Giraffe's EAH Ship Tier List: Rosabella/Darling
Requested by @reverie-king-of-eah and @chesca-123
OOH, right back to my comfort zone: things I'll sound insane for even thinking about if you haven't read the books!
A Semi-Charming Kind of Life by Suzanne Selfors reveals that Darling and Rosabella are roommates and they do not get NEAR enough screentime/pagetime because they are SO cool when they talk!
Darling, as I'm sure most of you know, absolutely hates that she's a princess because it means she has to be a damsel. I've discussed this with friends before, and if Darling had been born a boy and allowed to participate in all those heroic activities she was banned from, I highly doubt she'd be a rebel. She'd be just as dense as Daring. The fact that she has to sit and wait and be rescued and be seen and not heard rightfully drives her insane and she's grown up resenting both her royal life (since the commoners have a lot more freedom of choice) and the fact that she's a girl (since her brothers get to do all the things she wants to do).
Which means looking at Rosabella is weird for her! Because there's someone with the same elevated status and royal title as Darling, someone who's just as much a girl as she is, but who ISN'T a damsel and isn't expected to be! Rosabella is the only girl in the hero training courses! She's an activist and her parents support the change she wants to make in the world. She's constantly giving people her opinion and telling them that the status quo is wrong. She's not a damsel and she doesn't want to be!
Basically, Rosa is who Darling wishes she was, which is a really neat foundation for them! We see in their interactions in A Semi-Charming Kind of Life that Darling does admire Rosabella and that changes how she treats her even if she's not trying. Darling is so careful all the time to never let anyone know that she thinks all this damsel nonsense is stupid. She is trying to make people believe she's got Apple's mentality basically. If nobody thinks she's dissatisfied, then nobody has a reason to watch Darling or keep her from her activities. She's not always good at it---Shout out to that time she said she'd bring a sword if she was getting kidnapped and could only take one thing---but she's always trying very hard and it's something that constantly weighs on her thoughts.
With Rosabella though? She doesn't even try to hide it. Check out this excerpt:
“One hour,” she said. “Just one hour.” She sighed. “But it feels like forever after.” “I know it’s hard and it feels like a total waste of time,” her roommate, Rosabella Beauty, told her. “But at least you aren’t mistreated, like ogres and goblins.” Darling agreed, 100 percent. But that didn’t make it any less tedious. Waiting was a traditional activity for princesses, and Darling had been taught to uphold tradition. And to be dutiful. And perfect. Such was her lot in life. [. . .] “Why don’t you read something while you’re waiting?” “Reading is doing something,” Darling explained as she adjusted her satin pillow. “And according to my thronework, I’m not supposed to do anything. I’m only supposed to wait.” She groaned with dissatisfaction. “That doesn’t make sense,” Rosabella said, tossing her magazine aside. “How can waiting be thronework?” Darling grabbed her MirrorPad and opened her thronework app. Then she read the assignment out loud. [. . .] “Sometimes, when I stare at the wall and start counting backward, I’ll stop thinking about things,” Darling said with a laugh. She twiddled her polished thumbs. “I probably shouldn’t be talking to you, since talking is doing something.” “I’d flip my crown if I had to take Damsel-In-Distressing,” Rosabella said with a laugh. She scrambled to her feet. “I’d rather clean the bathrooms in the boys’ dormitory than sit and stare at walls. I’m so glad my story doesn’t require me to be a rescued damsel.” [. . .] “This school needs to recognize that times are changing and Damsel-In-Distressing is as old-fashioned as writing in cursive or hexpecting a fairy godmother to solve all your problems,” Rosabella said as she grabbed her MirrorPad. “They might as well call the class Dozing-In-Dresses, because until you’re actually a damsel in distress, waiting must get very boring.” Dozing-In-Dresses? Darling held back a snicker, but she secretly agreed with her roommate.
Look at that! Darling is perfectly willing to complain to Rosabella about how stupid this situation is. She doesn't have the courage to agree with Rosabella's sentiments, but she is willing to say "this sucks and I hate it, and I'm breaking the rules right now because it sucks and I hate it," which Darling does not do with anybody else. The fact that Rosabella is the person Darling wants to be makes her drop her guard and feel more comfortable around her. She knows Rosa won't tattle, that's ridiculous. She agrees with Darling and has way more important things to be doing.
Darling admires and envies Rosabella, and she feels comfortable enough around her to be more of herself than she shows to almost anyone else. The only other person she's willing to be this close with is Dexter. You know? Her twin? The one who grew up with her under the same abusive parents and who she made a pact with to also rescue each other and who was the facilitator of a lot of her rebellion in childhood? That Dexter? Yeah, that's the level of trust Darling has to have with someone before she drops her guard. . . unless you're Rosabella apparently.
We also see that one of Rosabella's primary struggles in life is getting listened to. It's a problem that I think a lot of activists struggle with. As Darling puts it:
"Rosabella's protests were important, but there were so many things she wanted to change. It was exhausting after a while."
While Darling is certainly guilty of not listening to Rosabella and brushing off her very legitimate concerns about Ever After's society in favor of worrying about her own problems, she is more considerate about it than the other girls. She wishes Rosabella good luck and Rosa seems comfortable talking to Darling about these kinds of things, not defensive. We also know from that first excerpt that Darling agrees with a LOT of what Rosa believes in, she just doesn't say as much of it out loud.
The two of them in a shipping context would honestly be a fantastic way to give Darling a character arc of being less cowardly and selfish---and yes those are character flaws Darling has. I know it sounds weird, but she spends most of the early parts of the series completely ignoring the very extreme problems everybody else has to protect herself and A Semi-Charming Kind of Life's plot can be summed up as "Darling learns not to be an insensitive jerk to her twin."
Which is fascinating because that's basically also what Darabella is about, but it's a very different flavor. Daring doesn't just need to learn to be selfless, he also needs to learn that his destiny doesn't matter, and that he's extremely privileged. Darling has got those last two points down, it's just that she lacks the courage to help make the lasting changes Rosabella is striving for. Rosa would also get a lot of great things out of this relationship in somebody who actually listens to her desire for change, but can also provide some pointers on when people are most likely to feel open to it and give resources for making those changes happen.
Since this relationship would be far more about Darling's character than Rosabella's, I don't think I can give it S-tier, but they are very intriguing and do a lot for the themes so easy A-tier.
Verdict: They're Fun (A-Tier)
