actually i do think the secret sauce to lizziedaring is that. lizzie’s able to accept his kind gestures not in spite of the whole Chivalrous Prince Thing but because of it. and this distinction is important!!!!! i think lizzie is able to accept acts of kindness from him without putting him on some pedestal OR resenting herself for accepting those gestures. for example in the books!!! she’s quite pleased when he listens to her about beheading the babdersnatch in the forest and she’s comfortable enough to ask him to speak like a pirate. and i genuinely think it’s bc of how helpful and chivalrous daring is to everybody, that she doesnt find it personally offensive to be offered help and accept it. bc truly i think lizzie wld have a hard time doing that with other people - she wld believe that any offer of kindness is the other person saying ‘you can’t do this, you need my help’ which she wld resent and hate. when those acts of kindness come from daring, she has no reason to find it a personal slight bc daring is just Like That. he wld do that for anybody. and this is what makes their dynamic extra special to me — that daring is indiscriminate when it comes to acts of chivalry is such a point of contention for other people. either they believe him impersonal and insincere bc he does that for everybody or they romanticize him in such a manner that he’s barely a person to them. both of these reactions, while polar opposite, create distance between daring and the people he helps. but this thing that isolates him from other people is genuinely something that allows friendship to bloom between him and lizzie.
this isnt to say that lizzie takes these acts of kindness for granted. in the books she’s surprised when he listens to her about the bandersnatch, bc nobody does, and she even knights him as a defender of wonderland after they defeat the jabberwock. but the point is that she doesn’t begrudge him his chivalry or charm or kindness, which is important bc these are all essential to who he is as a person, but she’s also able to see that these qualities come from a genuine good place instead of a shallow and superficial one.
