#full disclosure he tells all of them REPEATEDLY not to buy him things and warns them what will probably happen | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

spilledparchment · 7 years

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I received a comment on my fic, Stormy Winds and Autumn Leaves, which really frustrated me and made me quite upset. I was finally able to craft an articulate response but I feel the need to write some more about Ginny Weasley.

For reference this is the comment I received:

What we see here is the background of a lot of Ginny Weasley Hate but I won’t be deconstructing and writing a rebuttal, I’m going to write about the character I love and why I love her.

Full disclosure, I am not a fan of how Ginny was treated in Book 7. In fact I will rant about it at length. In my fic I wrote my feelings as follows:

She hadn't asked to be Helen, hadn't asked Harry to charge into battle and keep her safe. She was Æthelflæd and Boudica. She was the dancing wind that blew in a storm. She was an eagle flying fierce and free. She'd led a rebellion and broken into the Headmaster's office. She'd been collected by Slughorn on her own merits. She was not born to sit meekly by - to be bridled and cossetted. ... he'd agreed with her mother and tried to lock her in a room in a castle for her own protection. She was no princess, no trophy, or prize. Not for her were the notions of Victorian femininity designed. She was not made for him and she would not force herself to be.

I do think it’s possible to ship Hinny but that ship requires dealing with Harry’s actions in Book 7 and the way he fundamentally stripped her of her autonomy.

Tangent over, let’s analyse the youngest Weasley sibling. aka why I love her.

When we first meet Ginny she’s asking her mother why she can’t go to Hogwarts like her siblings.

"Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother.

"Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mom, can't I go... "

"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."

There’s something to pay attention to here, Ginny is introduced as a slightly pushy girl who needs to be quiet. Which isn’t that dissimilar to Hermione but, crucially, the narrative repeatedly silences Ginny in a way it does not do to Hermione. Interestingly, despite the fact that Ginny cries when her sibling’s leave, she’s cheered up not with the promise of letters but a toilet seat from a prank. This, then, is something she’d appreciate. Her second appearance also involves her mother telling her to be quiet (and a lot of excitement over seeing Harry Potter.)

In the second book she’s introduced shy and nervous over meeting Harry properly. Crucially her silence is considered atypical by her family.

“Ginny,” said Ron. “You don’t know how weird it is for her to be this shy. She never shuts up normally —”

While Harry is visiting, her mother goes on a tangent about how expensive it is to buy all Ginny’s things even if it’s secondhand. Like her older brother, Ron, Ginny is well aware of her families’ poverty and likely how much more she costs than her siblings. While Ron has hand-me downs from Fred, George, Percy, Bill, and Charlie she is a girl and her second-hand clothes need to be bought fresh.

When she arrives at Hogwarts she’s immediately sorted into Gryffindor - for valuing chivalry, nerve, daring, courage, etc.

From there she disappears slightly from the narrative, reappearing when Ron talks mockingly about her crush on Harry and again at the beginning of October where we start to notice side-affects from her possession:

Her Pepperup Potion worked instantly, though it left the drinker smoking at the ears for several hours afterward. Ginny Weasley, who had been looking pale, was bullied into taking some by Percy.

We also get a hint that she’s starting to worry as she blanches when Ron tries to reassure her that they’ll catch the ‘maniac’ who petrified Mrs Norris and killed the chickens.

The possession continues to have an adverse impact on Ginny. We have a sentence where Percy mentions Ginny is upset but the narrative ignores her, just like the trio does, until after Colin Creevey’s petrification when we learn that:

Ginny Weasley, who sat next to Colin Creevey in Charms, was distraught, but Harry felt that Fred and George were going the wrong way about cheering her up. They were taking turns covering themselves with fur or boils and jumping out at her from behind statues. They only stopped when Percy, apoplectic with rage, told them he was going to write to Mrs. Weasley and tell her Ginny was having nightmares.

So at this point in the narrative we know that Percy is worried about his younger sister’s first year. She’s been crying, she looks ill, she’s been having nightmares. By this point in the narrative we haven’t seen much of the talkative girl who asserts her right to be where her brothers are and do what they do by breaking into broom sheds at night.

Her second spoken sentence in the book comes in Chapter Twelve where:

Ginny didn’t find it amusing either. “Oh, don’t,” she wailed every time Fred asked Harry loudly who he was planning to attack next, or when George pretended to ward Harry off with a large clove of garlic when they met.

By this point in the narrative, Ginny’s suspicions are firming up. She’s being possessed. Her energy is being stripped from her and her body is being used against her will. She’s worried, has been since the chicken feathers we find out when Tom Riddle appears in the chamber, but is struggling to reconcile her “friend” with the “Heir” and, since nothing horrible has happened in her life up until this point, she has no frame of reference for what to do.

Roughly around Christmas time she tries to destroy the diary only to discover it had fallen into Harry’s hands.

A hush fell over the onlookers. Ginny was staring from the diary to Harry, looking terrified.

Which must have been her worst nightmare. Her hero and crush is in terrible danger.

Ginny is scared out of her mind and yet she still tries to tell him what’s been going on, warn him about the diary,

Just then, Ginny Weasley came over and sat down next to Ron. She looked tense and nervous, and Harry noticed that her hands were twisting in her lap. “What’s up?” said Ron, helping himself to more porridge. Ginny didn’t say anything, but glanced up and down the Gryffindor table with a scared look on her face that reminded Harry of someone, though he couldn’t think who. “Spit it out,” said Ron, watching her. Harry suddenly realized who Ginny looked like. She was rocking backward and forward slightly in her chair, exactly like Dobby did when he was teetering on the edge of revealing forbidden information. ... Ginny opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

but the appearance of her staid older brother who has been mothering her in Molly’s absence - the only sibling constantly looking out for her, who she would probably feel great love for and hate to disappoint - causes her to lose her courage.

As a result she decides to break into Harry’s room and steal the diary in order to protect him. She’s promptly repossessed and damseled for Harry to rescue.

The conversation between Tom and harry reveals a lot about Ginny’s inner life.

“The diary,” said Riddle. “My diary. Little Ginny’s been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes — how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books, ... Ginny simply loved me. No one’s ever understood me like you, Tom. ... “Yes,” said Riddle, calmly. “Of course, she didn’t know what she was doing at first. It was very amusing. I wish you could have seen her new diary entries . . . far more interesting, they became. . . . Dear Tom,” he recited, watching Harry’s horrified face, “I think I’m losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and I don’t know how they got there. Dear Tom, I can’t remember what I did on the night of Halloween, but a cat was attacked and I’ve got paint all down my front. Dear Tom, Percy keeps telling me I’m pale and I’m not myself. I think he suspects me. . . . There was another attack today and I don’t know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do? I think I’m going mad. . . . I think I’m the one attacking everyone, Tom!”

This is objectively horrifying stuff. It’s worth noting though that the most we learn about Ginny, her life and fears, in two books is through male characters explaining her to the reader. First Ron tells us Ginny isn’t a quiet character then Tom tells us everything that she experienced in her first year.

Immediately after her posession Ginny worries about being blamed for what happened and what her mother will say. A fear which probably wasn’t assuaged when the truth comes out and her parents respond by saying:

“His d-diary!” Ginny sobbed. “I’ve b-been writing in it, and he’s been w-writing back all year —”

“Ginny!” said Mr. Weasley, flabbergasted. “Haven’t I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps its brain. Why didn’t you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic —”

As a feminist this scene is very interesting. While Dumbledore has just attempted to explain that her assailant has violated people much stronger and smarter than her, Ginny’s parents immediately ask her what on earth she was thinking. As a horror trope possession is next to rape. If we flip it we have a female character worried that she’s going to be in trouble for what was done to her, who is told that her assailant is a repeat offender who has attacked people she would consider more able to defend themselves, she is then immediately asked why she allowed this to happen to her. She knows better than to go out in that dress, hang out with that boy alone, write in a sentient object.

At the end of the book we are meant to accept that Ginny is ‘perfectly happy’ again.

With respect to JK Rowling, that’s unlikely. Which is something she acknowledges in Prisoner of Azkaban when Ginny is one of the characters worst affected by the dementors. Narrative wise Ginny isn’t very present in this novel, quiet and blushing around Harry but she does start to assert herself more as the story progresses.

In Goblet of Fire she properly becomes close friends with Hermione, another girl who “doesn’t know when to be quiet.”hanging around in a boys club and from the moment Harry arrives at the Burrow she talks and asserts her opinions - even if she’s blushing and nervous at the beginning. She shows herself to be clever, correctly identifying a politician and his cabinet position. How many thirteen year olds can do that in our world? She hangs over the edge of the box to see Quidditch better (and they are very very high up).

Even before she punches Luna’s bullies, she shows herself to be a defender and protector of the less popular.

“He told me after Potions! Said she’s always been really nice, helping him out with work and stuff — but she told him she was already going with someone. Ha! As if! She just didn’t want to go with Neville . . . I mean, who would?” “Don’t!” said Ginny, annoyed. “Don’t laugh —”

She accepts Neville’s invitation to the ball and honours it, even when she could have said yes to Ron’s proposal - she looked like she wanted to - told Neville she changed her mind and gone with her crush: Harry.

That’s a girl with integrity.

In Order of the Pheonix she, like her siblings, attempts to listen in at the meetings and is loudly, continually, exuberant. She is no longer shy around Harry and incorporates fully into the group. She defends Luna from bullies, joins Dumbledore’s Army, proves herself to be magically powerful and capable at Defense, and defends Harry. Ginny unashamedly takes Harry’s place as seeker, without caring what he would think and reveals that she’d been breaking the rules since childhood.

When Harry reveals his fears about Voldemort she gets angry at the way he’s forgotten that she, too, has suffered because of him. She reminds him that she was possessed and would know what it’s like and tells him that she hasn’t been able to forget about it the way he clearly did. To Harry it’s Adventure Two, to Ginny it’s a formative moment of profound trauma which lasted for almost an entire year culminating in her attempted murder.

When Michael Corner becomes upset that she defeated his house team she breaks up with him. When her brothers are horrified that she’s dating Dean Thomas and attempt to slut shame her, she silences them and declares it’s her right to date whoever she wants.

In Half Blood Prince she’s tapped by kingmaker Horace Slughorn as someone who will go far. While I, personally, don’t enjoy the way she treats Fluer Delacour in this novel and excuses Harry’s decision to use sectumsempra on Malfoy - Ginny is golden in this book.

She refuses to allow Ron to slut shame her for kissing her boyfriend. She breaks up with him because of what she assumes to be the latest in a string of incidents where he’s patronised her (in reality Harry knocked into her.) She deliberately crashes her broom into Zacharius Smith after he makes cruel comments.

In short, Ginny remains vibrant and alive. She asserts her right to bodily autonomy and defends those weaker than herself. She can be prejudiced in applying her moral code to those she considers to be undeserving but she follows her beliefs with integrity. When Harry breaks up with her for her own good she accepts it with grace and dignity, even as she points out that it’s “stupid”

Harry, in Deathly Hallows, leaves her behind at the school where we know that she, Neville, and Luna started a student revolution. She breaks into Snape’s office in an attempt to steal the Sword of Gryffindor and makes herself so much of a nuisance that the Death Eaters have to take notice.

One of the great disservices done to Ginny’s character is when Harry sides with her mother in an attempt to keep her safe by keeping her locked in the Room of Requirement. Her jubilation when she’s set free and furious battle with the Death Eaters proves how much she hated it and how wrong it was to keep her there. Ginny is a formidable fighter, her skills could have been used and, like everyone in the Wizarding World, she was never safe while Voldemort was alive.

The Ginny who broke up with her boyfriend for helping her through the portrait hole one too many times could not have taken kindly to that.

What we see when we look at Ginny’s plotline throughout the books is one where she continually asserts herself and her right to be and do whatever she wants. She defends those weaker than her and is profoundly sensitive to any attempts to control her body - unsurprising after what happened to her at eleven but still inspiring. Despite this, her narrative is one where other attempt to control and silence her. From her mother, to Tom Riddle, to Voldemort and his Death Eaters, to her various boyfriends - Harry included - everyone tries to tell Ginevra Weasley what to do and how to behave. It is one of her greatest strengths and most admirable qualities that she refuses to be controlled.

It says a lot, I think, that in a family which contains a sibling who breaks curses in Egypt, a sibling who works with dragons, a sibling with aspirations for the ministry, and a family with Fred and George - it is growing up with Ginny that teaches Ron anything is possible if you’ve got enough nerve.

#character analysis #ginny weasley #this got long #i just really love her ok

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survivordivergent · 7 years

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EPISODE 13 - “PLAYED HIS IDIO.” - LAKE

That didn't go as planned.

My queen Eliza was blindsided. The one person who I truly trusted in this game.

At least ed played his idio but I still think he has one more.

Now I'm forced to find new roads in this game. I've started talking to everyone except Ed. I feel like I won't be the next to go but I'm not really sure who I want to work with at this point. Maybe I can win the next immunity.

I know the numbers say otherwise, but that wasn't a wasted idol play. It gave me exactly what I needed. Proof that people are taking a shot at me, without the danger of possibly having one person flip over. But, damn, it says a lot about Jill's social ties and mine that people were willing to take out Eliza (admittedly an insanely strong competitor and a social threat in a game where social has been somewhat lacking) over Ed (an insanely strong competitor who can't help but keep winning things.)

I'm also very good at BGO, so I'm optimistic for tonight. I didn't even use my best trick last night in that practice round with Geo and Jenna – buying one of those pogo sticks that breaks after a bit, waiting until I'm close to the end, then pogoing away when nobody notices.

Back to the vote, I'm a bit surprised that Lucy tried that. And a bit surprised that Jill and Melissa sided with me over Eliza. Insanely thankful, don't get me wrong. But surprised. Eliza trying to blindside me wasn't a shock, though. She's such a tuned in player. And she was probably asking herself the same question I'd ask in her shoes... if not now, when? But realistically, I don't see a situation where I wasn't playing that idol. I've seen greed turn to regret far too many times to risk it.

So where does that leave this tribe? In a word, fractured. The 'voting blocs' (hi, Stephen Fishbach!) this time around were me/Melissa/Geo/Jill vs. Lucy/Lake/Eliza (RIP). Those are some very funky blocs that I would never have expected. But I think this bodes well? Me/Melissa/Jill are still on the same page. And I knew I was right not to trust Lake. He's next to go if I have my way. Forget jury threat or jury management or being a goat – he just straight up annoys me.

I do think I need to win out now, though. Without the idol, I'm vulnerable. And I don't know that Jill or Melissa or Geo could resist taking another shot. If even one flips on me, I think I'm toast.

So last night we blindsided Eliza. While trying to figure out to vote out I was talking to Ed. And I said out of Lake, Geo, and Lucy I wanted to vote out Lake because he was really close to Eliza and i did not like that because I was afraid of Eliza choosing Lake over me in the future. Then I go and talk to Lake and he mentions that Lucy talked about voting out Ed and it got me thinking about a blindside. Voting out Lake isn't much of a big move because Lake hasn't been a big player so far. I literally have not been able to stop thinking about when Otto said he will 100% vote for Eliza to win in the end. Because I would too. If I honored the F3 of Eliza, Melissa, and myself then Eliza would most definitely take home the win. I feel like if I were to go to the end with anyone but her there would be an actual chance of me winning and not just clearly losing to Eliza.

So from here I start working on getting votes for Eliza. Melissa has been my #1 from the beginning of merge and she was down for it immediately which was great and easy. What was fortunate for getting Geo is that his name was the name going around before Ed was the target. to play this vote I decided full disclosure was the best method. I tell Geo that his name is the one going around but I do not want to vote him out because me and him talk a good amount recently and it's quite fun. He hadn't heard much about the vote so he was appreciative of me telling him what is going on. I then just keep him updated of who would be into voting that way and that Eliza later comes to me to try and vote out Ed to let him know he is not in danger anymore.

With Ed, I mention voting out Eliza to make a move and he is quick to agree to it. Later telling him that Eliza was flipping the vote to vote for him really sealed the deal. What was even better is that this then caused Ed to play his idol. And now that is gone and I am very happy there is one thing less to worry about at F5 tribal. Now Eliza is gone, we are at F6, and I hope I can make it to the end with Melissa and Ed.

Me honestly considering flipping on Jill and Ed to get all three Abnegations into the finals just for the laugh of it all? More likely than you think. If I'm not going to win the game (and let's be real, I'm not going to win the game), why not do something stupid but kind of iconic? I hated that starting tribe so much but look at us now. Flopping only marginally less than the rest. We did that.

FUCK LAKE I DIDN'T WANT TO VOTE FOR ED

RIP MY GIRL LUCY <3 MY ONE LOYAL ALLY, MY FRIEND, MY COMPANION

I've made it to final five with no votes against me, but now im going to be voted out and it's going to really suck

Whew what a wild time!!

So in immunity I kind of threw it to Jill because I knew Jill or Melissa winning would keep more options open and the target off my back.

We were told it was an instant tribal and had 15 mins to decide the vote. I kind of knew right away it would be Lucy and didn't really know what to do to change it.

Lucy messaged me saying they have Geo to vote Ed and asked me to tie it and Jill would flip on the revote.

I really thought about changing my vote but ultimately didn't thinkGeo would actually vote ed. It turns out Geo did vote Ed so I could have tied it but Jill really would have needed to flip for it to make it work because I was not gonna go to rocks against Melissa and geo. not worth it.

So I won immunity finally! My first challenge win of merge!! then we have an instant tribal, which was WILD! I have made relationships with everyone left and I am in a good position with all of them. I have been with Melissa since the start of merge and i do not see us turning on each other. Lake tells me he wants to go to the end with me. I have repeatedly saved Ed and warned him so I think he is down to go with me as well. Geo and i have been talking a lot recently and I am hoping that he would want to go to the end with me. During the scrambling for the instant tribal Lucy was saying how Ed has the best chance to win and I would do a lot better next to her. Everyone keeps telling me I have a better shot next to them instead of Ed. I really can't tell if people actually think I will win and they just want me to bring them so they can say they made it to the end OR if it is just their ploy to get Ed out of their way and then know how to make their case to win with him gone.

The fact that multiple people have told me that Ed will win but I have a better shot if he is gone makes me start to believe it. But also if I vote out Ed I could lose his vote at the end as well and maybe that is enough to hand the win to one of the people "who I will win easily next to"

At this point in the game everyone is making me think it is between me or Ed to win and I just need Ed out of my way to do it. And I just don't want to believe that because I wouldn't discount anyone in this F5 right now. Lake was such a target, just the lesser of two evils, for literally almost every merge round. He has been doing a good job and showed his loyalty to the right people (me) when he needed to and now I think of him as an actual ally. Before I couldn't wait to get rid of him and now he has helped me so much that I am thankful. I could make the case for Lake to win this game so maybe I would not want to be against that. With Ed I can see why he immediately is the pick to win because he is really likable and cool and has done well. He won a lot of competitions and wasted 2 idols. At this point he has been listening and agreeing with my plans. For this F6 vote, the decision was mine. I could have had Lucy, Geo, and Ed vote for Lake. Melissa was set on Lucy and I got Lake and ed to agree to that vote. Lucy wanted to blindside Ed and Geo voted with Lucy, and Lake talked to me about whether or not we should vote out Ed at that time. Even though I could have been in a good position with Lucy and Lake and Geo, it leaves Melissa on the outs which I just could not do. Melissa has not developed the relationships that I have with some of these people so i trust people a bit more than her, but I definitely want to stick with her and I know Ed will be loyal to us two until the end.

The biggest question right now would be is Lake or Geo number 4? I am telling both of them that I want to go to F4 with them and I will figure it out later. All I know is i want 3 people of the F4 to be me, Ed, and Melissa. Mostly because I believe us three will stay loyal to the end and i don't want any funny business at F4 tribal. I will be shook if this is an F2. I literally won't know what to do because i will probably not win final immunity and I will probably get 3rd place. There is a lot to think about moving forward.

#iwillbecomesomethingelse

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