Fun, potentially devastating idea for a ratld fic.
What if when they were turned to stone and brought back, it caused them to lose their memories?!
Imagine not everyone in the RATLD crew was turned to stone. What if only Raya and Namaari had escaped being turned to stone? How would they handle the world that returns? How would Raya handle the pain of looking into her Father’s eyes and realizing he doesn’t even know who she is or who he is.
OR- what if it was only Namaari who hadn’t been turned to stone out of most of the land, then was dealt with the choice of being honest with Raya about EVERYTHING or taking the opportunity to flip the script and keep her innocence in all of this?
Bonus- yet terrifying idea- Namaari keeps the truth from her about how Sisu’s gem broke, wanting peace for her sins. She skips the details about Fang’s part in it- weaving a tale about how it was everyone’s collective fault- and how they had become friends despite the hostility between the various lands. Basically the betrayal and the last six years erased the more people she’s told- until it’s just a bad thought in the back of her head.
Still- It’s her biggest lie and she feels guilt by it. only in time does she accept that she’s made her choice and it was too late to turn back.
Raya and her are married, the nations all aligned and good- Kumandra is formed and better than ever. Everyone is happy
Then, just like that, everyone remembers the real story- everyone’s memories returning all at once.
I really love that Raya and Sisu's arcs come to a neat intersection, once 1. Sisu can reconnect with the magic of her eldest sibling who she looks up to the most, feeling Pengu's presence
and 2. we finally see Raya visiting her father (it is unknown if this is the first time she has returned here since the trauma of being separated from him), who is obviously still under the Druun sleep spell.
Whatever Benja means to his daughter, is what Pengu must be to his younger sister.
All this happens after the duo has won Tong's trust (leaving only Namaari, their most skeptical adversary in Fang, to convince in order to rebuild the Dragon Gem).
The group regaining more of the gem pieces and recruiting their new comrades, forging new connections, is the opposite of more and more people in the world falling under the stone sleep spell. One current runs against the flow of the other as the plot gets closer to the final confrontation.
Like..apparently most people who resonated with this movie when it was released could do so because the world was going through collective grief thanks to Covid. But I hardly resonated with that, being fine with much alone time at home during those months. That's why during my first viewing it was more "Aww, that's poignant. Cool symbolism".
My thoughts are too incoherent for a longer neater meta right now but the film hits me differently now because I see the stone statues as representing proper graves.
did you notice that the moment Raya drags Namaari after their meal and sisu's pendant gift it's daytime. however there is an ellipsis because when we see the two girls again at the temple it is indeed dark when the fireworks are fired it is dark and we also see the soldiers arriving with torches. Moreover Benja arrives quite quickly when he sees the soldiers arrived towards the gold temple for that he certainly needs first to go get his sword even if Benja knows this area very well and that one of fang may have to be late to find Namaari who had to discreetly allow them to give them the way the way to get to and therefore to the stone. it is unlikely that the two girls took a whole afternoon to get to the temple and the stone, especially since Raya knows the passage, which proves that there is indeed an ellipse. so what have Raya and Namaari been doing all this time
I dont know why I never posted this... I drew it so long ago, but alas... here i am today to bring to your day a lil drawing of dancing Raya.
If the feet are off... I swear I tried my best 😪
Reference:
Also this is a reminder to all of those of you who would think that for six years, she's been away from her world so she won't know how to dance... people, she's the princess of Heart—the most festive of all the lands. I mean look at her and Benja! She's so happy dancing! She dances etherally... Namaari is a different story. I'll touch on that headcannon in a different post.
PS: Namaari definitely was watching her with dreamy eyes and the softest smile imaginable in that scene... slowly falling deeper.
Namaari feeling so guilty about the whole thing that happened, would probably spend the most time at Heart helping rebuilding and fixing as much as she can.
But then she would also feel guilty for abandoning her own people, and well she would just go on a guilt trip for a while.
And what i want is for Benja to offer some consolation, because even if he knows Namaari has to forgive herself, he is also aware that he can help her in some way.