Rigel Black Chronicles
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Rigel Black Chronicles, AKA The Pureblood Pretense |
| Author(s): | murkybluematter aka Violet |
| Date(s): | Dec 6, 2011 - present |
| Length: | >1.5 mil words |
| Genre(s): | Crossover |
| Fandom(s): | Song Of the Lioness Harry Potter |
| Relationship(s): | |
| External Links: | The Pureblood Pretense |
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Rigel Black Chronicles is a Crossover fanfic series of Song of the Lioness (by Tamora Pierce) and Harry Potter, combining both universes to create a new retelling of Harry Potter. Like many Hogwarts retellings, each book is one year at Hogwarts. Currently, there are five works in the series: "The Pureblood Pretense," "The Serpentine Subterfuge," "The Ambiguous Artifice," "The Futile Facade," and "The Malignant Masquerade." The Malignant Masquerade is currently a work in progress, still updating on Fanfiction.net as of mid 2022. (The author is also slowly porting the series to AO3, but only part of the first volume is there as of early 2023.)
This work is also notable for its substantial recursive fandom, boasting more than 700 works. See Rigel Black Chronicles (Fandom) for more information on transformative work around this fandom, and fanworks for this series.
Summary
Harriett Potter dreams of going to Hogwarts, but in an AU where the school only accepts purebloods, the only way to reach her goal is to switch places with her pureblood cousin—the only problem? Her cousin is a boy. Alanna the Lioness take on HP.Pureblood Pretense Summary
Plot Notes and differences from Harry Potter Canon
A/N: This is an Alanna the Lioness take on Harry Potter. You don't have to have read the former series, just know that its premise is a girl who longs to go to knight school and switches places with her twin brother to do so. As far as HP is concerned, this is AU. It's set in a world where there's no prophecy, Voldemort became a politician instead of a terrorist, and—oh yeah, Harry is now Harriett. This, along with many other elements of the general plot, might seem cliché, but I've done my best to make the story both entertaining and moving, realistic and fantastical at turns. Enjoy.The Pureblood Pretense author's note
Other divergences from Harry Potter canon include: Slytherin!Harry, Genderbended Harry, Lily, James, Sirius and many others live, Sirius has a child named Arcturus Rigel Black who looks almost like Harry's twin (similar to, but not exactly like, Wrong Boy-Who-Lived fic.
Harriet Potter disguises herself as her twin Arcturus Rigel Black(called Archie), and goes as Rigel Black at Hogwarts. She is obsessed with potions, and this is what drives her dream to study at Hogwarts under Potions Master Severus Snape though she is forbidden due to being a halfblood. Archie is similarly enamoured with healing, motivated by his mothers death, and wants to study at the American Institute of Magic(AIM), but is forbidden by Sirius as Sirius wants him to go to his childhood school where Sirius had made such good memories. Hence, the ruse. If they are found out, Archie will face a fine - but Harry will go to Azkaban for blood identity theft.
The canon itself is more heavily reliant on Harry Potter, however the inciting plot (boy and girl switch places to get around their parents and society's wishes) is from Alanna, as well as elements of the worldbuilding. Much of the worldbuilding is unique and does not seem to draw from either canon.
Tortall
Fans often draw parallels to the other series, the Tortall series, speculating about which characters take on which roles.
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Reception
As the story is published on fanfiction.net, fans of the story naturally started to discuss there. Early on there was some fannish interaction through the reviews of the original story.
The work has been frequently recced on Reddit subreddits like r/HPfanfiction, where it was the Book Club Book for May 2019.
Overall Reviews/Discussion of the fic by fans
- Review of the Pureblood Pretense and A Quick Overview of the whole pureblood pretense series by SSokolow.
- A r/HPfanfiction thread
- Goodreads link
- an archive of reviews of the ffn works, created by [Quihi] due to fears of ffn going defunct.
- "It can happen to you": A Critical Analysis of Hate Apologia in the Rigel Black Chronicles by anonymous, written for Unconventional Fanwork Exchange 2022.
Plausibility
A significant criticism which is often raised is that the characters do not act like children, are hyper-competent and would not risk so much to enact this ruse. A further complaint is that it is implausible that no one has caught on to their ruse.
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Romance
Significant discussion has undergone regarding romantic relationships for Harriett, despite there being little to no romance at present. A significant portion of fans would prefer no romance at all. Some hope for canonical confirmation that harriett is ace/aro, while others headcanon it so already. Other fans hope for romance. Opinions of the possible romantic leads are divided.
Harry/Draco used to be a popular ship, but after chapter 11 of the Futile Facade, many fans were deterred as they felt he did not respect her boundaries and felt he was very bigoted.
Harry/Aldon is sometimes disliked as Aldon pushes Harriett's boundaries. Other fans do not mind.
Some find Harry/Leo creepy, due to the age difference. Leo is the stand-in for George Cooper from the Song of the Lioness canon, which also has a large age gap with Alanna. Others believe this is the most respectful, sweet and end-game relationship.
Harry/Caelum is a more recent ship that has exploded in popularity, largely due to the wealth of recursive fanfiction that has been written for these two.
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Compulsory bisexuality?
This is inspired by a line that it is "rude to have a preference". Fans discuss this implication in the RBC world.
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Also See
References