Canon vs. Fanon, part 8: Daniel, Pacifism, and Weapons Skills

Welcome to the next edition of Canon vs. Fanon! And hello to all the new people of my f-list. :) Drop a comment, say hi, and join the discussion! Differing opinions are welcomed, too.

As I've mentioned in many of these posts, most fanon affectations are only minor irritations for me, particularly those that can be reasonably extrapolated from canon and are simply a case of fanon getting a bit carried away (or a lot). This section of Canon vs. Fanon, however, addresses a common fanon trope that's almost as annoying to me as regular doses of "Dannyboy." You have been warned. :)

One of the reasons I love Daniel is because of the complexities and contradictions in his character. So when authors toss that complexity away to try and retrofit his personality to suit their idealized version of Daniel, I tend to stop reading and find something else. Unfortunately, these two bits of fanon sneak into way too many stories, so it's time to get a good look at canon and make a determination:

Is Daniel Jackson a pacifist?

And even if he might have the will, does he have the skill?

Recap: Canon is defined as anything we see onscreen during Stargate: The Movie or episodes of the show; show supersedes the movie when there's a contradiction. (The Stargate is housed in Cheyenne Mountain under NORAD, not in a missile silo in Creek Mountain). Fanon is defined as widely-accepted concepts that often appear in fanfic, but do have any actual basis in canon.

( Defining pacifism, and the Nox. )

( Canon proofs )

( Fumble-fingered or competent? )

My personal fanon opinion? There's incident after incident in canon where Daniel ignores the military POV and seeks a diplomatic, peaceful solution to a conflict. No one is trying to suggest otherwise. It's an essential part of his nature, and one of the best foils on the show – Daniel's desire to find that "other way" and the contrasts and collisions with the increasingly military emphasis of the SGC. On the other hand, peace advocacy is not the same as pacifism. Stories that highlight Daniel reluctantly shooting some misguided native and then spiraling into a kind of mental breakdown over having taken an innocent life – usually because Jack's life, or Sam's or Teal'c's, was at stake, not because he was killing out of capriciousness – make me cringe. It's lazy writing, because it looks only at the surface and stops there, without understanding the complexities of Daniel's personality. And it's so out-of-character that I feel like I'm reading about some other person who just happens to share the same name as the guy on SG-1.

Equally irritating are fanfics that emphasize Daniel's ineptitude. Daniel may not have gone through the same intense weapons training as the others, and his non-military way of thinking is always entertaining, but he has never been helpless with a weapon, even at the very beginning. Might this attempt to belittle his skills be part of the efforts of many authors to make him more child-like? Whether or not that's the motivation, stories about how much he hates guns, or how he can never figure out how to load his pistol, do not reflect canon at all; it's merely fanon run rampant, and very, very annoying.

"Anyway, I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it. What do you think?"