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Hey Everyone,
I was listening to last night’s podcast and I was so excited when Jenny brought up the Swan Princess (probably about as excited as she is whenever we talk about the Little Mermaid). The Swan Princess has always been my favourite animated film (don’t bother watching the second, third, or any other ones, just the first) – and ever since Emma was introduced as Emma Swan, I’ve hoped we’d get to see some Swan Princess action!
While Emma does resemble Odette (long blond hair, blue eyes, attitude, stubbornness… etc)
,[attachment=1:27neffef]emma odette.jpg[/attachment:27neffef] AND while Odette does wear a swan necklace (that her true love gave her!) – [attachment=0:27neffef]necklace.jpg[/attachment:27neffef]
I doubt it would be do-able for them to make Emma the Swan Princess 🙁 (Also, I’ve heard them say countless times that Emma is the only original character).The basic plot line of the Swan Princess movie, for those of you who don’t know (spoiler alert)… A single King and a single Queen from neighbouring kingdoms make a deal when their babies are born that they will grow up and marry each other (she has a young Prince, Derek and the king has princess Odette), so every summer, they get the kids together in the hopes that they’ll fall in love… they really don’t hit it off as kids, but then when they are older they fall in love (“she started out as such an ugly duckling, and somehow suddenly became a swan”). Then there is this dark magician (black magic, name is Lord Rothbart) who kills her father and curses her that she will be a swan (only to be broken by him declaring before the whole world that she is his true love, or something along those lines, NOT true loves’ kiss…)… she becomes a princess again every night when the light touches her wings, assuming she is on the lake, but as soon as the sun comes up, she is back as a swan. So she goes through the task of trying to find him and lead him to the lake so that he will be there when she changes…
It is based on the “Swan Lake” ballet. However, it is a New Line Cinema movie, which is owned by WB I believe… which probably means Disney doesn’t have the rights for it… however… I don’t know how copyright works for ballets/plays/etc? So it could be possible.
I could definitely picture Rumpel being the evil dark magic guy Rothbart who puts the curse on Odette; HOWEVER, Rothbart is actually a shapeshift as well (big spoiler: at the end, there is a night with no moon and that is the night she had planned to meet Derek so he could declare his love for her at the ball, and he locks the swan away, turns into Odette and gets Derek to declare his love for the fake Odette, thus sentencing the true Odette to death) – so it would be possible for the villain to be Cora – I don’t believe we’ve ever seen Rumpel shapeshift?).
I was also thinking that Abigail could be the Swan Princess (as of yet, we don’t really know who she is, but she has kind of disappeared, so I doubt they’d bring this up again unless important) just because the storyline kind of fits with the merging kingdoms and stuff, although I don’t remember whether Frederich was from a neighbouring kingdom or not?).
Regardless of whether they do the story or not, it seems weird that Swans keep being in the show purposefully (i.e. Emma’s last name, her necklace from Neal, the key Grannie gave her at the inn when she first checked in and just recently in the ocean in “The Cricket Game”).
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
[adrotate group="5"]@EIreland wrote:
I’ve heard them say countless times that Emma is the only original character
What about Henry??
@Clockwatcher wrote:
@EIreland wrote:
I’ve heard them say countless times that Emma is the only original character
What about Henry??
Yes, that is true. Maybe they were just talking about the adults. Or maybe Henry isn’t original (and we just don’t know it yet?) But yeah, I guess they are both original as far as we know.
As I understand it, the fairy tales particular, but all storybook stories like Peter Pan, Wizard of Oz, even Frankenstein, are kinda the “real” history of the lands the people have been coming from. The versions we know though mostly are embellished, cleaned up, changed through retelling them umpteen times. Yes, I know, gives one headaches considering that fairy tales are older than Storybrooke excist in our world (well, the fictional version of it), and some of their history happened only a few decades ago. I think that is nevertheless how we are meant to see them, not as stories happening now, but stories that have happened, giving us background and history of the Fairy Tale Lands and their people. So, consequentially Emma has no fairy tale story, is no known fairy tale character but an original one. The same goes for Henry. Their stories are happening now, in the present.
@EIreland wrote:
Regardless of whether they do the story or not, it seems weird that Swans keep being in the show purposefully (i.e. Emma’s last name, her necklace from Neal, the key Grannie gave her at the inn when she first checked in and just recently in the ocean in “The Cricket Game”).
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Swans appear all over mythology, fairy and folk tales. Zeus seduced Leda, Queen of Sparta as swan, fathering Helen of Troy. Swans have been connected with Apollo and the Muses. The Valkyrie are sometimes depicted as swan maidens or in company of swans (although they are maybe more often connected with ravens, as being spirits to choose the best warriors from the dead after a battle). There are number of tales about swan maidens and others about brothers turned into swans (saved by their sister).
Swan are often seen as symbol for true love, live long partnership (because they more or less mate for life). White swans especially are symbols for purity, beauty and grace. But they are although seen as symbol for transformation (thus the tale of the Ugly Duckling). White swans are light, while black swans sometimes present the dark (side). Mute swans are said to sing only one song ever, shortly before death (well, actually they are no good singers at all). They are seen as companions of souls to netherworld, messengers of death (something they have in common with ravens).
Symbol of true love, symbol of transformation – enough for me to use swan as family name for Emma. And enough to let swans and swan pictures pop up all over Storybrooke and in the Fairy Tale Lands.
¯\_(?????? ?)_/¯
My mom just said “AND… the adult swans lose their flying feathers in the Spring around the same time as their signets are born and they don’t grow back until around the time their signets are also learning to fly” (she doesn’t know much about the show, but she does know there is an adoption/abandonment part and she says “so that means mother swans can’t leave their babies!”)
Wow, you learn something new everyday!
Abigail’s identity HAS been revealed, she’s King Midas’s Daughter, who in some versions of the story is the straw that breaks the camel’s back to convince Midas that the Golden Touch is a curse rather than a gift.
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