#the seven lights

[hollowwhisperings]

KH Spec: Princesses of Light as Stars, part 2.

Part 1 went into the symbolism of stars within the KH series, specifically with respect to Paopu Fruit. It also began establishing the concept of Kairi as a "Star" in contrast to Riku's being a "Sun": astronomically identical, symbolically referential but ultimately distinct. Each "Sun" is a "Star" but each World, each Heart has its own personal "Sun": this is a concept I can see easily worked into the KH series as Kairi begins her own Coming of Age arc, as Sora struggles to remember his "Light", as CinderRiku reenacts The Objectively Best Direct-to-Video Disney Film.

While a later post will go into the Literal Instances of Kairi being a Star, and the metaphysics of "Starhood" within the KH setting, this post will continue with the Symbolism of Stars as pertaining to the Other Original Princesses.

The Original Seven

Kairi's co-stars in KH1 were, in order of appearance: Snow White (Tutorial/Sora's Dive to Heart), Cinderella (DtH), Aurora (DtH), Belle (DtH), Alice (Wonderland) & Jasmine (Agrabah).

While Kairi first appears in KH1's opening cutscene and in the Destiny Islands, her next physical appearance is in Neverland.

So, let us begin with the first chronogical Disney Princesses: Snow White, Cinderella & Aurora.

The Founding Three (+ Pinnochio)

While she does not have as much direct star imagery associated with her, Snow White is very much connected to themes that Disney (& the KH series) would retroactively connect to her: wishes, dreams & true love.

Snow White

Snow White's first appearance has her singing to her reflection in a wishing well (Disney would later establish that wishes could be made on stars in their next animated film, Pinnochio). The young princess wishes to have someone who loves her, someone she can love in turn.

Cue Appearance of an Anonymous, Eavesdropping Prince (this ended up becoming a Pattern, carried even into KH sans musical number).

Snow White later falls into a death-like sleep, a tradition passed on to Aurora & Sora. She is awakened by the joint forces of the Seven Dwarves (who love her & bully everyone in their way to saving her) and The Anonymous Prince. Her film attributes the latter's kiss as having the Power of Awakening: Snow White's story is one of Dreaming, Wishes, found family, cursed Sleep, True Love & Resurrection.

Incidentally, almost every significant event in Snow White's story features animated water: her scrubbing the castle courtyard, the wishing well, her tears of fright after being chased, tears of hurt from her & her animal friends, instructing the dwarves to Wash Their Dang Hands, the dwarves tearing up at hearing her story & upon her resurrection. It's also Notable that the Queen wanted Snow White's Heart... in a black box.

The Guiding Key: "When You Wish Upon A Star"

Between Snow White & Cinderella came Disney's Pinnochio: Disney's most Iconic song comes from that film, sung (I believe?) by the Blue Fairy.

Pinnochio, his story, his World, his Conscience (Jiminy Cricket) & the themes of his film have featured in every Kingdom Hearts game featuring Sora & Riku.

Dreams, Wishes & Stars are all Intertwined. Anyone can grow a Heart. So long as you try, Redemption is possible. True Love is Unconditional.

Pinnochio may not be a Princess nor Light himself but the KH series uses his story as Parable.

Cinderella

A kind young girl who sings "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes": Cinderella's song follows up on those in Snow White's & Pinnochio's films. Cinderella is a dreamer, kind and kind in the face of adversity. The Fairy Godmother gifts her faith with Free Transport, Emotional Support & Affirmment & a magical silver gown (magic & gown both animated in the same style as Starlight).

Cinderella features Dreams Becoming Reality, Magic being linked to Stars (as in Pinnochio), Wishes & Dreams being connected, found family & True Love.

The soap bubbles from Cinderella's chores were & remain amongst the most memorable scenes in animation: bubbles aside, Cinderella has no strong connections with water (though she cries, her tears are not emphasised in the animation).

Sleeping Beauty

Following directly in the examples of Snow White & Cinderella, Aurora's story is not actually told from her perspective but from that of the Good Fairies (her fairy godmothers). Aurora sings "Once Upon A Dream": since SB is not truly from Aurora's POV, sleeping through it almost entirely (ring any bells, Sora?), her song is less about Her & more about the Themes explored by preceding heroines: of dreaming of people & places beyond her sheltered home, of dreams & love being connected, of using dreams & stories as escapism. Her interactions with Prince Philip could be interpreted as his "going with the flow" to keep talking to a pretty girl... but, at least in BBS, Aurora's relationship with Philip is implied as beginning in shared dreams (Riku are you listening).

Blessed Sleep (replacing a curse of death) that holds a World in stasis. Dreams Becoming Reality. Found family, True Love & Resurrection.

Besides a dream-like dance in clouds (repurposed from the making of Cinderella) & the alternating dye of her birthday gown, Aurora has no true connections with water. Her name refers to a phenomena of light & there is no direct star imagery in the SB film itself.

Summary of Shared Themes:

Wishes & Music: "I'm Wishing", "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes".

Hearts: wanted in a Box; communicates wishes through dreams.

Dreams: cursed sleep, the nightmare forest chase, "a wish your heart makes", "Once Upon A Dream". In BBS, Cinderella's world is named "Castle of Dreams".

Hope: wishes, dreams, support of found family.

Water: "Snow" White, wash water, wishing wells, reflections, tears, soap bubbles, clouds, dye.

True Love: awakening & resurrection, the most powerful form of magic, something to fight for, something found in dreams.

Love & Resurrection: the go-to cure for sleeping curses.

All three princesses also have love through Found Families: Snow White finds family in the Seven Dwarves; Cinderella has her animals friends & Fairy Godmother; Aurora has the Good Fairies.

Star Symbolism: Connected By Song

Through the songs of these four films, the Pinnochio film's song acting as thematic touchstone, KH is able to connect each of these Founding Disney Princesses with the series use of star symbolism: Snow White's "wish" (to love & be loved) comes true through a "star" (she, through her kindness and willingness to help, inspires the love of the Seven Dwarves & the Anonymous Prince); Cinderella's Heart wishes for freedom from her life of servitude, a Dream made 'Real' through the compassion of Cinderella (the 'Star') inspiring her friends to help her in turn; Aurora's Dreams (her "wishes from the heart") allowed her to meet Prince Philip while the Love of her Fairy Godmothers empowered them to act against Maleficent & so rescue Aurora from death (via orchestrating a Heroic Rescue for Philip to play out).

Each of these Princesses acted as the "Hearts" of their stories, the Love they had & inspired in others leading them to create miracles both magical & mundane. Hearts are Lights & Hearts moved by Love cast the strongest Light (& Shadow) of all. These Princesses Love & are Loved in turn: the strength of their Dreams, their Wishes From The Heart, connect them to the Magic of Stars: to fairies Blue, Good & Godmother.

An Aside: Love as Freedom

This is a theme unsaid but strongly implied in all three films, given the era these heroines hail from. Marriage was a female's traditional method of leaving their childhood home, in both early 20th century North America & in Japan.

While all three princesses coveted "freedom", wishing for it outright would have given their audiences the impression that they were "selfish" or "irresponsible" (Cinderella was made for post-wartime America: her ability to retain her kindness & cheerfulness whilst doing thankless labour was why she was so beloved by audiences of the time & her animators, most of whom having been conscripted in some form or another).

Thusly, largely anonymous "handsome princes" acted as representations of escape, of joining society, of the world beyond childhood.

The KH series was made for contemporary audiences and is, at heart, Sora's Coming of Age Story: while Sora hadn't quite matured to understand the values these princesses held, he recognised in them that Hope can be powerful. When Aqua met Cinderella's Fairy Godmother in BBS, she was introduced to the concept of Love being the only true method of "defeating" Darkness (Riku's journey to self-acceptance enabling him to use his Darkness without suffering for it proves the point, and "love" is the implied requirement for the Power of Awakening)

[ariwalter-wawastuff]

wholesome gourmand cooking

[excessive-moisture]

i was peer pressured into drawing this

[septemberkisses]

To be loved is to be known; to be seen.

Excerpts Sources:

Is it okay to say this? - Trista Masteer // Blasted - Sarah Kane // Reassurances to Hades - Kristina Haynes // The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - T.J. Reid // My Mother/Madame Edwarda/The Dead Man - Georges Bataille //"The Last Poem in the Book," These Days (Alfred A. Knopf, 1989); Over and over again - Frederick Seidel // My Mother/Madame Edwarda/The Dead Man - Georges Bataille // Adult Children of Emotionaly Immature Parents - Lindsay C. Gibson // She Satisfies A Fear with the Rhetoric of Tears - Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz // My Life Is Pathetic! - Heather Havrilesky

[ashiqui]

for @augustsjanes — loving you is sunlight.

micah nemerever, these violent delights / jeanette winterson, why be happy when you could be normal? / madeline miller, the song of achilles / nicole callihan, the end of the pier / @andatsea (x) / masha raymers (x) / jessie burton, the miniaturist / louise glück, tango / richard siken, scheherazade / iu & suga, eight / yves olade, when rome falls / @nephrosoupp (x) / taylor jenkins reid, the seven husbands of evelyn hugo / e.e. cummings (x) / william shakespeare, romeo & juliet / fall out boy, the last of the real ones / @poemsonmars (x) / zarina situmorang / @promethes (x) / david viscott / seperis, down to agincourt / @titsay (x) / daylily, movements / federico garcia lorca / hozier, sunlight / extraordinary attorney woo, 1x04 / taylor swift, out of the woods / shauna barbosa, cape verdean blues

[7clubs]

you found it!!!

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[highladyofterrasen7]

When I’m looking at how long until the end of the chapter and see a spoiler

[lynxmisnomer]

I just remembered that I owe this

[kaetor]

In 999 all the characters mention that they were kidnapped at midnight and I find it to be a tragedy of the highest regard that we don't get to see them do escape rooms in their pajamas because of this. (ID in alt)

[vickdoom]

looting the shadow monsters at the local music store to pay my moving violation tickets.

[fyeahygocardart]

Dian Keto the Boogie Master

[hollowwhisperings]

KH Spec: Princesses of Light as Stars, part 1/?

As of KH3, all of the original seven Princesses of Heart recognised in KH1 have [retired] except Kairi. I suspect that the Other Six were able to pass on their roles due to their respective worlds no longer being kept in Time Loops (as seen in their appearances in the mobile games & BBS being exactly as they were in KH1). comple since KHUX) & their FINALLY being able to "move on" with their lives.

Kairi's primary character arc has been one of Resistance To Change: she kept her role, unchanged for all that she was the only Light to have experienced time*. That said... it seems odd that Kairi was the ONLY princess to have lived in a world of real-time (Axel, Isa & Ienzo all aged between BBS & KH2: this confirms that Radiant Garden experiences time, even in Kairi's absence). It seems very plausible that Kairi's Grandmother preceded Kairi in the role of "Seventh Light". Whether it was an entirely familial legacy (a "secret bloodline", one might say) or Kairi's Grandmother was secretly an Immortal Princess until choosing Kairi to replace her... is Its Own Theory.

The Princesses of Heart served as Seven "Backup Generators" keeping the metaphysical lights on for the KH Universe in the absence of its "Sun", Kingdom Hearts. For Thematic Reasons & simplicity's sake, the New Princesses of Heart (dubbed "New" Princesses of Light in KH3) will henceforth be referred to as the "Seven Stars"... because that's what they ARE.

Stars in the KH setting: Paopu Fruit & Wayfinders

Stars are a consistent reference point in the KH series, sometimes in conjunction with the "One Sky (One Destiny)" arc words they're set in, but largely as symbols in their own right.

Stars are, of course, what the Paopu Fruit of Destiny Islands are shaped like: the legend that sharing Paopu Fruit with someone ties people together forever was one taught to Xehanort by [Player] and, likely through Eraqus, to Aqua & thus the Wayfinder Trio (whose star-shaped wayfinders DID, in the end, bring them back to each other). Riku and Selphie arr the first to bring up paopu fruit bringing "Romantic" Forevers: Riku very smoothly (/s) covers for his hopes of sharing one with Sora by distracting him with a competition and That Female Friend They Share with whom Heteroromanticism Can Be Achieved (rather than, say, certain silver haired dreameaters who have theme songs saying promises are for children & making an oath with sunrise-coloured rings...).

Kairi makes a star-shaped wayfinder from thalassa shells instead of helping Riku make his Dream Boat: she later "lends" this wayfinder to Sora, calling it "her Lucky Charm". In the original JP, using Kairi's token lets Sora use the [Promise Charm] Keyblade. While the ENG translation to "Oathkepper" IS a lot cooler sounding, it is Misleading: the lyrics of Chikai reference the distinction between "promises" and "oaths", specifically framed within vows of a wedding. Kairi is someone who makes Promises (her star-crossed sharing of paopu fruit with Sora, a goodbye to childhood): Oaths exist only in reference to Riku, especially when with regard to Sora.

Through Kairi & Riku, stars represent promises & oaths: childhood friendship & lifelong love. Through the Wayfinders (Kairi's but esoecially Aqua's), stars represent connection, return & reunions.

While Riku Is The Light (the story's "Sun"), Kairi is a Star: while they are the same thing, astronomically, the symbolism of "stars" differs due to that of "suns". There are many Stars, bright and gentle and distant. There is only one Sun*, blinding and personal.

The next part in this series of speculations will be on how Kairi & the Other Princesses are connected to stars.

*While Rapunzel also has sun imagery, its use in KH3 is largely in parallel with Riku: both are the metaphorical secret "suns" of their own worlds & stories, and "stars" in the context of each other's.

[opal-drawz]

“When the gold rays fell on your skin And my hair got caught in the wind The choir sang a melancholic hymn” [lovesick-laufey]

[add1ctedt0you]

The Untamed - Episode 19

Throughout the night, he [Jiang Cheng] had somehow managed to sleep a couple of times. The first reason was that, having been too tired from crying himself weak, he couldn't help from passing out. The second reason was that he still had the hope that this might be a nightmare. He couldn't wait to wake up after some rest and open his eyes to find himself lying inside of his room back in Lotus Pier. His father would be wiping his sword in the main hall. His mother would be angry again and complaining, scolding Wei Wuxian who winked in a funny way. His sister would be in the kitchen, thinking as hard as she could about what to make today. His shidi would be refusing to do their morning lessons properly and jumping around.

The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Chapter 59, Poisons- Part Four

[heybiji]

dnd valentine's sketch for dal who plays lafavel, the party paladin with a crush on my warlock, dandelion

[vividyon]

im not dead just art block kicking my ass; expect more of them btw i love drawing the iterators bein all cuddly n stuff