History YMMV / DumbledoresArmyAndTheYearOfDarkness

* DesignatedHero: Neville and the DA's struggles are portrayed as more dire than the ones of the main Trio. The truth is that they achieve very little or nothing at all. While remaining alive in the Death Eater run Hogwarts is commendable, it should be remembered that there are only THREE Death Eaters in Hogwarts. And the DA plays a very minor role in the Battle of Hogwart, the most they do is die horribly.

* CanonDefilement: The events of ''Sluagh'' don't match up with the epilogue shown in ''DAYD'', nor do they align with the epilogue of the Harry Potter series itself. In general, many elements from the [=DAYDverse=] contradict elements of the Harry Potter canon, usually in terms of characterization—the DarkerAndEdgier nature of DAYD meant that already evil characters had their awfulness toned up a lot, morally gray characters became entirely evil, and even "good" characters had moments of darkness that seemed terribly OOC to many Harry Potter fans.
* CondemnedByHistory: For a good few years, the [=DAYDverse=] was ''immensely'' popular in the Harry Potter fandom, spawning a whole micro-fandom of its own and dozens of imitators. Since then, though, it’s been largely [[OvershadowedByControversy overshadowed by its controversial author]], and ValuesDissonance regarding matters like [[spoiler: Lavender’s rape]] have caused many to remove it from their favorite fic lists. Now it’s hard to find any older fans who like it un-ironically, and newer fans either haven’t heard of it or are so turned off by the aforementioned Values Dissonance that they aren’t interested.

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: The story tries to deliver a “war is hell” Aesop, but it also constantly portrays the main characters’ martyrdom complexes as right. When someone points out that the DA has started acting more like a suicide cult than a real army, he’s treated like a crazy strawman. There are certain aspects of the narrative that do fit with the intended lesson, but it goes back and forth on the matter a lot, ultimately resulting in a LostAesop that tries to say war is hell while simultaneously portraying martyrdom as awesome and heroic.

* SelfFanservice: In the books, both Neville and Hannah are a bit pudgy. In DAYD, Hannah's hotness was concealed by the school robes, which made her - but none of the other girls - look fat, and Neville replaces all of his fat with muscle, helped by him being [[TorturePorn starved for weeks as part of a punishment]].

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: The fic ''wants'' to be a "serious" take on the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' series. Unfortunately, the author has mistaken gratuitous gore and bloodshed for seriousness. People die ''en masse'' even when canon insists they lived, morally-ambiguous characters are transformed into pure evil, ''nobody'' gets out without severe injury (physical or mental), and if it looks like something good is about to happen, the heroes will destroy it with their own stupidity or selfishness--and yet the narrative expects us to sympathize with them, especially in the case of Neville Longbottom. Once hailed as a work of art, it's now seen as a mass of potential buried in overdone "drama".

* OvershadowedByControversy: DAYD's author Andrew Blake/Andythanfiction/Victoria Bitter has a long and storied history of sockpuppeting, abusive behavior, and sexism. He's received notoriety in the past for starting cults, faking his own death, and stealing money from other fans, as well as horribly mishandling serious political and social issues in his work. While his attitudes about rape, fangirls, and the Troubles were considered un-problematic when DAYD was first written (likely in no small part because many of his readers had no idea what the Troubles were), fans are less likely to excuse them today, and this ValuesDissonance combined with the author's troubling backstory have caused the [=DAYDverse=] to fade into obscurity. Today, it's rarely mentioned in the Harry Potter fandom, and if anyone's talking about it, they're probably either MSTing it or warning others away from it.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: A common complaint about the first story is that the Cruciatus Curse is demoted from being a nightmarish torture to the equivalent of flogging - the students take to ''bragging'' about how often they get cruciated. As if catching on himself, Thanfiction wrote a scene in Chapter 21 of the first story where Neville, facing Bellatrix, gets hit with the curse — and thinks to himself, just before he whites out from the pain, that the Carrows never did a ''proper'' one.

* ValuesDissonance: When DAYD was first written, Andrew Blake's views on fangirls (whom he called annoying, stupid, and unable to appreciate true art) and his questionable handling of [[spoiler: Lavender's rape]] weren't exactly ''popular,'' but they weren't considered incredibly problematic, either. Nowadays, his diatribes about female fans come off as sexist, pretentious, and rude, and his handling of rape scenes has been heavily criticized.

* CondemnedByHistory: For a good few years, the DAYD’verse was ''immensely'' popular in the Harry Potter fandom, spawning a whole micro-fandom of its own and dozens of imitators. Since then, though, it’s been largely [[OvershadowedByControversy overshadowed by its controversial author]], and ValuesDissonance regarding matters like [[spoiler: Lavender’s rape]] have caused many to remove it from their favorite fic lists. Now it’s hard to find any older fans who like it un-ironically, and newer fans either haven’t heard of it or are so turned off by the aforementioned Values Dissonance that they aren’t interested.

* CreatorsPet: Long stretches of the story are used for little more purpose than to lionize Neville Longbottom. Every character we're supposed to like in the DA immediately fall into line with him and his commands. Even his ''grandmother'' (who Neville is supposed to be canonically terrified of) takes to calling him "Commander Longbottom". The Thanfiction-written side story "Too Little Too Late" goes so far as to have ''Ginny'' confess she loves him, not Harry, and is only going with Harry to avoid looking bad in the papers.

* AngstWhatAngst: The characters react far less to the constant death and suffering they and their allies experience. Notably, Colin ''loses a hand'' and doesn't so much as blink until he collapses from blood loss.

* CondemnedByHistory: For a good few years, the DAYD’verse was ''immensely'' popular in the Harry Potter fandom, spawning a whole micro-fandom of its own and dozens of imitators. Since then, though, it’s been largely [[OvershadowedByControversy overshadowed by its controversial author]], and ValuesDissonance regarding matters like Lavender’s [[spoiler:rape]] have caused many to remove it from their favorite fic lists. Now it’s hard to find any older fans who like it un-ironically, and newer fans either haven’t heard of it or are so turned off by the aforementioned Values Dissonance that they aren’t interested.

* FakeUltimateHero
** [[TheHero Harry]], the fic loves to portray Harry's struggles as lesser than Neville's and co. But since the fic IS cannon compliant then Harry is the one shouldering the war against Voldemort and in the end he is the one that finds the Horcruxes and destroy them alongside Ron and Hermione. It is his sacrifice and the protection that he casts over Hogwarts with is what allows Neville to kill Nagini and survive. And in the end it is HARRY who defeats Voldemort.
** [[DesignatedHero Neville]] and the DA themselves fit this trope more, though. While their struggles are portrayed as more dire than the ones of the main Trio. The truth is that they achieve very little or nothing at all. While remaining alive in the Death Eater run Hogwarts is commendable, it should be remembered that there are only THREE Death Eaters in Hogwarts. And the DA plays a very minor role in the Battle of Hogwart, the most they do is die horribly.

* FanPreferredCouple: The author is not as subtle as he thinks about his preferrence for the "Neville/Ginny" pairing. It is very jarring the way Ginny reffers to Harry's suffering in chapter one, completely forgetting that Harry charged head in to save her. Meanwhile praising Neville's none-existent achivements up to that point.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
** Some reviewers on Tumblr have noted that the DarkerAndEdgier ElsewhereFic nature of ''Dumbledore's Army'' has unintentionally made Harry, Ron, and Hermione this. If you read ''The Deathly Hallows'' while believing that the events of DAYD are happening in the background, every happy moment the Golden Trio has makes them look like callous jerks because so many people are dying horribly in the background. Most notable is the Ron/Hermione kiss. When you watch or read it without DAYD, it's a sweet and heartwarming moment that had been coming for a long time. But when it's viewed by someone who assumes DAYD is happening at the same time, Ron and Hermione look like [[{{Jerkass}}incredibly heartless jerks]] for deciding to [[CannotSpitItOut spit it out]] while people are being subjected to unholy amounts of gore, violence, and BodyHorror just behind them. Then again, it's questionable how unintentional it was; there are several paragraphs in DAYD in which Neville notes that Harry, Ron and Hermione are healthier, less traumatized, and generally happier than everyone in Dumbledore's Army ever was. This led to some accusations of character-bashing, since the Golden Trio's struggles were always portrayed as less severe than those of Neville and his friends. And that is without taking into account the fact that most of the victory is owned to the Golden Trio’s actions—the D.A. was helpful during the battle, but most of its members ended up dying horribly without changing much, and the Trio were the ones who actually destroyed the Horcruxes.

** [[TheHero Harry]], the fic loves to portray Harry's struggles as lesser than Neville's and co. But since the fic IS cannon compliant then Harry is the one shouldering the war against Voldemort and in the end he is the one that finds the Horcruxes and destroy them alongside Ron and Hermione. It is his sacrifice and the protection that he casts over Hogwarts with it which is what allows Neville to kill Nagini and survive. And in the end it is HARRY who defeats Voldemort.

** [[TheHero Harry]], the fic loves to portray Harry's struggles as lesser than Neville and co's. But since the fic IS cannon compliant then Harry is the one shouldering the war against Voldemort and in the end he is the one that finds the Horcruxes and destroy them alongside Ron and Hermione. It is his sacrifice and the protection that he casts over Hogwarts with it which is what allows Neville to kill Nagini and survive. And in the end it is HARRY who defeats Voldemort.
** [[DesignatedHero Neville]] and the DA themselves fit this trope more, though. While their struggles are portrayed as more dire than the ones of the main Trio. The truth is that they achieve very little or nothing at all. While remaining alive in the Death Eater run Hogwarts is commendable, it should be remembered that there are only THREE Death Eaters in Hogwarts. And the DA changes plays a very minor role in the Battle of Hogwart, the most they do is die horribly.

** [[TheHero Harry]], the fic loves to portray Harry's struggles as lesser than Neville and co's. But since the fic IS cannon compliant then Harry is the one shouldering the war against Voldemort and in the end he is the one that finds the Horcruxes and destroy them alongside Ron and Hermione.

* BetterThanCanon: Author Andythanfiction believed this to be true, as did many of his fans (although this has always been a controversial opinion).

* EndingAversion: Even some of the fans of the story from before it was OvershadowedByControversy would prefer to ignore the Battle of Hogwarts chapters due to the deaths of a stunning number of well-developed characters who apparently survive in canon.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
** Some reviewers on Tumblr have noted that the DarkerAndEdgier ElsewhereFic nature of ''Dumbledore's Army'' has unintentionally made Harry, Ron, and Hermione this. If you read ''The Deathly Hallows'' while believing that the events of DAYD are happening in the background, every happy moment the Golden Trio has makes them look like callous jerks because so many people are dying horribly in the background. Most notable is the Ron/Hermione kiss. When you watch or read it without DAYD, it's a sweet and heartwarming moment that had been coming for a long time. But when it's viewed by someone who assumes DAYD is happening at the same time, Ron and Hermione look like [[{{Jerkass}}incredibly heartless jerks]] for deciding to [[CannotSpitItOut spit it out]] while people are being subjected to unholy amounts of gore, violence, and BodyHorror just behind them.
** Then again, it's questionable how unintentional it was; there are several paragraphs in DAYD in which Neville notes that Harry, Ron and Hermione are healthier, less traumatized, and generally happier than everyone in Dumbledore's Army ever was. This led to some accusations of character-bashing, since the Golden Trio's struggles were always portrayed as less severe than those of Neville and his friends. And that is without taking into account the fact that most of the victory is owned to the Golden Trio’s actions—the D.A. was helpful during the battle, but most of its members ended up dying horribly without changing much, and the Trio were the ones who actually destroyed the Horcruxes.

* CanonDefilement: The events of ''Sluagh'' don't match up with the epilogue shown in ''DAYD'' (see OnlyTheAuthorCanSaveThemNow below), nor do they align with the epilogue of the Harry Potter series itself. In general, many elements from the [=DAYDverse=] contradict elements of the Harry Potter canon, usually in terms of characterization—the DarkerAndEdgier nature of DAYD meant that already evil characters had their awfulness toned up a lot, morally gray characters became entirely evil, and even "good" characters had moments of darkness that seemed terribly OOC to many Harry Potter fans.

%% * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The [=DAYDverse=] is just ''full'' of this, affecting every significant character and even some very minor ones.

* RonTheDeathEater: Done to many characters who were ''already'' unpleasant in canon, indeed forming a large part of ''why'' the story is so controversial.
** Severus Snape, who in the books was a very, very effective [[TheMole mole]] who through all his {{sadist teach|er}}ing legitimately tried to protect as many students as possible from the Death Eaters, is here shown to thoroughly enjoy his position as Death Eater-appointed Headmaster of Hogwarts; he attempts to assassinate Neville, hires the former [[TheDragon Dragon]] to [[PredecessorVillain Grindelwald]] as school disciplinarian, and when a Slytherin student defects to the good guys it's strongly implied he has the boy's entire family killed. He still turns out to be a mole here, but this is simply treated as the final insult; that someone so horrible could still be remembered as a hero simply for nominally siding against someone even worse. [[http://daydverse.livejournal.com/107539.html This essay]] by the author interpreting him as an unrepentant sociopath looking for an excuse to murder and torture students. Even considering that he's a rather unpleasant SadistTeacher in the books, the logic taken to reach this conclusion is... somewhat debatable given the textual evidence. Especially since WordOfGod from Rowling indicates that Snape often shielded students from more severe punishment at the hands of the Carrows.
** Crabbe and Goyle have their SmashMook characterization taken UpToEleven and become torturers and rapists.
** Even the crotchety janitor Mr. Filch is shown to have joined [[CreepyTwins the Carrows]] as a school TortureTechnician.
** Two minor characters, John Dawlish and Albert Runcorn, also receive passing mentions as having ''literally'' joined the Death Eaters; in the books they're [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Umbridge]]'s henchmen, which is plenty bad, but there's no indication they serve [[MyCountryRightOrWrong anyone but the Ministry]].

* CriticalResearchFailure:
** Recent rape victims are usually ''not'' receptive to male-initiated sexual acts as the [[HurtComfortFic post-Sluagh one-shot]] ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5475729/1/More_Realer More Realer]]'' and the end of the [[spoiler:Lavender]] scene in DAYD describe.
** If Thanfiction knew enough about Demiguises to include them in DAYD, he should have known enough about them to not portray them as invisible ''goats'' when they're invisible ''apes''.

* ValuesDissonance: When DAYD was first written, Andrew Blake's views on fangirls (whom he called annoying, stupid, and unable to appreciate true art) and his questionable handling of [[spoiler: Lavender's rape]] weren't exactly ''popular,'' but they weren't considered incredibly problematic, either. Nowadays, his diatribes about female fans come off as sexist, pretentious, and rude, and his handling of rape scenes has been heavily criticized (see CriticalResearchFailure.)

* EndingAversion: Even some of the fans of the story from before it was OvershadowedByControversy would prefer to ignore the Battle of Hogwarts chapters due to the deaths of a stunning number of well-developed characters who apparently survive in canon.

%% * AngstWhatAngst: Tons of death. Everyone keeps going.

%%* EnsembleDarkhorse:
%%** Terry Boot.
%%** Michael Corner.