What the fuck

sigh.

 

The fact that it's on one of robst's stories makes it even worse.

 

Personally, I hate how very few Fics can actually find a good balance to portray Snape.

On one hand, you have Fics where he ends up as Harry's father/lover. But on the other hand, there are Fics that reduce him to a generic bad guy who just loves torturing/raping/killing/serving Voldemort. The truth is, as I understand it, is that Snape is a genuinely complex character. Yes, he's by no definition a good guy. But he has a far more three-dimensional backstory and life than other bad guys, like Voldemort. Hell, the simple fact he was willing to spy on Voldemort and ultimately lead to his downfall, regardless of the motivation, suggests he has balls of steel.

I'm not saying I like Snape, or feel sympathetic towards him. But I do think there is more to him than most Authors on both ends of the spectrum give him credit for.

 

The problem is, I don't think he's even written particularly well in canon.

 

I agree, he just looks that way at first glance when contrasted with Harry "I died for you and then came back to life" Potter and Tom "I was evil before I started Hogwarts, and a soulless monster by the time I graduated" Riddle.

But ultimately, he's just an asshole. He's on the protagonists side of the stories main conflicts, but he's an asshole.

 

Best written Snape is Snape who plays both sides for self-preservation and/or possible gains.

Or POTDK Snape. Either one.

 

Sorry but what is POTDK Snape supposed to mean?

 

POTDK -> Prince Of The Dark Kingdom
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3766574/1/Prince-of-the-Dark-Kingdom

 

Ah. I was never able to get into that one. What kind of person was Snape supposed to be in that?

 

he's kind of a good person? He does serve the dark Lord and all that whizzaz but he has a sense of humor and morals, and he doesn't go full hate boner for Harry, but sometimes does some pretty fucked up stuff. Keep in mind Im only up to chapter 48

 

Personally, I never liked that story. I only got as far as the first two years (which was itself long). I heard it gets better, but it had several Pet Peeves included.

1. Unnecessary Ron Bashing. He was Draco's lackey, an idiot literally on par with Crabbe and Goyle, and was somehow the only bad Weasley in the Fic (even Percy was viewed in a good light).

2. Harry becomes immediate BFFs with Hermione, to the point where I was actually surprised they don't end together later.

3. Literally every male character is at least a little bisexual, which is strangely funny since the major female characters all seem to be straight.

4. A strange combination of ridiculously utopian qualities in the Wizarding World (like treating gays and lesbians virtually like a liberal, modern muggle would, treating them 100% like a straight couple), while brushing aside massive legitimate problems (like forcing squibs and muggleborns to forever be second-class citizens, even if, like Hermione, they grew up in a Pureblood elite household and are super smart).

5. Sirius/Remus Slash.

6. Voldemort immediately interested in making Harry his personal protege literally because he happens to be a parselmouth.

7. Outright changing things later on in the story without either editing previous chapters or just starting from scratch. Seriously, try to read the first two years, and tell me something I said wasn't true.

 

1. You have something of a point there. Ron really doesn't get signficant development until year six.

2. I think that's a good thing. At the time this fic was starting, there was a flood of H/Hr tent romance fics. Having them form a relationship without romance was rare.

3. There seems to be a slightly homoerotic subtext with Harry and Voldemort, considering the amount of time they spent half-naked around each other, but it never bothered me. Character interactions are handled well for the most part.

4. That's worldbuilding for you.

5. Only mentioned and barely. We never actually see them pork, or kiss, or even hold hands. They're both buff, masculine men who happen to be attracted to such men. And let's be honest, if slash doesn't involve Harry, most of us won't give a shit.

6. Only other living parselmouth. Voldemort has his obsessions. It's not like Voldemort saw Harry and was instantly like "let's be friends". Their relationship doesn't actually start developing until Voldemort invites Harry to stay over a year later, during which year Harry attracted even more attention. Enough to grab Voldemort's too.

7. Such as? Serious question, I legit don't remember. You might be right about some worldbuilding details, but nothing major, I don't think.

 

I agree. I've never really seen the depth to his character. Everyone goes crazy over him being a jackass who is fighting on the good side and protecting Harry.

I feel like the people who go on and on about how complex he is are the same types of people who can't understand that people aren't just black and white. So when a character is given even the tiniest bit of depth they go crazy over it. Christ people, he's a cunt who gets his rocks off by bullying kids, he just happens to do it while crying over his shrine to Lily every night.

I like looking at the books with the idea that Snape is playing both sides and is on his own team. That makes his character interesting and gives him better motivation for being a spy than just wanting to bone Lily.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back to the topic, my peeves are:

- unlabeled pairings: I don't want to get 5 chapters into a fic before discovering that it's Harry x Ginny. I don't care if that pairing is canon.

- abandoned fics: I hate when I get to the final chapter of a really good fic only to discover that it hasn't been updated for 5 years. At least put in in the summary.

- graphic sex scenes: Especially badly written ones. If you know you can't write sex scenes just summarize. And no, I don't need to know every detail of sex. Ex: "Harry stuck his tongue into Ginny's slit, tasting her sweet juices as her 'lips' trembled".

 

Why not? After all, you did have to go through 5 books in canon before finding it out.

Authors have no obligation to put in the pairing in big block letters before starting the story. In fact, unless the story revolves around the pairing itself, I find it preferable that they don't. May be that will cure the fandom's obsession with pairings.

Or you can go to the last chapter to see whether it is complete or not if it bothers you so much. Almost all complete stories on fanfiction.net are marked as complete anyway, so it is a non-issue.

 

1. Lol
2. It's still pretty fucking annoying to read a fic for like 8 chapters then realize it's something like Harry/Daphne, I don't hate it but I'd like to know before because most authors just cant write certain pairings.

 

There's a difference when you're looking through a huge selection of stories for something suited to your tastes and you get burned half way through. It just feels like a waste of time.

 

I would like authors to mark slash and enemy pairing stories as such (I have little interest in a Harry/Bellatrix story for example), but beyond that I would like to be able to read something with a "will they or won't they" mentality for once.

 

On the subject of pairings: if you find a story you're enjoying and halfway through it turns out the author went for a particular pairing you dislike, it's really that big of a deal that you'll nope out?

Spoiler

I wasn't a fan of Harry and Tonks hooking up in Renegade Cause, but it was just one of many subplots and the story wasn't really worse for it.

I guess a lot depends on how the romance itself is implemented. Plenty of stories out there that aren't half bad but the romance is just stupidly shoehorned in.

Download, POTDK does the "will they or won't they" thing.

 

That depends. If it turns out to be surprise buttsecks with Draco, then yes I'll nope out.

 

Yes. Nope'd out of some H/Hr stories when they got too romancy or Hermione-wanky. Can't stand H/Hr. I never read a story with it and never will.