#Marinette analysis

[iwasbored777]

See this is EXACTLY why Marinette was afraid to confess to Adrien

To everyone who kept saying that her reason to keep her feelings for herself was stupid, now you see why she never did it.

Adrien has always made it clear that Marinette is just a friend to him. They were friends and he was in love with someone but he made it clear many times that it was not her. And eventually that girl was Kagami, and Marinette knew that. So knowing that Adrien is in love with someone else, she couldn't confess, not because she thought she stands no chance but because she was afraid that he will break her heart. Because obviously if he doesn't love her, telling him that she loves him won't change his mind. It will only break her heart.

And she said it right before this thing was about to happen to her, unfortunately.

In Elation, she and Chat Noir love each other. And it's not the same as with Adrien because Chat Noir is 100% open about his feelings, he told her many times that he loves and they kissed and they were happy and it was all going well, until he said they can't date aka broke her heart. Everything worked out fine and she was so happy that she can date the boy she loves FINALLY after so long but then, even though he had a good reason, he rejected her. She got stood up. And that's what broke her. She was trying so hard to avoid being broken hearted from Adrien, who wasn't in love with her at the same time back then, that she didn't see it coming this time because Chat Noir confessed and took her out on a date and kissed her and THEN broke up with her. Which was ten times worse than rejecting her right away. So either way she experienced heartbreak.

And let's not forget how Luka broke up with her too because she is Ladybug and she didn't have enough space for him in her life.

And she finally got tired of it. It wasn't just the heartbreak that drew her over the edge but also how being Ladybug is taking away everything from her. But being Ladybug isn't the thing that actually hurt her so much. This was the final straw that nearly got her akumatized.

No wonder she was so unhappy and unable to understand why that happened because he gave her everything and then changed his mind right after. He said it feels like taking advantage of a fan when in reality she was already taken advantage of and it resulted in nothing. She opened up to the boy like this and gave it all for the first time and it backfired. So of course this girl is terrified of saying how she feels and she's going to feel even worse now because of this.

And of course she thinks boys really don't want her, because she felt like this three times already. They either break up with her because she is Ladybug or they break up with her because she is Marinette or they don't love her because she is Marinette. And she feels stupid for just trying to love someone because it can't happen. It just can't happen. She's not so lucky.

She took cataclysm to her heart three times already. Imagine how afraid of love she's going to be after this episode.

[copdog1234]

Man, I was watching the movie and the entire time I was thinking "Wow. This would've been so much more satisfying in the show" because the show has earned it. The show's writing is far from perfect, it has many, many flaws, but my god is it far better than Miraculous Awakening will ever be. And I'll tell you why.

I will preface by saying, yes, an hour and a half movie has way less time than a TV show with several episodes to build up characters and relationships, so time constraints will make it so we may not get as much depth in the on-screen relationships.

You know what, though? The time they spent playing mediocre songs could've been used better to show us all the things the songs had to outright tell us. Cause that was the problem.

The movie sure liked telling us how the characters were feeling. It rarely showed it. Like could you tell me why movie Marinette liked Adrien? Because I couldn't. What did he do to earn her affection beside look pretty? Why did we only get a montage of them getting closer instead of actually seeing it? Or how we never really see much of Gabriel and Adrien's struggles with the loss of Emilie, we simply get glimpses. How am I supposed to feel anything when Gabriel stops being Hawk Moth when this movie showed us literally nothing of their strained relationship? And then there's Gabriel's claim that he did absolutely everything to get Emilie back. No he didn't. He did actually nothing. He freed a couple of criminals and then akumatized himself. That's it. That's all he did.

Could you tell me why Alya decided to befriend Marinette? Could you tell me why Adrien "who decided not to get close to anyone" was friends with Nino? Could you tell me why Chloe was so confident Adrien had any interest in her when they never actually interacted?

And then there wasnt enough explanation on how anything that we should've been told worked. Could anyone really tell me how these versions of the miraculous work? Or why Master Fu was in possession of them? Or why they really chose their holders? Could you tell me if the kwami had much personality and were necessary?

Like, I will say, there were funny moments, the animation was nice, and there were cool set pieces, but where was the substance?? It was nonexistent. If you don't watch the show, would you know or feel anything for what was going on in this movie?

Cause even for me, who does watch the show, I didn't.

Think about this. The show has even faked out multiple reveals to me and every time I was hyped and screaming, I have read fanfiction of these same to characters falling in love and confessing every which way and I've swooned, but we get reveals and love confessions that are real and permanent in this movie and I felt. Nothing.

It's okay if yall disagree with me, but I just needed to get this off my chest. I'm hard on this movie because I wanted it to be good because I love the characters and story from the show.

[adrinoir]

The Miraculous Movie was different than the series…and that’s okay!

I watched the movie this morning and loved it! I think it’s important to talk about the changes that were made and what impact they had.

How the characters were rewritten

There definitely was a difference in how the characters were written in the movie, and some of the redevelopment of characters was really good!

Gabriel was by far the one who had the best redevelopment of his personality. Gabriel in the series is awful, as we all know.

In the series, he barely gives a shit about his own son, like there is absolutely nothing redeemable about his character. In every “what if” episode and the season 5 finale, Gabriel does not show any regret to hurting people, including his own son.

However, in the movie, Gabriel actually makes a better attempt to communicate with Adrien and, most importantly, feels strong regret when he hurt his son. He cries; he feels remorse for destroying Paris and injuring Adrien in the process. He hugs Adrien (along with the spirit of Emilie 🥹) and decides to stop being Hawk Moth. It was beautifully done. He got a redemption arc that he never got in the series. I know I personally felt so good watching that and seeing the relationship between him and Adrien being repaired.

Marinette was her usual clumsy self, but was written as having no friends at school because she embarrasses herself so much. In a way, it makes more sense than her being so popular like she is in the series. Kids in high school can be pretty judgy and ruthless. So it makes sense for the “clumsy girl” to be made fun of and judged by people who don’t know her well.

Adrien was different in a lot of ways. He wasn’t shown running to school to gain freedom. He wasn’t introduced as being a super model who’s friends with Chloe. Instead, he’s already going to the school, he’s already friends with Nino, and he happens to run into Marinette at the library. He doesn’t have that same chemistry with Marinette as he does in the series which is a bit odd that they took that away, but it does make sense that he’d turn her down when she asked him to the ball, since he loves Ladybug. In the movie, he very clearly sees Marinette as just a friend and it’s shown that he’s building a friendship with her without him developing a crush. It’s different but still wholesome, especially when he shows her the old family photo to her. Plus, it evens it out well since Ladybug obviously turns Cat Noir away but they’re still building up their bond, too. They both get turned down.

It was ehhh that Adrien was a bit too cocky at times as Cat Noir, but overall, his goofiness and self confidence is still pretty on brand for him. He was still very encouraging towards Ladybug but not overly flirtatious, pushing her to her limits. Instead, it was them lightly teasing each other and then playfully fighting. And, speaking of the playful fighting, their bond was stronger in the movie seeing as how they were shown spending more time together off duty and that they were treated as equals.

In the show, Cat Noir is automatically made sidekick and left in the dark about everything. But in the movie, he gets to meet Master Fu in disguise alongside Ladybug. Sure, he didn’t help Master Fu with his cane like he did in the series, but that didn’t matter since the lore was changed.

Alya was less annoying in the movie. Sorry. Don’t get me wrong, I love Alya in the series, but she’s so over the top at times with how obsessed she is over the heroes, blogging, and filming things for her blog. In the movie, she was toned down a lot and I liked that. It was also cute that Nino had a crush on her and just her, not Marinette first. Unlike the series, he wasn’t on that pipeline of guys who fell for Marinette since that pipeline doesn’t exist in the movie.

Tom was made out to be an embarrassment for Marinette which is honestly more realistic for a teenager. Most teenagers get pretty embarrassed by their parents, especially when they still treat them very childlike. And, I like that he went out to the fair to look for her since he heard there was danger. Marinette’s parents don’t usually go out to look for her or make sure she’s in her room when there’s danger afoot. So, I appreciate that they made Tom do that since he obviously loves Marinette a lot.

The rewriting of (some of) the lore

As I had mentioned in my previous section, the lore was rewritten, too. Instead of Master Fu being the one to pick Marinette and Adrien simply because they helped him, the kwamis sense that Marinette and Adrien are the right people to be Ladybug and Cat Noir. That was a much better way to write that, in my opinion.

Hawk Moth got ahold of the butterfly miraculous by mistake. That part wasn’t changed but also, it didn’t need to be.

The change of plot

The plot was very simple. It didn’t have a whole lot of crazy, in depth details like the show’s does. So, anyone who has never watched the show can easily understand and absorb what’s going on (I will be forcing my boyfriend to watch it with me since he’s never seen the show lol).

I like that it was very clear cut and easy to understand while still being intense and meaningful. It still summarizes a lot of what the series entails while fixing some issues in the plot development.

They didn’t doddle with Hawk Moth like they do in the show. He was a successful villain in his second attempt but then realized he should stop when he hurt his own son in the process.

Also, there was a reveal. It was a wee bit underwhelming, but I still think it was done well! It was a moment with just Marinette and Adrien alone, as it should be. And, it was cutesy and heartfelt. The fact that Marinette dressed like Ladybug for the ball (cutest dress ever imo) and Adrien dressed like Cat Noir was so cute. That’s what a lot of the fandom has been asking for and written about in fanfics, I feel like.

The romance between these two is most important. They didn’t need Kagami and Luka as 2nd love interests to throw things off track. Yes, I like these characters in the show, but they weren’t needed in the plot.

The music

I love musicals. I was a bit of a theater kid in high school, plus I’m obsessed with music lol. So, yes, I’m a bit biased when I say I love that they made this a musical.

I personally loved the music. I can tell a lot of good effort was put into it and I’ve already been listening to the songs on my Spotify. The song between Ladybug and Cat Noir in the theater “Now I See” and Cat Noir jumping on the clouds (literally, on cloud nine) singing “My Lady” was absolutely adorable and super romantic, which, as we know, is a big part of the show.

Even Gabriel’s song “Chaos Will Reign Today” was amazing! It conveyed a lot of emotion and turns into one of those dramatic villain songs. Keith Silverstein is clearly talented enough to sing for his own character and he did it well.

My only nitpick is that Marinette’s singer, Lou, has a very different voice than Christina Vee. So, Marinette sounds very different, much more mature-sounding when she sings and it kinda catches you off guard. I’m surprised they didn’t have Christina sing for her, but there must’ve been a reason why she didn’t. But, SQVARE sounded similar enough to Bryce Papenbrook when he sung for Cat Noir which i absolutely love.

Conclusion

I personally give this movie a 10/10 just because it made me smile the whole time, and it’s such a feel good movie. I’ll happily watch it again and listen to the soundtrack, especially on a day when I’m feeling down. It wasn’t perfect in every aspect, but it was perfect in a simple, heartwarming sense and that it can be watched by everyone, not only people who watch the series.

I understand if it made you cringe or you were moreso looking for a continuation of the series not a retelling. But, I prefer some simplicity which is a big part of what made me like it. Like I said, I know it wasn’t absolute perfection, but it was so frickin adorable and I can’t help but smile.

There’s a lot of differences but also plenty of similarities between the movie and the show. But understand they’re not meant to be the same and that’s okay! I don’t think the movie was horrible for most of the changes it made. In fact, I think most of them made sense and made it a bit more realistic (as I explained).

[uptoolateart]

Okay, so what I was saying in my long Gabriel analysis rings true. (Ha ha...rings....) He changed to be accepted by Emilie's parents.

Deep down, Gabriel probably relates to Marinette. In the story Feligami tell...Marinette could easily be the poor tailor, while Adrien is the heir to the empire, ready to throw it all away for her.

At some point, Gabriel got twisted and sold out his values. It was probably a gradual process, which explains why Emilie initially fell in love with him and then stuck with him despite her unhappiness with him later.

In one of her videos for Nathalie, she said Gabriel got stuck on things. He was good enough for her but not for himself.

When he looks at Marinette, he sees a little of what he used to be. When he gives her that speech about being naive in the fashion world...he's talking about himself, once upon a time. I think he once had a dream like hers, and he let it go, focusing instead on the wealth and status he needed to be good enough for his in-laws.

Now, he envies Marinette, even if he's unaware of it. That's the only reason a grown man would be fixated on her in that way. He's treating her the way Emilie's parents treated him. He has to break her and get her out of his son's life because if he doesn't - if she achieves her dreams of marrying Adrien and becoming a designer without selling out her principles - it means he could have done this too. It will force him to reflect and take accountability for his bad decisions...and he just can't cope with that.

Similarly, when he hurls abuse at Cat Noir about what an ill-mannered child he is, and when he goes to such lengths to control Adrien...I really think he's seeing a reflection of his younger self there too.

Underneath the pancakes and bad dancing and total insanity, the man is nothing but a writhing heap of regrets and won't see that he had so many chances to do things another way.

[ataraxianne]

I love how Felix put so much thought in his superhero name choosing "Argos" to reconnect it to the Argonauts, the army commanded by Jason, Hera's favourite hero. Hera, the Queen of the Gods, Mother of the Gods, whose symbolic animal was the peacock. So he literally presented himself as the hero of the creatures made with the power of the peacock because his whole intention in getting the miraculous was to protect the sentibeings created with it instead of seeing them being abused and exploited by others, and to be seen as herald in front of those who wanted to stop him.

And then we see the other heroes' names and they're like "Okay so the white rabbit is called Bunny(x), that purple tigress there is Purple Tigress and the black cat is called - wait for it - Black Cat"

[familyagrestefanblog]

Ladynoir in Bug Noire's design:

I need a break writing other posts so let's talk about a detaile I appreciate so freaking much about Bug Noire’s design:

This entire design SCREAMS how much Marinette wished Chat Noir were with her right now and how much she needed him (which she absolutely did, she fucking LOST.)

Chat Noir is with her as the legs that carry her, the shoulders and arms that support and steady her.

In her eyes while she keeps wearing her normal mask, so that when Monarque looks her in the eyes he not only sees her as Ladybug she's also pircing him with every eye-contact with one of Chat Noir's most distinguishing featurs: his green non-human eyes. And it's noteworthy that here it's of crucial importance that her mask and eyes do NOT combine the two miraculous as the rest of her outfit does. Cause now every time Gabriel looks in her eyes she's making him ackowledge them as seperate individuals.

Marinette is not just standing here as Bug Noire for herself, she's also representing her partner who she lost to Gabriel and wants to get back:

Which - if I may point out - is extremely relevant in this fight because Marinette just saw how badly Gabriel treated Nathalie who then met her end right in front of Marinette because she sacrificed her life and health to help him as Mayura:

Ladybug and Hawkmoth BOTH lost their partners that day but only ONE of them honored hers in this last battle because Marinette ackowledges that she wouldnt have gotten this far without Chat Noir, meanwhile Gabriel in the end basically completely disregarded Nathalie and everything she ever did for him.

But let's continue.

Chat's in her ears that have his green all around on its borders because she most likely can hardly imagine him without his extra ears on his head (Mister Bug being the only rare exception), and then topped it off with a hair style reminding of her Lady Noire hair.

And in the weapons she fought with. Bug Noire fought so much more with Chat's baton than with her own yo-yo which she also colored exclusively in his colors while only changing the footprint color to her red. The yoyo accurately represents Chat's colors (mainly black) while for the baton the main colore should have ben red to represent her suit (but I get why they didnt to that. Not only is she here wearing her suit and red as her main color, it also wouldnt have fit very well overall)

And the weapon with which she hit the butterfly miraculous off of Gabriel was the baton too. The fight choreography took so much care to have Marinette include Chat's baton and cataclysm as much as possible. She didn't just wore both of the miraculous, she fought for the BOTH of them. Using Chat's things so often because thats all she has left of him right now and incorporating him so crucially into her suit design that it's heartbreaking. She literally projected the support Chat gives her onto her suit design because she wished so BADLY that he was by her side right now.

[miraculous-floconfettis]

"Monarch lives here" "WHAT??"

I cannot imagine everything that must have gone through Plagg's mind at that very moment. To Marinette, he just looked surprised & shocked by this info, but we know there's a lot more than that from the way he reacted.

[zaaaras]

not to go all film major OKAYYYYY but this shot is so cool Like the fireworks shooting behind her while it encompasses marinette in darkness

ESPECIALLY in comparison to this shot a couple scenes later

where the light behind her makes her shine when she realizes ladybug is the only one who can help She got out of that darkness

[geekgirles]

Liar Revealed

So Marinette and Sabrina worked together to lure Lila into a false sense of security that eventually led up to her spilling everything in front of an audience she was unaware of. Now everyone knows she’s been lying about everything, she’s a horrible person, and she and Chloé are about to be expelled for good... After 7 years, the fandom finally got what it wanted.

...then why do I feel like I’ve actually wasted those 7 years of my life? 

Buckle up, ‘cause this is going to be a long ride.

As someone who’s been eagerly awaiting for Lila to be exposed since Volpina, a feeling that only grew with each passing episode she’s been featured in, I honestly find this development wholly underwhelming, highly disappointing, even. 

Maybe I’m too vindictive, who knows, but this in no way feels like proper comeuppance for a character who’s been maliciously manipulating everyone around her and relishing in other people’s misery since she was first introduced.

First and foremost, because having Lila accidentally reveal herself while gloating is too much of a cliché. I’ve seen people before mentioning how Lila exposing herself seemed to be the only way this could go, seeing as Marinette’s best attempts always seemed to fail. But if we ignore for a second this was actually set up by Marinette and Sabrina, with the way it’s handled it just feels like a kick in the gut, not the overwhelming catharsis I’m sure most of us were expecting. 

Because, and this is actually my main problem with the execution, by having Lila expose herself by spouting a self-satisfied tirade of every single lie she’s ever told and people have believed without question as she disparages Sabrina’s attempts to take her down, saying how she could easily turn everyone against her, the narrative is actually framing Lila in the right.

When we as the audience know it shouldn’t be like that. 

Lila only really upped her game in season 5 (and even then the writers still rely too much on the characters being dumbed down around her for it to work), up until then all her lies would have been easily discreditable if the writers didn’t need the class and everyone in Paris to believe her for her schemes to work!

From our perspective, Lila is nowhere near as formidable as she presents herself to be. Which, admittedly, goes in line with her consistent characterisation (about her only consistent trait aside from being hateful and a liar) that she believes and presents herself to be more special than she actually is. But the problem is no character other than Marinette, Adrien, and now Sabrina ever learnt of this fact! Maybe now that she’s exposed herself, but with the way she gloated about all her plans going off without a hitch...

Which leads us to another reason this was the worst possible execution of Lila being exposed they could have come up with:

It was a stroke of luck.

That’s it. That’s unquestionably what it was. Because hadn’t Sabrina finally grown a spine and drawn the line with the actions she was willing to commit for Chloé’s sake, Marinette would have had no way of knowing of Lila’s plan and preparing accordingly. 

Really, the only positive thing I can say about it is that it could maybe count as character development for Marinette since she finally learned she needed to be as sneaky as Lila if she wanted to take her down. And there’s of course the fact that Sabrina finally broke away from Chloé. Other than that? It’s a fairly sombre scenario, really. 

Because, again, Marinette didn’t manage to finally beat Lila because she had a strong support network (which would have painted a very symbolic and meaningful picture showcasing how, for all the superficial attention her lies can get her, in reality, Lila will always be alone as long as she doesn’t put in the genuine effort to reach out to others like Marinette does), but because she had outside help. Again, help she couldn’t have accounted for until Sabrina herself reached out to her. 

Relating to my previous point, Marinette never got Alya to even believe her about Lila or at the very least question how genuine she was until Lila spelled it out for her. Even though she’s known her best friend is Ladybug for months, which brings forth the question if letting Alya in on Marinette’s secret ended up being even worth it if the writers refuse to have her help her out where it matters (I’ll be sure to go back to this point in a minute, just you wait). 

What else? Oh, I know! How about the fact that, for a season that was supposed to be all about Adrienette winning, the writers purposely robbed us of that Adrienette vs Lila alliance we were promised back in Chameleon, huh? Because Adrien was completely left out of the plan. In fact, ever since Ladybug back in season 3, he hasn’t been allowed to do anything to help Marinette against Lila. As with the Ladynoir conflict in season 4, his relevance all but vanished even though he was a central part of the conflict from seasons 1-3. 

Even better! When he finally spoke up about Lila to Nino and Alya, arguably his best friends besides Ladybug, they completely brushed his concerns off as him just agreeing with Marinette out of boyfriend obligation! I didn’t know intangible things could slap me in the face, but boy was I wrong!

And the best part? This complete disregard of his feelings, lack of communication, and their assuming they know better than him (which disturbingly parallels to his own relationship with Gabriel...) is certainly never going to be explored, let alone resolved. 

What do I mean with all this?

Well, basically that for a show that’s supposed to promote the power of love, friendship, and teamwork, when it comes to Lila Marinette is all alone. Has been since Volpina. 

But at least that’s done with, Lila got her just desserts, and we’re never going to have to deal with her ever again...

SIGH

Except, not really. Not at all, in fact. 

Because just as she and Chloé were finally being reprimanded for their actions, Mr. Damocles had to choose that of all moments to realise he failed as a principal, attract an akuma, cause a racket, and provide Lila with the perfect distraction to just...walk away unscathed. 

And with the reveal that she actually has more identities, social circles, and opportunities to lie and manipulate to fall back to after being expelled from the Françoise-Dupont...Let’s just say it implies that while Marinette (and the audience) had to endure nothing short of psychological torture, Lila never really had anything to lose.

Now I ask you...how the Hell am I supposed to consider that a satisfying, cathartic resolution to that particular arc?!?!?!?

And if you permit me, there is one more thing I’d like to get off my chest. 

Alya’s reaction to this.

After learning the truth she rushes to hug Marinette and apologise, being a clear wreck about it. And while Marinette getting an apology once in a blue moon is always a welcomed thing, once again the writers aim and completely miss their shot. Because Alya apologises for being gullible. 

Look, back in seasons 1 and 2, Hell, even back in season 3, I could have overlooked this. Yes, she never listened to Marinette, could be a tad hypocritical, and the whole jealous thing got old and annoying fast, but at least she couldn’t know for certain Lila was bad news. But from season 4 onwards Alya no longer has such an excuse. No, from season 4 onwards Alya’s problem isn’t that she’s gullible, it’s that she willingly and repeatedly chose to blatantly ignore all of Marinette’s suspicions and warnings regarding Lila. Even after Adrienette finally became canon and Marinette had realistically no reason to feel jealous of Lila in any way, shape or form, Alya still couldn’t fathom that, perhaps, her best friend had her reasons for disliking Lila besides a love triangle. 

The moment Alya learned Marinette is Ladybug, the two should have been allowed to talk about Lila, about the real reason Marinette hates her, and to work together to overcome this issue and bring her down. How do you expect me to be okay with season 5 opening to these two having daily sleepovers to talk about Marinette’s love life, but not a single second could be spared after Illusion to have Alya question why Marinette hates her so much, if not connect the dots herself since she is Ladybug’s best friend, not Lila, and Ladybug hates her?

I’ve seen people justify this saying it’s been a long time since Lila lied about being Ladybug’s best friend, and while I’ll argue the last time it was mentioned was actually Chameleon, not Volpina, I could see your point. Except that is not just another lie, like her claiming she knows Jagged Stone or Prince Ali. No, that is the lie that started everything.

It was because Lila lied about knowing Ladybug to impress everyone, especially Adrien, that Marinette completely lost it and chewed her out for it in front of him. It’s because of that lie and the consequent reaction it got from Ladybug that Lila even developed a grudge in the first place. It’s because of that lie that Marinette ever found out about Lila being a liar, because before she first lied to Adrien about being close to Ladybug, Marinette was panicking because she had no chance against someone as incredible as her. If she hadn’t lied about knowing Ladybug, Marinette would have been as fooled by her as everyone else and the two might have never really come to blows.

So don’t tell me it was never brought up because it was so long ago and it doesn’t matter anymore, when that particular lie carries so much weight and we all know the real reason they couldn’t have Alya in Marinette’s corner is because the writers know Lila needs everyone around her to follow her blindly for her lies to work and everything to always work out in her favour because otherwise she just doesn’t work as a villain.

TL;DR: If you want a good resolution to the Lila Gets Exposed plot, pick literally any fanfic dealing with this exact premise. It’ll be better, I promise.

[yeet-noir]

I love how everybody collectively forgets that Adrien is smart. Yes he may lack social awareness and understanding of people, but Gabriel has always pushed Adrien to academics even when homeschooled. The boy is book smart.

[fortuna-et-cataclysmos]

Derision was a breath of fresh air this season. I didn't have much to analyse in the latest episodes, but here I go now.

This episode gives us that very important backstory needed to understand Marinette's behaviour both as herself, but also Ladybug. Chloé's bullying and her trauma with Kim has very much shaped her way of thinking and acting, which we see the most throughout season 4 and 5.

After confessing to Kim in what turned out to be a prank and humiliated, Marinette swears to three things:

To never fall in love with someone without knowing them fully

To always have everything planned and under her control

To never get feelings for someone who is friends with Chloé

Each of these decisions are a direct consequence of her trauma, beliefs acquired due to it, and they have tremendous impact on her decisions later on. Let's take it piece by piece.

Belief 1: I should never fall in love with someone without knowing them fully

I guess I am not the only LadyNoir stan who has been thoroughly annoyed for years that Ladybug refused to acknowledge that she held a deep affection for Chat Noir. Well, turns out, that had a very justified reason. She has prohibitten herself from having feelings with someone who she doesn't know fully, which obviously is impossible when she can't know the person behind the mask. This decision to omit any romantic feelings that she may have for Chat Noir happens mostly unconsciously: it is not that she actively thinks that the person behind the Chat Noir person is bad (or God forbid, friends with Chloé!). It is just that she has once put her faith in someone and let herself fall in love with them without knowing them properly, and it led to humiliation, heartache, and hurting her friend Socqueline. So obviously, in her mind, as someone she can't ever fully know due to the identity schenanigans, Chat Noir is a no-no on her crushable guys list.

Then you might ask, how come she ends up falling in love with Chat Noir in season 5? She even explicitely says, in Elation, that she doesn't care that he wears a mask, right?

Well, here is the thing, at the end of Season 4, Chat Noir shows to Ladybug that she can trust him, and she really does. She starts giving him more responsibilities as her partner (like confiding him the Bunny Miraculous), but also as a friend. She realises that she trusts Chat Noir literally with her life, why not with her heart? So she is willing to make an exception to her belief, because she trusts Chat Noir and that he'd be there when she is down (and not kick her the way Kim did).

Belief 2: I must always have everything under control

I won't get in the details of Marinette and her need for control and how it affects her relationship with Adrien and with Chat Noir because I already did it after Passion (I think my analysis from then still stands in this new context). But basically, Marinette has an urge to control everything because, now we learned, in times she didn't, things went very sour. This applies to her superhero work and how she wanted to be the only one in charge until her overbearing of responsibilities broke her in Risk, but also her personal life, where being in a relationship with Adrien is totally unchartered territory for her (more on that in the aforementioned post), plus too similar in circumstance to what happened in the past with Kim, so she is being extra controlling.

Belief 3: I should never get feelings for someone who is friends with Chloé

Marinette's context with Kim and Adrien show a lot of similarities, which explains why she is being overly controlling and reserved when it comes to her relationship with Adrien.

Adrien and Chloé are childhood friends, and since their friendship developed outside the school, Marinette doesn't know much about their friendship dynamics (neither do we). She only knows that Chloé is cruel, and how can someone nice be friends with someone so cruel?

Hence her mistrust of Adrien in Origins. When they first meet, she doesn't like Adrien, thinks that he is trying to prank her for Chloé. See the parallel with Kim? That never was Adrien's intention of course, and he comes clean in a half-apology, telling her that he never meant to put the chewing gum on her seat. A recognition of his actions and how they may impact her, which Kim never did. Even when confronted a year later by Ondine and Adrien, he still continues to argue that he was in the right. Meanwhile, Adrien acknowledges that his action might have hurt Marinette even if he didn't even mean to prank her. From the beginning, Adrien sets himself different from Kim, and Marinette inconsciously acknowledges that by allowing herself to develop feelings for him.

Nonetheless, the scar of that past trauma stays, and manifests itself when she wants to finally confess her feelings for Adrien. After all, Kim pranked her just as she had confessed to him, so it is totally underastandable that in Marinette's brain, confessing and making yourself vulnerable equals to being hurt.

But she is willing to work on that. At the end of Derision, she does take Adrien's hand, even though after some hesitation. However, she can't keep holding onto it, and she apologies for it. Adrien says that they have time, allowing her the space she needs to unlearn her past beliefs.

While Marinette decides to work on herself to get over her fear, Adrien also unrealisingly addresses the source of Marinette's fear by confronting Chloé and severing all ties and friendship he had with her.

In the end, both are willing to be there for each other and do the right thing.

This season shows that Marinette cannot, in fact, continue hanging onto the beliefs she acquired after Kim's prank.

She does prove herself wrong by managing to fall in love with someone she doesn't know fully, and even acknowledges that she doesn't need to know Chat Noir fully to love him.

She sees that she cannot keep everything under control by herself and she needs support, especially that of Chat Noir. But also, she learns that she needs to yield some control to Adrien if she is to have a healthy relationship with him.

Lastly, she is willing to try and get past her fear of Chloé. Adrien also distancing himself from her, facilitates Marinette's job.

Overcoming these three beliefs that Marinette acquired due to the trauma caused by Kim and Chloé, Marinette is now one step closer to being able to love Adrien (but also Chat Noir!) fully and freely.

Note: I haven't watched anything beyond Derision, so please do not spoil beyond that in the tags or comments 0:)

[iwasbored777]

Just as I promised, a sugar analysis on Ladybug side of Marinette's character:

Now I know that after Strikeback there are some of you saying that she is a bad guardian and all but I want to break it in pieces starting from Marinette's role as Ladybug. Is she really as bad as you say she is?

Is Marinette a bad Ladybug?

Is that even a question?! This is the girl who thought she was not good enough until the girl she just met was in danger and this girl just swooped in and saved her. And after that the girl who bullied her for years was also in a life or death situation and Marinette saved her a$$ because she put her emotions behind. Other person's life was her priority regardless of who that was - the girl who was nice to her or the girl who wasn't. This is the girl who didn't take credit for the gift she gave to her crush because he would be crushed if he found out his father didn't give him a birthday gift that year. This is the girl who ALWAYS has to be everywhere and help everyone and do everything for everyone because she wants to. She is selfless and brave and generous.

This is also the girl who always no matter what happens can figure out what her lucky charm is for. Or she used it properly. I know I already talked about episodes when she calculates time and space (Backwarder, Timetagger), or episodes where she breaks the plot with her big brain (The Night Owl, Optigami), or when she unified every miraculous in Kwamibuster and pretend to be two people at the same time, but we don't give her enough credit for Strikeback. Because everyone is talking about "Ladybug failed oh no" but can we talk about how she recruit Adrien because he was presumably the only one who didn't have a tattoo (akuma) on his neck and she knew choosing someone like that would be safe AND she was careful not to cause a time paradox?! Even me, who was a hardcore Doctor Who, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow fan, always forget how time paradox works.

Here's the deal: She didn't go back in time to prevent the akumatization, she went back in time to figure out what the akumatized object is. Because if she caught the akuma in the past that same akuma would not exist in present day and she wouldn't have had the reason to go back in time so she wouldn't. And that's how time paradox works.

But like she knew it! She did it! She travelled through time once with Bunnyx and she immediately knew what to do the second time all by herself. I mean

!!! She's so clever and she thinks everything till the last detail like c'mon!

This also the girl who doesn't go like "I'm right you're wrong" when she knows she's not right, when she does something wrong, she will admit it, she will apologise. Those are not common traits. She KNEW Chloé is not a saint, she still decided to help her, she KNEW both her and Kagami are wrong, she stepped back, she KNEW both Lila and her were wrong, she offered Lila peace. That's not what everyone else would do. I'm talking only about Miraculous Ladybug, I'm talking about people. She's only a kid and she's alright better than at least 90% of adults in that show and about 2/3 people I know. If she was a bad person she wouldn't be able to be good Ladybug but she is the best Ladybug. We already had two other characters who tired to use her miraculous and they couldn't be as good as her. Marinette is the best and the only Ladybug. The og Ladybug of her generation.

She got the whole Paris to cheer for her when she messed up! She is THAT powerful.

Is Marinette a bad guardian?

From what can be seen in this picture clearly - and from this scene if you know the context - kwamis adore her. On her first day of being the guardian, Marinette was learning about kwamis and powers and she was worried if kwamis don't have enough space in the box so she let them fly around in her room. It's risky if someone sees them, but it's good for kwamis. She also put paper on her window so no would see kwamis when they walk pass her house. As someone a pet owner, they can be REALLY annoying when you're trying to sleep and if I had kwamis too I would lock them up while I sleep but she let them be free. Probably because she doesn't sleep a lot anyway. She brings kwamis different snacks and she even put the phone in the miracle box for emergencies! That is good. And I know I said this MILION times but THE HANDMADE SAFE WITH A LOCK!!! Gurl, I'm older than you but you're the one who taught me a lot of great things! Everyone can be a guardian but not everyone can be a good guardian. Marinette really cares about kwamis. She makes them tiny accessories...

This is cute af! 😍😍😍

She also took kwamis to see Fu again, because they asked her to. She helped Tikki with her chocolate cravings, something Tikki was ashamed of, and she shouldn't because that's relatable. I too go chocolate crazy sometimes. Not as crazy as her but a lot of us loves chocolate. And Marinette didn't blame her for it or lectured her, she offered her help and support. No one can say that Marinette treats kwamis badly and that's something that's really important for the role of the guardian. And all this is more than what Fu was doing for these little ones.

When Marinette revealed her identity to another miraculous holder she did it a) because she was desperate, b) because she knew she can trust Alya and c) because revealing her identity to Chat Noir or anyone who knows Chat's identity already would mean that once this person is akumatized, Hawk Moth will find out both of their identities in the same time. Marinette knew Hawk Moth knows Alya's identity already so she and Alya had a deal for Alya to go undercover so that not only Hawk Moth but also no one except for Ladybug would find out. That was responsible. You can't say it's not.

And she gave every superhero a miraculous after she knew them for a long time and knew she can trust them, she also asked them if they want to. She gave them a choice. Fu didn't do any of this.

She has a lot of potential but this is too early and she's too young. And it's not her fault that it's too early. She's in the wrong place at the wrong time and she needed more training and more studying and more practice and more experience as a hero first before she took the role of the guardian. Of course, for that, look at the man who gave her that responsibility and taught her that her life needs to depend on it, not her. She's trying.

Is Ladybug treating Chat Noir badly?

I put this here because Ladynoir dynamic is one of major things for Ladybug's autobiography and I got T-I-R-E-D of this salt take! And the reason for that is lame. "sHe DoEsN't NoTiCe He Is SaD" even this sentence is incorrect! She noticed, she asked him, and every time she asked he said everything is alright. She doesn't want to push and she doesn't read minds. She is doing her part of the job and only when she can and only when he lets her she's going to help him. And btw whenever she rejected his feelings it's because she doesn't feel the same way. Even in Glaciator 2 when she threw him - yes it was harsh, I love him too, I don't like to see him hurt - but do you're remember the episode Félix? When she punched Félix BEFORE she figured out it's not Adrien, when he tried to kiss her forcefully. She's gonna react like this to ANYONE when they want to kiss her without her consent, that's the line you should not cross not just Marinette, but with every person ever. That Glaciator 2 scene was annoying me to death bc people tell me my favourite character is abuser. Because she demands personal space, right? And don't get me started on "she's gaslighting Chat Noir" cuz do you even understand what "gaslighting" means?

You do realize that Ladybug not telling Chat Noir about Rena Rouge is not the same as Ladybug emotionally abusing him and manipulating him?

Ladybug was protecting Rena and herself here too. If she told Chat and he got akumatized, her biggest nightmare, remember? Remember when she got traumatised for life?

If Chat knew and got akumatized, he would've told Hawk Moth about Rena and Rena knows who Ladybug is so Ladybug would be toast and so will the whole world. I hope this clears it up.

And Kuro Neko? Chat Noir didn't show up and she doesn't know why, an episode earlier she argued with Su-Han that Chat Noir is reliable, and then Chat Noir disappeared after one argument. Same with NY special. What do you mean "Ladybug should've been nicer cuz he has abandonment issues". A) how is she supposed to know that and b) she has emotions and she should react. If someone didn't listen to her, if they made a deal and he didn't follow it, if it was important and it was, she should be angry. It doesn't matter who that is. Why do you always want her to adjust to everyone's childhood trauma, why is it never "this character should be nicer to Marinette as well, she's not the only one who needs to change, she deserves people to treat her better too". And since when do the same people who say "they should be equal" want Ladynoir dynamic to be only beneficial to one of them? Because that's not Ladynoir is about! We should totally just stab salters!

(I have to explain the last part is the Mean Girls reference for those who didn't get it because I got accused of slander against Marinette salters for saying it so just in case).

[ijustliketoreadstuff]

The days Zoe loved Marinette

In "Adoration", Zoe reveals to Marinette she had been secretly in love with her since the day they met. Marinette might have felt surprised to learn that she was the ninth grader Zoe was in love with all along, but it wasn’t long before Marinette's moment of surprise quickly turned to realization as she thought back to the time they shared together and realized it was obvious from the start that Zoe was in love with her, it’s just that no one thought to take notice.

Aside from Andre, no one else knew Zoe was in love with Marinette, but looking back, a lot of things that happened around Zoe in past episodes, make a lot more sense now.

Zoe met Marinette the day she arrived to Paris in "Sole Crusher," and at the time, no one knew who she was, making it all the more pleasant for Zoe as it was a brief window of opportunity to show her real personality, before having to hide it to fit the standards of the Bourgeois. Meeting Marinette was a complete contrast to what Zoe normally experienced, but was overall a moment Zoe felt she could genuinely just talk to someone without fearing the consequences that would come from allowing herself to be vulnerable enough to act more like herself.

Obviously Chloe did not hesitate to judge Zoe the moment they met, even threatening to send her back to New York if she didn't fit the family standards, while Audrey in turn saw nothing wrong in Chloe's methods and was more than willing to agree with Chloe for the same reasons. But with Marinette, everything was different. Marinette didn't judge Zoe, she looked at her with honest eyes and noticed she had her unique qualities, but also her share of struggles, all things Chloe and Audrey were quick to reject and ignore, from the unique shoes on her feet, to the way she hinted about her life in New York being anything but happy. Marinette listened to Zoe, she wanted to understand her, and despite not knowing much about her, there she was ready and willing to not only gift Zoe pastries as a way of welcoming her to Paris, but to also ensure the two of them would keep in touch by exchanging numbers.

Marinette gave Zoe her number on a box of macaroons, but it was her heart felt attempts to keep Zoe's number as close to her as possible, on the palm of her hand, that truly made Zoe realize Marinette was a kind and considerate person who wanted to befriend her, rather than expect her to be a certain way in order to obtain that friendship. But in actuality, this little moment always had more to it than the start of a friendship, it was the start of something more. Not long after Zoe wrote her phone number on Marinette's palm, Zoe BLUSHES, hinting she was not only falling for Marinette the moment they met, but that this new love she felt would grow the more Marinette reached out to her and saw through her attempts to fit in with her family, understanding there was something holding het back from being who she truly wanted to be.

(In "Sole Crusher", Zoe blushed at Marinette, revealing the beginning of her love towards Marinette.)

(In Sole Crusher, after Zoe arrived at the Collège Françoise Dupont and felt compelled to insult Marinette to please Chloe, it was Marinette, the one girl who actually got to know her, who understood something was wrong and who was unwilling to push her away without hearing her out.)

 Although Zoe believed she had no other choice but to accept the same fate Andre had, as he too accepted long ago that he would need to abandon his dreams and much of who he was so he could shape himself to fit the standards of the Bourgeois family, it was Marinette who once again tried to reach out to her and told her what she was too afraid to tell herself, that no matter the consequences she feared, she always had a choice to just be herself.

After Zoe was akumatized into Sole Crusher, Shadowmoth pointed out that Zoe was weakening the more she listened to Marinette's words, and of course she did, this one girl(Marinette) whom she had fallen in love with, knew exactly how she was feeling, how frustrated she was to have to hide herself from others and constantly put on a show to pretend her life was fine. And of course Marinette understood how Zoe felt as well as the life Zoe was living, because she too was living that very struggle everyday of her life as Ladybug, and had already known all too well what it was like to have to live a life where she was controlled and judged by Chloe, who expected her to fit the role she had made for her.

(Back in "Heart Hunter", Marinette opened up about her frustrations, one of which was being unable to just be herself, of always having to pretend she was fine for fear of the consequences.)

 Marinette didn't want Zoe to live with the same lonely struggle she had, to constantly hide from others, which is why she was so determined to reach Zoe/Sole Crusher and tell her she didn't have to hide her true self while in Paris.

Marinette did say there would always be someone there to help Zoe up when she is down, if she took that chance to open up to people who actually cared about others, and at the very least, Zoe could place her faith in knowing that someone like Marinette, who never gave up on trying to reach out to her, really would always be there for her, and she was, from the very moment they met.

At the end of "Sole Crusher'', when Zoe shared the macaroons Marinette gifted her with everyone at Anarka's boat, who welcomed her with open arms, there was a subtle moment where Zoe's eye's remained focused on Marinette, that look was not just out of friendship, it was out of love for the girl who gave her the life she never thought she could have.

We even see Nino pointing to a rainbow on the title screen as Zoe happily stood beside him, a hint that Zoe was LGBTQ+. Zoe loved Marinette the day they met, but there was just one problem, it was entirely one sided as Marinette was already in love with Adrien.

Back in "Transmission", when Zoe found out that Marinette was struggling with her love life, she did not hesitate to reach out to her to help. Of course, the situation surrounding Marinette and Adrien's love life was no easy matter to sort through and understand on account of their secret lives as heroes, but out of everyone in their social circle, it was Zoe who said she knew perfectly well just how complicated love can be. She knew because she was secretly facing a complicated love of her own, towards Marinette, that entire time.

And sure, Zoe still had her issues with her family to sort through, but it was precisely her love for Marinette that eventually helped her find the courage she always had to stand up to all of them, and learn to not let their threats continue to control her.

To be the one whom her family mistreated was one thing, but to watch her family mistreat the girl she loved was not something she could bare to stand and watch, which is why in "Deflagration", Zoe took any fear and doubt she had over facing Chloe, and threw it straight out the window, refusing to stand by any longer as Chloe attempted to humiliate Marinette during her special lunch with Adrien. Chloe's threats might have proven effective in the past to make Zoe grovel for forgiveness, but in that moment, Zoe could care less, she’d rather get sent back to New York than have to stand by and watch the girl she loved cry.

(In Transmission", Zoe found the courage to stand up to Chloe for Marinette's sake, and even though she quickly realized she may have to face severe consequences for it later, to see Marinette smile happily at her, thanking her for what she did, made it feel it was all worth while if it meant she helped the girl she loved.)

As tough as it must have been watching Marinette fall head over heels for Adrien, even helping in any plans to help her get closer to him, the one thing Zoe had that likely eased her heartache, was knowing that Marinette was still part of her life and had found happiness with someone who loved her just as much as she did.

In "Adoration", Zoe saw picture after picture of Adrien that Marinette owned, she saw Marinette's constant flustering and embarrassment towards him, her little sketches, her writings and talks about what their future together would be like, Zoe watched it all, and even though she knew every action and every word that came out of Marinette was for someone else, Zoe never reacted negatively towards it, instead, she smiled, smiled at how all those things made Marinette happy and larger than life. At the end of "Adoration", Zoe said she felt there was no point in telling Marinette she loved her if she was already in love with someone else, that doing so would only change, or even ruin, things between them, but thankfully, Marinette thought otherwise

In many ways, Marinette knew the kind of heartache Zoe felt, because she faced the same thing in the season 3 finale, when she tried to give up on telling Adrien she loved him and instead watched him drift towards Kagami, someone she thought Adrien loved and would love him just as much as she did in return.

Yeah, Marinette's situation with Adrien wound up working out as she realized he always loved her, but had she been in the same position Zoe was in, then she would have wanted to take the chance to tell the person she loved how she felt if they were willing to give her that chance, to finally have that weight lifted from her shoulders and allow her to move on with her life, and that is exactly what she gave Zoe, a chance in knowing the person she loved would be willing to listen to her confession.

At the end of "Adoration", Marinette gave Zoe the chance to speak her feelings, and despite Zoe's fears over what could have changed between them as friends in the process, thankfully, nothing did. If anything, the only change that did occur between them, was added respect towards one another in knowing they had both grown as people. Marinette never made any elaborate plans when she thought Zoe was in love with Adrien, and Zoe never broke the boundaries of their friendship to try and make Marinette fall in love with her. The two of them never lost sight of each other and accepted they both needed to be considerate of one another and be clear on how they felt. Marinette couldn’t reciprocate Zoe’s feelings, but this didn’t change the fact that she still loved her just as much as any other good person in her life, she loved everything Zoe did to make her feel better and appreciated everything Zoe did to look out for her in her most dire of times, such as when Chloe blamed her for stealing. Instead of ignoring Zoe’s confession, Marinette chose to acknowledge Zoe's feelings, giving her a proper rejection.

(Despite not feeling romantically drawn to Zoe, Marinette was still flattered by someone as wonderful as Zoe would fall in love with her.)

Zoe was always aware her love towards Marinette was entirely one sided, and even though she knew a romantic future with Marinette would never be possible, to know that Marinette valued her so much and thought so highly of her, meant more to her than anything, giving her the peace she never knew she wanted, and the confidence she needed to keep being that amazing girl Marinette said anyone would be honored to be loved by.

[winxrus]

"...She's just a bit damaged"

"Broken things can always be fixed " 💜

This shot is just stunning... Her scars reveal how much her powers are breaking her, but when she looks at herself in the mirror, she knows the fractures are extending to her heart. It's was fascinating to see that not only Adrien and Marinette are drawn to each other in every universe but also that our female protagonist is scared and vulnerable here too despite the strength and determination she emanates through the suit. It brought me back to season 1 Marinette who, as she said herself, didn't believe she was capable or worthy to wear the earrings or stand up to Chloe. However, once more, our girl - still scared and unsure - does the brave thing and steps out of her darkness and fear to reach the warm touch of hope and shine in the light of dawn. This definitely gave me vibes of "If you could speak to your younger self, what would you tell her?" and I think this is what Marinette did. She had a look at her reflection in another broken mirror. Not the broken mirror lucky charm in her hand but at the one with the human shape of herself and told her that she's capable and deserving of so much...that life has so much to give her , if she choses to believe in herself 🩷💜

Marinette has her good days and bad days, but everyday she choses to be kind , she choses to do good:

She also choses to love herself (or at least try) and she choses to continue fighting with and without spots. She's a hero in all universes and she's the center of mine ;_;

I LOVE HER SO MUCH

[uptoolateart]

Been meaning to comment on this moment in Representation:

It was a bit of a 'facing your Shadow' moment, i.e. Marinette opening the door and coming face to face with the side of herself she has to hide from everyone.

Ladybug is awesome...but she's also the reason Marinette has to lie to friends and family, why she gets detentions for lateness, why she hurt Luka and temporarily pushed away Adrien, and even why she sometimes hurts Cat Noir.

I thought it was pretty emotional, Felix and Kagami openly recognising all of that.

[miraculous-lb-and-cn-chaos]

THEY ARE HAVE OPPOSITE COLORS

Red and dark blue-ish