I Don't Know Much About Grindelwald Apart From What's Written About Him In Harry Potter Books, So I'll

I don't know much about Grindelwald apart from what's written about him in harry potter books, so I'll take your word for it. I never really doubted that he was a better person that Voldemort anyway.

it would do a disservice to characters who canonically don't have their motivation tied to Dumbledore, but Remus is not one of them. not in the sense that "Dumbledore manipulated him yada yada" - no, never - but in the sense that Dumbledore was literally Remus' hero, he loved the man and was immensely grateful for all the opportunities Dumbledore gave him. the fact that Remus felt indebted to him afterwards is entirely on Remus, Dumbledore never used that against him. but you can't argue with it being Remus' canon motivation for fighting both wars. he might try to be kind but he's pretty selfish and cowardly, he wouldn't go against a future dictator just because it's the right thing to do - he'd run away if it weren't for Dumbledore and his closest friends joining the fight.

and I'm sorry you have to deal with so much Dumbledore hate on his tag, it's quite inconsiderate for antis to not tag their posts appropriately.

my paragraph with repetitions of the word "destroy" does sound shitty, I apologise. I was trying to write it as a reflection of how Remus processed those events, not as an objective jab at what Dumbledore was doing, but it turned out shitty and mean, yeah. my main focus here is actually Remus' continued trust and love for the man, not that he "blames" him for anyone's destruction; like I said he even looks the other way whenever Dumbledore does in fact do something imperfect (never evil, but flawed).

for the record, I do think that Dumbledore could have handled the Grimmauld Place situation with Sirius better, because it did destroy Sirius in the end (which still isn't directly Dumbledore's fault at all - but Harry for example blames him); but also Sirius was already fucked up from Azkaban (which is a ridiculous thing to blame Dumbledore for, I've seen those posts and it's bonkers. Dumbledore couldn't do anything about Azkaban and frankly wasn't obligated too) and kept fucking himself up after, so really Grimmauld Place was just a drop in the ocean of his problems. ultimately, people saying Dumbledore "destroyed Sirius' life" are delusional.

the Harry bit. well. here I do think Dumbledore is to blame, at least a little bit. he did kill himself as a result of his greed for power and hastily left all of his grandiose plans for eliminating horcruxes on a 17 year old's shoulders, which resulted in Harry living half-feral for a year, severely traumatised and ultimately suicidal to the point he readily embraces death as a gift. maybe you don't feel the same, but I think it's a pretty heavy burden to put on a minor. and it doesn't matter really that he was preparing Harry for years, I mean that's great and it was very kind of him to ease Harry into it at first, but it doesn't justify 7th book to me. but hey, Harry never blamed him, so everybody has their own view of the situation. and I don't think it makes Dumbledore evil or a bad person, he was himself unprepared for such a drastic change of plans and did what he could to guide the chosen one to end the war. he did pretty good, all thing considered, but could have done much better (but that would have been less impactful and I love flawed characters like Dumbledore all the more for each of their mistakes. makes them real and human).

and uhhh, I used "ghost" not in hp dead silvery soul way, but in a memory, legacy or a trace of him way. just so we're clear. of couse I know that Dumbledore doesn't become a ghost in canon.

do I believe any character's trust in Dumbledore could potentially be broken? yes. have I ever seen anybody write it in ways that make sense for those characters' unique perspectives and personalities? no.

and a lot of times it's still compelling as hell when the most devoted characters start seeing cracks early or when they fight for something else in the first place, not regarding Dumbledore as their guiding light at all. it turns those characters into different people though.

but what strikes me more is the immediate shift of the atmosphere of the first war and everything that happens throughout.

because when I think about the first Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore, my first association is, surprisingly, cult of personality. USSR cults, specifically. they were sort of unique, initially crafted to give more power to the Party instead of the Leader.

Order is similar, in a way. on the surface it's just resistance. an organised war effort. a mishmash of people from different backgrounds uniting to fight for personal reasons. James fights for the greater good and his righteous ideals. and James fights for Lily. Lily fights for herself and those marginalised like her. and Lily fights for her muggle family. Sirius doesn't fight for, but against - against his blood family, against Slytherins, against everybody like them. and Sirius fights with James. those 3 are simple. what about others?

Remus doesn't fight for or against. Remus fights with Dumbledore. because Remus' world revolves around Dumbledore and when he says "go die in a war" - Remus goes, no questions asked. he owes Dumbledore that much. Peter doesn't fight for or against. Peter fights with Dumbledore. because Peter wants to be safe and Peter wants to win. Dumbledore promises a win. Peter believes him until he doesn't.

but James also fights with Dumbledore. because Dumbledore is the greater good personified and shares James' righteous ideals. Lily also fights with Dumbledore. because Dumbledore fights for marginalised the loudest. Sirius also fights with Dumbledore. because Dumbledore fights against everybody who's like Sirius' family.

Dumbledore, Dumbledore, Dumbledore. the centre of it all, the bonfire of hope, the beacon of light, the daimon of good. Order is Dumbledore, first and foremost - not Moody, Alice, Frank, Dorcas, Marlene, Prewetts, Caradoc, James, Lily, Sirius, Remus or Peter. not any of the others. it's Albus Dumbledore and the blind, the devoted.

it doesn't fall apart until it's too late. it's only Sirius who gets a chance to notice but he promptly denies it, locked up in a cell for 12 years, carefully tucked away by Dumbledore. he trusts Dumbledore.

he trusts Dumbledore when he escapes, he trusts Dumbledore with Harry, he trusts Dumbledore when he tells Sirius to hide at Lupin's, he trusts Dumbledore when he locks Sirius up in his childhood house of terrors, he trusts Dumbledore when he assembles second Order. he joins Dumbledore, he fights with Dumbledore again, even locked up and angry, and the only time he doesn't trust Dumbledore with either Harry or himself he goes, and fights for Harry, and dies.

others are dead, or tortured, or new, or Remus. Remus who is the blindest and the most devoted. Remus who owes Dumbledore, believes that he owes Dumbledore everything and more. the new don't know any better yet, but Remus does and ignores it. he trusts Dumbledore. trusts him with Harry, and with Sirius, and with himself.

Remus joins Dumbledore, fights with Dumbledore again. sees Dumbledore destroy Sirius - looks the other way, sees Dumbledore destroy himself - deifies him even more in his death, sees Dumbledore's ghost destroy Harry - wants to join him to be destroyed too. because there's nothing left - Dumbledore gifted him his heart at 11, and it died piece by piece in the span of 16 years, and then Dumbledore dies himself, and he can't gift Remus another heart, another life. so Remus blinds himself some more, fights with Dumbledore's ghost and dies. probably for Dumbledore too.

and if all of that can happen when a small group of people simply trusts one mortal man, it's going to take a lot more than a wayward thought in one of those devoted heads to see the cracks. it's going to take a lot of thoughts, a lot of heads, a lot of cracks. a lot of discussions and a fair share of arm-twisting and change of faith. it surely must be a group effort in one way or another, preferably with the help of those who aren't as devoted. if there are any.

because as lovely and as gratifying as it is to read about Remus or Sirius or even Minerva blowing up at Albus - if you don't write them getting to that point after deconstructing their prior canon beliefs... then those characters aren't really Remus, Sirius or Minerva. especially not Remus who was always the most devoted of them all.

a much too whiny rant about fic icks

I die a little every time pup, cub or Prongslet comes up in a wolfstar raising Harry (together or separately) fic. especially cub - it makes literally no sense????? are you sure it's Remus John Lupin I'm reading about??? it's his evil doppelganger, I'm telling you. I'm not even sure I could stomach that word ironically.

Prongslet is fine in moderation, I guess, but only as an inside joke, only coming from Sirius and only when Harry's a smol bean. but when it's Prisoner of Azkaban compliant I wanna claw my eyes out.

it's even worse when those terms are used not just in dialogue but in Remus or Sirius' internal monologue as if pup and cub are Harry's freaking pronouns or something. my cub, my pup, cub did this, pup did that... just call him boy or kid or his name for god's sake. I once saw sprog pop up and was delighted cuz at least it's actually british slang.

and don't get me started on Hadrian(us) James Orion Potter-Black (which is just... why the fuck would James give his son the name of his best mate's horrible father AND the last name of his horrible family?? and why would Lily agree to that?) who's simultaneously Lord Potter, Black, Peverell and Slytherin (and, sure, I have a visceral reaction to aristocracy wank in general but even ignoring that - the last 3 literally make no sense since "Lord Black" is Sirius until his death; and both Peverell and Slytherin lines bled into other families ages ago. so being a Potter automatically means you're descended from Peverells as well as being a Gaunt - from Slytherin. and the last of those is Tom Riddle Jr. but that wouldn't make any Potters "Lord Peverell"s or any Gaunts/Riddle "Lord Slytherin"s. those last names are dead. smh).

but, uh, this tangent technically has nothing to do with my initial complaints, it's just that at some point I started thinking of this naming stuff in tandem with nonsensical nicknames as they began appearing in fics together. which is a double homicide, truly.

and look, I definitely understand the desire to make Harry's original name something else cuz it fits nicely with POC Potters headcanon and Dursleys being racist dicks about it, but... Hadrian? I mean, it's not really a big deal when the fic mentions it being his full name but both narration and characters still refer to him as Harry for short - that makes total sense. however when after the name reveal Hadrian replaces Harry completely, it feels super weird and uncanny, making it hard to identify Harry's character in the story altogether.

although I guess you should all knock me off my high horse for being the biggest hypocrite ever, cuz I myself have a headcanon for Harry's name, even if it's less elaborate than Hadrian. also less Roman? that's another thing I don't get - if you want to create a better connection between Harry and his roots, why choose a name of a Roman emperor for a desi kid? since he's usually explicitly desi in all the Hadrian fics. so it's not that I have a problem with renaming him, per se, I just don't understand the choice of Hadrian.

for example, I recently read a fic where he was Pakistani and his name was originally Hami, which is a nice idea, actually, and makes sense for such headcanon. mine is Hari btw (हरि in Sanskrit), since I headcanon Potters as Indian, but I didn't come up with that name myself - just saw it somewhere a couple years ago and liked it. I think it's actually a pretty popular hc now? anyway, it's closer to Harry than any other name I've seen and has many beautiful meanings that resonate with what I think James and Lily felt towards their son. now, even though I still prefer his name being Harry regardless of ethnicity, I do entertain this silly headcanon from time to time - so yeah, I'm one to talk, boo me.

now, I probably should shut up since this rant has been entirely too negative already, but while I'm on the topic of icky names/nicknames I should circle back to wolfstar cuz gods know I'll never be brave enough to talk about this particular pet peeve in its own post.

Siri, Remu and Remy make my blood boil. Siri could be kinda cute when it's a silly childhood nickname from Regulus, but if any marauder or Lily calls Sirius that - immediate death. Si and Re are a teensy bit better in moderation and if used ironically, but still stab me in the chest. a couple times for good measure. the only somewhat acceptable short form of any of their two names for me is Rem, albeit with a stretch and only because it's an actual version of the name Remus in Catalan and Russian. I know I'm being way too dramatic about this (just like with all of my previous points) but I just don't understand the need to shorten their names. at all. they're only 3 and 2 syllables long and so mystical on their own that any shortening just makes them simultaneously more nonsensical and less remarkable.

both characters literally have established quirky nicknames in canon that you can play with and even shorten to Pads and Moons if you want. Sirius is not a digital assistant and Remus is not the main character from Ratatouille. stop this madness.

plus James is right there. his name has a ridiculous amount of diminutives - Jamie, Jimmy, Jim, Jam, Jem, Jay and even Jimbo if you're into that. why strip Remus and Sirius' magical names of their charm if you can have fun with common names? but I digress.

at the end of the day, my pet peeves are mine only and I should live with them in fragile peace. this post is a personal rant first and foremost and if you disagree, I'm genuinely happy that you enjoy the things I can't. fandom is a playground and we can all find some fun in different corners. I'd also like to point out that I'm not trying to take a jab at fic writers who use any of the aforementioned terms, names or diminutives. I'm only one person, so if I stop reading your work because of my petty biases, it's only my loss and not your problem. hundreds of other fans will enjoy it instead. so keep doing what you love and writing those characters however you want, it's your right!

so yeah, writers and readers - don't take it personally and have your fun! don't listen to me being mean! I'm just making my fandom experience way too convoluted for my own good.

now that I've mentioned Remus, Sirius and Severus, I'm itching to talk about their clique in full:

Sirius is 6'3 / 191 cm (as stated above; described as tall many times and as the tallest marauder in their photo; aside from that, I need him to be exactly 10 cm taller than James for some reason)

James is 5'11 / 181 cm (described as tall and the same height as 17yo Harry at 21; and Harry isn't over 6 feet as evident from his Runcorn transformation, making his most probable height 5'11; besides I think he's the type to be totally pissed he didn't grow 2 more cm to reach 6'0 and the thought makes me chuckle)

Remus is 5'9 / 176 cm (as stated above)

Lily is 5'7.5 / 172 cm (described as having to look down on 14yo Harry, who's around 5'5 at the time)

Peter is 5'5 / 165 cm (described as a very short man barely taller than 14yo Hermione and 13yo Harry - both around 5'3 at the time; more than a head shorter than Sirius, so the 10 inches gap works)

then onto Sirius' darling relatives + their lovers:

Bellatrix is 6'1.5 / 187 cm (described as a tall woman; noticeably taller than 17yo Harry, so very tall)

Andromeda is 6'1 / 185 cm (described as having a striking resemblance to Bella, so she must be of similar height)

Regulus is 6'0.5 / 184 cm (described as smaller than Sirius, likely both in muscle and height; still tall cuz all Blacks are)

Lucius is 5'10.5 / 179 cm (not described = average; but Draco is tall, so Lucius is on the taller side of average)

Ted is 5'9 / 175 cm (not described = average)

Narcissa is 5'8 / 173 cm (as stated above; described as a tall woman; slightly shorter than average Severus; the same height as 16yo Harry - around 5'10 - though here I'm going to allow myself to speculate that Narcissa was wearing heels, otherwise Snape would have to be tall and he's not described as such)

bonus: Tonks is 5'5 / 165 cm (not described = average; her height was only ever mentioned when she went undercover as a tall woman, meaning she isn't that tall herself)

and finally golden trio and co, during and post-canon:

Ron is 6'5 / 196 cm (as stated above; was 6'4.5 / 194 cm in DH; full height at 18; grows 2 cm in a few months after the war)

Harry is 6'0.5 / 184 cm (was 5'11 / 180 cm in DH; full height at 19; love the popular headcanon of him finally surpassing James after the war - my vision is that he slowly grows just 4 extra cm in a year and a half, cuz frankly I can't imagine him reaching 6'1+)

Neville is 5'7.5 / 171 cm (full height at 17 by the beginning of DH; described as short but not very short, so I'd put him just below average; I like to think he got his last growth spurt the summer before 7th year, which Harry just didn't notice upon returning to Hogwarts, cuz Neville was still shorter than him)

Hermione is 5'5.5 / 166 cm (full height at 15 by the beginning of OOTP; only ever described as shorter than Harry and taller than Ginny, making her height pretty average; picked this specific number cuz I need Ron to be exactly 30 cm taller, it's fun)

Luna is 5'4.5 / 164 cm (full height at 15 by the beginning of HBP; taller than Ginny but otherwise not described, so she's average)

Ginny is 5'1 / 155 cm (full height at 14 by the end of OOTP; described as noticeably the smallest of the group during department fight; 16yo Harry can look over her head in the kiss scene, so she must be around 8-9 inches shorter than 5'10)

bonus: Draco is 6'1 / 186 cm (full height at 17 by the time of Easter hols in DH; described as slightly taller than 17yo Harry and 6 cm seems fair to me; even without growing after the war remains technically taller than grown Harry, but it's only noticeable cuz he has perfect posture while Harry doesn't)

also Dumbledore is 6'7 / 201 cm (described as taller than every Inferius in HBP and taller than everybody at the Ministry in OOTP)

the main reason I'm an average height Remus truther - aside from this little fact being canon - is simple:

the only "tall, thin and gangling, with big hands and feet, and a long nose" character I advocate for is Ronald Weasley who deserves to tower over each and every authority figure he encounters.

so by 3rd year Ron is 5'11 / 180 cm which is ridiculously tall for a 13 year old boy and makes him slightly taller than all his Professors:

btw UK average adult heights are 5'4-5'6 for women and 5'8-5'10 for men

5'10 / 178 cm McGonagall (described as a tall woman)

5'9.5 / 177 cm Snape (rather shorter than Sirius; slightly taller than Narcissa, who's exactly 5'8 / 173 cm for me)

5'9 / 176 cm Lupin (not described = average)

5'8 / 172 cm Filch (not described = average; not a Prof but Staff)

5'7 / 170 cm Sinistra (not described, but she was on the taller side in the movies so I'll give her that. shorter than Minerva still)

5'6 / 167 cm Trelawney (not described = average)

5'1 / 154 cm Sprout (describes as a squat little woman)

4'5 / 134 cm Flitwick (described as tiny but has distant goblin ancestry so I see him as being 5 inches taller than average goblin)

Dumbledore doesn't count cuz Ron barely stands next to the man and I reckon it's pretty hard to grow over 2 meters at 13. Hagrid is irrelevant cuz half-giant.

then Ron gets kidnapped by the first adult that year who looms over him at 6'3 / 191 cm - no wonder Sirius is terrifying, being that tall.

by the time Sirius dies Ron only grows to 6'2.5 / 189 cm so he never gets to be taller than him... shit now I'm making myself sad.

anyway, when he's done growing Ron is 6'5 / 196 cm, making him the tallest Weasley and probably the tallest man in any room ever.

the most average-looking utterly pathetic man and some fucking extraterrestrial personality trapped in a majestic human body

right. let's talk about "reading comprehension". did my post say anything at all about me being anti Dumbledore? did it say anything about him being "some horrid man"? the comment 'go die in a war' was Remus-specific, not a general statement. it was supposed to convey Remus' willingness to fight and die for Dumbledore's cause, not verbatim of what Dumbledore tells Order members or Remus himself. of course he doesn't say that, of course he never orders anyone around. again, did my post say anything about Dumbledore expecting anyone to join him in that war effort? I'm not taking away anyone's free will - they all made their choices - I only analysed their reasons for doing so. because it's very clear from canon text that they had different reasons. your first point about ministry and fascism - that's James, Lily and partially Sirius' reason. probably a lot of other name-only members too. but not Remus' or Peter's. and I never said that Dumbledore manipulated them into joining him or something. plus Voldemort never wanted to destroy the wizarding world - he wanted to rid it of muggle blood and become immortal as a treat. and now that you gave me a reason to think about my post in more detail, I must confess I didn't find anything in it that contradicts canon text or promotes anti Dumbledore rhetoric. I tend to quite like his character actually, exactly because he's complex and not perfect. hope you have a wonderful day.

do I believe any character's trust in Dumbledore could potentially be broken? yes. have I ever seen anybody write it in ways that make sense for those characters' unique perspectives and personalities? no.

and a lot of times it's still compelling as hell when the most devoted characters start seeing cracks early or when they fight for something else in the first place, not regarding Dumbledore as their guiding light at all. it turns those characters into different people though.

but what strikes me more is the immediate shift of the atmosphere of the first war and everything that happens throughout.

because when I think about the first Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore, my first association is, surprisingly, cult of personality. USSR cults, specifically. they were sort of unique, initially crafted to give more power to the Party instead of the Leader.

Order is similar, in a way. on the surface it's just resistance. an organised war effort. a mishmash of people from different backgrounds uniting to fight for personal reasons. James fights for the greater good and his righteous ideals. and James fights for Lily. Lily fights for herself and those marginalised like her. and Lily fights for her muggle family. Sirius doesn't fight for, but against - against his blood family, against Slytherins, against everybody like them. and Sirius fights with James. those 3 are simple. what about others?

Remus doesn't fight for or against. Remus fights with Dumbledore. because Remus' world revolves around Dumbledore and when he says "go die in a war" - Remus goes, no questions asked. he owes Dumbledore that much. Peter doesn't fight for or against. Peter fights with Dumbledore. because Peter wants to be safe and Peter wants to win. Dumbledore promises a win. Peter believes him until he doesn't.

but James also fights with Dumbledore. because Dumbledore is the greater good personified and shares James' righteous ideals. Lily also fights with Dumbledore. because Dumbledore fights for marginalised the loudest. Sirius also fights with Dumbledore. because Dumbledore fights against everybody who's like Sirius' family.

Dumbledore, Dumbledore, Dumbledore. the centre of it all, the bonfire of hope, the beacon of light, the daimon of good. Order is Dumbledore, first and foremost - not Moody, Alice, Frank, Dorcas, Marlene, Prewetts, Caradoc, James, Lily, Sirius, Remus or Peter. not any of the others. it's Albus Dumbledore and the blind, the devoted.

it doesn't fall apart until it's too late. it's only Sirius who gets a chance to notice but he promptly denies it, locked up in a cell for 12 years, carefully tucked away by Dumbledore. he trusts Dumbledore.

he trusts Dumbledore when he escapes, he trusts Dumbledore with Harry, he trusts Dumbledore when he tells Sirius to hide at Lupin's, he trusts Dumbledore when he locks Sirius up in his childhood house of terrors, he trusts Dumbledore when he assembles second Order. he joins Dumbledore, he fights with Dumbledore again, even locked up and angry, and the only time he doesn't trust Dumbledore with either Harry or himself he goes, and fights for Harry, and dies.

others are dead, or tortured, or new, or Remus. Remus who is the blindest and the most devoted. Remus who owes Dumbledore, believes that he owes Dumbledore everything and more. the new don't know any better yet, but Remus does and ignores it. he trusts Dumbledore. trusts him with Harry, and with Sirius, and with himself.

Remus joins Dumbledore, fights with Dumbledore again. sees Dumbledore destroy Sirius - looks the other way, sees Dumbledore destroy himself - deifies him even more in his death, sees Dumbledore's ghost destroy Harry - wants to join him to be destroyed too. because there's nothing left - Dumbledore gifted him his heart at 11, and it died piece by piece in the span of 16 years, and then Dumbledore dies himself, and he can't gift Remus another heart, another life. so Remus blinds himself some more, fights with Dumbledore's ghost and dies. probably for Dumbledore too.

and if all of that can happen when a small group of people simply trusts one mortal man, it's going to take a lot more than a wayward thought in one of those devoted heads to see the cracks. it's going to take a lot of thoughts, a lot of heads, a lot of cracks. a lot of discussions and a fair share of arm-twisting and change of faith. it surely must be a group effort in one way or another, preferably with the help of those who aren't as devoted. if there are any.

because as lovely and as gratifying as it is to read about Remus or Sirius or even Minerva blowing up at Albus - if you don't write them getting to that point after deconstructing their prior canon beliefs... then those characters aren't really Remus, Sirius or Minerva. especially not Remus who was always the most devoted of them all.

I could talk about Aang and Zuko all day. they're everything and more.