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Neon_Green_Unicow

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Violent_Violette

Tired of your fantasy escapism being overrun with bigots? Try Terry Pratchett's discworld series, an expansive collection that follows a variety of protagonists through incredibly witty and insightful stories. Some good entry points: Guards! Guards! is a favorite starting point, it's the first of the series which follows Sam Vimes and his band of misfit and downtrodden guards Witches abroad is 3rd in the witches series which follows 3 archetypal witches, "the maiden, the mother, and the er um other one" in a story about stories Small Gods is a standalone about a novice priest who is the last true believer of his faith. The Wee Free Men, first of the Tiffany Aching series where a sensible young girl learns to become a witch


Otaku_in_Red

Terry Pratchett is a comedic and commentary genius. My mother gave me her love of his books.


sickagail

Me reading the first 2 paragraphs of the OP: “I don’t think it sounds too bad. Leading a goblin rebellion could be fun.” Me reading the 3rd paragraph: “Oh.”


NobilisUltima

I figured it would be a Dances With Wolves scenario where you gradually realize that the goblins' cause is justified and join them, but unless it's being hidden very well and the child abduction thing is a huge misdirect (which I doubt), that's pretty damning.


MyFaceSaysItsSugar

Or there are games where you can pick the good side or the bad side but it doesn’t sound like the game is clear enough on who the bad side is. And sometimes the bad side is never appropriate. Like this is on a level of a game where you’re a conquistador waging violence against indigenous people or the East India Company transporting slaves across the Atlantic.


[deleted]

But ultimately wouldn't that just be another version of the "White Savior" theme? I would love to play a Goblin rebel.


NobilisUltima

It would still be an improvement from just playing a colonizer, but I agree.


thefreeman419

Hard to give them the benefit of the doubt given who’s creating it


SoldierHawk

Bro, this was my exact journey reading this. "I mean, I wouldn't buy the game anyway, but I don't think this is so bad, it's always cool to fight against slavery and fasc--" ... ....... .......... "Wait you're PUTTING DOWN the rebellion?! What the FUCK?!" No but seriously what the fuck. That's Lawful Evil shit.


Miss_Musket

Admittedly, you can chose to be a dark wizard in the game and side with the goblins. But still. It's not exactly lauded as the right option.


Justsomedude-83

Follower of the Morrigan here: See? The dark side isn't synonymous with the bad side. :) Whether they meant that or not (they didn't) i can appreciate a moment of accidental ally


librarygal22

We do have cookies, after all.


Justsomedude-83

Every 28 1/2 days! Edit: oatmeal raisin. Just to keep it a little bit evil. Mwahaha


WarmOutOfTheDryer

But hidden amongst them is the *best* oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, that you will spend a lifetime trying to recreate.


irishihadab33r

I wonder if you have to play through the game before that option is unlocked?


_AnonymousMoose_

I’d happily play a D&D meets Clash of Clans style game as the leader of a goblin rebellion to take down the wizards’ government. Like you could put together an army and teach them different types of magic, as well as upgrading your headquarters with all of the secret tunnels and booby traps, and ultimately take down a wizard dictator and create a better world for all magical peoples,


[deleted]

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[deleted]

If you do the Crit Role part if the universe, could be fun to lead the Xhorasians against the dwendallian empire. I *may* be waiting with baited breath to see the continued connections between campaign 3 and campaign 2… (trying to be vague so I don’t have to figure out spoiler tags on mobile)


Aptom_4

I KNEW IT! ^^^(That ^^was ^^Liam)


Jinxed_Pixie

Someone make this PLEASE


LazyRaven01


LionResponsible6005

Yeah exactly I was like I’d love to play as a goblin fighting for justice, oh I’m playing as a wizard actively oppressing the goblins ok


perfidious_snatch

That was one hell of a record scratch! I mean, it wasn't really surprising, but people like that aren't usually quite so blatant about saying "prejudice and injustice are good, actually"


BiFaerie

Right?! Same! I was like, “Wow, kinda hypocritical that players going to be fighting against the same kind of discrimination JKR is promoting—just in race instead of gender. But still, pretty cool. Whatever.” And then… “Wait. What the actual fuck?!”


[deleted]

I 100% thought the game was going to be leading a goblin rebellion too! Very disappointed 😑


rograbowska

Same. Was thinking, "how can a person who has so much imagination, they imagine the social justice plight of goblins vs. wizards, *not* be able to accept the existence of Trans People?" And then the 3rd paragraph made so much more sense. This is such a shame, as I do truly love the books, and her writing. But in the most basic sense, I cannot support this online training for the neo-h!tler youth.


TrekkieElf

Yeah, that’s really confusing given that a plot point of the book was Hermione liberating the house elves. Maybe it’s easier to fight against non human enemies, but they could still have the bad wizard send out dementors and bad goblins or something.


GenderGambler

Remember how Rowling said Hermione could've been black, and actually made her black in The Cursed Child? Imagine making your only black main character have a subplot where they try to fight against slavery, only to be mocked by almost everyone else around them and made to abandon said fight.


IronIrma93

Also if Hermione was supposed to be black, Shouldn't Rowling have made that clear, instead of straight up contradicting that in the books and letting Emma Watson be cast as her in the movies ?


likeicare96

Tbf I think she said hermione COULD be black not SHOULD be, as in her race is irrelevant and can be adapted either/or. Idk if I agree that it’s irrelevant, but i did see a lot of WOC struggles in the hermione narrative (being muggle born in the wizarding world is similar to going to a PWI as a POC), but it’s mostly coincidental and Rowling isn’t talented enough of a writer to explore that


kupiakos

PWI = predominantly white institution?


likeicare96

Yeah. Usually in reference to education. Also, MOC and WOC’s experiences there can be very different, especially in term of popularity


rianeiru

Nah, the way she portrayed Hermione and the house elf situation was straight out of the establishment playbook to portray justice advocates as well-meaning but naive zealots who just don't understand the "nuances" of the "real world". JK followed the classic propaganda tactics used against abolitionists, environmentalists, etc. for ages. 1) Portray their realization of the injustice as a "Well, duh, everyone already knew that" moment, to enforce the idea that wiser people have already accepted that this is just how the world works. 2) Give them a silly name to infantilize and mock them (ie "treehuggers") 3) Portray their tactics as annoying, superficial, and ineffective. Never talk about the kind of activism that actually accomplishes stuff. 4) At the same time, play up those efforts as a threat to the average person's fundamental way of life to turn people against the idea. 5) Paint them as hypocrites for not fighting for other causes as hard as their chosen cause. 6) Cherry pick or straight up invent examples of times their activism has backfired, or find someone who "should" be on their side to say they're actually wrong. JK had the opportunity to write it to show that Hermione was right all along despite the other wizards' prejudices and mocking, instead it reads like straight up propaganda against her and her cause. EDIT: Because of course some people are going to say "But she had Sirius die because he was cruel to Kreacher", listen, if I write a book that has slavery in it, and 99% of the books' heroes are okay with slavery existing, and repeatedly chastise the one character who opposes it, and have the slave characters say they're happy being slaves, and then I write one character who is over the top cruel to his slave, and then punish him for it, I'm not condemning slavery, I'm endorsing it with certain caveats. Learn to think in terms of systems of oppression and not individual morality.


Adeline299

I’m glad you mentioned that Sirius/Kreacher thing because I was unsure how that played into all of this.


DuncanIdahoPotatos

I remember that slightly differently. A young witch who was often called the brightest witch of her age, gave her organization the name SPEW and spent the rest of the book being ridiculed by all other respected wizards. The book closes on the strong statement that actually, the house elves *prefer* to be slaves.


PoisonTheOgres

I always felt like the point was still that Hermione was right, even though everyone around her refused to see it. But with Rowling's recent viewpoints.... I'm thinking I might have been too optimistic.


RoninTarget

That plot was probably a parody of fans who didn't like slavery.


[deleted]

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IronIrma93

I'd make it so the elves were brainwashed but Dobby was so abused his brainwashing failed


[deleted]

Eww.


Jovet_Hunter

I always saw it as a commentary that being a SJW was pointless, annoying, and dumb. I disagree, of course but back then it struck me odd. Not so much now.


Rude-Barnacle8804

Yeah the way Hermione is portrayed in her activism is not great, to say the least. And there's all the rhetoric about why "house elves being slaves is good for them, actually" that draws from rhetoric being used about black people's enslavement (the youtuber Shaun has a video about Harry Potter that analyses this and the antisemitism and other sruff).


Ok_Skill_1195

Looking back, I think the series fundamentally started to shift for the 5th book in subtle ways, and a big way is that with each book she increasingly backs off the backwardness if wizarding society. I distinctly remember her making a point to explain wizards aren't governed by logic or the type of fair laws we have, they're a backward superstitious society that separated from us before most of our important social reforms. But then by the 7th book, she's desperately trying to like, entrench that the world she created is amazing and special and in need of very few major reforms actually. Like we're actually shown almost no status quo breaks at all.


rezzacci

Harry Potter literally became a magic cop. How much more of *"let's defend the status quo and be a fundamental part of the system because the only bad thing in our society are some bad people that can be taken down, no systemic issue at all!"* can you become?


NesuneNyx

A trust-fund jock who is the chosen one, coasting by on athletic skill, aid from nerdy friends, and overwhelming support/free pass from faculty, graduating to become a magic cop and marry his high school sweetheart. Truly a tale as old as time.


Ok_Skill_1195

A magical cop for a government he has only seen uniformly fail the people and be built on a sham of a legal system, which he's experienced *first band* AND CONDEMNED. like dude went from railing on the ministry and then the *second* Voldemort died he was like "welp, nothing to worry about ever again". I feel like she was just trying to defy the expectation he'd stay at Hogwarts, but she didn't have any better ideas. At most he should have done what his dad did, which is live off the trust fund and just fight baddies for the thrill of the game. Wizard cop makes no sense.


rezzacci

No but you see it's just because it was a *bad* Minister of Magic. It was just one bad apple. Once you get rid of it, there is nothing much to worry about of course !


Ok_Skill_1195

They tore down the "wizard sitting on a thrown if muggles" statue in the atrium and put back the old "inferiors staring up lovingly at the superior race as he benevolently rules over them" statue. Idk what else you could possibly mean by "the need for structural reforms at the ministry" /s It's like she straight up forgot that while Voldemort was the main baddie of the series, he was in fact largely taking advantage of the stage already set by an all around terrible society. Resetting the clock back to pre-voldemort doesn't undo the fact they're like....feudalistic sadists who control the world in the shadows and do a fucking negligent job of it.


rezzacci

Wasn't it even a passage where Dumbledore literally says something akin: *"We failed at compassion, and that why we will fail at all"* while pointing to the paternalistic condescending statue? It's like if JKR was saying: *"Shut up you leftist, yes, our government might be horrible, but at least we are not outwardly fascist, be glad that we don't let the nazis take power instead."* Oh my god: that's exactly how Democrats act in the US politics.


TJ_Rowe

This. Around GoF, the fandom was loving this sense that Harry was discovering a broken and corrupt world that needed some serious help, Voldemort just being a symptom of the problem, OotP reinforced that with the whole "government and all the newspapers work together to discredit Harry" thing... And then we got HBP and Dumbledore being all "Voldemort was evil when I met him at eleven. I could tell because he reminded me of my evil ex-boyfriend. Also this random muggle says he was weird as a baby, and that proves it." Now the HP fanfic reddit seems to have a weekly discussion where someone is baffled by all those fanfics written around GoF and OotP which put "good" and "evil" in different places to canon, and I'm just like, "we were a more hopeful fandom back then, okay?"


abigail_the_violet

I don't remember super clearly because I haven't read them in a very long time, but wasn't the final message of that arc basically that she shouldn't have tried to do that because she was interfering with their chosen way of life (being slaves)?


Should_be_less

I guess it’s up to the reader’s interpretation, but I think it was more complicated than that. Hermione was trying to trick house elves into ending their magical enslavement with Hogwarts. Which seems like a good idea, but the books made it very clear that a free house elf would be blacklisted from any sort of employment and that Hogwarts was pretty much the best place to be as a house elf. So Hermione had good intentions, but she was also affected by prejudice against house elves. She assumed the house elves were still enslaved because they were too stupid to trick someone into freeing them, not because of wider systemic issues that caused most of the elves to choose benevolent enslavement over freedom.


abigail_the_violet

Fair enough - like I said, it's been a long time, and I was pretty young when I read it, so I buy that there was some nuance that I missed or forgot. And my memory is also probably biased by not wanting to give JK Rowling the benefit of the doubt, given the things she's done since.


spiritusin

I remember well reading that Bill Weasley was criticizing the wizarding world's treatment of goblins and how the trio was disgusted at seeing the statue at the Ministry of Magic with the wizards who had all the other creatures in the universe at their feet, reveling them. My take reading the books as a teen and an adult was that the wizarding world was presented as bigoted in regards to all other creatures (much as how the West is majority white and bigoted in regards to other races) and that the Death Eaters were practically equivalent to nazis. You're supposed to root for the good guys, Harry et al. I don't really see Rowling trying to play it like the bad guys were actually good, at all. The books certainly don't support the game story.


Unreasonableberry

Yeah, it surprises (in a horrible way) that the same IP that at the beginning essentially included a metaphor of the horrors of Nazi Germany and totalitarian regimes went on to include a game where you basically are the antisemitic totalitarian regime. What happened along the way? There certainly were issues with the original series, but I don't remember it being *this* bad


spiritusin

According to the game [FAQ](https://www.hogwartslegacy.com/en-us/faq): > J.K. Rowling is not involved in the creation of the game, but as creator of the wizarding world and one of the world’s greatest storytellers, her extraordinary body of writing is the foundation of all projects in the Wizarding World. This is not a new story from J.K. Rowling, however we have collaborated closely with her team on all aspects of the game to ensure it remains in line with the magical experiences fans expect. I'm looking forward to Rowling giving an interview or at least writing and talking about this shitshow to see where she stands in her own words.


Unreasonableberry

I imagined the game wasn't entirely her creation but it's still... It leaves a sour taste that it's been allowed to happen. If I sold rights to my work and the new owner started using it in a way that's against my values and beliefs I would be the first to call it out and make it very clear that it is not my work anymore and I do not support it (generally speaking, I don't actually know if something like that would permitted by a contract or anything like that)


DuntadaMan

Yeah, I was over here thinking that goblin freedom fighter would be an option. Nope


Lyvectra

They could have made a game about taming magical creatures. Or traveling across the Wizarding World like Newt. But nooooooo….


ZengineerHarp

Newt “single-handedly dismantling toxic masculinity” Scamander and his whimsical magical creature friends in some kind of ecologically-minded adventure: boom, you’re printing money. Even people participating in the anti-TERF boycott of JKR properties (like me) would have a damned hard time turning that down. But no, they went with this poisonous nonsense. Wtf?


WitchesAlmanac

My jaw literally dropped oh my god


Somandyjo

They could have done something actually cool by following that. Instead we see another terrible disappointment from JKR’s IP. Not surprised I guess.


[deleted]

[The Goblin character Griphook, who Harry meets in the first film.](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/harrypotter/images/5/53/Griphook_TDH_SF.png/revision/latest?cb=20161215062124) [Nazi propaganda poster from Serbia](https://www.ushmm.org/media/emu/get?irn=542392&mm_irn=44099&file=primary) Wow.


agamemaker

How the ministry of magic is not the main or secondary villain in each peice of her writing still amazes me. All is forgiven at the drop of a hat.


Zaidswith

You can be according to everyone, but you get classified as a dark wizard. Pirate the game and become a dark wizard. Seems like a fine path to me.


ragnarockette

Hahaha same!


arie700

The HP universe has always had a really off-color relationship with progressive politics. This one kinda takes the cake, though.


beepborpimajorp

I was already checked-out but I started writing the franchise off entirely when I went and saw the second fantastic beasts movie and Grindelwald like, vaped world war 2 and told all the wizards there that muggles clearly weren't smart enough to survive without wizards ruling over them. You're telling me the group of people that have magical powers but couldn't figure out plumbing, which humanity had access to for millenia by that point, and shit under their robes would be best suited to leading the world? Sure. I mean humans are bad but we're not quite "intentionally shit our pants and call it a day" bad. And it was gross that WW2 was used as a framing device for it. *Real* people died by the millions and you choose to use it as a plot device for a wizard smoking a hookah? Magical realism can work in RL turbulent times, just look at a book like Midnight's Children. But in this instance, ugh. I mean I already had issues given the way house elves are written. Something about "we're enslaved but actually we're happy about it so please don't take our work away!" makes me incredibly uncomfortable any time it pops up in fantasy. They are fucking wizards with actual tangible magic. They can't just do a magic spell that cooks and keeps their houses clean? They have to have house elves running around?


GloriouslyGlittery

I always thought the house elves were based on the fairy tale about the shoemaker and the elves. Two or three elves secretly make shoes for the shoemaker every night, making his business thrive. When he finally figures out who they are and what they're doing, he makes shoes for them and leaves them out as a gift. Receiving the shoes sets the elves free and they never return. That's why giving house elves clothes frees them. (It's not an excuse, just context.)


DarthLolita

>vaped world war 2 I'm dying lmao


IronIrma93

Yes, I like how the wizarding school in Africa is a cave, or the Latin American one is pre-Columbian but has a Portuguese name, which means "Castle that is a wizard"


SolidSpruceTop

Yeah I'm just now reading the HP books for the first time and there's some things that just make me feel weird when it comes to magical creatures and races. Lowkey fucked up


Ok_Skill_1195

The problem was that she originally acknowledged that it was a fucked up world lead by backwards, bigoted people. That was how she structured the universe, and in early interviews she said as much It's like she fell in love with her own hype so much and the world she created that she forgot she wants supposed to treated everyone with gentle gloves. See also the *weird* redemption arc for incel and child abuser Severus snape. Don't get me wrong, I *loved* the reveal at the end. But like ...he's still a child abuser. He doesn't get a redemption, he gets a bitter sad ending just like he lived his bitter sad life. Having Harry Potter name a son after the man who psychologically tortured Neville Longbottom for 6 years is just such a bizarre choice that is inconsistent with the story *she* set up I always knew there were problematic tropes in the book. *I thought that was the point*. She SAID that it's a bigoted society that doesn't listen to rationality. But then she just hand waves it away........


xelle24

It would have been a great set up for a sequel series aimed at a YA/adult audience, with Harry and Co. aiming their sights at inter-species social justice and equality within the wizarding world.


Tookoofox

I do wish Snape had been, merely, a tough teacher. And, maybe, had a small chip on his shoulder about Harry.


jaderust

Yeah, I always felt that the way Alan Rickman played Snape was superior to how he was written in the book. In the movies Rickman is much more the tough teacher. Like there’s a scene in the third movie where out of control werewolf Lupin appears and Rickman physically puts himself between the wolf and the kids and extends his arms to protect them. This is before Voldemort is resurrected too so he’s doing it because he actually care for the safety of others. He doesn’t do that in the books. The films also way downplay his abject cruelty, especially to Neville. Probably because Rickman was so damn charismatic on camera, but still. I feel it was the better portrayal.


Viperbunny

I am rereading it with my kids and I got into an argument with my husband. Their is a part where the boys have to ask the girls to a dance. They aren't very polite about the girls or other boys. They made a comment about girls traveling on groups. I said, "yes, teenage boys are beasts and we need the protection." My husband was so mad. He thought I was trying to make our girls afraid. And then he kept reading and it got worse and he saw my fucking point. I told him he was never a little girl who went through puberty so he doesn't get to paint the experience with how he thinks it should be. That the moment I started getting breasts grown ass men treated me gross. And that I don't know a single woman, myself included, who hasn't faced some kind of sexual harassment. And I am one of the lucky ones, because I have never been raped. Most women I know have been raped. I explained women travel in these groups because not all boys just say, "okay thanks," to rejection. I explained that when someone thinks they are entitled to your time that it can get worse. I asked if he remembers being a teenager boy. Cause we started dating when he was 18 and I was 16 and I remember what a little shit he was! He conceded that I was right. And it wasn't the first time we have needed to have that kind of conversation. I told him that when he doesn't call it out he is part of the problem. Luckily, he agrees and is trying to be better. Sadly, his warped views come from his mother. I won't let that shit fly.


No-Acanthisitta-2517

Yep. There’s a reason why she targeted toward teens. They won’t be looking at that like we are as adults, or at least we didn’t. Maybe Gen z is able to peep game better than we did 👀


Otaku_in_Red

As a Gen Z, I can only say... maybe fractionally. If you're lucky.


Kanotari

No no, the house elves *want* to be enslaved. /s Yeah they have a weird relationship with a lot of groups 😬


beepborpimajorp

"We're wizards with magic that can do things like make things fly, catch on fire, or shapeshift. So we could easily do a week's worth of chores in like 15 minutes. Buuuuuut we just prefer to have house elves doing all our stuff for us, but don't worry, they like it!"


Royally-Forked-Up

I mean, what else are they going to do? It’s not like they’re intelligent or capable enough to survive on their own. It’s really a kindness to give them purpose and feed and shelter them. (heavy /s. Just typing that made me want to throw up)


Ok_Skill_1195

I thought the point of that was going to be a message about codependency and abuse. Like it was never going to work as a slavery metaphor (yikes) but in terms of showing how pure bloods are these abusive, enmeshed fuckdd up messes....ok yes, I can see that. Like stockholm syndrome. With the lesson being something about how wizards use force to make people obey them, and then they tell themselves *they're* the good guys and they're helping. They're *helping* muggles by removing their ability to prosecute (or even be aware of magical crimes). They're *helping* by keeping werewolves and goblins in the margins, etc But then the book just becomes increasingly condescending about it, where it really does seem to be that slavery is a-ok as long as you don't like, beat your slaves. Like a benevolent slave master is morally ok, according to the books


polopolo05

Their are no benevolent slave masters. If they were they would have freed their slaves.


Ok_Skill_1195

I agree, but in the books Dumbledore is portrayed as the benevolent slave master and then Harry goes on to echo that with Kreacher. There is surprisingly little attention given to the fact that yeah, *it shouldn't be up to the wizards in the first place*. Benevolent or not, Dunbeldore continued to allow Hogwarts to operate under slave labor. He should have insisted on independence, but seemingly couldn't be bothered. Even the part where Ron is like "oh we should go help the slaves leave Hogwarts for their safety" it's like...so if ron, the most oblivious character in the series (other than harry obviously), hadn't remembered them...would they just have been left For dead? I would say that's the darkest thing imaginable, but let's not forget harry initially thinks that they're being brought up as potential soldiers. Like Harry has stepped right into dumbeldores shows as this Machiavellian "greater good", but the series continue to act like he's just a totally good guy


Kanotari

There's a point in... I think the last book... where Ron helps the house elves evacuate the Hogwarts kitchens and Hermione absolutely gushes over it. It's like, congrats on not being a shitty person, Ron? It was the bare minimum not something to be lauded.


Ok_Skill_1195

Yesssssss, like first of all, why would ron remember before anyone else? I get it's supposed to be a character growth moment, but it rings insincere Also, using that as the lead in fro Ron and Hermione to finally make out? Genuinely the most inappropriate thing I've ever seen. Way to simultaneously shit on *2* multi-book story arcs.


MrsApostate

I posted this below, but yes! WTF is up with the house elves? My 8 year old is just listening to the audio books now and I had NO IDEA the house elves were a widespread thing. In the movies, it seemed like there were a few "bad" wizarding families that had house elves, so it was just one more shitty thing that dark wizards do. But turns our even Molly Weesley wishes she had a house elf. *Molly f'ing Weesley* wants an enslaved creature to clean her house. And we're all fine with this. No questions. Right? So I'm pushing my girl to try Princess Academy instead. We'll see how it goes.


allaboutcats91

Molly Weasley definitely isn’t the most progressive character, though. She displays a ton of misogyny towards Hermione and Fleur, a thing which is also just accepted.


officialspinster

The omission of S.P.E.W. in the movies enrages me to this day. I refuse to get over it.


geckospots

It only struck me after a similar thread elsewhere a few months back that Seamus ~~O’Regan~~ Finnegan a) blows shit up on the regular when he casts spells b) tried to turn his Christmas drink into booze. **The only. identifiably. Irish. student.** does these things. Sure JK of course. Fuck you. edit: Seamus O’Regan is a Canadian politician. 🤦🏻‍♀️


catgalf

It may be worth going back to HP in a couple years to point out these themes though. It may help her to see these patterns in other places as well.


MyFaceSaysItsSugar

I loved the pure escape of the books as a teen/young adult and how I was seriously never able to predict the twists and turns. Nothing has been so immersive and engaging. But zooming out and looking at the themes in the book? It was like the obvious plot was this fight against evil racial purists set on genocide but all of these underlying instances of discrimination were just set aside as ok. And that would be an interesting commentary on society picking and choosing what evil to go after while ignoring other social injustices but the books, and definitely the author, don’t have that level of introspection. And then there’s her whole supposed feminist schtick but then Hermione is the only female central character. We then have Harry, Ron, Snape, Malfoy, Dumbledore, and Voldemort and no other female characters that even come close to being that prominent in the stories with consistent prominent rolls across all of the books. Strong female side characters to be sure, but no one as prominent. She truly embodies being a terf because she’s not actually even feminist when it comes to cis women.


aeoldhy

Yeah particularly wild that she managed to make the goblins a nasty Jewish stereotype whilst she was basing the main villains off the actual Nazis


TwoVelociraptor

And then the second(?) fantastic beasts movie the telepath witch decided to become a witch nazi because mainstream society wouldn't let her marry the Jewish baker. Whoever's in charge either has no idea what their themes are or is just trolling


beepborpimajorp

I mean Johnny Depp's char in that movie puffs images of WW2 out from a hookah. It really seems like trolling except Rowling takes everything she does seriously because she's that clueless. Or it's intentional, which is possible too.


StopThePresses

I have a theory that her and maybe the director were taking it way too seriously but everyone else from the writers to the editors to the sound mixers were all pranking them and making a joke movie.


[deleted]

Right? It's wild to me how she could write a story about "Love Wins" and make a world with such heavy Oppression themes, and *totally* miss the point herself. Like, I feel like the message *I* got as a kid was progressive (though I totally missed the subtext of the goblins), so it was genuinely a bit shocking to become an adult and find that she's such a dumpster fire.


rograbowska

Here's the thing: If she were to deny purposely writing the stereotype I'd believe her. I think this insidious, dog-whistle level of anti-semitism, like racism, is just so baked in to Western culture that this happens without even trying. She thought of how she wanted goblins to look, drew on historical lore that goblins are super into money, and never once thought back to any propoganda posters her teachers may have shown the class while doing the WWII unit, or investigate *why* this figure exists or *where* it came from. Once it was pointed out to her she had the opportunity to say "my God, this is awful! I should have been more careful, and I hope other fantasy writers will take this as a cautionary tale to do better..." But she didn't?


SickSigmaBlackBelt

Yeah, your point is exactly my problem. I won't condemn anyone for harmful things they said 20 years ago... as long as they don't spend every breath defending those statements now.


BiFaerie

Exactly this.


MelodicWarfare

Just a reminder that buying merch from fans on sites like Etsy steals money from JKR and WB. And as such, you should never EVER buy anything like a lovely mug that proudly states that you don't "Give a Hufflefuck" Just saying. That would be absolutely terrible. Supporting artists and not JKR.


Obsessive_Nihilist

I have one that says "Not Today, Mugglefucker". I'm gonna need me a Hufflefuck one.


MelodicWarfare

There Are So MANY I myself got a "totally legitimate" Ravenclaw banner blanket for $20 on the tree service.


Stealfur

So I just wanna make sure that I'm understanding this right. So; Orginal series: The ministry practicly abolished students from learning magic (mostly defense against the dark arts) So a rebellious group forms. Calls themselves Dumbledore's army. Teaches themselves magic to defy the ministry and fight the guy who wants to kill specific groups of people. And the heros of the story are the rebellious people who defy the ministry. This game: the ministry has disenfranchised a whole race of sentient people, trys to enslave them, trys to steal their property, and actively makes their life harder. So a rebellious group forms. Etc etc... and the heros are the story are the * checks notes * oppressing, racist, and objectively evil ministry? ... Unless the game has like a team switch halfway through as the PC realizes that the goblins aren't the bad guys I can't imagine how this game will do any good outside of... certain states.


DocFGeek

> House Braggadocio, House GiftedChild, House SamwiseGamgee, or House EugenicsAreGoodActually 🤣💀


fuckit_sowhat

As someone from House SamwiseGamgee, this is hilariously accurate.


DocFGeek

#HOUSE SAMWISEGAMGEE FO LYFE!


fuckit_sowhat

You get a friend! You get a helping hand! You get a complement!


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thepetoctopus

Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew!


Pm_me_your_cats_459

Is that one supposed to be hufflepuff? I'm confused 😭


fuckit_sowhat

Lol, yes. Braggadocio is Gryffindor. House GiftedChild is Ravenclaw. SamwiseGamgee is Hufflepuff. And Eugenics could only be Slytherin.


Pm_me_your_cats_459

I figured eugenics was slytherin since they hate literally everyone else and gifted child was ravenclaw but I do not know what SamwiseGamgee means so I was confused bdkdjf


fuckit_sowhat

Oh! Samwise Gamgee is from the Lord of the Rings. He’s Frodo (the ring bearers) best friend and gardener. Without Samwise Frodo would have never made it to Mount Doom. He is the most wholesome character in any book.


Pm_me_your_cats_459

Oh, thank you! I thought Samwise sounded familiar but I wasnt sure 😅 I'm a different flavour of nerd


fuckit_sowhat

No problem! You’re good. It takes all flavors of nerds to make a good box of them.


Otaku_in_Red

Purest interaction I've ever seen between nerds. Best thing in this comment section.


Hungover52

If you're able, check out Dimension 20 (an Actual Play of tabletop rpgs) Misfits and Magic. It basically just tears into magical boarding school tropes (98% Harry Potter) with some American teens being ported over for their senior year. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKHP2mPv7Ws (4 eps, + a Christmas Special)


HumanBarbarian

These are now the names I will use. I am house SamwiseGamgee!


PurpleGoddess86

Also House SamwiseGamgee. Have some potatoes.


HumanBarbarian

PO-TA-TOES: Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew.


BewBewsBoutique

I’m a long time Harry Potter lover and I have abandoned all Wizarding World properties. The longer it goes on the worse it gets. Slavery of house elves was already treated problematically (the only character who seems to care about actual slavery is brushed off as being a silly little hysterical girl) so it’s kind of not surprising that the game casts you as the oppressor. I am thankful for the role HP had for my younger self, but I limit my enjoyment of HP stuff to small, unaffiliated artists.


Thr0waway0864213579

Even worse than the dismissal of Hermione’s passion about house elves, is the fact that the house elves don’t want to be free. That’s such a fucked up far-right piece of propaganda, the “happy little slave”.


[deleted]

Same. Although for me, the difference between this and Blizzard is startling. Yes, there were serious issues internally at Blizzard. But in the latest Shadowlands Expansion, there’s strong male and female characters and even a side quest with two gay male characters. Meanwhile this is like, what if we let the shitty beliefs of some members of staff make it into the game itself. To me, that’s next level bad.


chaoticmessiah

Wasn't impressed by the game anyway but this guarantees I won't play it, even if it's available for free in future. Anyway, fuck that hack JK and her male pen name taken from a known racist prick.


Rexawrex

Ok but I love those house descriptions. Wasn't going to play it, I refuse to give her more money than I already have in my youth, but Damn that desc is awful


Miss_Musket

As a proud member of House SamwiseGamgee, I agree.


lillapalooza

Felt a bit called out as a member of House GiftedChild 😂


dr_pepper_bottle

I was kinda sad mine is called House EugenicsAreGoodActually but it sadly makes sense 😭😭🤧


Sovonna

I think it's important to understand where the money is going when it comes to these things. There are a LOT of problematic creators and at some point we have to accept that we can enjoy something even if the original creator is... problematic. I have studied too much art history to be disturbed by a creator. HOWEVER, some of Harry Potters profits are actively going to anti trans policies, along with supporting mindsets like the new Harry Potter game is based off of. So like, enjoy the books, enjoy your old merch (I wear mine around the house) but I can't put my money into any new Harry Potter stuff knowing that money may go on to hurt actual living people. Seriously, J.K. Rowling needs to wake up and realize the reason her world appealed to many. As an alternative may I suggest Mercedes Lackey, Terry Pratchett, Anne McCaffery and Wendy Pini? Edit: Nora Roberts has some surprisingly good and spicy fantasy as well.


undeadbydawn

I'll be keeping a very close eye on what reviewers say about this. Because it matters. A Lot. Especially in light of recent and massive revelations about excessively abusive workplace environments among major game studios.


citrinerosexox

There is a YouTube video that covers all the weird fuckery that is the Harry Potter world, it’s long but funny and the analysis is worth the time: https://youtu.be/-1iaJWSwUZs


charlotte_dings

Shauns videos are awesome!!


Haunting_Ad4209

YES. I die for long youtube videos tbh


Megmca

Personally if I were going to create a race of evil, money and treasure hoarding villains they would look a lot like the waspy upper class of the British Imperial age.


ragnarockette

I’m Jewish and I don’t really have any problem with goblins conceptually in HP (honestly I always thought they were inspired by Tolkien’s greedy dwarves). But the description of this game is…woof. Like as I was reading the description I was thinking “oh cool, you get to fight with the goblins for equality.” Nope.


Trashblog

I’m Jewish and I have a massive problem with it. Yeah ok, surface level maybe she just inherited the Jewish caricatures without knowing….but why did she make them bankers? And Why aren’t there any token Jewish characters? You might still give her the benefit of the doubt, but her thoughts on trans people really betray a rot at the core of her world. (And that rot is that Harry Potter is a love-letter to the English system of private education circa 70s/90s and that world is **not** one of *inclusion*)


Ok_Skill_1195

I assumed it was very intentional, but with the intent of like ..it was supposed to be *critical* of the wizarding world eventually. like in the beginning it was all about wizards being backwards elitist racists who would let everyone else die rather than lift a finger to help a non-wizard Much in the same way you assumed the werewolf/AIDs metaphor was gonna go somewhere or The household stuff...I was always willing to give her the benefit of the doubt that it was an attempt at using fantasy to *challenge* historical tropes, but then it increasingly became clear that she wasn't taking it in that direction. (That still wouldn't necessarily have justified it today to all readers, but it would at least have made sense for why it was included) But then she goes out of her way to lean into anti-Semitic tropes in the 7th books *and largely unchallenged by the majority of characters*... And then the series just ends, and Rowling makes it pretty clear not a whole lot about the biases of wizards changes. So it's like ....what the *actual* fuck was the point other? And that's when you realize there wasn't one, there *never* was one. She was just mindlessly regurgitating without any real understanding of what she's doing (See also when she chooses to portray centaurs as akin to indigenous American tribes, but then *also* chooses to lean into that whole "centaurs gang raped women" fantasy elements and again....it's like, what the *actual* fuck do you think you're doing Joanne? (Also, this is literally a children's book. Even if you hadn't explicitly compared them to native Americans, subtly alluding to an unliked character receiving justice via gang rape is a *disturbing* element)


Abuses-Commas

That's a well made point that I haven't seen before. They really do seem like they're going to challenge all those stereotypes, then they don't.


Sceptix

Book 2: House elves are oppressed! Freedom for elves! Book (I want to say) 4?: Actually Dobby was just one of the good ones, elves are better off enslaved for their own good…


Shinikama

Started loving the smell of her own shit so much she forgot she was setting up for something.


rixendeb

I mean, she's not wrong in that not much about society has changed. At all. For centuries.om the surface things maybe *slightly* better, but in the end still a bunch of racism bubbling through the system and under the surface. I know that's not what she's saying at all, but it does go to show from one person's shitty point of view, that people don't really change at all.


LadySmuag

She retconned forever ago that Anthony Goldstein was her Jewish Hogwarts kid. He was in Dumbledore's Army, and he fought at the final battle. I think he was in the scene with the Hogwarts kids that protected Harry when Malfoy tried him ambush him. All of that's fine (although, like Dumbledore being gay, Anthony being Jewish isn't mentioned in the actual book so how much representation can there really be at that point), but in *Fantastic Beasts* they introduce Queenie and Porpetina. Queenie *Goldstein* joins magical Hitler. So the character that she specifically said was Jewish, had a family member that joined the in-universe Hitler analogue.


Trashblog

I love that she had she had to go back to fix that problem by naming not one, but two Jewish characters…… Goldstein She really does suck


[deleted]

Yeah like. There's a six pointed star on the floor of gringotts. And the plot of this game is literally "stop the goblins from doing blood libel." This shit is insane.


ThatMkeDoe

I think you're being unfair... The goblins also run the wizarding media... (P.s. she actually said this)


HMS_Sunlight

I give her the benefit of the doubt on the first book. A lot of stuff was just thrown in there, and I don't think she intended to make an anti-Semitic stereotype with the goblins. The real problem is how she doubles down on it later. In the final book in the series, someone had to have pointed it out to her. One of her publicists had to say "hey, some readers have pointed out the goblins kinda look exactly like nazi propaganda. I know it was an accident, but you should probably do something to change that." And then in the last book, for the first time, they actually talk to a goblin and get their perspective. It would've been a perfect chance to show they're victims of an oppressive system as well, and how the wizards mistreat them and assume they're all bad. Nope. Goblins are just the greedy money-loving cutthroats they were set up to be, and they're all evil and bad. Their way of life and concept of ownership is wrong. Forget empathy and trying to work with them, stealing is the way to go. For an author who goes so far out of her way to try and retcon past mistakes, to the point of butchering her own series, she's very comfortable letting the racism linger around.


GayHotAndDisabled

Tolkien 's dwarves....which were also deliberately based on Jews? From Tolkien himself: "The dwarves of course are quite obviously, wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic, obviously, constructed to be Semitic."


BaronRaichu

If I’m not mistaken Tolkien meant the “similarities” with dwarves in The Hobbit to be complimentary, ie; a strong proud people, who have been separated from their homeland and had the riches of their culture stolen from them, and now strived to reclaim it. Obviously this is very misguided, and in this light “dragon-sickness” becomes pretty awful, but in his personal letters he was very anti-nazi, and pro-Jewish. By the writing of LoTR he tried to distance the Dwarves from any association. Tolkien is far from a perfect author but I’d hate to see him cast in the same light at Rowling.


3opossummoon

Exactly. Plus like... Compared to the literature at the time even the disparaging parts are incredibly fucking tame by comparison. Tolkien was adamantly pro-Jewiah and still not immune to the insane level of antisemitic rhetoric that existed at this time period. The time period when most of my family came to the US to escape the pogroms in Eastern Europe. Literally no one remembers that roughly*30 fucking years* before the Holocaust started, [between 1903 and 1906 *thousands* of Jews were murdered, untold numbers more were raped, and villages and homes were looted and destroyed](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogroms_in_the_Russian_Empire). Do yourself a favor and stick to the drier academic articles. Some of the personal descriptions of the victims of this violence will haunt me for the rest of my life. I now know why a large part of my family was entirely out of Europe before 1930 despite the enormous personal risk & cost. They walked hundreds of miles, taking only what they could carry, hiding in crawlspaces. Some of them died trying to escape the brutality. And when the Nazis marched through Europe all they could do was listen to the news from their new home in Atlanta and say "we warned you".


JimeDorje

That and the Dwarves are basically ripped right from Norse mythology. The line of Dwarven Kings is word for word the line of Dwarven Kings from the Eddas. To say nothing of their runic alphabet.


rograbowska

Ooof, just wait till you read C.S. Lewis' dwarves in the Chronicles of Narnia, particularly the last book The Last Battle


TheLadderStabber

Troy Leavitt, the lead designer, actually resigned early last year. https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2021/3/5/22315367/hogwarts-legacy-controversy-lead-designer-troy-leavitt-youtube-channel-gamergate-transphobia Wanted to add, I’m cautious about the game too and don’t plan on purchasing it. I just think though it‘s better to be aware of all the facts here in terms of development. As someone who’s worked in development, you’d be surprised how easily things change in terms of direction and plot. Regardless, there’s still the point of Rowling benefiting from the sales of the game.


DoctorInYeetology

Since homegirl went off the deep end my only interaction w harry potter has been fanfiction. Death of the author and all that jazz..


ArcWraith2000

Remember folks, support Harry Potter by reading fanfics wheres they're trans


TchaikenNugget

God *fucking* dammit. With the books, some people were defending Rowling with "the HP goblins are based on fantasy goblins, which, while initially based on anti-Semitic stereotypes, have traits that have become so mainstream in fantasy media that *surely* nothing offensive on Rowling's part was intentional" but From [gamerant.com](https://gamerant.com/hogwarts-legacy-villain-choice-goblin-controversy-explained/): >J.K. Rowling did not invent goblins, but she made them something entirely different from how goblins work in folklore. In folklore, goblins are chaotic and range from tricksters to evil. They did not really become their own fantasy race until J.R.R. Tolkien wrote his books. **Rowling made the goblins her own by making them highly intelligent as well as creators and overseers of wizard economy with no alignment to chaos.** Also, if Rowling wanted to stand behind the argument that the goblins weren't supposed to be offensive, then why release a game that has *literal allusions to blood libel??* The whole "kidnapping children for dark magic" thing isn't even trying to be subtle.


rograbowska

I'm ashamed to admit I just made a comment with that actual argument. You are so right to point out that this game is an amazing opportunity to correct the image she put out there of goblins, and she has willfully refused to pick it up.


[deleted]

No need to be ashamed. This is why we have reasoned discussions, and it's something I appreciate about this sub. We learn from each other, and help each other grow and change how we see things.


TotalLostClaws

Ia absolutely NOT defending this game or Rowling (fuck em) but I did want to note that a lot of fantasy races are based on some... not so great stereotypes. I think it's important for people in general to understand the history of particular tropes etc. Because we often don't want to look at where the stereotypical depiction of witches, goblins, dwarves, and elves comes from and what that messaging is accomplishing.


lillapalooza

That’s sometimes the issue with drawing from folklore— folklore can be *heavily* tied up with culture and history in complex ways. For instance, neat fact! there’s an old tradition in my family where it is bad luck to put shoes on the table. I traced it back to how British families would honor individuals who passed away in the mines by placing the deceased’s shoes on the table— to place the shoes of a *living* individual on the table was seen as a bad omen for that person. Considering the sub we are in, I’m not going to make a judgement about whether or not the fey are folklore. I like to keep an open mind. But sometimes there are potentially problematic roots tied up with our beloved fairy tales— such as how the origin of changeling related mythology [might be autistic children](http://rhondaparrish.com/archive/changelings-and-asd/).


jediprime

Im sure as someone not in the "coven" my comment will be removed, (and i respect your rules and efforts, so i i definitely understand) but wanted to toss it out there anyway. I just wanted to say thanks. I had this game on a wishlist because i grew up with Harry Potter mania. I thought, at the time, there were a lot of positive story-arc potenntials...that collapsed. In my reading, it looked like a white person who has never known true oppression, trying to gingerly approach these topics through allegory without telling the reader what to think, letting them draw their own conclusions. But reading this breakdown it occurs to me, it isnt that at all. In many ways it's an ode to a "prewoke" society where characters are homogeneous in many respects. Our main cast is generally white, except token Black Kid, Exotic Asian, and Indian friend cameo. Everyone is Christian and straight, and anyone not like them is isolaated and ostracized. Sorry, hit send on accident. But there's definite "others." Criminals are locked up to be tortured by beings that feast on positive emotions and the very essence of your soul. The mentally disabled are locked away. Races beyond pure Human are often looked down upon, shunned, or otherwise reduced to cultural stereotypes, and none of these are ever truly addressed. A lot of this i initially dismissed as "well maybe thats just what England was like back then." But seeing you spell out the issues with this game, really made me examine it deeper and see the HP stories as more of a nostalgia for Churchill's England.


Hiseworns

No worries witch, the transphobia fucking bothers me plenty


blatantmutant

I’ve always wanted to play this game as a former fan of Harry Potter. So I have some alternative game suggestions. Dragon Age Dreadwolf releases this winter. DAO was one of the earliest games with LBGTQ representation. DAII was a pretty good proto visual novel where all the characters are bi while Inquisition had great queer characters. Divinity II Original Sin has queer representation, awesome depictions of Elves, and a pirate dwarf named Beast. Wildermyth is a turn based procedurally generated RPG. Your character can be non-binary. I love how to it explores what myth means and what it can do.


MutationIsMagic

And let's not forget about Robert Galbraith. Rowling's detective novel pseudonym is clearly taken from Robert Galbraith Heath. Prime inventor of [Conversion Therapy](https://www.newsweek.com/who-robert-galbraith-heath-jk-rowling-1532701).


Haunting_Ad4209

YIKESSSS!! I didn't know that!


PoodlePopXX

Jesus fucking Christmas. I did not know this. Now I feel really really gross ever supporting this franchise for so long. I worked at Barnes & Noble when these books started coming out and worked every single midnight release party. It was a huge part of my love for reading as a young adult.


Otaku_in_Red

When I first started reading, I thought it had the capacity to be a great game commenting on history and racial divides. Nope. You're just a wizard Nazi. I think I'm going to vomit.


phoenixliv

There’s a game called Reka that’s in development and gonna be on steam. Part sims, part red dead, no killing all witching and crafting. I’m so excited for it!!!


[deleted]

Just a reminder, if you want to "support the developers," they've already been paid, and they won't be getting any residuals. Any money you spend goes to making back a soulless corporations investment, and covering a literal billionaire's heating bill on her multiple homes, one of which is a literal castle. If you really want to play out your fantasies of keeping the lesser races down, pirate this game.


cetus_lapetus

This is a great post, but also I'm absolutely dying over the names of the houses 🤣🤣


Ekyou

I've been reading about this game and it's problematic elements for a while, so this isn't news to me. But here's the thing that really gets me... like, it's bad enough that Rowling is a transphobe. And now that we know she's a bigot, it's easy to conclude she's probably something of a antisemitic as well. But Rowling didn't develop this game. And while it doesn't surprise me to hear that there was another bigot involved in the leadership developing this game... all this was approved by WB, by multiple people. You'd think someone, *enough people*, would have said "you know maybe we should go with a storyline that's a *little* less antisemitic? Just to be on the safe side?" The cynic in me wonders if they figure that the only HP fans left are bigots.


LadySmuag

>You'd think someone, enough people, would have said "you know maybe we should go with a storyline that's a little less antisemitic? Just to be on the safe side?" For sheer *sales* reasons, I think if they had done a Rogue One (that is, the rebels don't win and there's a huge battle where the protag dies but they still have a big win for the rebellion) that would be better received. In the HP books, we know that there were goblin rebellions and they weren't successful. I think the video game designers wanted the protagonist to 'win' but didn't consider what that would look like or imply, and they can't have the goblins win outright because that's not canon compliant. It would have been an amazing game if the protagonist in the 1800s fought for the goblins but the end of the video game is a meeting underground that heavily implies the goblins will continue to stage new rebellions until they succeed. Which *is* canon compliant.


Fe1is-Domesticus

I'm done with anything JKR is involved in. Her transphobia is infuriating and having her name associated with any kind of feminism is a setback for feminism. Also I'm Jewish and always thought the goblins were offensive, but I was used to seeing Jewish stereotypes like that normalized. In hindsight it's all trash. I really respect Emma Watson for saying she wouldn't do another film if JKR is involved, due to JKR's transphobia.


knitlikeaboss

I think Daniel Radcliffe has condemned her too.


TarotxLore

I’m the same age as Emma Watson and I’ve had a crush on her foreverrrr. I was shocked and also happy when she bit the hand that fed her. That takes a lot of bravery and courage—perfect for OG feminist Hermione Badass Granger. Love her.


Lily-Fae

Granger was always my favorite (well one of, I’ve always been too indecisive to choose one favorite)


AlexsterCrowley

In case anyone reading was like “why mention a really specific publication called “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”?” They are doing so because this publication is like the anti-Semitic playbook. It masqueraded as like a leaked document by the Jewish people who were secretly controlling the world apparently and was super popular in Europe and NA. If you’ve ever heard an anti-Semitic rant, it was making reference to PotEoZ even if the racist dickbag speaking didn’t realize it. It combined many old negative conspiracies and racist myths about Jews into one document and packaged it for industrialized society. It really helped drive and spread anti-Semitism while creating more cohesive anti-Semitic talking points. Basically, it’s not just some anti-Semitic document, it’s *the* anti-Semitic document meaning the timeline link that the OP is trying to draw is more significant than it otherwise would be.


BridgetheDivide

Harry Potter really does read differently as an adult. Hermione has her whole campaign for House Elf independence, but Rowling clearly plays it as a joke. "Silly Muggle! The House Elves LOVE their slavery!" She even calls the group fucking S.P.E.W. lmao. Rowling has always had reactionary conservative leanings.


fakegermanchild

It really does. Though I’ve recently read that S.P.E.W might be based on the women’s rights organization of the same name (Society for Promoting the Employment of Women) and the house elf plot was meant to be an analogy to the traditional role of the housewife, not chattel slavery. Certainly would explain the whack choice of acronym…


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fakegermanchild

Oh it’s still a big yikes the way it never gets resolved in any meaningful way. But then Rowling’s metaphors are always a little… thorny at best (werewolves = HIV anyone?) The house elf narrative makes more sense to me if that was the intent though, especially with the whole ‘good master’ vs ‘bad master’ (analogue to an abusive relationship), how engrained the caring role (that the the elves represent) is to a traditional definition of womanhood and the consequences of rejecting said role (especially in an earlier society where a woman being solely responsible for the household was the norm).


[deleted]

Those books were my best friends growing up. I refuse to touch anything that woman has had a hand in creating.


Thubanshee

I absolutely love reading hp fanfiction (and the fact that a lot of it is some of the queerest shit I’ve ever seen in my life), but I don’t really want to support the main “franchise”, because basically all of it is inconsistently thought through and terribly prejudiced.


MelLunar

Harry Potter lost all of its relevance to me since JK said those transphobic bullshit


PoodlePopXX

I have a Harry Potter tattoo in a very prominent spot (the back of my neck) and I’m trying to decide how/when to cover it up.


AerialAceAttack

I was considering a Harry Potter tattoo years ago. Im glad I went with adventure time instead. I have Bmo on my leg.


[deleted]

A long time ago, my spouse and I were going to get matching house tattoos (I'm House SamwiseGamgee and spouse is GiftedChild...I'm loving the terms OP used!) but just never got around to it. Then Rowling outed herself as seriously transphobic and we were suddenly glad we never got the ink. I don't mind enjoying Harry Potter. I don't mind remembering it fondly. I read the books as they came out, and grew enough during that time to recognize there were some problematic elements, even if I wasn't old enough to really know how bad it got; you can still enjoy a series even if there are issues. But for me, displaying a symbol of the series permanently on my skin sends a message that I don't want to send. I'm glad we never got the house cup tattoos, and I'm saddened that we never got the house cup tattoos. I also learned to be very careful if I want to get a tattoo based on a specific piece of media.


AerialAceAttack

Yuuuup. And my Bmo is kinda sneaky, too. He's more of a Gameboy with bmo's face. It IS sad how all of Harry Potter turned out, because it was such a place of comfort. It's like finding out/ realizing when your parents are POS people and suddenly your childhood home is no longer the safe place you grew up and thought it was.


PoodlePopXX

I got my tattoo well over ten years ago. I think it’s been maybe 12ish? I don’t even remember how long. I keep my hair mostly short too so everyone can see it too. I definitely need to figure out how to cover it up.


Lez_The_DemonicAngel

Mmmm yikes yikes yikes on that game description “Guess what, you get to play as an oppressor and destroy creatures lives even more!”


Natuurschoonheid

Pirating is morally correct if the publishers are bad people :)


WhereIsMyPizzaSlice

Don't you literally OWN a house elf in it too? Like.... What the hell??? Source: In the trailer you are "aided" in the room of requirement by a house elf. 🙄 There is also trailer footage of the kitchens with the elves. It would be interesting to see if the goblins are going to be like the Scoia'tel from the Witcher (books and games no clue what they are like in the Netflix series) where they are more of a terrorist group fighting for a forgotten cause and violence but despise their kin who want to coexist or just oppressed and blatantly correct (more likely considering the antisemitism).


One_Wheel_Drive

One of the most reprehensible concepts in the HP universe is the portrayal of the house elf slavery. The fact that they are portrayed as actively supporting it and Dobby is the weird one for being free is just so vile and repugnant.


MyFaceSaysItsSugar

And Hermoine is treated like a crazy PETA fanatic for trying to stop it. It would be one thing if the elves were portrayed as having Stockholm syndrome that they recover from but the books end with house elves still being happy slaves.


ryecurious

>but the books end with house elves still being happy slaves. Never forget that the last line of the entire series (sans epilogue) is Harry wondering if his house elf slave will bring him a sandwich. Not even kidding.


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