Thoughts on "The Man With Two Names" · 8:12pm Mar 12th, 2014
The Man with Two Names by donald trump card passed under my muzzle this past afternoon, and what a ride it was. It's a HiE story, yes, but its a really excellent one. If I may sum it up in a conscise few sentences:
A starving human wanders out of Everfree and kills one of Fluttershy's chickens in a bout of hunger. This leads to a Xenophobic town that is utterly convinced he is a wild animal (despite his speech, clothes, and calm demeanor). Human sees the ugly side of 99% of Ponyville and how being a second-class citizen works among ponies. Political/Social/Religious Satire ensues.
I wasn't sure I liked this story when I was done reading it. Much like Watchmen, Doctor Who, or even The Others-- there is ZERO sense of closure. This is not tied up in a pretty little bow meant to be consumed like one of Pinkie Pie's little cupcakes (thusly the "sad" tag and such). This is a piece of socialio-political commentary that is meant to be savored like so much steak. Its meant to be thought about, dissected carefully, and enjoyed by those that understand the idea that rarely is there ever a complete and satisfying end to any of life's chapters.
It hangs heavy with some Cain/Abel references, but not in such a way that they intrude. I honestly didn't notice them (being agnostic myself) until I sat back to think about it and compose this blog/review. The Xenophobia is pretty bad too-- imagine being a young black man in 1940's Kentucky, and that's about the flavor of things you'd find here. Not all rainbows and sunshine, in other words.
There are a few logical flaws here and there-- the main character is forever hated for killing a chicken and there is just zero getting around this. He's a chicken killer, he's obviously super-dangerous, stupid, uncivilized and we can't trust him. The complete black and white about a starving creature they don't recognize vying to stay alive just doesn't strike these ponies as normal. They're all too eager to condemn him like a rabid dog (and the word "rabid" comes up quite a bit). Even Twilight is shocked when he mentions that humans go to school, have hospitals, and the like. Given that he is clothed and can speak (rather well, being a pastor's son), I found that a little weird on Twilight's part.
It's far from perfect but it evokes both feeling and thought. That's more than I can say for 90% of the stuff on this site, or even in my local bookstore. Few stories can make me get up and pace for a bit before reading more, and this story joins that list of perhaps three other fan fics that can make me do that. The dark charm and sympathy the story lays out for you, for a guy that just cannot catch a break among these characters we thought we loved, is just exquisite. I wish I could write something so stomach-churning and thought-provoking.
Give this story a read. ((Its finished, awaiting an epilogue))
~Aegis
So basically you've just discover a flaw with a vast majority of HiE fics... and of course bastardizing the characters
1920335 If you're gonna be pissy try not to say anything.
1920340
Sorry... touched a bit on a sore subject, and I tend to get pissy in regards to characterizations
oh hell yeah, I've watched this story from the beginning and it's really good! true about some stuff being purely black and white, but it was done for the sake of the story itself.
plus there are for worse fics so yeah
I think the author's releasing an epilogue for it soon.
Author here:
I'm flattered that you took so much time to ponder my story, and then to write a blog post about it! I never thought that my story would ever become so widely read, or provoke this much thought in my readers. I thank you for your kind words.
one note on the chicken; I prefer to see it as the mishap that snowballs into a series of rumors and misgivings. I think halfway through the story, almost all of the characters have forgotten about the chicken.
I'm glad you enjoyed the story!
Hmmm...sounds interesting
However, I'm already behind on other stories and RL stuff so I'm not sure I'll read it.
I'm also hesitant (at least at this point in time) to jump into a story that seems a bit black and white.
Already ahead of ya, Aegis. Been reading this story since around chapter 4 (I think?). Initially it started off as a comedy, but eventually the author realized his tale was far more sad and tragic (thus dropping the comedy tag and putting up the sad and tragedy ones).
Glad you are enjoying it. It is decent tale for ya to promote; certainly better than Cultural Artifacts which you recommended way back when it first came out (but has since then devolved into a Marty Stu kudzu story with characters so OOC and flanderized it would be better if the story wasn't MLP:FiM related).
Mmm... it sounds intriguing, but it bothers me incredibly with Twilight not recognizing that he IS intelligent and there's no closure or reconciliation. That strikes me as OOC enough to put me off of it, unfortunately. A pity, because it's a fascinating concept, too.
That was about my opinion as well, although I did not have that much of a problem with Twilight. We have seen her get locked into a rut like that in the show which her friends or Celestia has to pull her our of, but in this case they were behind her (except for Rainbow and Celestia who were absent until the very end) so it made sense for her to stay in the rut like she did. Fluttershy was stuck on the chicken thing and AJ was being her usual stubborn and not particularly intelligent self so it also makes sense that they were working to keep Twilight in her xenophobic stupidity. I honestly do not remember what Pinkie did although I feel like she did not really take the situation seriously. The only ones that really thought about the situation were Spike and Rarity, although they did not interact with the human much until later when it was too late to change things before they got totally out of hand.
That said, I did have a real problem with the way Luna was handled. She really should have been able to smash the situation under control one way or another during the riot at the end given her magical and political power, but instead she ran off which felt very wrong for the pony that wanted to go kick Sombra's teeth in personally.
Thank you for pointing our this amazing story. I've just spent the past few hours marathoning it. I just couldn't put it down, always wanting to see what happens next.
And to think it all could have worked out if not for a certain stallion.
By Rarity.
Yes, yes, he comes out of the forest in tatters... But he comes out of the forest in tatters. When the species is unidentified and even the Diamond Dogs wear loincloth-pants... Well.
Also I suspect it's going to be a very busy epilogue. What I'm most amused about is the mob mentality out for Twilight's head (of all ponies) in the comments section even now... Even after the last three chapters. It amuses me in a very wry way.