“Look At Me”

Sick

new school year

Re-read this bit in Half-Blood Prince again and thinking about how blatantly it seems to be telling us that Harry is biased against Snape and our impression of him thus far has been clouded by seeing him through Harry's eyes (emphases mine):

‘The Dark Arts,’ said Snape, ‘are many, varied, ever-changing and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible.’ Harry stared at Snape. It was surely one thing to respect the Dark Arts as a dangerous enemy, another to speak of them, as Snape was doing, with a loving caress in his voice? . . . ‘He tried to jinx me, in case you didn’t notice!’ fumed Harry. ‘I had enough of that during those Occlumency lessons! Why doesn’t he use another guinea pig for a change? What’s Dumbledore playing at, anyway, letting him teach Defence? Did you hear him talking about the Dark Arts? He loves them! All that unfixed, indestructible stuff -‘ ‘Well,’ said Hermione, ‘I thought he sounded a bit like you.’ ‘Like me?’ ‘Yes, when you were telling us what it’s like to face Voldemort. You said it wasn’t just memorising a bunch of spells, you said it was just you and your brains and your guts - well, wasn’t that what Snape was saying? That it really comes down to being brave and quick-thinking?’ Harry was so disarmed that she had thought his words as well worth memorising as The Standard Book of Spells that he did not argue.

Half-Blood Prince, Ch. 9

There's a direct contrast being drawn from one scene to the next between Harry's perception of Snape and Hermione's less-biased, more critical one. Where Harry hears a "loving caress" for the dark arts in Snape's voice, Hermione hears the passionate, determined explanation that Harry gave a year earlier - one based in a firsthand understanding of what it takes to protect oneself from harm against dark magic.

This is also the first scene in this book where we see Snape teaching a class. The first time he shows up in the book is when he's entrusted by Tonks to deliver Harry safely to the Great Hall from the school gates. So the first encounter with Snape in HBP is as Harry's protector, be it begrudging or not, and the second is one where an immediate parallel is drawn after between him and Harry, Hermione questioning the latter's bias and hinting to the reader that judging him based on Harry's perception may not paint an accurate picture of Snape. Through the rest of the book we see Harry have an increasingly hostile relationship with Snape while developing a great fondness for the Half-Blood Prince, despite it also being Snape, only Harry doesn't know that, so he's able to see his humor and cleverness.

This theme is a dominant one throughout the book, though it doesn't become clear until the end when we find out Snape was the Half-Blood Prince, but by then our impression of the Prince is murky given the unexpectedly violent outcome of Harry trying out Sectumsempra (and it can be argued he's to blame for doing so against another person instead of finding out what the spell does in a safer way), and our impression of Snape is even worse given that he'd just killed Dumbledore. We don't find out until the next book that Snape had been fighting on the same side as Harry the whole time, risking - and eventually losing - his life for the same cause. In retrospect, Rowling (boo, hiss) spends a lot of time in HBP dropping breadcrumbs that Harry's impression of Snape - and thus the reader's - is affected by bias and thus inaccurate.

The REAL Crystal Council

Rewatching Part one of Crystalized just makes me more enraged at the season so far. A big issue is the council having too many uninteresting and disconnected villain’s. I feel there are far more relevant, competent, and interesting characters to build a season off of that are accessible in our current timeline. 

I’ll run down a small list of gripes with each current member and then I’ll explain some of my choices, as well as their far more interesting relationships.  

CURRENT MEMBERS

Harumi: Her arc was complete in Hunted and rewriting her death would backtrack the most impactful moment she had. Passes by just barely because she is an interesting character to explore and redeem further, but so far they reversed her to Lloyd angst instead of pursuing the far more interesting and dramatic relationship she and Pythor would share. 

Aspheera: Talk about a waste of space. Her lore was contradictory to Ninjago history when it first came out in Fire chapter and I figured we were finally done and could renounce those events from the timeline. She is beyond idiotic in nature, and her motivations have always been ridiculously shallow, even to the point of satire in this new season. The only thing she can add is Wu angst that was already put to rest during the completion of his arc in Hunted and Motm (Her relation to Wu is also fairly annoying. Do the writers seriously think Wu is in the wrong, or is Aspheera simply this selfish and ignorant to her own actions?). She has no relation to any other character in the entire show and her base personality is difficult to watch at times. 

The Overlord: Cool voice and all, but resurfacing this after so long with no lead up is just opening old wounds again. For the sake of structure I’ll keep him, as he is the main point of the council, but even the Crystal King is on thin ice. (My theory is Oni magic tipped the balance enough to let him escape but there has been no inclination up until now that he would return, so having him appear as the big bad feels like a poor, fanservice decision.)

The Mechanic: The worst offender. This guy is on the same level as Fugidove and Ultra Violet. They were a trio and he never “leveled up” as they say in the show. He was always a one off, or a stooge for someone stronger, smarter, more devious, or more motivated. The Mechanic on his own has no intentions, no goal or purpose. He’s literally a low level thug who wasn’t even named until season 6. If they need a Prime Empire representative, I’d much prefer a plot about a villain kidnapping Unagami, since they are essentially code that could be reprogramed. That would open up a good story for Jay and Zane to bond over together. But no. The mechanic has no reason to be this high up. He has committed nothing on his own, has a bland personality, and his metal tech should be easily defeated by Jay, who is a skilled technician with lightening powers. 

Mr. E… er F: If they are not Echo Zane, it’s literally dead weight. The pinnacle of nothing. Mr. E was a mysterious badass biker robot that was good friends with Harumi. They gruesomely died in front of Harumi to give her doubts about her decision. Pythor just ‘rebuilding them” without any notion of the same hard drive/soul device just means they essentially just have a nindroid drone from Rebooted on the MAIN COUNCIL. The one hope for them is if they are actually Echo Zane, like the original draft. We saw the lighthouse, and Nya very distinctly screamed “Is anybody there???” to no response, despite knowing Echo Zane exists. If Echo is not Mr F, than both that scene and the character inclusion is irritating. 

Pythor: He’s fine. Always been a staple petty man just slithering around. In the Canon novel, Pythor’s Revenge, he was last seen begging the Serpentine for help in sabotaging Borg, to which he was kicked out of the caves. He’s charming, entertaining, has a long standing history with the overlord, and could have a plot with Harumi if they choose to mention it. 

Skull Sorcerer: He was so forgettable I literally forgot to type him on the list until just now. Although a staple of Cole’s season (and I love that season), this role for him is disconnected from his previous appearance and practically OOC in my book. King Vangelis loves his people and created the mines to make the city prosperous. He clearly wants to protect his daughter as well. The real villain of that season is the Skull itself, which is seen to corrupt Korgran in the flashback, and is implied to mess with Vangelis’ psyche. When the skull disintegrated, he immediately begged for mercy and forgiveness. The best course of action for Vangelis is a redemption arc, since he was just a King of an isolationist country disconnected from Ninjago that partook in slavery. We can visit him in prison and he could reveal everyone who was buying from him, although it was under a codename so he has no idea who it really goes to after the middle men pick it up. Instead of this approach, I fear he will just be some boring powerless guy wearing a mask. Vangelis as the SS did not have a single interesting thing to say. it was tropey generic villain jabber and it seems they may fall back on that instead of pursing something better. 

THE COOLER CRYSTAL COUNCIL. 

The council I have created, along with my sister, may be too much to unpack in one grand season, but I can simply no longer ignore how boring the current members are when others out there can be justified. It is grand, yes, but even one of these additions instead of the latter inclusions would make for a more exciting season.  

Pythor: The snake can stay. Forever endearing, with a background in helping the overlord and a connection to season 1, as well as the long lasting Serpentine war arc. 

Clouse: He only got his time to shine in Canon Malaysian plays, and off screen in books and semi-cannon Tommy fanfictions. This man is, in the shows current lore, still out there in the Underworld. Since WotD is still a WIP, we don’t know what his end is, but for now he could be back with something as easy to get as Travelers tea. I’m sure the Overlord is quite aware of portals and proud of how Clouse succeeded in merging Ninjago back into one land using dark matter. 

Harumi: If Canon is reversing her death than I suppose I can too. I can’t ignore the potential she has outside of Lloyd and the character growth she still could obtain. 

Nadakhan: A bit of an OP one, but you could make it work. Wishes can be very powerful and the Overlord could see the potential. He already wanted revenge on Ninjago since they destroyed his homeland and the Overlord could easily make that happen. The Overlord is also incredibly powerful. I’m sure there are wishes and ways to keep Nadakhan in line. We know he is currently in the possession of Clutch powers, making him more a part of WildBrain than Mr E. He is also personally connected to Jaya, which was something very important from last season. 

Time Twins: Lloyd says since their location is ‘unknown’ they are ruled out. I disagree. The best villains to bring up are the ones with no known location and there is no reason that the Ninja should rule out that possibility based on location alone. They just had a short reminding us of their existence. I would place them in Aspheera’s spot, serving as a reminder of Wu’s past, while also being in it for petty vengence. These two were also wronged by the Alliance and this new, darker alliance could be the push they need for redemption, as I’m a raved Twim sympathizer. 

Oni Garmadon: I know he has been shown in the trailers. It would be cool if he were a spy of some sort. He gets sent the invitation as a notorious villain at the end of his journey in the Garmadon comics. Having regained some humanity, he accepts the invitation to sabotage the organization. The Overlord could help him remember the past, or at the very least his time has Lord Garmadon, which was still kinder than how he acts now. 

THE RELATIONSHIP CHART

Look at all those lines. Now that’s a group of characters and not a bunch of useless bland faces about to be vessels for the Overlord. I’ll run down this list for you under the cut. 

Keep reading

21 year old Severus Snape waking up to an eleven year old slytherin quietly calling his name from the doorway outside his personal quarters. He throws on a robe and stumbles to the door, bleary eyed and thoroughly exhausted.

“Yes?” He manages to get out, praying to every higher power that he won’t need to actually contribute energy into a human conversation at this ungodly hour.

“…Sir…I—I frew up”

kay is my everythign

AA siblings week day six:

opposites

I uh… have some headcanons…

my manifestation of

KBNZ in 2024? Sign me up

does he know