Canon vs. Fanon, part 10: Pre-series Daniel
Finally, the post so many of you have been nagging me about asking for: Pre-series Daniel!
Backstory is a crucial part of understanding and writing a character. When you consider some of the more iconic fictional characters, nearly all of them reference pivotal moments in the hero's childhood or past to help us understand the driving force behind ( Read more... )
You're right - they really don't give us much, do they?
"brainy" and "scientist" are legitimate labels for Daniel, but "soft" and "clumsy," despite fanon's frequent suggestions to the contrary, are not.
Is *this* where that comes from? I keep seeing fanfics refer to Daniel as clumsy (dropping things, tripping over things) and I always scratch my head because I never notice him being especially clumsy onscreen.
The only behavior that Daniel certifies for us as entirely in character for them is that his parents used to call him Danny when he was little.
I realize, as you're saying, the gamekeeper was creating their actions - but he was also using the information in Daniel's brain to do so, so I think we should be able to assume that how his parent's behaved is somewhat on course with how Daniel remembers them. I thought it was interesting how quickly resentful Daniel was at his father - "he called me Danny, like I'm still a kid" - I could just be reading something into it though.
However, we run into a contradiction in Season Seven, when we learn from Daniel's Osiris-induced dreams/memories that when Daniel and Sarah were at the Oriental Institute, they had both already earned their doctorates before they met
My theory here, after I watched "Chimera" was that Daniel got his degree at UChicago and Dr. Jordan was his advisor. After earning his PhD he got a research position (possibly with occasional teaching...) at the Oriental Institute and chose to stay longer. Sarah got her PhD somewhere (England?) and got a job at the Institute, hence meeting her when they had PhD's. He already seemed very comfortable there. But again, theory.
Even if his parents did take him on digs (which I would find believable) archaeologists (especially the kind his parents seemed to be - PhDed, designing museum exhibits) spend a lot more time at "home" doing research and examining artifacts and writing grants than they do at actual digs, so it's unlikely Daniel bounced from dig to dig exclusively until they died.
Personally - I think Daniel bounced between a few foster homes - not an endless string, but more than one and while I don't think he had any truly bad experiences (he's remarkably open and trusting which I just don't see happening if someone had suffered all this fanon abuse) I don't think he had any that left enough of an impact for him to keep in touch.
And I think I wrote enough.
Yay for this post! Thank you doing it and being patient with us through our begging :)
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Thank you! It annoys me to know end that it's thought of that Daniel and his parents were wolrd travelers. Doesn't work like that!
I get hyper about this subject, can you tell?
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I could believe they were world travelers - there certainly exist families who travel a lot and take young children along and I could believe Daniel's parents doing that to expose him to new places/cultures (and to keep doing what they like) but spending most of his time at digs? Doesn't sit right.
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Even if Daniel's parents did travel a lot, it wouldn't be for extended periods of time. It just doesn't tend to work that way. I mean, there's a chance that it could, but for most anthroplogists and archaeologists I've know, even ones that are married to each other, they don't drag their kid everywhere. And many times the parents would switch off. Okay, you do your stuff at this time and I'll stay with the kid and I do my stuff during that time and you stay with the kid. That sort of thing.
But nothing states that I'm right here. it's just more likely than not.
It's nice to know I have people that agree with me, at leats in part ;)
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True on the travel. It's possible they brought him sometimes or not at all - I mean, really, canon gives us nothing for whether he was ever even out of the country before his parent's died. Maybe neither of them wanted to give up what they had for him so decided teh best compromise was to drag him with. We'll never know.
I can agree with a lot of people. I still haven't figured out myself what I think about Daniels' past.
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Yes, good point. We speak multiple languages round the house and I often tease my husband that he shouldn't speak English to the kids, because they might pick up his accent instead of my unaccented one. But to suggest that Claire and Mel never spoke English round the house, when it's clearly a language they're comfortable with, is silly. And that's really all Daniel would have needed to learn English, even without his innate linguistic talents.
I can agree with a lot of people. I still haven't figured out myself what I think about Daniels' past.
Hee! Well, pick and choose whatever you'd like, so long as it doesn't contradict the snippets that canon has graced us. :)
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I enjoy some of the fanon with Daniel's childhood friends and background. But as you point out, that's the issue. It is fanon. And when it becomes more and more prevalent, it's less a cool observation/interpretation, and just the accepted norm with no realization that it *is* fanon, and writers are free to try other things.
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Oh, nicely put. If fanon is so prevalent that people don't realize it's fanon, they don't recognize that they have options. If they know the options exist and still prefer the common fanon, that's their choice. But yes! "Free to try other things" - that's the way it should be.
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So I assume he doesn't keep in touch, but he might.
I think there's no denying he had a sad childhood, but I think it's tragic enough without giving him lots of incredibly abusive foster parents. But if other people want to write it, more power to 'em. It just doesn't fit with my image of him - he seems to trusting and open and solidly together for it.
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What a lovely way to put it! And so right.
And heh. There's always room for angst. Daniel is the poster boy for it. :)
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I generally have a fascination with character backstories because I think knowing a person's past can tell you a lot about that person, and it's fun to look at them and guess at how they got where they are. But since it's all extrapolation, it's also fun to see how other people create it.
Hey, always plenty of room for angst.
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That's how I see it, too.
Of course much of the "abusive foster parents" is supposedly because Daniel has trouble fitting into regular American suburbia after his childhood in Egypt... it's one fanon feeding on another.
Never mind! Daniel's foster parents are the archeologists who slept in the tent next door, and Daniel learned his Arabic from them! How's that? :)
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*boggles*
People come up with really interesting stuff, don't they?
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Which is my point. Take your fanon as you can, but with canon it's what you've got. :)
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