Honestly You Right

Honestly you right

Four Things that Would Make Labyrinth Fanfic A+ Just by Existing

(four items again just because of reasons!)

1. Worldbuilding By and large, Labyrinth fanfic writers are really good at letting Sarah’s Aboveground world grow as she matures. Often she has gone away to college, or traveled, or has settled in to a career of some kind that isn’t in upstate New York.  However, the Underground suffers a lot. In some favorites such as Limbo, Fairest, and of course Tanglewood, we see the boundaries blurred and pushed in the Underground. In a land where anything can happen and nothing is as it seems, it’s a shame writers don’t explore it more. Where does Jareth go if he’s not in his own land? Who are his allies? His enemies? Who, or what, else exists around him…anything? Tell your own origin story, since it’s apparently changing anyway between the sequel manga and the prequel.  2. Jareth is an equal-opportunity lover A magic creature who lords over goblins falls in love with a human girl? He’s already crossing planes of existence and species. I’ve personally always had the feeling that sexuality in the Underground is a lot like the Sims: you can choose and do whatever you like but in the end it’s all just pansexual people yelling at each other and setting houses on fire. That to mean that there’s no question of orientation or preference, everyone is just as they are.  3. Sarah is also an equal-opportunity lover Give me your bi, pan, questioning, whatever Sarahs! Let her explore! There’s no way after having been so enraptured by a creature like Jareth with all the glitter, long hair, and bulge that she didn’t at least have a few wandering thoughts. Did she have a Katy Perry moment? Maybe she’s straight but gets all flustered if she meets anyone with crazy platinum hair. Also…stop it with Sarah always being a virgin but…that’s another topic for another day. 4. Non-Jareth/Sarah adventures with other creatures and friends I am still – STILL – waiting for the 100k epic Sir Didymus origin story. I know someone has it in them somewhere. There’s a smattering of Hoggle-centric or at least POV fic out there and it’s all pretty well entertaining, honestly. But I’d really love to see someone remix a fic “as told by…” Ludo? A goblin sentry? How did the False Alarms earn their place? Who knows! Without the creatures and general setting, Labyrinth would be a much more boring story…and honestly it would be pretty creepy and unnerving. But the charm that wins Sarah over isn’t Jareth, it’s all the people she encounters along the way. The Worm, even the Fireys got an invite to her victory party. Imagine life as the guards in charge of the riddle.  Those characters are ultimately what really makes the story so relateable and believable–the unbelievable, fantasy characters.  Explore them!