::makes mental note to add limb-severing accidents to fanfic::

Tom has hit on a capital idea! We have textual proof that loss of a limb increases the sex appeal of a character by leaps and bounds. We should initiate a working group to study how best to implement amputation while avoiding the Potential Woobification Factor.

... Fassbinder would be proud.

But the woobification increases the sex appeal too -- or are you biased against creepy Oedipal sex? C'mon now.

Hm. Do sex appeal and woobification go hand in hand? It's possible to be sexy without needing a bowl of hot soup; it's possible to be both states at once; but does needing a bowl of hot soup automatically qualify one for sexiness?

Me, I think no; I think it's possible for a drowned rat (or similar) to awaken sympathy without turning on the wakka chikka music. However, I am one of those incredibly contrary people who goes looking for gen fanfic, so possibly I should not be trusted to speak for the majority.

does needing a bowl of hot soup automatically qualify one for sexiness?

Doesn't the soup principle figure in H/C fic?

I think it's possible for a drowned rat (or similar) to awaken sympathy without turning on the wakka chikka music.

You woobify rats? Okay, I take it all back.

Doesn't the soup principle figure in H/C fic?

Well, yes, in some ways. Although I guess what I'm asking is, does all hurt lead to h/c? I would like to think no, because I think there is a fetishment in there, in the ritual of hurt and comfort, that is not standard equipment for all humans. In the real world, it's possible to make somebody a bowl of soup, and still not want to have sex with that person, or even necessarily like him/her very much. That is how funeral buffets work, right?

does all hurt lead to h/c

Absolutely not. Never meant to imply it.

Though I wonder -- I wonder how the poll would break down between "weak", "powerful", "formerly weak, now powerful", "formerly powerful, now (healably) weak."

H/C is the latter, right?

"formerly powerful, now (healably) weak"

Oh, so you're saying that h/c is predicated on the role reversal? Or anyway, the reversal of a power differential. I can see that, I guess, although I don't know if that's always true.

Actually, to get back to the "amputations make villains sexy!" train of thought, in both cases I am thinking of, it was not the amputation itself that caused the sexiness, nor even the reversal of villains-turned-victims; it was the accompanying bitterness at the world that done it. Also, chiaroscuro lighting and sarcasm, but I think both of these are side effects of the bitter.

I think if a hero were maimed, you would have a more straightforward h/c, woobie type of situation. But villain-maiming is a different set of circumstances, yesno?

The first two amputated villains that come to my mind are Krycek from X-Files and of course Lindsey. And I thought they were pretty sexy before they lost limbs. The limb loss did give the slash fic writers something to hang adjectives on beyond "the shorter man" and "the doublecrossing agent" though, so that's a plus right there.

so you're saying that h/c is predicated on the role reversal?

I doubt it's always true. Not much is.

Isn't it usually a capable lead character? For all I know, there are tons of "nursing Buffy!Jonathan back to health" stories, but those are obviously crazy people.