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[ladyofleithian]

Day 05 - The pairing with the least chemistry?



Remus/Tonks. I really don't know how old I was when Half-Blood Prince first came out, but I just remember that sort of unease while I was reading the scene in the hospital wing when Tonks is getting angry at Remus for not returning her affections (oh yeah, Tonks, and another thing -- could you at least have saved it for in private when Bill hasn't currently been healing up from getting mauled by the same guy who ruined Remus' life? I mean, the narrative picks on Lavender in this book, but Lavender has an excuse -- she's sixteen, just a kid. And meanwhile, Tonks is quite a bit older and acts like...well, a lot younger), and to make matters worse, pretty much everyone and their Kneazle decides to start making Remus look like the asshole just because he has understandable reasons to not get with Tonks: number one, he's old enough to be her father, number two, he can barely support himself, and number three, the whole werewolf thing he's worried could be an issue. They're basically bullying Remus into this relationship, like he has no right to say "no", or saying "no" makes him an asshole of epic proportions. Which isn't right in the slightest. You can't make someone love you. You can't make someone be attracted to you. That's not how that works. Seriously, if the genders were flipped in this situation, I have a feeling the Internet would be pretty up in arms (more than they were already, probably).

And Rowling did say on Pottermore that Remus had some attraction to Tonks prior to this, but it wasn't conveyed well on the page. I honestly would have done it akin to a genderflipped version of Revan and Bastila -- Tonks' general good nature and sense of fun (because she really is a fun character, which makes the situation in HBP even more irritating) kind of getting Remus to relax a bit, feel comfortable around her, and eventually be drawn to her but he resists because he's afraid he'll ruin her life somehow (and then there's everything else that goes with it). Tonks...you can definitely go into her emotions, but definitely don't make it as cringeworthy as the hospital wing scene. I can imagine, say, her having girltalk with a member of the Order after her first confession with Remus (and possibly a kiss between them) about how she feels: sort of like "he's just this wonderful, kind, smart, funny, charming man and he doesn't even seem to know any of this!" And Remus probably gets the man-to-man talk at one point from Mr. Weasley. Probably. And things go from here, with Remus choosing for himself whether or not he wants the relationship instead of having people guilt-trip him for not being certain. Besides, as I learned from Susan Forward, healthy love doesn't make you feel awful just about all the time. (And it would be all right if Rowling was doing it intentionally, as an alternative, but it's never really acknowledged in-story as being unhealthy. Because that's not love as Rowling presents it -- that's obsession, plain and simple)

Whew, that was long. I guess I just needed to get that off my chest.




Day 06 - Best kiss?
Day 07 - The most heartbreaking scene?
Day 08 - The pairing with the most baggage?
Day 09 - The most believable relationship?
Day 10 - The least believable relationship?
Day 11 - Your dream pairing?
Day 12 - Who had the best wedding?
Day 13 - Your favorite television pairing?
Day 14 - What is your favorite book pairing?
Day 15 - What is your favorite real life pairing?
Day 16 - What is the absolute worst pairing?
Day 17 - A pairing you thought would never work out, but did?
Day 18 - What is the cutest pairing?
Day 19 - A pairing you’ve rooted for since the beginning?
Day 20 - The 'can't stand the sexual tension anymore' pairing?
Day 21 - A pairing you like and no one else understands why?
Day 22 - A pairing you hate and no one else understands why?
Day 23 - A crazy love triangle/quadrilateral that worked out great?
Day 24 - A crazy love triangle/quadrilateral that worked out badly?
Day 25 - A pairing that was/would-be adorable, but could never work out?
Day 26 - A pairing that you hated and ended up loving?
Day 27 - A pairing that you loved and ended up hating?
Day 28 - A pairing that you will never understand?
Day 29 - What ship had the best proposal?
Day 30 - Your favorite ship forever and ever and ever!

Comments

[honeymink]

And Rowling did say on Pottermore that Remus had some attraction to Tonks prior to this, but it wasn't conveyed well on the page.

In my opinion that happens very often – and it's not just because the books are written from Harry's perspective; I think Rowling isn't terribly good at character development... I definitely don't like how she presents quite a few female characters in the series.

Like you I thought Lupin had some good reasons for not wanting a relationship. In sense it made me sad for him that he didn't feel worthy but like you said being pressured into it, isn't really the way to make someone feel better.

Personally I always disliked how Rowling killed both of them at the end, letting them run into the battle without much consideration that their child could end up an orphan.

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Well put, seriously.

Out of curiosity, what female characters' portrayal do you have problems with? (I know I have issues with Tonks. She started off great but then got really shafted) And yeah, Rowling isn't really the best at character development. Wonderful at worldbuilding, not so much with character development.

Exactly. Honestly, I think it would have been better if it had flowed more organically. Sort of the both of them gradually developing feelings for each other.

And yeah, their deaths sucked. And poor Teddy...honestly. Poor kid.

[honeymink]

I think most characters have very little in terms of nuances and that's even more true for the female characters, I think... McGonagall for instance could be a much more prominent character in my opinion yet we never get to know much about her involvement in the Order (it's been a while but I think in the books she was involved whereas the movies omitted her involvement entirely). Then there is Lavender who acts sort of ditzy and bimbo-ish throughout her relationship with Ron... okay so it's told through Harry's eyes but still Rowling wrote it and she is a woman, so I think it could have been less of a cliché. Also Cho, who gets dumped when she doesn't live up to Harry's idealized version of her. I also disliked how Rowling compared Pansy unfavourably to Hermione because I generally resent the idea of pitting girls against each other. So in the end because Pansy is the kind of girl Rowling disliked in grammar school or something, she doesn't get a chance at redemption while Draco does. Even with Hermione, Rowling very often uses verbs like shrieked, cried, giggled – something she'd never use for a male character. I actually read an essay about that – if I can find it again, I'll scan it sometime and upload it, it was pretty interesting.

So yeah, I couldn't agree more, great world building, not so great character development. And perhaps some things just can't flow more organically because we see it from Harry's point of view and he only gets glimpses of other people's relationships and is probably not terribly interested in the details of Tonks's and Lupin's relationship. So I guess that's what fanfic is for... I suppose apart from the general popularity of a given fandom, the amount of fanfic that is generated also has to do with how much fanfic authors want to "fix" things. I don't know if that make sense.

Poor Teddy and poor Andromeda – lost her husband and her daughter who was killed by her own sister... I mean seriously.