#im rewatching neverafter and it’s just something I noticed

[lily-valley-hyperfixates]

I’ve been thinking about Mira from D20 Neverafter.

For one, I absolutely love her. She’s amazing and can do no wrong and I would’ve loved to spend more time with her.

But to do a little *analysis* I find it particularly interesting that she never goes back to being a mermaid. The story of the little mermaid works very well as a trans allegory and the fact that Mira never reverts back to being a mermaid in neverafter feels very respectful of this reading.

Mechanically, keeping her a mermaid or at least giving her water powers would’ve added flair to her fighting (similar to Rapunzel’s prehensile hair), but that never happens. Mira never returns to her original body, because it’s not her true body. Instead of experiencing humanity and realizing that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be, that the grass is always greener, Mira gets to keep her legs and truly become the body she always wanted, even if that comes with pain.

And the most important thing is that she never even asks to be a mermaid again. When she has her moment with the sea witch, we never hear (and her body language never shows) her begging for a tail again, to go back to the water. It may be painful, but Mira’s body is her body and she never tries to change it once it fits how she feels.

I’m not sure if anyone has pointed this out yet or if this even makes sense, it’s just my ramblings too late at night, but idk to me this is something that really stands out about neverafter’s take on the little mermaid. As a cis woman obviously I am less qualified to talk about this stuff, and I’d love to hear trans people’s perspectives on this.

Anyways huge props to Mr mulligan, he’s done it again.