I kinda hope everyone in the COD and adjacent turncoat on Dark Enchantress. Like they're setting up Red Velvet and possibly Choco Werehound Brute to turn on her, but almost all of the others aren't in a great situation either.
He didn't really have a choice in the matter of joining DE, he just kinda came out of the oven and got forcibly adopted. He doesn't really give a shit about world domination, he just wants his cakes to be safe. All he's been told growing up is that the cookies hate the cakes and will hurt them, but the only reason the cookies are hurting the cakes is because they're fighting for DE. It's like a horrible roundabout of miscommunication. Like, has he had much of any communication other than DE, which seeing how she treats the other children on the team may have been rare, and the COD, which who knows how long he was alone before another person showed up? DE is not a good person, let alone a good mother. And that stunt of basically almost kamakazi-ing the cake troops to hold off the cookies almost certainly pissed him off to no end. He's one of the most likely ones to turncoat.
First off, y'all saw how confused he was when DE cast fireball on the cake troops. Like there was definitely some hurt there. In other news, he has friends on the cookies' side, friends that care about him and respect who he is and USE HIS DAMN PREFERRED NAME. Like I'll give Strawberry and the others a pass because they only see him in the battlefield and literally everyone who LIVES WITH HIM and SEES HIM DAILY call him Swartzwalder in front of them. But back to the friends, like Wedding Cake literally has tea time with him on a regular basis. He's like the only one of the COD to have connections outside of the COD. Granted this is most likely by design by DE, since a very common abuse tactic is to isolate the victim. CWB just probably slipped through the cracks of that plan because he got the Licorice's Lackey #2 treatment for so long, she probably didn't think he'd be important before Dark Choco ditched them. He'd probably turncoat with RV.
WHERE IS THIS BITCH? Like he got brought up once in conversation. He's mainly here to point out a repeating method DE uses to get people to join the COD in that THEY DON'T REALLY HAVE A CHOICE! Like he was trying to take the throne, but he was being sneaky and political about it. The only reason he turned to murder was because the COD suggested it. And when I say suggested it, I mean they ambushed him as a group on a snowy citadel wall and laid out their whole plan to kill Dark Cacao. Like even if he wanted to say no, he can't really do that. They can easily go a whole no witnesses route and throw him off the citadel instead. And once their plan failed and Aff had no where to turn, DE "oh so graciously" took him in. Like she orchestrated Aff's isolation so she could get to him. And this isn't the first time she's done this, enter Dark Choco. Again, convinced him that overtaking his father was a good idea, and when his father banished him, she took him in. And when he wanted to go back, she had Pomegranate constantly remind him why he couldn't using Pomegranate gems. I'd wouldn't be surprised if this method is how she got most of the COD, or that she specifically targeted isolated people. But back to Aff, I think he'd leave if Dark Cacao forgave him or let him have one more try.
Licorice is out here doing so much for DE and no one gives a shit. He has potential and deserves better, period. DE does not appreciate the allies she has. We've seen that Licorice constantly feels underappreciated, and if he can find that appreciation in the cookies, he's gonna look for it there. Granted, it would probably take a lot of other people turncoating for him to leave as well. He'd be way too scared to do it on his own.
Poison Mushroom has always been dragged around to the whims of DE. I'm not sure they even have whims of their own. Do they even know what's going on? The gravity of the situation? They are a child. The thing is, we know that DE has recruited 5 (4 if you count the chess twins as a single entity) children. Red Velvet was a child when he was recruited. She recruited Strawberry Crepe after they woke up alone in the destroyed Vanilla Kingdom (targeting the isolated again, are we?). Chess Choco is also a child, and we'll talk about them next. And as said before, Poison Mushroom is a child. Who knows what age the others were recruited at. DE's made targeting one of the most vulnerable groups a pattern. That said, PM would just kinda go if everyone else did, most likely if Licorice did. Just like "we're leaving" and they'd be like "okay :)" because they've never gotten to make a decision for themselves, why start now?
I'm calling them the chess twins because dear god it is not healthy to think of you and another person as one entity, that is like codependency on max. This is also probably DE's doing in some way. Like the twins have been at the hotel alone for god knows how long, that's gonna fuck a person up. And based on how DE treated Strawberry Crepe, you know damn well she wasn't checking in on them. DE isn't abusive to the kids in the way of like harming them with violence or words, she's abusive in that she's manipulative and neglectful. Also, like PM, they're kids. Do they know what they're doing? The implications? They treat life like a game of chess, and if that's a maladaptive coping mechanism if I've ever seen one. Like PM, I highly doubt they'd leave on their own. Someone please save these babies.
Just like Licorice, she is powerful yet constantly looked over and taken for granted. She leveled the entire damn lab and they still don't take her seriously! She would be like Licorice and wouldn't leave on her own, but could be convinced if everyone else left.
Does he seem evil? Yes, but one must remember that HE WAS KIDNAPPED INTO THIS. Like damn DE didn't even try to use her words this time. Butter Roll really is just in it for the scientific breakthroughs, and he can do that with the cookies too, just more ethically. His behavior could definitely stem from some weird form of stockholm syndrome. That being said, that would make it much harder for him to leave on his own. He'd have to have whatever rose colored glasses he has on broken for him to even think about leaving.
At some point, they're gonna figure out that they aren't in constant agony because of the cookies, they're in constant agony because DE doesn't give a shit about the life she creates (much like the witches she hates, hmm?) and sees the people around her as tools, not people. Like, if the cookies could find a way to help them, they'd definitely turncoat. Hey, maybe that's the scientific breakthroughs turncoated Butter Roll could be working towards!
Bro they just want their souljams. They think they're using DE for their motives, and DE thinks she's using them for her motives. And if the beasts found out that she's planning on taking THEIR souljam after all this? In the words of the great Chappelle Roan: good luck, babe. They may not join the cookies, but DE's gonna be fighting two fronts instead of one.
As she is, she's not gonna leave. Granted, we don't know her backstory, so she may be in the same stockholm boat as Butter Roll, but without her backstory, she just seems like the only actually evil one. Like she actively helps DE manipulate the rest of the COD. I feel like she's been there the longest next to RV, but while he spent his days with his cakes, she spent her days right next to DE, so it makes sense she'd be so devoted. It's like in Saw where some of the victims of Jigsaw join his cause and help get more victims, that's DE and Pom's relationship. Like, unless it turns out Pom has a backstory riddled with abuse from DE, she doesn't really have a reason to leave, and is kinda the only one who doesn't.
I FORGOT YOU SWEETHEART I'M SORRY! But Agar Agar is another case of DE taking what she has for granted. Like, Agar can copy the powers of almost every elemental, that's terrifying. But that's also at the cost of her being constantly hungry. That has to be some form of torture, like the doughs in a different font. Literally all she knows is be hungry get fed. Due to that, she'd most likely be akin to Poison Mushroom, having to have someone take her with them. She's pretty loyal to Pom though, so she may actually need convincing.
TLDR: Dark Enchantress is an abusive, manipulative, neglectful piece of shit and everyone should abandon her except Pomegranate because she's also a piece of shit and they deserve each other
