#I think if Cedric had managed to become king he would have made Roland a court jester just out of revenge

[majoresca]

Delegate to your royal sorcerer, Cedric, important and potentially dangerous services that he should be in charge of?

Royal Family of Enchancia: 👎❌

Delegate to his royal sorcerer, Cedric, useless and potentially ridiculous tasks that any other servant would be willing to do but him?

Royal Family of Enchancia: 👍✔️

[crisp-sweet-pink-lady]

General Thoughts on Forever Royal

It was so good!  Everything I could have asked for, and even some things I didn’t know I needed, with a few things I didn’t think were ever going to happen at all thrown in just for good measure.

I don’t even know where to begin with this one, there was so much I want to talk about.  So to start things off, my favorite background prince, The Prince in Brown, finally got a name! 

Yes, he is Prince Mike.  (Also I just noticed Miss Nettle in the background.  I guess now that she’s a “good” fairy, she made her peace with Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather).

There were so many callbacks in this special!  The rubies from Cedric’s Apprentice, the reprise of Royal Prep from Once Upon a Princess, Sofia and Amber landing on the pirate ship treehouse from Baileywick’s Day Off, and plenty more.  Of course, the best one was the line “we’re sisters” coming back.  I also like how they managed to get in all the main recurring characters, even if someone of them just had very quick cameos (most of the RPA students).  And they even squeezed in one more new amulet power before the end.

We also got a lot of answers to questions fans have been wondering about for a long time, such as what happened to Sofia’s dad, and what Roland’s wish was (a little anticlimactic if you ask me), and we saw James and Amber’s mom!  I 100% did not see Sofia getting sucked into the amulet coming, but it gave some insight into what it was like for Elena for all those years.  And we got to see the first Storykeeper, although I don’t think anyone was curious about him, but again, it gave us some answers about the Secret Library and how it came to be.

I really liked Roland’s priority 1 being getting the kids safe and promising to fight Vor once they are, and Miranda being all “You are literal children” when Sofia, Amber, and James want to go back and fight.  Then at the end after Sofia becomes a fully-fledged protector, Miranda asking just what a protector does, with the inflection that she knows she isn’t going to like the answer.  And Tilly’s response of it being a huge honor while adding “and only occasionally life-threatening” under her breath.

There were also a lot of heartwarming moments involving the parents, like Miranda and Sofia going back to their old home at the beginning. And Roland mentioning holding Amber and James in his arms during the first song, then actually seeing that during the Secret Library’s flashback.

Speaking of, all the songs were amazing.  I loved the way the first song built and built, and included everyone in the palace.  The slow reprise of Royal Prep, as I already mentioned, was a sweet callback.  Vor’s song is ridiculously catchy and I love the animation on her during it.  So many good expressions!  Plus it gave us more of Wormwood singing.  For One and All, like the first song, built into something truly epic by the end, and Vor and Sofia’s confrontation song was so, so good, a truly fitting last song of the series.

I was kind of right and kind of wrong about Vor.  As I predicted, she was just using Prisma to get the Wicked Nine (which turned out to be about getting her ring), but she didn’t technically betray her.  She promised to make Prisma powerful, and she did, but by using her body.  I wonder, though, whether Vor was completely in control, or if she just kind of melded with Prisma.  Specifically, I’m wondering how much of Vor’s personality was from Vor, and how much was from Prisma.  Because Prisma has always had a flair for the dramatic, so it wouldn’t be outside of the realm of possibility for the spirit of Vor to just be the evil and vengeful parts, and the rest to be Prisma.  If that makes any sense. 

Regardless of whether Prisma had any part of it, Vor was a great series-ending villain.  I really had no idea how they would defeat her for good (though I still don’t quite get how Sofia’s love light got rid of her, spirit and all, but I guess we can chalk that partly up to Maruvian magic, which tends to do things that don’t really make sense, but are very powerful). 

Craig promised us that Cedric would be a big part of the finale, and we were not disappointed.  From making Sofia a tiara, spiffing up the decorations (you know he was just waiting for someone to say “magical” so he could do his thing), helping defend against the crystal army, being part of the charge to head back to fight Vor, and casting the final spell that saved Sofia, he was all over this special from beginning to end.  And he finally was recognized as Cedric the Great by none other than the king himself.  Giving Sofia back her amulet was the perfect cap to his character arc.

We got confirmation of what I’ve suspected, that Amber’s had to cover for Sofia going off on her protector mission, since she was the only one who knew about them and her amulet’s powers.  I’m glad that both of those were finally revealed to everyone (but especially the parents), even if there wasn’t time to see the full implications of everyone knowing.

Okay, but that climax.  Sofia getting sucked into the amulet, everyone thinking there’s a chance they’ll never get her back, and then all her friends and family rallying together, giving their energy to get her back.  So powerful, and it hammers home how many lives Sofia has touched over the course of the series.

I had a few quibbles with this episode, but by the time I finished writing all this out, I’ve forgotten them.  But I do really wish there had been a scene of Azurine and Prisma making up, especially since Prisma was so remorseful at the end.  But other than that, this was a practically perfect way to end the series.