The Syntax Of Things

Fanfiction
Title:	The Syntax Of Things
Author(s):	Arrisha
Date(s):	2013 - 2021
Length:	Over 200K words
Genre(s):	Slash
Fandom(s):	Harry Potter
Relationship(s):
External Links:	Archive Of Our Own (English) FicBook (Russian) Wattpad (Portuguese)
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

The Syntax Of Things is a Harry Potter epic-length trilogy written by Arrisha.

Set in 1996's Great Britain, The Syntax Of Things begins with Severus Snape's worst memory as portrayed in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The novel follows the Three-Act Structure narrative template (Set Up, Confrontation, Resolution) and explores themes of transience, love, redemption and self-acceptance.

Published in 2013 and translated to Russian, Polish, Chinese, Korean, and Portuguese, The Syntax Of Things remains the most visited AO3 Harry/Snape novel of all times, and was the first one to achieve nearly half a million views in its first year of publication.

Story Summary

A short-lived series of private lessons took place after Christmas in Harry Potter's fifth school year, during which Severus Snape attempted to teach Harry the skill of Occlumency. The lessons were ultimately cancelled when Harry was caught prying into Snape's memories, discovering the strangest things: his life was connected with Voldemort's through a mysterious prophecy, his dad was an insufferable bully, and Severus Snape had been in love with Harry's mum. Naturally, Harry now had a million questions. Snape would prefer to answer none.

The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes. The same question rises in every soul: "For what, for whom, must I kill and be killed?"

...Or, a classic approach to stubbornness.

Books in the Series

1. Book I: Wisdom
2. Book II: To Be A Fool
3. Book III: Parenthesis

Snape's Anger

Snape's Anger is a Character Study Essay that was published on Mugglenet in 2011. According to the author, this particular excerpt was the inspiration for the novel's premise.

The memory that Harry saw [in his fifth year] isn’t the only memory Snape placed in the Pensieve; Snape has placed several memories in there (OotP 533). And I would argue that those memories are none other than The Prince’s Tale.

After all, Snape cannot be sure of which memories Harry has seen, since the one he catches Harry in is squarely in the middle of them all. And if Harry saw the other memories in The Prince’s Tale, the results would be catastrophic.

First of all, Harry would find out that Snape was in love with Lily. He would also learn that Snape has sworn to protect him, which would complicate things. Keep in mind that during the Occlumency lessons, Harry had not yet heard about the prophecy. So he would be quite full of questions. And then he would find out that Snape relayed it to Voldemort, which he did not take well when he found that out anyway. The damage that would come from Harry overhearing this exchange would be enormous.

Fan Reception

It's really a pleasure to gobble down each chapter, the writing is incredibly rich and ingenious — for example, I wasn't familiar with the expression "to be between Scylla and Charybdis" and I loved to discover where it came from. I feel so lucky and happy to have been recommended this story. The Syntax Of Things has definitely entered my VIP list of favourite fics.

Review by Potterez

This is everything I could have ever wanted from a Snarry fic. Honestly, in-character and canon compliant has never been done better. This fic was beautiful and heartbreaking.

Top Fics Of All Time

I simply adore [the author’s] prose! It's gritty, eerie, realistic in regards to the Potter universe, and makes me eager to read more. The characterisations are absolutely lovely, I loved the slow burn, so much.

Harry and Snape’s relationship reminds me of how licking the top of a dusty ceiling fan would taste like; tension, warmth and age. I feel like I've grown with this as a full novel, a true series. This work is remarkable. It is hard for me to fall in love with a book or a fan fic because I always feel the dialogue lacks realism and/or uniqueness or the description of most things are empty metaphors and cold personifications.

Arrisha makes the reader feel fully immersed and she writes as if she is creating a movie, everything is so clear. And that's rare. So rare. Her talent is astonishing, I hope she’s very well aware of that.

Review by Rhys

Α tale of emotionally constipated idiocy, some pretty epic internalised homophobia, and a shitton of alcohol.

This story is DELIGHTFUL. I've been reading through it over the last few days and deeply enjoying the dynamic [Arrisha] has set up here. How she’s written Snape and Harry's personalities is really compelling — they are remarkably in character, to the point where it initially threw me a little off because after reading Snape/Harry fanfics for over a decade I'm used to the fandom characterisations. How they're progressing in their developing, dynamic, and relationship is fascinating, and I'm excited to see where it goes. Also she’s got an excellent grasp of humour — I keep laughing aloud at the internal monologues and the banters.

Review by feedingonwild

Related Fan Works and Fan Art

• An alternative ending to the story was written and posted on the Archive in 2020 by Lalex as a fan contribution.

• Several illustrators (WVX, Breadephants, snarryalways, solnaskin) have created fan art based on the Syntax.

• The official cover art for the story can be found at the beginning of the first chapter on the Archive.

• A fan made alternative cover for the story can be found on @snarry_always on Instagram.

• A Russian translation can be found on FicBook along with a Russian character analysis sheet.