#i have seen like three separate aus that just wrote ab to be jane seymour in all but name

[edwardseymour]

I would say that I probably like Anne Boleyn more than you (in the sense that she interests me more), but I definitely agree with you on a lot of your points you’ve made about her fans and their weird subculture. Like why in every Tudor AU that I read is Anne and Henry in this epic love story that lasts longer than in real life simply because she has sons. I don’t think Anne and Henry would have gotten together under any other circumstances than those of real life (like if he was some random second son and Arthur was King, there is no way she would be in his vicinity), and I don’t think that that’s a happy ending for her. This poor woman was killed on the order of her husband, and now her fans want her to have stayed in that abusive marriage for eternity. The greatest thing Anne Boleyn could do in some of these writer’s eyes is have a son, like that’s her one major accomplishment she needed to fulfill. Ugh.

in all honesty, anne’s subculture fascinates me more than the woman, herself. it’s such a unique phenomenon, i can’t really think of an equivalent — the closest might be marie antoinette or the romanov girls, but the nature of their popularity just isn’t the same, and i don’t think they are commercialised in quite the same way.

and i mean, generally AUs just don’t do anything for me. but i find any AU where the wife is simply made to be a politically inactive broodmare, stripped of personhood so…

it’s not a unique thing with regards to anne by any stretch (and i know of other AUs that have her marry the king of france (🥴) or become regent after henry dies in the jousting tournament) but it is weird when it happens with her and is juxtaposed with posts gushing about anne’s unique personality/power.