Since I’m so bloody indecisive, I drew a bunch of my friends’ and mutuals’ OCs for the last Friend’s OC prompt on the list ;w; thank you so much for creating these wonderful characters! Keep being awesome! <3
Hi, sorry to bug you but I was reading your fic and then I saw your tag for my piece. Honestly I was thinking the exact same thing between Gus and the Collector. They honestly do have a few things in common already, especially the being taken advantage of part as tragic as that is.
Hi there! Not bugging me at all, thank you for the ask.
I noticed the similarities on a rewatch of Labyrinth Runners a while back and it’s been on my mind since. The theme of having someone pretend to be their friend to get them to do the heavy lifting needed for a project is so interestingly present with both Gus and The Collector.
It would be fun to see it addressed more, and I’m hoping to work it into MoonShadow somehow, even if it is just a conversation. We’ll see how it goes!
Honestly it's because she's my favorite, but have you had any ideas for Lio outside of the Tangled universe?
I don't have any immediate plans because she's so tightly wrapped up in the CTA story but! She absolutely still lives in my head rent free so I'd never rule out doing stuff with her in the future. There's also a non zero chance she'll show up in Way Out as a cameo haha.
I'll draw something fun for her and Alphecca soon because they'll always be hanging out in the back of my head and the love for them never goes away
I saw that someone did a rough estimate of what year Amelia had gotten on the train based on One-One saying that he was in the snow car for 33 years. Book 1 is in 2019 and they found that it was around 1986 when Amelia got on the train. I figured Ryan and Min-Gi's story is maybe about a year or so later.
I know they couldn’t have known about the coronavirus stuff in advance but I kind of like to imagine that Book 1 starts in the fall of 2018 in order to explain what the hell Tulip’s doing going to a sleepaway camp with none of her family even wearing masks a year in total after her autumn departure. Gets on the train in maybe October of 2018, disembarks in March 2019 or so since we know she was there for five months, and it’s October 2019 in the flashforward. (Book 2 probably picks up anywhere from when Tulip left to when the flashforward takes place, and Book 3 would start a bit after that.)
If we move the start of the on-screen story back a year I think that makes Book 4 make more chronological sense anyway? Since Min-Gi hasn’t left for university yet and Ryan has the Class of 1985 bumper sticker. Amelia could have boarded the train in early 1985 and overthrown One-One in, say, late summer.
I can't stop thinking about Quirin in the Amber!Varian au. Like what his declaration to Varian would be once he's defeated and arrested and what he does if he teams up with the Saporians while Raps is out following the rocks.
Oh man. I can def imagine how S1 might play out, but it’s rly fun to think about how S2 and beyond would go. 👀
If he thought Varian was gone and had lost hope of freeing him, Quirin’s declaration might just be swearing revenge instead of promising to save him.
And if this AU closely followed canon, I can def see Quirin teaming up with Andrew and the Saporians! Unlike Varian, I don’t think he'd have any illusions about wanting to dismantle Corona's monarchy/destroy the kingdom. Like, Varian is presumed dead and the sundrop is already following the rocks to the DK- he’s in deep and there's nothing left for him.
Quirin doesn't have Varian's prowess with alchemy, but he does have his own valuable skills. He’s a knight of the Brotherhood, and if they broke him out he could act as their muscle in addition to providing insider info on the Castle and tunnels beneath the kingdom.
He could ALSO grant them access to Varian's research notes, allowing them to replicate and weaponize the Flynnolium, his goo traps, and possibly even the amber formula.
(Perhaps they could develop like a proto-Project Obsidian? And destroying the kingdom by causing the amber to grow out of control is the Saporians’ plan in this AU? Kinda fitting.)
I can actually see Rapunzel getting through to him later on by asking if this is how Varian would want his inventions to be used and remembered- like is destruction/death what Quirin wants his son's legacy to be? And the idea of not being able to change the past but creating a better future, i.e. her and her dad, Eugene and Edmund.
Also a tangent but related- I wonder how Varian would be affected after being freed? He'd be younger, having been in stasis for a year, and probably more kiddish and less responsible since he didn't have the same experiences as he did in canon. His view of his dad would definitely be changed. I imagine Quirin would also be more overprotective of him.
(I'm also kinda coming to the conclusion that Quirin wouldn't be content with just erasing Fred's memories, but... I DON'T THINK YOU CAN COME BACK FROM ACTUALLY COMMITTING REGICIDE. Maybe he can't kill him (or is waiting) b/c the Saporians still want the king as a puppet ruler....)
Oh! I just thought of something neat after reading your theory on the Moonstone retaliating after people disturbed the Sundrop. With the Great Tree corrupted, the Sundrop and Moonstone were acting as sort of substitutes for its power to try and keep things in balance between forces of light and darkness.
i tend to eschew magical dichotomies in my own worldbuilding, in large part because i don’t find strict order/chaos light/dark good/evil etc especially exciting to write which. in combination with my love of fantasy religions is why bitter snow is... like that lmao
but! the bitter snow take on all this is [waves hands] messy, but does operate on a loosely similar principle of.
okay so first - background - zhan tiri, turul, huma, and ri ni’n were the first four gods to form when the current cosmos...began. which is a bit of a simplification but - ri ni’n was the original ‘great tree’ and bridged the sublime and profane realms; with her help, huma, turul, and zhan tiri were able to manifest in the profane realm, taking the form of the sun, the moon, and a strangler fig respectively. so for most of the history of the world the great tree was... ri ni’n, with a manifestation of zhan tiri slowly growing around her. the sundrop and moonstone were created when zhan tiri went to huma and turul and basically went ‘hey add a bit of your magic to this mix of mine and ri ni’n’s i want to see what happens’ and they did and what happened was they accidentally sparked mortal life. klsjdfdsf
anyway eons pass eventually (in 426 SE, several tens of thousands of years prior to bitter snow) zhan tiri for assorted reasons decides she wants to do more than just manifest in the profane realm; she wants to be part of it, and the only way to do that is to... kill and eat ri ni’n sjkdfjk (and like because of the way zhan tiri... is, there is a theological argument to be made that she Is Also Ri Ni’n Now but glossing over that) so this is the point where the great tree becomes the gigantic hollow strangler fig, after what’s left of ri ni’n rots away. and zhan tiri supplants ri ni’n as this cosmic bridge, meaning her presence in the cosmos is what allows magic to flow from the sublime realm into the profane and various other exchanges to happen easily.
and then! just a hair under seventeen hundred years ago demanitus trapped zhan tiri in the dark country, which is the non-place where somewhere isn’t, and suddenly there. is no cosmic bridge. the tree itself is still there, but all it has is bits of residual magic that shortly thereafter get forced into dormancy by demanitus.
which brings us back to the drops, which by now have developed their own sentience and a degree of autonomy from huma and turul, which is something that tends to happen when you let magic build up in sufficient concentrations - anyway, the point is, the drops are in no way powerful enough by themselves or even in combination to fill the huge gap zhan tiri left behind in the grand cosmic order of things, but they’re also the only real available substitute. so like, imagine ripping down, idk, the golden gate bridge and then stringing a zipline across the golden gate instead. lmfao
they are less than pleased
this has... myriad consequences chief among them being that a lot of gods get stuck in certain manifestations and a lot more gods get locked out of the profane realm altogether and the flow of magic into the profane realm slows to a trickle and gods get a lot worse at answering prayers and it’s just sort of a shitty situation all around, from a magical and religious perspective.
and then frederic picks the sundrop which is... really bad for it, and the moonstone is like you know what fuck THIS. it’s pissed and unhappy and it just wants a) the sundrop to be planted back in the ground and b) for zhan tiri to come back and it does not, particularly, care how either of those things happen.
i feel like i had a point here that was more directly related to yours when i started but i lost it probably around the point where i started rambling about the clusterfuck of a creation myth rip sorry - but anyway zhan tiri’s domain is hunger, turul’s is insight, huma’s is hope, and ri ni’n’s was life and i think the theological arguments about how the four of them and their artifacts and sacred places intermingle and relate to each other are probably SUPER WILD and sometime somewhere a religious scholar has definitely thrown a chair at another religious scholar over a disagreement on the point of whether or not zhan tiri is ri ni’n in any meaningful way.
quoththecomic replied to your post “Quirin was actually responsible for getting himself encased in amber...”
Honestly, if Quirin had been honest with Varian I doubt he would've been encased, other than that, it was just a really unfortunate accident overall. I only blame Quirin for not being honest.
aoweifj i’m sorry ahead of time for using this reply to get out my thoughts on their relationship but i saw this and figured i’d talk about it a bit
also OREIWJ i’m about to go way too in depth here for a magical hair show i’m so sorry
while it was an unfortunate accident overall, personally i think that quirin not being more honest with varian has more repercussions than ppl give credit for, not just here but in situations and their relationship as a whole. because when you look at varian and quirin’s interactions (what little we have in the show since they’re not main characters) honesty and acceptance and lack there of play a big role in a lot of the bad shit that happens to them
starting off with What In The Hair, i feel like a lot of the time ppl like to point out that varian is destructive, that of course Quirin would be nervous and hesitant to be truthful around varian because that could lead to him getting hurt. but lets look at the boiler incident to start off with
they erupted and destroyed the town, yeah. but varian was trying to specifically keep them a secret, and once they did cause damage quirin had his ‘not again varian’ moment. but the thing is, varian has to keep all of this stuff secret. yeah he has his lab and the shed that he uses, but quirin isn’t involved with his life, or his aspirations and goals. varian has to keep all of this stuff hidden from quirin, and each experiment is just a desperate attempt to get his father’s approval and positive attention
what if quirin had let him practice freely? if he didn’t react to varian’s mistakes in a way that made him feel like he had to hide these things from him? if you have a child and that child screws up, their first thought shouldn’t be ‘i can’t let my parent know’, it should be ‘i want to tell my parent so that they’ll help me.’
varian and quirin don’t have that kind of relationship. from how varian hides his experiments and holes away in his lab, we can see that even though he’s desperate for praise, he’s fearful of rejection. this is a fault on quirin’s part. as a father, he should’ve cultivated a relationship where varian could be honest with him if an experiment wasn’t going how he intended; i feel like this would’ve caused a lot less damage in the long run because at the first sign of a mistake varian wouldn’t try to hide it or act like it wasn’t there, he’d go to his dad for help as a child should with their parent
but instead he tries to fix it himself because of the fear of rejection, trying desperately to solve mistakes on his own so that his father won’t know he messed up, because instead of understanding for messing up, there’s rejection and disappointment. they lack that trust and honesty with each other and that falls on quirin. and ppl can say ‘well what about varian’s responsibilities-’ he’s quirin’s child, and it’s the parents responsibility to pave the way for and honest and open relationship
now let’s cut to the incident with the amber
to start off with, just to mention, varian saying “the important part is that we got a reaction” in reference to the rocks and his experiments can also reflect his and quirin’s relationship. his father is emotionally distant to the point where he just wants some kind of reaction to him. he was so shocked and surprised that quirin would even let him come with him to the palace. he did a dance because he was so happy to actually....get to spend time with his dad, which, is just really sad to me
so then we get to the scene where quirin comes in and varian spills the liquid. and i see ppl saying that he wasn’t careful with his experiments. but the thing is, he was. before quirin interrupted him, he was being delicate and careful with how much solution he was pouring on. so in a scenario where quirin didn’t barge in, varian would’ve poured One Drop, observed the reactions, and would’ve been able to take notes before further testing. and since he didn’t spill the entire beaker there would’ve been much less amber growing at a much slower rate, which would’ve been safer
but quirin barged in, and scared him because he’s not supposed to be messing with the rocks. imagine what would’ve happened if quirin was honest with him. he knows his son has an inquisitive mind, and just telling a kind ‘hey you can’t do that’ never works, because they want to know why. and varian, as his kid, deserves to know why
but once again, he’s forced into hiding, he’s made to keep these experiments a secret because of his father, which is dangerous for him because if he DID mess up, as stated before, they don’t have the kind of relationship where varian feels secure in going to quirin for help. quirin told him No with no reasoning, no justification, he just expects varian to follow him without hesitation because He’s His Father. but a parent child relationship goes both ways, and if parents want respect, they need to also respect and trust their kids, which quirin clearly does not. he’s fearful of the thing varian is most passionate about. he’s fearful of the black rocks and the experiments varian is doing. and instead of explaining himself to his 14/15 year old kid, he just tells him No Don’t Do That. varian isn’t unreasonable, and varian isn’t so young that he can’t have these conversations
then we get to their argument. quirin says that he told varian to stay away and then when varian tries to explain quirin cuts him off, not letting him say his peace, talking over him. once again not respecting his son and his personhood outside of being obedient
he’s not willing to treat varian as an equal. and yeah varian is a lot younger and makes mistakes, but kids are still people, they’re equal to others as people, and that’s what varian wants the most. to make his father proud of who he is, not who quirin wants him to be
when varian finally snaps, it’s because of years of this treatment and behavior. “No dad, you listen to me, our village is dying!” he’s never been listened to, never been respected, and that’s the base of their problems. not only that but he loves his village. everything he ever does up to that point is to help his people. he never gives up, he wants to help others, bring them hot water, solve the black rocks, save the home that he loves that’s dying
so in his eyes, all he sees is this man who’s demanding his respect, who has done nothing to gain that. varian just sees his father trying to control and prevent him not only from doing what he loves, but from actively helping their dying village from a threat
“Why won’t you tell me? I deserve to know!” varian says this and he’s right; it’s more than just the rocks, it’s the basis of their entire relationship at this point. quirin says that he’s not ready but ready for what exactly? what is he doing or not doing that would make him more or less ready? quirin just needs an excuse to not tell varian, and while this is more due to the writers saving secrets for the show, when taken at In Universe Face Value, it’s just him pushing off the inevitable. once varian knows, quirin isn’t going to have any more reason to say You’re Not Ready or that varian Doesn’t Understand. all varian ever wants to do is to be accepted and understand his father, while all quirin does is deny him access to that
that’s why i think that it’s more than just an accident. it’s a problem that quirin created for himself. if he’d been honest about the rocks, varian would have that part of his curiosity satisfied while also having an open and honest relationship with his dad, which would make him feel like he didn’t have to hide things, which would lead to them both working together in a safer and more secure way when varian experiments on the rocks
and like i said, it’s not just in this moment, it’s all of the moments with them
which then leads into my thoughts with varian’s ‘villain’ arc/redemption/conclusion but this post is already long
and again sorry i just oaiejwf took this reply and wrote all this it’s like 4 am
