Explaining the fanfiction game; or Why Blaming the Writer is like Godwin's Law:

In the Harry Potter fandom the fans argue in forums and social media hotspots over inconsistencies and interpretations, often leading to frustration as they consider different sources as authoritative.

We're all playing a game, but the rules aren't clear- in fact most people don't realize that it's a game in the first place.

It's a game of fill-in-the-empty-spaces. The world of Harry Potter is a three-dimensional jigsaw of great complexity, whose known pieces were originally provided solely from Harry's viewpoint. Even the author felt trapped by that limitation, to the point that she added scenes in the later books to inform the reader in ways Harry could never have known. She broke her own rules right there, but she was trying to build a structure to get to the shape and height she considered her destination, in seven interlocking sections. She was not trying to build the perfect tower, just one stable enough to reach the view at the end. Other authors play for the stable tower- you can tell because you get bored when they give you ugly but seemingly necessary pieces of the jigsaw to consider.

So back to our game- to tell our own stories using the existing jigsaw pieces to start readers off. The problem arises when we note that even some of the original pieces don't fit together very well. To make up for that we might shift the existing piece a little further away and come up with a bridging piece (fanon) that fits between two or more pieces. A bridging piece made well enough would be used by others once they'd seen it (read it in a story or seen it mentioned on a forum) and some of them were assumed to be part of the original because of that near-perfect fit. Most only realised the difference when they took a look at the original puzzle collection and realised that the bridge pieces were missing the serial numbers.

Where we get into trouble- JKR handed out other pieces later on or outside the editorial oversight in hopes of adding aesthetic strength to the structure, or even to take it a little higher. Some of them were pieces she later used in the books, but sometimes the final version of the pieces given early ended up a different shape.

Then came the movies, the supplementary books, the video games, and Pottermore. More pieces, but not always placed in a way that fit with the original, and often had a horrible effect on the common bridge-pieces that fans had made and agreed fit quite well into the original puzzle.

In fact, the movies were just another puzzle, much smaller in complexity but using a colour-enhanced version of the original picture.

So how do we play this game? First, you should be clear (at least to yourself) on which pieces you're using. Second, you have to make clear mention of the popular bridge pieces in play and indicate where you're shaving a piece from the original to make it fit better. Third, you have to accept that not everyone will like the commonly-used bridge pieces that you prefer.

Last point- if you complain about the workmanship of the original puzzle pieces not being solveable, YOU'VE LOST THE GAME. This is the fanfic discussion equivalent of Godwin's law. If JKR is such a terrible writer, why have so many read through seven of her books and felt satisfied that they told a complete story? JKR's puzzle didn't have to be stable to see it reach the end height and shape. That you've now noticed the instability is admirable, but she finished her puzzle-tower-sculpture... unlike so many others who have built stronger towers but only took the structure partway (i.e.: all those beloved yet incomplete fics out there).

To all those who claim in argument that 'JKR is a bad writer' or 'this plothole is explained because the story started as kid-lit and then tried to grow up', I have to ask... did you sit down to play Monopoly for the first time and complain, "Why would I pay to visit other people's houses when I rent out my own?" It's a game, doofus. If you think it's irredeemably bad in concept, design your own.