Monday DE: Daemonology

[splash_of_blue]

Oops! Sorry for the delay, folks: first day back from being off sick/on leave nearly all of last week and it's all gone a touch hectic, funnily enough.

Anyway, given that the BBC adaptation of His Dark Materials launched last week, I thought it would be apposite to do a daemon-themed DE - but, since we've done those before (albeit not for a while), I thought we could do daemons with a twist:

Post in a list of your pups. Other people can then suggest what daemons they would have and why. Do the same for other people's pups - and maybe name the daemons people have suggested for yours!

GO GO GO

(For those not familiar with HDM, Wikipedia has a pretty comprehensive explanation of daemons here. Link is spoilery, so handle with care if you still intend to read the books/watch the show.)

Comments

[splash_of_blue]

USUAL TRIBE:
Sam Linnfer
Molly Hayes
Minerva McGonagall
Raoul of Goldenlake
Phil Coulson
Snow Leopard Woman
Victoria
War
Poe Dameron

Not including BB-8 on this occasion, because I suspect robots can't have daemons. Although if you'd like to convince me otherwise...

BONUS RABBLE:
Dr Max DeBryn
Nebula
Aziraphael
Crowley
Singularity
Bets Hilton
Selina Kyle (Bale!movie flavour)

[skyhigh_seance]

Minerva has a Border Collie. Good at getting her students where they need to go, and there'll be hell to pay if you hurt one of hers.

[chanter1944]

I'm thinking some kind of German shepherd mix dog for Molly, if not a full shepherd. Sweet most of the time, but also takes no crud. Ooh, shepherd/husky cross?

[mogget_cat]

I do love the fandom discussion I found about show!Crowley's black wings being crow's wings, black and well-groomed, indicating his cleverness, etc., and Aziraphale's wings being swan's wings, white and graceful and entirely capable of fucking your shit up if necessary.

[amiable_horror]

For Poe, I am imagining a French bulldog. This could be because I could see BB-8 as one in some AU fanart thing.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato Ishida.

Aaand we'll include Eden Llyx for this one too, even though Replicas definitely wouldn't have daemons.

[takethatnature]

There is of course one obvious choice for Yamato.

[inlovewithwords]

I mean, Yamato basically has a daemon really. I don't make the rules.

[skyhigh_seance]

A turtle with a bear fursona.

What?

[angry_friendship_wolf]

D:

[skyhigh_seance]

:D!!!

[takethatnature]

Offering up:
Wilson Higgsbury
Dr C. A. Thurlow

In the HDM universe, daemons don't seem to be a requirement for personhood or sapience since there are several types of nonhuman sapient beings - most notably the panserbjørne - who don't have them, so I'm not too bothered about saying that my nonhumans don't have daemons. (Although if someone has an idea for Aradia, Cirava or Bastion anyway, I'd love to hear it.)

A troll's lusus naturae - an animal that raises a young troll from about toddler age on - fills the same animal-symbolism role as a daemon, so it seems a bit redundant or crowded to have both. Given that in Homestuck canon our universe was created by a group of trolls and that's why Earth and Alternia have so many similarities, in a daemonverse version I could see the existence of daemons among humanity coming about as a distorted reflection of trolls' lusii.

As for omnics, I think lacking daemons is the only thing that makes narrative sense in the Overwatch universe; it would be a lot harder for humans to earnestly believe omnics mindlessly follow their programming and have neither souls nor emotions if they were walking around with daemons just like humans have. I'm in favour of robots with daemons as a general idea -- I think it could be made to work with HDM canon facts -- but I don't think it works in this canon.

[sticktothemission]

Hrm. Just shitballing cos it's been a long ass day, but the Iris as a shared omnic daemon?Needs more thought but not something I'm up for tonight. I could totally see Bastion with a porcupine: sweet and gentle but will also fuck your shit up if you poke it.

I'm not terribly familiar with Wilson, but from what I've seen he strikes me as curious with a tendency to get into things he shouldn't. Raccoon?

[takethatnature]

I was so keen on a bird daemon that I didn't even think of that, but a porcupine makes a lot of sense. And it can reconfigure itself into a pointy ball! So to speak. And with a land animal their daemon's not horning in on Ganymede's role quite so much.

Wilson having a raccoon daemon is perfect, honestly, nothing about that is incompatible with the full extent of his canon at all. They even look sort of similar, with the dark coloration around their eyes and fluffy heads and ears. And I hadn't thought of anything previously for him except "maybe a rat". (Although I had pretty much the same reasoning for that preliminary choice.)

[thebattycakes]

This question is always interesting, but whenever it comes up I never have any answers so I would love suggestions!

Barry Allen
Cisco Ramon
Matt Murdock
Logan

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato would absolutely say a mongoose for Cisco, for reasons. For an alternate option, I could see a jackdaw as an option: Intelligent, friendly, likes shiny things.

Similarly, Yamato would probably say a fox for Barry, although for a counterpoint I would also suggest a cheetah.

[mogget_cat]

I may have looked up the Eastern Coyote for Matt because I wanted something at a crossroads between the social and loyal natures of dogs and the efficient violence of wolves (but without the reliance on a pack), something capable but usually underestimated, clever and able to survive against the odds, with a reddish tint.

Finding out they are fighty enough to take on frickin' MOOSE was just a bonus.

[ceitfianna]

I like this variation as I find daemons fascinating but I've never been good at figuring them out for my characters.

Cassian Andor
Quentin
Charles Xavier
Sameth
Moist von Lipwig
Demeter

[angry_friendship_wolf]

For Cassian, I kind of want to suggest a shrike. A bird fits him, I think, and shrikes are intelligent, but also pragmatic to the point of appearing (and getting a reputation for) being fairly brutal.

For Quentin, I sort of want to say a cecropia moth, a colourful and large silk moth.

[takethatnature]

Oh yeah, a shrike makes sense! And they also look disarmingly cute and fluffy.

[ceitfianna]

I love the idea of a bird for Cassian.

[ceitfianna]

A bird makes a lot of sense for Cassian. I wouldn't have thought of a moth but that could be interesting for Quentin.

[chanter1944]

I'd almost say a beaver for Sameth, but that's the builder/wallmaker thing talking. And Moist with a chameleon is too easy a call, so... Could his be a starling? They're known to mimic other birds in their vicinity, even if they haven't got mockingbird levels of skill at it.

I know you didn't list him here, but Will Scarlett and a red fox, though. :D?

[ceitfianna]

Will is definitely a red fox. I've even had him turn into one for Cubefall. Beaver makes sense for Sameth, its one I've thought about before. A bird could work for Moist, since he's always on the move.

[chanter1944]

That may have been where I got the red fox idea in the first place! :P I almost said raccoon, but then remembered it was Bill Pardy chasing after the coins Will was doing tricks with, not the other way around. :)

[amiable_horror]

For Cassian, I am seeing either a Fennic fox or a Jerboa, which is a kind of desert mouse that is pretty cute and vicious. Or a desert owl. I don't know why I am focused on desert animals for him.

[inlovewithwords]

Evelyn Trevelyan
Lois Lane
Eriond
Anakin Skywalker
Tavi

(R2 is deliberately left off the list. Some robots/androids/AI it works for. R2 does not, to my mind.)

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Tavi I think is an obvious wolverine, as the closest real world analogue to a tavar.

For Lois, I want to say some kind of cat, to fit in with the idea of being curious and investigative and potentially v. sharp. Maybe a caracal?

[inlovewithwords]

Yeah wolverine in lieu of tavar is the obvious route.

Haha, my choice for Lois has always been an ocelot, in fact, so pretty close!

[bjornwilde]

Oh I like this twist. I'm posting my pups now, and hopefully getting to giving answers for others later once I get a handle on work.

Ahsoka Tano
Sabine Wren
Jessica Drew
Vivian Vision
Danny Rand
Tybalt
Disreputable Dog (Not sure how this would work, maybe an animal association like the Greek/Norse gods?)

Bonus:
Ben Hargreeves
Sucy Manbavaran (Little Witch Academia)

[ceitfianna]

Ahsoka kind of already has one in canon with the Force owl.

Danny, I could see maybe some kind of dog, one that's sweet looking but very, very determined and you wouldn't want to cross in a fight.

[skyhigh_seance]

This guy! Because what he needs is one more thing to keep track of.

[ceitfianna]

Maybe a cat, one's that smaller than a normal cat and really good at getting into places. And cats are known for seeing spirits so it could work on that angle too. Or some kind of bird or rodent, I feel like something small, a touch nervous and always on the move.

[splash_of_blue]

A flock of black or grey butterflies. They're symbolic of mortality, and if I understand the Wiki correctly, people with special powers can have a flock of daemons. Plus the butterflies fluttering around him would be a little reminiscent of his ghosts.

[takethatnature]

I have no problem with someone's daemon being a colony regardless of their powers, since Camwyn's daemonverse stuff had a few of those around in the general populace, most notably Adrian Shephard.

[chanter1944]

One of the wood or ghost moths, maybe? I know, that's horribly punny, but hmm... I understand that wood moths are difficult to tell from ghost moths, so his having one of the former would lend an extra bit of irony everywhere else, and a hint of vindication to his own view of his powers.

[chanter1944]

In, better late than never, with Sariel Rager. I've got a daemon decided for her, but I'm curious what other folks would pick for her.

[mogget_cat]

I've got:

Yrael
Sunshine
Rumor
Max Caulfield

[splash_of_blue]

Sunshine - a beaver. Hard-working, industrious... and then there's the cartoon joke about beavers whittling wood down to stakes. Useful, with all those vampires about...

[mogget_cat]

That totally works for her! I have answered with a honeybee for her, in previous iterations of this DE. Hard-working, industrious, social, associated with sweetness, and willing to die for her community.

[takethatnature]

Yrael's daemon is also a cat.

He's just so good at being a cat that I can't see him being represented by any other animal, y'know?

[mogget_cat]

It's true!

I feel the same way about Kibeth/The Disreputable Dog. Nothing fits better than the quintessential dog.

[chanter1944]

I would giggle a *ton* if Yrael's daemon were a black cat.

[mogget_cat]

Heee... He'd not mind, of course. Its the spirit that matters, not the form.

Oddly enough, the only other real creature I could see him having as a daemon would be some sort of spider, or a praying mantis. One of those lovely large orb weavers, or a yellow garden spider.