@slimeybee mentioned hungering for ReAnimator headcanons, and I aim to please above most things.
IT’S TIME TO BUST OUT THE FAE HERBERT WEST THEORY.
And when I say “theory” I mean less THIS IS CLEARLY TRUE IN THE FILM and more HOW AMAZING WOULD THIS VERSION OF THE STORY BE (AND ALSO IT SANDS OVER SOME PLOTHOLE BULLSHIT).
We have no idea where Herbert comes from. We know he’s uncannily good at not getting arrested despite repeated proximity to murder scenes, and can do things like show up at Dan’s house with unexplained wads of cash that are the equivalent of a month’s rent. Where did that money come from, Herbert.
So hear me out. Changelings. An old folkloric story about fae who are placed in homes to replace stolen children (in history this legend excused some horrible, horrific infanticide, btw). Most return to where they came from eventually, but there are stories about changelings who forget where they came from and live as humans.
Their traits? Unusually small. Often unearthly green/pale eyes. Uncharacteristic cunning. Ravening hunger (certainly applies to mind if not body). And a predilection toward illusion or the ability to influence/glamour human thought.
Just…THE THINGS IT EXPLAINS. How the hell Herbert got out of being expelled after the Miskatonic Massacre. Why on earth Dan is still living with him after selfsame event (and Meg’s death, more importantly). For that matter, his attachment to Dan in general, which fits with the fae lore about stealing away a mortal to be their companion-pet of sorts after dazzling them with something wondrous. How he got into Miskatonic in the first place, fresh from his mentor’s death. WHERE HE GOT THAT RENT MONEY THOUGH DID YOU ROLL SOMEONE DID YOU DEAL DRUGS IS THAT LITERALLY ALL YOUR SAVING ARE YOU AN HEIR HOW DID IT HAPPEN.
And then if you fold in an element of unconscious influence over others it adds an interesting element to the mesmerism scene with Hill (which is already interesting and disturbing as all get out).
(Extra mega bonus points if you start questioning Meg’s Dear, Departed Mother and the reason maybe why Meg is the only one seemingly totally immune to Herbert’s game from the word go and I am just DESPERATE FOR MEG TO HAVE AN INTERESTING ARC, OKAY. Fae showdown, let’s go).
Am I missing stuff? @anton-mordrid, I feel like I’m missing stuff.
*loud screaming*
April! April! APRIL! @teenybuffalo look at this!
This works with Herbert in movie-canon, musical-canon, and book-canon too. For the movies and musical, he’s smol and camp. In the book he’s tol and blond and eerie. Either way, you got yourself one of the Fair Folk depending on the specific type you’re going after.
(I maintain that he got the money from stripping and/or doing demonstrations of safe kink practices in a club, but this theory is super fun too.)
I’m on board with this idea. The fact that he has no origin or apparent childhood or personal ties except for Dan works with it too.
There’s a short story in Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Kingdoms of Elfin where an elf boy left in the mortal world becomes a creepy surgeon/anatomist. I’ll see if I can find that one for you later. That could be a precedent for fae Herbert.
Published
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