Teen Blows Up At Parents Who Try To Force Their Harry Potter Fandom On Her

Published December 23, 2021

Growing up, many of us could say that our parents really didn't understand our interests.

And for a lot of millennials and members of Generation X, that often boiled down to the fact that we'd rather pursue our nerdier interests than play sports or engage in other activities we were "supposed" to do.

Yet it seems that enough people had that upbringing to let it change the culture around them. After all, there was a time that liking Star Wars, Harry Potter or Marvel superheroes used to get you made fun of and now they're all about as mainstream as it gets.

But while some parents might think they're righting a historic wrong by naming their kids "Khaleesi," one teen's story makes it clear that it's surprisingly easy for them to turn into what they disliked about their own parents.

After meeting on a Harry Potter fan forum in the early 2000s, the couple we'll soon hear about (not pictured) got married and had multiple children.

Wikimedia Commons | The Conmunity - Pop Culture Geek

And as the teen explained in a Reddit post, they've decided to work their fandoms into their family traditions and even named their kids after Harry Potter and Star Wars characters.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to matter whether the kids actually like this or not.

In her words, "It’s honestly been hell. I have a stupid name and since we were little my parents have forced stuff like Harry Potter, Star Wars, marvel movies, etc etc down our throats."

This meant that Christmas celebrations are always preceded by days of the same movie marathons and this year, her parents aren't giving her the option of distracting herself with knitting or drawing on her iPad.

Fox Searchlight Pictures via YouTube

So instead, the teen arranged to stay over at her friend Missy's house for a couple of days, whose family she described as "NORMAL and likes things a NORMAL amount."

This angered her mother, who told her that she wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for Harry Potter.

And while she's mentioned that she doesn't share her parents' fandoms many times before, this conversation marked the last straw.

As she put it at the time, "I don’t like Harry Potter! I don’t like Star Wars! I hate Marvel movies they're all so boring please just let me have my interests!"

It was at this point that she stated crying out of frustration that her parents seem incapable of doing something with their family that doesn't involve some media property.

Wikimedia Commons | Palacemusic

As she said, "We live in Utah where we have like 5 National Parks and even though I ask every year for my birthday I've never been to Arches!"

But after she blew up at her parents about this longstanding problem and presumably went to Missy's place, all her sister had to say was that their mom was angry and she should come home and "stop with the theatrics."

This left her wondering if she was wrong to yell at her mom about this.

But whether the Redditors she talked to were fans of what her parents liked or not, they were sorry to hear that she felt so unheard.

As one user said, "Extreme roleplayers like this can be just as toxic as parents that micromanage their children. If you feel like you're not allowed to have your own interests/hobbies/alone time you should be able to say so."

And in addition to sympathizing with the fact that her parents were trying to force their interests on her, it wasn't lost on them that this problem went all the way down to her unspecified name.

In the words of another person, "Your post is a great warning for all those people still thinking about naming their kid 'Anakin' or 'Khaleesi.'"

h/t: Reddit | LEAVEMEALOOOOOONE

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