January Meme: Prime! Gabriel Lorca
Jan. 26th, 2020 03:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakHeadcanon for Prime!Gabriel Lorca
Given all we've seen of the Mirrorverse and how the doppelganger principle works, there's a great bandwidth of possibilities, between "exactly like MirrorLorca, just hindered by a smidgeon of conscience" and "one of the most goodnatured fellow in the universe". Canon offers only a few hints, such as Kat Cornwell, who knows Prime! Gabriel Lorce pretty well, being able to ascribe all that's off about Mirrorverse Lorca to PTSD for quite a while. Also, on the one hand he's not on the "best of" list of Starfleet Captains which Saru calls up early in s1, yet on the other he's evidently trusted enough, and regarded as competent enough, to be given a starship with brandnew secret and experimental technology, despite the fact his most recent vessel got destroyed. Also, there's Primeverse Ellen Landry, who is the only officer on board Discovery whom we know to have also served with Primeverse Lorca on the Bhuran. Now, given that Landry was we meet her in early s1 is an unappealing mixture of brutal and incompetent, I've seen several possible explanations in fanfiction:
- she used to be better, but Mirrorverse Lorca messed with her head, seducing her either literally or metaphorically
- she was better in peacetime but mostly because she got socialized in a peaceful era, and the Klingon War war brought out her dark side; Lorca was just the catalyst
- she was always like this but had it covered up under Prime!verse Lorca's command; she was the sole person who did deduce Mirrorverse Lorca was someone else but decided to go along with it because he was now how she'd secretly always thought Captains should be.
I'm never quite certain about Landry, but here's what everything else made me imagine about Primeverse Lorca:
- has a lot of casual aquaintances but very few real friends (otherwise more people might have figured out a switch had happened)
- one of which is Katrina Cornwell; they were very close at the academy but figured out early on that they worked better long distance and as friends with benefits than as a full time romantic couple
- the fortune cookie habit was actually his, not Mirrorverse Lorca's; Mirrorverse Lorca just kept it up, first to maintain cover and then because it amused him
- otoh he's not into speeches at all, and used to rely on his first officer for crew pep talks if at all possible; one of the reasons why he started with the fortune cookies was so he'd have the occasional cryptic sentence at hand if someone did come to him for advice
- got a reputation for "getting things done" which was true as far as it went but ignored one motive, which was that if things were done, he could be off again. Primeverse Lorca never wanted to rise higher than Captain, that was what he'd joined Starfleet for, exploring with a ship; unlike Katrina Cornwell, he ddidn't have either the ambition or the patience to work within the administrative hierarchy
- is bisexual, because I'm opposed to only the Mirrorverse characters getting to be
- wouldn't remember his crew members birthdays and isn't sure which of them have children, but definitely has internalized the "no one gets left behind" ethics; one reason why no one assumed he'd sacrificed the Bhuran gratitiously to save his own life was because he had a (deserved) reputation for going above and beyond to save endanged crew members (this was another reason why Saru was so bewildered Mirrorverse Lorca didn't start a rescue mission for Kat)
- is still alive, somewhere in the Mirrorverse, despite the odds.
The Other Days
And speaking of Disco, Festivids went live, and I saw there were six wonderful new Star Trek: Discovery vids! I enjoyed them all, but me being me, these were my favourites:
Be Brave, a portrait of the Sarek-Amanda-Spock-Michael family in its complexity. The vid mainly uses Discovery footage, but somehow managed to integrate footage from TNG and the movies in a way that works perfectly, despite the different actors for the characters. The hands as visual threads throughout are also just beautifully appropriate.
Children's Work: this one focuses on the Michael & Spock relationship and is also magnificent, touching and awesome in the way the song lyrics match the images.
You should see me in a crown: Mirrorverse Georgiou; the vid captures how dangerous she is, her intense relationship with Michael, and it has an elegant sensuality very fitting its subject.
Given all we've seen of the Mirrorverse and how the doppelganger principle works, there's a great bandwidth of possibilities, between "exactly like MirrorLorca, just hindered by a smidgeon of conscience" and "one of the most goodnatured fellow in the universe". Canon offers only a few hints, such as Kat Cornwell, who knows Prime! Gabriel Lorce pretty well, being able to ascribe all that's off about Mirrorverse Lorca to PTSD for quite a while. Also, on the one hand he's not on the "best of" list of Starfleet Captains which Saru calls up early in s1, yet on the other he's evidently trusted enough, and regarded as competent enough, to be given a starship with brandnew secret and experimental technology, despite the fact his most recent vessel got destroyed. Also, there's Primeverse Ellen Landry, who is the only officer on board Discovery whom we know to have also served with Primeverse Lorca on the Bhuran. Now, given that Landry was we meet her in early s1 is an unappealing mixture of brutal and incompetent, I've seen several possible explanations in fanfiction:
- she used to be better, but Mirrorverse Lorca messed with her head, seducing her either literally or metaphorically
- she was better in peacetime but mostly because she got socialized in a peaceful era, and the Klingon War war brought out her dark side; Lorca was just the catalyst
- she was always like this but had it covered up under Prime!verse Lorca's command; she was the sole person who did deduce Mirrorverse Lorca was someone else but decided to go along with it because he was now how she'd secretly always thought Captains should be.
I'm never quite certain about Landry, but here's what everything else made me imagine about Primeverse Lorca:
- has a lot of casual aquaintances but very few real friends (otherwise more people might have figured out a switch had happened)
- one of which is Katrina Cornwell; they were very close at the academy but figured out early on that they worked better long distance and as friends with benefits than as a full time romantic couple
- the fortune cookie habit was actually his, not Mirrorverse Lorca's; Mirrorverse Lorca just kept it up, first to maintain cover and then because it amused him
- otoh he's not into speeches at all, and used to rely on his first officer for crew pep talks if at all possible; one of the reasons why he started with the fortune cookies was so he'd have the occasional cryptic sentence at hand if someone did come to him for advice
- got a reputation for "getting things done" which was true as far as it went but ignored one motive, which was that if things were done, he could be off again. Primeverse Lorca never wanted to rise higher than Captain, that was what he'd joined Starfleet for, exploring with a ship; unlike Katrina Cornwell, he ddidn't have either the ambition or the patience to work within the administrative hierarchy
- is bisexual, because I'm opposed to only the Mirrorverse characters getting to be
- wouldn't remember his crew members birthdays and isn't sure which of them have children, but definitely has internalized the "no one gets left behind" ethics; one reason why no one assumed he'd sacrificed the Bhuran gratitiously to save his own life was because he had a (deserved) reputation for going above and beyond to save endanged crew members (this was another reason why Saru was so bewildered Mirrorverse Lorca didn't start a rescue mission for Kat)
- is still alive, somewhere in the Mirrorverse, despite the odds.
The Other Days
And speaking of Disco, Festivids went live, and I saw there were six wonderful new Star Trek: Discovery vids! I enjoyed them all, but me being me, these were my favourites:
Be Brave, a portrait of the Sarek-Amanda-Spock-Michael family in its complexity. The vid mainly uses Discovery footage, but somehow managed to integrate footage from TNG and the movies in a way that works perfectly, despite the different actors for the characters. The hands as visual threads throughout are also just beautifully appropriate.
Children's Work: this one focuses on the Michael & Spock relationship and is also magnificent, touching and awesome in the way the song lyrics match the images.
You should see me in a crown: Mirrorverse Georgiou; the vid captures how dangerous she is, her intense relationship with Michael, and it has an elegant sensuality very fitting its subject.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-26 02:58 pm (UTC)(ahhhhhh I have no Lorca icons)
no subject
Date: 2020-01-26 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-26 07:40 pm (UTC)I approve.
- is still alive, somewhere in the Mirrorverse, despite the odds.
I haven't watched the show, but I would be cheerful of his survival, on grounds of Jason Isaacs.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-27 11:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-26 09:23 pm (UTC)Star Trek: Online, the game, has a set of missions featuring prime Lorca and Landry, and the incident which sees him swapped, and depicts Landry as a good officer, preparing to marry her girlfriend, until her fiancee is killed on the Buran, whereupon she fixes on (now mirror) Lorca as her guiding star.
Yeah, my headcanon has been that he's not considered one of the top captains, because he's not the most adept diplomat (not incapable, but it's his weakest area), but as a tactician and strategist, he's better than most. (The Great Captains are all-rounders; Lorca is less of a philosopher-king and more of a soldier working to support the diplomats.)
no subject
Date: 2020-01-27 11:49 am (UTC):) It is only logical, Captain.
Yeah, my headcanon has been that he's not considered one of the top captains, because he's not the most adept diplomat (not incapable, but it's his weakest area), but as a tactician and strategist, he's better than most. (The Great Captains are all-rounders; Lorca is less of a philosopher-king and more of a soldier working to support the diplomats.
Yes, that's how I see him, too.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-27 12:54 am (UTC)OOOH YES