Merula Snyde.
Okay so I am just super annoyed right now and I honestly just need to type all of this out and post it, I need to vent.
(also spoilers for Hogwarts Mystery) (and this shit probably gonna be long too.)
So if people don’t know I’ve been playing Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery. I’ve always liked Harry Potter and the Universe (fuck JK to the extreme tho). So naturally when this game first came out years ago I jumped on the train and never looked back. It’s one of the only games I play religiously, and it’s extremely cathartic and comforting for me to immerse in the gameplay.
I am currently in Year 6 ch. 23, and I just got finished with a task that ended with Merula blaming my MC for Rowan’s death and I just have to say seeing that is like the last straw for me with her lol. Merula stans can come for me, but I have NEVER liked her from the start of the game and she is a person that I completely despise having her in the game.
She’s cruel, she’s a bully, and she’s a bitch. I don’t understand how anyone can like her, how she has fans/stans, and how anyone can defend her behavior at this point. I get liking a villain because yeah there are some villainous characters that I have a liking towards simply because I like them as a villain usually, and also because I admire their power. What I don’t do is try to defend that villain as a good person, as a “misunderstood” character who is the “real” victim, and gloss over all the awful things they did, and continue to do.
The fact that she even has the nerve to say ANYTHING negative to MC regarding Rowan’s death is disgusting and it just shows she has no sense of empathy for literally anyone. And then she has even more nerve to blame BEN of all people for it as well, like I was literally speechless when I read the dialogue. Lets break this down.
It’s been obviously shown that the MC is not okay. Through the dialogue in the classes and tasks it’s revealed that they cry a lot, are not getting any sleep because they are having nightmares, and I’m willing to bet that they aren’t eating/ eating very little. They already feel extremely guilty about the entire situation not to mention that they so much other shit on their plate (quidditch, classes, Circle of Khanna, training,) and they are literally struggling trying to keep it together and trying to be a leader for everyone.
Ben is even worse. He blames himself to but to an even larger extent because he was the one Rowan was saving. He is MC’s condition but like times five. He’s training himself to the point of unconciousness daily, and I think he mentioned that Rowans death is always on his mind 24/7.
So for Merula to blame both of them is such a fucking low blow, it’s so unnecessarily cruel. People will say oh she’s a child dealing with trauma and she’s lashing out, it’s not her fault. But can you imagine being a child with that same trauma HEARING that? It would send them spiraling even more than they already were. Literally just imagine your friend dying to save you and someone has the nerve to blame you, it’s fucking insane. And Merula was already a cruel bully even before Rowan’s death. At this point I just think she’s projecting her guilty feelings onto Ben and MC because like does she not remember how she was when Rowan was alive or??? She was a complete and total bully to everyone around her, especially MC, Rowan, and Ben. She never had ONE nice thing to say about Rowan, and took every opportunity she got to be so mean to everyone and make their lives harder. But now she thinks she can speak on Rowan.
And anytime in the game you get a chance to actually tell Merula about herself she pulls out her parents being death eaters like that’s supposed to excuse her behavior. And her fans say the exact same thing when the topic comes up.
I’m gonna continue to play the game because I’ve invested so much time into it but I hate that I can tell that this bullshit with Merula is still happening. I hate that the game is making Ben and I continue to work with her, even though I don’t care about her at all. And I hate that she’s probably gonna say and do worse shit as the chapters continue. Like they’re probably gonna make her out to be soft towards Rowan’s memory, despite the fact that she an awful person to her while she was alive.
And on a sidenote.
Not to shit on anyone specifically, but there is such a fucking trend of white characters, especially the white girl ones being literally evil and cruel to people and fans literally fawning over everything they do and justifying their actions, just because they had a fucked up childhood or a sad backstory, or they have a crush on them or something. I’m so over that shit.
I agree with every word you said.
But what gets me, even more, is the treatment Ben gets from the fandom
He saw his friend die in front of him, trying to save him. And like you said he has gone completely self-destructive. And people can't stand that cause "he's annoying, and why can't he just find a middle, why is he acting like he's stronger than the mc?" ...WHAT? The kid needs help, he has trauma just like Merula so why is he treated differently?
And I know people deal with Trauma differently but if you can stand the person who spits toxicity every five seconds why can't you stand the kid who literally just doesn't want anything to happen to his friends again.
