Why I Left The Miraculous Ladybug Fandom: Marinette Deserved Better + Narrative Abuse
Although I don't watch Miraculous Ladybug anymore, I see the surge of hate coming towards Marinette again, which is no surprise to me. She's being blamed yet again for keeping a secret from Adrien, this follows the same occurrences that happened seasons ago. The hate and fan disliking towards Marinette isn't new, it's existed since the earlier seasons of Miraculous, there's times where it dies down, sure but then the writers decide to make Marinette act out, self-sabotage, or completely regress and then it surges up again and everyone blames her for what's going wrong.
With that being said, I'm not shocked at season 6 and Marinette's characterization nor the treatment she's getting, just painfully disappointed. I thought by now, the writers would've improved their narrative skills and development but considering who the writers are (Thomas Astruc, I'm looking directly at you) that was a shot in the dark. And from the very beginning although I didn't know it yet, Marinette wasn't created to grow or truly develop into a well rounded character or central female protagonist who embodies girl power for younger viewers, but essentially....Marinette was created to be degraded. What started as quirky charm in seasons 1–3 turned into emotional degradation by season 6. This isn’t just bad writing. It’s narrative abuse. But first it begs the question, what is narrative abuse?
Narrative abuse is a storytelling pattern where a character—often the protagonist or a central figure—is repeatedly subjected to emotional degradation, humiliation, or regression without meaningful payoff, growth, or agency. It’s not just poor writing. It’s a systemic misuse of a character’s suffering to serve external plot mechanics, audience manipulation, or other characters’ development.
Humiliation as a recurring device: The character is embarrassed, degraded, or emotionally punished in ways that feel excessive or ritualized.
Regression over growth: Instead of evolving, the character is reset or made worse to maintain tension or humor.
Emotional labor without reward: The character absorbs guilt, trauma, or blame but receives no catharsis, resolution, or narrative justice.
Scapegoating for plot convenience: The character is blamed or sidelined to keep other arcs clean or to avoid resolving core conflicts.
Audience gaslighting: The narrative may frame the abuse as “quirky,” “funny,” or “necessary,” while denying the character dignity or autonomy.
Narrative abuse distorts the viewer’s emotional contract with the story. Instead of watching a character grow, we watch them suffer—again and again—while the writers refuse to let them heal, evolve, or reclaim control. It’s a form of symbolic violence disguised as entertainment. And Miraculous has clear examples of this.
Season 1: “Origins” & “Volpina”
Setup: Marinette is introduced as clumsy but well-meaning. Her crush on Adrien drives most of her behavior.
Abuse Indicator: In “Volpina,” Marinette instantly distrusts Lila and humiliates herself trying to expose her. The narrative frames her jealousy as irrational, even though Lila is lying.
Why It Matters: Early seeds of the “Marinette is always wrong” trope. Her instincts are correct, but she’s punished for them.
Season 2: “Zombizou”
Setup: Marinette tries to give Miss Bustier a gift and ends up causing chaos.
Abuse Indicator: She’s publicly embarrassed, blamed for the akumatization, and her good intentions are twisted into disaster.
Why It Matters: Her emotional labor is weaponized. She tries to be kind, but the narrative punishes her for it.
Season 3: “Chameleon”
Setup: Lila returns and manipulates everyone. Marinette tries to warn others.
Abuse Indicator: Marinette is gaslit by her classmates and even Adrien. She’s framed as jealous and irrational.
Why It Matters: The writers isolate Marinette socially and emotionally, despite her being right. It’s a humiliation ritual disguised as “lesson in tolerance.”
Season 4: “Truth” & “Lies”
Setup: Marinette becomes Guardian and tries to balance her responsibilities.
Abuse Indicator: She lies to Luka and Adrien to protect her identity, leading to emotional fallout and guilt spirals.
Why It Matters: Her role as Guardian is used to justify emotional isolation. She’s punished for following the rules the writers set.
Season 5: “Emotion” & “Pretention”
Setup: Marinette and Adrien begin dating, but she’s terrified of ruining it.
Abuse Indicator: Marinette becomes controlling, anxious, and stalker-coded. Her breakdowns are frequent and unflattering.
Why It Matters: Instead of showing growth, the writers regress her into obsessive behavior. Her trauma is amplified, not healed.
Season 6: “Re-creation” & “Action”
Setup: Marinette tries to manage her relationship and superhero duties.
Abuse Indicator: She’s portrayed as manipulative, emotionally unstable, and unable to trust Adrien. Her behavior mirrors Chloe’s.
Why It Matters: This is character assassination. The writers distort Marinette’s core traits to create drama, not development.
Pattern Summary:
She’s punished for being right.
Her emotional breakdowns are used for plot tension, not healing.
She’s scapegoated for others’ mistakes.
Her growth is reset every season.
By season 4, Miraculous Ladybug shifts Marinette from a flawed but endearing protagonist into a narrative scapegoat whose emotional breakdowns are ritualized for plot tension. Her role as Guardian amplifies her responsibilities while stripping her of support, agency, and catharsis. Instead of evolving, she’s trapped in a loop of secrecy, guilt, and romantic sabotage—coded as growth but functionally regressive. The writers repeatedly isolate her, punish her for following their own rules, and distort her core traits to manufacture drama. This isn’t character development—it’s narrative abuse disguised as storytelling. Marinette’s suffering becomes a plot device, not a journey, and the audience is expected to applaud her degradation as emotional depth.
The hate Marinette gets is a textbook case of fandom misdirection and gendered projection. She’s the emotional core of Miraculous Ladybug, yet fans often treat her like a villain for displaying anxiety, indecision, or emotional breakdowns—behaviors that are framed as “relatable” in male characters but “annoying” in female leads. Adrien, who repeatedly crosses boundaries as Chat Noir, is romanticized as charming and tragic, while Marinette is vilified for being cautious, secretive, or overwhelmed. Chloe, once the show’s designated bully, now gets more sympathy because her cruelty is framed as “trauma response,” while Marinette’s suffering is dismissed as overreacting. This isn’t just fandom bias—it’s a systemic failure to recognize emotional labor, especially when performed by a girl. The writers humiliate her, the fandom gaslights her, and the result is a protagonist punished for being human while others are rewarded for being harmful.
A lot of fans don’t hate Marinette because she’s “bad”—they hate her because the writers keep putting her in humiliating situations and never let her recover. Over time, people stop seeing her as a real character and start treating her like a joke. She cries, panics, lies, and breaks down because the story forces her to—but instead of asking why she’s acting that way, fans blame her for it. Meanwhile, Adrien gets to mess up, cross boundaries, and still be seen as sweet and misunderstood. Chloe gets a redemption arc or trauma excuse. Marinette gets none of that. She’s punished for being anxious, punished for keeping secrets, punished for trying to protect people—and fans treat her like she’s annoying or manipulative, even though the writers are the ones pulling the strings. It’s not that Marinette deserves hate. It’s that the story keeps humiliating her, and fans confuse that with her being “the problem.”
From a media ethics and representation standpoint, Miraculous Ladybug is problematic:
It features a female POC protagonist who is repeatedly degraded.
It romanticizes boundary violations (e.g., Chat Noir’s behavior).
It punishes emotional vulnerability, especially in girls.
It gaslights viewers by framing trauma as comedy or romance.
It has a toxic fandom culture that defends harmful writing and attacks critics.
These issues aren’t just narrative flaws—they reflect deeper cultural failures in how media treats female leads, emotional labor, and viewer intelligence
My essential reason for leaving the Fandom in the 1st place was due to the painful humiliation ritual the writers seem to have Marinette stuck in, season 1-3 it was kinda cute but after that it definitely ran it's course and it became very unpleasant to watch them regress her character for the sake of humor and a character to dump everything on. So alas, surprisingly my departure lies more from the fandom than canon itself and you may ask? "dragonbugsuperior? why not just watch the show and ignore the fans and the fandom?" and while that does seem like an easy solution outright I am someone who likes to actively involve myself in my favorite shows communities not just watch it alone, so being apart of fandoms is something I enjoy. And I can't just sit back and watch the female POC protagonist of a show I looked up to be annihilated when I know she could've had potential to be so much more. I want to clarify that I don't just simply dislike Miraculous, I'm actively uncomfortable by it. But when a fandom is vastly divided, hypersensitive, deluded, and downright toxic in a spiral, it leaves me with no other choice.
