#moana theories

[disneyfanatic1993]

Moana 2 Teaser Trailer

•My Disney-fied brain: “Aww, how cute! They’re giving Moana a little sibling! 😍”

•My angst-ridden brain: “WHAT IF THAT’S ACTUALLY MOANA’S CHILD, AND SHE IS HAVING TO LEAVE THEM WITH THIER GRANDPARENTS BECAUSE SOMETHING HAPPENED TO THE FATHER?!?!?” 😟😟😟

I know it’s not true, but I also know I’m not the only one who thought this. 😂

[mind-lost-in-the-stars]

not to overanalyze like I always do but the beginning of Moana (sing the beginning of Moana!) could also refer to Hatchetfield. I’m very specifically referring to “the island gives us what we need…and no one leaves” like it’s totally not intentional, but I think it’s neat

[simpofhans]

moana 2 is... very weak compared to the original genius movie BUT MATANGI. GOD MY GAL DESERVED BETTER.... SHE WAS IMPRISONED FOR NOTHING. AGAIN. FUCK THE MID CREDITS SCENE I HATED TAMATOA BECAUSE OF THAT. (earlier he was neutral to me)..... MATANGI NATION WE RISE FOR A MOANA 3/SPINOFF WITH HER!!!!!! SHE DESERVES BETTER!!!!!

and she is insanely beautiful even radio yesterday was full of the love songs only to make me realize I fell in love again XD but Hansy, I will not forget about you ^^

[graveyard-cough]

Hear me out cake by me

[sharkiiv]

Maui and Tamatoa had some serious tension in the movie. Like is that just me?

Tamatoa acts like they went through a crazy demigod/crustacean breakup. And Moana is js tryna get them back together fr 😔

[cherllyio]

you know the song Ship In A Bottle??? it reminds me of your au macaque

Oh yea i know that song!!! And i can acutlly see that, now that you mention it! Lemme just real quick do an analysis...

Lyric Analysis

You set sail alone, there is no crew No one on the deck who can help you This is all your own battle to win This is your ship and you are the captain

Fun fact: Macaques "shadow powers" in this AU is more or less a relfection of Mental ilness. And how, him not getting help/wanting help, makes it worse. This can also be explained with this line:

I feel scared and I'm starting to sink And I only sink deeper the deeper I think

And the next example... Yea that explains what happens when Wukong(acddently) makes it worse, because he doesent realise what is going on with Macaque:

There are red spots under your eyes From when you cry into the sky Ocean waters rising above your neck, mmm You feel the glass start to crack

This is because when Wukong got trapped under the Mountain, and they had "The Argument", it just made. Macaque felt so lost and alone after this(for 500 years)

Honestly the whole song could just be an animatic of Macaque getting worse and worse. (if i had the skill and time to do so-)

But thank you!! I really appreciate that you remembered my AU and found a song that matches!!

[lets-disneyprincess-blr-blog]

My theory is that Moana and Moana 2 is a prequel before lilo and stitch and the movie is about lilo and Nani ancestor Moana , Simea Motunui, and her father and mother, and the reason why Maui was in the future movie lilo and stitch as a fish is to protect Moana and simea future descendants, what you think please leave comments

[flynncorvus]

Wall-E is a Disney Princess 🤖✨👗

(CW: Theorizing! This is all done in good fun, hope you enjoy!)

In Moana, Maui says that to be a princess, someone has to be: A) Have an Animal Sidekick B) Daughter of a Chief (Someone important) C) Sings! And what do we see Wall-E doing?

««—————•—————»»

He has an Animal Sidekick

Manufactured (basically child of) by ‘Buy and Large’, the ‘chief’ of Earth, basically

(Couldn’t find an image, so have this) He ‘Sings’ Hello Dolly, because he recorded the song, and replays it throughout the movie! (Kinda a big-ish plot point) ««—————•—————»»

Yes, I just watched Wall-E. Yes, it’s my favorite movie ever Yes, me and my dad came up with this Yes, I am slightly a maniac Yes, that also means my dad is a maniac Yes, where do you think I got it from?

[pastelaqua]

spoilers for moana 2 underneath!

Film Theory predicting the ending of Moana 2 was not on my 2024 bingo card

well, technically a demigod but close enough, right?

[eternalfayee]

dr master list ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚:

♡ percy jackson

♡ wwe

♡ danger force

♡ waiting room

♡ ever after high

♡ enola holmes

♡ teen titans

♡ teen titans go

♡ mermaid

♡ circus

♡ brooklyn nine-nine

♡ fame

♡ teen fame/influencer

♡ total drama island

♡ the really loud house

♡ dance moms

♡ k12

♡ kc undercover

♡ victorious

♡ gilmore girls

♡ wednesday

♡ hogwarts group

♡ fantasy

♡ my little pony group

♡ royal group

♡ moana

♡ boarding school

♡ wild n out

♡ barbie life in the dream house

♡ steven universe

♡ inheritance games

[laurenhufflepuff2]

My craziest Star Wars x Disney theory

Moana is the descendant of a clone that defected during Order 66. Something was wrong with his chip, and he took a small ship and somehow wound up in our galaxy, eventually settling on Earth. Listen to her dad's voice. That is a spawn ofJango Fett. Look at baby Moana, her hair is just like kid Boba Fett's.

LOOK AT THEM

Also, why is Moana's dad so scared of the ocean? Not just because of the accident. But also because what if Moana goes too far? What if she finds the ship, what if she finds another war? Which also explains why he doesn't "believe" in monsters or magic- my dude has trauma from the clone wars- he totally believes in all of it, but he doesn't want anyone getting dragged into that world again.

What can I say except you're welcome!

[hollowwhisperings]

Worlds Disney Won't Let Nomura Use For KH (& the Worlds Disney Wants but Nomura Doesn't):

Toy Story: Nomura refused to make KH3 until Disney let him use Pixar... and thus Toy Story. Toy Story seems to have set up much of the premise of Phase 2 of KH & the emotional resolution of Phase 1 (saying goodbye to childhood, to Kairi).

Frozen: there are Theory Vids on YT that go into the idea in depth but, ultimately, it amounts to Disney changing its mind about letting Elsa have a Heartless between bringing Frozen up to Nomura BEFORE the film's release, the development of KH3, the successful reception of Frozen & susequent planning for a sequel, then the release of KH3. Elsa going Full Riku, Sora seeing her conflict firsthand (as opposed to in KH1 & the Anna POV KH3 ended up with) would have better enabled Sora's Context for RIKU'S villain arc (& why he was able to redeem himself).

High School Musical: the HetNorm analogies of musical theatre & Chad getting Mad at his best friend for [leaving him behind/having a girlfriend], followed by Everything About Ryan & Chad in HSM2... THOSE are the themese Nomura would be interested in & he'd even figure out how to make Basketball Heartless INTERESTING in order to use them. RIP Chad/Ryan.

Lilo & Stitch's World AND Moana's World: we will get one or the other, never both because Disney would see TWO indigenous islander girls & consider their stories interchangable. The only loophole I could think of that would enable both worlds to exist in the same game would be if Lilo's World was the "Future" of Moana's. As is, it seems Inevitable that Nomura will ask to use Moana: whether it's to compare Moana with Riku (island kids who want to explore, who get bad advice on heroism but ultimately choose 'love', who have Explorer Ancestors) or in parallel with Kairi (who is now starting her OWN journey, independently of her friends, and will ultimately lead her back to her forgotten roots)... Nomura will get his "playble Island World". If Stitch conveniently crash lands halfway through Moana's journey? EVEN FUNNIER.

The Goofy Movie: imagine getting Goofy Backstory all of a sudden, complete with the Awkward Realization that Goofy has had a Grown Up Son back home that Sora has been reminding him of. o_o;

Cinderella 3: this film is basically Chain of Memories but EXPLICITLY ROMANTIC. it would, hilariously, cast Naminé as Anastasia AND as 'Fairy Godmother'. The return to Cinderella's World JUST to emphasise Sora as CinderRiku's 'Dream'... using the Oblivion Keyblade & Sora's Necklace as a narrative glass slipper might even be overkill by that point.

Maleficent: Nomura probably wouldn't be interested in using a story about parental love, at this point in the series, except to point out Maleficent was Riku's Evil Fairy Godmother in KH1 & will be having her Comeback now that CinderRiku is rescuing his Prince Sorara with True Love... AGAIN (DDD's plotline is essentially the same as Sleeping Beauty's). There's no need to include Maleficent's World when its plot is playing out with the KH-original cast - it would be background repurposing to clarify narrative intent. though, given how slow audiences are about picking up on non-het romantic subtext... Nomura MAY need Maleficent's home turf after all.

Star Wars: it would be kind of redundant to have Jedi in KH unless they were redressed as ancient Keyblade Wielders. Star Wars would only hammer in the "Xehanort was actually Anakin Skywalker, now you need to find his Palpatine" thing for KAIRI & the Wayfinder Trio (who any present-continuation plotlines of Ancient Masters would naturally fall to).

[spoopyyaoikingdom]

Did the tags

addendums: cult classic tv overlaps with early supernatural seasons somewhat, i am aware, just choose based on the cultural context in which you read your first fic.

for weeaboo crew i was thinking of examples like hetalia, black butler, soul eater, etc--popular anime absolutely included but the distinction is that people who were into dragon ball weren't necessarily going to anime club every week and making deviantart stamps about yaoi, but people into ouran high school host club ABSOLUTELY were.

homestuck is in its own category because homestuck changed fandom forever at a critical time which just happened to be when i was growing up in fandom. harry potter, lotr, star wars, and twilight are in their own categories because they were such multimedia juggernauts they had entire archives dedicated solely and only to their fic that spanned multiple franchise reboots (books -> movies -> extended universes). (i acknowledge star trek technically would fit under this but at the time culturally it had more overlap with other cult classic tv fandoms.)

honorable mentions that didn't make it to the list because i had to pick-and-choose with the 12 answer limit: the final fantasy franchise (axed because i am not familiar enough with the fic scene to know if it was as iconic of a gateway drug as, like, naruto or twilight or star wars fic), a general YA lit category (YA lit outside of twilight only went mainstream slightly after this time period), the MCU (i have a hate boner for the MCU), a broader "american superhero comics" category (this would be valid as an option but i don't have the space)

[ferrictiming]

I just saw a theory about maui being a pedophile

[zabchan]

Big Moana 2 Spoilers ahead. Beyond the cut is the Samoan to english translation of maui's 2nd song for moana. (And the context it appears in)

ladies and gents of the moana fandom, thanks to the effort of samoan speaker @yuki685 on youtube, and my buddy @rykierykerman for hooking me up with the text and screenshots

what i'd like to discuss with yall today is not only sharing the translation for this song, but some of the character implication this has for maui, especially when you look at how his OG legends depict him.

LYRICS:

(Maui singing in Samoan):

Aue, aue, le faigata / Aue, aue, how difficult it is

Ua pa'ū fa'anoanoa / Falling into sadness

Aue, aue, fa'ataga ola / Aue, aue, please allow this life to continue

Lenā La'u talosaga / This is my prayer

---

(E manu malo) / May there be blessings

(Opataia Foa'i and Te Vaka singing in Tokelauan)

Tele tele mana e o te vavau (Vavau) / Great, great power of mana

Tau ke tu ke Manumalo / Fight, stand tall and be victorious

Ke Manumalo / Be victorious

---

(Grandma Tala)

Aue, aue, mana e o te vavau / Aue, aue, the power of mana

Tau ke tu ke Manumalo / Fight, stand tall and be victorious

Ke Manumalo / Be victorious

Ke Manumalo / Be victorious

Ke Manumalo / Be victorious

_____

The piece that made me flip my shit when I read it was the confirmation that this song is a PRAYER

when I first heard this song before the movie I assumed it was a funeral rite. a dirge, followed by a choral revival. during the film, when maui and then the ancestors sang it over moana's lifeless body and I had no subtitles to go on, I thought perhaps it was a spell, or maybe a lullaby from Maui's far distant past, then taken up by the ancestors as a comfort to the grieving Maui- then back to the spell theory as Moana awoke to the powerful music and emotion channeled by tala and her crew.

even my first google translate search of the lyrics missed the word prayer, which goes to show that AI translation is no match for native human insight.

Maui's song being a prayer is a friggin big deal.

Maui's stories span the width & breadth of the pacific islands, and each culture arising from those island tells variations on that legend. some emphasize his rebellious side, others his inventiveness, still others his drive, his humor, his ingenuity, his pride. But a common theme in most is that this man, this demigod- he does NOT get along with the majority of his ancestors or the gods. Even when he's not outright malevolent to them, he's tricking them or undermining their effort. He's usually stubbornly self-sufficient, if he gets help from someone divine, its usually because he tricked them into doing it. Maui does not beg, he does not plead. (at least, not with any lasting sincerity). he's a charmer, a schemer.

But here he is, his tattoos stripped away, his hook gone, his beloved Moana growing colder and colder- he's out of tricks. he's out of time, out of power. he's as helpless as the day he was thrown into the ocean to save her. rock bottom, figuratively and literally.

he does the absolute last thing he can, born of pure desperation. pure grief, pure need. He prays.

he prays not expecting an answer. he prays, knowing that the gods and all his family would relish the chance to tell him to fuck all the way off. he prays, even if to no one but moana's lifeless body.

i often joke that maui is bad at feelings. but really what i mean is that maui is bad at regulating his feelings. he represses them as hard as he can, denies them, wraps them in humor and when that fails he straight up tries to out run them. its a maladaptive coping skill he's had to pick up over his immortal 3000 year lifespan because otherwise, he'd be wallowing in endless grief as friend after friend either dies or lives long enough to become his antagonist. boy has some serious trauma built up and no good examples of how to handle it in a healthy way.

until moana.

moana provided an example of how to be vulnerable without being weak. a safe space where he could share his heart and be met with understanding and validation. we see him mature, even fractionally, and in the sequel he's not nearly so closed off. he worries openly about moana, admits his concerns about the mission, even returns moana's favor from the first film and gives her a sincere, supportive pep talk.

but all his progress in processing his emotions seems to backfire in this moment. the first time he'd opened his heart to a fragile mortal friend and here he is, exactly as he feared, devastated at her passing. He had invested real time and care and attachment into this human and he's utterly shattered that its all coming to an end so fast. that he'll never experience her voice or her smile or her wit ever again.

she's precious to him. he cant bear to lose her. his sadness in more crushing than the ocean he's surrounded by, denser than the rock he kneels upon. even if he got his powers back, even if he pulled up a million islands, if Moana isn't there to land on them...there's no point.

less than 10 minutes ago he was ready to die for her.

3 minutes ago in movie time, maui faced his own mortality. powers stripped bare, down to his last ounce of strength, frying in impossible lightning heat, he kept struggling. the first look he gives moana is fear, raw and unfamiliar on that handsome face. but in this penultimate moment, his eyes meet moana's. his grimace gentles, eyebrows lift, gaze softens into a regretful, heart melting smile. he finds small comfort in seeing moana for one last time, seeing her unhurt, hearing her call his name. the rope slips from his grip, and somewhere in the milliseconds between lightning flashes, he relaxes, relief skitters across his features. perhaps he thinks "ahh, at least she's ok." "at least she'll outlive me". perhaps he has a moment of acceptance for his fate, knowing she's proud of him, knowing he did his very best. maybe he thinks ,"this way ill be sure to meet her again, in the afterlife. its for the best."

or maybe, just maybe, he thinks

"see you out there, moana."

but now, 3 minutes later, its once again the worst case scenario. any relief he had in that last smile at her is obliterated in the wake of his grief. its once again the worst case scenario. he's not thinking now of the curse being broken or his hook or his tattoos. a world that she's not in, whether he be human or demigod, is not a world he can stand to exist in. he cant do this without her. he needs her.

so he digs deep inside himself, through the pain or losing her, through his own family trauma and antagonism towards authority, and pride, to beg, on his knees for help from a higher power. its unclear to us if he's intending to pray to the gods or to his own ancestors or both or neither. to anyone who can help. to anyone who will listen.

and its neither of those sources who answer, at least, not as directly as matai vasa or tala do. its moana's kin, her loved ones, (eventually including the ocean), who answer from the great beyond. he looks them in the eyes and they weep with him. they sing power over moana and the impossible happens.

(salacious handholding occurs)

the stars are put back in maui's eyes, the sun back into his sky.

does this mean...

yes.

his tattoos are still cooler than hers.

even when theyre mad at him. (same, little guy, same.)

bruh.

now kiss

[flynncorvus]

Moana Was High 🌊✨🌿

(CW: Obviously I will mention that, but this theory is all in good fun! Read with Caution and Responsibility!)

So you know that scene in the Boat Storage Cave, where Moana bangs on the drum? The whole song with Lin Manuel Miranda? (Our Hamilton King fr)

Well, she was in a large, damp, and moist area; with very minimal light. Perfect place for the growth of- wait for it- FUNGI! 🍄

And when she bangs on the drum;

(Sorry for poor quality, only GIF I could Find)

Guess what happens.

There are ~spores~

And they fly into her face

What happens right after she bangs on the drum? Oh right, the sails start to glow. She can see her ancestors. And she can hear all of them singing.

My dad pointed this one out, and I thought it was funny-

Thank you Dad for feeding my unhinged Tumblr Feed