okay so the best characters that came out of descendants were clearly the sea 3, and harry's half a step from a yandere for uma already [everyone say thank you fandom!], but do you think that uma and gil could catch up? Do they have different strategies depending on if they're focusing on each over versus a Reader?
All correct, lol!
So yeah, like you said, Harry pretty much just IS yandere for Uma as his status quo, lol.
Uma is a very fun intersection of "slow to trust new people" (since Mal betrayed her trust when they were kids) and "highly protective of the vulnerable", which honestly lends itself pretty well to yandere, under the right conditions.
First of all, within the Sea Three, the most outwardly yandere she'll be toward Harry and Gil will usually happen when they're injured or outmatched and require the full protection of a sea goddess/demigoddess. She'll demolish anyone who seriously harms her boys.
For an X Reader scenario, especially if it's Sea Three X Reader, I think the ideal character type to bring out the most interesting flavors of yandere in all three of them would be someone who can't fight, someone in obvious immediate danger, and someone who openly admires Uma.
I'm thinking, Reader is an Auradon kid who got sent to the Isle for politically defiant artwork or something of the sort. You're lost and scared and incapable of defending yourself from the villains and the meaner VKs. Maybe you're about to be cornered by the Stabbingtons and then Uma saves you. (Or Harry or Gil. It's an easier fast-track to the openly-admires-Uma character trait if Uma is the one who saves you, or for the D2 parallel, I could say Gil is the one who finds you, but I think I'll actually go with Harry for this. He doesn't get a ton of opportunities to come across as a hero.)
"Y-You saved me," you say, still trembling as Harry, with lethal grace, shakes the blood from his sword and saunters up to stand over your fallen form. He offers you a hand and a wry smile.
He takes you to Uma. You cling to him for the whole walk to the Chip Shoppe, and he laughs at you (and enjoys being treated as a comfort instead of a loose cannon).
He walks you into the Chip Shoppe and deposits you in the kitchen, where Uma is washing dishes. Her sharp, magnetic gaze lands on you, and you feel momentarily as if you should be doing some kind of gesture. Bow? Curtsy? That semi-formal dip of acknowledgement you do for nobles who are snobby enough to expect that sort of thing? She doesn't seem...snobby. But she manages to have a regal bearing, even as she washes dishes.
She smirks, and her gaze climbs to Harry. "You remembered."
"'Course I did, Captain," he said, soaking up her praise. "Mind, the Stabbingtons thought they'd have a piece, but I daresay they've learned better." He hands her a towel, and she dries her hands. They have a natural ebb and flow to their movements, almost symbiotic, like they know what to expect from each other at all times.
"I saw your hearing on TV," Uma says, addressing you for the first time. "Wasn't surprised they screwed you over."
Basically, she kept track of when you'd be arriving and she sent Harry to claim you on her behalf before you could fall victim to any of the Isle's bad actors. She treats you a bit like an indulged pet. Not in a wholly demeaning way, but she's in charge and you don't know anything about surviving on the Isle, so the vibe is definitely one where she lets you sit by her throne because you're adorable.
Uma, Harry, and Gil are all very protective and territorial.
Uma's protectiveness is all about sending a message. If someone harms or threatens you, her highest priority is making sure everyone knows that was a mistake. She'll make an example of them, usually via Harry.
Harry's protectiveness is most obviously in the realm of deliberate cruelty toward anyone who threatens you, looks at you wrong, flirts with you, etc. Actually, maybe not so much the latter. He definitely gets jealous when people compete for Uma's attention, but he might be more permissive about you flirting and being flirted with by other people. The relationship is just different. Still super protective, so he'll threaten them with what he'll do to them if they hurt you, but he also might joke with you if you have a crush on anyone. The Isle isn't as monogamous as Auradon.
But there's an understanding that Uma should really be the main person in your life. This isn't so much enforced by Uma. She is the jealous type, but she would never admit or express it to you, because she finds it to be a vulnerable feeling that she can't express with new people. Harry takes it upon himself to be the enforcer, in that regard. You're not allowed to make Uma feel like she's not the most important person in the world.
So yeah, he'll tease you if some child of one of the Dumbo clowns makes you blush, and he'll smirk knowingly as you flirt with them or have a small fling, if that's how things go, but the moment that person seems to become important in your life, he reminds you that Uma is the one who sent her protection to you when you were dumped on the Isle alone and vulnerable. Uma placed you under her protection. You shouldn't let anyone divide your loyalties.
He's very intense about her. He's very intense in general, but she's who he's most intense about.
Gil's protectiveness is accompanied by a lot of showing off. He likes getting to use his strength, and the flipside of his golden retriever energy is that he is just as excited to fight as he is to hug. He's lowkey vicious. He's not cruel like Harry, in that he's not focused on the suffering of whoever has harmed or threatened you; his focus is on triumphing over them. It's like play, to him.
He's also very cuddly and easy to talk to. And it helps that he's kind of in the pet-zone with Uma and Harry, most of the time, too. Again, in a good way. You might be spending the most time with Gil, out of all three of them.
The time that Uma spends with you always feels like an honor. Her crew worships her, and when she gives any of them singular attention, they revel in it. When she pets your hair (even though you just got here!) they're sooo jealous.
But, essentially, you're a little discarded Auradon treasure. A trinket that Harry fetched for her, that she keeps polished and safe.
