What is it about January?

[rj_anderson]

Some of my favorite grouchy people were born in early January, it seems. First we have Mary Russell on January 2nd, on no lesser word than that of her author editor Laurie R. King; then Sherlock Holmes on January 6th, a date not explicitly given in canon but nonetheless widely accepted among Holmesians as correct due to Holmes's penchant for quoting Twelfth Night.

We know also that Dr. Gregory House was born in early-to-mid January, and seeing that he shares a house number with Holmes, it doesn't seem much of a stretch to propose January 6th as his birthday as well. And then, of course, J.K. Rowling has informed us that Severus Snape was born on January 9th.

Is it an astrological thing to have brilliant, misanthropic, sarcastic, obsessively driven characters born in January, or is there some other logic behind it?

Comments

[sabrinanymph.livejournal.com]

I'm going to go with astrological, if for no other reason than it places me among the ranks of the brilliant, misanthropic, sarcastic, and obsessively driven. And really, who doesn't want to be in those ranks?

[mcamy.livejournal.com]

Capricorns for the win!

My birthday is the same as that of Holmes. ;)

[mysduende.livejournal.com]

And then, of course, J.K. Rowling has informed us that Severus Snape was born on January 8th.

Actually, January 9th. :)

[mysduende.livejournal.com]

Oh, and.. Snape as a Capricorn with a January b-day makes perfect logical sense. JKR has done a fine job selecting b-days/astrological signs for characters. I'm glad she didn't take the obivious route (i.e. 'Snape is a Scorpio.' *rolls eyes*)

Caps rule!

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

*admires your icon*

Thanks for the correction -- I've fixed the message. I knew something didn't look quite right about the 8th, but was too lazy to look it up...

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

I'm still waiting for Sirius's birthday.

[penwiper26.livejournal.com]

Well, astrologically, the time of day born determines what sign was rising -- so a Capricorn with Pisces rising would be different from a Capricorn with Leo rising -- so conceivably you could get an interesting alchemy from any date. But symbolically, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, a January birth -- during the short, cold days -- indicates a metaphorical privation of some sort, endured from the very beginning. I play around a bit with astrology now and then, using this site (http://www.astro.com) to do some of the more fiddly math for me when I'm feeling lazy. My brother, for instance, was born on January 12, but his ascendant is Virgo on the cusp of Libra, so there's nothing in the way of his dreamy, fiddly, hesitant but strong-willed temperament developing much like mine according to heredity. (I'm a double Sagittarius, which would indicate redoubled expansion and aspiration, except my sun is in the twelfth house, the house of introspection, and a strong Saturn in the repressive eighth house.) But I digress.

What I really wanted to comment about was, how do you know House's birthday is in January? The air-date of "The Socratic Method" (which takes place on House's birthday) was sometime in November IIRC. Is there some independent source or bit of dialogue that confirms his canonical birthday? I've been itching to do his chart.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

See this thread (http://www.livejournal.com/community/house_md/715031.html), this set of comments (http://www.livejournal.com/community/house_md/715031.html?thread=14845975#t14845975) in particular. I think the argument that the airdate of the episode and the date on which the story takes place are not in sync is pretty sound, by that poster's logic.

[mcamy.livejournal.com]

Agreed. It was the episode just after the Christmas episode. And I actually squealed when she wished him a happy birthday.

[penwiper26.livejournal.com]

That is a good case, and with the Holmes thing it makes sense. A case might also be made for House having been born under Scorpio, like Lymond, because of this (http://www.livejournal.com/users/tzikeh/169299.html) discussion of the original production order, which was not preserved on the S1 DVD as I understand it -- they went with airdate order, and I don't know what that means as far as DS's storytelling intentions. At any rate, there's plenty of Schrodingerian continuity in House canon, so I'll wait for further indications. :)

[mcamy.livejournal.com]

Oops, commented stupidly because was reading too fast. Sorry to spam. :)

[serenasnape.livejournal.com]

My birthday's on the 11th, and I don't know that I'm brilliant, but sarcastic and (mildly) misanthropic fit the bill ... Capricorns are certainly known for being as stubborn as goats!

[tybalt-quin.livejournal.com]

And all Snape's mother wanted for Easter was a chocolate egg ...

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

Let's think for a minute about how James and Lily Potter apparently spent Hallowe'en, 1979. Or was it 1980? I remember once upon a time, I had the whole HP chronology memorised...

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

Must be a Capricorn thing. Although I still wish Snape was a Scorpio.

...Jan 2nd is also the birthday of mandysbitch, and don't think she doesn't complain about having to share it.

*bakes Snape a nice cake*

[(Anonymous)]

Did you know that your link to "Lessons" in your Fan fic on the left hand side doesn't work?

I am putting off reading your other continuations until that possibly gets fixed. good job by the way, you are an excellent writer. if you wrote a normal book i would certainly buy it.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Thanks for letting me know! I've fixed it now. And thank you!

[miladygrey.livejournal.com]

Someone else who reads Mary Russell! *loves you*

Sorry, just had to comment. I adore those books...and now I think I need to go read A Monstrous Regiment of Women again.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

No need to apologize! Have you seen the RUSS-L Mailing List (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RUSS-L), or dammit_holmes here on LJ?

[meril.livejournal.com]

This is why I was incredibly amused to find out Snape's birthday. I told you this last year. It's my birthday too. I don't know if it's astrological, but I think I have the grumpiness down pat.

[cesario.livejournal.com]

My birthday is January 22nd. I share it with Lord Byron and Grigory Rasputin and John Hurt.

Take from that what you will. :-)

[aithopa.livejournal.com]

You're not the only one thinking about this; the daily_snitch just linked to this post. (http://www.livejournal.com/users/stuttermoan/7672.html) :)

[infiniteviking]

I still remember what you said about it being logical that Snape's not a Scorpio: "Dude, that would make him the same sign as Kalan Porter." Classic. Just classic.

Holmes and Snape are in the same month? Didn't put it together before.... Fascinating.

I read... I think it was in the Annotated Holmes... The Valley of Fear opened on January 7th, and someone suggested that Holmes was so moody that day because they had been partying the night before. So: maybe people are generally grumpy in the beginning of January. It's right after the holidays, with their stresses and excesses, and a universal bad attitude might rub off on infants whose first exposure to other humans comes during that time. And stuff like that there.