Santi is doing great with his OCs, but if there is one thing by which you can recognize a bad fic, it's a big amount of OCs who has no real purpose. So unless they are needed for a plot, I'm thinking that any more OC at this point is a bad idea.

 

at this point why would you need another OC?

 

Kudos to the two posts above.

And I'd like to mention just one other thing. I think it is both unbelievable and fucking awesome that Santi managed to keep his characters more or less age appropriate. As anyone somewhat familiar with fanfic knows it is one of the most difficult aspects of writing a good story.

 

Uh say what?

As awesome as this story is I would hardly say that any of the major characters act age appropriate. That would be my one main issue with this story. Harry and Calypso are just too dedicated to academics for eleven year olds. Even Victor seemed to lay it on thick, but since he was 14 when introduced it is more plausible.

 

True, but if they did started acting their age all time; I think it would get tiering pretty quickly. That's why we have Ron and Nathan; they balance it out.

Plus while they are mature about taking academics seriously; they still have childish tendencies. Victor's relationship with Kira- he can’t see past her flaws, Calypso’s crush on Harry- it’s cute but is awkward, which is appropriate for her age, and some of the fights Harry has with Nathan and Ron are quite immature.

I think that these three characters have a good mix of being mature and childish.

 

I think none of the children characters have displayed any sense of maturity. Academics? PLEASE! I know a lot of little kids that take school VERY seriously. It's perfectly natural. It doesn't prove that Harry acts in any way mature. His Hogwarts experience proves it. Kira and Calypso? The least said the better. Viktor? Well he's pretty serious but still boyish. And the Hogwarts crew is even worse.
No. Nein. Niet. Nie. Non. I don't agree with you Yoda.

 

Kids that take school seriously put it in front of everything else. Harry doesnt have anything else. He had no friends at Hogwarts because he barricaded himself in the library 24/7. Which goes way past what normal kids who like academics do. The only kids that hang out in the library when they arent doing work that a teacher assigned are reading fiction for their own entertainment.

The only reasons he has friends is because Victor spends as much time on a broom as Harry does in the library. Calypso shares Harry's obsession with magic and seems to have a crush on him. He would still have no friends if they werent just as obsessively pursuing goals as he is.

 

Of course it's hard to believe that such kids exists, but I assure you that in the real world there are children who take their academics as serious if not even more as Harry.

 

Being an educator... What he ^^^ said

 

I can see I am not getting anywhere with gbbz. But Harry is only studying 2 years ahead not 12. As far as we know Harry has gotten where he has through hard work. Not hard work and a eidetic memory. If harry had an abnormally amazing brain he would continue to advance in classes, not level off.

Besides the discussion was about how childish Harry is. Bringing out a list of people who got Masters degrees as 8 year olds is irrelevant since they are way beyond where Harry is. He is more like a high school student who, by tenth grade, was studying calculus.

 

I'm not sure. I think age can play a role how magic reacts in this story. Lily said something about him simply not being old enough to have a wand early on which might not make sense given Calypso's training. It also took him awhile just to convince Lily to let him learn anything about magic before school.

Then there is the whole him not wanting to get too far ahead in Dark Arts even though he might be at a level where he could move up a year in that class. Plus, there is the amount of time he spends on his final projects, animagus training, personal projects etc. We see him learning bits and pieces of NEWT level material, but it seems to be focused on projects that interest him instead of learning a series of things about magic in the order that would allow him to skip a grade.

 

At first I'd agreed with those who felt that Harry and co. were acting way beyond their years, and putting way too much focus on their education...

...and then I thought about it.

Think back to when you were 11 years old. Hell, go to as young as 6 or 7 if you want. And think of something outside of school that you could really get immersed in - I'm talking laser-rocket focus. For me, it was tinkering with K'nex and Legos and Erectors and Capsela and chemistry sets and whatever electronic do-dads my parents could get for me. For others it was sports: I had friends who would follow MLB and college baseball, while collecting the cards, while also going to batting cages during every free moment, and practicing their fielding when visiting their friends/teammates, sleepover parties that included a trip to the ballpark, going to baseball camp during the summer, etc.

Replace baseball with basketball, or piano, or band, or boyscouts. Think of that kid who could recite lines and lines from any movie or cartoon series. Or the kid that obsessed over beating video games; the weird kid who was the prototype for wikipedia's pages on different comic book 'verses; the kids who did the best in art class, went to art camps and art classes after school, drew on everything they could get their hands on, etc etc usw.

My point is: when you're young and you find something you're actually allowed to pursue, it's easy to become completely and totally involved in it - especially when practicing it over and over produces something more tangible than a grade on a piece of paper.

I think we can all agree that shitting in the ear of physics and thermodynamics is more tangible than a grade on a piece of paper.

So yes: an 11 year old focused on academics to the exclusion of all else is possible, but understandably unusual. Anyone who thinks they can pull up a link to a bunch of special cases and expect to find that kind of student in even half of the schools around the world is living in fantasy land. I don't care how many examples of kids you have personally interacted with; it's still unusual.

But since we're not talking about fucking arithmetic or grammar lessons, and are instead talking about kids who get to perform magic, don't think for a second that these 11 year olds are overly mature, or learning for the sake of learning, or whatever adult-minded logic precludes an intense interest in academics. They're interacting with something that they think is really goddamned cool, and along the way have learned to speak in a way that reflects the language used in the subject-matter that they, again, think is really goddamned cool.

So instead of random baseball terms like RBI or home run, or the names of various pokemon or cartoon characters, Harry and co. end up using language that doesn't make them sound like complete snot-nosed morons. If Nintendo Power had been written in Latin, and Super Mario was instead Super Shakespeare, I'd probably have sounded much like Santi's characters do as well.

But I'd still have been a knuckleheaded 11 year old - and so are the kids in this story, in their own way.

 

So much this.

It's a point a lot of stories miss - magic is fucking awesome.

 

Without meaning to, I read Blaise's signature immediately after his post.

It made his post even better. :awesome

 

I don't agree with bringing in more OC's (as Harry's friends) or at least not to many. Maybe one or two might be okay but i think one of the main reasons Harry will eventually go dark is because one of his only friends, Krum, will get busy with Quidditch and while still friends with Harry, won't be able to curb the influence Calypso will have on Harry.

Also i can't see Harry going dark without reason... even for thirst for knowledge. People in authority will have to hurt people he cares for to justify it because if the people in charge are evil going against them is the right thing to do. Like the Ministry trying to "butt rape" his brother. That will will be the other main reason IMO that Harry will go dark. He will have the influence from Calypso and a valid reason with how they are treating his brother.

 

It seems to be doing that a lot lately.

 

Well, I read this fic first back when it was 3 chapters long, liked it, but didn't see the point for the hundreds of posts in the thread.

I finally go back to rereading it yesterday. Stayed up way too late to finish it, and have to say that it's absolutely amazing. The OCs are excellent, Krum's characterization is actually really refreshing. Calypso is also pretty fucking awesome. The marriage contract thing was actually a really welcome reveal to the big mystery thats been pervading the fic so far. I was expecting some sort of elaborate plot that would of been a major issue for years to come, instead however it was a refreshingly simple idea that was pulled off almost perfectly. The fact that Harry's family isn't suddenly rejecting him, or completely Durmstrangphobic is also a pleasure to read.

The biggest thing by far about this fic, is that it's a far more realistic take on the whole general idea than any others manage to be. I can believe whats happened, it's a properly logical sequence of events.

Absolutely cannot wait for more, this is the first time i've actually subscribed to a WBA thread.

5/5 - not even a chance of it going down.

 

Yet another happy follower of the Cult of The Santi.

 

Agreed. It's refreshing to see an OC that's so alive. She had a real personality - and the Santi shows her good side and bad side. If only all original characters were written with depth, like Calypso. Maybe then everyone wouldn't steer away from stories with OCs.

 

Amazing, amazing, amazing. Layers of depth that few authors can reach, and a Durmstrang which is well and truly alive, rather than being a simple clone of Hogwarts.

5/5

Is The Santi taking marriage contracts? 'coz he seems liek a pretty cool guy