mai.

So, they made Severus make fun of Remus for looking poor. When he canonically grew up in a slum, and Remus seemed to have a middle class upbringing. Then they have Severus teasing Remus for going to a Muggle school, when Severus must've up until Hogwarts as well. ATYD also mentions that "Severus almost always went running to a teacher, if he could get away with it." when practically everyone favored the Marauders.

Really? Mulciber, the Pureblood guy that grows up to be a Death Eater punches him in the face. And does the author think there was some secret wizarding school hidden in Spinner's End or something-

"[He] did know that Severus Snape could hold a grudge like no one else." When I was younger, my mother slapped me for the first time, and I never felt 100% safe around her again. Also known as a grudge. Same with my father. Would people call that an unreasonable grudge? Much worse than a slap happened to Severus.

Writer also turned the Marauders bullying Severus from 4 vs. 1 harassment caused by James and Sirius based on prejudice and jealously on the Marauders' side to basically the opposite, where it was a equally balanced rivalry because Severus was jealous of Lily's friendship with James when, canonically, James was still trying to blackmail Lily into dating him (she called him an "arrogant, bullying toerag" in return, as she should) in fifth year. All of the Marauders' "pranks" are portrayed in a good light because it's just to take greasy Snivellus down a step or two.

Yes, it's so honorable to give an entire house (most likely well over a hundred people) serious rashes. Honestly, what the fuck? Severus' eye is swollen and half of his whole body, it seems, is bright red. There is someone tearing their clothes off to itch at the red raw rash, which indicates something's seriously not okay. And this is supposed to be... good? Once, I had a bad reaction to some moisturizer, and my face was swollen for a day or so. It was absolute hell. I can't imagine being in the Slytherins' position.

All the villains (basically Slytherin as a whole because I didn't see any good Slytherin characters? Maybe it's just me) are extremely black and white and not developed at all. A good villain is fleshed out and it's not just "oh haha eleven year old is the devil incarnate, he sucks so much, he's the bane of the very ooc protagonists' existence." Prejudice and unkindness doesn't come from nowhere.

Nothing is mentioned about the abusive home Severus grew up in, besides a flyaway comment from Lily that seemed to only be used to make her look good. "oh she's still trying to help her childhood best friend and make excuses for him how cute." A bit odd, since the abuse Remus and Sirius suffered was well written. I guess MsKingBean doesn't like villains? Which are a crucial part of most stories but.

Also, historical inaccuracies. Treatment for dyslexia was certainly available in the 1960s, as others have pointed out.

And uh. Not exactly writers fault but (link leads to a post by me about a commenter on ATYD).

Everything and everyone is so fucking OOC. They removed what turned Snape into Snape (poverty and bad home situations, coupled with serious bullying). They threw up their hands and said "Welp, villains are born, not made" (except for those guys giving rashes to dozens of people but they're pretty and rich and the so called protagonists so). Traits were edited, backstories were changed, everyone is completely different than in canon.

Anyways, that's just a few of the reasons (not all of them :')) why I dislike ATYD. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk :)

it is generally considered to be canon compliant, because everything we DO know from canon is kept, apart from a tweak or two (that'd be where the "otherwise" comes in).

Yes, things from canon were kept, but iirc it doesn't count as canon compliant if you know. Remus grew up abused and dyslexic in an orphanage when he didn't in canon? "A tweak or two" isn't changing the backstories and dynamics of major characters. Among others.

we actually have no idea about Remus' home life from the books, except that he was bitten very young, so you can't say that Snape grew up in the slums and affirm that Remus was middle class.

We know for sure that Snape lived in poverty and was abused, or at the very least witnessed his mother being abused, and Pottermore states that Lyall Lupin (Lupin's father) was "a world-renowned authority on Non-Human Spiritous Apparitions" and that Hope (Lupin's mother) worked in an insurance office prior to meeting Lyall. It also tells us that Lyall joined the Ministry (Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, to be specific) when Remus turned four. The Harry Potter wiki confirms that Lyall did indeed work at the Ministry of Magic.

"Then they have Severus teasing Remus for going to a Muggle school..." From the very beginning Snape was shown to have a deep dislike for Muggles, probably because of his own muggle father. We know this because of how he treated Lily's inferior muggle sister in his own memories.

Yes, but as I said, it doesn't make any sense. He, living in the Muggle world, with a violent father that disliked magic, probably wouldn't be going to a secret wizard school or having his mother homeschool him. So he went to a Muggle school or didn't go at all. The latter doesn't seem that plausible, and truant officers and laws concerning skipping school existed in the 1960s. Even if he didn't go, Lily and most people he knew would have gone to Muggle school, so by insulting Remus he would've insulted Lily and himself. There were some situations with Petunia that he was in the wrong in ("just a muggle"), but Petunia wasn't very friendly with him in the first place.

you complain about the fact that Mulciber punched Remus, even though the former is a pureblood. Who cares? We have examples from the books of purebloods using physical force to hurt others; book 1, in the Quidditch stands, the altercation between Crabbe, Goyle, and Neville. Nonsensical criticism.

I don't know, the original post was months ago and someone else pointed it out and I thought it was funny. But I agree with you here. Nonsensical criticism.

Then you mention the fact that Remus says he knows Snape can hold a grudge. We KNOW this from canon. He HATED Harry and held a grudge against him because of James! Again, WHY is this a problem?

In canon, yes definitely. But I don't consider ATYD to be canon or canon-compliant. I'm pretty sure that the context in here was much different, something about Remus humiliating Snape unprovoked. Even Remus himself says that he was in the wrong. And people often point out Snape holding a grudge against the Marauders because of "high school drama" as a reason to dislike him, so I wanted to point that part out.

you complain about the fact that the writer wrote the two partes (Snape's and the Marauders) as a rivalry rather than a bullying sort of situation. Again, this is in accordance to canon. In Order of the Phoenix, it is stated multiple times that Snape gave it as good as he got. In his own memories, Lily asks why he hung out with people like Mulciber, known for the Dark Arts. Snape had his own little gang. Snape wanted to slash James Potter open with Sectumsempra when he was 15 (as shown, again, in Snape's Worst Memory, when he uses such curse on Snape). And, by the way, that scene is explored in ATYD, and it's done well- the Marauder's actions are not excused or taken in lightly.

I suppose you could call it a rivalry, but a very unfair one. To me at least a rivalry is between two equal sides, like Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, Beauxbatons vs. Durmstrang. In the Marauders/Snape case, it's 4 v. 1, and the four are mostly attractive, popular, and wealthy people in Gryffindor, whereas Snape was not conventionally attractive, popular, or wealthy. It is not stated multiple times, just once by James' childhood best friends (who, you know. Might be just a bit biased. Especially when narrating this to the bully's orphaned son). And Lily never says that he cast dark spells, only that he hung out with people that did (and there are a multitude of reasons why he would). The only time we see him attack the Marauders (the Sectumsempra incident!!) is in self defense. Also I did a quick ctrl+f on ATYD with keywords like underpants, Sectumsempra, etc. and came up with nothing, so if you could let me know what chapter that's in, it'd be appreciated, thanks.

The prank you quoted was done when they were eleven. Also. Lighten up?

I just scanned the first few chapters looking for a "prank" I could use as an example. I'm sure there are more. Giving a hundred or so people serious, debilitating rashes isn't something to "lighten up" about. The age that it was done at doesn't make a difference, either. Snape was nine/ten when he was rude to Petunia, but you're clearly not giving him a pass for that.

The villains are not so black and white. They're all seen as complete and full characters in their own. Regulus has his own complicated relationship with Sirius. Narcissa Malfoy is talked about constantly at the first few chapters. The only one who is pretty much seen as explicitly evil is Crouch, who is such a minor character that, honestly? Who cares. The Slytherins aren't given a time to shine because the book is also written from a Gryffindor's, and a temperamental one, persepective, and during a war, where we know things are seen as more black and white than anything.

You have a point there--bad choice of wording on my part. Not "all the villains," just the main one. Snape.

Nothing is mentioned about Snape's own abuse because there was no way to bring it up. It's a story centered around Remus and his friends. Snape was and would always be the antagonist in their eyes (rightly so- from his school days Snape was already trying to expose Lupin's werewolfhood, knowing it'd ruin his life. shame he succeeded in the Prisioner of Azkaban). It was not relevant to Remus' arc, so it wasn't mentioned.

I can think about lots of ways to bring it up. But Snape only started trying to expose Remus in his 5th (?) year, when they had been harassing him for five years, and clearly nothing (substantial) was done about it. And don't forget that it was Sirius that set Remus and Severus up. (The Prisoner of Azkaban thing is a whole 'nother can of worms lmao)

The comment that you highlighted- why are you even reading the fanfic's comments if you so deeply dislike the fanfic? and people are allowed to feel sympathy for a character and not for another lol. fanfic (and maybe canon, we have no way of knowing since his backstory wasn't explored) Remus and canon Snape are still wildly different characters, and it's not hypocritical of them to love one and hate the other. And by the way- we don't even know how they stand with Snape, because guess what? That comment had nothing to do with him.

Are people not allowed to read comments of fanfics now? I was just pointing out that it was a bit hypocritical, and was thinking about how Marauders stans often have double standards and how that comment reflected that. Not a personal attack against the OP of the comment.

Anyway. Thanks for coming to MY Ted Talk.

You're welcome!