My Immortal is the magnum opus of Tara Gilesbie. It is a Harry Potter fanfiction that was originally posted to Fanfiction.net between 2006 and 2007. It shares its name with an Evanescence song but has little, if anything, in common with the themes and lyrics of that song.
It ran for 44 chapters (including one that was posted when someone hacked Tara's account) before Tara inexplicably stopped updating. Fans of the fanfiction have written continuations of the story.
History
My Immortal was first published on Tara's FanFiction.net account on March 3, 2006, around two weeks after Raven first started posting her fic I'm Not Okay. Tara never wrote a synopsis of the fic. While the exact dates later chapters were published can't be found, there seems to have been around 3-4 chapters each month, until there was a significant gap between Chapter 39/40 (the hacker chapter and the actual chapter Tara was intending to publish) in November 2006 and the final chapters which were posted around July 5, 2007. Despite Tara indicating she wanted to add at least one more chapter, she never updated the fic afterwards.
For reasons best known to themselves, the admins of Fanfiction.net deleted My Immortal from their archives in 2008. Later that year, it was reposted to a new site, myimmortalrehost.webs.com;[1] the site was frozen by Webs administrators circa 2012 and briefly moved to myimmortalrehost2.webs.com[2] before being restored in the late 2010s. A reproduction of what My Immortal looked like circa 2007, complete with italics, can be found at Project Tara (in addition to a mobile version). You can also now find it at Wattpad[3] and on various other uploads to fanfiction.net.
At an unknown date, the site from 2008[1] was unfrozen, and chapters 1–44 are now available once more.
You can also find good sources of information on TV Tropes[4] and Encyclopedia Dramatica.[5]
An account under the name of TheJadedDolfin,[6] who claim to be "just a couple of crazy teenage girls with nothing better to do" reposted it "to return the LOL's to the internet."[7]
The story is being translated into Spanish by Yoi123,[8] who, besides making it available to Latin readers, also analyzes it, and adds some funny comments.[9]
It was also posted on fanfiction.net[10] by xXMidnightEssenceXx.[11]
"Plot"
My Immortal's "story" covers the seventh year of Ebony "Enoby" Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way at Hogwarts in England, as well as the lives of her Goth friends, especially Draco Malfoy and Harry "Vampire" Potter. There is a half-attempted love triangle between Enoby, Draco, and Vampire, because Draco and Vampire are both bisexual and apparently sex addicts. This results in very awkward and forced sex-scenes in the most inappropriate places. Tension arises when Vlodemort wants Enoby to kill Vampire Potter. If she refuses, Voldemort will kill Draco. The first half of the fic involves Voldemort's several attempts to force Ebony in killing Vampire, resulting in lots of angsting, crying and more awkwardly written sex-scenes.
Another subplot is Ebony's ongoing conflict with Snap and Loopin, two of Voldemort's minions. This duo filmed Ebony taking a bath and try to use this videotape to blackmail Ebony into killing Vampire. If she refuses, they would spread the tape around the school.
Eventually, Ebony embarks on a mission to stop Voldemort from becoming evil by traveling through time and seducing a teenage Voldemort. Naturally, Ebony ends up in a very anachronistic past, where Tom Satan Bombodil, the past Voldemort, is a goth who plays in a gothic band with Serious Blak, James Samaro Potter, Lucian Malfoy and Snap. After several hijinks in the past, including a meeting with Morty McFli, Ebony takes the teenage Voldemort to her own time, where he ultimately changes into his adult and evil self. A climactic battle between good and evil ensues, but the result of said battle isn't shown, as this is where the fanfic ends.
Characters
There are a number of characters mentioned in My Immortal, but only a handful have any real significance.
More specifically, only Enoby and the characters who obsess over her/follow her around are important. Most of these characters are also vampires. Many of these characters have confessed their love to Ebony, been called pedos or posers or what have you, and some characters have also committed suicide just to return the next chapter. Or otherwise survived the killing curse, hilariously referred to as "Abra Kedabra" and more botched up names. Let's also not forget how Ebony and Vlodemort seem to be perfectly fine after having "Imperius" (Imperio) and "Crookshanks" (Crucio) cast on each other.
Names
Tara is notoriously incompetent when it comes to spelling and grammar, much less real writing. As such, the names of her characters vary wildly from chapter to chapter, and sometimes even within chapters. The spellings used here are the most common and/or funny versions.
Character list
- Ebony "Enoby" Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way - Enoby is the main character of the story. She is very beautiful and skilled at many things, to the point that she wonders why she has to be so perfect. Her physical appearance, musical tastes, and crushes are all based on the author's. In case you still don't get what sort of character she is, we leave you with this quote:
- "Yeah but everyone is in love with me! Like Snape and Loopin took a video of me naked. Hargrid says he's in love with me. Vampire likes me and now even Snaketail is in love with me. I just wanna be with you ok Draco! Why couldn't Satan have made me less beautiful?" I shouted angrily. (an" don't worry enoby isn't a snob or anyfing but a lot of ppl hav told her shes pretty) "Im good at too many things! WHY CAN'T I JUST BE NORMAL? IT'S A FUCKING CURSE!" I shouted and then I ran away.
- Draco Malfoy - One of the few characters to have the same name as in the original. Enoby's primary love interest, though he sometimes has hot gay sex with Vampire (clearly our author is anything but a homophobe). Committed suicide but was revealed to be held "bondage" by Vlolfemort. Hobbies include slitting wrists depressedly.
- Harry "Vampire" Potter - Vampire is a Goth, Satanist, bisexual, and probably an emo as well. This would be an interesting combination of characteristics that could potentially give rise to an interesting character if it didn't describe every other male character in the series too. The author makes no secret of her sexual fantasies.
- B'loody Mary Smith - Loosely based on Hermione Granger from the original, but with the most unrecognizable name of the lot, including an unexplainable apostrophe. Like Enoby she is a Goth and a vampire, and they are members of the same band. The author gives a half-hearted nod to canon by saying that B'loody Mary switched from Gryffindor to Slytherin at some point before the story begins.
- Ron "Diabolo" Weasley - Another Gryffindor-come-Slytherin who has turned goffick and joined Enoby's band, Bloody Gothic Rose 666. Since he is a male, he is probably also bisexual.
- Albert Dumblydore - The
HeadmasterPrincipal of Hogwarts School. Known for mysteriously popping up wherever Enoby is (probably a stalker) and yelling expletives in ALL CAPS when he gets headaches. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU MOTHERFUKERS?" is the quote he's most famous for. He later turns into a poser. - Snap and Loopin - A pair of alleged pedophiles (OMG so creepy, says Tara) who try to film Enoby while she takes a bath. Later, for some reason, they are found having very public sex in the middle of a large room while a random house elf watches them. Lumpkin (another alias of Loopin) is also known for "masticating" when horny. Snap is also appears independent of Loopin to torture yell at, kidnap and attempt to rape Draco.[12]
- Voldemort aka Tom Satan Bombodil/Andorson - The Dark Lord (but not Satan, because that's who most of the main characters worship) who wants to see Vampire Potter dead but can't be bothered to do it himself. Crashing emo rock concerts is a much better use of a Dark Lord's time. Also seems to prefer guns to magic.
- Snaketail - Vlodemort's assistant who experiences love at first sight when meeting Enoby. His age was arbitrarily changed to 16 so that he wouldn't seem as creepy as Snap and Loopin. The change in age doesn't save him from being brutally murdered, hence making the age change utterly pointless.
- Hargrid - Falls in love with Enoby after meeting her. He's also had his age moved down (he's a student), presumably for the same reason as Snaketail. This notwithanding, he will remind you HE IS A SATANIST (no surprise there). Adding to the chaos is the fact that Tara inexplicably confuses Hagrid and Cedric without going into details of where she confused the two prior. He's both a goff, and, later, a poser. Just because.
- Willow - The author insert of Raven to go along with Tara's Enoby. Expelled off-screen when Raven and Tara got into an argument, but makes a few random appearances after the author and editor apparently made up.
- Tom Rid - A gothic bisexual clothes salesman who has no apparent connection to Voldemort, despite being called Tom Riddle on one occasion. His only contribution to the narrative is giving Ebony free clothes because she looks hot in them.
- Profesor Sinister/Trevolry - A professor who teaches the Deviation class at Hogwarts. She is goffik, and thus has a good relationship with the protagonist. She is also the most careless, ignorant, and unqualified teacher ever to be assigned to an educational position. Is addicted to Volxemortsereum. She's apparently very young for a teacher, and hates preps.
- Professor McGoggle - The professor of Hair of Magical Magic Creatures class at Hogwarts. According to her, Ebony and Vampire are "HORNY SIMPLETONS".
- Serious Blak and Lucian Malfoy - A pair of adult goffs, the former being the caretaker of Vampire and the later the father of Draco. Both are shot several times by a black guy in the town of Longdon, yet survive.
- Britney - A disgusting prep from Griffindoor House, and the rival of Enoby. She does not have a major impact on the story and seemingly only exists fro enoby and her friends to flip off.
- Hedwig - A bisexual (natch) gothic teenage boy from the 1980s. Only Tara knows why he's named after Harry's owl.
- Morty McFli - A character based upon Marty McFly from Back to the Future, who appears only to help Ebony travel forward in "tim".
- Mr. Noris and Filth the Cat - Somehow, these two have switched bodies.
Themes
- Main article: Themes
Themes of the story include:
- Self-harm (slitting muh wrists)
- Pedophilia
- Goths (goffs)
- Killing Vampire Potter (it is not explained why)
- Addiction to volximortserum
- time travel
- Love triangles
Writing style
- Main article: Spelling
My Immortal is written in a very original style. The first-person narration is best described as juvenile, littered with ellipses and switching between plain description and a dramatic, conversational tone. Perhaps the most original aspect is Tara Gilesbie's unique take on the English language. Her author's notes are usually a bunch of nearly unreadable garbage, typically ranting at "pozrs" and "flamming," and giving a very strong "fuk u!!" to everyone for not giving her "god revoiws." My Immortal is a prime example of rebellion against the tyranny of dictionaries and the grammar Nazis. Tara also employs a revolutionary technique in fanfiction wherein she blurs the lines between her comments to the audience (Author's Notes) and the actual story. Through having her characters give messages to her fans, or revealing key story elements in commentaries, Tara has put herself on the cutting edge of avant-garde storytelling......or so she'd like you to think.
To admire some selections from My Immortal, check out our quotes page.
Significance
My Immortal represents just about every example of what NOT to do when writing, fanfiction or otherwise. In this wiki's esteemed opinion, it should be required reading for all high school English courses.
Also, no, My Immortal never explains exactly what "an immortal" is, nor how it belongs to the speaker. It can be assumed that she just really likes the Evanescence song of the same name.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 My immortal returns!. myimmortalrehost.webs.com.
- ↑ My Immortal rehost. myimmortalrehost2.webs.com. Archived from the original on January 15, 2015.
- ↑ My Immortal - Chapter 1. Wattpad. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
- ↑ My Immortal. TV Tropes.
- ↑ BanD
- ↑ Author: TheJadedDolphin. Fanfiction.net.
- ↑ My Immortal. Fanfiction.net (August 2, 2010). Archived from the original on May 7, 2013.
- ↑ Author: Yoi123. Fanfiction.net.
- ↑ My Immortal, traducido y analizado by Yo123. Fanfiction.net (January 15, 2013).
- ↑ My Immortal by xXMidnightEssenceXx. Fanfiction.net (March 16, 2011).
- ↑ Author: xXMidnightEssenceXx. Fanfiction.net.
- ↑ My Immortal, Chapter Thirty
My Immortal | |
Moar info: Chapters 1-11 | Moar info: Chapters 12-22 |
Moar info: Chapters 23-33 | Moar info: Chapters 34-44 |