Greetings! On today's edition of Fanfic Plot Device Analysis, I'll be looking at the stories which try to explain why Leni is dumb. If you want to know what I personally think of this, then I basically agree with this post.
What is It?[]
These are stories that try to give Leni's dumbness a medical/biological/neurological reason of some sort. There are many explanations that have cropped up again and again in stories, including:
- She's autistic.
- She was dropped on the head as a baby.
- She had a high fever that damaged her brain when she was younger.
- She has a problem with her attention span, such as ADHD, and needs medication that she forgets to take.
- Something went wrong during her birth (like she was born extremely premature or had a lack of oxygen during birth).
Why Do People Write It?[]
Like most explanation stories, I think it's mainly just out of curiosity; they want to know the reason for something. Part of it might also be a desire for representation. In darker stories, they might give Leni a serious medical issue to make her low IQ seem less like a joke.
Common Aspects of This Device[]
If the whole plot is about the explanation, the story will usually be either about one or several of Leni's younger siblings wondering why she's dumb and trying to find out, or about Leni herself wondering why she's dumb or wishing she was smarter.
If the story has the explanation but the story isn't about it, generally the explanation will give you a clue as to the tone of the story. If it's something like autism or ADHD, then the story is either dark or neutral, if it's something like being dropped on the head then it's a comedy, and if it's something like oxygen deprivation at birth, then it's dark.