so here's some history for you:
the darling family, or as they were prior to the 1800s the schatz family, were cursed by a fey a few centuries ago. i think i finally figured out why they were cursed and what the curse was.
so from the 1450s to the 1750s europe especially engaged in witch hunts. i think in the swd-verse at least some of the victims were fey.
it was explained in SWDNT that the darlings/schatzes were once nobility before losing their status when the holy roman empire fell. one of the many excuses used for executing accused witches was they used magic to threaten the nobles.
i think in this one specific scenario the accusation was actually true. the schatzes stole land from a feyfolk village after driving them out. wanting revenge, one of the fey attacked the lord's carriage as it was passing by and they were captured.
i think before being executed, they poured their magic into their last words, which became a curse. of course, the curse had to be an insult and as i mentioned before the darling family as a whole all run on the short side. "may your lives all be as short as your stature"
so far the only way this has been circumvented is by marrying out of the family and having a child with that different name. changing your own name does nothing, apparently, as seen with eddie's grandma agnes AND wally's great-grandparents. walter and abby changed their name from schatz to darling and they still died in their 40s.
hence why the curse didn't affect eddie or alfred. agnes married out of the schatz name. she still died relatively young, but alfred survived and is still alive today.
wilhelm darling just might be a fluke, though.
wally, though i think he might end up breaking the curse. not only is he a fey himself but he's also spent his whole life trying to protect other fey, in direct opposition of his father and their distant ancestor who got them cursed.
