#Prince Gerard

[tmgstudios]

sorry having insane gerard thoughts. im obsessed with this guy. gerard who died doing the first brave thing in his life. gerard whos wife doesnt love him anymore so hes turning back into a frog. gerard who only cares about becoming human again but thats not quite true because he cares about red and pinnochio. he cares about the kids. he questions the two of them going into the fight he puts himself in danger after seeing pinnochio go down he risks his life after watching red fall. and he regrets his choice. hes a coward who for once in his life decided to be brave and he paid with his life for it and he regrets it and im insaaaaane

[maybeimmac]

Gerard my sweet

[figsbass]

trouble in tuffeton, dimension 20 // on earth we're briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong

[angryducktimemachine]

Slaps him against a wall (affectionately)

He is my poor little croak croak.

Still not caught up but i am getting there.

[ID: a digital, fully coloured drawing of Prince Gerard from Neverafter.

He is a green frog with a slightly humanoid body. He is wearing a fancy, vaguely medieval king inspired outfit with a white fur collar and a cloak. A crown is sitting a bit above his head.

He is perched upon a large sword. /End ID]

[brionbroadway]

It’s Ylfa who finds him.

She sits beside Gerard, hands in front of her on the floor, back in her wolf-form and back to herself. “Where is the Princess Elody?” she asks.

Gerard sighs, but sensing Ylfa flinch beside him, he tries to cover it by clearing his throat. “She needed a moment to herself.”

“But just a moment, right? She’s coming back?”

Gerard shifts his head to look at Ylfa, and notices the shift in her as well. She is no longer a meddling preteen, ready to give him a makeover and plan a grand gesture based on a limited understanding of love. In fact, Gerard wonders if that was ever a fair assessment. Ylfa knows love, perhaps better than Gerard ever has, and understands the power of its loss. He sees the same thing in her eyes that he saw in Elody’s when she spoke of finding his body—not sadness, exactly, but an emptiness that a preteen should still be too optimistic to feel.

“It’s not fair, Gerard,” she says, quiet, and Gerard realizes too late that he was too slow to respond. “No one came looking for you, but you went looking for Elody, and you’re still going to be alone. I can fight Death for you, but I can’t fight this.”

“First of all,” Gerard says, speaking faster than his thoughts to not give Ylfa’s the chance to fill in the blanks. “I am not alone. I would not choose anyone else to travel and fight alongside—though, you need to know that you are not responsible for fighting anything for me. You are a protector, much like Elody.”

“I’m like the princess?”

“Most certainly, and while that’s admirable, it’s also too much weight to put on your shoulders. Strong as they are.”

Ylfa flexes, and Gerard laughs, relieved. “The truth is,” he continues. “I left Elody long before she left me. We’d sit together the way you and I are sitting now, but we would not talk the way we’re talking now. And that was my fault.”

“But she’s still your family,” Ylfa says. “You just made a mistake.”

Gerard understands what’s behind this conversation now, and wishes he’d recognized it the moment Ylfa sat down. Elody would have. “When you marry someone,” Gerard says. “You make vows to each other; it’s a partnership. I didn’t make a mistake; I made decisions that broke the promises I’d made to Elody. That is my fault.”

“When you have a child,” Gerard continues, before Ylfa can interrupt. “Of course, I have not had one, but as I understand it—you make a commitment to them. You love them unconditionally, no matter what mistakes or decisions they make. If a parent does not fulfill that, that is not the child’s fault.”

“Gerard, I’m sorry if this is disrespectful, but I don’t know if I believe that.”

“Honestly Red, I don’t know if I do either. That doesn’t mean it’s not true.”

Not for the first time, Gerard is aware of his role as an adult, despite not having the chance to properly grow into one. “Or,” he says. “How about this? I know that I am not your mother or father, or your grandmother, but as long as I am alive, I promise that we can sit and talk like this. And if we end up in different stories, I’ll look for you. You will always have a home with me, even if it’s just a bonfire in the woods.”

“I can light a match for us.”

“I know that you can.”

Gerard extends his webbed equivalent of a pinky finger, and Ylfa wraps a claw around it.

[jamiecalledraws]

He's like the best flawed character in the series! I love how murph plays him so well, I'm still hoping for a happy ending for Gerard and Elody!

[greatpistachiopie]

they don't tell you how hard it gets after the ever after

[horrorgirlfriends]

love and lilypads

[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.

[verycoolipromise]

gerard giving pib bullshit awful advice/help but it having an real game mechanic which made it be actually helpful is to e most underrated joke to me. just the worst guy (endearingly, i love gerard) going “try hitting it” and it actually helping? yeah that’s comedy gold

[unlicensedinvestigator]

prince consort gerard of greenleigh, formerly a frog, and soon to be a frog again

[tmgstudios]

holy fuck saving face as an ability is so funny. if he misses an attack in front of his friends he can add points to it in order to hit because missing an attack in front of your friends is embarrassing gerard

[maybeimmac]

theyre on a date :)

[creeperfont]

“and then I tried to do it just now, and you yelled at me. which is rude. I’m a prince.” gerard you fucking maniac how are you my favorite

[feelingtheaster99]

IT’S ALREADY BAD THE HERON SIGNIFIES THE EMOTIONAL TRAUMA GERARD EXPERIENCED WHICH HE STILL THINK HE DESERVES 😭

[brionbroadway]

What would you be willing to give for what you seek, and would you give it to me?

At first, Gerard thought he would give Elody’s love of him.

Or deep care, as it were. In all the considerations of what was most valuable to him, in why he started to fight at all, it was her name that echoed through his mind. Elody, his true love – and if he lost that, what was left of him? A frog without a reason to be better than he was.

But though he knew Rapunzel was manipulative, he also knew that didn’t mean she was wrong. What good would she have to say about him? What joy had he brought her? Gerard had learned it did not matter if he could answer those questions if Elody could not.

Elody had always loved beyond obligation. It was why Gerard loved her, and why she could not stay in love with him. Of course she would love a frog in a pond, and of course she would do it truly. Perhaps that meant she was the one who was cursed after all.

It was true love, once. That was undeniable, and that was a trap.

Gerard thought of Rosamund, desperate to find true love in the same ways he was, but more committed to making her own choices in a way he’d never been brave enough to do.

If Gerard gave Baba Yaga Elody’s love of him, she would forever be tied to him. He was still making a choice for her, the absence of true love rather than the fulfillment of it. If she chose to stop caring about him deeply, so be it, as long as it was her choice to make.

Elody’s name defined Gerard’s story. He said it often, and loudly, and lovingly, yet it would still be unknown as long as his transformation took precedence. She had the real story: a girl who loved, and a woman who deserved to be known.

I would give you my name, my humanity, for hers, for her name.

The frog forgot his own name, but everyone knew Elody’s.