one of my favourite Endarno hc (not really canon‑compliant — you’ll have to do a bit of mental gymnastics for this one, lol) is that he doesn’t have any magical abilities of his own, whatsoever.
Any magic he uses in Kandrakar is granted by the artifacts he is carrying at that moment, usually his Mist Tower bracelet.
the only thing i could not fit in this scenario was The Memory Erasing Butterfly™
so i decided to make it a gift from an old friend - a bittersweet gift to help him face the ascension he'd been avoiding for too long
a gift Endarno never used and kept for all these years only for it to be wasted by His Highness prince Phobos who just wanted to mess with Cornelia
No one asked and the fandom is mostly dead but I have been mulling this over and this is my blog. So, our five Italian magical girls, Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin are chosen by Kandrakar to become the Guardians of the Veil and later or of the dimensions under Kandrakar's care. Cool. They go on adventures, get into some shenanigans as girls in their teens get into and balance that with the responsibility weighing on them. What we never really got into over the course of the comic books and the tv show is WHY they were chosen by Kandrakar. Okay we do get into it a tiny bit but I don't think all the reasons are as clear cut. Like besides Luba in the tv show, 2x21 U is for Undivided, we don't have a character actually go "you're chosen to be a guardian because..." So I'm gonna go through each guardian and see if I can figure something out. I will bring in stuff from both tv show and the comic book, specifically arc 7, New Power. Spoilers for both btw, so don't read if you don't want to.
Also, if I'm forgetting a detail, please point it out. I've read these comics and watched the tv show religiously as a kid and now im in my 20s so my knowledge of the canon may not be 100% accurate. If im forgetting something minute, please tell me.
1. Hay Lin: she's the easiest.. Guardian of Air, second generation. Her Grandma, Yan Lin was destined to be guardian from a young age too. And in the comics, Yan Lin became the newest Oracle by the end of arc 7, New Power. So for her, I will just quote TV Show Luba in 2x22 U is for Undivided when she said Hay Lin was indeed chosen to provide a continuity of spirit. And I'm guessing that idea of Hay Lin continuing Yan Lin's legacy works in the comics. Hay Lin gets a lot of advice and words of wisdom from Yan Lin. Parts of it are wisdom from ancient chinese provers but it still counts as Yan Lin me toring Hay Lin as she grows into her guardianship, a warm idea of the secrecy of magic passing on through the Lin generations. One thing that stands out to me, is in the New Power Arc where the girls are given their magic in its purest form and the girls have to find the roots of their magic in order to gain mastery. It's literally a self mastery quest that delves into the parts of each girl where they're challenged to their core. For Hay Lin, she was sucked into a typhoon where the only way out was to pick an object. She picks one seemingly randomly but turns out it was based on a proverb Yan Lin once told her; when a such a wind arrives, you have to decide quickly wha you want to save. She chose to open a box that was falling and saving the dragonfly inside. It flew against the wind who meets setbacks and survives them. The point is her connection to grandmother becomes more apparent that this is why she was chosen. But like the dragonfly she saved, paired with the difficult move she was going through at the time, she was also making her guardianship her own. In the middle of a storm Hay Lin found herself and the root of her power, partly thanks to her grandmother.
2. Will is the second clearest as the Keeper of the Heart of Kandrakar. The most powerful guardian of the team and the leader, Will is who I think had the second clearest and most pressing reason to be chosen, and why as keeper of the Heart specifically. If you look at her origin story and how she was brand new to Heatherfield upon both issue one and the first episode of the tv show, it'd be weird why Hay Lin would invite her over to tea where Yan Lin would make the big reveal about their shared destiny, right? For Will, you have to look at what happens even before she was born. Years before Will, was a generation of guardians who had three keepers of the heart; Nerissa, then Cassidy and finally Yan Lin. Nerissa was corrupted by the power of the heart and deemed unfit by the Oracle. Cassidy was the new keeper until Nerissa destroyed her and the heart was passed to Yan Lin. The important part here is Cassidy. After she died, she somehow became a star that shined every fourteen years or so. Will was born under the Star of Cassidy. What does this mean? I think Will was always meant to face Nerissa along with Hay Lin and finish Yan Lin's story and the Oracle had to have seen this coming so Will was chosen tas a guardian. And with an ironic nod to Cassidy, the Oracle made Will the Keeper. Will also kind of works as the uncorrupted, pure foil to Nerissa and her dark heart. So for Will, I think she was chosen as a guardian to finish the battle against Nerissa as she was born with the blessing of Cassidy, Nerissa's most important victim. I also want to tie in her New Power arc but I don't know if it makes sense. Will was the last out the team to find her power, which kinda of went in order of elements from most material to aether btw, and her quest was about realizing that the love and the bonds she has with the most important people in her heart who have affected her is the root of her power. Mind you this is her post-heart of Kandrakar era so Cassidy doesn't make sense here. But I still think it's important to recognize that brief but charged moment between guardians. Cassidy helped her find light in a moment when everything looked so dark and gave Will the metaphoric and literal heart to fight Nerissa again. Will's relationship to people literally is her power since she also used to unite and transform the Guardians. And from New Power onwards, she's still the heart of the team by making the four elements complete with her presence to unite them. It may sound like I'm rambling but it's cause I love this stubborn redhead and this story so much. But yeah, TLDR; Will was chosen because she was born under Cassidy's star, and from New Power onwards, she's the metaphorical heart of the team and she unites them.
3. I'm doing Cornelia third because she has two reasons; one is outlined on the show and the other is more insinuated in the comics. Let's go with the TV Show first. I am gonna go back to 2x21, U is for Undivided because that's where this discussion about where some (not all the girls) were chosen. 2x21 is a Cornelia-centric episode about her relationship with her little sister, Lillian is explored and tested against the backdrop of Nerissa's threat because Lillian is revealed to be the Heart of Earth. Luba verbally surmises that Cornelia's selection as Guardian may have been to ensure that she'd have the power and wisdom to guide and protect her sister, the Heart of Earth. Yeah... First of all, Cornelia is fourteen and she definitely doesn't have that wisdom, her words not mine. Also, it's a shame that this isn't expanded upon because the show was canceled after season 2 so we don't get to see Corny growing up to be the mentor Lillian needs. Also I wanna take that with a grain of salt because the Oracle never confirms it. Hell Luba's language in that scene makes it sound like she is guessing at the reason too. For Hay Lin, Luba's language was clear that it was to continue Yan Lin's legacy, but for Cornelia it is grasping at the evidence presented. But oh well, we are going to take this as bible because there is no official continuation of the show. Right now we are going to keep grasping at straws but switching to the comic because there too it's not made fully clear. At least I am only 98% sure of this. Back to my favorite arc of the comic because it's so much fun, New Power. Like I said, the girls were given their powers in it's purest forms and have to find the roots of theirs in order to gain full mastery of it. I said earlier it's a journey of self mastery for each and it goes in the order of most tangible to least tangible element. Obviously Cornelia went first. Now, this one was particularly emotional for me because Cornelia was the girl of the group who didn't jump in gung ho into being a guardian. Since issue one, she met her destiny as a magical girl with skepticism and reluctance and I totally get her. So imagine her in arc 7; their original powers were stripped, she wakes for the first time in ages without magic and she feels like she can breathe and just be a teenage girl again only for the magic to come back a few days later, a hundred times stronger with an even bigger bad. She was furious and lashed out. But then she went on her quest and found a piece of her she had forgotten; a memory of her at the age of four being lost in a forest and magical pebbles keeping her safe and then guiding her back to her parents. Okay, the fact that her tune changed the second she held the memory of her past self in the forest and felt complete after the experience is just so heartwarming. I mean by the final arc 100% WITCH she still wants a normal life, but her love for her girls overpowers that desire every time. So what I'm getting at with Cornelia is that I think she was chosen to be a guardian because the earth itself helped her out as a little girl. They didn't give a reason as to why it happened. I'm just making guesses out of the information I have. I mean even their elemental powers are actually technically given in the first issue. Issue 50 Forever Magic proved that when Yan Lin pulled the elements back when Will rejected the heart of Kandrakar. I also offer one more reason for Cornelia; she was Elyon's best friend and destiny thought she could use a best friend to help her ascend to the throne of Meridian and fight Phobos. This went longer I expected. TLDR: Cornelia was chosen because 1) in the tv show it might be because Lillian is the Heart of Earth and the Oracle thought Corny would have the power and wisdom to guide her, 2) the earth itself helped Cornelia find her way home, her first touch of magic as a child and 3) since Elyon was to be the Light of Meridian, destiny thought it might be nice to give Elyon a best friend to help her achieve this destiny.
4. Taranee is next and for her, it's clearer to me. It follows the same vein as Cornelia during New Power. For her, she finds out she's adopted in New Power and naturally her quest to find the root of her magic is about finding out what happened to her birth parents. Turns out, homegirl was born in Heatherfield. But then one the night of a meteor shower when Taranee was still a baby, their house caught on fire. Distraught, Taranee's parents felt they couldn't take care of their baby so they gave her up to be adopted. But here's where her destiny cones in, it turns out the flames were there to protect Taranee from evil. This gave Taranee a sense of peace knowing she was always meant to have the power of fire and to me that's a clear indication of why she was chosen. It's like Cornelia's tale but Taranee's feels more like it was meant to be. For Taranee; she was marked with the power of fire since birth on the night of an asteroid shower. With Taranee there's only this one piece of information so with her out of the way, I can move on to the final girl.
5. Irma... she's the wild card. I can't exactly pinpoint a particular reason for why she's chosen. Taranee was saved by the power of fire, Cornelia was protected by the earth, Hay Lin is a legacy pick and Will was born to fight Nerissa. For the others, it looks like destiny somehow intervened. Irma kinda doesn't have that going for her. I mean, now I'm just headcanoning. The best I can come up with she was the last one to be picked and the Oracle just needed someone in the orbit of Hay Lin, Cornelia and Elyon since whoever was going to be guardian next would need to know Elyon and care enough to help since Will and Taranee would be brand new to Heatherfield and won't care as much about Elyon. Irma has probably known the other three for a while. It's never specified if her family ever moved so I'm just thinking it's cause she was around. I'm racking my brain thinking of any possible cosmic reasoning Kandrakar had... and I think I'm gonna have to go back to New Power. If each girl's quest was a journey of self discovery and mastery of their magic and character, then Irma's journey has to be like that too, right? So for homegirl, it's Issue 79, the big bad in New Power attacked Irma while she was asleep, prompting her to go on her quest immediately. As she walked to the answer her quest was leading to, Irma was getting weaker and weaker and becoming unable to defend herself. Then she got to the end of her road; a single choice between staying strong and keeping her magic or choosing love she was developing for a boy, Stephen. She picked love and her powers returned like a flood only this time she controlled it. Like her guide said; only the one who not prey for powers, deserves to keep them. Only the one who can put her sword down, truly deserves to carry it. So based on that, I'm guessing Kandrakar chose her because they trusted Irma's character. Irma's a teenage girl who's mouth runs before her mind catches up. She's boy crazy but overall has a big heart who wants to help and make her friends smile. Which I'm guessing is the kind of energy Kandrakar wants in their guardians. I guess not everyone needs to have a cosmic reason. Irma's heart is as deep as the ocean and i guess Kandrakar said "good enough, make her the guardian of our last element."
There you have it; all five guardians of kandrakar and the reasons I could find for why they were chosen. TLDR: Hay Lin because she can continue Yan Lin's legacy, Will because she was born under Cassidy's star, Taranee because she was saved by fire, Cornelia because the earth helped her in the forest and because she's the future queen's best friend and Irma be she has a great personality... no really, Irma has a big heart to go with her big mouth. This was a lot of fun. Going through the comics was a pain but it's all worth it to understand my OG magical girls better.
All right maybe I'm completely delusional in this, but I have like, an idea.
I was thinking about trying this whole tumblr community feature and thought about like starting a
Kandra-Basiliadean community
what do you people think? Does it make sense? I mean it is so specific, there is very little of us, but like there are some people. Even those who just have this as side interest. Also maybe some may be encouraged to talk about it more. I dont know. It would be just fun really. There is more details and a poll under break.
Am I a person brainrotting over niche topic craving attention to her own crap and HCs?
Yes, of course.
Am I craving other people's stuff, opinions, brainrots and 2am exclamations of love for a two sun land cat-folk????
ALSO YES
I wish to connect. I mean all we could have. All the wonderful deep Orube lore totally. Old Kandra-Basiliadean crew, like Luba, Endarno, Hime-Oracle, Yarr, even their adopted Kandra friends, which means mainly Tibor and Yan Lin, their less known mates, like Kilubi and Ih-Shui, Sharr, not to mention all your OCs. All the HCs and metas about the world.
I literally feel like 10 members with 3 posting from time to time and 7 just liking would be explosive success. But who knows. Here's a poll, tell me pls. Spread the word (aka reblog pls). Thank you for reactions!
Would you join this community?
I'd join and post stuff (fics, fanarts, recs, HCs, metas, 2am emotional cries)
I'd join and react.
I'd join and just quietly observe (totally understandable)
I may join but I need time to decide, it is a lot of responsibility to take!
Voting ended onMar 6
(I dont include negative answers, cause like that is kinda irrelevant.)
I can't get over how some W.I.T.C.H. characters just cease to exist as the story goes on.
Endarno becomes a member of the Triumvirat, probably one of the most important people in the universe, but a few chapters later, it's back to Himerish being the sole ruler of Kandrakar and we don't ever even see Endarno again.
Tibor just sort of stops showing up only to reappear in the very final page of the series which makes no sense chronologically anyway.
Eric moves out and tries really hard to stay relevant, but after a while, boom, Hay Lin is apparently single now and dreaming of having a boyfriend. She only casually mentions Eric as her ex MANY chapters later.
Stephen and his gang have been exposed to be able to secretly control the whole city from the underground, yet they are completely evaporated from mankind's records and memories (including Irma's crush on Stephen) soon after their arc ends.
I could probably list more if I thought a bit longer about it.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: W.I.T.C.H.
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Cedric (W.I.T.C.H.), Endarno (W.I.T.C.H.)
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Dimension Travel, Cedric Lives, Pain, Second Chances, in this case an umpteenth chance, Redemption, Shapeshifting, Magical Girls, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Summary:
Cedric has died, but he is much better now, and he also shouldn't do any evil unless he wants to go right back tot he Tower of Mists. Himerish is dying by inches to do something interesting and is a compulsive goody-shoe. Neither of them really minds wearing a skirt, so they can save worlds with the power of love, friendship, poorly restricted violence, and hope.
Based on the comic-verse, author's solution for coping with Events She Is Not Over Yet.
Originally meant as a light-hearted comedy with the occasional words of wisdom and moral, and maybe some lore-exploring/building. Since paragraph two of chapter two it has turned out there will be pain and suffering.
Obligatory excerpt:
Can't I just lay back down?” His whole body is protesting every move he takes. He is led through the empty hall like a doll. The knees are horrible. He doesn't want to have knees, they are too complicated. But right now he feels too... too drained to do anything about it.
Endarno's brow furrows when he replies in a low voice: “Not here. In my chambers, once we reach them. But here we could be seen.”
“You make it sound like you're running it behind the Oracle's back. Is this a treason, or a date?”
“Cedric,” Endarno hisses, “this is neither time nor matter suitable for jests.”
