Bela Talbot: Dean Winchester’s mirror image

[philomel]

For the first day of We Love The Women That Fandom Hates, a.k.a. womenlovefest, I thought I’d start off with Bela Talbot, because that seemed like an alphabetically good choice. If you go by the first name instead of the surname, which isn't really proper alphabetization. But. I blame iTunes.

Anyway.

Note: This contains spoilers for all of season three, with

Comments

[tebtosca]

Fuck dude, I love Bela so much

*sigh*

[philomel]

I think this fest is making me love her more than I did before. Makes you wonder what could've happened with her character if season 3 hadn't been so short.

[tebtosca]

I keep meaning to write myself some Demon!Bela, since that would be the greatest thing ever LOL. Also, Bela/Henriksen is one of my headcanon ships, if only because the thief/FBI Agent combo has such possibilities!

[norgbelulah]

Bela/Henriksen seconded! :D

[meesasometimes]

well stated!!!

[philomel]

:D

[norgbelulah]

Hi, I'm over here from womenlovefest.

I would love to know what happened to Bela in Hell, if she ever encountered Dean while he was there, or if they even would have recognized each other.

Would she have apprenticed under Alastair too?

And part of me would love to see her return, perhaps as a full-fledged demon: an example of what Dean could have been if Castiel hadn’t pulled him out. Another kind of mirror: just like that black-eyed dream version of Dean in “Dream A Little Dream Of Me.”

Shit, I would write the hell out of that fic. I don't know why I never thought about it before...

Thanks for a great meta! This was awesome adn the pics were great.

[philomel]

Thanks for dropping by and commenting! :)

A few days ago, after I started working on this particular post, I also started a fic that deals with Bela in Hell and has some demon!Bela.

I'd love to see others like yourself explore these sort of ideas too.

[kmousie]

Not having watched the show, this is just a general observation about shows with female characters that the fans hate. Because so much of this fandom revolves around slash, I'm wondering if a good deal of the hatred is just that she's a woman and "getting in the way." Thoughts?

[philomel]

I think that is exactly why so many female characters are hated instead of loved (or at least liked... liked would acceptable *g*). Regardless of slash, there's a high jealousy factor that never made any sense to me. I mean, these are fictional characters!

With Bela, there's also the double-strike of being a woman and a villain. But then there are male villains who fans love: Draco Malfoy in the HP fandom, for example. Double standard? Nah.

[kmousie]

Regardless of slash, there's a high jealousy factor that never made any sense to me. I mean, these are fictional characters!

Right. But the jealousy factor is so prevalent in fandom involving real people (just think about all the absurd hate that wives and girlfriends get), so it's not all that surprising. I mean, it doesn't make any sense to me in that context either. But still.

With Bela, there's also the double-strike of being a woman and a villain. But then there are male villains who fans love: Draco Malfoy in the HP fandom, for example. Double standard? Nah.

Heh, no. Not at all.

[philomel]

just think about all the absurd hate that wives and girlfriends get

Oh, yeah. Absurd is right. It's like they think the girlfriends or wives are getting in the way, stealing "their men" away from them. I wonder if it's the same for gay or bi actors? Although I doubt there are enough out actors to even test that theory, let alone ones with dedicated fandoms.

[autumn_faerie]

This is a really well written character analysis that was a lot of fun to read. :) Bravo!

[philomel]

Thank you! :)