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Cenotaph
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Cenotaph |
| Author(s): | notes |
| Date(s): | Oct 21, 2013 - Jan 23, 2014 |
| Length: | |
| Genre(s): | |
| Fandom(s): | |
| Relationship(s): | |
| External Links: | Spacebattles AO3 TVTropes |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Stub: This is a total braindump! Feel free to rearrange and sort things out. |
Cenotaph is an early and prominent fanfic in the Parahumans fandom. One of the first fanfics to gain prominence after the completion of the canon webserial, it had a defining influence on early Worm fandom, with many tropes and characterization choices from Cenotaph being adopted by other fanfic.
Summary
Structure
Narrative Choices and Inspiration
Reactions/Reviews
- https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/1vygm6/worm_fanfiction_cenotaph_complete/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/WormFanfic/comments/3hs02o/honest_question_why_is_cenotaph_so_loved/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/WormFanfic/comments/4xuhz1/fic_discussion_thread_cenotaph/
- https://forums.darklordpotter.net/threads/cenotaph-by-notes-t-worm.25357/
[Reply to a comment starting "Cenotaph is..."] Also the origin of Lung's fanon obsession with Laz-E-Boy recliner chairs.landcollector, 2014 [1]
Thoughts: People say two things about Cenotaph: That it is in pure wildbow style, and that it is darker than canon worm. I can actually only agree with the first part.Certainly the set-up is darker, and sure some events are darker than the things that occur early on in canon. But for the most part, this story is a lot more chill.
There is a reason for that, Taylor is an independent and quickly figures out the best way to affect change is indirectly, via spying and setting villains against one another. She doesn't have many direct confrontations, and has more time to think and plan, and less people know about her to prepare for her. And there's also several lucky events that occur for Taylor withour her even being aware of the worse possibilities.
It is a fairly intriguing take on the story, enough to be a standalone hero story if the references were removed. In short, it is really good.
Wake is more actiony, dealing with a visit by the Slaughterhouse 9, but note I said actiony instead of horror. The Slaughterhouse 9 doesn't really get to the point of deserving their title of horror movie villains of a superhero universe. This story is pretty much setup around Taylor being a badass. There's still the great writing and character development, but this story doesn't even pretend to be darker than canon.
The most recent one, Legacy, can only be described as chill, it is focused on reconstruction, but it is still in the early stages.
But overall, I completely reccomend all three stories.
Kinni, 2016 [2]
I know I shit all over the fic in one of the recent threads, saying that it's done irreparable damage to the fandom, etc etc. This is not a new opinion for me. This has been my opinion since the fic first came out. In fact, here is my review from Jan 13, 2014 - https://forums.darklordpotter.net/threads/cenotaph-by-notes-t-worm.25357/#post-688819Having reread it just now, I can say that I wasn't very articulate in my points. But, my opinion is pretty much the same these days, and I have reread the story within the last year. The only real thing I was wrong with was with Krieg, as he has more of a role in canon than I was remembering at the time, but doesn't change the meaning of the review. I will say there is a funny line in my review from then, where I said "I can't help but feel this is the kind of story that won't age well." The fandom hasn't really progressed that much from the time when this came out, so the jury's still out. People still love this fic, so they're still going to emulate it.
I will say that every time I've been negative of the fic, it's always feel like I've just been shouting into an empty room, as if no one was seeing what I was seeing. There's always been far more people considering it a pinnacle of the fandom than there has been people like me. So you shouldn't really take it badly that there's three people in the whole world who don't like this fic - it doesn't need a 100%
Lord_Anarchy, 2019 and 2014 [3]
Cenotaph and Wake are a lot of fun. And definitely above the average Worm fanfic's quality.lapsedclassicist, 2022 [4]
been reading Cenotaph all the memes of it hit me like a freight train
Lung Brand Laz-E-Chair. When in doubt: More bees.
— soulpelt, 2023
Fandom Impact
- Let's talk about Cenotaph and the Memorials series, Archived version retrospective discussion on Cenotaph's impact on and reputation in the fandom. Posted by u/Husr on 22 June 2019. Followup discussion by many others
Recursive Fanworks
Fanart
Other
References
- ^ https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/a-tale-of-transmigration-worm-au.3397/page-65#post-1756514
- ^ Worm Fanfics Mini-Reviews by Kinni, Archived version. Posted to RPGnet Forums on 1 September 2016.
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/WormFanfic/comments/c3psn5/comment/ersyqzs/ which is linked above. Anarky's 2014 link is in the Dark Lord Potter thread linked in the reviews section as well.
- ^ Parahumans official discord, 24 September 2022
- ^ Parahumans official discord, 24 May 2022