#i live for good parent quirin

[moondwellerthatdwells]

I headcanon that Quirin let Varian keep Ruddiger because the raccoon reminds Quirin of Varian when he was an itty bitty thing

[tangledbea]

What would the parents would do with the fall activities?

Frederic and Arianna organize a festival. Corona is a party kingdom, after all. I headcanon that Corona celebrates the equinoxes and solstices, so the festival falls around September 21st.

Captain isn't a particularly celebratory guy, and when he was Captain, he used to be working on festival days. Now, he's enjoying not having to work.

Quirin, on the other hand, is in the middle of his busy season. Even more than Varian, he's in the midst of the harvest. He's got some festive decorations that he pulls out of storage for his stall, which draws people in. He's the primary pumpkin supplier to the kingdom, after all!

Unfortunately for King Edmund, he hasn't celebrated anything in twenty-five years. He's kind of forgotten how. Good thing for him, his son and future daughter-in-law live in the party kingdom and can help him out!

[paintbrushnebula]

How would you have fixed/ wrote tangled the series if you were the executive producer/ creator?

How would you have fixed/ wrote tangled the series if you were the executive producer/ creator?

Hoooboiiii good question!! Haha because like, I’m actually kinda prepared to answer this, because I’ve thought about what I would’ve liked out of a Tangled sequel and, tsk I gotta tell you it’s very VERY different from the series XD 

However even though the series isn’t my idea of a Tangled sequel, if I was at this moment granted a wish that would allow me to magically alter the series as a whole, retroactively, I wouldn’t remove anything that the series introduced, because I like a lot it. I like Varian, I like Lance, I like Adira, I like Bruce Campbell, I like all o’ dem fools. Oh and the bangin’ SONGS YELL HEAH! Good food ^^. I also think the Sundrop and Moonstone stuff, the Demanitus stuff, even the Zhan Tiri stuff all sound cool on paper. Queen for a Day was pretty unforgettable for me so I’m not itching to change that in any major way. I honestly wouldn’t want to change the whole series in any major ways. Just, y’know, fix what’s there. Improve the flaws. Develop the underused characters and backstories. Make Eugene’s story mean something and matter. Make Quirin’s note mean something and matter. Add more moms for crying out loud. Explore Rapunzel’s trauma and actually SHOW us her recovery iIn full detail. 

Oh wait. Actually I WOULD make a dramatic change: Arianna is the focal parent NOT Frederic. That’s literally going hand-in-hand with “write Rapunzel’s recovery better.” She needs to see what a good mother looks like. 

OH KRIFF ONE MORE THING XD yeah Cass being Gothel’s daughter is SOO OUT XD 

Moonsandra can stay but she’s gotta have better motives and an actual set goal or smth Jesus

The Zhan Tiri disciples song a villain song. Heck, Zhan Tiri gets a villain song. OOOF could you imagine Zhan Tiri getting a song in the same vein as “In the Dark of the Night” from Anastasia??? That’d be so cool, oh jeez. 

Also I’d have the broadway stars be casted a little more creatively, like, I love what they did with Eden Espinosa, Jeremy Jordan, and James Monroe Iglehart, but I wish they went even harder with it. Gavin Creel being casted as that disciple (I dont remember his name) is exactly what I mean. Get Andre De Shields as someone! How about Susan Egan? Ooooh please could we get Aaron Tveit in there somewhere? Sigh, in my dreams I guess. 

Oh, and make sure they actually get to sing ^_^

One last major change would be to make Eugene’s mom live alongside Edmund. Literally I dont get the big issue media has with doing the “estranged parent” trope and restricting it to one parent (who is usually the father). Like what is it with Hollywood and writing BOTH parents? What’s wrong with a seasoned older husband and wife reuniting with their son, becoming key supporting characters in the story? 

I like Edmund too much to get rid of him, so. Why not have two cakes? 

Oh btw Eugene’s mom would be Susan Egan. No debate. 

Also I’d have the score be directed a little differently. Have actual leitmotifs that aren’t using music from the songs (as much as I like when that happens). Give Rapunzel and Eugene a “love theme” that also gets used for any time any other character is growing as a person or going through changes, like some type of “dream” theme that represents that character having and pursuing a want or goal. Then when Cass or Varian become evil, you twist that “dream” leitmotif to sound sinister because their “new dream” is something dark and twisted. Then you take that and incorporate it into their themes to make villain themes. Could you imagine if Varian and Cass had leitmotifs used when they were good, then when they betray Rapunzel, those leitmotifs are musically altered to sound sinister??? 

WOof, sorry, this was ramble-y and has poor grammar/sentences. I hope this is all readable XD

[moonzshiftz]

Help me with my AU

okay so i kinda have no idea what to do from here so im gonna post my first draft (mostly written at 3am) and you guys tell me if the plot is good and the plot holes I need to fix and also a name for the AU because i just found out people name their AUs and i can't just call mine "my tangled au" forever yk

please tell me if it's shit i need to know that to make it better (but also keep in mind that it's the first general idea)

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

a world where only eugene, rapunzel and her parents know about her powers and everyone else thinks her hair just turned brown as she aged and there was nothing special about her rapidly growing blonde hair as a baby. cassandra never takes her to the rocks and her hair never grows back and she lives her life normally, apart from having to adapt to a new world and dealing with trauma from being in the tower

moon is eugene's lost sister and her mom died birthing her. she absorved all of the moonstone's powers because her mom was around it so much and now the moonstone is almost harmless because moon carries almost all the power, that's why she has the ability to recite the spell

king edmund sent everyone away and stayed in the kingdom taking care of moon after finding out about her powers, scared that she would harm someone, but as she grew up, she questioned why she was stuck in an empty castle with her dad, why she couldn't explore the world, but the king only told her it was too dangerous (the only thing he didnt tell her was that it wasnt the world that was dangerous for her, it was the opposite) so one day when she was 15 she found a scroll in her father's bedroom and she saw that there was a drawing of the moonstone- the same stone that is in the center room of the castle that her father doesn't let her enter- and a lot of symbols that she couldn't decipher so she found a way to run out of the castle at night and find out the truth about that stone and why her father kept her there. after walking for days she finally found a village with people so she went up to the first person she saw for answers, and she showed a nice old woman the scroll and asked if she knew what it meant and she smiled and took her into her home. she figured what it said very quickly and asked moon to read the decay incantation, to which she only smiled as the little girl was possessed by moon magic, unable to stop reciting the spell. "you own the moonstone, don't you?" the old woman asked her, to which she responded explaining where she came from and that the moonstone is locked up, so she took the woman back to the kingdom after she manipulated moon into thinking she needed the moonstone, only to try to steal it at the last second. fortunately, king edmund saw the old woman (an old spirit and follower of zhan tiri) and stopped her forever. he then decided that moon wasn't even safe stuck in the dark kingdom and did a spell to wipe all of her memories and made the crows take her somewhere she could live a new and anonymous life, hopefully being saved by a kind family. the only thing he didn't know was that she sent the girl still with the demanitus scroll in her pocket to varian's house in old corona

varian also has some moonstone power but not enough to kill people like moon, in his maximum capacity he would only be able to put someone in a coma, but that would take a lot of his energy. his mom is a descendent of demanitus and she met quirin through studying the magic of the sundrop and moonstone, and they were around the moonstone a lot, but not as much as the queen, so that's why varian has magic but a lot less than moon

varian never believed that rapunzel was magically brought back with different hair and the person who kidnapped him just died. he knew that woman must've had a reason to kidnap the princess and keep her hidden for 18 years, why doesn't the rest of the kingdom know the reason? the queen drank tea from a magic healing flower that cured her deathly disease and rapunzel was born with long hair the same color as the flower, then she was kidnapped and came back with the opposite- short brown hair- and those facts have nothing to do with each other? so when that mysterious girl showed up at his doorstep with a scroll about that same flower, he knew it was a sign for him to investigate

[ao3feed-twiyor]

No one can catch a break

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/2K71CAy by TheDragonKat Quirin was watching his son get trained by Adria and Hector Hunter and Willow are on a date The Forgers were on a walk but then a portal ruins everything and they have to survive shadow wolves. This is basically an excuse for these three fandoms to talk to each other Words: 11671, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), The Owl House (Cartoon), SPY x FAMILY (Anime) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: Gen Characters: Hunter | The Golden Guard (The Owl House), Willow Park, Loid Forger | Twilight, Yor Briar Forger | Thorn Princess, Quirin (Disney), Hector (Disney: Tangled), Adira (Disney), Clover | Bee Palisman (The Owl House), Waffles | Blue Jay Palisman (The Owl House), Ruddiger (Disney), Bond (SPY x FAMILY), Anya Forger, Varian (Disney) Relationships: Hunter | The Golden Guard/Willow Park, Loid Forger | Twilight/Yor Briar Forger | Thorn Princess, Quirin/Ulla (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms) Additional Tags: I am so sorry if anyone is ooc, first time writing a lot of these characters, Good Parent Loid Forger | Twilight, Parent Loid Forger | Twilight, Loid Forger | Twilight is Bad at Feelings, Protective Yor Briar Forger | Thorn Princess, Good Parent Yor Briar Forger | Thorn Princess, Protective Willow Park, Good Parent Quirin (Disney), Protective Quirin (Disney), Cute Anya Forger, Varian and Anya are not having a good time, Uncle Hector (Disney: Tangled), Aunt Adira (Disney), some bs alchemy and magic combo, shadow wolves, no one gets seriously hurt but they are in danger all the time, Quirin gives advice to Loid, cute moments between Loid and Yor, cute moments between Hunter and Willow, they were on a date but it ends up with a fight for their lives, Hunter is planning a new date to make up for the ruined date, Anya Forger Needs a Hug, she also needs her parents, Varian is called a kid, Hector being slightly more reasonable than canon, he has seen a lot since the whole Moonstone thing, and even he knows a battle he can't win, so he needs the help of Hunter and Willow, he hates it but he is not an idiot, wolves do leave time for long conversations read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/2K71CAy

[justaaveragecryptid]

Brb, on my way to write the season three we should have gotten.

[daily-dipcifica-doodles]

If your Tangled AU includes TTS- I NEED to know who fills the role of sweet angsty baby Varian

great question HJDFKJDS I don't think I'll be able to make everyone fit into each role very neatly though :O because of many, many technicalities such as: pacifica is closer to, say, cassandra and dipper is a bit more believable as varian but they're current roles are as rapunzel and eugene, the overall existence of the stan brothers, pacifica's actual parents being more believable as gothel than as the king and queen etc. etc. etc.

BUT the nice thing about aus is the improvization and adaptation!! i don't know how much i'll be able to actually ponder on it drawing-wise before my next break but i can tell you i'm not gonna be following canon religiously cause that would not fit with the characters we have inserted into this universe

ah also, i might be disregarding part of the series canon from the finale of s2 til the end of the series oops - i've been in the fandom since 2018 before s2 was even out so i have. a lot of opinions on some things lol esp since i saw them happen in real time and have been active in discussions about them

with all that being said,

>:D

here's a bit of my current ideas for who's who in this and what they're doing sdfdsjkds

note: these are very much a work-in-progress hah

gonna put it under a [keep reading] cause it's a lot - never ask me about my opinions or ideas i have too many always forever and i will talk your ears off about them if given the opportunity

so i already established that pacifica fills rapunzel's general role and dipper fills eugene's, but i never specified if i was gonna follow canon much or not ;) well i'm gonna be moving some stuff around

remember lance strongbow? and how he's very much not there in the movie cause him and eugene separated and only reunited in season 1 of the series?

well that's mabel's overall role, minus some of the separation and obv her own personality dsfhjds

i'm not gonna poke the series much yet in this post but movie-wise, my plan is for mabel and dipper to both be thieves, running away from the royal guards cause they stole the crown

no maximus involved unfortunately

they split up and make the guards think mabel has the crown so that they follow her, but in reality the crown's with dipper who ends up at the tower where pacifica convinces him to take her to the lanterns

and they meet again when they've almost reached the kingdom - around where rapunzel and eugene met maximus again

so yeah mabel's gonna be more prominent than lance or max ended up being canonically JFSFKL (even though i'm so sad lance in particular didn't end up doing that much... lance my beloved why would they do that to you)

also mabel will end up filling most of cassandra's role as rapunzel's best friend cause i love mabel and pacifica as best friends they're very good sue me

bill is zhan tiri. who else could he be.

wendy's gonna be more or less filling cassandra's role as the daughter of the royal guard, b u t

one, i already established that mabel's gonna be the best friend so wendy will still be a friend! just not as close to pacifica as cassandra was to rapunzel

and two, I'm definitely not keeping Moonsandra's motivations in mind and none of the whole moonsandra drama

could wendy take the moonstone? yeah but she's not gonna become a villain from it unless i involve actual corruption in there which. is an idea but i haven't thought far enough to consider it properly yet lol so

(i love moonsandra but i just can't view her as the same character cassandra was, and in relation to wendy i feel like that just would Not work)

soos is gonna be a member of the royal guard (think - stan and pete), but his overall presence in the story is gonna be closer to shorty, not in his contributions but in how often he appears DJDSLK

shorty is in like every episode it's insane, he's everywhere

candy and grenda might be ladies in waiting too but i think they could also be from the snuggly duckling since they can't NOT be mabel's best friends

aaand that's everyone i'm p much certain on

i don't know who mother gothel could be - pacifica's parents in canon are closer to gothel than to fred and arianna but making them the latter would mean there would be a lot of drama and angst which would be interesting to explore :O however mother gothel could also be the witch lady that stole hands, yknow the one - but that might be confusing so hhh?

and i also don't know who the stans might be - i could make quirin stanley and king edmund stanford, but in that case i would have to figure out if dipper and mabel ran away from home, if they are orphans, or if stanley will become an accidental father figure in their lives dsifjdsndsd

and what would gideon be doing? could he be related to saporia? how would he get involved with bill? could he be a disciple? or should he fill varian's initial role of season 1 villain

there's a lot to consider : O and i haven't had a lot of time to REALLY think about it all lol

and that's uh all my thoughts so far lmao if you got this far i am impressed sdjfkjl i rambled a lot

if you have any ideas please let me know? i wouldn't mind more opinions on this since it's just me thinking about a Lot of things sdjfdskjdsk

that's all, mwah, see ya later when i post for the day

[pennumbra]

I just have to ask...and maybe I'm just so dumb I never noticed...I was watching Tangled the series season 2 with my toddler (parenting win??) and I just now noticed.

Edmund is missing his right arm?!

I mean I guess that never gets mentioned because its a "kids show" but it got me thinking....

Do you think the energy blast from Edmund trying to grab the Moonstone is what killed his wife? I guess he does indirectly say that trying to destroy the Moonstone is what killed her but it just got me thinking of that.

I guess this is just a rambling wish that they would have delved more into the Dark Kingdom.

(Parenting win!!)

I love that Edmund missing his right arm is never really brought up! It also took me (and I think other viewers too) a while to notice that aspect of his character design, b/c they never draw attention to or comment on it in the show- and I think that's neat? It's just a part of who he is.

(Tho now you've got me wondering if that was a deliberate choice or b/c they simply couldn't acknowledge him losing a limb violently. Can never really tell w/ the Mouse...)

Based on the flashback from BtCW, Edmund's 'this stone has destroyed too many lives', and Quirin telling him he wasn't thinking clearly, I always kinda assumed that his wife/the DK Queen had already died, and he was lashing out at the moonstone in grief?

(My personal hc is that she was killed in a cave in or an earthquake- something related to the moonstone and black rocks, but indirect. But maybe it could’ve been Edmund blaming the moonstone for smth out of their control, as a form of rationalizing/coping?)

However, the 'Rise of Flynn Rider' novel has a pre-series prologue set in the DK, and in that version of events, the blast from Ed trying to destroy the moonstone IS what directly kills the DK Queen- the castle starts to collapse and she falls to her death when a bridge gives out. The moonstone is even described as 'angered'. (And the idea of the moonstone having semi-sentience or punishing Edmund for his recklessness and arrogance is a very interesting one to me.)

The book was written with some consultation from Chris, and the author included other series elements- so even if it's a secondary source, I think it holds water as an idea he at least liked or approved of, and it's the closest to a canon backstory on the DK Queen as we'll probably get. (Tho it also has the evacuation taking place immediately after the blast amidst a lot of chaos, instead of Ed taking some time to recover and ordering it later on- so there were still some liberties taken/it's not a definitive 1:1 of events.)

I guess this is just a rambling wish that they would have delved more into the Dark Kingdom.

I dream about the good timeline where we got a flashback episode focusing on the Brotherhood and the rest of the DK crew- or maybe more scenes of the Corona chars making their way through the derelict kingdom and exploring the castle, finding clues about the people who lived there and the lives they led- but man I'd settle for at least knowing the Queen's name?? 😩😭

[birb-tangleblog]

Do you have any fic recs for brotherhood content?

Ok so! I feel like there's a decent amount of fics that include the Brotherhood out there, but full disclosure- I'm honestly pretty picky. So I can try! Just know that this list won't be exhaustive- and reflective of my prefs! Here we go:

on broken ribs and brethren traitors - One of my favs focusing on the relationship between Hector and Adira, and the aftermath of the Great Tree falling. Emotional beats, conflict, and catharsis I wish we’d gotten in the series. I think this is one of the few fics that captures the deep familiarity and shared history that exists between these two, and the bond that endures despite their ideological differences. Shades of angst and hurt/comfort, but with enough resolution and reconciliation to end on a hopeful note.

So Pardon the Dust & words cannot say (what I want them to say) - So both of these are actually Eugene’s POV, but touch on his relationships w/ the individual members of the Brotherhood- which is smth I hadn’t realized I wanted before, but now feel like we totally missed out on. Works that focus on the ‘negative space’ between characters are fascinating to me, and both of these accomplish that as post-humous character studies of King Edmund. Very bittersweet.  

Idt this one has a title? but it’s another one by Kingrey, and its adorable. Quirin’s relationships over the years, told through pie. Short and sweet.

Roots & its sequel, Uprooted - I feel like it’s cheating to feature these, b/c I commissioned them and had some input so... ofc they appeal to me lmao, but LEGIT they are both so good. Canon-divergent AU where Hector takes Var under his wing, and a mentor/mentee bond develops between them- but done with fidelity to Hector’s character, and the abrasiveness and hard edges that make him so interesting. An elegant take on ‘Uncle’ Hector thanks to Hic’s writing, thoughtfulness, and character voice.

Looking Through a Window & its sequel, Happy Endings Exist Only in Fairytales - Ok, this one is an OG villain!Quirin fic, from 2018, with the first one being written before S2 even premiered-  this author was a VISIONARY. I know some fans might not like fic that's been jossed or made outdated by canon, and this was published before Hector appeared and when moonsonas were just a wish- but I think it holds up really well and is still intriguing. An emotional, believable, and more subdued take on Quirin turning against the crown.

brilliant d’os - A sweet missing scene set immediately after the finale, with Var doting on his dad, Hector, and Adira. Quite fluffy, it’s literally them getting pampered and taken care of, but there’s a core to it. The descriptions of breakfast in this one remind me of an old Redwall book and make me hungry...

torche à flamme noire - Same author! Less fluffy, more angsty- of the Var and Hector variety. Grittier, but there’s a touching ending and some softness to it. Slight canon-divergent AU, set during and after the finale

everything stays (but nothing's quite the same) - Technically Quirin and Varian-focused, the other Brotherhood members don’t make an appearance- but I’m including it, because it’s nice to see a character study on Quirin as a father, with him as the POV character, and how he’s processing the events of S3. Canon-compliant. I like that this one has Quirin actively striving to become a better parent and learning to be emotionally available and present for his son.

It Wasn’t Just a Dream - LEILEEEEEIIII! I almost just linked her entire Ao3 lmao, b/c she deserves a shoutout for writing so many diff takes on these 3- but I really like the ideas in this one in particular, and the mindtrap being given a lot of gravity, recovery not happening overnight, and the exp having long-term effects on H + A’s lives. Angsty, but it’s still optimistic and healing. Somft... (also note her account features some Bhood ships.)

the outsider perspective - Another oldie, from just after the S2 premiere. A short character piece that still captures Adira’s quirks and personality nicely, and holds up well.

Memories of the Brotherhood - flashbacks mixed with scenes set in the present- glimpses of their history and conflicts, with an undercurrent of eeriness. Always cool to see formats like this.

I think there are also some good fics out there that feature parts of the trio in smaller roles or as solidly-written background/supporting characters! But I’m not including those b/c I wouldn’t quite class them as “Brotherhood” content, where they’re the focus.

I tried to think back on what I’ve read, but hopefully I didn’t miss anything obvious!

[newsies-of-corona]

Weakness vs Strength

ALRIGHT, WE’RE BACK IN THE GAME!

It’s been wayyyy too long since I’ve done one of these but I was rambling about Varian again and this kinda happened 😂

I’ve kind of touched on this before, but I haven’t fleshed it all out so NOW’S THE TIME!

So without any further adieu-

“Well, shall we get started?”

Before the Storm

One of Varian’s biggest desires in life is helping others. He sees a problem, he comes up with a solution...and it usually doesn’t go as planned. It’s not always his fault, but he tends to harm people through his attempts to help. This only makes him more eager to assist, but it continues in a cycle.

He wants to help, he fails, people get hurt, and he tries again.

He’s so intelligent that he’s able to build these highly dangerous machines, but he doesn’t immediately see the problems before they go haywire.

So, what does he do? He tries to make up for it by building another invention.

And they just keep blowing up in his face every time.

It’s gotta be exhausting.

So when the amber happens and things still go horribly wrong, even though this time he was sure he was finally going to get something right, it takes a huge toll. Especially now that it involves his only living parent.

Villain Arc

Instead of giving up or shutting down, Varian tries harder, giving it everything he has to save his father and losing himself along the way. This also means (as I covered in another analysis way back when) his motives changed. Saving Corona is the farthest thing from his mind, so caring about the people who live there is also not a priority. He even says it:

“Do you honestly expect me to be concerned about the welfare of Corona?”

His willingness to help and fix his mistakes all became focused on Quirin once he decided on a path of revenge, and with nothing tying him down to the people anymore, they were now at his disposal.

He’s seen the damage he can do, and in a different light, he was winning that entire time. All it took was simply switching his mindset to:

“All I’ve been good at is hurting others, so why not use that to my advantage?”

With his vendetta against Corona under his belt, he’s automatically one of the biggest threats of the kingdom (or at least his village) because technically he already was on accident.

In a way, he sped up his own “development” in his skills, simply by twisting his own motives. It was basically just cheating the system. His inventions were already hurting people, but now that he wants them to hurt people, he’s finally winning.

His initial problem with himself became his “solution.” He changed his weakness into his strength.

I’ve seen the question around the fandom “why is Varian so good on the side of evil, but seems to mess up the minute he gets redeemed?”

Or more like the very second-

(I love you bud, but why did you even have a bath bomb on you???)

But I digress-

I believe the reason Varian was so “smart” when he was on the opposite side, is because he could let his “mistakes” run wild since, well, they weren’t mistakes anymore!

He could hurt all the people he wanted and feel accomplished because that’s what he designed his inventions (and genetically engineered monster raccoons) to do!

Redemption

So what does this mean for his turn around? His jump back onto the side of good?

Well, his “redemption” truly started when the compassion he felt before started to return. He saw all the destruction he’d caused in the same light as he did before the amber. He realized he hurt people which was what he didn’t want to do initially before the storm.

And he feels really bad about it because that’s not who he is. He doesn’t want to be known as someone who harms people, even though he initially let himself fall into that stereotype. He wanted to be a change. A defining factor for helping others and improving the world around him, and instead he had done the exact opposite.

During his time with Saporians, his compassion became his weakness.

The Quirinian was the last straw. He had been known for destruction all of his life, either purposeful or accidental, and it was going to change right then.

By opening himself up to others and once again caring about giving Corona a brighter future, he flips it around once again, and those destructive “weaknesses” come back. How does he deal with this? Well it certainly takes some trial and error, but eventually he finds more healthy ways to solve this problem by being more careful and conscious about what he’s doing, and enlisting the help of others instead of going it alone (even though those “others” might press certain buttons and meddle with things they shouldn’t...I’m looking at you Lance-)

Conclusion

Being the villain may have been easiest for Varian considering his situation and given set of skills, but it wasn’t beneficial or lasting.

His true strength lies in his compassion, not his destruction. And through this he’s able to accomplish so many things for Corona. His Season 1 mishaps still occur from time to time, but in the end it’s worth it because he finally was able to do something to help.

Destroying the red rocks, helping stop Cass and Zhan Tiri, and accomplishing his goal of the hot water machines were his crowning moments of achievement because he worked through his mistakes even though it was tough. He also had people in his life to pick him back up and encourage him when something went wrong.

Even though he basically had to start all over again, this time he was stronger than ever before with his friends by his side. (See what I did there? No that was not planned...😂)

So instead of the cycle before the storm, it becomes-

He wants to help, people reassure him, it’s either successful or a failure, but he has friends backing him up either way.

He took hold of his weaknesses in a positive light with the assistance of others, and ended up in a position to help the entire kingdom through his talents.

(And he didn’t need to “cheat” the system this time. He earned his title through sheer determination and drive.)

(I’m so proud of this boy- I just aGh 💙)

[californiannostalgia]

Tangled the Series Character Analysis: Childhood Trauma POV

I can't believe Tangled the Series really created two incredible antivillains and threw them in direct contrast with the pre-existing golden couple. I love what the showrunners did with the main quartet, so I made a very subjective analysis post about it from a Childhood Trauma POV. (Spoilers, obviously.)

The Boys

The series' focus is on Rapunzel, and by association her direct opposite, Cassandra, so the boys get comparatively less screen time. But it doesn't take long to figure out that Varian is meant to be a parallel for Eugene—these are two people dealing with the absence of parental guardians, struggling to reconcile the lives they previously had with their changing ideals in relation to a less-than-perfect Father Figure.

They both respond to the helpless state of being young, alone, and powerless by trying to take back power in any way they can. Eugene reinvented himself and buried his desires for a family. Varian throws in everything he has into recovering what he lost, because he's a child and the best solution he can think of is to return to the familiar safety of his father's presence. A significant portion of his desperation is fueled by fear of his father’s disapproval, because as much as Quirin loves Varian, he wasn’t the dependable voice of support. Varian needs approval from outside sources, which was also Flynn Rider’s purpose in life, once upon a time. (Again, parallels.) 

Throughout the series, the boys' relationship with each other transforms from exasperated incomprehension to easy understanding. The process is hastened as Eugene lets himself realize he cares a lot about troubled kids who remind him of himself. He becomes aware that children should not be required to survive on their own like he and Lance had. Spurred on by his significant other's love and encouragement, Eugene is able to acknowledge the adverse affects of his childhood on his life and start moving on. His extending a ready hand to Varian is his process of healing. Though Eugene's first priority will always be Rapunzel, he truly wants to save Varian from the uncontrollable volatility of risky decisions because he knows that downward spiral intimately.

Of course, there is a difference between thieving from the rich and planning the destruction of a kingdom. We'll get to that later.

The Girls

Rapunzel and Cassandra are the biggest driving forces of narrative power in the show, and they are survivors of child abuse. Every one of the main quartet has Parent Issues, but Rapunzel takes the crown (figuratively speaking) with this one. She was kidnapped and groomed into a life-giving doll, and she was only able to escape her abusive adoptive mother through incredibly traumatizing means. For Cassandra, it was neglect, and even her loving adoptive father couldn't leviate the scars left on her childhood mind.

They're a classic case of Golden Child vs. Scapegoat, which is a common case seen in siblings raised by Narcissistic parents. When one child is "favored" more than the other, the kids experience vastly different childhoods, resulting in resentment that stems from their inability to understand each other. Rapunzel and Cassandra are both jealous of what the other had—Rapunzel wants Cassandra's casual, practiced ease with freedom and personal agency, while Cassandra wants the attention and respect that Rapunzel is given by the status of her birth. Because they're unwilling to speak candidly about the unique hardships of their childhood, what results is a series of miscommunications that put a strain on their friendship.

Cassandra and Rapunzel both want the other in their lives, but how they attempt to make that connection is very different. Cassandra wants to be a helpful, essential force in Rapunzel's life. Unfortunately, Rapunzel has been raised on the idea that when push comes to shove, no one will help her survive. Cassandra interprets Rapunzel's desire for independence as Rapunzel scorning the connection that Cassandra is attempting to create. Add in some manipulation from an ancient evil, and Cassandra decides she is done exhausting her emotions for Rapunzel.

Rapunzel, on the other hand, wants absolute honesty in her relationships. Gothel raised her on lies, so she spurns deception. But Cassandra knows the merits of protecting herself by holding her opinions in, which is where the misunderstandings occur. Rapunzel cannot trust someone who isn't completely forthright with her. She's tired of dealing with liars, and she grows afraid that Cassandra will cause her the same pain as Gothel did. But the thing is, Cassandra is not Gothel, and Rapunzel loved Gothel. She couldn't save Gothel, but maybe she can save Cassandra. It's not too late.

Rapunzel doesn't know when to give up on Cassandra because she is aware that she and Cassandra are similar people. Giving up on Cassandra would feel too much like giving up on her own hopes for a happy life. Rapunzel can't let Cassandra be unhappy. This princess cares too much, loves too hard. She never learned how to write people off because you can't survive a childhood like hers with that much cheer if you don't hang onto your optimism like a goddamn lifeline.

This is Rapunzel’s method of taking back power for herself: saving others. Rapunzel could have been Cassandra. Rapunzel is trying to believe she herself is worth saving—therefore, Cassandra must be worth saving as well. Rapunzel's significant other is giving her a stable source of love and support, but without a proper resolution to Cassandra's struggles—a final proof that despite Gothel's influence, they can both be happy—Rapunzel would feel incomplete.

The Golden Couple

At the end of the day, Rapunzel and Eugene are fundamentally good people. If it comes down to it, they would be unable to sacrifice the world for their own desires. (Eugene's thievery doesn't count as an expression of true desire because it was literally his method of survival. An expression of true, selfish desire for him might've been something like manipulation and abduction for the purposes of making people stay, but Eugene is not Gothel and he would never do that to anyone in a million years.) (On a side note, Rapunzel's selfish desire might've manifested in the abandonment of all duties and personal connections in favor of eternal exploration, or revenge towards a kingdom that failed to save her, or a thorough destruction of authority figures—but she loves people too much and would never be able to forsake her family.)

Life threw a lot of rocks at them, but these two came through it marginally well-adjusted. They affirmed their love for each other in a violent, unforgettable manner, which makes it easier for them to trust in each other's affection. Eugene would've been okay with never finding his biological father, just as Rapunzel had been okay with her biological parents' inability to protect her. They have no wish to punish the world for what they suffered. They’re content with who they are. They're just glad they made it, that they're finally allowed to love someone without being afraid. They're each other's saving grace.

The Antivillains

This is the difference between Hero and Antivillain: Cassandra and Varian are willing to punish the world for what happened to them. There’s a very faint line between justified retaliation and venting. In their desperation and anger, they cross the line, and they’re unable to stop themselves once they get going. Unlike the Golden Couple, Cassandra and Varian refuse to settle. They want what is owed. 

Also, they really, really hate themselves. (This is important.)

Varian believes Quirin is the ultimate source of affirmation. The fact that he lost his father by way of his own dangerous experiment, coupled with the fact that no one prioritizes his call for help in the face of national disaster, is enough to make him feel isolated from the world. Though he is burdened with a growing sense of remorse for his deeds, he doesn’t stop resorting to drastic, harmful measures to get his father back until he is forcefully stopped by betrayal from his allies. He finally makes the full transition from “antagonist” to “protagonist” when Rapunzel risks herself to save Quirin from the rocks. If Quirin could not be saved, there’s a possibility Varian might have stayed an antagonist, unenthusiastic though he may have been in his villainous role. As long as Quirin is trapped in those rocks, Varian remains the villain who put him there.

With Quirin safe, Varian allows himself to take huge steps in healing. He slowly rediscovers his self-worth, one that is separate from Quirin’s approval. Rapunzel—and by extension, Eugene—play the friendly, supportive role to Varian’s ingenuity, helping him along in his quest for self-acceptance. Varian still has trouble working through the heavily ingrained self-hatred, but he recovers enough confidence in his own judgment that he takes Eugene’s warning to heart and is able to install a safety device in his father’s helmet, just in case.

This is the Varian who meets Cassandra in the Tower that once belonged to Gothel. At this point in time, Cassandra has been manipulated into thinking of herself as weak and unimportant in comparison to Rapunzel. Her adoptive father, much like Quirin, was too gruff to be vocal with approvals. Her efforts have not been met with successes. She feels like a failure, and she hates feeling like a failure. This is Cassandra’s method of taking back power: by turning herself into someone unforgettable. If she can make something of herself, she’ll finally be able to prove Gothel wrong. She can be just as special as Rapunzel, if she’s given the chance. She wants that chance.

Similar to Varian, Cassandra doesn’t stop her downward spiral until her supposed ally and mentor betrays her and forcefully takes her power away. Only when there are no options left does she allow herself to admit that she was wrong. She is then rewarded for her honesty with Rapunzel’s love and trust. Armed with a new confidence, the sisters vanquish the evil together in an epic showdown that will long be remembered. Cassandra finally gets her dramatic hero’s tale.

Rapunzel and Eugene have an internal compass that lets them make snap decisions. They don’t have the healthiest self-esteem, but they can at least stand by what they think is right. Comparatively speaking, Cassandra and Varian have terrible self-esteem. They don’t trust their own judgment and are heavily influenced by outside forces. Without the constant barrage of trust and affection from Rapunzel, who is akin to a blazing sun when it comes to personal loyalty, these antivillains might never have reached their redemptive ending. They wouldn’t have been able to let go of their twisted priorities without outside influence. Can’t blame them for it, though.

It’s no surprise that Cassandra and Varian are relatable to many people. Who wouldn’t want to reclaim what was taken from them during childhood? (Of course, the problem occurs when you start hurting others to reclaim what you lost.) Their journey is a different kind of vulnerable from Rapunzel and Eugene’s journey, and it’s extraordinary in its detail. This show is essentially a long exploration of the various ways a parent can mess you up and the coping methods of kids who want to become more than their past, which is totally up my alley of expertise. I’m grateful I got to watch them grow taller than their trauma.

Finally, here’s a parting gif of Lance, because I love him and he’s a well-adjusted ray of sunshine. We all wish we could be as mentally stable as Lance—the main quartet included.

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf

Ok, so I’ve tried and tried several times to get this posted, we’ll see if this is the time it goes through. Half the reason why this review series has slowed down is not just the multitude of real life stuff I have to deal with, but also Tumblr just refusing to work with me and deleting my posts. I also can’t save my work else where due to Tumblr messing up the formatting. It’s been a frustrating mess and so far no one @staff​ has come up with a tech solution or work around. 

Summary: Rapunzel helps to rebuild Old Corona, (after its near destruction from the Black Rocks) which will become the permanent home of Red and Angry, who have returned to Corona to settle down. However, she begins to notice strange footprints around the area, as well as the livestock becoming more unruly and fearful. The group comes across a monster hunter named Creighton, who explains to the group that the area is being stalked by a werewolf, who possessed one of Corona's citizens. Aiming to save this person rather than kill them, Rapunzel sets out to find who it is. 

When Was This Decided?

No seriously, when was this decided? It’s a pretty big leap go from ‘the rocks makes various towns inhabitable’ to ‘let’s rebuild!’ What’s changed here? Cause the rocks haven’t been removed and Rapunzel failed in her mission to nullify their power. In fact the rocks were not only reawaken in the second season finale but shown to be under the power of someone who’s intentions were made unclear to the heroes.

So I ask again; who thought this was safe thing to do now? What provisions have been made to accommodate the rocks? They blocked the well, remember, and destroyed the fields; how are the people getting food and water? 

And most importantly why wasn’t the audience informed beforehand? When you change up the status quo in a story you need to provide just cause to the viewers. I legit thought I had accidently skipped an episode when I first watched because this plot point was not set up properly.  

Why Were They Ever Left Alone to Begin With?

In a story where neglect is a central theme and motivating factor for all the main characters, it is super tone deaf to have those same characters perpetuating neglect themselves. The decision to live on their own should not be left up to Angry and Red because they are children. Children are not mature enough to provide for themselves neither emotionally nor physically and when placed in situations where they have to do so it psychologically damages them. Which the series already showcased with Varian so why is this suddenly deemed ok? 

This Completely Undermines the Past Two Seasons

The entire conflict of the past two seasons was the rocks forcing people out of their homes. Eugene was made an orphan from them, Varian lost his entire support group because them, they drove out the Saporians from their encampment which prompted them to invade Corona, and Rapunzel and company spent an entire year on the road trying to find a way to stop them from spreading supposedly. 

All of that has now been flushed down the drain with this decision. And its super insulting to watch because it’s the writers telling us that we’ve wasted our time caring about this plot for two years. You don’t resolve major conflicts off screen and without explanation; it’s lazy!  

Also Where Is Varian and Quirin During All This?

This is not only their home and legal charge, but it’s also the ending to their ongoing story, and they’re not even here in a silent cameo. 

Wouldn’t Quirin be overseeing the rebuilding of his town? Wouldn’t Varian be using his skills to find workable engineering solutions for them, fulling his season one goal of saving his home and making his village better with his inventions? Also wouldn’t Edmund want to catch up with his brother and help out now that he’s here? 

In fact not a single person who actually lives in Old Corona is to be found in these opening shots. 

Oh, But We Do Get Earl

Earl might be from Old Corona, or he might not be. We’ve literally never seen him before. The artists had to create a brand new character model for this character, the writers had to write new lines for him, and the casting director had to hire an actor and have him record these lines for only less than a minute of screen time, never to be seen again. Even though they legit had shepherd models already to go from season one that they could have used. It’s a waste of resources and a prime example of the mismanagement going on in this show. 

It’s Too Late In the Series to Waste Time On a New One Off Villain

Speaking of a waste, Creighton might have more story reasons to appear in this episode than Earl does but her inclusion is still a poor decision. The show already has an overabundance of villains, so many in fact that they shipped the bulk of them off in season two, and this is the final season; the season where we should be wrapping up plots and minor characters stories not kicking off new ones.

Taken on her own Creighton isn’t a bad character presa, she works for the episode, but when we could have gotten a resolution to Caine’s, Hector’s, or the Disciples’ story arcs instead it highlights how misused the series assets are. 

All This Lore Will Be Forgotten In Just a Few Episodes Time

We finally get like some magical rules and backstory only for future episodes to ignore it from here on afterwards. Red can turn into a werewolf whenever she pleases, night or day, with little explanation as for why.  

Just Arrest Her Rapunzel

You’re the acting queen. You have the power and the right to arrest or even merely detain someone who is threating your citizens and refuses to leave. In fact it’s kind of your job. You don't even have to throw her in a dungeon if you thought that too cruel. Just lock her up in a nice room somewhere in the castle until you’ve sorted out the mess yourself. 

The series wants to treat Rapunzel as the underdog when she isn’t, and her failure to wield her power effectively doesn’t make her look ‘nice’ it just makes her look stupid and grossly incompetent. This is a conflict that didn’t need to have happened and Rapunzel let it happen.  

Oh, So Now Y'all Riot

You didn’t complain when the king orphaned children with his crack down on crime. You rolled over as he dolled out overly harsh punishments to poor people who committed minor offences. You gleefully went along with the royals as they  scapegoated a child for their mistakes, even as they endangered your homes.  And ya’ll sat on your asses while invaders pulled off a coup and enslaved you. 

But this is what you get mad over? A rumor about a mythical creature existing that your princess has zero control over. Seriously? 

Man, I hate the townspeople in this show. 

Pointless Dream Sequence Is Pointless

This scene tells the audience nothing new and just wastes screen time. 

This Is the Wrong Lesson to Focus On Rapunzel

We do not tell the 12 year old to unload their phycological issues onto their baby sister!

You’re telling me parents were involved in writing this show? What the hell!?

Rapunzel you are the adult here. At 20 now you should be more adept to handle listening to the deep seated emotional traumas of a little girl than a fucking 10 year old! And if you’re not, or don’t want to, then it’s your job to find another adult who will. 

That’s the core problem with this entire episode. It treats Red’s and Angry’s problems as some eternal issue that they need to work out and not as the inherent failure of the adults around them that it is. 

It is neither Red’s nor Angry’s decision on weather or not they get live on their own. Nor is it their responsibility to be each other’s therapist. Yes, a change in living arrangements is always stressful and for children with abandonment issues it can be hard to readjust, but that’s when you need to step it up and deal with the problem; not shove it off onto the kids themselves! 

Monty Is Useless

Is this all Monty is good for? Being a red herring in ridiculously simple mysteries? Is this why we wasted a whole episode introducing him back in season one? Really?

Why Are We Still Treating Old Corona As Being Separate from Corona Itself?

Look, I get that it’s a joke, but it’s a joke that highlights how poorly thought out the worldbuilding is in the series. Is the Coronan government in charge of Old Corona or not? If so then you can just make those lease laws yourself as the acting regent Eugene. If not then Frederic shouldn’t have had any say in the matter of relocating Old Corona’s citizens nor putting a child outside of his jurisdiction under arrest.

But more importantly this is a just a repeat of that vague level of responsibility Rapunzel has for people who live off the island. She can’t order a whole village to be rebuilt while simultaneously claiming that she bares no accountability for Varian and Quirin’s problems in season one. 

Replacing Guns with Crossbows Isn’t the Safe Option That the Censors Think It Is

I find it kind of amusing that censors will ban showing a 17th century blunderbuss but allow it to be replaced by a weapon that is still mass produced today and can be bought in any Walmart across the country. Like I’m a major advocate for gun regulation in real life, but even I have to find this to be a bit silly. Crossbows aren’t some fantasy weapon. People still own and use them. But it would be seriously hard to get ahold of a working antique firearm.  

Seriously This Is How the Girls Have Been Living and the Adults Haven’t Done Anything About It Until Now?

I feel like I’m beating a dead horse by now, but it’s so engrained into the episode I have to keep bringing it up. The show itself is visually telling us that Red and Angry can’t keep living this way, but it never wants to call Rapunzel and the other adults out for not rescuing them from this life sooner. 

So All This Tells Me Is That Rapunzel Could Have Easily Checked Up On Varian In Painter’s Block, But Didn’t.

Remember they’re right next to Old Corona; meaning that Janus Point is also right next to Old Corona. Meaning that Rapunzel could easily have checked up on Varian right after Painter’s Block and choose not to. With each passing episode Rapunzel has less and less excuse for her behavior in season one. 

Yeah Remember that Plot Point That Wound Up Being Entirely Irrelevant to the Story?

In jokes don’t cover your ass when you make poor writing choices. Quite the opposite in fact as all you’ve done is remind the audience of all the various dangling plot threads that you will fail to follow up on. The disciples plot goes no where and serves no purpose, and it should not have been introduced as this big important thing if you weren’t going to do anything with it. 

Nice Idea, Poor Execution

I’ve heard fans of this episode tell me that they enjoy it because of this scene with Red. If you’re a naturally introverted person or neurodivergent and have trouble communicating at times then Red’s speech here can strike a cord. Which is cool; I’ll never deny someone’s feelings and if a piece of media speaks to you on a personal level for whatever reason that is great. What I’m here to discuss though is story structure and whether or not the story’s themes are presented well in context of what it’s set up. 

The conflict here does not work from a pure structural standpoint because it’s a surface level deflection of the real issues. Red’s problem isn’t that she is being ignored, it's that she’s been abandoned. Now communication issues can arise from that abandonment and feeling heard can be step forward in working those issues out, but Red’s central trauma isn’t going to be magically fixed by people ‘listening’ to her, i.e. being granted whatever she wants, but by providing her with a real home and with a real guardian to look after her. 

Because what Red wants on a surface level is harmful to her, and the reasons why she wants what she wants needs to be addressed more so than then sedating her angry outbursts in the moment. This is treating the symptoms not the cause.

So What Is or Isn’t Real About the Curse?

Once again, we finally get some actual lore and rules for magic and the writers are already throwing it away during the same episode they are introduced. I now have as little context for how the wolf curse works within the Tangled world as I did before the episode started. 

This Is Sweet, But Once Again Context Brings It Down.

So just to reiterate, this a surface level resolution to the conflict of the episode that doesn’t actually address anything. It might feel like an appropriate ending but only if you ignore the fact that Red and Angry are orphans who’ve been abandoned but the adults. 

Angry apologizing here to Red does not solve any of their problems, especially since Angry, as a child herself, is not responsible for her sister’s behavior, feelings, nor well being. That falls to the adults and they fail to address Red’s core issues and their own failings to her in their apologies as well. Not to mention that the very next scene undermines any optional progress that could have been made here. 

Listening to Someone Does Not Mean Giving Them Whatever They Want

This does not fix anything. Red and Angry are still left to live on their own without any real supervision. Giving them a big play house is not providing for them, it’s spoiling them. Would you let all the other orphans in the local orphanage roam free without an adult to take care of them? No!? Gee I wonder why? Could it be because letting a 12 and 10 year old raise themselves is a very stupid idea? One that will potentially damage them later in life assuming that they don't get themselves killed in the meantime. 

Moreover this is yet another example of the series overall problem with not understanding that compromise and resolving conflicts does not mean rewarding the characters at the end with everything that they want without having them work for it. That’s not how life works and it’s not how good story telling works. 

This Is Beyond Irresponsible

No! Bad Show! Bad! 

You do not get to pretend that negligence is the same thing as compromise. Yes I know Eugene said to come to him when they have a problem, but as demonstrated by this very episode children do not always know when to ask for help nor can they always find it when needed, that is why parents exist!  

Nor does the show get a free pass for turning it’s main characters into child abusers who neglected three minors multiple times now. Even when they themselves are victims of that same abuse!

How utterly blinkered do you have to be to not see the problem here? 

It’s the Return of the Pointless Parallels

Let me count the ways for how stupid this is. 

Red and Angry’s conflict has no impact on the on going narrative. Even with them now being reoccurring characters they still manage to contribute nothing to the future storylines involving Cass. 

Neither Rapunzel nor Cassandra learn anything from Red and Angry’s spat; Rapunzel because she refuses to acknowledge her own flaws and Cassandra’s not even here for any of it. 

The sister’s dynamic between Raps and Cass is not well established and the writers mange to piss all over it by series end because of gay baiting and poor writing. Therefore relying on lazy parallels to other siblings in the show to bolster this connection falls flat.  

Red and Angry’s argument has nothing in common with Rapunzel and Cass’s current fighting. One is about abandonment issues and the other is about shallow validation. Trying to tie these two themes together actually winds up undermining both conflicts. 

Red and Angry are children. Rapunzel and Cassandra are not. That very much matters. 

Red and Angry didn’t drag innocent people into their petty bitch fight and endanger them because they wanted to feel special. 

This Makes Zero Sense

I don’t know; she looked pretty happy during Crossing the Line. 

She was also able to control the rocks just fine then, so what happened? 

Not to mention soon after this Zhan Tiri is telling her she needs some sort of incantation to control the rocks, despite being able to already control the rocks.... 

It’s almost as if the writers are full of shit and don’t actually know what they’re doing. 

So Are We Remembering the Burnt Hand or Not?

Does the hand matter or not? Is it ever a motivating factor in what Cassandra decides to do? Is her waning control over the rocks connected to her burnt hand; even though having a burnt hand is what allowed her grab the moonstone in the first place? Did the moonstone heal the hand? Does Raps singing the healing incantation later on heal it? Does Cass have a forever burnt hand? 

Who the fuck knows! 

Not the writers that’s for sure, cause it never comes up again. 

Don’t introduce plot points and then not resolve them. That’s writing 101 guys. 

Wait if she needs the incantation to control the rocks and the angry thing is a lie, then how the heck is she controlling them just now? Make up your dang mind show! 

I swear I lose brain cells whenever I have to rewatch the evil Cassandra plot. It is so dumb  you guys.... so, so dumb. 

Conclusion

It’s not the worst thing ever but series has far better episodes on offer than this one. Even in a season as suck ass as season three. 

So there’s praying that this review posts this time and if you enjoy my writing and would like to support me in my projects feel free to leave a tip on my Ko-Fi. Thank you. 

https://ko-fi.com/rachelbethhines

[aj-illustrated]

*pulls up a 97-slide PowerPoint* I’m so glad you asked

Ben is an OC co-owned by me and @finnoky! The short of it is that he’s an orphan who Varian helps save from a life of crime, and who later gets adopted by Quirin!

More about him under the cut:

Age: About 12

Birthday: He has no idea, but thinks it might have been sometime in the autumn.

Likes: Quirin, Varian, farmwork, tending to the sheep, his dog (Achilles), the Challenge of the Brave (spectating and later competing), adventure stories, head pats, strawberries, friendly roughhousing, drawing

Dislikes: Cramped spaces (he’s claustrophobic), people hugging him, carrots, books with complicated words, cold weather, any kind of tight or scratchy clothing

Fun Facts:

Ben meets Varian about nine months after the end of the series.

He’s good friends with Kiera and Catalina! They’re the only kids his age who can beat him in a fair fight.

He eventually grows to be taller than Varian, and absolutely uses that fact to tease him.

He’s an excellent pickpocket, though he hasn’t stolen much of anything since Quirin took him in.

He’s got a knack for drawing— he’s not too good with words, so he finds it easier to express himself with pictures. He’s also a leftie!

He’s been almost adopted several times, but Quirin is the only foster parent who kept him around for longer than a month.

Backstory: Ben is an orphan who’s been given a raw deal in life, and as a result is kinda pissed off at everyone and everything all the time. The orphanage he grew up in was lacking to say the least, and he spent much of his early childhood being routinely abused and neglected, often lashing out in aggression at those he deemed to be a threat (which was most people). He eventually starts getting into trouble with the law and is tossed in prison for multiple counts of petty theft and assault, and it’s around that time that he meets Varian, who is helping to reform Corona’s prison system and is disgusted to see that they’re still punishing children as if they were adults.

He gets Ben out of prison, but the orphanage refuses to let him come back, so Varian convinces Quirin to take him in. Quirin agrees for a few factors: 1. Ben reminds him of Varian when he was going through a rough time, and how Quirin wasn’t able to help him then, 2. He’s not getting any younger and could use some help around the farm (plus Varian has been worried about him getting lonely, now that Varian has basically moved into the castle), and 3. The kid deserves a shot at having a healthy, stable home life.

Ben only agrees to go live with Quirin because trying to survive on the streets is no picnic, and also because he’d really rather not stay in prison for any longer than he has to. He figures that it won’t last, anyway— Quirin will lose patience with him and kick him to the curb, just like every other foster parent/guardian he’s been handed off to. He gets very confused (and a little annoyed) when Quirin turns out to be incredibly patient and willing to give him as many chances as he needs. In response, Ben acts out and does everything he can think of to convince Quirin that he’s rotten to the core, but nothing works.

Ben doesn’t want to get his hopes up or let himself get attached. He manages to annoy everyone else: the other villagers, Varian, even Eugene (who visits sometimes), but never Quirin. The most he ever gets out of him is an irritated sigh.

Throughout all of this, Ben is also finding out that he kinda likes helping out on the farm, and he’s pretty good at it, too. He’s very strong for his age, and a fast learner.... except for one thing: he can’t read. The orphanage had tried to teach him, but it never really clicked and they had long since given up on him, so he just never learned, instead relying on pictures and context clues to figure out the meaning of written words. As he continues to grow more attached to Quirin, he starts wanting to be better, to deserve the love and acceptance Quirin is offering him, so his self-consciousness about reading (among other things he doesn’t like about himself) really starts to bug him.

While he's sociable and generally gets along with other children, he does have the flaw of a short temper. So when he's targeted and called out for his apparent lack of academic intelligence, things get ugly, fast, and he gets in a fight. When Quirin asks later what it was about, Ben is reluctant to tell him, and is even less enthused when Quirin later suggests enrolling him in school.

He eventually admits to Quirin that he’s illiterate, expecting to get belittled or even compared to Varian (who is an actual genius and is kind of intimidating to Ben). But Quirin.... he doesn’t care that Ben can’t read, and even offers to help teach him or find him a tutor if he wants to learn. It’s after letting himself be vulnerable and accepting Quirin’s help that Ben starts to wonder if maybe... maybe he has a shot at being part of a real family.

He starts to let himself feel at home in Old Corona, thinking (or rather hoping) he’s found somewhere he belongs... as much as he hates to admit it, he really likes it here. So he tries to keep on the straight and narrow so he can stay longer, even making an effort to be nicer to Varian (who is more than happy to help him with his reading and is the one to introduce him to the Flynn Rider series). For the first time, Ben’s future is looking bright.

Until he loses his temper again.

On a visit to the capital, he passes by his old orphanage and gets in an argument with one of the kids he used to know (and wasn’t on particularly good terms with). The argument quickly gets personal, and then physical, and Ben takes it way too far— by the time the guards arrive on the scene to break it up, the kid Ben was fighting is a bloody, mangled mess, about a minute away from passing out. The guards don’t care what awful things that kid said to Ben; all they care about is that this boy with a history of violence and petty crime just savagely attacked another child, and Ben is swiftly arrested and taken to the dungeons.

At this point, Ben has cooled down enough to realize just how serious his situation really is. Even if they let him out of prison to go back to Quirin, he’s sure this is the last straw and that Quirin won’t want anything to do with him— he’s violent and dangerous, and no matter what he does he can’t seem to stay out of trouble, even when he really does try his best to be good. He hates himself for blowing his one chance at finding a home and family, and consoles himself by thinking that it was only a matter of time and at least the wait is over (boy’s got some raging self-loathing issues if you haven’t noticed).

Varian gets word that Ben’s been arrested and heads down to the dungeons to hear his side of the story, but Ben is too ashamed to even look him in the eye. Ben was told by the guards that, although he won’t be left to rot in the dungeons or thrown onto a prison barge (as per the new regulations regarding juvenile justice), he’ll be sent away to a correctional facility for delinquents— aka, reform school. Ben has no idea what to expect, but based on what the guards have been saying about it (very loudly, just outside his cell), it sounds no better than regular prison.

Varian is having absolutely none of this and contacts Quirin to tell him what’s going on— Quirin is up at the castle within the hour to try and bail Ben out, or at least renegotiate his sentence. However, since Quirin is not yet technically related to Ben— for the past year or so, he’s legally been closer to a parole officer than anything else— the law states that he can’t actually do much to interfere with Ben’s bail or sentence, especially since the boy is a repeat offender and is now classified as a menace to society.

Instead of giving up on the situation, Quirin decides to become Ben’s legal guardian right then and there, whipping out the adoption papers he’s been keeping in his vest for weeks— he’s been wanting to ask Ben if he’d like to be adopted for a while now, but he could never find the right moment. Now seems to be as good a time as any.

It takes a day or two to sort things out (Nigel and Fred both aren’t too keen on releasing a violent criminal for any reason, even if that criminal is like twelve), but Varian is able to pull some strings with Raps and Eugene to give Quirin full guardianship over Ben. Meanwhile, Ben is expecting he'll be shipped off any day now— when he sees Varian come back down to the prison with a guard, he expects it's to say goodbye... not to remove his shackles and lead him back upstairs to the throne room, where Quirin and Rapunzel are waiting beside a stack of paperwork. They only need one more signature to make the adoption official: Ben’s.

Luckily, Varian and Quirin have been helping him practice writing his name, and once he signs, Quirin tosses Raps the bail money (which she had whittled down to like two coins) and they head back home— Ben’s permanent home.

Ben’s story is a result of many many rambles between me and Feen on Discord, and I don’t think we’re gonna be stopping anytime soon— Ben is such a fun OC to flesh out XD

Feen and I are actually running a Q&A for Ben over on Feen’s Instagram story, y’all should go check it out!

[whaleiumsharkspeare]

Okay so I know it's a lot of numbers but also please keep in mind that a part of me wants to ask you ALL OF THEM so this is actually just restraint.

3 6 8 12 13 16 20 24 25

Well okay but get ready for a long post!

3.) My hair is very simple. I pretty much wear it down or in a ponytail because I’m not very experienced with doing different things with it. I let it dry naturally most of the time, which gives it some nice waves that I like. And I wear bangs straight across or slightly side-swept to the left. Sometimes I like to wear headbands or a tropical flower clip. But in general I keep it very simple

6.) I’ve always wanted to go to a concert because I’ve never been to one (excluding the virtual showing of Jeremy Jordan’s one man show Carry On, which I suppose I did buy tickets for rather impulsively). I’d also love to just take a random trip one day, somewhere really fun, like Disney World or someplace scenic. I also found out that Jeremy’s sister-in-law has a bakery one state away from where I live and one of these days I’m gonna get in my car and just drive there and get me some cupcakes just to say I got them from her

8.) One skill that I have is singing. I love to sing and I consider myself pretty good at it, but not a lot of my friends know that I can because as much as I love to sing, I can be a little shy about it. Obviously my family and high school choir friends know I can sing but here at college most people don’t realize it unless they’re some of my roommates and they happen to come into the bathroom while I’m in there singing in the shower

12.) I love stars and constellations a lot. I love to stargaze and I even have a pair of socks with constellations on them, but I don’t think I’ve ever made up my own constellations. I just like trying to find the real ones lol

13.) I have bangs and I’ve had them for as long as I can remember so I guess by definition, yes, I like it when my hair is in my face lol. But I don’t like them to be too long, and if I’m studying or taking a test or doing something else that requires a lot of focus, I like to have my hair back in a ponytail to keep the rest of it out of my face. But the bangs stay

16.) It would perhaps be easier to ask what songs I don’t sing in the shower lol. A lot of showtunes, a lot of Disney stuff. And then I’ll do some pop, like lately I’ve been singing Dog Days Are Over and Drops of Jupiter (which I suppose is more rock, idk). Pretty much anything that isn’t rap or heavy metal or anything like that is fair game in my shower repertoire

20.) Honestly, Let Me Make You Proud stuck with me pretty much right away, to the point that I even have a bracelet that says that on it. It struck a chord with me a number of reasons. One being that it was the first song I ever heard Jeremy Jordan sing and turned me into a fan immediately. But then the lyrics mean a lot to me, because I’m always trying to do my best like in school and I wanna prove myself. Not that my parents aren’t proud of me because they are and they let me know that but sometimes when I feel like I could be doing better, I think about that song. Not in a bad way necessarily but just like “yes, I will make you proud.” Again my parents are a lot more open about that than Quirin but idk, it just means something to me

24.) My freshman year of high school, I was like the only kid in my biology class that ever seemed to answer the teacher’s questions. I guess because science is my thing. But anyway this one day he shows us a picture of a dugong, which is an animal very similar to a manatee. And he asked if anyone knew what it was, so I raised my hand because I knew it. And he looked at me like “this again?” and he said “Really? You know what, let’s let some other students try to answer this one and we’ll come back to you.” So I put my hand down and leaned back in my chair like “alright, but good luck.” And he called on some other students who said anything from a manatee to a dolphin but no one got it right. So finally I put my hand back up and my teacher, who sounded really done at this point, said “alright, what do you think it is?” And I, with all the confidence in the world, said “it’s a dugong” and he was like, so surprised. He said “yeah, that’s actually right” and I felt rather smug about it and I’ll never forget it.

Oh! Also the time in 7th grade when I got a solo in choir for our Christmas concert. I was really shy and not prone to singing out very loudly (also I was in the alto section that year and those low notes were murder on my throat. I’m definitely a soprano but I didn’t know it then). But there was this solo that I really liked and I wanted to audition. And I was up there standing in line listening to the other girls singing it before me. And I got up to the front, and I wasn’t very popular in school and not a lot of the girls really knew me that well, so when it was my turn they were all sitting on the risers just talking to each other. And my choir director played the intro on the piano and I started singing and I kid you not the entire room went silent and they were all watching me. It was so scary and nerve wracking but I also felt very proud to have even tried. I wound up getting the solo in the song “Yes, Virginia” and because of it, I really grew a lot in my confidence after that

25.) My favorite holiday decoration is this Barbie ballerina Christmas ornament that I’ve had for as long as I can remember. It’s from the movie Barbie in the Nutcracker and it’s Barbie in this pretty pink and light green tutu with sparkles on the skirt and she’s doing some ballet pose. She is missing a hand but it’s because she’s well-loved. Every year I insist on it being the first ornament on the tree and I always place it very prominently so it can be easily seen and appreciated

Thanks for all the asks, Kazzy!

[codynaomiswire]

TTS/RTA Egyptian Mythology AU

Also known as the Uraeus AU!

Several months ago, I made a post about a developing idea for an Egyptian mythology AU for TTS/RTA. The idea was prompted in large part by the snake-hair Varian (“Snakian”) scene from the series’ finale, and the concept of the uraeus in Egyptian mythology. Since first posting about this AU, Xiel and I have really been developing the idea further on the Discord, and here’s what we’ve come up with so far. Hope you all enjoy it!

Note: As a fan AU, this is of course subject to change and variations, so things may change or develop differently as time goes on and more new ideas spring up. This is just what we have in mind so far!  :D

Champions and Friends:

Varian - The kingdom’s seer and champion of Wadjet (aka “the Uraeus”). In this AU, Varian was born to Quirin and Ulla with his “twin brother” Ka - a living uraeus bestowed upon him by the snake goddess Wadjet. (More on Ka and Wadjet down below.) Having grown up with Ka, Varian is not (usually) bothered with having a snake attached to his head, and sees Ka as being like a brother to him. Varian also grew up being told by Quirin and Ulla to keep Ka a secret, as the family was worried Varian and Ka would be taken away from them if anyone knew about them. So for many years, whenever Varian would go outside, he would wear a head covering so Ka would remain hidden from the world. Once he did try to show Ka to some of the kids in his village, but they all ran away screaming, and he got in trouble with the parents for “pulling a mean prank with a snake.” So he and Ka never tried that again. However, things start to get trickier as Varian enters his early teens, and he starts to get visions about events to come, and has a couple episodes of sleepwalking in the middle of the night. Despite Quirin’s best efforts to keep the two safe, things finally come to a head when some kidnappers (led by Andrew) are hired by Set’s cult to capture Varian and Ka, and bring them back to be dealt with. Out of self-defense, Ka ends up landing a venomous bite on Andrew, who nearly dies from the poison. However, Varian has also taken an interest in alchemy by this time in his life, and learned how to create an antivenom for Ka’s bites. (While Varian himself is immune to snake venom due to his connection with Ka and Wadjet, he learned how to make it in case there was ever an accident involving someone else.) Varian manages to make the antivenom in time and save Andrew’s life, but this incident ended up taking place out in the open, and thus Varian and Ka have their cover blown. Quirin tries to prevent Varian and Ka from being taken away, but the next day the pharaoh’s soldiers come and take Varian and Ka to live in the palace, as the priests of Wadjet are certain that the time has come for the seer to step into his duties for the kingdom. Varian is at first very unhappy with being forced to live at the palace, but is befriended my Rapunzel quite quickly. And when his visions start coming on with even greater intensity, Varian must do what he can to help protect the people from Set’s plans and Apep’s impending return.

Ka - A living uraeus and Wadjet’s other champion. (Note: In this AU, “the Uraeus” refers to Ka, Varian, or the two taken together. The term applies to all three.) His character is inspired by the snake-hair character in the RTA series finale (though Ka has the added feature of a cobra hood), and his name is inspired in large part by the “ka” aspect of the soul in ancient Egyptian philosophy (meaning “double” and known as the protective aspect of the soul). His name is also reminiscent of Kaa from The Jungle Book, though it’s spelled differently. Given to Varian by Wadjet upon his birth, Ka has been with Varian since the beginning. While he and Varian are the same age, Ka grows up faster than Varian mentally, so he tends to be the more mature of the two. However, he isn’t adverse to causing some mischief from time to time. Growing up, Ka was pretty readily accepted by Ulla, but Quirin...was more leery of him. Especially given Quirin’s own past (more on that below), he first saw Ka as an interloper on what was supposed to be a peaceful family life. Despite this attitude, Quirin and Ka did have their moments of reliability from time to time, and Ka grew up seeing Quirin and Ulla as his parents (calling them “Father” and “Mother” respectively). For years Ka had to hide his existence from the outside world, and thus could get very lonely. It seemed that he would have to resign himself to a life of obscurity...until Varian started getting weird visions of things to come, and Ka started getting his own premonitions of things to come in the short term (i.e. waking visions of things close at hand). Ka also learned through his premonitions how to hypnotize people, which he would use mostly for therapeutic purposes, or to compel people to tell the truth if need be (though this function especially can take a lot out of him, so he’s not OP with this ability). Things take the most drastic turn for Ka when he lashes out at would-be kidnappers (as told in Varian’s description above), he becomes known to the wider world, and is then thrust into the champions’ efforts to save the kingdom from ruin. Ka also does that snake thing of prolonging his ‘s’ sounds when he talks, and when he first has the experience of talking to new people he takes to referring to himself in the third person. Just to be fancy I guess.  xP

Quirin - Varian and Ka’s father, member of the Brotherhood, and champion of Khonsu. Quirin spent a good portion of his adult life as a member of the Brotherhood in Karnak who - in this AU - are a warrior guild with allegiance to Khonsu, Egyptian god of the moon and time. While serving under Khonsu, Quirin acquired the ability to manipulate time in certain small ways - i.e. stopping time within a certain radius (usually a few yards), or around a certain person or object. This ability is very risky though, as if it’s used too often or too intensely it can have the side affect of “taking time” from the one wielding it (hence why Quirin appears a bit older than Adira and Hector, who are only a few years younger than he). After a good many years of service in the Brotherhood, Quirin decides to leave his service and settles down with his wife Ulla to start a family. However, upon the birth of their son Varian, Quirin is shocked to find that Varian was born with a living uraeus attached to his head (whom Ulla names Ka). After his dealings with the gods while serving Khonsu, Quirin is afraid of what Ka’s presence means for Varian, and does all he can to keep Ka a secret from the wider world. At first, Quirin is very leery of Ka, which does not go unnoticed by the rest of the family. Quirin is never cruel to Ka, never ignores him, nor dotes upon Varian while leaving Ka out of it, but it is clear that he sees Ka differently from Varian. Things become especially hard when Ulla dies when Varian and Ka are about ten years old, and Quirin has to raise the two on his own. Eventually, Quirin and Ka begin to grow closer, and Quirin does all he can to make sure he and Varian don’t get taken away from him. But after their cover is blown, Quirin is left worrying about his sons after they are taken away to live in the palace. As Quirin prays to Khonsu one night asking what can be done, he is informed that his duty as the Uraeus’s protector is not over, and that he will also be called upon to join in the effort to stop Set and Apep in the days to come.

Rapunzel - The princess of Egypt and the champion of Ra. Rapunzel was kidnapped by Mother Gothel as a baby, and was raised learning how to use her sun powers. However, when the champion of Horus comes to save her, Mother Gothel is defeated by her own evil designs, and Rapunzel loses connection with her healing powers in the ensuing struggle. After returning home, life is happy for the princess, and she quickly befriends many in her kingdom. However, when news comes to the palace that Wadjet’s seer has appeared in the land, Rapunzel begins her real journey to find her destiny, and must use her powers to save the land from its deadliest threat yet.

Eugene - The prince of one of Egypt’s major cities, and the champion of Horus. (Naturally, this was inspired by Eugene’s birth name being Horace in the canon series. xD) The son of King Edmund of Karnak, Eugene actually grew up in his family’s palace in this AU. When he was born, Eugene bore a birthmark on his shoulder blades that resembled wings. After consulting with the local priests, Edmund learned that the birthmark was a sign of the blessing of Horus, and that Eugene would come to wield great powers. Afraid for his son, however, Edmund has a hieroglyph painted onto Eugene’s back every few weeks or so to keep the power of the mark at bay. Eventually though, when Eugene is in his early teens, Horus’s blessing breaks through the barrier induced by the hieroglyph, and after a painful first transformation, Eugene has found that he has sprouted giant hawk’s wings from his back. After the initial shock, Eugene learns how to use and control this ability, and after some of Horus’s guidance, he manages to find the lost princess of Egypt and rescues her (while also falling in love of course ^^). After rescuing Rapunzel, Eugene decides to remain living in the capitol at the palace, though he keeps in contact with his family and home city.

Cassandra - Mother Gothel’s daughter, Rapunzel’s best friend and champion of Sekhmet. After being born to Mother Gothel, Cassandra grew up as a child servant in the cult of Set, and was left entirely on her own after Mother Gothel left her to horde Rapunzel’s sun powers for herself. Being miserable in her life situation, Cassandra eventually called out to the other gods asking for their help (she was probably about six or seven years old at this stage). Sekhmet heard her, and gave Cassandra some of her powers so she could don a lioness form and bust her way out. (Although, this blessing also left its mark on Cassandra, as she now permanently sports cat-like eyes, even when not in her lioness form.) After fleeing the cult of Set, Cassandra wanders around for a while until she is found by the Captain of the Guard, who came after he heard reports of a dangerous feral child wandering the desert near the outer villages. The Captain takes pity on Cassandra when he finds her, and takes her in as his own and teaches her how to fight and how to have discipline so she can control her powers. In addition to transforming into a human-lioness hybrid, Cass can also talk to felines and request favors from them, like spying on enemies and scouting and stuff. After gaining the trust of everyone in the capitol, Cass also came to be known by the revered title, The Lioness.

Lance - Eugene’s best friend and fellow resident of Karnak. While Lance is not a chosen champion, he is still a gifted member of the group, and is invaluable as a supportive friend and skilled wordsmith. When Kiera and Catalina travel to the capitol after Catalina becomes a champion, it’s Lance who is the first in the group to befriend the girls. Lance also has a background in being a treasure hunter, which comes in handy when the group needs to locate legendary artifacts, ancient temples and other things that will be vital to the success of their mission.

Catalina - Sister to Kiera/Angry, and Champion of Anubis. (A quick thank you to the Anon who prompted us to consider Catalina as a fellow champion!) Like Cassandra, Catalina’s blessing from Anubis allows her to don a feral form (this time in the form of a werewolf/werejackal) to help fight against the agents of Set and Apep. However, Catalina was chosen to wield Anubis’s blessing specifically because her heart was the only one judged by the scales of Anubis to be able to balance the powers contained within his blessing. As the son of Set and a god of death, Anubis’s blessing is extremely powerful and volatile, and only a certain kind of heart can learn how to balance it and avoid being destroyed by it. While Catalina still struggles with her power (especially during the first few transformations), she is able to gain great control over it with time. While she is considered an outcast from most of the rest of society, Kiera stays by Catalina’s side, and together they travel to the capitol to join the other champions in their mission to stop Set and Apep from destroying the world.

Kiera/Angry - Catalina’s sister. While Kiera/Angry is not a chosen champion, she is still skilled and is a beloved member of the group. After her sister Catalina receives the blessing of Anubis, Kiera stays by her side and travels with her to the capitol to join the rest of the group to help save Egypt and the world from impending doom.

Adira and Hector - Members of the Brotherhood, Quirin’s honorary siblings, and Varian’s “aunt” and “uncle”. While Hector and Adira were also servants of Khonsu like Quirin, neither were given special powers by the deity. Nevertheless, their work as members of the Brotherhood proves invaluable for the group, and they are more than ready to help with their skills and knowledge for whatever may come their way. When Hector isn’t serving at Khonsu’s temple in Karnak, he is the more adventurous of the two, and spends a good chunk of his time being a sellsword for the caravans traveling across the desert. He also has an affinity for animals, and thus relates to Ka very well upon meeting him for the first time.

King Edmund - Ruler of Karnak, head of the Brotherhood, and father of Eugene. A lot of his role was already laid out in Eugene’s description.

Frederic and Arianna - The pharaoh and queen of Egypt in this AU.

Egyptian Deities:

Wadjet - A snake goddess of protection and healing, Wadjet is the deity who chooses Varian and Ka for the mission to stop Set and Apep. In this AU, Wadjet is also a goddess of farsight, and thus allows Varian and Ka to be her seers on earth. While a powerful and graceful deity, Wadjet also has a “soccer mom” kind of personality to her as well. In this AU she has the form of a naga - i.e. human upper body with her lower body being a long snake’s tail.

Khonsu - The god of the moon and time, and the deity served by the Brotherhood. Khonsu is a rather mysterious figure, and while he can see through time and its various possible outcomes, he does not have direct control over how events play out. However, he does impart the ability to manipulate time in small ways to Quirin, though the ability does comes with a price if used to excessively. Khonsu’s personality is quiet, stern, yet also with a touch of levity here and there.

Ra - The god of the sun, and giver of Rapunzel’s powers. Unlike the other deities in this AU, Ra seems strangely absent, despite his sun constantly moving through the sky overhead, and Rapunzel serving as his emissary. He only speaks to her very sparingly throughout their adventure, but when he does it’s always at key moments.

Horus - The son of Ra, protector of the sun, and arch nemesis of Set. Horus chose Eugene to be his champion on earth, and gifted the prince with his wings and ability to fly. (Haven’t really ironed out more of his personality yet to be honest. More may come later!)

Sekhmet - A lion goddess and protector of Egypt. Like Ra, Sekhmet doesn’t make too many appearances in this AU, but she does give Cassandra her incredible lioness warrior powers.

Anubis - A god of death, judgment and the son of Set. Despite commanding a lot of respect, Anubis is a deity that many Egyptians fear and don’t like to talk about. He has a very serious personality (given his job that only seems natural), and really doesn’t like the idea of Set and Apep wreaking havoc on the world and making his job as psychopomp all the harder. (Basically, one of his motivations for wanting to stop the end of the world is so he doesn’t have a ton of more work to do with all the death and destruction that would result. ...Yeah, not the most altruistic reasoning, but guess the guy’s just being practical. xP) When choosing his champion, he weighed the hearts of all in the kingdom to determine which one could balance his powers best, and the scales determined that it would be Catalina, hence him bestowing her with his blessing.

Villains:

Mother Gothel - A former priestess of Set. After learning about the princess’s sun powers, Mother Gothel kidnaps the princess in order to use her powers so that she may remain young forever and never die. However, her evil plans collapse in on her when the champion of Horus comes to save Rapunzel, and Mother Gothel is destroyed in the process. (This is pretty much the extent of Mother Gothel’s role in the story.)

Zhan Tiri - High priestess of Set, and one of the main antagonists of this AU. For many years, Zhan Tiri ran the cult of Set from the underground, and kept her identity as high priestess hidden while posing as an advisor to the pharaoh’s court. However, after her attempt to eliminate the Uraeus fails, Varian and Ka see through her disguise, and she is forced to flee from the capitol and run the cult of Set from the underground in the temples and caves in the Egyptian wilderness. She’s pretty much a generic villain like in the series, where she just kinda craves revenge and destruction because...evil.

Set - The “big bad” of the AU alongside Apep. Where Apep is the brawn of the evil duo, Set is the brains. Set plans on using his cult to help release him and Apep onto the mortal plane, basically wreak as much havoc as possible, and take over the world.

Apep - The “big bad” of the AU alongside Set. Where Set is the brains of the evil duo, Apep is the brawn. As the giant serpent of chaos, Apep’s one goal in life is to destroy the world and all living things. He’s kind of the antithesis of Ka in this AU. His voice sounds a lot like Smaug from The Hobbit movies, and while big, strong and scary, he isn’t super clever.

Aaaaaand I think I’ll leave this post at that for now. Whew! I’ll probably make another post a bit later concerning a general outline of events, and maybe also some other posts with some dialogue snippets that Xiel and I have come up with if there’s enough interest.

[littlemisslol-fic]

Mayhaps... Varian is found by the Saporians after Qfad and they take him under his wing... but when explaining their plan to him he ain't quite keen on killing anyone, so they mess with his head to make him the perfect saporian.

Ooooooooo interesting! I always love season one Varian, such an angry little goblin lol

THIS ONE GOT LONG TOO LMAO

1. They find the kid half buried in the snow. Andrew and his crew had been keeping to the outskirts of Corona, thinner guard numbers, more wiggle room to move during the day, but on their way to their new hideout they stumble across him nearly dead. For a second Andrew thinks to leave him, to continue on. The kid’s Coronan, he’s not their problem.

But then he recognizes the boy. The one from the expo, with the invention that had started a storm and had nearly killed them all. Andrew hadn’t known that kind of power was even possible, not without magic at least, and here was some little boy making a machine out of garbage and tape that was capable of such destruction.

They take Varian with them.

2. When the boy first wakes up, he immediately starts to cry. Andrew can’t help but feel a pang of sympathy as the kid blurts out his story. A betrayal from a friend, a useless King. A dead father. Corona had taken a lot from all of them, parents, sisters, brothers, friends, but this is the first time he’s seen the kingdom turn against one of their own.

Varian is a gullible kid. Even when he’s near devastated, he still looks towards anything with a pulse for approval; it’s easy for Andrew to placate him, to twist the scenario into something useful. It doesn’t feel good to do so, but it’s for the cause. It’s simple to take Varian’s sorrow, his grief, and turn it against the royal family, and eventually against Corona entirely.

They betrayed you, he tells the kid, left you to rot. You refused to be quiet, asked the difficult questions, and for that they turned against you. They’d rather live in blissful ignorance than actually help anyone.

Varian is easy to trick, to mold. His guard falls the second someone tells him he’s done a good job. Andrew knows that Varian thinks he’s in charge of what’s happening, thinks that he’s the one using Andrew. He couldn’t be more wrong.

The kid’s smart, deadly so. All it takes is a little push and the kid’ll be a perfect Saporian to add to their ranks. Varian’s an incredibly useful resource- he may not be a fighter, but his inventions and tactical capabilities are unparalleled, even at such a young age. Andrew can’t help but pay him close attention, drawing the kid further into his net.

Besides, he would need an heir, eventually.

3. Eventually they go for the Sundrop flower. Andrew already knows it’s a crapshoot, but Varian’s determined and to try and stop him would uproot all of Andrew’s careful groundwork. So they go, fight through the catacombs as a group. It’s easy with so many of them, even with the massive automaton that nearly kills them. Varian geeks out about it, but Andrew can see the gears turning in that brain of his.

They reach the flower.

Just as Varian shoves it in his bag, the princess shows up. She looks shocked to see them all together, her eyes zeroing in on Varian with horror. It’s obvious that she thought he was safe at home. Rapunzel snaps at them, frantically tells Varian to get away from them, to get away from Andrew, but Varian only scowls.

He turns his back on the princess, and Andrew feels smug.

4. Varian starts to double time his inventions after meeting with the princess. It seems seeing her had sparked an anger in him; almost in a split second he goes from devastated waif to ball of fury. He builds weapons, bombs, potions and elixirs.

Even automatons.  

Old Corona becomes Saporian territory. The villagers are long gone, abandoning everything out of fear of the black rocks. It’s a good vantage point, high on a hill with a thick wall to the back- Andrew couldn’t ask for a better place to start their revolution. Spurring it all is Varian, who gives them an edge they’d never had before. For the first time in almost a thousand years, Saporia has the advantage.

Andrew will see victory, with his successor by his side.

5. They go too far. Varian, for all his anger and pain, hadn’t wanted to cause undue pain to anyone. Andrew had been slowly working on it, squashing those pesky morals out with some soft guidance and a well-placed word.

It all comes crashing down when Varian sees them doing away with a spy.

A guard, young and stupid, had been caught. Jupiter had taken him out, as she always did, but they’d forgotten to check around before starting to drag the body away. Varian nearly screams at the sight of blood, flinching back. Andrew catches him, an arm around thin shoulders to keep him from running off.

Varian tries to argue, to demand that they stop this, they’d gone too far.

It’s easy to put him back in his place.

6. (Bonus) Varian betrays them, in the end. Kid rigs his own inventions to fail, the automatons collapsing under their own weight. Without them, the Saporians are forced to retreat, but Andrew knows better. Before he goes he throws Varian from his side, casts the kid clean off a bridge and into the moat below. If he survives, Andrew doesn’t care.

Varian does live, but he wakes up chained to a bed in the castle infirmary. Rapunzel sits nearby, holding his hand. The second she sees his eyes open she starts to cry, shaking her head and begging to know why he did what he did. He tells her about Quirin, about Andrew, about it all. He doesn’t expect to be forgiven, doesn’t even expect to be spared the gallows; he’s shocked when Rapunzel only hugs him tightly, promising to help him. 

It’s rocky,, and full of missteps, but eventually they grow back to a place where they’d call each other friends. Varian and Rapunzel work together, accepting that they both had made mistakes, they’d both either let things happen or had taken it too far.

When Andrew comes back, Varian stands against him, his friends at his side.

OKAY YIKES THAT WAS REALLY LONG LMAO I just love the intricacies of season one, all the craziness is always a treat. Thank you for the ask, these are really fun!!! 💕💕

Send me an AU, and I’ll come back with 5 points about it!