#ask chesh

[thecheshireninja]

Remember in the EAH special Spring Unsprung where the Cheshire Cat had swapped the storybook of legends with a fake one and anyone who had read from it got their personality reversed and made them act the complete opposite of themselves? 

I was curious to see how you’d think each of the NRC boys would act/behave in the scenario that they had read the book in this au.

i can’t believe i haven’t thought of that yet! here’s my really long list of ideas (some i took more seriously than others):

RIDDLE - would have no regard for the rules, be extremely lax, and wouldn’t do his homework. or even study. the horror!

ACE - can you imagine anything more frightening than a sweet, shy, soft-spoken Ace?

DEUCE - a bit of a special case bc he’s got an unusually strong duality in his personality. so flip that, and you get a wannabe delinquent who reverts back into an honor student in moments of strong emotion!

TREY - suddenly the most domineering, aggressive student on campus. NO he will not bake you another tart, you can starve for all he cares. go bake HIM a tart!!!!

CATER - Cater’s tricky bc it’s quite difficult to distinguish where his true personality begins and where it becomes just a facade. one thing we do know, tho: he cares a lot about his image, so he takes great pains to mask his own feelings. whatever riddle-cursed Cater would be like, he wouldn’t care about that at all and just be himself—even if it’s gloomy or unattractive.

LEONA - this probably my favorite one here lmao he’d be humble and gracious and bear a heart to serve others. he would try to ensure the comfort of those around him at any cost, including his own sleep. he’d always prefer his negotiations upfront and honest, rather than scheming behind people’s backs. can't you just imagine that kind, genuine smile? :)))))

RUGGIE - he’d suddenly sprout a new set of morals, but that’d go hand in hand with giving up about his current circumstances. so he’d just lie down like a sad dog and lament, i guess.

JACK - no honor. no code of conduct. anything goes. he is as the wily and quick-tongued wolf, more likely to cheat his way to the top than to work for it. sometimes he forgets to do something he said he would and what about it.

AZUL - nvm this is my new favorite he’d be poor. partly bc he cares a lot more about ethics than profit, and mostly bc he keeps giving away all his assets. he fumbles every social interaction without fail. but he doesn’t care bc he’s perfectly self content and happy with where he is in life, and is not the overly ambitious sort~

JADE - brash, impulsive, and very bored with life. will throw a fit if you try to put him in a uniform. he’s easily provoked and cries a lot. always speaks his mind and is loud about it, but he’s more bark than bite and surprisingly timid.

FLOYD - quiet, sensitive, and extremely hesitant. he hates trying new things or being surprised, so he just sorta hides behind others and tries not to make any splashes. he still has the attention span of a goldfish but doesn't want to trouble anyone so just tries to pretend he's still following.

KALIM AND JAMIL: ngl, these two are written so clearly against each other that i think they would just have their personalities swapped. and then we’d have the nice Jamil of our nightmares again

VIL - a Vil who doesn’t give… anything for his appearance… is not Vil at all… but rather a Vil-shaped thing that goes around barefoot with bedhead and brainrot. he says skibidi

ROOK - sharp, mean, and critical, unable to see anything but flaws. everything becomes disgusting and horrible in his eyes and he makes at least five different people cry daily. he becomes very upfront and TMI about himself.

EPEL - similar situation to Deuce here. he's a prim and proper little fellow who tries to act more brazen, but lets slip a stray "dear me!" when he gets especially heated.

IDIA - who's ready for some EXTROVERTED IDIA?? he is super athletic, takes looonngggg walks in nature, and loves to yap about it with all his friends! also he only speaks in exclamation marks! mm, sunshine!!!

ORTHO - he's a robot so i don't think the book would have any affect on him. this means he'd be trapped watching this show unfold, and have to make the choice between keeping things as they are or singlehandedly breaking this curse, thus saving NRC from certain doom.

MALLEUS - he will also be very extroverted. missing at parties? ha, no—he'll be the one planning them. gentle and unassuming, he makes sure to run all his errands himself so as never to inconvenience anyone. what's more, he and Leona set aside their differences and resolve to make the world a better place :)))

LILIA - a crotchety old man who wears ugly knit sweaters and wastes away in his rocking chair, tsking at all the children and groaning about the good ol' days.

SILVER - a rude and abrasive brat who gets into fights every day, constantly scaring off the woodland critters. he has no patience either; when he wakes up from his naps he gets very cranky and makes it everyone's problem.

SEBEK - the epitome of the "just a chill guy" meme, like, the most laid-back affable dude around. wants to take life slow and easy, and always backs down in the face of potential conflict. waka-sama can take care of himself

[thecheshireninja]

Wait now i have to ask you: How did you immagine the cast while reading the book (and before you watched the show)?

umm okay i was like 8 so i barely remember but

- Hunter had a lot more hair (and looked taller and buffer idk)

- Daring’s hair was def paler, like canon Darling’s. “hair so blond it was almost white” and all that

- Darling herself i pictured tall and willowy and more… idk tragic looking (?) i remember being so gobsmacked when she was officially revealed like omg! she has a beauty mark?!

- Cedar was blue

- Sparrow was cute. i was not impressed by his canon design like what is that goatee

- Humphrey was like… an actual egg

- Helga and Gus were little kids in my mind before they were revealed in canon. like i imagined them as primary schoolers idk why

i know a few like the O’Hairs, Faybelle, and some others were introduced in books first but their canon image is all that i remember.

[thecheshireninja]

Speaking of things mentioned ONLY in the books that seemed to hint at something bigger: Is it possible that Hunter's little sister, Fern, was destined to become the next Little Red Riding Hood?

Here me out: in Shannon Hale's books, Ramona or any possible future big bad wolf is never mentioned. Since her books feature characters who never appear in the series (Coral Witch, Nathan Nutcracker,in theory Darling too), It means that there was a deliberate choice on Shannon Hale's part not to have a bad wolf for Cerise, because Cerise herself is the wolf.; something the SCC doll seemed to allude too. However, another important thing is also stated about Cerise in the books - the world belives that her mother married the Huntsman, so much so that Raven points out "So you are Hunter's sister?!"

Now, in addition to being an interesting glimpse into how the world of EAH works, because it suggests that cross-fairytale relationships are allowed for "commoners", as long as they each have one child to fill their role (and it actually explains better some strange family trees, like the One of the Beautys). It does make you think: why mention the Huntsman if the village HAS other men?

Why hinted that the future Red and Huntsman are siblings? Why emphasize the fact that Hunter's little sister is considerably younger than him? Perhaps because the big bad wolf should be an adult compared to Little Red Riding Hood, who is a child,and indeed, Cerise is the same age as Hunter.

Who knows, I think there was something bigger going on.

eh?? Hunter has a little sister?? i had no idea

but you're definitely on to something...

i don't think it would have been intentional to imply that Cerise would be the Wolf and someone else Red Riding Hood, per se; i feel like the point of her arc in the books is the struggle of having a dual identity, with no clear resolution. in that case, it probably wouldn't have been necessary to consider an actual solution to the dilemma... but i wouldn't put anything past the mind of an author; it's possible she did write in all those references on purpose.

then again, knowing how author vs reader interpretations often work, it's also entirely possible the pieces fit together coincidentally. regardless, i think it's a really interesting idea 👀

previously, i’d always assumed Cerise would be destined to be Red, and some other Wolf would take over her father’s job. that might have been what they were planning, since they chose to present Cerise as Red’s daughter (which is an interesting choice in and of itself—ig bc Cerise doesn’t have a wolf form and, ofc, it’s the hero that gets the happy ending).

there are just so many other iffy variables tho… like how Badwolf was supposed to die (as Red recounts in TUOTA), but well, he didn’t, and as far as the fairytale world seems to know he doesn’t have an heir, so how did that just slide? then Ramona came along and solved that issue, but raised some new ones in the process… yeah idk, i may be going in circles here lol

also yeah, in the original story we have the age gap present between BBW and RRH, but ofc we know that Cerise’s parents were in the same class. not to mention age stuff gets all wonky thanks to the destiny system to begin with—what with Apple and Raven being in the same generation, other characters not being quite the right age for some events in their stories, etc.

i wish we could have met Fern in the books or wherever, tho… then we’d have more to go off 🤔 and then maybe there wouldn’t be a need for Ramona to exist

[thecheshireninja]

In the context of the EAH×Twisted Wonderland crossover:I feel that In the world of EAH, assuming the scenario where all the cast were by default so the Disney IP stories are non-existent (because EAH is based on irl folk tales) the Savanaclaw trio would be actually tie to the Robin Hood's Story.

I mean, King Richard's title is Lionheart and he has a problematic younger brother. Leona would clearly be the future Prince John, who doesn't want to follow his destiny and he and Falena are in a Raven/Apple situation where the villain character is the actually the good one + Ruggie and Jack working as subversion of the Sheriff and Guy of Gisborn.

Also: While they would already be enemies given their story, Leona having the aesthetic of the sly, flirty in a loser way,lazy leather-clad just like Sparrow would up their beef to an eleven (and they're probably cousins through Marian too, which makes it even funnier)

SHUT UP i love your brain (also hello when did you get into twst! yay!!!!)

i kinda hate using the Lion King story in the EAH continuity bc it isn’t a fairytale, but i feel it’s necessary to explain why they’re like… beastmen. the Lionheart thing works for Falena/Leona by extension, but Ruggie’s hyena qualities are pretty inseparable from his character and Jack is quite literally just a wolf dude.

i haven’t thought of Leona in terms of paralleling Raven before bc he’s (unlike Raven) not above morally questionable means to achieve his ends. he’s also very much motivated by a combination of jealousy and rage (among other things ofc). tho i think i did at some point talk about how he would initially not support Raven’s cause due to his current state of passive cynicism. i mean he did have some personal growth after his little Scar stunt in the main twst story but i’d argue that wouldn’t be enough to change his beliefs about society as a whole… so while i still classify him as a Rebel, it would take a bit of time before he gives any credit to the idea.

in fact i think that’s the problem with most of the twst cast, esp the OB boys—they’re so disillusioned, they’re already predisposed against any idealistic hopes rip

ANYWAY back to your point—i love the idea of Leona having beef with Sparrow nevertheless. like i just know that man hates every male EAH student

ok so maybe he wouldn’t have any actual beef cuz i know bro is too lazy for that (except when it comes to Malleus) but sparrow would definitely annoy the hello kitty out of him

[thecheshireninja]

i feel like a character like Apple need other character who can flick her ego and challenge her ideology to actually grow in (obviously this is just one of the way, IM pretty sure there are more way to do that), because through the show we only see people either look up to her or "fighting" her (idk in the books though since i haven't read all of them), like i would love to see someone said something like "don't you think a queen must be flexible through Era and time instead of being the copy-pasted of some book??" To her, like can you see the vision??? Idk if this makes sense because i just wanted to say my fanfiction in my head that i know damn well i'll never write lol

i see the vision lol and i understand where you're coming from, but... i feel like that exists already to some extent? it's kind of how her friendship with Raven develops, imo. the show never gave us conversations where they explicitly discussed the practical ramifications of living by destiny bc, i think, 1) it would take the immersion out of the fairytale-esque vibe (a lot of things in Ever After don't make sense bc they operate by fairytale logic, and over-exposition would ruin it), and 2) it would get too political for a kids' show. i'm not talking about identity "political"--i mean it would literally be very political. most people, it turns out, find the nitty-gritty of government policymaking and social structure rather dull. not to say children's media can't discuss political situations; one example i can think of is Avatar: the Last Airbender and i'm sure there are others (Warriors? Wings of Fire?). but that is not the kind of conflict that is central to the story, which is told mainly through the characters' individual experiences within the existing status quo.

in a better world, Raven's relationship with Apple would have developed to a point where they could discuss these things. and that's how i imagine they do! but there isn't a precedent for an entire society going completely off-script in Ever After. she has no idea how a society like that would even work (a point she reiterates countless times--Raven has a hard time taking responsibility as a leader bc she doesn't know what to make of the future), let alone how to go about creating one. in a world built on the real, tangible power of legacy, how can you just... break away from that?

the problem is no one has the answers, so even the Rebels mess up when trying to trailblaze this new direction. the only queen these people know of that's ever been flexible enough to break away from tradition was the Evil Queen. so.

i think people headcanon Darling in this position as well, tho it only really works if you ship her with Apple? if Briar and Apple ever had some tough conversations maybe Briar could do it too, depending on how you envision their relationship to evolve (or devolve) post-Thronecoming. also it'd be remiss not to mention Maddie! her role as Co-President of Student Council is way too widely overlooked! her relationship with Apple is one of my favorites bc she genuinely does challenge Apple's ideals, just not exactly in the same flavor as the other non-Wonderlandian Rebels might, lol. it's still a fun and noteworthy dynamic. Apple has a lot of interesting interactions with other Rebels in the books especially, but she never gets close enough to them to have productive discussions about this sort of thing.

in general Apple is one of the very few characters who appears to have any personal interest in kingdom management. even the other Royals, excepting Lizzie, mostly take it as a matter of course. Raven herself is, i can assume, woefully underprepared in the domain of ruling compared to Apple. and there is no Rebel character who is interested in ascending a throne for purposes of leadership, so there is no one to really craft counterarguments on the same level! not that you need a royal level of education to make a compelling argument. there have been moments in the books where Apple encounters the people's common sense in funny ways. but they're not exactly interested in debating her.

Ever After is a much smaller and more contained world than ours, and their perspective is pretty incomparable to that of an outsider. yes, yes i did just pull that card; i think context matters and is missing from a lot of EAH discourse. no that doesn't mean i think certain universal principles don't apply; she definitely needs someone like that after all (and my favorite candidate is still Raven). also i didn't mean to go on for so long lol. forgive me if it ended up being irrelevant to your point! enjoy your own headcanons!!

[thecheshireninja]

Since Sleeping Beauty is your favorite fairytale, may I ask your thoughts of each of the relationship between Sleeping Beauty and the Fairy from different Sleeping Beauty? Disney, Maleficent, Twisted Wonderland, Descendants, and EAH.

so Sleeping Beauty isn’t my #1 favorite (tho it certainly is among the big five); that would be HCA’s “The Wild Swans” which is not as famous due to its lack of representation in popular media :((

but this is an interesting question! rambles under the cut

Maleficent and Aurora from Sleeping Beauty (1959): these two don't have a personal relationship like the others; Aurora is a completely innocent victim to an act of pettiness. Maleficent's arbitrary punishment seals her fate from infancy, and there's nothing she nor anyone else can do about it.

Maleficent and Aurora from Maleficent: what is there to say about them? They're perfect; I have no notes.

Mal and Audrey from Descendants: honestly, this one was just odd. Audrey's character was pretty much doomed to lose (familiar much?) the moment Mal came sailing in with her magic potion plan. I can't help feeling sorry for her because I really think Ben was the problem :/ I don't remember much of the girls' actual interactions, especially from the third movie, but I will say this is easily the least interesting dynamic to me on this list, since it's not a trope I'm fond of.

Malleus and Silver from Twisted Wonderland: I really like how Maleficent's pettiness is scaled up in Malleus's character as a form of--dare I say--childishness? Childlike naivety? Something of the sort. However it doesn't really come into play in his relationship with Silver. I feel that relationship is more defined by their expected roles--Malleus as the lord and Silver as the servant--and I... can't think of any particular interactions or elements of their dynamic that stand out to me. They're cool with each other and I'm cool with that. I'd like to see their relationship develop more in the future, though, since so far their growth has been largely disconnected with each other in spite of the connections between their history. It feels to me as if the story has chosen to move on from it, but since it's yet ongoing I'll reserve my judgment.

Briar Beauty and Faybelle Thorne from Ever After High: I'm of the popular opinion that there was a lot of potential for their dynamic. But there is very little for me to go off in canon, so their friendship has never been convincing to me. I always got the impression that it's somewhat one-sided, as I can't imagine Briar would be 100% comfortable being friends with the girl who's destined to be responsible for her greatest nightmare (especially because Faybelle is extra-invested in claiming her destiny since the Evil Queen stole her parent's role). This post first got me thinking about that and goes into more detail. It's also of course interesting to consider that Faybelle (assuming fairies have longer lifespans) might therefore be one of the few friends Briar would meet again post-curse, and taking that into account, I think Faybelle's ostensibly cavalier attitude sort of hearkens back to the pettiness of the original Dark Fairy, plus a dash of naivety. Because how could she expect Briar to be truly comforted by that? Faybelle has the high ground here; she can afford to stop and smell the roses, while Briar only sees herself surrounded by thorns. wow where did that come from Anyway I love the inherent dreadfulness of their relationship, even if it was never explored in the series itself.

[thecheshireninja]

I see and approve your "Young Amanda Seyfried as Apple" and i respond with: Young Jensen Ackles as Daring. I mean,Look at them:

Now,this is what the ultimate arranged marriage between the two heavyweights of the Ever After kingdom should look like

omg they’re literally perfect

[thecheshireninja]

May I ask if everyone is aware about Lilia being the father of Silver and his true age? It would be funny for a grown man hanging out like teens.

Also love how Faybelle respects Malleus and Lilia but dislikes Silver and Sebek. I'm sure Faybelle looks up to Malleus especially if she's aware of Malleus's OB incident.

Speaking of, do you think the Diasomnia might like Farrah? Also, do you think there's some of them might find Silver a perfect prince charming? Like he could be someone from the prince charming family and not only heroic but beautiful that can rival Daring and Apple.

I like the idea of Darling and Silver being friends as they are prince charming types.

I like the literature club, maybe a break from everyone can be fun.

Also Briar and Jamil getting along due to their unfair destiny is like have snarky bestie talk about their horrible days. I like to think Briar and Jamil would get along.

And Holly and Jade being similar especially with being a twin and knoed about people like an open-book.

Silver takes the last name Vanrouge, but his connection to Lilia isn’t widely known. everyone is at some level aware that Lilia is an old fae though, so he’s especially respected by the fairy students at EAH. (if you ASKED about his relationship with Silver at this point he’d probably tell the truth, but nobody just asks a fae questions like that!)

Sebek and Faybelle have one thing in common and it’s the very thing that tears them apart: their admiration for Malleus 😭 Faybelle does think he could do way better tho. “he obviously hasn’t taken an advanced villainy course… he doesn’t even know how to properly crash a party!”

ooh, i hadn’t thought about farrah and diasomnia. looks like i’ll have to add another to Lilia’s growing brood of adopted children 🤔 i think she would get along with them fine simply because she’s a people person, but i’ll have to think more on that potential dynamic…

the people 🙌 love 🙌 Silver 🙌 !! i’ve always thought he’d be an unintentional ladies’ man if NRC were co-ed and i will spare no detail of how much the EAH students adore him for his effortless, dreamy charm. also hey princes are apparently in short supply sooooo ykw the princesses be looking 👀 (it will be funny bc he is spacing out the entire time)

in another world Briar and Jamil would be the type of friends to slump on a couch and yap while they do their nails or whatever. unfortunately i don’t think either of them have time for that lol

yes, Holly and Jade are sooooo different and yet share similar people skills… it’s kind of uncanny. she and Silver are the only members of the main team who are immune to his brand of teasing, though he sure doesn’t give up.