but he doesnt seem to have any positive sentiment.
Its a theme in some other fictions but think about what a wizard would think about nukes? Wouldnt most fall closer Gellert in that world?
You know you say that but wouldnt Harry realistically fall closer to Grindelwalds position? Hes never shown to have a good relationship with any muggles including his teachers who turn a blind eye and obviously considers that world as being unpleasant. Sure he wouldnt want to slaughter them or even want revenge but he doesnt seem to have any positive sentiment.
Its a theme in some other fictions but think about what a wizard would think about nukes? Wouldnt most fall closer Gellert in that world?
It's as half-baked as everything else Rowling wrote about the muggle world, but I'd think that the understanding Harry reached with Dudley in the last book was her way of implying that Harry didn't really have any held resentment towards muggles as a whole. IIRC she's described it as 'being on christmas card terms', distantly friendly with no desire to get any closer. But there's also the fact that Hermione came from muggle parents, and that was probably a more concrete path towards realizing that muggles as a civilization hadn't really done anything wrong to him, he just got a bad hand with the Dursleys like many kids do, muggle or magical.
You know you say that but wouldnt Harry realistically fall closer to Grindelwalds position? Hes never shown to have a good relationship with any muggles including his teachers who turn a blind eye and obviously considers that world as being unpleasant. Sure he wouldnt want to slaughter them or even want revenge but he doesnt seem to have any positive sentiment.
Its a theme in some other fictions but think about what a wizard would think about nukes? Wouldnt most fall closer Gellert in that world?
Autistic circles have war gamed what an actual war between the Muggles and Wizards would look like. Because of course they have. They concluded that Avada Kedavra, while impressive would not stand up to an AC-130 laying down high explosive shells being machine gunned from 5,000 feet up at 100 rounds a second.
It's as half-baked as everything else Rowling wrote about the muggle world, but I'd think that the understanding Harry reached with Dudley in the last book was her way of implying that Harry didn't really have any held resentment towards muggles as a whole. IIRC she's described it as 'being on christmas card terms', distantly friendly with no desire to get any closer. But there's also the fact that Hermione came from muggle parents, and that was probably a more concrete path towards realizing that muggles as a civilization hadn't really done anything wrong to him, he just got a bad hand with the Dursleys like many kids do, muggle or magical.
Yeah I dont think hed hate all muggles either. I just think his thoughts would be closer to young Albus and Gellert minus the world domination. Mistrust and knowledge of how cruel they can be to young wizards. I dont see why Harry cant hold opinions like that and have some common ground with Malfoid on that, and also disagree. It gives a good give and take dynamic if thats where you want to go.
Autistic circles have war gamed what an actual war between the Muggles and Wizards would look like. Because of course they have. They concluded that Avada Kedavra, while impressive would not stand up to an AC-130 laying down high explosive shells being machine gunned from 5,000 feet up at 100 rounds a second.
too many muggles and we've never seen long-range offensive or defensive magic i think? outside of say handgun range, human weapons seem to be > wands by a large margin. plus it was already established that medieval muggles curbstomped wizards, when you'd think wands would give wizards a huge advantage
too many muggles and we've never seen long-range offensive or defensive magic i think? outside of say handgun range, human weapons seem to be > wands by a large margin. plus it was already established that medieval muggles curbstomped wizards, when you'd think wands would give wizards a huge advantage
No formation fighting either, or the ability to engage in set piece engagements with combined arms. Now, lets be real. JK wasn't writing military science fiction, so she never really thought about what the implications of Vodlemort trying to enslave the muggles would actually be. I think in her mind, he would have just used a massive obliviate and imperius curse to enslave the muggles en masse without a shot having to be fired.
harry is the Hero(TM) so he is a Good Person(TM), so he doesnt hold the dursleys' mistreatment of him against all muggles. plus hermione has muggle parents, and ron's dad is obsessed with muggles in a fanboy kinda way (Oh so they're clever Harry, look at how they get around not having magic!), so harry had a built-in incentive from the start to not dislike muggles. hating on muggles would be hating on his two best friends' families
Ehhhhh, if we want to approach this as a traditional Romance, the partner needs to fill voids in the other. Harry is often incredibly naive and unambitious. Despite being hurt repeatedly by circumstances and clearly having strong desires. Desire for family, desire for control over circumstances that constantly sweep him off his feet, etc. Malfoy as a female love interest would be able to fill those voids. But true Romance is also reciprocal. A lady Malfoy would be cold at first, controlled by her ambitions, desires and seeing the people around her as tools to be used for her own benefit. Harry could make her begin to appreciate that maybe there is something more to being able to trust other people, to have friends rather then servants and that power for its own sake is an empty thing.
Which is why there is now a whole bunch of crazy edits of the final confrontation when Voldemort announces Harry's death and demands the students to choose which side to be on. "Malfoid" steps foreword and pulls the Sword of Gryffindor from the fallen sorting hat instead of siding with Voldemort. Which would have been such a "chefs kiss" moment and character pay off.
