I'm glad to find someone else who shares my opinion about Catherine from She Wasn't My Daughter. The manhwa could have worked if the villains were Alice and Calypso, and the demon Eclipse was the more powerful hidden villain.
Catherine shouldn't have been an antagonist, but rather a trigonist, another victim of circumstance.
What do you think Catherine's role should have been in She Wasn't My Daughter?
I agree with the idea that Calypso and Alicia are the main villains, rather than making Catherine, the fifteen-year-old, the BIG evil that the author depicts her as.
I actually brainstormed a couple of ideas with @pruneunfair (ILY so much, girl ❤️) on how to make Alicia and Calypso's roles as villains more prominent and to emphasize Catherine's role as a victim of neglectful, selfish parents.
A few of them (which I remember being me who brought it forward first, correct me if I'm wrong):
I'm a big Michael Jackson fan — very random — and you might think, "What does that have to do with any of this?" but please, bear with me. I wanted to emphasize Alicia's greed and her uncaring attitude toward her own child (since the story tries to elicit sympathy by making her "love" Catherine), so I drew inspiration from the infamous Evan Chandler. Mainly, how he talks on this 1993 phone call, saying that helping Jordie (his own son) is IRRELEVANT to him and making it very clear that his only objective is to get money. He was my main inspiration for the vibe I want Alicia to have as a villain.
On the same note, I also imagined Alicia engaging in the same shady business as Evan Chandler, a dentist, did for extra fees to certain addicted patients. Alicia supposedly bribed the entire staff of the Grand Duchy; she needed a lot of money for that — and she needed it quickly, too.
Another idea I had was to, while also lying about Diana's child being stillborn, she also lied to Calypso about the gender. She did that to distance him from Diana further, since she was allegedly unable to give him a male heir. But this also backfired, since Calypso resented having to "settle for" Catherine, a girl, when he could've had a son with Diana. Plus, this would make it more believable that Calypso didn't put two and two together and realize Aisel is his biological child, since he genuinely believed his child with Diana had been a boy.
Also, to gain more influence over Catherine, I thought about having Alicia as a Munchausen by proxy—essentially making Catherine sick on purpose—so she could spend more time with her, since she's still just the estate’s doctor and has to act accordingly around the young lady. When you need to convince a child of something, you need time with them. Plus, I believe this would also make her plan for Catherine to go "blind suddenly" and have Diana sacrifice her sight work better in that context. She stopped making Catherine sick intentionally after Diana became blind because she no longer needed to worry about Diana noticing how much time she was spending with "her" daughter, which wasn’t related to Catherine’s health. This would also be a key plot point for Diana to realize how Alicia was manipulating and using Catherine, especially since her daughter, who often got sick unexpectedly, was healthy after she sacrificed her sight.
Alicia's feelings toward Catherine in this version? She's essentially her backup golden goose for her to use once she gets rid of Diana, ensuring she would still have benefits from the Marquisate of Pereshte as Catherine is the Marquis's only granddaughter.
Calypso's feelings towards Catherine? Like I said before, he resents having to settle for a daughter —an illegitimate one —instead of the legitimate son he could have had with Diana. He feels ashamed that Catherine is the result and proof of his adultery, but she's the only child he has left (which isn't that different from the canon).
Alicia would be the one to make a pact with Eclipse to fake Catherine's mana and powers.
I don't want to portray Catherine as an innocent angel misunderstood by others, like many do when trying to make the villain sympathetic (I'm looking at you, MALEFICENT LIVE-ACTION). I want her to be an asshole and cruel to Aisel, but at a kid's level — a bully, not the sadistic beast the story made her out to be. She would still insult Aisel daily, but most of the harsh words she yells at her, like: lowlife, worthless, trash, are actually directed at herself. Catherine isn't a saint, but she's still a child whose entire world was turned upside down. Everything she believed was true turned out to be a lie, and she was made an accomplice in her father's affair and her biological mother's plans at just 10 years old. This would definitely mess with a child's mind and cause behavioral issues.
Catherine, on the first timeline, deeply mourned the deaths of Diana and Aisel. She had no involvement in the plan to kill Diana and didn't find out until it was already carried out.
I imagine more time passed between Diana's death and Rueri discovering she was actually murdered (Rueri finds out immediately in the novel), during which Catherine became very depressed (Blue Diamond level) and was overwhelmed by guilt. I actually did a couple of sketches of Catherine like that:
Regarding the first timeline, I imagine Calypso essentially giving Alicia the middle finger by marrying another high-ranking woman instead of her, as he "promised" he would after she killed Diana. He has already achieved what he wanted without getting his hands dirty, and with the Pereshte diamond mines, he no longer needs Alicia except as a mistress.
Following the first timeline, Rueri did take his violent revenge on Calypso and Alicia after he found out she had been murdered. Catherine reveals the truth about her own parentage and begs him to bring back both Diana and Aisel. Rueri forbids Catherine from being part of the deal with Eclipse because he doesn't want to put her at risk while summoning a DEMON, so she doesn't have the memories from the first timeline, unlike Rueri, Diana, and Aisel.
Rueri isn't an asshole to Catherine after the regression and actually feels sorry for her, as he sees how Diana initially acts distant toward her. He’s the only one who knows how much Catherine mourned her mother and how deeply her death affected her. However, like in the canon, he can't reveal this to Diana because of the deal with Eclipse.
To wrap this up, since I’ve written a lot and I might be boring you with all my ideas (and the couple of gifs I added to this, sorry), I thought of Catherine having a redemption arc like Anastasia did in Cinderella 3. I love Anastasia and Cinderella ❤️ Plus, I’d really like a small moment between Catherine and the Marquis Pereshte, similar to when the king tells Anastasia that "Everyone deserves true love" (and him telling Catherine about his good friend, Alicia's father, Catherine's biological grandfather, whom she never got to meet).
I'm sorry if this was very long and tedious to read. I'd love to hear your opinion on these ideas of mine for an alternative version of SWMD.
I had other ideas, but I can't remember. I might have to check on my DM's with Pruneunfair to see what I forgot.
Hope you enjoyed it, and I will be waiting to read any comments you have on my take on SWMD
(Edited after I checked the grammar, I'm so sorry, I wrote this at 1am ;-;)
