Is it Possible to Befriend Merula Snyde in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery? An In-Depth Friendship Guide
As a long-time Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery player with multiple playthroughs under my wizarding hat, I can definitively say – yes, you can gradually befriend the notoriously prickly Merula Snyde over the course of your Hogwarts years.
With consistent empathy, heroic actions, and selective dialogue choices, you can slowly chip away at Merula‘s hostile facade and develop an unlikely but mutually rewarding friendship.
mechanics as the in any RPG or game, befriending requires unlocking tiers of friendship XP
Developing bonds between characters in RPGs like Hogwarts Mystery uses a metric progression system. Performing friendship-building activities grants XP, which unlocks higher relationship levels with concrete rewards.
According to data-mined game files, there are 10 friendship levels for each potential ally. Reaching certain thresholds triggers new dialogue, buffs, and story impacts.
| Friendship Level | XP Required | Key Milestones |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | 0 XP | Introduced to Character |
| Level 2 | 50 XP | Start Side Quests |
| Level 3 | 150 XP | Unlock Special Adventures |
| Level 4 | 300 XP | Receive Gameplay Buffs |
| Level 5 | 500 XP | Major Story Developments |
| Level 6 | 750 XP | Romance Options Open Up |
| Level 7 | 1,100 XP | Character Begins Assisting in Main Quests |
| Level 8 | 1,600 XP | Learn Secrets & Backstory |
| Level 9 | 2,300 XP | Character Comment on Friendship |
| Level 10 | 3,200 XP | Maximum Bond Achieved |
As you can see, befriending ANY character in Hogwarts Mystery is a major time investment!
So why should you put in the effort for someone as persistently unpleasant as Merula Snyde?
Tracking Merula‘s Grudging Progression from Foe to Friend
Merula quickly establishes herself as your main Hogwarts agitator, disrupting your investigations into the Cursed Vaults and tormenting you and your friends at every opportunity.
However, even in Year 1, hints of her inner humanity occasionally peek through when she briefly lets her guard down.
The key inflection points where Merula begins to warm up to you include:
Year 3, Chapter 2 – By showing compassion and encouraging Merula when she attempts to cast a Patronus charm to defend against dementors, you spark the first signs of mutual understanding.
Year 4, Chapter 5 – When Merula reveals her boggart assumes the form of her greatest fear – the day her parents were arrested – you provide emotional support during her moment of raw vulnerability.
Year 5, Chapter 4 – If you intervene when Merula is threatening to torture a fairy, she will grudgingly listen to your lecture about compassion and refrain from harming the creature.
Year 5, Chapter 18 – When Merula becomes petrified by a Manticore, you can choose to heroically face the beast alone to carry her petrified body back to safety. This shocks Merula and causes her to see you in a new light.
Year 6, Chapter 13 – If you stop Merula from recklessly pursuing the portrait of the Dark Witch, she recognizes you saved her life and prevents her from making an awful mistake.
Year 6, Chapter 25 – When Merula is being manipulated by her aunt into capturing you, you can appeal to her conscience and convince her to rebel against her family obligations. This wins her genuine respect and trust.
As you can see, it‘s not a smooth or quick transition due to Merula‘s thorny personality. But by Year 7, she will openly admit that despite your differences, she considers you a friend for life and has your back.
The key is knowing when to offer an empathetic ear, demonstrate compassion, provide encouragement, dispense tough advice, or put your own safety at risk to pull Merula back from the brink of terrible decisions.
Learn how to navigate Merula‘s characterization and tragic backstory properly, and a lasting friendship awaits!
Peering Into Merula Snyde‘s Mind – What Makes Her Tick?
To understand the keys to befriending Merula, it‘s important to analyze what makes her the way she is. Her surface-level brashness and cruelty stems from layers of inner pain and self-loathing.
According to backstory reveals from reconciliation moments and side quests, Merula‘s parents were radically devoted Death Eaters who ruthlessly tortured Muggles and Muggle-borns during Voldemort‘s first rise to power.
They groomed Merula from birth to embrace blood purity extremism and the Dark Arts. She grew up watching them inflict horrific cruelty in the name of wizarding supremacy.
After Voldemort‘s initial downfall, her parents were sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban. Though Merula stayed with her mother‘s family after being orphaned, she endured a lonely childhood filled with abuse and exclusion from peers due to her parents‘ crimes.
Merula came to Hogwarts desperate to prove she wasn‘t defined by her family‘s darkness. She tries to mask her pain and insecurity with shows of force and embraces the darkest aspects of Slytherin ambition.
Deep down though, Merula is filled with self-loathing, fear over succumbing to her bloodline‘s madness, and a desperate desire for connection and validation.
Your emotional support and non-judgmental friendship can provide the light that fills voids from her bleak upbringing. But she will resist out of the instinct to push others away before she gets hurt. Winning her trust requires patience and staunch loyalty in the face of her defenses.
Ultimately though, helping Merula battle her inner demons provides the most meaningful characterization payoffs in the entire Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery saga.
Weighing the Pros and Cons – Should You Actually Befriend Merula Snyde?
With Merula representing your main in-game rival, you might rightfully ask – why even bother pushing for friendship, especially since she makes it so difficult?
Here‘s a quick pros vs cons breakdown:
Potential Pros
- Unlocks essential ally for late-game main quests
- Grants insider info from Merula on the Cursed Vaults
- Provides rare emotional fulfillment from reforming bully
- Maximizes experience rewards from her side missions
- Delivers satisfying arc for both characters
Potential Cons
- Requires massive time investment better spent elsewhere
- Forfeits opportunities to humiliate her via duels/pranks
- Risks enabling her toxic tendencies if she backslides
- Progress can reset across seasons causing repetition
- Her prickly personality remains largely unchanged
As you can see, there are compelling cases to be made for remaining bitter enemies or grudging acquaintances. It comes down to your personal gameplay priorities and roleplaying style.
However, from a pure story satisfaction perspective, gritting your teeth and gradually dismantling Merula‘s walls leads to the most incredible payoffs.
My Journey From Despising Merula To Embracing An Unlikely Friendship
Across multiple playthroughs where I‘ve tried different relationship paths with Merula, I found the most fulfilling Choice matters gameplay emerged from the friendship route.
My first time through, I relentlessly antagonized Merula at every opportunity, playing cruel pranks andTh thoroughly trouncing her in duels. It was darkly satisfying in the moment, but grew repetitive over time. We remained one-dimensional rivals.
But when I replayed and actively worked to turn Merula from foe to friend, it recontextualized our entire dynamic.
By showing her empathy and forgiveness during moments of vulnerability, I unlocked secret scenes fleshing out her tragic backstory. Gradually, she revealed more of her hidden fears, regrets over her family‘s crimes, and capacity for selfless acts she buries deep under layers of false bravado.
In later seasons, Merula becomes one of your most steadfast allies – saving your life, providing emotional support, and standing up to powerful adversaries on your behalf.
Getting Merula Snyde to admit "I was wrong about you, friend. Now and always I‘ve got your back!" was a gaming moment that made hundreds of hours invested in Hogwarts Mystery worthwhile.
In Conclusion – Putting in the Effort Opens An Unlikely Friendship
Ultimately, if you can look past Merula Snyde‘s thorny exterior to address the scared, self-loathing girl hiding underneath, an incredible friendship opportunity awaits thanks to the depth of writing Rowling‘s Wizarding World lent to even secondary characters like Merula.
Through a mix of hard-earned empathy, therapeutic redemption, and literal life-saving, the player character and Merula can gradually become steadfast friends over their seven years at Hogwarts together.
Sure, Merula never fully loses her signature mean streak. But the touching unlikely friendship that emerges reminds us that we all contain inner light and darkness warring for dominance.
Do you have the patience and forgiveness to coax Merula‘s better angels to the forefront? If so, you may just find the richest friend you‘ll make at Hogwarts is the one you‘d least expect.
That wraps up my definitive guide on walking the long but rewarding road with Merula Snyde from bitter enemies to loyal friends. Let me know in the comments if this helped inform your gameplay decisions in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery!
