Disappointed, these fans rewrite the scenarios in “fix-its” fanfictions

Watching a series means meeting a character. Spending time with them. And sometimes, seeing them die, because the screenwriter decided so.

Except some viewers can't bear the loss. So what do they do? They rewrite history in fanfiction “to try to regain control of the story that robbed [them] of [their] beloved hero,” therapist Larisa Garski tells The New York Times .

Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Last of Us season two, The White Lotus season three, and Daredevil: Born Again .

“We are seeing more and more fans taking things

in hand while writing fix-its

[backup scenarios], whose objective is to repair what they consider to be errors in their favorite work. Often, it is also an aid

on an emotional level.”

The American daily newspaper “The New York Times”

In recent times, the world of fiction has been shaken by the disappearance of several characters.

There was Joel at the beginning of the second season of The Last of Us. Chelsea in the third season of The White Lotus. Or Foggy in Daredevil: Born Again .

Under the pseudonym oh_persephone, a certain Sam Gaitan published on AO3 (a site for fanfiction and other fan works) a substitute plot for The Last of Us, in which “Joel, the much-loved male lead (played by Pedro Pascal), manages to avoid being arrested and murdered by a rival group,” the New York daily reports.

“By 5 a.m., Sam Gaitan had written a 3,761-word story featuring Joel and Red, a character she had created, as well as a substitute scenario in which Joel manages to escape the fate reserved for him.

in the series.”

The American daily newspaper “The New York Times”

It is difficult to know the exact number of these fix-its, as the referencing is sometimes inconsistent.

But more than 50 The Last of Us stories tagged as “fix-its” were uploaded to AO3 in the week following Joel’s death.

And some have verbose pain. The shortest fictions are around 300 words, but the longest stretch to nearly 80,000 words.

The phenomenon is not entirely new. For example, when Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) died in the eleventh season of Grey's Anatomy, fans were already writing different versions in which “Dr. “Mamour” ended up finding his wife Meredith.

Why do fans go to such lengths to change the ending of a story?

First, “they can have very deep bonds with characters in fiction; this can end up forming a parasocial relationship,” explains the New York Times .

And for Larisa Garski, “parasocial relationships can be as intense and important as reciprocal relationships in the real world. They can inflict visceral suffering.”

Hence the desire to save their heroes and heroines from the fate that the scriptwriters have sometimes reserved for them.

“When something happens to a character that doesn't fit with the image people have of them and they have trouble accepting it, they want to intervene and give

another version of the story.”

Larisa Garski, a therapist in Chicago, told the American daily “The New York Times”

Since fans are resourceful, there is no shortage of different scenarios.

“In one of these fanfictions, Daredevil offers his soul to Mephisto […] in exchange for a magical return to his past. In another, Dr. Strange casts a spell to resurrect him.”

But for Sam Gaitan, the approach was clear: “I was devastated, and I needed to get these strong emotions out.” —