Kwami Swap
| Tropes and genres | |
|---|---|
| Synonym(s) | Kwami Swap AU |
| Related tropes/genres | Miraculous Ladybug |
| See also | Role Swap, Alternate Canon |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
This article or section needs expansion. |
| Needs Updating: This page is out of date. Editors are encouraged to add more recent information. |
Kwami Swap is a trope in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom. In canon, the Kwamis are magical creatures who can transform a human and give them superpowers. Each Kwami is modelled after an animal, eats a certain kind of favourite food to restore their energy, bestows magic powers and a costume change magical girl-style, and is tied to a certain piece of jewelry called a Miraculous, which takes a different form for each Kwami. For example, Plagg, the Black Cat Kwami, loves cheese, gives Adrien Agreste the power to destroy completely an object ("Cataclysm"), and whose miraculous is a silver ring.
Canon, Theories, and Fanon
In most of the first season, there was little canon basis for Kwami swapping, but sometimes Marinette and Adrien would meet each other's Kwami, Tikki and Plagg respectively, in fanworks. Speculation was stirred by teasers and the origin episodes (which were the season finale), where a box for the Miraculous to reside, the Miracle Box, was displayed, implying the existence of more Miraculous than the Ladybug and Cat, and hence implying that Hawkmoth also had a Miraculous. Since then, other Miraculous have been revealed, including the Peacock Miraculous, which some fans believe once belonged to Emilie Agreste and is currently in the possession of Nathalie Sancoeur. The restoration of the Guardians' Temple near the end of Season 3 implied that there are other boxes of Miraculous out there, opening endless possibilities.
Fan-art is particularly common for this trope, due to the fun of character designs. Sometimes, this is in conjunction
Kwami Swaps (canon-adjacent)
As the ability to transform into superhero forms is tied to the miraculous' and their kwami's speculating what it would have been like if the miraculous' were swapped was very popular. Artists in particular enjoyed genderbending the characters and coming up with new ideas. Perhaps inspired by the fans ideas, in season three there was a canon kwami swap occurring in the episode Refleckdoll, and was highly anticipated once the trailer was released. Marinette wielded the Black Cat miraculous and went by Lady Noir, and Adrien wielding the Ladybug Miraculous and going by Mister Bug. These sort of swaps are temporary, and fit into the canon universe to a large extent. Afterwards, perhaps satisfied by the episode, the amount of new fic produced where they have to switch kwami's seems to have gone down.
Kwami Swap AU
AUs where the Miraculous' are given to entirely different people are also popular. These take on many forms, and include ones which change Origins -- so Marinette and Adrien don't recieve Tikki and Plagg respectively, and those which change from season 3 and have Marinette, as Guardian, give the miraculous' to different people.
Examples
- Scarlet Lady, a comic -- by zoe-oneesama: Chloe gets the ladybug miraculous due to raiding marinette's purse and goes by Scarlet Lady - Chat Noir is still Adrien and while they are partners, Chloe treats him as a sidekick, leading Chat to bond with Marigold (Marinette with the bee miraculous) instead.
- Adrien is Ladybug from the beginning, and Marinette is Chat from the beginning. Often paired with reverse crush AU. Such AUs take one of two paths - keeping the canon personalities and dynamic, or switching them (Marinette becoming flirty and smooth in costume while Adrien takes on a more responsible and steady role)
- Season 3 AUs where Alya and Nino never recieve the fox and turtle respectively due to losing Marinette's trust
Example Fanworks
- LadybugOut Snippets(AO3) Tumblr Tag. This AU also has multiple collaborators - it diverges after Oblivio and features Marinette getting her own blog and giving the miraculous' to different people.
- Art: Bee Kagami