December Talking Meme: Albus Dumbledore (Harry Potter) and Rumplestilskin (Once upon a Time)

[selenak]

Disclaimer: I haven't had the chance to watch the latest OuaT episode yet, so please don't spoil me for it in the comments. Also, it's been years since I read the Potter saga, so any inaccuracy is due to memory failure, and I apologize in advance

Comments

[cherrytide]

This is really interesting! I don't watch Once Upon a Time but I do share your feelings on Dumbledore. I liked him as the twinkly old mentor but I loved him as the deeply flawed manipulative power hungry man who still ultimately wanted to do the right thing. I definitely agree with you that it's his treatment of Draco that shows us however deeply twisted some of the things he does is, his heart really was in the right place. Draco was his pupil and Dumbledore was willing to fight for his soul. I liked your point about both characters having a streak of eccentricity to balance their power - it reminds me a little of Dr Who as well, particularly Eleven who managed to feel ancient and powerful not so much despite as because of a silly streak...

[selenak]

*nods* Oh yes, there is some resemblance to the Doctor there. (Who, btw, canonically is a HP reader, thanks, Rusty, and I the whole Grindlewald part feels oddly familiar to him...)

[astrogirl2]

(Wait, would this be a viable crossover 'ship?)

No. No, it would not. :) But I can't help thinking that any meeting between the two of them would be marvelously entertaining.

And I find this comparison really fascinating. Not least because it would never have occurred to me to draw connections between those two characters. The HP character I inevitably think about in conjunction with Rumplestiltskin is Snape -- the parallels there seem to me to be many and obvious. But you make some really excellent points here. I was particularly nodding at that bit about the mannerisms that are affected but not actually masks. Because, well... yes.

[selenak]

It was tigerpetals who prompted me with the Dumbledore/Rumplestilskin comparison. Like you, I hadn't thought about them this way before, but immediately went "oh! There is something there!". I love the way this meme makes one think.

Mind you, I agree they're not each other's type. :)

ETA: and now for the million credits question: would Dumbledore give the "Defense of the Dark Arts" post to Rumplestilskin, and would Rumplestilskin accept?!?

(Bearing in mind: Voldemort's hex on that job versus the Dark One. Which will win? Also: Dumbledore's hiring policies - I mean, just look at the other DADA teachers except for Lupin...)

[astrogirl2]

I really should have done this meme this year. I thought about it, but time just got away from me, and suddenly it was December before I decided whether to do it or not. :)

and now for the million credits question: would Dumbledore give the "Defense of the Dark Arts" post to Rumplestilskin, and would Rumplestilskin accept?!?

I do not know the answer to this, but suddenly I kind of want to read the crossover that does answer it. I do think, at the very least, that Rumple would be confident that his status as the Dark One would win out over the job hex. Though there would, of course, need to be something in it for him.

[selenak]

Well, there's always the default option: power. Maybe if he can defeat the hex, some of Voldemort's power will be his? Also, I could see him interested in how the HP world wizards manage to make something of themselves survive in their portraits. (At least the portraits in Hogwarts.) Not least because if Hook can draw a portrait of Mila, he can draw a portrait of Bae age 14, and wouldn't it be just like R. to requesition that?

On a more crack fic than dark fic side, if Dumbledore asks for references from former students, the letters Cora, Zelena and Regina could send respectively...

[tigerpetals]

LJ isn't working on my laptop so I can't comment now--on the phone--but this was delightful!

[selenak]

It was an inspiring prompt!

[tigerpetals]

I love this, thank you! Both characters are such figures in their respective stories, even when it didn't seem that way at first. And I think it's interesting how Dumbledore chose to reject power but still had a lot of it in the Wizarding World, even if it was unofficial, to use for his purposes. Same with Rumplestiltskin, except for the rejecting power part (for the moment.) They're both so cold, but the one mostly presented as good is doing it for the big picture, and the one in the villain category is mostly driven by personal motives

[selenak]

It was a great prompt, thank you so much for giving it to me!

In the conversation Regina had with Robin last season where she tells him about the letter of Rumplestilskin's she found among her mothers' papers (the "dear Cora, I finally got my hands on your first born" letter), she even acknowledges openly that no matter their state of relationship, a part of her always drew comfort of reading what she thought was Rumple praising her. She is not dependent on it anymore, of course, but it'll always mean something to her that he was her mentor, and there is an emotional power there.

[lokifan]

he becomes a teacher, than a headmaster of the school where future wizards are shaped. Isn't this power, and the conviction of knowing that the greater good should be?

*nodnod* Absolutely. And he is at the centre of the old boys' network to end all old boys' networks...

I love your point about Draco.