Fanon Tim Drake and the Dynamics of Abuse Apologia
(this is my first attempt at a serious analysis post on here so please be gentle with me. also this contains a detailed discussion of familial and child abuse so be careful ❤️)
Despite being an avid comic reader and general disliker of fanon Batman stories, I ironically find fanon’s version of Tim deeply, deeply relatable but for all of the wrong reasons, most of which are entirely unintentional to the author’s goals.
I’m sure most of you know the typical Tim Drake story posted on AO3. The majority of them, if not ship focused, are usually about the fanon relationship between Tim and the “Batfam”, Jason especially, which is what I want to focus on. I find these types of fics are written in a way to make Tim relatable, but it’s for the same reason they’re so upsetting and why I can’t read them: the way Tim is treated in these fics is almost an exact recreation of how abuse is normalized and excused within interpersonal relationships. Many of the “Good Dad Bruce” and “Jason Todd is a Good Sibling” fics contain prevalent depictions of abuse apologia which are framed as “Hurt/Comfort” or “Enemy to Caretaker”
Fanon Tim stories have multiple connected tropes and themes that are nearly identical to one another, and I want to focus on the three following ones: Titans Tower and its fanon, Tim’s relationship with Jason and its fanon, and fanon Tim’s integration of Jason back into the “Batfamily”. I will be talking less about correcting what is fanon vs canon, and more about how these fanon tropes play into the overarching undertones of abuse apologia.
Titans Tower AUs typically happen like this: a 13-14y/o Tim is minding his business in the tower, Jason ambushes/tortures him, Tim begs for Jason to stop, and Jason snaps out of his “pit madness” to relent before Tim is killed. Tim is revealed to have been a huge fan of Jason and considers him “his Robin”, and over time Tim manages to bring Jason back into the fold through the power of familial love/brotherhood or whatever.
In these fics, the Lazarus Pit is used as a vehicle to remove Jason from responsibility for his choices. It wasn’t really Jason committing those actions, he was being influenced by “the green”. Side effects from the Lazarus Pit in canon are extremely temporary, but in these stories the Lazarus Pit gives Jason the permanent side-effect of near-uncontrollable anger and rage. He wasn’t in his right mind when he attacked Tim, so it’s not “really” Jason committing these actions, he wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t for “the green” clouding his vision. Due to this, Tim is subtly encouraged by the narrative to forgive Jason for what he’s done because Jason is also framed as a victim in this situation.
This is interconnected with the second aspect, which is how these fics change Tim and Jason’s dynamic. They are given a much larger age gap, with Tim being an early adolescent and Jason being around 18-20 years old. Compounding this is the way the relationship is portrayed more personally, with Tim always having admired Jason as Robin and Tim having his biological parents be both physically and emotionally abusive towards him. These end up changing the dynamic to be one of overt familial violence between an older sibling towards a younger one. Tim is separated from his mother and father by their abuse, and many times these fics already have Tim adopted into the family before Jason’s return. Jack and Janet’s abuse in these stories is often extreme to the point of parody, and makes Jason’s abuse look “not as bad” in comparison and the preferable option, despite whatever torture he puts Tim through. Canon Tim didn’t have a super high opinion of Jason, and the fight does not come off as Jason being an abusive sibling but rather just Jason being some asshole who pops up out of nowhere. Fanon also dials up the violence of the encounter to way, way higher levels than what canonically happens, having the throat slit from Hush happen here instead, which gives the entire story a gross, exploitative feel to it, at least in my opinion.
Lastly, and most importantly, “Good Dad Bruce” almost always forgives Jason for his actions no matter how awful the encounter was. Jason faces no consequences, at best Jason will give an apology (and sometimes not even that), and Bruce/Dick/Alfred and even Tim himself are happy to have their “Little Wing” back. Jason’s trauma is prioritized over Tim’s, even when the story is from Tim’s POV, and Jason is portrayed as a “good guy led astray” rather than as an abuser. The family acts as a means to reinforce the narrative that responsibility lies with “the green’s influence” and not with Jason, as well as having Tim himself advocate for Jason’s forgiveness. Tim and Jason become “brothers” and all past actions are forgiven. Dick’s canonical anger at Jason is rarely portrayed, and staunchly anti-death characters such as Cassandra are chill with it (if not outright excluded from the story because of the authors unfamiliarity with canon). Tim becomes the actor made responsible for Jason’s “redemption”, and while on rare occasion this will be pointed out, it’s usually brushed aside because Tim is proven to be right, and more often than not Tim’s goals are subtly encouraged by the story through their endings and/or narrative arcs. The victim of abuse becomes his abuser’s advocate.
These tropes combine to create a narrative about abuse. The story becomes not about redemption or forgiveness or family, but instead about how abuse can become excused through narrative and interpersonal/familial systems. Tim is the victim of a horrible, horrible crime that nearly kills him…and is forced to watch as his found family excuses, coddles, and forgives the person who did it to him because of their connections. His anger, his resentment is not allowed because responsibility is diverted away from the perpetrator and towards outside actors such as the Lazarus Pit or Talia, which serves to make the reader think Tim is justified in his own forgiveness towards Jason. Jason’s own tragedy is emphasized to muffle the heinousness of what he’s done, and to portray his actions as tragic instead of evil. Tim’s closeness with and admiration of Jason preempts him to forge a bond with his abuser after the fact, and this is not portrayed as a potentially harmful or unhealthy effort to undertake. Tim becomes a victim, Jason becomes an abuser, and the family is the means by which the abuse is normalized.
I have experienced this situation, I have lived it. I know what it feels like to have your own pain ignored and have empathy turned towards the person who hurt you, instead. I have seen how families excuse abuse when it’s done by someone they call their own, and I have seen how families use these methods to mitigate the seriousness of what was done, has been done, and will be done. “It wasn’t me, it was the alcohol”, “You know how he gets sometimes”, “I just have a bad temper”, “He didn’t mean to hurt you that badly”, etc. That is why I find Fanon Tim Drake so relatable, and I hope others feel the same way. These are not “Hurt/Comfort”or “Enemy to Caretaker” fics, these are stories of abuse and I wish they were advertised as such.
Obviously, I hold no ill will towards people who enjoy these types of stories or create them. I’m aware many of these people come from a similar background to my own. I’m aiming to have a discussion, not incite a mob. I want to look at these stories perhaps a bit more critically, and perhaps encourage others to limit the unintentional subtext some of these stories may contain, because I doubt every single one of these stories is aiming to portray the Batfam as abusive when the tags are “Good Dad Bruce” and “Dick Grayson is a Ray of Sunshine” and “Fluff/Angst”.
Please feel free to add your own thoughts! I welcome any and all discussion :)
cis people can never just apologise for missgendering you they always gotta say some shit like "oh sorry i wasn't even thinking" like admitting that it takes concious effort to see me as a woman is going to make me feel better
From a more positive prospective...the "oh sorry I wasn't even thinking" is more likely them trying to tell you hey I did misgender you and I apologize this was out of thoughtless error and not malicious. Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. Fits kinda too perfect here.... Taking it as the its concuous effort to see you as a women is only going to hurt your own feelings.
does anybody even have a 9-5 anymore. at some point they started making you work 8 hours not including your lunch break so it's all 9-5:30s and 9-6s and we should have killed them for it
My workplace also shut down the "I didn't eat lunch so I'm going home at 4" crowd. Your reporting hours are 8-5. No matter if you took breaks or not. No matter if you ate lunch or not.
My work lets everyone who isn't a contractor work what we call a straight 8, and despite the issues and any problems with this working environment, I respect it
What if Robert feels like he's getting mixed signals because Flambae will be mother Henning him one moment but absolutely refuse to engage with him romantically?
When they actually fight it out, Flambae says something along the lines of
You're not him! Even if you have his face and memories, you're still not the man I married. I can't betray him any more than I already have.
Like not explicitly saying that he's a clone, but leading to further misunderstandings. Especially if he told the team his theory and they have been running interference.
Robert thinks Flambae means he is too damaged to be considered a partner. Insert angst
Also, Robert's only way to beat clone allegations is to literally kill himself and front of the team and resurrect. Otherwise they won't believe him no matter what he says
Robert: oh yes, the *read notes* only way to prove I am not a clone is *rereads notes* to kill myself in front of everyone and then when I come back to life they will know I am fact not a clone.
everyone else: the horror of watching someone kills themselves and come back to life and acting like this was a good idea
Flambae: realizing this is his husband and they all accidently suicide baited him *flees to process many feelings*
Robert internalized: thinks Flambae means he is too damaged to be considered a partner. Insert angst from @dirtycombatboots
HR: *deciding they cannot just pretend this didn't happen and forces therapy*
flambert scenario where Robert starts seeing this new guy/hero with ice powers but they’re like Waterboy’s in the sense that he can’t turn them off and it leaves him freezing cold all the time
and while it does lead to a lot of inconveniences—like Robert needing to wear a ton of layers or be covered in a mountain of blankets so they can cuddle comfortably, or it taking hours for Robert’s already shitty thermoregulation to kick in and warm him up after a date, or needing to be in really hot or humid environments to achieve anything more physical—they’re all things Robert can look past because in every other aspect this guy is, like, really great
Flambae however can’t look past it and he’s super jealous and pissed off because hello??? He’s right there!!!
Not only is he amazing in the looks department—tall, handsome, perfect hair, and constantly showing off his skin/body—but he’s also great in every other aspect. Top of the Torrance leaderboard, super funny, athletic, an amazing cook, and most importantly: he has controlled fire and heat powers that could not only solve all the issues Robert’s current guy is causing, but would never cause such issues in the first place.
He is easily the hottest, most eligible bachelor Robert knows, so why isn’t he choosing him?
Not that he cares, because he totally doesn’t, not at all. Why would he care? But at the same time, if Robert is gonna date a guy—and also isn’t as blind as Sonar or a villain that pissed off Prism—then it should totally be him, right?
So him going out of his way to show himself off to Robert and prove how good of a boyfriend he could be isn’t his attempts to try and court Robert—why in the world would he date Bob Bob of all people?—it’s just to show him that his taste in men is shit and he could be doing better.
I want it to be that Robert doesn't even see what Flambae is trying to do, doesn't even register it as peacocking as Flamebae has already said you're not my type, and Robert took that literally so he of course wouldn't assume anything is flirting or showing off for him in that context.
When someone ask Roberty about it, he gets confused and tells them Flambae already said I wasn't there type, and poor Flambae regretting ever saying anything.
Final results are out, thank you everyone who voted and thank you everyone who commented something! It was an interesting result, not totally unexpected mind you, but still very fun.
And of course, the unofficial favorites among who voted would be Malevola as who had the lowest votes with just under 1% of the vote followed by Coupé and Prism who were tied at 3.1%
The final results top 3 is only like a little shocking Invisigal being first no shock there, people put a variety of reasons, Flambae also not shocking in the least to be frank, only result I was shocked by was that Punch out got so many votes???
What did this man do??
vaporwave
andulkaphoto
stormborns
kianamaiart
pixelskylines
