Maybe I should join Hannibal fandom.

[krait]

I was cruising past some Homestuck blogs on Tumblr, and apparently there's a meme (or maybe it was just an ask; I don't do Tumblr) about "common Homestuck headcanons you don't subscribe to" and the person discussed 'grubloaf/grubsauce is made from troll grubs' fanon. According to her, it felt too anvilicious; like being beaten over the head with how troll culture is WRONG and HORRIBLE, and also as though someone's trying too hard to gross people out.

This made me double-take and then giggle because it's a fanon I've encountered a lot and, while it's not my personal headcanon either, it never gave me the feeling that it was supposed to be a squick attempt or a commentary on troll culture! It's always weird to re-remember that my reactions to cannibalism aren't the norm.

Maybe it's my biology geek showing through (plenty of species eat their offspring/siblings!) or maybe it's just my pragmatic attitude to food (if it's tasty, eat it), but when I encounter the troll-grubs-as-food fanon I just sort of... accept it? It's not horrific to me, so it never felt like "let me show you how BAD trolls are!"; likewise, it's not gross to me, so it never struck me as "are you making gagging noises yet?" either. More or less I treat it the same as any other popular bit of fanon I don't personally subscribe to, e.g. neck gills on seadwellers. If asked, I'll explain why it's not my headcanon, but otherwise? So long as the author isn't egregiously fail!splaining it in-story and forcing me to remember why I don't believe it, I can fit it into my mental framework for the duration of the fic and not think about it.

In sum: "Grubloaf is made from grubs!" doesn't ping me in any moral spectrum or in my gastroesophageal reflexes, and sometimes I get reminded how weird that makes me. :D


(For non-Homestuck people: trolls are an alien species that hatch out as insect-like grubs, which later pupate into more humanoid shape to continue development. They seem to be a r-strategist species, at least insofar as requiring little parental care and reproducing - one infers - in large numbers, many of which never make it to their first pupation.)

Comments

[cheyinka]

Heh. That reminds me of Monster Loves You!; you (like all Monsters) start your life as a Morsel, and there is an event later on where you can choose to defend Morsels from a hungry snake or eat some Morsels yourself, and while defending them is better (because it doesn't cost you Kindness points), eating them isn't horribly wrong (or even not delicious).

I mean, a story where humans eat other humans is definitely going to ping my "these people are all horrible and awful even if they don't realize it" radar, and if it's described too-lavishly it'll definitely make me feel ill, but nonhumans? Especially nonhumans with r-type offspring numbers? Eh, whatever.

[krait]

Yeah, pretty much! I definitely object to, like, actively hunting people for food! But taking sustenance from an already-dead body just seems sensible to me (as long as you cook it first)?

Especially, as you note, in a setup like the trolls have. Grubs hatch out in a cavern and undergo "trials" to determine whether they're able to reach the surface and pupate. My personal headcanon says that someone would have to clean out the caverns, or else the corpses of grubs who failed the Trials would eventually be so deep they block the exit! In fact, the not-quite-headcanons-just-plausible-background-ideas I have that do involve cannibalism both insert it here - the grubs eating those that fail as part of their trip to the surface, or the adult trolls who take care of the Mother Grubdumping the carcasses outside the caverns where scavengers - including weaker grubs and pupated trolls who aren't strong enough to leave - take advantage of a free food source.

This would actually mean that eating grubs as an older juvenile might, culturally, be considered a sign, not of moral failure, but of ill health or insufficient skill at hunting. Troll culture (and possibly biology, because: r-strategist species) is big on the "I am a fierce warrior, don't cross me or I'll make you sorry" school of thought regarding What A Proper Troll Is. Admitting you feed yourself by snatching whatever you can grab from a free food source, essentially making you a carrion scavenger, would be shameful and an invitation to others to attack you!

[cheyinka]

Yeah, I can't imagine it being seen positively. I can imagine it being a moral failing - "not all grubs are going to survive, but you're not in charge of deciding that that particularly-tasty-looking one over there won't" - but I can also imagine it just being shameful in a "...that was the best you could do? really?" kind of way.

As far as humans go, I do have a problem even with "but he died, he wasn't unhealthy, we didn't kill him on purpose, and we really need food" cannibalism. And I'd be more bothered by it in a K-strategist species of nonhumans, I think. But "hey we spawned a bunch of folks and hopefully a handful will make it!" species are going to have different views on death and dead bodies. "Grubloaf" isn't implausible.