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ship_manifestoTitle: One of the Rarest: Blaise Zabini and Tom Riddle.
By: Starkiller.
Fandom: Harry Potter.
Pairing: Blaise Zabini/Tom Riddle.
Spoilers: N/A.
Word count: 1759.
This essay is to explain why I and a handful of other writers enjoy the slash pairing of Blaise Zabini and Tom Riddle. I will start by saying that this is a very rare pairing; I only know of half a dozen others besides myself who write the pairing. How I came to enjoy the pairing is a somewhat long and drawn out tale, that isn't really relevant, but it did present all sorts of challenges as regards creating believable stories wherein the two characters could be together.
What we know in canon about Blaise Zabini has, until the publication of 'Half Blood Prince,' been only a name, gender and a House. We know from the Sorting Hat scene in 'The Philosopher's Stone' that Blaise is Sorted into Slytherin. He is mentioned only in one line in that novel and we do not see Blaise again until 'Half Blood Prince.' There was some debate in the fandom as to what gender Blaise actually was, as it was not stated until the publication of the novels in Portuguese and J. K. Rowling being asked for the proper gender pronouns for the translation. It was then that we learnt that Blaise was indeed male, and it was this discovery that gave writers one more piece of information about him. Prior to this, Blaise had been written in fanfic and role play games as both male and female; I chose to write him as male.
We did not have anything else to work with in the canon, and so for years, those of us who wrote Blaise Zabini developed a background, personality and an idea of what he would look like. He was one step up from an original character based in a canon universe, in that we knew his House – Slytherin, his name and his gender. Beyond that, he was a carte blanche and so we could invent a detailed background for him as we saw fit. With 'Half Blood Prince,' it was revealed that Blaise was black, his mother was something of a 'black widow' with a string of dead husbands behind her, he was extremely handsome and he had a dislike of Muggles and Mudbloods much like that of his contemporary, Draco Malfoy. He is described as a "tall black boy with high cheekbones and long, slanting eyes."[1] Ginny describes him a poseur and Blaise is a member of the Slug Club, a group of students considered to be the favourites of newly arrived Professor Slughorn, Potions Master.
Tom Riddle, however, is a character we have far more information on. We know from the canon that he was a handsome young man, a talented wizard and that his mother died in childbirth. Most of the revelations regarding the early life of Tom Riddle come from 'Half Blood Prince.' His mother was Merope Gaunt, one of the last survivors of the line of Slytherin, who married the Muggle, Tom Riddle, and bore him a son. Their marriage was based on a lie and the son returned to the father's home to kill him in his later years at Hogwarts. We know that Tom Riddle Jr. was popular, was also a member of the Slug Club like Blaise, and that he yearned for power and knowledge.
In 'Chamber of Secrets,' Ginny Weasley has a diary that belonged to Tom Riddle and communicates with his shade within the diary and becomes possessed by him. Harry also communicates with his shade within the diary when investigating the Chamber of Secrets, and when it seems that Tom Riddle may return from the diary into the world of the living, the diary is stabbed with a basilisk fang, thereby killing both book and Tom Riddle.
Tom Riddle was raised in a Muggle orphanage and was considered a strange boy who could make nasty things happen. He had a penchant for theft and was considered to blame for the death of a pet rabbit belonging to one of the other orphans. As a sixteen year old, Tom was described as "having jet black hair; a tall, black-haired boy; handsome; dark eyes. Distinguishing features: long fingers; high-pitched, cold laugh." [2] When he was visited by Dumbledore at the orphanage, Tom was not aware he was a wizard, but he was aware that he had powers. "I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals do what I want them to do, without training them. I can make bad things happen to people who annoy me. I can make them hurt if I want to." [3] He created the diary in his sixth year according to 'Chamber of Secrets' and 'Half Blood Prince,' and was a Prefect, Head Boy, and won an award for services to the school. According to Dumbledore, Tom was "one of the most brilliant students Hogwarts has ever seen." [4] After Hogwarts, Tom went to work for Borgin and Burkes, and collected several artefacts related to the four founders of Hogwarts – Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. He was fascinated with immortality and beguiled information about Horcruxes out of Professor Slughorn.
Not much is known about what Tom did after he left Borgin and Burkes, but when he reappeared, he was no longer Tom Riddle but Lord Voldemort. He applied to become the Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, but his application was rejected by Dumbledore after first being rejected by Dumbledore's predecessor, Armando Dippet. As Lord Voldemort, Tom formed the Death Eater movement and set about restoring pureblood wizards as the supreme and ruling group of the Wizarding World. This aim put him at direct odds with Dumbledore and there was a war between the two. Voldemort was only halted in his quest when he attempted to kill the baby Harry Potter in 1980 and failed.
So that is how canon presents the two characters that I 'ship. Bringing the two together, given that Tom Riddle is Voldemort in Blaise's lifetime leads to some use of the time travel plot device or the de-aging of Voldemort plot device. As they say, where there is a will, there is a way. The character of Blaise is probably the only character in the books that is written in fanfic as equally a black teen and a white teen. Many authors have explained this and say that it does not mean anything more sinister than being accustomed to writing Blaise one way and finding it difficult or impossible to suddenly change how they have written him after having written him that one way for so long. When 'Half Blood Prince' came out, there was a lot of race debate regarding this, but thankfully that seems to have calmed down. [Cite.]
There is no direct evidence to suggest that within canon or subtextual readings of the text that the two characters can and should be paired for the purpose of fan works. However, that is also the case for a lot of well loved pairings, including but not limited to, Tom Riddle and Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley, Lucius Malfoy and Fenrir, Alastor Moody and Fenrir, Percy Weasley and Bellatrix Black-L'Estrange, Ginny Weasley and Bellatrix Black-L'estrange. When the subtext is either limited or not present, then the imagination can make do and creativity is encouraged and enjoyed in the creation of fan works with such diverse and non subtextually evident pairings.
So why then do I enjoy writing and reading Tom Riddle paired with Blaise Zabini, whether he is canon-Blaise or fanon-Blaise? For me, it is the constant challenge of the 'what if?' scenario. We know that in the canon, Tom Riddle gives the appearance of having no interest in love or romance, being more concerned with cheating death. The idea of 'what if someone loved Tom?' is one that intrigues me and leads me down the merry path of the alternate universe. It is interesting to investigate how a character that has not known love and does not have any understanding it as a youth would react to it when it was given to him.
I hesitate to refer to the films as canon, perhaps they are better referred to as secondary sources to the primary text. However, we know from the film credits that J. K. Rowling herself is the script consultant for the films, and has said in interviews that she has been thrilled with the way the scripts have been written. There is a line in the film of 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' that has led me to wonder if Voldemort's supposed lack of understanding of the nature of love is indeed a lack or if it is that he had never sought it but did indeed understand it. "Something I had not foreseen, although I should have… it is old magic, Harry, the love your mother had for you allowed you to live."[5] I find this line endlessly fascinating in the possibilities for depth of the characterisation of Voldemort. It is clear from this line of dialogue that he indeed understands the nature of love, certainly enough to have foreseen its power when dealing with the Potter's.
Sadly, there is not much in the way of fan fiction featuring the pairing of Tom Riddle and Blaise Zabini, but there are some interesting pieces nonetheless. A brief reader's guide can be found here.
Essays.
Love and Death in Harry Potter by Paul Spilsbury, 2006.
Harry Potter and the Good Life by Steven S. Tigner, 2002, 2006.
Who Sent the Valentine? by David Frankis, 2001.
Parallels, Shipping and Betrayal by Calliope, 2006.
Lord Voldemort: Quick Facts by Lisa Waite Bunker, 2006.
Discussions.
Canon Blaise versus Fanon Blaise by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kendas.
Fanart.
Fanon Blaise byodyssey01
I Hate the Cold byodyssey01
Canon Blaise byodyssey01
Fan fiction.
Like Nothing at All bygreenapricot, R.
Pleasures byg_shadowslayer, NC17.
Tom's Headache Remedy #15 byg_shadowslayer, NC17.
Seducing the Serpent byg_shadowslayer, NC17.
Rated R For Abstract Sex byg_shadowslayer
Pen and Ink bykashuarashi, R.
1. Rowling, J. K., Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, chapter 7, 2005.
2. HP Lexicon, 2005.
3. Rowling, J. K., Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, chapter 13, 2005.
4. Rowling, J. K., Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, chapter 18, 1998
5. Warner Bros, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, film, 2005.
By: Starkiller.
Fandom: Harry Potter.
Pairing: Blaise Zabini/Tom Riddle.
Spoilers: N/A.
Word count: 1759.
This essay is to explain why I and a handful of other writers enjoy the slash pairing of Blaise Zabini and Tom Riddle. I will start by saying that this is a very rare pairing; I only know of half a dozen others besides myself who write the pairing. How I came to enjoy the pairing is a somewhat long and drawn out tale, that isn't really relevant, but it did present all sorts of challenges as regards creating believable stories wherein the two characters could be together.
What we know in canon about Blaise Zabini has, until the publication of 'Half Blood Prince,' been only a name, gender and a House. We know from the Sorting Hat scene in 'The Philosopher's Stone' that Blaise is Sorted into Slytherin. He is mentioned only in one line in that novel and we do not see Blaise again until 'Half Blood Prince.' There was some debate in the fandom as to what gender Blaise actually was, as it was not stated until the publication of the novels in Portuguese and J. K. Rowling being asked for the proper gender pronouns for the translation. It was then that we learnt that Blaise was indeed male, and it was this discovery that gave writers one more piece of information about him. Prior to this, Blaise had been written in fanfic and role play games as both male and female; I chose to write him as male.
We did not have anything else to work with in the canon, and so for years, those of us who wrote Blaise Zabini developed a background, personality and an idea of what he would look like. He was one step up from an original character based in a canon universe, in that we knew his House – Slytherin, his name and his gender. Beyond that, he was a carte blanche and so we could invent a detailed background for him as we saw fit. With 'Half Blood Prince,' it was revealed that Blaise was black, his mother was something of a 'black widow' with a string of dead husbands behind her, he was extremely handsome and he had a dislike of Muggles and Mudbloods much like that of his contemporary, Draco Malfoy. He is described as a "tall black boy with high cheekbones and long, slanting eyes."[1] Ginny describes him a poseur and Blaise is a member of the Slug Club, a group of students considered to be the favourites of newly arrived Professor Slughorn, Potions Master.
Tom Riddle, however, is a character we have far more information on. We know from the canon that he was a handsome young man, a talented wizard and that his mother died in childbirth. Most of the revelations regarding the early life of Tom Riddle come from 'Half Blood Prince.' His mother was Merope Gaunt, one of the last survivors of the line of Slytherin, who married the Muggle, Tom Riddle, and bore him a son. Their marriage was based on a lie and the son returned to the father's home to kill him in his later years at Hogwarts. We know that Tom Riddle Jr. was popular, was also a member of the Slug Club like Blaise, and that he yearned for power and knowledge.
In 'Chamber of Secrets,' Ginny Weasley has a diary that belonged to Tom Riddle and communicates with his shade within the diary and becomes possessed by him. Harry also communicates with his shade within the diary when investigating the Chamber of Secrets, and when it seems that Tom Riddle may return from the diary into the world of the living, the diary is stabbed with a basilisk fang, thereby killing both book and Tom Riddle.
Tom Riddle was raised in a Muggle orphanage and was considered a strange boy who could make nasty things happen. He had a penchant for theft and was considered to blame for the death of a pet rabbit belonging to one of the other orphans. As a sixteen year old, Tom was described as "having jet black hair; a tall, black-haired boy; handsome; dark eyes. Distinguishing features: long fingers; high-pitched, cold laugh." [2] When he was visited by Dumbledore at the orphanage, Tom was not aware he was a wizard, but he was aware that he had powers. "I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals do what I want them to do, without training them. I can make bad things happen to people who annoy me. I can make them hurt if I want to." [3] He created the diary in his sixth year according to 'Chamber of Secrets' and 'Half Blood Prince,' and was a Prefect, Head Boy, and won an award for services to the school. According to Dumbledore, Tom was "one of the most brilliant students Hogwarts has ever seen." [4] After Hogwarts, Tom went to work for Borgin and Burkes, and collected several artefacts related to the four founders of Hogwarts – Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. He was fascinated with immortality and beguiled information about Horcruxes out of Professor Slughorn.
Not much is known about what Tom did after he left Borgin and Burkes, but when he reappeared, he was no longer Tom Riddle but Lord Voldemort. He applied to become the Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, but his application was rejected by Dumbledore after first being rejected by Dumbledore's predecessor, Armando Dippet. As Lord Voldemort, Tom formed the Death Eater movement and set about restoring pureblood wizards as the supreme and ruling group of the Wizarding World. This aim put him at direct odds with Dumbledore and there was a war between the two. Voldemort was only halted in his quest when he attempted to kill the baby Harry Potter in 1980 and failed.
So that is how canon presents the two characters that I 'ship. Bringing the two together, given that Tom Riddle is Voldemort in Blaise's lifetime leads to some use of the time travel plot device or the de-aging of Voldemort plot device. As they say, where there is a will, there is a way. The character of Blaise is probably the only character in the books that is written in fanfic as equally a black teen and a white teen. Many authors have explained this and say that it does not mean anything more sinister than being accustomed to writing Blaise one way and finding it difficult or impossible to suddenly change how they have written him after having written him that one way for so long. When 'Half Blood Prince' came out, there was a lot of race debate regarding this, but thankfully that seems to have calmed down. [Cite.]
There is no direct evidence to suggest that within canon or subtextual readings of the text that the two characters can and should be paired for the purpose of fan works. However, that is also the case for a lot of well loved pairings, including but not limited to, Tom Riddle and Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley, Lucius Malfoy and Fenrir, Alastor Moody and Fenrir, Percy Weasley and Bellatrix Black-L'Estrange, Ginny Weasley and Bellatrix Black-L'estrange. When the subtext is either limited or not present, then the imagination can make do and creativity is encouraged and enjoyed in the creation of fan works with such diverse and non subtextually evident pairings.
So why then do I enjoy writing and reading Tom Riddle paired with Blaise Zabini, whether he is canon-Blaise or fanon-Blaise? For me, it is the constant challenge of the 'what if?' scenario. We know that in the canon, Tom Riddle gives the appearance of having no interest in love or romance, being more concerned with cheating death. The idea of 'what if someone loved Tom?' is one that intrigues me and leads me down the merry path of the alternate universe. It is interesting to investigate how a character that has not known love and does not have any understanding it as a youth would react to it when it was given to him.
I hesitate to refer to the films as canon, perhaps they are better referred to as secondary sources to the primary text. However, we know from the film credits that J. K. Rowling herself is the script consultant for the films, and has said in interviews that she has been thrilled with the way the scripts have been written. There is a line in the film of 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' that has led me to wonder if Voldemort's supposed lack of understanding of the nature of love is indeed a lack or if it is that he had never sought it but did indeed understand it. "Something I had not foreseen, although I should have… it is old magic, Harry, the love your mother had for you allowed you to live."[5] I find this line endlessly fascinating in the possibilities for depth of the characterisation of Voldemort. It is clear from this line of dialogue that he indeed understands the nature of love, certainly enough to have foreseen its power when dealing with the Potter's.
Sadly, there is not much in the way of fan fiction featuring the pairing of Tom Riddle and Blaise Zabini, but there are some interesting pieces nonetheless. A brief reader's guide can be found here.
Essays.
Love and Death in Harry Potter by Paul Spilsbury, 2006.
Harry Potter and the Good Life by Steven S. Tigner, 2002, 2006.
Who Sent the Valentine? by David Frankis, 2001.
Parallels, Shipping and Betrayal by Calliope, 2006.
Lord Voldemort: Quick Facts by Lisa Waite Bunker, 2006.
Discussions.
Canon Blaise versus Fanon Blaise by
kendas. Fanart.
Fanon Blaise by
odyssey01I Hate the Cold by
odyssey01Canon Blaise by
odyssey01Fan fiction.
Like Nothing at All by
greenapricot, R.Pleasures by
g_shadowslayer, NC17.Tom's Headache Remedy #15 by
g_shadowslayer, NC17.Seducing the Serpent by
g_shadowslayer, NC17.Rated R For Abstract Sex by
g_shadowslayerPen and Ink by
kashuarashi, R.1. Rowling, J. K., Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, chapter 7, 2005.
2. HP Lexicon, 2005.
3. Rowling, J. K., Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, chapter 13, 2005.
4. Rowling, J. K., Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, chapter 18, 1998
5. Warner Bros, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, film, 2005.
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