Fic Rec: First Lessons

This seems to be my glorious week for getting gifted with fics! Not that I'm complaining, mind you. :)

After the discussions both here and over at redial_the_gate about Bloodlines, and my comment that Ry'ac had little distinction as a character, redbyrd_sgfic wrote this little gem:

First Lessons

It's the morning after the events of Bloodlines, and Ry'ac wakes up in good health to a breakfast with his mother - and to his very first lesson with Bra'tac.

It's full of deft Redbyrd touches, including an explanation why Ry'ac and Drey'auc didn't simply go back to Earth with SG-1. Remarkably short for a Redbyrd story, too (grins, ducks, and runs), which means you can read it quickly - and then sit back and smile! Because Bra'tac is awesome. He usually is. :)

Canon vs. Fanon, part 14: A Sam Carter Edition

This is going to be a little shorter than usual. I could claim that it's because the next two topics on my Sam list are too huge and detailed to add to this one, but I'll be honest here and confess that a certain complete box set arrived in the mail this morning, which means that my fandom time has been rather abruptly and gleefully diverted elsewhere. Sorry about that. [Heh. Not really.]

Welcome to the lastest edition of Canon vs. Fanon! I offered you a choice of four different topics, and the Sam Carter edition received the most votes. So here we go: some common fanon tropes about Samantha Carter.

Recap: Canon is anything shown onscreen in the movie or show; show supersedes movie, when necessary. (Catherine Langford speaks with an American accent, not a German one.) Fanon is defined as popular concepts that occur regularly in fanfic, but have little or no actual canon basis to defend them.

 

I’m going to ramble a bit before we get to the actual canon vs. fanon, because Sam fanon is very dependent on fic genre. So before we begin, I need to clarify just what Sam fanon I’ve chosen to analyze here, and my attitude towards Sam herself.

 

( Different fanon genres, and how I see Sam )

 

On to the fanon! Let’s take a look at some common Sam fanon concepts and compare and contrast them to the reality of canon. (I should mention that tejas suggested a superb addition to the fanon list, but it’s one that demands a lot of research [oh, the humanity!] and will have to wait for the second Sam edition.) I would like to remind you all that I’m not out to denigrate or mock any fanfic authors who might use these fanon concepts; my purpose is to show what’s fanon, and what is actually canon.

( Sam and her 'Uncle George' )

 

( 'It's good to see you, Sammie.' )

( Holy Hannah! )

( 'I think of you like my little brother.' )

 

My personal fanon opinion? Nearly all of the fanon concepts mentioned here have no basis in canon whatsoever, although the “Uncle George” trope only ignores a few canonical contradictions, and the "Holy Hannah!" one is actually only a problem of proportion. It’s the last fanon trope on the list, I think, that I find most annoying; Sam and Daniel’s friendship with each other is much too complex and fascinating to be reduced to simply “brother and sister”! [Yes, I know that it drives Sam/Daniel ship fans insane. And yes, I know about the NC-17 fic that disproves it. I’d prefer that it wasn’t linked here.] Much as I still tend to think of Sam as being older than Daniel, I defer to canonical proof and the experts - she may not be so young as to be born in '68, but she's still younger than Daniel. As for “Sammie,” that's one bit of fanon that I’d actually assumed was true, to the point where I suggested that “Sammie” might explain Jacob’s usage of “Danny” - and my thanks to jenniferjf for pointing out my mistake. Bad Fig Newton! No biscuit!

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