LILIA'S ULTIMATE FAN

RSA and NRC are situated on opposite ends of Sage’s Island, which is a part of the Land of Dawning. The Land of Dawning has National Museum of Art, which features in the Platinum Jacket line of birthday cards. Several works of art depicting important historical figures—both Disney heroes and villains—are in the museum. We as the omniscient audience understand the context of many of the artworks, but the characters largely interpret the artworks pretty neutrally. They only condescend when they perceive a historical figure to be acting weak or silly, not because they assume or somehow “know” the heroes oppose the goals of the villain/member of the Great Seven.

Regarding Alice, she is actually not mentioned a ton alongside the Queen of Hearts. We know from the Platinum Jacket series of cards that the Avidly Curious Girl had tea at a mad party and spoke with flowers. She also drank a potion that shrank her down and she was set adrift in a bottle into a sea. The stories, according to the NRC boys, describe the Avidly Curious Girl as rude and vulgar, since she invited herself to tea, spoke impolitely, and drank potions without permission.

Deuce states in White Rabbit Fest that there is a "young girl" in the legend of the White Rabbit (who served the Queen of Hearts). Cater also has a Chat in which he describes a "child" getting lost in the Queen's castle. Instead of scolding them, the Queen plays croquet with the child. It's not clear if the Avidly Curious Girl/Alice is the same as the "young girl" and "child" in these stories.

In fact, we have no stories which pose Alice against the Queen of Hearts. Nothing suggests versions exist in which Alice is a hero and the Queen is the bad guy, either.

The Kingdom of Heroes is the land that S.T.Y.X. used to be a part of, so my assumption is it is twisted!Greece. We hear from Idia, who hails from this land, that he looks up to and admires the King of the Underworld—so Hades isn’t seen as a “bad guy” in the Kingdom of Heroes. Simultaneously, Idia recounts a story about a hero who delved into Tartarus to save his “ladylove”; this is an obvious allusion to Hercules and Meg. In the original Disney film, Hercules was doing so because Hades had taken Meg’s soul—but there is zero mention of how the “ladylove” ended up in that situation to begin with. In Twst, the greatness of Hades is entirely separate from the story of the hero who went to save his lover from the realm of the dead. Hades’ involvement was essentially erased.

We similarly hear multiple different stories derived from Aladdin. In book 5, Kalim tells a story about a thief who fell in love with a princess. That love made him want to live more honestly. The thief was able to save his kingdom + become the next Sultan. Then, in one Chat, Kalim discusses how the Sorcerer of the Sands is known for revealing someone who attempted to deceive the Sultan and princess. However, an entirely separate third story also exists. In A Firelit Sky, Jamil shares that a princess fell in love with a poor but kind man, and that this love, which transcended social boundaries, was celebrated.

In both cases, we, the omniscient audience, know Jasmine and Aladdin are being referenced—but Jamil and Kalim don’t. It sounds like three different sets of characters were involved, otherwise there would be major contradictions. After all, these Jamil and Kalim come from the same country and essentially grew up together. Why would they believe in two significantly different versions of the same story? The only logical conclusion is that these are three stories altogether and are treated as unrelated, even if they originate from the same region.

These are not isolated incidents either. These kinds of “multiple different yet separate stories derived from the same source material” are all over Twst. The Fairest Queen offered an apple to help a princess find love, and some believe the Fairest Queen had a child. There’s no mention of how the child she had is the same one she tried to later poison, or how the apple that helped the girl find love was meant to kill her. The Sea Witch gave a mermaid legs, but she also went to land herself (with no mention of her stealing away the mermaid’s man). The King of Beasts became ruler of the Pridelands and had a brother named the King of Lions, and there is no fratricide ever referenced.

What this implies to me is that the original Disney film’s canon did NOT split into different sects of people that believe in extremely different versions of the same story or stories that frame different people as the saviors. I think what we see instead is that, over time, the events in the original Disney films’ canon diverged and took on life as their own stories unrelated to everything else that happened in the films. For example, the things that happen in Aladdin ended up becoming at least 3 isolated stories.

In story 1, the Sorcerer of the Sands saves the land from Street Rat A, who was trying to trick Sultan A and Princess A. In story 2, Thief A fell in love with Princess B; he then saved the land from an nonspecific Bad Guy. In story 3, Princess C fell in love with Guy A. They are all treated like individuals, not the same recurring characters.

Here’s a graphical representation of what I mean if you’re more of a visual learner:

It seems that some stories do have regional variations to better suit the culture or people of an area. For example, the Wish Upon a Star story has a variation in Sunset Savanna where the puppet that became a boy is carved to resemble a beastman. This is hypothetized to be because most people in that country are beastmen, so having a character share their traits is more relatable. The other events in the Wish Upon a Star story, however, are unchanged.

To begin with, the promotional materials didn’t sell me on him. Everything about how he initially presents—from his arrogance to his “tough/bad boy” design (seriously, that biker-cowboy combo of his dorm uniform is SO ugly and shows way too much skin for my liking…)—was so unappealing to me. He seemed exactly like the kind of character and tropes I tend to dislike. The only “good” thing I saw in him was his face (which, ironically, is what Vil says about him) and maybe his UM chant particularly the line where he demands you kneel before him. Then comes along book 2, which is easily the weakest of the main story and does a HUGE disservice to him, making L*ona seem a lot stupider than he actually is. At that point, I had basically written his entire character off. I claimed to all my Twst friends that there was nothing that would ever make me like him.

Around 2022, I decided to get involved in a round of EBG (Epic Bias Game) which is basically like a test of your will?? You’re supposed to compete with your friends to see who can go for the longest without talking about or acknowledging their oshi (which includes not being able to react to fan works of them). As part of EBG, each participant was randomly assigned a “new oshi” to replace the usual one AND GUESS WHAT, I GOT HANDED L*ONA BY THE WHEEL OF FATE 💀

One of my friends (who knew I hardcore hated him at the time) assured me that this would get me to change my mind. They even went out of their way to write a little story explaining how my OC was forced to spend more time with L*ona, which led me into writing interactions between them to build more of the lore. I managed to outlast the friend in EBG, but didn’t win the entire game. I came out of it not really feeling super different about L*ona, but I think forcing myself to write about him extensively helped me gain a little more perspective on his character. I still didn’t like him, but I at least appreciated his presence in the cast a little more.

AND THEN TWST HAD TO COME AND BASH ME OVER THE HEAD WITH L*ONA CONTENT… All the little vignettes and voice lines where other characters would talk about what a good leader he is (*glares at Epel, Jack, Ruggie, Savanaclaw mobs, etc.*), when he sarcastically claims to be a “delicate prince” or a “lost child”, those moments where he sasses others, times when he’s able to use his charisma and/or intelligence to pull ahead, rare instances when he whips out his royal manners, him respecting women… But I think the turning point for me had to have been book 6 OTL GOOD LORD, BOOK 6 FUCKED ME UP 😭 Him using his UM in a creative way to turn falling glass shards into harmless sand? And strategically turning himself in?? Willingly ceding control of the dorm to Ruggie??? Telling everyone about Styx’s lore???? AND THE BEEF HE HAD WITH JAMIL BUT STILL GIVING HIM WISDOM AND ADVICE… Sometimes I still tear up thinking about how L*ona says “You’re not like me,” to Jamil 😔 implying that part of the reason why L*ona guides others is because he has hope in their futures but not his own… (I’m still salty that EN messed up this line by changing it to “I’m not like you,” which makes him come off as way more arrogant 💦) Anyway, I blame book 6 for being the tipping point in my downward spiral 🌀 IT GOT WORSE IN BOOK 7 WHEN HE STARTED SHOWING HE'S MOTIVATED TO ACTUALLY GRADUATE AND TAKES ON AN INTERNSHIP THAT COULD BENEFIT HIS COUNTRY... Special shoutout to the Club Wear card for being especially hot-- I did my best to hold out against the steady drip of content that called attention to his… positive traits… (Not that I’m saying he doesn’t have any; I mean this in that whenever his strengths as a character are brought up, they really get to me as someone who loves intelligent, mature/responsible types and “big brother” figures OTL) BUT IT'S SO HARD WHEN TWST KEEPS PULLING STUFF LIKE THAT???

Then in 2024 came the stupid Lost in the Book with Nightmare Before Christmas event 💀 which finally introduced us to L*ona in full formal attire (MY WEAKNESS) and gave him the opportunity to be in the role of the "hero" and leader... and those Nightmare Suit vignettes 😭 Leona thinking about what it actually means to be "king"... Ugh, it was another strong showing of his character. I'm pretty sure it was this event that started the snowball of my friends (lovingly) bullying me about him and calling me a tsundere about it. Weirdly enough, a BUNCH of things started happening irl to push L*ona at me too. For example, my pet (who usually actively avoids or attacks Twst stuff) was actually eager to pose for a picture with a L*ona standee. In a group fan merch order, I had asked for the bonus Grim sticker but the artist (who had no idea about my complicated thoughts on L*ona) said they were out of the Grim sticker but they had L*ona stickers they could include instead. Most recently, I had just finished this last-minute artwork of Miss Raven eating pocky by herself to celebrate Pocky Day (11/11). Typically the fan art you'd see on this day would involve two characters playing the "Pocky Game" (in which the players try to eat a stick of pocky from either end; usually it's framed as romantic since meeting in the middle results in a kiss). However, I had chosen to do a solo Miss Raven art because I thought this suited her "I want to be taken seriously!" personality better. Well, guess what? I GOT A PACKAGE DELIVERY NOTIFICATION FOR THE TWST MERCH ORDER... WITH L*ONA IN IT 💀 Almost like he heard there was food meant for sharing and he came to claim it for himself... Like I literally did NOT choose for these things to happen to me, THEY HAPPENED ON THEIR OWN. I DON'T BELIEVE IN PREORDAINED EVENTS BUT THE UNIVERSE SURE IS WORKING IN STRANGE WAYS.

So now that the tables have turned, it’s really embarrassing. Everything is coming back to bite me in the butt… It truly feels like L*ona plotted this all along and was on the prowl, patiently waiting for me to get worn down before he pounces and delivers the final blow to my ego OTL Like, it's gotten to the point where many of my long-time friends in the Twst community are now joking that "It's over" for J word... ONE OF THEM EVEN TOLD ME IT FEELS LIKE I'M GETTING DIVORCED AND L*ONA IS THEIR NEW STEPDAD, HOW AM I SUPPSOED TO FEEL ABOUT HTHAT ??????????? ? ? ????? ? ??? ? ?? ?? ? ???? ?

But by the far the worst, the WORST part about everything here is that if L*ona were fully sentient, he would be so smug about recent developments 😡 It makes me SO mad thinking about how he'd look down on me with that hot smug rage-inducing smirk of his and make fun of me for eating my words so badly.

“What was that you said about hating my guts, herbivore? … Hah, it's written all over your face--you're terrible at hiding your true feelings. You can just give in, you know. Tell me how much you worship me. How much you want me. You'll give in eventually one way or another--so why not make this easier for the both of us and save us the time of playing the wait game? I don't bite, promise." (<- a liar)

(Disclaimer: NOT MY MERCH; this is a L*ona Liker friend’s picture that they’re letting me use as a reaction image 😅)

Based on this Viltrumites members panels from the Invincible comic.

I was looking through all of Silver's voice lines and I noticed that almost every time Yuu interacts with Silver, there has to be a mention of him looking good, fixing up his clothes, etc. implying (to me at least) that Yuu actively seeks out conversation with him in some way?

I could make a whole fic about them just using Silver's lines from his cards and events and the main storyline I kid you not 😭

For instance, I don't have these cards but:

In his Dorm Uniform card, he says: "Hm? My hat's crooked? Thanks for straightening it out."

In his Birthday Jacket card, it's: "What's the centerpiece of my look today? I haven't thought about it, but I guess it'd be my white sneakers. They're easy to move in too."

Halloween card: "Ah, you straightened my hat. The horns look wrong if they're even slightly askew, so thank you."

Platinum Jacket: "What a dazzling outfit. I suppose when I wear it I must be ALL silver... It looks good, you think? I'm glad."

And then we get these gems, which show Silver slowly but surely opening up to Yuu:

Birthday Bloom: "Ah, it's you. Perfect timing. Why don't we head to the balcony so I can introduce you to the birds?"

Platinum Jacket: "Oh dear, I'm getting sleepy... You'll let me sleep on your shoulder? No need; if you could just...shake me...awake... *snore*"

And then!! You can also see Silver sometimes actively seeking them out in situations! cause we went from him thinking Yuu is odd:

To him complimenting them back (which I know everyone in the cast does but stay with me here):

and just being so??? idek the word? vulnerable? soft? In his masquerade groovy line, he just drags Yuu to the dance floor 🥹

In the main story line, he says this:

Which took me out because what do you mean it's just us? Grim is right there! lmao 😂

Plus!! In his Dawn Armor card, he's so frickin' sweet! I thought Kalim was the underrated one but noooo we literally have a prince charming in the cast how have I been so blind all this time 😭

Yeah I would assume you'd feel closer to Yuu, you literally had them in a chokehold while travelling through dreams 😂

This scene below made me melt when I first read it, it's one of my favorites. I know Silver is just expressing thanks and sharing a moment of vulnerability, but also add on to the fact that this is a boy who is so cool, calm, and collected, that even he couldn't admit to his own father that he didn't want him to leave school.

I'd be asking Lilia for his son's hand in marriage after the whole Book 7 fiasco just because of this line 😭

Delulu aside & I know this isn't an otome game but I lowkey feel that out of all the cast members, (Malleus "The Child Of Man Is Mine" Draconia included), Silver is the one that I can see Yuu crushing on. Hard.

Am I supposed to believe that this isnt an invitation for a date?? Not to mention the many times he has invited Yuu to work out lol is that his way of getting to know Yuu 😂

I'm sure there's more that I missed, please let me know!