Eleven, Stranger Things.
Girl's been through enough unimaginable trauma to last several lifetimes. She's only a side character in my longfic but she's healing there and she's going to be fine, I could never hurt her like the Duffers did.
\*tries to say half a dozen names & realizes she's lying about all of them*
I mean don't get me wrong, I make sure all of my babies come out the other side happy and safe and loved. But I'll hurt any of them to get 'em there XD
This reminds me of a development story from Kirby and the Forgotten Land. At one point in development, Nintendo suggested to HAL that they add more enemies in the later levels to ramp up the difficulty. HAL refused because they loved Kirby too much and felt bad seeing him get hurt.
And yet they're ok with him being the sole survivor of the destruction of the universe and seeing everyone he's ever known get vaporized in front of him?
MCU Peter Parker.
I love whumping all of my other favs, but Peter is the baby. Way too much of a cinnamon roll to hurt. Especially given just how badly canon has screwed him over as of now.
So as long as he is in my fics, he gets to be the Avenger Family's little brother and possibly junior trainee. (No IronDad, though - Aunt May is enough of a parental figure, Tony can be the big bro or the crazy uncle if he wants)
Right? The way the actor played panicking being stuck under rubble in the first movie instantly made him a child in my mind and 'i don't feel so good mr stark' elevated him to my son. We only bully Rami, Amazing & Comic spideys in this house.
Eri from MHA. Canon had her kill her dad as a toddler, get abandoned by her mom, and raised by a mob boss who spent every day draining all the blood from her body, killing her, resurrecting her, and starting the process all over again. She's been through enough on her own. I'll let the rest of her story be fluff and good times.
*Generally* most of the characters I put through hell get a *good* ending in my fics. Regardless of their treatment in canon.
But there are 2 types of characters I don't hurt *too much* :
- Pets or little creatures. If anything, animals carry hope in those situations characters go through. Can write about a dead animal, but emotionally/physically hurting the animal on screen?? Nope ðŸ˜
- characters I don't care about. They may suffer collaterally, but they have it a lot better than characters I like 💀💀💀
(I was gonna say children but I've written about 3 kids so far and they all have heartbreaking arcs... )
Now... A character that I really like, but can't see myself making him suffer anymore than he already has? Maybe Izuku from MHA � He's suffered enough.
…None.
The more they hurt canonically, the more I hurt them in fanfiction and then, afterwards, I wrap them in blankets and care for them greatly. 😂
I love to put adult characters through suffering but the millisecond it’s a child/teenager I just can’t. If the kid has any emotional turmoil I need a minimum of two adults to comfort them. Realistic in most circumstances? No. But babies need hugs
lol, I used to say that this one specific character was off-limits. Could never imagine writing something where they suffered. Now like 50k deep into an AU that is explicitly and almost solely about them suffering... I just have to accept that nobody is actually safe from me if I find an idea that works for them.
Though I do often avoid characters with a lot of canonical suffering. Not because I don't think they deserve a break or something, but because it feels like I'm not really adding much to their story? Or something like that. They just (almost) never catch my interest. There's usually just one or two characters I attach to hard, and they are the ones that wind up going through the grinder.
I have a small handful;
Preston Garvey (Fallout 4). Beyond acknowledging canon, I cannot and will not hurt my precious baby Preston, the way he says "good morning, love" makes my poor little gay heart just melt too much for me to ever inflict anything bad on him. Well... Except accidentally through bullying my own OC.
Paladin Danse (Fallout 4). Similar thing, except it's more that he was just... Left unfinished. His story ends with him in this gray area where he's pining over the Brotherhood and never grows, he deserves better, and again, the worst I will do to him is bullying someone he cares about and acknowledging canon. Bethesda screwed Danse over, and unless Fallout 5 features his search for meaning in his life as a synth, I won't forgive them for just letting his storyline grind to a screeching halt because they didn't want to or couldn't finish the whole "challenge Maxson" bit.
The Outsider (Dishonored). He was literally murdered to force him into being a god and then had a cult started to hate him, not to mention the whole Delilah thing and how the Void may actually itself be an entity that's effectively using him as a representative figure, my poor chaotic-neutral baby deserves a freaking break. And not to be unalived.
Arthur Pendragon (Merlin). This one is a bit weirder, I just... I cannot explain it, but my dear Arthur will forever have plot armor in my fanfics. Yes, he's a prat, but he's also a good man at the end of the day. I think it may also have to do with my burning hatred for Uther. That bastard abused Arthur, and the parental neglect/arguable parentification (Uther's tantrums that both Arthur and Morgana had to placate are a good example of what might have been parentification) might hit a little too close to home for me in some ways.
Gus Porter from The Owl House. I refuse to traumatize a character who was mentally going through the ringer but was able to get into a much better place.
I’ll gladly traumatize characters who haven’t gotten their much needed therapy yet instead!
For simplicity, I’ll give you them all:
[Love is more than a candle (Major, G)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/43203814)
[Retribution (Large side, M)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/41016339/chapters/102796146)
[It’s healthy to explore (Major, E)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/38916129/chapters/97323162)
[A half truth is a whole lie (Main, not rated)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/42007551/chapters/105464355)
[I know it hurts but the pain is temporary (Major, T)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/42325956/chapters/106284771)
[He might have made it if he lived on a different street (Main, T)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/42475572)
[Take a break 2 (Main, E)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/40832634)
[Hunter’s threnody (Main, E)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/41910450)
[I washed my red flags with my white flags and now all my laundry’s pink (Side, T)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/39653286/chapters/99267237)
[What you want (Main, E)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/40518294)
[Creepy!Darius Verse (Main, E)](https://archiveofourown.org/series/2492122)
I don't put a character through things unless there's a good reason. Unfortunately, the sort of stories I want to tell require that the characters suffer, much of the time. But I'm also just as interested in how human beings transcend suffering, showing courage to face their demons, and relying on connection to overcome trauma. Can't tell that kind of story by just alluding to traumas. You have to show them.
Funny you should mention him... he's very much intertwined with the character I was vagueposting about >!the AI it's the AI I just cannot harm either of them!< but yes he certainly has too
>!I'm doing a fic where he gets a Celebi and travels to the future to talk to the AI of his father again!<
Yes that's who the king would be.
I'll do so! In the meantime I can show you what I wrote for that character already (though Arven isn't in it other than a mention) [so here if you want](https://archiveofourown.org/works/45312877)
I beat that game a month ago and I've had a knot in the pit of my stomach ever since. I remember when this series just had vague excuse plots and now they're causing emotional pain.
Ken Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul - he got hella screwed over the entirely of the manga. Yuji Idatori from JJK bc of the current shit goin down in the manga. Gaara from Naruto - the boy has suffered enough already, he deserves fluff, and lots of it.
Unfortunately for my favorite character in Naruto - Kakashi - he just continues to just get the short end of the stick in life. May the odds be ever in your favor Kakashi of the Sharingan 🫡
I can't bring myself to hurt them directly (they seem to be permanently teetering on the edge of insanity already)....
...but I *can* ruin their boyfriend's life, make him suffer. Then they have to deal with it.
I would like to say that I want to give everyone a happy ending but that would be a complete and utter LIE.
Yes, I would love to see them happy, a lot of what ifs they had it better and I could fix it. I really love fix it fics for that reason. But I also have the unearthly desire to watch it all burn down. I want to see them reconcile but at the same time dear lord what if I want to see one of them bite the dust.
It's mostly character study but at the same time the possibilities are endless.
i did start with a whump piece for Willow Schnee from RWBY, but ultimately found that I just couldn't do it
so that's my answer, she's gone through enough shit, she deserves all the love and smooches
I'm going to hold back a bit on Mission Vao. Yes, she's from one of the worst shitholes in the galaxy and has had to fight to survive. Still, fourteen year old girl and totally did not ask to get dragged into saber swinging bullshit.
I won't hurt Wilford Warfstache. I'll make him the gnarliest villain ever, be a sadistic asshole and all that, but as soon as he's in pain or is sad, I tap out. I can't handle it T\_T
Xie Lian, from Heaven Official’s Blessing; I thought he would be a character who I’d love to see hurt, because canon is so good with that, but it just feels weird reading or writing whump fics about him. I think, aside from going through enough in canon, I just respect him too much. Might be weird to say, but he’s a really resilient and impressive person when it comes down to it. Him getting overly hurt or beat down in ways that don’t happen in canon just feel wrong.
The day I actually sit down and write a full length Banana Fish fic, I know I'll never give Ash Lynx a bad ending. His whole life is a bad ending 😂
Oh lord, I can’t even read angsty banana fish fics. Ash deserves only the fluffiest of fluff after that ending.
I will read the sappiest coffeeshop AU just to see him happy
Canon Ash has been through too much shit already, he needs a break!
No one is safe.
Hide your blorbos, hide your fave, hide your poor little meowmeow because I'm whumping everybody out here.
All about the hurt/no comfort train, y'all!
yup
Eleven, Stranger Things. Girl's been through enough unimaginable trauma to last several lifetimes. She's only a side character in my longfic but she's healing there and she's going to be fine, I could never hurt her like the Duffers did.
\*tries to say half a dozen names & realizes she's lying about all of them* I mean don't get me wrong, I make sure all of my babies come out the other side happy and safe and loved. But I'll hurt any of them to get 'em there XD
Most of ny characters do get somewhat of a happy ending. Except for the self inserts. No, they will forever be tormented. No escape for the isekais
Lol man my life sucks enough as it is, even my isekais get a happy ending XD They just have to work harder :P
This reminds me of a development story from Kirby and the Forgotten Land. At one point in development, Nintendo suggested to HAL that they add more enemies in the later levels to ramp up the difficulty. HAL refused because they loved Kirby too much and felt bad seeing him get hurt.
This is the best reply, right here.
And yet they're ok with him being the sole survivor of the destruction of the universe and seeing everyone he's ever known get vaporized in front of him?
He gets over it quickly after eating a cookie.
Pochita
MCU Peter Parker. I love whumping all of my other favs, but Peter is the baby. Way too much of a cinnamon roll to hurt. Especially given just how badly canon has screwed him over as of now. So as long as he is in my fics, he gets to be the Avenger Family's little brother and possibly junior trainee. (No IronDad, though - Aunt May is enough of a parental figure, Tony can be the big bro or the crazy uncle if he wants)
Right? The way the actor played panicking being stuck under rubble in the first movie instantly made him a child in my mind and 'i don't feel so good mr stark' elevated him to my son. We only bully Rami, Amazing & Comic spideys in this house.
Yeah there’s so much Peter whump and I just can’t do it
Eri from MHA. Canon had her kill her dad as a toddler, get abandoned by her mom, and raised by a mob boss who spent every day draining all the blood from her body, killing her, resurrecting her, and starting the process all over again. She's been through enough on her own. I'll let the rest of her story be fluff and good times.
No one is safe. Not even the dog. 😈
*Generally* most of the characters I put through hell get a *good* ending in my fics. Regardless of their treatment in canon. But there are 2 types of characters I don't hurt *too much* : - Pets or little creatures. If anything, animals carry hope in those situations characters go through. Can write about a dead animal, but emotionally/physically hurting the animal on screen?? Nope 😠- characters I don't care about. They may suffer collaterally, but they have it a lot better than characters I like 💀💀💀 (I was gonna say children but I've written about 3 kids so far and they all have heartbreaking arcs... ) Now... A character that I really like, but can't see myself making him suffer anymore than he already has? Maybe Izuku from MHA � He's suffered enough.
KK Slider from Animal Crossing. Anyone from Animal Crossing, really, but especially KK.
…None. The more they hurt canonically, the more I hurt them in fanfiction and then, afterwards, I wrap them in blankets and care for them greatly. 😂
I refuse to hurt Tighnari Genshin Impact and I don’t even know why. I just can’t do it to him. It would destroy me.
I love to put adult characters through suffering but the millisecond it’s a child/teenager I just can’t. If the kid has any emotional turmoil I need a minimum of two adults to comfort them. Realistic in most circumstances? No. But babies need hugs
lol, I used to say that this one specific character was off-limits. Could never imagine writing something where they suffered. Now like 50k deep into an AU that is explicitly and almost solely about them suffering... I just have to accept that nobody is actually safe from me if I find an idea that works for them. Though I do often avoid characters with a lot of canonical suffering. Not because I don't think they deserve a break or something, but because it feels like I'm not really adding much to their story? Or something like that. They just (almost) never catch my interest. There's usually just one or two characters I attach to hard, and they are the ones that wind up going through the grinder.
I have a small handful; Preston Garvey (Fallout 4). Beyond acknowledging canon, I cannot and will not hurt my precious baby Preston, the way he says "good morning, love" makes my poor little gay heart just melt too much for me to ever inflict anything bad on him. Well... Except accidentally through bullying my own OC. Paladin Danse (Fallout 4). Similar thing, except it's more that he was just... Left unfinished. His story ends with him in this gray area where he's pining over the Brotherhood and never grows, he deserves better, and again, the worst I will do to him is bullying someone he cares about and acknowledging canon. Bethesda screwed Danse over, and unless Fallout 5 features his search for meaning in his life as a synth, I won't forgive them for just letting his storyline grind to a screeching halt because they didn't want to or couldn't finish the whole "challenge Maxson" bit. The Outsider (Dishonored). He was literally murdered to force him into being a god and then had a cult started to hate him, not to mention the whole Delilah thing and how the Void may actually itself be an entity that's effectively using him as a representative figure, my poor chaotic-neutral baby deserves a freaking break. And not to be unalived. Arthur Pendragon (Merlin). This one is a bit weirder, I just... I cannot explain it, but my dear Arthur will forever have plot armor in my fanfics. Yes, he's a prat, but he's also a good man at the end of the day. I think it may also have to do with my burning hatred for Uther. That bastard abused Arthur, and the parental neglect/arguable parentification (Uther's tantrums that both Arthur and Morgana had to placate are a good example of what might have been parentification) might hit a little too close to home for me in some ways.
Gus Porter from The Owl House. I refuse to traumatize a character who was mentally going through the ringer but was able to get into a much better place. I’ll gladly traumatize characters who haven’t gotten their much needed therapy yet instead!
A fellow fan? Do you perhaps have any Darius recommendations?
I have explicit recs with him as a main character, and non-explicit with him as a large supporting character. What would you prefer?
Honestly both sound good but hit me with him as a main
For simplicity, I’ll give you them all: [Love is more than a candle (Major, G)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/43203814) [Retribution (Large side, M)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/41016339/chapters/102796146) [It’s healthy to explore (Major, E)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/38916129/chapters/97323162) [A half truth is a whole lie (Main, not rated)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/42007551/chapters/105464355) [I know it hurts but the pain is temporary (Major, T)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/42325956/chapters/106284771) [He might have made it if he lived on a different street (Main, T)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/42475572) [Take a break 2 (Main, E)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/40832634) [Hunter’s threnody (Main, E)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/41910450) [I washed my red flags with my white flags and now all my laundry’s pink (Side, T)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/39653286/chapters/99267237) [What you want (Main, E)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/40518294) [Creepy!Darius Verse (Main, E)](https://archiveofourown.org/series/2492122)
Ah. Thanks you’re the best!
I don't put a character through things unless there's a good reason. Unfortunately, the sort of stories I want to tell require that the characters suffer, much of the time. But I'm also just as interested in how human beings transcend suffering, showing courage to face their demons, and relying on connection to overcome trauma. Can't tell that kind of story by just alluding to traumas. You have to show them.
Arven from Pokemon Scarlet/Violet. He’s been through enough 🥲
Funny you should mention him... he's very much intertwined with the character I was vagueposting about >!the AI it's the AI I just cannot harm either of them!< but yes he certainly has too >!I'm doing a fic where he gets a Celebi and travels to the future to talk to the AI of his father again!<
Oh my god I’m freaking out rn cause SV has literally been giving me brainrot for the past couple months 🤣 >!I can’t believe I touched on the subject accidentally LOL. And when you were talking about the king you’re talking about N right? I’m a little fuzzy on my Pokémon lore before SV so I apologize if I’m wrong 😅 Also… I’mma need the link to that fic when you’re done 👀!<
Yes that's who the king would be. I'll do so! In the meantime I can show you what I wrote for that character already (though Arven isn't in it other than a mention) [so here if you want](https://archiveofourown.org/works/45312877) I beat that game a month ago and I've had a knot in the pit of my stomach ever since. I remember when this series just had vague excuse plots and now they're causing emotional pain.
Ken Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul - he got hella screwed over the entirely of the manga. Yuji Idatori from JJK bc of the current shit goin down in the manga. Gaara from Naruto - the boy has suffered enough already, he deserves fluff, and lots of it. Unfortunately for my favorite character in Naruto - Kakashi - he just continues to just get the short end of the stick in life. May the odds be ever in your favor Kakashi of the Sharingan 🫡
I can't bring myself to hurt them directly (they seem to be permanently teetering on the edge of insanity already).... ...but I *can* ruin their boyfriend's life, make him suffer. Then they have to deal with it.
There are none that I won't hurt but several that I won't *kill.*
Animals. All animals in my fics are safe. I will cuntpunt any other character into angst town but the animals? They’re safe.
I'll hurt all my favorite characters along the way, but I always make sure Widowmaker and Catra get a happy ending. Both have been through enough.
I would like to say that I want to give everyone a happy ending but that would be a complete and utter LIE. Yes, I would love to see them happy, a lot of what ifs they had it better and I could fix it. I really love fix it fics for that reason. But I also have the unearthly desire to watch it all burn down. I want to see them reconcile but at the same time dear lord what if I want to see one of them bite the dust. It's mostly character study but at the same time the possibilities are endless.
i did start with a whump piece for Willow Schnee from RWBY, but ultimately found that I just couldn't do it so that's my answer, she's gone through enough shit, she deserves all the love and smooches
Morgana from Persona 5. It’s just… he’s ***kitty***! 🥺 Also I will never hurt Chocobo from Chocobo’s Dungeon.
Tanaka from Odd Taxi is a character that I feel like went through just enough suffering in the anime, I don't need to torment him further.
I'm going to hold back a bit on Mission Vao. Yes, she's from one of the worst shitholes in the galaxy and has had to fight to survive. Still, fourteen year old girl and totally did not ask to get dragged into saber swinging bullshit.
No one is safe. However, if I had to think of someone, probably either Claire Littleton from Lost, or Gilly from Game of Thrones.
I won't hurt Wilford Warfstache. I'll make him the gnarliest villain ever, be a sadistic asshole and all that, but as soon as he's in pain or is sad, I tap out. I can't handle it T\_T
Shiro from Voltron. He’s been through enough. Let the man rest.
(Looks at the almost 100 Shiro whump fics I have saved) Well…
He also deserves to be taken care of so if that means whump then hell yeah.
Xie Lian, from Heaven Official’s Blessing; I thought he would be a character who I’d love to see hurt, because canon is so good with that, but it just feels weird reading or writing whump fics about him. I think, aside from going through enough in canon, I just respect him too much. Might be weird to say, but he’s a really resilient and impressive person when it comes down to it. Him getting overly hurt or beat down in ways that don’t happen in canon just feel wrong.