In the last few decades, tattoos have become a mainstay in pop culture. As parlors around the world get ready to celebrate Friday the 13th with flashes galore, our Pop-ink package examines how these skin markings have evolved beyond their traditional roots — from fandoms to family. In this feature, writer Sahar Arshad speaks to five people from all over the world about their fandom tattoos, finding home, and wearing their interests, quite literally, on their skin.
Being part of a fandom has almost become a rite of passage when consuming art these days. Whether it is through books, movies, music, or something else, the people who join fandoms fall in love with the worlds they consume. For many, these groups are more than just a fleeting interest, but the reflection of a deeper relationship that can inspire, teach, and sometimes even help to confront the world we live in. The fictional characters on their pages and screens burrow deep into their souls and leave a mark that is deep and lasting — sometimes more literally than others via fandom tattoos.
In the last few years, tattoos inspired by pop-culture phenoms — from individual celebrities to fictional stories — have gained momentum on social media, but how much do you have to like something to get it permanently inked into your skin? How deep does your love for something go to have it want to be a part of you physically? To find out just how all-encompassing fandom tattoos can be, we reached out to five people to share their stories.
Alani Vargas — 28, Chicago, Illinois
In October 2020, Alani Vargas was deep into her Star Wars: The Clone Wars obsession. As someone who grew up with Star Wars and had such a significant connection with the franchise already, The Clone Wars naturally became a comfort show. "When the pandemic started, I dove even deeper and became more obsessed with the fandom due to social media and the state of the world," Vargas tells Teen Vogue.
The pandemic-induced rabbit hole ultimately led her to commit fully by carrying a piece of the franchise forever on her skin. She settled on Ahsoka Tano, a significant character in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, who is a young padawan learner under Anakin Skywalker. She's known for her strong character, for which many consider her a hero.
"The character of Ahsoka Tano didn't hit the scene until after I got into Star Wars, of course, and it wasn't until later that she was solidified as my favorite character," Vargas tells Teen Vogue. "During this newfound obsession, I really got into her character, her beliefs, her ethics, and just really latched onto her story. The emotions that her story drew out of me were just unmatched. I knew I had to get a tattoo that not only incorporated my love for Star Wars but for her specifically," Vargas says.
After gathering ideas from Pinterest, Vargas settled on a design that also incorporated peonies for an added visual touch. She took her references to her tattoo artist and asked them to create a design featuring Ahsoka's two white lightsabers, which, for the iteration of the character she chose to honor, featured a bright blue glow. "Without getting too nerdy, her character has had a few different colored lightsabers," Vargas explains. "So I tried to choose something that represented the colors of the design of her character at the time I got the tattoo in October 2020." The small design, which lives on Vargas's forearm, is now the perfect snapshot of the time she fell in love with Ahsoka Tano, captured forever with her.
Hannah Emily — 26, Manchester, England
Hannah Emily grew up devouring books. As an avid reader, she believes that no feeling compares to falling in love with a book, so naturally, the only two tattoos on her body are reserved to honor her favorite series.
Emily currently has two fandom tattoos inspired by Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses book series, which struck a chord with her because of the found family trope it explores. The fantasy series follows its protagonist, Feyre Archeron, as she embarks on a journey of self-discovery and romance. In the books, Feyre is just finding her place in the world, and so is Emily in real life. After reading the first book of the series over the holidays in 2021, Emily was immediately hooked. Within 10 days, she had read the entire series, which currently consists of five books.
"I hadn't read a book that compelled me that much in a long time, and I really resonated with the main character Feyre," Emily tells Teen Vogue. Feyre's ability to remain resilient and good-hearted after suffering hardships inspired Emily. “Feyre felt out of place growing up but found her family in her friends. [Not only is it] a book trope I enjoy reading, [but it's also] something I relate to.”
Once she decided she wanted to carry A Court of Thorns and Roses forever with her on her skin, Emily didn't have to look that hard to find the inspiration for her tattoo. "In the book series, Feyre has a significant tattoo on her hand, [so] I wanted to have a tattoo that reminded me of her in the same place." Feyre's tattoo is originally a string of blue-black swirls with an eye in the middle of her palm. To pay homage but give it her own spin, Emily designed a tattoo incorporating symbols relating to Feyre's journey throughout the books. "I added leaves that symbolize Feyre's time at the Spring Court and moons and stars to represent her home at the Night Court," she explains, referring to fantasy realms within the story.
The second tattoo is a quote pulled directly from one of the books: "To the stars who listen and the dreams that are answered." This is a very popular line in this series and references a moment of hope and acceptance in Feyre's journey, where she finds her place and discovers where she truly belongs. This book series inspired Emily not only to get a tattoo but also to start a BookTok account. “I've enjoyed growing a community of book lovers and being able to connect with other people in the fandom as well.”
Luana Ribeira — 41, Wales
Fandom came knocking on Luana Ribeira's door when she was at her lowest. "I was going through a really dark time in my life. I thought I had lost everything. I couldn't see a way forward and was void of all hope," Ribeira tells Teen Vogue. "I was hiding under my duvet, unable to face the world, when I picked up the Divergent book series, and it changed everything!"
In the futuristic series by Veronica Roth, humankind has been split into factions. The idea behind these factions is to eradicate the possibility of future conflict by ensuring factions stay separated, strictly adhering to their set laws and principles. One of these factions, known as Dauntless, is the one that captivated Ribeira enough to decide to get a tattoo. The series protagonist, Tris, leaves behind everything she's ever known to go where her gut was pulling her at the moment: Dauntless. This idea resonates deeply with Ribiera. “The biggest challenges for Tris come after this when she has to complete her initiation process into this new faction. She's knocked down again and again, and every time I'd think it's all over, she just kept on getting back up. I felt that deeply!”
After reading Divergent, Ribeira understood that to get through the tough times, she, too, needed to be Dauntless and think of the challenges she was experiencing as her initiation. "Every day, I would use my acting skills to get into character as Dauntless and get on with facing my day," she says. Being able to shift her mindset this way allowed her to remove the pressures and persevere. "[Everything] started to feel more like a game, and I thrived on the rush of 'being Dauntless,'" she tells Teen Vogue.
Her tattoos are the Dauntless flame and the birds that Tris has and serve as a reminder for Ribeira. “The tattoos are a reminder that I am Dauntless, I have always been Dauntless, and I will stay Dauntless regardless of whatever is happening around me.”
Noella Williams — 24, Brooklyn, NY
For Noella Williams, fandom tattoos became an avenue for her to reflect her personality and interests and, most importantly, celebrate their inner child. Before getting their first fandom tattoos, they were under the widespread impression that every single ounce of ink added to their body had to have a deep, complex meaning to justify getting a permanent design on her body. "Once I let go of that mindset, I started to get silly tattoos that reflected my personality, so of course, I got a tattoo of a Pokémon since the franchise has been in my life for my entire existence," Williams tells Teen Vogue.
Growing up, Williams always tended to pick either water or grass starter type Pokémons when starting a new video game, so she says it was a "no-brainer" to choose grass-type Pokémon Chikorita as their first fandom tattoo. "She's cute and green, and fortunately, my tattoo artist in Tallahassee, Florida, did an amazing job at adding color to my complexion." Williams plans to continue adding to her Pokémon ink collection with another beloved creature soon. “At this point, I'm going to look like a Pokédex.”
Lisa Wallen — 33, Los Angeles, California
Every single one of Lisa Wallen's intricate and impressive tattoos is fandom-related. Wallen decided to pay tribute to her favorite video and computer games with a full back piece. Much like the Divergent series for Ribeira, video games also helped Wallen overcome a difficult mindset she was struggling with.
Three years ago, Wallen started streaming while playing video games online and was very nervous about it. Her whole life, she had been hearing about the ridiculous stereotype of boys telling her, "Girls can't play real games." But she did not want to deal with such bullying while she was playing games live. "Since I never got into competitive games growing up, I developed so many insecurities about my gaming skills, which now that I'm saying seems so silly, but, man, those younger years of having to hide my interests have greatly affected who I am now," Wallen tells Teen Vogue. “I was so tired of feeling this way, so I decided to stream more challenging games to 'prove' my gaming skills and battle that awful, untrue stereotype.”
Games like Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 soon became Wallen's bread and butter. In the beginning, because of her lack of practice, she thought it would just be endless, funny streams of her constantly dying in the games. However, after a few frustrating streams of getting used to the gameplay and finally getting past that first boss hurdle, Wallen became obsessed with the games. "The perseverance it took to get past some of those levels truly spoke to me on a mental level," she explains. “It's almost like I was battling the child bullying myself, and every time I got past a tough area, I'd pat myself on the back.”
Support from viewers made the experience all the more enjoyable, so she decided to celebrate her inner child battling (and winning) her demons with the tattoo mural on her back. "My back piece represents the sun and moon themes from games Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne, as I fell in love with the lore and how they complement each other," Wallen says.
Wallen started her back piece last year and completed it this July. From mostly violent games, Wallen picked the two characters that were the safest to be around: the doll from Bloodborne, who was created to take care of hunters, and the Firekeeper from DS3, who tends the flame and helps the Ashen One on their adventure. “Something about having two women with such somber backstories be the safest place for me in the games was just beautiful to me, so I wanted to represent that when showing off my tattoo.”
Whether it's a small homage to their carefree childhood or a representation of a fandom piece that deeply relates to their personal lives, there's no doubt why fandom tattoos are more commonplace than ever before. With social media making online fandom spaces more accessible each day that passes and content often rolling out on a daily basis, fandoms truly represent community for many. As such, fandom tattoos can serve as a visual marker for people to connect with other members of their chosen families. "I weirdly get a good amount of compliments and people noticing Ahsoka's symbol or people complimenting the lightsabers, which is a really nice feeling," Vargas shares. "When I [see my tattoo], I always think about how much I love it and how I'm connected to this fake universe that gives me so much joy. Getting fandom tattoos is not something I've ever regretted, and I don't think I will."
