Halo Effect
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| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Halo Effect |
| Author(s): | Alex51324 |
| Date(s): | July 2019-Feb 2020 |
| Length: | 526k words |
| Genre(s): | slash |
| Fandom(s): | Downton Abbey |
| Relationship(s): | |
| External Links: | https://archiveofourown.org/series/1435963 |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Halo Effect is a 500k-word Downton Abbey slash fanfic series written by Alex51324.
The first part was posted as a WIP over one week in July 2019. The second part was posted between Dec 20, 2019 and Feb 24, 2020.
The work is notable because of its epic length, its quality writing and characterisation, its popularity and its incredible attention to historial detail.
Content
- Halo Effect: 81k, 8 chapters, Mature, Thomas Barrow/Original Male Character(s) (Peter Fitzroy)
The Halo Effect is the tendency for a positive impression in one area to produce a more generous or optimistic interpretation of ambiguous information in other areas.When Thomas rescues Lady Mary from the nefarious attentions of Turkish houseguest Kemal Pamuk, his employers and coworkers begin to see him differently...and Things Get Better.
A Season One AU diverging from canon in Episode 3, The One Where The Turkish Gentleman Dies in Mary's Bed.
- Soldier's Heart: 441k, 35 chapters, Teen, Thomas Barrow/Original Male Character(s) (Peter Fitroy)
Following the events of "Halo Effect," Thomas Barrow goes to war.
Chapter 2 of the story is a "DVD Extra: Deleted Scene."
Many chapters include notes about the sources used by the author, historical events referenced in the story, and how the author might have altered some aspects, for example:
Another significant difference between the historical sinking of the Anglia and that of the fictional Albion is that the Germans took no prisoners of war from the Anglia; however, there are at least two well-documented case of a German U-Boat going back to rescue-and-capture survivors from a British ship that it had sunk. These are discussed in the book The Prisoners: 1914-18, by Robert Jackson, Routledge, 1989, pp. 15-16. In both cases, the prisoners were impressed by the courtesy with which they were treated by the U-Boat crews.[1]
Themes and Tropes
This article or section needs expansion. |
- Internalized homophobia and gradual acceptance thereof
- Canon divergence/What If
- Hurt/Comfort
- Redemption
- Epistolary Fic
- Presumed Dead
- Original Characters
Reviews & Reactions
Feedback for Halo Effect on AO3:
This is so gorgeously written, and such a nuanced, beautiful AU of might have been. Thomas wasn't my favorite character, in fact I disliked him greatly in the show until the very end, but you've given him just enough depth to make him lovely.[2]
Not sure if you’ll see this comment being drown amongst many others you get, but I want to say this has been an amazing journey. The characters feel so incredibly real, including your OCs, and you put in a stunning amount of detail and realism to the story that must’ve required so much research I can’t even imagine. Your season one Thomas feels so authentic and I love seeing the world his eyes in this fic. This story was so amazingly written and everything feels so alive that I felt like I was watching an AU Downton abbey series in my head. I literally can’t say the same for any other fanfics I’ve read. Stunning work!! I only wish I’d read it sooner. I can’t wait to read the sequel![3]
Feedback for Soldier's Heart on AO3:
WHAT A WILD RIDE. I have enjoyed every minute I’ve spent reading this fic. The characters, character development, and world you’ve constructed in this masterpiece has completely blown me away. I’ve spent days using all my free time urgently reading what will happen to Thomas next. I’ve felt every emotion so keenly while reading this fic. I’ve bawled, I’ve laughed, I’ve yelled for joy. This fic has seriously become one of my favorites and I cannot sing it’s praises enough. I love how complex and realistic every character and every action feels. My favorite parts that you’ve written are all the chapters of Thomas being completely amazing and competent in his role as a soldier. Learning the ropes of his leadership role, and becoming more confident in himself and JUST ALL OF IT OKAY!! IM SO OVERWHELMED WITH MY FEELINGS!!! just thank you so so so much for taking the time to write this.[4]
WOW. I can hardly believe the end has come! This is going to be a hard comment to leave, because it might just feel so lacking, compared to how much I loved this story - I will inevitably forget to mention something, or words will be unable to convey just how engrossed, happy, stressed, worried, and completely and utterly TAKEN IN I was by this story. It is an absolutely magnificent piece of fiction, and every single chapter I was blown away by the depth of research, the delicacy of the characterizations, the deft way Downton Abbey canon was woven in with history and with your own marvelous creation of a kinder world for Thomas Barrow, where one event had an overarching and incredible impact on the rest of his life. [...] I love that 400K words later, I could still read your Thomas and Peter for another 400K, because you've created such a complete, lived-in world that it's hard to recall this isn't what actually happened in the series. [...]I look forward, so much, to re-reading both Halo Effect and Soldier's Heart carefully to enjoy them all over again. All I can say, and please believe I mean it from the bottom of my heart, is, once again: thank you so, so, so, so very much for sharing this with us. THANK YOU. <3 [5]
About the series on Tumblr:
i really like how Soldier’s Heart is like this is thomas/omc and thomas/happiness and then actually it’s like thomas gets a father figure who gruffly looks out for him and it hits better than anything in the world[6]
About the series on Twitter:
@thefourthvine: I'm rereading, for the third time in two months, and angsty finding-your-place-in-the-world series for Downton Abbey, a show I've never seen and known nothing about [...].@dsudis: Ahhhh I love Soldier's Heart so much!!! [...] [7]
@illyakuric: I dont care about thomas barrow (downton abbey) i care about thomas barrow (halo effect, unrelated)[8]
Thomas is my favorite character on Downton Abbey, and there are many fics that give him a happier time of it, but I absolutely love this fic because it’s so well written and well thought out as to HOW that could happen. He is able to both build better relationships with other canon characters (especially Anna) as well as the wonderful OCs the author has created to show how he might have fit into a queer community in this time period.[9]
Related Works
- Corporal T. Barrow, RAMC and the Cat with Many Names by allonym (fanart)
- Cover for "Soldier's Heart" by Alex51324 by amiril (cover art)
References
- ^ Endnotes to Chapter 5 of Soldier's Heart, accessed Feb 20, 2021.
- ^ Comment on Halo Effect by Ozmi_Mun, Aug 22, 2020. (Accessed Feb 20, 2021).
- ^ Comment on Halo Effect by strawberriez8800, Apr 5, 2020. (Accessed Feb 20, 2021).
- ^ Comment on Soldier's Heart by mapford77, Feb 8, 2021. (Accessed Feb 20, 2021).
- ^ Comment on Soldier's Heart by alasse, Feb 25, 2020. (Accessed Feb 20, 2021).
- ^ tumblr post by [[barrowbloggingarchive, Feb 5, 2020. (Accessed Feb 20, 2021).
- ^ twitter conversation, Nov 14, 2020. (Accessed Feb 20, 2021).
- ^ [1] tweet by @illyakuric, Dec 24, 2020. (Accessed Feb 20, 2021).
- ^ "The Rec Center #455". Archived from the original on 2024-09-21.