On character death
Dec. 29th, 2012 02:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
minavoxIn short: I do not approve. At all.
Slightly longer (and surely not spoilery for anyone who even remotely knows about Merlin...):
I really, really hate it.
I'm fairly lax on warnings, but if there's one thing I want to know before I start reading and which makes me not click on the fic in question at all costs, it is major character death. Remember Beautiful World? I loved the story when I started it in... well, a long time ago. Sure, the summary read Draco is afraid of living and Harry is afraid of dying, but sometimes the choice isn't offered. Draco's got to learn what it is to really live, while showing Harry how beautiful the world really is when you're not too scared to see it. - but how was I supposed to know that this wasn't some flowery prose? In the end, Harry was dead and I devastated. And I don't even like Harry that much. But how should the Draco I learned to love in that story live his life from then on with grief overshadowing everything? (On a sidenote: I always liked how serious J.K. Rowling took the topic of death as the one thing where magic is essentially powerless.)
This story took a long time to unlearn, until the sting was just a cognitive memory and no real pain. Probably went through a classical cycle of grief. I'd have appreciated if I had not to. I'd have gladly skipped the story - really, I'm not into fanfic to learn about me and my reaction to grief, thank you very much.
Reading fanfiction has definitely broadened the range of things I find acceptable and even fun when well written (mpreg? bdsm? watersports?). Other things do nothing for me but are no problem if I stumble across them by chance (incest, torture or extreme humiliation come to mind). But character death is the one thing I cannot stomach. Don't know exactly why. Perhaps because it's nearly impossible to un-know? Because it looms like a spectre from then on over the character, when well executed? I used to love Snape/Sirius - I don't any longer. Too much doom and gloom, no matter how much frolicking. There's a Draco/Neville story belonging to an arch I totally love - but lovely as this story is, it gets as close to character death as you could possibly go without really killing someone off. Permanently. The author somewhere said, she won't write in this universe anymore, but if she did, she could not envision a happily ever after for her protagonists or even something simple like life beyond their twenties. I have to admit, this is the one case where I'm deliriously happy that a favourite author is done with fic in one of my fandoms. Because if it existed of course I wouldn't be able to resist the lure. And then probably couldn't read any of the previous stories for ages.
Which brings me back to Merlin. Because of course I will watch 5.13 (I haven't yet). And I'll probably cry my eyes out. The crucial question is: what will happen afterwards? Will I still be able to see the Arthur who is joyful, issue-laden but very much alive and happily taking on everything life dishes out? Or will he be overshadowed by the dying king, dead before his time? (While I write this: perhaps my head-canon already veered off course since the coronation - which actually is a source of comfort in this case...) Whatever it will be: it cannot be unseen.
And yes, I did know that the Arthurian legends are not that prosperous on behalf of Arthur. But the producers lured me into their show with their promise of telling the story before the actual story - and for that to happen the main character surely would have to be at least alive, wouldn't he? The series would end before said character would be anywhere near the age where the machinations of destiny would set up something irreversible? Talk about scripts screwing viewers over...
Well, I also managed to overcome my obsession with "this is canon, fanfic has to deal with it, even if I hate it" by successful ignoring p. 603 ff of Deathly Hallows - so there is hope. :) Doesn't change the fact that I hate character death and no fandom of mine should inflict it on me without even asking!
Slightly longer (and surely not spoilery for anyone who even remotely knows about Merlin...):
I really, really hate it.
I'm fairly lax on warnings, but if there's one thing I want to know before I start reading and which makes me not click on the fic in question at all costs, it is major character death. Remember Beautiful World? I loved the story when I started it in... well, a long time ago. Sure, the summary read Draco is afraid of living and Harry is afraid of dying, but sometimes the choice isn't offered. Draco's got to learn what it is to really live, while showing Harry how beautiful the world really is when you're not too scared to see it. - but how was I supposed to know that this wasn't some flowery prose? In the end, Harry was dead and I devastated. And I don't even like Harry that much. But how should the Draco I learned to love in that story live his life from then on with grief overshadowing everything? (On a sidenote: I always liked how serious J.K. Rowling took the topic of death as the one thing where magic is essentially powerless.)
This story took a long time to unlearn, until the sting was just a cognitive memory and no real pain. Probably went through a classical cycle of grief. I'd have appreciated if I had not to. I'd have gladly skipped the story - really, I'm not into fanfic to learn about me and my reaction to grief, thank you very much.
Reading fanfiction has definitely broadened the range of things I find acceptable and even fun when well written (mpreg? bdsm? watersports?). Other things do nothing for me but are no problem if I stumble across them by chance (incest, torture or extreme humiliation come to mind). But character death is the one thing I cannot stomach. Don't know exactly why. Perhaps because it's nearly impossible to un-know? Because it looms like a spectre from then on over the character, when well executed? I used to love Snape/Sirius - I don't any longer. Too much doom and gloom, no matter how much frolicking. There's a Draco/Neville story belonging to an arch I totally love - but lovely as this story is, it gets as close to character death as you could possibly go without really killing someone off. Permanently. The author somewhere said, she won't write in this universe anymore, but if she did, she could not envision a happily ever after for her protagonists or even something simple like life beyond their twenties. I have to admit, this is the one case where I'm deliriously happy that a favourite author is done with fic in one of my fandoms. Because if it existed of course I wouldn't be able to resist the lure. And then probably couldn't read any of the previous stories for ages.
Which brings me back to Merlin. Because of course I will watch 5.13 (I haven't yet). And I'll probably cry my eyes out. The crucial question is: what will happen afterwards? Will I still be able to see the Arthur who is joyful, issue-laden but very much alive and happily taking on everything life dishes out? Or will he be overshadowed by the dying king, dead before his time? (While I write this: perhaps my head-canon already veered off course since the coronation - which actually is a source of comfort in this case...) Whatever it will be: it cannot be unseen.
And yes, I did know that the Arthurian legends are not that prosperous on behalf of Arthur. But the producers lured me into their show with their promise of telling the story before the actual story - and for that to happen the main character surely would have to be at least alive, wouldn't he? The series would end before said character would be anywhere near the age where the machinations of destiny would set up something irreversible? Talk about scripts screwing viewers over...
Well, I also managed to overcome my obsession with "this is canon, fanfic has to deal with it, even if I hate it" by successful ignoring p. 603 ff of Deathly Hallows - so there is hope. :) Doesn't change the fact that I hate character death and no fandom of mine should inflict it on me without even asking!
