ML Salt
| Synonyms: | Miraculous Ladybug Salt, ML Saltdom (Salt-Fandom) |
| See also: | Character Bashing, Alternate Canon |
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ML Salt refers to fandom content for Miraculous Ladybug that focuses on criticism of aspects of the show's writing or characters. The majority of ML Salt content is motivated by the perceived mistreatment of Marinette Dupain-Cheng in canon. Salt works often focus on Marinette getting righteous revenge/justice against those who have wronged her, or other characters realizing that they had been wrong the whole time.
"Salt" is used as both a noun and a verb in the fandom, referring to both the content and the act of character bashing. Salt against specific characters is usually labelled as [Name] Salt, such as "Lila Salt." "Sugar" is sometimes used in contrast to salt, referring to positive and affirming content.
While many "salt" fics focus on punishing the characters they are bashing, other fics, meta and analysis are specifically in response to choices in the writing, and may not bash characters; instead looking for ways to rehabilitate them without condemning them. Critique often targets the writer of the show, Thomas Astruc, and general perceived flaws in the writing.
History
ML Salt came about with the release of the first episode of Season 3: Chameleon. However, character bashing fics for Miraculous Ladybug have existed before this point. Some fans have gotten tired with ML Salt and have written "anti-salt" fics.
Targets
- Lila Rossi, a villain in the show who hates and torments Marinette and Ladybug, is by far the most salted.
- Alya Césaire, Marinette's best friend, is also commonly salted. So are Marinette's classmates, Nino, and Adrien to different degrees.
- Marinette's parents, her homeroom teacher and/or Master Fu may also be salt targets.
Tropes & Fanon
- Class Salt: Usually not targeted at any particular classmate, but almost the whole class, including the school administration, will be deceived by Lila's lies and turn their back on Marinette.
- Supportive Luka and Kagami; some of the "Akuma Class" may also be given this trait in some fics.
- Rival Blog - Alya's blog falls into disfavour due to never checking her sources; another blogger is elevated and Alya often loses her journalism internship.
- Maribat - Since she is unappreciated by her class, fans headcanon she is appreciated by the Batfamily (DC universe characters). Often, Marinette is headcanoned as related to Alfred, Bruce Wayne/Batman's butler. Fics of this type either have Marinette leaving Paris, or the class going on a school trip to America. It is very common for Marinette to be paired with one of the Robin characters in these fics. She may also be appreciated by some of the supervillains, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy in particular, often dubbed Marinette's "aunts". Jason Todd may also be dubbed Marinette's brother by blood or by choice, he usually gives Marinette the nickname "Pixie Pop" or some other variant.
- Chloé Redemption - Often, saltfics will go out of their way to show Chloé as a neutral or reformed party who is unaffected by Lila's lies.
- Redemption - The most common target for redemption (aside from Chloé) is Adrien, due to the popularity of love square and this character.
- Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed - somehow, Lila's lies get exposed. This may be done by someone she has been lying about, e.g. Ladybug, Jagged Stone or Damian Wayne in Maribat fics. She may also be exposed by her mother who is usually unaware of her daughter's activities or she may accidentally expose herself.
- MDC - Marinette has made it big as a famous fashion designer, going by the alias, MDC which is made up of her initials. While MDC's origins are rooted in Maribat, fans have branched out with this idea.
- Marikimino BrOT3 - Marinette, Kim and Nino are childhood friends. When Lila starts stirring up trouble, the two boys come to their friend's defense.
Example Fanworks
Fanfiction
- Tumblr Prompts: Alya Salt among others
- Five Minutes by P_artsypants
- The Karma of Lies by CartoonAddict564, which spawned a number of Responsefic sequels:
- Karma Overbalance by Shadymissionary
- Karmic Backlash by BroadwayCutie16
- The Path of Lila's Karma by Lmrpirate
Maribat
Meta
Links & Resources
- ml salt on Tumblr