Something Old, Something New · 12:42am Jan 27th, 2023
This story is very much one of its time. It comes from a time in FimFiction history where unwarranted abuse and violence against the main character was common, and the response to extreme abuse from that character was always undeserved forgiveness. The fact that we as a group, thought this was normal, deeply disturbs me as both a writer and a reader. But that is who we were as a fandom back then. We expected the hero to be violated by the world and we expected the hero to forgive the abuse, because thats how we always responded in our own real life situations.
We've grown as a fandom since the mid 2010's and modern stories are far more realistic, in both the kinds of abuse, and the heros reactions are more tempered with caution. Forgiveness is more often forced to be earned. This story flew under my radar for over a decade. For the life of me, I cant understand why I never saw it until now, but now that Ive read it, Im glad that I did. Even though it is a child of its time, it's still a good read. A good premise. It is a bit short and I wish the writer added more to it... but... it is, what it is.
Old stories need to stay, because it reminds us not only who we were as people, but more importantly, who we are NOW as people.
Monk
"Knowledge is power and power corrupts, so study hard and be evil." - Reykan