in tandem with my previous post — ella did NOT want plans for the isle to go through. she’s a character that is full of love and care, through and through. in all adaptations of her story, she chose to forgive. she forgave her step-mother and her step-sisters. her entire arc was about choosing kindness. and this doesn’t change in desc verse at all ( and i like to think i have free rein with this bc there are no canon desc. references to her, really ). during auradon’s formation and the uniting of the kingdoms, there was saturated fear and paranoia about the villains, propaganda made from all sources — the villains had ruined their lives, hurt them, abused them, took people from them. how to keep these families and their future children safe? it took but one suggestion for most people to agree : the isle. a place to keep the villains separated and away. meaning their world would be away from any potential danger threats.
but ella hated the idea of imprisoning people, of bringing them back from the dead. it went against every one of her values and her morals and she felt it was wrong, unjust, and inhumane. being one of the prominent rulers of this newly formed auradon, she had a voice and she used it. every single meeting, she spoke out against its creation. however, she was with child and her unborn baby was used as leverage against her — could she live peacefully in a world where danger always lurked, where these powerful villains could take everything away in an instant? it came down to the villains or the safety of her children. and when put in that position, she chose safety of her children, vowing to never let them grow up in a world where they couldn’t be safe.
the gif at the top is so important because that’s how i see her having this very conversation with her husband, being so torn about it and upset, unhappy with the decisions she’s being forced to make, and the new world she’s now forced to adapt to.
so, for ella, what got her through it was convincing herself that it was for her baby, that it was for the safety of all future children in auradon — not yet considering the very real fact that children would be born on the isle, as well. and as the years went by, she grew comfortable in auradon’s bubble. because of her upbringing, she grew up become a prominent figure in auradon, a major philanthropist. she’s founded and funded numerous charities and foundations, focusing on the lives of children, determined to ensure none of them would live the same life she did.
even after learning that there were children on the isle, she remained out-numbered — auradon had enough of its issues ( sidekick mistreatment, lack of rights for sentient animals, just to name a few from the long, long list of everything wrong with auradon ) that it couldn’t just drop it all and focus on the isle. so she told herself — after things in auradon were fixed, they would help the children of the isle. but it never happened all those years. until ben.
