I had someone tell me that dislike of Umbridge is usually from ingrained sexism toward female villains. I kind of stared in shock — I mean I love my lady villains. I love nasty female villains. I love sneaky and clever female villains. I love female villains that wrap themselves up in what the patriarchy expects of them and uses those expectations to smash someone upside the head.
I tried to explain my hatred of Umbridge isn’t that she’s full of traditionally feminine attributes.
It’s that she’s lawful evil.
If you did an alignment chart, no one would represent lawful evil more than Umbridge. I don’t think there’s ever been a character that better sums up lawful evil.
And, to me, lawful evil is the most terrifying and disturbing evil there is.
To me, lawful evil is the shit that gets thousands of people killed while the person responsible walks away feeling like they did their duty.
Evil forces like Bellatrix and Voldemort are fairy tales. They’re the bad guys a good guy can chase away with a sword or wand.
Umbridge is that evil that really does lurk in the hearts of men (and women). The realness, the plausibility of it, makes her amazingly uncomfortable.
So, yeah, I can’t get as excited about her as a fantasy book creation as easily as some other female villains. Not because she’s a woman, or because of her gender presentation, but because she represents a sort of evil that’s far, far too close to home.
Voldemort is stereotypically scary, but he’s a very unreal kind of scary. Umbridge is different. Everyone’s had an umbridge.
yes because lawful evil wraps itself in righteousness and oppresses you through approved systems and hierarchies that nobody is supposed to question
I wish I could post this onto that thread I found the other day that said lawful evil villains were “boring and not scary.” Umbridge is easily the scariest thing in Harry Potter.
incredibly racist appropriation and misrepresentation of wampanoag folklore
white saviour tropes written through it’s lore like brighton rock
convenient sidestepping of newt scamander’s involvement in the oppression of house elves, dragons and werewolves - actions condemned in the main series
a distinct lack of poc in it’s cast despite being set in 1920′s new york
played into tropes that older queer men are predatory toward the vulnerable
actively employed johnny depp - that speaks for itself
AND NOW, COMING TO A THEATRE NEAR YOU, THE FINAL NAIL IN THIS COFFIN OF SHIT—— erasure of the only 100% confirmed queer character in the entire harry potter universe
and ya’ll wonder why i hate it with every fibre of my god damn being
For that sweet anon who gave me the idea in the first place!!
A Musical Headcanon
Sirius was raised around music.
Of course he was. He was raised in a wealthy, pureblood family that valued appearance above all else. Sirius and Regulus were subjected to music lessons from the time they were around 5 years old. Sirius hated it, but his mother never allowed him to quit.
This meant that Sirius was quite the musical talent. He often found that the melodies reverberating around his head made him anxious. It added to his fidgetiness. His fingers never stopped moving when he had a song in his head.
But he hated the piano. It reminded him of his mother, the abuse he and Regulus had suffered, and so he kept the music in his head.
There were moments he played. When he and the other lads were recovering from full moons in the shrieking shack, James often asked Sirius to play.
“C’mon Pads. You know how it helps Remus calm down.”
He could never argue with that, so he would play lullabies and classics until Remus was less agitated and they could return to the castle.
The only other person he played for was Euphemia Potter. She would sit in her lovely armchair, her reading glasses perched on her nose with a book in her hand and would ask in that sweet voice of hers if he would play. He loved her too much to ever say no. So he’d play everything he could as she read.
But he still didn’t like the piano. That didn’t stop the music from playing in his head.
One day, he was sitting in the common room, his parchment in front of him, he started hearing a melody in his head. With a groan, he rested his head against the couch and shut his eyes.
And then he heard it.
Music.
But… not a piano.
Sirius’ head shot up and he looked across the room to the window sill where Frank Longbottom was sitting, playing an acoustic guitar, chatting absentmindedly with his girlfriend Alice.
Not realizing what he was doing, Sirius stood and headed over to them.
“Hello Black!” Frank greeted cheerfully.
“Longbottom. Miss Alice.” His eyes were glued to the guitar. “Hey, Frank, would you mind if I… uh gave that a go?” Frank’s gaze shot down to his guitar before shrugging, removing the strap from his shoulders and handing the instrument over to his friend. “Knock yourself out, Sirius.”
Sirius smiled gratefully, placing the strap around his shoulder before sinking to the floor. He rested his hands over the frets and plucked at the chord. He heard each note and felt a bit of tension melt away from him. He fumbled a lot and his hands didn’t make the proper position, but somehow… Sirius was playing it.
The music flowed from his fingers as he settled over the guitar. Frank and Alice looked on in amazement as Sirius’ entire posture changed. He wasn’t perfect, but he had incredible natural talent. “Merlin Black,” Frank said, laughing. “You’re bloody brilliant!” They all laughed and then Sirius looked up at the older boy. “Frank. Will you teach me?”
Almost every night after, Frank walked Sirius through hand positions and different notes, plucking techniques and reverberation. It was music like Sirius had never known, and he loved it. His fingers became calloused and his fidgeting went down and he loved every minute of it.
After a few months, Frank told him that he had nothing more to teach him. “The only way to get better now, Sirius, is to practice.”
“How can I practice without a guitar?”
Frank smiled his signature sweet smile and looked over Sirius’ shoulder. “Who said you don’t have a guitar?”
Sirius turned around and was greeted with the sight of James, Remus and Peter all holding a nice acoustic guitar with a bow around the neck of the instrument. “Surprise!” They said, grinning.
Sirius laughed and took his new guitar in his hands. And he realized that he didn’t really mind music so much anymore.
Can you please reblog if your blog is a safe place for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, asexual, aromantic, pansexual, non binary, demisexual or any other kind of queer or questioning people? Because mine is.
theres a new product by verzion called “hum” that allows your parents to track your car and places you go, if your parents are controlling like mine please check under your steering wheel to make sure that they havent installed this
here is what it looks like installed:
you can read more about it here, and here- this excerpt sums up what information Hum will send:
“a car’s owner will be able to get notified on their phone when the vehicle leaves a pre-determined area or drives faster than a set speed… [Hum] will enable location tracking and a driving log, which measures travel times, engine idle times, and average speeds.”
People in abusive relationships, please check your cars.
DO NOT TRY TO UNPLUG IT BY YOURSELF!
To add to this nightmare, I’ve just heard of a thing called ForceField where people get to monitor and block internet sites that you’re going on if they don’t approve.
It tells the user what sites/apps you’re going on, for how long you’re on them, and WHERE YOU ARE ON AN UPDATING MAP.
So you know if you’re in an abusive household and use sites like tumblr to escape and talk to friends, you could be cut off from that.
They say “it’s not spyware” but it sure sounds controlling and creepy to me.
signalboost
God. Fuck. That’s scary.
Life 360 is another tracker. My parents have used it on me, not allowing me to delete it from my phone, and sometimes even demanding selfies to prove I was where the map said. (As if I’d go anywhere without my phone)
SpectorPro is another one. Afaik it can’t track location, but it takes screenshots roughly every 20sec to allow the installer to watch a video of your computer activity. It also tracks all keystrokes, so passwords aren’t safe, and records any website you visit + the duration. It’s incredibly creepy and a huge violation of privacy, and was one of the cornerstones of my abuse as a kid.
even if you’re not in an abusive relationship/family, please spread this because you might have just saved someone’s life
Snape: Well…? Why aren’t you all copying this dooooown?
Every little baby first year who thought they’d just have a fun first day at the Magic Castle: Because you just spent the last 5 minutes publicly humiliating the last kid who took notes??? Please don’t hurt us??????
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