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This is more of a personal note for me to remember while writing this fanfic and an introduction on the fanfic canon tm that we all know and love. I know it will take a long time to write this fanfic to the point I want it to be at the end, and if I am going to take all of you on a journey with my first long fanfic I might as well talk with you first.
So, this is heavily inspired by and informed by the fanfics on this very website that you can find by searching the relationship tag and indulging. I highly recommend most of them, especially Idunn's Apple Pie, and The Man That Won't Die Meets Death. They are my biggest inspirations, and I am very thankful for their authors. Now on some information about the two love birds:
I researched Steve Rogers and found what I expected and some more that has never really been explored as far as I know. Steve Rogers isn't just a soldier, most stories jump at the meat of the action and kinda gloss over his life before meeting Doctor Erskine, but he was selected for who he was before the Serum and is Captain America because the Serum did nothing but reinforce what was already there. And what was already there is nothing short of an inspiration of a man whose story I would gladly read even if devoided of any transformation into a superhuman.
He grew up poor, in an era where that meant far more than it did today, to immigrant parents isolated from the support of extended family, born sick and weak at a time when physical labor and fitness were far more important than today. His father was violent towards his mother, physically abusing and beating her on a semi-daily basis. If you ever wonder who taught Steve Rogers how to take a beating and always get up, it was her. His father died in his childhood, and his mother died of pneumonia soon after in his teenage years. There is no mention of him going to an orphanage, and I will for the sake of the goodness in the world presume in this fanfic he went on to live with Bucky and his family, because that does put a smile on my face. In school, Steve Rogers met and learned under his teacher his trademark patriotism, the values of defending what is right, of being a shield for the things that we should all hold dear, even when the easy way rears its ugly head.
He then went on to join and graduate from art school, working as an illustrator and freelance artist before the outbreak of ww2 and the start of the parts of his life most fans are familiar with. You know it is something I never thought about before researching this, that Steve Rogers did have a life, and worked like a functional adult before being Captain America. The movie scene with his drawings gains new meaning with this, that wasn’t a hobby that was this man's profession. And it makes me sad that as far as I am aware it is never explored in stories. who was Steve Rogers the illustrator? Did he make war propaganda? Who were his coworkers? Did he ever try to visit his old apartment post-defreeze? What was the process of deciding to join the military? What motivated him to be a soldier rather than supporting the war effort in other ways? Why have we never had comics as far as I know of Steve Rogers doing, appreciating and enjoying art? It is these kinds of small human things that make me stay up at night thinking about a character rather than sleep.
In the research, I realized that if I am to write Steve Rogers, especially in a romance story, I need to write Steve Rogers, of whom Captain America is only a, if somewhat disproportionate, part of. A man who already had the soul of a hero far, far before a good doctor gave him the body to match his soul. This makes me want to write another fanfic about Steve Rogers life if he never met doctor Erskinner, About man that I would like to believe would draw over the board with a warm smile on his face while his coworkers chat on the background inspiring people who would never know his face. But that is a story for another time.
Now onto Hela. Hela, Hela, Hela. In the mainline comics, she truly is a B-tier villain, and I mean that in the best way. She is a heavy hitter you can throw at the plot without big complications or strings attached, with a usually simple motivation of doing Hela things, trying to expand her domain as a Queen of the Dead ought to do, fulfilling deals, and in general being a chaotic neutral ball of fighting power and cosmic authority the writers can throw at the story in however way they want. She lacks a solid character drive and I would say and sometimes feels like her motivation is her role. That is interesting to explore in its own right, but usually, nothing is done with it.
She also has quite a dose of comics crack on her origin story like shit gets wild, and is a living infinity stone that took the shape of an Asgardian. But that isn’t the most interesting thing I found as inspiration in her comic counterpart. It is the fact, that like Steve Rogers, she was born crippled and weak. Without her cloak, she reverts to her Mythologically accurate counterpart, half-dead on the left side, which not only cripples her life force making her physically weak to the point she has to crawl, it lessens her so much she becomes unable to leave the Realm of the Dead. As usual, comic writers took this and did absolutely nothing at all to explore the person behind the cloak at all.
Which is why my current plan is to replace her comic origin story that honestly does nothing for her as a character beyond being “cool” with the MCU version of how she became Queen of the Dead, shout out to shdowstep for the inspiration. The firstborn crippled daughter of Odin, a shame in Asgardian society, dawning a magical cloak in a time of war to become an actual child soldier to prove her valor and wipe out her family's shame, rising through the ranks from apprentice Valkyrie to Executioner to Commander until she served directly at the right hand of her warlord father. Then the war ended. Her father and mother decided the war was over and everyone can go home. Imagine Helas mind at the time, imagine her questioning what that would mean to her position in society, in her family, her self-value. Where can the Executioner of Odin rest her sword when she Herself is the Child-Sword raised by Frigga and Odin hellbent on earning her family and society's approval?
Where does a warrior with no war go? This is often a Captain America badly made plot point but for a warrior princess raised in wartorn Asgard facing peace down the proverbial barrel for the first time of her life. A few whispers here, a few conversations with interests tied to the war there, and her worst fears of being cast aside being fed by a number of “supporters” dissatisfied with their prospects in peace and Hela the Sword has a new enemy to point her blade at, the architect of her nightmare her own Father. Only to be defeated and exiled as the ruler of all those who do not die in valor. To swell and fester her resentment, madness, and hate, a semi-eternal tug of war as Hela the Conqueror guides her decisions as a villain while Hela the Honorable Warrior-Princess allows her better instincts to balance her out into the antagonistic but not in general malicious character she is in the comics, keeping her ever-present but poorly explained role explained motivation to “expand Hel” and “bring all souls under her domain”.
Once I started to look at the MCU Hela as a complement to her comic self over whatever in the crack was that origin story I realized my crack ship might not be so crack after all. Steve and Hela actually share a lot in common. Both were born crippled and found external means to achieve not only health but superhuman status, share not-so-positive relationships with their families, are figures of leadership and authority, and are mighty warriors. And it will be my pleasure and earnest desire that you join me in exploring the development of this romance between the power couple of Sword and Shield, Warrior and Soldier, a woman who fights for war and a man who fights for peace.
Expect the first chapter tomorrow after I get some shut-eye, and bye-bye.