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pixiedane Q: What do you think it is about Kathryn Janeway that people fall in love with her?
I think it’s mainly two things. First, just the force of her personality. In RPG terms she has an abnormally high charisma. This covers her flirty nature and stubbornness, as well as her intensity, her curiosity and imagination, her ability to improvise, her leadership skills and her decisiveness. Janeway can waffle and worry but once she’s decided on a course of action she is completely committed, which reads as confidence (but not arrogance precisely because she does not hide her vulnerability), and that is highly attractive.
Most of the captains we know share these traits. Kirk certainly. Mirror Lorca’s charisma is how he got through his time in Prime- though his confidence was seen as arrogance, it masked his ruthlessness. Sisko’s charisma tends to be quieter, but equally intense, if not more so, and he has people not even in Starfleet or the Federation in his corner. Picard is somewhat aloof compared to the others’ hands-on approach to captaining, but he, too, confidently sets a course that engenders loyalty. And then there’s Archer, whose puppy-like charisma is the only explanation for all the amazing people willing to work with him and all the amazing things he manages to accomplish.
But I don’t headcanon everyone in love with every captain, which brings us to the second reason: Janeway’s “saving-people-thing” (also why I will not accept her as any house other than Gryffindor despite some Slytherin or Ravenclaw traits). She plucks Tom Paris out of prison and gives him a starship to fly. She travels to the edges of space to find Tuvok. She allows Neelix and Kes, and later Seven, to find their own ways to be helpful. She absorbs Chakotay’s entire crew into her own and places him in a position of power second only to her. And then listens to him when he calls her on her Starfleet bias, gets to know B’Elanna, and gives her a chance to prove herself and a sense of purpose. She listens to Kes, gets to know the Doctor, and gives him the chance to become a whole new kind of being. In the middle of a crisis she stops to tell Harry Kim she’s proud of him because she understands his needs. And she feels badly when people like Lyndsay Ballard and the Good Shepherd trio fall through the cracks. She cares, she makes choices based on that caring, and she is fully committed to her choices.
Janeway accepts all sorts of misfits into her community and encourages them to pursue their interests, whatever they are. She tells them they matter, believes in them even when they don’t believe in themselves, and puts them in a position to grow. She places high expectations on her people, and higher expectations on herself. And every single one is devoted to her because of it.
I think it’s mainly two things. First, just the force of her personality. In RPG terms she has an abnormally high charisma. This covers her flirty nature and stubbornness, as well as her intensity, her curiosity and imagination, her ability to improvise, her leadership skills and her decisiveness. Janeway can waffle and worry but once she’s decided on a course of action she is completely committed, which reads as confidence (but not arrogance precisely because she does not hide her vulnerability), and that is highly attractive.
Most of the captains we know share these traits. Kirk certainly. Mirror Lorca’s charisma is how he got through his time in Prime- though his confidence was seen as arrogance, it masked his ruthlessness. Sisko’s charisma tends to be quieter, but equally intense, if not more so, and he has people not even in Starfleet or the Federation in his corner. Picard is somewhat aloof compared to the others’ hands-on approach to captaining, but he, too, confidently sets a course that engenders loyalty. And then there’s Archer, whose puppy-like charisma is the only explanation for all the amazing people willing to work with him and all the amazing things he manages to accomplish.
But I don’t headcanon everyone in love with every captain, which brings us to the second reason: Janeway’s “saving-people-thing” (also why I will not accept her as any house other than Gryffindor despite some Slytherin or Ravenclaw traits). She plucks Tom Paris out of prison and gives him a starship to fly. She travels to the edges of space to find Tuvok. She allows Neelix and Kes, and later Seven, to find their own ways to be helpful. She absorbs Chakotay’s entire crew into her own and places him in a position of power second only to her. And then listens to him when he calls her on her Starfleet bias, gets to know B’Elanna, and gives her a chance to prove herself and a sense of purpose. She listens to Kes, gets to know the Doctor, and gives him the chance to become a whole new kind of being. In the middle of a crisis she stops to tell Harry Kim she’s proud of him because she understands his needs. And she feels badly when people like Lyndsay Ballard and the Good Shepherd trio fall through the cracks. She cares, she makes choices based on that caring, and she is fully committed to her choices.
Janeway accepts all sorts of misfits into her community and encourages them to pursue their interests, whatever they are. She tells them they matter, believes in them even when they don’t believe in themselves, and puts them in a position to grow. She places high expectations on her people, and higher expectations on herself. And every single one is devoted to her because of it.
