I think in most fiction that I read, the hero is confronted with a crisis, and they end up saving everybody. Like in Die Hard John McClane starts as a hostage along with everybody else. In Star Wars, Luke may have joined the Rebellion eventually anyway but in the moment he’s responding to a call to transport the Death Star plans.
Less often do the heros sort of, start the fight. Attack on Titan is maybe one of these cases. Eren and Armin are not responding to a crisis but to the ongoing circumstance of the Titans imprisoning humanity. (Mikasa doesn’t seem to think much about this stuff.) Although even in this case the titans sort of started it by killing Eren’s parents.
In Alicornfic though this is the norm. In Luminosity, Bella basically starts planning a war against the Volturi the moment she hears about them. Whereas in the source material, Twilight, the action side of the plot was more like, “she’s playing baseball with her hot sparkly superpowers boyfriend, fairly content with the state of the world, when a wild serial killer appears.” Luminosity!Bella definitely starts the fight. Like Eren, she’s not responding to a crisis, but to the way things have been for hundreds of years, which she decides to change.
Rhysel too, shows up like “nice Elcenia you got here BUT OH MY GOD THE SHRENS I HAVE TO HELP THE SHRENS”, which you know has been a work in progress for a few hundred years, not some sudden crisis instigated by a villain like you usually see. Talyn has the more traditional story when he fights off the demon. But he responds to the ongoing problems of Ryganaav, and then for most of the rest of his story he’s dealing with problems that he created.
So, many Alicorn heros become heros by deciding to fight against an ongoing circumstance that people have gotten used to, just like Eren and Armin. Whereas I think in most fantasy fiction the heros become heros by responding to an emerging crisis that threatens to upset the status quo. (though in Star Wars, while Luke is responding to an emerging crisis, he is still fighting to change the status quo.)
The most alicornish thing I’ve read outside of Alicorn is I think the subplot in The Sorcerer Royal, where the main character visits a school for magical women, where they are mostly taught how to suppress their magic because magic isnt proper for a woman, and he’s immediately like, “well clearly I have to reform women’s magical education,” and immediately sets to work. The action of the story is mainly not about this, it’s about all the attempts to kill him and the crisis of magic beginning to fade from England. But taking up a cause like this against an ongoing usual circumstance is not something I usually see in fantasy fiction outside of alicornfic.
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality looked like it was going to be like this. Harry showed up to the wizarding world and wass like, “here’s my list of things wrong with this situation.” But then he didn’t really pursue them, and the story stuck to the source material of dealing with Voldemort invading the school for the Sorcerers Stone.
Haven’t read much glowfic yet, but some useful reading on this phenomenon more generally. Basically, most audience members like the status quo, so most heroes protect the status quo.
OH MY GOD THIS HAS BEEN BOTHERING ME SO MUCH THOUGH
Like you I haven’t read much Alicornfic yet, but reading stories that always end with the hero right where they started after a massive struggle is sort of mentally exhausting after a while.
Yes! I’m a villain because most people operate on the assumption that heroes defend the status quo which villains try to change. Fuck that.
Also, looks like I need to read Alicornfic when/if I have time for such things.
3 months ago · tagged #support your local supervillain · 59 notes · source: raginrayguns · .permalink
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hpwot reblogged this from michaelblume and added:Yes, but, I feel that the overarching message of HPMoR is that death has been going on for far too long and something...
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plain-dealing-villain reblogged this from raginrayguns and added:Even superheroes are usually reactive on a story-by-story basis. With a couple exceptions; Green Lantern is a Space Cop...
raginrayguns reblogged this from mugasofer and added:Yeah that’s true. Superheroes are proactive. And mainstream so this is a very good addition to the post. Also true I...
drethelin reblogged this from chroniclesofrettek and added:I think in both Worm and HPMOR the world-optimization part gets reasonably derailed by finding out there IS a big bad...
chroniclesofrettek reblogged this from michaelblume and added:I’m not sure I agree with the characterization of HPMOR. Harry went in with the goal of taking over the wizarding world,...
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mugasofer reblogged this from michaelblume and added:I think another place you see this a lot is superheroes.Bruce Wayne’s parents are killed, sure, but he doesn’t then go...
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dagny-hashtaggart reblogged this from wirehead-wannabe and added:I like polemical fiction for this, for all that the lack of subtlety and charity often gets on my nerves; at least the...
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wirehead-wannabe reblogged this from shacklesburst and added:OH MY GOD THIS HAS BEEN BOTHERING ME SO MUCH THOUGHLike you I haven’t read much Alicornfic yet, but reading stories that...
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