#*singing* they could be true siblings if they'd only make amends

[crisp-sweet-pink-lady]

A Whole Lot of Speculation about Gawayne and Arkayna’s Relationship

 This turned into something way longer than I originally intended, but it all started with a thought I’ve had ever since The Coronation aired: what if Gawayne non-invited Arkayna not to be petty and get under her skin, but to keep her from stealing the spotlight, as she no doubt has countless times since they became stepsiblings.

Note: I wrote most of this before episode 11 aired (not that it super matters, since most of this is pre-show speculation)

Of course, he did do it at least a little bit to be petty.  After all, he claims that the best part of the whole party is that his stepsister will be upset that she isn’t invited, and checks in to make sure she’s suffering properly, and when she isn’t, he hits the final nail in the coffin, which is not, as one might assume, the cupcakes.

No, I fully believe that what really set Arkayna off was Gawayne’s comment, “you didn’t really amount to much, but maybe you can be my jester or something.”  And not just because that’s a fairly low blow, but because he’s throwing her own words back at her.  And she knows it.

Now, every single Arkayna profile mentions that she’s going to be queen someday, and judging from her interaction with her mom in the first episode, she’s very aware of that fact and what it will take to be queen.  So when her new stepbrother started getting uppity about his new status as a prince, without having put in all the years of training that she had, I’m sure Arkayna was quick to remind him that he’s not a true royal, and that she’s the one who will one day rule the realm.  Leading to her telling him, “you can be my jester” or some other similar comment.

So of course when Gawayne learns that he, in fact, will be king in their parents’ stead, is it any wonder he would lord it over her so obnoxiously?  And Arkayna’s Big No reaction is not just because her stepbrother is going to rule instead of her, but also because she knows, she knows that he’s going to give to her as bad as she ever gave to him.

But getting back to my original point.  At the actual coronation, after Arkayna as Dragon Mage has completely and utterly stolen the show and Gawayne storms out, he comments that the Dragon Mage is worse than his stepsiser, unaware that they’re one and the same.  So, Arkayna taking attention away from him, whether intentionally or unintentionally, must be a fairly common occurrence.  And from what we’ve seen in the show, I would not be surprised to learn this was the case. 

Most Arkayna profiles also mention she has a strong sense of justice, but as it plays out on screen, she comes off more as self-righteous, only doing the good that benefits her specifically.  So, considering their contemptuous relationship, it’s easy to imagine that Arkayna would see Gawayne getting attention, think he doesn’t deserve it (whether he does or not), and do something about it.  And as she’s not only crown princess, but also had quite a bit of training to protect the dragon disk under her belt, it was probably all too easy to divert everyone’s eyes from her stepbrother to herself.  We got a taste of that with all her antics at the coronation, minus the magic, of course.

Lastly, we know that Queen Goodfey worked Arkayna hard and apparently was more lax with Gawayne’s training, though that may have more to do with the queen not being his real mom (I would not put it past Gawayne to pull that line on her) and him coming into the family later, thus the queen not having as much parental authority on him as she does on her daughter.  Nor does Gawayne have the same feelings of responsibility towards the dragon disk as the queen and her daughter.  Arkayna no doubt has been taught the importance of the disk, the new Mysticons, and her own role since she was very young, whereas Gawayne is only coming into this relatively recently (my headcanon is he was around 12 or 13 when his dad remarried). 

As I’ve mentioned, Arkayna has more years of training than Gawayne, and while we only saw them riding griffins, there has to be more involved, if the point of the training was to protect the dragon disk.  So as far as Arkayna is concerned, Gawayne doesn’t deserve any attention or notoriety of any kind, since he hasn’t put in the work that she’s had to do.  And Gawayne, most likely, doesn’t understand that this is her mindset and only sees someone trying to steal his thunder for no good reason other than to be a jerk.  And so they clash and snipe at each other, without taking the time to think about things from the others’ perspective.  And honestly, I hope this is something the show will rectify.  We’re only a fourth of the way through the series, so there is still time for these two to get over themselves and try to find some common ground.

#mysticons #headcanons #arkayna #gawayne the great #gawayne #*singing* they could be true siblings if they'd only make amends #true true siblings and ever after friends~