#(Rhodopis if you want to look it up)

[marzipanandminutiae]

WAIT WAIT WAIT

YOU'RE TELLING ME

THE TITLE CARD FROM CINDERELLA (1950) EXPLICITLY SAYS IT'S BASED ON THE PERRAULT VERSION OF THE STORY???

WE COULD HAVE AVOIDED ALL THE SANCTIMONIOUS EDGELORDS SMARMING ABOUT HOW "well Disney toned it down; the One True Grimms' Original akschully has blood and no fairy and feet getting cut up, so there" IF THEY HAD JUST

BOTHERED TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE MOVIE AND THEN GOOGLE "PERRAULT CINDERELLA???"

excuse me I need to go scream into a pillow

(I'm not saying Ashenputtel isn't possibly older as a folktale than its 1812 publication date in the Grimms' book, but Perrault's version was published in the 1690s. so...)

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Ok so here's the fairy tale meta thing based off a lie that I was talking about.

In Dead Apple, there's a flashback scene at Bar Lupin where Dazai explains the concept of apple suicide to Oda, while a track called "Dear Prince" plays in the background. There's a brief mix-up where Oda confuses the story of Snow White for Cinderella - but when I first came up with this, I misremembered what he said (I mixed up... his mix-up...) and thought the line was about Sleeping Beauty.

And I'm so unreasonably annoyed by this because that would've made so much more contextual sense. Why? Because they both involve an awakening. Moreover, there's a few interesting details in the environment of the older tales (I will not be using the Disney versions as the Dead Apple motifs actually connect better with the originals and also because I have never actually seen them... embarrassingly enough) that translate quite nicely to aspects of Dazai's life and bonds.

Specifically, there are some loose parallels to be found with Odasaku and the story of Sleeping Beauty, and Chuuya and the story of Snow White. (Note that this is not intended to be shipping fuel or anything; interpret it however you like, I'm just drawing connections.)

And yeah, I know this is an entire half-baked meta formed around a line that doesn't even exist but please just give it a chance or at least humour me please please please please please

Alright let's get the Cinderella thing out of the way first since I want to at least address it.

Cinderella has its origins in the old Greek story of Rhodopis, which sets up the main aspects of the story we know now: a servant girl from a poor background ascends to royalty through marrying a prince, who searches for her after finding her missing shoe. This doesn't really bear any resemblance to the rest of the movie or any other ongoing themes... unless you want to suggest that maybe Dazai's jumping from one side to the other was something akin to a "shoe-test"; that he was looking for a perfect fit. I think that's quite a stretch though and it's likely this really was just a throwaway line meant to show us Oda's occasional uh... airheadedness. If anyone has any further thoughts on this, I'd love to hear them.

It's a shame, really, because the slip up could've been given more significance and also because as an analyst of sorts it is my sworn duty to pull meaning out of absolutely nothing so I guess I took another step further here and made up my own line to analyze in stupidly excessive detail.

The entire point of this was meant to show how both the stories of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White have a theme of awakening, and so do Dazai's bonds with both Odasaku and Chuuya - they both have a function of "waking him up" in a sense. However, the means of doing so manifest very differently.

So, let's talk about Sleeping Beauty.

Sleeping Beauty has its origins in an old Italian story called Sun, Moon and Talia, which has many of the elements we know today but was uh. A lot darker. And way more non-consensual. The version the more modern story takes its roots from is Perrault's version. Here are the important bits to this analysis: the princess pricks her finger on a spindle out of curiosity, the good fairy puts everyone in the castle to sleep along with her for 100 years so that she will not be alone when she wakes, the prince does not wake her with a kiss but instead she wakes just by his presence and they sit and talk for a long, long time.

So, on to my delusional parallels. Part one: the princess pricks her finger out of curiosity. See, for Dead Apple, we have to rethink this a bit because Dazai brings up the concept of apple suicide, not murder. Of course, this is a parallel to himself and his disregard for his own life, so here we can take it that he did not "prick his finger" out of mere curiosity, but also, likely out of a desire to "sleep".

It's hard for me not to draw a connection between the curiosity aspect of the finger prick and Dazai's curiosity to join the mafia, especially with the next part - where everyone falls asleep as well for the time the princess is asleep. Essentially, no one will age or die. For as long as the princess remains unconscious, the world will not change. And if the princess perhaps, wanted this, then we can infer what is likely a fear of being left. Maybe even a fear of living. Dazai joined the mafia because he was curious if it would have what he sought. Instead, he spent his days trapped in an "oxidizing dream" as he detached further and further both from his humanity and from others. The mafia is already a place where people don't talk to each other openly and we know Dazai was even more unknowable than that - if he doesn't care about himself or others, the dream goes on. He stays asleep, and if he doesn't care, then he doesn't lose anyone - no one truly "dies".

As for the last part, there isn't much to say. Dazai warms up to Odasaku because the man just talks to him. And likes talking to him. And doesn't tell him to stop when he's being really freaking weird. But notably, Odasaku doesn't do much at first to help Dazai "awaken". It's only when he's about to die in his fight against Gide that he realizes he regrets not saying something sooner. Odasaku only has one chance to wake Dazai before he dies and he does it by shattering that dream that he will find what he's looking for. Paradoxically, that hope Dazai held onto was what trapped him in that singular mindset. Oda dies shortly after and the illusion is broken. Dazai wakes up, his world kickstarts where it had previously been stagnant and Dazai greets the sun and tries to live.

See why I'm slightly annoyed this wasn't the line now?

But hey, while we're at it, let's also talk about Snow White because the Dead Apple movie was actually a lot more firm with its connections than I think people realize.

Firstly, I would love people to know that in the original Grimms' fairy tale, Snow White doesn't clean the dwarves' house but in fact burgles it, eating their food, drinking their wine and falling asleep in one of their beds after testing each one, and generally leaving the house in complete disarray. Yeah. Not related to my point at all, but this sounds an awful lot like something Dazai would do (but more out of mischief than naivete of course).

Here's the important part though: Did you know that the Queen attempted to have Snow White killed not just once, but three times? The first two times, the dwarves were the ones to save her and quite quickly - they made a deal after she broke into their house that she would fix it up for them and maintain it in exchange for her staying with them in safety. It's an agreement of sorts, but as they became fond of her, they try and save her life in earnest. The poisoned apple is actually the third attempt to kill her, where the Queen bites into the white, non-poisoned part of the apple and Snow White, thinking it safe, eats the red half and falls asleep.

Hey. Remember the colour of the pill Dazai took in Dead Apple?

Yeah, someone on that team knows the original fairy tale.

Interestingly (and this is where I got really excited), there are three different attempts to kill Snow White (or, if Dazai is to be believed, three different attempts at her own self-destruction) - and there are three different instances where Chuuya "wakes" Dazai, twice while they're partnered (when they have an "agreement", terms in a sense as partners), and once in Dead Apple.

The first is in Fifteen, the infamous scene where Dazai shoots the body and Chuuya snaps him out of it by wrenching the gun out of his hands. I'm honestly a bit too tired to go super into that scene right now but I'm doing a little bit on it later - all that needs to be acknowledged here is that Dazai was out of it and Chuuya forced him back to earth. The second occurs during the Dragon's Head Conflict when Dazai is completely insensitive to the death of a mafia executive and Chuuya decks him for it. The now-infamous line "no one would believe that" is often misinterpreted I think. Chuuya says this in response to Dazai's "I'm human, too, you know." He's not saying "you're not human", he's saying "you are human but no one would believe that with the kind of shit you're saying and doing". It's the same kind of sentiment in the first scene where Chuuya intervenes, I believe. And it is a form of waking, in that Chuuya snaps Dazai out of his more inhumane moments - he basically calls him out and forces him to reevaluate; the epitome of a rude awakening.

Now for the Dead Apple scene proper.

Firstly, let's establish something. They are no longer partners in the mafia. They are even on separate sides. The framing of this changes Chuuya's actions from working with Dazai with occasional call-outs to bring him back to earth, to saving him in what is quite literally a rescue.

In the original myth, again, there is no waking kiss. Instead, in this third time, everyone assumes Snow White is really dead, that she will not be coming back. The prince, who happens across her, insists she at least receive a proper burial. But when carrying her coffin, one of them trips and they stumble, which jostles the princess enough that the piece of apple stuck in her throat is dislodged and she coughs it up, reviving. Uh...

Yeah.

Anyways this got kind of messy at the end and idk if it even made sense this is really just unhinged rambling so...

Tldr, Odasaku and Chuuya both help "wake" Dazai even if their methods and personalities are very different, which is part of the reason why both bonds are very important. Neither are particularly gentle with him, but waking, especially if all you want to do is sleep, is not a gentle thing.

[ficretus]

Knightfall, another Cinderella story?

Well, this was inevitable to happen eventually. I am running out of Joan of Arc Knightfall theories, so might as well jump over to Cinderella theory. I even did Rhodopis theory before proper Cinderella one. Oh well, either way let's get to it.

CINDER ELLA:

Unless you are extremely daft, it should come as no surprise that Cinder's primary literary influence is Cinderella. If you didn't figure it out from her veryyy subtle name reference, her backstory from Volume 8 should be dead giveaway.

Although her backstory is extremely on the nose Cinderella story, I'll mostly avoid talking about it. Her backstory is basically Cinderella story with tragic ending, but it is also finished story. Cinderella doesn't get to the ball and ends up murdering everyone, the end. After the conclusion of her backstory, Cinder somehow ended up finding Salem and started a new Cinderella story.

Does this make any sense? I'd say yes, story getting repeated with different conclusion is not unheard of in RWBY. Take Ruby for example, her story is endlessly repeating Red Riding Hood story with different characters playing the role of Wolf (Beowulf from her backstory, Cinder, Hound, and probably Summer Rose later on).

Tragic conclusion of one story doesn't mean all others will be tragic as well. As seen with Ruby, she managed to fend off both Cinder and Hound, but was unable to save people "devoured" by them (in Hound's case I mean silver eyed Faunus inside of him, not Oscar). However, I find it very unlikely Ruby will always be unable to save people from Wolf, she will eventually be able to triumph. Nothing concrete, but I'd say failure in first Cinderella story doesn't mean Cinder will forever fail and have her story end up as tragedy.

____________________________________________________________

In this segment I wanted to focus on Cinder's current Cinderella story. While her backstory mostly takes elements from Grimm version of the story, current one is way more Perrault.

Roles of Evil Stepmother and Fairy Godmother are both filled by Salem. Stepmother is someone restraining Cinderella and keeping her under her thumb. Fairy Godmother on the other hand provides Cinderella with tools to fulfill her desires. Salem does both for Cinder: she gave her Grimm arm as a tool to absorb Maiden powers, but at the same time that Grimm arm serves as a leash and a way to punish Cinder. The fact Salem makes Cinder repeat the same mantra Madame did (character which is on the nose Stepmother reference) is another clear reference.

Emerald and Mercury play a role of creatures turned into Cinderella's servants. This is based on both their standings in society (one being street urchin, other being crippled orphan) and the way Cinder recruited them. Fairy Godmother sends Cinderella to find mice, rat and lizards so she can turn them into her servants just like Salem sends Cinder to find Marcus Black but she ends up recruiting Mercury instead. Cinder catches Emerald stealing and ends up recruiting her, just like Cinderella found a rat caught in a mouse trap. Emerald growing disillusioned with Cinder in episode called Midnight is also fitting considering Cinderella's servants turned back into the animals after the clock struck midnight.

____________________________________________________________

Role of stepsisters on the other hand doesn't seem that clear. Looking at Salem's faction, straightforward way would be to read Watts and Tyrian as stepsisters. Both of them heavily dislike Cinder and often mock her during their interactions. And while they are not biologically related to Salem, both of them are loyal minions that always obey her orders and follow her plans. Stark contrast to problem child Cinder who often disregards Salem's interests in favor of her own.

Reason I say it's not that clear is that they are not competition for Cinder's end goal of obtaining Maiden powers. That's why I see Pyrrha, Winter and Weiss as plausible stepsister candidates. While none of them have any connection to Salem, they are all competition in some way. Pyrrha and Winter were selected as Maiden vessels, making them not only clear obstacle to Cinder's goals, but also usurpers to what she perceives as her destiny (different to lets say Raven, who became Maiden before story even began and wasn't selected via Maiden machine).

Winter and Weiss make sense since they are siblings and also exist as a contrast to Cinder's childhood. Former were raised privileged as members of Atlas upper class, while Cinder was raised as a slave. From Cinder's perspective, they represent everything wrong with Atlas and everything she was denied as a child.

Weiss and Pyrrha only make sense in context of Jaune as Prince Charming (more on that later). If Weiss' attraction to Jaune is not just Volume 9 thing and persists further, then that groups Weiss and Pyrrha as characters that have crush on Jaune. This would make them competition to Cinder who consistently "dances" with Prince Jaune.

MANY DANCES OF FALL MAIDEN:

So Cinderella has been equipped with all the tools and followers to reach her goal, but what is her goal? Thing that annoys me when people claim Cinderella's primary motivation is Prince. It is not. In no major version of Cinderella is her primary motivation Prince, she just wants to get to the ball and have fun. Cinderella meeting Prince is consequence of her getting to the ball.

"I wish I could. I wish I could." She was not able to speak the rest, being interrupted by her tears and sobbing.

This godmother of hers, who was a fairy, said to her, "You wish that you could go to the ball; is it not so?"

"Yes," cried Cinderella, with a great sigh.

This is quote from Perrault version, no mentions of Prince anywhere.

Why does this even matter? Well it separates Cinderella's goal, that being getting to the ball and Prince. They are two different things and should be read differently as well. For Cinder her goal is getting all the Maiden powers. Prince is not Maiden powers, he/she is consequence of her quest for power.

_____________________________________________________________

In RWBY, Ozpin compares fighting to dancing during Volume 2.

"If you think about it, fighting and dancing aren't so different"

So whenever Cinder fights someone, it's potentially a reference to Cinderella's dance with Prince at the ball.

Depending on story version, number of dances she has with the Prince varies. In Grimm version it's 3 dances, 2 in Perrault and 1 in Disney version. However, I'll respect older versions more here, especially since Cinder doesn't seem to follow Disney version that much. So in conclusion, she has to have multiple dances with Prince.

Prince is the one to approach Cinderella, not the other way around. He is immediately smitten with her and is obsessed by her in all major versions.

Perrault version:

The king's son led her to the most honorable seat, and afterwards took her out to dance with him. She danced so very gracefully that they all more and more admired her. A fine meal was served up, but the young prince ate not a morsel, so intently was he busied in gazing on her.

Grimm version:

He never let go of her hand, and whenever anyone else came and asked her to dance, he would say, "She is my dance partner."

She danced until evening, and then she wanted to go home. But the prince said, "I will go along and escort you,"

____________________________________________________________

So Prince in RWBY should also be someone that goes after Cinder, develops an obsession with her and fights her multiple times. Prince should also be consequence of her goal, not her primary goal.

It might be very obvious where am I going with this.. it's Jaune. Let's go over all major opponents Cinder fought throughout the story and why I think they work/don't work as Prince.

Ruby: She both works and doesn't. She works as straightforward Prince in first 3 volumes. She in thorn in Cinder's side throughout the early portion of the story, but not her primary goal. Ruby is simply consequence of Cinder's quest for power, just like dance with Prince is consequence of Cinderella coming to the ball. They even fight during Beacon Ball, which is very on the nose reference to Cinderella's dance at the ball (Cinder even has to escape before midnight). Final encounter at the end of Volume 3 once again feels as Cinderella reference, Prince encountering unmasked Cinderella just like Ruby encounters "unmasked" Cinder.

This is where things complicate and where I feel we are getting into third Cinderella story. Cinder's story reaches tragic ending at the end of Volume 3, permanently scarring her and turning her into monster. Why do I say this? Because Cinderella references seemingly reset back to the starting point, as well as Ruby/Cinder rivalry changes. Ruby is no longer consequence of Cinder's goals, she is (or at least her death is) one of her goals. They never "dance" again after this and Cinder makes sure they are never in "dancing" distance of each other. Ruby also develops very impersonal rivalry with Cinder where she looks at her as more of a nuisance she has to deal with than proper rival.

But then again, Ruby is the only character that can fulfill the role of Cinder's savior considering her silver eyes are the only thing that can free Cinder from Salem. It's bit annoying, she is Prince, then she isn't, but if Cinder is ever gonna be redeemed Ruby has to become Prince once again.

Amber: Goal, not consequence. Poor girl didn't even know they were dancing

Ozma's incarnations: They fought single time and that was mostly off screen. Doesn't feel major for me to read them as Prince Charming. Neither side seems to hold any major interest in each either. For Oscar Cinder is just another enemy, for Cinder Oscar is someone she needs to capture for Salem's interests or target to hurt Ruby.

Pyrrha: Cool fight, but not quite Prince Charming. Pyrrha goes after Cinder, but it lacks edge overall. For neither side fight is particularly personal. For Pyrrha Cinder is someone she needs to stop, for Cinder Pyrrha is just another powerful enemy in her way. It will also always remain single fight.

Raven: She is Cinder's goal as a Spring Maiden, not consequence of her actions. Raven has next to no interest in Cinder beyond her being Salem's agent.

Neo: This one actually works surprisingly well with them being partners throughout Atlas portion of the story, but I don't think it's quite there. Neo's revenge quest is consequence of Cinder's action. However, I think it lacks edge from Neo's side. Working with Cinder is simply means to an end for her until she kills Ruby.

Winter and Penny: Initially works since she fights both of them on her path to Fria, but both cease being Prince once they become Maiden.

Weiss: Almost completely impersonal from Weiss' side, poor girl just keeps getting targeted because Cinder wants to hurt someone else's feelings.

Now onto the main course.

JAUNE AS PRINCE CHARMING:

Jaune works for multiple reasons. First, he has an unhealthy obsession with her after she killed Pyrrha. He goes on a quest to find her at Haven academy similar to how Prince attempts to pursue Cinderella after every dance. This works especially well with Grimm version where Prince pursues her all the way to her home. Jaune is content with dying, as long as he can inconvenience Cinder in some way and buy his friends some time.

Prince's possessiveness also works with their Haven encounter. Jaune picks Cinder as his opponent just like Prince approaches Cinderella and picks her as his dance partner. Speaking of dance, due to their skill difference, fight ends up being almost dance like. Jaune cannot seriously challenge Cinder, while Cinder is not taking the fight seriously. Setting being open hall and all opponents being matched mostly 1v1 (Nora and Ren once again being party poopers and ignoring literary references) also add to the ball room allusion.

Needless to say, fighting Jaune is definitely not Cinder's goal. Just like dancing with Prince is consequence of Cinderella coming to the ball, fight with Jaune is consequence of Cinder's quest for power. Just like in Cinderella story, Cinder eventually has to leave, disengaging the fight.

Additionally, they end up fighting once again at the end of Volume 8. Once again, fight with Jaune is consequence of Cinder's quest for power, this time going after Penny. He is the one to engage the fight, realizing she is present after seeing her glass shards through the portal. So she appears at the ball again, he once again goes after her and she once again disengages the fight and leaves.

And unlike Ruby, from Jaune's perspective rivalry with Cinder is extremely personal. Which makes additional encounters between them almost inevitable.

SUBVERSION OR...?:

So how does this particular Cinderella story end? And thing is, I can easily see it going the way of full subversion, as in another tragic Cinderella story. Reason I tend to focus on Joan of Arc theories and references is because I feel that it's convoluted enough for me to think it's straightforward story. What's the point of going out of your way to give Cinder plenty of obscure Joan's King references post Volume 3 if the goal is to subvert them with the most expected conclusion of the story. It's hard to appreciate subversion when you don't even understand what is being subverted. Cinderella is bit different. Story is familiar to pretty much everyone and references are more clear. It's entirely possible they'll go Adam route again.

Either way, let me present two plausible endings I can see them creating. Both are of course based on end of story sequence when Prince finds Cinderella and realizes poor servant girl was the princess he was dancing all along.

One is as I said, "Adam" version. Jaune has final encounter with Cinder (probably alongside someone like Weiss), her likely being completely disgraced at that point. She starts going on unhinged Adam like rants (revealing her true self much like Cinderella shows her true self to Prince) on how she is actually the victim, bla bla bla. Jaune tries to persuade her to stop and she continues fighting him until he eventually kills her. Since Cinder's Cinderella was arch enemy to her Prince, it would make some sense for their final encounter to end up in blood. In my previous theory I stated how I find repeating Adam formula to be boring as shit, but I cannot disregard possibility of this happening as much as I heavily dislike it conceptually.

Other is more straightforward version of Cinderella story. Jaune and Cinder would have another fight, this time Jaune pushing her back significantly. This is reference to the last dance Cinderella and Prince have in the story. In Perrault version she loses track of time and has to run, losing her glass slipper. In Grimm version, while she runs she falls for the Prince's trap and loses one of her golden shoes in tar trap. Whatever version you go with, she loses her shoe to the Prince, in Grimm version due to his ingenuity. In this fight we'd see her metaphorical mask slip more and more (mask which Jaune nicked before, mask which seems to be made out of glass) showing glimpses of her true self. This is conceptually relatively similar to the fight I theorized in one of my Vacuo theories I'll link below.

This would eventually lead to non combat encounter between the two, where her mask completely slips, showing her true self. Their rivalry ending with Jaune sympathizing with her to some degree and offering her help, redeeming her.

_____________________________________________________________

What are your thoughts? Feel free to comment if I missed some Cinderella and Prince references or if you have your own interpretations. That's all for today.

[disneyhistorychallenge]

The hot day started out normal for Rhodopis in the fields, but back at the villa Drizella was facing tragedy.

The heat had become too much for her and it was only Lady Tremaine's quick talking with DEATH that saved her eldest from an early grave.

Drizella was shaken by her close death and ended up on her sister's doorstep.

"Drizella!" Anastasia was delighted to see her sister, it had been almost a year since they had last met. "Oh I'm so pleased you're here there is someone I want to introduce to you."

Drizella looked around at the small house Anastasia lived in. It was barely two rooms and cluttered with life. Still her sister looked happier than she'd ever seen.

"Meet my son Ioannes, he was born at the end of summer."

The baby was initially wary of this stranger, but he soon warmed up to her awkward ways.

Later when he was sleeping Drizella shared everything that had been happening. Finally she sighed, "Are you happy sister?"

"I'm the happiest Diszella, it's not how I thought life would go, but with Theo and Ioannes I'm complete." Anastasia said gazing down at her son's sleeping face.

[onewomancitadel]

Inbox part deux, kind of an FAQ

I split this up because otherwise it felt too long and whizzing from 'I am insane' straight to 'anyway, details!' was a bit tonally weird.

For the nice people in my inbox I'm very sorry but I need someone to physically help me IRL check my inbox so that will be a bit but I hope you understand.

For the questions of a frequently common nature to the likes of 'Knightfall is bad and problematic' know that the refrain is not overly original and whilst something is always new for someone somewhere, I'm not that understanding on this front with the usual accusation it's accompanied by. You can find many of my refutations of this approach across my blog from everything under my Knightfall tag, to my Knightfall masterpost, to my posts about narrative cynicism, to my posts about redemption arcs and Cinder's redemption, etc. Then again I'm not wholly sure how many people treat the inbox as a learning experience/genuine question time versus a lack of self-awareness. I try to give the benefit of the doubt. I know that I would want that myself.

For that matter I think the only thing I care about when it comes to 'problematic Knightfall' is from the perspective of whether the storytellers would go there or not, not the actual moral content.

For those new to my blog you'll find that in the pinned post I have tags, but you may come across ones such as Cinder and Rhodopis (which doesn't encompass the full series unfortunately, but might be under the Knightfall tag or Cinder's character tag) or the Indecisive Queen which are more specific Knightfall themes.

My thoughts may have previously evolved and that's why I am often happy to repeat topics but I have covered quite a bit.

It's probably likely that as my perspective has become more holistic, I'd be more dismissive of finer-grain details that I might have focussed on, so more recent writings are more likely to align with my perspective (e.g. a recent post about what I feel to be the most convincing element of Knightfall from a technical perspective, not merely an emotional one. In my opinion there is a profound emotional argument there which might be more compelling to others).

But I think that most of my attitude towards R/WBY can be found under my Reverse Ozlem tag and many of my writings about the Maiden powers and thematic keys to the series are under Cinder's redemption tag. I think the narrative of R/WBY is actually very straightforward, they basically tell you what needs to happen (Cinder even tells you that they are telling you what is happening but it's how it happens that matters, in V3, lol).

On that note you'll notice that my V9 speculation is not really rooted in specific narrative 'events'; that type of speculation, to me, is really only possible through what seems like thematic or technical urgency... e.g. I think Neo may be forgiven or the idea of forgiveness will be explored with her and Ruby but what that looks like remains to be seen (and Neo and Ruby have been repeatedly connected, I have no idea why Jaune is really introduced much here; I'm not dismissing it entirely because of the Jaune-Ruby connection but it's not foreshadowing a Jaune/Neo romance lol). When it comes to katabasis (death and abyss, descent) of the monomyth the place they've gone is not an actual underworld but it is a special world so we will see analogous exploration of that, with different implications for the worldbuilding (it's not an actual underworld/afterlife). A lot of people have pointed out the special world similarities in children's works (Neverland, Wonderland, so on) but all of these can be explained through a monomythic lense, so whilst we might see literal similarities and references it is mechanically explaining by the narrative structure... and it's going to go according to R/WBY's terms. It's not going to be following their playbook by necessity.

You can see that it's mostly this idea which I explore in my speculation tag. There are definitely points where I went more specific than I needed to (e.g. how they'll play the Penny angle) but in my opinion I think I also explored that there were so many possibilities there you can't really say one way or another other than it does conspicuously connect to the Summer problem emerging (and potential return of Raven). So again thematic/technical connections.

So I like to think it's more grounded but to some it might be more dissatisfying. But when I see fandom run with the idea of a ball or shopping episode or Penny joining the main cast and being best friends forever, that's where speculation not predicated on something structurally substantial goes awry.

I hope that helps cover some questions that I may have missed in my inbox. I'm always writing a lot because it's easy to talk to myself and I'm sorry I've taken so much time away from my inbox when I do enjoy it. In retrospect perhaps I should've turned it off, and in future if I get like this again I'll do so for the interim.

Anyway, have a nice weekend if you're reading this.

[godmother-encanto-au]

Godmother Chapter Twelve-Rupture

In which trying to separate an immortal being from the human its' imprinted on goes a bit pear-shaped, and the whole Encanto reaps the consequences.

Apologies for the lateness of this chapter! It has been a very hectic time of the year for me and I'm finally able to sit down for long enough to get this done.

A wee note on the use of mythical creatures here: One thing I've always found fascinating about world culture is the common thread that runs through folklore and how certain stories are repeated by cultures that have little to nothing else in common. Many cultures have their own version of the Cinderella tale with different elements (Aschenputtel for slavic, Yeh Shen for Chinese, Rhodopis for Egypt) and I've found a lot of places have a creature that tempts humans into the water to drown them (usually a beautiful woman, occasionally a very nice horse)! The creatures I reference in this fic are not completely accurate, I've taken a lot of liberties with them, but they do broadly resemble different icons in world folklore.

Specific note on this chapter: Can you guess what my favourite film is?

…..

Mirabel's dreams were strange, muddy and sour. It felt like she was trying to walk through a marsh but all her limbs were weighed down by something slimy that dragged on the ground. There was a raw taste in her mouth, rusted metal and old blood. She couldn't see anything through a thick brown fog.

When she did wake up, her head was pounding. Her muscles ached like she had been running all night. She lay in bed, unmoving, hoping for the headache to melt away, until Luisa knocked and then barged through the door.

“Hey Mira, we're waiting to start breakfast, did you need some...are you okay?”

Luisa loomed over the bed, searching Mirabel's face worriedly.

“Just a headache,” Mirabel groaned, pushing herself up to a seated position. The room spun a little.

“It's all that palm sugar,” Luisa said, shaking her head. “I don't know how you can stand it, more than a spoonful gives me the shakes. I can bring your breakfast up to you if you're not feeling well enough...?”

“No, no,” Mirabel waved her off. “Start without me, I'll be down in five minutes.”

“Okay. You want some help getting dressed?”

“No, I'll be fine. I just need to get up and get moving, right?”

Luisa was a firm believer in the power of proper circulation to fix any problem, ironic for a daughter of a supernatural healer. She hadn't had an injury or illness healed by her mother since she was a child, and put it down to the stretches and jogs she did every morning without fail. Humouring her was the fastest way to get her to leave you alone.

Luisa thundered away and down the stairs, and Mirabel struggled out of bed. Her headache eased a little, but a heavy feeling settled in her hands and feet, like she was holding weights with them. Her stomach was churning, and her skin tingled. It felt itchy, like tiny pinpricks poking through. She shivered, with each pinprick a wave of coldness rushed through her blood.

Something wasn't right. She pulled on her clothes and washed up for breakfast achingly slow, all the time looking for something that was off. Outside the window, the crop of butterflies that were usually there to greet her were missing. She strained to hear the distant whispering from outside the Encanto, but there was dull silence.

It's just a virus or something. They'll stay away if they know I'm sick.

The corn husk doll in the window smiled with its blood-red mouth. Why had Senóra García given the doll a face? It looked out of place on a traditional doll, gaudy. Mirabel reached out to see if she could wipe away the paint, which still looked somewhat wet...

...a sharp pain ran through her finger and echoed throughout her body, knocking her to the ground. She examined her shaking hand, expecting to see blood, but the skin was unharmed.

“Mirabel? You okay up there?”

“I'm fine!” she called back, trying to keep the trembling out of her voice.

It's a fever or a virus, nothing more.

Unsettled, she made her way downstairs to where everyone else was halfway through breakfast. She tried to act as normal as possible, though a few concerned glances from her family showed that she wasn't doing a very good job.

Julieta, the very person who should have picked up on it first, seemed unbothered.

“Luisa said you have a headache,” she said, placing the usual milk-and-palm-sugar mix in front of Mirabel.

“It's nothing big, I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” Mirabel mumbled.

“We should start trying solid food again soon, all this sugar is probably messing with your system.”

Mirabel took a look inside the cup before she drank. Was the milk always this dark? It had a brown tinge to it, like pale caramel. She sniffed it; it didn't smell any different, but the consistency was thicker than usual.

“Is there something else in this?” she asked Julieta, who was taking her seat at the table again.

“No,” Julieta shrugged. “We ran out of the usual palm sugar, I had to borrow some from Senóra Gúzman. I think their's is more raw than ours.”

With Julieta and Mirabel both settled at the table, Alma took up her usual agenda for the day; assigning tasks to everyone. The family half-listened between bites of food and sips of coffee. Things were finally starting to feel normal again. Mirabel sipped her milk, gagging a little on how thick it was. Had the milk turned? Was this a milkshake in disguise to slip a few extra calories into her?

Even the aftertaste was odd. It was bitter, and it stung slightly like alcohol. The little pinpricks running all over Mirabel's skin surged. A pressure built in her blood, pushing through her veins and arteries to the surface.

…..

The court felt the pressure from their own realm. A few of them had tried to take up the usual position watching over the butterfly queen's child near the living house, but the atmosphere around it had turned aggressive towards them. It stank of old iron and bitter herb, they could not cross the boundary without risking their lives. They were a cautious people, they trickled back to their home ground to wait for orders from the queen.

When the queen returned from her gathering, she knew that once again the mortals were trying to sever the bond between herself and her child. Her fury was boiling hot, melting rocks and simmering water. They had done this to her before, when the child was still too young to bind to her forever. It would not happen again.

She gave her orders, and thousands of butterflies and moths fluttered out into the outskirts of the Encanto, hissing and whispering to each other as they went.

…..

Luisa kept one eye on Mirabel over breakfast. Just when she thought things were finally getting back to normal, it looked like she was ill again. Her face was drained of colour, and she was staring into her glass like she thought the milk was sour.

With duties assigned, the rest of the table made the usual small talk. Isabela was trying to get a rise out of Luisa, teasing her about one of the corn farmer's sons who seemed very taken with her, but Luisa was only half-listening.

“I mean, he's pretty strong in his own right,” Isa chattered. “He'd have to be, you know? All that harvesting work is basically like lifting weights...”

“Sounds like he's better for you than me,” Luisa jabbed back, squinting a little in Mirabel's direction. There was still nearly half a glass of milk left, if she was giving up drinking the milk-and-palm-sugar then she was going to starve to death.

“Yeah, no,” Isabela said. “He's not my type. And he's not interested in me anyway, he's interested in you!”

Luisa could have bit back by saying no man at all was Isabela's type, Isabela's type was plump with a wide bosom and a jolly smile and worked at the tavern and wore red petticoats and was named Luz, but now wasn't the time for that conversation. In fact, that conversation was unlikely to ever happen, at least while Abuela was still alive.

“Think of the babies,” Isabela continued. “You could have the world's strongest babies. And you could go on tour with them as the world's strongest family.”

“Again, this sounds more like a you thing than a me thing,” Luisa deadpanned.

“Well, we need someone to have a romantic life to gossip about,” Isa shrugged. “Dolores isn't even married yet and she's already boring.”

“What's stopping you?” Dolores shot back from across the table. “You're the oldest, technically you should be the one trying to get married before me.”

“Traditionally! Tradition is for normal people. Anyway, if we were really going by tradition we'd be trying to get rid of Camilo first.”

Camilo choked on his aguapanela, briefly shifting into his father and back again.

“Get rid of me? What?” he gasped.

Dolores snorted, and elbowed Camilo in the ribs.

“That's not an option,��� she said sweetly. “He only has eyes for that tavern girl...Luz, isn't it?”

Luisa didn't miss how Isabela's muscles tensed up at the mention of the tavern girl's name.

“I don't have eyes for her,” Camilo huffed. “Benito does, I just go along with him when he wants to look at her through the window.”

“Right, right.”

“For solidarity, you know.”

“And her tiny little blouses don't have anything to do with it?”

Isabela looked on the verge of manifesting a vine to strangle Camilo with, so Luisa cast her gaze around the table, looking for something to change the subject with. Her eyes landed on Mirabel, who was sitting so still it was easy to forget she was there...

Oh...

“Mira, you okay?” she asked, casting around the table for a clean napkin. “Why didn't you say anything?”

Dark venous blood, almost black in colour, was trickling from Mirabel's nose. She didn't seem to have noticed, she remained in her chair clutching her glass and staring at nothing. Rounding the table to dab at her nose with a napkin, Luisa noticed that she was faintly trembling.

“Luisa? What's going on?” Alma called from the head of the table.

“Mirabel has a nose bleed,” Luisa called back.

She held the cloth tightly pressed to Mirabel's nose as the rest of the family began to fret and huddle closer to get a better look. There were a few dark droplets on the tablecloth in front of her; how had she not noticed? Julieta gently pushed Luisa's hands away and took the cloth herself, she tried to push Mirabel's head back but Mirabel wouldn't budge.

“Does it hurt? Do you feel sick?” she asked, but Mirabel wouldn't answer.

“She said she had a headache when I went to get her for breakfast,” Luisa murmured. “She said it wasn't a big deal...”

“Maybe she fell on it?” Pepa fretted. A small wind was picking up around her, tossing her curls around her face. “We heard banging up there, maybe she fell? And didn't tell us?”

The family hovered, riddled with anxiety. A dozen hands offered clean napkins, someone offered to go boil some water, all the while Julieta tried to staunch the blood and searched her daughter's face for what was wrong.

Julieta was the only one that didn't immediately shrink back in horror when Mirabel's eyes started streaming that same dark blood. Struck dumb, they could do nothing but watch as Julieta cursed under her breath and tried to stem the flow. The blood tinted Mirabel's eyes scarlet as she tried to blink.

“I need another set of hands,” Julieta said through gritted teeth.

Somehow, Luisa fought through her terror and grabbed another napkin. She held it under her sister's left eye and nose. The napkin was saturated in less than a minute, her own hands turned crimson and sticky.

“We need to send for the doctor,” Alma said, going for the door. Luisa had never heard her sound so afraid.

She never got as far as the door. Suddenly, Mirabel's chair lurched backwards to the wall, where it shattered with a sickening crack. Mirabel was only on the floor for a moment before some unseen force lifted her up and threw her down, splashing a gout of blood across the tiles. She thrashed, back arched at an unnatural angle, her mouth wide open but no sound coming out.

Luisa couldn't be sure of what she was seeing, but she thought she saw Mirabel's skin ripple!

The tiles cracked under Mirabel as she was lifted and hurled against the ground, over and over. The walls shuddered, the window shutters flapped open and shut, the table and everything on it flew against the opposite wall. Antonio clung to his mother, wailing loud and high. Dolores dropped to the ground in a dead faint. Agustin retched into his hand. Everyone else was paralyzed by their terror.

“Luisa,” Julieta said, her stern voice breaking through the chaos. “Come with me.”

Julieta struggled to get her hands around her convulsing daughter, but under her instructions Luisa managed to grab a hold of her, held tight in a bear hug. She pinned Mirabel's arms to her side with one arm and held her legs as firmly as she dared; with any more pressure, she could easily break her bones. Even so, it took all of her legendary strength to hold onto her.

“Hold her still,” Julieta commanded, as calm as could be. “It will pass, I promise you.”

How can you know that?

“Easy now, easy,” Julieta whispered to Mirabel, trying again to wipe the blood away from her face. “It'll all be over soon.”

Mirabel's glasses had been smashed in the chaos, her eyes rolled wildly in their sockets. There was a searing heat coming off of her skin, almost too hot for Luisa to touch. Under her palms, she felt something just under the skin moving around, pushing upwards.

Mirabel's mouth opened, but instead of a scream or a cry or anything else that they might have been expecting, a loud piercing screech like nothing they had ever heard came out. It was multilayered, like hundreds of voices screaming in unison, echoed closely by the roar of a thousand beasts. The sound burst through the Casíta, shattering windows, mirrors and everything else made of glass with it.

As soon as the last piece of glass hit the floor, the attack (or whatever it was) was over. Mirabel slumped in Luisa's arms, breathing hard, eyes closed. The heat coming from her skin waned, the house stopped shaking. The family stood in place, looking around at their ruined dining room, too shocked to speak.

“We have to move her upstairs,” Julieta said, breaking the silence. “Before it happens again.”

“Again?” Isabela spluttered. “You think this is going to happen again? What was that, what the hell was that...?”

“I don't know,” Julieta told her, strangely calm. “But it would be safer if we brought her upstairs.”

Numb, Luisa nodded and gathered up her sister in her arms. Her hands felt scalded, her muscles strained. The only other time she had come so close to having her strength fail her was when the candle was nearly snuffed out.

She looked at her family from the top of the stairs as Julieta gathered sheets and blankets, clutching Mirabel close to her. Dolores was just coming round, helped by her brother. Agustin was slumped in a corner with his head in his hands. Antonio was cradled between his mother and father, sobbing so hard his body shook. Isabela and Bruno were already sweeping the broken glass and what was left of breakfast off the floor, their eyes cast low and haunted.

It was a good thing Julieta was so steady. If they were all in hysterics, where would they be?

The two of them put Mirabel back in her bed, after changing her clothes and cleaning off the blood. Then Julieta ripped up some old sheets and used them to tie Mirabel's arms and legs to the bed frame.

“Do you really think it's going to happen again?” Luisa asked when Julieta told her to wrap a wide piece of fabric over Mirabel's torso. The unease must have been showing in her face.

“I don't know, Luisa,” Julieta told her. “But better to be safe than sorry, right?”

It was strange. Her mother didn't even seem scared. Luisa's own heart was beating so hard she felt ready to burst. How could she be so calm after what they had seen?

…..

Alma paced around in front of the door, debating who to send for first.

The doctor was obvious, Mirabel hadn't been eating solid food and hadn't been getting any better and was now bleeding from her nose and eyes, the most likely explanation had to be that she had picked up some sort of virus that affected her particularly badly in her weakened state. The doctor could recommend a hospital to send her to and she could finally recover properly.

But....

The Encanto's priest could offer them some help. Maybe he had never seen...

(a demon)

...a strange phenomenon like they had just witnessed, but he would have connections in the priesthood who would know what to do.

Alma had long suspected there was something off about Mirabel since her failed gift ceremony. She tried so hard to push it out of her mind, but the girl had an unnatural history. Speaking languages she'd never heard before, the violent fits, the escape attempts, the screaming, all when she was still a young child.

She never believed, as Julieta once did, that the baby that was returned to them was not the one she had given birth to. She felt she still had a blood connection to the child, but it was clear that something had gotten a hold of her while she was missing and that something was unholy. Only an expert in these matters could help them now.

Just as she'd made up her mind to go to the priest to consult him, there came a frenzied tapping on the front door. Alma opened it, to find Senór Moreno, one of the corn stock farmers, standing on the doorstep, pale as milk.

“Please excuse me, Senóra Madrigal,” he croaked. “We have a situation...”

“I am aware,” Alma sighed. “We have it under control now. It's nothing to worry about, a few broken windows we can afford to have fixed. I am sorry the shaking made its way to your house...”

“No, no, Senóra,” the man insisted. “I saw the Casíta shaking but it didn't go any further than that. This is different. My crops...they're all gone.”

A cold feeling washed over her.

“Gone? Gone where?”

“Just...gone! I don't know how to explain it, I went out this morning and every stalk has been stripped!”

Alma looked past Senór Moreno; his lands were near enough to Casíta that they could get a clear view of his cornfields when the corn was close to ripe. The acres had been shining gold and green when she woke just after dawn that morning; now, they were mud brown and desolate.

“It's not just the corn, my wife's kitchen garden was stripped too,” Senór Moreno continued. “Tomatoes, avocados, peppers, nothing is left. And our chickens...”

“The chickens too?” Alma whispered, trying to wrap her head around what had happened.

A rogue storm of locusts from the border could strip an entire town of its crops, but within three hours? With no sign of them now? The sky would be buzzing with the pests if locusts were behind this...

“They left the chickens but all the eggs are broken,” Senór Moreno told her, clutching his cap in his hands. “My neighbour's goats...he had pots of milk and butter and they were either knocked over or swallowed up. His kitchen garden is gone too.”

Another farmer was making his way to the Casíta, holding the broken stalk of one of his plants. Alma could see two more setting out as she talked to him. The Encanto was buzzing with hushed conversation, worried faces. Every garden and tract of land she could see from the steps of the Casíta was completely barren.

If every crop in the Encanto had been depleted, it would be nothing short of a disaster. The people didn't just grow their own food, they exported it to nearby villages and traded for goods they couldn't make or grow themselves. The Encanto was known to be prosperous, even during bad harvest years they usually made enough to get by.

Over the scared murmurings of the townspeople, Alma thought she could hear laughter in the far distance. A child's laughter, clear as a bell and full of mischief.

[haru-desune]

Grimmtober Day 4: Cinderella

The prince, however, had set a trap. He had had the entire stairway smeared with pitch. When she ran down the stairs, her left slipper stuck in the pitch. The prince picked it up. It was small and dainty, and of pure gold.

--

This story is an ATU 510A. Possibly the most iconic Disney Princess, many people get a bit muddled as to what comes from the original tales and what is disnification. The Grimm's story goes like this:

There once was a girl good and kind who's father, upon her mother's death, married a wicked and selfish woman with equally wicked and selfish daughters. The made the girl's life miserable, dressing her in poor clothes, making her sleep by the hearth and turning her into their servant. They called her Cinderella, so named by the ashes that now coated her.

One day the girl's father was going to a fair, and asked all three girls what they would like. The step-daughters asked for fine dresses and jewelry, but Cinderella asked only for a twig from the first branch that caught him on his journey. She took this twig, a bit of hazel, and planted it on her mother's grave, watering it with her tears. And it soon grew into a large hazel tree, and became home to a white bird.

Later the father brings news of the prince's ball, which is to last three nights, and to which all fair maidens in the kingdom were invited. Cinderella asks to go, but her stepmother stalls, asking her to pick lentils from the ashes of the hearth. Cinderella does so, asking the birds for help. She does this twice before the stepmother outright says no, for Cinderella has no fine clothes.

Cinderella waits until the family has left for the ball, before running to the hazel tree and asking the bird for help. She is given a beautiful silver dress and golden slippers, and is so beautiful at the ball that the prince dances with her alone. As the evening comes to an end, she slips away, and is home and dressed as usual by the time the family returns.

She does this again on the second night, out running and outsmarting the prince as she leaves. But in the third night, the Prince paints the steps with tar, and Cinderella loses a single shoe. He declares that the owner of the shoe would be his bride. He searches the whole kingdom, but to no avail.

When he finally reaches Cinderella's homes, the step sisters are delighted. They're feet looked as though they would fit. The first took the shoe into there room, and found that her big toe wouldn't fit, so she cuts it off. The prince is almost fooled, and even starts to bring her to the castle, but he hears the birds warn him of foul play. The second sister tries the shoe, only to find that her heel won't fit, so she cuts off a piece of her heel. Again the prince is nearly fooled, but warned of the trick by the birds.

Finally he asks if there are any other girls in the house, and the father and step mother reluctantly mention Cinderella. They call her out after much argument, and of course the show fits perfectly, and the prince recognizes her as the girl from the ball. Cinderella walks down the aisle at her wedding with a bird on each shoulder. Her sisters, who had shown up to try and curry some favor, walk with her, and as they walk her up and down, the birds pluck out their eyes. Cinderella gets her prince, and the wicked step sisters live the rest of their days without sight.

Yeah, Old Uncle Walt had to do a lot to this one. Cinderella is a story that's been constantly mutating in the public consciousness, with the earliest known version being about a Greek slave, bought out of slavery by an Egyptian pharoh, who then married her. (Look up the story of Rhodopis). The Grimm's version is, true to it's name, a bit more grim. There's no cheerful fairy godmother (though the singing birds is still... A thing), there's no glass slipper or pumpkin carriage*, or 12 o'clock curfew. Our girl didn't even really go to the ball with the intention of meeting the prince, she just wanted to have a good time for once.

Cinderella is a story about a girl getting herself out of a bad situation partially by chance, but also through her own agency even if she takes some help from a friend. She doesn't waste time crying when it becomes clear her step mother would never let her go to the ball, she goes to the tree on her own. Her curfew is self imposed. It's not driven by the threat of the beautiful dress and shoes disappearing, but the very pressing need to get home before her abusive family members (in the Grimm version, dear old dad isn't exactly sympathetic either).

Disney's Cinderella, while sanitized (for understandable reasons), still keeps some of this core message, however obliquely. It had to line up with the view of 1950s America, when marriage was a common (and for some, the only) avenue for social mobility. So the story becomes less about a girl finding her escape as a sideffect of a night on the town, and more about hoping to meet the Prince and maybe find a way out of her home life. Cinderella still does it on her own terms, more or less. And no one had to cut their feet off.

*"if there are no pumpkins at all in the Grimm's version, then why" - I'm gonna stop you right there it's October and it's Cinderella. Low hanging fruit? Maybe, but when your as short as I am you take what you can reach.

[homogrimoire-archive]

11 Nightmares

Rhodopis / Karma and Sacrifice

The life of one Rhodes Horakhty-Surya, from child slavery, to traumatic experiences, to love and school, to more trauma, and then his attempt at helping a poor little girl and his subsequent death.

AO3 Link

Rhodes. Just Rhodes. No last name of his own, except for the one all the other children technically had: Hamelin. Very few of the children considered it their own name. It was just the last name of the guy who ran the orphanage, though none of the children there have ever seen him. At least, not that he’s heard of. As the newest and meekest of the children, they just pick in him and don’t interact with him otherwise.

It’s only when he gets adopted does he finally get a reprieve from the other children and the terrible caretaker. He was always hungry, and always scared of the rude person. She was not afraid to punish anyone who disobeyed her. So, at first, he is very happy to be in this new place called Vale. The place is more agreeable to him than Vacuo.

Although, he soon comes to learn that he was “adopted,” rather than adopted. He, and a few others, were more house servants than anything else. Granted, where he slept now wasn’t as cold, he was eating more, even if he was still hungry, and the man who “adopted” him was still less cruel than the caretaker.

However, he was capable of cruelties that the caretaker of the orphanage was not capable of. If a child escaped, there was little she would do. But, most of them came back, hungrier than before, and then beaten. When a boy named Ace, whom Rhodes had become friends with and had a crush on, had tried to escape, he was brought back against his own will. Thereafter, he was treated more poorly than the rest of them were, got less food, and was beaten more frequently. He told Rhodes his story, that he managed on his own for a few days, but was captured by a woman and a man wielding great weapons, and was then promptly brought back. He told them he didn’t want to go back, that he was being treated poorly, but they ignored him.

From then on, they knew that just trying to escape wasn’t a good idea. A second kid had tried to leave about two years after that. She was gone for a much longer time than Ace. But, she too was brought back. She got it even worse than Ace. She had told Ace, who later told Rhodes, that she went to someplace where people could help her, and maybe them too. For a time, she had hope. But, one day, she saw her father hand one of the men that was helping her some official looking papers, and then some money. That was all it took for them to forget about her. She had given up hope, and accepted her life.

It was then Rhodes, and the rest of them knew that escape wasn’t an option.

Yet, they all eventually left the care of the man who bought them. That was because he was murdered by the youngest of them, younger by at least a decade, who had only been there for a week. The little scorpion faunus had killed him with a kitchen knife, stabbing and stabbing again and again as if it was for his own enjoyment.

He, Ace, and the girl were the first ones to happen upon the scene, and then his wife, an uncaring woman whom they barely ever saw. She screamed bloody murder, and he went for her next. Her screams echoed throughout, he blood pooled on the white floor, mixing with her husbands, and her nightgown, worth more than what any of them were bought for, was reduced to shreds. They all stood there, and watched him kill her. But, they did nothing to stop it. Why would they? It wasn’t like they were going to risk their lives for her.

When repeatedly impaling her corpse proved vapid to him, he looked up at the three of them with eyes that almost glowed like a Grimm’s. It was then they realized that they were also paralyzed by fear. When he lunged at the three of them, Ace was the first to act, grabbing Rhodes by the arm to flee. Quickly, he grabbed the girl and pulled her along.

The three of them hurried up the nearby stairs and locked themselves into the closest open room: a storage room filled with some food, supplies, and other things. As the child stabbed the door and tried to burst in, Ace and Rhodes worked to block it with a dresser and some heavy boxes.

After finishing the barricade, after the pounding and stabbing stopped, Rhodes sank to the floor, his heart still racing, and he began to collect himself. Ace followed in suit. The girl was still in shock, still frozen in place.

“What, the fuck, just happened?” Ace exhaled with a stressed sigh..

“What’s gonna happen to us now?” Rhodes wondered as he buried his face in his hands.

“Mother… Father… ” the girl, eldest of them, whispered lowly so that no one would hear.

They spent the rest of the night in that room, silent and unable to soundly fall asleep. However, they all gave in to fatigue eventually, and fell asleep. They don’t know what time it is when they are awoken by some shouting and a pounding on the door. Before they could respond, the door, boxes, and dresser are blasted away, revealing two women with weapons poised. They lowered them when they saw three scared teens.

They were brought out into the front, given blankets and warm food. They each explained what happened, that they heard screaming, and saw him being murdered by the young faunus. Then came the wife and her gruesome death, and then when he turned on them, they ran and barricaded themselves. Since their stories matched and all the evidence aligned, they were all declared innocent on the spot.

“What’s going to happen to us?” Ace asked once the three of them reunited.

“Well,” one woman began, “since you two boys were adopted, and missy here is their biological child, all three of you split their wealth since there’s no will stating otherwise. And by the looks of it, all of you will be well off for quite some time.”

“If you want to see to it that you have a decent job, I suggest trying any one of the huntsman academies.” added the other woman. By then, there was a great number of people at the scene. “Vacuo and Mistral are strict with their ages, but you might be able to try Beacon. Atlas will definitely accept you though.” she said, referring to Ace who was only 15.

Beacon… Rhodes had heard good praise about that place from the son of a family that once visited when he was younger. Helios, a falcon faunus with majestic wings, was his name. Rhodes quickly found himself enamoured with the boy with beautiful eyes like shining metal, stunning and dark sun-kissed skin, and warm orange hair like a fire on a cold night. They also kissed one night, and he remembers losing a shoe after quickly having to run back inside after being called in. He never saw him again. But now, he maybe could.

-

Ace had chosen to go to Atlas, eager to go far away. Rhodes would miss his friend with red hair and black eyes, but they promised to see each other again someday. As for the girl, Rhodes did not know what she was going to do. But, he knew what he was doing.

With some help from the two huntresses, he filled out a request to speak with the headmaster. At 16, he was just too young to be able to enter, and he had no prior training either. So, he was directed to a grueling summer training program where he could quickly learn the basics. Surprisingly, he ran into someone unexpected: his dear acquaintance Helios.

During the summer, they reconnected, and learned much more about each other. Rhodes learns that the other is there at both of his fathers requests, stating that they thought it would be a good experience for him even if the huntsman life didn’t interest him. But, he begins to reconsider it. He also learns that his full name is Helios Horakhty-Surya, and is the child of two legendary huntsmen known for The Great Destroyers of Grimm from their exploits in their heyday. Helios learns that Rhodes has had it pretty rough, and promises to make sure that won’t happen again.

After the summer, they both successfully enter Beacon and officially join together as partners, in both senses of the word. There, Helios discovers his semblance: Epigeios Ilios. He can ignite his body to burst into flames, and shine so bright as to temporarily blind. The solar teen doesn’t say that he feels like bursting into flames whenever their hands touch, though it almost happens a few times. Rhode’s rare smiles are so bright he feels as if he must avert his gaze. Though, he never does. If he does indeed go blind, he knows he will be content with it being the last thing he sees. Rhodes feels much the same.

Rhodes discovers his semblance in a school-wide tournament. It is them two against another duo. All of their auras are low, and no one has yet to land a decisive hit. Rhodes notices that Helios might soon fall to his bladed opponent, and he won’t let that happen. Out of dust, he opts to toss his mace at his opponent. The maces connect, sending the bare fisted teen flying back, his aura broken.

As he rushes, weaponless, to his partner, he figures he can take a hit and give Helios an opening. He is confident that they will win, but that evaporates when he sees his love’s aura dissipate. The opponent is too caught up in their combo to stop, and fear overtook Rhodes. He threw himself in between Helios and the blade. He expected his aura to break, but was met with the sound of metal hitting metal. He could feel the vibration of the ringing travel through his arm.

Stunned, the opponent tripped over his feet and fell backwards. Rhodes quickly reacted, and took advantage of the situation, delivering a heavy fist to his opponents face, breaking her aura and winning the match. Concerned, he rushed over to check on his lover to make sure he was alright.

Helios knew Rhodes would be there for him, and was more interested in his boyfriend’s newly unlocked semblance and the fact that they had won the match. Rhodes laughed. What else would he expect from his boyfriend? Advancing to the next round meant they could fight alongside one another again. As long as they were side by side, nothing else really mattered.

-

They both enjoy their travels together across Remnant, slaying Grimm and helping others. It is a fine way to live in their eyes. They are happy together and help others be happy. What more could they want?

Eventually, their travels bring them to the almost inhospitable Atlas. Rhodes makes a mental note to visit more though. It gives him a good reason to cuddle with his hot boyfriend more than usual. There, he runs into an old friend. Rhodes was glad that Ace had become so successful and joyous in life. At the age of 27, Ace Opus was a Specialist who shone far above the rest, was married, and had a budding side career as a children’s fabulist, of all things.

They went on a double date down in Mantle, and enjoy a fresh, crisp night. As they are in the bar, Ace and Rhodes hear something on the TV that catches their attention; a scorpion faunus, convicted of numerous murders over the course of the past 12 years, had escaped while en route to his prison stay until his execution. It is no coincidence. His eyes are the same glowing yellow, like that of a Grimm.

They could hardly believe he was even still alive. But, there he was, still on the run, still killing, but still alive. Perhaps he was living a fate worse than death; a life without true freedom.

-

For many years, Rhodes had lived without Helios. Once they met again at the training camp, he couldn’t imagine a life without him. But, then comes a day where he doesn’t need to imagine it. He lives the nightmare he could never imagine. It should have been another routine Grimm clearing mission. It began like the others had, isolate the Grimm, make sure civilians were safe, etc. It was all the standard fare, until all the Grimm were slaughtered.

A lunatic who shook the earth, and rambled about his queen and how silver eyes were a nuisance to her, appeared unto them and felled the earthly vessel of the Sun. His lover then felled the earth-shaker in an act of furious revenge, destroying an evil unto the world.

Rhodes Horakhty-Surya, a man who only had one great weakness, had lost one great weakness. Rhodes Horakhty-Surya, a man who derived so much strength from the one he so dearly loved, had lost so much strength.

The cold metal colossus cried, for he would never feel the calming warmth of his Sun again.

-

Still, he continued to travel and kill Grimm across Remnant. It is what his love would have wanted him to do, and all he really knew what to do now. He had a pair of swords made in memory of Helios that would aid him in his destruction of the evil darkness.

Eventually, his travels bring him back to Atlas. He arrives late at night, and very few places are unwilling to book someone without a reservation. He settles on a hotel in the lower end of Atlas, which is still leagues better off than even the richest of Mantle. He laments it, but knows it is nothing he can change. Over the years, he’s gained a bit of a reputation himself, and attracts a few fans now and then.

While he’s waiting for his room to be prepared, he entertains a few people in the lobby with the swords he is always enthusiastic to show off. In the corner of his eyes, he notes a young girl eyeing them. He feels that she is in a situation he is familiar with. It all but confirmed when she trips and falls, and her “mother” cruelly berates her.

Later, when one of the swords goes missing, he had a feeling he knew who took them. He searched in the recesses of the hotel, where the owner was unlikely to ever go, where the girl would surely find refuge. His old memories prove useful, and he finds the girl who was “adopted” in a storage room. How sad it is that such a practice continues, but he knows it is a system he cannot stop.

He knows he can give her a shot at freedom, and that she can't find freedom in running away or hurting them. An academy is her best bet, and he takes it upon himself to train her. Only seven years, and she can be truly free, not bound to any cruel people. He only wishes it could be sooner.

He also knows he can’t stay with her forever in the hotel. It is another source of lamentation. Still, he wants to help her as much as he can and ends up crashing at Ace’s place frequently and taking nearby jobs from the military just so he can have an excuse to frequent a place he would otherwise never frequent.

There is something in her that reminds him of his Sun. Over the years, he sees that she is much different from him. However, seeing her happy makes him happy. She is like Helios in that regard. There is also a fire in her, a resolve he had seen in his love in their early years at Beacon.

She doesn’t talk much about her adopted mother or sisters. He doesn’t blame her. He still has trouble talking about his past. But, he assures her she can tell him whatever she wants, and that he will listen. Still, she focuses on training more than anything.

He tells her stories of his past, of slaying Grimm, and of the many beautiful places he visited. She said she would like to visit the deserts of Vacuo, since it seemed nice and warm. He softly chuckled. He just so happened to like Vacuo too. The sand felt good on his skin.

However, he never mentions Helios, or the one he killed. He never told anyone that he killed the earth-shaker. He still feared what would happen to him if anyone found out, even if it was self-defense and an act of revenge.

-

“I don’t have to run now.”

“That’s all you’ll ever do.”

He regrets that he failed her, that this world failed her. Now, he knows he must uphold the rules of this world, and capture this young killer. He wonders where he went wrong. He had done all the things he thought he should, things that were said to be good. Yet, he is, fighting the little girl he cares for more than anyone. What did I do wrong?

As he fights her, he tries to not hurt her severely. He doesn’t want to hurt her. But, he sees that he taught her well, and finds that she has both of the swords. She burns him, with her searing flames, much like he once did on accident. But, she is ferocious, almost feral. She is desperate. His experience triumphs, and he knocks her out. He drops his weapons and rushes over to her, hoping she isn’t too hurt.

For all weakness, there is strength, and for all strength, there is weakness. This new strength was not the kind that would save him. This new weakness was the kind that could end him, and it did.

Two swords through his abdomen, and he knows his end is soon. Still, he is glad that she will be the last thing he sees. He sees that he had done so many things wrong. All the signs were there, and yet… he ignored them, in favor of being able to ignore his own sad past. All he was ever doing was running. This little girl was not running like he was. There is more to this world than a singular ideal of freedom, an ideal he bound himself to. He understands that now.

He places a hand on the girl, and tries to smile one last time. She is not someone who will be forever running away at least. For that, he is thankful. He only hopes that she can still live a good life, some way, somehow. He doesn’t think she will, but he still hopes so.

She yanks out the swords, and he falls to the ground. As his vision begins to blur, and life loosens its grip on him, he holds nothing against Cinder. From the moment they met, this fate was inevitable. Fate was a concept she loved to talk to him about. Even as his vision fades, the moon behind Cinder shines brighter and brighter, like that of the Sun.

[dragonturtle2]

RWBY Volume 8, Episode 6 - Midnight (Cinder’s Backstory)

So we got the disturbed science-fantasy version of Cinderella we’ve been predicting for years associated with Cinder Fall.  Except it’s with a lot of dumb mixed in.  (spoilers below)

People wanted a Cinder backstory because she seemed too one-dimensional and blatantly evil.  So the explanation is... THREE other women who are one-dimensionally evil.  Obviously those three are suppose to be the 'evil' stepmom and stepsisters for Cinder-ella.  But even the animated Disney versions of the characters were written with more subtlety; no exaggeration.  Lady Germane exuded an oppressive and controlling aura, even when she was just sitting up in bed in a nightgown.  She didn't even directly insult Cinderella that much, you can can get a feel for her intensity.  Whereas this episode has Casey exclaiming "NO ONE'S EVER LOVED YOU," on the track.  In case the audience somehow didn't pick that up.  (I really hope those lame lyrics aren’t part of the same track that plays during the Rhodes fight, because that sounds AWESOME). The worst point in all this is the literal shock collar that's put on Cinder.  Firstly, it throws out all subtlety about signs of an abusive relationship; it feels almost like a parody.  Which is really strange, since this show is REALLY good at examining the ins and outs of abusive relationships.  That even shines through in different parts of this episode.  

But going as heavy-handed as a shock collar also flatly invalidates Rhodes entire plan and reasoning.  He can't simply whisk Cinder away from her legal guardian, I very much understand that.  It's a very intriguing plot point, the idea of Cinder cracking under the abuse while waiting out the clock, and Rhodes being the only thing keeping her head above the water.  But once it reaches the point of a freaking shock collar, how does a Huntsman NOT have the ability to step in and say "that's obviously illegal, you're under arrest?"  Is that actually legal in Mistral?  A few problems with that: one, please ESTABLISH it's legal (bizarre as that is).  Secondly, why is this ultra classy hotel using something as freakish as taser-slaves in full view of polite society?  Sure, we can assume that it wasn’t actually activated in view of customers. But why run the risk of Cinder talking to ANYONE, or any of these Huntsmen identifying the thing?

Yes, child labor under threat of force is an unfortunately real problem; please don’t think I would ever try to to diminish that. But in this century, that happens in places where the upper class doesn't hang out or pay attention to; farmhands, mines, sweat shops, child marriage, brothels, even in armies and militias.  Cinder’s ‘adopted’ home absolutely screams luxury. I suppose this part of Mistral could be meant to represent newly industrialized former-Second World countries, since labor regulations in most of Asia really are pretty terrible (or are fine on the books, just don’t get enforced).  But that doesn't shine through in RWBY; everyone in Mistral speaks English with American accents (and they’re not all even Asian), so we can't help but assume well-off metropolitan Mistralians look at things through a Western viewpoint.  Or perhaps with a modern Japanese/South Korean view.  This aspect would make more sense if Cinder was working at an establishment that served mafia and gang members (which we know Mistral has plenty of) under the veil of legitimacy.

Did Rhodes not KNOW about the collar?  It feels strange he wouldn't pick up on that after years of one-on-one training with her.  Did Cinder just make a point of making sure he never found out about it, because she was ashamed?  That would actually be a fascinating detail! But I can't be making up these plot points and character interactions by myself.  The show needs to be TELLING us this.  For example, maybe given us a quick scene where Rhodes asks about what the necklace is, and Cinder dismisses him saying "Oh, it's just a trinket to look pretty." Even when Rhodes first meets Cinder, his advice makes no sense.  That she can't run away, or she'll spend her whole life looking over her shoulder.  But... MOST of the cast of RWBY is either an orphan who manages to find transportation just fine (Ren, Nora, Ilia, Emerald, Mercury) or are people who DO have a home and family, but ran away just fine (Blake, Jaune, Sun, Oscar, eventually Weiss).  Remnant is generally a pretty easy place to disappear, probably thanks to 90% of the planet being controlled by demons.  In Mistral especially, apparently the authorities are SO thinly spread that entire tribes of bandits roam around sacking villages.  Heck, Vacuo is apparently nothing BUT a nation of bandit tribes.  So with Rhodes's money and a friendly contact, it would actually be a TOTAL breeze.  What could a Hotel manager do if Cinder flew out to Vale or something?  

Rhodes's character flaw clearly seems to be his adherence to the law, and I actually respect attempting that kind of character.  But this is just him being totally unaware of the world around him, and willfully uncreative for the sake of making the plot move one way.  This is where a "Lawful Good" character begins a descent into "Lawful Stupid." Please note I say it BEGINS; just wading into the pool, so to speak. My anger at his badly-planned morality is tempered by so much being unclear about the situation, and most of his character being flat-out unknown. If his advice had something to do with his own experiences, that would be cool... although that requires an actual backstory for the dude.

Found something REALLY fascinating with his name though: plenty of people have figured he’s based on the Colossus of Rhodes, with his metal skin and easily identified name. But his name may be calling back to Rhodopis, apparently the oldest version of Cinderella. But what might be blowing my mind the most: Rhodopis is another word for ‘Rose.’ Holy crap. I suspected that the parallels between Cinder and Ruby were planned from the first season, but this...? Could something as specific the Greek/Egyptian origin for a classic fairy tale possibly be something that’s pure coincidence?

[princesssarisa]

I’m tired of hearing people say “Disney’s Cinderella is sanitized. In the original tale, the stepsisters cut off parts of their feet to make the slipper fit and get their eyes pecked out by birds in the end.”

I understand this mistake. I’m sure a lot of people buy copies of the complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales, see their tale of Aschenputtel translated as “Cinderella”, and assume what they’re reading is the “original” version of the tale. Or else they see Into the Woods and make the same assumption, because Sondheim and Lapine chose to base their Cinderella plot line on the Grimms’ Aschenputtel instead of on the more familiar version. It’s an understandable mistake. But I’m still tired of seeing it.

The Brothers Grimm didn’t originate the story of Cinderella. Their version, where there is no fairy godmother, the heroine gets her elegant clothes from a tree on her mother’s grave, and where yes, the stepsisters do cut off parts of their feet and get their eyes pecked out in the end, is not the “original.” Nor did Disney create the familiar version with the fairy godmother, the pumpkin coach, and the lack of any foot-cutting or eye-pecking.

If you really want the “original” version of the story, you’d have to go back to the 1st century Greco-Egyptian legend of Rhodopis. That tale is just this: “A Greek courtesan is bathing one day, when an eagle snatches up her sandal and carries it to the Pharaoh of Egypt. The Pharaoh searches for the owner of the sandal, finds her and makes her his queen.”

Or, if you want the first version of the entire plot, with a stepdaughter reduced to servitude by her stepmother, a special event that she’s forbidden to attend, fine clothes and shoes given to her by magic so she can attend, and her royal future husband finding her shoe after she loses it while running away, then it’s the Chinese tale of Ye Xian you’re looking for. In that version, she gets her clothes from the bones of a fish that was her only friend until her stepmother caught it and ate it.

But if you want the Cinderella story that Disney’s film was directly based on, then the version you want is the version by the French author Charles Perrault. His Cendrillon is the Cinderella story that became the best known in the Western world. His version features the fairy godmother, the pumpkin turned into a coach, mice into horses, etc, and no blood or grisly punishments for anyone. It was published in 1697. The Brothers Grimm’s Aschenputtel, with the tree on the grave, the foot-cutting, etc. was first published in 1812.

The Grimms’ grisly-edged version might feel older and more primitive while Perrault’s pretty version feels like a sanitized retelling, but such isn’t the case. They’re just two different countries’ variations on the tale, French and German, and Perrault’s is older. Nor is the Disney film sanitized. It’s based on Perrault.

[cromulentbookreview]

Cinderella! Dead?

And by that, I mean:

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron!

I do love the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, because, well, all German students cut their teeth translating bits and pieces of the the Kinder- und Hausmärchen. You have never known true suffering until you’ve had to come up with an original translation for bits of Schneewittchen or Rotkäppchen. Oh the horror. I mean, it’s not as bad as doing original translations of Goethe, and definitely not as fun as translating Struwwelpeter - and that was only fun because I was the only person in my class who got that the stories were meant to be a satire on contemporary children’s morality tales. I mean, Mark Twain did his own English translation! The original byline was Lustige Geschichten und drollige Bilder mit 15 schön kolorierten Tafeln für Kinder von 3–6 Jahren (funny stories and amusing pictures with 15 color panels for children ages 3-6). Once you see the Struwwelpeter stories as parodies of sickly sweet moral lessons for kids, it’s pretty clear that the actual lesson of the Struwwelpeter story (don’t suck your thumbs or else a crazy dude with scissors will literally cut them off your hands) is more dark humor than actual story to teach your kids a lesson and - 

Wait, where am I?

Oh. Yes. A blog where I review books. I should probably get on that.

So yes, Cinderella! A story known the world over, with thousands upon thousands of different versions across the globe. The oldest known being the tale of Rhodopis from ancient Greece, and the story of Ye Xian from China that dates back to the AD 860-850 or thereabouts, which itself is similar to stories found around Southeast Asia, like the story of Bawang merah dan bawang putih or the Vietnamese story of Tấm Cám and shit I wandered off again. Sorry. Fairy tale history is quite fascinating. Anyway, the first European version of the Cinderella story was published in Italy in 1634, but the story that we know best mostly comes from the 1697 French version by Charles Perrault in his Histoires ou contes du temps passé, avec des moralités (don’t look at me, I learned German, remember?). Perrault’s Cinderella story, Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre (Cinderella and the little glass slipper, thanks wikipedia!) features all of what we know of as the traditional Cinderella story: the evil stepmom and stepsisters, the ball, the glass slippers which sound both a) painful and b) super dangerous - seriously, how could you even dance in a glass slipper without breaking them and having shards of glass stuck in your feet à la Die Hard?

Anyway. Cinderella. Very traditional story, mostly French. The Brother’s Grimm version of Cinderella is...weird. Mostly because her name is Aschenputtel, which sounds like something you hack up with a phlegmy cough. (To be fair, though, that’s most German...). There’s also a magic bird instead of a fairy godmother, Aschenputtel’s father is very much alive and doesn’t seem to give two shits about how his new wife and stepdaughters treat his own kid and the slippers are made of gold instead of glass. Gold sounds a sight more comfy than glass, but also super heavy. How can you dance in shoes that weigh roughly 27 pounds / 12.4 kilograms each? That’s assuming that each gold shoe is roughly the same size and density as a standard gold bar and - 

OK. Listen to Rihanna, Cromulent Book Reviewer. Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron!!

In the land of Marsailles, Cinderella is dead, and has been for the past 200 years. Her story hasn’t just become canon - it’s become law. Every year all girls at the age of sixteen must attend the mandatory royal ball, where the men are allowed to oogle them and pick out which one they want as a wife. The girls don’t get a choice in who picks them - once you’re selected by a man, you’re his, and if no one picks you, well...you’re only allowed to attend the royal ball three times before your family has to surrender you as a “forfeit.” Forfeits are never seen or heard from again. Attending the ball more than once is considered an embarrassment. And if you don’t want to get picked? Too bad. The girls of Marsailles have no choice - non-attendance will get you thrown in prison, and likely executed, while their families have all their possessions stripped from them. So...have fun at the meat parade, girls! Fingers crossed you don’t get picked by an abusive prick!

Sophia Grimmins (I see what you did there, Kalynn Bayron) doesn’t want to go to the Ball. All Sophia wants is to marry her best friend, Erin, and be free to have a future with her. But in Marsailles, being gay is not OK. It’s straight relationships only, Cinderella married a prince, and therefore, women can only marry men. Men marrying men and women marrying women? Forbidden. No not pass go. Do not collect 200 dollars. Instead, go straight to forfeit town. Sophia pleads with Erin to try and escape their hometown of Lille and head off into Belgium the Forbidden Lands. But Erin doesn’t want to escape - she just wants to keep her head down, go through the whole disgusting selection process, and stay safe. Well, as safe as you can with a husband who is brought up to be an abusive, misogynist prick like many men in Marsailles. Seriously, with the exception of like, 3 characters, pretty much all the dudes in Marsailles are the worst. Not just the worst, but like,

Euch. And they’re the worst in a way that all women and girls will immediately recognize. Is it terrible that I’m kind of glad for the current pandemic because mask wearing has cut down the instances of strange men telling me to smile significantly? 

Anyway, the day of the Ball has arrived, and with Erin refusing to escape, Sophia has no other choice - she has to go. Her parents have gone into debt to provide her with the best hair, makeup and dress in order to increase her chances at being chosen. Sophia’s parents know about her feelings for Erin, know that she’s always preferred to have a princess rather than a prince, but even though Sophia pleads with them to do something, anything to get her out of going to the Ball, they refuse. Her parents go full Mandalorian on her, telling her that this is The Way and she’d better just hope for the best. 

Mando would NOT approve.

So Sophia ends up going to the Ball and it’s much worse than she could have expected. The dudes are gross, the king is gross, the whole damned system is gross. 

Unable to stand it, Sophia makes a split-second decision: she’s going to run. She takes off in the middle of the ball, jumps out a window and escapes onto the palace grounds. Running blindly, she finds herself in an overgrown mausoleum which turns out to be the final resting place of Cinderella herself. There, Sophia meets Constance, a descendant of Cinderella’s supposedly evil stepsister, Gabrielle. Constance has been on the run, resisting the king’s awful laws for years. She tells Sophia that everything she’s been taught about Cinderella’s story is a lie. Constance offers Sophia a choice - escape with her and rebel, or return to Lille and face the consequences of fleeing the ball. 

At first, Sophia chooses home. But when her parents make it clear they won’t do much to protect their now outlaw daughter, Sophia meets up with Constance and together they head off into the White Wood in search of Cinderella’s fabled fairy godmother, who may or may not be a witch and who also may or may not be still alive. 

Oh man, I do love me a good story in which badass young women fight against the patriarchy. Cinderella is Dead is such a fun story - well, fun in that the misogyny and injustice rampant in Marsailles is both familiar and super scary, but fun in that Sophia looks that system square in the eye and goes “nope.” Cinderella is Dead is all about the power of story - how something as simple as a fairy tale can be used as a weapon to subjugate not just women and girls, but men and boys as well. The fairy tale made law doesn’t just keep women stuck in the role as princess, but men stuck in the role as prince, even if they, too, would rather run off with a prince than marry the princess. 

Cinderella is Dead starts strong, though it does start to meander in the middle, before speeding up toward the end. Since this is a standalone book (hurray!! No getting suckered into a series this time! More standalones, please!) character development and world building is somewhat lacking, as there’s only so much you can fit into one book and seriously thank God this isn’t the start of another trilogy I have to keep track of, I’ve got way too many trilogies, duologies, quartets and never-ending serieses I have to keep track of right now. Anyway: yes, worldbuilding and character development are a bit shallow, but such is the way with fairy tales, only this fairy tales features a queer young woman of color burning the patriarchy to the ground. And that’s absolutely something I need more of in my life. Now let us go forth and burn the patriarchy, everyone!

RECOMMENDED FOR: All young girls. All of them. Boys, too. Anyone who has ever read a fairy tale, or been forced to translate Grimm fairy tales for German class, or Charles Perrault stories for French class.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR: Anyone who has ever used the word “feminazi.”

RATING: 3.999 / 5 

BADASSERY RATING: 500,000,000/5

RELEASE DATE: July 7, 2020. So...today! Hurray, I technically got this review done on time! Ahahahahaha the world is on fire what do you want from me.

CINDERELLA RATING:

[ficretus]

Greek influences in Fall Maiden and Relic of Choice

Just wanted to throw some thoughts about connections between Fall Maiden and her Relic to primarily Apollo and his temple in Delphi.

FALL MAIDEN AND APOLLO:

Apollo is Ancient Greek god of many things: music, dance, healing, archery, but in this theory I will mostly focus on him being god of prophecy. Both major characters that are associated with Fall Maiden power, Pyrrha and Cinder, believe in Destiny. This is an immediate connection to Apollo.

Cinder however, takes connections step further. When observing RWBY from perspective of Pyrrha's literary allusion, Cinder is Paris to Pyrrha's Achilles. There are several parallels between them beyond being just murderer of Achilles character. Both were cast down at birth, Paris being shepherd and Cinder being slave. Both are most prominent archers of their respective stories. Both started a major war (you can even draw a parallel between Paris doing it to have Helen and Cinder doing it to take Maiden power, both being connected to a woman).

Thing with Paris is that he was protected by Apollo. This parallels with Fall Maiden power neatly in the duel between Pyrrha and Cinder. Cinder ends up winning thanks to Fall Maiden power, power that is of divine origin. Paris depending on the version gets either powered up by Apollo to slay Achilles or Apollo outright takes his place. And as I said before, Apollo is god of archery so Cinder being an archer is another parallel.

Paris would end up dying to Philoctetes, which parallels Cinder's encounter with Ruby. Out of four arrows Philoctetes fired, one hit Paris' eye, one his arm, one his heel and one missed. First two match wounds Cinder suffered, heel shot and poison Philoctetes used can be interpreted as Ruby being Cinder's weakness, her Achilles heel. But that's besides the point.

Cinder can also be connected back to Apollo if looking at potential literary allusion like Rhodopis story (more specifically Herodotus version). Rhodopis is basically proto Cinderella story about courtesan being enslaved twice before being freed from slavery by wealthy merchant. At the end of the story, Rhodopis makes a donation to the Apollo's temple at Delphi. This brings me to the next subject.

RELIC AND DELPHI:

It is entirely possible that primary influence of Relic of Choice will be Pythia, high priestess of Delphi Oracle. Object that according to the myths gave Pythia her power of divination is laurel wreath on her head. They believed that Apollo lives within the wreath and shows future to the oracle by rustling its leaves. This parallels what we so far know about Relic of Choice: it's Crown of divine origin that shows user future.

Pythia herself was chosen among influential and skilled local girls, that usually had to be virgins (if not, then they had to abandon their familial duties) following the death of their predecessor. This parallels back to Maidens themselves. Maiden and virgin are synonyms so in both cases it fits the primary holder of the Relic (Interestingly enough Raven is only Maiden that we know for certain wasn't virgin when she was selected and she ended up abandoning her familial duties, similar to Pythia). Maiden powers are also lifelong duty that are transferred upon user's death.

Interestingly enough, when she was working, Pythia descended to adyton, inaccessible area in the temple. This parallels to the Vaults, being hidden areas that can only be accessed by their respective Maiden.

Potential parallel could be Vault's location. If it ends up being in Beacon itself, then Grimm Wyrm that fought alongside of Cinder at the end of Volume 3 becomes interesting parallel. Delphi Oracle was built on the spot where Apollo has slain Python, depending on the version either serpent or draconic creature. So just like Oracle was built where he once stood, petrified Grimm becomes "X marks the spot" for the location of the Vault and the Relic.

LESSON OF A FALL MAIDEN:

I don't think Relic itself will be reliable future seeing device. If it can be used like that, then it becomes Relic of Knowledge, but for future. If it can show future when asked, then it's no longer really about a choice.

In the story of Indecisive King we get some clues how it works. It doesn't show all possible futures, it potentially only centers around choice user makes. Indecisive King only sees the futures in which he is doomed, if it showed all potential futures, than he would have seen the future that was in the story's ending. Reason I say it potentially only centers around one choice is the fact Widow is capable of seeing the future where she is with the King. That future is consequence of her helping the King. So it's possible King himself wanted to see what would have happened if he continued walking his path, while Widow wanted to see the future where she helped the King.

Reason I go over this is uncertainty in Pythia's visions of the future. Of course, we know that they were purposefully ambiguous so it would appear Pythia was right no matter what. They are vague statements that can be interpreted in variety of ways. For example, when Athenians asked her how to defend themselves from the Persians she told them wooden walls would stop them. Some interpreted that as wooden upgrade to existing walls, Themistocles interpreted it as building a navy. In the end Themistocles was right and Athenians defeated Persians in the battle of Salamis. Prophecy itself is meaningless, what matters is the choice you make yourself. I believe Relic in the show will work similar way, show vague vision of the future centered around what you want to see. It is up to you to interpret it and decide what to do.

______________________________________________________________

Last thing I want to focus on is Fall Maiden's lesson in Four Maidens, in universe fairy tale about Maidens. Fall Maiden lesson is moderation, being satisfied with what you already have. This perfectly fits Cinder who's villainy is based around her hunger for power.

There are three maxims inscribed on the temple's pillar at Delphi: Know thyself, Nothing to excess, Surety brings ruin. Fall Maiden's lesson is basically the second maxim, however other two also fit Cinder as a character.

Know thyself fits as she lost her way somewhere between her backstory and he current self. In her backstory she wants to be free, right now while she probably wants the same thing down the line, the way she goes about it have brought her to ruin. No matter what she accomplishes with Maiden powers, she can never be free from Salem. She needs an introspection to realize she walks doomed path.

Surety brings ruin also fits her considering her overconfidence and impulses costed her victory more than once. You can even tinfoil this one since alternate translation is "Make a pledge and trouble is at hand". It pretty much means the same thing since act of making a pledge indicates surety, however as I said, you can tinfoil it. Many people misinterpreted this maxim as making a warning against making any bonds or trusting people. This matches Cinder who is extremely distrustful of others and doesn't have any meaningful emotional connections due to her trauma. You can also tinfoil it harder to mean that because Cinder made a pledge to Salem, she now has literal trouble at hand, her Grimm arm.

______________________________________________________________

Way I see it, looking at Delphian maxims and the way Pythia's prophecies work, I'd say this confirms that whatever happens in the final Vault will be the make or break moment for Cinder's character. She'll either have to look inwards and make the right choice or continue walking a doomed path.

Anyways, what are your thoughts? Feel free to comment if you feel like I missed something or have your own interpretations.

[disneyhistorychallenge]

Anastasia had never felt like this about someone, Theokritos is one of the Prince's guards, but the way he listened made her feel like the centre of the room.

Unfortunately her happiness was short lived.

"What is going on here!" Lady Tremaine yelled "I did not raise you and bring you to this ball to make a fool of me."

"And you" Lady Tremaine's face was turning red "I never want to see you near my daughter again. I will ruin you and your family if I ever see you speak or look in her direction"

Anastasia was devastated, she had known her mother wouldn't be happy but she didn't take it that far!

Rhodopis didn't know what to do with the atmosphere that came home with her stepfamily, but passing by Anastasia's room she couldn't help but feel concerned.

"Anastasia are you okay? I know it's not my place but I'm here if you'd like to talk?"

"I don't know what i expected, but it hurts so much" Anastasia admitted. Rhodopis felt a rising determination, she had never thought to stand up for herself, but for someone else being hurt she could finally see that they couldn't let things go on.

"Listen do you really love him?" Anastasia nodded slowly. "Then I have a plan to maybe get us both out of this place."

[onewomancitadel]

You believe Knightfall to be impossible?

No.

I consider what kind of story the show is interested in telling and what seems like the obvious (or not) narrative path based on other stories to come to this conclusion.

Knightfall would be very, very unique if it were the path chosen. Cindemption alone is great, because when one talks about redemption arcs one gets people who don't understand why Vader died (parental sacrifice) or people who bring up Zuko as if you can only have one or two redemption arcs in media (both in number and type of structure) and so her story arc is actually fucking new and interesting. (I'm thinking particularly here of the type of villainess she is, especially as a Byronic hero lol).

But Knightfall has so much flavour to it I've never really seen in any other ship. The male healer, the female villainness, but she's structurally a protagonist, so he's like - the pretty boy love interest - but carries a lot of agency in the story! Angst, pain, worldviews challenged - like he's the first to do that in the story, asking her why she is the way she is, he ironically learns from her to ditch the self-sacrificing agenda - there's so much that's interesting about it I've never really found in another ship before. I could go on all day, and this isn't a Knightfall manifesto, but there really isn't anything like it.

I think so far the show has proven it's willing to be bold, and that's one of the things I admire about it. So when I think about viability of the ship I also consider that we should take the text on its own terms and its intertextuality (though in this respect I think occasionally people afford too much importance to source texts - including me). In doing that I think canon ships like BB and RN are very obvious (BB here doing some heavylifting with Beauty and the Beast, which is a case of where the fairytale stuff is actually relevant), whereas in the case of BB it would've been easy to read Blake/Sun, because guy gets girl, right lol.

In terms of in-universe, I don't think it's impossible, no, not if they've already committed to telling it and not if they've already committed to Cindemption, there's probably just going to be delicious angst and conflict. Which is why it's the most interesting, and I think complements the other ships in the show well.

That and the themes of forgiveness and reconciliation which can be explored through it (which the show seems most interested in doing - its narrative really isn't punitive) really resonate with me personally and I think align with what the story has already demonstrated.

When I think about points against it - the narrative beaten path like Jaune/Weiss, reformed guy gets girl he patiently waited for (fetch me a bucket), there’s one thing here I want to put in but I’m not going to vague about it lol, they're on the island together and fell one after the other etc. - I do think the coin is in the air right now. That ship breaks so many ship patterns though, so I'm dubious. I'm also a baby with a soft heart who can't handle being hurt so I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket, so to speak.

Though on that falling point, Cinder and Jaune were the last two out of the Vacuo portal, so what patterns are you willing to look for? Everything looks like a nail when one has a hammer.

That's why I'm always willing to couch my interpretation in scepticism. That being said, there is too much that's suspicious about Rhodopis, The Indecisive King, the given ship patterning, (what was going on with that manga panel), the anima/animus stuff, the Fall Maiden's lesson (pay attention to that post title), Reverse Salem/Ozma (and this one I think is significant in the respect of what is the actual superstructure of the story and why it's being told) and so on and so forth for me to ignore. It's just too much. So I oscillate regarding the possibility of it because I am baby, but nevertheless my attention does not stray from the ship. It interests me in the respect of wanting to unpack the story's engine and figure out to what degree they actually insert esoteric references into the story, what matters the most in how they tell the story (and the irony is that the show is really telling its own story first and foremost) etc. I have a curiosity about it.

Especially because it seems so fucking obvious if you're willing to look. I don't just mean their narratives being connected platonically, I mean romantically. Like what is going on! I feel like I'm going crazy!

[roseharlaws]

Dearheart

Much like Helene, this friend was enchanted by books in a way that animated his every word; what resonated between Helene’s voice on the page before me and my friend’s in my memory, was the respect, need, and love for books that characterized their mutual passion.

books provide: a way of reaching out across time and space to friends and strangers, and to the absent presences that play such a large part in all our lives. I

The books arrived safely, the Stevenson is so fine it embarrasses my orange-crate bookshelves, I’m almost afraid to handle such soft vellum and heavy cream-colored pages. Being used to the dead-white paper and stiff cardboardy covers of American books, I never knew a book could be such a joy to the touch.

The day Hazlitt came he opened to “I hate to read new books,” and I hollered “Comrade!” to whoever owned it before me.

I require a book of love poems with spring coming on. No Keats or Shelley , send me poets who can make love without slobbering—Wyatt or Jonson or somebody, use your own judgment. Just a nice book preferably small enough to stick in a slacks pocket and take to Central Park.

Please write and tell me about London, I live for the day when I step off the boat-train and feel its dirty sidewalks under my feet. I want to walk up Berkeley Square and down Wimpole Street and stand in St. Paul’s where John Donne preached and sit on the step Elizabeth sat on when she refused to enter the Tower, and like that. A newspaper man I know, who was stationed in London during the war, says tourists go to England with preconceived notions, so they always find exactly what they go looking for. I told him I’d go looking for the England of English literature, and he said: “Then it’s there.”

The Newman arrived almost a week ago and I’m just beginning to recover. I keep it on the table with me all day, every now and then I stop typing and reach over and touch it. Not because it’s a first edition; I just never saw a book so beautiful. I feel vaguely guilty about owning it. All that gleaming leather and gold stamping and beautiful type belongs in the pine-panelled library of an English country home; it wants to be read by the fire in a gentleman’s leather easy chair—not on a secondhand studio couch in a one-room hovel in a broken-down brownstone front.

Thank you for the beautiful book. I’ve never owned a book before with pages edged all round in gold. Would you believe it arrived on my birthday? I wish you hadn’t been so over-courteous about putting the inscription on a card instead of on the flyleaf. It’s the bookseller coming out in you all, you were afraid you’d decrease its value. You would have increased it for the present owner. (And possibly for the future owner. I love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in margins, I like the comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading passages some one long gone has called my attention to.)

Thank you again for the beautiful book, I shall try very hard not to get gin and ashes all over it, it’s really much too fine for the likes of me.

Write me about London—the tube, the Inns of Court, Mayfair, the corner where the Globe Theatre stood, anything, I’m not fussy. Write me about Knightsbridge, it sounds green and gracious in Eric Coates’ London.

P. S. Your mother is setting out bravely this morning to look at an apartment for you on 8th Avenue in the 50’s because you told her to look in the theatre district. Maxine you know perfectly well your mother is not equipped to look at ANYTHING on 8th Avenue.

You may add Walton’s Lives to the list of books you aren’t sending me. It’s against my principles to buy a book I haven’t read, it’s like buying a dress you haven’t tried on, but you can’t even get Walton’s Lives in a library over here.

You can look at it. They have it down at the 42nd street branch. But not to take home! the lady said to me, shocked. eat it here, just sit right down in room 315 and read the whole book without a cup of coffee, a cigarette or air.

Doesn’t matter, Q quoted enough of it so I know I’ll like it. anything he liked i’ll like except if it’s fiction. i never can get interested in things that didn’t happen to people who never lived.

Boy, I’d like to have run barefoot through THEIR library before they sold it.

Fascinating book to read, did you know John Donne eloped with the boss’s highborn daughter and landed in the Tower for it and starved and starved and THEN got religion. my word.

You want to be the murderer or the corpse?

You’ll be fascinated to learn (from me that hates novels) that I finally got round to Jane Austen and went out of my mind over Pride & Prejudice which I can’t bring myself to take back to the library till you find me a copy of my own.

I houseclean my books every spring and throw out those I’m never going to read again like I throw out clothes I’m never going to wear again. It shocks everybody. My friends are peculiar about books. They read all the best sellers, they get through them as fast as possible, I think they skip a lot. And they NEVER read anything a second time so they don’t remember a word of it a year later. But they are profoundly shocked to see me drop a book in the wastebasket or give it away. The way they look at it, you buy a book, you read it, you put it on the shelf, you never open it again for the rest of your life but YOU DON’T THROW IT OUT! NOT IF IT HAS A HARD COVER ON IT! Why not? I personally can’t think of anything less sacrosanct than a bad book or even a mediocre book.

The Book-Lovers’ Anthology stepped out of its wrappings, all gold-embossed leather and gold-tipped pages, easily the most beautiful book I own including the Newman first edition. It looks too new and pristine ever to have been read by anyone else, but it has been: it keeps falling open at the most delightful places as the ghost of its former owner points me to things I’ve never read before. Like Tristram Shandy’s description of his father’s remarkable library which “contained every book and treatise which had ever been wrote upon the subject of great noses.” (Frank! Go find me Tristram Shandy! )

THOU VARLET? Don’t remember which restoration playwright called everybody a Varlet, I always wanted to use it in a sentence.

I shall be obliged if you will send Nora and the girls to church every Sunday for the next month to pray for the continued health and strength of the messrs. gilliam, reese, snider, campanella, robinson, hodges, furillo, podres, newcombe and labine, collectively known as The Brooklyn Dodgers. If they lose this World Series I shall Do Myself In and then where will you be?

Have you got De Tocqueville’s Journey to America? Somebody borrowed mine and never gave it back. Why is it that people who wouldn’t dream of stealing anything else think it’s perfectly all right to steal books?

I write you from under the bed where that catullus drove me. i mean it PASSETH understanding.

Up till now, the only Richard Burton I ever heard of is a handsome young actor I’ve seen in a couple of British movies and I wish I’d kept it that way. This one got knighted for turning Catullus—caTULLus—into Victorian hearts-and-flowers.

And poor little Mr. smithers must have been afraid his mother was going to read it, he like to KILL himself cleaning it all up.

I go through life watching the english language being raped before my face. like miniver cheevy, I was born too late. and like miniver cheevy I cough and call it fate and go on drinking.

I am starting with a script about New York under seven years of British Occupation and i MARVEL at how i rise above it to address you in friendly and forgiving fashion, your behavior over here from 1776 to 1783 was simply FILTHY.

When, as a little boy, William Blake saw the prophet Ezekiel under a tree amid a summer field, he was soundly trounced by his mother.

I will read the three standard passages from Sermon XV aloud,” you have to read Donne aloud, it’s like a Bach fugue.

i am going to bed. i will have hideous nightmares involving huge monsters in academic robes carrying long bloody butcher knives labelled Excerpt, Selection, Passage and Abridged.

Thought of you last night, my editor from Harper’s was here for dinner, we were going over this story-of-my-life and we came to the story of how I dramatized Landor’s “Aesop and Rhodope” for the “Hallmark Hall of Fame.” Did I ever tell you that one? Sarah Churchill starred as Landor’s dewy-eyed Rhodope. The show was aired on a Sunday afternoon. Two hours before it went on the air, I opened the New York Times Sunday book review section and there on page 3 was a review of a book called A House Is Not a Home by Polly Adler, all about whorehouses, and under the title was the photo of a sculptured head of a Greek girl with a caption reading: “Rhodope, the most famous prostitute in Greece.” Landor had neglected to mention this. Any scholar would have known Landor’s Rhodope was the Rhodopis who took Sappho’s brother for every dime he had but I’m not a scholar, I memorized Greek endings one stoic winter but they didn’t stay with me.

Wasn’t anything else that intrigued me much, it’s just stories, I don’t like stories. Now if Geoffrey had kept a diary and told me what it was like to be a little clerk in the palace of richard III—THAT I’d learn Olde English for. I just threw out a book somebody gave me, it was some slob’s version of what it was like to live in the time of Oliver Cromwell—only the slob didn’t live in the time of Oliver Cromwell so how the hell does he know what it was like? Anybody wants to know what it was like to live in the time of Oliver Cromwell can flop on the sofa with Milton on his pro side and Walton on his con, and they’ll not only tell him what it was like, they’ll take him there.

“The reader will not credit that such things could be,” Walton says somewhere or other, “but I was there and I saw it.”

that’s for me, I’m a great lover of I-was-there books.

We had a very pleasant summer with more than the usual number of tourists, including hordes of young people making the pilgrimage to Carnaby Street. We watch it all from a safe distance, though I must say I rather like the Beatles. If the fans just wouldn’t scream so.

I introduced a young friend of mine to Pride & Prejudice one rainy Sunday and she has gone out of her mind for Jane Austen.

I hope you and Brian have a ball in London. He said to me on the phone: “Would you go with us if you had the fare?” and I nearly wept.

But I don’t know, maybe it’s just as well I never got there. I dreamed about it for so many years. I used to go to English movies just to look at the streets. I remember years ago a guy I knew told me that people going to England find exactly what they go looking for. I said I’d go looking for the England of English literature, and he nodded and said: “It’s there.”

Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. Looking around the rug one thing’s for sure: it’s here.

We all lead busy lives—perhaps it’s better so.

If you happen to pass by 84, Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me. I owe it so much.

[laurinebruder]

Countdown: Top 3 Fairy Tales Used in Retellings

Fairy tales are my bread and butter as a writer. When I was young, I was introduced to them via the Disney Renaissance movies: The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, most notably. As soon as I saw them in theatres, I had to read about them. As I grew older and the internet became a thing, I read more about fairy tales from other parts of the world and gained access to some of the older versions of my old favorites. These tales are my foundation as a fantasy writer.

My favorite tales were always full of magic and wonder. I even liked some of the pure morality tales, like “The Girl Without Hands” or “The Red Shoes.” My imagination flew as a child and the very first story I wrote was about a girl who lived in a magical volcano. I didn't even know who Pele was at the time, otherwise I would have given her credit. I devoured any book that had to do with witches, wizards, magic, and mystery.

So the surge in retellings has made me a happy reader indeed.

Retelling tales isn't a new concept, given how often fairy tales were translated into different languages and adopted to different cultures, but the modern upswing has gone far beyond that. Favorite, beloved stories are transformed until they're almost unrecognizable. Some are used more often than others, but which ones are the most popular? What elements about them draw writers and readers alike into their worlds? Welcome, dear reader, as we look at the 3 most popular fairy tales used in retellings and why we keep coming back to them.

Certain fairy tales have a more timeless feel than others. Their stories resonate with readers for generations. They inspire us centuries after their creation and touch the most fundamentally human parts of our hearts. When talking about fairy tales, these could be considered “The Big Three” in how often they're used in retellings.

1. Beauty and the Beast

Thanks to Disney's critically acclaimed animated feature, this tale catapulted to popularity, but even before then, people knew of it. Whether it was the more commonly published Marie Leprince de Beaumont or Andrew Lang version, the original publication by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, or even the myth of Eros and Psyche, the tale of a girl who falls in love with a monster, only to discover he's in truth a handsome prince, has been known for ages. It has charmed and enchanted readers with its magic, romance, and mystery.

But what about this tale encourages so many retellings?

Let's take a look.

At its core, “Beauty and the Beast” has a universal message: the transforming power of love. It isn't just the Beast's transformation to handsome prince, but it's how a person changes themselves for someone they love. It's about how we as people want to be our best possible selves when we're in love and how that change takes time. “Beauty and the Beast” is one of the few fairy tales where love grows over time. It reflects real life and that powerful message of love is something that resonates with humanity as a whole.

There's also the message of kindness and how it shouldn't be denied to anyone, man or beast. To deny kindness is, in itself, a beastly behavior and what caused the prince to be transformed in the first place. When he is shown and gives kindness, he becomes less a beast and more a human being. This kindness resonates in a secondary message of looking beneath the surface of a person to see the beauty within.

Fairy tale heroines were the original beauty queens. They were fair, delicate, and good. They shone with virtue. The heroine in “Beauty and the Beast” is no exception. She is a good, dutiful daughter, the most beautiful of her sisters, well-read, and the purest of heart. Their princes were handsome, strong men, to match the heroine's beauty. Not the Beast. The Beast was such a prince, but becomes what would usually be the monster of the tale. It takes kindness and courage on Beauty's part to look past his exterior and see who he really is. Her strength and caring resonates with readers young and old.

“Beauty and the Beast” has the most potential to be shaped into a new version of itself. Its basic, touching messages combined with elements of magic, romance, and mystery are wonderful ingredients to create new tales as old as time.

2. Cinderella

Although I love “Beauty and the Beast,” I have to admit that “Cinderella” is my favorite fairy tale of all time. “Cinderella” has always spoken to me in ways that other stories didn't. There are thousands of versions all over the world, from every culture, but the oldest recorded version is of Rhodopis, as told by Strabo, a Greek geographer. The most well known versions are by Charles Perrault (“Cendrillon”) and the Brothers Grimm (“Aschenputtel”), but the first European version was published by Giambattista Basile (“Cenerentola”). Each version has its differences, but what is it about the story of a young girl who goes to a ball that compels writers to retell it so many different ways?

The core of “Cinderella” is no less powerful than “Beauty and the Beast” but it has a dark side: this is a fairy tale of abuse and the power of hope. In both Perrault and the Grimm versions of the tale, the Cinderella character is forced into a life of servitude after her mother dies and her father remarries. Also in both tales, and what makes it far worse, is that the father survives and allows this abuse of his only child. It's a sad state, but often seen in reality: children neglected and abused by their parents, the people meant to protect and love them. When, or if, they survive, it's a marvel of personal strength and character.

Despite all of the insults, chores, and sorrow heaped upon her, Cinderella never gives up hope. She never loses her kind nature, which takes strength all on its own. To resist abuse, to resist falling into the pit of hate and hopelessness and anger, requires an iron will and great courage, something often overlooked in Cinderella tales.

The message of hope, of never giving up, is one that also resonates through the changing times. Humanity itself exists on hope, going all the way back to the tale of Pandora's Box, and it's the one thing we keep with us, always. Because Cinderella has hope and courage, she is able to retain her good heart in the face of adversity, and is rewarded for it. While the real world isn't so kind, and having a good heart isn't a guarantee of reward, we still hope. We hope that somehow, someday, that strength will be rewarded.

Cinderella may have wanted a night off and a pretty dress to go to a party after a lifetime of slaving away for her family, but she's so much more than that. She's strong. The kind of strong modern readers want in their leading ladies.

3. Snow White

I have to admit, “Snow White” isn't one of my favorite fairy tales, although I do like some of the recent retellings. Originally published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812 and called, “Schneewittchen,” it obtained its final version in 1854. It's one of the few fairy tales that doesn't have prior origins but is strictly native to its homeland of Germany. In comparison to the other two on this list, it's relatively young. Funny that, because it suits the main character perfectly. Snow White was around 7 years old when she was chased from her home by her stepmother (originally her mother in the first published version) and while Disney aged her to 14 years, she's still incredibly young and innocent.

Not to mention beautiful.

On the surface, Snow White embodies little of the strength of character that Beauty and Cinderella do. In the original tale, her father remarries and her stepmother comes to hate her, she is not made into a servant. She is still allowed to live as a princess. It's only until the queen can no longer contain her jealousy that she orders Snow White killed. 

While Snow White faces greater hardship, in that someone actually attempts to murder her, she never saves herself. Her innocence leads her to fall for the queen's tricks 3 times, making a total of 4 attempts, if you count the huntsman. The dwarves are the ones who save her from herself and naivete. The prince saves her when the glass coffin she sleeps in is dropped and she spits out the bit of apple. The core message could be about innocence, and how the wicked try to kill it, but I think “Snow White” has a different appeal.

Rather than a universal message, it has a villain who has become beloved by the masses: the evil queen.

Jealousy is one of the basest human emotions. Everyone, myself included, has been jealous of something or someone at one point in life. The sheer dislike, anger, and sense of injustice against someone else possessing what we covet is the darker side of the human psyche and one that's explored briefly in the Brothers Grimm tale. The queen's jealousy is fueled by her obsession with two things: beauty and, to a lesser extent, youth.

In the original fairy tale, the queen is a pure villain. She has no background to justify her motives behind wanting to be fairest in the land. She simply wants it. When Snow White becomes more beautiful than her, she wants to kill the child and eliminate the problem. She has no qualms about murdering her own stepdaughter and attempts to do so multiple times. At the end, she goes to the wedding to kill the young bride, not knowing it's Snow White, so deep is her obsessive need to be the fairest of them all.

But why? What drives this obsession?

That's what writers around the world have done when reimagining and retelling the “Snow White” tale. They delve into the backstory of the queen. Writers are drawn to this type of character, who can be given a complex and compelling background to explain how she came to be and the reason behind her obsession. The possibilities are endless and it frees the imagination in a way that “Beauty and the Beast” and “Cinderella” don't. 

Neither story has such open characters. Both the queen and Snow White can be reinterpreted, Snow White could be given a gun and a backbone, the queen could be a lonely girl forced to marry a man she doesn't love, the list goes on and on. That, I think, more than any universal message is what draws writers into using Snow White in their retellings.

Plus, who doesn't love a story about a wicked queen trying to poison our heroine and the heroine actually doing something about it?

With 3 such rich tales, it's no wonder the market has exploded with retellings. Some of the more recent ones include the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas, and “The Shadow Queen” by C.J. Redwine. More are being released every month. I, myself, am looking forward to reading, “Forest of a Thousand Lanterns” by Julie C. Dao, released just this month. Funny enough, it's a “Snow White” retelling, featuring the Evil Queen and set in East Asia. Fairy tale retellings are emerging from all cultural backgrounds and to a voracious book dragon like myself, that is the best tale of all.

Thanks for stopping by, dear reader, and look for new blog posts on Tuesdays. I've got a secret project in the works that I'll be posting updates about with my posts so look for that in the future too. Please like, comment, or reblog if you enjoyed this post, and until next time, it's lights out at the lookout.