#idk what hansel should get for a tag for like organization's sake

[seeminglyseph]

I’m considering... for my entirely indulgent Neverafter Hansel character, to have his Twice Upon A Time re-entry to the Neverafter through a differing version of his tale feature him entering a loop of Brother and Sister tales, rather than strictly Hansel and Gretel. it feels like it would be really interesting to like. have a character whose conflict is also in the way their story is about being part of a half, and a grim reminder of the fates of children left to wander defenceless.

Also I want to turn him part way into a goat.

and being able to go like ‘so now I think I might know where my sister is, but it’s chained to a rock at the bottom of a frozen river.” In my headcanon which I am making up because idk maybe they’ll really put out out a rulebook and I can play in a game or something sometime okay?! In my headcanon in the times of the Neverafter where the stories become twisted versions of themselves Gretel not only cooks the witch, after being tortured and starved for weeks she ends up devouring the witch as well. In *my* mind gaining a witch’s powers and becoming a small fragment of Baba Yaga who... look somehow in my imagination versions of the witch are like pale reflections of memories *of* Baba Yaga. Because the witch with Gingerbread House is such a big deal in Hansel and Gretel’s story but also like... Gretel could not kill Baba Yaga. so a memory trapped in a story, like the Big Bad Wolf who is Death but can be killed over and over again in countless tales. idk. Half of the fun of engaging in fiction is getting too engaged in fiction okay. While Gretel the Witch freed Hansel, he took time to regain his strength and then followed a path she’d left (I’m imagining scorched footsteps for dramatic purposes) finding that with her new witch powers she’d been able to find her way back to their home and killed their parents. He’s a little conflicted about this but over time kinda hardens his heart and settles on ‘I would choose Gretel over them, I’ll stand by her on this’ and sets off to try and find her’ and that’s where the story finds him.

I’m thinking like he ends up with the biggest age gap between lives, entering the game as about 14. Still unsure and kind of childlike in his temperament. I think he’d be a ranger... just kind of a boy scout sort of guy. Has an axe but it’s his dad’s and he doesn’t really have the strength to use it so he’s got a crossbow to make up for it. He fancies himself a tracker but he’s comply lost Gretel’s trail and is starting to give up hope that he’ll ever find her again. Then he dies and wakes up in his second story, this time he’s a goat. as the memories of Brother and Sister flash to his mind, his sister calling to him from under the flowing waters of the river, the awakening of a second mind in his body partially breaks the spell that had held this body in the form of a goat for many years, just as the goat was to be killed. In a panic Hansel just kinda kicks and flails and fights his way out, running until he finally finds a way to regroup, readjust, and find his party again. This time he’s come to realize that his and his sister’s names are different, though he goes by Hansel to the group because it’s the most conscious memory. Their histories are different, and the witch that haunted them no longer had a trap in the woods, but was in some nature a Stepmother and Witch, who had cursed him to be a goat when he’d drank water from the hoof of a goat. And he’s like an adult because of how much time he spent as a goat. Mostly just to represent some character growth ‘cause in my head I want to like have a prologue version of Hansel and then Adult Hansel even though the explanation for which is a bit weak... And the Stepmother/Baba Yaga connection... I maybe will figure out how to weave into the grain of the existing story when we gain more information, idk. This is my like... indulgent OC story to imagine scenarios with. I don’t know if that’s not an acceptable thing or not I am an entirely blockable blog I suppose if ‘having an OC’ is something that bugs people. I just want him to be ‘chip on his shoulder older brother’ archetype while also like... looking for his sister who is like going through her villain witch phase maybe which like... fair. who hasn’t? but like. call? send a letter? come on. don’t leave your bro hanging like this.