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violetsarepurple-fuckyou · 1 year

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Gerard and Elody

I’m thinking about Elody and the Princesses. And how all of the princesses are not only the main characters of their stories, but also the ones in their stories who have to be rescued by true love.

The psychology behind the Daughters of the Crown insane plan is simply this: they are the main characters and royalty -- there is an inherent privilege to that position and even if they don’t realize it, subconsciously they believe that they have the right to decide the fate of the world and all who live in it -- and they are experiencing suffering without an endgame of being saved. They are suicidal, and they wield independence for the first time, and they do not understand what it is to have to be their own source of hope. Their role in the story, their archetype, has always been that they should suffer nobly and then be saved, and now they are not going to be saved. Of COURSE their next logical step is martyrdom! Like Ylfa said, they are young and hot and badass... they don’t actually KNOW anything!

And now let’s talk about Elody, because Elody is the only princess in the group that isn’t actually a princess archetype. She isn’t the damsel waiting on true love to save her, she is the TRUE LOVE.

Prince Charmings have been notably absent throughout the whole show, from Sleeping Beauty waking up by herself, to Snow White casually saying “Well we’ve killed a LOT of them”. And because Elody is a princess in the literal sense, she was brought into the Daughters of the Crown club without any of its members really questioning it, but in terms of archetype? That’s a Prince Charming babes!

She finds a helpless, cursed royal, falls in love, saves him with true love’s kiss. Brennan literally gave her golden plate; she’s a goddamn knight in shining armor.

So now let’s think about this whole thing from her perspective; the perspective of the Prince Charmings which is something we have not thought about at all up until this point.

SO children in the Neverafter exist to suffer and be taught morals. Princesses exist to be saved. Prince Charmings exist to save the actually important people. I know all of us traumatized, people pleasing, therapist friend idiots understand how horrifying that it is. The scores of dead princes lining the briars of Rosamund’s castle, endlessly compelled to rescue her? Horrifying. They don’t have faces, they are just cardboard cutouts with generically handsome features doomed to chase acts of self-sacrifice and heroism without any real other choice.

Elody at least has some defining characteristics: she is not shallow, she is lonely, she is the sort of person who could fall in love with a frog if only he could make her laugh. But she still has a heroic nature, a savior complex.

Let’s think about this from her perspective. Elody loses her parents young. She meets a frog. He becomes her best friend. They fall in love, and it is genuinely sweet, founded upon FRIENDSHIP. And then her falling in love with him turns him back into a prince, and they live happily ever after.

Except she finds it horrifying. The idea that their stories ended the day they were wed. The idea that she no longer has anything to fight for. No one to save. And then the corruption begins, war starts, and Elody is a knight in shining armor: of course she wants to fight to protect people.

And she is torn about Gerard, both resenting him and not, because it is really fucking tough when you view yourself as entirely responsible for the wellbeing emotional and physical of someone who you love. It makes you feel superior to them, like there is a power imbalance. It’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself, and it also makes you feel shitty because you feel like you are stunting THEIR growth, and making them reliant on you, and you resent them for it, but also yourself because you kinda constructed the relationship this way yourself in the first place because it made you feel needed, and like even as you blame them for being so goddamn helpless, you also feel absolutely terrified of giving them any opportunities to get hurt and make mistakes and grow.

So things are tense in Elody’s marriage. And THEN Gerard starts turning back into a frog. The thing that was literally her whole job in the story, she is visibly failing at. Now I think that Gerard’s curse is actually based on his self-worth, and I think that Elody still very much loves him, but the thing is that NEITHER of them know that! So Elody is walking around, a ruler locked in war with a growing rapidly more horrific world, and her husband is being transformed back into a body that is the visual representation of the most traumatic period of his life, and Elody thinks that it is HER FAULT. That her being angry at him, her not wanting the stagnancy of a happily ever after, is her not LOVING him enough.

And that is so goddamn tragic because Gerard’s whole character arc is about learning not to cling to the safety post trauma, and that a relationship isn’t a happily ever after, it is a continuing collaboration. And he kind of needed her to leave to realize that, because she was too afraid of hurting him to let him grow in that way. But now they need to learn to find that balance together, and here is the thing...

Elody has learned her role in the story.

She found Gerard’s body. It almost broke her. The princesses found her, got them to join their ranks, and she didn’t tell them she was married, because she wasn’t. Her husband was dead. And they explained the multiverse to her, and they were like “So see? You’re one of us!” and I think she must have realized then that she was not one of them. They didn’t know her story, obviously because they didn’t know she was married. But she must have heard all of their stories, how they were supposed to be saved by their true loves but never were, and listening to those I think she must have thought, “Oh, so that is what went wrong in my story too. I didn’t save Gerard. Look at all these traumatized, jaded princesses and how they hate the world because of the loves that failed them, I did that to my best friend.”

And then she was brought into the new world. I wonder if she got her memories of the current world in spite of not having died to get there. The memories where she transformed Gerard by hurling him into a WALL. If she did, can’t imagine that helped her self-image of how much she believes she hurt Gerard.

And then Snow White is like “Hey, btw, you have a husband??? He’s traveling with a bunch of heroes from your world who died and came to this one, and he wants to find you.” And suddenly, Elody’s husband is not dead. He is alive. He is a hero now, maybe, because she abandoned him.

Gerard arrives at the castle. He is apologizing to her SO much, and he is right to, and he is addressing problems that need to be addressed for their relationship to work, but the thing is Elody blames herself for a lot of this, and has been so afraid of letting Gerard get hurt for so long that even though he is the one bringing it up, it still feels wrong to talk about. Like she is going to hurt him.

In the Adventuring Party, Brennan brought up the idea of power dynamics in relation to Elody, and it got mostly brushed over but it sounded so much like that was her concern during her talk with Gerard that it really stood out to me. Like, she has learned that she is his protector in a very literal sense. The man she loves, who was traumatized as a child, and he NEEDS her to save him.

It is not necessary to the story of the Frog Prince for the Princess to fall in love with him, case and point the wall throwing. It is necessary for the frog to love and need her.

We have heard Gerard telling Ylfa that he thinks he would have fallen in love Elody either way, that her being a princess and saving him has nothing to do with it. But from Elody’s perspective? Gerard is under an obligation to love her. The story made it that way. Every problem he has is directly because of Elody’s failures, and he never had a choice in any of it.

And so when Gerard says that he would not have done the things he has done without her? Elody is seeing his body with a glass shard in his heart: he wouldn’t have done that if it weren’t for her. And when he says she inspires him?

He meant it so sweetly, because he is talking about all the ways he has grown on this adventure, but of all the compliments he could have chosen I think that is the one that would have hurt her the most, because it is such a direct reference to the status differential she feels she has over him, and to the insecurities she herself is so emersed in right now.

Like Brennan said, sometimes “I’m proud of you” feels like such agony to hear if you don’t think the other person should be.

I really really hope they find common ground and talk it all out. I really hope that their happy ending is learning that relationships have ups and downs and they can learn to navigate them together. Because I think they really do love each other so much, they just need to break free of themselves and the roles they feel locked in and embrace growth. I really hope that they learn their stories did not end on the day that they wed, but that rather the effort they put into this relationship going forward is an adventure that will last them for the rest of their lives.

Anywho, that is my two cents lol

#neverafter #dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #adventuring party #prince gerard of greenleigh #princess elody #destiny's children #daughters of the crown #gerard of greenleigh

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brionbroadway · 1 year

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“Princess, is it your time to rest? Or do you want your story to continue?”

Rosamund is glad to be asked.

This is what she wants: a chance to write her own story outside of the narrative that’s planned for her. She is not ready to rest--she already rested for a hundred fucking years--and true love is no longer an option. It must be something else; there has to be something else for her to choose. She will take her scrap of a page and discover what it is.

“I don’t think it’s my time to rest.”

“Then I think—”

She feels the briars before she sees them, wrapping around her heart the way she guaranteed a lover never would. With each pulse of her heart, the briars pierce it.

But her heart must be stronger than everything than every piece of Thumbelina, because she splits in half.

“I take it back!” Rosamund yells. “I take it back!”

“Oh, my dear Rosamund.”

The voice comes from a briar that’s coiled itself into her ear. It’s unrecognizable as any individual fairy, but it drips with both the saccharine sweetness and depraved wickedness Rosamund has realized they all possess.

“You cannot take a choice back, my girl. This is why you should have trusted the ending that was written for you.” The voice tuts, a disapproving parental figure that never gave Rosamund anything but rules. “Your gifts did not come without a curse. You have sacrificed the one condition that would break it. You have rejected rest. What did you think was left for you, Sleeping Beauty?”

Rosamund tries to use her own voice, but a briar invades her mouth and replaces her smile. Its teeth are sharper than her own.

“Oh, I know what’s that like.”

The voice in Rosmaund’s heads changes, a conspiratorial older sister like she tried to be Red. The briars morph into thick strands of golden hair.

“It’s a shame we never got to talk.” Rapunzel’s voice comes from everywhere her hair touches. “We have a lot in common. Locked away, someone else claiming to know what’s best for us, unable to make our own choices…”

The briars spin, like hair being twirled around a finger.

“But when we did write our own story, we gained power. I know it hurts, Rosamund. I know it may not seem like it, but my hair hurts too. It chokes me, and restrains me, but more importantly than any of that, it keeps me safe—”

She’s cut off, because Gerard is eating Rapunzel on the battlefield. Her voice returns, hoarse from screaming. It sounds the way her hair feels in Rosamund’s throat.

“He will consume all of you, Rosamund. He has already done so to Elody in their marriage, though she does not recognize that. You must him put him to sleep.”

Rosamund cannot see a prince on the battlefield, only a monster.

Suddenly, the hair transforms into chains.

“Hello, my love.”

The deep, cruel voice of the Baron of Bricks feels like the weight of the chains on Rosamund’s skin. It comes from the ones trapping her heart into beating.

“I know, of course, that I am not your true love,” he says. “I know you will not get that. But, I do believe we have more in common than either of us first thought. You have rejected death, and I respect that, but I must warn you that it will not last as long as Death is around. She just took a Beast. She can certainly take a Princess.”

Rosamund cannot see a girl on the battlefield, only The Big Bad Wolf.

“If you need to put her in a stew, I have a recipe. Otherwise, you have all the tools you require. You must put her to sleep.”

The chains drop, but Rosamund is quickly snatched up by sharp claws. The Baba Yaga runs them down her face, her neck, and finally stops at the same wrists she considered feasting on. Her voice comes from the wounds she created.

“Thank you, Princess, for your gift. I am taking good care of your true love. He is only feeling the pain you would have caused each other after happily ever after.”

She cackles, and it infects the wounds.

“You made a wise choice in putting him to sleep.”

The claws release Rosamund, and the briars consume her again. Slowly, a pattern appears on them that represents a kind of evil she still had not accepted existed.

“I am sorry my son could not keep you safe, Rosamund. You do not need to worry about punishing him for that; I assure you I will take care of it.”

The Stepmother’s voice sounds like Rosamund’s own thoughts.

“Sleeping Beauty, I know what it’s like to have a role assigned to you. But, I also know what it’s like to edit the story. We can change this together. You can make your own choices, just as you wished. Put them all to sleep, Rosamund, and we will write the stories this world deserves.”

There is no happy ending for Rosamund. Only what must be done in this room.

#d20 #dimension 20 #neverafter #rosamund du prix #horror #cw body horror #drabbles #(it's too long but we're keeping the tagging system)#d20 fic #d20 fanfic #dropout tv #siobhan thompson #d20 rapunzel #d20 the stepmother #d20 baron #d20 baba yaga #neverafter spoilers

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thisisnotthenerd · 1 year

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i’m so hoping for a gerard & elody reunion in the next ep. no matter what happens its going to be hilarious and/or heartwrenching

this elody is the one that went to war for greenleigh. who took up the mace and went to battle while gerard hid with the children.

there’s something to the timeline of the war and when gerard left. when did she know he had fled from the castle? the second frogging had already begun--did the pace change when he left?

we know cinderella had been looking for rosamund since she woke up in the briars--the other princesses must have known she went down as well.

what if elody, of this world or at least found in the original neverafter, follows the lead of a princess fighting a fairy and finds the corpse of a little girl, an old man, a little cat, a wooden boy, the princess herself, and gerard, hands bloodied, a gaping wound in the chest matching the fairy, the one to strike her down.

if gerard has died, who is elody married to then? no reason to mention the grief when the princesses have work to do.

gerard awakes in his twice-upon-a-time a little more monster than man. stronger (never braver), and farther from the prince he was at happily-ever-after.

and the first confirmation he gets that she might be on her way comes with “she’s married?”

#dimension 20 #d20 neverafter #neverafter #gerard of greenleigh #elody of greenleigh #neverafter gerard #neverafter elody

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heraldofavalir · 1 year

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shoulder the sky

(read on ao3)

Here is how the story goes on: mud up to her ankles, the buzz of magic lingering in the air like gulping down static, and the stench of rot. Elody is more than familiar with the smell, knows her way around a battlefield, knows the ways in which death announces itself. It blows in from ahead of her, on the road, and she almost—almost—goes around.

There are times when a fight is needed. There are times when a fight is best avoided. Her numbers are few; she picked a handful of her knights to accompany her, on this one, last, desperate search for allies. If she leads them into a trap, walks them into something for which they are unprepared, then that will be the end.

She is tired. But she is not ready for that.

So she almost gives the order to find a different path. But the rot is thick, and smells like not just flesh, but also wood and cloth and perhaps fruit, something growing that undoubtedly is no longer. And that buzz of magic—difficult to ignore, that. She is here for anything that could give her an edge. Anything to reclaim her kingdom, save her people.

She calls her knights to a halt.

“I’m going to investigate,” she says. “If I do not return, or if you hear me give the order to do so, proceed back to Shoeberg. I don’t want anyone taking foolish risks.”

They want to protest, she can tell. They will not. She is their princess.

(armor is so much heavier than a gown, but she has learned that a crown and a helm weigh much the same)

It is raining, a steady drizzle. The mud sucks at her boots. Mace in hand, she walks forward, and the buzz grows stronger. Rattling her bones, her teeth. She grimaces.

She sees the pumpkin first, massive and dead, hollowed out and falling apart. There is furniture scattered about here, and it sends shivers up her spine even before she understands what she is seeing, sees the twisted malformity, sees a human face here and a human arm there and she can only hope that this was furniture transformed and not people, because either way is grotesque and terrible but the latter would be worse.

There are bodies. People. Animals. Much of it not fresh. Splintered wagons. Remnants of armor, swords. Torn clothing, bones picked clean and bones still glistening. It is easy to guess what they fell victim to, and she watches the furniture warily, her arm loose and ready, mace held steadily. But it does not stir, and though the magic still hangs here like a plague of locusts, it feels purposeless. Aimless. An aftershock, a release, a last violent cry.

She picks through the battlefield. This is familiar. It is not only mud on her boots. She finds fresher bodies; a few days old at most, only just begun to decompose. An old man, clutching a book to his chest; she wonders if it was worth dying for. A young woman, briars curling around her skin, and further inspection reveals that the thorns grow from her flesh rather than the ground. They weave around her like an embrace, and Elody does not try to move her.

She finds the young girl between two hills. Her stoicism cracks; she has seen many corpses. Not so many dead children. The girl is surrounded by furniture, some of it whole, some of it hacked to pieces. She fought.

Elody crouches. Closes the girl’s eyes. Breathes in and out.

There are more bodies, older. Dead horses. A cat wearing a cape and boots, someone’s beloved pet or a sentient creature in its own right; impossible to say which. Torn belongings, rusted swords, a child’s doll, a puppet half devoured by termites and covered in moss.

She finds the fairy. Dead. Dead for a long time, by the looks of her, though the strength of the magic here tells her that that cannot be right. The fairy’s face is frozen in a howl, her eyes glassy and wild and something deeply unnatural about her state of decay.

Elody does not think that there is a threat here. Not anymore. She feels a bit of relief,

(she does not hold with fairies, not their promises and not their curses)

but mostly just an emptiness. Perhaps determination, if she is feeling generous.

One last time, she inspects the fairy. Just to be sure that she is dead. No threat.

Satisfied that she has discerned the source of the rot, she almost does not see Gerard.

Almost.

(here is how the story goes on, and here is why: the story must go on because the story is ever after, and there is no beginning to that and there is no end, because the ever after is implied in the once upon a time and no beginning is true and no ending either because there is always another story and it does not stop)

(once upon a time, there was a frog prince in a pond)

(once upon a time, there was a boy who was a child who was a child around the wrong person)

(once upon a time, there was a princess with a golden ball)

(once upon a time, there was a girl who made a friend)

It doesn’t register, at first. She sees him. Knows him. Thinks, what is he doing here? Thinks, that’s odd, because she doesn’t know where her husband is because the castle has fallen and her people are scattered and she has had so many other things to worry about than tracking down which group of refugees Gerard fled with, which band of children and elderly. Because Gerard fled, of course; she never considered he would do anything else.

(because he is alive, of course; she never considered he could be anything else)

The image is so incongruous. Gerard belongs in the castle, eyes shining and cheeks flushed with wine. Gerard belongs in the castle, willfully ignoring the rest of the world and all it has come to. Gerard belongs in the castle, trying to pretend that his eyes have not changed and his skin has not grown sallow

(she is not blind)

and that everything is just fine.

Gerard has never belonged on a battlefield. No matter how often she wished that he could just be there for her, with her, at her side. He does not belong on a battlefield.

She takes a step. Stumbles. Her knees sink into the mud next to him. The mud is not just mud.

“Gerard,” she says. Her voice is a whisper, a rasp. She puts her hand on his chest, just over where the glass shard protrudes. His body is stiff. Flies land on his face; she bats them aside, but they come back.

He is far more froglike than the last time she saw him. How long ago was that? She doesn’t remember.

(she does)

His hands are bloody, torn to shreds. One of them lies near the glass—a spear, if anything, though no spear she has ever seen the like of.

The flies keep returning. She can’t get them off.

“Gerard,” she says again, like that will do anything, like saying his name will call him to her, will force life into a heart that stopped beating days ago when she wasn’t there. She feels a scream in her throat, and she swallows it, swallows the scream and swallows the nausea and the only noises that escape her are little hitching gasps, because it has been a very long time since she cried and it seems that she cannot allow herself to do so even now, not properly.

This is no place for you, she wants to tell him. Wants to shout. She has never shouted at him. Not even when she was angry. And she used to be angry, used to resent him, and all of that is suddenly gone because he is gone and there will be no chance to be angry at him again, and there will be no chance to fix what they had or even decide if she wanted to, if the war ever ended and she came home alive.

This is no place for you. What were you doing here?

She reaches for the shard. She does not want the shard to be in him. She reaches for it, slices her hand open. Retreats.

The damn flies are—

And he didn’t even know how to fight.

He didn’t know how to fight, and this fight found him all the same, and he is dead. He has laid here for days, and he is going to lay here longer, because this glass spear pins him to the ground and she cannot take it out. So ends Prince Gerard of Greenleigh, far from home, far from family, far from anyone who lo—

Even her mind cannot form around the word.

(this is no place for you she wants to scream and something in her wails and this is no place for me and it is no place for you or me but she has not had the luxury of caring about that for so long and she cannot start now and she cannot go back to when things were easy and good and falling in love with a frog was the simplest thing in the world and when she looked at him she felt sparks and fireworks and not hollow frustration and not this, not this gaping wound this gaping nothing where a person should be)

(this is how the story goes on, and who dictates, in the end, what is a place for a prince and princess?)

The flies—

“Get off of him,” she says. Barely a noise at all. “Leave him be.”

She swats at them. They return. She leans over his face, holds him. Holds him like she should have been here to hold him days ago, because she does not remember the last time she held him, and now, this will be the last time, and he is dead.

Hitching gasps. Nausea rolling in her stomach. A bleeding hand. An embrace unfelt. The whisper of his name.

This is what she can offer. Her eyes are dry. She can’t keep the flies away.

(the story goes on, and this world does not end because Gerard has left it)

----------

(When she departs from the castle for the final time, she has not slept in the same bed as him for more than three weeks. He still comes to see her off. He has taken to wearing shirts with increasingly high collars. She has pretended not to notice his lack of a nose, or the way his eyes are drifting slowly apart.

She has wondered, occasionally, if it hurts. She has not asked. Asking would require talking about it. She has not talked to her husband about anything in a while. She’s stopped trying.

“You won’t be gone long, right?” he asks. He shifts from foot to foot. Agitation. Maybe discomfort. He seems to be having a little more trouble with his stance today, with standing up straight.

A million responses flit to her tongue. She chooses a more neutral one.

“I’ll be gone for as long as it takes to eradicate the threat Snowhold poses us,” she says.

“Right, but like—that’s not gonna take—” He trails off, gesturing.

There is so much fear in his eyes. And it’s not that she didn’t know. Not that she didn’t know Gerard has never been able to stop looking over his shoulder whenever the dogs bray. Not that she didn’t know that some part of Gerard has always stayed in that pond.

It’s just that she dismissed it. Thought the past was in the past. And for a long time, that worked fine, until the shadows knocked at their door.

How much can she blame him, really, for wanting to draw the curtains and hide in the illusion of safety?

“It will take however long it takes,” she says. “I’ll—I’ll try not to be long.”

It’s the only comfort she’s willing to give him. She knows very well that this might take months, or years. Snowhold’s might is nothing to scoff at, and Greenleigh is not a large kingdom. This will not be an easy war; there is no such thing as an easy war to begin with.

She might not return at all.

But Gerard can’t confront that. She looks at him and feels nothing, and she does not have the energy to try, once again, to explain to him how important this is, how great the danger and how heavy her duty. She certainly does not have the energy to try, once again, to persuade him to take on some of the burden that she once thought they would share.

So: pithy words that she knows he’ll accept and wishes he wouldn’t.

“Okay,” Gerard says. So easily. Bitterness flares in her chest. “Just—stay safe, alright?” And then, he tacks on, “We’ll have a celebration when you get back. A big one. Party of the year. We’ll make all your favorites.”

Do you know what those are? she thinks, which is uncharitable, because he does. And then, Do you understand how little that matters to me right now? which is far closer to the mark.

“Alright, Gerard,” she says. She mounts her horse. She rides out, her knights behind her, her banner streaming. She does not look back.)

----------

(The bitter truth: she knows he loved her. Dearly. Above all else, if not enough to confront responsibility, if not enough to be what she needed.

An even more bitter truth: there are times she wishes that it could have been enough. That she could have allowed herself to stay, to shut out the Times of Shadow and dance until the morning came. To drink and be merry and charm all the people and fall into his arms and sleep soundly.

There are times when she wonders if she was the problem.)

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For the first time, she meets a princess who wears armor, like her.

“Princess Elody?” the other princess says. “I’m so glad to finally meet you.”

And Princess Cinderella of Elegy tells her a story.

(a story of stories, and this is how it goes on)

Elody considers the idea that she has lost the capacity to feel. Lost it in the mud and the blood next to her husband’s corpse, or before that in the swing of her mace into an enemy combatant’s head, or when she rode away from home and did not look back then or ever again, or the first time she woke up and stared at Gerard and her chest was empty and the sparks were gone.

She understands, now. Everything about her life suddenly makes sense. She had a fate written out for her, a love story prescribed. And the story went on, and she lost the happily but not the ever after, and all of her fighting has meant nothing at all. It’s not the part of the story that matters. She has lost everything and gained nothing, and the only thing that will be remembered about her is that she kissed a frog and made him into a prince.

And she feels numb.

“I’m sorry,” Cinderella says. “I know this is a lot to take in.”

“Yes,” she allows. “Why have you come to me?”

“There’s a group of us,” Cinderella says. “We’re not—content, let’s say, to let the fairies shove us back into our stories. We’re tired of destiny, tired of their little project. We intend to stop them, by whatever means possible, and we’d like you to join us.”

(elody, too, is tired)

“Because I’m a princess?” she says.

Cinderella’s lips twitch. “We do have a bit of a theme,” she says. “But it’s more that—you deserve to know. We all deserve to know that we don’t get to make our own choices. And we deserve the chance to change that.”

She considers the idea.

“I don’t know if I can believe you,” she says.

“That’s okay,” Cinderella says. “You don’t need to. I’ve given you a lot to ponder.”

“Where would we be going?”

“I told you about the other worlds,” Cinderella says. “One of our number, Sleeping Beauty, has awoken in a different one. We would need to go there to find her; we think that continuing our efforts in this world would be immensely more difficult than trying to move on to the next.”

Intentions, efforts. It’s all so very vague.

“I would abandon my people here,” she says, chewing on the words. Tasting them. “My duty.”

Cinderella’s gaze is even. But it is deep, and there is a vast sadness there. And an understanding. True understanding. Elody has craved understanding for so long

(though perhaps not like this, not this terrible knowledge, not fate and destiny and world upon worlds pressing down upon her, not the dawning realization that none of it, none of it at all really matters)

and here it is, in this woman’s eyes and her stance and the way she grips her polearm and holds her helm beneath her arm in a perfect mirror of how Elody has carried herself for years now.

“It’s your choice,” Cinderella says. “If you don’t want to come, that’s alright. I understand completely.”

And here is the thing: she looks at Cinderella and sees glass. Glass armor, glass helm, glass polearm. That last, in particular, catches her attention. She can trace a pattern, all the way back to the shard in Gerard’s chest.

And so, another understanding: Gerard was caught in a fight he should never have been near, that he know nothing of. A war that was never his. A casualty of circumstance, of forces far bigger than him, far greater than he could ever hope to match. Senseless loss. Meaningless.

“There’s nothing left for me here,” she says, and it tastes like truth.

She meets Cinderella’s eyes, and sees that she understands that, too.

----------

(A meeting: other princesses. A woman with lips red as the rose, skin white as snow and cold as ice, footsteps dogged by the dead. A woman smiling, a woman vivacious and bubbly and a mask to face the world, hair a whirl and words calculating. A woman who ate the beast and became the beast and who holds books so gently in her hands.

They tell her who they’re looking for. A princess by the sea. A princess of thorns.

She tells them much. She finds understanding. Company. Friends. Sisters. She does not tell them about Gerard.

By a count of years, she is older than all of them, older by a decade at least. But some of them have eyes that are ancient, and sometimes, she feels like she is the child among them, fumbling her way alone in the dark. But she is not alone, because they are there; or maybe it is that they are all alone together, all alone in the dark.

And so.

A journey: the gaps between the worlds, horrible to comprehend, difficult to walk, the shadow of the gander’s wings, beating them down into the earth. Troubled dreams; a woman’s face enters her mind, a book and a name—Scheherazade.

She is not alone. That is the most important thing. She is no longer alone. And if she is, she is alone with them.)

----------

They take the castle at dawn. The Snow Queen refuses to relent, and Elody finds that she has little mercy in her heart for her. She has lost everything to Snowhold, has little inclination to give quarter to Snowhold’s allies. There is no beauty in death, little satisfaction, but at the end of the day the castle is theirs, the library is theirs, and Snow White finally has the time to tell them why her mood has been almost warm.

“Sleeping Beauty was here,” she says. “She and her friends knew where the princess by the sea is. They’re going to find her and come back.” A smile, an eager twirl of her hands, more emotion than Elody has ever seen from her.

“We’ll be seven,” Cinderella breathes.

Elody knows that these princesses have been waiting longer than she has. The relief in Cinderella’s voice is palpable. Despite that, there is little hope—but perhaps that is to be expected.

Snow White keeps darting glances at her.

“It’s not just that,” Snow White says. “Several of her companions possess true books. One of them, an old witch has one, and it’s almost entirely blank. I offered to take a look at it for him, but he bargained dearly for it, didn’t want to part with it—but with this library here, we’ll be able to discern its nature and how best to use it. And, and—the place I saw in my mirror, the palace made of books, they’ve been there. They know where it is. It’s not in the Neverafter at all, but somewhere in between worlds.”

It’s positively an effusive speech, from her. The Beast looks intrigued; books are her wheelhouse. Rapunzel’s hair drifts about her head, some strands slow and ponderous and others moving whip-coil fast.

“She does move quick,” Cinderella says. Surprise, even a bit of awe. Affection. How easily, these women accept others into their fold. How easily they show warmth. Elody finds herself looking forward to meeting this Sleeping Beauty.

(she has never had sisters before, only distant parents and then even they were gone and she was alone in the castle and her closest connection after that was a frog in a pond a frog who was her friend once upon a time)

“She’s not kept idle,” Snow White agrees. Another glance at Elody—why is she doing that? But then, another glance at Cinderella, even less certain. “There were other things they said. Other things that—well, I’m not certain if now is the time. We’ve already so much to think about, so much to do.”

“One problem at a time,” the Beast says. “The library is large; cataloging anything of use to us will take some days.”

“Time is something we may not have much of,” Cinderella says. “But if we await Sleeping Beauty and her companions—perhaps we can afford a little.”

Rapunzel’s eyes in particular gleam brightly; already, she has sent her hair spinning throughout the castle, and Elody knows that she will leap at the chance to become more entrenched, to make it hers, to weave through the rooms and make tea for the five of them, for the seven of them, for seven of them and more.

And for her part—there is much to do, yes. So much left to fight. To plan. But for a time, they will stay, and Elody has not relaxed in a very long time, has forgotten how to let down her guard, and even here, she cannot do it. None of them can.

But maybe, for a little while, some rest.

---

(and this is how the story goes on)

---

(and cinderella walks into the hall and with her is a princess that elody has seen somewhere before like an itch in the back of her mind and with her is)

---

It’s not a gut-punch, seeing him again. It’s not a revelation. It’s not all the air leaving the room, or sparks suddenly bursting in a dead heart, or tears welling up and overflowing. She has not cried in a long time; now is not an exception.

What it is, is going for a breath to find that her lungs have forgotten what air is. It is the long-ago scream, still trapped but making itself known, beating at the cage of her throat like a rabid thing. It is hands that do not shake and knees that do not tremble, because her muscles don’t see movement as an option and the marrow of her bones is as frozen as the crown on the decapitated head out on the balcony upstairs.

Gerard walks in—alive. He is not quite the same. He is all frog and almost no man, for all that he still strides on two feet. He wears a sword sheathed at his hip; it appears functional rather than decorative. He is a little rougher, a little more ragged, something a little shadowed in his eyes.

He hugs her. She hugs him back.

(she is holding a corpse, and the flies won’t stop landing on his face, and she has never felt more powerless)

She means to keep herself distant. It should be easy; this is not her world, not her Gerard. She’d even thought about it in a vague way, the possibility that she might see him somewhere here, alive and well. Steeled herself against it. She means to be aloof, to speak to him civilly and cordially and without any weight to their interactions at all. But then he talks about the bigger picture and the things of him and—

She can’t.

She can’t—

She maintains her composure. She’s good at that. But she asks for privacy, clears the room, because—well. He obviously has things to say. Things he should be saying to the Elody of this world, no doubt. But he says that he won’t trouble her with the things of him, and it’s such a Gerard thing to say and so very not a Gerard thing to say all at the same time, clumsy and awkward as ever and self-deprecating in a way that is entirely new, and something in her shatters a little more just from the way he’s looking at her.

(the bitter truth: he loves her. that’s the way the story goes. that’s always the way the story goes. and maybe she is the problem, if he can keep loving her and she can’t keep loving him, but if she is the problem then it is because the problem has been put on her shoulders without her looking for it, written into her story without her permission, and she has never asked to be remembered as the princess who fell in love with a frog)

(it’s so hard to parse out questions of fault when she doesn’t know if anything of herself is her own)

He apologizes. It’s difficult to listen to.

Because here is the thing: they made it to the end of their story. They made it to the happily ever after. And then it didn’t end, and everything in her life that has been hardest for her is everything that will not be remembered, will not be written. Everything that was struggle, everything that was difficult, that is what the fairies want to erase.

(once upon a time, there was a princess who went to war, but that is not how the story starts, isn’t even in the middle, so who can give those words weight?)

She cannot be angry with him for being what their story made him to be. She cannot be angry with him for supposing the story was over, because if not for the Times of Shadow and the incessant beat of the Gander’s wings, it would have been. She cannot be angry with him.

But she still cannot explain. Not really. She can try, and hope that he hears what she means. But she still lacks the energy.

Words are just words. She doesn’t have the strength to be someone’s inspiration

(not when all she ever wanted was for him to stand by her side of his own volition, because he decided it was right, because he wanted to do it, not when all she ever wanted was an equal partner on equal ground)

and she does not have the voice to express her disappointment when he tells her he would have done nothing, nothing at all, if he didn’t know she was here.

Words are just words. And so many of his—are the right ones. Are, maybe, things she wanted to hear. Maybe he has changed. Maybe he has grown. Maybe there are coals here that can be fanned back to life; maybe the embers aren’t dead just yet.

But this isn’t even her Gerard.

At the end of the day, she doesn’t know what to feel. Doesn’t know what to do with a husband-not-hers who apologizes and claims her as inspiration and professes to be better and puts the ball entirely in her court.

(doesn’t know what to do with a husband that breathes, with a story that continues, and she’s sick of ever after, would rather just live happily, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon, it seems)

(once upon a time, a frog pushed a golden ball out of a lily pond, and it’s not because he was kind or funny or someone worth befriending but rather because that’s just how the story goes)

So she leaves the room. That’s easier. To leave him behind, to pretend he never came back in the first place.

----------

(They have time, now. Of that, she is certain. Ever after never ends. They’ll have all the time in the world to figure this out. If there’s anything to figure out.

Part of her wants that. Part of her wants nothing more than to learn this new version of him, to allow herself to hope that he really has changed. Part of her wants to learn his friends, too, this motley assembly that he came in with, that were so eager to jump to his cause and who he is—comfortable with, at the very least. These people with whom he seems to be a little more settled in his skin.

They will have time. She will have time. She can afford to take this slowly, inch by inch. To be certain before she allows him anywhere near her heart. To let down her walls as painlessly as possible, and to have time to build them back up again if that’s what she needs, what she decides.

They’re all together in this castle, now. They will have time.)

----------

She should have known better. Is there anyone to blame but herself for allowing her to hope?

(she hadn’t even realized, how much she was hoping)

Maybe this is just how the story goes, though in her heart of hearts, she knows that this isn’t written in any book. Her narrative was never supposed to twist toward war. His was never supposed to lead beyond the pond. And so here they are, another castle but the same old song; she stays, and he flees.

(after what was perhaps the most frustrating conversation of her life and really, what was she supposed to do with any of what he was telling her, and she can’t possibly believe that he was being truthful, not now, not like this, even if there’s a voice in the back of her mind that takes his words and takes the looks in her friends’ eyes and whispers doubt and whispers what if)

“It’ll be alright,” Cinderella says. She doesn’t sound like she believes herself. Elody shakes her head.

She thinks he looks back. Does he look back? It’s so hard to tell; the sunlight gleams on the snow and renders her blind.

Does it matter? Does any of it?

(he has left her so many times, and what is one more in the face of that, what is an emotion as foolish as hope)

The ramparts are the only thing holding her up as she watches them go, a party of six fading into dots against the snow, and then vanishing. Cinderella and Snow White are steady presences at her side, bulwarks of empathy and compassion, and they know. They understand. They have lived so many lives and she only one, but they still understand the loss. They understand what it is to be the one who has to keep fighting. They understand what it is to be left behind.

They understand, but she’s still so cold.

It’s not until she goes back inside that she realizes she’s been weeping. She is capable of crying after all; whether she’s crying for this fresh betrayal or a corpse pinned to the mud or the loss of all her innocence or the joy she once felt in a castle that was hers as light spilled from every room and fireworks burst overhead and Gerard cracked a stupid joke and she laughed and laughed and laughed—whether she is crying for one of those things or all of them or none of them, she couldn’t say.

And it’s all too little, too late, in the end.

----------

(“Hey, Elody?” the whisper comes. She’s snuffed her candle. Her room is lit by moonlight.

“Yeah?” she whispers back. Gerard is a formless lump in his little bed on her nightstand, but she thinks she can make out the yellow gleam of his eyes.

“Are you okay?” he says. “It’s just that you seem a little stressed.”

“I’m okay,” she says. “It’s just, with my parents gone—and sometimes I feel—”

Like I have no idea what I’m doing. Like I’m all alone in the world. Like this is a position I wasn’t made for, and now I have no choice but to fill it, to grow and to twist and to force myself into a shape that will fit the empty space that my people need. Like I’m not strong enough to become who I think I’ll need to become.

“Oh,” Gerard says. “I’m sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I think you’re pretty great.”

Something in her chest unclenches; something in her breathing eases.

“Thank you, Gerard,” she says.

“You’re welcome,” he replies. “You should probably get some sleep. I remember sleeping at night. Pretty important.”

“Pretty important,” she agrees.

The moonlight drifts in, gentle and sweet. Frogs are largely nocturnal; Gerard will probably stay up for a long time yet. She likes to think that staying up in here, with her, is less lonely for him than staying up by himself, in the frog pond, surrounded by nobody that understands him.

“Gerard?”

“Uh huh?”

“Thank you,” she says again. “I’m glad you’re here.”

And that is how the story goes.)

#dimension 20 #d20 #neverafter #elody of greenleigh #gerard of greenleigh #d20 cinderella #cw for non-graphic description of corpses #anyway haven't posted on tumblr in a hot minute but i've decided this is an elody/gerard blog now /hj #cat writes fic

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thepringlesofblood · 1 year

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Dimension 20′s Neverafter FPE (Fairytales Per Episode)

im going out of my fuckin gourd on this neverafter shit, and i have decided to make a list of what and how many fairytales/nursery rhymes are introduced in each episode. will update as time goes on but i make no promises as to how frequently. theories are not included in totals. allusions/references are.

disclaimer: i am coming at this from a primarily american, english-speaking, culturally christian background, though I have studied a lot of ancient mediterranean myth and religion, a little bit of norse myth and religion, and a little bit of arthurian legend.

please let me know if there’s a reference to something I missed or if you know shit I don’t. i’ve decided that for our purposes, whether a reference/allusion is intentional or not doesn’t factor into our final count - unintentional/ambiguously intentional allusions/references count too, not just obvious ones.

(especially about mythical middle eastern spiders. I only know anansi & arachne, and have a passing familiarity with jorogumo & ye xian, and none of those are middle eastern or fit the situation.)

update: the show is finished! I won’t be taking my various theories off, i think it adds flavor. just remember as you’re going down that I was updating this weekly-ish. I’m going to do another post in the future that is Just The Numbers, but for now, enjoy my rambling! [updatier update: here’s the Just The Numbers post]

Ep. 1

The PCs (and their backstories)

Mother Goose (+1)

Hubbard (old mother Hubbard who lived in a cupboard) (+1)

Jack

jumped over the Candlestick (+1)

(implied) and the Beanstalk (bc of the giants everywhere) (+1)

theory: Sprat? (the rhyme goes “Jack sprat could eat no fat his wife could eat no lean/and so between them both, you see they licked the platter clean.” not directly mentioned but that was my first thought upon the whole turning to bones thing that like all the fat was removed from his body or smthin)

Ylfa (Little Red Riding Hood) (+1)

there are 2 wolves inside you. you are 12.

the big bad wolf is mentioned in the context of 2 stories, the 3 little pigs and little red riding hood, so (+1) for the pigs

Pib (Puss in Boots) (+1)

Pinocchio (+1)

Cinderella (stepmother’s official art says “Cinderella...” at the bottom) (+1)

theory: “The second fairy you have met in your life” so also a character in smthin else probably since cindy’s stepmom isnt usually magical

update: maybe the whole cannibalism thing made her magical? who’s to say

updatier update (post ep 7): so it turns out that the evil fairy =/= the stepmother, but is the evil fairy from sleeping beauty. i was right about the stepmother being in multiple different stories but boy howdy do i wish I wasn’t.

Rosamund (sleeping beauty/briar rose) (+1)

Gerard (the princess and the frog) (+1)

Snow queen (mentioned by Elody) (+1)

the rest of the episode

the little red hen (+1)

i fuckin love this one.

the story’s basic but good - she’s makin some bread and at every step asks for help from the other barnyard creatures and they’re all like hmm nahhhhh and then when it comes time to eat the bread they’re all like yes please lemme help w that and she’s like uh no, where was this energy when i was making the damn thing? and eats it ‘without any help at all’

so brennan doing her as like ‘u gotta help or you don’t eat’ is fantastic. 10/10

Ol king Cole (+1)

The little old lady who lived in a shoe (+1)

(alluded to) Alice n Wonderland (rabbit and teapot) (+1)

theory: “the chandling caravan” sounds like it should be something, but I don’t know what it is, and google has not been helpful. same w boffit, lord bandlebridge, and cressida lumley.

total tale count: 16

Ep. 2

The nutcracker (+1) (herr drosselmeyer is the weird uncle who gives clara the nutcracker. also in every ballet his drip is consistently immaculate)

Snow White (+1) (mirror mirror…..leaned up against the wall)

(alluded to) Beauty n the beast (furniture coming alive) (+1)

theory: Eidelgrin means something, but I don’t know what it is.

total tale count: 3

Ep. 3

.........nothing new to report

Ep 4

the fairy with the turquoise hair (aka the blue fairy) is actually not exclusive to Pinocchio - she has her own book n everything. (+1)

(alluded to) the little mermaid (+1)

“a dancing princess who either cannot or will not speak near a beach.”

the little mermaid trades her voice for legs and in the OG grimm story it feels like stepping on swords whenever she walks so she kind of “dances” (rip)

there’s. So many rabbit and fox tricksters. And other clever cats. I don’t think any were directly mentioned (except that Pinocchio has some in his many adventures, which isn’t a new tale) so I’m gonna say (+1) for rabbit and (+1) for fox.

Update: a reply to this post mentioned a character named Reynard the Fox from medieval French literature that might be the reason that the Fox speaks with a French accent. I found more support for this theory below!

“Isengrim”

this is the name of the daggers Pib gets. Rabbit mentions that it’s a name that Fox called the Wolf.

In fact, there’s a tale called Ysengrimus from 1152 CE where Reynard the Fox tricks the titular character, a wolf! So, there’s one Fox story confirmed. No additional points since Fox already had 1 point, this is more confirming the specific story he was inspired by.

theory: also, if we know the accents Mean Something, then Rabbit having a British accent might point to Peter Rabbit.

update: i have noticed several posts calling Rabbit’s accent Australian. it can be hard for me to tell the difference and idk if the general European bent of these tales means that brennan’s British just sounds kind of Australian or if it Means Something. I’m sure there’s Australian trickster rabbits too i just don’t know them

no fuckin clue where the ring came from tho :/

the golden goose (another Jack/Mother Goose tale not specifically mentioned before) (+1)

plus the beanstalk thing is talked about more (not new info though)

total tale count: 5

Ep. 5

hey diddle diddle (+1) (the dish ran away with the spoon + the cow jumping over the moon are from this same rhyme)

also anyone catch brennan mentioning fiddle music as tim was healing pib? ik it was king cole related music, but also...hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle.

itsy bitsy spider (+1)

(alluded to) little miss muffet (+1) (tuffeton)

(alluded to) goldilocks (+1) (”just enough” oats)

1001 nights (+1) (scheherazade is the author of these tales, as well as a myth in her own right. I have not read 1001 nights. please tell me things if you know them)

“spider queen” (+1) idk what it is but its fuckin something

identifying information: guardian of a cave/maze. supposedly has a throne. 1001 nights-adjacent.

theories:

“the spider and the wind” tale 909 of 1001, spider isn’t in this one that much actually

not all folktales in the neverafter are in mother goose’ book, so it stands to reason that not all folktales in the Endless Nights are in 1001 nights.

however, all the folktales in the neverafter are European in origin (mostly medieval), so it would make sense that the folktales in the endless nights would be middle eastern or adjacent

ye xian - chinese folktale where there’s a spider queen

“that’s east asia not arabia” fair but consider: in the older translations, aladdin is a chinese peasant. the world of 1001 nights is already bigger than arabia, and stories travel much more easily than the goods being traded across asia and the mediterranean on the silk road at the time the stories were written.

jorogumo - japanese yokai. a spider that turns into a woman. again, extremely far away from arabia, but girl i am looking.

cave of thawr - islamic oral tradition of muhammed hiding in a cave and a spider protects him. there’s a similar jewish tale w david hiding in a cave.

unlikely, but if there’s beautiful tapestries and the mother of all spiders i have to mention my girl Arachne (greek myth)

all time famous mythical spider anansi (west africa) still doesn’t really fit the bill, and is farther away from arabia than arachne (greece, which had colonies in the middle east (along the mediterranean shore but still. water = trade = exchange of goods = exchange of ideas/stories)) but still possible

yes i got a degree in ancient mediterranean studies and am using it to ruthlessly analyze a comedy show instead of sleeping, what about it?

sinbad (+1) “Sinbad the Sailor” (the roc is part of this as far as i can tell)

magical palace w the tapestries of starlight (+1) there’s a fuckload of magic palaces in 1001 nights. idk which one this refers to but it’s Something. am currently combing the stories more closely to specify at least one.

theories

the bartender with the icy wound is definitely someone. my gut says someone from the snow queen - people get icy mirrors in their eyes n shit in there and oftentimes straight up don’t get better

the peddler of wares in the corner has to be someone

the name of the tavern being “the cock and toad” has to mean something. i did some googling. there’s lots of fairytales w toads and lots of fairytales w cocks (lol) but none I could find where it’s just the two of them together. it’s weird, w a lot of fairytales/fables/nursery rhymes its like rolling 2d8 on a table of 8 animals and then just making the title out of the two animals you get. statistically its likely that there’s a story out there called that but I can’t find it.

the fucking spidersilk ring. i will solve this riddle one day.

they say the name “Aesop” as in “Aesop’s fables” (like the tortoise and the hare) but no tales mentioned yet. worth looking into if you’re the curious sort tho. Pib is going to fuck this guy up, his stories are very animal-centric and definitely have some trickster cats.

total tale count: 8

Ep. 6

No new tales - expands on ones already mentioned.

It’s just Muffet and whoever Scheherazade’s spider is

at least we find out that the “spider queen” referred to the monstrous form of muffet and Scheherazade’s spider combined, and not some new wholly separate myth.

Scheherazade’s spider seemed a little...riddly? for lack of a better term? like the whole “something that does not breathe” thing was weird, and if it’s supposed to be a guardian or guide of some sort, riddles make sense.

honorable mention: In the adventuring party episode, brennan tells the fable of the scorpion and the frog.

total tale count: 0

Ep 7

many theories with little knowledge.

In the adventuring party, brennan straight up says that the sword of truth is a general archetype, not from any specific tale. didn’t know that was an option! so no points for the sword of truth, dope as it is.

p.s. anyone else get flashbacks to fhsy with the whole truth mirror thing? it’s a good concept I’m glad brennan’s bringing it back

I am assuming each artifact found in the spider’s lair either comes from a separate tale, or is an archetype. I’m only counting it if I can pin down a specific tale that it is from.

the gillesuit/haystack cloak (+1)

update: As of Ep. 9, we now know that this is called “the cloak of rushes” and grants advantage on stealth checks. it is almost certainly from the English fairy tale “Cap-o’-Rushes” which, confusingly, features not just a cap but a whole outfit made of rushes!

my first thought was little boy blue, which does come from the tales of mother goose. this makes more sense tho lol

the golden bridle (+1)

some cursory googling indicates that this is from the celtic tale of Guleesh. one night, upon hearing the Fair Folk partying in some ruins (had to look up what a “rath” was lol) and saying “My horse, my bridle, my saddle!”, he repeats what they’re saying and is suddenly on a horse with a golden bridle. the story isn’t about the bridle itself, but the horses feature prominently, and can fly and stuff. When Guleesh kind of breaks the magic, the horse turns into a wooden beam, so maybe putting the bridle on a wooden beam summons a horse?

update: in ep 13 & 14 (& the adventuring parties) they mention that a. it does not summon a steed - you need to already have a steed there, and b. it would only work on a beast, not a monstrosity.

so.......maybe it’s not the one from the tale of Guleesh. I remain optimistic.

the golden chair (+1)

an obscure one, to be sure. from a grimm fairytale with a weirdly christian bent, where a tailor convinces st peter to let him into heaven but then sits in a big golden chair which as it turns out is the chair god sits in, and fucks up by throwing the footstool at some lady on earth washing veils (?) and gets kicked out again.

it is very possible that this was not an intentional allusion, but rather meant to evoke a fairytale-like atmosphere. either way, mission accomplished!

honorable mention: mayor harold hopps, while not a fairytale character himself, looks exactly like and was apparently inspired by the guy on the Pringles can, who is 100% a modern-day folkloric character.

theories:

the black velvet cloak with stars on it

idk where this is from. the only story I could find w a cursory google that had star clothing was Allerleirauh aka Thousandfurs, about a princess whose dad who wants to marry her (gross) so she asks for a bunch of impossible stuff to be made before the wedding can happen to try and stop it, including a dress made of stars (and one made of every kind of fur in the world hence the title). but it’s not a cloak so no points.

i s2g i have heard of something called ‘the cloak of stars’ before but I can’t fucking find it. pls lmk if you can think of something

update: ep 9 - they ALMOST told us what it was fuck, they mentioned wearing it to escape from the stepmother but we have no name. also the ‘cap-o’-rushes’ tale is extremely similar to thousandfurs minus the incest, so I don’t think it’s from that.

the stick skeletons w/ flesh on them were minions of the evil fairy from sleeping beauty - not a new tale

total tale count: 3

Ep 8

correction: brennan mentioned in the adventuring party for this one that aesop himself may also be fictional, and that many fables contain him telling the fable as part of it, so we’ll officially count him as his own fable like we did with Scheherazade (+1)

the lion and the mouse (+1)

the boy who cried wolf (+1)

they did finally mention the scorpion and the frog (+1)

alphonse is there but “the mule” isn’t actually referenced as being part of any of aesop’s fables in the show (like, there’s plenty of mules in aesop’s fables but no specific one was referenced in the show)

total tale count: 4

Ep 9

BABA YAGA BABA YAGA BABA YAGA BABAYAGABABAYAGA!!!!!! (+1)

i love her so much. i truly understood emily’s excitement this episode.

(alluded to) the princess and the pea (+1)

first time around I didn’t hear siobhan ask if anyone sees any stacks of mattresses without peas under them to sleep on lol

(alluded to) this little piggy went to market (+1)

idk if that’s the name of the rhyme or not, or if it has a name

it’s not in the captions but emily axford saying ‘well there has to be a market, right? cause this little piggy went to market’ is iconic

some sources say this rhyme is from Mother Goose lol

total tale count: 3

Ep 10

(alluded to) peter and the wolf (+1)

the baron’s named peter and there’s a wolf. that cant be a coincidence, the 3 little pigs don’t have set names

mostly retreading 3 little pigs territory. awesome battle set!

theories:

the soup could be an allusion to something but i think its just playing into this season’s theme of consumption and the end of the 3 little pigs

the council of kings might be from something

total tale count: 1

Ep 11

we get 5 kings from 5 tales on the Council of Kings (which seems diegetic and not a reference to anything), 3 of which we already knew, 2 which are new.

the little mermaid (the mer-king)

the snow queen (the tsar of snowhold)

the nutcracker (the mouse king)

the emperor’s new clothes (the naked emperor) (+1)

rumpelstiltskin (FINALLY) (the king of apogee) (+1)

Koschei the deathless (+1)

i had no fucking clue who this guy was until emily axford recognized him, thank you emily

at first I was scared the sealskin would be a selkie thing. it may still be, but that doesn’t appear to be the case in this specific situation

(alluded to) the binding of Fenrir, the wolf at the end of the world (+1)

there’s a norse myth where tyr (a god) puts his hand in fenrir’s mouth to show good faith. the gods want to put this magical leash/collar on fenrir, and since he’s not an idiot he says that he’ll consent to it only if tyr puts a hand in his mouth while they do it, to show that what they’re doing will not hurt or bind him in any way. the gods agree, but oops they lied, the chains are very much to bind him, and tyr loses his hand but the wolf is still bound.

but ylfa and mother goose are telling the truth! happy ending (for once lol) ^v^

I didn’t catch this one at first - thank you to the many posts about it in the #neverafter tag!

honorable mention

sheldon from ‘garfield and friends’

theories

the tavern-keeper (Natalia) doesn’t stand out to me as anyone specific so far, though her daughter is the second “snow-touched” person we’ve met (the bartender at the cock and toad had an icy wound over one eye) so im thinkin snow queen

there’s dwarves in other stories than snow white I’m sure, but these ones specifically say “snow white” on their intro card.

also, their names, Mürrisch, Schläfrig, & Arzt, mean grumpy, sleepy, and doctor in German. Grumpy, Sleepy, and Doc are all disney snow white dwarf names. nice.

another infuriating mention of the cloak of stars without any indication of what it does. I’m going to spontaneously combust.

one thing i do appreciate is the amount of taverns they run into. this is the third and i am very pro

total tale count: 4

Ep. 12

so many princesses!!!!! most of them already counted but still!!!

Rapunzel!!!!! (+1)

The North Wind (+1)

my classics major ass immediately assumed they were talking about Boreas, the Greek god of the northern wind lol

from what I can tell, this is from "East of the Sun and West of the Moon"

i’m sure The North Wind is from other things too, everybody loves personifying the wind

honorable mentions

Beast!!!!! i already counted the tale early on as a reference but it’s here fr now!!!!

Finally meeting the little mermaid!!! Also counted early on but this is her first appearance!

“the beast beyond no name” that Mira mentions in combination w the taut string that Pinocchio feels that means part of his story is happening soon whether he likes it or not makes me think it’s Terrible Dogfish time. But. I also think that it could be the literal Kraken.

there’s so many monsters in folklore that are just “really big scary fish thing that lives at the bottom of the ocean yet somehow also wrecks ships on the surface” i just don’t know which one brennan’s going for. my money’s on either Pinocchio’s Dogfish or The Kraken

Candlewick! jesus fucking christ! every time a bit of Pinocchio lore shows up, it’s already horrifying just from the whole story of Pinocchio being horrifying, but then Brennan leans into it in just the right way for it to be so much worse!

in the adventuring party, they mention several other tales, including the tortoise and the hare and the little matchgirl. they also (rightfully) dunk on Hans Christian Andersen for writing ludicrously depressing children’s stories.

total tale count: 2

Ep. 13

no new tales, dogfish, mer-king, & sea witch are from existing tales, but

CLOAK OF STARS LORE CONFIRMED

WE NOW KNOW THE CLOAK OF STARS IS CAPABLE OF CASTING 5TH LEVEL MAGIC MISSILE

THIS DOES NOTHING TO NARROW THINGS DOWN! BUT IT’S SOMETHING!!!!

also MANY tantalizing mentions of the golden bridle with 0 hints as to its capabilities.

total tale count: 0

Ep. 14

the sea witch is named Alba Mac Lír

several allusions here!

thank you @twoeelsforsupper for this observation!

“there is a legend called "the children of Lír" where a witch/stepmother turns King Lír's children into swans but does not take their voices, which ends up getting her found out. like the threads about voices and witches and stepmothers and transformations???”

“Alba” can mean several things

it’s the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland (this is probably what was being referenced)

in Latin, it’s the feminine nominative singular of the adjective albus, meaning “white”

in Spanish and Italian, it means “sunrise”

In Scottish Gaelic, “Mac” means “son of” so we have “Scotland, son of Lír”

good for her

also, if she’s one of the children of Lír, does that mean she’s one of the ones that got turned into swans?? much to consider.

so, plus one for the legend of the children of Lír! (+1)

FINALLY (finally) we get full cloak of stars lore.

its a fucking dnd 5e item. all this time and it’s legit just a reskin of Robe of Stars

it can take them to the lines between and shoot magic missile

i don’t know why i’m mad

total: 1

Ep. 15

yikes

no new tales, unless you count Clara The Horse Princess (she is not from anything as far as I can tell but I love her. also like Clara is the name of the nutcracker main character but we already counted the nutcracker so it wouldn’t be anything either)

total: 0

Ep. 16

thumbelina! (+1)

tom thumb! (+1)

I thought they were from the same thing but it turns out they have different origins, though there was a 2002 movie that had them be in the same movie.

tom thumb - English folklore, there was a 1621 book called The History of Tom Thumb

thumbelina - hans christian anderson tale from 1835, in the second volume of his Fairy Tales Told For Children series.

turns out he was actually inspired by Tom Thumb a bit, so it’s not convergent evolution or anything.

ngl - I mostly know the story of thumbelina from hearing julia from drawfee rant about how shitty of a movie it is in various streams/videos lol

all the jack stuff is stuff we’ve seen before - golden goose, giantslayer, nimble

UPDATE: in ep 17 adventuring party, brennan talks a bit about the multiplicity of jacks, and clarifies that there are TWO separate giantslayer myths.

Jack the Giant Killer - a Welsh fairytale about a warrior named Jack who fights a bunch of giants with a huge club and wins

Jack and the Beanstalk - an English fairytale about a young boy who accidentally grows a beanstalk to the Giant World and only “kills” the giant at the end by cutting the beanstalk down, leaving the giant to fall to his (their?) death.

So, while we’ve already counted Jack and the Beanstalk, this episode does introduce a new variation on Jack - Jack the Giant Killer. (+1)

henry hubbard is BACK!!!!! yes!!!!!

and tomás!!! and A L P H O N S E

I am v psyched for what comes next.

honorable mentions:

these aren’t explicitly Liliputians, but they do talk about gulliver in the adventuring party. I don’t think they talk about him in the actual show though.

total: 3

Ep. 17

holy shit. so many right off the bat, with brennan and siobhan going through a list of c-list folktales!

Fear Not (+1)

another grimm fairytale - not their finest work i see why this guy would be c-list lol

the brave little tailor (+1)

aka “the guy who kills a bunch of flies with his belt”

this is a for-real grimm fairytale about a guy who kills 7 flies at once, is very proud of it, makes a belt that says “Seven at One Blow” on it, and then goes out into the world and has his shit wrecked from various people misinterpreting what “Seven at One Blow” means

it’s hilarious

another jack tale!! Jack and Jill! (+1)

three blind mice (+1)

honorable mentions:

Henry talks about reuniting a clockwork man with a man in an eyepatch

this is all consistent with the Herr Drosselmeyer lore from all the way back in the first episodes of the show! We already counted him, so no new points, but still very cool!

also cool how brennan combined shoeberg w giant-slaying bc i mean how did they get all those ludicrously big shoes?

the golden goose shows Timothy all the versions of his story where they are one and the same. I’m not counting this as her showing him a new, separate fairytale, since it just overlaps two tales that we already have counted. also, I cried, that was a really intense part of the episode.

in the adventuring party they talk a lot about Narnia and “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.”

ik those aren’t exactly ye olde english fairytales, since they came out in 1950, but if Aslan wandered into the neverafter I’d count him for sure

we learn what the harp does!

the harp’s power is consistent with the jack and the beanstalk myth, but it also reminded me of several other myths about lulling beasts to sleep

e.g. Hermes of Greek mythology fame (and supposedly the inventor of the lyre) also killed the giant Argus after lulling half of his eyes to sleep with the lyre and boring the other half to sleep with various tales of his exploits. (Argus’ big thing was having a bunch of eyes all over his body)

lulling a beast to sleep is a common theme across cultures, makes sense that it’s the kind of archetype useful for the gang.

it’s very possible that some aspect of how baba yaga’s cottage was described alludes to some other Slavic folklore that I didn’t pick up on

total: 4

Ep 18

“The Wishing Star” (+1)

fuck disney for making it impossible to find real fairytales about wishing stars on google

there are many tales/nursery rhymes about wishing on stars. “star light, star bright” is the first that comes to mind, but I’m sure there’s others. we’ll count this as a multi-tale figure and give it +1

honorable mentions

so. The Trials of Baba Yaga could refer to several things.

The Tale about Baba-Yaga is a 18th c. folk story where Baba Yaga has one normal human son (???) who marries a normal human woman, who then has to prove herself by doing seemingly normal chores (milk the cows, shear the sheep) that she then finds out from her husband are secretly meant to kill her (the cows are bears, the sheep are wolves).

(aka a fucked up slavic version of the tale of eros and psyche.)

(not that eros and psyche isn’t fucked up, just in a different way)

There is a 2017 book called “Winston and Baum and the Trials of the Baba Yaga” I do not think this is what was being referenced, and as it is modern and not a folk story, I’m not counting it.

other stuff I can find about Baba Yaga also includes stepdaughters having to do chores with secret meanings - it’s a part of her Thing

I’m including this under the general Baba Yaga mythos, not as its own thing, but still cool stuff to know about.

Prince Johnathan of Apogee (that’s how the subtitles spell it)

so. wayyyy back in episode 11 we find out that the kingdom of apogee is where Rumplestiltskin happened.

I think that’s all the Apogee info we have, and with a name as vague as Johnathan I don’t think we can call it a reference to anything.

We got Mother Goose’s OG rhyme!!!

not a new story but very cool!!!

there’s more but I think they stopped at a good place

fun fact: I found an extra verse that isn’t in the one linked above

“Then old Mother Goose/that instant came in/and turned her son Jack/into famed Harlequin/She then with her wand/touched the lady so fine/and turned her at once/into sweet Columbine”

and then they go on with the rest of the book like that bit never happened

other fun mother goose shit

i thought that littlefinger and “chaos is a ladder” were fairytale quotes but they’re from game of thrones it turns out. ._.

total: 1

Ep 19

no new tales (it’s the finale pt 1) but several honorable mentions

“As you wish”

cinderella girl you are KILLING ME

for those not in the know, this is an allusion to The Princess Bride

in the context of the book & movie, it means “I love you”

could be unintentional but i highly doubt it.

the book is too recent to count as fairytale for our purposes (1973) but it is very much in that genre. god damn.

la bête saying “be our guest” alludes to the disney beauty and the beast movie obvs

“Something wicked this way comes”

quote from Macbeth, by Shakespeare

I don’t think Shakespeare counts as fairytales. idk the vibes are just off. ik it’s an Old Story but it isn’t a fairytale.

total: 0

Ep 20

this is it gang!

The Fairies

so in the 1880s, Andrew Lang wrote a series of fairytale books named after fairies of various colors. I’m counting each fairy who has a book named after them as a new tale.

EXCEPT: the Blue Fairy

ok look i fucked up yall. The Fairy With Turquoise Hair is re-named “The Blue Fairy” in a lot of adaptations, so when I previously counted her separately from Pinocchio bc she had her own book, I was referring to “The Blue Fairy Book”

so we’re not counting it here bc that would be counting it twice. apologies to the actual Blue Fairy.

The Red Fairy Book (+1)

The Green Fairy Book (+1)

The Orange Fairy Book (+1)

The Yellow Fairy Book (+1)

this is by no means all of Lang’s color fairy books. he’s got crimson, violet, grey, pink, you name it.

honorable mentions

Calvin & Hobbes is modern day folklore

I looked up to see if there’s any actual Aesop fables with a shark in em, closest I could find was a dolphin. Rip.

Beaky’s stint in the TAA lines up with Pinocchio’s story, so not a new tale. thank you for your service beaky o7

total: 4

total series tale count: 62

alas, the only mystery remaining is Scheherazade’s spider. someday I may come back to this post with new information about her, but today is not that day. If you know any middle eastern myths/fairytales/folklore/nursery rhymes that prominently feature a spider that guards a maze or guides people through caves, please feel free to reply/reblog with your knowledge.

this show has been a fun and wild ride. Here’s a shortened version of this post with just the numbers

thank you for coming on this journey with me - see you in the stories!

#d20 spoilers #d20 #dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #neverafter spoilers #neverafter #original post #ongoing #dnd #folktales #folklore #myth #stories #fairytale

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magical-misfit · 1 year

Text

Updates in my Fairytale research that I thought were relevant

there’s a fairytale called The Fox and The Cat in which The Cat tricks The Fox into being hunted and killed by hounds and their human.

there’s also a fairytale called The Wolf and The Fox where The Fox kills the Wolf

The version of The Frog Prince where Gerard is thrown against a wall is also the version in which the Princess is spoiled and rude and just as selfish as he is (ELODY I SEE YOU)

in the Wanda Gag Translation of the Frog Prince, the Princess and the Prince are children and the Frog is someone who just wanted a playmate and it was only speculated that they got married not confirmed.

there are two wolves in Little Red Cap and while the first one is cut open by the Huntsman the second one is boiled alive by Red Cap and her Grandmother.

The fairytale The Golden Goose involves the youngest son of a pair of laborers meeting an “old grey man” who after sharing some beer and cakes with him points him in the direction of a Golden Goose which provides the youngest son with a windfall of fortune.

The Original Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella has no mention of Fairy Godmothers or talking mice, but birds do blind the Stepmother and her stepsisters.

There are seven fairies in the Sleeping Beauty of the Andrew Lang collection but thirteen in the original print, HOWEVER, the “Old Wicked Fairy” makes eight in the Andrew Lang one.

the opening pages of The Snow Queen involve a hobgoblin who has a mirror that shows the ugliness in the world, when he’s flying one day he drops it and it breaks into shards. some people got glass shards in their eyes and could only see the ugly side of things BUT SOME PEOPLE ended up with glass shards in their hearts which would turn their hearts to ice.

In both versions of the Frog Prince that I have, there is no mention of a kiss breaking the curse.

The Frog Prince is not actively rude or selfish in the fairytale he just imposes on her after the Princess loses her golden ball and then breaks her promise to play with him and be a companion to him after he retrieves it for her.

The Prince that wakes Sleeping beauty is one hundred years younger than her and when he finally wakes her, her entire castle and kingdom disappear in the Andrew Lang version.

However in the Original Grimm version, the briars are mentioned to be “as if they had hands” and the princes that got caught in them “died miserable deaths”

In the Andrew Lang version the Good Fairy is said to be the one who put everyone else in the palace to sleep and “gave her good dreams” but in the Grimm version there is no mention of her past the first page where she changes the curse

Animals are also much more present in the Andrew Lang version than the Grimm one.

In conclusion, I believe Rosamund’s original timeline was the Grimm version of the story and now she’s in the Andrew Lang version.

In contrast, I think Gerard was living the sanitized/Wanda gag version of the Frog Prince but is now in the Grimm version of the fairytale.

#neverafter #neverafter spoilers #neverafter speculation #neverafter theories #dimension 20 theories #listen I love fairytales okay??#I loved these books so much their pages are literally falling out #my brother giving me a complete book of grimm’s fairytales not knowing it would be so important one day

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nayod789 · 1 year

Text

Once upon a time…

Everyone had the opportunity to tell their own story.

The words reverberated through the Canonade, shaking the briars around Rosamund's heart. Mother Goose closed his book.

It was done. And yet, friends, enemies, and tenuous allies remained silent and still, waiting for the world to end, or for the fighting to continue, or… something. A better life. A better story.

:readmore:

Rosamund didn't have the strength to push herself up, but the briars heeded her thoughts. Her breaths were ragged, automatic, and, by her guess now that blood had stopped flowing from the wound that killed her, unnecessary. Short-lived. The briars were weakening, as well, their fervor dying with their host. They still kept her heart beating, though.

The others began moving. Timothy helped Scheherazade to her feet and observed the wreckage. The Princess Elody ran to the body of the Frog Prince, joining the Big Bad Wolf. Pib joined Baba Yaga. Pinocchio, the Stepmother.

They had loose ends in their stories to resolve. They hadn't seen what she did, didn't know what she was. It was Cinderella that came to her, gently helping her the rest of the way up.

"Snow did a number on you."

"Yes. Yes, she did. But… we get to write our own stories now."

Cinderella's face held steady, but Rosamund could see the terror of that sink in, alongside the realization that this path was open to the princesses all along.

"Does that… do we get to make edits? Changes to what has already happened?"

Rosamund knew she was at an ending of some kind, but… not like she was slipping into a new life.

"No… I don't think we do. I think…" the briars around her heart faltered just once, causing her to hiss in pain. Cinderella put a hand on her back. "I think we just live on. For as long as we can, as freely as we wish."

Cinderella sat with this for a moment. "Well. Fuck. "

Sleeping Beauty rasped out a chuckle. "I bet the next version of me will fistfight the Wicked Fairy and win."

"A free Cinderella… I could be a dashing knight. I don't… I don't know if I would want to fight if I didn't have to, so maybe for sport."

"I'm certain you would be wonderful." Rosamund smiled. "You still could, here. After you all rebuild."

Cinderella existed next to her in silence for a moment, Rosamund's "you" hanging heavily.

"I… see now that our plan was misguided. I'm deeply sorry for the pain I caused you and your allies. We were… taken by fear and despair, and-"

Rosamund held up a shaky hand. "We were all scared. It's okay. I understand."

Cinderella let out a shuddering breath, then shifted to take more of Rosamund's weight under her shoulder. "That… that aside. Would you like me to escort you to any of your allies?"

Rosamund looked around the ruins of the Canonade, saw the Wolf and Elody escorting the Frog Prince to rest. In the wake of the Wolf, confused and scared, was Ylfa. Ylfa, human.

Cinderella followed her gaze, and started moving before she could speak. As Ylfa saw them approach, she moved to meet them part way.

"Hello, little girl," Rosamund beamed, briars and blood and all, "how are you?"

"I'm confused, that's for sure."

"Me too. But, we'll figure that out." She looked to Cinderella. "There's a lot to figure out, but we can help each other do that. Do you have anywhere to go?"

"Um… I don't… is Timothy here?"

"Yes, he's just over there."

Little Red grinned, just a little wolf-like. "Gosh, he's so cool. You are, too. Also very pretty. TIMOTHY!!"

And off she ran, jumping over bookcases and going to the man she was traveling with when Rosamund first met her.

"Cute kid, when she's not the embodiment of death itself."

"That's just little sisters for you," Rosamund shot back, but she broke into a harsh cough.

The briars were getting weaker.

"Would you check in on her every once in awhile? She needs someone to tell her about… anything that's not grandma or death related."

Cinderella nodded. "I… haven't had very many good role models when it comes to being sisterly, but I'll do what I can." Her gaze drifted to Mira's body. "I should… fuck, poor kid."

Rosamund went with her over to Mira. Even as they heard Elody sob as the Wolf took the Frog Prince into the shadows, the Wolf appeared in front of them.

The Wolf was made a little less godly by its tiny orange top hat, but it still carried the weight of death.

"Would you place her on my back?"

Cinderella did, and death took another princess away.

Rosamund and Cinderella sat, and they talked. They talked about nothing, about the silly moments in their grand adventures, about loves that were written and loves that could have been, about life and indecision and fear and joy. About what they gave up. About how, if they didn't live in this horrific world, they may have been close friends- or they may have been petty political enemies.

But they lived in this world, and they made these choices. And Rosamund's Third Upon a Time was fading fast.

By the time the conversation lulled, Rosamund had leaned slack against Cinderella's glass armor, and her voice was just a whisper. She couldn't see anymore, and the briars around her were wilting and falling limp.

"Cinderella?"

"Yes, Princess Rosamund?"

"Please… if nothing else… would you… live happily? Even if… the world… freaking sucks."

"I will, Princess Rosamund. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do so."

The briars stopped.

#dimension20 #d20 #dimension 20 neverafter #d20 neverafter #neverafter #rosamund du prix #cinderella #ylfa snorgelsson #neverafter spoilers #dimension 20 #alternate ending #neverafter finale spoilers #major character death #hurt/comfort

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toloveawarlord · 4 years

Text

OC Masterlist

My regular masterlist is in my bio!

This is an incomplete list of OCs. This list includes all OCs that I am currently putting under the WIP folder. If you’ve ever wondered what the inside of my brain looks likes, this is a good representation.

This list currently only contains OCs for Ikerev, Ikevamp, Ikesen, and Obey Me. Other otome will added in time as I put out more work.

It’s an extensive list so it’s under a read more!

Ikemen Revolution:

Iris Adley:

Profile

Pairing: Edgar Bright

Story: For Crimson Glory

Colette Marston

Profile

Pairing: None

Story: Visions of Red

Nova Clemence

Profile

Pairing: Ray Blackwell

Story: Shattered Glass

Sophia Emerson

Profile

Pairing: Fenrir Godspeed

Story: Etched in Blood

Aspen Lancaster

Profile

Pairing: Jonah Clemence

Story: Behind the Times

Arielle Godspeed

Profile

Pairing: Oliver Knight

Story: The Time Between

Greer Atlas

Profile

Pairing: Lancelot Kingsley

Story: Tale as Old as Time

Aster

Profile

Pairing: None

Story: Ghost in the Starlight

Shae Durham

Profile

Pairing: Edgar Bright & Luka Clemence (Poly Ship)

Story: For My Master (nsfw)

Genevieve Reyes

Profile

Pairing: Luka Clemence

Story: My Solemn Vow

Emery Hayes

Profile

Pairing: Luka/Jonah Clemence

Story: What Once Was

Pippa Marcelle

Profile

Pairing: Lancelot Kingsley & Harr Silver & Sirius Oswald (Poly Ship)

Story: In A Year

Joanna Clemence

Profile

Pairing: Edgar Bright

Story: The Jack of My Heart

Evie Noelle Clemence Bright

Profile

Parents: Edgar Bright & Luka Clemence

Story: A Pair of Jacks

Ivy & Rose Kingsley-Clemence

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Parents: Lancelot Kingsley & Jonah Clemence

Story: Crowned Royalty

Wren Blackwell

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Pairing: Undetermined

Story: Star Crossed (coming soon!)

Sabrina Clemence

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Pairing: Undetermined

Story: Unreleased

Annalise Perry

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Pairing: Kyle Ash

Story: Unreleased; Also in “Chaotic Kingsley”

Sage Altimari

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Pairing: Harr Silver

Story: Unreleased

Clarissa Bright

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Pairing: Loki Genetta

Story: Unreleased

Lumi Blake

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Pairing: None

Story: Unreleased

Jinx

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Pairing: Undetermined

Story: Dead Talks (coming soon!)

Hollis Ash

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Pairing: Fenrir Godspeed

Story: Unreleased

Naomi Kaiser

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Pairing: Red Army (Poly)

Unreleased (nsfw)

Sapphire:

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Pairing: Undetermined

Unreleased

Ikerev Fae Au:

Briar

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Pairing: Luka Clemence

Story: Unreleased

Neri

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Pairing: Zero

Story: Unreleased

Sif

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Pairing: Lancelot Kingsley

Story: Unreleased

Ithica

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Paring: Fenrir Godspeed

Story: Unreleased

Cersi

Profile

Pairing: Jonah Clemence

Story: Unreleased

Vesta

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Pairing: Dean Tweedle

Story: Unreleased

Pisti

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Pairing: Edgar Bright

Story: Unreleased

Lycus

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Pairing: Kyle Ash

Story: Unreleased

Erato

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Pairing: None

Story Unreleased

Argos

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Pairing: Seth Hyde

Story: Unreleased

Ikerev Kids Older Gen:

Atticus Kingsley

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Lancelot Kingsley & Victoria Buckley

Story: Chaotic Kingsley

Lyra Kingsley

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Lancelot Kingsley & Victoria Buckley

Story: Unreleased

Caroline Clemence

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Jonah Clemence & Eleanor Atlas

Story: A Queen in the Making

Jude Clemence

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Jonah Clemence & Eleanor Atlas

Story: Unreleased

Eden Bright

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Edgar Bright

Story: The Red Army Princess

Beckett Ash

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Kyle Ash

Story: Ashes to Ashes

Sadie Ash

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Kyle Ash

Story: Ashes to Ashes

Otto Blackwell

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Ray Blackwell

Story: Unreleased

Castor Oswald

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Sirius Oswald & Grace Fuller

Story: Unreleased (coming soon!)

Nash Oswald

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Sirius Oswald & Grace Fuller

Story: Unreleased (coming soon!)

Cosmo Oswald

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Sirius Oswald & Grace Fuller

Story: Unreleased (coming soon!)

Ezra Clemence

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Luka Clemence & Olivia Davenport

Story: Twin Collision

Valarie Clemence

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Luka Clemence & Olivia Davenport

Story: Twin Collision

Sasha Hyde

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Seth Hyde & Violet Halloway

Story: Devils in Disguise

Finley Godspeed

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Fenrir Godspeed

Story: Black Army Mischief Maker

Lief Genetta

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Loki Genetta

Story: Caged Magic

Lux Genetta

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Loki Genetta

Story: Caged Magic

Casimir Silver

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Harr Silver

Story: Unreleased

Khepri Atlas

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Mousse Atlas & Nailah Katton

Story: The Atlas Puzzle

Scarlett Lapin

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Blanc Lapin & Colleen Ainsley

Story: Unreleased

Declan Lapin

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Blanc Lapin & Colleen Ainsley

Story: Unreleased

Valen Tweedle

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Dean Tweedle & Lydia White

Story: Unreleased

Clea Tweedle

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Dean Tweedle & Lydia White

Story: Unreleased

Rosaleen Tweedle

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Dalium Tweedle

Story: Unreleased

Emmeline Tweedle

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Dalium Tweedle

Story: Unreleased

Jaxon Tweedle

Profile: Toddler ; Teen

Parents: Dalium Tweedle

Story: Unreleased

*Younger Gen IkeRev Coming Soon!*

Ikemen Vampire:

Ophelia Rose

Profile

Pairing: All residents

Story: At Your Service

Alara Bayar

Profile

Pairing: None (might change when adult)

Story: And So They Met

Elodie Perrin

Profile

Pairing: Arthur Conan Doyle

Story: Unreleased (coming soon!)

Juniper Haywood

Profile

Pairing: Undetermined

Story: Unreleased (coming soon!)

Amelia Earhart

Profile

Pairing: Theo Van Gogh

Story: Unreleased (coming soon!)

Chuuya Nakahara

Profile

Pairing: Undetermined

Story: Unreleased

Jericho Blake

Profile

Pairing: Undetermined

Story: Unreleased

Asha

Profile

Pairing: Leonardo

Story: Unreleased (coming soon!)

Selia

Profile

Pairing: Jean D’Arc

Story: Unreleased

Pandora

Profile

Pairing: Napoleon Bonaparte

Story: Unreleased

Mina Van Gogh

Profile

Pairing: Charles & Arthur (Poly ship)

Story: Unreleased (coming soon!)

Elaine Odette Doyle

Profile

Pairing: Isaac Newton

Story: Truth in Simplicity

Ikevamp Kids: Unreleased

Ikemen Sengoku

Miki

Profile

Pairing: Nobunaga Oda

Story: Clever Canary

Katria Petrov

Profile

Pairing: Masamune Date

Story: Solitary Confinement

Rena Tokugawa

Profile

Pairing: Ieyasu Tokugawa

Story: The Ties that Bind

IkeSen Kids:

Natsu Oda

Profile

Pairing: Iri Tokugawa

Story: The Art of Love and War

Nadia Oda

Profile

Pairing: Senri Takeda

Story: The Art of Love and War

Hikaru Toyotomi

Profile

Pairing: Mei Akechi

Story: The Art of Love and War

Iri Tokugawa

Profile

Pairing: Natsu Oda

Story: The Art of Love and War

Minori Ishida

Profile

Pairing: None

Story: The Art of Love and War

Mai Akechi

Profile

Pairing: None

Story: The Art of Love and War

Mei Akechi

Profile

Pairing: Hikaru Toyotomi

Story: The Art of Love and War

Mari Date

Profile

Pairing: Yuri Sanada

Story: The Art of Love and War

Katsue Uesugi

Profile

Pairing: Satoru Takeda

Story: Unreleased

Senri Takeda

Profile

Pairing: Nadia Oda

Story: Unreleased

Saika Takeda

Profile

Pairing: None

Story: Unreleased

Satoru Takeda

Profile

Pairing: Katsue Uesugi

Story: Unreleased

Yuri Sanada

Profile

Pairing: Mari Date

Story: Unreleased

Yori Sanada

Profile

Pairing: None

Story: Unreleased

Obey Me:

Verena

Profile

Pairing: Asmodeus

Story: Unreleased (coming soon!)

Azazel

Profile

Pairing: None

Story: Unreleased

Beleth

Profile

Pairing: None

Story: Unreleased

Xaphan

Profile

Pairing: None

Story: Unreleased (coming soon!)

Valefor

Profile

Pairing: None

Story: Unreleased

Onoskelis

Profile

Pairing: Solomon

Story: Unreleased

Alrinach

Profile

Pairing:Undetermined

Story: Unreleased

Serafine

Profile

Pairing: Lucifer

Story: Unreleased (coming soon!)

Karina

Profile

Pairing: None

Story: Unreleased

Hex

Profile

Pairing: Satan

Story: Unreleased

Sybil & Silas

Profile

Pairing: Belphegor & Beel

Story: Unreleased (coming soon!)

NEXT GEN:

Lucifer:

Unreleased

Mammon:

Unreleased

Leviathan:

Henrik: Profile

Valeria: Profile

Cosmin (unreleased)

Nerin (unreleased)

Satan:

Coming Soon

Asmodeus:

Unreleased

Beelzebub

Unreleased

Belphegor

Coming Soon

Diavolo

Unreleased

Barbatos

Unreleased

Simeon

Unreleased

Luke

Unreleased

Solomon

Unreleased

Michael

Unreleased

#oc masterlist #ikerev oc #ikevamp oc #ikesen oc #ikemen revolution #ikemen vampire #ikemen sengoku #obey me #incomplete but long

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vonschweet · 6 years

Text

MUSE LIST

About 20+ under the read more.

WILBUR ROBINSON ( 25 )

fc: joe keery fr: meet the robinsons sh: raina corona fam: wilbur robinson (cousin) oth: lena dear (ex)

FALINE DASHWOOD ( 19 )

fc: lili reinhart fr: bambi sh: benji woods fam: arthur pendry (cousin) oth: nicholas wilde (ex), dashiel parr (ex)

ANASTASIA NICHOLS ( 18 )

fc: lisa teige fr: anastasia sh: dashiel parr fam: na oth: dashiel parr (best friend), abigail v. (best friend)

VANYA SCHMIDT ( 23 )

fc: vanessa morgan fr: wreck it ralph sh: nicholas wilde fam: peter pan & the lost boys (brothers) oth: robert hood (ex), todd tweed (ex), tessa belle (dreamteam)

ROBERT HOOD ( 28 )

fc: jack falahee fr: robin hood sh: lena dear fam: nicholas wilde (brother), todd tweed (brother) oth: vanya schmidt (ex)

BERNARDO BONFAMILLE ( 24 )

fc: alberto rosende fr: the aristocats sh: ariel triton fam: maria bonfamille (sister), thomas bonfamille (brother) oth: vanessa triton (ex fiancee)

MEGAN WOLTZ ( 22 )

fc: maia mitchell fr: hercules sh: peter pan fam: na oth: hades king (boss)

HYKE HADDOCK ( 22 )

fc: calum hood fr: httyd sh: sophie white fam: na oth: quincy beaumont (best friend), benji woods (best friend), lena dear (nurse)

QUINCY BEAUMONT ( 26 )

fc: ross butler fr: the hunchback of notre dame sh: maria bonfamille fam: abigail vanderbilt (sister) oth: hyke haddock (best friend), benji woods (best friend)

MAL IGNETA ( 24 )

fc: caitlin stasey fr: sleeping beauty sh: adam roux fam: na oth: na

ABIGAIL VANDERBILT ( 18 )

fc: hailee steinfeld fr: ducktales sh: matthew hadder fam: quincy beaumont (brother) oth: na

ELLA PENDRAGON BENNET ( 18 )

fc: josefine f. pettersen fr: cinderella sh: belle french fam: arthur pendry (cousin) oth: na

ARTHUR PENDRAGON ( 18 )

fc: tarjei sandvik moe fr: the sword in the stone sh: alice kingsley fam: ella bennet (cousin), faline dashwood (cousin) oth: na.

VIOLET PARR ( 25 )

fc: lily collins fr: the incredibles sh: hades king fam: dashiel parr (brother) oth: emily yard (best friend)

TODD TWEED ( 27 )

fc: matthew daddario fr: the fox and the hound sh: milo thatch fam: nicholas wilde (brother), robert hood (brother) oth: vanya schmidt (ex)

CHRISTOPHER ROBIN ( 23 )

fc: dylan o’brien fr: winnie the pooh sh: briar rose fam: na oth: na

LANDON DEAR ( 18 )

fc: dylan sprayberry fr: 101 dalmatians sh: wendy darling fam: penelope dear (sister), lucas dear (brother), lena dear (sister) oth: na

PENELOPE DEAR ( 18 )

fc: katherine langford fr: 101 dalmatians sh: thomas bonfamille fam: landon dear (brother), lucas dear (brother), lena dear (sister) oth: na

KIDA NEDKAH ( 19 )

fc: alisha boe fr: atlantis – tle sh: lucas dear fam: na oth: milo thatch (ex fling)

JACKSON SKELLER ( 27 )

fc: bill skarsgard fr: nightmare before christmas sh: emily yard fam: na oth: na

AL DEAN ( 25 )

fc: rami malek fr: aladdin sh: jasmine afar fam: na oth: na

VANESSA MORIARTY ( 26 )

fc: emeraude toubia fr: the little mermaid sh: audrey ramirez fam: ariel triton (distant cousin) oth: bernardo bonfamille (ex fiancee)

WOODSTER PRIDE ( 19 )

fc: robbie kay fr: toy story sh: tessa belle fam: na oth: na

TREVOR SMITH ( 26 )

fc: grant gustin fr: lady and the tramp sh: fam: na oth: honey lemon (ex fling), lena dear (ex fling)

LEWIS ROBINSON ( 27 )

fc: andrew garfield fr: meet the robinsons sh: honey lemon fam: wilbur robinson (nephew) oth: honey lemon (science friend), kiara lyon (ex fling)

MAX GOOF ( 28 )

fc: sidharth malhotra fr: a goofy movie sh: malia damoon fam: clara goof (daughter) oth: na

CHESTER LI ( 24 )

fc: lee jong suk fr: alice in wonderland sh: nani calleiha fam: na oth: na

HECTOR RIVERA ( 26 )

fc: tyler posey fr: coco sh: ruby liah fam: na oth: na

JACKSON OVERLAND ( 21 )

fc: miles heizer fr: rotg sh: francesca robinson fam: perny kross (half-sister), tessa bell (half-sister) oth: na

ELSA ARRYN ( 18 )

fc: elle fanning fr: frozen sh: noah fisher fam: anna arryn (sister), raina corona (half-sister) oth: na

CHARLOTTE LABEOUF ( 20 )

fc: willa fitzgerald fr: the princess and the frog sh: henry turner fam: na oth: na

KURT STONE ( 22 )

fc: keiynan lonsdale fr: the lion king 2 sh: kiara lyon fam: na oth: na

ERIC ANDERSEN ( 29 )

fc: richard madden fr: the little mermaid sh: elodie blake fam: hans westerguard (cousin) oth: na

HANS WESTERGUARD ( 27 )

fc: dane dehaan fr: frozen sh: chantal fam: eric andersen (cousin) oth: na

BUSTER ALDRIN ( 20 )

fc: shawn mendes fr: toy story sh: jessica mane fam: na oth: na

PEYTON BUELLER ( 20 )

fc: asa butterfield fr: hercules sh: dana alders fam: na oth: hades king (boss)

ASTRID HOFFERSON ( 24 )

fc: britt roberson fr: how to train your dragon sh: harrison suez fam: na oth: na

JAMES HAWKINS ( 26 )

fc: tyler blackburn fr: treasure planet sh: jessica rabbit? fam: na oth: na

ANNA ARRYN ( 17 )

fc: liana liberato fr: frozen sh: james hook fam: elsa arryn (sister), raina corona (half-sister) oth: na

PERNY KROSS ( 17 )

fc: dove cameron fr: the secret of the wings sh: flynn rider fam: tessa bell (sister), jack frost (half-brother) oth: na

JANE PORTER ( 19 )

fc: haley lu richardson fr: tarzan sh: dimitri fam: na oth: na

#muse

0 notes

thepringlesofblood · 11 months

Text

Dimension 20 Neverafter FPE (Fairytales Per Episode): The Numbers

I’ve been updating the original version of this post since Ep. 3, and as such it has a lot of theories/additions/explanations/ramblings. This is just the numbers. Every fairytale, nursery rhyme, or piece of folklore included, referenced, or alluded to across the series (that I found).

For some of these, I was unable to determine one specific tale, and for some of these, I am unsure as to whether the reference was intentional. I’ll put that if that’s the case. It is what it is, baby. Enjoy!

Full list beneath the cut, by episode.

Ep. 1

The PCs (and their backstories)

Mother Goose (+1)

Mother Hubbard (+1)

Jack

jumped over the Candlestick (+1)

and the Beanstalk (+1)

Ylfa (Little Red Riding Hood) (+1)

“Huff and puff, little one” = 3 little pigs allusion (+1)

Pib (Puss in Boots) (+1)

Pinocchio (+1)

Cinderella (+1)

stepmother’s official art says “Cinderella...” at the bottom

Rosamund (sleeping beauty/briar rose) (+1)

Gerard (the princess and the frog) (+1)

Snow queen (mentioned by Elody) (+1)

the rest of the episode

the little red hen (+1)

Ol king Cole (+1)

The little old lady who lived in a shoe (+1)

(alluded to) Alice n Wonderland (+1)

rabbit pulling a teapot

total tale count: 16

Ep. 2

Herr Drosselmeyer (+1)

The Nutcracker

Snow White (+1)

(alluded to) Beauty and the beast (+1)

furniture coming alive

total tale count: 3

Ep. 3

.........nothing new to report

tale count: 0

Ep 4

the fairy with the turquoise hair is actually not exclusive to Pinocchio - she has her own book*.

*I found out later that this is not true, hence no +1

(alluded to) the little mermaid (+1)

“a dancing princess who either cannot or will not speak near a beach.”

there’s. So many rabbit and fox tricksters in the world.

One specific tale for Fox is alluded to, so he gets (+1)

a reply to the original post mentioned a character named Reynard the Fox from medieval French literature that might be the reason that the Fox speaks with a French accent.

“Isengrim” is the name of the daggers Pib gets. There’s a tale called Ysengrimus from 1152 CE where Reynard the Fox (along with a certain Wolf) appears.

No specific tales for Rabbit are specifically referenced except for Pinocchio’s story, but if Fox’s French accent is an allusion to Reynard the Fox, I’m taking Rabbit’s Cockney British accent to be an allusion to Peter Rabbit (the most famous British trickster rabbit I can think of.) He gets a (+1)

There are surely other rabbits that inspired Brennan, but I’m not qualified to sift through all trickster rabbits ever.

I’m sorry if it’s not a Cockney accent. That’s just what it sounded like to me. +1 for each of them seems fair regardless.

the golden goose (another Jack/Mother Goose tale not specifically mentioned before) (+1)

total tale count: 4

Ep. 5

hey diddle diddle (+1)

the dish ran away with the spoon + the cow jumping over the moon

itsy bitsy spider (+1)

first allusion to little miss muffet (+1)

(alluded to) goldilocks (+1)

”just enough” oats

first mention of Aesop (+1)

1001 nights (+1) (scherazade/The Endless Nights)

“spider queen”/scherazade’s spider (+1)

I cannot describe the lengths I have gone to to try and figure out who the mythical spider that fuses with Muffet is. there are many possibilities but none seem more likely than the rest. please, god, if you know which spider is being referenced here, let me know.

sinbad (+1)

“Sinbad the Sailor”

magical palace w the tapestries of starlight (+1)

there’s a fuckload of magic palaces in 1001 nights. idk which one this refers to but it does refer.

total tale count: 9

Ep. 6

No new tales - expands on ones already mentioned (muffet, scherazade’s spider)

first actual appearance of little miss muffet

total tale count: 0 

Ep 7

the cloak of rushes (the gillesuit/haystack cloak) (+1)  

As of Ep. 9, we know that this is probably from the English fairy tale “Cap-o’-Rushes”

the golden bridle (+1) 

some cursory googling indicates that this is most likely from the celtic tale of Guleesh.

In ep 13 & 14 (& the adventuring parties) they talk about what it does, and while nothing they say rules out Guleesh, it doesn’t really match up either.  

so…….maybe it’s not intended to be the one from the tale of Guleesh. I remain optimistic.

the golden chair (+1) 

a grimm fairytale with a weirdly christian bent

it is very possible that this was not an intentional allusion.

I have to mention here that the cloak of stars recovered from the spider’s den is a reskin of the DND 5e “Robe of Stars”

I spent multiple months trying to figure out what this cloak could be an allusion to. there’s nothing clear-cut. like the sword of truth, I believe this to be an archetype from no one tale in particular.

total tale count: 3

Ep 8

first actual appearance of Aesop!

the lion and the mouse (+1)

the boy who cried wolf (+1)

the scorpion and the frog (+1)

total tale count: 3

Ep 9

BABA YAGA (+1)

(alluded to) the princess and the pea (+1)

siobhan asks if anyone sees any stacks of mattresses without peas under them to sleep on

(alluded to) this little piggy went to market (+1)

it’s not in the captions but emily axford says ‘well there has to be a market, right? cause this little piggy went to market’

first actual appearance of 3 little pigs

total tale count: 3

Ep 10

(alluded to) peter and the wolf (+1)

the baron’s named peter and there’s a wolf. that can’t be a coincidence,

total tale count: 1

Ep 11

the emperor’s new clothes (+1)

“the naked emperor”

rumpelstiltskin (+1)

“the king of apogee“ and the rumor about him

Koschei the deathless (+1)

(alluded to) the binding of Fenrir (Norse mythology) (+1)

Ylfa puts her hand in the Wolf’s mouth to prove her and Mother Goose’ good intentions.

I didn’t catch this one at first - thank you to the many posts about it in the #neverafter tag!

total tale count: 4

Ep. 12

Rapunzel (+1)

The North Wind (+1)

from what I can tell, this is from "East of the Sun and West of the Moon"

I’m sure The North Wind is from other things too, though

first actual appearance of the little mermaid!

total tale count: 2

Ep. 13

no new tales - expands on the little mermaid & pinocchio

total tale count: 0

Ep. 14

the legend of the children of Lír (+1)

it is revealed in this episode that the sea witch is named Alba Mac Lír

“Mac Lír“ in Scottish Gaelic = son of Lír

thank you @twoeelsforsupper for this observation!

total: 1

Ep. 15

no new tales, unless you count Clara The Horse Princess

total: 0

Ep. 16

thumbelina (+1)

hans christian anderson tale from 1835, in the second volume of his Fairy Tales Told For Children series.

tom thumb (+1)

English folklore, there was a 1621 book called The History of Tom Thumb

Jack the Giant Killer (+1)

in ep 17 adventuring party, brennan talks a bit about the multiplicity of jacks, and clarifies that there are TWO separate Jack + Giants myths.

Jack the Giant Killer - a Welsh fairytale about a warrior named Jack who fights a bunch of giants with a huge club and wins

So, while we’ve already counted Jack and the Beanstalk, this episode does introduce a new variation on Jack - Jack the Giant Killer.

total: 3

Ep. 17

Fear Not (+1)

another grimm fairytale

the brave little tailor (+1)

aka “the guy who kills a bunch of flies with his belt”

Jack and Jill (+1)

three blind mice (+1)

total: 4

Ep 18

The Wishing Star (+1)

look there’s many stars you can wish on. “star light, star bright” has one but there are many others

Ep 19

no new tales - it’s finale time!

total: 0

Ep 20

fairies!

so in the 1880s, Andrew Lang wrote a series of fairytale books named after fairies of various colors. I’m counting each fairy who has a book named after them as a new tale.

NOTE: the Blue Fairy (+1)

so we’re counting it here instead bc it’s the first appearance of the actual Blue Fairy

The Red Fairy Book (+1)

The Green Fairy Book (+1)

The Orange Fairy Book (+1)

The Yellow Fairy Book (+1)

total: 5

total series tale count: 62

allusions (aka ones where nothing is referenced by name e.g. Fenris): 17

could be unintentional: 8

direct, clear references: 37

have a good one yall!

#neverafter #neverafter spoilers #d20 #d20 spoilers #dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #original post #myth #folklore #stories #dropout #brennan lee mulligan #dnd #fairytale #now to go work on my list of greek/latin root words used in names in trw #it aint much but its honest work

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