Defy the laws of HPverse

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Title:	Defy the laws of HPverse
Creator:	The Monster Blog of Monsters
Date(s):	February 19, 2021
Medium:	online
Fandom:	Harry Potter
Topic:	Worldbuilding, Headcanon, J.K. Rowling and Transphobia
External Links:	Defy the laws of HPverse, Archived version
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Asked by @grumblrgalxoxo, the Tumblr user The Monster Blog of Monsters responds about how people see the headcanon and Defy the laws of HPverse and your introducing that cold water merpeople are also beautiful, even if the canon is at variance in saying that all cold water merpeople are considered to be less beautiful according to fantastic beasts.

Some Topics Discussed

• HPverse Headcanon, to follow or not to follow?
• JKR's Transphobia, Racism and Anti-Semitism
• Canon vs. Fanon

The Post

That’s an interesting way to put it. “Defy the laws of HPverse”. You could call that for my inclusion of Fae and Yokai, for Arsatum, for magical substances, for my more non-canon classifications. For the times I’ve outright gone “NOPE” on some of JKR’s more ableist or transphobic worldbuilding.

I’m genuinely kind of curious why you’ve gone for the Mer here, honestly.

But, to answer your question in good faith - I think there’s a few directions to take it.

Firstly, I think that it’s interesting how it’s phrased. “Considered less beautiful”. That says to me, for one, that Newt disagrees, which makes sense given he dedicated his life to researching magical creatures and in the films, at least, seems to love them all so, and, for two, that it isn’t uniform or absolute across all wixes. “Considered” very much says that this is subjective, that this is a matter of belief… and consequently that this can vary quite a bit depending on who you were to ask.

Secondly, as well as the classical platitude of “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” I’d also say that “less beautiful” hardly means ugly. There’s Hollywood beautiful, there’s model beautiful - there’s homely pretty and striking aesthetics and people with desperately interesting faces that capture some and weird out others. Given that the statement is a generalisation, I prefer to take it as warmer-water Mer have more reason to interact with wixes and consequently have become more conventionally attractive. But conventional attractiveness in warmer water mer in no way precludes the possibility of people finding some form of beauty in their cold-water cousins.

Thirdly, I’d point out that the two cold water Mer you chose to specify are ones that are also Fae and ones I very much drew from their folkloric origins for. Rusalki especially are said to be beautiful and in a number of ways they bear similarities to the Vila from which JKR developed Veela and which are called beautiful in folklore and are stated to be so in canon. Morgens, I’d also point out, are found in France and Wales… and so are in (somewhat) warmer waters than the Black Lake Mer at Hogwarts, the Merrows around some of Ireland, or the Selkies in the North of Scotland. If we assume water temperature does definitively equate to the conventional attractiveness of a merperson, surely it would also be logical to assume a gradient - especially given the British Isles are warmed by the Gulf Stream, and so would quite certainly allow for the warmth to make some mer prettier, if it is so absolutely tied to temperature?

Fourthly… HPverse is built on themes. A lot of it is supposed to deliberately mirror our world, amplifying the good and the bad. There’s a reason I get narked when people (…Americans, it’s usually Americans) try to claim that their nation would have a better magical ministry than Britain and that Britain’s is just closed-minded and isolationist. The way that the Ministry of Magic is shown to be in HP is deliberately modelled on some of JKR’s own supposed experiences with Britain’s government. The whole magical world is, the good and the bad. Consequently, so too should every magical nation resemble their muggle counterpart in the good and the bad. Following that, I suspect that the idea of warmer water Mer being more attractive is kind of following another common belief in Britain at the time - the whole idea of beach babes, California girls, holidays to Ibiza and all that. Hot countries, hot girls and all that rubbish. That hardly makes it true.

Like I said - both good and bad. Belief does not create reality. It just shapes how we interpret it.

Fifthly - My goal in this blog was not to outright contradict canon; when information we’re given is from an individual who may be sharing an opinion, a generalisation, a second-hand story, when they may be mistaken or confused or outright lying (not that I think Newt is lying; I am simply stating options in general) - then I see no reason not to consider alternative interpretations or possibilities in order to build the world out. I’m generally not trying to say “canon is wrong and I know better”, not least because I think that’s crass and arrogant. Like I said with regards to this question, so too with canon’s worldbuilding: I try to take it in good faith. Sometimes I can’t. That doesn’t make my every twist away from canon a bad faith choice. Sometimes I just think it’s fun.

Sixthly, I’m kind of interested by your claim that my interpretation is “completely different”. I hardly say that the Black Lake Mer are stunning beauties. I don’t call them Selkies, because I wanted to include the folkloric Selkies and I loved the GoF depiction of the Black Lake Mer too much to just toss their design away. So I said “both exist, and they’re distinct”. I certainly write this blog in the perspective of someone who tries to find the wonder and brilliance in every part of the magical world, even the grosser and more horrifying parts, but I mean… this is The Monster Blog of Monsters. Semi-mickey-take of The Monster Book of Monsters. I’m not claiming to be an absolute or unbiased source; there’s a reason I try to frame things as claims from here or there or elsewhere entirely. There’s a reason I’ll listen to criticism and rewrite things and try to improve from my past creations. There’s a reason I’m taking a long-as-heck hiatus right now (honestly, there’s several of them and JKR’s recent nonsense is only a part of it).

And lastly, Seventhly, for seven is the number of magic - it’s JKR who created those rules. JKR. Outright transphobe. Some of you (TERFs) are going to say I shouldn’t dismiss her for just that - but okay, what about the ableism in '"Illness & Disability"', the homophobia in how she handled Lycanthropy, the antisemitism in her depiction of Goblins or the flat out racism in her depiction of Native Americans in her Ilvermorny piece? How much she intended all of those (I am personally inclined to believe she did not intend it for the first three, I am less sure about the fourth given she blocked people who offered to help her improve the piece and make it less racist) only matters so much when she has so much influence and that influence has so clearly shaped people’s lives and opinions. There are people who compare modern real-life politics to Harry Potter events, for crying out loud. JKR has plenty of money and she can (and I do believe has) funnelled that money to groups that are kind of terrible! Consequently I consider her to be kind of terrible. And sure, she rules HPverse. She decides, she lays down the lore, as it were.

But you know, this is headcanon - fanfic of a kind and thus transformative and thus I can do what I want - and also, why should I obey the rulings of someone who believes that certain actual living people that exist shouldn’t have the rights and healthcare they need to have wonderful, fulfilling lives?

Comments

[grumblrgalxoxo]

Thank you for answering :) Hope this didn’t come off as too critical. I certainly put it in an odd way, but those explanations do make sense and I’m in agreement. Your work to flesh out the universe is amazing, I’m in awe!

[themonsterblogofmonsters]

Not critical so much as oddly phrased and fixated on an interesting specific given the question. Like I said, I try to assume good faith. I’m glad you enjoy the blog.

[grumblrgalxoxo]

That specific made the most sense to me as we have actual examples of merpeople mentioned in canon- from the black lake, and fantastic beasts does mention them in a way I assumed contradicts your blog. As far as I know, there isn’t any mention of Fae or Yokai, meaning they could very well exist but weren’t significant to any portion of the plot and thus left out.