#look what you made me do!!! you made me advocate for BABYFIC!

[spirantization]

Tragedy in Lucifer's Ending

With the finale of Lucifer upon us, I need to talk about the ending and process my own feelings regarding it.

If you were a fan of the ending, then I am happy for you. You do not have to read this and engage with criticism about something you liked. And while I enjoyed the majority of Season 6, I cannot get behind this ending.

Because it's tragic.

Lucifer's entire character arc was informed by the trauma of abandonment and solitude. He was cast out by his family, and spent countless eons alone, in Hell. The entire show was about him coming to Earth, making connections, learning to care about others, and choosing his own path and his own family.

So in the end, Lucifer doesn't get to live on Earth. He has to leave the woman he loves and the family he has created, and return to Hell. He doesn't get to choose his own path, or determine his own destiny, or decide who he wants to spend his time with.

It's heartbreaking. He didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay on Earth with Chloe and their daughters. He wanted wonder, and instead he had everything ripped away from him. There are layers upon layers of tragedy and trauma in this act; the more you think about it, the darker it gets.

Meanwhile, Chloe is terrified of being abandoned. Every relationship, whether platonic or romantic, has ended up where she is left alone to be the strong one and carry one. Lucifer was the first person she let in in a long time, and he hurt her numerous times by leaving. All she wanted was for him to stay with her, to break this pattern, to be someone who she could trust herself to be vulnerable with.

And what does she get? Lucifer has to leave her alone to raise two children by herself. She has to lie to their daughter so Rory can grow up to time travel and complete the time loop. Chloe spent the rest of her life stuck, alone, all but waiting to die so she could finally be reunited with him.

And for what? Why?

Because Rory asked them to. Because she asked Lucifer to leave, and asked Chloe to perpetuate the lie. She mangled her own timeline by interacting directly with everyone, created a paradox by sharing the date and location of Lucifer's disappearance, and destroyed her own parents' chance of happiness with each other. And Lucifer sacrificed his entire life on Earth because he loved her, because she requested it, even though he begged her not to ask this of him.

I'm struggling to make sense of this ending, either emotionally or narratively. It's certainly not fulfilling. The cast and writers have talked about the ending as "bittersweet", but that's not the word I would use. Sure, Lucifer and Chloe are reunited at the very end on a hopeful note, but their ending is tragic.

And this tragedy is pointless. There was no reason to split Lucifer and Chloe up, and have them separated on different planes of existence for the rest of Chloe's mortal life. It was pain just so that there was pain, because having a happy ending isn't good enough anymore; it's too boring, too predictable. Lucifer and Chloe living out the rest of her life on Earth, content in their lives after all their hardships, wouldn't have been edgy enough.

Rory says at the beginning of the season that Lucifer will leave, and then makes sure that happens. In a show that's supposed to be about choice, all choice is stripped away so that everyone can perpetuate the time loop. I kept waiting for there to be a clever twist, like maybe Lucifer was actually killed, or Rory was really a villain, or Lucifer sacrificed himself to save the integrity of a crumbling universe. But no: in the end, the paradox is inevitable, and nobody gets to be happy.

It didn't have to be this way. They could have changed it, kept the whole kid from the future plot and everything, and still salvaged a happy ending. We didn't need pain for the sake of having pain. Here are some thoughts on small fixes that wouldn't have ended in misery:

The Alternate Universe: Rory time travelling caused the creation of an alternate universe. (Those are all the rage these days.) She returns to her universe, which is preserved, but the Lucifer and Chloe travel down a separate path that was altered by her arrival and actions.

Self-Sacrifice: Rory realizes that meddling with her timeline means that she has changed the future. She knows that travelling back will make her blink out of existence. She does it willingly, sacrificing herself but knowing that she will grow up with her parents together.

Instead, we get pain for no compelling reason. Lucifer reforming Hell, working within the system to free people from it, is a great idea. And I love the idea of Chloe joining him after her death and helping him free damned souls from their guilt. That final scene is one glimmer of something good in an otherwise depressing ending.

But Lucifer didn't need his daughter to show up from the future to help him realize the system was broken and needed change; he already knew that long before she showed up. He didn't need to abandon his family and be stuck in Hell for the rest of Chloe's life; he could have split his time, just like Amenadiel did. He could have helped the souls in Hell and been there for all his daughter's birthdays and Christmases, just like he wanted to be.

The overwhelming feeling I have for the ending is this: it was cruel. It was cruel to separate Lucifer and Chloe for the rest of her life on Earth. It was cruel to have Lucifer go back to Hell alone. It was cruel to make Lucifer leave Chloe alone and in limbo for the rest of her life. In a show that was all about hope and change, it ends on cruelty.

And that's tragic.

#lucifer #lucifer spoilers #lucifer season 6 #lucifer meta #lucifer on netflix #look what you made me do!!! you made me advocate for BABYFIC! #this fandom will now promptly become 99% fix-it

[whoinwhoville]

Fanfic Author Profile

@chocolatequeennk, thank you for this template! What a great idea. I’ll be posting it on my blog, and linking to it as a permanent page.

Archives:

AO3 | Teaspoon (not currently posting new fic to Teaspoon)

Ships:

Doctor Who:

Ten x Rose | Tentoo x Rose | Nine x Rose | Eight x Rose, especially when Rose is dimension hopping.

I generally write Ten or TenToo x Rose rather than Nine x Rose, but only because I hear Ten in my head. I have a hard time writing Nine, but I DEARLY LOVE him with Rose. I read Nine x Rose.

TenInchFic:

Alec Hardy x Rose Tyler | Aiden Hoynes x Rose Tyler (under certain circumstances) | Jean-Francois Mercier x Rose (or Betty under certain circumstances.)

Rating:

All readers through E#pl1c!t (misspelled so icky blogs don’t find the word), though E is rarer for me. Generally I hover between Teen and Mature, with perhaps one scene in certain fics that might garner a high M or low E. There are a few exceptions.

DW ‘verse or AU:

Both.

Genres:

Action/adventure, romance, suspense, crack, humor (or attempts at it), AUs of all kinds, occasional period pieces.

Tropes:

Canon tropes: Downtime in the library. UST in the swimming pool. Breakfast in the galley. Chips, but not as often as most write them. If Rose ate chips as often as she eats them in fic, she’d have a premature coronary from clogged arteries. Rose wanders off. Jail happens a lot.

TenToo tropes:

Toaster fixing, jam, bananas, sexy specs, blue suit, brown suit gets tailored, but also jeans at Rose’s insistence, Janis Joplin coat (he has to really look for it, and ends up snatching it when no one is looking), Chucks, alias John Smith only when in disguise, although Lewis and Sarge happen too (also during sehksay times, which happen a lot.

AU tropes: coffee shops, libraries, book stores, universities, heiress, fairy tales, period pieces, WWII, spies, mutual pining.

Nopes:

Any romance between River and Ten or Nine or Eight... etc... I can’t change Big Finish canon, but I can ignore it and say she doesn’t travel back to meet other Doctors. Unpopular opinion: if her story and character had been written properly, I wouldn’t have been opposed to the Doctor finding love with her after Rose. Because see above -- Ten sending everything about himself through the Void into TenToo. Helps me cope with Eleven and beyond. To wrap my head around seasons 5+, it is the only way I can understand.

Rose with anyone other than the Doctor -- except under extremely carefully crafted circumstances. For example, I was very, very careful that it was 100% impossible for her to reunite with the Doctor when she fell in love with Alec Hardy in my ClosedVerse. No exception. Fobbed Ten as Alec is a good one, though.

Rose will never choose someone else over the Doctor. Ever. If she falls in love with someone in Pete’s World, and the Doctor makes his way back, she will never choose the other love over him. She will never choose anyone over TenToo, either.

Ten will never choose someone else over Rose.

Master x Doctor or any slashfic (just not my thing). I see them as best friends, or even like brothers way back when.

Prostitute Rose (I don’t read SDoaCG fic for that reason).

OT3

Jack x Rose

Master x Rose

Killing off TenToo to get her with Ten.

Kilgrave, Brendan, or now, Don Juan with Rose. Further, I won’t read “redemption” fic with this trio.

Cheating/adultery fic.

Babyfic:

Yep. I always tag. And I understand when people don’t want to read. I don’t think every story has to include this, but sometimes I do think it adds to the plot. Sorta fits well into FoundVerse, because of Jane’s character. I don’t think it always fits in a story, though.

Head canons that influence my writing:

Rose was altered when she joined with the TARDIS/Bad Wolf. Depending upon the story, this happens to varying degrees. If she regenerates, I won’t write her regenerating into a new person. Rose will always be the Rose that we are familiar with. I love her too much.

Rose will always the love the Doctor. However, I’m not big on either reading or writing pre-Eight x Rose. Mainly, that is because I’m not familiar enough. And I might have a bit of a squick when it comes to One, Two, Three, Four, Six, and Seven. Not because of how they look, either. No need to elaborate. No judgement. Just not for me.

The Moment was Bad Wolf -- saving the Doctors just like Rose and the TARDIS saved Nine. (Unpopular opinion -- i don’t hate the War Doctor, but that doesn’t mean I bought into the storyline. Seeing the Moment interact with him was quite amusing.)

GITF didn’t happen. I ignore it. It is a bad, bad dream. Maybe Mickey was dreaming it.

The Stone Rose happened. Ten calls Rose His Lucky Pants quite often, but in a flirty way. When TenToo comes around, her calls her His Lucky Pants, but not so innocently. {{wink wink}}

Regarding TenToo. When Ten regenerated into Eleven, his memories post-Journey’s End re-integrated with TenToo.

Dimension Hopping Rose. She jumped. A lot. She met many of the Doctors, and they all knew something was “up” with her, but I don’t necessarily think they figured it out. Since in my canon she isn’t bonded with the Doctor yet, they wouldn’t know they were together.

Sometimes TenToo doesn’t happen. The meta-crisis doesn’t always happen in my head. In canon, I think it made the most sense for the series, though.

TenToo is the Doctor. Period.

TenToo and Rose had a rough patch after BWB II. But they weren’t “estranged.” It just took them a while to catch their footing. But once they did, fireworks. Bam.

TenToo and Rose got married. In some stories, they have kids, in others they don’t.

TenToo successfully grew a TARDIS, but he still wanted to live a domestic life. While on Earth, the TARDIS disguises herself as a little, domestic cottage. No curtains or carpets. Shutters and hardwood. When traveling, the beloved blue box.

When either Nine, Ten, or Tentoo marry Rose, bonding happens. But so does a human wedding, because the Doctor wants to experience it all. Because the TARDIS is in her head, and because the Doctor is a touch-telepath, it happens.

TenToo and Tony are partners in crime.

TenToo and Jackie get along very well, except when they don’t.

Pete’s World Torchwood is a force for good, even if the Doctor has to advocate for that sometimes. Every institution gets off track from time-to-time. TenToo helps Torchwood as much as he can, but unofficially. Rose still works for Torchwood. TenToo might be an author, a teacher, or a professor between adventures.

I love Fobbed Ten. Love. Love. Love.

Ten and Rose were not intimate before they were separated at Doomsday. I can understand why people do have that head-canon, though. But not being physically intimate yet seems to make the tragedy of Doomsday that much more poignant for me. They were both, however, completely in love. They hadn’t voiced it, though. And they both knew the others’ feelings. The “Forever” scene sealed that for me.

Jimmy Stone was a jerk, but not abusive. I don’t think Rose would have put up with that.

Thoughts on other companions:

Donna, Martha, and Astrid were all stars. (Is Astrid a companion? She would have been great, I think. I didn’t know about JE when I watched VotD -- I’d kept myself spoiler free while watching on Netflix. I just wanted Ten to be happy.)

Amy and Rory are great together (no Amy pining over the Doctor). Clara and Danny in a healthy relationship would have been fantastic.

Other things of note:

Way back when, I wrote a significantly large TenToo x Rose series called the JazzVerse. Each story was named after a classic jazz work.

I named Tentoo. I... NAMED Ten...Too. Not a good move. I was very new to the fandom, and was one of the first fanfic.net writers to write significantly long TenToo fics. At one time, the JazzVerse fics were the most-read TenToo fics on fanfic.net. I really did like his name: Ian Noble Smith.

I didn’t know that naming the Doctor was a big, fat no-no, but I’ve chalked it up to ignorance. I don’t know if I’ll ever put the JazzVerse back up (for a lot of reasons -- I feel like the writing is pretty weak, for one).

Open for prompts?

But I can’t always guarantee that I will write them. {winkwink}

#author profile #i write fic #nine x rose #ten x rose #tentoo x rose