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.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-03-22 11:01 am (UTC)Oh, I already had an argument with
(You know, after she - not some Earth jock - sacrifices herself at Z'ha'dum and gets resurrected by her friends against her will, they have this torrid affair which allows her to feel again...)
Okay, seriously now. If they had an affair pre-War it would give additional emotional subtext to both Neroon's anger and bitterness early on and later to his decision to join with Delenn to end the civil war, and then to die in her place. Really, what surprises me is that there is no Delenn/Neroon out there yet, but that Neroon/Marcus is.
(But then, any Marcus pairing surprises me, given that he's our one canonical virgin.*g*)
I find it fascinating that they revere Valen's memory as holy, but they refuse to play along with his ideas for equality in Minbari society. So much for the we're-more-civilised-than-the-other-races image they try to show...
Well, you have to allow for changes through a millennium, and, as the Sinclair novel indicates, different legends developing around Valen. Still, I suppose you can make a similar case for Christianity, given its humble origins and promotion to state religion post-Constantine with all the ensuing changes in regards to the social aspects of the message that meant.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-03-22 04:38 pm (UTC)*bursts out laughing, scurries off to find it*
Oh, that's brilliant! "We are all Giles." I love it.
Okay, seriously now. If they had an affair pre-War it would give additional emotional subtext to both Neroon's anger and bitterness early on and later to his decision to join with Delenn to end the civil war, and then to die in her place.
It would, wouldn't it? The plotbunny just grew to the size of a giant ground sloth - I must write this. Trying to work out what Neroon would be like pre-war could be tricky, though, when so much of his actions in the show were determined by the war and the surrender order. Hmmmm.
Really, what surprises me is that there is no Delenn/Neroon out there yet, but that Neroon/Marcus is.
I think there's Delenn/Dukhat out there (which very much squicks me, although Delenn/Lennier doesn't at all - I think that's because we only ever see Delenn and Dukhat interacting when she's still very young and in awe of him, plus he calls her 'child'), and Delenn/Marcus (Which. Is. Just. Wrong.), but I've never seen any Delenn/Neroon except one AU. This fandom has the darndest gaps in its pairings...
Well, you have to allow for changes through a millennium, and, as the Sinclair novel indicates, different legends developing around Valen.
Ah, yes. I liked the part in To Dream in the City of Sorrows where Neroon mentions the Minbari theological squabbles over 'a Minbari not born of Minbari', and the way some scholars translate it as '...not born on Minbar.' I think they're more like humans than they want to admit.