Scholomance: A Series In Conversation With Harry Potter
(and often, that conversation is 'fuck you')
So I've seen posts (and made some myself), talking about how Scholomance is a response to Harry Potter, perhaps the most recent being this addition to a reblog chain of alternatives to the HP-series in light of Rowling's raging bigotry.
For folks who aren't familiar about the series, I think it's very possible you'll go "oh yeah because they're both in magic schools, sure". Or even "yeah all YA-adjacent fantasy in the last 20 years is influenced by Harry Potter, duh".
But no. I mean, specifically, the author Naomi Novik is a known fanfic writer who has spent years emersed in fandom, and I think she wrote the series in part as a response to critiques of the HP series. Some of this is more tongue-in-cheek playing with fandom specific tropes and ideas, but others I think are very insightful responses to how Rowling ended up creating a world based on British hegemony and replication of the status quo. Which isn't to say that the Scholomance series don't stand on their own-- I think they do!-- but if you were someone who grew up playing in that space, it'll have a whole other layer for you.
So, whether you've read the series, or are curious and want a spoiler-minimal break down, here's my thesis, starting with:
Harry X Draco
The two leads, El and Orion, are designed to parallel and reflect common tropes given to Harry and Draco in the HP fandom, though not necessarily in a one to one. Beyond the rivals-to-lovers romantic pairing, we have…
El: The protagonist, struggling against the perceptions of a prophecy, the social outcast, Angry and Scowly (Harry)
Takes on the roll of the apparently-evil nascent dark wizard who secretly has a heart of gold (Draco)
Orion: the golden boy, the hero (Harry)
Latin name, Comes from a powerful and established family, parent is a major villain, silvery-blonde (Draco)
Their relationship arc requires El to unpack that Orion's upbringing was not necessarily happy for all it was privileged, while Orion needs to recognise he had privilege in the first place, and other people had to struggle where he didn't-- which are common arcs in Draco/Harry fics.
HP Adults Are Useless
A constant (sometimes joking, sometimes serious) complaint of HP, was how the adults were functionally useless, requiring the kids to constantly save the day.
Honestly, I think this is just one of the fundamental elements of the genre: YA fiction will have Young Adults do the plot stuff.
Nonetheless, Scholomance has an elegant solution to the accidental byproduct of making the adults seem idiots and/or negligent—the adults can’t help, because there are none in the school.
Even once they graduate, it’s not so much that adults are useless per say; some are in fact quite helpful! But many of the most powerful have been co-opted by corrupt corporate systems, and those who haven’t are struggling with intense trauma that makes them unwilling to rock the boat.
Man, The Way HP Treats Muggles-Born Is Kinda Whack
Sure is!
Scholomance amps this up even more. Magical kids born of non-magical parents don’t last long. This is because young wizards are basically yummy mana snacks for monsters. The one “muggleborn” kid we hear about getting schlorped up by the Scholomance is said to have died painfully and messily due to any lack of knowledge, equipment, or allies. It encapsulates the failings of the current system.
Why Don’t Wizards Help Muggles?
As an extension of the last point, wizards in HP consistently treat non-magical people with disdain at best. At worst, they actively hurt them, as evidenced by stuff like innocent civilians suffering brain damage due to repeated memory wipes. They certainly don’t do anything like use their magic to help cure disease, duplicate and/or transport food, or provide clean energy, all of which seems easily within their power. The reasoning for this is pretty unexplored (bad blood from witch trials?) and seems kind of laughable given that the average witch or wizard should be able to easily overpower the average muggle.
Again, Scholomance has an elegant solution here: magic just doesn’t work around non-magical folks.
Rather, magic is powered, deep down, on the belief that it’ll work. And deep, deep down, normal people don’t believe magic is real. Monsters become weak in their presence; spells fizzle out. Indeed, a smart strategy for survival as a wizard is to hide yourself deep among non-magical crowds.
Otherwise, mana is expensive. Even if you could cast a cure-cancer spell in a mundane hospital with confidence it wouldn’t just fail, that would be prohibitively mana-hungry for all but the most secure Enclave wizards.
How Can There Be Any Material Poverty In The Wizarding World?
A lot of the HP books are obsessed with class. Like the Weasleys are poor. Really poor. They seem to struggle with basic expenses for food and clothes, let alone stuff like school supplies. How does that make any sense, when over the series, we see ability to near instantly repair items, replicate food, etc?
In Scholomance, poverty has nothing to do with material wealth over mundane things, like food and clothes. Indeed, it's explicitly said getting money is trivial. The currency is mana, which is what you need to cast any spells... Which is what you need to not get eaten by monsters.
HP’s Wizarding World Has So Few Jobs!
An oft-repeated critique of Rowling’s worldbuilding is that there were like, five jobs (teacher, cop, merchant, healer, and government official).
Scholomance’s worldbuilding focuses hugely on the wide variety of careers available in their world, with everyone very preoccupied with what job they’re going to take, since it actively impacts their survival both in and out of high school. We hear about maintenance workers, water sanitation, food scientists, doctors, artificers, gardeners, and more.
That said, everyone who graduates ends up being a skilled martial combatant, cuz if you aren’t, monsters eat you. Ouch.
… this probably has an impact on why wizard society, at large, is so combative and dog-eat-dog.
Why Are HP Spells Only In Latin?
All the spells the students learn in Hogwarts are Latin. IIRC, we might see some French and Nordic spells when other schools visit in book 4, but we get pretty much no world building an explanation. Why Latin? Out of universe, of course, it’s because it has associations with sophistication and academia and lost knowledge. By why in-universe? Do spells simply not work in English? What about other contemporary languages? Why would that matter at all? Do languages become magic if they're old enough? What's the logic here?
Scholomance answers all of these questions. Different languages have different schools and philosophies around spell crafting. While all contemporary languages have their own spells, anyone who wants to be competitive needs to learn spells from other languages, both modern and archaic. “The Language Track”, which El is on, is necessary for those who want to become particularly flexible and skilled spell-crafters.
Actually, HP’s Global Worldbuilding In General Is Either Non-Existent Or Downright Shitty
Sure fucking was.
As a refresher for those who never read the books or have just forgotten, the HP series is pretty disinterested in questions of what the so-called “wizarding world” looks like outside Europe, or even Britain. We get glimpses of French and Nordic wizards, as mentioned. We hear about dragons from a variety of countries; we know there’s “curse breaking” on Egyptian pyramids. That’s about it.
On the official HP extended lore site “Pottermore”, Rowling began to write short stories and other material to fill in the gaps. These were bad. Really bad. Things like there being a single wizarding school for all of China. Or the Indigenous witches and wizards of the Americas apparently not being very good at magic, until European wizards came, taught them how to make wands, and set up the first school on the continent (which every kid, presumably including Indigenous ones, go to.) Wow.
Again, Scholomance-- both the series and the titular school-- is designed to answer these critiques.
Why is there only one magical school? Because it was an incredibly complex and mana-hungry construction project.
Why is it so British and American in its design? Because those were the main builders/funders, and they intended to keep it for themselves... Until they realised they needed to put more kids in there to up the chances for their own childrens' survival.
But while Britain and America have an outsized impact on the school, they are not the only major players. International politics is a huge theme of the series, with Enclaves from all around the world fighting for power and influence. China in particular is becoming a rising star, and is pressuring for more seats in the school, or else they might break away and make one of their own. Everyone is bracing for an international wizard war that seems liable to start any moment.
Our protagonist, El, is of both Welsh and Indian descent, notably both nations that were colonized by the British. As the series goes on, that colonization becomes a major theme, arguably the one that underpins the whole series.
In order to counter this, El needs to cultivate friends and allies from all around the world. While I think it's telling that her first real friend ends up being a Desi-American girl, her core team ends up including folks from China, Germany, Malaysia, and more. All of these nations are shown to have their own cultural backgrounds and approaches to magic. Notably, the powerful ancient magical tome that holds the promise for potential peace, the Golden Sutras, are rooted in Indian culture, just like El.
Harry Potter Is Pretty Heteronormative, Huh?
Sure is. And while there were critiques of this even when the books were coming out, its failure there has become much more damning in hindsight given Rowling's descent into becoming perhaps the most politically active and powerful transphobe on the planet.
Sadly, I don't believe Scholomance has any explicit trans representation (though let me know if I'm forgetting something). I will say, though, that on top of having some background queer rep, El is bisexual, who has an on-page sexual relationship with another young woman. (I adore that whole relationship so much frankly, but it's kinda out side the scope here, so I'll leave that aside for now).
Status Quo
And then, the crux of it. Harry Potter, for all the series presented itself as a counter-cultural rebellion against a fascist take over, ends right where it started. Voldemort is defeated, sure, but none of the systems that led to his creation and rise to power are dismantle. Harry grows up to become a wizard cop, marries his high school sweet heart, and has three kids.
Without spoilers, Scholomance ends on a much more open note. There is no single villain to defeat. Fixing the system is a long, hard, slow process. The powers that be will try to block El and her allies at every turn. But she's still determined to try.
... PS
My Immortal
Galadriel Higgins is a goth who puts up her middle fingers at preps. The end.
When someone you love offers a bid for connection, you say yes every time. When someone sends you an article, a video, a funny post, it’s a bid for connection. They are trying to connect with you. When someone shares details about their day, their life, their thoughts, or their feelings with you, that is a bid for connection. They want to connect with you on a deeper level. They are trying to pull you into their world. If you love them, you say yes every time. Yes, even if the article they send is not particularly interesting to you. Yes, even if it means listening to them ramble about a game you don’t care about and think is stupid. Yes yes yes. And let’s hope they always say yes to your bids, too.
the amendment that "ended" slavery specifically left permission for slave labor as punishment for convinced criminals and our inmates have been legally exploited ever since, yes
"There's no thought crimes and no thought heroisms" is honestly such a good piece of life advice.
You could be having the most fucked up problematic thoughts 24/7 but if you treat people with kindness, the good you do is the only thing that matters. But if you have only the purest thoughts and all the correct beliefs, it doesn't matter one bit if you spend most of your time being an asshole to people.
Chapters: 5/?
Fandom: Project Hail Mary (2026), Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ryland Grace & Rocky, Ryland Grace & Eva Stratt, Ryland Grace & Original Eridian Characters, Ryland Grace & Rocky & Original Character(s)
Characters: Eva Stratt, Original Eridian Characters (Project Hail Mary), Rocky (Project Hail Mary), Ryland Grace
Additional Tags: Ryland Grace Returns to Earth, Eridians on Earth (Project Hail Mary), Emotional Baggage, Ryland Grace and Rocky are Platonic Soulmates, Codependent Ryland Grace and Rocky, Ryland Grace Misses Rocky, Tumblr Prompt, Character Study, Introspection, Complicated Relationships, eva stratt and ryland grace have a complicated relationship, no taumoeba leaks, Ryland Grace doesnt go back for Rocky, Canon Divergence - Ryland Grace Returns to Earth Instead of Going to Erid, what happens next will shock you
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: Project Hail Mary (2026), Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ryland Grace & Rocky, Ryland Grace & Eva Stratt, Ryland Grace & Original Eridian Characters, Ryland Grace & Rocky & Original Character(s)
Characters: Eva Stratt, Original Eridian Characters (Project Hail Mary), Rocky (Project Hail Mary), Ryland Grace
Additional Tags: Ryland Grace Returns to Earth, Eridians on Earth (Project Hail Mary), Emotional Baggage, Ryland Grace and Rocky are Platonic Soulmates, Codependent Ryland Grace and Rocky, Ryland Grace Misses Rocky, Tumblr Prompt, Character Study, Introspection, Complicated Relationships, eva stratt and ryland grace have a complicated relationship, no taumoeba leaks, Ryland Grace doesnt go back for Rocky, Canon Divergence - Ryland Grace Returns to Earth Instead of Going to Erid, what happens next will shock you
Summary:
“Dr. Grace, I will be frank. The frequency is behaving in a steady manner, not guided by any gravitational pull towards any other planet…except Earth. It is too far away to catch a quality satellite images, but we think this may be–”
“–a vessel using astrophage as fuel.” Grace finished quietly. He studied the image, an infrared camera’s picture, a red streak in a sea of darkness that ended abruptly. He zoomed in on the image, as far as it would go and then some, fingers braced on the glass to keep the image enhanced, but it was too dark to see anything at the tail of the red streak. “You think it’s an alien ship.”
Grace swiped his finger across the screen and physically recoiled at the image, the desk chair wheeling back with him almost a foot. “Eridian. That’s an Eridian ship, I’m sure of it.”
-
Grace with no video logs, with no xenonite failure, who comes back to Earth as Rocky comes back to Erid, heart full but missing a very distinct piece. there’s a deepset something in his eyes that has nothing to do with Stratt’s actions being revealed or the press or adjusting to earth again. (@ on Tumblr)
Based on @not-equippedforthis post
Beta-ed by @maliciously-delicious and @allium-sympathy
thinking about eva stratt crafting a coffin for her friends. the very best coffin, full of every piece of pirated media the entire world has to offer. crafted for maximum comfort, this coffin, with every bit of authority available to her, which is all of it.
and then thinking about all the people who call her cold or uncaring or clinical about what she has to do to save earth. eva stratt, who had silly t-shirts and vodka and favorite meals stored in the Hail Mary and treated with the same level of importance as the finely tuned equipment and the centrifuge the entire planet relies on for salvation.
and then thinking about eva stratt nodding and saying, “yeah, I’m pretty awful. that’s why i’m in charge” with a neutral expression and even believing it. as if crafting the most beautiful coffin and homage to her soon-to-be dead friends won’t haunt her always.
thinking about eva stratt being the first person on the “eva stratt is a monster” train, welcoming ryland grace aboard and knowing she believed in him more than anyone else.
it’s fine, really it’s fine and normal and eva stratt makes beautiful coffins for the people and things she cares about.
“Dr. Grace, I will be frank. The frequency is behaving in a steady manner, not guided by any gravitational pull towards any other planet…except Earth. It is too far away to catch a quality satellite images, but we think this may be–” “–a vessel using astrophage as fuel.” Grace finished quietly. He studied the image, an infrared camera’s picture, a red streak in a sea of darkness that ended abruptly. He zoomed in on the image, as far as it would go and then some, fingers braced on the glass to keep the image enhanced, but it was too dark to see anything at the tail of the red streak. “You think it’s an alien ship.” Grace swiped his finger across the screen and physically recoiled at the image, the desk chair wheeling back with him almost a foot. “Eridian. That’s an Eridian ship, I’m sure of it.”
Chapters: 4/?
Fandom: Project Hail Mary (2026), Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ryland Grace & Rocky, Ryland Grace & Eva Stratt, Ryland Grace & Original Eridian Characters, Ryland Grace & Rocky & Original Character(s)
Characters: Eva Stratt, Original Eridian Characters (Project Hail Mary), Rocky (Project Hail Mary), Ryland Grace
Additional Tags: Ryland Grace Returns to Earth, Eridians on Earth (Project Hail Mary), Emotional Baggage, Ryland Grace and Rocky are Platonic Soulmates, Codependent Ryland Grace and Rocky, Ryland Grace Misses Rocky, Tumblr Prompt, Character Study, Introspection, Complicated Relationships, eva stratt and ryland grace have a complicated relationship, no taumoeba leaks, Ryland Grace doesnt go back for Rocky, Canon Divergence - Ryland Grace Returns to Earth Instead of Going to Erid, what happens next will shock you
Chapters 1-4 are posted! I am working on Chapter 5 as we speak. Writing has felt so good and I am so excited to be working on this. (Long story short I am living at an internship rn and have a lot of downtime!)
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: Project Hail Mary (2026), Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ryland Grace & Rocky, Ryland Grace & Eva Stratt, Ryland Grace & Original Eridian Characters, Ryland Grace & Rocky & Original Character(s)
Characters: Eva Stratt, Original Eridian Characters (Project Hail Mary), Rocky (Project Hail Mary), Ryland Grace
Additional Tags: Ryland Grace Returns to Earth, Eridians on Earth (Project Hail Mary), Emotional Baggage, Ryland Grace and Rocky are Platonic Soulmates, Codependent Ryland Grace and Rocky, Ryland Grace Misses Rocky, Tumblr Prompt, Character Study, Introspection, Complicated Relationships, eva stratt and ryland grace have a complicated relationship, no taumoeba leaks, Ryland Grace doesnt go back for Rocky, Canon Divergence - Ryland Grace Returns to Earth Instead of Going to Erid, what happens next will shock you
Summary:
“Dr. Grace, I will be frank. The frequency is behaving in a steady manner, not guided by any gravitational pull towards any other planet…except Earth. It is too far away to catch a quality satellite images, but we think this may be–”
“–a vessel using astrophage as fuel.” Grace finished quietly. He studied the image, an infrared camera’s picture, a red streak in a sea of darkness that ended abruptly. He zoomed in on the image, as far as it would go and then some, fingers braced on the glass to keep the image enhanced, but it was too dark to see anything at the tail of the red streak. “You think it’s an alien ship.”
Grace swiped his finger across the screen and physically recoiled at the image, the desk chair wheeling back with him almost a foot. “Eridian. That’s an Eridian ship, I’m sure of it.”
-
Grace with no video logs, with no xenonite failure, who comes back to Earth as Rocky comes back to Erid, heart full but missing a very distinct piece. there’s a deepset something in his eyes that has nothing to do with Stratt’s actions being revealed or the press or adjusting to earth again. (@ on Tumblr)
Based on @not-equippedforthis post
Beta-ed by @maliciously-delicious and @allium-sympathy
Ryland Grace did not remember much of his journey back to Earth. The time dilation, malnutrition, and isolation had maybe made him a little mad. He was sure he had watched a lot of television and movies in the weeks, months, years that passed as the Hail Mary navigated her way home. Played a lot of Super Mario, got really good at Solitaire and Minesweeper.
He had slept most of the time, especially towards the end. The coma slurry (or curry, as he had seen fit to call it, so at least he could fantasize of real food) had lasted him towards the end, but just barely. He had diminished his portions from three-quarters to two-thirds to half the needed intake over time, trying to convince himself he was getting used to the cramps and gurgles of his stomach, but the constant fatigue was the only respite.
Grace had considered reentering the coma but…he just couldn’t do it. It wasn’t just the fear he would join Yáo and Ilyukhina amongst the stars, sure his luck would finally run out. Logically, he assured himself, he would need to stay conscious in case the ship ran into any trouble. There certainly wasn’t anyone else to do it. And he didn’t know if he could modify the nannybot to ration the curry to keep him alive the whole trip. And…he just couldn’t. So he didn’t.
Doctor Captain Ryland Grace was pretty sure he had talked most of the trip home. Awake, he would mutter to an unseen audience. Sometimes it was his Life Science students as he explained the importance of checking on their microbiome breeder tanks regularly, even if after a year and a half of his journey home he was certain everything was stable and contained. There’s no such thing as what? Silence greeted him. That’s right. No such thing as too meticulous, not in the wonderful world of bacteria.
Sometimes it was Yáo and Ilyukhina, as he pondered how Earth had changed between their departure and now. Would there even be humans to return to? Stratt had backup plans on backup plans, he would assure the ghosts with as much confidence as he could muster. They’re alive. Maybe not how we remember them, but they’re waiting for us.
Most of the time, though, it was Rocky he spoke to. It was Rocky who haunted his waking hours, in the same way Stratt haunted his dreams. Rocky was a pleasant guest, at least. He found himself looking over his shoulder, expecting to see Rocky’s ball barreling around a corner or see him scuttling through the various corridors he had erected during their shared time. Rock, Grace would call as his fingers flew across the buttons of the controller, I’m about to beat this guy’s butt, come see.
No, he explained to his friend as The Wizard of Oz illuminated the dark, vacuous sleeping quarters. It’s unique because the movie changes from black and white to color! It’s like if…if you went from hearing one tone at a time to four or five, all at once.
I swear, buddy, I’m good. He would mumble in the state between waking and dreaming, when the spaces between his ribs were hollow and his tongue was always a little too big for his mouth. Jussa bad dream. Or stomach cramps. I’m fine, I promise. Can you check the tanks for me?
Grace’s flight suits hung off him in the end; he was glad he had kept Ilyukhina’s clothes. The sleeves were too short, but that was just fine. The burns on his arms, as rippled and irregular as Adrian had looked from the portholes of Hail Mary, kept him company. They were a reminder that it had all been real. He had really found the solution to the Petrova problem, to the Earth’s near-apocalyptic event. He had really met an alien, become friends with it, learned a new language, made first contact, not just once or twice but three times, if you counted discovering the taumoeba. And he did, sue him.
Ryland Grace almost didn’t survive his return trip to Earth.
He remembered sending the beetles ahead of him as late as he dared, which ended up being T-9 months to terra firma. Mary had not been designed to…well, to land. He knew she would be too big to reenter the atmosphere safely and was fairly certain the reentry would kill him anyways.
He didn’t remember the extra note he had stashed in Ringo, thin shaky letters that read ‘did it. coming back. help me.’
He didn’t remember the barrage of radio signals when he was practically in spitting distance of Sol; English, Russian, and Mandarin echoing through his ears at earsplitting levels after years of quiet. He didn’t remember the space station that had attached itself to his airlock, the IVs inserted into his wrists, the mask he wrestled off his face every time they tried to affix it.
He didn’t remember his reentry into his atmosphere and the sparse medical bay he lay in, surrounded by security and the low drone of medical equipment. Later, he would suppose it was fitting. He didn't remember leaving Earth either, so why should he remember returning?
He didn’t remember the death grip he kept on the model of himself Rocky had given him so long ago. He didn’t remember begging for Rocky to stay, to watch him sleep. He didn’t remember why his friend couldn’t hear him.
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: Project Hail Mary (2026), Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ryland Grace & Rocky, Ryland Grace & Eva Stratt, Ryland Grace & Original Eridian Characters, Ryland Grace & Rocky & Original Character(s)
Characters: Eva Stratt, Original Eridian Characters (Project Hail Mary), Rocky (Project Hail Mary), Ryland Grace
Additional Tags: Ryland Grace Returns to Earth, Eridians on Earth (Project Hail Mary), Emotional Baggage, Ryland Grace and Rocky are Platonic Soulmates, Codependent Ryland Grace and Rocky, Ryland Grace Misses Rocky, Tumblr Prompt, Character Study, Introspection, Complicated Relationships, eva stratt and ryland grace have a complicated relationship, no taumoeba leaks, Ryland Grace doesnt go back for Rocky, Canon Divergence - Ryland Grace Returns to Earth Instead of Going to Erid, what happens next will shock you
Summary:
“Dr. Grace, I will be frank. The frequency is behaving in a steady manner, not guided by any gravitational pull towards any other planet…except Earth. It is too far away to catch a quality satellite images, but we think this may be–”
“–a vessel using astrophage as fuel.” Grace finished quietly. He studied the image, an infrared camera’s picture, a red streak in a sea of darkness that ended abruptly. He zoomed in on the image, as far as it would go and then some, fingers braced on the glass to keep the image enhanced, but it was too dark to see anything at the tail of the red streak. “You think it’s an alien ship.”
Grace swiped his finger across the screen and physically recoiled at the image, the desk chair wheeling back with him almost a foot. “Eridian. That’s an Eridian ship, I’m sure of it.”
-
Grace with no video logs, with no xenonite failure, who comes back to Earth as Rocky comes back to Erid, heart full but missing a very distinct piece. there's a deepset something in his eyes that has nothing to do with Stratt's actions being revealed or the press or adjusting to earth again. (@ on Tumblr)
Based on @not-equippedforthis post
Beta-ed by @maliciously-delicious and @allium-sympathy
