Manacled: The Wizarding World Gone Dark
I read Manacled a couple of months ago and have been dying to share my thoughts ever since. I’ll start with some general thoughts and describe the book with no major spoilers, then dive into my major spoiler thoughts (preceded by a warning) afterward. However, if you haven’t read it yet, you likely won’t be able to since it’s no longer available online. Still, spoilers for Manacled will also likely be spoilers for Alchemised.
Beginning note: Manacled is VERY dark, and even with the trigger warnings, it was heavy in ways I wasn’t expecting.
At the end of last year, I downloaded the 1,000 page Harry Potter fan fiction, Manacled, by Senlinyu on my kindle, knowing it would soon be taken down from the Archive of our Own website.
I never thought fan fiction would be something I’d try out, but I had enough friends keep asking if I’d read it, and I was seeing enough chatter about it online that I figured I better give it a go. It’s no longer available online because the story is being published traditionally under the name Alchemised this fall.
It was my first experience with “Dramoine” (Draco and Hermione), or Harry Potter, or really any fan fiction and it was quite the trip. I had read a multiverse sci-fi book right before Manacled, and it prompted me to view this story as an alternate universe to the canonical Harry Potter, which really enhanced the experience for me. The canon wasn't ruined at all, to me Manacled was an alternate reality to it.
I think the concept of the story is brilliant—inspired by The Handmaid’s Tale and set in a world where your favorite Hogwarts students are now adults, but the war against Voldemort still wages. It diverges from the canonical Harry Potter series books at the end of the fifth book, The Order of the Phoenix.
A common complaint about Manacled is that it needs an editor and is repetitive. I think that if we want to be fair, we shouldn’t hold a work of fan fiction posted on the internet with free access to the same standard as a book that has gone through multiple rounds of editing and a publisher. The repetition drove me crazy at first, but by the end, I was actually convinced that at least some of it was intentional.
I think that the author wrote the complexities of the story and the characters well. The romance, in my opinion, is not the best part of the story. I may or may not have been under the impression that the whole point of a character fan fiction was for romance, but now I see how wrong I was. This story is just as much romance as it is a dystopian fantasy piece with political commentary.
When I say I’m left thinking about this book often, it isn’t the romance I’m thinking about. It’s the messages about good versus evil, light versus dark, and captivity versus freedom. It’s the shocking realization it brings about power and politics.
Harry Potter was such a large part of my childhood and the original, classic story comes with clear messaging about good and evil, friendship, and hope. Those themes are very important and needed.
However, I think Manacled resonates with so many of us Harry Potter kids because the dark story and the loss of innocence that comes with it parallels our growing up and experiencing the complexities of the world and of life in general.
Be warned once again—it is really dark. Having read the trigger warnings, I was expecting the rape content to be the worse, but it was actually the graphic description of violence and gore, and the depictions of grief and hopelessness that were the most unsettling to me.
There are three sections of the book— section one has some likely triggering themes and in my opinion, is pretty boring. Section 2 is full of flashbacks and was completely addicting—I couldn’t put it down. Section 3 wraps everything up and concludes the story.
One thing that I thought was interesting was that Senlinyu said online that she originally had the idea of giving readers the option to “choose your own journey” by letting them decide whether to read section 1 or 2 first. The way it is currently ordered, with flashbacks in the middle, gives more of a twist. Alternatively, starting with the flashbacks would give you the story in chronological order. It’s possible that reading it chronologically could be less upsetting, but I do think the content is heavy regardless of how it’s read.
SPOILERS BELOW — STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT THEM.
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One thing about Manacled that I thought was excellently done was the parallels between some of the main characters, breaking the boundaries of the classic “villain” and “good guy” we get in the original Harry Potter books and in so many other stories.
You start the story off with Draco as the captor, but I love how as you go on and get more context on his situation, you see that he is really the “manacled” one—manacled to Voldemort from the time he was young.
Not only that, but it isn’t only Draco who Hermione is “manacled” to, it is suggested that she is also manacled to Harry and to the Order of the Phoenix by loyalty and love.
That isn’t the only parallel between Draco and Harry. Each of their mothers’ deaths set them on their trajectories—each bound to Voldemort as either an enemy or a slave. Voldemort essentially selected both of them.
Harry refuses to use the killing curse, arguably to a fault, while Draco becomes notoriously good at it, arguably as an act of mercy. Both of them have a close relationship to Hermione. Hermione acts as a center of balance between not only Harry and Draco, but light and dark.
Hermione and Draco both mirror and contrast each other. They are both manacled. They are both products of war. They are on opposite sides but blurring the lines. Hermione heals while Draco kills.
You also have the Order members to look at and compare with Draco. Draco, a death eater, is more merciful in his killings—which he is only doing for his master, who he is forcibly bound to. Kingsley and Moody, as leaders of the Order and of their own volition, use torture against their enemies unnecessarily, the only motive being revenge.
I appreciate that Harry’s character is preserved with his refusal to use dark curses or killing in the fight. I think it really highlights the way that that is, in this case, a weakness. It was interesting to me that he shared the same purpose with Moody and Kingsley, but vastly different values.
On the other hand, Draco and Voldemort shared neither purpose or values.
It was hard reading about the complicated relationships and how Harry, Ron, and Hermione drifted apart. It was powerful though that love still remained between Hermione and their families in the end.
I loved that while arch enemies to the end, Draco ends up saving Harry’s child because of his love for Hermione, and Hermione's love for Harry. It very much parallels the Snape-Lily-Harry complex.
I loved Ginny’s character and seeing her be part of the main action. I loved seeing her and Hermione have a deeper friendship and reliance on each other than portrayed in the Harry Potter books. And I think her being the one to kill Voldemort was the most satisfying and perfect part of the ending.
I’m interested enough now to try another Dramoine fan fiction. I’ve been recommended Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love. I’m relieved to hear that one is more of a happy rom-com.
Have you read Manacled? What were your thoughts?