Protector against Pride

evie was FLIRTING with Audrey's boyfriend RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER.

What do you EXPECT Audrey to DO?!

if Audrey had just stood there and allowed it you would all probably scream. "She doesn't care about Ben! She did nothing as another girl flirted with him!"

Mal

Mal is a burned Lion Primary. It isn’t obvious at first, but the more her character developed over the course of the series, the more clear it became she is not a Snake -frankly, this girl would have been better off if she would have taken a more self-serving Snake mentality (uo, I know!) in the latter movies- and no Bird, as she shows none of the signs. I did debate whether she might be a Badger primary or no, but both her ‘I want’ songs (If Only and My once upon a time) show she is a burned Lion who is desperate to unburn, but well, her internal compass has been skewed by being raised by Maleficent: “I can't decide/ What's wrong, what's right/ Which way should I go?”/“You had a cause to serve, but did you serve it?”

Some people act mean at fist cause they're too afraid to feel. It's survival, it's protection. That's why roses grow their thorns.

Who were the first two “good” people that we met that were “mean?”

Chad and Audrey.

We know Auradon isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

Audrey had a mental breakdown and fell victim to a lingering curse and she was still punished by planning the wedding for Ben and Mal; the reason for said breakdown. Yes, it’s funny, but who would want to tempt fate like that again? Also, yall wasn’t scared that she’d do something to mess it up?

I’m not having someone who does not like me and had literally just said that she wanted to hurt me plan my wedding no matter how sorry she is.

Then we have Chad who this quote fits the best honestly.

Chad has been described as dumb, a womanizer, a jerk etc.

1. He’s the heir to his kingdom.

At the time of D1-D3, he was presumably an only child, meaning that at the time, there were no thoughts about how the inheritance to his throne would go.

This means any girl that succeeded in marrying him and birthing an heir has secured her and her family’s future with no threats.

(This is now a challenge due to Chloe’s existence; if the girl decides that she even wants kids.)

Chad isn’t dumb; he’s proven to be quite smart considering that he made a copy of Jay and Carlos’ dorm room key so that he can use their 3D printer. He’s smart about things that he prefers.

In D1, Doug describes him as someone that inherited all the charm and not much else.

For opportunists, this basically means: He’s an idiot. If I marry him and give him a heir, I can basically be the real power behind the crown.

Not sure how well that’s going to work because in the book Return to the Isle of the Lost; he does seem to care about his kingdom when Ben takes him on a trip there due to Madam Mim’s escape.

Also, it does show that he is concerned about how the line of succession moves if something happens to Ben, and I have thoughts on him, so that’s for another post though.

Back to the point, if he’s “dumb” and they want to take advantage, who wouldn’t turn it around on them? In the movies and books, he canonically had three official girlfriends and a lot more unofficial girlfriends.

1. Ruby Firzherbert; Second in line to Corona and Dark Kingdom.

In some cases, she could be the heir to the Dark Kingdom since in Frozen; Hans mentioned that his brothers were set to one day inherit different kingdoms, and it happened a lot in Ancient Greece that sons would have to find their own kingdoms.

Why not make her the Queen of the Dark Kingdom? It’s been about twenty years. It has definitely been restored to glory.

2. One of Ariel’s nieces.

Ariel has six sisters, and unknown amount of nieces so it’s hard to say what number she is to inherit because the only niece we know of canonically is Arabella. However, if we go with the idea that the sisters were supposed to inherit the seven seas like in the live action version, as a nod to their names and numbers and tails, then this niece would have also been secured in her own lineage.

There is also the fact that said niece could have been the one to inherit the throne to all of Atlantis.

3. Audrey.

She has two kingdoms. Her Father’s and her Mother’s. If we go by the live actions, she has the Moors. She’d also a direct descendant to Queen Ingrinth’s old kingdom. That gives her four kingdoms, but we’re going to stick with two.

Chad was very excited when Audrey wanted to date him. He drove six hours to her with a tire. They broke up in Return to the Isle of Lost, but he still immediately went to help her even after he spent so long on having Evie design his outfit for the Royal Cotillion.

So, the past how many years and months that Ben and Audrey had been together, which really sounds like an arranged marriage from the first book and her line in Queen of Mean where she says “she always thought she’d be the Queen”… then this means he’s watched the only girl he loved be in love with someone else. His best friend basically.

Back to the quote, in D1, we see from Lonnie that the Auradon kids operate under the belief that the villains loved their kids.

Stay with me now.

In D4, we learn that Chad has a younger sister. The early assumption was with the first three movies that he was an only child. Now, we move on to a bit more canonical side. He has a younger sister.

A thing that some mothers fall victim to is living through their daughters.

This gives Cinderella the chance to give her daughter the life that she never had. That same headcanon where everyone says that she spoiled him rotten to make up for her own childhood… it fits better with Chloe because again, Chad is the oldest and the presumed heir so he’d be having a bit more lessons in regards to the kingdom meanwhile he sees his Mother and sister going on another shopping trip or wtv else.

He sees her doting on what he can assumed is the child that she always wanted. He’s obviously not that much older than Chloe, so he could see the difference in how they are treated.

Going with the thought that villains loved their kids and under the presumption, that yeah, his mom loves him, but he wasn’t the child that she wanted… he lashes out.

a. Mal love potions Ben, causing him to publicly embarrass and hurt Audrey.

b. Evie tries to use him just like everyone else.

c. Jay doesn’t have sportsmanship, but he’s quick to take up for the girls. Something that Chad is doing for Audrey, and the parallels are staggering and not something that he wants to see at that point of time.

Hmm my honest thoughts on Audrey.... I love her, and I also love Mal. I love both them.

Not gonna lie, yeah, Audrey was a bitch in the first movie and the Audrey stans can come at me with all the vitriol some of them usually hold for Mal and spew it at me but I stand my ground on her being a major bitch in the 1st movie and I. will. not. budge. So I agree with you on her being a bitch in the 1st film.

BUT I do not completely fully agree with your take on her choosing to be a villain. Maleficent's scepter is known to have some hypnotic properties as shown in Disney's original Sleeping Beauty movie. I think the situation with Audrey and the scepter can be compared to something like Akumatized victims in Miraculous Ladybug. So for there, I give her the benefit of the doubt. Not to mention, she looked genuinely remorseful for what she did, so maybe she's not completely ugly on the inside.

I'm generally not an anti when it comes to any of the kids. I love all of them and at worst, I tolerate them (and when I say them, I mean just Chad). I don't pick a side when it comes to Fandom drama anymore. I'm too emotionally exhausted for that. If there's drama, leave me out of it.

If there is a character I'm an anti for, it's for King Beast. And I hope that's self explanatory.

Just know: I like Audrey and I like Mal. And don't involve me in petty Fandom drama. Keep your anti-mal and anti-audrey shit away from me. But please provide with the Anti-beast content, I enjoy that.

[I guess you are referring to my post about D3]

Yeah, like, there was a million better ways to make the beast Ben thing fit the story. Not a big fan of Bal but you are right, it would have made a little more sense if it was for a romantic moment. Is just like I said, it was a useless storyline.

But I do think that it could have been an interesting story for Ben (who had 0 development over the series). We have seen some foreshadow that Ben is afraid of becoming evil or hurting people, so why not explore that?

At least is what I thought when I saw the trailer, the angs potencial was endless! That little moment with Carlos was great! What if everyone had to do something like that to make him remember who he is?

I would have liked if everyone took a moment to recognize how much Ben has helped them and tried his absolute best to make the right choices.

I think it could have even resolved the plot with Audrey better than that shitty fight with Mal. Maybe the reason they need to get Ben back so desperately is because they realize he is the only one able to get to Audrey.

It would be the perfect moment to bring the theme of the pressure the AKs feel, how much they are teached to hide their emotions and that is the reason this affected both Ben and Audrey so much.

And in the end we get a moment with Ben, after his Best arc, recognizing that the cepter is controlling Audrey throught her anger and helping her break free.

first of all, girl is singing this long before she gets anywhere near that staff

I always thought that I'd be the queen and there's no in between if I can't have that then I will be the leader of the dark and the bad

she's making a choice here (and I like that). then she had a 3 mile walk across town carrying an iron poker to commit a b&e at the museum before she sees the scepter

Not to mention Maleficent magically bends Mal to her will when she doesn't get her way with the glowy-eye trick, so Mal's autonomy has been taken away literally on the regular, her entire life. do I think Audrey's parents were without fault, esp with the high expectations they put on her? definitely not. but abusive, esp compared to Mal, is a stretch tbh.

as for the boyfriend stealing, it's a question of magnitude of wrongs here. like yeah. that sucked for sure. but not "kill a whole bunch of people" bad. to be clear, someone can break up with someone else for any reason, at any time. we might consider them a dick for how they've done it, but we're allowed to expect the injured party not to go on a violent magical rampage. if Audrey needs "support" to not kill a bunch of people, then....idk man, sounds like a villain to me.

also reiterating my point with the og post--the moral of the trilogy is that regardless of our pasts, we have the chance to rise above the things our parents did to us or how they raised us and make better, kinder choices that shape our lives. The core 4 (and Uma's crew, to some extent) prove their willingness to do that. Audrey, when faced with a similar choice, chooses to hurt people. I think she's an important narrative foil to show how when we make bad choices, those shape our life too (again, showing that there's no such thing as "born good" or "born bad" and that a heroes kid can be the real villain and a villain's kid can be the hero).

However, while Sarah was amazing at a villain role in Descendants 3, in terms of acting, her reasons are a bit sympathetic as Audrey, so even if she was a villain, she'd be a tragic villain, so I think the role for an AK being evil should go to Chad.

I get where you’re coming from two love spells in such a short time would absolutely be damaging, especially for someone Ben’s age. It’s not just about “true love’s kiss” fixing it; it’s about trust and emotional safety.

Even if the intent behind each spell was different, the repeated violation of his free will is a huge red flag.