Okay so on Discord I was talking a bit about my Dadbastian Maleficent AU, and a fellow Discord user (sadly they don't have a Tumblr so we'll just call them Lei) created this OUTSTANDING artwork of the Ciel and his demon dad figure Sebastian.
They based on this scene from the original Maleficent film:
Like, I am speechless. I didn't ask Lei to draw this, they didn't even have to do it, but they did it anyway and AAAAAAUGH /pos
Lei, if you're reading this, thank you so, so much. (I know I keep saying this but it's true. I wish I was able to link you properly, but alas. Keep on cooking, you talented amazing artist.)
I felt like drawing these two, in appreciation of Eleanor Audley's lasting impact, but also because they're such impressive and effective villains in their own right.
Sometimes I like to imagine an AU where Maleficent on the Isle is Maleficent from the 2014 movie. She would end up taking all the kids under her wing because "I'm going to need loyal minions when I finally break out of here!" With Diaval behind her going "Loyal minions, sure, that's totally the only reason."
I like Angelina Jolie as Maleficent and I even like the whole reluctantly coming to care for Aurora mother/daughter thing they have and I do quite like the bird man who's name escapes me at the moment
But I really didn't care for the whole "oh we're just gonna flip the good guys and bad guys" angle they went with. I think its a lazy way to tell a villian story if you want the audience to care about the villian.
Really didn't care for the Three Good Fairies slander and further Queen Leah erasure.
If you can't make the audience care about your character before they become the bad guy without defaulting to "oh they're just misunderstood", you're not trying hard enough. It's 100% possible to feel got a character who's actively making trulu despicable choices if you show they're better then that but that they keep choosing to be selfish. I wanted to see a true fall to darkness, not Wicked Lite.
So that's my take. But others are free to disagree!
i feel like maleficent was a really underrated movie. if i knew how to do film analyses well, i would talk about how it’s an actual good fairytale retelling, how it showed how fucked up men can behave towards women even (especially) when they are close to them, how it put emphasis on the importance of other forms of love than romantic and overall had a lovely found family dynamic with goth parents and their cottagecore daughter but. someone might be able to put this into words better than me.
Maleficent (2014) but it's a Black Butler Dadbastian AU
(please bear with me I haven’t watched the film since I was in like, sixth grade lmao)
okay where to start uhhhhh
Okay right off the bat, Sebastian is Maleficent
Like, it can’t get anymore simple than that really.
He’s got the vibe (somewhat), he’s got the style (sorta), he’s got the raven/crow thing (kinda)
Just replace Maleficent’s dragon form with Sebastian’s true demon form
And the sleeping curse cast by Maleficent saying that Aurora would prick her finger on the spinning wheel when she turns sixteen and stuff?
That can also be somewhat paralleled to Sebastian’s contract to steal and consume Ciel’s soul in Black Butler canon
(Idk if that part is gonna be in this AU or not but just an observation)
ok anyway-
the role of Aurora is gonna be played by Ciel
And his false name (like how Aurora was called “Briar Rose”) would probably be whatever his real name in canon probably was
Probably something like “Sirius” or “Astre” or something. “Sirius Astre” maybe?
I talked about this AU concept with my good buddy @eemoo1o-animoo and they suggested that Ciel liked playing “lord” as a child (since he was cursed by Sebastian he was raised as a peasant by three incompetent servants–I mean, fairies.)
By the way, yes, the fairies are being played by the Phantomhive servants (Finny, Mey-Rin, and Baldroy) because there's literally no reason why they shouldn't be. It's too perfect of a role for them to not be casted in.
And so when Ciel finds Sebastian in the woods he makes him go along with it, maybe having Sebastian call him “my lord” and stuff.
I’d imagine he’d get annoyed with following his incompetent guardians’ parental orders, so he’d want to be the one giving orders for once, even if it’s just a little pretend game.
And who the prince is gonna be you may be wondering?
No one other than my girl Lizzy of course
I mean, she’s not only got a sword in canon, but she’s also engaged to him
Just like how Philip is betrothed to Aurora in the source material
(Did you hear that seb@ciel shippers? This is NOT a seb@ciel work. This is not your territory. Go away.)
This is one of those AUs that writes itself I swear to god
I still have no idea who the role of Diaval/the raven is gonna be played by
Or who's gonna be King Stefan (aka the person who chops off Maleficent/Sebastian’s wings).
Though I'm kinda leaning towards either Ash/Angela or Vincent Phantomhive.
My version of a Wicked-style Maleficent would start with the same basic premise of the fae and humans are at war, and Stefan and Maleficent having a romance that ultimately ends with him betraying her so he can become the next king (but we’ll make his future wife the king’s grandniece or something distant like that to make her a weaker contender for heir). Maleficent does become more ruthless and merciless in the war against humans as a result of this interaction, but not full on evil or anything.
One day, a woman is brought before Maleficent after she was caught trying to sneak into the Moors. Maleficent recognizes her as the Queen and is about to sentence her to something brutal when the Queen is like, wait, no, please I need your help to protect my baby!
And Maleficent looks a little closer and yep there sure is a baby bump there. So she tells the guards to let the Queen go and conjures up a tree stump or something for the pregnant lady to sit down on, and then is like Explain Yourself. Why would you come to me for help?
The Queen is like, I didn’t know where else to go. My husband hurt you once; I’ve seen your beautiful wings he keeps mounted on the wall like a gruesome trophy. He hurts me too. And I’m so scared he’s going to hurt our baby.
Of course Maleficent is immediately on the Queen’s side, like stay here with me, Stefan is scum, I’ll protect both you and the baby from him. But the Queen is like no, I have to stay and do everything I can to protect my people, but I need to know my baby is going to be safe. And Maleficent is like I have an idea.
Now is when you get the christening scene, except the whole thing is a show, designed to get baby Aurora out of the castle without any attempts by Stefan to find her and without implicating the Queen. And now Maleficent has the heir and 16 years to come up with a plan to overthrown Stefan once and for all.
This is the women supporting women version of Maleficent we deserve, imo.