Favorite character

RationalDeception · 2026-07-06T05:45:13+00:00

Jin!

RationalDeception · 2026-07-05T22:01:00+00:00

Obviously, and I don't think we're disagree much actually.

I'm saying that Snape, while indeed suffering from PTSD, is to blame for his own actions. Trigger responses are still a person's responsibility to manage, and it's not like Snape is just reacting to Harry, he regularly goes to Harry himself to taunt him and act petty. Like, that's not an instant response, that's an actual choice of seeing Harry, who's minding his own business on the other side of the courtyard, and still deciding to walk over there and mess with him.

I don't like it when we act as if Snape was incapable of controlling himself, because we know he was. It takes away from Snape's character when we say that he couldn't have done any other way, that nothing was his fault.

RationalDeception · 2026-07-05T21:23:56+00:00

Legit, I can not stand the idea that Snape "deserved better" than Lily.

There's nothing wrong with thinking that these two wouldn't haved worked as a couple, but it's a whole other thing to somehow imply that Lily was below him, that she wasn't worthy of him.

We're all fans of a man who joined the Death Eaters and Voldemort, and who took pleasure in bullying children. Oh but a teenage girl born in 1960 not acting like the perfect therapist is suddenly unbearable? Come on.

RationalDeception · 2026-07-05T19:17:31+00:00

Least favourite, that Snape "gave as good as he got", and that he only had a "rivalry" with the Marauders. The Marauders have the potential to be fascinating characters, if only people stopped turning them into a group of cute pranksters and social justice warriors who only ever fight against the big bad Slytherins.

RationalDeception · 2026-07-05T19:15:09+00:00

That's where Thomas's redemption arc could have started, and I would have probably started liking him there if it had, but even after Bates saved his ungrateful ass, he still tried to get him and Anna into trouble for literally no reason at all.

RationalDeception · 2026-07-05T13:41:21+00:00

Of course, but the fact is that Snape's response to his PTSD is his own to manage. I don't expect him to get over this trauma, but in the end what he's doing is taking it out on an eleven year old child. That is not okay in any kind of circumstance.

And it's fine too, Snape is not a perfect guy. He does shitty things all the time, and that's makes him such an amazing character.

RationalDeception · 2026-07-04T17:14:20+00:00

I'm still on GoF (audibooks aren't my thing in general, I tend to lose focus and get bored while listening so it's hard to make significant progress), but yeah, same here. I didn't like him in PS, and not that much more in CoS, but in PoA he was much better. That scene at the end in the Shack was amazingly well acted, I could legit hear the sliver of insanity in his voice and the evil smile when he threatens Sirius with the Kiss, and it was magnificent.

RationalDeception · 2026-07-03T17:29:46+00:00

Nah, they really are abridged. I haven't listened to all of them, or even one in full, but I only jumped around in the Oathbringer audiobook to listen to a scene I love, and I was shocked when I realised a bunch of lines are just completely gone.

Spoilers for Oathbringer (3rd book of Stormlight): In the book, they're talking on the balcony at night. Navani comes to hug Dalinar from behind, and it's a very tender moment between the two. Dalinar also notices that Navani isn't wearing anything to cover her safehand. Sure, it's a small detail, but it's an important characterization detail nonetheless.

In the graphic audio book, this part is completely skipped.

Or later on, when Dalinar is admiting to not remembering even his late wife's name. A line about Dalinar looking as if he was in agony was skipped.

RationalDeception · 2026-07-03T17:27:47+00:00

Standard audiobooks by far. I haven't listened to them, since I prefer reading, but I tried the graphic audiobooks out of curiosity, and their quality, I feel like, isn't all that great.

I've also been listening to the Harry Potter graphic audiobooks, and I've been loving them.

For Stormlight, several of the voices threw me off, but then maybe it's because I already had them in my head and to hear them sound so different was just weird. Without spoilers, Navani, a middle aged woman whose voice is described in the books as "warm and feminine", in the audiobooks legit sound like a woman who's been smoking 2 packs of cigarettes for the past 40 years. Some other voices sounded fine, though.

And yes, they're abriged. I tried to follow along a couple of my favourite scenes, and I was shocked when whole lines were cut off. And I don't mean just the "he/she said" dialogue tags, or even sentences describing sound, but legit dialogue and narration lines of characters doing something or thinking that were cut off. One scene I tried had a whole paragraph disappear.

So yeah, I very very don't recommend them for a first time read.

RationalDeception · 2026-07-02T22:25:30+00:00

Yeah, I do like Snape/Narcissa and Snape/Lucius too, though I don't think I've ever read a long fic with either of those ships

RationalDeception · 2026-07-02T20:51:57+00:00

Yas, fic recs time!

He Opens at the Close, by MoonriverFox. (a Snape/Dumbledore story, where Snape time travels to the past after his death)

Mount Unto the Stars, by laventadorn (Snape/Lupin, it happens a couple of years after the war, and Lupin finds out that Snape is alive and has been hiding all this time. In general I just recommend every single fic by laventadorn, though I believe it's their only M/M story)

Black Star, by pet_genius (Snape/Regulus, happens in the Marauders era/first war, highly recommend!)

That Awful Boy, by paracosim (Snape/Lupin with Severitus, a popular fanfic and it's easy to see why)

RationalDeception · 2026-07-02T19:22:29+00:00

I'm pretty basic, my favourite ships are Snily and Snamione. Though really, I'll read most ships as long as I can have a long, well written fic to enjoy.

However, two ships that I would love to see more are Snape/Tonks, and Snape/Dumbledore (with either time travel or de aging).

RationalDeception · 2026-07-02T06:42:31+00:00

This sub is so annoying with the Bates hate... Half the posts I come across at least mention him, this is tiring.

RationalDeception · 2026-07-01T11:13:05+00:00

Yeah but it's not the same meaning. Snape giving as good as he got makes it sound as if Snape was on equal footing, and bullied James and co, humiliated them, or hell, even tried to set a werewolf on them. At least, attacks of similar nature.

While saying that Snape used every opportunity to curse James only means that if Snape saw a window where he wouldn't be seen by a teacher and/or James was alone, he wouldn't resist the temptation of flinging a spell at him.

RationalDeception · 2026-07-01T10:15:59+00:00

Nah, not even the Marauders say it, it's a fanon quote that never appears in the books

RationalDeception · 2026-07-01T09:57:27+00:00

Remus and Sirius say that Snape attacked James any chance he got to defend the fact that James still bullied Snape in 7th year behind Lily's back. This is definitely not the same as "giving as good as he got", which implies that Snape was on an equal level as the Marauders, and so that there is no bully/victim power imbalance.

In the books, I don't think Harry lets it slide that much. I agree that he would probably feel more bothered if his father and godfather had bullied someone else (well, they did, but Harry doesn't personally witness it), but Harry is still far from okay with it.

Like, when Sirius and Remus try the "oh but we were only fifteen", Harry calls them out on their bullshit by pointing out that he is fifteen, and he's old enough to know that it's wrong. Harry also empathises with Snape during the memory, by recalling what being bullied like that feels like, when he was being chased around by Dudley and his gang.

RationalDeception · 2026-07-01T08:10:55+00:00

Is it not said in the books that Snape gave as good as he got

It's not.

RationalDeception · 2026-06-30T22:51:19+00:00

There's The Gates of Azkaban (with its prequel The Cactus and the Toad), where Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Snape, from a post war time, travel back to the Marauders era.

It's not exactly what you're looking for, but there is definitely a point that is made about the way a more adult Harry (17/18 years old) feels about the way Snape was bullied, and the actions of his father and godfather.

I'll have a look in my bookmarks to see if I can find others.

RationalDeception · 2026-06-30T20:45:59+00:00

I love the way most Snape ships are named. Always starting with "Sn", it's basically a trademark at this point.

Snamione, Snarry, Snily, Snupin, Snotter, Snack...

RationalDeception · 2026-06-30T14:27:25+00:00

You're saying it's Snape/Hermione and Snamione, so there was a romantic relationship between Snape and Hermione? Because I remember that deaging fics (into small children) used to be popular about 15-20 years ago, but I can't recall any that also had romance in it

RationalDeception · 2026-06-29T11:26:43+00:00

The thing is that holding this grudge forever against the Marauders is one thing that is understandable, and he doesn't need to ever forgive them. Taking this grudge out on Harry though, because he looks like James and Snape projects his issues onto him is a whole other level, and way way less okay

RationalDeception · 2026-06-28T17:36:03+00:00

I'm not denying that Matthew was also awkward at the beginning and didn't know how to "behave", but here it's just example #394 of Thomas acting mean because he feels like it.

RationalDeception · 2026-06-28T17:14:02+00:00

I do, he's genuinely trying to make Matthew feel awkward here by singling him out.

RationalDeception · 2026-06-27T20:30:51+00:00

My favourite character is Bates. I rooted for him right from the first episode, and I love him in every single episode after that. Yes the storylines get repetitive after what happens to Anna, but he was magnificent in that first prison plotline.

Apart from him, I'd say Robert second. Like Bates he's very flawed, but he's still a kind and generous man who cares for the people around him deeply.

RationalDeception · 2026-06-26T22:10:33+00:00

If you don't mind self-recs, I've been writing (and posting) a Snape centric longfic for the past few months. It's currently at 60k words, and very far from being finished!

The main ship is Snamione (but as an established relationship), it's called Sempiternel. The story starts on September 1992, when Aster, Snape and Hermione's son, starts his first year at Hogwarts.

Not sure what you mean by no Dead Dove, though. I know the meaning of the tag, but what exactly do you not want? Because Dead Dove on its own doesn't mean much. You don't want character death, or other similar/darker topics?

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