#eah analysis

[ivansdreams]

I noticed something about the Eah into and I don’t think anyone has talked about it yet?

First the old intro: The background is made to like an book (for obvious reasons) with old writing and yellow/brown color crumble old paper

Like this:

Now the “new” intro: the background in this one is more clean, with no writing and new white paper. Lines to to be written on like an notebook!

Again like this:

Notice how this first intro is when the plot was about royals and rebels? Or when the rebels was fighting to be able to choose they own destiny? And the second is when it’s all over and the book is destroyed? A lot of people don’t like the new one because it more simple but I think there’s a meaning to it

The first is meant to symbolize that they story is already written, it’s done it’s set in stone (in paper?) much like all the adults around them is saying as well as the female narrative. As soon as raven has disproven that and destroyed the book that Binges them to it the intro changes. It’s now new and unwritten pages, showing that there’s room for them to write they own story, that they don’t have to follow the old but to write something new for themselves. Idk just a small analyzation 

[pontipines]

As I mentioned to @thelilylav , I think that Suzanne Selfor's works were a sign of the moment when EAH books stopped being fantasy for teens and became a Mattel gadget. And It's rotted in the whitewashing of the story, (not only the colorism towards characters like Briar or Cedar) as approach to writing the story which involves a centrism that erased the class-based political theme that characterised the original series.

Note: Not everything I'm about to say reflects my personal taste on Selfor books (i'm a big fan of A semi-charming Life). It is a compendium of all the narrative choise that were done to lighten the content of the books.

It can essentially be divided into three macro sections:

sugarcoating the pill regarding many destinies. Duchess, and this is said in the first book, is destined to die like, but in NTV it is retconned to a simple "turn into a swan"*. Ginger's mother in TUOTA is clearly an evil woman who tried to eat H&G, but Selfor retconned it to a misunderstanding. By doing so, however, you significantly lower the narrative stakes because the rebels' cause becomes relatively useless. If Ginger doesn't have to do anything in Hansel and Gretel, why would she rebel? If Duchess doesn't die, what's the problem? We're in a magical world, after all, and any fairy godmother could turn her back into a human.

The Decentralization of the Commoners-Rebels: Virtually all of Suzanne Selfor's books focus on the royals. Sure, we still have some rebel characters, but they're all very save and royal options. Darling rebels but is still a princess, Poppy is canonically a centrist. Plus they are both destiny-less so their off the book is not that risky. Ginger is the only rebel who's also poor, but her plot, rather than having that marginalized connotation, revolves around Hopper. Where is Hunter? Where is Cedar? Where are all the characters that had class struggle in the First series. The necessity of rebelling is a more personal thing at this point—Darling's problem isn't about class, but about gender norms

Soft Royal woobification:The royals are canonically the antagonistic class. Even the most open-minded among them is still biased (aka Ashlynn), and rebellion has always been a class thing. But in Selfor's books we have returned to that "Royals and Rebels" as just two nice factions to choose from. In Shannon Hale's, even if we read her PoV, it's clear that Apple is in the wrong because she's classist. In Selfor's books not really,and some of theme actually come out of It more clean than they should. Take for example NTV—sure, it's not the first time Sparrow betrey Duchess,however, in the early versions of their relationship, his betrayal serves as karma for Duchess's classism, (she thinks he's dumb because he's a commoner, but he's smarter than her)+ It's a clever parallel to Swan Lake (if you want i could write about It) Here, however, her being awfull becomes a mere "she was insecure and a perfectionist and she let herself be exploited." **

This post is already long, but I could go on. But essentially, what I'm trying to say is that Suzanne Selfor's books present a much more clean and politically correct Ever After High that favors the princess aesthetic over the fairy tale deconstruction narrative that the original series gave us.

[super-subraminion]

apple white is so horrible but she is also so kind and thats why she's awesome

(super long yap session below because i want to ramble about apple because she is so interesting to me just as a warning lmao)

i feel like i see sm ppl on like tiktok and all (which maybe my first mistake was expecting nuance on tiktok) acting like she's like the evilest character on the show and i feel like thats just so reductive of her character

like apple is so kind she genuinely loves her friends so much; she's always been so excited and kind around raven when everyone else was afraid of her; despite the fact that her happily ever after is essentially nepotism, she works so hard to prepare to be a good ruler and wants the best for her future kingdom; she's constantly seen helping people and trying to enact change as leader of student council(i.e having the duck crossing or smth along those lines, i don't remember exactly), etc etc.

but at the same time she fails to realize how cruel she can be at times and thats why shes so awesome. like hello, the daughter of snow white, this elegant, perfect, delicate princess also simultaneously being so selfish is so good?? even though she loves her friends so much, she fails to realize or understand why they wouldn't want to uphold the status quo; even though she is kind to raven, that kindness comes with the expectation that raven will sacrifice her life to uphold the system for apple's happily ever after; even though she grinds and grinds to be a good ruler, she is still unaware of the privilege she has; even though she helps people, she can just as easily say out-of-touch and cruel things(like when after legacy day, she takes a dig at the rebels because they don't have happily ever afters)

honestly apple's privilege in and of itself is so interesting to me- because she does go through so much and she is a victim of the system— imo everyone is a victim of the system because even those with happy endings have to sacrifice their free will in order to obtain it(i.e ashlynn's ending is good but she'd have to sacrifice her relationship with hunter for it, cerise also technically has a good ending assuming she goes w the red riding hood destiny but she sacrifices half of her identity for it). in apple's case, she was conditioned to accept everything that came with her destiny with a smile on her face, conditioned to accept a man as her destined prince when in reality they had no idea who her destined prince was and she's gay so she would've just been trapped in a loveless marriage, lied and manipulated to so she could maintain the system. assuming that eah's snow white follows the canon of the original fairytale(ik there's some differences like how raven technically wouldn't become apple's stepmom, and raven's mom wasn't apple's mom's stepmom), apple has to knowingly go through 2 near death experiences and one that basically works, only to have a someone she doesn't even love beyond accepting the fact that that he's destined for her to wake her up. one detail i've always liked about dragon games is how they went all out in the scene where apple is poisoned- the detail is visceral and horrifying, she is genuinely struggling, etc; and the reason i really liked that they animated it that way is it adds to the horror of apple's story, because the path to her happily ever after is horrible.

at the same time, the reason apple is willing to go through any of this is because she can afford to. i don't think(???) her parents die(someone pls feel free to correct me on this because im not actually sure) unlike ashlynn's (im only assuming because its explicitly mentioned for ashlynn but never talked about for apple). she isn't poisoned for long. she may not truly love daring, but he's a good enough guy, conventionally attractive, heroic, and a nice friend to her. and she goes through all this to be the most beloved person in the world, the ruler of like everyone, and get a life of absolute luxury. in the long run, she pays pretty small prices to get the best life ever. i think most of the fandom is in agreement when i say that she easily has like the best destiny on the show.

but from apple's perspective, her destiny isn't the best. she only knows her hardship, and she does have to go through a lot for her destiny— the point i mentioned earlier about how horrifying the animation is when she got poisoned is proof of that. its so telling that she cant understand why her friends would be hesitant of their destinies— especially her formerly royal friends like briar and ashlynn. briar and ashlynn similarily also get ultimately happy endings of a life of wealth and being beloved— but the price they pay is a lot greater than what apple goes through(not to mention ashlynn also has the extra motivation of being in a relationship with hunter). i feel this is especially obvious in thronecoming where apple tells briar that "we all have a part to play"— apple feels that she is also sacrificing a lot to uphold the system anyway and the way i see it is that she thinks its unfair that others are questioning their roles when it's the natural order of the world to make big sacrifices. but what she can't grasp is the others r willing to risk it all because their destiny is so tragic— like how raven tried to find everything she could about potential rebellion before she rebelled because if there was even a chance she didn't have to contractually obligate herself to a hellish life forever it was worth the risk(mostly emphasized in the books). apple upholds the system not only because of the way she has been lied and manipulated to, but also because she can afford to make sacrifices; raven rebels against the system because her sacrifice is sacrificing everything about her, including her wellbeing and life.

like shes so much more interesting than just being "the real villain of ever after high", she's another teenager a victim to the system— except she has more to gain than others so she simultaneously religously upholds the system. shes so interesting because of her sharp contrasts in character and i feel that reducing her like that takes away from the complexities of her character

obv i get why people don't like her character anyway, a character being complex doesn't mean people have to like said character. i'm definitely biased towards her because i do like her a lot but i get why people don't but idk man i feel like going in the direction of "she's the real problem!" takes away from the entire idea that this system is harmful to everyone, even those with privilege, and it also just makes her less interesting because part of why i like her and why she is such a compelling character is because she's so crazy in the sense that she is so kind and horrible at the same time— she's so hypocritical but her headspace makes sense at the same time and i find the duality she has to be really strong writing

if you made it all the way to the end thanks for reading my long ass yap session i wrote this instead of preparing for my lit essay i think i should get diagnosed-

also feel free to correct anything i said if i accidentally spread misinfo- theres always tiny details about this show that i get confused about every now and then and i always want to know more about this show

update i did my lit essay and unironically writing this helped me somehow so my lesson is that not doing my homework and yapping about ever after high is always the solution

[rockabyedaisy]

Even though I don't even ship them, I love these two morons because Sparrow will not hesitate to get into whatever sheninigans Duchess Swan cooks up.

She yells at him to stop playing so obnoxiously with his guitar and drags him towards Ashlynn and Hunter's secret date in True Hearts Day special. Which he happily goes along with.

Even when Sparrow claimed he was DONE with Duchess, a second later he claims,

"Nobody will tell me (about the party) because I'm friends with you." Which I will so glady call bullshit on.

I think a big part of the reason he wouldn't go is because he *actually was invited* as long as he ditched that "snitchy swan friend of his". Maybe by Charming or Hopper who he will sometimes hang out with as curtesy to Briar and Cupid who knows Duchess would do anything to get them in trouble. Sparrow Hood is not the kind of kid who ditches his friends over a party, especially if of them is his sneaky hotheaded traumatized ballerina.

Sparrow understands that Duchess is stuck in a tragic story with no autonomy, so she does things that to others that are seen as wicked and cruel, at least she would be free frol what is essentially her punishment. And to see other princesses like Ashlynn who are better off with her own stories break the rules seamlessly adds more insult to injury.

Sparrow, even though he thinks she shouldn't care about her destiny all that much as he doesn't, still helps her in the schemes because he also believes she does deserve a much happier ending. And if she isn't gonna be a Rebel, at least he will be the rebel for her.

And Duchess knows how much of a ride or die he is when it comes to her. Which is why she reacted nonchalant about Sparrow not being invited to the party because she knows he wouldn't come without her anyways. They understand each other in ways that they can trust and depend on each other without feeling judged, but at the same time keep each other somewhat grounded in reality. They work so good as team essentially.

[thecheshireninja]

i've been seeing a lot of people argue that the "Royals vs. Rebels" thing no longer makes sense post-W2W. i don't entirely agree, though i understand that part of it was there for marketing purposes.

in general i don't much like the idea of overusing labels defined by personal ideals (that makes it easy to dismiss/dehumanize those who disagree with you, which is definitely something that we see happen in EAH, or to apply inaccurate generalizations). but we're humans, and we're kind of addicted to categorizing ourselves, and most of the time it's harmless and even helpful, so i don't think that "choosing a side" in EAH is necessarily a bad thing, either.

so, what people seem to be saying is that "Royals and Rebels" should no longer exist after destiny has been abolished. the main reason they give for this is that Royals were on the side that meant to follow the story at all costs, aka "the wrong side." i agree with that reasoning; the Royals lost the discourse. however. HOWEVER.

not all Royals wanted to perpetuate "destiny" from the start. i do not believe that all Royals supported the idea that everyone should stick to their stories--that's something only a few were shown to explicitly express throughout the series. remember the webisode "Blondie Branches Out"? Cupid says a very important line here that i think summarizes the in-universe definition of "Royal":

"Blondie, Royals make choices too. They choose to follow tradition and honor their stories."

for some reason a lot of people seem to have the impression that Royals are against choice and free will, when i don't think that's what it's meant to imply at all. Cupid said this pretty early on in the story, and Poppy O'Hair and Kitty Cheshire are good examples of other characters that were probably meant to embody this, even before the destiny conflict was "resolved." I put that in quotes because as Dragon Games exists to remind us, it obviously wasn't resolved very well Poppy's case was a lot more unserious tbh, but the point made is that following tradition and progressing forward are actually not in conflict. in other words, the labels "Royal" and "Rebel" do not fundamentally contradict each other, but are meant to be different paths that a person can choose to take. that's like... that's literally what freedom means, actually. the original conflict was never between Royal and Rebel; it was about the freedom to choose how to live your life.

so, in my opinion, Royals shouldn't be considered irrelevant after destiny was abolished. i'd argue they're actually even more relevant now that Rebels exist and the possibility of losing stories becomes realizable. i mean, new stories can only be written with the help of old ones. the existence of tradition is nonnegotiable; it's only when it's indiscriminately enforced upon people that it becomes an issue. the writers of EAH understood this, the actual Royals (not including Apple...) understood this, Rebels like C.A. Cupid understood this! after all, Ever After High is a show about fairytales, all of which are more than a hundred years old!!

now Apple's arc in Dragon Games, which deals with her fear over not being able to realize her destiny with Raven no longer slotting in as the Evil Queen, explores the aftermath to some degree. but that is a personal arc, not something shared across all Royals. Holly O'Hair, for example, is a Royal because she loves stories and is excited to live through her own (honestly, as a writer, i can kinda understand why). Royals like Meeshell Mermaid came later, so while we aren't given much insight as to why they're content with their legacies, it's likely because it's nice for them and they don't care all that much for nowww. which makes sense for royalty, if you think about it. especially as teenagers hello?? have we forgotten Cerise's iconic "we're in high school, for Grandma's sake"??

tldr: the term "Royal" in-universe refers to someone who, as Cupid explained so succinctly, chooses to follow tradition and honor their stories, in their own way.

that's how i see it. i have many more thoughts on this (DG Apple, the Darling conundrum, the disaster of a human that is Duchess Swan, etc) that i'll hopefully be able to delve into one by one eventually. also remember: context is key. not everything is gonna have real-world parallels. i might have to do a separate post on that too

[internetgiraffekid1673]

Giraffe's EAH Ship Tier List: Dexven

Requested by @thelilylav!

We're starting off strong with my actual favorite ship in the series and one of my favorite ships of all time! Spoilers, but this is an easy S tier!

This may shock a lot of you, especially if you've only watched the show. Show Dexter and Raven are sweet with each other, but painfully awkward, and show Dexter's wishy-washy attitude towards the Royal-Rebel debate can be very annoying to some fans.

Book Dexven though? Blows everything out of the water. This isn't a terribly scientific exercise so I won't have exact quotes, but let's just go over 3 of my favorite moments shall we?

In The Storybook of Legends, Dexter and Raven meet up after Legacy Day practice where Dexter tells Raven that she's cool and brave for being willing to ask questions. He talks about how not knowing his destiny has also been a major point of frustration for her, and they hatch a plot to try and sneak a peek at the book early. Raven tells Dexter he's good and clever, and the two of them melt into their shoes.

I love this moment because it sets a strong foundation for the crux of their relationship---they SEE each other. When most people look at Raven, they just see the daughter of the Evil Queen (and later, the girl who won't follow her destiny). When people look at Dexter, they see Walmart Daring. But when they look at each other? They both see the amazing person for who they are. They see each other's strongest traits, adore those strong traits, and lift each other up in a way other people do not do for them.

Also in The Storybook of Legends is the scene right before the signing ceremony on Legacy Day. Raven has gotten ready with her mother's cape and crown, done her evil queen makeup, and is emanating so much powerful dark energy that an army of dark creatures at her command has taken up following her. Wearing her mother's heirlooms makes her feel absolutely high on evil energy. And then this happens (I lied have an exact quote): "Raven, is that really you?" [. . .] "Whoa, you look. . . well, you look really different. Than normal. I mean, you look nice, the whole" --he gestured to his eyes and mouth-- "and the whole" --he gestured to his own crown and cape. "Like way fancy. But seriously, I almost didn't recognize you. And you looked so angry!" He laughed. "Awesome, though, for real. But. . .are you okay?" "I. . ." Was she okay? Just a moment ago, she'd been feeling better than okay. She'd been feeling wicked powerful. "Hey, did you know you've got, like, an army of creatures behind you? Is this the kind of stuff you do in dark-sorcery classes? Because in Hero Training, we don't get minions or anything. Anyway, I'm glad I found you. I know this is a weird day for everyone, but especially for you, and I just wanted to tell you---I don't know---good luck, I guess, for whatever that's worth. And. . .and I hope whatever you see when you open the book---your story---that it's a good one, you know?" "Thanks, Dex," she said. "You too." [. . .} She took a deep breath. Being the Evil Queen wouldn't be a part-time job. If she was the type of girl who commanded ogres and goblins to toss Headmaster Grimm and Duchess Swan into the river, she couldn't also be the type of girl who hung out with Maddie and Cedar, singing karaoke, and painting one another's nails. Besides, Dexter thought she was good. She didn't want to let him down. Raven turned to face her minion horde. [. . .] "Thanks, I really do appreciate it. But I'm not who you think I am."

Sorry for the long excerpt but AAAAHHHHHH!!!!! LOOK AT THIS! One of the things I love about this scene is that no matter which path Raven chooses, Dexter is into it. Like really into it. He doesn't want her to hurt herself, to become someone bitter and miserable, or to force herself to become someone she's not. And he can see that choosing her destiny might lead her there (and actually sought her out because he was concerned for her because he is the biggest sweetie pie). But if it is what she wants, then he's ready to support her and still believes in her being an awesome person! And that is plenty to snap Raven out of the rush the dark energy is giving her and make her realize she wants to be kind. She's choosing to be kind.

And one of the big reasons she does that is because she does not want to let Dexter down. She wants to do just as much for him as he's done for her (and she does over the course of the series). They make each other choose to be better people even when it's hard!

In Dexter's diary, Dexter is feeling down and inferior (like usual), while he studies for advanced wooing. Raven comes by, tells him he's better than Daring and that his brother should be jealous of him. That inspires him to make a truly charming speech (to his practice girl, but with Raven in his mind), about how she's his inspiration and she makes him want to be a better hero. Instead of giving this speech to Raven however, he comes across her crying, listens to her talk about how scared and stressed she is with the legacy day drama, comforts her, and resolves to just be her friend until she's ready because that's what she really needs right now.

Do I even need to say anything??? These idiots are able to see right through each other, diagnose exactly what the other person needs in their life, give it to them easily and without an ounce of second thought, and encourage each other towards becoming their true selves: Dexter helps Raven to be the brave confident person who can lead a world shattering movement of positive change, and Raven inspires him to be the caring and dedicated hero he always could be. It's the most heartwarming thing on the planet.

Anyway, this is the gold standard. This sets the bar for which every other ship will likely be compared to:

Verdict: SOULMATES (S-tier)

[lauri-rosehearts]

I don’t talk about the wonderlandians all that much but I do truly love them as characters and I think the way they were portrayed as adaptations of the classic characters from the Alice in wonderland story is in many ways genius. One of these genius things is Kitty’s characterization in the Royal/Rebel conflict.

When its first brought up, it’s presented as a mystery turned argument between the narrators. And by the end we learn that she would rather not tell because she enjoys seeing them ponder over who is right and who’s wrong about her. Then in Spring Unsprung, when Raven asks her why she’s so adamant about being like her mom if she’s a rebel, Kitty’s like “Who cares. I do what I want.” Yeah, in the end we know she’s a rebel given her doll bio and her obviously siding with the argument that destiny should be a choice, and her being seated with the rebels on legacy day, but she also exhibits traits commonly associated with stereotypical Royals by wanting to fullfill her destiny and be like her mom.

I think its genius that they decided to give this characterization to her of all the wonderlandians because upon closer inspection it really calls back to the characterization of the Cheshire Cat of Alice’s adventures in Wonderland. For centuries people have argued about whether the Cheshire Cat is a villain or a good guy, since he seems to cause alot of trouble for Alice but on the other hand is helpful to her by pretty much being the only one to explain anything to her about Wonderland and ultimately being the reason she finds her way out of Wonderland (in other words he indirectly transpires the events that cause her to wake up from her dream). But what people don’t understand is that…Cheshire isn’t on any particular side of the moral spectrum, he does what he wants when he wants to do it. And while in Ever After High, we see the fluidity in morality via Kitty’s mom, we see the same kind of fluidity, non-conformity and “Screw you, I do what I want” attitude in Kitty herself through the royal and rebel debacle. My god, this show was so good with its characters….I miss it so much

[rebelcharmings]

dexter is the archer (left) and darling is mirrorball (right)

and MORE analysis on why each song suits them:

the archer is about insecurities in a relationship, usually in a romantic one but for this sake i’m taking it as insecurities in general. bc dexter is riddled with insecurities. dexter is constantly comparing himself to others like his brother and knows he isn’t like the rest of the prince charmings in his family. even he gets slightly disheartened when he finds out darling is also talented at the heroic stuff, saying he’s “not only second best, but now third best”. i feel like he would be constantly aware of all eyes on him as a charming but also aware he’s just disappointing them bc he isn’t anything like his brother, no matter how hard he tries (“they see right through me, i see right through me”)

mirrorball is about feeling as though you’re a reflective disco ball reflecting others’ personalities to entertain others. darling is forced to play into her role as the perfect princess charming to please the people around her, like her parents, what society expects of her etc. there’s another line in the song that’s not there that matches that, “i can change everything about me to fit in”. darling still has to keep up all these silly pretences - waiting patiently for her prince, being a damsel in distress, etc., to maintain a reputation for her parents and around her classmates - “i’m still on that trapeze, i'm still trying everything to keep you looking at me”. it’s also implied i think that daring has always been a natural at all this heroic stuff but darling, being raised differently, has had to teach herself all of it in secret. she had to learn to scale out of her tower on her own, exercise in secret, etc. (“i’ve never been a natural, all i do is try, try, try). darling is always trying, trying to learn to be a hero, trying to keep it a secret, trying to be the perfect princess.