My idea for a Descendants AU where Hades takes the place of Maleficent and raises Mal instead:
-Maleficent is the one who abandoned Mal as a baby instead of Hades.
-Mal’s name would probably be something different, most likely starting with the letter H, keeping in theme with all the other VK names. But for the sake of simplicity I’ll still call her Mal.
-Mal’s color pallet would be blue and black instead of purple and green, and her hair would be more blue instead of purple. I do think her eyes would still glow green when she uses magic.
-Descendants 1 would only have minor changes. Mal would still be friends with Evie, Carlos, and Jay. Hades would take Maleficent’s place as the head honcho of the group of the Evil Queen, Cruella, and Jafar. The Core 4 would still be tasked with stealing Fairy Godmother’s wand and the events of the movie would play out the same until the battle at the coronation, which would he against Hades instead of Maleficent. I think Hades would be defeated by Mal banishing him back to the Isle, I just don’t see any way he would turn into an animal like Maleficent did.
-Descendants 2 would basically be the same until Mal fights Uma at the cotillion. I think that she wouldn’t turn into a dragon since it wouldn’t be thematically appropriate with her being raised by Hades. I think she would have some kind of power-up related to the powers of Hades. Like her hair is on fire with blue flames like Hades, her eyes glow blue instead of green, and she has strong fire powers that she uses.
-Descendants 3 could go one of two ways, it could stay the same with the only difference being how and why Hades and Mal reconcile, or Maleficent could take Hades’ place in the movie. I’ve decided to go with Maleficent taking Hades’ place in the movie because I think that’s more interesting. Hades’ ember is in the museum and Audrey steals it. The rule about only Hades and Mal being able to use it is retconned, so anyone can use it. Mal goes to the Isle to get Maleficent’s scepter (which will now have the ember rules of only being able to be used by Maleficent and Mal) and Maleficent and Mal have their own version of Do What You Gotta Do. The events play out the same, except with Audrey having the ember and Mal having the scepter. Mal’s hair becomes more purple as she uses the scepter, mirroring how it became more blue when she used the ember in the movie. In the final battle against Audrey Mal would still turn into a dragon, Maleficent’s scepter unlocking that part of her powers. The only difference is that Audrey wouldn’t be killed, only severely injured. Mal would ask her mother for help healing Audrey, revealing her secret that Maleficent is her mom, and Mal and Maleficent would have their reconciliation moment. The end of the movie would be the same, with Mal breaking the barrier, but it would be Maleficent that showed up instead of Hades.
-I would like to think that in this world, Mal would eventually reconcile with both her parents. I don’t know how she would reconcile with Hades, but I like the thought of her having two newly supportive parents who are trying their best to right their wrongs.
