fandom | louisetaylorlove

I’m a Trekkie, a Pot-Head and a WingNut and I wear those labels proudly. They represent three different sets of stories that I’ve loved for a long time and I’ll happily chat for hours about any of them. I’m a Browncoat, too, and I’ve been a Slayerette. I’m an Adventurekateer and a Whovian and if there was a name for fans of Paddington bear, I’d be one of those too. He has a very unnerving stare, you know.

What do Game of Thrones fans call themselves? I ask because I’ve been reading the books since they were first published and I watch the TV show with an excitement that borders of the ridiculous. I’ve never dabbled in the fandom though, until recently. I think it’s because I’m not sure which fandom I want to be in; there is a significant difference between the books and the TV show. I’ve been listening to a few podcasts about the books, and it’s made me fascinated by the backstory that George RR Martin, the Great Glacier himself, has created for his vast fantasy world. It’s irritating that the one podcast I can find that specifically talks about the history of Westeros has a host that I can’t stand, and even more irritating that my favourite book-related podcast is actually going on hiatus during the new TV season and joining the irritating host on his podcast, but I suppose I’ll have to grit my teeth and bear it.

Just like I know what house I’d be Sorted into at Hogwarts (not Gryffindor, sadly) I’m pretty sure which House I’d be a member of in the books. Or, at least, I know which House I’d like to be associated with.

In reality I’d probably be a peasant who dies of some horrible illness or is murdered by a rampaging army during the War of the Five Kings. Of all the places to live in Westeros, I think Dorne is the best. It’s semi-indpendent from King’s Landing, in no little amount due to the actions of the Rhoynish warrior queen Nymeria, who brought her people to Dorne, married its prince and ruled it after his death. It has better weather and wine than the rest of Westeros, women seem to be more highly respected there (probably because of Nymeria’s influence) and the men seem to be unreasonably attractive. RIP Prince Oberyn, His Royal Hotness. I like the motto of House Martell is Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken, which is my favourite of all the mottos.

So, Dorne it is. The next time I see a shirt on Tee Fury with the Martell motto on it, I’m buying it to wear during my rewatch of the show or re-read of the books.

I still don’t know what fans of the book or show call themselves, though. Anybody know?

Apparently Tumblr went crazy over a short video of a dad and a son having a really cool time with a trombone and an oven door. I missed it completely, not understanding how Tumblr works and all.

That prompted fan artists to go a bit crazy and put their favourite pairings in a trombone/oven door cartoon, asking who would be playing the trombone and who would be slamming the hell out of an oven door. There’s a funny Scully/Mulder one – no prizes for guessing who gets to play the trombone in that pairing. All this, however, was completely unknown to me.

Then, thanks to Buzzfeed and a round up of funny Harry Potter Tumblr posts, I came upon this gem:

A Tumblr poster asked what Hermione was doing on the train when Ron and Harry were flying to Hogwarts in The Chamber of Secrets. This was posted in response, by this Tumblr user.

Now, remember, I had completely missed all the fuss over the video of the dad and the son having a blast in the kitchen. I had no idea what this cartoon was referencing. Yet somehow, the idea that in the absence of her best friends Hermione would take the opportunity to let rip on her trombone, with Crookshanks backing her up on oven door, just made me laugh outrageously. Yes, I know, Crookshanks didn’t appear until The Prisoner of Azkaban, but I’m still laughing at his shades so I’m going to let it go.

I think the reason that I laughed so much – and still do, it’s my phone home screen – is that I just love the character of Hermione so much. She’s plunged, age 11, into a completely different world, a world unlike anything she’s ever known before, and she just throws herself into trying to understand it, and excel in it. She doesn’t let anything stop her or get in her way of being the best witch she can be, even when she’s ostracised by her classmates. That’s why she’s a Gryffindor – somebody else, from a Muggle family completely separate from the wizarding world, might be too overwhelmed to cope with all the changes you’d need to make to fit in with a whole new life. Not Hermione, though – she went at it warp speed. It takes bravery to reinvent your life like that.

So, that’s why I laugh when I see this silly cartoon, based on a sillier 15 second video, because I’m pretty sure that when life hands Hermione lemons, she breaks out her trombone and rocks out. Once again, Hermione is an inspiration. And she looks pretty damn good in a pair of sunglasses, too.

(Just in case you were wondering, I think Annabelle Spencer (now Duchess of Rothmuir) would definitely be the one rocking the trombone, while her husband Daniel banged the hell out of the oven door.)

passionate about the past