Blank Slate

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Tropes and genres
Synonym(s)"free real estate"[Note 1]
Related tropes/genresFanon
See alsoAny Two Guys, Two White Guys
Fanart of Derpy Hooves
"Fanart of Derpy Hooves by SyrupyyyArt (2021) - Fandom: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
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In fandom, a blank slate character is one who has little to no canon information or depth, but who becomes popularly adopted by fans and fleshed out with fanon characterisation and backstory. Such characters are often said to be created out of wholecloth by fandom.

Blank slate characters are heavily linked to migratory slash fandom, as many popular slash ships involve one or more (typically white) blank slate characters - who often have little to no interaction with one another in canon - being turned into fleshed-out characters by fandom, often featuring common traits drawn from popular fics in the fandom. Stitchomancery coined the term "beige blank slates" in an essay to refer to white blank slate characters who receive this treatment.[1]

Blank slate characters are often cited as examples of the immense creativity of fandom, which takes a character with little to no canon detail and develops them into a fully-fleshed-out character. However, others have also observed that many of these types of character have the same characterisations from fandom to fandom, to the extent of being virtually interchangeable[2] (see: Any Two Guys). Fandom's tendency to give the blank slate treatment to minor white characters far more than minor characters of colour despite there being no clear reason to do so is also an example of fandom racism.

Some characters who were blank slates early on in a franchise might become more fleshed-out in canon in later instalments, but are still considered blank slates for the purposes of the early fanworks and fan activity around that canon. For example, the character of Michelle Jones from the Marvel Cinematic Universe was effectively a blank slate in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but later became more prominent in the film's sequel and became a canon love interest.

Some characters might be blank slates in one media adaptation but have more canon to work with in other forms of media from the same franchise, which fans will often draw from in their fanon characterisations. For example, Clint Barton/Hawkeye was a blank slate character in early Avengers Movieverse fandom, leading fans to draw on his comics characterisation in their fanworks.

Many player characters in video games are blank slates by design to enhance immersitivity. Some like Link from The Legend of Zelda franchise have little backstory and no in-game dialogue (leading to the stereotype of the "silent protagonist"). Other games allow players to create their own customised player character. This generally involves selecting the character's gender, appearance, starting class, and fantasy race (human, elf, dwarf, etc.). Biographical details of such characters are usually vague or unspecified. This allows players to develop personal headcanons that may be explored in fanworks. Some instalments within a franchise may have a "blank slate" player character while others don't. For example, some fans view the player characters of Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age: Inquisition as true blank slates, while regarding Hawke of Dragon Age II as more of a developed character due to their canon backstory and family.

Harry Potter Blank Slate Characters

Harry Potter fandom has a significant number of Blank Slate characters. As stated above, these characters show up in the books or movies with very little to no information about them given, and yet they are canon characters. Fans have taken many of them to heart, and created complicated backstories, often pairing them with other canon characters.

In canon, Amelia Bones is a prime example. We know next to nothing about her other than she is an Auror, she is Susan Bones' aunt and Voldemort murdered her in the summer of Harry's sixth year. The same is true for Ted Tonks, all we know is that marrying him was the reason Andromeda Black Tonks was disowned from the Black family and that he went on the run in books seven and was probably killed by Death Eaters.

At Hogwarts, we have Tracey Davis, Daphne Greengrass, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini all sorted into Slytherin the same year as Harry and with almost nothing else known about them. In some cases, we didn't even know their gender. Early in HP fandom, both Blaise and Theodore were thought to possibly be canonically female. Blaise Zabini has 52k+ fanworks on AO3, and Theo Nott has 30k+ fanworks on AO3.

And in the Marauders' Era, we have almost everyone a blank slate. Pandora Lovegood, Mary Macdonald, Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadowes and Regulus Black were all mentioned in the books, all died, and not much is actually known canonically about any of them. Also, Aurors: Alice Longbottom and Frank Longbottom. And Arcturus Black III.

Some characters have as many or more works on AO3 as some of the more regular characters.

Partial list of Blank Slate characters in Harry Potter:

Other Notable Examples

Meta & Further Reading

Notes

  1. ^ This is a broader meme (see Know Your Meme) but has been re-analyzed to apply to/describe Blank Slate characters in the context of fanon filling them in, see talk page.

References

  1. ^ What Fandom Racism Looks Like: Beige Blank Slates, posted to Stitch's Media Mix, January 1, 2019 (Accessed February 20, 2020).
  2. ^ This discussion on Tumblr goes into this tendency, specifically regarding characters like Armitage Hux and Arthur from Inception, in considerable detail. (Accessed February 22, 2020).
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