Fanon VS Canon
Most witches and wizards are pagans.
There is a widespread assumption in fandom that the Potterverse witches and wizards must be Wiccans or some other type of pagan. As a pagan myself I might find this idea attractive, but we see Hogwarts observe Christmas and Easter holidays, as well as Hallowe'en, and Rowling has stated that all Muggle religions are also found in the wizarding world, except Wicca.
That sounds like a touch of spiteful sour grapes, especially coming from somebody who used to be an amateur astrologer (an illustrated birth-chart which Rowling drew up for a neighbour turned up on the Antiques Road Show), but it does make a certain sense. Wiccans have fixed ideas about how magic works which aren't compatible with what wizards do in the Potterverse, so it wouldn't really be possible for a Potterverse witch/wizard to be a Wiccan unless they altered the religion so much that it wasn't really Wicca any more anyway.
Only good people have Patronuses
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This one probably came about because Rowling said that Snape was the only Death Eater to have a Patronus, because the Death Eaters associate with things like Dementors which are the antithesis of a Patronus, and he had to hide the fact that he had a Patronus from the others in case it gave away his true loyalties. But interviews, Pottermore etc. are only canon if they don't clash with the books, and in the books Umbridge both associates with Dementors and has an especially strong, bright Persian cat Patronus.
I suggest, therefore, that if Death Eaters really don't have Patronuses it's because the Dark Mark somehow interferes with Patronus-casting, and Snape has to hide the fact that he has a Patronus because the fact that he can cast one is a sign that he is using Occlumency to shut Voldemort out of his mind. As well as, of course, the fact that if anybody on the Death Eater side recognised that his Patronus matched Lily's it would raise questions about where his loyalties lay, and whether it was possible that he could serve Lily's killer sincerely.
Add-on: canon has now imitated fanon, and Pottermore has come up with a brief essay claiming that indeed only good people have Patronuses, and that Umbridge was only a bit morally dubious and that was why she had one. I regard this as a case where Pottermore cannot be regarded as canon because it contradicts the books. Umbridge in the books appears to be seriously evil, and yet she doesn't just have any old Patronus - she has an unusually bright and strong one. What's more the description of casting a Patronus in the books makes it clear that what you need to cast one isn't virtue but a strong happy memory - and there's no law which says evil people can't be happy.
Yeah I definitely think JKR messed up when it came to giving Umbridge a patronus, because it implies that twisted people can utilise horrific things that they can use as a 'happy' memory.
And snaters use that as fuel to accuse Severus of finding 'joy' in torturing students, among other things 😒
True, Snaters often use Umbridge's example to bash Snape for having a patronus.
The centaurs raped Umbridge
This idea is often stated as definite fact - generally by people who wish to exaggerate Hermione's already rather callous behaviour - because the centaurs of Ancient Greek myth were rowdy drunks who were reported to often carry away and rape human women. But within the fictional world defined by the Harry Potter books, the centaurs of Hogwarts are fully sentient flesh-and-blood beings, not animated Greek myths or beasts primarily ruled by instinct, so to assume that they must be rapists because their ancestors 2,500 years and 1,500 miles away were reputed to be rapists is like assuming that modern humans neccessarily carry out human sacrifice because the Ancient Greeks did. In fact, it's worse than that, because being part equine the centaurs may well have a much shorter generation time than humans, making Ancient Greece almost as far away, for them, as the Ice Age is for us.
Plus, we are actually told that post-centaur Umbridge had mussed-up hair with twigs and leaves in it, but "otherwise she seemed to be quite unscathed". It sounds as though she might have been literally "dragged through a hedge backwards", or thrown down on the forest floor, but not otherwise physically injured. Even allowing for the fact that if their human parts are human-sized and their equine bodies are gracefully in proportion, centaurs must be more pony than horse, and also that when equines mate they insert only the first few inches of the penis, the rest being just a kind of gantry to bridge the considerable gap between the stallion's hind quarters and the mare's, rape by something with equine genitalia would surely cause bruising and bleeding, which we see no sign of.
Umbridge is certainly psychologically damaged - but then she's been held prisoner by a mob of creatures about whom she has a phobia, like Ron with the Acromantulas, and she obviously has serious issues about control. If you take authorial intent into account, Rowling's bothering to state that Umbridge was physically unscathed apart from having messy hair seems to be there to make it clear Umbridge had not been seriously molested, despite the centaurs' historical reputation.
However, it may well be the case that Umbridge was enough of a bigot to assume that the centaurs were mere beasts ruled by instincts, and must therefore be rapists because their ancestors 2,500 years ago had been, and this may have been at the root of her phobia about them. Especially since, if they are very horse-like in their physiology, some of them may well have been wandering around with spontaneous erections.
Quote from Naaga on May 22, 2023, 2:03 pmHouse-elves are child-like.
House-elves are often portrayed as simple-minded, and this goes with the idea that Winky must be a pathetic victim rather than an adult woman who insisted on responsibilities which she then welched on. This is based in part on the fact that the first elf we meet, Dobby, is a bit of a twit who tends to overthink the problem, and on their disjointed way of speaking. Yet the traditional folkloric creature they are based on, the hob, house-brownie or gruagach, is a kind of semi-domesticated ogre, quite strong and fierce, very proud and not at all child-like. Even the elves' habit of punishing themselves if they feel they've done wrong is not actually any madder or more childish than Catholic monks scourging themselves in penance for unclean thoughts.
Nightfall Rising has pointed out that the house-elves' dialogue ceases to sound at all child-like if you imagine it in a Jamaican accent. This suggests that their odd way of speaking isn't a sign of childishness or stupidity but is an adult patois or pidgen, a localised dialect of English spoken by a group who were trying to be bilingual, but whose own original language is so structurally different from English that their version of English comes out a bit grammatically peculiar.
It's an interesting fact that despite widespread and rather patronizing sympathy for the elves, I have never seen any fanfic which was written before DH, and which portrayed Kreacher in a sympathic light. In pre-DH fanfics he is always either played as a villain, or killed off to get rid of him. The morality of the Potter books is often rather dubious - sneering at people who are overweight, playing Hagrid's bigotry against Muggles for laughs, giving the Trio and the Twins a free pardon for what is often quite appalling behaviour including kidnap and deliberately scarring somebody's face - but as far as Kreacher goes, JKR undoubtedly has the moral high ground and has dealt with him with more kindness and generosity than any of her fen.
This makes me head spin. It’s now my headcanon.
It's really interesting.
Quote from Naaga on August 21, 2026, 1:39 am
It's really interesting.
A person who bullying people for fun yet did not have guilt feeling and asking apologize,Is never a person that I can tolerated
He is good person,yes. But it does not mean I must worshipped him like marauders fandom and many harry pottet fans just because he fight for voldemort. Last I knew,he did nothing significant for war effort. Snape role in order is much more important than 3 of marauders combined
Quote from Naaga on August 21, 2026, 1:39 am
It's really interesting.
Sirius -Type A
Emotional Support dog-
Definition- Emotional Support Animal that provides comfort, calm, and companionship to people with mental health or emotional conditions like anxiety, depression, or PTSD.
I don’t think so. I think Sirius does deal with a lot of those conditions, so I don’t think he would do well in emotional support.
Twinkified -Looking at the definition. "Twinkified" is slang for when a male character, real person, or art style is changed to look more like a "twink"—meaning slim, young, smooth-faced, and less rugged.
I see him as tall, thin and good looking when he is young. When he is older he never really cleaned up, but I think if he did he would look like a Twink. I don't remember him being describe as stocky. Did I miss something. Maybe.
Comedic relief/Class Clown- I can see that. He just pushes it sometimes. Alot.I also see it in canon.
Side Kick - yes
Beta to Remus- No
Wears eyeliner and leather Jackets- Leather Jackets yes. He does have a bike. Eyeliner no. I don’t see him as punk which would be during his time and not goth which is later. Same goes with Snape with black nail polish. They are not Spike. Or is the nail polish and eyeliner supposed to mean something else.
Incapable of basic etiquette- I need more examples for this. As for how I take etiquette I believe he is capable even if he chooses not to.
Secretly loves walburga and regulus is his entire personality. I can see him loving them, but not liking them. I don’t see it as his entire personality.
Canon
Very capable of cruelty- Yes. I think most people are. They just control themselves.
Haughty and arrogant- Yes.
Extremely bored and thrill seeking- Ok. I feel sorry that he was in Askaban for a long time. I think he is in an arrested development state.
Fiercely Loyal - More like blindly loyal
Dgaf about romance & barely thinks about regulus. Where does that come in canon? I think him talking about Regulus shows he thinks about him. It is his brother who he grew up with. I don’t think Sirius is heartless. And about romance. This is something we as readers have to guess at, but because it isn’t mentioned doesn’t mean he doesn’t care for it. Him dgaf is more an interpretation than canon. Was it because he didn't care about the girls looking at him? Maybe he was being arrogant, maybe he did care about those girls, maybe he is gay, maybe he was thinking of school work, maybe...
Genuinely hates walburga, but has her temper- I think he does care, because he is hurt by her. If he hated her he wouldn’t care what she thought of him, but he brings it up.There is a lot of stuff going through his head. I interpret Sirius as having a lot of psychological issues. I think he even has more than Snape. That family seems crazy to me, such as Bellitrix. I don’t think he has her temper. He was able to deal with Molly without yelling at her like his mother’s portrait.
The ultimate hypocrite- I don’t see it that way. When it comes to Snape. Yes. But he doesn’t like him. Why does he hate him so much? I'm thinking of the tunnel to the shrieking shack where he is letting an unconscious Snape head hit the ceiling, unlike Snape who put an unconscious Sirius on a cot.
Life revolved around James- It seems like it.
Type B
Basically one bad day away from being voldermort- I understand some people really hate him. I don't. I just think he is mentally unstable. Not just because of his mom but also other family members like Bellitrix. It is my headcanon that Bellitrix abused Sirius in some ways.
Literal psychopath- Towards Snape yes. But Snape tends to do that to some people.
Exactly like his family- Not exactly, but yes to some traits.
Only became anti-blood-purist because of James- Nah. He was born rebelling against his family. I wonder if his family was the opposite if he would want to be on the other side. Just because they are on the right side doesn't mean they would not be as crazy.
James Fanon type A
Basically incapable of doing wrong-
Pure Sunshine
Golden Retriever boy
Bullying was a harmless prank
We are told these things in canon by other characters and JKR interviews. Supposedly he grew out of them. We are never shown that he grew out of them or that he felt any remorse for what he did. So I can see why others think this. It isn’t far, I believe, from the author’s intent so I can see why others see him this way. Granted this doesn’t make for an interesting character or me liking the character.
Canon
An absolute asshole- I think that most other characters thought he was charming. It is Snape that is looked at as an absolute asshole.
Compared to dudley and draco by harry- Yes. Harry said this.
Fiercely loyal- I would call it blindly loyal
Strong anti-prejudice- No. He had his prejudices like everyone else. It is just the current political climate that rates what is worse than others.
Mischievous and brave- Yes. We are shown and told this. But it is treated as funny and cute.
Arrogant and talented- Arrogant, yes and we are told he is talented in Quidditch and he is able to change Animagus. I personally think his Animagus shows his arrogance. He can't really do much with that form. He could only hang out in the forest, let others look at him and he also has to keep away from hunters. I wonder if you were killed in your Animagus form would you change back to your human form? At least with the form of a cat,rat, beetle or dog you can travel around where people are and spy or hide from them.
Had lots of good in him- What is good and who is all good. I know he fought on the good side, but he acted awful and said a lot of awful things.
Spoiled and privileged- We are shown this I believe at the train station.
Fanon Type B-
Literally evil- I don’t like James, but I don’t think he is literally evil.
proto-Death Eater in reverse- Well I can see some of this. Because he attacks Snape because he exists. He thinks he is able to abuse people that he finds lesser than him and think differently.
Irredeemable- I don’t see him as irredeemable, but more of a person that doesn’t think he needs to be redeemed for the wrong he has done.
Basically Voldermort- He has a nose. So I don’t think so.
