Jul 12
Am I the only one who shipped Merida with Mor'du?
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Am I the only one who shipped Merida with Mor'du?
I don't see how Merida is in the wrong, and, frankly, I don't think she would receive anywhere near the amount of criticism she does if she were a male character. She wants to change her mom, but that's because her mom is, well, trying to *force* her to get married! A non-consensual marriage would mean that Merida would be having sex against her will, as well, so this is essentially rape. Of course, Disney-Pixar wouldn't come out and *say* that in their children's film, but that's the logical conclusion here. I think Merida is justified in doing almost anything she can to avoid this and "change her fate."
I agree. Even though she does make a mistake, her motives are totally understandable.
Though I recently found an interesting YouTube video which argued that the movie's narrative viewpoint seems to switch partway through, from "Merida is right" to "Merida is wrong." I was actually just planning to make a post about it. The video blamed this supposed inconsistency on the change of director from Brenda Chapman to Mark Andrews, and the storytelling changes that came with it, although I don't know enough about Chapman's original concept to know how accurate that assessment is.
Are critics of "Brave" right or wrong when they accuse Merida of effectively trying to kill her mother?
Yes, that's exactly what she's guilty of
No, that's going way too far!
I was just thinking of some of the criticisms I've seen aimed at Brave and at the character of Merida.
Of course it's wrong of her to use magic to try to change her mother, even though she has no idea that it will turn her into a bear. It's portrayed as wrong within the movie. It's perfectly fair to accuse her of trying to brainwash Elinor.
But it seems as if a lot of amateur critics view her actions in an even darker light. They accuse her of "poisoning" Elinor by giving her the magic cake, and they say that by trying to change Elinor's personality, she's effectively trying to get rid of her and replace her with a new mother – ergo, trying to murder her. Some time ago, I saw someone write "Merida basically wished her mother was dead" as a casual statement of fact.
Is that fair, or is it totally out of proportion?
Have you seen Brave (2012)?
Yes
No
Haven’t even heard of this movie
me when i listen to phoebe bridgers:
Ooh, Fate of the White Wold and the Winter Woods for the WIP challenge
Let’s see, Fate of the White Wolf and the Winter Woods…
So, the story idea came from a prompt by be_my_druidess from Archive of Our Own (I don’t know if they have a tumblr account) for a holiday writing exchange (I actually took an interest in a lot of their prompts for that exchange):
Brave: two sisters, Elsa is going to be engaged, but she wants only to walk in the Forest. Anna tried to persuade her that love and marriage are good. Later Elsa turns into a white wolf
I haven’t really sat down to fully explore this story in a while (really, I was only able to come up with a cool title for it). Maybe I should try giving this story more of a chance (could be a good Julycanthropy project)?
In the meantime, here are some songs that I think could be good for the vibes of this story:
re: the big four as the Changeling: the Lost TTRPG - because it works very well in my opinion
Merida: Her keeper was Mor'du, who molded her into a Will-o'-the-wisp Hunter, seeking knowledge and powerfull items for her keeper. After her durance, she became one with the shadows. (Darkling Hunterheart) She is part of the Summer Court. Was taken a week ago, but it felt like a hundred years and was only there for less than 48h. Miens: Shadowy, her hair takes a blue tint, looking almost like smoke and the tip of her fingers are black.
Hiccup: His keeper was The Red Death and was kept for his thinkering skill and was tasked to create minions made of metals. He was chained to the walls of the lair and lost his leg during his escape. (Wizened Artist) He is in the Autumn Court. Was taken a few years ago, came back recently. No time change. Miens: He is the most normal looking changeling out of them, at the exeption of some scales on his back.
Jack: His keeper was The Snow Queen, who took him for his joy and turned her into a frost making toy, but he has never been able to make her laugh. He has no memory of his life before his durance. (Elemental Playmate) He is in the Winter Court (with North). Was taken 300 years ago, came back nearly a decade ago, felt every years like ten. Miens: White hair, icy blue eyes, skin almost like ice, extremely cold to the touch. Mask: Brown hair and brown eyes, normal looking skin.
Rapunzel: Her keeper was Mother Gothel, who molded her into a beautiful flower with long, glowing golden hair. But during her escape, she cut them, turning them brown. Still, she can make her hair grow and glow when needed. (Fairest Bright One) She is in the Spring Court. Was taken as a toddler, about 200 years ago, felt like 18 years. Came back recently. Miens: Glowing blond hair, stamens grows out of her scalp, her freckles also glows. Mask: Short brown hair.
In this concept, the big 4 is it's own motley, but they still interract with other characters. Like North, Tooth, Bunny and Sandy are all also changelings, but Flynn is an Acanthus mage who realm-walked to the Hedge and found Punzie, inspiring her to run away. Astrid is a normal human, and was not fooled by Hiccup's fetch, but said nothing for his father's sake. The witch from brave is also a mage of the path of Thistle and was the one to "accidently" open a portal to the hedge, helping Mor'du take Merida.
Merida did came back to her family, but her time in Arcadia created a distance with them and her mother made her go to therapy, but they could never understand. (Eventually, she would find a changeling who could be her therapist.) Hiccup is mostly staying with other changelings, but Astrid is making him doubt if he should destroy his fetch or not. Jack has nobody and sticks with the Winter Court. Eugene helps Rapunzel get her papers to become a "real" person and helps her discover the real world, but she still sticks with other changelings to help her heal from her durance.
Toothles is actually a fully fae creature, but Hiccup befriended him so much that they bonded and now they ahve a shadow creature as a pet/creature of nightmares and destruction. Pascale is alos there, probably some lesser fae like a goblin of some kind.
For the antagonists: Pitch Black is a True Fae who feeds on nightmares and sometimes comes to the human world. Mother Gothel, The Snow Queen and Mor'du also tries to take back what they have lost, but forgets them more and more. Of course, dragons
while snooping around some deleted content from brave, i realised that merida was supposed to have a more direct parallel to mor'du, almost as if merida should have been the one transformed into a bear, not elinor. because something that was scratched is that on the tapestry, the four symbols represent the four clans, probably as an evolution to the four brothers (who each founded their clans)
The symbols represented powerful items from each clans, and according to this video, they were actually relevent to the wording of the spell. The tapestry was, at one point, so important that it was actually in the opening scene.
The pendant elinor gives to merida was also a scraped idea;
it is a bear triskel (clearly inspired by other animal themed triskel, mainly the hare one) and might have been elinor's birth clan, and it is the kingdom's crest.
So both merida and mor'du are the one creating the discord by refusing to follow the tradition,a nd they both get transformed into bears (mor'du for the strength, merida for the freedom). We could even have merida and mor'du having a weird allyship in bear form where she teaches him his wrong or something like that.
Because clearly, it is elinor that needs the most to have a character evolution (merida also, but y'know...) so her trying to mend their relationship, and merida, in turn, learning to mend the clan's relationships (unlike mor'du). It's not a very well developped idea, but what can i do? this movie is a decade old
