Danny Phantom: Your Guide to All Things Ghostly

By Alexia Moonlight

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Chapter 1- Danny: The Phantom Theory

Now, I know some people really have no idea about Danny's hybrid status. And that's perfectly OK. Unless Butch Hartman tells us himself, we only have the ideas in our heads to guide us.

I said I would get people's theories. Well, I didn't know that people would respond so quickly! I have about four people who contributed to me. Thanks so much!

Authors' Theories:

"Hmm... well, I wouldn't mind you putting my name out there. I wanna be known!! Ahem. As for my thoughts, if you mean about what Danny really is, then I'll have to say that he's both. And I'm not just cheating either. When Danny was shocked, the electricity was strong enough to kill him. So, technically, he died. But the electricity was laced with ectoplasmic energy. That, plus the suddenness of his death (meaning unfinished business) made the existence of his ghost more probable. But his ghost formed before Danny officially died. And a ghost, already having no life to speak of, can 'survive' such a fatal accident. The formation of his ghost gave him the bit of resistance he needed to make it through the accident. In short, dying is what kept him alive.* Another theory is that the ectoplasmic energy in the electricity really only affected parts of his DNA: supercharged him to the point of half-dead status with benefits."

-BluFox15

"Hi. I saw the story, and, if you agree, I have my own theory about Danny's status. According to the opening credits, Danny got his DNA fused with ectoplasm; this is very similar to the way Peter Parker's changed when the mutated spider bite him. Now, Peter didn't turn into a giant spider; instead, he got the proportional abilities of the arachnid. If we apply this to Danny's situation, then he's a human that got enhanced with ghostly-like powers, and the ectoplasm is so fused with his own DNA the other specters consider him once. Also, another theory; why Danny has so many powers? The thing, I think, comes from his 'obssession'; protecting people and being a hero. The Box Ghost has power over boxes because that's what he cares about; Ember is a musical ghost so her power involves sound waves and so. Danny, being a teen, when getting powers his thought, even if subconscious one at first, is to be a hero -an obvious influence from comics, cartoons and videogames-, and because of that his powers include variations of classic superhero abilities; invulnerability (the force fields), ice powers (Superman's freezing breath) and energy blasts. Vlad has similar abilities both due practice and that his motivation is to be a villain. Finally, the ghostly strength; Danny is far stronger than humans, and can lift stuff as heavy as a school bus, kids and all. I think of two theories for this; one is that Danny, when lifting something, makes it intangible and therefore weightless; the other is that Danny, when transformed, no longer has the same limitations as normal humans, like aching muscles or hard breathing when making a huge effort, plus gravity is lighter for him. In other words, Danny has the same strength a human would have if not having those limitations. Another theory; do ghosts breath? I think they can exist without air, but they need it to communicate. Without air you can't talk at all, and even if you could the sound waves can't travel. "

- acosta perez jose ramiro

"My personal explanation is that ghosts are partially based on a certain kind of electricity (maybe electromagnetism), which is why Danny got powers from being electrocuted in the Ghost Portal. Scientists have used electromagnetics to levitate objects, so it could possibly be related to flying."

- Nearly Dead

Now, for my -air quote- "Long Awaited Theory" -end air quote-

Now, I know that the theme song shows his DNA being rearranged. They even say "his molecules got all rearranged" in the theme song. Yet, ghosts don't have DNA. They're made up of energy fields instead of matter. Yes, I am learning about matter in science class at the moment, and my teacher did say that everything is made up of matter, but ghosts are not made up of matter. You must accept the truth!!! (haha, just kidding. =D) When Danny "goes ghost", as he calls it, he changes his structures so he is made of energy, not matter.

Most ghosts are naturally malevolent, as much as I'd hate to almost agree with Jack and Maddie. But I didn't say all ghosts. There are nice ghosts, such as The Dairy King, Cujo, and Wulf. But most are malevolent, due to having some strange purpose of coming back to haunt the Earth, and usually the purposes are bad.

Are you still following me? OK then. The Ghost Zone is full of the energy ghosts need, it's like their food. So, naturally, they would weaken if they stayed in our world for too long. But, they can feed off the emotions of human beings. They feed off of fear and pain.

Danny's the exception. He does not feed off of fear and pain, and he is not evil or malevolent. While in his ghost form, Danny gets his energy from good emotions. Happiness, gratefulness, joyfulness, et cetera. He gets very good energy from his friends and Jazz, who are usually around him while fighting ghosts. Danny feeds off of good energy because he is still a human, and humans have emotions. If he were to ever be separated from the people who loved him, he would basically go insane. That would explain Dan, who was both isolated from his family and split apart from his human half, thus taking away his human emotions.

It is possible for Danny to change what type of emotions he gets his energy from, though. But, it has to take something major, like the events in TUE, but he also has to somehow want it on some level.

Vlad, on the other hand, is malevolent. But not entirely. Yes, he is a villain. That is because he doesn't have anyone who cares for him, besides Jack, who is an idiot (in Vlad's point of view). He's not entirely malevolent because, is you remember from the episode Kindred Spirits, he said he just wanted someone who loved him. And in The Ultimate Enemy he said that 20 years without ghost powers had given him a chance to realize what a fool he'd been.

As for Danny's temperature, I'm going to have to say that I don't think it would be significantly lower than the average human. Sure, maybe it would be, maybe, half a degree lower. Maybe a whole degree, but not too much. The normal temperature for a human being is 98.6 Fahrenheit . The highest I've seen his temperature be is 96.0. Even then, half-ghost or not, Danny would be constantly shivering, and probably wearing a coat everywhere. Think of the episode "Urban Jungle", that little clip before the theme song. But, back to my theories; I've seen his temperature even be 65 degrees Fahrenheit before! Chances are anyone would die if their temp was that low!

And that brings me to the whole half-dead thing. I really don't know. I think he's just alive in human form and dead in ghost form. Simple, right? Hopefully. =)

I think that pretty much covers my thoughts on the whole Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom thing. Sorry if you got confused at any point in the story.

Sources:

BluFox15

acosta perez jose ramiro

PsychoKitty1991

Nearly Dead

Danny Phantom episodes

My mind. =)

[3 and 1/4 pages on word. 1,401 words]