exploded badger propaganda
So I was thinking about Exploded Primaries in general and Nico di Angelo (from the Percy Jackson books) in particular, and it seems to me that fictional Exploded Lions and Snakes are likely to be at least somewhat antagonistic, Exploded Birds can go either way, but Exploded Badgers are more likely to be protagonists.
Exploded Lions are likely to trample over other people in their haste to do stuff for their Cause, which tends to make them disliked by the fandom even if they’re mostly meant to be “good guys” (e.g. Dumbledore).
Exploded Snakes tend to have that creepy stalker obsessiveness with their People (e.g. Snape) which also tends to make them disliked, although now that I’m rereading @swearingintengwar’s initial post about exploded houses it doesn’t mention obsession, just us-versus-them mentality
An Exploded Bird who is stuck in inertia probably isn’t doing much plot-wise, but I could see a Bird Primary sinking into inertia and then getting out of it as part of either a redemption arc or a fall into darkness. A Javert-style Exploded Bird who refuses to rethink their worldview is probably an antagonist for similar reasons to an Exploded Lion.
Exploded Badgers, on the other hand, seem to mostly be (unhealthy) protagonists, probably because “giving too much to other people” is something society usually considers good albeit misguided. E.g. the aforementioned Nico is definitely an Exploded Badger during House of Hades and Blood of Olympus, although he seems to have healed his primary between Blood of Olympus and the Trials of Apollo series (thank you, Will). I’m sure an author could write an antagonist who dehumanizes large groups of people and then puts too much of themselves into antagonistic causes, but that seems a lot less common.
But maybe this is me being biased (being a Badger myself) or just because I’m not thinking of counterexamples? Was wondering what you thought.
It is weird that Exploded Badger is the only Exploded primary that is culturally regarded as good. Exploded Snakes and Exploded Birds are either framed as villainous or tragic. Exploded Lions could have been heroes if only they didn’t “go too far.” But Exploded Badgers - martyr yourself, give yourself to the world until there’s nothing left, you are too good for this sinful earth. There are a lot of stories that glorify that (… the giving tree.) And ugh, it’s so Victorian.