Name: grumpy cat (Signed) · Date: 20 Feb 2021 11:44 PM · For: The Norwegian Incident

oh my fucking hell, the idea that mad-eye mood was actually odin (or odin-esque) is so damn fitting with him losing his eye and all that, i just love the creativity and originality behind this idea, it's absolutely wonderful! and the way you decided to use a book excerpt to tell mad-eye's sotry is also hella cool. and wow the story of him breaking into the norwegian ministry of magic, then the department of mysteries equivalent and finally, finding yggdrasil and trusting the old myth of odin, plucking out his one eye and having the magical secrets pour into him definitely does sound like something moody, with his balls of steel, would do in order to be able to catch dark wizards, i fucking love it.

 

(for foxy glory!)

Author's Response:

Thanks so much!  I had a really fun time writing this story and finding a voice for Sturgis Podmore (who I carefully chose because we don't know anything about him in canon at all.)

I wonder if Alastor's steel balls are magical too, or if it's just the eye...

Thanks! :)

Name: Hawksquill (Signed) · Date: 31 Jan 2021 01:06 AM · For: The Norwegian Incident

 Back at it again at Krispy Kreme with another review for you!

So I loveee the whole idea of this being an in-universe text.  Podmore is an interesting person to have as the author because he's involved enough to be an authority, but we don't see enough of him in canon for his voice to really drown out the significance of what he's writing about.

Two I love the subtle worldbuilding you do here.  The idea that wizards were so secure in the peace after the war that they'd disband the Auror office feels both ridiculously naive and also true to life - people do get overconfident.  And the names of the two dark wizards you make up (I don't think I recognize them from canon?) sound like actual canon characters - Elias Thimblewaite is particularly good!  And the mention of Hermione declassifying a bunch of documents as Minister also tracks.  I'd love to read another fic about all the other secrets that became public through her term.

I also love the idea of the tree of life from Norse myth being in the Norwegian Department of Mysteries!  What a great premise for a fic. But it also really works as an origin story for Moody, as it explains both the one eye and the mania.  It works in that sense, but I also like that you never definitively say whether it happened or not.  Moody's comment about Dark wizards being superstitious is spot on, so I'd also believe that he made up the whole thing to add to his mythos and scare the Death Eaters.  Very clever and well done!

**Review left for the over the bridge event of winter in fairyland**

Author's Response:

Hi,

Thanks so much! I found writing this in the 'voice' of memoir really fun and surprisingly easy - and I might have picked Sturgis Podmore as a member of the order we know basically nothing about so that I had a blank slate to work with who I could do whatever I pleased with.

I'm glad you like some of the little details, and particularly the names - I really struggle with them so I put a lot of work into getting them right here. I also have to admit that the moment I wrote the line about Hermione declassifying everything, I knew I was going to have to come back to that idea in another work some day.

Moody's quote about dark wizards being superstitious might just happen to be a Batman quote. Whether that's my reference I'm making out of character, or Moody admitting that he's taken the idea of creating a fearsome reputation to fight evildoers from some unlikely muggle sources, I leave to your imagination.

Thank you for another lovely review :)

Name: RonsGirlFriday (Signed) · Date: 31 Aug 2020 10:19 PM · For: The Norwegian Incident

Hey Tiny! So many things about this fic drew me to it -- minor character, a basis in mythology, and I really enjoy when someone does a nonfiction and/or memoir-style fic really well, like you've done here. The writing style and tone was really nicely exexcuted, and I feel I have such a good idea of Podmore's voice. There's something about it that comes off academic and considered, but also with that warmth that comes when you're speaking of a friend or acquaintance. I loved the "for sake of a good yarn" I'll tell the story first and then discuss its credibility later.

 

The connection between Moody and Odin works SO well as an exploration of how he may have lost his eye, and going even further to explain his supposed paranoia. And I mean... even though the story goes that he wasn't this phenomenal wizard before his experience with the Yggdrasil, how much of a badass do you have to be even to consider doing what he (supposedly) did to gain that knowledge and skill?

 

This is really just an amazing example of storytelling, how you were able to capture such a complete story and character examination in relatively few words. It *feels* like every awe-inspiring folk tale or tall tale that still gets passed down to this day.

 

Melanie

Gryffinclaw Take Flight Review Event

 

Team Tressym *mrow*

Author's Response:

Hi Melanie,

Thank you so much for my first review on HPFFT :)

The tone was the thing I really wanted to nail doing this fic, and I had a fun enough time doing it that I can easily see myself returning to it if I ever had stories I wanted to tell about any other members of the Order of the Phoenix.  The initial idea for the connection is really all on Hawksquill - but since she wasn't interested in writing it, I was happy to swoop in and get my grubby little hands on it.  And frankly, anyone who says they wouldn't break into a highly secure foreign government facility and pluck out their own eye to do their job better isn't a real Go Getter and won't be doing well on their next performance review.

Thank you so much for your kind words!  I really appreciate them :)

Tiny