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marsconer · 3 months

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the very long draft of the atla prequel fic i’ll never write

- title idea: oh, brother were art thou ?

- focuses on : iroh and ozai’s dynamic from childhood to the day he marries ursa. includes extras and dives into the fire nation royal family dynamic but it’s mostly about those two.

- inspirations: cain and abel’s story, the ballad of songbirds and snakes.

- characters included: iroh, ozai, azulon, the firelady ilah, ursa, iroh’s wife, ozai’s mistress. ( they will be named )

- characterizations :

iroh — sometimes we forget that iroh was the general. the warrior. the brother most familiar with blood and violent. iroh’s characterization should not shy away from that but also keep a core of goodness and questioning. he’s the one who should have a more reflexive internal monologue. it should be a growing difference between what he believes is right and what he actually does to the point where it breaks. the breaking point will not be part of the fic but it should be seeds planted yk? inspirations : regulus black, jaime lannister / faceclaim ideas : remy hii

ozai — the make or break character and the easiest to screw up ( i think ), too evil and the heart of the story is gone and iroh just looks stupid for loving his evil brother, not evil enough and it’s not ozai. his arc is not a corruption arc but the story of a man realizing he can get away with any atrocious act he decides to commit, his internal monologue lacks the reflexive nature of iroh’s, ozai never pounders on the right and wrong of an act only on how that could benefit him. as the brother who stayed home, ozai’s battle is mostly weeding out plots and schemes, of court drama and seizing power. inspirations: coriolanus snow, tom riddle, fc ideas: sebastian amoruso ( i know he played jet stfu ), dylan wang

firelord azulon — an absent father, i don’t care how his reign was, he is the definition of trying to rule with only force and falling ( being disliked by both high rankings and the people ), hard power ! he’s more of representation of a fire nation that looks down on weakness ( non-benders, women, children ) inspiration: tywin lannister

firelady ilah — a cruel mother who loves power but can possess none because she’s a woman so she tries to teach her sons her form of strength, manipulations, secrets, blackmail, iroh had more aptitude but he was azulon’s general so she had to make do with ozai ( who refuses to learn but will eventually ), she’s the bitterness of a fascist woman in a fascist man’s world. she’s frustrated in all ways possible and that bitterness turns to wickedness. inspirations: alicent hightower if she was like her haters think she is, morgana, walburga black. fc ideas: michelle yeoh

lady ursa — poor lady ursa, i haven’t read to comics and i don’t buy they are cannon so here’s my characterization of the pookiest of pookies. lady ursa was the daughter of important people, think courtiers, who never really wanted a child, ursa was also raised in palace along with many other high borns. she was also younger than ozai and a talented herbalist. she wanted to marry him and do her duty, he was good looking and a prince and she was barely sixteen. and she wanted out of her parent’s grasp. probably one of the most unlucky people in the story. at first ignored and humiliated before their marriage and after abused and controlled. inspirations: katherine howard / fc claim ideas : ashley liao, lola tung

aliya ( ozai’s mistress ) — this is a very self indulgent character bc i like parallels and the hope that some air nomads survived in secret and had children. aliya is this concept with the addition that she’s a performer on ember island who would really like a bridge to her ancestor’s culture and past but also probably is acutely aware of how she’s not the airbender she should be. she’s a dancer, she’s an acrobat, she’s artist, she’s vain and attached to material desires and smarter than she looks but also still just a girl trying to keep herself alive and her secrets secret. ( yes, ozai lowkey kinda kills her or at least thinks he and erased her and her family from history. snowbaird coded but also worse ) inspirations: lucy gray baird, satine / fc claim ideas : simone ashley

saori ( iroh’s wife ) — very minor character but all that can be said is that she’s no easy woman. she’s demanding of him after they are arranged together because she believes and sees that he can be better. she also grew up in the palace as a courtier and is known for being incredibly opinionated and sharp on her wit. inspirations: beatrice ( much ado about nothing ) / fc claim : jamie chung

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theliterarywolf · 5 years

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Lol, what happened with Disenchantment? (I'm not really into the show so I don't care about spoilers).

Tagging @dualcoindeity since they asked too.

So, in order for me to explain why S2 went so 'what's the point?!', I have to go into the end of S1 as well.

At the end of Disenchantment's first season, Bean (the main character) sacrifices her friend Elfo in order to bring her mother back to life from a poison that turns people to stone.

Queen Dagmar is resurrected and the kingdom is overjoyed, including King Zog who not only got his beloved back but now has two wives since, when Dagmar died, he remarried.

After some shenanigans, including Queen Oona basically saying 'fuck this, I'm not going to be second fiddle just because your first wife is back', it's revealed that Dagmar actually ended up accidentally poisoning herself because she was trying to poison the king but Bean as a toddler ended up playing around and switching the glasses.

Now back to life, Dagmar brews up enough of the poison to infect the entire kingdom, tricks Bean into coming with her by lying that Oona poisoned the kingdom as revenge, and the two of them flee to Dagmar's home kingdom: leaving Zog to rule over a dead kingdom and Dagmar able to groom Bean into a pawn for her own devices.

Now, opening to S2, we see Dagmar still frisking Bean to her home kingdom but one night while Bean is sleeping, Oona swims to the ship and tries to warn her, just to end up tossed back overboard to drown after a fight with Dagmar.

When they make it to the kingdom, Bean gets weirded out by how off everything is but goes along with it because, hey, I'm finally back with my long-dead mom!

Then she finds out that Dagmar only married her dad and gave birth to her because she's trying to complete a dark prophecy that will only be finished if she basically lobotomizes her daughter and puts her on a throne.

So Bean escapes thanks to Luci telling her 'hey, yeah, you fucked up but we need to get away from your batshit mama, convince Elfo to piss God off so he can get booted from Heaven to Hell, go to Hell, and get him!'

So, after a fight with Dagmar, they do go down into Hell, find Elfo, Luci sacrifices his powers, prestige, and immortality to get them out, and they end up going back to Dreamland (the home kingdom) to save everyone.

Everyone is saved thanks to Elfo (admittedly bitter because of being forced to watch Bean sacrifice him for her mom on repeat in Hell for his punishment) helping with a treaty between humans and elves, and the rest of the season focuses on character growth.

We have King Zog realizing that happily ever after doesn't happen for everyone and that he can't lay the border of making him happy onto other people (via Oona asking for a divorce and his short-lived relationship with the bear-selkie Ursa). We have Oona finally being able to spread her wings and go off to become a pirate. Elfo slowly becomes more independent rather than the lovesick tagalong to Bean he was in S1. Luci starts his own business. Bean grows to understand that she needs to grow up and that, despite her parents, she can be her own person and serve her kingdom in her own ways (she becomes a playwright and a spoken-word poet, she helps the elves during a disease outbreak, she rescues her brother from a ferocious, jealous monster). Hell, she even becomes a scientist (or a 'stientist' as she keeps calling it during the episode where an assassin from a foreign kingdom called 'Steamland' (which is, personally, my favorite setting in the show) comes to attempt to kill her father.

... And that brings us to episode 10 where ALL OF THAT CHARACTER-DEVELOPMENT is hurled RIGHT OUT THE WINDOW!

When Bean comes back from her exploration of Steamland, she's trying to explain that there was an assassination attempt on her father. Her father's advisors who, in the past, have been stuck up have gone full 'women don't speak in the king's presence!'

Despite, you know, us having numerous times that prove otherwise.

Still, Bean tries to state what happened, producing the assassin's pistol as proof. The advisors insist that it's a 'dragon-summoning whistle/hammer' and try to steal it from Bean, insisting that she's the assassin.

Because... Everyone has been infected with dumb-bitch disease apparently.

Zog, seeing this, does nothing except say 'hey, come on, Bean's my daughter; everyone just calm down'. Despite, you know, there being times when Zog has used his authority to say 'hey, everyone, shut the fuck up'.

So the struggle continues until... A shot rings out. In the unnecessary struggle, Bean accidentally shoots her father.

Episode 10 centers around everyone reverting back to their S1 personalities. Elfo and Luci are back to being one-line sidekicks, Bean is back to having no agency outside of 'rebel princess who is still just a damsel in distress - archetype #6', and ends up being sent to burn at the stake.

Because... Everyone has been infected with dumb-bitch disease apparently.

And, yes, I know that most of the idiocy is due to the king's advisors as well as the head of the church having a secret conspiracy for their secret society to have control of the throne through Bean's brother.

... Then why the HELL did we go through all that effort to have Bean escape from one secret prophecy plot just to be subjected to a secret conspiracy plot?

Oh, but just when it looks like Bean, Elfo, and Luci are about to go the way of Lisa from Castlevania, a flash of a certain someone's face appears in the flames and the trio is pulled down into a secret cavern full of creepy-eyed creatures.

And just who is the one who saved them?

Walking in from the shadows, smirking like the cat who ate the canary, Dagmar steps up to the daughter she gaslit, abused, and tried to turn into a vegetable to say "What? No hug?"

S2 of Disenchantment did a full circle of a plot that seemingly punishes anyone who was hoping for the show to succeed.

#long post #spoilers

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