Love You to the Moon and Back: Lupin and Tonks

Pinterest

I’m going to make honoring one of my OTPs a Valentine’s Day tradition (Link: last year's post). True, my personal love life SUCKS, but reading about love and watching movies about love is encouraging. Love still has a purpose in existence. And it is an integral part of my fandoms and my favorite stories. Because sometimes love is what makes all the difference.

Fair warning, I am going to get extremely personal with this post. But the themes in this story are tied to issues that have been on my mind recently. (If you’re my future husband, however, I think you need to read this.)

This year’s OTP is Lupin and Tonks from the Harry Potter series. This couple is special to me for a number of reasons so allow me to elaborate. This might end up being more of a tribute to Lupin than to Tonks or the both of them, but as they say, there’s method to my madness.

Pinterest

As some of you may or may not know, I am a sucker for backstories and subplots. One of my absolute favorite things about the Potter saga is the Marauders backstory. Imagine this: listening to the Jim Dale audio performance of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban while driving through the Colorado rockies to drop off dad at a Boy Scout high adventure, and after dark while you’re trying to fall asleep before Mom gets to the hotel you’re at the part where Harry, Ron and Hermione are in the Shrieking Shack with Sirius, Lupin, and Pettigrew. It’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever heard. You already read it a month ago, but this time the story has meaning.

Then a few months later your family rents the movie on VHS over Thanksgiving (yes, it actually came out on VHS). Your mom is explaining the backstory of the Mauraders to your best friend’s mom who only speaks Spanish. You understand enough Spanish in context of the situation that you know what she’s saying. It’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever heard in Spanish.

Pinterest

Remus Lupin, at a young age, was bitten by Fenrir Greyback and made a werewolf. Once a month, he becomes a mindless monster. Other werewolves have rejected mainstream wizardry. Lupin’s parents want him to have as normal a life as possible. Arrangements are made for him to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And when he’s at Hogwarts, he comes across three young boys his age who instantly become his best friends. Their antics and hijinks become the stuff of school legend. When they discover their friend is a werewolf, they don’t reject him. Instead they stand by him and do their best to make life more bearable for him.

Pinterest

Tragedy strikes after they leave school. Wormtail betrays them and goes on the run. James is murdered by Voldemort. Sirius Black is framed for selling him out and sent to Azkaban. Remus Lupin does his best to live a normal life in the Wizarding World, but it’s difficult. And lonely.

Enter Nymphadora Tonks at the start of the Second Wizarding War. Recent Hogwarts graduate, Hufflepuff, recruited to the Order of the Phoenix. I don’t pretend to know how Tonks and Lupin were introduced. Or what it was about him that got her to like him. To be honest, I have a hard time understanding women who go after older men period. And I don’t get why Tonks would suddenly have an interest in a guy who is poor, older, and not guaranteed to be able to take care of her. She’s a young, attractive Auror with everything going for her. What is she thinking?

Pinterest

And yet for some reason, right before Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came out, thirteen-year-old me starts having fantasies that Lupin and Tonks would get married. I don’t recall the reason why. But I did think that Tonks having a good job as an Auror would be able to get him wolfsbane potion once a month, so that would sweeten the deal. If she’s an Auror she has to be good at potions, right? And plus, she’s the one with a good job, so Remus wouldn’t have to worry, right? (For the record, my mom has been the breadwinner in my family since I was a preteen so I don’t see anything wrong with working moms).  So in other words, I shipped them before I knew shipping was a thing.

So you can imagine my surprise and delight with the hospital scene after Dumbledore’s death. Due to this and several other weird predictions/premonitions during my youth, I conclude that I had ESP when I was younger.

I have to assume, as with most things in fandom, that Tonks fell for him behind the scenes. During their work together for the Order of the Phoenix they spent time together, got to know each other. And somehow, there was chemistry. And then, Tonks opened up to him about her feelings. He was scared. He wasn’t ready for someone to accept him. So he backed out. Hence, mousy-haired, moody Tonks all of Harry’s sixth year.

Pinterest

This is the part where I’m really grateful for Fleur Delacour. Any other witch could have rejected Bill Weasley after being injured by Greyback. Any other witch might not have risked the side effects of Bill being poisoned and having his face scarred. But to Fleur Delacour, there is more to being in love with someone than their being young and whole. And this is the affirmation that Tonks needs to voice her true feelings. I think it’s the Hufflepuff in her: she loves Remus and she refuses to give up on him, no matter what.

For months after Half-blood Prince came out, I would go back and re-read this part over and over again.

Lupin doesn’t reject her because he doesn’t want her. He rejects Tonks because he hates himself. He’s anything but the ideal Wizard that Tonks should be seeking after.

Pinterest

There are very few fictional characters that I identify with as much as Remus Lupin. And I would be hesitant--am hesitant--to get into a committed relationship with someone for those same reasons. I’m poor. I can’t keep a job. I’m mentally imbalanced. I’m autistic. I have moments of OCD-induced terror or rage that make me feel exactly like a werewolf. I could never be a perfect wife to the perfect guy I’m going to fall in love with someday. Much less a perfect mom to the kids of that perfect guy. My anxiety over failing in these important, God-given roles is almost paranoia. It’s probably worse for Lupin because he’s been rejected over and over again in public: my worst critic is my own self.

In book seven, when Lupin abandons Tonks, the fear that motivates him to do so is frighteningly real to me. But not so much that I am afraid of what my children will become. I’m afraid of them having a monster for a mother. A mother who can’t take care of them.

For the record, I have not seen the film adaptations of Deathly Hallows, parts one or two, because of how they treated the Lupin/Tonks story in the sixth film with them already dating. That was just cheesy. And I knew that they weren’t going to get right any of the other parts that mattered for Deathly Hallows, much less Lupin and Tonks. I suppose someday I’ll swallow my pride. But for the record, it goes to show how much their story means to me. Even the actors who played Lupin and Tonks agreed that they wanted to see more of their story on screen.

BOOM. (Pinerest)

Getting back from that tangent: I guess sometime before Dumbledore’s funeral, Lupin and Tonks had a talk. Lupin must have figured out that he actually loved her in return and he was talked into courting her. By the beginning of book seven, they’ve eloped. Reading that part for the first time after the book came out was sheer joy. For someone who was such a huge fan of Lupin, his relationship with Tonks was a miracle.

I just kind of dealt with Lupin leaving Tonks during her pregnancy--I read Deathly Hallows for the first time in most of one day. That was resolved soon enough. And it turned out Lupin’s fears about a monstrous child were ill-founded: Teddy turns out to be a metamorphmagus like his mom and he’s absolutely suave when he grows up. But Remus and Tonks dying in the Battle of Hogwarts when Teddy is just days old? That hurt. That hurt a lot.

I mostly feel bad for Lupin because, after all of the crap that he’d put up with in his life, he deserved, he NEEDED, to be happy. Finally with Tonks and Teddy, he had everything going for him. ALL OF THE OTHER MARAUDERS WERE DEAD. AT LEAST ONE OF THEM SHOULD HAVE LIVED.

Pinterest

But Remus Lupin died at the battle of Hogwarts so that Voldemort’s reign of terror would end. And Nymphadora Tonks died alongside him because she didn’t want to be without him. Her son was safe at home with her mother. Tonks wanted to be with the man he loved.

“He will know why I died and I hope he will understand. I was trying to make a world in which he could live a happier life.”

I can be okay with that. That’s as much as any true hero dies for, isn’t it?

But last year, keeping with her annual tradition of expressing remorse for the death of a character, J.K. Rowling had a few words to say about Remus Lupin.

Pinterest

Remus Lupin is one of my favorite Harry Potter characters because, yes, like me, he had a hard life, but in spite of that he was able to experience the true magic of friendship and love.

Lupin and Tonks are a reminder that to be truly in love with someone--to be in a true, committed relationship with them--means that our flaws, our imperfections, our weaknesses don’t matter. When two people in love get together, they promise to do their best to support each other and rear the next generation in spite of everything that could go wrong. True love keeps going. I hope that when I find my true love, I can find the same courage.

If you like the pins/pictures I had in this post, follow my Pinterest board harry potter and the pinterest of erised

The Lizy Reviews: Rise of the Wolf by Jennifer A. Nielsen

So, small spoiler alert, the titular wolf wasn’t that big of a player. Also, I super, super LOVED the Mistress--but a dragon, seriously? Kind of ruined it for me. Scary, yes, but ruined it.

Sequel to The Mark of the Thief and second part of the Mark of the Thief Trilogy, Rise of the Wolf is a spectacular book. I couldn’t tell you how unreliable a narrator Nic is, but he’s certainly an unpredictable protagonist as he struggles to stay ahead of his enemies. The Praetors are determined to recover both Caesar’s bulla and the Malice of Mars to aid the goddess Diana in waging a rebellion against the other Roman gods, a conflict that could destroy Rome and perhaps the world, although we have to take everyone’s word for it on that.

jennielsen.com

Nic only wants to escape his enemies and protect his loved ones, but in order to survive he has to turn unwillingly to his (spoiler) grandfather General Radulf for help. Radulf has trained Nic to be a chariot racer, and Nic makes a (really stupid) bet with the Praetors that will hopefully save his life and keep the Praetors away from him and the Malice. But of course, everything backfires. I saw that coming a mile away.

We return to some familiar places, but the Circus Maximus racing stadium in Rome is the new haunt for Nic and his showdowns with Radulf and the Praetors. The descriptions of the chariot races can be kind of hard to follow, but the climactic race was actually a lot of fun, all things considered. There isn’t a lot of backstory for what’s going on aside from what gets roughly summarized, which while it makes for a smoother read it’s harder to keep track of what’s going on and why.

Nic’s sister Livia has a much bigger presence in this book, and it’s easy to see why Nic is so determined to protect her: she is the literal sunshine of his life. Aurelia is amazing right from the start, but I’m not sure how well of a finish she had. The romantic tension is building appropriately, I will say that much, but the love triangle seems like too much additional stress for Nic on top of everything else. Just...WHY? But, shipping conflicts aside, Crispus is the real MVP. He gets some awesome character development in this book. Calling it now: I ship Crispus with Livia and they will be together next book.

Fanart I made

The Praetors are appropriately creepy villains, led by the snivelling Decimus Brutus. But the Mistress...dang, I love her. She is so evil and awesome. General Radulf is still a bad guy, but as Nic works with him more we learn more about his motives. He’s actually a lot more complicated, and his relationship to Nic adds to the tension of the plot. We do get Caela back for one scene (d’aaaaw!) but most of the animal element of Rise of the Wolf is supplied by a unicorn, Callistus. Callistus is actually pretty cool. The author makes it pretty clear that he’s a serious unicorn, not a cute pet but a wild and dangerous but still magical animal. The Vestalis from Caesar’s temple in the first book is back, and she supplies the needed element of absolute good that this series has been needing: and a contrast, in fact, to the absolute evil of the Mistress. And the Roman gods? They are very, very real in this world. Of course Nic assumes that they cursed him with all of his bad luck, but I reckon he hasn’t seen anything yet.

The conclusion of the trilogy, Wrath of the Storm, comes out next January. Not soon enough.

Milo and Kida: An Obscure Disney Couple that Stole my Heart

Valentine’s Day is coming up so I feel inspired to talk about fictional love stories and couples, or rather express my love for them.  I’d like to focus this post specifically on my Disney OTP, Milo Thatch and Princess Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Why that pairing specifically?  Because they’re the most adorable Disney couple ever and they don’t get half the credit the deserve.

Now just to be fair, this is a spoiler-heavy post, so if you haven’t seen Atlantis, go watch it.  It’s a great movie.  And this is also a proper fangirl post where I wax eloquent about what I love, so bear with me.

True, Atlantis is not a musical and it’s not the most visually pleasing film.  But liking a not-official Disney Prince/Princess/King/Queen pairing/whatever has its perks. You don’t have to see them in your fruit snacks and other merchandise. As a fan, you’re a little more free to tell your own story if you don’t have someone else’s version constantly shoved in your face. You’re just more appreciative of their qualities. And of course, Atlantis came out right after I finished third grade.  There’s a lot of nostalgia tied to it for me. For the most part, I got what I was looking for in the previews.  I got action, I got some weird magic, I got humor...I wasn’t expecting a love story.

Shipping for me isn’t so much about the pairing but what the couple does together--in other words, it’s their story.

my edit

I am usually more of a fan of female characters, yet Milo is like one of those male characters I have always related to so much. I was fond of Milo in third/fourth grade because, like him, I was also a social outcast. Many Disney characters are social outcasts to some degree, true, and many of them, like Milo, are dreamers.  But Milo is different because he’s a nerd: he cares about a topic that nobody else does.

Down in Atlantis, Kida is in a similar situation.  I don’t know how well she gets along with the other Atlanteans but her dad kind of looks down on her for being a free thinker.  Her dream is to improve the quality of life for her people and restore Atlantis to its former glory.

via atlantean-gibberish-tumblr

So along comes Milo.  He’s an outsider who happens to have studied the history and culture of Atlantis. And he can read the language. She volunteers him into her cause--after he’s been volunteered to talk to her on behalf of the other explorers. And he quickly realizes that she’s in the best place for helping him learn more about his favorite subject, and by working together they can fill in the blanks.  Atlantis is a fairytale for nerds. Nerd boy meets nerd girl.  They both save the day and live happily ever after ruling the kingdom.

Milo and Kida are a one-in-a-million couple.  Kida has been trapped below in Atlantis for several thousand years. And Milo has had no luck with the ladies in his own world.

Via Pinterest.  Clearly age is not an issue for Kida

Granted, they’re only together and getting to know each other for like a third of the movie.  But other Disney couples have fallen in love in less time, and in fact, their relationship, based on their mutual interest in Atlantis, is a lot more believable.  The first time they meet in the caves outside the city is magical in more ways than one.  

Via Giphy

Look at how she smiles at him! Tell me how that isn’t Disney-style love at first sight?

Then when they’re at the entrance to the city and Milo gets to practice his Atlantean language skills for the first time. He quickly figures out that she can speak other languages, too.  So he switches to Latin and then French--and French, as we know, is the language of love.  

Via jigokhuna tumblr. Parlez-vous frances?

Kida immediately latches onto Milo because she knows he can help her out.  When they’re alone together later on, however, they have great chemistry.  She is so curious about him and his world and she likes showing him around hers. He thinks she’s funny but he respects her desire to learn.

Via Giphy
"How's my accent?"
"Boorish, provincial, and you speak it through your nose."

Then Kida bonds with the Crystal.  It looks like Milo’s chances are shot, but then there’s something else going on.  Right when the Crystal is about to take up Kida she tells Milo to not be afraid.  As vague and creepy as that was, even when partly bonded with the Crystal Kida is responding to him.

via Fanpop

Then after the city is saved, the Crystal releases Kida and drops her into Milo’s waiting arms. Of course it made sense for the Crystal to not keep her bonded forever because she’s the last living member of the royal family. But the king also said that the Crystal “thrives on the collective consciousness” of the people.  So not only does it respond to the needs of Atlantis as a society but the feelings of the individual hosts.  The Crystal knew that Kida had feelings for Milo, so it let her go so they could be together. Trippy, but in the context of a Disney romance it makes perfect sense.

via Fanpop

When Kida sees Milo after she wakes up, she jumps up and HUGS him because she’s so happy to see him.  I think if she didn’t know she had feelings for him before she knew it when she came back. And when they got back, they go to look over the city with the rest of the cast...and they’re holding hands.  *SQUEEEEEE!*

Milo x Kida Deviantart

They saved Atlantis...together. <3 #OTP

“At least he’s in a better place now,” Mr. Whitmore says as he reviews the story for the press while looking at a very romantic picture of Milo and Kida.  Aside note, there was one time when a roommate of mine was talking about her brother’s wedding but she kept referring to it accidentally as his funeral.  Well, if being married to someone you love is being in a better place, then Milo is definitely in heaven.

self-generated meme

I love that closing scene in the movie because it shows how both Milo and Kida’s dreams have come true.  Milo is not only the gibberish expert but the gibberish king, and Kida has gotten Atlantis back to where it's supposed to be, Crystal and all.  But just the way Milo looks tenderly at Kida when she goes to send up her father’s stone go up to join the other past kings.  He knows how much that means to her.  Then Milo is mesmerized watching it go up and he kind of has a giddy look on his face as she drags him away to their special spot for a better look. 

Via Pinterset.  Most adorable king and queen award goes to...

I’m pretty sure as soon as the camera pans away far enough they’re kissing.  

For the record, I did see the spinoff film Atlantis: Milo’s Return.  It was okay.  I liked the humor and also getting to see Milo and Kida being cute together. But the original film was a good enough ending for me.  I’m more about Atlantis still being down there somewhere, Milo and Kida living forever and having cute kids, maybe Milo freaking out about how much society on the surface has changed but at least for now not touched by the craziness and still very happily in love.  And no other Disney couple to this day has given me the same satisfaction.

my edit