Are there any consistent qualifications in Marioverse monarchies as to what qualifies as a prince/princess or a king/queen since we usually always see only one or the other per kingdom? Feels like a case by case basis, but I wonder if there’s any consistency we can gather.
King is the easiest to define. It seems that any adult male ruler of a territory or race is considered a king. We see this with King Bowser, Ōsama, King K. Rool, the Kings of the Mushroom World, King Fret, King Nimbus, King Mousta, King Bask, King Kaliente, King Boo, King Bob-omb, etc.
Prince is also quite easy. It seems that immature male progeny of previous rulers as well as the male relatives of living rulers, regardless of age, are considered princes. For the former, we can see young Prince Bowser from the Yoshi’s Island games and Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time as an example, while for the latter there’s Prince Bowser Jr., Prince Peasley, Prince Pine, Prince Pikante and Prince Mallow. Princes will become Kings once they’ve reached adulthood and their parents die or abdicate the throne. The odd one out here would be Prince Dreambert, but we don’t know if he’s technically reached adulthood or if he had living parents before Antasma’s attack on the Pi’illo Kingdom, so I think this definition still stands.
As for princesses and queens, things are a little more tricky. We know that immature female progeny of the previous rulers as well as the female relatives of living rulers, regardless of age, are considered princesses, as we see with Baby Peach, Baby Daisy and Baby Rosalina, as well as Princess Shokora, Princess Shroob and Princess Rosalina. However, we’ve seen adult female rulers referred to as both princesses and queens, so where is the line drawn between one or the other?
Well, I think it has to do with marriage. Adult female rulers who have never been married are relatively consistently referred to as princesses. We see this with Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Princess Eclair, (the older) Princess Shroob, the Sprixie Princesses and even Princess Lipid.
However, the games seem to imply that through marriage female rulers become queens:
“Tatanga hypnotized the people of all the kingdoms so that he could control them in any way he liked. In this way he took over Sarasaland. Now, he wants to marry Princess Daisy of Sarasaland and make her his queen.”
[Source: Story, Page 3, Instruction Booklet of Super Mario Land, April 1989]
“Yes...? What is it, dear?... WHAT?! You're asking ME to...? Gracious! You're serious, aren't you? Why, I don't know what to say! Dear me............ I've made my decision... At the request of the Prince, I agree to become his queen. (Queen... Valentina...Ooh! It just makes me SHIVER!!) Well, that's that! Back to your business, everyone!”
[Source: Valentina, temporary usurper of the Nimbus Land throne, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, May 1996]
This idea aligns with Queen Nimbus, Queen Jaydes and Queen B., who are married to kings, and is further supported by characters such as Queen Bean, Queen Squirpina XIV or Queen Croacus II, who were likely married at one point based on the presence of their children.
However, it doesn’t seem to be quite as foolproof. There’s the Shadow Queen, Banana Queen, Honey Queen, Queen Merelda and Madame Mirage who, while we don’t know their marital statuses, likely fall outside of this definition. There are workarounds, of course. It’s possible that some of these women are or were married off-screen or are self-proclaimed queens. It’s also possible that the Queen definition extends cover to the “mother” of a race, though that’s all getting a bit deeper into speculation.
These remain my best guesses with the current information we have.
It's been a long time since I've drawn from this AU and since it's almost a tradition to make a family portrait-esque drawing when you have a charlastor fankid I finally wanted to make one of my own too hehe
What made you jump ship from Wy/att and Lucy to Flynn and Lucy?
The whole Jessica coming back to life thing.
Wyatt dealt with his feelings about Jessica/Lucy in a very poor manner. He chose Jessica but won’t let Lucy go, and gets angry when he feels she’s moving on. He wants them both but he can’t have them both and he couldn’t deal with that fact like an adult. Instead he came off as a whiny and entitled teenager.
The show introduces us to Wyatt through his wife and his mission to save her. Jess is such a huge part of his season 1 plot and she’s the core of his character. (Almost every conversation he has is about Jess and he mentions her at least once an episode in season 1.) She deserved more care and respect from the writers. Everyone saw the Rittenhouse twist a mile away (it’s been done twice with Lucy already, with her mom and dad) and yet the writers still chose to go there. It felt like the writers had to make Jess a villain so they could write a breakup between Wyatt and Jess where he didn’t come off as the asshole who leaves his (previously totally devoted to) wife for another woman. If they were going to insult Jess like this they never should have brought her back in the first place. As I said we were introduced to Wyatt through his fight for his wife and that was the reason I loved him so much. By corrupting his relationship with his wife they effectively destroyed anything I liked about Wyatt. And I saw through the writers whole “oh, poor Wyatt trapped with his evil monster wife :(” schtick.
Wyatt was skirting around adultery all of season 2 but never actually committed to it because he’s “such a good guy”. And then when Wyatt found out Jess was Rittenhouse at the very end of the episode he tells Lucy he loves her. That means only a few hours later. That’s fast as fuck for just losing your wife and it gave me the impression he was just waiting for an excuse to run back to Lucy.
Wyatt made Rufus’s death about his feelings for Lucy. Everyone is traumatized and Lucy is beaten and broken (physically and emotionally) and Wyatt just had to tell Lucy he loved her. And notice how Lucy did not respond (although the viewers know she loves him) and instead redirects the conversation back to Rufus (”I can’t believe he’s gone”) because she literally cannot handle the conversation at the moment. She’s too fucked up, so much as happened and she’s drained.
Which brings me to my final point: season 2 simply revealed to me that Wyatt’s love for Lucy is selfish. He doesn’t think about how it affects Lucy or Jess. He doesn’t have tact to know when to just let something go. He only thinks about himself and what he wants and feels. And I hate it.
One of the season finale spoilers was that Flynn or Wyatt will witness a moment between the other man with Lucy and will be the bigger person and not interrupt. I thought it was going to be Wyatt because he has been selfish all of season 2 and it would be growth for him to once in his life not insert himself into Lucy’s. And it turned out to be Flynn! Which I was not expecting at all because Flynn had continuously throughout season 2 removed himself from the situation when Lucy and Wyatt were having a moment. He never interrupted or interfered and so it’s not exactly groundbreaking for him to continue that behavior in the finale.
There’s so many things I hate about how Wyatt interacts with Lucy but this is all I’ve got off the top of my head. (There’s definitely more.) And I really did love them in season 1. I’m especially mad because so much has happened but the writers seem to be trying to pretend everything is the same between seasons 1 and 2. Pretending like Wyatt’s wife isn’t alive and pregnant. Pretending that Lucy/Wyatt are still an option. It’s just insulting to Lucy. She deserves better.
Like how is it supposed to end at this point? Jessica “tragically dying” (AKA getting the fuck outta the way for Lucy) and Lucy raising her child with Wyatt? No thanks.
EDIT: I just realized I never mentioned Flynn in this answer, and I think that’s because me disliking Lyatt now has nothing to do with Flynn. I have always enjoyed Garcy’s dynamic since season 1 and a few choice scenes in season 2 made me realize their feelings are beginning to shift to romance. And I’m a huge slut for slow-burns, and I love all their scenes, so naturally I began to ship them as well. :)
There's this photo of a stag and a doe going around on twitter/bluesky atm and have seen two people redraw it as charlastor and like 4 more expressing wanting to do the same so it might become a trend... I couldn't resist doing the same, it's so fun
With the official post of the series revealing Abel's design and color palette, many artists will keep their designs in their respective AU (Alternative Universe). I will do the same, this will probably be applied to Cain as well.
Remembering that this is not a criticism of the original. I just don't want to discard my design.
Cain—his first born, the first ever born—looked at him with eyes wide and terrified. Adam’s eyes, Eve would say, the same brown of rich, rain-watered soil.
“I don’t know,” Cain said. “I don’t- Dad, I don’t know. Why won’t he wake up?”
Cain’s lip trembled, hands clasped tightly together, tears welling and falling in great fat drops. He was still so young, younger than Adam had ever been. His knees were knobbly and his wrists thin and he barely came up to Adam’s chin. Big enough to work, to till the fields and pull the weeds and harvest the crops, but small enough to curl tight in his mother’s arms when lightning cracked the sky.
On the ground was Abel, even younger yet. He tended the flocks and kept watch for anything that might want to harm them. He was good with them—gentler than Adam understood, though Eve told him to let him be. Even now several sheep creeped closer, braying nervously at the sharp scent of iron.
Abel was still shorter than Eve. He had a gap in the far back of his mouth where the last of his molars had popped out only a handful of days before. He had freckles that showed up in the summer sun, as if he had grown them there, all over his face and shoulders and arms.
“Dad, what do I do? What can I-?”
Abel’s eyes were open, looking to the sky that they so resembled, but they didn’t see anything. Somehow, Adam knew. Abel wouldn’t see anything ever again.
Adam hadn’t known that they could die. Humans, that was. Adam hadn’t known that Humans could die. How could he?
He’d suspected, of course. He bled when he was cut just like the animals he’d learned to butcher for their fat and meat and skin. He grew weak when they had little food to come by, they all had fallen ill a time or two, he’d watched as Eve lost what would have, otherwise, turned into a child. It wasn’t a shocking conclusion to reach, but he’d never known for certain. Not like he did now.
Adam fell to his knees, hands helplessly cradling Abel’s face. His son, his body, his baby-
There was so much blood, comign from the cracked-open place in Abel’s brown hair. It dyed his curls slick black, spilling down his neck. The soil was covered in it. This place would be stained for days—weeks, maybe even months—just as the place they slaughtered the livestock was marked as a place of death.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do. I’m sorry.” Cain was sobbing, hiccuping over his words and gasping for breath.
Adam’s vision was blurring as his own tears came. Abel’s face felt rubbery and wrong underneath his hands. Lifeless.
This was wrong. This shouldn’t have happened. This should never happen. Abel was so young, had so much more to live. He would keep growing—maybe until he was taller than not only his mother but Adam too—and he would continue to tend the flocks like personally tending to the lambs that fell ill with sudden weakness and some day he would have his own children because that’s how it worked, how God had told them it worked and He never lied.
“D-Dad, say something, please. Daddy, say something!”
Cain was his son, too. The first Human ever born when Adam and Eve still struggled to provide even the most basic needs for themselves. He was a good boy—always so helpful, always so smart. He knew when food ran low, when the well pulled up dry, when the hearth burnt out, that it wasn’t easily fixed and so he didn’t complain and tried his hardest to make it better, somehow. He was a good son.
So why had he done this?
“What happened?” Adam asked, still looking at those glassy blue eyes.
“I-” Cain stuttered, like he didn’t expect to be asked. “We went to bring out sacrifices to God. I brought what extra I had grown and Abel slaughtered a goat—the little one, with the limp. God accepted the goat but He…He said I was to do better.”
God was like that sometimes, Adam knew. He didn’t know why, maybe He just liked meat better than grains and fruit.
Each time they had to butcher even a chicken Abel got—had gotten—upset. When they slaughtered the goats and sheep and cattle he always cried, but they needed to eat and God needed to be praised and worshiped.
“He- He always says that, but I give Him everything. I’ve always set aside the sweetest fruit, the finest wheat, the very best of the lot. I make sure to give Him everything Mom thinks we can spare—sometimes even more because I don’t want to disappoint Him.”
Cain sounded desperate. Like he needed Adam to understand.
“What happened?” Adam repeated. His voice thundered, and he saw Cain’s feet stumble back. Some part of Adam was distraught at having incited such a fearful reaction, but some other part nearly reveled in it.
“I was just so angry,” Cain said, sounding miserable and defeated and small. “It isn’t fair Abel is always getting praised when he’s choosing the weakest and worst of what he has. I didn’t…I wanted him to hurt but not this badly.”
“Wasn’t,” Adam said.
He was shaking, but not from cold or fear. Rage coursed through him like it never had before—not even when Lilith left him, or when he’d bitten into the Fruit and understand what they had just been tricked into doing, or when God had cast them from Eden.
“What?” Cain asked. He still sounded so small, like he was Seth’s age instead of nearly fifteen. Maybe even younger than that.
“It wasn’t fair. Abel was getting praised.”
“No! No, Dad, he isn’t- I didn’t-”
He understood what he’d done. He probably had since the very start, or close to it. He was never stupid.
“He is,” Adam said, and finally looked at Cain.
Cain looked lost. Frightened, in many ways, like every single thing he knew had been upended and scattered. Adam…couldn’t feel much of anything.
“He can’t be,” Cain said, a plea like a prayer. “I didn’t mean it.”
“He is. He’s dead. You killed him.”
“No,” Cain wept. “No!”
Adam was standing. His hands were covered in his son’s blood, his son who lay dead on the ground at his feet. Cain shrank away from him, like-
Like he was afraid Adam might kill him.
“Leave,” Adam said.
Cain sobbed. “No, Daddy, please- I didn’t know! I didn’t know!”
“Leave!” Adam shouted. “You killed him! Get away from here, get out!”
Cain tripped over his feet, scrapped a knee and both palms in the dirt. And then he ran.
Adam watched until he left the field they had tended together, that Adam had first sowed when Cain was first learning to wobble on chubby legs. He watched as he tore through the brush and sharp brushes, until he lost sight of his hair and brown tunic, until he couldn’t hear him in the forest. He stayed there, staring off into the space where he had gone, until a small lamb brayed near his feet.
The creature had crept closer to him and its fallen favorite master. It bleated at the boy crumpled to the earth, clean white wool coming nearer and nearer to being stained by the blood congealing in Abel’s clothes.
“Fuck,” Adam said. His boy—his boys. Cain and Abel, the first two and then only two for several grueling years. One always coming right after the other.
Hadn’t Eve seen this coming? Had a dream so terrible it woke her in the night with a start so strong it had woken Adam, too? She’d begged him to help them, their two eldest children, to prevent the animosity she knew was brewing.
Adam hadn’t believed her, not really. The boys adored each other, it was plain as day to see. Still, she had insisted and it wasn’t that bad of an idea to separate their area of work. Perhaps it would be best, in the long run, for Cain to know as much as he could about farming the earth and for Abel to know how best to tend to their animals. A downright practicality. Up until this moment, had Eve come to him again with her concerns, he didn't think he would have believed it.
Even now, even after all this…he couldn’t actually believe that the two hated each other. Certainly not their sweet, gentle Abel and their thoughtful, dedicated Cain. Not when the roughest tumble they’d gotten into before had only resulted in bruises because they’d accidentally fallen from the river bank they’d been walking near. Not when Adam had watched Cain rise from the bed he and Abel shared with their youngest brother, delicately extracting himself from the tangle of limbs so as to not wake the others, only this morning.
“Fuck!” Adam yelled, tears falling hot and fast.
It was frighteningly easy to gather Abel into his arms. To carry his limp little body back to the house—back to his bed, his mother, their hearth.
“Adam?” came Eve, as he entered their little yard. “What- no, no!”
She must’ve thought he was carrying something else, at least for a moment, but the instant she realized her scream was shrill enough to send the chickens flying to the trees.
“No, no, my baby, my baby,” she cried, running to Adam as if she could take the weight all unto herself. “No, please, this can’t- oh!”
From where Eve had come was Seth, only seven and still little enough to cling to his mother’s legs when uncertain. He looked very much like he would like to do just that, now, old enough to understand that he wouldn’t be able to. Not when Eve wept as she did, not when Adam’s face was wet, not when Abel was limp and Cain was nowhere to be found.
Eve crumpled to her knees, taking Adam down with her. Her arms crossed beneath his. Between them they cradled Abel, so small and so young and so very dead.
~~~
A/N: Full disclaimer I did in fact write this because I watched Hazbin Hotel. Yes, it did surprise me that such a stupid little show (that I have semi-complicated opinions about but did enjoy watching) inspired something like this. I don't think it's strongly related to Hazbin Hotel in any way, though it could be if I was actually interested in expanding it (and I'm not really). There is non-negligible impact from Supernatural and Good Omens in this as well.
prguitarman
dailybridgerton
discoholicmusic
romaincrisis
turnnoffyourmind
dededos
pixelskylines
tangentwithtanner
