#h2o julia

[deafchild2000]

Updates for my H2O: Just Add Water AU starring the OG trio's character foils (for those who actually are interested in this fic ideas):

First order of business: I'm pushing beyond the PG rating of the original show. I'm going for obvious nostalgia but I also prefer my common sense and realism - so expect a lot of call outs!

I'm bringing the parents in. Like, me and the fans get why they were on the outside of things , but as I get older (even in my mid 20s), I find myself thinking there should have been more moments with the adults being adults & parents.

I'm definitely expanding, or in some cases CRAFTING, better background stories for Charlotte, Miriam, and the Benjamin siblings. (I said this once and I'll say it again) Charlotte had the perfect potential for characterization if she'd been in S1, Miriam Kent is iconic in her own right and deserved more screentime for me, and the Benjamin siblings are a combination of good potential and messy execution that I'm fixing so hard without making them unrecognizable. The OG girls not being mermaids is me experimenting on how their road to friendship would go, with others butting in. (Full disclosure: I'm not a fan of Rikki, so it might show!)

I'm gonna expand the mermaid lore and abilities. Not only is there room for that in 2024/2025, I studied the H2O wiki to find there's opening for it such as physical strength, I may be borrowing from H2O RP Tumblrs because fans can always be trusted to be better content creators.

Because I'm rewatching H2O for ideas, one thing I knew I was getting rid of, under TV Tropes, Louise Chatham's "cloudcuckoolander" trait. I'm not sorry, it was fun to see as a child, but after watching Lilia Calderu in AAA, I'm 90% sure Louise would've dropped the act as Charlotte, Miriam, and Sophie are a different group and would want full disclosure or they won't trust her. Thus, Louise has to see beyond the rose tinted glasses the OG trio let her get away with and help these girls in need of guidance. Plus, she's meeting Gracie's surviving family - which means I definitely can see her take an active role in knowing Charlotte and Annette.

(FOLLOWING ABOVE) Imma explore the 50s mermaids because not only did they deserve it, I hated that Louise and Max had control of Gracie and Julia's narrative in OG. I'm definitely exploring Gracie Watsford because this girl gave up her tail and yet is the only one of her group to have a family - there's so much in that to Louise (a lonely widow) and Max (a hermit) worth talking about as well as the fact she left paintings of Mako Island and the moon pool for Charlotte to have and ended up using in Canon. Julia is gonna be a doozy because she's compared to Rikki but not a lot after that, nor did we find out anymore about her beyond her death in the show. I reiterate again, I have to expand the 50s mermaids because letting two lonely old people tell the group story isn't great.

Surprisingly or not, I'm expanding background characters and adding new ones because it's definitely needed. Charlotte moved a year early, so her mom's restaurant and employees need proper acknowledgement. Miriam is definitely high class like Zane and Emma, so her world is coded for new people. And Sophie is the only one in the group that an adult and active mermaid - she clearly needs some friends outside Will.

Speaking of Will... I'm gonna do my best to make him tolerable since he's physically around the same as Byron, getting more time with Lewis and Zane. Not gonna lie, he's gonna need guy friends and ALSO not gonna lie, we both knew his character existed to make Zane insecure and I'm living for it! Watching him easily become popular because he's him and forging friendship with the other characters (some he never met) is gonna be fun while distressing for Zane.

I'm keeping Lisa Denman along for the ride (and extending it) because I don't think anyone appreciates just how well-written her character was - and just how useful she could be in the narrative. Like if you wanted to combine Lewis and Emma, make her someone important and well-established that people PAY her to go study marine biology anywhere in the world and easy to get along with, then Dr. Lisa Denman is definitely worthy of a threat - but in a way that she sneaks up on you and is worth more than three episodes. And I'm definitely not making light of underestimating her intelligence like canon did.

Two sides of one coin, Mother-Daughter edition. I'm surprised no one realized that if Charlotte was the new girl in town, the same could be said about her mom, Annette. Because of this, in expanding their relationship (and their lives before Gracie died), I'm building potential relationships - especially Annette, dealing with the Sertoris, Gilberts, Bennetts, and Kents (whose friendship goes back years) - just as Charlotte is dealing with Cleo, Emma, Zane and Miriam. A family duo who are outsiders with fresh perspectives. Though I will spoil the idea that the Watsford Women constantly beef with the Harrison Men (a lot of context in bad first impressions and generally unimpressed).

Another thing is the acknowledgement of time, events, and media because S1 of H2O happened in a duration of 8 months since the OG trio became mermaids on Valentine's Day. I'm definitely all for making shout outs for known mermaid media at the time, but definitely holidays and birthdays as well.

In place of episodes that can't happen in this AU, I'm either rewriting or creating original "episodes" as if the show would do. I'm also not shying away from important and serious topics, some not child friendly but definitely issues that could happen in the world.

Small bit: I'm never not using Kim Sertori and Elliot Gilbert. I think there are still fun uses in the narrative for them, but I'm not having Kim entirely intolerable as the fans see her. There's plenty of room for her to grow imo, and I don't believe in underestimating her either.

[daisiesflower]

H2O: Just Add Water relationship dynamics

Louise, Gracie, and Julia

[murdockhawkeye]

why did we decide the 50s' mermaids had the same powers as their counterparts again?

i was thinking about this the other day and i feel like it's way more interesting if they had different powers than the girls for like narrative reasons

with their powers being representative of why the 50s' mermaids didn't work, but the h2os' did

(ignoring what they said in mm. in my world rikki and emma are married, live together in an apartment and have a cocker spaniel named triton and a cat affectionately named by rikki as 'little shit')

let's start; rikki and julia

snow is an element associated with isolation and loneliness, with harsh and cold personalities

both of them have isolated themselves before. rikki grew up being harsh to others, scaring everyone away - because she was afraid of getting hurt. julia, we know she isolated herself from the others after the karl incident. we don't know much about her other than that, except she probably died alone if her locket ended up in an estate sale

rikki could've ended up like julia. but she didn't - because she warmed up to her friends, and she learned to be more open with them (again ignoring mm)

next. cleo and gracie

i find it interesting, how different they sound to be? gracie was a free-spirited model, she only ever wore unique things and everyone that knew her talked admiringly of her from what i remember. cleo, on the other hand, she'd been shown to be unconfident, preferring to stay out of the limelight, and resistant to change

but in the end, it was gracie that burnt out and took everything down with her, while cleo overcame her fear, learned to adapt, and to love being in the water

(thinking about when louise said rikki's power was the most dangerous. anyways)

finally, emma 'n louise

louise saw herself in emma for a reason, she gave her locket to her. and i take that to mean she was like emma, when she was younger - although she's def a lot more carefree now (and cryptic)

emma's very grounded, she's stubborn. and set in her ways, which makes her the perfect candidate for earth. but one of her biggest problems is that she puts too much responsibility on her shoulders

i mentioned snow was an element associated with isolation, but it's also an element associated with childish fun, like snowball fights - and building snowmen

so tldr; i hc that julia had emma's power of ice, gracie had rikki's power of fire, and louise had bella's power of earth

also. what it means for louise and bella, that they have the same powers. i think it's more interesting if there were more parallels in play than just the direct counterparts. so, louise and bella

first off, of course, their shared powers / elements - (i don't think bella can just turn things to jelly, it relates to my pressure manipulation idea)

louise was with her friends, when she got her powers. bella, on the other hand, was alone to deal with her tail and powers

then bella found others like her, and she wasn't alone anymore. louise lost her friends, and she gave up her powers because it was too much for her to handle by herself

and one last thing. the locket gems

fires can be a lot of different colors, the hottest being blue

diamond, which is a popular hc (?) for em's gem, is representative of earth + pressure

and julia's red gem. idk. santa claus or something. the berries on mistletoe. blood on snow. just a bunch of holiday assocations for julia ig? could've just been her favorite color

[surfqueenoftheisles]

h2o just add water headcannon sophie and will are julia's grandchildren

okay hear me out because this one's gonna ruffle some feathers, we know sophie is money hungry and basically kim but older and a slight bit more jaded and ginger, but she looks a hell of a lot like julia from the 50's mermaids (crazy it's almost like they had the same actress, i know) what if julia was will and sophie's grandmother and the necklace got left to sophie and she sold it for some cash because they weren't that close and it was old and not really her style and it was worth a bit being rare and vintage? having julia be sophie's grandmother would explain her parents living on a boat/ wills affinity for the water (record breakinf free diver come on) and maybe even her fiery temper and attraction to 'bad boys' as well as the resemblance.

we know their family is australian even though they travelled the world because of the accents, will was homeschooled on the yacht with his parents and sophie likely was too, so that's who they were going to pick up their speech from and one of their parents being the child of julia would explain the connection to the gold coast/mako and assuming julia told her child about the sea like gracie told charlotte, it would explain why they chose to live on a boat and raise their children (will and sophie) at sea.

[emily-ispirata]

What if Gracie hadn't died?

Charlotte moves to the Gold Coast with her mother and grandmother. Charlotte enters the story the same way, eventually entering a relationship with Lewis and a contentious rivalry with Cleo, Emma, and Rikki.

Over time, she becomes suspicious that Lewis is hiding something from her. She goes to Cleo, certain that if there's anything to hide, Cleo would also know about it. She finds the three girls with the bag from Max Hamilton, including a photo of- her grandmother. Who she still lives with.

Even more paranoid now, Charlotte is certain Lewis has a secret, and that it has something to do with her grandmother. She eventually finds the film of Gracie with a mermaid tail, and she confronts her, demanding to know if it's the truth. Gracie breaks down and tells Charlotte everything, including how she lost touch with the love of her life, Max Hamilton.

Charlotte begins to ask herself why Emma, Cleo, and Rikki had all of this stuff, and manages to put two and two together. She blurts out to Lewis one day that she knows about mermaids, and while he doesn't give her an answer, the stricken, guilty look on his face tells her everything she needs to know.

Charlotte realizes the reason that the girls have been so closed off to her, and realizes also that she may have been a bit pushy with them and Lewis. She goes to find them and apologizes, saying that she knows why they've been cold to her, and she understands. After all, her grandmother was a mermaid, and she knows it can't have been easy.

She has just one question, though.

Where did they get the bag with the photos and the film roll?

Cleo, Emma, Rikki, and Charlotte put aside their differences and get Max and Gracie to reunite. Seeing her grandmother happy with the love of her life after 50 years of separation, Charlotte realizes that she and Lewis just don't have that kind of a bond, and they amicably break up. After a long talk with Gracie, Charlotte realizes that what she really wants is to become a mermaid and carry on her grandmother's legacy, and on the 50th anniversary of Gracie giving up her tail, she jumps into the moon pool with Gracie's blessing. Max and Gracie watch, holding hands, as four mermaids swim off into the sunset.

Max creates a new locket for Charlotte, and Gracie picks out the stone herself.

[h2ojustaddmako]

Oh how badly I wanna write a theory linking Julia to Sophie and Will

[juicenet]

i've finally completed the epilogue of silver triptych (the 1950s mermaid fic) and you can read it here! so glad to give closure to this story that's been in the works for a while now <3

you can also start with chapter 1 here :)

[opalsiren]

if i could hold you for a minute, darling, i’d do it again

h2o: just add water (2006-2010) / hozier, ‘francesca’

[shytravelerstrawberry]

Julia was a special friend

My favorite 1950s mermaids, louise and julia

Black and white version below, lmk which one you prefer!

[deafchild2000]

I don't care how you guys feel about Charlotte, if there's one thing I'm glad S2 (in it's prime) explored - it was generational merfolk magic.

(Admitting Charlotte truther here) I find it fascinating exploring Mako Island and the generations of mermaids over the years for many reasons. Let's be honest, there's plenty of H2O fanfiction on Fanfiction.Net that tried exploring the H2O gang growing up and having powers to various degrees. Some focus on adulthood and drag it out while others get to the marriage and children phase a bit too quickly, but a few stand out just right (and by right, I mean "I could read this as if I'm watching it on TV"). But what I gather trying to read is Next Generation fics. Some writers opt to say the girls had normal children and don't tell them the Secret - which leads to history repeating and the daughters and/or sons finding their way onto Mako and going through the Metamorphosis. Others say the children are born with their powers, therefore automatically in on the Secret. And I think I recall a fic that ventured into the girls (or maybe just Cleo) becoming grandmothers themselves.

(FYI: It's a lot more telling how long ago a fanfic was written if the mermen in them have orangey-gold tails or any other colors pre-Mako Mermaids.)

Overall, I do appreciate those stories, but that doesn't diminish my preference for the past mermaids or what they could've/would've done if taking the present canon into account. I wanna explore how being mermaids in the 50s had worked out, if Gracie's choice was what split the group up, or if it was the tip of the iceberg. But mostly, I wanna know why Gracie was the only one to have a family and the implications of her ties to Mako after no longer being a mermaid. Did Gracie leave and never look back? Could Annette have been an 80s mermaid if she had returned? And regardless of how she came in, was Charlotte being drawn to Mako and becoming a mermaid really shocking?

Or what about Julia? The only reason we found out she died was because her locket sold at an estate sale and ended up at a jewelry shop. But did that have to necessarily mean she was alone or could it be implied she did have family and they sold her stuff without realizing the significance of the locket? What if someone did try to look for it and couldn't track it down? Maybe, if not directly a grandchild, but a grand-niece or nephew?

So in that hypothesis, out of the 4 known members of the 50s group, Gracie and Julia had more reasons to have had families in their lives while Louise (an elderly widow) and Max (a recluse hermit) didn't.

I understand we got used to the iconic OG girls, but there are too many holes and plots to be left unexplored.

((Before I end on this note, let me send this off that next-generation tropes don't necessarily have to apply to children and grandchildren. I'll fan the flame that Kim Sertori could have received the torch and become a mermaid. Cleo and co. were off the college and with the moon pool supposedly damaged, it wouldn't be like more mermaid hijinx could occur...that they'd be aware of. And what if Taryn Marler (Julia in S2 and Sophie in S3) had been brought on as a twenty-something woman who endured Metamorphosis, unlike the teenagers before her? Her character - Rachel Samuels from Blue Water High S2, free to watch on YouTube - had a much more preferable persona for H2O, so why not combine them into someone fleshed out? Instead of the main characters having children or having them help out the next random group of teenaged Merfolk - why not focus on a narrative of a mermaid's siblings finally stepping into her shoes and a woman entering her adult years as a mermaid?))

[team--charlotte]

louila 》》 love unspoken

[murdockhawkeye]

i think others have def already said most of this - but i felt the urge to type it out here. i'm not exaggerating on this, when i say this - i think so often about how different s2 and s3 could've been

s2, i can see miriam in charlotte's place as the antagonist. the girls' skepticism would've been more understandable, with their complicated history with miriam predating s1. and i can actually see miriam in those scenes instead of charlotte, the comparisons with her and charlotte make so much sense

and there was definitely supposed to be more to the spellbook. but they just threw that away for a one-off ?? like what was that

(although given the shenanigans they were already having without it.. but still, to throw it away entirely?)

and then there's s3. sophie's actress def was supposed to play julia, but for whatever reason that storyline didn't happen. (i like the idea that julia was the tentacle though, esp with that scene rikki had with the tentacle)

the thing i really think about the most though is rikki's cafe being emma's cafe. i can totally see emma running the whole place. and for rikki, i want so badly to see her as part of the band, tbh. i think that might be my roman empire

(emma's cafe and rikki 'n the band. imagine rikki as the guitarist/bassist, with bella as the lead singer, and lewis as the drummer. what we could've had)

ash was definitely supposed to be in zane's place. i can see it. he's literally a business major. he def would've bought the juicenet cafe for emma. he also would've held the secret over her head because he's a little b-

[merfolkotd]

merfolk of the day: julia from h2o: just add water

[cleo-serotonin]

the h2o lockets are so pretty

[novemberhope]

[h2ojustaddmako]

Why are we all assuming Julia's last name is Dove, by doing so tying her with Ash, instead of assuming it's Julia Benjamin and she's related to Sophie, if anyone?

Like, where did this Julia-Ash are related trope even came from?