#darling charming headcanons

[internetgiraffekid1673]

Darling Charming and Hair

So @eahcomforttrash brought up in discord that Darling deserves a moment to chop all her hair off as a rejection of her Charming powers, and that thought seized me so hard that I decided to draw her hair journey instead of working on my other projects!

For those who haven't read the books---first off, go do that, @/athena-xox has them all digitally for free on her pinned post---second off, there are a lot of characters that have freaky magic abilities that never come up in the show, including the Charmings. Daring has his physically blinding smile (which is in the show), but Dexter can make girls swoon and faint with his gorgeous eyes (this isn't brought up often because his glasses null the effect), and Darling can slow down time for a few seconds by flicking her hair.

(This also sorta turned into a clothes journey lol).

So! Let's get into it shall we? In depth analysis under the cut, cuz it's gonna get long!

Top Left, Pre Way Too Wonderland Reveal:

I actually really love Darling's hair pouf. It's so impractical and extra and reminiscent of actual European royal's hairstyles, which is PERFECT for someone who is desperately attempting to cover her rebellious activities and dressing extra royal. Darling (in the books) explicitly puts a LOT of time into making her hair be the perfect princess-y style her mother taught her to do, so I think the pouf is very in line.

I am less a fan of the canon colors. In the books, her hair is described as platinum blonde, which is great! But I really really dislike the blue and white combo from the show because I just don't think her parents would LET her use hair dye. How scandalous! How newfangled! How non-traditional! How. . .rebellious. Darling is trying to convince them she's NOT being a rebel, and I don't think she'd be gutsy enough to ask for forgiveness OR permission on this one.

Unnaturally colored hair is actually very important to me in EAH. The only other royals who have dyed hair are Briar (dissatisfied with her destiny, behaves contrary to social norms, will later sympathize with the rebels), Duchess (has her whole thing about not really fitting with the royals and ALSO being dissatisfied with her destiny), Lizzie (from Wonderland and thus has a very different perspective on the whole thing, and also possibly has the red naturally), and Rosabella (who had bad writing all around and didn't exist until quite late in the series, but who I like to think of as more of a Royal in name only).

So giving Darling an unnatural hair color is a good thematic indicator to people who haven't read the books that Darling is actually a rebel (along with her metallic accent being silver like the rebels instead of gold like the royals), but it doesn't make sense diagetically (unless she's washing it out and re-dyeing it every day, and who's got that kind of time). So I tend to draw it without the dye before Way Too Wonderland.

Similarly, the books also describe Darling putting a lot of care into her outfits and makeup to look not just princessy but also TRADITIONAL. She's not willing to do anything risky, even something as small as lipstick instead of a perfect tiny touch of gloss. I think she'd definitely wear the MOST makeup during this period.

I LOVE that the show has her outfit resemble armor, but I do think it's a little too obvious (she's wearing entire PAULDRONS, I think someone's gonna notice). It doesn't show super well from just the bust, but I compromise by SHAPING her outfit identitically to a suit of armor (hence the lace collar area). I also never draw her in anything form-fitting during this time, because she's super buff and doesn't wanna be showing that off.

I also think that Darling and the color pink are important, but I'll save that for another section.

Top Right, Sometime around Dragon Games

I think after her big reveal in Way Too Wonderland, Darling would do a hard turn into being ALL rebel, ALL knightly, no princess ANYTHING allowed AT ALL.

Importantly, I don't think this is who she really is authentically. She is a mix of a princess and a knight and also just herself. But after being forced into SUCH a traditional look for SUCH a long time, I think she'd feel very sick of it all and just jump off in the opposite direction.

This would very importantly include cutting off her hair, and with it, her powers to slow time in a pinch. Darling is really annoyed that she has these powers, but she makes VERY good use of them in the books, including one instance where she literally saves Maddie from banishment. So I think, in her fit of passionately rejecting her destiny, her family, and her role as a princess, she'd cut her hair and dye it all the way. And then she'd slowly start to realize she misses having both her time powers and also just long hair.

During this period, I also don't think she'd wear ANY makeup ever, would wear her armor casually a lot more (partially because she can now, partially to flex what she can manage in full plate, and partially because donning and doffing armor takes a while and she's not that fast at it yet). Her casual outfits would likely be very plain, and extremely masculine.

I think it would take a little bit of being like this before she starts to have some realizations along the lines of "oh wait, I actually DO like these feminine things, just not these ones. Or wait, maybe I did like that, just not the traditional version of it I was forced to do." In my perfect world, this is how she would spend ALL of Dragon Games, and I think the events of that special would give her some time to think about what she actually wants in her personal style now that she has freedom to choose.

Bottom Left, Post Dragon Games, possibly next school year:

This is kind of Darling's fully evolved form to me. I think, at this point, she's spent her time looking like a perfect traditional princess and she's spent her time doing the complete 180 from that, and she's now realized that the place for her is actually somewhere in the middle.

I think she'd grow her hair out longer, but not as long as it used to be. Enough that it can be pulled into a sensible ponytail, occasionallg styled, and flipped for usage of her time powers once again, but not much longer than that. I also think she'd finally reach her colors in the show, putting in blue streaks, but keeping some of her Charming blonde present.

Weirdly enough, I also think this is when her clothing would be closest to the show, with some armor like elements (the casual-wear pauldrons and the. . .battle corset? Thing?), but also lots of casual ones. I think she'd swap fairly frequently between skirts and pants, and would wear some makeup, but it would be less than she used to, and probably more adventurous in color and style when she does.

I also gave her a scarf like her brother Dexter, because I think it's cute <3

Bottom Right, Nightgown/Unstyled pre Way Too Wonderland

This is kinda how I headcanon Darling looking before the reveal, but without styling herself to look extra traditional. This was mostly so I could get a feel for the shape, color, and texture of her hair when it isn't pulled into that pouf, but now is also a good time to talk about the pink.

So, in the books, Darling strongly associates the color pink with a series of really boring classic "princess gets rescued" fairy tales that she was forced to read instead of the adventure type novels she was after. She thinks of the color as a signal for the traditional values she hates. So in her earlier outfits, while blue is still her main color (she is a charming after all), I think she incorporates EVEN more pink than in canon. All accessories, all makeup, all extra layers are gonna be pink (hence the pink sash in her nightgown here).

During her time completely shunning her heritage, she wouldn't wear any pink at all ever. All blues all the time. But Darling is still a Charming princess. She was still born into a royal family with a lot of influence and privilege. She still has Charming magic powers. Her heritage doesn't HAVE to be a marker of oppression. She can take it and use it as a tool for good.

This ties in to my greater agenda about wanting Dexter to have to teach his siblings how to interact with commoners and how to use their privilege to help other people rebel, but I think that during that arc, Darling would slowly reclaim pink as a part of her color pallette. Yeah, it's the princess color, and she's a princess. But that doesn't mean she HAS to be helpless. She's still wearing armor and rescuing folks herself. It IS another tool in her arsenal.

Being a princess means being very persuasive and good at convincing people to listen to you. It means having a lot of money, which never hurts when you're using it to fund a cause. It means having easy access to authority figures and being able to get your ideas to the right people. When you're trying to make BIG change, you need every resource you can get, and there's something very poetic about using the same ones that once imprisoned you to help free so many others.

Anyways, those are my intricate headcanons on Darling's appearance, and there will hopefully be a follow up with the full versions of her outfits!

[doll-pparts]

more darling stuff cause i love her SO much (part of why i love her sm is she parallels eowyn istg)

i think darling was always unsure about her destiny. she knew she was supposed to be a princess, but that's sort of all she knew. there's not really a "princess charming," after all. as such, she felt kinda out of place in her family.

i think this is also why she gets along with dexter the best (aside from them being twins). dexter was unsure about his destiny cause he liked Raven (i wish he liked cupid </3 PLSSS I LOVE THEM. DIES.) and also cause hes not all big and strong and brave like Daring is. so darling and dexter would bond over that! then after the darling and apple kiss daring would be unsure of his destiny and theyd bond with him too, though i think daring would be a little scared and confused and angry (a bit) cause everything he thought he knew was flipped right on its head.

and for some reason i feel like her brothers would be really protective over her. she def got fawned over by guys a lot.. and yk how daring is to girls before the bookball game with cerise. and shes important to them! shes the youngest and the only girl, so they feel like they have to protect her. which she finds funny because she KNOWS she doesnt need protecting but she lets them go for it anyway cause its not like she likes guys either way

MORE DARLING STUFF!! AND DEXTER STUFF!!!!!!! YAYYYYY

dexter likes cupid in my heart. honestly i dont think he actually LIKES raven he just likes somebody that he knows is going to be able to protect him because he feels weak </3. YOURE SO RIGHT. daring was so SURE that he was apple's prince charming, it doesnt make sense for him to not be angry.

if you read the book thats centered around her, i dont know if i ever finished it, dexter and daring are both VERY protective over her. which i adore, dexter cares so much about darling.

also!! headcanon for a headcanon! i think darling's voice is fake. it feels forced, and i think it's fake because she wants to appear more princessy.

[fr4nkie0stein]

Darling Charming masterlist

Fics:

None yet <3

Headcanons:

None yet <3

××

[y00v1]

3/6 for my AU story 😇😇😇

(Spoiler: it will be about Charming and Apple, also Kitty and Lizzie in background.)

[shrimparts-blog888]

Darling carrying Apple in her arms like a princess... or if that's been done, vice versa lol

I want what they have 😭

[champion-of-love]

eah texting hcs

the charming siblings have a groupchat ofc and dexter is the admin

their gc photo is a blurry picture of their dad midsneeze and they got it from a stock photo website. their dad has tried to sue the photographer's company but lost the suit and it's the trios' favorite photo.

the gc is mostly them sending memes to each other, accusing each other of taking their stuff, or passing messages from their parents to the intended sibling (the charming castle being so massive and all)

their gc names were just their names at first til one day dex got so pissed at daring that he changes his brother's nickname to 'demanding' charming

darling laughed so hard she saw stars and made her twin promise to never change it back

darling's nickname is 'dueling' charming

dexter's nickname is 'dismaying' charming

(he picked it out himself, and daring and darling shared a concerned looked at the other when he did.)

the wonderlandians also have a groupchat. lizzie, maddie and kitty and eventually alistair and bunny

to match all their names, alistair happily changed his nickname to 'allie' and lizzie gave the loudest snort at it

their entire chat is in riddlish and other wonderlandian dialects and theyre happy they get to practice their native tongues even if they're away from home

maddie's messages are sometimes so nonsensical (so wonderlandian) that the kookiness can sometimes short out their mirrorphones

cue to kitty dropping by lizzie and bunny's rooms warning them to not open the groupchat for a while so they don't short out their phones

kitty never warns alistair though, because she thinks it's funny.

alistair just opens that chat with no suspicion and gets flash-banged by maddie's texts and has to spend the rest of the day with no phone, a little hearing loss and dark spots in his vision.

the pink squad also have a groupchat. cupid, briar and hopper, my beloveds.

briar is the admin and the groupchat moves at the speed of light

cupid and briar text rapidfire and send gossip, memes, selfies, screenshots and etc and react as fast to each others' messages as well

hopper wakes up to a massive backread that he has to spend half an hour in the morning catching up or he won't understand what they'll be talking about in lunch

they use that chat to plan events they want to go to and to send photos that they took during the event itself

their gc pic is a group photo of all of them posing pretty cool in front of a mirror during true hearts day (their first party)

they manage to get humphrey to encode some special features into their chat so that:

(a) briar's phone can send a message if she falls asleep alone somewhere to broadcast her location so any one of them can go to her

(b) hopper's phone can also send his location if he becomes a frog and there's no one to turn him back

(c) cupid's phone also sends her location. not because she physically needs help, but because she gets lonely (being further away from home than all of them).

briar and hopper always take this seriously and arrive with hot chocolate, cupcakes and hugs.

anyways this series has been dead for years now but thinking about these kids always gives me the feels and i had to talk about them

[clownsuu]

HOW TALL ARE MOB??!?}!?!1!2!1!2?

All of the mobsters are their canon/original heights 😔🥄

[arrestedexgirlfriendafterhigh]

Not that Darling isnt an LGBT herself, just-

*muffled blabber*

[vivi-designs]

EAH GIRLS X CHARLIE XCX APPLE BRATTT

Snow White and apple

Queen charming and Darling Charming

Evil queen and raven

It was a lot of fun drawing darling in traditional Korean hanbok, and apple in more fancier wear

It was also fun drawing the expressions, snow is persuading sympathetically, Queen charming is a bit more hopeful and blank, ignoring what darling wants, EQ is a disappointed that she herself is continued the cycle, knowing that it’s inevitable and raven will face the same fate no matter how much she resists just like she had.

Apple is desperate for approval, darling is upset at the disingenuousness of her reflection, and raven is defiant

[paystery]

in the books duchess hates raven because duchess has resolved to die as that’s whats told. she think that raven rebelling is incredibly selfish because she’s putting everyone at risk to get her own happily ever after, which duchess accepted she would never get at a very young age. i really liked watching them interact, they parallel one another in a way the tv show doesn’t cover. there are a lot of internal dynamics between the rebels/commoners/royals revealed in this story that the web series keeps out.

she never tried to steal the happy endings in ever after high either. she almost steals raven’s because she doesn’t know how terrible it really is(and grimm tricks her into it, of course) but she ends up not because she hurt her friends in the process and deep down she’s too kind to cause lasting harm on others because she’s actually very sweet just under a lot of pressure and stressed out because she is going to die in five ish years

her story gives a really good insight to how the characters interact with one another and she’s very interesting. i hate how the tv show portrayed her.

also her and lizzie are best friends and it’s really cute and there’s a lot of daring pining for lizzie but she dgaf about him

[ever-after-high-alistair]

Sleepover Headcanons

-apple is the one to host and give the best snacks

-ashlynn would be the responsible one that makes sure everyone goes to sleep on time and is as quiet as possible

-courtly takes pics of everyone as they sleep

-lizzie would force everyone to watch a horror movie and then snore all night keeping everyone up

-blondie insinuates a game of truth or dare for her gossip page

-kitty would plan to draw on faces but fall asleep first

-instead of drawing on faces briar would give everyone full glam makeovers while they're asleep

-maddie barely needs sleep for some reason

-raven would bring her speakers and snacks for everyone but never ends up giving it out cause shes scared no one would take them

-same with gingers baked goods but she and raven end up eating each others stuff

-holly and poppy spend the whole time gossiping and doing each others hair

-bunny brings her veggies and it traumatizes faybelle

-faybelle has the most fun and gets on a sugar high from the snacks

-rosabella spends the whole time journaling and ranting to darling about the latest issues going on

-darling listens and plans to sneak away while everyone is asleep besides maddie

-cerise knows everyone's business and no one knows how

-duchess would start a pillow fight for no reason other than she was annoyed about something

-cupid gives everyone advise while trying to keep her mind of dexter

-cedar braces herself for truth or dare and talks in her sleep

[fleurheartt]

ever after high hcs and redesigns are so funny when you look back at the original designs because these are masc lesbians to me. these are butches. dykes if you will.

[doll-pparts]

random hc i just thought of.

darling charming used to have a comphet crush on chase redford before she realized she was in lesbians with apple... she actually just admired his skill as a knight and rival and wanted to be friends with him.

also i think she likes wonderland more than ever after. she likes the adventure of it and she likes being able to be the White Knight, where there aren't all the princess-y expectations and destiny stuff put upon her.

COMPHET ON CHASE IS SO REAL (<- lesbian who would go bi for him).

mickie youre so right. as always. lets get married.

[avianator]

So... I rewatched Ever After High with my friends

And I suddenly thought "Hey what if Cerise and Darling started bonding about shared secrets" and noticed how they hung out during Dragon Games

So now I'm obsessing over them and my friends and I came up with the ship name Knighthood for them

[y00v1]

Explanation!!! In my AU Apple White falling in love with White Knight (especially in the image of a noble prince on a white horse), after being awakened by Darling's kiss (she doesn't know who kissed her). Meanwhile, Darling does not reveal her identity as the White Knight and continues to act as a hero in a mask. After his(her) heroics in Wonderland and EAH, he(she) becomes quite popular among the people (girls😊😊😊). And yeah I made Chase gay 💋💋💋 he is Darling's friend, but fall in love with White Knight.

Tags??: gender intrigue, romantic (GRRAAAA LESBIAAAAANNNNS), friends since childhood, from friends to lovers, death of main characters, resurrection, postcanon.

[champion-of-love]

spellify wrapped 2024 in ever after high headcanons

apple having an identity crisis because chappell throne dethroned one reflection from her number one spot and she usually puts her wrapped on her story and she's panicking because what if her followers thinks something different about her and *cue gay panic*. darling also has chappell as her top artist but she just posts it without caring what others think and apple stares for hours at darling's story.

raven isn't surprised her top artist is tailor quick and posts about it and goes about her day. dexter sees her story and also posts that his top artist is also tailor. he tries to bring this up when he sees her that day and tries to mention that he has some extra eras tour tickets and if she would like to come. unfortunately raven had plans that day but maddie overhears their conversation and volunteers to with dexter. dexter ends up going with maddie and while he wanted to go with raven, he still had a fun time.

hopper posts that his top artist is *NCHANT and cupid and briar roast him alive. he spends an hour fighting for his life defending his wrapped in their groupchat and it ends with him agreeing to listen to the playlists they send him. briar sends lady yaga mixes while cupid sends sabrina charming mixes. cupid and briar wonder how hopper got such bad taste in music when they don't hear nchant at any of the clubs they go to. hopper bites his tongue and doesn't mention that they sing and dance to nchant at bookball practice instead of practicing