My understanding of Jegulus is that James and Regulus would likely initially seek each other out specifically because of Sirius, each one wanting to understand the other most important person in Sirius’s life. I just can’t see a Jegulus where Sirius isn’t a key person in both of their lives

This is exactly why I call it "the S variable" because Sirius is fundamental to Jegulus and their relationship.

Regulus and James both see Sirius in each other (Reg sees the hope, the courage, the spirit, the boldness and confidence; while James sees the darker parts of Sirius, the intimidating nature, the willingness to go over and beyond for his people) and they both want Sirius in every way they can have, but can not have him wholly, because he is a brother to both of them, so they kind of seek Sirius in each other.

In addition to this, I also think that no matter how much they genuinely love each other, they would still choose Sirius over one another - which is EXACTLY WHY this relationship works. Because with anybody else, they would expect you to choose your lover over your brother/best friend, but James and Regulus would still choose Sirius every time, and they both understand that, and they would not want to be with a person who would choose them instead.

So like...idk if what I'm saying makes sense, but Jegulus revolves around the S variable and can not exist without it, and the moment you take it out it's just... it's not it anymore.

I have to agree with your addition to the recent jegulus post - I think jegulus could be and sometimes is such an interesting dynamic, but it's often so poorly executed that I've been put off the ship, mostly. the way sirius is sidelined is absolutely abhorrent, and the flattening of their characters into stock tropes is so infuriating. I saw someone compare perciver to jegulus, that's how bad it has gotten! nice to see some nuance in fandom, that's all. from the posts I've seen of yours you always have balanced takes, which is great.

you are all making me cry tears of joy. i'm so happy that i'm finding my people, i usually feel so alone in all of this.

also, really had to do a double take when you mentioned perciver and google it to make sure i'm not confusing the ship with something else because...what?

i think my biggest issue with Jegulus(tm) is how it completely murders their character, in the absolute worst way possible.

Regulus as an uwu sad boy who is forced into taking the Mark and doing bad things, and just needs to be reassured and cheered up all the time. Instead of Heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, RAB, Prince of Slytherin, the boy who figured out what took Dumbledore several decades by the time he was 18, the boy with an absolute lack of moral compass who joined the Death Eaters at 16, but also had no problem betraying the Dark Lord once he realised what his true intentions were, and when he hurt Kreacher, someone he was particularly fond of.

James The Sun Potter, a golden retriever whose only purpose is to cheer up and console people around him, who somehow just accepts all of Regulus' biases without fighting him on it? Who does not hold anything against him for all that his family has done to Sirius? James, who has the most black-and-white view in existence; James, who has the sharpest moral compass of them all; James, who is literally Snape's worst memory (not Lily's death, not his childhood, not the Dark Lord, Snape's worst memory is James motherfucking Potter); the author of the "it's more the fact that he exists" line.

The Sirius variable is always an issue too. Because no matter how much they love each other, Sirius is always Number 1 for them both. Regulus will always hold James taking Sirius away from him against him, and James will always hold all that's been done to his best friend and brother. It's a reoccurring issue in most fights.

I am also kinda bothered how James and Regulus not telling Sirius and keeping it a secret from him is the default in all fics? I do love reading "Sirius finds out" tropes, it's hilarious, a guilty pleasure of mine, but I hate how it's the default. Because I do not believe for a second that once Regulus and James were past sorting it out and were sure about what they're doing, the FIRST thing James would do is go and tell Sirius and they would both have an entire freaking out session over that. Also the two of them being heartbroken and consoling each other when Reg takes the Mark is too good to miss it <3

Wait, hold up, it’s common for Snape to be more popular than Regulus in a lot of James/Regulus fics? Snape was canonically disliked by a large amount of students, there’s a literal crowd gathered around to watch James and Sirius humiliate him in SWM, and he’s a half-blood in Slytherin, at a time where blood-purity was a major thing considering the literal war going on based on it. There’s no way Slytherin House, who is very well-known for their blood-purity ideals both in HP’s time, is going to rank Snape over a Black. Besides, we know that a lot of Snape’s group became Death Eaters, a movement explicitly based on blood purity, so even if he had friends in the House, they probably looked down on his half-blood status and they sure wouldn’t pick Snape over Regulus Black; they might not like Regulus, but there’s no way they’d ever side with Snape against Regulus

There's been this very...irritating trend with Jegulus(tm) fics (at least from what I've been seeing) to belittle Regulus on purpose so Snape and "the likes of him" (who always somehow end up being Mulciber and Avery for no particular reason?) can ""bully"" him and then we can have a dramatic moment of James standing up to him or something like that.

Which like......I get the appeal, okay? I'm not judging. But at the same time I am. SO hard. I need to wash my eyes out with bleach whenever I accidentally wander into a fic like this.

Mulciber is not even in the Sacred 28 and Avery is nowhere near the level or respect and near-royalty the Blacks are on (let alone their only male heir), and Snape in general is not just a half-blood, but a half-blood with a muggle parent (very different from a half-blood with two wizarding parents), from a muggle city, a very lower-class, poor muggle city. He is wearing his parents' clothes whenever he's not in robes because they're that poor. It's repeatedly stated, how even after he has climbed up the DE ranks, literally nobody (but Lucius Malfoy for some very weird reason) likes him.

I'm getting a headache from just talking about this, Merlin help me.

I’ve literally never read a James/Regulus fic, I only recently got half into HP and it wasn’t popular when I was last in it (also, hilarious to me how popular it is when we’ve got 0 canon interactions between James and Regulus, just pure comedic gold right there), but nobody can convince me that Sirius would not be the third person to learn about the relationship, only after James and Regulus themselves. James is his best friend, James literally trusted Sirius above all others in canon and put his family’s lives in Sirius’s hands, they are canonically referred to as a “double act” and “inseparable,” I’m expected to believe James wouldn’t immediately tell Sirius he’s dating his brother the second he realized this was a serious thing? Regulus is Sirius’s little brother, I’m expected to believe Regulus wouldn’t automatically want Sirius’s approval in his relationship? That post about James and Regulus both thinking of Sirius in their last moments is 100% right

My main issues with modern Jegulus(tm) are:

the sabotage of James' and Sirius' canon brotherhood and friendship as their closest bond for the sake of the ship (also my issue with a lot of wolfstar, but that's another point for another post)

the sabotage of Sirius and Regulus' relationship as a stand-alone, complicated bond independent from James, which has existed 10 years before Sirius even met him

the "Siriusification" of Regulus. see common Jegulus(tm) tropes: Regulus running away (?? can't stand this one don't get me started), Regulus being forced to take the Mark, Regulus having an equally bad relationship with his parents

James and Regulus keeping it a secret from Sirius in the long-term

the woobification of them both and stripping their character of any nuance. see common Jegulus(tm) characterisations: James as a careless happy golden retriever with no negative flaws (vs canon James being a borderline bully [another rant incoming about the use of this word for him, bare with me]), Regulus as a sad depressed damsel in distress that needs saving (vs the Heir of Black, highly respected among his peers, the boy who discovered Horcruxes all by himself at the age of 18)

I am willing to drop any fic, no matter how good it is, over any one of these points. And it is nearly impossible to find a Jegulus fic today that doesn't have at least one of the above, hence: endless suffering for picky me.

Shameless self-promotion right here, but I am working right now on a long Jegulus war fic (Lethe) that is everything I have ever wanted to read and never found anywhere. I am going to start posting it soon this month, and tbh I'm not really expecting anyone but me to fully read it, but if you feel like you agree with what I'm talking about it, I think you might enjoy it

Do you still keep up with mainstream Jegulus? The tags keeps getting more followers but at the same time it feels like it’s dying right in front of my eyes, haven’t found a good Jegulus post in forever and it feels like there are fewer posts in general…

I am doing my absolute best not to keep up with Jegulus(tm), because I just end up getting pissed off or frustrated, and we are here to have a good time, you know? I also don't wanna be the kind of person who goes around telling people they are shipping things "the wrong way" so I mostly keep my thoughts to myself.

Thing is... the way Jegulus blew up in the past year is veeeery superficial. I'm not a Tiktok expert but from what I gathered, this wave of popularity came after Timothee Chalamet got fancasted as Regulus Black on Tiktok?

So it absolutely makes sense that people who got drew into it for the cute boys edits and aesthetics and not the actual content, do not actually contribute anything of essence to the fandom.

You go on the Jegulus tag and over 90% of the content there is just very low-effort text posts that don't even remotely sound like them? Most of the popular fics are AUs too, ones that keep nothing of their original story, which makes sense, again - because people are NOT interested in their actual story or character.

Compare it to Wolfstar for example - it's a ship that has gradually built up a fan base from nothing over a timeline of more than 20 years. It takes time and effort to build a fandom.

My prediction is that this popularity wave will blow over soon enough, leaving only the people who actually like the ship for what it is, and then it will be back to being a rarepair with 3 new fics per month at best, BUT there will actually be a solid fandom base and quality content. (amen)

highlights of the day bc its been eventful:

adhd James and bpd Sirius (and thanks to @padfootastic i am writing a drabble for this now instead of working on my wip)

James/Regulus vs Jegulus(tm) (i need to write that Jegulus manifesto we were talking about)

some good old fandom drama (ty lovely anons <3)

the Walburga Thoughts anon and several other people asked for