What's your favorite headcanon?

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I'm pretty sure that story has been written. I just never read it because it's kind of boring.

"There was a murderous king, he was murdered."

I think the original tale is sort of believable, and an interesting story. I also think the king and the whole situation are ****ed up, but that doesn't hurt the story too much for me. That might be because I have a lot of distance from the story. Medieval Middle Eastern people and/or domestic abuse survivors might all hate it for good reason. I don't. For me it's just a story.

[Dienekes]

As I said, daddy vizier can become the next king.
Or, she could rule herself as Supreme queen.
If it can happen in real life, why not in a fairy tale?
There have been queens, you know.

Because there is a pretty common (and fairly justified) notion that the stories that are allowed to be told in a society are shaped by those ruling that society. This means it's very unlikely that a ruler who's authority rests upon the notion that they are worthy of rule because of some external justification beyond their competence would not appreciate it if stories started to circulate about how other kings using the same justification got killed and it totally worked.

That said, people tend to have an exaggerated sense of the influence of these rulers. Yes, they have a lot of power, but they really can't stomp out everything they dislike. What's more common is for stories to get warped by the mentalities of the day. Take Robin Hood. He most certainly was a folk hero who stood up to the lordships and even the king in the earliest stories. But latter additions made justifications for his actions taken against the legal rulers. Namely, making them not the legal rulers. John was a usurper while the "good king" Richard was off fighting in the crusades or captured by the French.

But we still get the occasional Macbeth like story about an evil king getting his due.

Another really interesting and obvious one is the aforementioned Sleeping Beauty. This isn't about bad kings. But personally I found the story so interesting because of how obviously blatant the changes to the story are based on the beliefs of the people writing the story. You can basically see the writer editing in things to meet with the thoughts of the day.

In the first recorded version of Sleeping Beauty from Permeforest it's really obvious that they're taking an older story and updating it. It's complicated so spoilers.

Spoiler

Show

So first off Permeforest is a weird pseudo history that involves link King Arthur to being a descendant of Alexander the Great because he got blown off course trying to conquer Persia and landed in Britain... apparently. This part isn't important, to Sleeping Beauty, but it explains a lot of the references in the story to old gods and the general style of the book as a synthesis between Ancient and Medieval histories and storytelling.

Anyway, Beauty has a name, Zellandine daughter of Zelandin ruler of Zeeland I'm gonna keep calling her Beauty because that's easier to type. The prince is a Troylus, a knight. Troylus and Beauty are in love. But they're not together, currently, because he's off in a far away land. Beauty gets in a coma and a message of the news is received by Troylus. Troylus is reasonably distressed by this and, being a smart man learned in the ways of medicine tries to go to her and help. There's some weird teleportation bits thrown in for good measure. But he gets to her and then finds her sleeping naked. And Troylus is distressed because he shouldn't be seeing her nudity, even though he comments that she looks good. Anyway, he starts trying to save her, but finds his medicines not working. Then Troylus calls upon the goddess Aphrodite in aid to save his beloved. Aphrodite tells him to sleep with her by way of obvious riddle. Troylus then contemplates kissing her, and has a weird monologue about how a man shouldn't kiss a woman without her permission. But then decides to kiss her because kisses have healing magic. Nothing happens. He gets angry again. He asks Aphrodite again, and she basically straight up tells him to bang her. He does after some internal wingeing about it.

Nothing happens, Troylus is regretful. Teleports away. Baby gets born and sucks flax from Beauty's finger, waking her up. She finds Troylus and they get married and raise their kid in happiness. However, the story very specifically points out how Beauty mourns that Troylus slept with her without permission. Then after that we finally learn about the magic goddess that made her fall asleep because of some perceived slight of her fathers.

Anyway, this is so cool, because we're very clearly looking at an old story that has the writer trying very hard to make the events "boy finds magic coma and bangs the coma out of her" fit with their morals. Lines where Troylus get angry about the impropriety of his actions, and Beauty's distress over her rape were almost certainly not in the original stories (At least we assume. Again Permeforest is the earliest recorded version of the story so we can't go back and verify. But they certainly stick out like a sore thumb.)

[Gnoman]

That said, people tend to have an exaggerated sense of the influence of these rulers. Yes, they have a lot of power, but they really can't stomp out everything they dislike. What's more common is for stories to get warped by the mentalities of the day. Take Robin Hood. He most certainly was a folk hero who stood up to the lordships and even the king in the earliest stories. But latter additions made justifications for his actions taken against the legal rulers. Namely, making them not the legal rulers. John was a usurper while the "good king" Richard was off fighting in the crusades or captured by the French.

This is, perhaps, not the best of examples. While the earliest known Robin Hood stories date the 15th century, there's references in other works dating the character to having been known at least as early as the 13th. That means that there are over two centuries worth of lost Robin Hood stories, and under such circumstances it is hard to distinguish additions from readditions.

[Rogar Demonblud]

And also, from internal cues, it looks as though the 'Good Prince' they're awaiting is the future Edward I to put an and to the chaos associated with Henry III's lax rule and the exactions of the de Lusignans (a thoroughly unpleasant stretch of English history more people should know). So it's quite possible the lays have been stitched together from a variety of sources.

[Fyraltari]

Also wasn't Robin Hood robbing the clergy rather than fighting royalty in the earliest know versions of the tale?

[LibraryOgre]

Also wasn't Robin Hood robbing the clergy rather than fighting royalty in the earliest know versions of the tale?

Historically, there wasn't too much difference. The clergy were landlords... chances are about equal that a peasant worked for the church or a local lord, and the church was as happy to take taxes and rent as the lord.

There's a reason Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves had a prominent Bishop as a minor villain.

[Fyraltari]

Historically, there wasn't too much difference. The clergy were landlords... chances are about equal that a peasant worked for the church or a local lord, and the church was as happy to take taxes and rent as the lord.

There's a reason Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves had a prominent Bishop as a minor villain.

(Land)lords are not necessarily royals, though. ****ting on them is not lèse-majesté or treason.

[Traab]

(Land)lords are not necessarily royals, though. ****ting on them is not lèse-majesté or treason.

True, but in the case of clergy it is sacrilege! Surely you will burn in the fires of ach ee double hockey sticks for all eternity for displaying such disrespect to gods representatives on earth! REPENT SINNER! Absolution is roughly 25% of your annual earnings on top of the tithe. No go forth and sin some more (so you can buy more absolution)

[NovenFromTheSun]

First a sane one;

Lord of the Rings/Silmarillion: so from what I understand when an elf dies their spirit either goes to the Hall or Mandos or is re-embodied on Arda. And, while Tolkien was never really satisfied with this explanation, the reason for the orcs’ existence that “stuck around” was that they were elves that Morgoth transformed physically and psychologically. My theory is this: no new orc spirits are created through birth. While Sauron may have corrupted a few more elves in his time, any orc that’s born presumably through a female orc is actually a previous orc spirit being re-embodied like the elves are.

If by some event an orc spirit reaches the Hall of Mandos it would go through a long de-Morgothication process that would turn it back into an elf spirit.

(I’ll figure out what this means for the Uruk-hai later).

Now for a real hot take;

Harry Potter: before her death, Snape’s feelings toward Lily were entirely platonic. It was only after she died that Snape’s grief and guilt caused him to start seeing her in a romantic light, and to start believing that he always felt that way about her, subconsciously modifying his memories in accordance to that.

This is probably impossible to fit with the text, but it came to me and I wanted to get it of my chest.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

(I’ll figure out what this means for the Uruk-hai later).

Uruk-hai are created through newfangled technology. Sauron was evil, but he had heart. He lives to corrupt. Saruman only lives for results, for objectives achieved, for numbers in a graph. Uruk-hai don't have a soul, they're not individuals. They're universal soldiers, life stripped down to the bare basics needed to function effectively in that role.

If any of them look like Jean Claude van Damme or Dolph Lundgren that's completely incidental, no Vietnam era corpses were harmed in the making of these Uruk-hai.

[sktarq]

This is an old head-canon. Long since supplanted by canon sources..

The clone wars were a war of spies and assassination that turned the republic against itself and led to it becoming non-functional. Jedi, senators, and the like were commonly cloned and either impersonated their original, replaced their original on behalf of their creators, etc.

I have never actually consumed any EU/Legends stuff so I have no idea what canon was but Lucas went for the clones O'Fett and reset that idea.

[Rogar Demonblud]

As far as I recall (and I quit reading stuff a couple decades ago, so grab a large grain of salt), the Clone Wars were never defined or described.

[Gnoman]

Lucas specifically ordered that nothing be set before Episode IV when the EU was authorized, specifically because he'd been talking about doing prequels for years (which is why Empire was Episode V and ANH was retitled Episode IV in the first place). Thus, the only thing we got was some references in the Thrawn books that implied that the war was between the Republic and some sort of clone-using attackers.

[137beth]

Prince Popiel of Poland and by extension,
Bluebeard and by extension, Conomor the Cursed
Macbeth
And of course Greek Myth: Oedipus, Tantalos (if getting killed by the gods counts), Polydectes, Priam, Minos
The Samarian Kings in the Bible
And the Roman Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. The Roman Republic was founded on a mythological kingslaying.

Also, there's rather a lot of elven kings and dwarven kings getting slaughtered, but I suppose those don't really count.

It is quite rare for Christian Kings though.

Macbeth isn't necessarily a good example, because the play portrays him as a usurper, while Duncan is the "real" king. Although, that's Shakespeare's version, I'm not all that familiar with the earlier stories it is based on. (Also, it's been several years since I read or watched it, so my recollections may be off).

[khadgar567]

Lucas specifically ordered that nothing be set before Episode IV when the EU was authorized, specifically because he'd been talking about doing prequels for years (which is why Empire was Episode V and ANH was retitled Episode IV in the first place). Thus, the only thing we got was some references in the Thrawn books that implied that the war was between the Republic and some sort of clone-using attackers.

ding ding ding we have legit crap removal from plot chance. you gotta give lucas's rights to lucas he some the f how left open plot to fix every damn plot hole at same time give a round of applause people. head canon accepted. Next

[Eldan]

Macbeth isn't necessarily a good example, because the play portrays him as a usurper, while Duncan is the "real" king. Although, that's Shakespeare's version, I'm not all that familiar with the earlier stories it is based on. (Also, it's been several years since I read or watched it, so my recollections may be off).

He is a usurper, but he also gets killed himself, so I think that is a story of a king being removed from office with righteous justification.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Macbeth isn't necessarily a good example, because the play portrays him as a usurper, while Duncan is the "real" king. Although, that's Shakespeare's version, I'm not all that familiar with the earlier stories it is based on. (Also, it's been several years since I read or watched it, so my recollections may be off).

The play is just Willy dressing up Scottish history. Real Duncan II gets offed (allegedly for sleeping with the wrong guy's wife), his cousin MacBeth is elected king (no infant regencies under the MacAlpins), Malcolm gets lots of help from England to overthrow him (the English claim on the Scottish throne basically starts here), MacDuff takes a shot at grabbing the throne for himself somewhere in the mix, Malcolm ends up as Malcolm III, spends his reign annoying the thanes by trying to secure more power to the crown. Eventually he dies and his brother Donalbain is elected.

[Mith]

The play is just Willy dressing up Scottish history. Real Duncan II gets offed (allegedly for sleeping with the wrong guy's wife), his cousin MacBeth is elected king (no infant regencies under the MacAlpins), Malcolm gets lots of help from England to overthrow him (the English claim on the Scottish throne basically starts here), MacDuff takes a shot at grabbing the throne for himself somewhere in the mix, Malcolm ends up as Malcolm III, spends his reign annoying the thanes by trying to secure more power to the crown. Eventually he dies and his brother Donalbain is elected.

Macbeth's rule was secure enough that he went on a pilgrim to Rome. Hardly the unstable rule as depicted in the play.

[Rogar Demonblud]

He also ruled for like 17 years. I think Mal only had the job for 9.

[LibraryOgre]

Looked, Shakespeare wasn't writing history... he was writing an ego stroke to the king.

[Eldan]

[Bohandas]

Prince Popiel of Poland

He got stuffed into a food-processor, right?

EDIT:
also, in Tolkien's Middle Earth, the "secret fire" which is the key to creating life is the krebs cycle

[Braininthejar2]

The Force is an active player in Star Wars, trying to get things its way and using mortals as disposible pawns (the priest from Rogue One being the most obvious example).

If a character is a Mary Sue, it just means the Force is trying too hard.

[Lord Raziere]

The Force is an active player in Star Wars, trying to get things its way and using mortals as disposible pawns (the priest from Rogue One being the most obvious example).

If a character is a Mary Sue, it just means the Force is trying too hard.

not too far off from Kreia's own theories about the Force in KOTOR 2, really.

[Bohandas]

Warhammer 40k:

Slaanesh and the Tyranid hivemind - one true pairing. Most of the things that the tyranids do are technically sex from a bioscience perspective. Also, they both enjoy eating entire races of sapient beings. They're perfect for each other.

[Tvtyrant]

Warhammer 40k:

Slaanesh and the Tyranid hivemind - one true pairing. Most of the things that the tyranids do are technically sex from a bioscience perspective. Also, they both enjoy eating entire races of sapient beings. They're perfect for each other.

Do Nids even have pleasure or pain receptors? A lot of Nids literally shoot parts of themselves off or chuck their children at things without any sort of reaction. I think Slaneesh is mostly involved with violating taboos and hedonistic pleasure and pain, Nids consistent of barely conscious super ants.

I think Nids are closest to Tzentch, changing and evolving constantly. Orks are most similar to Khorne (he even looks like an Ork!) and at least Old Crons are most similar to Nurgle. Slaneesh is derived from Dark Eldar, but also takes over any sentient species unaware of It because it is so insidious.

[NeoVid]

My favorite headcanon is a simple one that I think adds a lot to two tabletop settings: Alpha Complex is in Gamma World.

[HandofShadows]

My favorite headcanon is a simple one that I think adds a lot to two tabletop settings: Alpha Complex is in Gamma World.

That.. That makes SO much sense.

[Bohandas]

The Justice League are able to do what they do legally due to diplomatic immunity. Between Aquaman being the king of Atlantis and the Green Lantern being a functionary appointed by the government of the planet Oa they could claim the rest as their entourages

[khadgar567]

The Justice League are able to do what they do legally due to diplomatic immunity. Between Aquaman being the king of Atlantis and the Green Lantern being a functionary appointed by the government of the planet Oa they could claim the rest as their entourages

plus wonder woman technically princess of amazons which makes her another candidate for diplomatic immunity.