Grimms' Fairy Tales - Tumblr Posts
Edmund Dulac(1882-1953), Cinderella
You know the Grimm version of Snow White makes more sense than most versions if only because in that version Snow White was like 7 years old.
Are our own parents any different than the step mothers in the fairy tales?
I was watching a documentary series on Netflix called ‘Myths and Monsters’. At a point where they were discussing about ‘The Grimm's Fairy Tales’, which is a book of collected folktales of Germany by the Grimm brothers, they said that the brothers had actually modified the stories to make it acceptable to the children. And one such particular change was that in the story of ‘Hansel and Gretel’. Though worldwide we all know that the siblings were a victim to the cruelty of their stepmother, the original story tells otherwise. They were rather abandoned in the woods by their poverty driven parents.
Now the questions come: Why did the brothers exchanged the real parents with a stepmother? If it was so unrealistic or unacceptable for the real parents to have abandoned their own children, why would the original story has them in the first place?
The series also gave an idea to that. Basically the myths we know have some really deep morals into it. They usually portray the inner dark nature of humans through the images of monsters. So, it is not unlikely to put the real parents’ images as some cruel versions of humans. Because we humans, are capable of such cruelty. It is embedded inside all of us.
But since the civilizations started, we are trying our best to tame such nature within ourselves. As if the wilderness inside us is considered a taboo in the modern world we live in. So, we made another character to drive away this from ourselves. In this case, it is the stepmother. The stepmother has become a disguise for all the dark parts of a parent. Hence, we see this character in almost every fairy tales in the place of a cruel guardian.
I've been thinking about writing a short (4-5 chapter) The Juniper Tree AU for a looonnng time (if you haven't read it, it's a cursed and totally un-censorable Grimm's fairytale). Basically, there's a:
Nice mother who dies
Nice but oblivious father
Evil (and I mean evil) stepmother
Nice but oblivious sister
Brother with a vindictive streak
Thing is, I don't know which family to use -- The Potters? The Gaunts? The Weasleys? The Blacks?
(and the subtext is please help me decide because I literally can't)
(by the way I am actually working on that SW/HP crossover that I was joking about a couple months ago, but it's on the back burner).
So, update. I've decided on the Potters because honestly that family is maximum chaos.
Nice mother who dies : Lily, hopefully not for a dumb reason like in the fairytale
Nice but oblivious father : James
Evil (and I mean evil) stepmother : Bellatrix of course, who else would I bestow that honour upon?
Nice but oblivious sister sibling : ?
Brother with a vindictive streak : Harry, vindictive streak comes w/package
I've decided the sibling's gender doesn't really matter as long as Evil Stepmother Bellatrix prefers them to Harry but Bellatrix doesn't have kids and though Harry does have a sister in one of my fics I don't really want to use any OCs, especially since this is going to be short, definitely under 25k.
So I was thinking who would be Bellatrix's perfect angel child and of course I thought of kid!Riddle but this changes the sibling dynamic so he and Harry do not get along and I'm amused and disturbed sufficiently by the few scenes I’ve written that I think we actually have a winner here.
I've been thinking about writing a short (4-5 chapter) The Juniper Tree AU for a looonnng time (if you haven't read it, it's a cursed and totally un-censorable Grimm's fairytale). Basically, there's a:
Nice mother who dies
Nice but oblivious father
Evil (and I mean evil) stepmother
Nice but oblivious sister
Brother with a vindictive streak
Thing is, I don't know which family to use -- The Potters? The Gaunts? The Weasleys? The Blacks?
(and the subtext is please help me decide because I literally can't)
(by the way I am actually working on that SW/HP crossover that I was joking about a couple months ago, but it's on the back burner).
A Conspiracy of Ravens
QUOTH THE RAVEN, NEVERMORE.
Just five months after his mother Lily's mysterious death, Harry Potter's father remarries.
Harry does not like Bellatrix Black, or her son from a previous affair, Tom Riddle.
When Harry discovers Bellatrix's secrets and incites her jealousy, there will be consequences of the most extreme and dangerous kind.
And everyone wants vengeance.
I posted it? I can’t believe I posted it?
Well, I was in that kind of mood. Happy early spooky season.
A Conspiracy of Ravens
QUOTH THE RAVEN, NEVERMORE.
Just five months after his mother Lily's mysterious death, Harry Potter's father remarries.
Harry does not like Bellatrix Black, or her son from a previous affair, Tom Riddle.
When Harry discovers Bellatrix's secrets and incites her jealousy, there will be consequences of the most extreme and dangerous kind.
And everyone wants vengeance.
Chapter 2 now at AO3!
The prefects make the first years do a round of introductions after Dumbledore's speech. Most of them are from the noxious end of the pureblood crowd that Harry already knows and loathes — Draco, Pansy, Daphne, Millicent, Blaise, and Theodore — with a few other half-bloods sprinkled in.
"What's a Riddle?" sneers Pansy when they get to Tom, and Harry says nothing, instead watching gleefully for the ensuing meltdown.
"I am a Black on my mother's side," says Tom imperiously in the most grown-up tone he can manage — clearly, Harry thinks, he's doing much too much. "I suggest you refrain from making such absurd comments."
A Conspiracy of Ravens
QUOTH THE RAVEN, NEVERMORE.
Just five months after his mother Lily's mysterious death, Harry Potter's father remarries.
Harry does not like Bellatrix Black, or her son from a previous affair, Tom Riddle.
When Harry discovers Bellatrix's secrets and incites her jealousy, there will be consequences of the most extreme and dangerous kind.
And everyone wants vengeance.
You know the Grimm version of Snow White makes more sense than most versions if only because in that version Snow White was like 7 years old.