#elody of greenleigh

[polarsirens]

a reunion

[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.

[littlebitofdnd]

Gerard's whole life feels like a never ending "Do you want to go to the castle where the dogs are or go back to your frog pond?"

Because it's so demeaning. He can be presented with the choice but he can only ever really go back to the frog pond. He could fight in the war but he was never taught to do anything but hide. He could fix his marriage but he was so young when he was cursed he doesn't know how to do anything but hide. Because his formative years -the years that define who he is and how he reacts- were spent fleeing from herons and dogs and boots. and he may have had his body back for a time, but he will always mentally be in the frog pond, with nothing to do but throw tantrums and hide and make up friends that will not speak to him.

And what lesson did he learn? He deserved it. Pinocchio lied, Ylfa killed, and Gerard understands that they had no choice, but to him, it was always his fault. Elody tells him he wasn't evil, and he doesn't hear her. Because good little boys don't get turned into frogs, and at nine?? The only lesson he could have learned was that he was evil.

Gerard isnt a coward. He just can't go back to the castle, because that's where the dogs are.

[nosnexus]

Up on the ramparts

[nightfaeses]

"You ask why I had loved her,

I ask; how could I not?" ☀

[radiocrypt-id]

Elody is tragic, I think, in a way that feels very close to home?

She's a woman that met someone interesting and strange and became friends with him, happy to have a friend around, since her parents are too sick to be in her life all the time. She was a little girl forced to grow up so fast, to take every type of class and feel the weight of her station on her shoulders every day, growing closer to the time she has to step up and take over, desperate to be deserving of the title. Desperate to do her parents proud.

And she's got this friend now, this sweet, gross little frog that talks and says he's a prince. His story is a strange and sad one, one she maybe can't fully understand but offers what support and sympathy she can. If she even believes him, I'm not sure she really does. And he's funny. He makes her laugh, reminds her of the fun of the world, encourages her to take care of herself and enjoy things as often as possible, reminds her to be young and happy and live freely. And she needs that. She needs someone to look her in the eyes and tell her it's okay to be a kid. It's okay to play with her ball in the woods and it's okay to sing and dance and get dressed up and do the fun parts of being a princess. He brings her joy that she hasn't had in a long time. She loves that about him, how fun and silly and clumsy he is, it's charming. She falls in love with that silly frog.

But then Snowhold comes. They have no allies, their armies are failing, their people are dying and she's up all night going over maps and strategy at a table of advisors and generals and is so stressed and trying so hard. But her silly frog is still a silly frog. He thinks about balls and good food and safe castle walls. He tells her to relax, enjoy a meal, gossip about the nobles, have fun. He hasn't changed. But she's being forced to change. Now that silly levity isn't charming and fun, it's frustrating. She doesn't have time for games and can't see how hard he's trying to make her smile. She needs a Prince, a man to stand beside her at the war table and talk tactics and look for ways to save their home and people. She needs a fighter, a hero. But Gerrard has never been a hero, he's a frog. Elody was the hero. She saved him. And she's so exhausted by being the hero. She's always taking care of someone else. She just wants to be taken care of. She just wants help. It's hard to love someone the same way in times of trouble. It's hard to find the space in all the stress and work to love Gerrard the way she did when they met.

Elody does still love him though. She does. It's a painful sort of love, in believing that he's never going to change and be what she needs him to be, in that she's always going to be the hero for him. But she loves him. She carries a shield with a lillypad on it, she wields a mace with the golden ball as part of it, she's actively carrying him with her. She's thinking of her silly little frog and hoping he's safe, where ever he's gone to hide and when it's all over, when she's saved everyone and made everything better, she'll go find him again. And then she can take him to a ball, like he wanted. She wishes he was different, but doesn't think he'll change.

Imagine what she'll find, when they meet again? Her silly little frog is still silly and clumsy and thinking about her constantly, but he's a hero now. He fought and died with his friends. He's twice upon a time. He's been Outside, in The Lines Between. He's a fighter now, he's brave, he's friends with death itself. He's a commander, great at group tactics, vital to their group. And he's got a couple kids around him, that he's exhausted by but loves in some way. He scolds them and encourages them and he's kind of a dad? And he's been looking for her, not hiding. He's been trying to find her since he left, regretting leaving her behind but really not sure how he would have helped. And he loves her, god he loves her. Even as he turns into a frog from her falling out of love with him, Gerrard loves Elody. He loves her enough to be brave, to learn the things he never got a chance to learn before, to take care of others.

Elody is so loved, and she has no idea. She loves him enough to take care of everything by herself, holding onto what parts of him she has space for during this horrible time. But Gerrard loves her enough to die trying to find her.

She has to be his hero, she never had a choice in that, but unlike most cases in life, he's trying to be her hero too, and she has no idea.

[lizdoart]

normal about her

[foggybear42]

gerard and elody have such an interesting dynamic, ‘cause elody is someone who had to grow up too quick, and gerard is someone who never had the chance to grow up in the first place

[allybeans]

I love that gerard's attempt to find elody failed. yes he (and rosamund) might as well just gone with the others from the get go and they achieved nothing by splitting up. but it still mattered. it mattered because gerard knew it would almost certainly be futile but he still TRIED. there was something important to him, and the route to it was difficult, and he chose to do it anyway. he didn't take the easy or even the sensible way out.

and so it's important that he failed, because if they managed to find elody, this wouldn't be the poignant character moment that it is. it would feel like gerard's gamble had paid off, that he was clever, that he was right. instead he fails, and what we get is a man (frog) who has grown to understand that some things are worth fighting for, even if in the end you don't succeed. even if you know from the start you won't succeed.

because I don't think gerard, for a single second, regrets trying to look for elody. but he had to fail, in order for him (and us) to see: no matter the outcome, no matter how difficult it is, no matter how much it's the wrong thing to do, he will always. ALWAYS. try to find his way back to elody. because some things, and some people, are worth trying for.

[maybeimmac]

Gerard my sweet

[star-wrld]

we’ve all been operating under the assumption that gerard and elody are just estranged but i saw someone point out that it’s a very real possibility that elody thinks gerard is dead and now i can’t sleep at night

[polarsirens]

short rest

[cespool]

romantically or platonically whatever is the case, this has sealed my fate to be forever obsessed over these two fucks i cant do this today ive cried over them so hard

[emiko-matsui]

brian murphy singing her hair is everywhere terrified that if someone hears him he'll be killed but it's me walking into the bathroom i share with my mother

[littlebitofdnd]

I NEVER considered that Elody would have found Gerard's body. I thought maybe she would have assumed he was dead, but I literally forgot that they even left bodies?? was that brought up before??

That conversation my god. They weren't speaking to each other, really. Not communicating, at least.

Gerard was looking at her and seeing all the ways he failed as a husband, and Elody was looking at Gerard and seeing his corpse.

There is something so earth-shattering too about Elody saying "You were supposed to be eaten by a heron." Because that was probably the intention?? The intention of a curse like that is never to help them find true love, it's for them to die before they get there.

And FOR WHAT! Gerard could not have deserved that at age nine. It was cruel.

"There's a lot left in that ever after." Oh my fucking GOD Brennan. Bravo.

[bebagerie]

neverafter live doodling except i couldnt focus enough on the doodling