#eah epic winter

[lucydoodlessometimes]

hi guys. i was posessed and had to redesign her because she SUCKS in canon

[xbomboi]

yapping about Briar. fellow Briar enjoyers assemble.

okay okay i don’t make it too obvious (or maybe i do, i wouldn’t know) but briar is my personal favorite character. i think about where the stories of all the characters would go and what their arcs would be a lot, but hers in particular is really important to me.

so i wanna talk about it.

first of all, she’s narcoleptic coded, right. we all know that. but her mom on the other hand reads to me, like, an alcoholic mother? and her dad is just willfully ignorant. either way, there’s a huge sense of neglect going on in that family. i mean go figure why briar would be the one doing most of the work raising her brothers. and of course she’s a party girl, because who’s gonna stop her? her parents? see yeah exactly.

so i don’t think it’s unreasonable to say she doesn’t have very strong parental figures in her life, at least not at home. but, and now you have to really hear me out about this one, i think baba yaga could take up a parental role in her life.

i know it isn’t much, but the seeds for her having at least a hint of a connection with baba yaga are there.

in the webisode “Stark Raven Mad”, baba yaga scolds briar for rambling about her party, and then as the commotion picks up she’s still exercising authority over briar in particular.

then there’s thronecoming, wherein, when briar is sulking at the dance, upon noticing the picture on the projector, she asks baba yaga for answers, who provides them.

and then skipping all the way to epic winter, after the girls become a little creeped out by her mannerisms and book it, briar is the one who makes sure to peak back in and give a parting remark.

so i think there’s potential there to be explored. her feeling neglected at home and then finding solace in another adult at school would be neat.

but the fact that it’s baba yaga is important, so just put a pin in that and we’ll circle back to it.

now, i think out of the core four, she was (at least at first) the hardest to actually pin-point what the future of her story could look like. with raven, i think it’s pretty clear her journey is just continuing to combat the prejudices of the world as she fights for change, apple is now pretty much on a path to figuring out her own future as ruler of a kingdom and what that’s going to entail, and maddie is the goofball that’s there to have fun and be supportive along the way.

then there’s briar. and, let me be clear, no, in my mind that girl is not sleeping for 100 years with where things are heading; in the main universe of the story, briar will be free of the sleeping beauty destiny.

but it’s like, if she’s not gonna sleep, what more is there to actually do with her? what direction COULD her life go in? because if she’s no longer fated to sleep 100 years of her life away, then she can’t just party like there’s no tomorrow anymore. she’d need to decide what she actually wants to do with her life.

and i think i have an idea.

i mentioned her narcoleptic coding at the start with intent to bring it up again. see, you might notice that a lot of the fairytale aspects of ever after high can be read as allegories for real-world problems. for example, hunter and ashlynn’s relationship is treated in their world the same way society may look at queer couples or biracial couples. or how raven’s mom being trapped in a mirror is their world equivalent to not paying child support.

with that kind of correlation in mind, i think treating briar’s curse as a condition could open up an interesting opportunity. i think, in their world, curses as a whole could be viewed as a separate branch of medical specialization, with briar spearheading this notion of thought.

we know briar is well-versed in chemythstry already. in the webisode “Briar’s Study Party” she makes note of the fact that she’s been studying forever-after, and she demonstrates enough knowledge in the subject to enthusiastically teach it to her friends, who all end up acing their tests on it as a result.

i think this is something she could potentially make a career out of. i think she could come to the conclusion that she wants to be able to help break curses for people everywhere, and could pursue learning to develop potions and elixirs to do so.

which could happen under baba yaga’s tutelage.

picture this: briar declares her newfound goal, to which baba yaga offers to teach briar all she knows in order to achieve what she’s set her sights on. briar—with an ounce of hesitance—accepts, and baba yaga officially takes her under her wing with the intent of mastering sorcery.

obviously, she wouldn’t lose who she is in this. she’s still gonna be an impulsive, adrenaline junkie who desperately needs a screentime limit on her mirrorphone. but in this process, she’d be rounded out by baba yaga and would in turn mature a bit from the experience. she’d get serious about life, but she wouldn’t let go of who she is at heart.

this could lead to her becoming the resourceful one in the main group. like on adventures, she’d be able to pull out a potion or whip something up (because i’m not going to let raven’s magic make her too o.p. she’s gotta have limitations) as a solution to problems. she could really have a role that proves useful and important to the story.

that’s my ideal pitch for where to take briar’s character.

[cometblaster2070]

you think in epic winter, after apple finds daring in his beast form, that entire scene takes place where she tries to kiss him to see if it'll break the curse or whatever, and then he runs off.

you think apple went and told someone about that like "hey I just saw daring and he's a BEAST what's up with that?????"

i'd like to imagine she went to raven and was like "yk I love you adore you and ik you've basically mastered your magic now but PLEASE don't tell me you accidentally cursed daring" and raven is CLUELESS

it's even funnier if she tried to go to DARLING to talk about this like "hey yes your brother my ex-destined prince is cursed to be a beast now and he asked me to kiss him and that flopped REAL bad what should we do??"

and darling, whose roommate is meant to be the beauty in beauty and the beast is like WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE.

but in all fairness, after the events of dragon games, I wouldn't blame apple if she just went "I'm sure we can sort this out later" and decided not to give 2 shits about the matter because she's already got a LOT to process right now.

[sure-i-exist]

I’ve seen a lot of people complain about Daring in Epic Winter being presented as selfish and uncaring - and I get it. But I also wanna share my thoughts on it.

I’ll start off by admitting that I’m pretty sure the writers just needed him to be a bit of a dickhead for the story and didn’t care enough to consider whether or not that fit his established character (it doesn’t), so I’m not saying my thoughts are what was actually intended, it’s just what makes sense to me.

I don’t think him being selfish is meant to be that he’s always been selfish, I think it’s new for him.

Remember what happened to him Dragon Games? He got trapped in the mirror for hours/days (I haven’t seen it in a while so I can’t recall how long it was, but enough time for him to be very freaked out by the time it’s over). And then, immediately after being released he’s to wake up Apple with True Love’s Kiss… which doesn’t work. He has his destiny, everything he’s spent his life preparing for, ripped away from him in the worst possible way it could happen (it’s both extremely publicly, and more importantly his friend’s life is on the line and he is completely unable to save her).

After all that, I reckon he’s in a pretty bad state of mind. So, he retreats into himself. And even though his main things were his looks and chivalry, he leaves chivalry at the wayside because it’s too linked to his destiny and his failure - he’s supposed to be this knight in shining armour, this hero, this Prince Charming, and the only time where it actually mattered for him to save someone he failed. He was useless in what was supposed to be the most important moment of his life. He’s supposed to be good at saving people and the second it was real he wasn’t.

So, looks are all he has left. He doesn’t know how to piece his life together without a destiny, after failing to prove his worth. And he doesn’t want to be selfish but he just doesn’t have the energy to care for others, he is way too focused on his own misery to pay proper attention to those around him.

Him being selfish isn’t his natural state, it’s not what he’s normally like. But it’s what he becomes when he feels his life is over and he doesn’t know what to do

[lauri-rosehearts]

I genuinely am one of those people who actually likes Epic Winter. It has its flaws but I think it also has redeeming qualities. Its true, Crystal Winter could have been written…miles better, but one of the things that genuinely annoys me about the movie (that I don’t see that many people talking about) is the fact that for some reason, Crystal fails to recognize that the Rose of Winter is in her home. It takes her having a vision spelling it out in a dream for her to connect the dots that the Rose of WINTER (which may I remind you, like the other roses of the seasons, is one of a kind) and the rose that her parents gifted her at the beginning of the movie, both of which happen to look EXACTLY the same, are in fact one in the same, and also reside in the WINTER Palace, home of the SNOW QUEEN AND SNOW KING. “But we don’t know the 4th castle!!” MY ASS

[luc-elementix]

Ever After High Webseries banners from W. Scott Forbes website

Find more conceptarts about the Ever After High series on his website.

[lelet-draws]

I feel like Epic Winter would have been much better if either:

A) Rosabella can turn into a beast and that is why she is an activist. She wants both of her sides to be accepted and is friends with Cerise and Ramona. Her romance with Daring puts him in the position of Beauty, being the one who has to learn to look past appearances.

B) Daring’s curse was accidental but everyone assumed it was destiny. He is forced to take on this new role and Rosabella is trying to follow her story and “fix” him. But at the end he learns to love himself regardless of appearances, embraces the beast, refusing to change back and therefore becomes a rebel. Rosabella learns that she doesn’t have to put herself in the savior position and they both start having a less forced relationship based on personal choice rather than destiny.

[theyapper0]

OKAY!!!!!! This is my rewrite of EAH Epic Winter!!!!!! It's a LITTLE MESSY and just a BIT disorganized but you'll be able to get the general idea!

If there's any confusing parts, feel free to ask me questions!!! (•◡•)

I was originally gonna draw out like,, the entire thing like how I did w Dragon Games BUT IT WAS A LOT?? Like there's WAAAY more that I changed in Epic Winter (sorry but the whole thing had to go, I BARELY stuck with cannon LOL)

But I drew SOME of it ^^

HERE THE LINK TO THE DOC!!!!!!!! HAVE FUN!

[spittyfishy]

The Epic Winter outfits are pretty cool! (Pun intended)

[amberpriceenthusiast]

I have conflicting feelings about the second ever after high intro (for Epic Winter)

It’s not bad but I just love the original. I will say, I love the characters who are in the intro and I love the little details (Ex: ashlynn shooting the flower crown to Hunter).

I do think it’s good that they changed it, as the orginal intro still called Ashlynn and Briar royals, when they aren’t really royals anymore.

[gumjester]

SO THIS IS THE GRIPE WITH EPIC WINTER

I HAVE RESISTED IT! I HAVE RESISTED MY OWN RAGE! I HAVE SEEN PEOPLE TALK SALT ABOUT EPIC WINTER AND I AGREE WITH THEIR POINTS AND I DO NOT WISH 2 ADD NEEDLESSLY 2 THE DELUGE.

HOWEVER.

there is one thing!!!! i have not seen people discuss and it is the thing that pisses me off the most. i am NOTHING if not a keeper of Lore!!!! so here this is: my manifesto.

i feel like i am not making a bold claim when i say that in order for the moral and story of ever after high to function appropriately, destiny must not have any intrinsic, immovable influence over anyone's life. you can choose to follow your written destiny, of course! you can also choose not to follow your written destiny. i feel as if this is very much baby's first observation about ever after high. destiny is simply the societal expectation placed upon people to uphold the existing system, and if you do not follow it, you do not disappear forever in a wormhole. destiny is not the decider of your fate; you are. this is dare i say! the point of the show!

epic winter!!!!!! destroys this idea entirely!!!!! actually, you could make the case that dragon games does as well! but more on that in a second!

epic winter looks at daring, a boy living his life after the storybook of legends - the artefact that supposedly is the one thing that binds a person to their destiny - has been destroyed without him ever laying a finger on it, let alone signing it, and decides that today, he will fulfil his destiny! the one he wasnt even aware he fucking had, lending him absolutely no agency in this matter!! ...!!!?!?

SO RIDDLE ME THIS!!!! WHAT'S THE POINT THEN!!!!! what is the point of ANYTHING raven or the rebellion has done or anything they believe about writing your own story if destiny is, in truth, very concious and intentional and likes fate very much actually and will funnel ur sorry little ass into a story regardless? the workings of destiny were apparently not contained in the book, so raven's actions on legacy day meant nothing and seemingly did all her actions thereafter, just sweating herself 2 death in her little exercise in futility because you have no control actually :) fate exists and it can make you the evil queen whenever it wants! or the swan princess! or little miss muffet! just because destiny might not manifest in the way you expect does not mean that it is any less worth fighting against, and i find the idea that destiny is suddenly perfectly acceptable in this instance because daring ending up actually liking rosabella, objectionable, to say the LEAST.

and while we're here, a note on dragon games! i think it can be somewhat excused from this philosophical tangle because the whole instance of apple fulfilling HER initial destiny (getting poisoned by the apple) was completely intentional on faybelle and the evil queens part. they capitalised on her existing nature and pushed destiny upon her. as for the kiss well!!! that's what i consider the tip of the iceberg before epic winter plunges fully into the ice-cold depths of this arctic shitstorm. daring is not subject to the same circumstances as apple. the snow king has no idea who he is when he curses him, and rosabella does not know he will be the beast either when she first starts speaking to him!! its all so terribly, hauntingly organic. everyone is a pawn, orchestrated entirely by fate, and the original moral core of the show lies blugeoned in some dark corner, reduced to ruins by the all-consuming inevitability of destiny.

god . i hate epic winter`

[eah-confessions]

I would like to preface this with Epic Winter is my comfort special and I will adore it till I die. I am also a big Darabella shipper.

However: It is not objectively very good and good fucking lord it does so many of the characters in it DIRTY! The love hate relationship with it is real. I see it's potential and that's why I love it. But also it's really shit and incredibly sad that's the note the series ends on

-

[xbomboi]

thoughts about Epic Winter, & reconciling its place in Ever After High’s story as a whole

i wanna talk about epic winter because it—arguably more than any other aspect of the franchise—is definitely ever after high’s ‘ugly duckling’ piece of media, so to speak.

now obviously, a lot of it has to do with being the final big installment in eah’s main story, its premise being a side quest that sidelines the main protagonists in favor of new characters who are comparably far less compelling as the show’s actual leads, leaving the audience without any actual closure to the story which they were following.

in isolation, epic winter isn’t that terrible (though i think most would agree its better parts are the ones centered around already-established characters as opposed to the new ones), but in context it leaves a sour taste.

i entirely understand why anyone rewriting the series would either heavily rework it, only keep more important story beats such as daring’s arc & faybelle’s side plot, or completely remove the outing altogether.

in my case, however, deleting epic winter isn’t an option; my intentions are to continue where ever after high left off, and organically finish what they started. that means epic winter stays in tact, sanity be damned.

with that writing handicap, i can’t edit any pre-existing media in the ever after high animated lineup, which has forced me to brainstorm ways to recontextualize the purpose for epic winter’s place in the story and make the time spent on its story retroactively feel, at the very least, a little more worth it.

and the solution i found comes from viewing all that is introduced in the special through chehkov's gun.

(if you're unfamiliar, chehkov's gun is a narrative rule that everything introduced in a story must be done so with a purpose to serve. i.e. if you give a character a gun, they must shoot it.)

what's done is done; if we have to go on this detour following crystal winter and the top of the world, so be it. but let's pocket it like a tool that can be used later.

so here's my idea: bring crystal and the winter kingdom back into the story later down the line when the events of the story have reached a far more grandiose scale.

basically, i think the best way to use crystal would be when the story reaches a point of confronting and opposing the ruling powers in the fairytale world. having become the new snow queen, naturally, she'd be included in a gathering of the rulers of the kingdoms in the fairytale world.

i want there to be a moment in the story where the ruling powers gather together, and we see familiar faces return (including ones that we'd be introduced to after epic winter but prior to this), such as snow white, king charming, the queen of hearts, and of course, crystal.

with her outlook that would most reasonably be more aligned with the students at ever after high, she could end up being one of-if not the sole person-those present to voice opposition to whatever unfavorable verdict the rest of the rulers have made, as it would serve as direct conflict for the protagonists. she'd find herself outnumbered and ultimately her voice holding little to no power to sway the decision (especially being disregarded for her rather young age). afterwards we'd see her reflect on her frustrations with her colleagues and their rule of the system, thinking about it in terms of what kind of ruler she wants to be, before seeing her find determination towards something, though we aren’t yet shown what she actually decides to do.

the next time we'd see her would then come a little later, the conflict reaching the most dire circumstances. all hope is lost for our heroes; raven, apple, and co. would be down on their luck against odds they're unable to overcome. and that's when crystal would show up to offer her support, providing the numbers of her kingdom as allies to help better the odds. (she wouldn't be the only ally to show up, as this would be a 'getting help from all the friends we made along the way' ordeal. she would simply be one of said friends.)

crystal's help would ultimately play a part in winning the conflict. and because the audience would be familiar with crystal and the winter kingdom to a decent extent way prior to that point, the inclusion of it in the present fight at hand wouldn't feel like an ass-pull or a deus ex machina of sorts; it would make sense and feel earned for the most part.

and i think that's honestly the best thing to be made of epic winter's main adventure. we can't change it or fix it as it is, but we can create a payoff for it all later down the line. think of it like begrudgingly doing chores that lack any enjoyment factor, only to find that afterwards, you're glad you did.

so, yeah, that's my idea for how to give epic winter a genuine purpose. but i'm just spitballing.

[sure-i-exist]

daring with white hair post-epic winter

[ruerock]

happy winter holidays!!!