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WOAH THIS IS SO PEAK

How are we feeling ever after high nation

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Heathers artists, please, I am begging you to start uploading your art to Pinterest. We are in a drought. The Heathers fanart there has not been updated since like 2018.

This is a cry for help

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Being fan of Darling AND Daring can be difficult because they're like my babies okay? They're siblings, siblings fight that's okay.

But Daring is not a bad person, please I'm sure he isn't a bad person. And maybe it's the problem I have with some fanfics and maybe that's why I haven't read a fanfic that looks great but one tag says "Daring is not a good person" or something like that and I lost my desire. He isn't bad :(, as an older sister, I myself think that he does love his siblings a lot.

Fighting with your siblings or things like that doesn't always mean you don't love them, I would give my life for my little brother but I still don't want him to grab my charger for his tablet.

And I think in the context of Ever After High a lot of things are the fault of King Charming and Queen Charming's upbringing they gave to their children. Because they raised Daring to believe he was the best and that he could only be the best, while Dexter had to be second best and Darling a helpless princess and that's it.

So it isn't my boy fault, It's like people who defend Apple because she's not bad, it's just that Snow White raised her that way.

So I think the same about the Charming siblings, because who's to say that maybe Daring wanted to have other tastes that his dad wouldn't approve of, and maybe he just did what his dad said because what else was he supposed to do?

King Charming literally molded his children into what he wanted them to be, in a mold. At some point, Darling and maybe Dexter didn't like being in that mold because it wasn't them because maybe they did have other tastes and maybe their parents didn't pay as much attention to them and they could have their own tastes. But maybe the only thing Daring has is that mold, Daring feels that he is that mold because it is everything his father has told him.

And , but as I said before, if Apple can be a lesbian and break out of that mold that she thought defined her, why can't Daring do the same? I think I've said it before but it would be really cool if they had left it as if Daring didn't a destiny meaning that he could have his breakdown and everything and be free from that mold that his father forced him to be.

And I'm saying a lot about that character that I also said I hated but that I realized that all my hatred was unjustified.

But as I said, many of the things that made Apple be and will change and break its mold and blah could also have been had by Daring because it is assumed that both were from the same story and that possibly they were friends but maybe just friends because they spent time together for a long time to prepare to be married and have their happily ever after. Which it seemed like they both wanted because it was the only thing he had apart from bad parents and although in Daring's case he has the twins, his siblings.

And maybe the three siblings were in need of love, but Darling and Dexter were looking for something more genuine and that's why they had few friends and maybe Daring lived on people's approval and that's why he liked to be surrounded by people and that they love him even if it's not real.

And maybe instead of Epic Winter, it would have been cool to see Apple and Darling accept their new destiny, Daring having eight hundred breakdowns because he was only popular for being a Charming, and for supposedly being Apple's prince charming but since he is not, he was no longer as popular or almost not popular at all and that together with what his father would say when he found out would ruin him.

It would also have been nice to see Darling chatting with Daring after she "stole" his destiny that Daring may not have really wanted but was all he had. Dexter could be there to comfort both of his siblings.

And I feel like I haven't done a post this long in a long time but that fanfic I read that didn't feel like Daring to me upset me a little, IT ISN'T HIS FAULT OKAY???? :(((( It's King Charming's fault, I hate him.

And who says no, maybe Daring secretly taught Dexter and Darling how to fight with swords much better and self-defense and those things that they taught him that they didn't teach Darling.

Could this be considered character analysis? Possibly yes.

So yeah, that's for today. Thanks for hearing me or in this case reading what I wrote. The only characters I hate is Snow White (ever after high obviously the Snow White from the Disney movie is my absolute favorite), King Charming and Headmaster Grimm obviously. Yeah

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Why the Charming Siblings are my Favorite

Guys, I am so in love with the sibling relationship between Daring, Dexter, and Darling. Darling and Dex in particular are very very close to my heart because they remind me SO strongly of my brother J-Dog and myself.

But even outside that resemblance, the three of them mean the world to me and are my favorite part of Ever After High. I daresay it is the most interesting relationship in the series. More than Briar and Apple, more than Duchess and Lizzie, more than Raven and her mother.

Blasphemy I know, but it's the truth. Their story is heartwarming and full of love and also rife with tragedy and I think it's HIGH time I rambled about them in detail. And I do mean rambling. Even more than usual, this is just me getting stupidly emotional about fiction and is not terribly coherent.

The Tragedy of Daring

First off, we need to talk about how tragic it is that Daring isn't close with the twins. Like at all.

It's very clear that to them, Daring is the epitome of the institution. He is everything Dexter is supposed to be and everything Darling WANTS to be and neither of them will ever be allowed to live up to him because he is the firstborn, he is the golden boy, he is the *favorite child.* His very presence in a room, his very existence, puts ungodly amounts of pressure on Darling and Dexter to conform, to shut up and do what you're told, to be perfect, to be a Charming.

Because Daring, at least on the exterior, is the perfect Charming. He can effortlessly fight dragons and rescue princesses and joust and swordfight and climb and woo girls and generally be distilled Happily Ever After. And he enjoys doing it. He is allowed to do and is praised for activities he enjoys. And all those factors means he's the favorite. He is the standard to which everybody else is compared, especially Dexter who both cannot live up to it and who is literally not allowed to escape Daring's shadow. He has the perfect life that both his siblings want. He has the approval and love of their father and their mother in a way Darling and Dexter have never gotten, especially not when they're being authentically themselves.

Now this isn't good for Daring either. Being under that much pressure and having the resentment of everyone else for being so perfect obviously fucks a person up, and Daring is no exception. But it does create a noticeable schism between the kids: Daring, who does what he's told, and Darling and Dexter who do not.

It means that the twins cannot trust their older brother. In their minds, Daring IS the institution. Dexter cannot trust him to value his skills and interests, and Darling cannot trust him to keep her secrets. And while they clearly love him, they are stiff and awkward with him because of the gaping chasm between their lived experiences and the fact that they don't believe they can be their true selves around him.

And this is SO TRAGIC! Because they are WRONG! We can see that Daring *doesn't fucking care.* Yes, he is brainwashed. When a huge rebellious activity like Raven ripping out her page in the Storybook of Legends happens, he is plenty bitter towards her and thinks she's dangerous. Y'know what Daring doesn't give a shit about though? Whatever folks are doing before their story. He can date Lizzie! No harm no foul! He and Apple aren't an official couple and don't want to be! He's perfectly polite and normal to most of the people who start rebelling against their story, especially if it's something small or temporary.

And whenever Darling or Dexter shows some more of their real selves, he is fully on board! Darling swings out of a carriage off him like he's monkey bars and he just laughs and takes it in stride! Whenever Dexter accomplishes something cool, Daring is the first to sing his praises! He loves his siblings so much, just as they are! He doesn't even know the real them, but you know he would be whole-heartedly accepting of them if he did! But Darling and Dexter don't know that.

These three are the perfect examples of how favoritism in children destroys a household. Darling and Dexter, united against the expectations their parents had against them, formed an unbreakable bond and became a team while Daring became the opposition. Not exactly the thing they had to protect each other from (their parents), but certainly not an ally. When Darling and Dexter are at their closest, both in childhood and in high school, it's when they are united in their rebellion. And that's something that Daring never gets to properly engage in during the series. Which means, despite how important they are to him and how much affection he has for them, he is locked out of the most important parts of their personality.

Daring is at fault here some too. He is dense. He doesn't think to ask his siblings how they're feeling. He doesn't notice them chafing under the rules, he doesn't seek to protect them from their parents the way the protect each other, and he is very much a bystander while they suffer the abuse of society. But it hurts so much because he would absolutely be willing to overcome that and to grow and change as a person if he just knew he needed to. If they would just let him in.

THIS KIND OF TRAGEDY IS FUCKING PEAK YA'LL!!! Oh to be a Charming sibling! Oh to be Daring Charming! Oh to be the kind of person who would love them wholly and fully come hell or high water and for them to not know that and to not confide in you to the point that you don't even know who they are and that you don't even know what you're missing! It makes me SO saaaadddd ya'll, in the best way!

The Dark Side of Darling's Secrets:

Darling is an extremely private person as a SURVIVAL mechanism. She has been locked in a tower "for her own safety" before and she is still in the care of her jailers and knows they wouldn't hesitate to do it again. If her secret has even the smallest chance of getting to her parents, Darling's life is over. And not just in the teenage drama way, in the "I will be removed from all the people I care about, forbidden from doing everything that makes me happy and healthy, and forced to live like an insane asylum patient," way.

Darling is probably the most "under surveillance" sibling, and during A Semi-Charming Kind of Life, you can see that she is paranoid ALL the time. And rightfully so! Darling does not trust a singular soul with her secrets because it puts not her physical well-being but her mental well-being in serious danger. Even with Maid Marian, she gets discovered, she doesn't tell her, and she still withholds a lot of her opinions and personal life from Maid Marian. With a singular exception: Dexter.

Now, it should be noticed that this isn't exactly by choice. The reason Dexter is privy to all of Darling's childhood secrets is because he was present during all the inciting incidents and because he is necessary to facilitate her rebellion. Dexter has to suffer the constant scorn and disappointment of their parents, since he doesn't have the capability to measure up the way Daring and Darling do. But in exchange, he has a lot more freedom of movement than either of them, because he has so few positive expectations. He is canonically the one who smuggles Darling all her banned books, and I extend that to most of her other activities. I'm sure Dexter was covering for her whenever she snuck out and helping her clean up whenever she needed and loaning her whatever items she may have needed.

And in exchange, she absolutely made excuses for him and did her best to make him look good and slowed down time for him with her freaky hair flip powers whenever she needed. And they of course are always still one another's shoulders to cry on when the world becomes too much. But it's notable that Dexter is not privvy to Darling's activities by the time they get to Ever After High. As soon as she gets the opportunity to freeze him out, to keep all her secrets completely guarded and unknown to anyone but her, she takes it.

They are still a special team. They are still best friends. They still confide in each other and care about each other and "rescue" each other when they need it. But there's a major shift in their dynamic, as Dexter assumes Darling has embraced the royal life and Darling now has to keep secrets from her closest friend too. It's not good! It alienates them both! Dexter thinks he's alone in his rebellion and Darling can no longer be her true self *ever.* But this survival mechanism is so deeply ingrained in Darling that she can't bring herself to trust anybody, not even her twin.

And I think there's an aspect of jealousy here too. Darling doesn't quite think Dexter would get it. It's back to that freedom of movement thing I was talking about. Dexter was always ALLOWED to try all the things Darling wanted, and was praised for what he did accomplish, even if it was always with the undertone of "do better next time." And when he is rebellious, he suffers social disgrace, but he's still allowed to do it. He does not get locked in a tower and is not physically separated from his hobbies like his tech or his books. He is allowed to exist as he is, even if he is ostracized and put down for it. He is not forced to stop the way Darling is, because he can escape notice. Darling absolutely covets the low expectations people have for him, and I think that subconscious bitterness also contributed to her drifting away from him.

Even by the end of a Semi Charming Kind of Life, she's still not telling him everything. Not telling him about her plans for fixing the competition or why Sir Gallopad is so trustworthy (or even that he IS in fact Sir Gallopad). It's a character flaw, which is something a lot of people fail to realize. I feel like Darling tends to get seen as perfect, as someone who would be the best friend and the best girlfriend because she is so confident and capable and understanding. But people fail to ask themselves WHY Darling is so isolated.

Her inability to trust even her brother, who has proved himself beyond comprehension and who she KNOWS on an instinctual level would never betray her, is something that I think she needs to overcome. It would absolutely translate to all her other relationships. She just does not tell people things and, as we see with Dexter, that seriously hurts, even when she does it from a place of love and is trying to protect them.

Dexter's Inferiority and Compassion:

Dexter is one of those characters that amazes me in every way. Because he probably has the worst lot of the three Charming kids. He is constantly being told he isn't good enough, being compared to his brother and the rest of his family, being screwed over by the universe itself with stuff like his glasses and his cowlick, and in general just getting kicked when he's down. His interests and intelligence are seen as unimportant and a waste of time even though they save the day more frequently than traditional heroics.

At the same time, he actually IS extremely good at a lot of the stuff he's "supposed" to be good at and even enjoys it! He's competent in swordfighting and jousting and climbing and playing basketball, and uses his impressive brain to assist him in stuff like building catapults. But he never gets the recognition he's earned because the standard is Daring, who effortlessly outclasses him in every way. I think it's notable that when you put him up against literally any other prince, Dexter is the gold standard and outpaces them by a mile. But it's not about Dexter is it? Nobody cares about him when his brother is there.

And if all that weren't enough, his father's favoritism towards his brother also involves ACTIVELY keeping Dexter down! If Dexter ever DOES begin to surpass Daring, then he is forced to throw the competition. By threat of his father's authority, he is not allowed to meet the expectations that everybody puts on him.

Is all that fucked up or what?

All of this gives an extreme blow to Dexter's self-esteem. Of course it does. He's been told his whole life that he doesn't measure up, even when he obviously does, so he's resigned himself to never measuring up. He's got a massive amount of resentment towards his siblings, who aren't put in this insane catch 22 he is, and are actually allowed success. Even when he loves them and understands that it's not their fault---Darling doesn't even want it, and Daring isn't really aware of what's happening. He's understandably pretty morose about all this. Like all the time. Dexter's chapter in OUAT is honestly extremely depressing. And with Darling, he at least gets some moments to explode at her for fucking with his life (not so much for Daring, but that's because the writers are allergic to letting his relationship with his siblings develop).

But the amazing part is that Dexter DOES NOT let this keep him down! Yeah he's severely depressed and has major self-worth issues, but he still keeps going and keeps taking joy in what he can. He's got a massive crush on Raven Queen. He enjoys tussling with his brother and running the MirrorCast and playing video games. He's kind and fair towards just about everybody and uses his advantageous position in life to help people. Whether it's as simple as getting Darling a book she's not supposed to have or as big as supporting Raven and the other Rebels on legacy day when she rips out her page.

And this all becomes relevant when public sentiment starts to shift towards the rebels. Because now, Dexter becomes the example, the one to look up to. Daring is the gold standard for the royals, for what Happily Ever After is supposed to be, for what following a destiny is supposed to look like. He's the standard that the institution is holding them to. But Dexter is the poster child for how someone who's a royal can make the world a better place by helping the rebel cause. And I personally feel that Darling and Daring start looking to him as the story continues. He's got a *touch* for interacting with commoners that the platonic ideals of Charmings just don't have. For once, it's Dexter who's in the lead, and that warms my heart. He deserves to be recognized as the hero he is.

Overarching Thoughts and Themes:

To close out, I thought we'd look at some of the biggest overarching things I notice in their relationship.

When you look at all the siblings, I find it interesting that everything is a scale with them, usually in the form of the boys being on opposite ends and Darling falling somewhere in the middle. Daring is the most perfect, Darling is in the middle, Dexter is the least. The royal to rebel scale, the scale in their confidence, the favored by their parents scale---it's all the same. Darling is kind of the bridge between her two brothers, as she's lived in both their worlds.

The love is there, but the communication is not, and it's what makes their relationship tragic. They take immense pride in each other, are very protective of one another, and are willing to go above and beyond to keep each other safe. But because they don't talk, don't confide in each other the way they probably should, don't share their biggest secrets, and don't sort out their emotions, they frequently end out being unable to provide that help.

They are all prone to making assumptions about each other, and it exacerbates the problem. Dexter easily assumes Darling has given up her rebellious childhood ways. Darling and Daring forget that Dexter is a capable athlete too. Daring assumes both his siblings are fine and doesn't notice their suffering. They've been together their whole lives, so they sometimes forget that they've still had extremely different experiences and aren't always the person the others expect.

I think this all shows the clear ground for exploring what their relationship looks like in the future: Daring needs to learn to get his head out of his ass and actually learn who his siblings are, Darling needs to work on being less secretive and trusting her brothers, and Dexter needs to work on taking the lead for once and adapting to being the one his siblings look to. And all of them obviously have to fight the final boss of their parents being terrible.

So yeah, that's my pitch. I genuinely think the Charmings are some of the most interesting and best relationships in the whole franchise. Anytime they are interacting with each other, it absolutely steals the show because there's so much going on there. But it's also criminally underexplored in the fandom because it's not a ship, so I just wanted to say my piece and share why they matter so much to me. Hopefully my propaganda is successful in either getting someone to write fanfic focused on them or at least getting someone in the room talk to me about it.

Charming Sibling Superiority. Abby out.

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gonna tell my kids this was the ressurection of jesus