Line #19 YMMV/DumbledoresArmyAndTheYearOfDarkness


1	* 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. The latter example is particularly outrageous since he lost his hand via [[TeleporterAccident splinching]], and canonically, splinching is ''incredibly'' painful (Ron lost a small section of skin and was in so much pain he could barely stay conscious).
2	* 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.
3	* 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 unironically, and newer fans either haven't heard of it or are so turned off by the aforementioned Values Dissonance that they aren't interested.
4	* 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 Hogwarts, the most they do is die horribly.
5	* 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.
6	* EnsembleDarkhorse: Terry Boot and Michael Corner are perhaps the most popular characters in the stories, mostly for their copious amounts of HoYay (despite Thanfiction being ''extremely'' angry whenever it was suggested they were gay).
7	* FanonDiscontinuity: Even some of the fans of the story 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.
8	* HoYay: Michael Corner and Terry Boot get a ''lot'' of moments that read in a very homoerotic way. The author was both surprised and disgusted when people started shipping them, and made multiple posts declaring they were ''totally not gay'' and that he would report any stories that portrayed them as such.
9	* OnlyTheAuthorCanSaveThemNow: ''Sluagh'' is the second book in the DAYD canon, focusing on Neville Longbottom. In it, a 22-year-old Neville takes the remaining members of Dumbledore's Army into battle against another Dark wizard, and [[spoiler: Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Neville's new wife Hannah are brutally, horrifically slaughtered]]. Except the first book in DAYD canon had an epilogue that contradicted all of that, so you just ''knew'' there'd be a big magic ResetButton lurking somewhere...
10	* OvershadowedByControversy: DAYD's author Andrew Blake/Andythanfiction/Victoria Bitter/Jordan Wood 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.
11	* 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]].
12	* StrawmanHasAPoint: About two-thirds of the way through, Zacharias Smith decides to leave the DA. When he does so, he explains that the DA is sounding more and more like a martyrdom cult with each passing day, and the focus of the group has changed from "Resist the Death Eaters" to "Die heroically". The DA counterargument is... to agree with every word he says and ask, "What's the problem with that?" Bear in mind that all of the members of Dumbledore's Army are ''[[ChildSoldiers teenagers]]'', and Zacharias Smith (who was a strawman in [[Literature/HarryPotter canon]]!) suddenly becomes the OnlySaneMan.
13	* 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".

Context YMMV / DumbledoresArmyAndTheYearOfDarkness