Ok, here it is.

It's a twist of the manipulative!Dumbledore idea.

As Harry grows, he comes to realize that Dumbledore has been running his life, refusing to train him, and is basically responsible for every bad thing that has ever happened to him. He decides to investigate this, but his friends insist that he is paranoid, and that Dumbledore is awesome. The more Harry looks, though, the more he comes to believe that Ron and Hermione are in on it. In fact, everyone he meets seems to be in on it.

Turns out, Harry's life has been scripted by Dumbledore as a sort of wizard tv show (Harry is unaware that wizards have tv because Dumbledore doesn't want him to know that he is a tv show).

Basically Truman Show/Harry Potter. Dumbledore has directed Harry's life to be as dramatic as possible while trying to keep him ignorant of it. Voldemort is a character, nothing more. Might be funny if Hagrid was some talented and acclaimed actor.

 

Yeah, like Robbie Coltrane or some shit...

 

Would be interesting. The author could add a little doubt into him when he asks how big the wizarding world is and someone says around a few hundred thousand in Britain alone. (This could be a slip-up of a bad actor.) Harry knows that all kids attend Hogwarts, so is wondering at birth rates.

One could stick in a few convenient obliviates, which the other cast members forgot about to add to the mystery being unraveled, so they are talking to Harry about something that happened, but they don't know he forgot it. Author could probably use Luna to some extent, her not actually being an actress, but someone who literately thinks this is all real.

 

I'm can imagine Dumbledore standing on a podium at the graduation ceremony, telling everything to harry with a troll face, ending with a 'Problem?' ! :awesome

 

Emotional impact would be good as well, like finding out that "Cedric" is still alive, etc.

Maybe something with Fleur/her "actress", too.

 

That would be terrifyingly difficult to pull of well... but I'd like to see it done nonetheless.

 

I actually meant an in-universe actor who is still half-giant and stuff, but whatever.

 

...I just had the image of Flitwick played by Danny DeVito.

On a much more on-topic note, this idea is awesome. But how would Harry managed to uncover the truth without getting his memory wiped? Or is the entire thing a plot of Dumbledore's to get better ratings?

 

I think it would be a great ending if Harry were to uncover the whole truth and then Dumbledore would reveal that it's not the first time he managed to do this only to erase his memories once again.

Anyway - great idea.

 

Damn. I had a very similar story idea to this quite a while back:

There is no magical world. Harry finds this out accidentally, and quickly his whole world, the world that he knew, comes to pieces. All of magic is faked: the castle works as a series of mechanisms (the moving stairs and appearing doors) and robotics (the suits of armor) - the moving portraits are all high-quality screens with a filter over them to make them seem more realistic, the ghosts are just projections/holograms excellently choreographed to appear as they should.

The reality is that in this world, people will do anything to create a show that people will watch. Big brother ramped up to massive levels of manipulation. Every moment of Harry's life is filmed, new challenges are introduced in a linear, scripted style. It's why everyone pays such attention to him alone, why Voldemort and his and plots have such little depth to them, and why quite a bit of the magical world (population, blood relationships) is not well thought-out. Most of the students are actors; only a few, some of the muggleborns, aren't.

So Harry was never actually special; just chosen to be and cast as the star of this massive operation to make money. The Dursleys were just massive douches who sold him for them to make it.

As you might have guessed, I never wrote that story because it's goddamn depressing.

 

Hmm, could his parents also be alive, then? Was their death faked, too?

A slight addition to the whole 'Dumbledore lets Harry discover the truth, then obliviates him once again' thing; turns out Loki (or another god/goddess of mischief) would find it fuckin' hilarious to turn the tables on Dumbledore as he/she's tired of seeing the same old trick (learn, obliviate) being used/seen on Harry over and over, so he/she subtly lets his 'plan' go ahead but also fucking it up somehow at the same time; Harry breaks free.

The reason? Havoc, mischief, and his/her own amusement.

 

Goddamn but do I hate it when people use gods in writing. That's literally the worst way to steer the plot that I can think of.

 

I also had this idea back in November...

Odd that.

 

There are good ways to use gods/higher deities in fanfiction, but there always has to be a counter-balance.

 

Really? I can think of several...

-Harry is really Snape's son and Snape clues him in.

-Snape has a sudden change of heart while he's spending some of the money he makes.

-In the magic-is-fake version, Dudley suddenly feels bad and tells Harry the truth.

-Ginny tells him out of love.

-Draco has fallen for his veela charm and admits the truth.

-Dobby informs him at the low low cost of one recently used sock.

-The sorting hate secretly warned him back in first year.

-The monster in his chest warns him.

-He's a wizard and a thumpin' good 'un at tha', so he had a vision that told him.

 

Nope, I'd rather read all of those than some hackneyed God plotline. Especially one written by someone with a fetish for Loki. Every time anyone brings up Loki it's always some cunt with a fetish who thinks that Loki is the coolest thing since sliced bread.

Sliced bread is fucking awesome.

Loki isn't. Nor is any other God in a HP storyline.

 

His life has been set for a PG rating obviously...

 

An interesting side-story you might want to add on top of it is to put commentators talking about the show, between chapters, analyzing and speculating on whats going to happen next season. They could discuss how "next season someone might die" or other satirical things like that.

 

Depends on which Loki, in my opinion. The Mask's Loki? That would be awful. But the actual god Loki of Norse myth has some potential. Mind you, it would take a hell of a writer to do that, since Norse myth Loki probably wouldn't give a shit.

 

Well... he does look a bit like him.