This Might Be A Weird Idea But

Do you think Snape hate has increased since we found out he was poor?

I think there’s a number of reasons, but yes, I think it’s a possibility.  We can quickly compare and contrast how Draco and Snape are perceived by fandom, or even Regulus and Snape.  I suspect that the poverty that the Snape family were steeped in is too difficult for some readers to wholly grasp, whereas perhaps it is far easier to admire and aspire towards the riches and decadence of the Blacks and the Malfoys.  

Maybe it’s also easier for some modern readers to imagine the psychological impact of not agreeing with the politics of your parents than it is to imagine the undercurrent of domestic violence and living in a destitute environment in a dilapidated house.  Additionally, there are uncomfortable messages for some from Snape - this dirty, unloved, dishevelled child is as powerful and as capable as any other wizard, and given the opportunity, he flourishes.  Depending on your class, you may read Snape’s success as a powerful message of triumph over adversity - or perhaps, a dangerous message about competition from the underclass.  

Still, I suspect the real issue is generational - and not necessarily generational from Harry starting at Hogwarts in 1991 and us discussing this almost 30 years later, but generational from JK.  I’ve spoken a lot previously about how her depiction is of teachers from the mid 70s put into a book set in the early 90s and how that doesn’t wholly translate to the kid of the late 10s.  

With that in mind, I think her notion of a love story is also mired in history.  For someone of JK’s age when she started writing, unrequited love was seen in positive terms - it wasn’t meant to be creepy.  Love is a huge theme throughout the series, and the idea that Snape - who had walked down this horribly dark path and was outwardly a mean and nasty and spiteful man - would completely change his ideology and allegiance due to his unrequited love for Lily was supposed to have been indicative of the power of love.

But we read Potter now with modern eyes, and unrequited love has not aged particularly well.  It seems rare that people genuinely ‘quietly love from afar’ - and instead, fandom insists on applying traits to the character which don’t exist in the text.  For instance, there’s no indication of Snape being a stalker or a creep, there’s no indication that he wanted a sexual relationship with Lily, there’s no indication that he bothered her or harassed her.  He isn’t a ‘nice guy’ or an ‘incel’ - but some readers can’t find the trope that they’re expecting, so they apply others to the series, even if they don’t quite fit.

So, I think the author and the readership are in conflict.  The author wrote a tale of genuine unrequited love, and the readers are trying to view it through modern frameworks, and they draw incorrect conclusions about the character’s motives.

I suspect this is exacerbated by the readership not ageing with the series.  Everyone who read Potter whilst it was being published had to wait for the next book to be written, but these days, they’re binge-read.  I think that lack of distance between each book (and the subsequent lack of maturity, because you’re reading the next one within a week, and not waiting three years, so you can’t have matured further) means that many struggle to separate Snape from being a cipher for their mean teacher at school to becoming the secret hero that he is.

I think that’s my real conclusion.  The problem is that this is an old text which is being read as if it is modern - and that leads to a clash between reader expectation and authorial intent.

nobody asked for scientist hygiene headcanons but here they are regardless. here’s an idea and I promise it’s not as cursed as you will probably think it sounds. Hermann doesn’t shower much but he DOES have excellent hygiene and always smells nice. 

1. Look, he has a sink in his room! He has a shaving kit! He has towels! He can shave and splash off and wash his hair and clean off with a damp towel he’s fine showers aren’t needed nearly as often as people seem to think! He showers…. a few times a month, it depends on the month. Why, you ask? ok so 

2. the Shatterdome has communal showers and they are aaaaaallllll the way down a super long hallway and he uses all his energy on research he’s just too tired to walk aaaaallllllll the way down there. 

3. also they’re communal showers and he’s shy 

4. and there’s no easy way to get dressed in the stall in your clothes without getting your clothes all wet and he’s NOT walking all the way back in a bathrobe 

5. nobody else is that modest and people are just walking around Completely Naked and he feels out of place in his standard 999 layers but also he’d rather die than remove a single layer

6. The Tiles Are Dangerously Slippery 

7. One time he came in for a shower and There Were People Everywhere and he was waiting for the single disabled shower stall and Ranger Hercules “Herc” Hansen, whose body befits his Herculean namesake, comes out of one of the showers completely naked and walks over to him and starts chatting with him in a friendly way and Hermann, who was at the edge of panicking to begin with, is standing there astral projecting into a realm of internal screaming while hit Chris Fleming song “I’m Afraid to Talk to Men” (I’m afraid I’ll look at their dicks. IT’S NOT THAT I WANT TO! I’M JUST AFRAID I’M GOING TO!) plays on endless loop and he never wanted to know how much chest hair Ranger Hansen had but the man is just standing there talking about the Kaiju-invasion-influenced weather patterns while he drips on the floor and the stall still isn’t open and Herc is between him and the door and there’s no polite way to get out of this and he’s nodding politely and finally the stall is open and he goes in and stays there for a solid 45 minutes having a panic attack and waiting for people to leave the showers so he can hopefully get out of there without any more horrible social interactions but There Are So Many People Still and finally he gives up on waiting. He manages to psych himself up from being terrified to being angry by mentally griping about how many people who don’t need to use the SINGLE disabled stall on their floor use it and he is LITERALLY the only one in this military base who needs it and if anyone else thinks he’s taking up space well too bad he is CANCELING his guilt trip they can just WAIT. Like he did. So he psyches himself up and he leaves the stall and he immediately slips on the tiles and wipes out in spectacularly undignified fashion in front of a bunch of cadets who all politely try to help him up, which is a convergence of all the things he hates, 1. being publicly embarrassed 2. strangers touching him 3. strangers who’re convinced they’re Helping Him so he feels obligated to thank them rather than yelling at them to leave him alone which is what he wants to do and he’s still kind of having a panic attack and 

8. he decided he would only go late at night when no one else was around, so he could avoid people. that would work right? so late one night he walked into the showers. he saw 2 people making out in one of the stalls. he walked out of the showers. he decided Not to go to the showers late at night. 

9. Additional, Secret reason that he tries not to think about too much: Newton, who despite being German is just as intensely American as Hermann, despite being German, is intensely British, showers a lot and Hermann hasn’t run into Newton in the showers before but he’s terrified that if he does he will have a gay stroke and die on the spot from having to confront the idea of Newton being naked in his general vicinity 

anyways he changes his inner layers regularly and is arguably cleaner then Newton on days where Newton just sort of turns the water on himself and zones out while standing there for a couple seconds and then leaves, sometimes even without getting his whole body wet, whilst Hermann is carefully cleaning behind his ears etc. w his washcloth, look. look. I know that absolutely no one asked for this information. but I’m giving it to you. you’re welcome. deal with it. 

I’m reading the essay on John Nettleship, the character whom Snape was based on, and some parts are really interesting.

It gives a new perspective upon Snape. Like the fact John was assaulted as a teacher. The owner of the essay states that the students kicking John in the balls repeatedly or supposedly throwing him out of a window were like the real-life Marauders. The fact John refused to can his students and was kind of a saviour from physical discipline is a nice parallel on how Snape tried to protect the students in 7th year. How John, after recieving much violence as a child and as a teacher, had the tendency to think verbal violence was kinder than physical violence (although John didn’t approve of Snape’s handling of a class). How ironically it was Mr Mooney who canned the students the most (if I remember well). Or finally how he was eccentric in class because slightly Aspie and suffering from chronic insomnia because he was going through a nasty divorce.

Did you know he made a poem called The Wizard, where the protagonist glorifies a mysterious “dark” wizard staring at you with a terrible smile? It was made before the first HP book came out, as if without knowing it yet, John had the idea of a Snape-like wizard inside. John and his inner wizard — very poetic.

You can read the poem on this essay. Here’s the link:

http://www.whitehound.co.uk/Fanfic/A_true_original.htm

Here’s a shorter version of the essay:

- Zaunites dying to help Piltover in battle while wearing enforcer uniforms, even though Piltover did nothing to earn it

- Silco, one of the few pro-Zaun/anti-Piltover characters from season 1, reduced into a mouthpiece for "forgiving those who wronged you" and letting go

- Jinx, one of the few anti-Piltover characters, becoming redeemed by sympathizing with Piltovians, being apologetic for killing Councilors, and feeling like she should die to allow her sister to be happy with her enforcer girlfriend

- Vi not having any problem with her Piltovian enforcer girlfriend gassing Zaun, and reduced to kneeling for Caitlyn's pussy in a prison cell, where she was locked for years as a child by an enforcer

- Jayce telling Viktor that his disease was never a weakness to be cured even though the disease was caused by Piltover polluting Zaun

- Ekko never calling out Heimerdinger's failings as a ruler nor Vi for joining the enforcers (even though he does in the game), and also risking all the Firelights' lives to help Piltover

- Sevika not having any lines in Act 3, never interacting with Jinx or reacting to Isha's death, and also risking her life to help Piltover, a decision which was made off screen

deltarune soriel comic I did month ago.（2/2）

I genuinely have no clue where this fandom gets the idea that James and Snape were rivals. The definition of rivalry is competition for the same objective or for superiority in the same field.

If James and Snape were rivals, as many like to call them, what were they competing for?

Lily?

No. Snape and Lily were best friends, years before James and Snape even met. And Lily is not a “prize to be won” which many people—including James, as we see in SWM—fail to understand.

Their studies? [I’m including this because I’ve actually seen someone try to use this argument before]

No. That had nothing to do with their feud. And James and Snape excelled in different subjects. Snape was brilliant at potions and DADA. James was highly knowledgeable in transfiguration.

Unlike Harry and Draco (who were rivals when it came to Quidditch), James and Snape had nothing you could argue they were “competing over.”

Another important thing many people seem to forget about rivalries is that it means equality. Rivals’ statuses/dynamics are meant to be balanced. Does that apply to Snape and James?

James Potter: was a rich, well-groomed, spoiled pureblood Gryffindor.

Severus Snape: was a poor, unattractive, neglected half-blood Slytherin.

It can only ever be called a rivalry when both sides are equally powerful, which cannot be said for James and Snape whatsoever.

A huge reason as to why people like to call it that is because Snape apparently “gave as good as he got” (I like how there was not a single time that phrase was ever used in the series). They use a line said by Remus—one of Snape’s bullies, funnily enough—in OoTP as evidence of Snape’s supposed fighting back:

“Snape was a special case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to curse James, so you couldn’t really expect James to take that lying down, could you?”

To a majority of this fandom, never losing an opportunity (opportunity: a time or set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something, Remus never said anything about Snape succeeding all the time) to curse James—who, in the author’s words, relentlessly bullied Snape for the past six years—in their 7th year (one year) meant “giving as good as he got” and automatically cancels out everything James did to Snape for the six years before that.

Demonising Snape for wanting to get back at James after being subjected to bullying, assault, and even attempted murder (the werewolf prank) for years is complete and utter victim-blaming. If the victim fights back, it is to be called self-defence, not “bullying back” (there is no such thing anyway) or a rivalry. Acting as though in order to be a “good victim”—whatever that’s supposed to mean—you have to take the bullying lying down, and if you defend yourself, you’re reclassified as the bad guy, is genuinely disgusting to me. If a woman were to defend herself against her assaulters, would she be in the wrong, would that negate what the assaulters did to her?

The pro-bullying and victim-blaming attitude that comes from this fandom is revolting. Defending oneself does not alter the dynamic from a person with more power bullying a victim to a rivalry between two equals. When will people learn to understand that.

And besides, there is absolutely nothing to back up Remus’s claim. In fact, there is more evidence that he was lying:

Remus makes it sound like Snape would just come up to James randomly and just hex him there and then. If he did, don’t you think Lily would’ve found out? Or at the very least the Hogwarts staff? That very much suggests that it was James who initiated these fights.

The Marauders had the cloak of invisibility, a map that could track Snape and everyone at Hogwarts’ every move, and the two-way mirror. What did Snape have?

Why would James hide it from Lily? If he was truly innocent and was the one being hexed senseless, he obviously would not have hidden it from her. What would he even have to hide if that were the case? It’s clear that he knew he was in the wrong and that Lily would have never gotten with him had she known what he was doing behind her back.

Remus is canonically a liar, who lied to Harry many times, especially about Snape. Why does this fandom act like his words about the person he used to bully should be trusted?

Moving on, none of the Marauders’ reasons for bullying Snape exactly scream rivalry:

James himself stated that he bullied Snape because he exists.

Remus called it “an old prejudice” when he and Harry talked in HBP, casting the Marauders as bigots (especially when you remember that Snape was a Slytherin whom they bullied because of his existence).

Sirius (in GoF) claimed that “Snape was just this little oddball who was up to his eyes in the Dark Arts.”

In SWM, we are shown that the reason James and Sirius attacked Snape—who was minding his own business—was because Sirius was bored, meaning they had done it for fun.

Lily claimed that James walked down corridors and hexed anyone who annoyed him “just because he can.”

Sirius claimed that “we [the Marauders] were sometimes arrogant little berks.”

Tell me, does this seem like a rivalry to you?

I can’t remember if I’ve said this before but I think that if you make a Batman 1920s AU then you have to take into account that Bertie Wooster often spent time living in New York and Gotham City is just New York Noir and Bruce Wayne would probably cultivate the acquaintance of Bertie Wooster because Bertie is exactly the sort of person Bruce wants people to think he is, so it’s both birds of a feather camouflage and because he wants to observe Bertie for behavioural ideas.

Bertie, ray of sunshine that he is, thinks Bruce is jolly good fun and really quite barmy, but he already has a friend called Barmy and he can’t manage two Barmies so he affectionately dubs him Batty.

Consequently Bruce exists in a state of nagging uncertainty as to whether Bertie is the golden-hearted silly ass he so transparently appears to be, or is in fact one of his villains, knowing who he is and taunting him.

Coco Headcanons

It’s hard to see that the gangly youth is her grandpa. But sometimes Victoria could see glimpses of an old man in his eyes. Which would snap back into his cheerful chatter the moment he realizes Victoria is staring. 

Looking so young, most of the Rivera women dotes on him. Especially Elena after joined them and gave him a talking to. But when it comes to dealing with their peers that are being forgotten, Hector is their guide and rock. 

When they got a problem that’s out of their league, Hector always knows a guy (who may or may not be dabbling in something illegal or is annoyed at him).

Hector once helped Oscar and Felipe with a physics problem with his experience of driving a minivan off the flower bridge. All said in casually chipper tones.

Rosita and Victoria would glance at each other every time Hector would tease Imelda. It reminds them too much of how Coco would sweet-flirt Julio even after they’re married.

Hector once told them the time he was recruited into an archaeological expedition in the Land of the Dead after he unintentionally became an expert in trying to dig his way out of the Land of the Dead and into the ground below the flower bridge. (He wasn’t able to scale the other side of the bridge because he was caught before he could try the climber’s ice axe.)

No one would say it but they all agreed Imelda became more relaxed and smiled more often when Hector became part of their home.

The one time Hector’s anger (at everything that had happened) reared its ugly head, they knew they should’ve seen it coming. Yet not one of them were prepared for it.  

He didn’t shout. Nothing. He just left. Imelda, who didn’t know yet what’s his deal, tracked him down to Shantytown and demanded to know what’s going on. Hector kept saying he needs space to think. But Imelda’s confrontational attitude boxed him into the corner, that’s when it came tumbling out.

Everyone felt helpless when Imelda and Pepita returned with no Hector. Just when everything was going so well. 

The Pre-Undertale Timeline 

[ View at Full Size ]

A visual compilation of the events before Undertale based on research from @nochocolate​. Special thanks to the mods of NoChocolate for all the help and proofreading! 

Not every event is captured on this timeline, but the main chronological order of events and the rare, specific mentions of dates are included. In order to be as objective as possible, theories and speculation have been omitted. All data has been taken at face value (including possible hyperbole, such as Bratty claiming they’ve been underground for “millennia”).

Source content and in-depth analysis:

[ Undertale takes place in less than a day ] [ How long has Flowey existed? ] [ The Undertale Timeline ] [ Mettaton Added Last Week ]

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irving b please come back i miss you