#Gerelody

[cespool]

Can we PLEASE talk about how Gerard CHOSE TO GIVE HIS NAME, HIS STORY, HIS DESTINY, AND GIVE IT TO ELODY even AFTER Rapunzel straight up told him Elody did not fall in love with him because of him but because it was the right thing to do.

Regardless of whether or not this is the truth, the fact that Gerard CHOSE to give what he gave shows that Gerard, despite all his faults, really did love Elody beyond himself.

He's gone on record saying he would have fell in love with her even if she had a spider for a face and now this?

Maybe Elody fell in love with Gerard because he was a frog that needed saving. Maybe she didnt.

Maybe Gerard fell in love with Elody because she could make him human. Maybe he didnt.

We don't really know how their love began but what we do know now for certain is that Gerard truly loves Elody, loves her enough to essentially LET GO of her. Unshackle her from the responsibility of keeping him human.

Elody loved Gerard to make him human.

Gerard loves Elody enough to become a frog again.

[dumpster-druid]

Theo Gooey this, Gerard Elody that, let's not forget the first character where Brennan flirted with Murph:

Perry Pidgeon.

[prima-donna-worm]

hm hm and if elody DOES know what the princesses are planning, if she DOES believe in their goal,, if she found the body of the cowardly husband she left behind and it destroyed her but he died following after her trying to be better for her,,,, if gerard and elody end up on different sides of a war that gerard is only fighting in because elody inspired him to be brave,,,,,,,, if he goes to battle against his own wife because she taught him to take a stand for what he believes in,,,,,,,,,,, if she grows weary of fighting to keep going after the would-be happy ending just as he is finally learning that that’s exactly when you can’t give up that’s when you have to work the hardest,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,what then what then

[starchyeah]

"you see a weeping Elody standing on the ramparts, looking at you ride off into the distance"

[bitemarx]

i can’t articulate how much these two mean to me… the most divorced friends of all time <3

[lightningidle]

A thought about Gerard’s scene in Episode 18, which is: Elody watches the conversation between Gerard and Rapunzel.

                                                    ——————

Princess Elody is a tactical motherfucker, so even when these cool young women approach her and say all the right things, things that make sense, she doesn’t fully buy in. Not at face value.

When they talk about princes, it’s somehow both completely flippant and with caustic derision — like these young men were props meant to move the plot along, sole owners of agency in stories that weren’t even titled after them. (Elody wonders about their treatment of the princes as the fairies’ deux es machina, wonders about how easy it is to “kill a lot of princes” as Snow White explains. And by their own logic, how likely is it, really, that the princes are cardboard cutouts if Cinderella is so sure her stepmother, not even royalty, has her own book?)

There’s evidence to the contrary of this in her story specifically, which she has no trouble recounting. There’s no way her prince was meant to pacify her into an idyllic life, because he’s a layabout! He’s unreliable! And sure, he’s charming and fun, yes, he tried to pull her away from the war table, but that wasn’t because of any scheming to get her to stay in line, it was just because he wanted attention. He’s frivolous, he’s not a monster, she says. She’s so passionate in her defense of Gerard’s personhood that she almost misses the shared look of the princesses, the glint in Rapunzel’s eye.

Let us show you, Rapunzel says, what a monster looks like.

The scrying ritual is completed quickly and without fuss. Rapunzel stares into a mirror that ripples like water, and then, on the other side, there he is. More froglike than he’s ever been.

“You’re a prince, friends are probably pretty expendable, right? How many friends have you really had, other than Elody?”

Now hold on, Elody wants to say, that’s goading him. That’s not fair. Cinderella puts a firm hand on her shoulder and shakes her head no, to stay quiet, to wait it out. Elody bites her tongue and waits for Gerard to prove one of them right.

“Your friends seem to really value you as a person. I’m sure it’s a comfort to know that they’re not just sort of putting up with you because you’ll tag along and swing your sword, prove a little bit useful.”

Gerard has snowball fights with his friends. He has friends? He has a dedicated workout buddy? She’s not sure he’s ever been dedicated to anything, except for gossip... or her. Now that she thinks about it, he has always been unquestionably devoted to her, hasn’t he?

“I have seen some titanic feats of strength from my companions the Beast, Cinderella, Snow White. Truly impressive acts of heroism.

I do not think I have seen any of my sisters strain more greatly than the Princess Elody to find something kind to say about you.”

Elody does open her mouth to speak this time, which turns out to be a huge mistake when a writhing mass of knotted hair wraps around the lower half of her face. Not to constrict, only to silence. A pit forms in her stomach at the thought that Rapunzel might not be lying, that in trying to defend Gerard she only condemned the worst of him.

“Yes... I don’t... I don’t doubt that.”

Her heart breaks for the second time.

“But I haven't seen the Princess Elody in a while, and I think it's telling that I'm seeing you in this lake and not her or any of the other princesses. I think you’re... manipulating people, or not telling them the full truth.”

Her eyes dart to the other princesses. Snow White’s expression remains unchanged, though Cinderella’s darkens slightly. When Rapunzel speaks again, it does not escape Elody’s notice that she doesn’t acknowledge what Gerard pointed out; she deflects. Elody is getting angrier, now, tugging at the hair around her jaw, hardly even hearing the next bit until a third voice speaks up, says the Princess Elody cares for you deeply.

“Not quite the same thing.”

“It's not, but seeing as the last thing she saw of me was me running away after I had already done that, I’m grateful that she still cares for me at all.”

The hair gathering around her tenses. Elody was brought here to see that, when Gerard thought nobody else could hear, he would prove himself to be just an agent of the fairies, or an empty vessel, or a selfish monster. What she’s seeing is none of those things. But she’s also not seeing the man she knew as her husband: he’s grown and changed, almost become someone else entirely. She wants to call out to Gerard. She wants to get to know him all over again.

“Gerard,” Rapunzel hisses, “what do you think the odds are that it got into Elody's head that the virtuous thing to do was to fall in love with a cold and slimy frog, and that every kindness she has paid you in your life has been a testament to her charity, rather than anything about you that would bring her joy?”

Elody freezes.

“I don't know that I can answer that.”

“It doesn’t seem very fair to Elody that you can’t.” 

“... I agree.”

The image in the mirror of the man who will never be a man again ripples and vanishes. Elody’s hands have fallen away from the hair around her face, which is convenient, as she finds herself suddenly holding a book. The hair recedes, and she doesn’t register what it is Rapunzel is saying to try and placate her, because the book in her hands is a slim volume, bound in her favorite shade of green and embossed in golden ink.

On the front is the title — The Princess Elody.

[theskydoesgreatthingsnow]

I’m not an artist but I had a vision

[vunderjoy]

just a frog and his best friend

[cinnominbubble]

I think… Gerard hopes that Elody’s story is going in a way that she wants it to, or at least it gets there eventually, and it would be great if I had a chance to be there for it. And I hope we can break the curse the same way we did the first time, by getting to know each other again.

I am so gently moving up Arms Unfolding by dodie on the Gerelody playlist.

[brionbroadway]

Elody does not want the Sword of Truth, but that’s ok. She’s dying anyway.

Gerard almost gets it. I would like for you to have a chance to tell your story this time. Of course, that’s what she wants too. That’s why she left the castle walls and ran into the woods as a child, not knowing her first experience of freedom would tie her to a different fate. That’s why she fought wars alongside nameless, ruthless knights instead of a prince who would rather put on a superficial show of sword forms. That’s why she attacked The Authors instead of spilling the ink.  Those were choices she made, and was proud to make, even if destiny controlled the consequences of them.  

And then a fucking sword broke up with her husband.

“Because you said you cared about me but didn’t love me—”

“I didn’t say that!”

She yelled at Gerard in battle because if they were going to be on different sides, if they were going to die as alone as she’d felt for years, Elody could not have something else speak to her feelings. She could not have both her story and her response to it be beyond her control.

As they ride Death towards the shadows, Elody grasps the sword in her hand. She taps her fingers against it, a tic stolen from Gerard when he’d hold her hand. He almost gets it, but he’s still giving her a sword, a castle, when all she really wants is him.

Elody had always rebelled against her story. She had always challenged what others deemed was the truth. What would she write in her book, to make it all worth it?

Once upon a time, there was a princess who preferred the woods to a castle. And she had a friend.

Pages and ink fly around them. She will get a blank page, and she will not be alone on it. For now, it’s a relief to be riding Death, supported by the gentle way the wolf carries them. Elody gets to end this story with something other than happily ever after. She gets to end it with her truth.

“I do love you.”

“I love you too.”

The Sword of Truth glows. It’s reflecting Elody’s aura.

[captainswan618]

The one-two punch of Gerard finally prioritizing bigger-picture things over personal matters by saying he doesn’t need to talk to Elody yet, followed by Elody asserting that personal matters are important by asking to speak with him privately, is taking me OUT 😭❤️

[saingirl101]

So I got into Gerelody for the tragic romance it was becoming but i contected so strongly with the idea of them as friends after ep 19

For reference a few years back I broke up with a long distance partner after almost a year. We were good friends and I fell out of my romantic feelings for them and living in different states with different work hours and jobs it was hard to make it work romantically.

That said I angsted over telling my girlfriend how I felt because I didn't want to hurt her, but I ultimately did and we remained friends which was a huge relief.

I've just been where elody was, falling out of love and there's something so soothing and resonated so strongly with gerard saying I understand but we get to remain friends and that's ok.

Just having been in a similar situation its absolutely understandable why elody would join sides again with gerard (ignoring the dice component to it). A real friendship is one that can go to romantic and back again with a maturity rarely seen in fictional media.

What I am saying is I now want them to get a partial living happily moment where they go on adventure as best friends. A girl and her frog again.

[prima-donna-worm]

oh wait ok just watched yesterday’s ap here are my thoughts no one asked for teehee

1. obsessed with emily hyping murph/gerard up she’s like elody was SO MEAN to my HUSBAND the GREATEST GUY EVER

2. i do think the “you inspire me” thing is SUCH an interesting dynamic and brennan did push back on them with this but like. elody needing to inspire gerard to action IS part of the problem in their relationship. it is ALSO a very sweet and romantic sentiment and a very honest and vulnerable thing for gerard to say – he’s not putting on some sort of false bravado for her, he’s telling her the truth – but at it’s core it’s an acknowledgement of the imbalance between them

and i think both murph and gerard recognize that the fact that gerard *wouldn’t* have done anything if he hadn’t known elody was out there, that he wouldn’t have gone out and fought for the world simply because it was the right thing to do, because it was something that needed to be done, that that element of who he is and how he behaves is part of the problem, you know? and so “you inspire me” (while, again, i think does come from a very loving place) is also an admission of guilt, of cowardice, a reminder of everything gerard spent all those years *not* doing, and if elody hadn’t left, still wouldn’t be doing.

and while of course gerard is my beloved little cringe fail blorbo, i really appreciate the way brennan is playing elody and that she isn’t just immediately willing to take gerard back, or even to take him at his word that he’s changed, because she doesn’t need him to be inspired by her, she needs him to step up and stand at her side, but stand there on his own two feet. she needs him to be a partner, an equal, someone she can depend upon and trust and share the burden with, not someone she has to hold up. someone who can take on some of the weight, instead of another weight she has to carry.

and i *do* think gerard has become, or is becoming that person. like i think even the fact that he’s a battle master shows this – that he’s become a student of the very thing he asked elody to stop talking about at the dinner table, that he’s learned not just to stand and fight himself but to how fight *with* other people, how to lead them but also to support them. and i think his relationships with the other pcs and esp his conversations with ylfa show an emotional intelligence and empathy that maybe wasn’t always there before. and it’s my hope that in seeing gerard taking care of his party, or seeing him work with them in battle, or seeing him take a stand against the princess’s nihilism (even if she has bought into it herself), elody will realize that even if he came here for her, he’s independently become the person and the partner she needs him to be (or closer to it) on the way

3. buuuuuut i’m also actually really glad that murph and brennan decided ahead of time not to have a set outcome with them?? like that raises the emotional stakes sooo much from a rp perspective and i want to see murph/gerard work for it lol but i also think that like. elody is really justified in how she feels about gerard (which again, i think murph as a player and gerard as a character both know) and even though it’s easy to be team gerard and hype him up bc we’re seeing things from his side, elody has gone through a lot and had no one to inspire her through it. she’s been essentially alone for so long and gerard realizing his mistakes doesn’t actually fix anything in and of itself – and i think the uncertainty of it all feels so much more real than if a) they made up immediately and b) we knew they were going to make up eventually

[nightfaeses]

[ wip ] "Once upon a time..." 🏵

[chopinsliszt]

Princess Elody of Greenleigh from Neverafter

[ispridestillasin]

I'm contemplating writing something Gerelody where Gerard's ending is still canon but a few years after their divorce they both fall in love with each other again and date