#dragons rambles

[thethiefandtheairbender]

Had a good chat with my partner about it today that maybe let me put a finger on what's always bugged me about "we're here to fix canon" attitudes being so prevalent in fandom (especially in the past 10ish years) throughout my life. This is not to say there's never a time or place for that (I've written fix its myself, or the occasional meta on how something could be fixed/improved) or that people are wrong to (we're anti fandom policing). It's also not an issue to me on the basis of "I love my blorbo in canon and fandom mischaracterizes them in the name of 'fixing' them" etc as it is just... coming from a fundamentally different perspective for story analysis / interaction than most (not all) people in fandom, I think.

One of the reasons I enjoyed getting my English degree was because I was finally being encouraged to and taught in alignment with what my brain had always be inclined to do: you always assume that there's a reason, and a good reason, for the story to do whatever it's doing. It assumes that the story is already exactly what it is supposed to be as it is supposed to be, and it's up to you to find the reasons Why.

The story was boring, or made you feel uncomfortable/bad, or you couldn't root for a character or relationship? All of that, at least at the beginning, doesn't really Matter. You assume that the story is paced fine, you assume the discomfort was intentional or part of something broader (historical shit that hasn't aged well) or that the dichotomy of "I feel invested or not invested" isn't useful. And in doing so, you replace all that with asking why.

An example I'll use is 1984 by George Orwell. I read that book in high school and I fucking hated it. Normally, I like the protagonist the most in anything I watch/read, but in that book, I loathed both the two leads and were actively rooting for them to be captured and tortured so the book could end faster; it was an actively miserable affair. I don't think that was necessarily the author's intention (certain amount of death of the author is baked in, but for a lot of the texts I was reading, we didn't even know the author or anything substantial about them, i.e. Beowulf) but, more importantly, I don't think any of those things are Flaws or downsides in the text.

Part of this is because 1984 is a dystopian novel (if a romcom book breaks genre convention that badly where you're miserable reading it, yeah, maybe something went wrong, but more on that in a minute) but even then it doesn't really matter on the basis of genre; I'm sure some people read 1984 and felt fascinated/excited while reading.

Rather, the focus becomes: what do I find so unlikeable about the protagonists? Why would they be written that way (on purpose)? What does it say about the society they live in? What does it say about their characterization, social stratification, etc etc? If a character does something that I think is non-sensical, why? Have I missed something? Should I watch retrospectively for clues? Is there another way to engage and to understand? Is what I label as confusion potentially a, or the, Point?

It is only after finding the reasons, and/or finding them unsuitable, that I let my subjective feelings into play. While a story can have great merit on the basis of relatability, relatability or "this aligns with my worldview / expectations / desires / etc." is not the be-all end-all of discerning quality

For example, I'm never going to be a fan of Jane and Rochester (she's 18, he's her 40 year old employer who routinely lies to her) but there are reasons, Good reasons, they get together in Jane Eyre (a book so subjectively boring I struggled through it twice) in response to both when the book was written and with the book's themes / symbols / their characterization. If they didn't end up together, it would be a fundamentally different story; it would not be Jane Eyre. So objectively, it's fine and an understandably massive influence on the western literary canon; subjectively, it's so fucking bad and I'm so glad I never have to read it again. But if I stopped there with my lack of interest or dislike of the main romance, I'd be missing out on what the text has to offer as well, the text.

This applies to more modern day stuff as well. I don't like Double Trouble from SheRa as nonbinary representation, and I'm nonbinary myself; however, I can acknowledge that the things I don't like about them were probably simultaneously empowering and exactly what the author (who is also nonbinary) wanted to be per his own experience of gender. Having a "I assume the text is right" mindset means that I can hold space for my own feelings/analysis (i.e. I also did not like Catra's arc, as I think she needed to learn other things / be written under a different lens) while holding space for the text as is (under the canonical lens of Catra learning it's never too late to be saved, I think her arc is conclusive and well done). And these two viewpoints aren't fundamentally opposed, but can coexist as analytical soup, being equally true / having equal value under the subjective (my view) and more 'objective' (the canon text's construction, or what I / the scholarly consensus, if it exists, believes it to be, anyway) at the same time.

Again, none of this is to say that you can't take issue with a canon text, or want to change something. I remember one time I was watching a show where their refusal to explore a romantic relationship between the female lead and her guy best friend was actively making the show worse; I understood their reasonings of wanting to put them with other people to explore their relationships, and wanting to emphasize a male-female friendship at the core of the story, and I still wanted them to put the two together as a Ship instead for various reasons. But that doesn't mean my line of thinking would've been Objectively Better—assuming if they had been paired together would've been executed in the manner I'd enjoy, or that them being paired with other people couldn't have been executed in ways I would've enjoyed more—merely that I likely would've enjoyed the series more per my own subjective preferences.

What I see in fandom sometimes is that people, understandably, aren't approaching at the start from a "the story always has a good reason" as much as they are speed-running from a "this didn't make sense to me or felt bad/off" and maybe examining why (which is supremely useful!) but not going back to examine the other side of the coin as to why the story would do it anyway.

Because sometimes the story—or a part of a story—is still 'bad' to us. It's just worthwhile to look at why it's 'good,' too.

[raayllum]

me, barely being able to process the new season and just beginning to gather actual coherent thoughts to get barrelled over with "we have a whole third arc planned of 3 more seasons but we need to get greenlit first" like truly no one compares to you tdp

[you-jump-i-jump]

aka this is not what I post here usually like at all BUT because there's like 6,000 of you here

if you love Titanic, I heartily recommend The Dragon Prince on Netflix.

I know one is a tragedy romance based on real life events, and the other is a fantasy animated tv show, but they're two pieces of media that always go together in my head for their shared emphasis on loss, memory, tragedy, joy, ruinous splendour, and the perseverance of love.

While TDP talks about the loss of a lot of things, such as family, sense of self, etc. the central romance of the story also has its parallels to Jack and Rose. There's class differences (Callum is a prince, Rayla is a commoner / assassin) as well as a forbidden aspect to it (he's a human, she's an elf).

Callum an artist, deeply devoted to her and nurturing in general, while also being a bit of a lovable smartass (think Jack teasing Rose up on deck in the "you are so annoying scene") who values new experiences.

Rayla for her part grew up in a much more emotionally reserved environment, has a deep disregard for her life, but is very kind and courageous and loves him just as much.

They also take "you jump, I jump" to a 100% literal degree.

They are incredibly sweet, incredibly canon, and something I turn to whenever I think about Titanic. If you enjoy the movie and like fantasy, I think you would definitely like the show! The latest season just came out (7 seasons, 9 episodes of about 25 minutes each) and it was really good!

[raayllum13]

Hi I'm Dragons or Raay.

this is raayllum 2.0, currently under construction 🧱🔨🏗️ , bc I have too many followers on og raayllum and I don't want 'em. posts here will be 99% my own with the remaining 1% filled out by other people's cool art, fic, or meta on occasion. backlog is being reblogged here via queue 4 times a day.

other things of note:

est. tdp member since july 2018

mid 20s they/them, aroace

snake boi callum, CHET, and crack canon quarter originator

my non-romance focused YA SFF debut is coming out march 3rd 2026, pitched as ATLA/TDP meets Six of Crows.

stuff i make:

meta: analysis series / mini meta / mine

fic: my fic (tumblr) / ao3 (over 100+ tdp fics)

youtube: amvs / video essays

podcast: 50+ episodes. (sometimes i get to interview the co-creators. it's cool.)

other places to find me:

thethiefandtheairbender (multifandom main)

raayllum (the og, but backlog is being transferred here)

@fantasyforbeginners (writing advice)

wordswdragons (twitter) / wordswithdragons (blsky)

@alvoskia (my debut series sideblog about reincarnated chosen ones)

[fantasyforbeginners]

i'm writing a book and it's getting published with an indie press! it's a queer YA sff novel and my debut. if people have questions regarding indie vs trad publishing or anything along those lines, feel free to drop them in my inbox and i'll answer them to the best of my ability <3

[antennatoheaven]

[goodluckdetective]

I’ve started playing dnd again and the campaign I’m in has the pitch that we all must be characters from written works. The plot is we got thrown out of our own stories and must find our way back.

I am Hamlet, a warlock who made a pact with his Dad’s ghost (it’s absolutely his Dad’s ghost, he wasn’t tricked at all, ignore the fiend patron type) to get revenge on his Uncle. But this post isn’t about him.

Because our cleric, the one entrusted with keeping the party full of heals, the only person with healing magic, is House MD.

“Wait Iz!” You cry. “House MD is a television show, not written fiction.” You’d be correct. Which is why our cleric House is not from the television show.

He’s from a fan fiction.

It’s as funny as it sounds.

[egophiliac]

missed the mark by (looks at calendar) uhhh. hm. but I really wanted to do something for the 5th anniversary! happy five years to these idiots 🎉

[coastal-mangos-one]

you know he would have been one of Those kids

inspired by this pic:

[thatrandombystander]

Rip to everyone on this site who didn't realise they were following sleeper dragon age fans. The fandom is awakening from its deep slumber.

[dragon-creates]

RECOUNT AND REVOTE!

For those in the US, there is a petition demanding a recount and revote as well as an investigation about the sudden change in support. Your voice matters and I encourage you to sign!

EDIT: this is a new link for the petition since last one got taken down for some reason

[thethiefandtheairbender]

the way you'll watch a Y7 children's tv show and you think the amount of cannibalism in it is going to be zero and then. it's not. it's really not

[raayllum]

scenes that hit different today after four years of going through immigration with your partner and finally having them receive permanent residence confirmation

[minidoodles97]

Hawke family fleeing the Blight

I have some thoughts on my Hawke having to deal with another Blight and keeping her family safe again. But that's too long for this post, so I'm just gonna add it to my list of Dragon Age fics that I still need to finish...

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

Viago, when playing as Rook De Riva: you IDIOT you were my favorite fledgling why did you have to make a mess of this now I have to jump through all these convoluted hoops to keep you safe. Teia stop telling Rook how much I missed them it's not funny they could have DIED. also your room is exactly the way you left it please come home

Strife, when playing as Rook Aldwir: Why hasn't this weird bug i kicked out of our camp ages ago died yet :|

[switchthedragon]

Fuck it

If this post gets 30k notes I'll ask to go see a therapist.