Yes! The fairy also doesn’t matter! You could replace it with any instantly unrecognizable impossible thing. Unicorn, giant spider, Freddy Fazbear. All that matters is when you see it, you know that it’s real, and that it’s magic.
No, your door doesn’t matter. “You open the door to see whatever” isn’t actually necessary for the question. It’s just an easy way to say, in this scenario you are in a situation where you are not expecting anything unusual to happen, when a fairy/walrus appears.
The thing is most of that is post hoc justification. I’m trying to explain that the walrus would be surprising anyway, even if you lived in a one story house and later learned the walrus had been carefully transported and deposited there to prank you by trained walrus wrangling professionals. A walrus isn’t intrinsically surprising. Go to the right beach and you’ll find a ton of them. It’s surprising because it’s an animal generally only seen in a specific context, removed from that context and plopped down in a place where you generally expect things to be familiar.
There’s also the fact that the walrus is surprising as a poll option as well! Tumblr is also not the usual context for a walrus. The poll option itself is more surprising than the fairy option.
I agree though, there is specific charm in it being a walrus, I just want to engage with the deeper question and people are so distracted by the logistics of the walrus that they aren’t digging any deeper.
It is fundamentally absurd to be more surprised by a mundane animal in an unlikely location, than a completely impossible fantasy creature. And yet! People are genuinely more surprised by the walrus! I just want to dig into the real why of it.
If you walked into your front yard, would you be more surprised to see Superman mowing your lawn, or a Belgian draft horse on your roof?
If you opened your fridge, would you be more surprised to see a magic crystal full of howling spirits, or a rod of depleted uranium?
Would you be more surprised by the appearance of something unreal but familiar, or something real but unfamiliar?
Now ask why! Forget the how, it doesn’t matter! No matter how convoluted or contrived, it is still possible for a walrus to end up on your doorstep! “I live in an apartment building!” They knocked down a wall and brought it in by crane! “There are no walruses on this continent!” Zoos exist! And people who transport animals professionally! It will never be *more* probable for fairies to exist than for a walrus to get somewhere walruses usually don’t go.
So why does it *feel* more surprising? That’s the actually interesting question here!
