Redial the Gate: some meta on Nick Ballard

[fignewton]

grav_ity has just posted a delightful recap of Crystal Skull over at redial_the_gate. There's sure to be some great discussion there, but I wanted to encourage some thoughts on another subject: Nick Ballard.

Most fanfic writers tend to demonize Nick. He's a cold-hearted, selfish creep who puts his own crazed obsessions over the life of his grieving grandson, abandoning him to a series of foster homes where he will be cruelly abused and traumatized, because no one realizes he's more comfortable speaking Arabic than English, and anyway, the one family that was really nice to him couldn't adopt him because Nick refused to sign the papers, and...

Erm. Yeah.

As we discussed back when we did canon vs. fanon on pre-series Daniel, all we really know about Daniel and Nick, pre-series, are these facts:

1. Nick took Daniel to a waffle house after the funeral.

2. Nick did not take custody of Daniel.

3. Daniel visited Nick regularly before they had a final argument and falling-out over Daniel's theories.

The rest of it? All fanon.

Now, Daniel calls him, and I quote, "The great explorer, the not-so-great grandfather Nicholas Ballard." But despite his reference to their disagreements - "Oh, please, he kicked me out. We had a huge fight." - Daniel is quite surprised when Janet tells the team that the doctors told her that "any friends of Dr Jackson's are welcome." So how much of Daniel's perceptions of Nick are based on assumptions, and how much is reality? Everyone talks about Daniel's "abandonment issues," but do we have any canon proof that he actually has any?

If you consciously set aside the fanon condemnations of Nick, what are we really supposed to make of him? randomfreshink suggested once that Nick might have felt he was making the best possible choice for Daniel - he was older, he didn't have the right temperament or patience to deal with a small child, and he couldn't offer Daniel the proper stability he needed. How plausible do you find that theory? Nick is unquestionably conniving and manipulative - he virtually blackmails Jack into bringing him to the SGC, and he takes advantage of Daniel's inability to speak for himself to finagle his way onto the planet. But to be fair, it looks like Daniel inherited that particular trait in spades. "Oh, yes, I can find the address on the other side of the Stargate and get the team back. Sure I can." Sound familiar, anyone?

Was it cruel of Nick not to take Daniel? Do you think they had any ties other than blood? How much did Daniel know Nick before his parents died? He cared enough about him to keep in touch after he'd grown older - from the dialogue in the ep, it seems that they only parted ways a few months before Daniel first stepped through the Stargate. Was their relationship only a professional one, archaeologist to archaeologist?

My question isn't how likeable we find Nick - I can't say I like him very much myself. My questions is, does Nick deserve the pillorying he gets from fanfic, and is there another, canon-based way to perceive the character?

A few other questions on the lighter side: Daniel, why are you the last one to go back through the Gate when it nearly shut down on you last time? And then, isn't it amazing how the team knows to conveniently leave space for him in the middle as they walk down the causeway?

Was anyone else utterly charmed at how Nick introduced himself, pointing to his chest and pronouncing his name? That must be genetic, too - it's exactly how Daniel introduced himself to Sha'uri in the movie, and we see him do it time and again in the show.

Also, this is the only episode in the entire series (and SGA, if you want to include his guest-appearance there) where Daniel is not only unfazed by the prospect of radiation, but actually argues in favor of longer exposure! Of course, this is before Meridian, but we've seen Daniel nervous about radiation as early as Singularity....

Comments

[sg-wonderland.livejournal.com]

The intention for foster care is short-term placement; however, that doesn't mean it won't become a long-term situation. Laws vary from state to state about terminating parental rights and if the parents fight the termination process, it could conceivably stretch out over several years. I would imagine at the time this happened (1973), then terminating parental rights would have been nearly impossible, as drug and child abuse weren't as common as we unfortunately see now.

When it became apparent that no family member has the capacity to take custody, he would have become a ward of the state and could have been kept in long-term foster care or moved to a state-run or state-sanctioned orphanage.

I personally see Daniel as having stayed with the same foster parents for those ten years until he was eighteen. I've seen several fics that portrayed Daniel as becoming an emancipated minor at the age of sixteen so he could attend college in another state. That is entirely possible because the basis of the emanicpated minor is that a judge deems the child old enough and mature enough to make decision about where he will live, go to school, etc.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

I've seen several fics that portrayed Daniel as becoming an emancipated minor at the age of sixteen so he could attend college in another state.

That's from the book, I think, where he was accepted at UCLA at the age of 16. It's one of the more harmless fanon bits - unless, of course, he petitions for emancipated status to get away from his eeeevil abusing foster parents. Or the orphanage. ::rolls eyes::

[sg-wonderland.livejournal.com]

A child could actually get into college without being an EM. Students, primarily home-schooled kids, who can pass the equivalency test for the home school programs, could conceivably enter college at, say 14. I know this happened in my home state, because my sister was teaching a university class and was shocked to find she had a 14-year-old student. And I have a nephew who needed a driver (his mother) to take him and his date to the senior prom because he wasn't old enough to have a license yet...