Headcanons (and rejected canon)
Jul. 15th, 2013 12:10 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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lkh_lashoutsI wanted to post some of my headcanon (some of which I think I've posted in the past, but most of it I haven't posted here before) and it breaks a big headcanon rule: It contradicts canon. Headcanon is not supposed to do that. It's supposed to be stuff never stated in canon (hence why it's something your own head came up with) but that wouldn't contradict it if it was. For instance, it's never stated in HP canon that Sirus Black an Remus Lupin were in love, but it was never stated they weren't and there weren't reasons they couldn't be, so it's a headcanon a lot of people have. However, when it comes to the very special case that is the AB series, canon is, in my opinion, basically pick-and-choose for the reader after Narcissus in Chains, because that is where shit starts getting ridiculous. Hence why some of my statements aren't about headcanon so much as whether I do or don't accept a certain part of the post-NiC canon.
SHAPESHIFTERS
- I do not accept that shapeshifters age slower than humans (came out of fucking NOWHERE in Bullet with no precedent) EXCEPT for the swanmanes. I think that they do age much, much slower; for instance, a fan character of mine is a swanmane who is almost 200 but only looks to be in their early 40s. Considering that I don't think that swanmanes are related to other therians and that they are not descended from Marmee Noir (I think that, if anything, they're probably more related to fae) this makes sense for me.
- I think that the reason that there's a whole lot of werecat variants (specifically, the entire Panthera family) is because the original therian, Marmee Noir, was a werecat herself, so the therianthropy adapted first and most easily to other big cats. True, smilodons aren't too strongly related to modern big cats (I think?) but they're still closer to 'em than wolves, bears, hyenas, etc.
- I think that the werecobras are descended from Marmee Noir, but not SOLELY from her like the mammalian shifters. I think they also came from nagas too. Not sure about the wereanacondas. Is it at all possible that people from India who were weresnakes could have spread the infection north of India enough for someone to carry it over the Bering Strait and eventually to South America, where the wereanacondas apparently originate from?
- I think that the order of what therian strains came first can basically be determined from how close that animal is related to the source, a smilodon. The werecats came first, then the werehyenas since hyenas are more closely related to felines than canines, then the wolves and foxes and bears, and the cobras and anacondas came last being non-mammalian and thus furthest from her. And as I said, I don't think the snakes came solely from her but also another source, and I don't think the swans are related to her at all. And as for the weredogs...actually, they came last, not the snakes. In fact, all of the others I think are prehistoric, but weredogs I think are a little more recent...see theory below!
- A friend of mine had an epic theory about weredogs that I completely embrace and endorse:
Since dogs are just selective breeding to keep wolf cub traits in a grown animal, there could have been some human magic users poking their noses where they weren't wanted and they tried to make lycanthropes into their guards/useful to society. Hence weredogs coming up alongside actual domesticated dogs. Just get a small/young lycanthrope, transfer those wolf cub-ish traits to another person, and after a while you have weredogs who aren't tied to the moon. Which goes into all the myths about weredog-like household guardians. And since wereanimals lose their babies because of forced lunar shifting, weredogs won't have that problem and they can be born shifters. It just seems like a very human thing to do. Take wild unpredictable thing that EATS YOU and turn it into a domesticated household helper. Also, there are such terrible implications to it, which makes it lovely and awful. I mean, just the selective breeding aspect of dogs.
WERETIGERS
- I will go on and accept the five different pureblood tiger colors and their clans, that they correspond to elements of which they have the powers of, etc. I will NOT accept that there were once THOUSANDS of different tiger clans, each of their own color, nor that each corresponded to an extinct sub-species of tiger (yes, this was really put forth in Skin Trade).
- I do not believe that the tiger clans kept the secret of how they had babies for this damn long or at all. I think Anita just *thinks* that because *she* never knew about it before. Because, honestly, it doesn't make sense and it would be way more beneficial for them to share it, for reasons I mentioned in the spork of mine where it first came up in Bullet (which I'll gladly link if you want to know said reasons).
- I do NOT accept the utterly pointless stupidity of mixed-blood tigers having multiple tiger forms, one for each color in their bloodline. I'll accept them instead just turning into orange like the despised infected weretigers, or, better yet, not being able to shift at all, which would indeed be a real disability in their society and a good reason for the tigers to consider mixing clans to be such a taboo. Any mixed tiger fan-character of mine is gonna be unable to shift and any fic they're in is gonna have ALL mixed tigers be that way. It gets rid of the silly multipe-forms thing AND gives a reason why tigers are all purebred-obsessed, something which canon never does.
- I feel like weretigers should also come from countries other than China (where in canon they supposedly originate from), including India, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, all of which have actual tigers and weretiger legends in our world. Maybe the only ones that ever had to flee to other countries were the Chinese ones, but that wouldn't mean they're the only ones to exist! I feel like this oversight is entirely due to LKH's apparent lack of awareness that there are any Asian countries besides China (the only non-Chinese characters of Asian descent we've seen are the Indian Padma and half-Japanese Graham)
VAMPIRES
- I do not accept Vittorio's claims of The Dragon and Belle Morte being "something new" and not descended from MOAD. I believe that Vittorio was created by the MOAD to be her equal and opposite, but it turned out he wasn't worthy of that power so she stripped him of it, and he's been making bitter 'she's not so great' claims like this ever since. I know that his version COULD work, but I find my version to be much more neat and pat with all lines leading back to MOAD, and I like neat and pat.
- I do not believe Vittorio and MOAD were, as it was hinted in Skin Trade, a romantic/sexual couple, nor do I believe that MOAD has any sexual desires at all (as it is stated, according to the Amazon flog, in Affliction). I also really don't like it when the MOAD even talks, to be honest. I much prefer her as this dark disembodied cthonic Lovecraftian entity that is all feeling and instinct (which does NOT include the instinct for sex, since that's not how she reproduces) and predatory nature and survival drive, and just incomprehensible to the human mind. LKH claims that the MOAD has forgotten how to be human, but the few times she's given character, she actually seems laughably human. I don't like that and it doesn't match up with the image we're supposed to have of her as "the night itself made alive" and "the reason early man feared the dark"
- I do believe that MOAD was the actual genuine first vampire/therian, not just the metaphorical 'mother' in the sense that she created the culture and rules that vampires live by, which has been suggested in-universe by some characters. She just makes the most sense to me this way, especially with how she's a hybrid creature and all. This means that she is older than Mr. Oliver, and thus her original body was either a Homo erectus like him or something even earlier.
- I think that Mr. Oliver is a dwarf. Anita spoke as if his height was part of his species, but Homo erectus were about the same size/height as modern humans, and he was only a little more than four feet, and dwarfism is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than 4'10 . Anita claimed he couldn't have dwarfism because he was proportionate, but actually there are plenty of types of proportionate dwarfs; in fact, a common distinguishment made between different conditions (there are over 200 distinct medical conditions that can cause dwarfism!) is whether it involves proportionate or disproportionate dwarfism. I think that makes him that much more awesome for being the one single pre-human vampire besides MOAD that we've seen who survived into the modern age.
- I think that Anita was not the first human Mr. Oliver enlisted in keeping vampires under control. I think he's approached like-minded people for aid and resources throughout history whenever it looked like the vampire population needed to be culled or otherwise steered in some direction he wanted that would be mutually beneficial to humans.
- I don't picture Oliver as white despite his portrayal as such in the comics
http://blog.1979semifinalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/anita-blake-circus-of-the-damned-the-ingenue-4.jpg
I think he was most likely dark-skinned, since that's the way that all the reconstructions by scientists of Homo erectus seem to be
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmwjubPfoA1qbclmp.jpg
http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/news2/Men-Led-Ancient-African-Exodus-2.jpg
- We've been informed that Jean-Claude is a sourdre de sang, meaning that he is a new type of vampire with new powers that has started his own line of similarly-powered vampires. However, we've not seen JC or any of his 'offspring' display any unique/new/non-Belle powers, nor have been informed just what distinguishes his abilities and those of his offspring from those of Belle. I think that either he's NOT a sourdre de sang at all, and Anita is being lied to for some manipulative purpose...or he is deliberately hiding whatever his new powers and those of his line are because they're being used to manipulate Anita and the others to his advantage in some way. (Any theories on what they might be are more than welcome! I know you guys can think of some awesome shit!)
SHAPESHIFTERS
- I do not accept that shapeshifters age slower than humans (came out of fucking NOWHERE in Bullet with no precedent) EXCEPT for the swanmanes. I think that they do age much, much slower; for instance, a fan character of mine is a swanmane who is almost 200 but only looks to be in their early 40s. Considering that I don't think that swanmanes are related to other therians and that they are not descended from Marmee Noir (I think that, if anything, they're probably more related to fae) this makes sense for me.
- I think that the reason that there's a whole lot of werecat variants (specifically, the entire Panthera family) is because the original therian, Marmee Noir, was a werecat herself, so the therianthropy adapted first and most easily to other big cats. True, smilodons aren't too strongly related to modern big cats (I think?) but they're still closer to 'em than wolves, bears, hyenas, etc.
- I think that the werecobras are descended from Marmee Noir, but not SOLELY from her like the mammalian shifters. I think they also came from nagas too. Not sure about the wereanacondas. Is it at all possible that people from India who were weresnakes could have spread the infection north of India enough for someone to carry it over the Bering Strait and eventually to South America, where the wereanacondas apparently originate from?
- I think that the order of what therian strains came first can basically be determined from how close that animal is related to the source, a smilodon. The werecats came first, then the werehyenas since hyenas are more closely related to felines than canines, then the wolves and foxes and bears, and the cobras and anacondas came last being non-mammalian and thus furthest from her. And as I said, I don't think the snakes came solely from her but also another source, and I don't think the swans are related to her at all. And as for the weredogs...actually, they came last, not the snakes. In fact, all of the others I think are prehistoric, but weredogs I think are a little more recent...see theory below!
- A friend of mine had an epic theory about weredogs that I completely embrace and endorse:
Since dogs are just selective breeding to keep wolf cub traits in a grown animal, there could have been some human magic users poking their noses where they weren't wanted and they tried to make lycanthropes into their guards/useful to society. Hence weredogs coming up alongside actual domesticated dogs. Just get a small/young lycanthrope, transfer those wolf cub-ish traits to another person, and after a while you have weredogs who aren't tied to the moon. Which goes into all the myths about weredog-like household guardians. And since wereanimals lose their babies because of forced lunar shifting, weredogs won't have that problem and they can be born shifters. It just seems like a very human thing to do. Take wild unpredictable thing that EATS YOU and turn it into a domesticated household helper. Also, there are such terrible implications to it, which makes it lovely and awful. I mean, just the selective breeding aspect of dogs.
WERETIGERS
- I will go on and accept the five different pureblood tiger colors and their clans, that they correspond to elements of which they have the powers of, etc. I will NOT accept that there were once THOUSANDS of different tiger clans, each of their own color, nor that each corresponded to an extinct sub-species of tiger (yes, this was really put forth in Skin Trade).
- I do not believe that the tiger clans kept the secret of how they had babies for this damn long or at all. I think Anita just *thinks* that because *she* never knew about it before. Because, honestly, it doesn't make sense and it would be way more beneficial for them to share it, for reasons I mentioned in the spork of mine where it first came up in Bullet (which I'll gladly link if you want to know said reasons).
- I do NOT accept the utterly pointless stupidity of mixed-blood tigers having multiple tiger forms, one for each color in their bloodline. I'll accept them instead just turning into orange like the despised infected weretigers, or, better yet, not being able to shift at all, which would indeed be a real disability in their society and a good reason for the tigers to consider mixing clans to be such a taboo. Any mixed tiger fan-character of mine is gonna be unable to shift and any fic they're in is gonna have ALL mixed tigers be that way. It gets rid of the silly multipe-forms thing AND gives a reason why tigers are all purebred-obsessed, something which canon never does.
- I feel like weretigers should also come from countries other than China (where in canon they supposedly originate from), including India, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, all of which have actual tigers and weretiger legends in our world. Maybe the only ones that ever had to flee to other countries were the Chinese ones, but that wouldn't mean they're the only ones to exist! I feel like this oversight is entirely due to LKH's apparent lack of awareness that there are any Asian countries besides China (the only non-Chinese characters of Asian descent we've seen are the Indian Padma and half-Japanese Graham)
VAMPIRES
- I do not accept Vittorio's claims of The Dragon and Belle Morte being "something new" and not descended from MOAD. I believe that Vittorio was created by the MOAD to be her equal and opposite, but it turned out he wasn't worthy of that power so she stripped him of it, and he's been making bitter 'she's not so great' claims like this ever since. I know that his version COULD work, but I find my version to be much more neat and pat with all lines leading back to MOAD, and I like neat and pat.
- I do not believe Vittorio and MOAD were, as it was hinted in Skin Trade, a romantic/sexual couple, nor do I believe that MOAD has any sexual desires at all (as it is stated, according to the Amazon flog, in Affliction). I also really don't like it when the MOAD even talks, to be honest. I much prefer her as this dark disembodied cthonic Lovecraftian entity that is all feeling and instinct (which does NOT include the instinct for sex, since that's not how she reproduces) and predatory nature and survival drive, and just incomprehensible to the human mind. LKH claims that the MOAD has forgotten how to be human, but the few times she's given character, she actually seems laughably human. I don't like that and it doesn't match up with the image we're supposed to have of her as "the night itself made alive" and "the reason early man feared the dark"
- I do believe that MOAD was the actual genuine first vampire/therian, not just the metaphorical 'mother' in the sense that she created the culture and rules that vampires live by, which has been suggested in-universe by some characters. She just makes the most sense to me this way, especially with how she's a hybrid creature and all. This means that she is older than Mr. Oliver, and thus her original body was either a Homo erectus like him or something even earlier.
- I think that Mr. Oliver is a dwarf. Anita spoke as if his height was part of his species, but Homo erectus were about the same size/height as modern humans, and he was only a little more than four feet, and dwarfism is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than 4'10 . Anita claimed he couldn't have dwarfism because he was proportionate, but actually there are plenty of types of proportionate dwarfs; in fact, a common distinguishment made between different conditions (there are over 200 distinct medical conditions that can cause dwarfism!) is whether it involves proportionate or disproportionate dwarfism. I think that makes him that much more awesome for being the one single pre-human vampire besides MOAD that we've seen who survived into the modern age.
- I think that Anita was not the first human Mr. Oliver enlisted in keeping vampires under control. I think he's approached like-minded people for aid and resources throughout history whenever it looked like the vampire population needed to be culled or otherwise steered in some direction he wanted that would be mutually beneficial to humans.
- I don't picture Oliver as white despite his portrayal as such in the comics
http://blog.1979semifinalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/anita-blake-circus-of-the-damned-the-ingenue-4.jpg
I think he was most likely dark-skinned, since that's the way that all the reconstructions by scientists of Homo erectus seem to be
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmwjubPfoA1qbclmp.jpg
http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/news2/Men-Led-Ancient-African-Exodus-2.jpg
- We've been informed that Jean-Claude is a sourdre de sang, meaning that he is a new type of vampire with new powers that has started his own line of similarly-powered vampires. However, we've not seen JC or any of his 'offspring' display any unique/new/non-Belle powers, nor have been informed just what distinguishes his abilities and those of his offspring from those of Belle. I think that either he's NOT a sourdre de sang at all, and Anita is being lied to for some manipulative purpose...or he is deliberately hiding whatever his new powers and those of his line are because they're being used to manipulate Anita and the others to his advantage in some way. (Any theories on what they might be are more than welcome! I know you guys can think of some awesome shit!)
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