Castiel Is a BAMF, No Lie

[annundriel]

So I finished typing this and then I was hesitating over the "post" button and I realized it was because I'm afraid the Castiel I try to write, while feeling in-character to me, may read as OOC to other people. You don't want to be like "This is how I see things" and then have someone call you on the fact that it doesn't translate.

But oh well.

If this post is extra nuts and doesn't flow well, it's because I'm hungry and dinner is waiting and I'm too impatient to re-read it now. :P


Yesterday aesc posted The Casifesto; or, Why Castiel is not your grandma's angel. It is a post of brilliance and, in my opinion, should be required fandom reading. Also, there are pretty pictures.

I read it yesterday, and a little while ago lattimore happened to point it out to me again.

And then an amazing thing happened: I realized what made me stop reading SPN fic like I was starving and it was cake.

I got into SPN last April when I got season one from Netflix (that dealer of crack). I'd seen Castiel's name around, as well as Misha's, but that was kind of...it. And then somehow, before actually getting to the season four episodes, I got into Dean/Castiel.

YouTube is the Best Thing Ever. What the hell did we ever do before YouTube? What the hell did I ever do before YouTube? I shudder to think.

So I watched clips and read fic after fic - commenting...probably not at all at that point. I wrote From Thy Hand, Patterns of Experience, and Now Mine End Doth Haste. (And let me tell you, writing PoE was terrifying for me as a fan who hadn't actually seen all of Castiel's episodes.) And then I...stopped really finishing anything and completely stopped reading. I got back to writing, but I don't read nearly as much as I did before.

I already knew that was because the Castiel I was reading about in fic wasn't always a) the Castiel I was seeing on the show and b) the Castiel I wanted to write about. I'm so afraid that sounds like I'm full of myself. It's just...I see Castiel a certain way and I don't think I'm entirely wrong. So I stopped reading and writing because I was like, well, maybe I am wrong. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe people are seeing something I'm not.

I didn't know why it happened then, but I think I just figured it out. Yea, revelation! When I first started reading, I hadn't seen all of season four. I cobbled together what I could, where I could. The cut-off line on the reading generally coincides with the point where I got caught up with the show. I think I unconsciously had a moment of "This is not what I am seeing on the show and I don't want to read it anymore."

Castiel is badass and strange. He misunderstands things, but he's not naive. He's sneaky ("The Monster at the End of This Book"! "Just so you know...why I can't help." FAVORITE.) and manipulative and entirely capable of teasing back. I could be wrong, but I'm convinced in my own head-canon that Castiel knows very well how to be funny. It's just that he's so dry and straight-faced about it that he comes off as serious.

Don't get me wrong. I read tons of amazing things. There are amazing things being written and posted all of the time. But there are also fics where Castiel is just...too dependent or young or naive or human. Or a wimp. When, c'mon, he could kill you with his mind.

I think he looks at Dean and feels a deep connection with him, but also thinks "What the fuck am I doing with you anyway?" a lot.

Also, reading fic can sometimes be scary when you're trying to write your own. For me, anyway.

So, yes. There is my long-winded revelation. I kind of got out of fic when I caught up with canon. It was something that I used to wonder about, because I love Dean and Castiel and fic about them. It made me wonder why I just...stopped reading.

I've picked it back up again (when I'm not distracted by other fandoms) and I'm trying to become a better reader/commenter now.

Comments

[marynyu.livejournal.com]

You know, I felt the same way after reading that Casifesto. We do tend to overly-woobify Cas in fanfics, when he's actually SUCH a bad ass. I think if he was naive about anything, it would be about things that happen in heaven, his brothers and his father; and that's just IF. He knows his way around human earth, even if he doesn't always get Dean's references. And mostly, he's a warrior. You do NOT want to mess with him.

Maybe that scene in the "den of iniquity" did us a dis-service. I'm STILL not sure what Castiel was so scared about in there!! Maybe the fact that he'd actually taken Dean's suggestion to heart threw him? I dunno.

I think he knows how to be humorous, he just doesn't see the point to it must of the time.

[spacefragments.livejournal.com]

i feel like i'm the only one in my flist that hasn't read the essay. well, sort of. i read maybe 1/3 of it but it was late and i was tired and i never picked it up again the day after. but that part pretty much boiled down to "castiel has a temper too" which i, well, agree with?

Castiel knows very well how to be funny. It's just that he's so dry and straight-faced about it that he comes off as serious.

i'm not too sure about that (i do think he'd catch up pretty fast, though), but i agree with the rest.

edit: then again, it's probably just dean's pop cultureish jokes he doesn't get. hell, *i* don't get a lot of them. *g*

i'm not a writer and i'm not really the sort of fan that develops their own head canon, so i can be pretty flexible re: characterization. that said, i think a lot of writers have gotten stuck in a simplified version of castiel that doesn't really jive with the canon characterization anymore... and maybe it never did. it always struck me as odd that few writers fixated on his knowledge and ability to be sneaky and bend the rules (i imagine that he'd apply those same principles to his learning about humanity :p) and even less on his temper-- we had proof that he can lose patience as early as 4x02.

[rui-31.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with you, most of the fics out there don't really characterize Castiel OR Dean properly. They're both BAMFs in their own way and it's really hard to find a fic where both aren't turning into wimps to accommodate the others domination.
I just read the Casifesto today, sent it to my friend, and am now re-enjoying the pretty pictures of Misha, because they are awesome.
As for your Cas, I enjoy him a lot. :D That's probably why I stick around and follow your updates like crazy because your Cas is like the show's/the way I see him. As far as I can tell Cas is still a BAMF, I refer back to your Bath fic, where he pretty much did the whole: "Dean, put your hand on my dick right now and make me come" (lol)
So no worries, you're still spot on with both Cas and Dean, which is just awesome, and yeah...I'm going to stop repeating myself and wait patiently for another fic.
NCIS huh?

[annundriel.livejournal.com]

i'm not too sure about that (i do think he'd catch up pretty fast, though)

I don't know, maybe "funny" isn't the right word. I think he's capable of amusement and finding things amusing. When Dean is suprised that Chuck, of all people, is a prophet, Castiel says, "You should have seen Luke," which I think is hilarious. The way he says it - especially since it's kind of an...indirect answer to Dean's incredulous, "Him? Really?" - seems to imply, to me anyway, that he's well aware of the fake that Dean has an expectation and that expectation is not being met. Instead of just, I don't know, saying, "Yes, Dean. Really," we get this kind of, "Yes, I know. But you have nooo idea what prophets used to be like." Which I feel shows a capacity for...something. Maybe it's not humor.

I dunno. There's something else that he says in one of the season four episodes that always strikes me as him being kind of funny, but I can't for the life of me remember it. For me it's kind of like...I used to call some of my classmates in high school "puerile" because a) they were and b) they couldn't find it in the dictionary because they couldn't spell it. Which I thought was funny. I mean, I could say things and they would be like, "Whaaaa?" and I would be all, "HAHA."

Now I want to see Castiel gaining a sense of humor hanging out with the Winchesters. And it weirding them out.

i think a lot of writers have gotten stuck in a simplified version of castiel that doesn't really jive with the canon characterization anymore... and maybe it never did. it always struck me as odd that few writers fixated on his knowledge and ability to be sneaky and bend the rules (i imagine that he'd apply those same principles to his learning about humanity :p) and even less on his temper-- we had proof that he can lose patience as early as 4x02.

Mmmhmm, I agree. I feel like we get a, well, woobie-fied Castiel a lot. Which I think is a general cross-fandom trend; someone usually gets the woobie-fication focus. But Castiel is a warrior and we get a lot of Castiel needing rescuing, I think, as opposed to the one doing the rescuing.

[annundriel.livejournal.com]

He knows his way around human earth, even if he doesn't always get Dean's references. And mostly, he's a warrior. You do NOT want to mess with him.

Interesting. I think you're right, that Castiel knows his way around Earth since angels have been around longer than it has and he, literally, wasn't born yesterday. And considering all of the angels we've met have had a fairly good idea (at least implied) about how things work on Earth, I can't see Castiel being that much more naive than them. Except for the fact that maybe he just wasn't that interested previously. Like he knew these things, but since he was in charge of...whatever...the exact movements of humans and general human interests just didn't concern him. In fact, I kind of like the idea that it's his relationship with Dean that makes him more interested in humanity and the more intimate ins and outs of what it means to be human.

Which I think is something we already see on the show, given that while he's all about the Big Picture, Castiel has also listened to Dean about more individual concerns. I wonder how much that coincides with his own growth as more of an individual outside of Heaven?

Maybe that scene in the "den of iniquity" did us a dis-service. I'm STILL not sure what Castiel was so scared about in there!! Maybe the fact that he'd actually taken Dean's suggestion to heart threw him? I dunno.

Okay, so there are parts of that episode that I full-on absolutely love, but as soon as Dean mentions the virgin thing and then the scenes that follow through the whorehouse...those I'm not so fond of. It's such a weird time for Castiel to suddenly exhibit human behavior - embarrassment over his virginity. Angels shouldn't care about that. I generally think it was the writers going for an easy laugh in a heavy episode. But I do love the scene outside the whorehouse, with Dean's arm around Castiel's shoulder and Castiel look pleased as punch that Dean is smiling and laughing, even if he doesn'tknow why.

I think he knows how to be humorous, he just doesn't see the point to it must of the time.

I tried to go into the humorous issue in my comment to spacefragments below. I can totally see the "not seeing the point" thing. Why waste time with humor when there are important, world-saving things to be doing?

[annundriel.livejournal.com]

turning into wimps to accommodate the others domination

That's definitely a part of it. Except Dean doesn't need to become a wilting flower to give Castiel some control. And Castiel doesn't need to be completely naive for Dean to take charge. I guess one of the reasons I like writing sex is that it's one way to explore their power dynamic. Like having Dean bottom from the top, or vice versa. For one of them to expect sex to go one way, and have the other person completely surprise them. I like them best when there's a good back-and-forth going on.

I'm so glad you think I've got Cas and Dean down. I feel like I do most of the time, but I'm also aware that it's the way I see them which is just an interpretation of the characters, y'know?

NCIS, yeeeees. It has made me fluttery and flaily this evening. The amount of fodder my OTP on the show got tonight was insane.

[lattimore.livejournal.com]

Both aesc's essay and your post here had me thinking about the appeal of woobie!Cas. My take is that woobie-fic differs from merely being OOC to almost a kink of its own - it's exaggerating emotion and vulnerability to the point where it becomes a fetish. If an author describes Castiel as short and/or delicate (when really, he's close in height to Dean and even with a slimmer build, still over six feet), it's clear their aim is to make Castiel seem as helpless as possible. It also seems to be quite prevalent lately, maybe in reaction to the angst seen on the show, which is why my own SPN reading has tapered off. Wobbieness isn't necessarily "wrong" as far as characterization goes (although obviously, it's not at all the Castiel we see on TV), but it's not a kink I share, so the fic just doesn't interest me.

You make a good point that your writing probably influences your reading habits as well. I imagine good writers attempt to stick closely to their own canon/fanon, so deviations from that would be even more glaring to you.

I think he looks at Dean and feels a deep connection with him, but also thinks "What the fuck am I doing with you anyway?" a lot.

Haha, exactly! I imagine much of Dean and Castiel's relationship involves mental facepalming and exasperation at the other. It's a large part of why I'm so invested in their relationship; they both have prickly and rather difficult personalities, yet they've managed to forge a very intense bond with each other. The fact that it hasn't developed easily makes it all the more precious.

[annundriel.livejournal.com]

My take is that woobie-fic differs from merely being OOC to almost a kink of its own - it's exaggerating emotion and vulnerability to the point where it becomes a fetish...Wobbieness isn't necessarily "wrong" as far as characterization goes (although obviously, it's not at all the Castiel we see on TV), but it's not a kink I share, so the fic just doesn't interest me.

Yes! That's it exactly. I think you can see that a lot in the response that woobie!Cas elicits. And that is absolutely fine, it's just not something that works for me. Which isn't to say that I don't ever enjoy it when it's written well. I just think that sometimes it can be a characterization trap that fans fall into because it simplifies the character or is easy. (Or characters.)

I imagine good writers attempt to stick closely to their own canon/fanon, so deviations from that would be even more glaring to you.

While I have enjoyed fic that ventured farther away from my own canon/fanon, I do tend to stick with things I know while hit closer to how I read the show/characters. Or authors I already know I enjoy. (I love recommendations. They're such a great way to find things I would have missed otherwise.) I try to keep my eyes out for things that sound interesting, though.

The other thing that comes in to play for me personally is that reading a lot of fic can sometimes make whatever writerly self-doubt I'm already dealing with worse. It's like whenever I'd write an essay in college; I'd have a point and have essays to argue/agree with, but their points always seemed so valid it was sometimes hard to remember that mine was, too. Oh, authorial anxiety.

The fact that it hasn't developed easily makes it all the more precious.

Oh, I agree with this so hard. If you had told Dean after "Lazarus Rising" that there would be three people he cared for in the world like family - Sam, Bobby, and Castiel - he would have looked at you like you were crazy and punched you in the face. I'm sure he would still have done that up to the very end of the season. But they work. Cas is his buddy. And if you'd told Castiel he was going to give up Heaven and everything it stood for in order to give Dean Winchester - that frustrating, annoying, strangely compelling human being - a small chance to save the world? You probably wouldn't get a punch to the face, but he'd wonder about your sanity.

What they've built up, and how they've built it up, is absolutely beautiful. It wouldn't be nearly as fascinating if it had come easily.