Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Challenge The Trouble with Reincarnation

Hi,

I just had a story idea -- one which I find too disturbing to work on myself, but one which has the potential to be a very powerful, angsty story. I got the idea while reading Dandello's excellent, if also depressing, What is Lost in the Mists of Time .

Despite donating some of his life force to Jimmy, Clark still ages extremely slowly. When he is 90 chronologically, he is still in his early thirties biologically. Lois had died about a couple decades earlier. Clark's primary pleasure has been to be an active part of his family's life. He is close with all of his grandchildren, but there is one grand-daughter with whom he has always has a special affinity. As the girl has become a woman, he gradually realizes, to his horror, why he has always felt so close to her -- she is Lois reincarnate. And by the time she has reached adulthood, his grandfatherly feelings of affection have become tinged with amourous feelings as well. She is, after all, his Soul Mate. But she is also his grand daughter, and so he is repulsed by those feelings. The grand daughter is similarly an emotional mess.

What happens next? The only possible way to a happy ending that I can think of would be if Wells went back a couple of decades and convinced Clark to do something which resulted in his death and subsequent reincarnation, thereby letting him once again be in the same generation, and no longer biologically related, to the young reincarnation of Lois.

As I said, I think this has the potential for being a powerful tale, but - even though I came up with the idea myself - it is too warped for my tastes. And I must admit to finding the whole reincarnation concept distasteful anyway. So if anyone else wishes to weave the yarn, be my guest.

Joy,
Lynn

What if Lois wasn't reincarnated as his great-granddaughter, but rather as one of her friends?

There was a movie, years ago, called "Chances Are" with Cybil Sheppard and Robert Downey, Jr. It was about a young father who dies in an accident and is reincarnated. When he reaches adulthood, he's drawn to his daughter, until he realizes who he was and then he tries to woo his (ex)wife. It seems like they solved the problem by having him no longer be related to them/remember who he once was (but it's been so long I can't remember how that happened).

It just seems like it would be less complicated (and definitely less squicky) if there was no blood relationship to contend with.

I agree, things would be much simpler if they weren't related -- but then, where would the conflict be in the story?

I guess we could find out the Clark is supposedly the young woman's paternal grandfather, but that her mother had cheated on her father, thereby negating the alleged blood relationship between Clark and the young woman. That would be one solution to the dilemma -- one that wouldn't' even involve Wells.

Joy,
Lynn

The premise reminds me of the Japanese legend about star-crossed lovers reincarnating as twins. I agree, definitely lots of potential for angst.

Should also be interesting to have H.G. trying to convince Clark to off himself.

Well, this basically adds some squick to the idea of Nan Smith's "Home" series. Can't say I'd particularly like to read it.

In HOME, Lori is the great great? granddaughter of Lucy Lane so she is related to Lois but not Clark. They didn't realize this until later - well after marriage, I believe.

I'm not familiar with the Home series beyond knowing that it is epic in length and that it is highly regarded. I hope to read it someday, but I have a lot of shorter reading that I wish to do first.

I can't say I blame you, Marcus; I myself wouldn't particularly care to read the story I am proposing, either -- As I mentioned, despite having used reincarnation as a plot device in one of my stories, I am generally uncomfortable with the whole concept. And the topic I brought up in this thread is one of the reasons I am uncomfortable with it. (There are theological reasons as well, but the fanfic MB isn't the place to discuss them. If anyone interested in having such a discussion, I would be happy to have it either off-line or in the "Off Topic" folder.)

But having said that, I figured that I would throw out the idea in case there were a less squeamish author who, unlike me, could come up with a satisfactory solution to the situation posed.

Joy,
Lynn

Of course, there is the notion that Soul Mates don't have to have a sexual component. So Clark and the Lois incarnate could become partners, even best buddies, without it getting too squicky.

Hi Dandello,

I'll quote Wells from the episode "Soul Mates"
That doesn't leave much room for them to remain platonic friends.

Joy,
Lynn

In that case, Lois would choose to incarnate as someone Clark could get close to in a non-platonic way.

However, we also only have Wells' word for it and we only saw the two cases he chose - both with Lois as a female and Clark as a male. Since reincarnation is about learning - what about all those times when Clark chose to be born female?

You have some interesting ideas, but you are introducing two assumptions:
1) That there is any point at all to incarnation. (If there is, it wasn't mentioned.)
2) That one can choose who one is incarnated as. (Again, if this is the case, it is not mentioned.)

Neither assumption is necessarily false in the L&C universe, but neither one is necessarily true, either.

And you are right about my own assumption -- I was assuming that Wells knew what he was talking about and that he spoke the truth. Neither part of my assumption is definitely true, either.

Joy,
Lynn

Come to that, we only saw lives where they were both born human. I want to see the one where Clark was reincarnated as a gerbil...

<chuckle> And we do have evidence that reincarnation can occur cross-species; after all as you point out, Clark was born human, not Kryptonian.

Joy,
Lynn

Well, if Lois ALWAYS shows up where Clark is, that implies some sort linking mechanism if not choice.

Based on Wells' phrasing "Two lovers destined to meet." I had assumed that they didn't have any choice -- My understanding is that if you are truly "destined" to do something, your doing it is foreordained; you lack free will in its happening. Therefore, in the L&C world, there is something else (possibly sentient, possibly mechanistic, possibly something else) controlling which souls go into which bodies.

Again, that is assuming that what Wells says is true for the L&C universe.

Joy,
Lynn

Well, the great thing about having a character say something instead of an omniscient narrator is that you can play it as "He was wrong or had incomplete facts," if you so choose.

What about Karma? That's supposed to play a role in reincarnation, but how would it effect Lois and Clark's incarnations? Maybe one of them had to do something terrible, so Lois becoming his granddaughter was a punishment?

What if Wells does try to convince Clark to kill himself but instead he decides to go back to save Lois' life instead. He can use the same machine that he used on Jimmy to give Lois some of his life force thereby saving Lois. But they will have to hide or move, create new identities but at least now they can be together and as the years pass Clark can always give her a zap and they can grow old together. (Even though they both know this will decrease Clark’s eventual life span.)

Only problem what happens to his great great grand daughter? Will she still exist or will she even be a she?

What if the child turns out to be evil using their superpowers to enslave mankind? Knowing that dear old Grandpa and the rest of the Kent clan would try to stop her/him they hatch a plot to exterminate the entire clan starting with Clark. Now with his entire families lives on the line how can Clark change things without losing Lois again?

Tonya

Brilliant!

Can there be a lapse in time between a physical death and the reincarnation of the soul of the person who died? If so, the girl could still exist -- perhaps the new timeline would just shorten the period of time in which Lois' soul was disincarnate.

Intriguing plot twists!

Joy,
Lynn

Well, I'd rather have both Lois and Clark dead and reincarnated as their own great-(great-)grandchildren. Ideally, that would make them second or third cousins, so the squick factor is still there, but not too bad. (NewLois and NewClark would have to overcome quite a few prejudices.

Come to think of it, there are a couple of nations (like my homeland, Germany) where even first cousins are allowed to marry. Wouldn't that work for LnC? Eloping somewhere in Europe - against the better judgement of the rest of the family?

Isn't this a plot-point of one of the Matchmaker Chronicles by KenJ? Lois is a Lane (probably from Lucy's line) and with the help of HG, was able to remember her previous life.