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Give me a Cass who has flaws

I think I’ve finally figured out why I can never like Cass in fanfictions. I mean, I don’t hate or have negative feelings or such, but I can’t like her either. Because she’s just too perfect. She doesn’t have any character flaws. She always understand exactly what her family thinks, better than themselves, she always knows what’s best for them, better than themselves, she never act irrationally, she never hurts them - despite being often shown by fans actually forcing her siblings to do stuff they keep insisting they don’t want to, and even she’s right, I would totally be super angry at her in their place, because free will is a thing thank you - she’s everyone’s favorite, except when Damian is being childishly jealous of how much better she is than him, of course, she never loses a fight.

Where’s the depth? I haven’t read many comics featuring Cass -just the Mother arc, where, you know, she actually had flaws - but I’ve read quite a bit of fanfic with her in it, and her only character traits in those seem to be her disability and the fact that she’s perfect in every way?

So please, Cass fans, I want to like your fave, but you gotta start by giving me a character that has flaws. Make her be quick to anger or too forgiving, too carefree or too fretting, too impulsive or too slow to act, just, do something.

For example, I don’t know, maybe the thing where she can always tell what everyone’s thinking just by reading their body language. That’s nice, keep that. but maybe remember that thinking and feeling are different things, and while Cass can read feelings and intent in body, she might sometimes misinterpret what people are thinking. That could be fun to explore.

Or she could be good very good at reading situations/feelings/intent, but because she was never taught how to act in social situations she doesn’t know how to fix what she sees. Like, great, she can tell how whenever Bruce is harsh with Jason he’s actually disguising his guilt in anger, and how in turn Jason’s anger stems from his desire to feel like he matters to Bruce. Cool. How do you justify that she knows how to fix this problem? She was never taught how to fix things. Make her either seek someone to help solve the problem she sees or make her decide telling them what the other feels except it makes it worse because now Jason feels like Bruce is fixated on the boy who died and doesn’t see that he’s not the same person, and Bruce just feel guiltier.

And also please stop writing her taking away her siblings’ agency “because it’s what’s best for them”. That’s extremely uncomfortable to read. Or at least stop treating it like it’s not only morally acceptable but also a good thing that helps the situation. It’s not. The only person who gets to say what they’re feeling is the person experiencing the feelings. Your family doesn’t get to tell you what you’re feeling, your therapist doesn’t get to tell you what you’re feeling, and Cassandra Cain-Wayne doesn’t get to tell you what you’re feeling either! Even if you’re wrong, even if you’re lying to yourself, people can try to help you realise what you’re actually feeling, or try to prevent you from hurting yourself by neglecting your own feelings, but they don’t get to take away your agency.

Or, if you want Cass to keep taking away peoples agency, make that a flaw, adress it in the story, because it does make sense that she wouldn’t realise what she’s doing wrong. Most batfam writers don’t and they weren’t raised to be weapons.

I’ll say it again, I don’t hate or ressent Cass, and I don’t hate people who write her, and if writing her to be perfect is what makes you feel good then go ahead, have fun, but do remember that what usually makes people like a character is their flaws and shortcomings, and mostly how they get over them, because then the audience can think “wow, this person fails like I do, and they’re still cool, so maybe I can be cool too” it makes the characters relatable, it gives you material for plots, it gives you bonding opportunities with other characters (you help me thourgh my low, I hel you thourgh yours) and it gives the character depths.

Please, Cass fans, show me your fave is more than an empty shell.

Give me a Cass who can be wrong

Give me a Cass who can do wrong

Give me a Cass who fails

Give me a Cass who does not, in fact, always know best

Give me a Cass who sometimes needs help

Give me a Cass who does not promote “forcing people to do something they vehemently refused” as a way to help friends

Because Cass has a great potential as a character, and all she needs to convert that potential into a force is a small flaw to push her out of the unstable equilibrium that is the do-no-wrong character.

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