Life and Harry Potter: A touch of philosophizing
Woa, it's been a while since I put anything on here. Of course, this is all pretty worthless since nobody is reading (nihilistic much :-) In any case, I've recently discovered Harry Potter Fan Fiction, and must admit it can be pretty damn entertaining. Some of the stories are significantly better than the actual books by J.K. Rowling. Of course, considering the debacle that was Half-Blood Prince, that's not saying much.
Something that is interesting is that I realized that the reason I like fantasy stories like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc. is that they reflect the fact that humans are, by their very nature, heroic. Think about it this way: every time you see a hero fighting tirelessly with no hope to win, you feel it. Frodo destroying the ring, Aragorn leading a hopeless charge (twice actually; Helm's deep and then at Mordor), the Spartans at Thermopylae. Think of your favorite sports heroes and it's the same thing; always the underdogs. Rudy, Seabiscut, Joe Gibson, Harry Truman, Jimmy V and NC State, and all the other cinderella stories. In every case, people love to see guys fighting againt insumountable odds, whether they triumph or not, because it is heroic.
Now think about this: every single one of us is going to die. I don't say this to be depressing (although it is), but because it's a fact. A funny quote I heard once is "you shouldn't take life too seriously, nobody makes it out alive." What is life, then, if not the same type of heroic stand against an un-defeatable enemy? Every day we struggle to exist, to find meaning, and if we're lucky, find happiness. Yet when it's all said and done, no matter how much meaning you've found, or how happy you are, you are still going to die. From this perspective, life itself is exactly the same type of heroic struggle we all love to watch and read about. And here's the kicker: the worse your life is, the more heroic you are to struggle against it.
This is why I have come to really enjoy Harry Potter fan fiction. You get authors that cover every part of the spectrum and every part of a person's mind, no matter how dark (although the really dark ones are too much for me, thank you very much). The point is that many of these authors are actually baring their soul a little at a time when they write these stories, no matter how unrealistic or fantastic they may be. Every person that really starts to get into their writing is writing, in some way, about who they are and what they feel. Some Harry Potters fight for justice, some fight for love, some fight for innocence, some fight because something in them says it's the right thing to do. Some fight for god, some fight for revenge, and some don't fight at all. Think about all the things these Harry Potter's fight for, and then think about the reason's people live for. Some people live for love, some for justice, some for innocence, etc. Some people give up and decide life just isn't worth it. But most often people live for a little of all these reasons, and many more. We find reasons to fight the good fight while we can, knowing that we can't win and we'll never get out alive.
And that, my friends, is definitely heroic.
-M
Something that is interesting is that I realized that the reason I like fantasy stories like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc. is that they reflect the fact that humans are, by their very nature, heroic. Think about it this way: every time you see a hero fighting tirelessly with no hope to win, you feel it. Frodo destroying the ring, Aragorn leading a hopeless charge (twice actually; Helm's deep and then at Mordor), the Spartans at Thermopylae. Think of your favorite sports heroes and it's the same thing; always the underdogs. Rudy, Seabiscut, Joe Gibson, Harry Truman, Jimmy V and NC State, and all the other cinderella stories. In every case, people love to see guys fighting againt insumountable odds, whether they triumph or not, because it is heroic.
Now think about this: every single one of us is going to die. I don't say this to be depressing (although it is), but because it's a fact. A funny quote I heard once is "you shouldn't take life too seriously, nobody makes it out alive." What is life, then, if not the same type of heroic stand against an un-defeatable enemy? Every day we struggle to exist, to find meaning, and if we're lucky, find happiness. Yet when it's all said and done, no matter how much meaning you've found, or how happy you are, you are still going to die. From this perspective, life itself is exactly the same type of heroic struggle we all love to watch and read about. And here's the kicker: the worse your life is, the more heroic you are to struggle against it.
This is why I have come to really enjoy Harry Potter fan fiction. You get authors that cover every part of the spectrum and every part of a person's mind, no matter how dark (although the really dark ones are too much for me, thank you very much). The point is that many of these authors are actually baring their soul a little at a time when they write these stories, no matter how unrealistic or fantastic they may be. Every person that really starts to get into their writing is writing, in some way, about who they are and what they feel. Some Harry Potters fight for justice, some fight for love, some fight for innocence, some fight because something in them says it's the right thing to do. Some fight for god, some fight for revenge, and some don't fight at all. Think about all the things these Harry Potter's fight for, and then think about the reason's people live for. Some people live for love, some for justice, some for innocence, etc. Some people give up and decide life just isn't worth it. But most often people live for a little of all these reasons, and many more. We find reasons to fight the good fight while we can, knowing that we can't win and we'll never get out alive.
And that, my friends, is definitely heroic.
-M
posted by The Jack of Diamonds at 11:44 PM
14 Comments:
Yes. Fanfiction authors bear their soul a little at at a time. You can often guess who (as in what gender, age etc.) is writing a story by what it contains. It helps that most writers are depressed teenage girls.
With this said - don't get offened - I thought you (as in pename "the Jack of Diamonds")were a girl too. I seem to have been mistaken though. sorry.
Just a quick comment on your story (since you are being very mean to me and not accepting anonymous revews): It is brilliant. Absolutely wonderful.
Woa, a comment! Thanks!
Actually, I just changed my story to accept anonymous reviews. I'm new to ff.net, so I'm still blundering my way around the author interface.
That's funny you thought I was a girl. I'm a poker player so whenever I need a username for something I choose a card. I figured using any of the kings or aces was pretty presumptuous (and obviously couldn't pick a queen), so I settled on the jack. I made a straight flush in diamonds once that really paid off, so jack of diamonds it was.
Anyway, sorry about the anonymous thing, and thanks for stopping by!
-the Jack
You've just listed almost every reason as to why I read fanfiction. :)
I like your story, and reached this blog through your profile...very nice.
I reached your story by this thread in a forum, btw: http://forums.darklordpotter.net/viewtopic.php?t=2401&highlight=thejackofdiamonds
Thanks for the comment! I must say I'm a little overwhelmed at the amount of readers on ff.net and the responses I've gotten. This is definitely not what I expected.
My story is on a site called DarkLordPotter? That's interesting, it's probably because of the scene with the Dursleys. My Harry is definitely going to be independent and ruthless, but I wouldn't say he's dark. He doesn't want power for personal gain, he wants it because he's paranoid of getting trapped by somebody stronger than him and being unable to fight his way out of it. He'll get medieval on somebody, but only if he thinks it's necessary, not because he enjoys it.
Of course, he will be kicking some serious ass on both the light and dark sides, and he's certainly not taking any shit.
I'm glad you like the story, and thanks for stopping by!
-the Jack
excellent thoughts. I stumbled across here through your profile on ff.net (like your story, btw, nicely done so far. I think you could show the passage of time a little better, but other than that, everything's really good). You seem like a rather intelligent person, which is good, because I hate when I like a story written by an otherwise unitelligent person, though that rarely happens (I can't get past the "Hary was soooo cut, Giny cudint stop loking at him." for some random example, to actually see what the story's about.). Not exactly the biggest fan of the blogspot, but it serves it's pupose, which at this time is my being able to post a comment on here. Anyways, yeah, the poem was really good too, and I was going to comment it until the title of this caught my attention. I am VERY easliy distractable, if that's a word. If it's not, you know what I meant anyways.
I ventured here from your fanfiction.net userpage. And I found out about your fic from the DLP forums. (Yes that's darklordpotter.net but don't let the name fool you. It's probably more independent, powerful Harry stories with the occasional ones using "dark" magic than the evil!Harry thing you're probably imagining, hence your little fic has a some fans there. Drop by and at least read people's comments on your fic.)
And I find myself agreeing with your opinion for why you appreciate fanfiction. I'll even cheekily plug my own fics if you're looking for a laugh after some depressing angsty fics. I couldn't take reading all those stories where it's just bad thing after bad thing for Harry. So I wrote out of spite. Still a good reason for me. But I went with a goofy happy post-Voldie world (and like you was surprised at the interest in my fic - now a finished trilogy). Won't satisfy too much of your hero and action thirst (for that you should read joe6991's hero trilogy if you haven't) but even my sarcastic prank-filled humor stories are appreciated by the DLP folks too.
Anyways, fine fic. Keep the chapters coming.
Just ignore nonjon - he wrote 'The Office' which discredits him and the other authors from having a sane mind.
DLP.net is more independant!Harry than evilness and you should get a good group of supporters for any sequel you do. (Assuming you're not just doing it all in one story)
The story was great and there were no noticable errors in the writing (always important). Love how you killed the basilisk though I think more people would be able to use wandless magic if it was as easy as you make it. Teenagers often dream of magic powers - magical ones would dream of being able to do it wandlessly I assume.
Good job and Update Soon.
Aekiel
That's deep. How the hell can you be so deep and put those hysterical shorts at the end of your Harry Potter chapters? I read the story you have on ff.net and can't remember the title which is sad because I was just there. Anyway, love the poetry, you're pretty cool. But I have to ask, are you anything like the Jack in your story? I must know!
That's deep. How the hell can you be so deep and put those hysterical shorts at the end of your Harry Potter chapters? I read the story you have on ff.net and can't remember the title which is sad because I was just there. Anyway, love the poetry, you're pretty cool. But I have to ask, are you anything like the Jack in your story? I must know!
That's deep. How the hell can you be so deep and put those hysterical shorts at the end of your Harry Potter chapters? I read the story you have on ff.net and can't remember the title which is sad because I was just there. Anyway, love the poetry, you're pretty cool. But I have to ask, are you anything like the Jack in your story? I must know!
Ok, a couple people mentioned it, so I finally broke down and looked at darklordpotter. Although it seems like most of the people there are a little more hardcore than I am (especially when it comes to Hermione and Ginny), overall it's a damn cool site. I especially like that they have an entire forum for independent Harry stories, which are definitely my favorite. So for everybody that recommended it, thanks.
I'm glad that people still like the story. I have to say that writing fanfiction is HARD! You can have ideas for where the story is going and end up going somewhere completely different. It's kind of cool, actually.
As for my triple poster, I have to admit that the Jack character in my story is a lot more carefree than I am. One of the driving forces behind his character is the fact that he has opportunities that he never thought he'd have, so now the only thing he's really focused on is having fun. He can still be serious, but with Harry around he doesn't necessarily have to be responsible; that's part of the reason the majority of his dialogue is light and humorous. If I had total freedom when I was 16, I probably would have done some pretty crazy shit, so I’m trying to give Jack a similar attitude.
-the Jack
I know you could take offense but I thought you were a girl too. I know very presumptious of me! Then again I tend to think that the female mind is smarter than it is because of the people I have conversed with. Your story is brilliant, and I reviewed. Mine's the one threatening you with 48 hours of nonstop crutiartus cruse exposure.
I think I should apoligize for my atrocious spelling, alas I don't think it could be helped. Alas I am but a simple schoolgirl whose strong spot is definately not spelling.
A lot of what you said made sense. It also made me think in a way I haven't had to recently, and for that I humbly thank you. I also loved the quote. How true is that. I have dipped my quill into the HP Fandom and I find what you said is true. The same things I use to motivate "my" Harry are mostly the same things that motivate me. How interesting. But I do agree with your... definition, I suppose would be an accurate word. You also described herosim to the t. Or at least the way I view it. Reading your thoughts has been very enlightening and I am so happy I stumbled upon your story. You gave me something to mentally chew on and for that I must, once again, humbly thank you. For, alas, I have not had enough of that recently.
~Flamegirl~
Thanks for the story. I'm enjoying it.
On another note: I read your author's profile where you wrote that a RW/HG wouldn't work in real life.
I would have to disagree. There are many relationships like that in the real world ... and they work. I'm living one!
My wife is the straight edge, rule follower, a rpime and proper school teacher. I'm more the sawblade edge, oppositional rule-breaker, an ex-long-haul trucker and bar fighter. Together, we modify each other into more of a sine wave pattern. I put spice in her life, she keeps me out of trouble.
She was and is my best friend and the best thing that ever happened to me. (She claims the same for her!) We've been married for 33 years and still find the best times are when we just sit and talk for hours.
Because of her, I quit my "rough and rowdy" ways and went to college. Because of me, she learned to drive a semi and enjoy a mixed drink every now and then.
We have many friends like us who also have marriages that work.
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