#Tubbo's injuries make him a more tragic and therefore more interesting character

[antimony-medusa]

Disability and Pain on the DSMP

DSMP is one of the best fandoms I have been in for sheer number of disability headcanons (Tubbo hard of hearing after execution, Jack Manifold chronic pain after lava/hell) and straight up canon disabilities (Quackity’s injured eye, Philza’s burned wings, Wilbur’s mental health, Ponk’s limb loss, Ranboo’s memory). That is super cool! 

And with writing disability comes a specific narrative trap that I have seen people falling into that I would like to mention. 

Disability is not an angst prompt, it is how people live their lives, and their lives are worth living, even with the disability. 

Is it difficult to live with a disability? Absolutely. Does a person go through grief once they lean they are disabled, if they have an acquired or late-manifesting disability? Probably. It is difficult to find out that you thought your life was going to be one way and now it is a different way. It sucks to learn that the way everyone else’s lives is not going to work for you. Pain is hard to live with. Disabilities in a world that is not designed for them are often annoying. I am not saying that is all easy sailing and joy. But disability is also just a way to live your life, same as gender and class and race and sexuality, and treating it exclusively as a source of pain gets old really fast. 

Disability is not tragedy. 

Disability is not a narrative punishment. (Holy shit you guys, what.)

Disability is not a whump prompt. 

Disability is something painful, and it is also something creative, and it is often funny, and it sucks, and it’s complex. 

It’s a way that a lot of people who read your stuff live their lives. So let’s be careful about how often you’re in my notes talking about how Phil’s wing injury is a “gut punch”, eh?  

#philza #tubbo #jack manifold #quackity #wilbur soot #ponk #ranboo #disability #dsmp analysis #I have seen some absolutely ice-cold takes on this lately #Ranboo's memory loss is just ~so sad~ #Tubbo's injuries make him a more tragic and therefore more interesting character #Phil ~doesn't deserve~ to get wings because he needs to be punished and his injury is the only narrative loss he's taken #You can only see those so many times before you snap just a little bit #medusas banger posts #fandom meta