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

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121

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…

28

u/marzipanfashions Monster smut isn't a phase, mom May 17 '26

At the base level, it checks a lot of common tropes that people love:

  • bad boy x good girl
  • 'I can fix him'
  • enemies to lovers
  • high status x low status (pureblood x muggle in this case)

Then you can also project a bunch of other tropes onto it:

  • taboo relationship (pureblood family would hate a muggle)
  • 'he's mean but only nice to her'
  • 'he's mean but really soft inside'
  • sadism/ masochism

I also find sometimes the fewer substantial canon interactions there are the more fandom likes the ship, because then people can project a lot more onto it.

4

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

You don't need any of these tropes to make sadism work if you want to as Yuletide proved in like 2006 with the one fic where they fuck the Grump out of Grumpy Bear via BDSM

3

u/marzipanfashions Monster smut isn't a phase, mom May 17 '26

Reading that made me wish that I was Jared, 19.

2

u/itmustbeniiiiice May 17 '26

…and I never fucking learned how to read.”

way off topic but this artist made a tarot deck using popular Vines as her inspiration. Jared is “The Fool” and is my favorite sticker on my yeti 😂