Question about AO3's Major Character Death tag

[elen_nare]

This actually goes beyond my current yuletide fic, because this tag has puzzled me for a while.

A fic in which a canon major character features prominently and where they die, should clearly be tagged, because they're a major character in both the canon and the fic. But what happens when major characters in canon are minor ones in a fic, or vice-

Comments

[rosehiptea]

I personally would tag all three, since two of them are about a major character in canon, and the first is about a major character in the fic.

But I'm conservative about tagging. Also I generally enjoy character death fic so the tags don't stop me from reading it. So those are my biases.

[maidenjedi]

I have another one, actually. What if the story mentions, more than in passing, a major character's death that already exists in canon? I feel silly warning for that, but at the same time....

[chibi_lurrel]

I normally add a tag for 'canonical character death.'

[spicy_diamond]

Oh, good tag. Had the above problem and was wondering how to label it. Cause it does feel a little odd to give a warning for what's already in the canon...

[joanne_c]

I've never felt it necessary to warn for a canon character's death because presumably if one is reading in a fandom, one is familiar with canonical events including that canonical death.

[perdiccas]

I have always interpreted it to mean a major character within the fic so I would warn for 1 but not for 2.

3 is a bit trickier and I think up to personal preference. I personally would warn because the parts of the fic where the character is presumed dead could easily be as triggering as a fic where the character is actually dead. Also, adding the warning means you aren't spoiling your twist ;)

(sorry if this posts twice, the new comment page seems to hate me)

[gehayi]

1. A fic centered around a minor canon character and their death.

Yes. The fic is centered on this character. Despite being minor in canon, he or she is major in this story. And the story is about the character's death.

2. A fic in which a canon major character barely appears/doesn't appear, and their death is simply remarked on.

No. It's not the focus of the story and is unlikely to trigger anyone.

3. A fic centered around a major character's presumed death, in which it isn't revealed if/that they're alive.

Not unless the fic was about the character's death. As in, showed the character dying. If the character was already presumed dead when the story started--such as Sirius Black being presumed killed by the Veil--and it was later revealed that the character was alive, I wouldn't warn for the death, because it already happened prior to the story.

As far as I'm concerned, if you don't see the death occurring in the fic, it's not an issue.

[andelendir]

....No. It's not the focus of the story and is unlikely to trigger anyone.....As far as I'm concerned, if you don't see the death occurring in the fic, it's not an issue....

Errr. So not.

Of course (!) it is an issue and can trigger. Don't assume others share your own level of sensibilities. I trigger violently on character deaths not already covered in canon (and I don't ever write about people dead in canon, just to clarify where some of the problems are). I choose my fandoms according to not having any important characters (or even too many) end up dead in the course of its canon timeline.

[gehayi]

But that's basically what people do when they add warnings. They're warning for what they think will trigger people (or what they know that they find triggering), and--judging by all the variants mentioned here--everyone doesn't think in the same way or, as you said, share the same level of sensibilities.

[andelendir]

Which means it makes sense to warn rather more than less on such a tacky subject

[yahtzee63]

I would for 1 & 2. For 3, I would go for AO3's handy "Choose Not To Warn" option -- I use it often for situations that touch on one of the major warnings but don't quite fit them. That way the easily triggered can skip, or judge later from comments/bookmarks whether they want to give it a go.