No, it was a Veela bond. I guess you can equate that to a soul bond but the author made it sound more like a bond where the bond itself becomes a tool that allows the parties to know each other better in various way and a stronger probability towards marriage, but not an absolute inevitability. It was more of a commitment on part of the Veela than the recipient who could choose to decline it destroying initiator emotionally. But it was basically that Fleur arrives at Hogwarts, likes Harry initially because he didn't come under her allure, dislikes him because she thinks he cheated and also because he is another competitor, starts to warm up to him slightly by his character but is distracted by the competition, likes him a bit more the more she sees him in action, and then the second event she is helped by Harry as her fire-based Veela magic is negated by the lake and she has no experience drawing on her wizarding side alone, and her little sister starts some puberty transformation that nearly causes them to drown.... yada yada yada.... Harry saves them, and on the pier or whatever with her Veela powers rushing back it pushes her to proclaim Harry her bondmate with a kiss, Gabrielle being a Harry fangirl ala Ginny, with the same Veela effects becomes insanely jealous of her sister and does the same. It turns out the bond has to be accepted by Harry and that's where the complications come in as well as Hermione. And the rest....

I don't like the concept of life debts, as that seems purely medieval... although the concept of Millicent Bulstrode saving some male student and collecting on that life debt brings me a smile. Or Albus saving Snape and doing the same And are life debts like currency? If Harry gets a life debt, can he trade it to the highest bidder or for a favor? Or if he incurs one, like say, he falls, and Draco unwillingly/accidentally breaks his fall, can Harry say, well, Dobby or Ron owes me a life debt, so I'll put him in my place? Or do all of Harry's life debts suddenly fall to Draco? Stuff for a one shot fanfic. I'd like to say HP isn't that medieval, but the morales JKR pushes through are pretty atrocious on some level so I can't say that it wouldn't exist.

But what aspects of soul bond don't you like? I think, when I read soul bond fics, I like the concept itself, but I don't like destiny being thrown in as a substitute for character growth or interaction. You know - "Mrs. Fate in her blue robes saw Harry and Hermione not snogging and zinged them and they were all of a sudden in love and always have been!!!"

I think in a magical world, soul bonds could exist but in a story it has to be done correctly to make it interesting Most of them aren't because they're used as a detour/bypass.

 

Because whenever some ff.net author writes a soul bond fic, it usually involves butt smex.

 

Nothing wrong with a bit of sodomy.

 

I have nothing against that, but everything against Harry and Draco/Snape/Voldemort/Cedric doing it in a fic which basically tells us in the first sentence that there is a very special bond between them, then has 25 chapters about them having crazy sex... :fire

 

Why are you so mad?

---------- Post automerged at 02:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:42 PM ----------

Well, that's more of a condemnation of lemons putting up a pretense of a plot than anything else.

Although I do enjoy plotless lemons when I'm in the mood

 

Sorry I have a soft spot for nyan.

Anyway, I'm asking if you really hate the concept of soul bond so much or just what usually results in its use?

 

I think it's fair to say that most of the hate of soul bonds stems from the execution of the idea. I honestly can't think of a single fic where a soulbond has been used as an effective and compelling plot device. This is quite clear from the comments of how a soul bond usually involves someone shoving a cock up Harry's ass.

The only fic I've ever enjoyed which involved a 'bond' per se, was Hope by Jeconais. It's not a stellar piece of writing, but it was good enough. And that's some variant of the veela bond.

As for the smilies... go take a look at posts by most of the 'old' people around here, smilies aren't something we tend to use a lot, so when someone new comes and fills their posts with smilies, it's very very noticeable. Think about that for a while, and use them with moderation.

As for Harry Potter and the Arcana? It's in the library. Though lately I feel it really hasn't been living up to the potential it had. It's getting kind of dull and repetitive. I agree with your rating DITN, 3.5/5 and just below library standards sounds about right.

 

Ten posts and already I don't like you. Sesc is an asshole German (redundant, I know) but he's right; stop spamming us with that goddamn smiley. Or any smiley, for fuck's sake.

AND - on top of that you've gone and started another fucking "magical population of Britain" thread, as if the other 399 weren't asinine and worthless enough. Jesus, you just joined here, so let me point out that THIS IS NOT MUGGLENET SO DON'T THINK WE'RE GOING TO ALLOW YOU TO KEEP SHITTING UP THE PLACE.

AND AGAIN - Learn to EDIT instead of just submitting reply after reply. It's lazy, lazy, lazy and very, VERY irritating.

 

Ich lieb dich auch, Portus:3

And honestly, I don't know what mugglenet is. I'll google it later. This is my first HP forum. Srry.

I come from an anime background, myself.

 

That... was actually well played. Of course I had to Google the translation, since I'M American and if it ain't English, it ain't good enough for us real Uh-mur-ukuns to learn it.

 

This isn't a fanfic, but The Assassin's Apprentice has the main character developing a bond with a puppy, and it was very well done.

So, in principle, it can be done. Though every fanfic (minus Persp's) involving one that I've ever read has been shit, so I stopped reading them.

 

While I've never seen it work in theory I think you could possible to do a good Soulbond fic if the two characters involved were forced to brake up relationships they were previously in whether due to a legal requirement or because the bond made them repulsed by being in a relationship other then with their bonded. Then going from their social life's and relationships falling apart and in the end resenting the other person in the bond because they were the cause of it and because the bond doesn't make them OMGWTF in love with the person who basically ruined their life.

I don't think you could base a whole story around it though maybe as a sub plot.

 

Jesus Christ, mate; punctuation!

 

No, don't even try.

Soul bonds are indeed inherently bad because they are antithetical to what makes human relationships what they are.

When you trust and love your girlfriend or boyfriend, it's valuable because it's been born out of the sum of your experiences together. Ultimately though, you never know absolutely whether that other person is being worthy of your trust, and that's why it's meaningful.

When you have soulbonds, that takes the uncertainty out, you can feel what the other person is feeling and shit. There's no room for growth, because you already have something no amount of shared experiences can overcome.

There isn't a single great story or novel with soul-bonds. In all of literature, not just this tiny niche of Harry Potter fanfiction. Maybe it seemed that they were meant for each other, and you step into soulmate territory, but never soul-bonds.

If someone did write a good story with soulbonds, hypothetically speaking, it'd be useless. It'd be decent because there was a good underlying romance, but diminished because of a purposeless soulbond. Because it'd be superfluous, and good authors cut out superfluous stuff.

So no, don't be a bitchfag and try to "deconstruct" the idea of soulbonds. That's nearly as retarded as trying to write a good slash fic just to show it can be done.

 

Soul bonds are bad in general, meaning the main plots are crappy. Though there are elements that I like in them sometimes, such as in Harry potter and Future's past.

A Harry/Hermione soul bond fic with the goddess of love or something sending them back in time and bonding them, because she decided they go together.... It's bad. The element I like is evil petty Ginny, whom convinces Ron to help her spike Harry and Hermione's food to get her way. It always fails and when Ginny finds out they're bonded she has a nuclear meltdown and I laugh my ass off.

Veela bonds have no excuse in my opinion, the idea of a very sensual yet independent and proud species bonding themselves magically to one person is misogynistic especially the way it's characterized in certain fics (the ones I've read have all been Harry/Fleur). I have nothing against the idea of male veela, but making Draco Malfoy(the only one I ever see get made into a veela): a biggoted, elitist, steaming pile of hippogriff shit anything other than human seems wrong.

 

Do you mean a Harry-centric fic, given that Harry is straight in canon, or do you mean that all fiction with a gay protagonist is worthless?

 

I agree with your points about soul bonds, but slash to me is just pairing a character with someone of the same gender. It's the same thing as if you had a dark or super powerful Harry, you are changing a part of his personality for your story. It's not some lazy plot device, it's just an aspect of your character.

That said, slash is generally written by fangirls who possess no ability to write, so I have yet to read a decent one - but those stories are not bad because of the slash, they are bad for the normal reasons (poor writing, poor characterization, poor plot construction etc).

 

Harry-centric slashfics. It would be quite provocative if I meant all fiction with gay protagonists.