Does your fandom have a Daphne Greengrass?

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Title: Does your fandom have a Daphne Greengrass?
Creator: Gohantrash
Date(s): 28 February 2024
Medium: Reddit post to r/FanFiction
Fandom: pan-fandom
Topic: Predominantly fanon created characters in different fandoms
External Links: Does your fandom have a Daphne Greengrass?, Archived version on Reddit
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Does your fandom have a Daphne Greengrass? is the title of a Reddit thread on r/FanFiction, started by Gohantrash, which asked fans if their fandoms had characters similar to Daphne Greengrass from Harry Potter; a character who was barely more than a line or a name in canon, but who was given characterisation and a much bigger role by the fandom in fanworks.

The topic of largely fanon characters is a popular discussion point, so the Reddit post was not a unique discussion but it was one with a lot of responses, with more than 600 comments from fans discussing characters from their fandoms who fit the description.

In the HP fandom, Daphne is a character that is never mentioned in the books and is only known to exist because of a list of students in Harry's year that Rowling once wrote.

Over the years she has become the most popular het pairing for Harry (after Hermione) and is a wildly popular character.

Does your fandom have a character that is barely mentioned in the canon but is widely loved/used by fanfic authors?

Gohantrash at r/Fanfiction, Archived version

Characters and fandoms discussed

Example Commentary

Keeping with the same fandom as Daphne Greengrass, fans discussed how Theodore Nott from Harry Potter was essentially the male equivalent of Daphne and how the fandom had characterised him in various fanworks.

[Matilda-17]

The male equivalent of Daphne Greengrass is Theodore Nott. Canon has almost nothing on him except that his father is a death eater and at one point he is described as “stringy”. I’ve read so many fics that prominently feature him, because he’s such a blank slate! The pairing of him with Harry Potter is popular enough to have its own couple name (NottPot.) In fact there’s a wildly popular trilogy fic that’s NottPott and one of Not’s best friends is… Daphne Greengrass, of course.

[StitchingKitty897]

I had not thought about this. I always love having Theo in the fics I pick to read. I like how he’s mostly portrayed to be sarcastic and quick witted while having a lazy demeanor.

[Cherry_Bomb_127]

It’s either that or he’s abused by his dad which I see where people are coming from but it’s interesting he’s the one this mostly happens to

[LillySteam44]

The best take on Theo's backstory I've read has him wrestling with the fact his dad was an excellent father who supported and loved him throughout his childhood, and also a man that committed many atrocities in the name of Voldemort. It was an interesting dive into those emotions.

Some fans discussed how his characterisation in some fanworks bothered them, particularly in how he was characterised in fics where he is friends with Hermione or in Dramione fics.

[GoblinHokage]

As someone who used to write dhr fic, the fanon interpretation of Theo as the like gay bestie always bothered me. It felt so weirdly fetishistic of gay men. Idk. Every Hermione/girl has to have her sassy gay bestie. Then again, I also tend to really dislike the fanon interpretations of virtually the entire slytherin house of characters so I am 10000% biased.

[ChaserNeverRests]

I definitely support the queer rep but would really prefer it not being an extension of Hermione in the obvious GBF way.

[GoblinHokage]

Sameeee. Like fully here for queer characters and ships but Theo having no canon personality makes him just a blank slate to project the most stereotypical gay dude onto and it’s gross af

One fan, in the Star Wars clone wars and prequel fandom, brought up the character of Helix, who was a clone medic. Helix had become so popular within the fandom, that a large number of fans did not know that Helix was someone's OC and had never appeared in canon.

[SheepPup]
The Star Wars clone wars & prequels series fandom has the clone medic Helix. He is not a real character, he never existed, he is someone’s OC that has now become wildly popular to the point where many people don’t realize he isn’t an actual character from some comic or something.

And just more generally 90% of clone characters in fandom are basically entirely fan-created because unless it’s a bad batch character, Cody, or Rex, the clones are basically never on-screen long enough to get anything more than a name if they’re lucky.

[Cherry_Bomb_127]

… Helix isn’t real my life is a lie

[HeathVanilla]

Sameeee. Dude imagine ur OC being so popular they become like legitimate fanon … that’s so cool

Further Reading

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