InsaneJournal

backdated repost: In Defence of Nymphadora Tonks
Because, to my knowledge, it hasn't been done yet, and all the Tonks bashing is driving me insane.

First of all, two things: 1. Tonks is my favourite HP character. Actually, she's my probably my favourite fictional character full stop, with the possible exception of Cordelia Gray. I am biased. 2. I am, primarily, a Remus/Tonks shipper. Sorry about that. On the other hand, I also ship adult!Ginny/Tonks, MWPP era Remus/Sirius, and Snupin and have already started to write much afterlife porn. I got jossed too.

So, first off, Tonks is having a pretty rubbishy time at the end of OotP and then throughout HBP, and her character changes from a likeable pink-haired character who was popular with much of fandom (except the people who thought she was a Mary-Sue, naturally) to some loathed, mousy haired cow who saves Harry when he gets pwned by Draco, heals Harry's broken nose, sinks ships, and then fights and kicks Death Eater ass at the end. Her cousin (who she has grown up believing is teh eebil and then finally had a chance to bond with) suffers from sudden death-by-curtain and terrible-last-words-itis. She gets flung down a flight of stairs and has to go to St Mungo's to be revived in time to pwn Uncle Vernon at the end of the book. She's an Auror and a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and in wartime, I'm guessing that that isn't the most fun of jobs. Then her boyfriend/crush/guy that she is obsessively stalking starts spying and hanging out regularly with werewolves, and is at risk of being murdered or served up at any moment. And she is in love a guy who doesn't/won't let himself love her back (or at least, won't let himself show it). I could rant for much longer, but it was already done much better two years ago, the last time Tonks-bashing was in season.

Then, at the end of HBP, she hooks up with Remus. Arguably, as many formerly smug and now heart-broken (but we are still canon) Remus/Tonks shippers will tell you, there was much subtext in OotP; it seems likely that they were together for at least some of HBP, given the speed of the wedding. She gets married, and a lot of slashers fall down dead - or at least start looking for ways to write Remus out of it.

About that wedding. Yes, it was quick: as Molly pointed out, that tends to happen during war, both in real life and in the Potterverse. And yes, Remus regretted it afterwards. But he told us why! He had made his wife (who, I might add, he frequently refers to as "my wife" rather than "that loathsome manipulative whore who trapped me into this terrible marriage by getting herself knocked up deliberately just so that I would feel guilted into marrying her, woe") an outcast. And I think Bellatrix's reaction to the wedding, not to mention the fact that they are forced to climb over a fence and do a runner from a 17 year old's birthday party, prove that he might have a pretty good point. In his eyes the wedding was a mistake because of other people's opinions: Remus's reaction to her being later than expected from flying back with Polyjuiced!Ron is pretty good evidence for me that he loves her as his wife rather than just Teddy's mother.

And then, of course, she got pregnant. (Not necessarily in that order, but still.) So she was happy about it, and Remus was not. But I think the whole of fandom would agree with me that it was Remus who was in the wrong throughout the whole "Oh dear, this might not work out very well, now I'll just run off and have adventures while my wife stays at home and raises my kid. Cos she'll be much happier and safer as the single mother of a baby who may or may not be a werewolf," thing. As to how irresponsible it is to get pregnant during a war, I agree, but lots of people have done it. Okay, most of them weren't intending to actually get involved in any major battles, but they still procreated. Second, um, condoms? Sometimes, they break. I'm guessing Wizarding contraception, if it is any different, isn't 100% reliable either. Just look at the Weasleys. Third, how the hell is this entirely Tonks's fault? Yeah, okay, she got knocked up, because JKR has an mpreg squick. Takes two to tango.

I think the major issue comes with her decision to leave her baby and join the battle. Fair enough: however much shippers might resent her getting married and having kids, both things were forgivable. However, Molly and Narcissa made the same decision she did, even if their kids were older. Molly fights her conscience in OotP, and wonders what will happen to Ron and Ginny if anything happened to their parents. Remus points out that the whole of the Order would care for them if it did. Tonks can rely on the same thing: Teddy has his grandmother, godfather and a wide circle of friends to look after him. He does better than either Neville and Harry did, and they both turned out alright.

So we come to motivations. We're talking about a woman who has trained and spent at least the last three years knowing that she was going to fight in this battle when it came around. She is an Auror: clearly, fighting Dark magic is going to be of major importance for her. Given her background, this is going to be particularly significant. I mean, in the last two years, she's lost her cousin, her mentor, Dumbledore, and finally her father. Before that, her Mum has cut herself off from a family of Dark wizards, and her cousin spent much of her childhood in Azkaban for turning to the dark side, then bringing about mass Muggle killings and betraying his best friends. Tonks has plenty of reasons to want - and need - to fight. And then there's the fact that she's a member of the Order. She has devoted herself to bringing down Voldemort: if she had to risk her life to do it, fair game. In doing so, she undoubtedly contributes to making the world a better place, safe for the trio to settle down and start reproducing like rabbits in the epilogue. However pointless her death was, however many risks she took going into battle, she did ultimately benefit her son. Sure, he would probably have appreciated her sticking around and bringing him up rather than d00ming him to a life of dinner with Harry's gigantic family, but life goes on. It has to. (Unless rocks fall and everyone dies, obviously.)

Tonks is a Hufflepuff, and thereby loyal, just, true, and unafraid of toil. She isn't the type to sit back and watch her friends and husband go running into battle while she sits on the sidelines and watches. If she had, and Remus had died anyway, she would have had to live with the fact that, if she had acted differently, her son might still have had his father. Yes, she chose to play games with her son's future, but she left him surrounded by people who loved him. Yes, she sunk many slashy ships, but then so did the epilogue (and yes, I know, nobody likes that either). Yes, in her place, I might have reacted differently. I'll never know, because I would never have the guts to get into the situation she was in and ew, babies.

I didn't like what I still see as pointless bloodshed at the end of Deathly Hallows. And I didn't think much of the direction that JKR chose to take Tonks's story. That doesn't matter: ultimately, her character wasn't my toy to play with and I can't complain. But I can appreciate her reasons for acting the way she did, and I will always love Tonks.

And they so have sex and happy endings in the afterlife :)

/rant