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This is merely a matter of curiosity, a curiosity that has refused to leave me alone - the prevalence of "Neal has an illegitimate daughter" stories (because it is mostly a daughter). And to put it succinctly, I don't get it.
What I mean by this is that usually you can trace a popular trope back to something in canon or about canon that is either exaggerated or all possibilities explored. Spanking fic, for example, which you can pretty much blame on an exaggeration of the father/son undertones of the Neal and Peter relationship. Or Evil!Kate, because Kate's character, for the most part, was pretty ambiguous but with leanings of "Kate can't be trusted." But Neal having a daughter... I mean, if it's a matter of Kate or Alex having Neal's kid and not telling him, okay, that I get. I'm not a fan of it (because I've never been a fan of the "hero has illegitimate child they never knew about - surprise!" trope, not in original fiction, not in fanfic, not in shows or movies. don't ask me why, I've just never liked it) but I get it. But some of these stories (which I have looked at) don't even do that much. Usually the mother is some flame from Neal's distant past, so distant that the daughter is now in her teens.
But where does it come from, I guess I want to know. What inspired it? Why is it such a growing trend? If it's simply a matter of working in your cool, smooth, super-special-awesome teenage female con, why not just make her Neal's sister? Which, ironically enough, was quite the trope in SGA - Sheppard's formerly unknown sister who can do everything everyone can do but better. Yet I think I've only come across two fic where Sheppard had a child he didn't know about (and two stories, I think, where he did know). But "Sheppard has a sister" seemed to pop up all over the place.
But not as much as "Neal has a daughter."
Thoughts?
What I mean by this is that usually you can trace a popular trope back to something in canon or about canon that is either exaggerated or all possibilities explored. Spanking fic, for example, which you can pretty much blame on an exaggeration of the father/son undertones of the Neal and Peter relationship. Or Evil!Kate, because Kate's character, for the most part, was pretty ambiguous but with leanings of "Kate can't be trusted." But Neal having a daughter... I mean, if it's a matter of Kate or Alex having Neal's kid and not telling him, okay, that I get. I'm not a fan of it (because I've never been a fan of the "hero has illegitimate child they never knew about - surprise!" trope, not in original fiction, not in fanfic, not in shows or movies. don't ask me why, I've just never liked it) but I get it. But some of these stories (which I have looked at) don't even do that much. Usually the mother is some flame from Neal's distant past, so distant that the daughter is now in her teens.
But where does it come from, I guess I want to know. What inspired it? Why is it such a growing trend? If it's simply a matter of working in your cool, smooth, super-special-awesome teenage female con, why not just make her Neal's sister? Which, ironically enough, was quite the trope in SGA - Sheppard's formerly unknown sister who can do everything everyone can do but better. Yet I think I've only come across two fic where Sheppard had a child he didn't know about (and two stories, I think, where he did know). But "Sheppard has a sister" seemed to pop up all over the place.
But not as much as "Neal has a daughter."
Thoughts?
