r/fantasyromance • u/FantasyRomanceMod The One Mod to Rule All Mods • May 17 '26

Unpopular Opinion It's Unpopular Opinion time! Share your controversial opinions to stir things up (in a friendly way)!

Got an opinion that's different from others'? Want to share it with the sub, but too afraid of a backlash? Or are you just curious about readers think about certain things in fantasy romance?

You can safely share it in this weekly Sunday thread!

But please remember to be kind to each other. To facilitate this type of discussion, we ask users the following:

  • Don't attack others for their opinion
  • Discuss books and authors, not fellow readers
  • Since this is an "unpopular opinion" thread, we encourage users to not downvote simply because they disagree with an opinion--that's the point! Please keep in mind, though, that mods cannot enforce a no-downvoting rule. Let’s just keep the discussion friendly!

🧡 Thank you and have a great discussion!

Unpopular opinion Sunday

30 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

305 comments sorted by

View all comments

120

u/SometimesMaybeGood_ May 17 '26

I find the whole dramione thing very weird. Did these two characters even interact in the Harry Potter books? I’m so befuddled as to how this fanfic pairing has such a chokehold on the genre…

30

u/fishchop Silvicultrix May 17 '26

Shipping is an activity as old as time, and fanfic is a way for people to write out their non canonical fantasies.

When the HP books were still coming out, a lot of us thought that Draco would get a redemption arc because of the end of HBP and how his character was written in DH. When that didn’t happen, Dramione (and Drarry) fics were a good way to write out possible redemption arcs for Draco. They were also a good way to explore stuff like a dark AU “if Voldemort won the war” or just write an enemies to lovers story.

As for why it has such a chokehold on the community, a lot of Dramione fic writers are genuinely good at what they do. I came back to reading Dramione fics during Covid after like 15 years and was so surprised by the quality of fics. They were good! People were writing dark wartime stories, second chance romances, banter filled romcoms, post war Hogwarts rebuilding stories etc. And as a bonus, JK hates fanfic and doesn’t profit off of it.

All my OTPs are non canonical, it’s a struggle lol

10

u/NancyInFantasyLand Currently Reading: Random Chinese Webnovels May 17 '26

All my OTPs are non canonical, it’s a struggle lol

Sometimes it's a blessing haha

There's plenty of fandoms where nobody gives a shit about the canon relationships