currently losing my mind!! i hate hate hate the charming family!! y’all suck!! (the older gen)
how how HOWWWW can you, with your whole chest, name ur kids Gallant, Glorious, Gutsy, Gracious, Gorgeous and GOOD-ENOUGH?!?!?! You named your baby Good-Enough?!?!?!!!!??!?!?
I HATE YOU
they can’t use they ran out of adjectives excuse. Gaudy, Gentle, Genuine, Generous, Gifted, Graceful, Golden, Grand, Gleaming, or even just Good without the Enough. THERE ARE SOOOO MANY MORE OPTIONS UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
i’m crying rn. fuck. this is why the younger gen all got issues wth
okay this is probably going to make no sense and like 80% of it is pulled straight out of my ass but i thought it was fun to try and figure out
my ideas for how old each of the known charming cousins are and how they're all related
okay so. there's only one named aunt/uncle, and thats fairest, who's mentioned as the "youngest aunt," and is in a group of princesses that can be gathered to be vaguely similar to darling's age. bcuz shes explicitly singled out as an aunt, i think that means she is def older than the group though, so i'm gna say shes in her mid-20s maybe, so lets say like 24 or 25 maybe?
additionally, there's a theme of siblings' names starting with the same letter. however, that's sort of each cousin group, so i think that each of grandpa auspicious and grandma alluring's kids were named with a different letter, and then they each named their kids w those letters. ADDITIONALLY, in a lot of big families, as someone from a decently big family, there are often a bunch of second-cousins, who are your parents' cousins, and second-cousins-once-removed, who are their kids. so to fill in some weird gaps in ages/etc, in addition to just the number of kids, i think grandma alluring probably has a sibling, and them and their family & grandkids are also involved in the Family Ball. grandma alluring probably ended up w the sort of core oldest palace bcuz she was the older sibling, so its kind of js like the family homestead now or whatever. also, the charmings are pretty patriarchal, so if shes the older one and still ended up w the house, her sibling is def another sister.
okay so, known sibling groups:
daring--dexter--darling, grandma alluring's side, all ~16
courageous--cherished--charity, i think they'd be from gma alluring's side as well bcuz darling and dexter interact w her like theyre decently close; charity is def ~16 as well, and courageous is little so maybe like 4-7ish? cherished is w/ charity in the group of princesses that's around darling's age, so ive kind of randomly decided she's a tiny bit younger, maybe ~13-14 idk, and likes feeling like a part of things.
gallant--glorious--gutsy--gracious--gorgeous--good-enough, bcuz they start w G their parent wld be born after fairest, and since she's the "youngest aunt" im js assuming fairest doesnt have a younger brother, so theyre gma's sibling's side; good-enough is canonically 5yo, and the average age gap between siblings is ~4yrs, so lets say gracious+gorgeous are like 10 and 12 ish, gutsy a couple years older, and gallant and glorious a few more years older.
and then, not explicitly stated as siblings, but beauteous, breathtaking, beloved, and bountiful. bcuz im only basing this around two branches of the family, theyre gna be two pairs of siblings. bountiful isn't in the group w fairest/other B princesses/charity/darling, so i'm going to assume she's younger. bcuz beauteous and breathtaking r the first two mentioned im gna say they're siblings even tho that doesnt rlly make sense, and then beloved & bountiful are sisters. idk who'd be from which side though. and not sure why i feel this way but id say bountiful is ~12ish, beloved ~18ish, and then beauteous and breathtaking maybe like 18 and 20 or smth idk just to even it out and make less of a gap from fairest's age to the others.
okay now those who dont have explicitly stated siblings or vague context clues like the Bs
earnest is described as "throwing around the younger charmings w daring," so id put him maybe two years older? just to try to keep some variety in the ages. just for funsies i think he'd be from gma's sibling's side, idk why. there are two more named charmings that start w E, so to even out the number of cousins on each side, i think those two are siblings, and from gma alluring's side. that's elegant and errant. elegant can be whatever age i think, maybe similar to bountiful or a couple years younger idk. errant is stated as having told good-enough he was too little to get anything on the quest, so i think making him 2-3 years older at 7 or 8 is reasonable (also it fits into the avg sibling age gap of 4yrs purely by chance).
there's one other charming that starts w/ C, and that's caring, so she's going on gma's sibling's side.
and then the last two named charmings' names both start with F, and that's fearless and fragile. i have literally no ideas abt their ages, so like think abt them however you want lol, and im putting them on gma's sibling's side, bcuz fairest is only 25ish, and bcuz shes hanging out w a group of like younger princesses idk if she seems the type to have kids yet.
so, basically, i think it looks something like this:
sorry the photo is sideways, also i could NOT be bothered to put assumed/theorized ages on there, sorry.
i love the concept of the charmings. itd be easy to say oh its just one prince charming throughout all these fairy tales, but to say oh actually charming is a family name, and the stories are divided amongst them like that just seems like such a fun angle to take. also, hard agree with past anon, lizzie x daring are adorable <3
(This is important: NOT ALL CHARMING FAMILIES ARE RELATED!! It's like having the last name Smith. It's a common name, and they're all used as stock characters so fairytales can have children and carry on their legacies. So, Apple, Daring, and all the other characters with Prince Charming dads aren't related. Let's put this whole debate to rest, please.)
The Charming Kingdom is more of a federation. There are hundreds of small Charming kingdoms spread out across the Fairytale World. King Charming is the high king.
King Charming was the second son in his family line and thus didn’t know what his destiny was (if he had one at all). When he was destined to carry on the Charming name, he vowed to make them the greatest Charmings ever after.
His father and elder brother inherited the destiny of the legendary hero Siegfried. His relationship with his brother was very similar to Dexter and Daring's relationship.
King Charming’s name is Forthright. His wife’s name is Felicity.
Forthright has five younger siblings: Faithful, Favorite, Fastidious, Fortunate, and Fairest. His older brother is named Sigmund.
Felicity came from a Charming family close to the Sea Kingdom.
Forthright ignores Dexter for a number of reasons. He sees how he was in Dexter and resents him for it. He tries to live through Daring because he has the most potential. When he does pay attention to him, he tries to toughen Dexter up to be better, just like his father had done for him.
Darling takes more after her mother than she realizes. Felicity had once dreamed of becoming a sea captain and had a fascination with Neverland, but she had to "give that up" to follow her destiny.
All three of the Charming siblings have a complicated relationship with their parents, especially after graduation:
Daring had received their praise his whole life. When he found out he wasn’t Apple’s Prince, he was terrified of losing their love because he wasn’t their perfect little prince anymore. When he finally saw his siblings being emotionally beaten down by them, he realized all of their love had been transactional. He tried to make it work with his parents because he loved them and wasn't ready to lose their approval. But even after coming to terms with his destiny as the Beast, his parents (mostly his father) still wouldn't budge. He realizes his parents' obsession with image and status was more important than their own views on destiny.
Dexter received the most blatant abuse. Having been constantly compared to his brother, gaslit into believing he would never be good enough, and nearly embracing that sentiment, he nearly lost all of his confidence. As he started dating Raven, he regained that confidence and started to feel good about himself. When his parents finally found out about their relationship and tried to break them up, Dexter finally snapped and cut all contact with them.
Darling, being the only girl, was scrutinized over her looks and behavior every minute of every day. She got into the most fights with her parents when she was a kid, but she realized she would never change their minds. And being locked in a tower for a good chunk of her childhood didn't help either. She resorted to being sneaky, working out physically and mentally, so she could escape one day.
Forthright’s parents, siblings, and their families all live in Charming Castle with his immediate family. They all silently hate each other.
Both parents want what’s best for their family. But while Forthright seeks to maintain the family image, Felicity is genuinely looking out for her children in a misguided manner.
Forthright and Felicity’s marriage was arranged.
The Charming parents are high-paying donors to Ever After High and are Heads of the Heirs and Teacher Association.
They frequently hold parties to make political alliances. Their children are not excluded from this. Daring was 6 and Dexter and Darling were 5 when they went to their first ball.
Forthright is still secretly in love with Goldilocks.
Forthright "fell out of touch" with Pinocchio. In his younger years, he might have rekindled their friendship. But he sees the Woods too far beneath him now.
Felicity is secretly friends with Maid Marian.
Daring and Dexter became really close with Apple after she started dating Darling. Darling, Raven, and Rosabella also formed a sisterly bond. They call themselves the "Rebel Girlfriends Club."
Felicity tries to be a mediator between her husband and her children, but neither side agrees to compromise.
Lance Charming is Forthright's first cousin.
Forthright has tried to break up his children's relationships a few times. He disapproves of Rosabella because "How dare you turn my perfect son into a Beast!" He disapproves of Raven because she's "evil", and he can't have one of his children dating a villain. He doesn't disapprove of Apple, but he disapproves of her being with his daughter instead of his son.
Felicity keeps Darling on a strict diet. Darling only tasted junk food for the first time when she came to school.
In the future, Felicity would be more likely to patch things up with her children. However, Forthright has made his position clear.
Dexter: You could have died, man!
Daring: I wasn't hurt that badly. The doctor said all my bleeding was internal. That's where the blood's supposed to be!
