(chinhands) I'm sending this to the gang because I'm curious. How do you think your D&D characters would be misinterpreted by a fandom?
Finally getting around to answering this, oops. I'll stick with the three main ones I've played so far.
Oriana —
I feel like people are either going to despise Ori because they think she doesn't have a personality just because she's quiet, or will only see her as some kind of religious symbolism in the story due to her faith (and eventually becoming a cleric) to Lathander and connection to celestials as an Aasimar. Those are definitely themes and plot points that were explored, but I just feel like if our campaigns were actually seen as a fandom, she would be boiled down to something incredibly shallow.
Then there's her relationship with Ranna, which I think people would again either despise because they find their particular style of romance annoying or would immediately dismiss every other character development moment Ori has as a result once it is confirmed or hinted at. I could see all the discourse moving immediately from "oh Ori doesn't have a personality or is only this one personality trait" to "her only personality is her partner" which makes me mad to think about.
Ledo —
I have a bit of a harder time guessing what specifically would get mischaracterized with Ledo. She has two very different sides to her, from the very serious and logical side when she's working, to her more laid back side once she's comfortable around people. Hilariously, I feel like she would be the kind of character who, if our campaign suddenly became a movie or tv series, would just become a different character when written by someone else because there would have to be one side of her personality that they focused on. She'd either become 100% serious and no fun allowed, or would become a sailor stereotype. Her status as a noble would be more a fun trivia fact than an actual part of her character.
Something I think people would do though is try to over-emphasize her trauma or desire for revenge. Yes, I've definitely put her through the ringer, but there are reasons for it. Does she want revenge? Sure, but not at the cost of the ones she cares about. And yeah, she has to deal with a physical disability and the loss of her family, but like I was talking to our DM about the other night on the way home, she's level-headed enough that these things are not the main things she focuses on while they're in a literal crisis.
...You know what else I think people would get wrong with her? Drache. Yes, he's her dog. A mechanical drake-shark-dog, but a loyal companion and protector, yes. And she's very fond of him because of that, but more so because he's the literal embodiment of some of her greatest engineering achievements. If nothing else, I fear that people would make her character all about her connection to Drache. And while I joke about it sometimes, that's definitely not the case. If Drache were to be gone tomorrow, she would continue on as a character.
Grim —
Fully, fully expect people to look at Grim, see his favored appearance, and go "oh ok yeah he's just another horny bard huh" and be completely wrong about him. Is he charming? Yes. He's a bard and a performer. Will he compliment and flirt? Yes. Sometimes it nets him extra coin if he butters people up, even if they're hiring him to kill someone. Is his ultimate goal to sleep with anything that moves? Nah. If anything, he likes the journey more than the destination. He thinks flirting is fun sometimes because he gets a chuckle out of how different people react. But unless getting in bed with someone has some additional long-term benefit, he couldn't care less. We joke about the Grim and Hünta ship fanfiction, but I could absolutely see people making them seriously and arguing about their ships for Grim. I could see them writing him as pining and lovestruck just because of how he presents himself in a charming and sometimes flirty way, forgetting that he is doing it for his own amusement or for ulterior motives. Sure, he may have an honest comment here and there about someone being attractive or not, but those comments come from a very different place than an actual desire for romance.
Not to mention people over-emphasizing his trauma as well with his adoptive father or making him some angsty emo sad boy. There would also likely be some people trying to make excuses as to why the evil things he's done are actually good things. No. He's a terrible, selfish person. He doesn't deny it and doesn't make excuses for himself. He'll just shrug and tell someone to get over it, because he's enjoying the self-indulgent lifestyle that he's living right now. It's not to say he doesn't feel some empathy, he's at least loyal to a few and may even consider one or two of the mafia party as friends to some degree, but he's not going out of his way to do the "right" thing or sacrifice something if it's not going to get him something else in return.