#anna trein

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Has Trein has ever mentioned a wife and child other than his first wife and two daughters? If not, it may imply that TWST’s Cinderella equivalent has no familial connection to Trein, since I find it hard to believe he’d only ever mention his first wife and their daughters while leaving out a second wife and stepchild.

No, Trein has never mentioned dating another woman or taking on a second wife after the passing of his first. He has also never mentioned a stepchild of any kind; he has only ever talked about Dolly/Zella and Anna. And no, the other characters (other NRC staff included) have not said a thing about either topic. I'm under the impression that Trein is still very much in love with his late wife and devoted to his daughters.

Maybe Twst's (hypothetical) Cinderella character isn't related to Trein, as you've said... Or maybe they simply aren't related yet because this is actually pre-the events of the film. It might be interesting to have a story arc where Trein meets a new woman and has to grapple with the thought that moving on might be considered a "betrayal" to his first love and blood-related daughters, as well as the challenge of trying to connect with another child. He might come off as too stern and scary to approach. (Lilia could help or at least give advice?) afhaeyovaera Probably not though, since Twst has to keep its marketable characters (yup, even Trein) technically "avaliable" for its majority straight female audience. I just thought this would be a neat idea.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I read comments saying that Trein has already talked about a possible character based on Cinderella, but I can’t find anything about it and I’m starting to doubt it, has he actually mentioned it?

It also seems like they’ve given him special attention, like him being the one who discovered Meleanor’s gem, and the Fairy Godmother being the Minister of Magic. It made me wonder if Cinderella could be a teacher at RSA who was taught by Trein, since I doubt she would be a student. And maybe Belle could be a teacher as well? Like how Tiana is in charge of a shop

I don’t recall Trein talking about a potential twisted!Cinderella at all. He has only ever spoken about his two biological daughters, Anna and Dolly/Zella.

In 8-23, Trein recounts a story of a fairy giving a girl that endured many hardships a pair of Glass Slippers. That girl then attended a ball and left behind one shoe when fleeing from it. The prince was able to locate her again using the left behind Glass Slipper, and the girl married into royalty. As a result, the people had a queen that understood the plight of the common man. Many political reforms occurred, and, as a result, the country prospered. One pair of shoes managed to change the trajectory of an entire country—nothing short of a miracle.

I think people might be mistaking this scene as Trein discussing a twisted!Cinderella? But he could very well actually be talking about Cinderella directly from the Disney film, especially considering that the Disney characters are historical figures not referred to by their actual names in the Twst canon.

I know a popular fan theory is that Cater is loosely based on Cinderella. He has two older sisters that boss him around and make him do chores, which is behavior reminiscent of Cinderella’s stepsisters. For example, Cater says in his Birthday Jacket vignettes that he recalls being sent to buy ice-cream for his sisters and being made to carry the clothes they shop for.

There’s many other little details too, such as the following (credit to Yuurei20 for compiling relevant evidence and screenshots in this helpful video):

Cater is warned to return to his dorm “by midnight” in Ghost Marriage.

He often uses his UM to handle menial tasks, such as his share of chores for Heartslabyul, similar to how Cinderella is often doing many chores.

Some fans claim his UM, Split Card, is a reference to Cinderella reflected in the many soap bubbles of Sing Sweet, Nightingale.

There’s a deleted Cinderella song where she wishes there were more of her to help with the chores.

Both Cater and Trein are also from the same country, the Shaftlands. Notably, Cater is the ONLY Heartslabyul boy not from the Queendom of Roses.

Cater has a voice line during Lessons where he comments on Trein’s strictness. Trein is, of course, twisted from Cinderella’s strict stepmother.

He shares a birthday with the original English VA for Prince Charming.

In the live action Cinderella, she is the daughter of a merchant that often travels for business. Similarly, Cater’s father (a banker) often travels for his job.

There’s an unexplained blue heel topping a cake in the Heartslabyul lounge’s birthday background.

In Riddle’s Dorm Uniform vignettes, Riddle posts pictures of things like rags and brooms on Magicam to help Cater study for a class. Cinderella uses both a rag and a broom to clean. Riddle mentions cleaning carpets too, which is a chore Cinderella is ordered to do.

Additionally, Riddle uses #FireplaceAshes at one point in the vignettes. In fact, ashes are where Cinderella’s nam originates. Ashes -> Ashenputtel, cinders -> Cinderella, etc.

I should note that even though Cater has elements of Cinderella, it’s entirely possible for there to be other characters with Cinderella traits and for a formal character twisted from Cinderella to exist. Twst is no stranger to pulling this kind of thing.

Back to Trein and the Cinderella connections!

In 8-37, we meet a NPC (no design shown, only voice and name given) by the name of ゴドリーナ・メザー (Godorīna Mezā). She is the director of the Department of Education at the Ministry of Magic. Her initials, GM, and the way her first name’s first syllable sounds like “god” have led many to speculate that she is a twisted Fairy Godmother.

It should be noted that she is not shown to have a relationship with Trein or demonstrating any particular Fairy Godmother-y traits at this point in the main story. All this character has done so far is make some announcements for the interscholastic tournament.

Trein’s definitely been getting a lot of attention lately, which I find both makes sense and is a bit odd. Being the history professor, he’s a useful vehicle for exposition, but it’s sad for the other staff who get way less importance in the main story 😔

We don’t know about any potential twisted!Cinderella or Belle yet, but I’ve seen lots of fan interpretations that envision Belle as a librarian. Not so sure about Cinderella.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Oh neat, my ask. To follow up on the Trein conversation, I honestly think the issue could be his method of dealing with students. The impression I have of it is that it’s very stern and distant, accepting only rigid compliance. Necessary for dealing with the (frequently underhanded) personalities at NRC, but possibly too much friction for RSA.

I imagine RSA still keeps high standards, but they may be more open and supportive in handling students. Maybe the best way of describing it is authoritarian vs authoritative?

[ Referencing this post! ]

Yes, your ask! I apologize if it took me a while to respond to it; I have a lot of asks in my inbox and don't reply to all of them. The ones I do reply to may take several weeks to a few months to go live from my queue. There's currently 150+ posts lined up ;u;

I understand calling Trein stern, but I wouldn't say he's distant. Of course, he's distant in the sense that he has to maintain professionalism in the workplace and his role as a figure of authority for the students under his care. (Trein's honestly a lot more responsible than Crowley in this regard.) However, I think Trein does have a lot of warmth and kindness for others. It just comes out in specific circumstances, which I will get into below the cut.

To quickly define terms for those who may not know: authoritarian and authoritative refer to two styles of behavior, often in relation to parenting or leadership. An authoritarian style is controlling, rigid, and demanding of one-way obedience often through power, fear, or a combination of both. An authoritative style still has expectations and rules, but keeps avenues of communication open and is nurturing. It's kinder and involves two-way communication.

If we look at how Trein treats his family members, he can actually be quite doting. From various Unified Exam voice lines: he constantly talks about how cute Lucius is, gets into arguments with Crewel about the charms of cats over dogs, becomes jealous that Sam knows how to pick better toys for Lucius, spoils Lucius with his favorite things (food, toys, brushing), etc. He reminisces fondly about his late wife and the time they spent together. He loves it when his daughters, Dolly/Zella and Anna, call him and excuses their childishness (despite them both being adults now) because they loser their mother at a young age. He nags them a lot because he cares for them.

In a school/work environment, Trein has to act differently. His love becomes tough love, because now his goal is to teach and discipline these young boys into becoming upstanding gentlemen and mages. He has to be far sterner because NRC students are extremely rowdy and get up to no good so often. Trein laments about the string of incidents that have already happened in a single school year.

This is a problem compounded by the fact that Trein himself is old-fashioned by nature (one mob student says that when his own father was an NRC student, Trein taught the exact same lesson) and as a droning voice, so students find his lessons boring and struggle to pay attention or even to stay awake.

Based on voice lines and accounts from all the main cast NRC students, Trein's lessons are just him lecturing to the class. It's not very... engaging, one might say. Sometimes they outright insult his class or his teaching methods. The students, being a bunch of teenage boys, don't respect Trein or what he teaches. They're in a rebellious stage of their lives and dislike his strictness or any adults telling them what to do. Trein, a dedicated and stubborn academic, would naturally be insulted by this and scold them for such behavior.

At the same time, I believe that Trein is perfectly capable of exuding warmth to his students and fellow staff. Again though, it usually has to be earned. When Trein believes Grim has done well on a difficult exam question, he praises him (Trein's Strict Suit vignettes). When Crewel is frustrated and thinking of ways to discipline students, Trein informs him that more of their students are pursuing science as a career post-graduation thanks to Crewel's influence (Crewel's Rich Fur Coat vignettes). Ortho says in his Birthday Gear vignettes that Trein lets him read his books and plays board games with him. "I've never met my grandpa, but if he were here, maybe he'd be like [Trein]."

Actually, speaking of Ortho??? In his Ignihyde Gear vignettes, Trein initially tells him off for damaging property and bans Ortho from coming to school for a whole week. Part of the reason for Trein's upset is that Ortho doesn't seem sorry at all for what he did. However, when Ortho later apologizes and expresses remorse, Trein accepts it and allows him back on campus to do an act of service. If Trein were truly authoritarian, I feel like his response would have been to not compromise whatsoever with his punishment. But instead, Trein listened and rewarded Ortho for self-reflection, which actually sounds more authoritative to me. He's also willing to compromise with Ruggie in exchange for his help capturing escaped rats (in Ruggie's Dorm Uniform vignettes).

When discussing Royal Sword Academy's curriculum, Trein specifically praises courses where "students read assigned classics and then discuss them together in class." He even says that NRC should "take a page from their book". Trein does appear to see value in hearing others' opinions and letting his students share their thoughts. I think he would have been all for this method of teaching, were he to be at RSA. But it seems like something at NRC is preventing him from implementing a similar system... Maybe he needs to get it approved and it just never did? Or maybe the NRC students make it difficult to make this method successful.

(Notably, Trein also seems to dislike straight-up memorization the day before exams. He wants his students to not just know the information, but respect it and its impact. Again, this does not read as authoritative to me. I feel like an authoritarian would just demand someone to know the information without appreciating it or understanding the why behind it.)

I think Twst EN sort of agrees with me in saying Trein is authoritative, not authoritarian. After all, they localized the Japanese card name ストリクトスーツ (sutorikutosūtsuinto; literally "Strict Suit") as "Authoritative Attire", NOT "Authoritarian Attire".

So!! While I do think Trein might have been rejected from a job at RSA due to being a cultural mismatch for their workplace, I don't think it's his sternness that's the primary issue.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

On the idea of hometown events for staff I have an idea for Trein: he returns to his home in the Shaftlands to take part in his daughter's Ana's wedding (this would be like the 3rd wedding themed event for twst) and for whatever reason brings a few students along (maybe to help fill out some roles in the wedding, picture flower boy Ortho). The storyline for Trein would be him struggling with his daughter growing up and moving on but ultimately accepting her (and her baker husband's) union (I also have this cute idea that it's a tradition in his area for a bride to purposely lose a shoe after the ceremony and receive back it from an in-law, coming from the cinder princess's own wedding ofc)

[ I shared my own ideas for staff hometown events here! ]

S-So many wedding themed events 😭 albeit at least from a different angle every time…? (Ghost Marriage -> wedding crashers, Eternity Float -> friends performing an important tradition for the marrying couple, and this hypothetical event -> Trein watching his ow daughter being married) Different enough, I guess.

Flower boy Ortho sounds so cute… I wouldn’t trust the NRC boys at any relative of mine’s wedding though 💀 Who knows what chaos they’d cause…

As a kid I ADORED the romance between Anastasia and the baker… and her subsequent redemption arc 🥺 I’d love to see this translated into Twst somehow!

I recall Lady Tremaine being against the relationship due to a baker’s low social status, but I can see Trein being against it due to being overprotective and thinking no man is good enough for his beloved daughters. He has said before that both Dolly/Zella and Anna have moved out and are on their own now, but I imagine seeing one be wed is an entirely different beast. I want to see Trein begrudgingly coming to terms with Anna and the baker’s union, deciding to place her happiness above his own arbitrary standards for her. It would be great to get more character development for the NRC staff in general!! And I can see some of the NRC boys learning a lot from observing this. Sebek immediately comes to my mind, since his parents were also heavily discouraged from marrying but still managed to find their happily ever after anyway.

It’s cool to see ideas from the original Disney films interpreted as cultural values and beliefs + traditions surrounding love. Eternity Float did this with TLM (wearing real material so the couple won’t be deceived, the trial to test their love, etc.), so I want to see more of that! Incorporating Cinderella losing her slipper and getting it back would be so cute 🥰

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

anna and dolly

Ooh, interesting 🤔

Trein’s two daughters are named Anna and Dolly in JP, named after Anastasia and Drizella, respectively. In EN, Anna is unchanged but Dolly was changed to Zella.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Goose anon here! I have a small idea for Trein’s home event: Instead of Vil being here…we could have him and Crewel team up to make an outfit suitable for said wedding. Like they (but mainly Crewel) look at Trein’s original outfit and go “Like HELL you’re going in that getup to one of the most important times in your life!” And strong-arms/Trein reluctantly lets them both design the outfit (aka his SSR card wedding outfit, basically the TWST version of Lady Tremaine’s ball outfit like someone mentioned XD)

[ Staff event ideas | Another Twst wedding event (but with Anna marrying a baker) | More Anna Trein wedding event ideas ]

WAIT

The NRC students and Crewel... being parallels for the animal companions (the birds, mice, etc.) that help Cinderelly prepare for the ball 👀 Maybe because Anna's original wedding vendors cancelled on them last minute?? So the NRC students are guilted/shamed into helping or else Trein will cry/j

I think having Vil and Crewel team up to prepare Trein's suit for the wedding is a great idea, especially since we've seen the student-staff fashionista duo team up before in events like the Fairy Galas. Trein is someone who is meticulous with his presentation, so I don't think he's going to look disheveled for his daughter's big day. I think it'd probably be more of a situation where he mentions the wedding and what he'll wear to his fellow staff (while putting in his time-off request)... and then Crewel lowkey insults his planned outfit, calling it too old fashioned and telling Trein he'll embarrass his daughter unless he upgrades his wardrobe. It maintains the vibes of Crewel and Trein butting heads while finding roundabout ways to help each other out 😭 From there, Crewel can enlist Vil's assistance, and then the other students (who are mad nosy) overhear or learn from Vil working on that "special project" with Crewel after classes.

We seriously need more staff SSRs... A Trein wedding fit would go so hard. (I'm biased for staff SSRs because I REALLY want a silly Crowley vacation wear card lol)

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I’m not the only one who wants staff hometown events right? or maybe staff events based on their films

I’m leaving Crowley out of this one since his hometown is “???” and it isn’t clear if he is from a specific film, given that he has elements of many iconic Disney corvids.

It would be fun to have staff hometown events too!! It would be a great opportunity to meet new characters like Trein’s two daughters (Anna and Zella/Dolly), Crewel’s two high school chums, and even twisted versions of Le Fou and Lawrence (which haven’t ever been alluded to in canon).

For Crewel, I think doing a fashion show would fit but he has already done that for Fairy Gala. Maybe he’d have a more puppy-centered story then? An event for animals or a more in-depth Devil Wears Prada type tale about the backstabbing in the high fashion world. I can see the boys wearing edgy alt looks similar to what Cruella designs in the 2021 film.

I feel like Trein technically already fulfilled the “take kids to a ball with an important deadline” plot thanks to Glorious Masquerade, so we I don’t think we’d have a blatant Cinderella event repeating similar plot beats. Maybe it’s framed more as a bring-your-kids-to-work day or his daughters drop in to visit. Ooh, it would be fun if we got the Cinderella 2 story where Anastasia falls in love with a local baker… or maybe the Cinderella 3 story where there’s time shenanigans and maybe Trein’s fortune is reversed and he finally got that RSA job he wanted, but discovers it doesn’t actually make him happy? Not sure what outfits there’d be for this event but maybe casual clothes to reflect how Cinderella was reduced to humble clothes but her character still shone in spite of it all.

cnbsvwianzka It’d be such whiplash if Vargas’s event just involved him riling up the townsfolk into a frenzy to go kill a rumored beast 🧍‍♂️ I’m pretty sure Twst wouldn’t go that direction though (it feels too dark to linger on)… For this one, it might be neat to see simple French peasant clothes or maybe, for a more ornate look, the boys dressed up to look like the humans cursed to resemble pieces of furniture in the Beast’s castle. I could see more light and rose-inspired outfits too (to pay homage to the Enchantress).

I see Sam’s event being one where he travels to restock on goods or to hash out a deal with a prince. The whole story could be about Sam helping out that deadbeat prince find an honest living. We could learn more about his connections and the “friends” on the other side. Having American flapper-inspired looks might be interesting here, given the setting of the film. Feathers and boas and beaded necklaces, oh my!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I just watched dream Riddle main story from YouTube because suddenly it appears in my recommendations, with full Japanese language there. I got curious and immedietly spoiler myself 😭 But I guess it's a bit worth it, I've got to know that Dream!Papa Rosehearts is always at home and spending time with Dream!Riddle like reading books for him and playing croquet (Pls correct me if I'm wrong! I don't really understand Japanese..) Which is a contrast at how he always seems to be busy, away from home. It's so interesting to get to know more about the parents in twst, even if just some crumbs. How about you, Miss Raven? Is there any other family members you would love to know more?

[ Family members lore here! ]

It’s been a few months since I read Riddle’s dream segment (which is way too long for me to want to go back and check), but yes, those details you mentioned do sound vaguely familiar. In the reality of Riddle’s dream, Mr. Rosehearts is a novelist who works from home so he is always available for his son. I specifically recall Riddle sharing that he plays with toys while his father reads to him. This is a contrast to reality, where Mr. Rosehearts, a medical mage, is often away for work and does not get along with his wife.

There are also several photographs on the wall of Riddle’s dream!home. (Trey remarks that this isn’t what their house looks like irl; there are scarcely any pictures up.) The Rosehearts’ parents’ faces are blurred in every image—which is heartbreaking, because the implication is that Riddle’s strong imagination, one which he has honed via his intense studies, cannot imagine what his happy parents look like 😭

There’s actually quite a few family members I’d like to learn more about:

Mr. Spade (who is he… where is he… why do they never talk about him…)

Mr. Rosehearts (I need to know more about the man who married Mrs. Rosehearts and why this guy doesn’t divorce her and take custody of the kid already/j)

Leona’s entire family (because I live for the drama… I wanna know what disease his dad has, more about his mom and sister-in-law, etc.)

Ruggie’s parents (all we know is that his mom died while giving birth to him and that his dad left and never came back for unknown reasons)

Mr. Ashengrotto (we don’t know anything about Azul’s biological dad or why his mom divorced him)

Azul’s stepfather (I want to know if Azul’s stepdad really was his mom’s divorce attorney because fans seem to think it’s canon when it’s actually NOT; Azul only ever shares that his mom met his stepdad while she was going through divorce proceedings)

Mr. Leech (I gotta know if he’s as shady as his wife and sons are and/or what the twins might look like when they’re older)

Mrs. Asim (she’s the only mage besides Kalim; I want to know how this influences her behaviors and treatment!! I also want to see what kind of person successfully marries into such an affluent family)

Rook’s entire family (… are they all also weirdos… or is it just Rook…)

Idia and Ortho’s extended family; ie the Jupiters (I really want to see how the disgraced Shrouds are treated by the main branch family; more family drama is always tasty)

Silver’s biological family, the Istvans (we barely knew anything about them other than they were either comedically evil like Heinrick or generically good like Leah/the Dawn Knight)

Sebek’s older brother and sister (PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEAs3PLeASEplESePLesSEPLWSEplESDeplESspLEASEPLO)gSaa a wSfagwkwkw)

Rollo’s unnamed little brother (feed me angst…)

Gidel (how did he and Fellow meet, why does Fellow take care of him, etc.)

Dolly/Zella and Anna; ie Trein’s daughters (even if it’s just silly stories of their girlhoods, I would appreciate it)