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innerslytherinNever done meta before, so this probably doesn't qualify. But I'm writing about the writing of Weight of Memory, and you shouldn't read this before you've read the Epilogue, which I am just about to is posted here on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
lupin_snape.
The Weight of Memory: A Fest Request that got out of hand
I discovered so many fascinating things while writing this fic, particularly during the Epilogue portion, that I can't resist sharing this information with you.
Greyback
I freely admit that I've never been fond of the fanon convention that because Fenrir Greyback likes to bite young children, he is a pedophile. I personally don't see that one must follow from the other. I wanted to explore other reasons for Greybacks comments at the end of HBP: "But you know how much I like kids, Dumbledore" and "Not when there are throats to be ripped out..." (UK 554). Granted, this sounds to me more like he prefers killing to turning, but we also have to consider Remus' comments to Harry at Christmas:
"Fenrir Greyback is, perhaps, the most savage werewolf alive today. He regards it as his mission in life to bite and to contaminate as many people as possible; he wants to create enough werewolves to overcome the wizards. Voldemort has promised him prey in return for his services. Greyback specializes in children...bite them young, he says, and raise them away from their parents, raise them to hate normal wizards. Voldemort has threatened to unleash him upon people's sons and daughters; it is a threat that usually produces good results." (UK 314)
To me, this sounds as if Fenrir is interested more in turning than in killing, as least as far as children go. He might prefer to kill adults, since adults are far less easily controlled. I'm guessing it was an usual thing for Remus to seek Fenrir out and ask for shelter among the werewolves. Weight of Memory starts, of course, after Remus has already established his place in the pack, but I hope it's clear that he has worked to establish this place, that he's made some friends, or at least connections, among the pack members, and that since he has a unique background--comfortable, presumably, in the Muggle world, but particularly in the Wizarding world (which would, by my theory, be unusual among the werewolf pack)--Fenrir would use his abilities and knowledge accordingly.
Horcruxes:
In drawing up my list of Horcruxes, I made two mistakes, which I only discovered later: I thought there were SEVEN Horcruxes, rather than SIX, and I made one of the Horcruxes a relic of Godric Gryffindor. I remembered the number seven because Riddle wanted seven parts to his soul, but as Dumbledore pointed out, "The seventh part of his soul, however maimed, resides inside his regenerated body" (UK 470). As for the Gryffindor relic, Dumbledore in that same scene tells Harry, "I am confident, however, that the only known relic of Gryffindor remains safe" (UK 472).
I chose to use Nagini as the Horcrux about whose nature Dumbledore was uncertain. My personal suspicion is that it is at least possible that Dumbledore is incorrect, and that rather than Nagini being the final Horcrux, Harry's scar could be the final one. I haven't gone outside of canon looking at theories on this, so it could be someone's proven me wrong. (I'm always afraid that I'll find a theory I like so much that I want to use it in a fic, and while I suppose some essayists might give me permission to do so, that's probably a tricky subject.)
As for the Hufflepuff cup - I wanted the quest for the Horcruxes to be pivotal not only to Harry's story, but also to Remus and Severus'. Folklore said that the Holy Grail (after which King Arthur's knights Gawain and Perceval quested) was the cup used at the Last Supper and which later was used to catch the blood of Christ. Chretien de Troyes in 1190 ascribed healing powers to the grail (through a Mass wafer contained in the grail) and from that time on this healing motif, as well as additional powers such as providing abundant food and drink, were tied closely with the grail legends. (Lindahl, Carl and John McNamara and John Lindow, Medieval Folklore. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
The Epilogue
A map of South Australia
Sometimes I have to laugh at myself.
I honestly chose Australia for good reasons. The poisonous creatures that Severus would like, the dingos that Remus could hunt, as well as the Wagga Wagga Werewolf mentioned by Gilderoy Lockhart. Vague memories of an article in National Geographic about the Australian Dog Fence spurred my enthusiasm.
I read a lot about Australia on the web and in National Geographic, and decided South Australia was the best territory.
I looked at maps of South Australia and official websites of various places and checked town populations and characteristics, etc., and discovered that Roxby Downs is a modern mining town (planned and built from scratch in the '80s or '90s) with a population of about 4000 people and a very high number of transients. (Meaning, of course, that hopefully a couple of poms showing up wouldn't necessarily be too noticeable.)*
I wrote five pages of epilogue, finishing off the epic, while listening to recordings of dingos and Outback birds.
And then, randomly, I looked at the userinfo for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
electromoon, about whom I randomly thought, "Oh, she's in Oz, isn't she?"
electromoon lives in South Australia, roughly 300 kilometres south of where I just put Remus and Severus.
The dingo fence
Where the dingo fence goes in Australia
A Partial Bibliography
Smith, Roff Martin. "Australia By Bike, Part One: A Bloody Long Way Home", National Geographic v. 192, no. 6; December 1997, 48-67
-- . "Australia By Bike, Part Two: Over the Top", National Geographic v. 193, no. 2; February 1998, 112-131.
-- . "Australia By Bike, Part Three: Closing the Circle", National Geographic v.193, no.4; April 1998, 42-61.
-- . "Australia's Bard of the Bush: Banjo Paterson", National Geographic, v. 206, no. 2; August 2004, 2-29.
South Australia Tourism Commission
South Australia Central
Wikipedia's South Australia page (Yes, I know, Wiki isn't always right - but that's why I supplemented the information. *G*
Spiders of South Australia
* Side note here, I really somewhere wanted to show them interacting with someone when they first arrived, so Severus could hear them being called "poms" and bristle, thinking someone was making a reference to his sexuality or something, and let Remus assure him that's just what people in Australia call Englishmen. Didn't happen, but oh well. *G*
lupin_snape.The Weight of Memory: A Fest Request that got out of hand
I discovered so many fascinating things while writing this fic, particularly during the Epilogue portion, that I can't resist sharing this information with you.
Greyback
I freely admit that I've never been fond of the fanon convention that because Fenrir Greyback likes to bite young children, he is a pedophile. I personally don't see that one must follow from the other. I wanted to explore other reasons for Greybacks comments at the end of HBP: "But you know how much I like kids, Dumbledore" and "Not when there are throats to be ripped out..." (UK 554). Granted, this sounds to me more like he prefers killing to turning, but we also have to consider Remus' comments to Harry at Christmas:
"Fenrir Greyback is, perhaps, the most savage werewolf alive today. He regards it as his mission in life to bite and to contaminate as many people as possible; he wants to create enough werewolves to overcome the wizards. Voldemort has promised him prey in return for his services. Greyback specializes in children...bite them young, he says, and raise them away from their parents, raise them to hate normal wizards. Voldemort has threatened to unleash him upon people's sons and daughters; it is a threat that usually produces good results." (UK 314)
To me, this sounds as if Fenrir is interested more in turning than in killing, as least as far as children go. He might prefer to kill adults, since adults are far less easily controlled. I'm guessing it was an usual thing for Remus to seek Fenrir out and ask for shelter among the werewolves. Weight of Memory starts, of course, after Remus has already established his place in the pack, but I hope it's clear that he has worked to establish this place, that he's made some friends, or at least connections, among the pack members, and that since he has a unique background--comfortable, presumably, in the Muggle world, but particularly in the Wizarding world (which would, by my theory, be unusual among the werewolf pack)--Fenrir would use his abilities and knowledge accordingly.
Horcruxes:
In drawing up my list of Horcruxes, I made two mistakes, which I only discovered later: I thought there were SEVEN Horcruxes, rather than SIX, and I made one of the Horcruxes a relic of Godric Gryffindor. I remembered the number seven because Riddle wanted seven parts to his soul, but as Dumbledore pointed out, "The seventh part of his soul, however maimed, resides inside his regenerated body" (UK 470). As for the Gryffindor relic, Dumbledore in that same scene tells Harry, "I am confident, however, that the only known relic of Gryffindor remains safe" (UK 472).
I chose to use Nagini as the Horcrux about whose nature Dumbledore was uncertain. My personal suspicion is that it is at least possible that Dumbledore is incorrect, and that rather than Nagini being the final Horcrux, Harry's scar could be the final one. I haven't gone outside of canon looking at theories on this, so it could be someone's proven me wrong. (I'm always afraid that I'll find a theory I like so much that I want to use it in a fic, and while I suppose some essayists might give me permission to do so, that's probably a tricky subject.)
As for the Hufflepuff cup - I wanted the quest for the Horcruxes to be pivotal not only to Harry's story, but also to Remus and Severus'. Folklore said that the Holy Grail (after which King Arthur's knights Gawain and Perceval quested) was the cup used at the Last Supper and which later was used to catch the blood of Christ. Chretien de Troyes in 1190 ascribed healing powers to the grail (through a Mass wafer contained in the grail) and from that time on this healing motif, as well as additional powers such as providing abundant food and drink, were tied closely with the grail legends. (Lindahl, Carl and John McNamara and John Lindow, Medieval Folklore. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
The Epilogue
A map of South Australia
Sometimes I have to laugh at myself.
I honestly chose Australia for good reasons. The poisonous creatures that Severus would like, the dingos that Remus could hunt, as well as the Wagga Wagga Werewolf mentioned by Gilderoy Lockhart. Vague memories of an article in National Geographic about the Australian Dog Fence spurred my enthusiasm.
I read a lot about Australia on the web and in National Geographic, and decided South Australia was the best territory.
I looked at maps of South Australia and official websites of various places and checked town populations and characteristics, etc., and discovered that Roxby Downs is a modern mining town (planned and built from scratch in the '80s or '90s) with a population of about 4000 people and a very high number of transients. (Meaning, of course, that hopefully a couple of poms showing up wouldn't necessarily be too noticeable.)*
I wrote five pages of epilogue, finishing off the epic, while listening to recordings of dingos and Outback birds.
And then, randomly, I looked at the userinfo for
electromoon, about whom I randomly thought, "Oh, she's in Oz, isn't she?"electromoon lives in South Australia, roughly 300 kilometres south of where I just put Remus and Severus.The dingo fence
Where the dingo fence goes in Australia
A Partial Bibliography
Smith, Roff Martin. "Australia By Bike, Part One: A Bloody Long Way Home", National Geographic v. 192, no. 6; December 1997, 48-67
-- . "Australia By Bike, Part Two: Over the Top", National Geographic v. 193, no. 2; February 1998, 112-131.
-- . "Australia By Bike, Part Three: Closing the Circle", National Geographic v.193, no.4; April 1998, 42-61.
-- . "Australia's Bard of the Bush: Banjo Paterson", National Geographic, v. 206, no. 2; August 2004, 2-29.
South Australia Tourism Commission
South Australia Central
Wikipedia's South Australia page (Yes, I know, Wiki isn't always right - but that's why I supplemented the information. *G*
Spiders of South Australia
* Side note here, I really somewhere wanted to show them interacting with someone when they first arrived, so Severus could hear them being called "poms" and bristle, thinking someone was making a reference to his sexuality or something, and let Remus assure him that's just what people in Australia call Englishmen. Didn't happen, but oh well. *G*
