What are your favorite headcanons for Esme? ^^
i have this notebook tag that comprises meta, headcanons and drabbles. my favourites include my headcanons regarding esme’s love for stories, stance on religion, and fears. modern verse wise, i am continuously BUILDING it and love the process, such as pinpointing where she lives and what her day is like, and the charity she helps out at. i recently did a few memes to modernise esme and really enjoyed those. more than two years of roleplaying esme, and i am still learning more about her all the time.
but despite all my rambling posts, one headcanon that is ENTRENCHED in esme’s backstory and her threads that i never actually put into a post until now is that while i gave a tight-knit family for modern esme, disney esme is a lost child.
this is a nod to her original counterpart in hugo’s book, who starts out as a lost child wearing an amulet and told that she must protect her chastity or she will not be able to find her family. by the end of the book, she and her mother reunite in ecstasy, albeit short-lived. however, for my headcanon for disney esme, i do not intend for her to find out who she is.
“see the mystery and romance”, as clopin propounds. her backstory only starts when she is about the age of four, and is found wandering alone in the countryside. she is dirty from not bathing for some time, and her dress is coated in mud, but once cleaned, it can be seen that it is both vibrant in colour and lovingly made to give the child warmth and comfort. coupled with the jewellery she wears, she is immediately recognisable as a roma, and when a troupe happens upon her, they take her in. she has no memory of who she or her family is, or how she ended up lost. this garners sympathy from the troupe and later those in the court of miracles. coupled with her charms, she becomes much beloved, and many willingly offer kinship to one who has none. as for esme, her desire to learn about her past does frustrate and pain her, especially during her teenage years, but she has to be RESIGNED.
there is always speculation about her. neither she nor anyone else will ever know, and that adds to the mystery surrounding her. for those who adore her, she might as well be an angel who fell from the sky. for those who loathe her, she is created by the devil to lure good souls into corruption. really, she is only HUMAN, with a human heart and human faults. it is only that she does not know her real identity.
but the point is that it does not matter, when she has come so far on her own.
