Minbari castes and fanon musings
Mar. 22nd, 2004 06:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eye_of_a_catI was looking for the Lurkers' Guide page for Legacies, because... um... er... well... Because I have this new plotbunny for a Delenn/Neroon fic set pre-Earth/Minbari war, and it will not leave me alone. There, I've said it.
I know that has the potential to be the worst fic idea in history, or at least the worst one since my 'What if my parents weren't my real parents, and I was secretly Elrond's other daughter, sent here for my own protection?' idea after reading LOTR for the first time. (I know, hanging head in shame. But I was very very young, okay? And it wasn't a cliche pre-ff.net. So ha.) Still, a plotbunny's a plotbunny, and I'm determined to make this work.
In Legacies, when Neroon and Delenn are arguing over Bramner, Neroon says 'He was warrior caste by right of his father!' Delenn replies with 'And religious caste by right of his mother. You know which takes precedence.' The first time I saw that, as far as I can remember, I understood it to mean that the mother's caste takes precedence. The Lurkers' Guide page, on the other hand, says:
"Membership in the religious caste takes precedence if one parent is in the religious caste and the other is a warrior. (This is ambiguous; Delenn's statement on the matter could be interpreted to mean that the mother's caste takes precedence over the father's.)"
It is ambiguous, now I've read that. But beforehand, I honestly didn't even think there was a possibility of the first interpretation. All the fic I've read which deals with Minbari and castes takes it the same way I did - if your parents come from different castes, then you're automatically in your mother's unless you choose otherwise. I'm still convinced that's what she meant, too.
But. Well. What if I only thought that because of the fanfiction? I know it's a really bad idea to take your ideas about canon from fic, because that way lies writing stories about Elrond's Other Other Other Daughter being an Elemental Elf who's half-dragon and rides a unicorn, and wondering why all those angry Tolkien purists are gathering at the gates with heavy sticks. I get angry when I see authors do this, and maybe I've been doing it myself without even realising. If I didn't even notice the different interpretations of Delenn's statement there, how many other things might I have taken purely from fanfic and assumed were canon?
Eeek.
I know that has the potential to be the worst fic idea in history, or at least the worst one since my 'What if my parents weren't my real parents, and I was secretly Elrond's other daughter, sent here for my own protection?' idea after reading LOTR for the first time. (I know, hanging head in shame. But I was very very young, okay? And it wasn't a cliche pre-ff.net. So ha.) Still, a plotbunny's a plotbunny, and I'm determined to make this work.
In Legacies, when Neroon and Delenn are arguing over Bramner, Neroon says 'He was warrior caste by right of his father!' Delenn replies with 'And religious caste by right of his mother. You know which takes precedence.' The first time I saw that, as far as I can remember, I understood it to mean that the mother's caste takes precedence. The Lurkers' Guide page, on the other hand, says:
"Membership in the religious caste takes precedence if one parent is in the religious caste and the other is a warrior. (This is ambiguous; Delenn's statement on the matter could be interpreted to mean that the mother's caste takes precedence over the father's.)"
It is ambiguous, now I've read that. But beforehand, I honestly didn't even think there was a possibility of the first interpretation. All the fic I've read which deals with Minbari and castes takes it the same way I did - if your parents come from different castes, then you're automatically in your mother's unless you choose otherwise. I'm still convinced that's what she meant, too.
But. Well. What if I only thought that because of the fanfiction? I know it's a really bad idea to take your ideas about canon from fic, because that way lies writing stories about Elrond's Other Other Other Daughter being an Elemental Elf who's half-dragon and rides a unicorn, and wondering why all those angry Tolkien purists are gathering at the gates with heavy sticks. I get angry when I see authors do this, and maybe I've been doing it myself without even realising. If I didn't even notice the different interpretations of Delenn's statement there, how many other things might I have taken purely from fanfic and assumed were canon?
Eeek.
