Yep. Same Way When People Try To Say That Lily Was Like Harry And That They Had Similar Personalities

I cannot emphasize enough how much everything In-ho did during his time in the games was in service of breaking down Gi-hun. Every glance, every story, every comment was incredibly and deliberately calculated.

His first interaction with Gi-hun immediately places the blame on Gi-hun for the games continuing: "I pressed the O because of you." He also explicitly asks for Gi-hun's help on behalf of the group. This sucks Gi-hun into being a mechanism of the games themselves (not just a player, but one telling others how to play) while robbing him of his agency to do so: whereas he was confident in helping during the first game, because it was his choice, In-ho's request forces him to share about the Dalgona prematurely, and he then has a nightmare about misleading the players. This also leads to many players becoming hostile when the game is not Dalgona, which--who could have guessed?--In-ho jumps in to stop. He orchestrated the situation so that Gi-hun would feel maximum pressure and guilt, before In-ho himself relieves it to build trust between them.

Then there are the introductions. In-ho uses Gi-hun's name before they are introduced, which may have been a genuine slip, but was very likely intentional given his response. In-ho's method throughout the games is to parallel and associate himself with Jung-bae, Gi-hun's only actual friend (he saves him during the merry-go-round games; he eavesdrops on Jung-bae's conversation with Gi-hun and directly uses the "get me a soju" line from that conversation to subconsciously build Gi-hun's trust in him during the firefight). So when he uses Gi-hun's name, he says he does so because he heard Jung-bae doing it, and Gi-hun allows him to continue--this creates the first of the links between them. But then, when they are properly introduced, In-ho laughs that "Seong" just means "last name;" in doing so, he implies to those who don't know him that Gi-hun may not be telling the truth, and in context of their conversation (focused on the significance of their names) highlights how Seong Gi-hun is "no one special." He's just an everyman.

Another reason that "slip" was almost certainly intentional is that In-ho is very deliberate about showing moments of weakness. His breakdown during the Six-Legged Race was designed to both further stress Gi-hun (and if Gi-hun had failed, they were in the very last groups present, so they could have been selectively spared as needed) and to strengthen their bond, as Gi-hun got to "encourage" In-ho; then In-ho helped Gi-hun and the team win by kicking with him the final time. Even cheering along with Gi-hun while the other teams went was in service of cementing their connection; and, any time a team failed, In-ho got to observe Gi-hun's reactions under the guise of empathy. In-ho may have felt some genuine emotions while cheering or comforting Gi-hun, but they aren't to be trusted.

That's particularly true because of his biggest "weak" moment: telling Gi-hun why he is in the games. The show confirms, when Jun-ho finds the winner file, that In-ho actually did join the games years before (from his family we know that it was because of his wife's illness), and that he won them himself. So he isn't lying about the details of his personal story--and he even gets emotional--but it is, once again, all in service of ensnaring Gi-hun and earning his trust. In-ho is not faking all of his emotions, but he is controlling and weaponizing them, which is why none of his apparent fondness for Gi-hun can be trusted. He uses his emotions as a tool, rather than being affected by them.

The ultimate result of this manipulation is that Gi-hun is made to feel that everything that happens is his choice (even the things he didn't choose). From the beginning, In-ho has said his choices are because of Gi-hun; throughout the games, there are several moments where In-ho suggests an approach and Gi-hun shoots it down, and In-ho always coalesces. Gi-hun gets to have "his way." But "his way" doesn't seem to work, and he, like the rest of the players, is changed by the games. His final plan, as In-ho forces him to face, involves a sacrifice of some for the good of the many. Only after he admits this (through his silence) does In-ho agree to help. Then, during the firefight, when Gi-hun tries to give In-ho the ammunition he risked his life to get, In-ho asks, "Are you sure?" Gi-hun's choice to trust In-ho leads to him running out of ammunition earlier, forcing his surrender; meanwhile, In-ho still "dies," and Jung-bae is shot in front of Gi-hun's eyes. None of Gi-hun's choices made things better--they made it all his fault. He is left with the blame, as the Frontman (who is In-ho! And always has been!) tells him point blank.

But none of Gi-hun's choices have really been choices. They have all been based on lies, within a system that uses the information they have to actively orchestrate events against him. The same is true of the players in the game; their choices are not free, because their circumstances (largely caused by unfairness in the world) have trapped them. The baseness they resort to is not what they would do if they really had the choice, and some are even able to choose virtue within the hellscape, but over and over, the system facilitates the dominance of cruelty. And In-ho, the personification of that system, targets Seong Gi-hun, the "Everyman," to make him submit to it--to make him choose to believe that there is no other way.

This post sums up all of my most recent thoughts. It feels good to see some sense amid all this chaos.

I don't understand why people say that all hp fans are responsible for Rowling’s actions. How? She did that on her own.

Because, tbh, if you're someone who isn't particularly interested in HP it's basically free morality points. It's easy to do absolute fuck all and then point at others and go "see? I'm morally superior to them because I'm not sacrificing ethics for a kids book!"

The trouble is that all of us are in some way 'sacrificing ethics' all the time in order to maintain the lifestyle we've grown accustomed to. And I'll add that in ways that are much more flagrant than simply talking about a book online. I don't see these people being nearly as gung-ho about everyone giving up amazon or twitter or else they're evil, when using those platforms has a DIRECT, completely unambiguous effect on our society. The reason they're so intense about this in particular is because not caring about HP is something they're already doing without expending any effort whatsoever, therefore it's an easy, cheap way to feel better about themselves at the expense of others.

Seeing the idea that reading/discussing a book means you agree with the author politically propagated on here so uncritically has honestly been... idk pretty surprising to me. The bottom line is I'll never agree with the belief that it's morally wrong to read or discuss any work of literature, I'll never agree with preventing anyone (children or adults) from reading any literature. Like ok conservative queens, what books should we ban next?

But apart from that, I think the fact that the conversation around the ruling has become so focused on HP/fandom in general is a problem.

Strategically, it's absolutely BONKERS, like insanely braindead and counterproductive, to try and tie the issue of trans rights to liking Harry Potter or not. Tbh this might even have the opposite effect, and drive (admittedly fairly weak-willed) people away. But weak-willed or not, how is it at all a sound strategy to alienate people from an issue of basic civil rights over their preferences in literature. If you can recognise that people are too 'selfish' (or whatever you want to call it) to give up their interest in HP for purity's sake, idk, change your tactics because this isn't helping anyone. This is what I mean about more focus on the moral purity of individuals and their thoughts rather than on material reality.

I even think some guilt-tripping in the sense of 'all HP fans should donate 10€ to trans charities before they can be absolved of sin' (obviously not phrased exactly like that lmao) would be soooo much more effective in a material sense. Like tbh I think that would be a fairly successful campaign. If you can harness the guilt many HP fans are likely feeling into something more productive and materially helpful than a twitter beef like... idk I'm all for it. But you can pretty clearly see that a lot of this is more about personal validation than anything else-- otherwise HP fans would be viewed as potential allies to recruit rather than, for some stupid reason, the enemy.

'Remus King-of-Self-Sabotage Lupin' highly resonates, I fear.

Tomary with the soriku uniform 🗣️

cute

Their ship(romantic or platonic idk) name being eclipse is something really cute to me

Hinny wasn’t an epic romance. It wasn’t meant to be at the time. It fits Harry perfectly not to fall in love and develop a close romantic bond with someone during a time when he was grieving Sirius and had tons of responsibilities on his shoulders. After reading the books again, I have realized that Harry didn’t actually like Ginny for who she was but merely for what she represented. She provided comfort and a hopeful future. She was a distraction, just like stalking Draco was a distraction. That doesn’t mean Ginny and Harry didn’t mature and develop genuine love as adults, but it was not like that during the war. It was a teenage, shallow, physical distraction based on hormones and the need for comfort/sense of normalcy. At least for Harry. I’m not sure about Ginny.

Voldemort is NOT a bad boy mysterious type. He wants to be, but his hobbies are journaling and antique collecting. Gayass.

She was born between 1st September 1972 and 31st August 1973 (probably 1973), which means she had just ended her education when Harry became a 1st year. So he never saw her at all. They missed each other by a year. 

Every time someone says that Tonks was at school with Harry in canon an angel loses their wings

Sirius Black was a bitch fyi

Harry is the only person who came close to truly knowing who Voldemort is. That’s why I ship Harrymort.