Soulmate AUs: A Study of a Fan Fiction Trope

Looking into insular fan fiction tropes can be quite entertaining. Certain tropes or repeating themes have their origin, by and large, in fan fiction or sometimes they're just popularized by it. Other times, particular fan fiction from a certain fandom will have a very common trope that seems to be a favorite - often because a particularly successful fan fiction spawned copy-cat fan fictions that sometimes are even more popular than their original.

Getting into all fan fiction tropes or even tropes common to specific fandoms that I frequent would take a long time. But I want to take a moment to look at one of my favorite fan fiction tropes - common on the fan fiction site Archive of Our Own (AO3) - and the interesting details behind it.

A Soulmate Alternate Realty, when boiled right down to it, is where two people are 'fated' in some capacity to be with each other. That their souls were meant for one another. The idea did not originate with fan fiction, but it isn't unusual to see fan fictions take it in directions out of the ordinary from classic understandings of the concept. By the mere mention of the idea of 'Soulmates' you might already be thinking of possible issues with the concept. If one person is fated to be with another person, that there is only one true person for them, then when taking into account the space of human time, the awkward factors of your soulmate being dead or not even born yet may come into play.

The thing which like about this trope is the way people consider all those pesky questions. The romance (usual romance at any rate) comes second or rather, is more a passing note, in why the trope brings so much interest to me.

So let's break it down.

How can someone tell who a soulmate is?

The trope as seen on AO3 deals with this idea in several subgenres. Often, fan fiction writers will fall into several categories of writing a Soulmate AU to the point that the alternate tage 'Soulmate-Identifying Mark' is also quite popular. The subgenres aside, considering the genre is often used in the sense of romantic soulmates, intense emotions upon seeing or interacting with the soulmate is also a 'symptom.' I say this because Soulmate AUs tend to have a love-at-first sight impression, even when two (or more) parties aren't aware that they are each other's soulmate. Instead, there is a draw. It doesn't even necessarily have to involve sexual tension, as even platonic soulmates tend to have a deep emotional connection to the other soulmate. This is generally played for angst purposes, particularly if one or both soulmates think the other isn't (isn't their soulmate, in love with them, even remotely interested, and so on).

Soulmate-Identifying Marks:

As a subgenre, it is the largest and most popular. But that also means it is broken into its own subgenres. The long and short of it is that from birth, soon after puberty, or directly after meeting their soulmate, some kind of mark will appear on a person's body which in some fashion indicates their soulmate. Usually, this is either:

• the soulmate's name (apparently easy, but also often just the first name, which often this makes one wonder what happens if you know a lot of 'Johns.')
• the first sentence your soulmate says to you ('Hello!' seems like it would be really common.)
• some abstract symbol which is supposed to symbolize your soulmate.

Red String of Fate:

The other rather more popular genre of soulmate AUs is the red string of fate. Essentially, upon birth, a character has a (usually invisible to everyone but them) string attached to them that also leads off to a soulmate. By some turn of plot, they eventually meet. Usually, it adds to the drama of distance and often the two characters can tug slightly on the string in some fashion.

Other identifications:

• Seeing color only upon meeting your soulmate. This is essentially like watching a black-and-white movie.
• Scars or injury inflicted on a character's soulmate turn up on their soulmate's body instead.
• Soulmate specific telepathy, usually developing later in life rather than from birth.
• General emotion exchange (knowing a soulmate is angry, happy, or sad and working out the whole soulmate thing by process of elimination of those in a characters nearby vicinity).
• And probably more I'm not familiar with.

What writers tend to do with this trope can vary, but often the stories which I enjoy are the ones which attempt to dissect the idea of what a world would look like if these principles were in place. Often some things can be waved by vaguely stating 'Fate' but the question of what a world like ours would look like if constructed around soulmate principles can be highly interesting.

LGBTQIA+ characters:

Within stories, the fact that fan fiction very often explores a gay pairing, in particular in AO3, it's no wonder that 'does homophobia exist in a soulmate AU' comes up rather often. Often, authors will opt that it does and that their soulmates - if they come from a historical background or even a historically coded background - will have to face the possibility of match-makings with another who also has an 'unsuitable' soulmate. Alternatively, some authors opt to structure their world around an ideal where soulmates actually allow for some of the nastiness of the real world to be skipped over.

The treatment of asexual or aromantic characters in soulmate AUs is an interesting one. As characters who generally may not have any romantic or sexual inclinations, often soulmate AUs can fall into the pit of aro/ace erasure. Everyone has a Soulmate - period. Anyone who doesn't - or if a character even suspects their soulmate may be unattainable or unwanted - is seen as broken or at the very least a strange anomaly. However, several authors also play with the idea that characters may not have a Soulmate. That it is just as possible to not have one. Often this is when alternative soulmate markings occur: either a different shape to indicate romantic/platonic/familial or a different color or location on the body. Sometimes strings of fate can also then be in a different color or scars are left by both romantic, platonic, and so on relationships. The options go on.

Polyamorous relationships are also sometimes explored in soulmate AUs, where there are multiple indications of multiple soulmates. Often this is treated as either highly unusual or highly special/unique.

Transness in soulmate AUs tends to be explored primarily when a soulmate-identifying mark is involved, particularly if it involves someone's name. In this case, the character's 'true name' is often displayed. I have yet to see it explored when a character's name changes due to genderfluidity, but I look forward to if it turns up.

Time/Distance/Language:

Sometimes, soulmate AUs do delve into the thought process of a soulmate either existing in the past or future or simply in a culture a character may never hope of interacting with. Often, this is hand-waved away by stating that Fate is involved in some manner and that only people from a 'pool' of possibilities will be considered (e.g. any canon character already involved in the story and whatever characters the author wants to see together).

Often, authors who explore this often use time, distance, or language as another point of angst. The reader is aware that, often, the characters will somehow meet up. Even if some immortality or reincarnation or what have you is involved. Or just a lot of plane rides. But sometimes authors also explore the idea that soulmates are simply a love of many. That a character finds love despite the name on their arm and that that love is just as real. It's not particularly common, but an interesting commentary on the trope.

Supernatural entities:

As many possibilities arise within the soulmate AU plots, supernatural entities - often when paired with humans - having soulmates is another point of plot exploratory angst. Yes and that entity can spend ages wondering how and why fate opted for this mortal (or immortal) out of every possibility. No soulmark/soulmate identification and the human having one can leave much curiosity or angst on both sides. So it is little wonder that authors tend to explore these possibilities.

Death:

The death of a character often results in highly interesting termination of the soulmate identification. Red strings snap, colored sight fades back to greys, and soul marks scar over, disappear, or change color. It is often an interesting exploration of lose by an author of how they want a character to either experience this or how they want to have a character react to this eventuality. Often, as soulmates are seen as a one-time-deal it carries a lot of weight in the story. A loss is a loss forever.

Until it's not. Which is another interesting perspective. Sometimes a soulmark can turn up again, this time for a new person. Often this is when a canon pairing is being swapped out for a non-canon pairing or when a author just particularly liked two sets of couples and one person ends up dying. Death adds all kinds of hiccups to a story. Including if characters around the main character die before any romance can actually happen for the side character. Rarely, authors will sometimes invent a mark meant solely for characters who will never be with another character, often as some kind of sign that their soul belongs to 'Death.' Often this occurs if Death is a character in the original source material. Otherwise, characters could have a mark or be markless. This leaves the character in a position to feel special for having a soulmate. Some of this issues of world building - like people dying - can be skipped by having soulmarks develop after a certain age (usual puberty or the age of consent in the author's home location) or even after the soulmates meet, sparing awkward situations like mortality.

Final thoughts:

I think the reason why I like soulmate AUs is they were clearly meant to be simple and a romance device. Free angst was also included. But rather than sticking to just that idea, many authors tried to make a functioning world with the premise, sometimes in great detail. It becomes a great amusement of mine to go looking for fics, sometimes from fandoms I don't even know about, just to see what authors are doing outside of the bubble I'm in.

The way that a cultural understanding of how soulmate AUs work, to the point that authors tend to stick within rather usual frameworks and subgenres is, in itself, fascinating. It is worth exploring what these kinds of stories offer, even just as a case study. They can bring creativity to an idea that you wouldn't expect.