(no subject)

[aliseadae]

What do you think of changelings and of being misplaced? (Not WOD changelings; changelings in general.)

Comments

[egamad.livejournal.com]

It's all a little bit creepy! What the heck are they doing with those babies, anyway?

[mapache]

Coincidentally, at 4th St when I met you, I was reading Tad Williams's War of the Flowers, in which (*mild spoiler alert*) the protagonist turns out to be a changeling. (*end spoileriness*)

In general, I think that upbringing is far more important than genetics, though clearly not everything. I think that people are most likely to fit in with the culture in which they're brought up, though there may certainly be an awareness of being different somehow based on being noticeably biologically different than the majority around you and particularly your parents. Then again, feelings of alienation and being different from everyone else are not exactly uncommon in teenagers and young adults. Changeling stories are probably an outgrowth of this sort of disconnect. Traditionally, though, changelings tend to have a level of maliciousness and/or self-awareness of their origins that is lacked by actual people adopted by other cultures.

[vcmw]

I think it's fascinating that we presume so often that the changelings want to get back.

And that the families, of course, want them switched back.

Not that that wouldn't often be the case, but sometimes it must work out that being a changeling is a good thing to be, that it's wonderful to have the perspective of faerie when you're human or human when you're faerie. To see yourself through being in a place off difference.

[vcmw]

I meant "of difference", sorry. Though "off difference" could be a fine thing too.