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“people wouldn’t tell a crutch user to stop using their crutches as a crutch” yes they absolutely would

“people wouldn’t tell a non-ambulatory wheelchair user to just get up and try walking” yes they would

“people wouldn’t tell someone with cancer to just believe that they’ll get better” yes they woulddd

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Tom Riddle had never heard of Harry Potter, but he regretted it the moment they first met. Their initial encounter ended in a fight and two weeks of detention with Slughorn. Meanwhile, Harry Potter had never met Tom Riddle in person, but his first impression was that the guy was a... well, a jerk—so, without a second thought, Harry hit Tom with a mild stinging hex. Harry hadn't expected Tom to chase after him personally, but he didn't back down; he boldly accepted the fight—and the subsequent detention. Yet, for some reason, Riddle is now following him around constantly. What is his deal?

I really don't think he would be 'femme'. Femme coded is a more accurate term for him if I'm going to talk about it.

At Hogwarts and during his young adult years, his way of speaking was usually described as softer, probably in a lower tone (sometimes whispering). He was charming, persuasive, magnetic, seductive, fully aware that his appearance was somewhat appealing, rather than fitting the stereotype more connected to a popular masculinized figure of: moderate or straightforward aggressiveness, forceful (dominant-agressive assertiveness) in his representation and the way he carried himself, even as Voldemort. Tom was more quiet, but in the sense of measuring and controlling his posture, his discreet manipulation is the opposite of the 'masculine ideal' (assertive dominance) of power: he could be cruel among his knights, as much in magical ability as in strategic intelligence, but his exclusive strength was manipulation and using fear as a weapon. His combative nature was never direct and physical, unless it was purely through magic.

Now, Voldemort had a quite intense demeanor; I don't separate him and his younger self as two characters, but there are phases. Tom, unlike Voldemort, is extremely controlled, while at the same time not revealing what he truly feels within. There is even a very interesting analysis that comments on Voldemort's heartbeat being more irregular than usual.

And if we think about Voldemort's himself, I understand him as an extreme version of Tom's emotions; the cruelty, persuasive manipulation, deep-seated fragility, dramatic — all heightened. He no longer controls himself (perhaps he barely feels the need to) with the same level of care and planning that he had when he was younger, trying to rise and carve his exclusive place on a hierarchy.

Also, up to a certain point, Voldemort's voice starts to frequently become more "high" and his emotions are very volatile. And yet, his display of aggression is tied exclusively to his powerful magic.

Oh, and a good example of his behavior as Tom is the scenes of him talking to Harry in CoS. His behavior is provocative, passive-aggressive, tending toward being persuasive and having a humorous obsession (except that I think the obsession part was more of an expression than a performance). I could also say that the seductive conduct was still there, albeit even more submerged, more restrained. But it's the behavior indicative of obsession that may end up intertwining with this other meaning.

Another point I think about is the fact that some of his Horcruxes are linked to women (objects that belonged to women). There is symbolism for each Horcrux, and the fact that most of them are associated to female figures is interesting, to say the least. And let's remember that the diary was exclusively his.

I can't smell well, or tell the time Not K through 8, nor K dash 9 For human, grossly underqualified For canine, grossly overqualified

I don’t actually think the Death Eaters would have needed to recruit most of them, because many of them had already been raised within that environment from birth.

One of the things that happens in cults is that, if you’re born into one, you’re already part of it. You might not be an active participant. You might not hold any responsibilities. You might even have the illusion that you’re freely choosing whether or not to commit to it later on. But the reality is that your entire social circle and all of your emotional bonds exist within that community. Even if you aren’t actively involved, everyone around you is. Therefore, you are too.

That’s why I don’t think someone like Evan Rosier needed recruiting. His father was already involved. I don’t think the children from the Sacred Twenty-Eight families needed recruiting either, because there simply wasn’t any need. They had been born and raised among people who were already Death Eaters, and they had grown up surrounded by other children whose parents were Death Eaters. They were already inside the group. The natural course of things was always going to lead them there because all of their friends, relatives, and their parents’ social circles were there. And you also have to ask: what did they have outside of that world? Outside of it, they had no family. Outside of it, they had no friends. Outside of it, they had no support system they could rely on. I genuinely don’t think it would even have occurred to many of them not to end up there.

I do think there was probably a certain degree of freedom regarding how actively involved someone wanted to be. Did you want to be on the front lines fighting for the cause, or didn’t you? If not, that didn’t necessarily exclude you from the community. Narcissa, for example, is never truly active in the movement itself. Sirius’s parents aren’t active fighters either, but they support it and contribute to it. You don’t have to be knocking on doors trying to convince people to join your church in order to be part of that church. Passive participation is still participation. And I think that illusion of choice is one of the mechanisms these kinds of groups rely on. They create the perception of freedom while the reality is that, if you leave, every important relationship in your life is at risk. We see that in canon too.

I also don’t think the Death Eaters functioned like a stereotypical cult in every respect. They weren’t going around trying to recruit random strangers. They didn’t need to. They came from an extremely privileged elite with enough money to sustain themselves. They didn’t need members’ financial contributions the way some cults operate through pyramid schemes or the way certain religious organisations depend on donations from followers. Nor was their target audience some random half-blood Hufflepuff student. They didn’t care about him. They knew he’d be difficult to convince, and more importantly, they had no interest in trying because he wasn’t their target demographic.

This is actually very similar to how political propaganda works. You’ll sometimes see right-wing or far-right campaigns that are so overtly hostile that people wonder, “How could anyone vote for this?” But those campaigns aren’t talking to you. They’re talking to people who already broadly agree with them, or to those who are predisposed to agree with them. They’re designed to inflame existing beliefs and mobilise their own base. The left does this too. Campaigns centred around LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive rights, and progressive causes often aren’t aimed at convincing the deeply conservative man living in a caravan who believes immigrants are taking his job. They’re aimed at energising existing supporters and encouraging them to vote. The problem is that political movements should be trying to reach beyond their existing audience. That man in the caravan is still working class. If you’re claiming to represent working-class interests, you should be able to explain to him why supporting your policies would benefit him too. But anyway, I’m getting off topic.

The point is that I don’t think most of the Death Eaters required any active recruitment strategy because they were already embedded within the social structures that sustained the movement. The exceptions are people like Severus Snape and Barty Crouch.

Both of them share one extremely important vulnerability when it comes to radicalisation: the absence of reliable adult role models. Barty Crouch Jr. grows up with a father who is constantly working, seemingly paying attention to his son only insofar as he expects him to excel academically and embody perfection. He lacks a stable paternal figure, and he craves the validation that he never receives. Severus Snape, meanwhile, has even less. He has nothing. He’s operating in a constant state of survival. He experiences violence from his father in the Muggle world and violence from the Marauders in the magical world. Every authority figure in his life has failed him. Not only has he lacked guidance and protection, but the adults around him have either ignored the abuse he endured or actively contributed to the circumstances that allowed it to continue. He has nowhere to anchor himself. And that makes both of them particularly vulnerable.

Because the people who are easiest to radicalise are often those who are searching for belonging, recognition, validation, safety, purpose, or simply a place where they finally feel seen. Both of them are easy targets. But beyond being easy targets, one of the things these tightly-knit groups—and when I say cults, I don’t just mean religious organisations, I mean any kind of group that functions this way—are exceptionally good at is identifying young people who lack support systems or who have a desperate need to prove themselves. They also recognise talent.

We know from Barty Crouch Sr. that his son was exceptionally bright. He tells Hermione himself that Barty achieved outstanding academic results. We also know that nobody expected him to become a Dark wizard. Which means that Barty was probably highly intelligent, academically gifted, and the sort of student who stood out. And, interestingly enough, Severushas many of those same traits.

Severus is quite literally a genius. He’s capable not only of correcting a sixth-year textbook but improving upon it entirely of his own initiative, simply because he possesses an immense intellectual curiosity and an insatiable desire for knowledge. He creates his own spells while still very young. His aptitude for Potions is extraordinary. His talent in the Dark Arts is equally remarkable. So we’re talking about someone who wasn’t merely academically successful but who possessed a level of brilliance well above average. And Severus also happened to be in an environment where the right people could recognise that potential. Lucius Malfoy could see it. His classmates could see it. They spent every day with him. They knew that boy stood out. So what do you have? You have a teenager with enormous unmet needs: economic insecurity, emotional deprivation, a lack of support, a lack of meaningful relationships virtually everything an adolescent requires in order to thrive. And on top of that, you have someone who could be incredibly useful to the cause. At that point, you don’t need elaborate speeches or sophisticated ideological arguments. All you have to do is convince him that this is the best place he could possibly have in the world. That within this group, he’ll finally have the security he lacks elsewhere. That within this group, he’ll have the friendships he never managed to build outside of it. That within this group, he’ll gain access to opportunities and resources he has never had before. And perhaps most importantly, that within this group, he’ll finally be recognised for his abilities and given the chance to rise above the miserable circumstances he came from. And once he sees, through actions rather than words, that life inside this community offers him more than life outside of it ever has, he’s going to stay. Because outside, he has nothing. Inside, he has everything.

That’s how groups like this work. They seek out people who are vulnerable. People struggling with addiction. Former offenders who can’t find employment and feel rejected by society. People who have lost everything. People whose families have died, whose relationships have fallen apart, who feel abandoned and disconnected from the world around them. They target people who lack stable support systems. People who feel alone. People who feel unwanted. And then they offer them a home. That’s the devastating part of it. They give people a sense of belonging. They provide purpose. They offer a reason to keep going. And that’s incredibly powerful.

The frightening thing is that this often doesn’t require grand ideological indoctrination, because they already know exactly who they’re looking for.

this is something I had to learn the hard way. doctors often dress up their words all pretty so you can’t sue them. I, for a long time, mistook this as genuine kindness. It’s not. It’s just being professional. even if they didn’t call you a slur or anything that doesn’t mean they weren’t ignoring your needs.

And it's not just on the internet, it's real life too. People shit on other people for the same disabillity they themselves have. All because they have slightly different problems and coping mechanisms for it.

“But they’re not contributing to society!”

when you are reliant on your parents for care, the amount you can do to stop them from treating you like shit, yelling at you for asking them for help etc. is very minimal.

even if you have never had a good relationship with them, if they are extremely abusive, in this world where disabled people are left to fend for themselves in fucked situations, we often don't get to leave the relationships that harm us and many of the community die because of that.

also you are never going to be safe for people for whom english is their second language. if someone clarifies their meaning and apologises and you can't accept that over the original wording then don't bother pretending to be autism friendly.

and like part of my autism is that i become convinced that the way i interpret words is the way that they're meant. my autism is disabling to my communication abilities. i have poor emotional regulation, i jump to conclusions. a lot of my reactions are informed by prior negative experiences. i can and probably have been overly defensive in the past.

and i've been misinterpreted so much and had my words picked over and mocked for saying the wrong things and mocked for being unable to say anything at all and it always feels devastating. it's ironic that the same disability that has me treated poorly would have me react poorly to a similar situation, but that's just how it is.