#and i think that's especially true of mal's character

[glassladyoftheopera]

In Stars and Time But It's a Musical (Part 1)

Okay hi I need to tell you all about this concept.

First off all I just need to say credit to @openphrase123 for the amazing 'ISAT but as a ballet' posts (here and also here and there definitely more but those are some of the big ones) which definitely inspired some choices here and in general inspired me to do this.

So basically I'm a big old musical theater person (and specifically musician / singer) so I've been fleshing out concepts for a what a musical re-telling of In Stars and Time might look like. I'm honestly not going to get into like... the logistics of how you could actually do it, because even with condensing a lot of things Musicals aren't typically long enough to tell this kind of story, so we're just... ignoring that when I don't have ideas to get around it.

We will start with all of the main characters, their voice types, and their characteristic musical styles!

Mirabelle Mira is our soprano, but mostly her singing and music is very much in the style of Disney Renaissance musicals. Think Belle, Ariel, Hercules, etc. I think it fits her up beat but still sometimes anxious personality. Near the end of each King Fight she gets a cool high notes as she finally has some true confidence in herself!

Bonnie Bonnie would be played by a younger performer with an unchanged voice. This wouldn't really be a dance heavy show, but when there is dancing they would take the lead b/c that's cute. In terms of their singing though it's mostly inspired by classic kid characters from Broadway, namely Annie, The Artful Dodger, and Matilda (especially for their more emotionally intense moments). Their music isn't as difficult, and in group numbers they typically sing the melody with at least one other person.

Odile Odile is the alto of the quintet. It helps her sound more mature than Mirabelle and fits her vibe of not taking on the flashy role. Her music leans a bit more classical, almost Gilbert and Sullivan-esque in her more playful moments. Overall though it tends to be a bit more melodically challenging, but not super fast or syncopated. There would be melodic and instrumental flourishes in her music unique to her that are basically 'Ka Buan' musical elements.

Isabeau Leading man baritone! His style also fairly standard musical theater, but leans a touch more modern in it's styling to accommodate his more emotionally open vibe. He'll have the pop-inspired rhythms and chord progressions, but in group numbers he's the rock solid bass part holding everything together.

Siffrin Siffrin... does not sing almost ever for the first chunk of the show outside of group numbers. He's a tenor, and helps fill out the harmonies, but the impression the audience should get at the start is that they aren't really a soloist. As the loops go on, they gain a bit more confidence, taking bits and pieces of all of the other character's musical / singing styles as they go on. They don't get a full length solo to themselves until Mal du Pays. But the character that most influences their style is...

Loop Loop is full on Broadway Jazz, baby! Syncopated rhythms, brassy sound, fast patter lyrics, the whole shebang. Don't look behind the curtain at what all that glitter might be hiding, stardust~

The King Super bass, in the tradition of opera villains usually being basses. At first the only super stand out thing about his singing is that his range is so distinct, but in later encounters he gets both more delicate moments and moments where the true power of his voice to intimidate comes through.

(Also yes all of the Forgotten Island peeps will have a few musical elements in common to set them apart don't you even worry we'll get to it :3)

Euphrasie The Head Housemaiden has a short little mini song she does for the first bit of her speech. It's simple and catchy. Every time it transitions into her final speech as the musical motifs are distorted.

Dormont The people of Dormont sing mostly in a grand opening number ala the opening numbers for Beauty and the Beast, Fiddler on the Roof, The Music Man, etc. Little bits and pieces of the song come back in various combos and Sif loops and jumps around asking people new things. They would also double as disembodied voices for certain musical numbers that could use extra voices for full out harmony, dramatic effect, etc.

More will be coming soon, so I hope you enjoyed my ramblings.

[nymphbroadcast]

I had no idea how to go about this, but if it isn’t much to ask, could I request the Diasomnia boys with a Twilight Sparkle! Yuu/Reader headcanons. Romantic or platonic is completely up to you.

(P.S.A. Is it alright to put General Lilia instead of Present Lilia? I just really love Lilia in his General era, you don’t have to do this though.)

Diasomnia x MC! Like Twilight Sparkle

Sinopsis⊹ೃ🐉⋆ The Diasomnia boys with a MC! / Yuu Or S/O like Twilight Sparkle.

⊹Relationship⊹ೃ🐉⋆ Fall in love/ Free of interpretation.

⊹¡FEM! MC/Yuu/Lector ⊹ೃ 🐉

⋆⊹Clarifications: AAAAA I really loved this idea! Thank you anonymous for your request! Twilight is my favorite of the Mane Six and who I identify with sometimes, so I was really excited to imagine an MC! like Twilight with the Diasomnia boys, especially because of the plot that surrounds Twilight during the series, I kept many canon things about Twilight and Yuu from the game and the mangas, enjoy your request! PD: I'll also add Spike, because I love the older sister-little brother or mother-son relationship they both have ;)

⊹Twilight's Context⊹ೃ 🐉⋆

• Twilight is a character with great duality, she is very skilled in magic, she is intelligent and is always willing to acquire new knowledge, but that made her focus too much on just her studies and leave aside her social life, It is reiterated on several occasions that Twilight represents the Element of Magic and Dircord mentions that Twilight is the embodiment of magic, and in the comics Twilight's true magical ability is explored. On the other hand, more familiar, Twilight belongs to a family of high aristocracy, with her parents in noble positions and her brother as captain of the royal guard and she as the private student of Princess Celestia, who would later be her heir... At the beginning Twilight was apathetic to social events and even teamwork, which over time she began to fall aside and accept that friendship was not something like a distraction but rather an instrument to grow, both personally and intellectually. Twilight is a great leader, said on many occasions, she is able to recognize her mistakes and weaknesses, she also knows when to stop and does not put her pride before rationality for the common good, Although that does not mean that she does not have her negative sides, she can also worry too much and her tendency to worry about others often makes her fall into despair and paranoia, as well as when she is given a task of great responsibility and In her anxious process she begins to plan excessively and put all the responsibility on herself. Although as shown in the series, she always learns different lessons from her friends, who also help her constant personal improvement and as a future ruler.

Malleus Draconia

🐉 Oh someone catch this cute dragon boy because he's falling in love!

🐉 You are like a gift that his own magic has brought to him, you are so similar to him but so different from him too...

🐉 Something to sayis that you both are solitary (at least at the beginning) although you did it of your own free will and because of your desire to study, unlike him... Although that no longer matters, now you are his friend! and maybe... something else ;)... Something else that you both also share is your prodigiousness with magic, although since you were little you have the desire to learn more and you are talented and skilled through your own efforts and not just because you were born special.

🐉 Technically you come from a very high society, since being a star student of a famous princess **insert ur fav disney princess** surprises Malleus with your incredible social and magical position.

🐉 As your relationship progresses you introduce him to your little dragon companion, Malleus goes blank when he sees the young dragon even without his wings fully developed (don't even think about introducing him to Lilia, because Malleus's adoptive father will release the baby album Malleus) However, due to your friend's young age, Malleus does not see him as competition or in a jealous way. Over time, he may even come to see him as a son, believe me, he will become fond of him when he sees him being so close to you. and seeing you as a mother or older sister will soften Malleus' heart... Although, when you tell him that technically the little dragon is your son since as proof of the talent of your magic Malleus does not know what to say, since he has not even done something like effecting the birth of a being, he begins to respect you when he sees the magnitude of your knowledge and magic.

🐉 Although, returning to your flaws... Malleus doesn't know exactly what to do when he sees you enter a nervous and almost psychotic state when something happens that upsets you, he has never had to calm someone down before and the fact that that someone is you... Malleus decides to follow his instincts and Lilia's advice, words of comfort and physical touch, he hopes that that and his presence will calm your turbulent mind and to no one's surprise, it works.

🐉 As both have great magical potential, it would be necessary to see who has more knowledge, since Malleus has had some of the best magicians as teachers, but you have a Princess as a teacher and you have mastered countless spells with little effort, even mastering the light and dark magic (The return of the Crystal Empire, Twilight replicates Celestia's spell to open the door, in fact it is King Sombra's magic) and you handle different situations very well, which not only depend on your magic... Although anyway, you and Malleus meet to read and practice magic especially, since the magic that the Draconia possess makes you very curious and Malleus actually loves that instead of fearing his magic, it makes you very thirsty of knowledge.

🐉 Malleus is surprised how in a short time you have managed to learn the history of Twisted Wonderland and many of its nations, in fact you may be one of the few who really don't get bored in Professor Trein's classes, which is already an achievement, but see that you are seriously capable of storing all that data in your memory really amazes Malleus.

🐉 (Only a variant of the 'Cutie Mark' and a small suggestive hint are described here) Due to the type of NRC uniform your body is not exposed enough, but if you both reached 'that' moment, Malleus would quickly notice a cutie mark. a star and others around it on your hip, although he does not ask you directly, he investigates about this brand and discovers that in Twisted Wonderland this brand has been used multiple times to represent absolute magic, which leaves Malleus speechless and with heart pounding... Seeing that you are practically the incarnation of magic, he feels luckier that you are his and promises to take care of you and love you forever.

🐉 You are definitely someone very interesting in their eyes, in fact too much, you are always thirsty for knowledge and surrounded by books of all kinds, however from your side more people can see that you are a born Leader, loving and empathetic but firm and strict in the Maybe, for some reason, he feels that destiny has prepared a future for you as Ruler and he deeply hopes that it will be by his side.

🐉 Assuming that your promotion to princess would be soon, as well as Twilight's, you will have the big dragon boy attached to you for good and shouting to everyone in Twisted Wonderland that you will be his wife, he hugs you and coos at you whispering compliments and loving words of congratulations on your new status: "I always knew you would make it", "You look so beautiful even before you were an official princess" and "Now there is no excuse to hide that I love you, that we love each other, my dear~"

Lilia Vanrouge

(Present and General Lilia!)

🩸 The current Lilia would be fascinated in a good way by you, in his eyes he can really distinguish the pure magic that makes up your being and it amuses him to see how others seem to ignore it, even knowing that although you do not "belong" to Twisted Wonderland you are perfectly capable of using spells the size of Malleus himself.

🩸 While General Lilia would be intimidated and defensive, he is also able to sense your magic due to his proximity to Maleanor, but not knowing you or your intentions, it is normal for him to believe that you want to attack them, since that happens in wars and even more so. in one like that.

🩸 The present Lilia would have a lot of fun watching you deal with the Overblots and challenges that exist in the NRC, especially when you don't know the things like traditions and customs of Twisted Wonderland.

🩸 We already saw how shameless and to some extent cruel General Lilia can be, so don't be surprised when he doesn't believe that you are the student of a powerful princess or that you are equal or superior even in terms of magic to the Draconia.

🩸 The present Lilia would be absolutely delighted when she meets your baby dragon and memories of baby Malleus come like a waterfall, he does not stop fawning over the dragon and telling you anecdotes about when Malleus was a small lizard that barely existed (because don't tell me he didn't , there was nothing in that Malleus baby head) and also praise you because unlike the one who took 200 years to make Malleus born by giving him his own magic, you did it in an instant and without sacrificing your magic.

BABY MALLEUS SREAMER!!!

🩸 Unlike General Lilia, he doesn't know what to say about your little dragon companion, he's obviously not a draconian and although there are other dragons in Twisted Wonderland it's hard for him to associate them with the little one and he's even more stunned when he hears that your own Magic was what caused the birth of the dragon.

🩸 Lilia can see your strengths and vulnerabilities, he sees your constant anxiety and can't help but come to calm you down with words of support and, if necessary, knock you out so that your mind can rest, even for a minute. (In the case of General Lilia, he only use the last option.)

🩸 Although in the end, he ends up liking you for your duality in any way, he feels that somehow you will be someone great in the future and he hopes to be able to see you when that time comes.

🩸 In case you go out with one of his three sponsored children, Lilia would feel proud to see how you are a balance between 'humanity' and 'magic' and how honest you are in your affection towards the boy, and it has just been proclaimed adoptive grandfather of your little dragon.

🩸 On the other hand, if you are his partner, he will promise to take care of you and pamper you, make you feel at home with him and be a good father to your little dragon.

Silver

⚔ For Silver, you're so... Strange... In a good way, we all know he's not very social, so I don't think he's ever met anyone with as much thirst for knowledge as you.

⚔ However, if there is something he admires about you, it is your great capacity for leadership and self-sacrifice. Silver fully trusts you to wake him up if he falls asleep... Eventually.

⚔ In his free time, Silver likes for you to read a book aloud, it helps him relax and sleep better, regardless of the topic, Silver loves to listen to your calm and at the same time very interested voice in the topic of the book. +Bonus points if you let him put his head on your lap!

⚔ At the same time, you are incredible in magic and unlike General Lilia and Sebek, Silver has no problem comparing your magical potential with that of Malleus, for him you are actually admirable, given that you must not be more than 100 years old unlike Malleus. and yet you can cast spells of his Young Lord's level effortlessly.

⚔ Although more than your magical talent or the magic that emanates from you, what attracts Silver to you is how capable you are of facing situations that you possibly never thought you would experience.

⚔ It's not hard for him to believe that you're a student of a famous princess, considering he's seen you deal with Overblots and Dire Crowley's irresponsibility with ease.

⚔ Although it takes a while, he eventually becomes convinced of your magical power when he meets your little dragon companion and learns that you caused his birth and is practically like your son/little brother, Silver loves animals of all kinds as can be seen when he they surround him while he sleeps, so he will eventually become attached to the little dragon.

⚔ Although he won't believe you when you tell him that you used to be extremely asocial before coming to Twisted Wonderland, since he has always seen you accompanied by another first-year student and one of your two (Grimm and Spike) creature companions.

⚔ Although like Lilia and Malleus, Silver also notices the negative side of your personality, you are extremely anxious and prone to panic, not to mention when Crowley puts something important on you because he doesn't want to, although Silver wants to be careful and gentle when dealing with you to calm down, thanks to being educated and raised by Lilia, he ends up being a little... Brusque... With his words, although it surprisingly works. (Imagine Applejack kind of scolding Twilight, more or less)

⚔ Silver may be a lost prince and possess great magic from his dynasty, but even in his 'ignorance' he manages to identify your brand as the representation of the concept of magic itself and that makes him feel luckier to be with you.

⚔ Silver recognizes you as a great Leader, full of unknown potential and an attractive personality, even with flaws, Silver continues to see you as a beautiful balance between Magic and Humanity, something that attracts him more deeply to you, He promise to be the Knight to your future as a Princess, from now on. (And Malleus, of course)

Sebek Zigvolt

🐊 Sebek... Sebek... This is a complicated boy, at first he doesn't see you as anything more than a curious human with inferior, otherworldly magic.

🐊 And I'm sorry to tell you that this would be like this for a long time, until I can see more of your true identity and your magical power and as a person.

🐊 Rather, in Chapter 7, when he sees you fighting with your magic and comforting and helping Silver and Lilia.

🐊 Seeing you like this will make him remember your attitudes and why he suddenly changes his mind about you.

🐊 He understands your almost endless thirst for knowledge, he has seen you a couple of times in classes and admires that about you, no matter the subject you are always attentive, even with your energic friends on top.

🐊 Also remember your anxious side due to your worries and take note to help you (in your own way) with your anxiety attacks when you witness them, trust him, he is skilled with comfort even if it doesn't seem like it.

🐊 He obviously knows your little dragon and to be honest... He likes him much more than Grimm... He, incredibly idolizing Malleus and the Draconias themselves, will be incredibly delighted with your little friend, praising him for his helpfulness to you and his 'worthy' nature... Although he stiffens when you tell him how he was born, he slowly accepts that maybe... Just maybe... You could be much more skilled with your magic than he thought... Even almost like his Young Master.

🐊 Although yes, he is a little suspicious when he sees the symbol that you usually wear, he quickly recognizes it as the representation of magic itself and in reality, Sebek doesn't know what to think so he is patient.

🐊 Don't worry because this guy is slowly maturing and will eventually find you worthy of admiration and affection, without or with magic.

Nymph's Note:

I still don't know how to write to a romantic or loving Sebek, sorry T-T and sorry for take me too long, but I'm back again ♡

I hope you enjoyed!

Remeber to tune in, end of this broadcast!

Diasomnia Dorm x MC! Like Twilight Sparkle Done!

[fidenciocryptidcreechur]

sebek Zigvolt deserves more appreciation

him & rook hunt

They're just

I just

I just like them as so much as characters.

rook is unapologetically himself. He stays true to himself and his ideals no matter what anyone says. Even though literally everyone, including his closest friend Vil, thinks he's weird and even off-putting. Don't get me wrong about Vil. He and Rook are amazingly close but there are multiple instances where Vil finds Rook irritating. He is often told in some manner to curb himself, to tone down his passion for finding the beauty & positivity in all things. All he does is be unabashedly genuine & passionate & artistic & honest. He's also one of the few characters who is relatively kind to Game Canon You from beginning to end in game Canon. In multiple instances in his dialogue he invites others to join him in his hobbies and activities and despite being faced w/ hostility. Even on his birthday, Malleus did not want to go despite sending an invite-which yes Mal can have preferences - but still the fact that the King of lonely rejects an invite shows how fairly isolated Rook is. Yet despite criticism from all around, he maintains this unending positivity & drive to improve. I love Rook hunt

Sebek too. He is a very driven & honest Character. In multiple vignettes he is shown to be helpful, to Show care, to Show admiration for skill in his peers. Yes, he is standoffish. However, he is not deceitful nor manipulative nor does he seem to intend harm unlike a great deal of many especially early on. A lot of comments about humans seem to stem from internalized racism. There is a lot of canonical instances discrimination against fae, especially those who are notably different dwarves & the pixies. So it would be unsurprising if Sebek also grew up under discrimination AND scrutiny both from human community & the fae Community. We know that his grandfather Baul is very vocal about his disapproval of his fae daughter's marriage w/ a human. Yet despite this, he still does his best & still clearly cares. He grew up w/ parents who went against a lot of opposition to be together and are very loving and likely took some of that determination & attitude w/ him in life. He will give praise for skill and will help those he can. His circumstances & upbringing (Scrutiny & discrimination from both fae & humans, even his own grandfather though he mentions that progress has been made there). Despite all of this, he is doing his best and is a wonderfully genuine and honest and expressive and determined guy

So yeah

I love Sebek and Rook. They're great characters and I think they need more appreciation.

also these 2 put the Sebek appreciation way more eloquently than I

[caliburn-the-sword]

how come ONLY mal's parentage was ever important enough to have BOTH her parents name dropped in the movies, and not only that, both MAJOR antagonists and not just sidekicks or goons?? cause like. i get that carlos and jay aren't that much of main characters as the girlies, but c'mon after mal and ben, evie was more or less THE main characters. like. when mal was getting all angsty over her dad i whole heartedly believe that evie would've been "hey i get it. yk my dad ________ was also super absent in my life. i understand you <3"

anyway here are my theories on the unknown blank parents of some of the VK's, in order of how much i believe it to be true. shoutout to @piraterefrigerator who heard me out on this and let me bounce ideas off him to try as i tried to figure out who was whose parents

evie

now, we all know that the evil queen is the gold digger of all gold diggers. now, i believe that unlike most other villains and their henchmen, the second that snow white became queen, all of the evil queen's staff would've started serving snow white, snow white is beloved, and none of the evil queen's staff actually had anything to do with her vendetta against snow white OTHER than the huntsman, who i actually don't believe is on the isle since he was good and maybe?? died?? i can't remember

while the evil queen has a killer reputation like the rest of the parents of the core4, since she has no loyal army, no threat of magic to hold over peoples' heads once they all escape the island (i believe she was a potionsmaster/alchemist rather than someone with innate magic like maleficent or jafar), and we don't really know HOW those core 4 ever actually came to power, but we do know she came to power last out of those 4 on the isle since the maleficent exiled her for 10 years

... the place that i'm going with this, is that the evil queen MAY have seduced jafar to be able to share in his power on the isle. but to prove this, i'm going to have to dive into jafar as an individual

the only 'romantic' subplots we ever see jafar in are when he's pursuing jasmine. jafar may have soley wanted to marry jasmine for legal purposes (becoming sultan) and the pedo implications were a complete accident on disney's part. and since he has no claim to that throne through jasmine anymore once he was defeated

his plan getting with the evil queen COULD have been to take back her kingdom and become the king of that kingdom once they escaped the isle, especially because we NEVER actually see jafar complain about aladdin or jasmine, whereas maleficent wants to take over auradon, the evil queen gets pissy over snow white, and cruella harps on about the dogs. not only that, the evil queen is also the ONLY formerly royal woman on the isle that we're aware of in canon

i think. jafar would have ditched eq the second that maleficent banished her because he's more afraid of maleficent than he would have feelings for the evil queen, and he took jay since he wasn't in the immediate blast range (jay isn't eq's son) which is how that all worked

i also think that evie might be one of the only girls that jay doesn't flirt with??? i could be wrong. since i haven't read the first book in a few years

but like. evie is quite racially ambiguous, so while i don't think that makes or breaks this theory, i do think it supports it

a crackpot theory for another candidate of the evil queen's baby daddy is

but that's a furry, and evie has no furry qualities

dizzy

lady tremaine and her daughters are, you guessed it, also gold diggers, and i think that they, like all villains on the isle, would have clawed onto whatever power they could, especially given that they had none of their own legions, magic outside the isle, any reputation that they could stake their lives on (in the grand scheme of things, making a girl clean the house isn't all that grand compared to people that tried to conquer kingdoms)

now. we never see the tremaines in descendants so i'm inclined to believe that they look exactly as in the animated/live action cinderella movies, aka european descent, but dizzy herself is portrayed by a wasian actress

while the descendants casting was more or less raceblind for the vk's, i'm still inclined to believe that dizzy is actually the daughter of shan yu, which effectively would grant that evil stepsister a bit of a leg to stand on in the isle

carlos

now, carlos has NO magic, and is also noticeably paler than his mother. which means his father could be any white disney antagonist, which is *check notes* a lot of them. cruella is a nepo baby, so i don't think she would've been a gold digger like others on this list. especially because, as "the bitch that wanted 101 puppies dead for her fur coat" i don't think she needed anything for her reputation as the scary crazy bitch that wants 101 puppies for her fur coat

... narrowing down her baby daddy's identity to "possibly white" and "not magic" does not narrow it down by much since i don't have any other personal taste i could attribute to her, other than perhaps hunters

the candidates are, in most to least likely, are:

because i think only a catnapper would get behind cruella's batshit dognapping plan

however, there is also this guy:

cause i think she would appreciate his hunting of an exotic animal

this guy, because i think she would like the idea of a fox fur coat

this guy, because he does animal abuse and cruella would get behind that

or, my most crackpot theory yet:

"but cal, that's a wolf!! and cruella fucking hates dogs!!"

i could argue that cruella wanted to skin that guy for a coat and was gonna get him while he was a asleep, failed, and then raised carlos to believe all dogs are bad because fuck that guy in particular. also, carlos DOES run fast enough for the sport team as like. their canonically fastest player, despite him being a little computer nerd. that boy has never run in his LIFE. so like. you could attribute having a wolf father to him being a fastboi

harry hook

as for harry, i honestly think his mother is a milf. because those good looks had to come from SOMEWHERE

also, if we're following punnet squares, harry has light coloured eyes and hook has brown eyes, so one of hook's parents probably had blue eyes, and i imagine either hook's mother or his grandparents on that side of the family would have to have blue eyes. for simplicity's sake, i'm gonna assume that it was his mother so that i can narrow it down

harry ALSO doesn't have magic, so i'm running with the assumption that his mother has blue eyes, maybe dark hair (unimportant), and no magic, and is presumably white. one woman that fits the bill is mother gothel

jay

i will be referring to this post quite a bit

i need to start this by saying, there is a popular theory that jafar swapped out his actual child for aladdin's son, and jay is actually the son of aladdin and jasmine. i think that this is a stupid ass theory, because the barrier had already been up on the isle for 4 years at that point, and if jafar had managed to SOMEHOW get off the isle, travel all the way to agrabah, swap out their similarly aged children, do you not think he would have just STAYED off the isle instead of returning with his new son to stock the store??? he wouldn't need to stock the store if he WASN'T ON THE ISLE is all i will say. also, you don't just genetically inherit your parents' ability to steal, it is a learnt skill. jafar learnt how to do it, and then taught jay, plain and simple

however, unless jay is more than 9 months older than evie but less than 12 months older than her, then his mother would be some other woman, especially because the two were raised completely separately. i DON'T think that the evil queen is jay's mother, but i still think jafar would've gone as close to royal as possible since we know he values economic status

there aren't many female villains, so the main candidates for this would've been yzma (kuzco's royal adviser, very close to successful to stealing his throne), or the other tremaine evil stepsister??? since that was a reasonably wealthy family considering their inheritance

as for yzma, i don't think she has any inate magic of her own, just alchemy, which accounts for jay not inheriting any magic like mal. yzma is also, i assume, an albino latina, but whether jay has a european mother or a brown mother i don't actually think that matters too much since he's fairly ambiguous

sidenote, i always knew that booboo stewart was indigenous but i didn't know he was also asian omg

now for the son of jafar, obviously they couldn't be raceblind when casting him and had to find someone not white for the role. and hollywood treats brown people as quite interchangeably and just casts whoever as whoever (see the oscar isaac joke that in the 'a priest, rabbi, and imam walk into a bar' joke, he can play all three), but i'm using this as my proof anyway that jay is (possibly) a son of yzma

uma

uma is unfortunately at the bottom of this list, because i actually have no idea who her father would be. like sure, it would be easy to just go and say "well the only other Black villain on the isle is facilier so it must be him" but he is SO present in celia's life and has such a good relationship with her that i refuse to believe that he would in the same beat be completely absent in uma's life. unless there are other disney villains that got racechanged in the descendants universe that we're unaware of, i actually have no idea who uma's father would be, ESPECIALLY because the only comment ursula ever makes on men is in poor unfortunate souls, but that was more her gaslighting ariel than her actual proper view on men and romance. the only thing i can say is that since ursula is in squid form on the isle naturally despite the magic ban, but uma is naturally in human form, i definitely think that uma has a human father rather than a father from an undersea kingdom. if any uma stans want to weigh in here, please go for it because i'd love to hear who you think is uma's father

[total-feminism-takes]

Yeah yeah tdi writers when it comes to female characters could be better but can we please focus on the fandom? Y’all have no excuse as to how you treat these characters!!!

Hello some of the best written and intriguing characters are female, some of the best dynamics include females but y’all are too busy with your male characters and male ships and your internalised misogyny I mean what who said that???

But fr to go onto some of my most hated things in the fandom because I’m in a whingey mood and want to complain and this blog is great if it’s okay I’m gonna dump these here;

Courtney haters need to SHUT UPPPPPPP!!!! I don’t care if you think she’s badly written she’s not and especially not for tdi standards y’all just want to complain about an interesting female character there’s sooo much to her you can just dig into it’s delicious I love her!! And yet she’s still antagonised by the fandom??? I’m not gonna act like she did no wrong and wasn’t the villain because hello did we see action but it’s more nuanced that her being annoying and evil! Y’all just need to look at her more!!!

Svetlana is ALWAYS neglected by the tdi fandom hello she’s one of the alters we see the most yet everyone hates her!! Why!! She’s not my favourite sure I prefer Vito, Manitoba and maybe Mal maybe but come on! She’s a part of the gang too stop ignoring her!!!

People who hc male characters as misogynistic are icky stop itttttt!!! It’s not fun!!!! I have more to talk about this later but I hateee when people say that male characters are misogynistic when either they’re clearly not or they make such a deal of it cough Ezekiel. I’m fine with it being a joke once again I will make fun of Ezekiel till the day I die but when people low-key make the male characters misogynistic it’s like why! Especially when it’s male fans sorry had to be said.

Can we please not ignore platonic male and female friendships pretty please!!!!! We saw how many of the male and male friendships were fake and caved in on themselves we saw the downfall of the guys alliance why do we act like it’s only the females?? I swear the male and female friendships are the only normal ones in the show bar like Gwen and Duncan because they had to do that but hello we all love a bit of DJ and Heather why do we act like we don’t???

The way tdi fans treat the male x male relationships compared to the female x female relationships is soo gross leave them alone please! They can be just as good!!! You don’t believe me well gwourtney has just as much potential as any male x male relationship but y’all don’t want to hear that! And they’re all so fun hello?? Mkulia did more for the homosexuals than anything pride ever did (jokes). Also you can have your toxic yuri like you have your toxic yaoi y’all just can’t understand that there isn’t as critical of a difference between females and men as you like to act there is oops sorry

The way y’all treat Dawn… sighs. She’s not some cute little garden fairy especially not after tdi she definitely doxxes people on Reddit if they’ve wronged her she definitely leaked Scott’s ip address after tdi. Like yeah she’s nice and a good person and likes animals but let her have fun too please

The way roti fans treat zoey is despicable. They treat her either likes she’s the devil and evil and poor little Mike zoey is so hypocritical and evil and mean, or they treat her like she’s a two dimensional piece of cardboard. Didn’t want to say this but she had some of if not the funniest lines in roti. Yeah she sucked in AS but everyone did and im predicting people treated her like this before AS even came out.

Uh TL;DR treat the female characters like how you treat the males please they’re not that different you just hate women.

Uh take this all with a pinch of salt if you do any of this you don’t hate women im just being hyperbolic but there is clearly some issues with the way you view women if you do any of this. Sorry it’s true I’m sending anonymously because I fear this will strike a nerve.

❤️

[sad-outsider]

Why I didn't like the ending of R&R. Final part

The final part of my analysis and the main reason for my indignation is that the ending of R&R destroyed the entire arc of Alina’s development as a heroine.

Where does the trilogy begin? Alina is powerless, sick, lonely, not finding a place in this world and the only close person is Mal (although this is a controversial statement). Then, according to the classics, she turns out to be the chosen one, she finds allies, enemies and a great goal. In a good story, the main character is faced with difficult choices more than once over the course of the story, and each such choice changes him; each action has consequences and, as a rule, irreparable ones.

What do we see in the ending of TGT? Alina is back where she started, alone and powerless again, while constantly remembering the brightest period of her life, when she was a Grisha, and Mal, whom she sacrificed for the sake of victory, was ✨magically resurrected✨ simply because it was necessary, because Mal her one “true love”, her ray of sunshine and she doesn’t need anyone else, ugh.

What is the message of this story? Never grow up? Live in childhood? Shift responsibility to others, because you don’t want to do something yourself? Maintain the status quo, because you don't care about other people's problems? if you are oppressed, be patient and hope for a miracle? Do not under any circumstances dare to resist oppression, otherwise you are a villain and deserve to die? Excellent moral, Leigh Bardugo… for some immature people.

This ending is tantamount to what if Harry Potter had not destroyed the Horcruxes at the end, become a Muggle, allowing some strangers to kill Voldemort, and then got a job at McDonald's to provide for the Dursleys and returned to live in the closet, nostalgic for Hogwarts, and the author would have said in all seriousness , that everything was originally planned this way and would present it as a happy ending, and not as a tragedy. Do you think many fans of the franchise would be happy with such a “happy ending”? I don't think so.

For those who say that the ending should not always be standard and predictable, I agree, but you just need to be able to write a non-standard ending, otherwise it is better to follow the well-trodden path. After all, the whole point of surprises is that they should please. If someone shits under my door, I will certainly be surprised, but will I be happy?

And for those especially gifted who believe that I have no right to judge the author, because “this is her world, she sees it that way, and if you don’t like it, don’t read it.” I wouldn't say a word if this were fan fiction. But this is a commercial product, I bought these books with money, hoping to read an exciting story with a dark romance (yes, I am one of those people who started reading and finished it mainly because of Darklina), but instead I got wasted potential and disappointment. And people usually get angry when they aren't sold what they want.

[aleksanderscult]

so. First of all I love your blog. Seriously I think you are one of the person who have comman sense in this fandom. I like everything you post. While scrolling through Tumblr I came across the usual anti darkling post ( he is groomer , murderer etc etc ) i did the thing I usually do when I came across such thing : I skip. A tag caught my eye. I don't remember but it's say something like : the only reason you like him is that he is Ben Barnes if darkling is a girl you couldn't like him. Which made me think what if darkling was a girl and alina as a boy. I just image a sexy hot black hair women with pale skin and grey eyes and morozova genes. Which..........is enough to made me think if I am a Bi 🤔. That image has not left me for a week and my dreams. So my question is

What do you think might happen if darkling is a girl and alina is a boy. How might the events of SaB and SaS will be affected. And m*lina too,of mal is a girl too. You thoughts 🤔

Thank you so much, anon! It makes me happy to know that others enjoy my blog and content. 😍

First of all about what that anti said: I personally didn't like Ben Barnes as the Darkling so it obviously doesn't apply. And even if the Darkling was a girl I would still root for her. I root for any character that fights for something better, for a positive change to happen among such oppression. And I think that's one of the major reasons his fans love him as well.

Now about your question: Boy, I would love to see that. I was always attracted to dangerous women, especially the ones that combine beauty and slyness (like Milady in "The Musketeers" or Morgana from "Merlin" post season 2).

But I don't think the story would be affected that much with the only exception that Alina in a male form would probably not be slut shamed for his attraction to the Darkling (in this version she would be called Aleksandra which is a fact that I love!)

The Darkling would remain an interesting character but, God, does that mean that Alina as a man would still avoid his duties?? 😭

And Mal as a girl. She would obviously be popular and well-liked by everyone but imagine that: she would sleep around with many guys and then attack her best friend for falling in love with a girl that isn't her. Well, for one thing it doesn't stick. You see if Mal as a girl fucked around then she would be called a whore (just like Alina was indirectly called one by Mal for wanting Aleksander) while in the original story when Mal did that no one raised a single eyebrow. So we live in a fictional world where if you do that as a guy then you're okay but if you're a girl then you should be called a prostitute. And Leigh had Mal get away with his behavior so she was more willing to let Mal pass with his sexist behavior than the Darkling who had enough and tried to put end to his people slaughter for good.

Anyway, I believe Mal's character would change a lot if he was a girl (primarily his fuckboy nature because the author doesn't allow a girl to have sexual liberation in her books) and I have a feeling she would be boring (again). And I don't think she would be a tracker?

Alina as a man wouldn't be slut shamed (because he's a man 🤷) but he would still avoid the Darkling. Nevertheless the chemistry would be off the charts. And the Darkling would slay like always. She would be the personification of femme fatale but her goal would be selfless and true like always. For some reason, I imagine her as a very seductive figure (although my wishful thinking might be speaking here).

The real question here is how the relationship between the Darkling as a girl and her mother, Baghra would be. Would Baghra want a daughter in the first place but she got stuck with Aleksandra because it was her only child that shared her powers? Or if Baghra had no problem with her child's sex, would she still be that possessive and controlling over her?

My own answer is yes and Baghra would most definitely leave a trauma to the Darkling even if she was a girl. That woman has no parenting skills in any universe. Just like I can't see the Darkling be anything else other than a fighter and a survivor in any other scenario.

[ladysarai]

@inception30daychallenge day 1: my favorite thing about the movie

I think my FAVORITE thing about Inception is how MUCH there is to it, as a movie. You can watch it a zillion times and get something new from it every time, and you can read one person's take and be impressed and amazed because you didn't even think of that take!

But what REALLY makes me sit up and pay attention to a piece of media is Characters, and Relationships. I love how MUCH the cast did with so very little... I want to know EVERYTHING about Arthur's relationships with Mal and Dom, (okay, ESPECIALLY Mal) just because of the way he calls Mal "lovely" and because of the way he PUTS UP with Dom and follows him around and has obviously been loyal through So Much Shit and then the way he SMILES in the end. Cobb himself is a hot mess, and given only the context of the movie, you have to wonder why anyone would put up with the things he puts Arthur through, so there has to be a history there, right?? And OF COURSE I'm here for Arthur and Eames and their shared history, whatever that may be (they're married okay). The fact that in the paper script, Arthur and Eames could have been played so differently by two other actors is... It's a little awe inspiring, and just makes you really appreciate what actors can bring to their roles.

I love that every single time I watch it, there is something new to notice, some new nuance to pick up on, a new piece of canon that can be used to spin out headcanon or fic from. And I absolutely ADORE that so much is open-ended and there's no real WRONG interpretation; I think that's what's given the fandom such lasting power over the years. We're give so little actual canon that very little fanon is actually contradicted. It's kind of beautiful that way.

On a personal note... When I say that I'm new to the Inception fandom, I mean BRAND NEW... like as of April of this year new. Which is not to say I didn't see the movie when it came out in 2010, because I did! I watched it more than once! But here's the thing... You ever have those experiences where OTHER PEOPLE ruin a thing for you before you give it a chance yourself?

That's what happened with me and Inception. I thought "hey, fun movie" and left it at that. Largely because my younger brother was in this weird "I'm a Movie Connoisseur/Expert and My Opinion is the One That Counts" stage and as someone with self-proclaimed "man crush" on Leo, he was All About Cobb, who is easily my LEAST favorite character. He was also All About arguing for the "it's all a dream" theory over the ending, which I think beautifully demonstrates the main difference between us: I am an optimist and prefer happy endings. So he would Not Shut Up about this movie and how GROUNDBREAKING it was and how the pessimistic viewing of the ending was the Only True Way to watch the movie. (May I say how much I fucking love that this has generally been disproved in the last 14 years? Because I have serious Schadenfreude over that.)

(I was also RPing in a panfandom LJ game at the time with people who were obsessed with playing characters played by Certain Actors and our game wound up with an Arthur and an Ariadne and I think they shipped them but it was full of ~drama~ and I wanted nothing to do with it so I kept my Barbies on my corner of the game and avoided theirs.)

ANYWAY, this is a very convoluted and long-winded way to get to my point. Which is that I largely forgot about Inception for the last 13 years-ish. Then I was rereading some old fanfics in March and because I liked an author, I went to see what other fandoms they'd written for. And somehow I fell into Inception and discovered Arthur/Eames, and HOW THE FUCK DID I MISS THAT????? After a few weeks of reading fic, I decided to watch the movie again and, well. Then I was watching it every other day for several weeks.

Moderation? What's that?

So another favorite thing about this movie is that I got back into fandom for the first time in... god. Almost ten years???? Because of it. Which is a little miraculous by itself.

[turnaboutspoiler]

I still have some suspicions about Rollo getting his own card and becoming playable character...

Warning! Spoilers for book 7

I really do think GloMas is more than just another Halloween event.

Personaly I consider it as some kind of a "bridge" between Books 6 and 7. I don't remember we've ever had an event which was so connected with the main story. GloMas implies you to know the UMs of 90% of participating characters as you already read 6 chapters and there's no point in hiding them, BUT it never shows or even mentions Silver, Sebek, or Malleus' UMs (though Sebek's lightning would be really helpful in the battle). Also the true natures of some characters (like Jamil f.e.) are shown, though it can be spoilers for someone who hasn't read the 4th Book. Not to mention Idia's part in the story. His whole speech about being an expert in certain field and his understanding fo Rollo's situation is actually a huge spoiler for Book 6 (even if it doesn't tell you the whole thing about Ortho).

So my point is Rollo may actually be an important character in future main story!

The situation we're in now is pretty shity. The whole Sage Island fell asleep and the only awaked characters are Silver, Sebek, Yuu and Ortho. The last one made a smart decision to ask for help outside the island. STYX is a powerfull organization but Papa Shroud said that even them don't know much about Malleus' power and how it works. So is there another powerfull someone outside the damage area? Yes. Rollo.

Don't get me wrong, I don't compare one student to an ancient organization, but Rollo is a really strong mage. Back in GloMas Malleus even said that he felt scared for a moment because of him. Rollo also has an experience in fighting Malleus, he felt his power, he knows it (I understand that normal Mal and OB Mal are like two different things but the magic's nature is still the same). Moreover, Silver, Sebek and Idia (who's gonna to wake up sooner or later*) know Rollo and his abilities, especially Idia.

So I really do hope Rollo's gonna come back, though it seems impossible even for me lol. But some time ago we thought event character having their own card is impossible, sooo...

---

Giving him a card also can mean that there's gonna be a battle where you have to use Rollo to fight, like we had damn towers back in Book 6 or battle maps in Book 7.

Maybe it's just me who wants Rollo to come back, but I like thinking about stuff like that. Anyway, thank you for attention!

*I haven't read B7P6 yet, but I know Idia shows up at the end, though I dk the curcamstances (dream or reality), pls don't spoil it for me!!

[fraudulent-cheese]

3 give me 3 I wanna know abt the sierra and camzoke friendship

- 👽

oo, perfect, it's one of the ones i can write on my phone!

Ok so. Not an unpopular opinion to say the way they wrote Sierra during All-Stars and what happened with Cameron wasn't great. I haven't watched the season, but if it's anything like the WT Cody obsession, i would probably dislike watching it unfold. Especially since if any G1 contestant would have incentive to interact with the second generation's cast, Sierra would be on the top of my list.

Think about it. Sierra really doesn't make friends with anybody (except somehow Cody and maybe Heather) during her time on World Tour. Most of them don't like her, for good reason, or just haven't talked with or to her in canon. Frankly with the way she acts in social situations and from some of her own words, the only friends she has were probably online friends, and with the kind of media circus Total Drama generates? I don't even know if she's kept any after WT aired.

POINT IS: Sierra is nerdy, she's weird, she's pretty isolated and excentric and lonely and what group does this describe well? The Friendship finale!

All three are considered weird and have been isolated in the past either by their peers (Zoey) or circonstances out of their control (Cam and Mike). Cameron's a nerd, Zoey's an indie girl, Mike is a system (and probably a nerd too let's be real); none of them fit in and while they might want to, from my perspective their friendship arc is about being themselves and accepting one another.

Which leads into my main point: Sierra could've been a part of that! She shares multiple things in common with them, she's nerdy like Cam, she was a Total Drama fan like Zoey and she's very atheltic + she's already expressed liking for Mike's alters! (she considers Svetlana her favorite after all!) Hell before the Cody hallucination thing, her and Cameron got along pretty well!

She also contrasts pretty well with the trio who strike me as more introverted folks compared to the hyperactive, excitable and outgoing Sierra. She'd probably make friends with them fast considering she befriends Sam in canon pretty quickly and in competition, they'd all be on the same team.

To my knowledge, there's also no mention of Sierra "knowing everything" about the second generation's cast, which is such a golden opportunity for Sierra to build genuine connections with other teens her age without having known everything about them previously. That was the main problem with her interactions with the Gen 1 cast, the parasocial relationship that was in the way of them having actual interactions were both parties treat eachother like human beings and not celebrities or whatever (Sierra's general social awkwardness aside).

Hell if they were gonna go with the Mal plot for TDAS, Sierra could've helped Cameron or Zoey realise what was happening faster, or perhaps in an overcorrection of her past behavior trusts Mal when he says he's Mike and thinks Cameron trying to figure out if it's true is being intrusive (and maybe then her knowledge of what previous season antagonists had done identify patterns in Mal's behavior that at the very least lets her determine he's being a dick).

TLDR: Sierra becoming friends with the friendship finale trio would've given both her and the entire trio something else to do during the season. Depending on what direction you want to go with her character, there's also different things you could do with them!

[princeescaluswords]

ur addition to ur post about scott being forced to treat derek terribly reminded me of the way ppl react to alina killing the darkling. like yeah her killing him was the only way to resolve the situation she'd been put in (by darkles himself). yet ppl keep doing rewrites where alina is meant to 'fix' him or joins his side like. Huh?????

(I must preface this with the reminder that I have only seen the Shadow and Bone television series. I know nothing of any differences that might be in the novels.)

There's nothing wrong with rewriting a story; that's what fanfiction is for, after all. But if someone wishes to write an ending where Alina Starkov chooses Aleksander Morozova, they have their work cut out for them. It requires them to alter the characters and histories of either the Sun Summoner or the Darkling (or both) so much that they literally become different characters. My concern (and I think you share in this) is that people believe that Alina, as portrayed, could easily have chose to be with Aleksander, as portrayed, and they could have a happily ever after.

I can't possibly see any scenario where this can be true. Let us propose, for example, that we vanish Mal Orestev. Poof! He never existed. Alina's early life would still have been dominated by oppression and prejudice, oppression and prejudice that exists in part because of Aleksander's choices, no matter how noble the motivations for those choices were at the beginning. While grisha have always faced oppression, Alina's youth was shaped by fear and disenfranchisement; her life was defined by either her race, her poverty (exacerbated by the Fold), or her potential as the Sun Summoner. This world, in turn, was shaped by Aleksander's actions. No matter how charming and passionate the Darkling is, Alina's history and her character would propel her to question her own feelings for him and his feelings for her. Alina would be betraying every part of herself if she chose the life promised by Aleksander, and I think the story, as portrayed, makes that very clear.

But let's say she did it anyway; with her strength of will, she decided that she would join with the Darkling and accept the injustice done to her (and everyone else) as insufficient to prevent her from being with him. There still can be no happy ending in sight. Nothing in the history or character of Aleksander Morozova indicates that he would be content or even able to treat Alina as an equal, as a real partner. He certainly didn't respect her when she defied him. Everything we see and know about him indicates a pattern of dominating everyone around him, from his loyal followers to his own mother. I don't feel that the fact that Alina is his equal in magical power would help their relationship in any way. Aleksander would see in the Sun Summoner a danger if he could not control her, and Alina would have to become submissive.

Again, fanfiction has great powers of transformation, but there is a limit to how far a writer can stretch plot, setting, and most importantly characterization before it must be questioned if there is still a meaningful connection to the original material. Once that point is breached, readers like you and me have to question if the writer is actually not a fan but only insincerely passing themselves off as one.

This is my problem with the many spiteful interpretations of Master Plan (2x12). For example, I often bring up that people rewriting that scene tend to ignore the immediate mortal danger Allison was in when Gerard demands Scott make Derek bite him. Their motivation is obvious. The know as well as I do that there is nothing in Scott's nature or history, as portrayed, would lead him to place place Derek's autonomy above saving Allison's life, especially when Scott knows that Derek's Bite will disable (if not kill) Gerard and thus save Derek, Allison, and Derek's pack as well? There is simply no alternative that makes sense.

Like Alina, Scott's decisions had been shaped by what he had endured for the previous twenty-four episodes. While, contrary to popular fandom interpretation, he didn't hate Derek, being honest with Derek would require him to ignore too much. Derek had concealed information from him (the alpha's very existence), manipulated him repeatedly ("It's not going to come for free"), disregarded his needs ("I can't let her live!"), and outright betrayed him three times (the locker room shower, the cure, Peter's resurrection). Derek had demonstrated that he would chose lethal violence repeatedly and -- what is arguably worse -- had been a spectacular failure every time he tried to do that. Gerard, on the other hand, had delivered on every single threat he had made. Peter himself made that point in Battlefield (2x11): "You weren't ready. Because of it, Gerard is winning." The wisest plan was the one Scott went with. The only possible counter argument -- Derek's terrible history with Kate -- was something that Scott did not know about. There's a reason Derek didn't hold Master Plan against Scott, and it wasn't bad writing.

I feel our dissatisfaction with particular fandom behaviors isn't about some insistence that canon is sacrosanct. To us, the transformation they are performing is incomplete and ill-wrought, like a badly Photoshopped picture where someone we appreciate ends up having three arms, because the writer/fandom isn't working with the whole subject but only the parts that they want to change, yet they try to pass it off as a real picture. For me, personally, this dissatisfaction also arises from the idea that there are not-so-hidden motivations for the transformation: racism, classism, decadence, and misogyny.

Fiction often portrays dark events as well as heroic events, and if it is quality fiction, all those events are clearly motivated and make sense according to the plot and within the setting. It's an organic whole. Alina would not choose the Darkling and be happy because it goes against everything we know about both of them; Scott created his Master Plan because it goes along with everything we've watched him experience. Different outcomes would require different stories.

[darlingandmreames]

@inception30daychallenge Day 2: Classify each character according to the alignment chart

Dom: Neutral Evil. This sounds a lot crueler than I mean it to. I don't think Dom acts with malice and I do think he often believes he's acting in the best interest of others. But I also think he's very good at lying to himself. Most of what we see of him in the movie, both currently and in the past, is him acting in his own self-interest, without much regard to the impact on others and often to their (usually unintentional) detriment.

Ariadne: Neutral Good. On the other end of things, we have Ariadne. We see her take major risks and break major rules to help people (mostly Dom, though also Fischer to some extent) throughout the movie. I think she's got some True Neutral flair, but ultimately falls best in the Neutral Good category.

Arthur: Lawful Neutral. My boy loves rules and even when he breaks them, he tends to do so in methodical ways governed by rules of their own (e.g., paradoxes). He's also not one to take unnecessary risks and prefers there to be an orderly and well defined plan before going into something. I do think he's got a Neutral Good flair, particularly in the support of Dom and mentoring Ariadne, but ultimately I think his actions tend less towards intentionally helping or hurting others and more towards establishing an orderly way to achieve his goals, whatever they may be.

Eames: Chaotic Neutral. As a forger, I think identity is particularly important to Eames and he strikes me as someone who holds his personal freedom and identity as a priority above just about anything else. Similar to Arthur, I don't think he necessarily tends towards specifically helping or hurting others per se, but his primary goal is maintaining that personal freedom and he will help or hurt others to achieve that if necessary.

Yusuf: True Neutral/Neutral Evil. I think Yusuf kind of saddles the line between True Neutral and Neutral Evil. He strikes me as the one most removed from the actual dream process itself, viewing it much more as a dispassionate science than the others do. He approaches dream sharing in the same way he approaches the chemistry of making a compound, and tends to seek the correct balance necessary for a particular situation. He's also simultaneously very aware of the damage long-term dream sharing can have, especially with a very strong compound, and completely willing to ignore those consequences because doing so is good business.

Saito: Lawful Evil. Saito is a fabulously wealthy man with a very in depth understanding of the systems he works within and enough money to manipulate them to get what he wants. His goals aren't necessarily always bad (breaking up the Fischer-Morrow empire) but even when there are genuinely good outcomes (preventing a full monopoly), these outcomes are secondary to his personal motivations (protecting his business interests). He isn't one to intentionally harm others in pursuit of his goals, but he will manipulate the systems he's in and the people within them to achieve his goals.

Mal: Alive- Chaotic Good. Shade- Neutral Evil. Alive, I think Mal valued freedom above just about anything else and dream sharing encapsulated that, but only as long as she could wake up after. She convinced herself that she was awake in limbo and when Dom interfered with that, the consequences were drastic. And when she came to believe she was still asleep in the real world, she took the drastic steps she viewed necessary to regain her freedom and wake up. As a shade, I think Mal retains that ruthless pursuit of her goals, but she's also been infused with Dom's guilt and regret. And through that, her goal of freedom has been replaced by the goal of ensuring Dom suffers the fate he believes he deserves. Whatever impact that may have on others is no longer her concern.

[sleepyking]

I’d like to preface this by saying I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST. I’m a thirteen-year-old who has an interest in psychology and wanted to give this a try. And even though I consulted my mom, who is a licensed therapist with a degree in psychology, for some of this, and that I’ve done a shit ton of extensive research, still remember that this is just a hobby of mine, not a profession.

Also, color key:

Mal

Maleficent

Me(may also be bold if in a paragraph with another blue character)

Evie

Jay

Carlos

Hades

Freddie

With that out of the way, welcome to Psyhologically Analyzing Fictional Characters Part One: Mal[Descendants], brought to you by King and approximately four days of no sleep.

I’m going to split this up into sections: overall personality, motivations, backstory/personal history, desires, fears, moments from the books and movies that point to PTSD, and a look at some of her relationships(in no particular order).

And it’s all under the cut<3

OVERALL PERSONALITY

Mal’s character is honestly one of my favorites, even if just from the standpoint of breaking down everything that causes her to be how she is.

The wiki describes her as a “sneaky, smart, ruthless girl who was raised to be a leader.”

This is true–she is sneaky, she is smart, and she was raised to be a leader. Ruthless, however, is how she was at the beginning of the first movie. By the end of Descendants, she’s changed.

The wiki also mentions that she doesn’t want to appear weak, which I feel is one of the most accurate lines in the entire personality section of her wiki.

HISTORY

Mal was born and raised by Maleficent on the Isle of the Lost. On their own, those two things are terrible enough, but combined, they’re even worse.

She was also raised not knowing who her father was or what happened to him and why he wasn’t in her life, but we’ll get to that later. (Editing King here: I never actually get to that later)

She attended Dragon Hall, the school on the Isle, and, even though I’ve never read the books(sorry), I get the feeling that whoever taught there wasn’t the nicest and probably had unconventional methods of punishment.

Now, it’s no secret that Maleficent is evil–it’s literally the entire point of the movie(how she’s the “worst of them all”).

So, saying that she’s probably abusive isn’t that much of a stretch, even though I really wish it was because nobody deserves to go through life being abused by someone who’s supposed to protect and take care of them.

MOTIVATIONS

Motivation is a big part of a character, and can help you understand everything that they do.

As I said before, Mal doesn’t want to appear weak, especially to her mother, which gives us our first motivation.

Another thing that I’d like to mention is that Mal is protective of her friends.

And, from someone who’s extremely brotherly and protective of pretty much everyone, I understand a lot of what she does from the standpoint of how can I keep them safe?

Because, think about it: if Mal fails her mother, there’s more than one way of punishing her. There’s more than one way to keep her in line.

Physical punishments, even though they’re terrible, can get to a point where they aren’t as effective–the more of something that you experience, the higher your tolerance to it will be.

But emotional attachments? Those can be exploited in any way, shape, or form, and they’ll always work. If you care about someone, you’ll do what’s necessary to keep them safe. You can’t build a tolerance to something like threats if they’re aimed at other people.

DESIRES/GOALS

Desires and fears play a huge part in a story, and Descendants is no exception.

Throughout the first movie, Mal’s desires were mostly the same; at the beginning, it was to prove herself to her mother and to keep her friends safe(the latter never really changes). When they get to Auradon, it’s to steal the wand. As the story progresses, however, she becomes less and less sure of what she wants(as shown in If Only). By the end of the first movie, her desires have changed–she wants to stay in Auradon, she wants to be good, she wants to choose her own life.

In the second movie, she’s unsure, she doesn’t know what she wants anymore. She’s not used to anything in her new life–people are nice to her, she can do what she wants, she’s free of her mother.

But you can’t change your past, and you can’t work through trauma in a couple of days.

Even in the third movie, she’s not completely sure what she wants–she’s torn between what her heart says, and what her brain says. And after a lifetime of ignoring her heart and listening to her brain, what do you expect for her to do?

FEARS

The big one; her mother.

Mal is terrified of Maleficent, and we see this in the movies and in the books—they even explicitly say in the books that she’s scared of her mother.

Another one is not being enough. This isn’t said in any Descendants media(to my knowledge), but it is implied.

RELATIONSHIPS

Evie is like Mal’s older sister—honestly, she’s basically the older sister/“mom” of the Core Four. She takes care of everyone, and she keeps them (relatively) out of trouble when they’re in Auradon.

She’s the daughter of the Evil Queen, so, of course, she cares a lot about appearances(an example being in the second book when she gets goosebumps and her first thought is “That had to stop. Pebbly skin was so not attractive,” which I’ll talk about more when I get to Evie’s character analysis).

Jay is the protector of the group in a way—he’s the strongest, and he’s really protective of the others.

His relationship with Mal is actually one of my favorites, it’s SO SWEET(“when it came down to Mal, she was like a sister,”)

If Evie is the mom, he’s the dad(platonically).

If Evie is the older sister, Jay is the middle child—older than Mal and Carlos, younger than Evie.

Carlos is the baby brother, and he’s the most emotional of the four(he’s also the smartest!).

Mal’s relationship with him is special to me. Mal is kind of like the opposite of Carlos—she doesn’t know how to deal with her emotions, so she hides them, she locks them up and throws away the key. Carlos, on the other hand, accepts his emotions, he feels them.

BOOK/MOVIE SCENES

“For her mother was the great Maleficent, Mistress of Darkness, the most powerful and wicked fairy in the world and the most fearsome villain in all the land.” This speaks for itself.

“You know how much you are a disappointment to me,” This right here? This is verbal abuse.

“You didn't get to be number one by being merciful, or even reasonable.” No, no you don’t, not in the villain world. And if Maleficent wasn’t merciful to anyone, why would she make an exception for her daughter?

“It wasn't only Mal who could see her mother's hand in every stone around them. The carved creatures sneered in exactly the same way Maleficent did, their teeth pointed, their mouths cruel. Mal looked at them, frozen. Then Carlos realized it was because she was paralyzed by fear.” Mal is terrified. She sees things that remind her of her mother, and she freezes in place.

Not to mention that Maleficent literally calls her daughter a servant.

Now, onto book two:

“Out of habit, she looked over her shoulder at the door to Maleficent’s prison. Until recently, Mal had only felt the ground rumble like that when a great big dragon stomped around during the Coronation attack, so Mal couldn’t help but associate earthquakes with her mother.” Victims of abuse learn to associate certain things with punishment, and this is no different.

“Mal could think of a few M’s in her life, but there was only one M that mattered the most. The big one. Maleficent.” Pretty self explanatory in my opinion.

“In other words, darker than anything her friends at Auradon Prep could imagine…” The Isle is a terrible place—the exact opposite of Auradon. The AKs grew up practically spoiled, so they wouldn’t know how to last in that kind of world.

“When she was a little girl, Mal had been very terrified of her mother.”

“She was more the fearsome mistress that sent you on hopeless quests—like the one to retrieve her Dragon’s Eye scepter—and she didn’t take no for an answer.” The dictionary defines the word mistress as a few things. The ones that are most relevant for the point I’m trying to make are these: a woman in a position of authority or control. Sounds like Maleficent. A female head of household. Yep. And the one that sounds the worst in this context but I can’t rule out; the female owner of a dog, cat, or other domesticated animal.

Why am I so dark-

“Someone was skulking outside the door when Mal walked out, and she immediately tensed, prepared for an ambush.” Honestly, this one speaks for itself.

“You know if she ever gets out of there, she’ll come after you first.” That’s a pretty interesting choice of words there, Freddie, almost sounds as if Maleficent is gonna attack her own daughter…OH WAIT, THATS RIGHT-

I haven’t read the third book yet(nor have I finished the second one, sorry) but I will update when I do!

(Also, I’d like to point out that when Fairy Godmother raises her arms when welcoming the core four to Auradon, Mal flinches. Think of this as you like.)

[virginmiri99]

Looking for new content? Here's a list of CCs I like while I procrastinate cleaning my room

I will go from most popular to least and maybe you'll find something you are interested in. Kinda long so I added read more.

DougDoug - needs no introduction as he is very popular, I recently started watching his videos because a student vouched for him and while I can see why kids will like his challenge videos, I also find his content very entertaining. Especially while you eat dinner. Big fan of his zelda content. Parkzer is an interesting side character.

Squeex - PLEASE. If you want to get into Squeex start with his beating every mario kart game video. It's a good introduction and you can go from there. Please.

Linkus7 - My favorite Zelda runner as of late, I consider him a part of a triangle consisting of PointCrow, Smallant, and him. Though, he is lesser known within the greater sphere of twitch. His randomizers are the most fun in my opinion. I try to save his recent vods when I can, as he doesnt save them anymore.

Sambucha - STOP he makes like lowkey mindless kids content videos but I'm like obsessed with him for some reason. One of my students forced me to watch his "beating the easiest world records" video and I was immediately enthralled. He makes content thats easy to listen to while you draw. But I'm sure you can do other things with it on in the background.

Sturniolo Triplets - Content that is popular with teen girls, but I'm still obsessed for some reason. I just love people who have a good relationship just hang out together. Podcast vibes. Nick is the funniest. CONS: Chris is a queerbaiter at heart, though he is in a youtube group with his brothers. Hmm. Cant be doing that here.

Stephanie Soo - Mukbang true crime girl. I loved her video in high school and I would always put on her videos while I was in painting II - III or drawing. Too bad I cant watch her anymore because too much true crime makes me too paranoid. If you like true crime shes an easy watch, keeps thing friendly and accessible. I love her and her husbands relationship.

Trin Lovell - Reviews movies and by far my favorite movie watcher on youtube. Her editing is really funny and quippy. She got popular from watching best and worse riverdale and glee episodes (shes a big glee fan). my favorite videos from her are where hands touch and skinamarink. I have gained many new phrases from her.

StephenPlays - Smaller youtuber whos been in the game for like fifteen years. He is very chill and does letsplays with his friends and wife. I recommend his twilight princess and mario kart play throughs (featuring his wife Mal).

Any Austin - one of my fav youtubers ever and I've been a fan of him for 11 years now. He basically shaped my humor as a kid and I recommend his eggbusters series to get started. He had a letsplay channel called Two People Playing Games with his friend Aysha that sadly disbanded as they became too busy in their lives to keep up with it. Austin has done a lot of content over the years and recently is getting big for is "calculating the unemployment level of ___" keep this on the DL but if you ever want any privated videos I know a guy.

The Fisher - MAGNET FISHING

People you may have heard of, but made never checked out! My vouch:

Drew Gooden - Obviously. Funniest commentary youtuber. If you haven't watched him what are you doing?

Jenny Nicholson - I got into beef with her in 2019 (i think) when everyone was making fun of her for being a Reylo and she blocked me. I still like her commentary videos. Especially for background noise. My acc she blocked me on was suspended.

Johnny's Communication Center -

Sinjin Drowning - theyre snakes and lowkey the azealia banks of I guess roblox content bc thats all they do anymore but I'll be damned if I'm not CACKLING at them. They have a trail of destroyed friendships as long as the empire state building behind them.

[normal-thoughts-official]

Just absolutely heartbroken thinking about how Mal and Imtura must have missed each other after they had their fallout

Imtura and Mal always got each other and were easily the fastest, easiest bond to form between any of the LIs with each other. Not that the other possible combinations aren't all great in their own way (that's one of the strengths of Blades imo), but Mal and Imtura think similarly, have similar values, similar personalities, and, from what I can remember, never even had a single disagreement the whole time they were traveling together. Their dynamic was easy, tripping each other up on the streets of Undermount, they brought a lightness to each other and the group that no one else could. They both understood what it's like to be an outcast - Imtura for being an orc, Mal for being extremely poor. They even had a similar kind of complicated relationship with their past/family, where they both ran as far as possible from them and couldn't push it fully away

My point is, they understood each other possibly the best out of any other dynamic in that group. And it showed, from the way they always had similar opinions and worldviews to the way they joked around easily nearly from day 1. And because a good part of that bonding was exactly because they were both outcasts in nearly all the places they went to together, losing that meant that, once again, they were left to be the odd one out, the one no one really understands. Especially without MC, who, depending on your choices, also had a similar dynamic with them both

For Imtura especially I just cannot imagine how hard it must have been. She was convinced someone she loved deeply (whether romantically or not) was dead. She watched them get snagged right in front of her as she was helpless - the single thing she hates being more than anything - to do anything, and then she was convinced they had died, and she was heartbroken. And then all her other friends, the ones who were supposed to get how she was feeling because they went through the exact same thing, turned their backs to her

And I can't be sure, but I strongly suspect that Imtura knew or at least thought that Mal agreed that MC was dead. I mean, let's be real, nothing else makes sense for his character. Mal has never been an optimist a day in his life. They met Threep and his instant reaction was "clearly this thing is gonna grow to be huge and eat our faces off". He has that whole devil-may-care attitude about being in dangerous situations, yes, which we know is a facade (he himself said he's always a little afraid), but when it comes to predicting the outcomes of things? Mal always expects the worst. And MC had been missing without any leads for a year. In the Shadow Realm, which no one had ever come out of alive before Kade. At that point, thinking MC was dead was more logical than thinking they were alive

And if Imtura knew all of that, which I think she did even if subconsciously... It must have hurt even more that Mal still sided with Tyril and Nia, which he has never done before, mind you, and cut his ties with her. I mean, I'm sure it was two-way, but still. Just like that, she lost all her friends when she was already going through an extremely rough grief process. And the one she was the closest to took the others' side even though he agreed with her. She didn't even have her crew anymore because she couldn't go to the sea again without MC. She had no one and nowhere to turn to at all, in a city full of humans that she barely knew on top of that

Meanwhile Mal also lost his greatest ally on top of going through the exact same grief process, except he had to hide it and keep going. He was burning the candle at both ends trying to keep himself busy and continuing a search that he didn't even believe in, while hiding his true feelings/opinion from Nia and Tyril, who, on top of that, had always had a tendency to side with each other against Mal because they came from similarly sheltered and rigid backgrounds. I'm not saying they were ganging up on him or putting him aside on purpose, and it's clear he grew even closer to the both of them, but when it came to deciding what to do or discussing the ethics or something, Nia and Tyril had always been on the same side. And even on a more day-to-day basis, there are many things Nia and Tyril just can't understand because they were so sheltered. I'm aware Imtura is a princess, but she's been living as a pirate for a long time now, so she's lived in a world way closer to Mal's than theirs - starting with also being on the "wrong" side of the law. Also, she's an orc. No place but Flotilla is ever truly welcoming to her, and Flotilla doesn't feel like her home either for different reasons

And the signs of how much they missed each other was there. I don't see any reason whatsoever for Imtura to stay in Whitetower - a city I think she complained about more than Undermount - other than the fact that she knew Mal and Nia were there. Maybe she couldn't go to Flotilla or the sea, but there were still plenty of better places for her than Whitetower. And Mal had been keeping tabs on her. And not the casual kind of keeping tabs either, because he knew exactly where she would be the same second MC asked. And they don't have GPS tracking and Mal is the only one out of the remaining trio who doesn't have magic. Mal had to make a huge effort to be able to keep tabs on her like that. And he was the only one who did, despite the fact that Nia and Tyril could have done so way more easily. I have no doubt in my mind that he kept watching her so closely because he missed her. And she still wanted to be close to them, even if only in the vaguest possible terms, despite the fact that Whitetower is an actively hostile place to orcs

And I just. IDK. They were both actively grieving/mourning MC and doing so alone (although in different contexts) and in spaces where they were the odd one out and Imtura in particular was turning to the most unhealthy coping mechanisms known to man. And they could have easily supported each other. And from what we've seen, they wanted to. And they didn't. Because one of the things they are similar in is the way they avoid letting themselves be vulnerable and forgive like that. And it makes me so sad

[metvmorqhoses]

If Alina’s hatred for Aleksander felt a little too contrived and compensating then perhaps that’s exactly what it was? Her character this season came off as someone desperate to prove herself; she was steamrolling ahead with blinders on and covering her ears at anything that challenged her (her goal of tearing down the fold and tada! happily ever after). It would make sense then that whatever feelings she has for Aleksander would be deeply suppressed and instead used as fuel in her anger towards him since she isn’t someone yet who is ready to deal with the messy nuance of the world she’s in and it’s contradictions, much less the complications of her own feelings. I do think Mal is boring but he wasn’t wrong for breaking up with her since he realizes he doesn’t really know who Alina is anymore. Aleksander on the other hand does know her in a way that only a soulmate can (“I have never turned away. I never will”). This whole season he was unhinged but in that desperation was a genuine worry for her. He wanted her to understand where he was coming from because he’s walked her path, he’s known what it is to hope and want to be a hero, and the inevitable heartbreak and pain it causes. It seems like he wanted to her to skip over that painful step if he could just get through to her. Unfortunately it is something she has to go through to grow. If season 2 was her stubbornly naive self in full mode, then hopefully season 3 shows us a more mature Alina who struggles to balance power and what it means. I don’t expect her to ever fully be on Aleksander’s side but I would like to see the understanding and at time’s tenderness, she feels towards him that was missing this season. Sorry I know this is nothing new to you but I’m still processing this season and always love your thoughts! An aside, Aleksander letting Alina kill him even while deeply disagreeing with her on a political and philosophical level, and still being amazed by her light as he marvels at “blue skies” killed me. I don’t care what anyone says really does love her.

From a pure storytelling point of view, this season and specifically Alina's arc (whatever it might be and under whichever lenses we might choose to look at it) was a writing failure. There is sadly no escaping that. It was crass, nonsensical, exaggerated, dull, colourless, problematic.

Even conceding her over-the-top and baffling behaviour was indeed done on purpose, no talented writer in their right mind could have possibly thought that good protagonist material, not even for the most black-and-white, simplest children's saga - especially having for canon a far more complex and valid characterization from the literary source (I can't believe I'm typing this, but here we are).

The fact that they managed to produce the worst books-to-show adaptation I've probably ever seen out of fear of a bunch of woke American mums and teens is genuinely disturbing.

This said, there are ways a good writer could salvage this, twisting this into sense and depth even, and you listed a lot of good points in this regard.

This idiocy galore could indeed be spun as Alina's hubris and blindness, her inexperience even, backfiring at her. It could absolutely be the arc that led to the wall she had to crush into in order to listen to what Aleksander was trying to warn her about, the proverbial finger children have to put into the fire themselves before believing it burns.

I could even raise the bar a notch and state that, psychologically speaking, when someone who isn't intelligent enough to understand their own being in denial is frustrated and angry with themselves, they funnily tend to project their own self-hatred and fury upon the person they trust the most and in general hold most dear. And this, even if I'm sure it wasn't absolutely intended, strikes me as particularly true regarding their dynamic in season two: no matter what Aleksander told her, no matter how much sense it made, no matter the obvious honesty of the feelings he was showing her (he opened a lot with her this last season despite her stubborn deafness, almost as if he had wanted to make up for the previous pretences and half-truths), she did nothing but choose him as her universal scapegoat and, quite absurdly, right because he was still the person she unconsciously felt closest to.

He was still her mentor and lifeline even the moment she decided to blindly sacrifice him on the altar of her own naive self-righteousness and hypocrisy. And he let her. Even in death, he wanted to serve the purpose of teaching her a lesson, open her eyes, and I don't think that ultimately, deep down, this truth completely escaped her.

A good writer would use all this to build season three. But I've honestly lost all hope at this point.

What I really don't think could be savaged is who Alina has time and time again proved to be as a person - she is someone who is in her twenties but has the brain of a not-particularly-bright infant; she is someone with the emotional capability of a rock; she isn't capable of complex thoughts, but above all she is self-centred and ignorant even when her personal life experiences should have at the very least taught her otherwise. I didn’t like her before, but now she is honestly ruined for me as a character. Aleksander deserved much better than her. He is everything she'll never be.