like I think it was RHW that answered a question and said they gave several main character several "X must suffer episodes" and sure you can say Miles is the most normal but that's also a fucking lie if you take all characters into account.
The defining things that make Julian not an "everyman" if I'm being charitable, and experiences he goes through and less things that he is, and both are metaphors. Miles goes through a lot of unrealistic shit, some of which is a metaphor. And the stuff that you can argue are something Julian is are a late reveal.
This is also true of like. Kira but not in the same way. There are so many people like Kira, so many people who personally know a Kira and for whom that person is like... not "not special", but they know several people like her. The bias betrayed is what and who you consider "normal", and with Kira I can expect some of that because the people like her often don't live in the US. But even so, her suffering was explicitly named by RHW in answering that question.
And with Julian... look at his fanlore page and you'll find that it has more or less been a trope to make him suffer, and that that trope has been referred to as "Julian Bashir gets raped by wolves". And I'm a pro whump guy, a horror guy, a Gothic guy- but some of the old fics I've read that would fall under thos trope have an unmistakable aura of wanting to see Julian suffer because of what he is.
And I get that it's trying to get at, a lot of these characters are aliens or royalty or have super powers or whatever but at the same time:
Who's suffering is perceived as extreme? Who's suffering is especially enjoyable? Who is a "normal" person forced into horrible circumstances (is that not every person? Are we not all "normal" until forced into horrible circumstances that change us)? What is normal? How is normal constructed?
![squids-among-stars:
“Squidolus [Day:783 Hour:12]
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