Why is the concept appealing, or better yet, what is appealing to you about it?

Crossover's between HP/LoTR and HP/DoP (Deeds of Paksenarrion), good ones, are hard to come by. Truthfully, I've read only one, and it isn't great, and unfinished and abandoned to boot. I've never seen HP and DoP combined in a fic, ever.

 

Because when I think of magic, I think of dragons, castles, and long-bearded wizards. HP already has that. There is a reason why most of the games I play are fantasy-medieval type games, and that's because they are fun. Blasting shit with magic or chopping orcs down with swords is always fun. Anyways, the wizarding world is still sort of primitive in that it uses very little of the modern muggle world and still lives in the past, essentially in an age without industrialization. It's not that far of a stretch. Hogsmeade is a good example of this in that it's entirely wizarding and probably hasn't changed in hundreds of years, because it doesn't have to. Magic can do incredible things, and that's the key. In medieval setting, magic is king. There is no technology that will sweep wizards off their feet. Personally, I think I've only read on HP/LotR fic I liked enough to finish, and I've never even heard of DoP. But, I've read my fair share of Founder's era fics because they are more medieval even though the magic is essentially the same.

 

I never really read any medieval HP fics or founding era fics. Can someone recommend a few that are worth reading? The concept has caught my interest but I wouldn't know where to begin looking for examples of it.

 

In HP magic is a replacement for technology. It's certainly better in most cases and offers a whole range of additional possibilities, but the fact stands IMO.

A medieval Harry Potter is appealing because the simple act of flicking his wrist and creating fire makes him a god.

It's appealing to me because I like the whole concept of using magic for everyday needs and using it in order to survive your everyday life.

Hell, you could write a fic about Harry the Hunter who has to hunt his own food if he wants to eat and I'd read it. Gladly. Good luck hitting a rabbit with a stunner.

 

Well, for me it's about the feeling of epicness I get when I read a real masterpiece set in a medieval world

 

I can't remember the actual fic (but I'm sure someone can provide a link any minute), but I did read one where Harry creates an alter ego, and goes to live in Knockturn Alley. It sounds like every indy!dark!Harry out there, but the way dark magic was explained was really quite interesting - how dark magicians appreciated Magic, and made sacrifices to It, and also used magic in everything - tying shoelaces, buttering toast, opening the book to the right page, and so forth (extra details to help locate it - Harry started working in a potion ingredient shop, and dark wizards went through some form of magical bond to Magic, which leaves a blue tattoo on their face, with the pattern based on the famly line; and it turns out that Harry is allergic to Floo powder).


The point is, the magic was all-encompassing. When we read a book/fic about a wizard, we want to see that wizard do wizardy things. If we went to go see The Expendables 2 (with EVEN MORE action heros), you might be confused if the first seventy minutes of the film is Statham having a heart-to-heart with Stallone about how difficult his wife is being on her new diet, or whatever.

I often don't read political HP fics, as the politics isn't what I want to read about (not bashing anyone's comp entries, the ones I've read were quite good, and rooted in HPverse). If I wanted a discussion on law, I'd go read Grisham (however, I don't mind a decent romance/smut!fic, I'm like Bob like that).

Setting Harry in medieval times makes the whole setting more of a fantasy, as it is alien to us. It also means the wizards are completely superior, and (possibly) even open about their magic - the Statute of Secrecy was put into place around 1690, so stories set before then can have a wizard just being wizardy around anywhere, and apparating away if the muggles get annoyed.

 

That would be Out of the Night by Raining Ink. Decent fic, but hasn't been updated in quite awhile.

 

It's a Tolkien-esque fantasy, save that it's, at first, more about military life, as the main character is a woman soldier who eventually evolves into a paladin chosen by god to be good and holy and epic with a sword. It's pretty damn good; I'm far more familiar with it than LoTR. The sequels kind of piss me off, to a certain extent - the main characters, while mighty and well written, have been so humbled by trials throughout their lives that they don't revel in their epicness, and so they come off as perfect beings, so to speak.

I plan to write a crossover between DoP and Harry Potter, but there is one thing that eludes me; a final villian. I don't want to have him face a cliche dark wizard lord... but what else is there?

 

World building.

Although she (JKR) didn't go into it as much as she could of (and, indeed, she skimped/fucked up on a lot of the details), the Harry Potter universe does a fairly good job at world building.

It also leaves a lot of room for fan fiction writers/fans to create their own shit, hence the popularity.

 

I had some ideas in this medieval, or dark age setting. In one, Harry's in the Camelot-era, and he puts himself on the map by introducing some of the magical inventions and concepts of his own time. He receives a summons from a wizard named Merlin, who's curious and feels threatened by the newcomer who eerily has the same ideas and accomplishments that he does.

I had another one using the setting and mythology of underwater fairy paths and crannogs. Too many ideas in my head.

 

Well, there's one called the root of all evil. I read it recently, and the rewrite is fantastic. Might have something to do with the betas.

:awesome

 

I think the world of Harry Potter turns magic into a commodity - something people use for their every day daily tasks as a substitute for modern technology. As people have said, it's so much more epic to see magic deeper than that - where wizards are not just teenagers equipped with some skills, but a different type of person altogether due to that depth.

Now I think to some extent, this is what made HP unique. But it does get a bit tiring after a while.