#apparently i have a thing for dealmakers lol

[crowfromfoggyforest]

Oh no please no

I was gonna watch hazbin hotel right before i watch s7 of ouat... now i'm thinking it might not be a good idea

Pfft, like Alastor wasn't giving me enough Rumplestiltskin vibes, he went 'I'll do you something reaally, really specific. You'll owe me. A favour :)'

[katoska]

Yeah that's what I meant by "the eventual understanding that he'll leave if she asks". I wanna see more fake banishments, and I want him to honor them despite not having to, after he pulls whatever attention-grabbing stuff he thinks is impressive/romantic. That church scene altered my brain chemistry and I need to see more wooing, dammit. She spent 30mins with him in both movies altogether so far, tops. I want at least a few "newspaper" (the kind that reports on bigfoot) headlines about an uptick of hauntings in Connecticut and which expert medium to call if you have snakes and vermin manifesting in your house or see the local stripey cryptid whom no one can quite agree on what he looks like, as a shortcut to tell the audience that our mains are building a relationship, even if it's half-adversarial and a little bit under false pretenses, as we'll later find out. And ofc I'd also like to see at least one such encounter between the two, and that she's having fun "defeating" him. Whatever the bigger plot may be, if we wanna get to a both-sided romantic wedding, or at least a both-sided romance, they need to spend more time together. Also, as you said, she needs to realise that he can make himself be seen by several living people, but he only cares about being seen by her.

I'm pretty sure writers can't acknowledge reading fanworks at all so they can't be accused of plagiarism. Which imo is dumb. I sure af wouldn't complain, and I wouldn't throw theories out if I didn't see hints in canon in the first place. We got mention of Trade, we got Loopholes to cut a Deceased's time short, and we got consummate Dealmaker Betelguise doing something nice for apparently free. For Lydia's ex, at that. The dots are all there and they aren't mine, I'm just connecting them and extrapolating a very little.

Yeah, movie 1 had a(n almost) wedding. Movie 2 had 3 weddings (well, 1 wedding and two almost weddings). Betelgeuse x Delores, Rory x Lydia, and Betelgeuse x Lydia. If they wanna make a pattern, next movie might actually have be set in Vegas lol.

Personally, I'd be happy enough if Betelgeuse joined the family as their mostly-helpful ghost whom Lydia is sort-of dating but she doesn't wanna put a label on it (abandonment issues + got burned too often). Though they are obviously still very committed, albeit him more obviously so than her, and obviously endgame.

Wrt the curse. The name thing still seems to somewhat apply. He could hear Delia call him and came on the second mention of his name, voluntarily. Idk if that's part of the same curse that keeps him out of the living world unless called and which marriage could fix (cause divorce apparently didn't), or just a generic ghost thing though. I obviously want to believe it's the latter. Maybe they all can feel when someone's calling out to them, or maybe Betel himself just happens to be very psychically gifted. No one said you have to be anywhere near the model fo Betel to hear you call him, after all (Lydia should have tried it in Jeremy's room rather than go all the way back home). He managed to keep a connection to Astrid after she said his name twice, too. At least, I think that's how he knew about Dostoyevsky. Seems more perk than curse, tbh.

And now I'm imagining Lydia "banishing" Betelgeuse so often in front of witnesses that his name becomes too well-known in the living world, like Bloody Mary. He'd hate that because it'd be annoying, and his annoyance would be both entirely his own fault and ironic considering his desperation to be called on in movie 1, and it could be what forces him to out himself as free bc it's either that or having to do at least two shows per night ("I won't do it. I won't"). Would fit in with the probable title of movie 3, too, right? And it would be good if he were forced to ask Lydia for help for once. Like giving him her last name helping him to very publicly demonstrate that he might come when called, but won't leave upon hearing the magic words anymore, not even if they come out of involuntarily-famous-medium Lydia Deetz's mouth, so people better think twice. Cause he'll only leave once he's done with you or if Lydia (or Astrid) asks him too. And those two have better things to do than rescue idiots who are trying to summon poltergeists for funsies. Which means that anytime Lydia does show up afterwards to watch deal with B's antics, it'll be of her own free will, maybe to consume a nice candlelit dinner cooked in some possessed idiot's (very nice, cause I'm sure Betelgeuse would only pick the best locations for a date haunting) kitchen. Which means if he starts possessing some Elvis impersonators in Vegas, she could take that as the invitation/proposal that it would be intended as, rather than a hostage situation. Cause she can't actually force him to get out of the Elvis guy, or to get an actual priest instead of the Elvis guy (Elvis can stay as witness though). But she knows he will, if she asks.

Betelgeuse and marriage theory

A Beetlejuice head-canon/theory I have (warning, it's somewhat "Beauty & The Beast" coded 🌹🥀).

Having died poisoned on his wedding night, Betelgeuse's soul is bound by the ritual of marriage.

We already know he will be able to reenter the mortal world if he marries a living person (due to the rules of the afterlife and whatnot), but here's where my head-canon starts:

Bound to the ritual of marriage, if he marries someone he loves, who truly love him back, dead or alive, his soul will be freed and he will be able to pass on to the great beyond next to his beloved (once his beloved passes away as well, assuming she happens to be currently alive *hint hint*). This person has to wear Delores' ring and accept and love Betelgeuse as is. She has to fall in love with his soul. Only loving him truly, wearing the ring, and sealing the deal with a kiss will release him, and that way, in the end, both his soul and his beloved's (it has got to be Lydia, please) can move on peacefully into the great beyond and exist without curses or attachments.

Totally a fantasy in my head because there's no way something like this would happen in canon much to the sadness of my little heart lol, but I thought I'd share it with you all. And who knows, maybe if there's a third movie they will explore what it is about Betelgeuse's character that is so attached to the concept of marriage. Because, listen, maybe the ritual where a ghost marries a living person and can materialize in the living world is something that is bound to the rules of the afterlife, and detailed in the Manual for the Recently Deceased, but the symbols and ritual of marriage is something intrinsic to the character of Betelgeuse itself.

He died on his wedding night, for starters. He was tricked by Delores and fell for her immediately. One could argue he fell quickly because she is so gorgeous and no doubt manipulated him into believing she loved him, and that's definitely part of it, but also, (and I have no doubt about this one), he believed her and fell for her immediately because Betelgeuse wants to be loved. He's a romantic underneath it all, and he wants to love and be loved. He might have been desiring it for a long time, failing to find love throughout his life until he met Delores.

He may exude self-confidence (maybe even to a delulu extent lol) and present himself in this very raunchy way, but inside, I'm sure he desires a genuine love; he wants to love someone and be loved truly. And he died, murdered by his bride on the night of his wedding. Betelgeuse was murdered on the night that should have been the happiest of his life, and his desire for love and a wedding stayed with him beyond the grave, now stained with blood and betrayal and a curse that can only be broken, in my head-canon/theory, by marrying someone who truly loves him, whom he truly loves.

Marriage is definitely a very important theme in Beetlejuice, so it'd be interesting if there's something more underneath it, which could be explored in the next movie if we are so lucky to get it.