How The Amulet of Avalor Curses Work in Sofia the First: A Theory
So, I've actually been rewatching the series from the start with a sick 3 year old for the last three days and I have some **thoughts** about Elena's patterns in giving blessings and curses/ how the poem was written.
So, obviously we know "With each deed performed, for better or worse, a power is granted a blessing or curse."
But, that's just based on what people **outside the Amulet** observed Elena doing in a basic sense over the course of several decades. How closely were people able to observe the patterns of her blessings and curses anyway?
From my minimal exposure to Elena's character, she is a good judge OF character. Besides which, I think the Amulet may have been able to enhance her powers of perception to read the wearer's heart & assist her in getting out of the Amulet. (As in, she could understand if the person wearing the Amulet was good or bad inherently/ in their heart.)
So, my question became, as I was watching, would she curse **every** bad deed of a good person OR only deeds that went against their nature?
Would she grant powers for **good** deeds of an inherently bad person, or would she only curse them because they are bad at the core of their being?
Does she use blessings and curses to nudge people towards both her goals and who people are at the core of **who** they are?
The episode that first made me ask these question was the "Amulet and the Anthem."
Sofia is not perfect (nor should she be expected to be, she's a child, I'll die on this hill) in every episode.
Yet, the first time we see her get cursed by Elena is in "The Amulet and the Anthem."
Now, there is ONE other theory I have about this that I'm going to throw out there, but it's not as interesting, and I also think it's less plausible than the more truly magical ones.
In all other cases, Sofia's "misdeeds" would have a natural consequence that could be applied. In the case of bragging, there's a kinda sorta potential natural consequence, but it's slower to progress. It's a natural consequence that, by the time it shows up, is kinda hard to fix. Therefore, curse.
However, that theory wouldn't hold water with other episodes I want to explore. So, I'm going to continue.
In my observation of Sofia's character, what sets this "bad deed" apart from the rest of her "bad deeds" / "misbehaviors" is a handful of things that are as follows:
Being raised in the village Sofia was raised to think communally.
What do I mean by this?
Basically, what seems to set the Village kids and the Royal kids apart to me is their focus on working as a team, their ability to and desire to support each other, and their focus on being true equals. Like, the only person they're ever shown to truly isolate on sight is Lucinda, and that's after she terrorizes them.
This to be contrasted with the pilot episode where we learn from Zandar that newcomers to RPA, prior to Sofia's arrival - though it does seem to stop after her influence - are flung of a cursed swing.
In the world of Royals, there's this air of perfectionism and, as Amber says/sings, "Bigger is Better" that is not present in Sofia's upbringing.
Thus, the bragging goes against this communal rearing in which all is shared, everyone is equal, and all are relied on to contribute what they can.
Sofia is, by nature, polite and relatively quiet.
Some kids, by the nature of their beings, are born chaos gremlins (like my child) who, I am almost positive, is an variant of Loki amongst us - but ... that might be my genetics. [See Calista]
Amber is loud and calculating by her nature. She's a perfectionist. And, newsflash, y'all, that's not a bad thing. We need all types of people to make this Earth function. Amber is an amazing character. I LOVE her. But, she is calculating. And, she is LOUD. But, she learns to use those traits to be less self-serving and more others focused over time. Which is AWESOME. However, do I think Elena would curse Amber for bragging? No. I don't actually.
What would Amber get cursed for?
What does she get cursed for?
Stealing (given.) But, more than that, it's turning against her younger sister. It's breaking her promise. It's turning against her oaths.
Amber is a born leader.
Leaders do not break the oaths they've sworn. Leaders do not back out on their treaties. Leaders DO NOT break their promises.
So, since Amber is good at heart, though by her nature is loud and somewhat prone to a focus on perfectionism, and the of her core nature is towards leadership, Elena's focus is going to be guiding Amber, should she possess the Amulet, towards leadership.
(That's not to say bragging is a **FAVORABLE** trait for a leader - see Magnus - but I also think Elena would be selective and specific - especially with kids.)
Thus, some of those misdeeds Amber might perform would pass through a filter - like bragging - but breaking oaths would result in a "particularly NASTY curse" (For Example: The Release of Princess Ivy)
Sofia, by contrast, is NOT loud. Nor is she particularly concerned with not failing/ how others perceive her. She's soft spoken, and she's prone more to guiding than truly leading.
They talk about in Child Development/ Psychology three different types of kids/ personalities: followers, leaders, and guides.
Sofia is a guide.
Therefore, based on some of her innate tendencies the act of bragging goes against her nature.
[And this is a question] How does this action impact what Elena needs from Sofia?
Elena knows that she needs Sofia to be able to distract Shurki with flattery. She needs someone "of two worlds" to do what needs done.
She needs to encourage and foster Sofia's "village girl" humility. Therefore, she needs to focus on making sure she guides Sofia towards these aspects of who she is at her core.
Sofia and Amber are both "good." They're just good in different ways. Amber would have never succeeded in fooling Shuriki because Amber is **too Royal.** She's too put together and poised, and she's, therefore, too easy to read.
Sofia and Tilly were good in similar ways.
They're both ernest and genuine people who carry no pretenses about who they are. They put on no airs.
Tilly, likely, could have succeeded in throwing Shuriki off by being polite but quirky and silly.
Sofia **does** it by being so utterly polite and humble that no one ever suspects her.
Therefore, Elena guides Sofia to being **more** herself. She helps foster Sofia as being more that young girl taken from the village to be made a princess by the way she offers her blessings and this curse.
So, with the curse Sofia receives looked at, let's look at the ones she doesn't receive. (I won't nitpick episodes, but I'll go for the ones that seem to stand out to me as "misdeeds" worthy of pointing out.)
In the episode where Sofia tries to take Miranda on the picnic herself, Elena does NOT curse Sofia. And, I think there are a few reasons for this.
First, I think there is empathy. Elena likely misses her own parents, and she understands the desire to have one-on-one, alone, quality time with her parental figures.
Second, she may also understand (potentially even relate to) Sofia's desire to return to her past life. She may empathize with Sofia's desire for a simpler time.
Third, Sofia's "solution" does come with the bonus, or perceived one, that's she's "helping" her friend either approach the topic of being a good witch with her mom OR giving cover for "doing a hex" for a minute.
Finally, I think she has seen enough of Miranda to know Miranda's not letting Sofia get away with anything.
Then, of course, there is the matter of "Sofia the Worst." In this case, I think the reason Sofia wasn't cursed are as follows:
First, Sofia is going to need to be crafty and creative in getting past/ outsmarting Shuriki. Allowing Sofia to "get off the hook" for the doppelgänger nudges Sofia towards creative solutions and childlike creativity.
Second, Sofia is using the doppelgänger to **return to her roots.** She’s going back to the simplicity of her home life to see her friends and the band she likes from before power.
Finally, Sofia actively chooses to do the right thing in the end anyway without Elena’s guidance. So, perhaps, had things progressed further, the ending would have been different.
To me, the difference between “Scrambled Pets,” and “The Littlest Princess” is Sofia’s attempts at being the voice of reason in the first and following a long with a plot that directly goes against her mother’s wishes in the other.
In both episodes, Sofia breaks a rule. However, in the episode “Scrambled Pets,” Sofia is consistently reminding her friends that this is a bad idea, even if they do manage to convince to go along with it.
Whereas in “The Littlest Princess,” Sofia, if memory serves, simply follows with the Wee Sprite’s promptings despite receiving wisdom given to her from a few sources saying that if she listens to the Wee Sprites they’ll destroy everything. Sofia actively chooses to ignore the wisdom of others in this episode in the same way her friends chose to ignore her wisdom a few episodes earlier.
(We’re not to "Littlest Princess" yet and I couldn't find a decent summary beyond a sort of basic one on IMDB, some of the Wiki summaries are more detailed than others.)
This brings us into the episode “Cedric Be Good.”
(Full disclosure, I have seen this episode a butt load because "Better Me/You" is one Squish loves to dance to, but I also had a Wiki summary up to cross reference. The one I found for this episode was really nice and detailed. Which I was thankful for, my brain is good but not **that** good.)
There’s an argument I want to pose and then counter.
One could say that Cedric receives blessings only because Elena has to keep him/ the world from figuring out her presence in the Amulet. However, I find it interesting that she chooses to accept the flying machine in exchange for The Amulet.
The Amulet, by definition as a magical object (and Elena being in charge of it), could say: “No way, not good enough. Return THE OBJECT YOU STOLE, or no deal on the curse, dude.”
Therefore, I’m of the mind that she had something planned for him *and* that Elena could tell his heart was good inherently.
So, let's pick apart the blessings and curses.
First, after enlarging the tree, Cedric gains the power to turn big.
Now, Sofia does stuff way more simple than this all the dang time and doesn't get powers.
So, why would Cedric get one for this?
My thoughts are as follows:
First, we know from past episodes that Tilly had the Amulet. Elena is NOT heartless. She sees that Cedric kind of needs a confidence boost. You know? So, upon successfully doing his spellwork for good, I like to think she's giving him some encouragement in her own way because, again, she knows who he is inherently.
Second, why do I think she knows Cedric is good inherently?
Um, hello? She watched the face of real evil basically murder her parents in cold blood before getting shoved inside the Amulet. A thirty-eight year old victim of his father's abuse isn't really her definition of a cold blooded killer.
Third, kind of cycling back to point one to expand on it, I sort of wonder how much of Cedric's journey towards villainy she has seen? How long did Tilly have the Amulet? We know from the brief glimpse into Cedric's past that we get in "Through the Looking Back Glass" that he actually used to be a little like Sofia - quiet, helpful, genuine ... how much of that kid did Elena see from around Tilly's neck?
How much did she see the society they all lived in ruin him? How much did she see the rift the adults in Cedric's, Roland's, Tilly's, and Cordelia's life destroy? How much did she want to impose her influence softly to nudge him back in that direction?
This brings us to him squashing the cart and him immediately shrinking. Which, is obvious, Cedric, at his core, is not malicious.
We see that in the episode where he delights in teaching at RPA (even if he's reluctant at first), we see that in the way he actually has fun with the set in the play in "Sidekick Clio" (even if he does try to show off in silly ways in front of the kids ... which ... I mean ... guilty ... I definitely have "shown off" in front of my own kid well more than I need to), and he's not totally heartless toward Gnarly either. He's got a soft spot for those trolls and, perhaps for his own personal reasons, hates Fleigels for beating up on the innocent ...
(Like, come on, Fleigels are basically magical pest-bullies? Y'all mean to tell me he didn't take that personally?)
Anyway, he helps the little girl to score the goal, so he can bounce really high. But, gets **actively** cursed, not just loses the power, for going after the birds.
Cedric has kept, and cared for, a bird that laughs at him for **years.** If there is one thing we can infer about this man, it is that he has a deep soft spot for birds. (Ravens specifically.)
(I could also see Cedric enjoying "weird" animals in general - bats, snakes, raccoons, etc. [Now, is that because I **also** am a "weird" animal dude? Perhaps, but, I dunno ... fits his vibe. However, that changes little that birds are cannon.)
Then, he gets the ice powers, but he loses them, not getting cursed, when he freezes the ocean.
Now, I suppose one might ask why he loses his powers since this looks like an accident?
Despite being somewhat clumsy and often accident prone in a sort of slapstick way, we also see that Cedric is incredibly aware and meticulous when he's actually at his best. When he's most himself.
In the "Baileywhoops" episode, Cedric, not Greylock, is the one who observes the children flying off to outer space. He's the one who helps Greylock pull the kids back. And, again, with the schooner, he proves himself incredibly focused and aware.
In the RPA "Sorcerer's Secret" episode, he's also meticulous enough to be able to direct the young folks into how to flick wands their, and master a spell without, once demonstrating it. You have to be pretty detail oriented to be able to do that.
When he's alone doing his potions, we often see him focusing on single drops of ingredients and extracting miniscule amounts of nectar only to have things go wrong when someone slams open the door. However, prior to the sound interruptions, he was actually doing pretty well for himself in the delicate work.
So, in this case, it's his own desire to test his new power, without a thought for those around him, that causes him to lose the power. Something that is not innate to him. He's actually a pretty careful person at his core.
But, because he didn't actually have malicious intent to hurt anyone, he doesn't get cursed. He just loses the power.
Finally, Cedric gets super strength for building a house with magic that would have needed several people to build.
However, after lifting up Roland's throne, sitting in it, and then claiming to "rule with an iron fist." He gets cursed with **literal iron fists."
In most other cases, Cedric either simply lost his powers, or he got cursed with something Elena was almost teasing him with.
Even when Cedric initially stole the Amulet, he was cursed with "sticky fingers" that were easily resolved by giving Sofia his prized flying machine.
Elena allowed Cedric to get this far.
Yet, why this curse and why now?
Because, in the end, Cedric would and could never do this and she knew it.
This goes against every bit of who Cedric is as a person.
He deeply cares about his apprentice, or as I often have him refer to her as "his Little Arthur of Sorts."
Underneath all his insanity, pain, and misguided hurt toward Roland II and Cordelia, Cedric loves Roland and his sister.
After what the Greater Sorcery Community have put him through, and what Roland I and Goodwyn allowed to happen to him, Cedric just doesn't know how to communicate what he wants to Roland II and his sister, and he's sort of slowly losing himself in his isolation.
I very much am of the mind that Roland I and Goodwyn are to blame for the awkwardness between Roland II and Cedric. The two of them are picking up pieces left behind by their fathers, and DotS, I think, makes that very clear. Both of them are hurt by the expectations placed on them. Neither one of them are sure of what to say after so long, and both of them deserve to be held both accountable for the roles they played in the brokenness of the friendship AND the lack of receiving various extensions of olive branches that may/ may not have come over the years/ in canon.
How many times did Roland try to reach out only to see a locked door?
How many times did Cedric do things well to never receive praise?
How many times did Roland ask for Cedric's help in non-magical matters only for Cedric to view that as a slight instead of an ask for friendship?
How many times was Cedric left alone when he needed help because he's sort of the castle's shadow?
Eventually, the rift severed in the ground by two angry old men fall on the shoulders of their children.
And, once more, do we remember who wore this Amulet?
How many times did Tilly talk about her brother who missed his childhood friend?
So, this is by **FAR** one of the worst curses (apart from the release of Ivy) that we see Elena place.
And, I think it's because it goes against another part of Cedric's heart - the one who we see in "In Cedric We Trust" - loved King Roland like his brother.
Those two once took care of each other. They looked after one another. They loved each other.
So, of course, she's going to direct Cedric back to who he was because Elena had a little sister. She had someone she loved, and she couldn't imagine one of them turning against the other to seize power from the other.
Finally, when Cedric has the opportunity to truly seize power, he chooses to let it go not once but twice.
Elena uses Cedric's time possessing the Amulet to attempt to remind him who he is inherently.
I said this before, but Elena has seen cold blooded "killers." She knows Cedric isn't one of them. He's angry. He's hurt. He's bitter. (He might be a little nuts from living alone for so long.) But, he's not evil in his heart. If he was, she would have never offered him the opportunity for blessings.
If Cedric was inherently evil, I'm almost positive, his hands would have remained sticky until he returned the Amulet.
Sadly, she's not ultimately unsuccessful, because Day of the Sorcerers still happens. However, she tries, in her own way, to nudge Cedric in the right direction.
I also think, in the context of storytelling, it's really brilliant foreshadowing because the lesson Cedric learns at the end of "Cedric Be Good" is a soft version of the one he grows to actually internalize at the end of DotS.
Am I turning into one of those red thread crazy people? I don't really know. But, I've literally been stuck doing nothing and unable to wear shoes, with a sick toddler, and thus unable to leave my house, for the last two-ish days, and I need a place to put my crazed ramblings.
