First off, I think this fic is amazing. Good writing, characterization...pretty much everything.

That being said...why is this Harry Potter? If we have Nathan working with Ron and Hermoine, Nathan as the Boy Who Lived, Nathan doing, to the best we can see, everything that Harry's done in canon, why aren't we calling Nathan Harry? It just seems like you could, in fact, find and replace Nathan with Harry and Harry with Nathan, and the story would be no different.

Please don't bite my head off. It's just been nagging at me.

 

Dont even know why I am answering this but,

Harry was the first born and therefore got the name they were going to give the firstborn child. Voldemort needed to kill the child born at the end of July which is the youngest child - Nathan. Who got the second rate name like all younger twins do.

 

What you say is true, but I think frodrick's question has a deeper meaning (or not). To tell the truth it bothers me when I think about it (so I don't, but that besides the point), but in this story Harry is Nathan and for all purposes we are fallowing a story of (well written, with brilliant characterization) OC. We're lacking something that could tell us this is a kid that would be Harry from canon if a story went a little different for him. If I remember right, even his looks are different with stylized hairs like Malfoy.

 

Nathan and Harry are twins. They would be a lot alike but the divergence point was that Harry wanted to be a great and intelligent wizard while Nathan wanted to play quidditch. They are basically both Harry but this story is following the more awesome one. Which is awesome.

 

If you switched both Harry's and Nathan's name, i'd still love this fic just as much.

Don't care what you call him, do care how well it's written.

 

By naming the twins as they have been, you can still have a "Harry-centric" story, while having a character identical to canon still working in the background. Harry-centrism may sound like a petty reason, but since there are readers out there who primarily want to read about Harry, it does make a difference.

 

The fact that he isnt the boy who lived is the point of divergence. Considering how Nathan is following Cannon Harry's path to the letter shows you how similar they are. If Voldemort attacked Harry instead he would be where Nathan is, and Nathan would have developed the inferiority complex which pushed Harry to his success in this fic.

I get what you are saying though. It is weird to watch someone else follow CannonHarry's role so closely. But if Nathan didnt exist and a Harry Potter, who grew up with his parents, transferred to Durmstrang everyone would just shrug their shoulders and excuse it as an AU fanfic.

BTW Harry looks the same he just slicks his hair back with gel. Hermione mistook him for Nathan on the train which implies identical twins.

 

Before I start rant, let it be clear that I agree with Ellisande:

and don't have any problems with this fic.

But my point is that, when you say:

I can't see it. I agree that canon Harry could be Nathan, but I have much problem picturing canon Harry as AU Harry. It's just that for me he doesn't have anything in common with canon Harry (whatever that could be). Nothing to make me believe that, yes, he may be different, but deep down it's still Harry Potter.

Are they identical or are they just a twins?

 

It is never expressly stated that they are identical twins-at least that I remember. But they look similar enough that from 5 meters away, it would be hard to tell them apart.

 

I don't think they are identical, they have different coloured eyes and I'm pretty sure the story stated that Nathan had James's high cheek bones, while Harry did not.

And over the years there will most likely change more in appearance because of their different environments. Nathan with all his Quidditch, and Harry’s high use of Magic might alter his appearance slightly.

 

I am agreeing that this fic is brilliant. But I'm also reminded of the Second Chance at Life series, in that the author has moved the center of our main character's personal world(Durmstrang), given him all OC friends, and drastically changed his personality. In several aspects, this fic has changed canon more, in that instead of picking up after HBP, it starts off from infancy and continues from there. The only major difference in favor of canon is that his name is still "Harry Potter" not whatever that author decided his name would be. It's so definitely AU that I can't imagine what it's doing in the General section.

 

Don't you fucking dare compare this fic with ASCAL. :/

That fic is shit, this fic is awesome. Thats a major fucking difference right there.

 

You are in need of mental assistance.

 

Pretty sure the main character in Second chance of life isnt called Harry, doesnt go home for school holidays, doesnt learn canon magic, doesnt interact with OC's that have some link to the canon characters etc etc. Nothing a like.

edit fixed error in spelling

 

Right, except you know the part where you are completely wrong. The idea that all of his friends are OC is just blatantly untrue. Hermione and Harry still talk/occasionally write letters, he gets along with Snape, and Dumbledore is the main reason he was allowed to switch schools to begin with. Krum is Harry's friend and even if he doesn't show up in the books he is definitely not an original character. Second Chance completely abandons all characters from canon. Very rarely do they ever show up again. This fic keeps familiar characters mucking about at the edges of the fic.

As for drastically changing Harry's personality, this and every other piece of decent fanfiction in the history of ever change Harry's personality. Hell, if you look at every one of the highest rated works of fanfiction, it is done drastically in each fic. This change is sort of what usually drives the plot and makes it an interesting read.

The worst of your comments has to be the whole this fic has changed canon more in some aspects...Really? Soul magic, blood magic, insanely powerful magical creatures, crazy time travel, demons, elves (not to be confused with house elves), vampires deciding that they will be the ones revealing the magical world to muggles, multiple crazy animagus forms, massive creation of an alternate world, etc. Need I go on?

That series essentially made vampires look like they were running the show. Unlike canon where wizards are clearly running the show.

If you really want to get technical though, you could always look at the quality of the original characters. I doubt you will find more interesting and well written original characters in all of fanfiction as what you find in the Santi's work. Compare that to cheap Ron and Hermione substitutes, a vampire that pwns everyone he meets with ease, etc.

I don't even understand how you could attempt to make a comparison between the two fics unless it is to say look at how totally awesome the Santi is.

/rabid fanboy rant

 

I finally got around to reading this earlier, and really all I have to say is that this is amazing. Definitely one of the best stories I've read so far.

I really don't have any complaints about the story, but I definitely want to see more of Grindlewald. I don't mind if he never has any effect on the others due to him staying in prison: I just want to read more about him cause I think he's a fascinating character.

 

About the character switch, I think the point of not using "Harry Potter" as the canon Harry is to make the readers easily identify with the character. If the hero of this fic is Nathan, and he is the better twin and the one who went to Durmstrang, it would be more difficult for the readers to empathize with him.

I think this is a clever thing that Santi did.

 

Well, yeah. Then it would just be a random OC being awesome when it could be Harry that's awesome.