#angada

Hanuman

Sexuality Headcanon: Asexual, with a soft spot for the versions where Hanuman accidentally concieves a son with a mermaid in the oceans surrounding Lanka Gender Headcanon: Cis A ship I have with said character: None A BROTP I have with said character: Rama & Hanuman, Sita & Hanuman, Lakshmana & Hanuman A NOTP I have with said character: Anyone really, I kinda picture Hanuman as being devoted to Rama above all else A random headcanon: Hanuman suffers from guilt that he didn't remember his powers in time to save Ruma from Vali, and it's part of what drives his loyalty to Rama and Sita. General Opinion over said character: Love him. Sassy and loyal and awesome. Curious to know more about his relationships with Sugriva and Vali pre-fight, and why he was so loyal to Sugriva.

Angada

Sexuality Headcanon: Bi Gender Headcanon: Cis A ship I have with said character: Lakshmana/Angada A BROTP I have with said character: Rama & Angada, Lakshmana & Angada A NOTP I have with said character: N/A A random headcanon: He is an only child and has no cousins, which makes him very dear to everyone in Kishkinda in his childhood. General Opinion over said character: Love his friendship with Lakshmana, and I'm moved by the fact that Lakshmana named his first son after him. I am intensely curious to know how the politics of Kishkinda affected him growing up -- his father seemingly dying, his uncle assuming the throne, his mother becoming his uncle's wife, his dad reappearing, his uncle being exiled, his aunt being raped by his father, his father dying and his uncle complicit in his death, his mother again his uncle's wife, fighting a war for the sake of the man who was responsible for his father's death.

Tara

Sexuality Headcanon: Bi Gender Headcanon: Cis A ship I have with said character: Tara/Vali, Sugriva/Tara (not OTPs though) A BROTP I have with said character: Tara & Ruma, Tara & Angada A NOTP I have with said character: Tara/Ruma romantically -- I like them better as sisters, allies, or even rivals A random headcanon: She never forgives Rama for his role in her husband's death, despite knowing it was justified, and keeps her distance from him as best she can. When she hears about Sita being exiled mere months after they fought a war for her, she feels bitterly vindicated. General Opinion over said character: Love her inordinately. She's so wise, so much that Vali said on his deathbed pretty much "Listen to Tara, she's always right". She is a survivor and manages to calm Lakshmana down when he was about to wage war. Yet there are also hints of her flaws: her appearing drunk and apparently having a problem with alcohol when she pacifies Lakshmana. In some versions, she curses Rama for his role in Vali's death that in his next life he will be killed by Vali (the hunter shooting Krishna in the heel), and while I don't blame Rama for Vali's death, I do like this anecdote because it makes Tara so human -- much like Gandhari being wise enough to say "May righteousness prevail" rather than blessing her son, but still cursing Krishna out of grief. I also wonder how being passed from husband to husband affected her, and I wonder at her relationship with her sister-in-law Ruma, who was her co-queen and also a victim of her husband.

Ruma

Sexuality Headcanon: Bi Gender Headcanon: Cis A ship I have with said character: Sugriva/Ruma A BROTP I have with said character: Ruma & Tara, Ruma & Angada A NOTP I have with said character: Ruma/Vali A random headcanon: Ruma was infertile and therefore loved Angada all the more, as the only child she would have. She also was disapproved of as a wife to the second prince since she was of low status, and next to Tara, who was highborn and mother to the crown prince, she feels inferior, even as she admires Tara.

(Another headcanon): Unlike her sister-in-law, Ruma admires Rama and is grateful to him for rescuing her. They often clash about it, and when she learns about him exiling his wife, who went through the same thing Ruma did, she is deeply hurt and shocked. General Opinion over said character: Love her, for all that she's barely a presence in the Ramayana and fridged for the plotline. Her rape and abuse is the catalyst of the Rama-Kishkindha alliance, and therefore the war on Lanka, yet we hear so little about her thoughts and feelings. I've written more about it here and elsewhere on my blog, but I really wonder what she thought about Rama throughout the narrative.

Sugriva

Sexuality Headcanon: Straight Gender Headcanon: Cis A ship I have with said character: Sugriva/Ruma A BROTP I have with said character: Rama & Sugriva, Sugriva & Tara A NOTP I have with said character: N/A A random headcanon: He respects Tara immensely and sees her more as an older sister/mentor rather than as his wife, although they marry for political reasons. General Opinion over said character: I appreciate him as a character but seriously side-eye him a lot, especially for not doing more (IMO) to rescue Ruma and dragging his feet on repaying Rama. I do think he was justified in how he got rid of Vali, and resent... well, see Vali below. I'm also really curious what his relationship with Angada was like.

Vali

Sexuality Headcanon: Bi Gender Headcanon: Cis A ship I have with said character: Vali/Tara, Vali/Ravana A BROTP I have with said character: N/A A NOTP I have with said character: Vali/Ruma A random headcanon: Vali has absolutely no fashion sense and relies on his wife and his brother to keep his wardrobe vaguely kingly. General Opinion over said character: I find him interesting in that he was a strong and well-loved king (even the wise Tara loved him very much) but still capable of cruelty and abusing women. I also really, r e a l l y resent the take that his death was murder, or that Rama violated dharma somehow when Vali had raped Ruma and held her hostage. Rama made many mistakes, his killing of Vali was not one of them. Stop using the Agni Pariksha to vilify his every action.

Bhishma

Sexuality Headcanon: Ace Gender Headcanon: Cis A ship I have with said character: N/A A BROTP I have with said character: Bhisma & Ganga, Bhishma & Arjuna A NOTP I have with said character: Bhishma/Amba (really don't like their dynamic as romantic) A random headcanon: The years he spent in his mother's kingdom were the happiest of his life. General Opinion over said character: Find him very interesting as a character, and what he represents about vows and the cost of them.

Subhadra

Sexuality Headcanon: Bi Gender Headcanon: A headache A ship I have with said character: Arjuna/Subhadra, Subhadra/Draupadi A BROTP I have with said character: Subhadra & Krishna & Balarama A NOTP I have with said character: Subhadra/Duryodhana A random headcanon: She is Pariksit's favorite grandmother. General Opinion over said character: My lovely girl, so spunky and full of life, who deserved so much better.

Abhimanyu

1. She and Vali loved and respected each other. Vali (most of the time) believed her to be wise and listened to her advice, but his ego and his desire to never back down from a challenge could override his softer instincts at time. When he gets to Kishkindha, he has unresolved anger about her becoming Sugriva’s wife, but he doesn’t want to take it out on her, so he aims it at Sugriva and Ruma. Despite the things he did, Tara does love Vali and grieves both times she loses him.

2. She often falls into the role of the peacekeeper or peacemaker. Hence why she marries Sugriva both times to secure the succession, tries to keep Vali from fighting his brother, and pacifies Lakshman in his anger. I also headcanon she tries to keep Ruma safe as best she can, and try to save her from her alcoholism. Tara often puts her own needs second, as peacekeepers tend to do, and it eventually leads to her own alcoholism, although she has a better level of control over it than does Ruma.

3. Tara and Ruma consider each other sisters, and carefully never mention the elephant in the room that is their husbands. Ruma does feel sorry for Tara, despite being content to dance on Vali’s grave, and tries to help her as best she can. They’re both struggling with alcoholism, however, and often two addicts don’t make the best relationship. I view Tara as a more functional alcoholic while Ruma is a day drinker and chronic severe type, and it ends up bringing up emotions that neither are equipped to handle without the benefits of modern therapy and it drives a rift between them, sending them into further misery.

4. While she married Sugriva out of political necessity, she still has emotional whiplash from believing Vali dead and marrying Sugriva, only to have him come back to life, then have to deal with his newfound viciousness, then to lose him again and have to marry the brother responsible for his death again. It leaves her with PTSD, hence the alcoholism again.

5. While I think Tara is wise enough to see the justice in her husband’s death, I like the versions where she curses Rama in rage that in his next birth, he will be killed by Vali (the hunter that killed Krishna). Because I do believe she loved Vali truly, and it adds a level of humanity and a “dark side” to her character. I also personally headcanon that during the war she always interacted with Lakshman as an intermediary for Rama and avoided him when she could. After Vali’s death, while she knows Sugriva should follow up on his promise, she’s too overwhelmed by grief and resentment to push him to do so, and so she allows them and the kingdom to sink into carousing until Lakshman comes storming in.

6. At some point, (maybe when they work together to calm down Lakshman) Angad really realizes the burden his mother is carrying and works to alleviate it. As well as planning for war, he also tries to handle the day-to-day burdens of the kingdom, or at least try to keep petty squabbles from his mother’s ears and ensure she only has to deal with the important issues. Nobody, not even Vali, has ever really considered that Tara might want someone else to play peacekeeper for once, and Angad’s efforts are what leads her to cut down on the drinking, at least before evening.

7. There are versions where she’s born from the churning of the ocean or an aspara or married to Sugriva first, but I like the version where she’s the daughter of the court physician. I also headcanon she was married to Vali first. I like the idea of Tara being born an ordinary, though somewhat noble and remarkably wise, woman who just wants a normal life with her family but gets passed around like a necklace and suffers for it. She has no great talent for medicine, unlike her father, but she is skilled in identifying and growing herbs, and finds it’s a healthier coping mechanism than drinking.

8. She and Sugriva both care about the kingdom deeply and find common ground in ruling it. Though they live as husband and wife, some part of her still sees him as her younger brother. Drinking alcohol becomes a normal part of her bedtime routine, even after she cuts down on it during the day. He’s more flighty than Vali was, not as decisive, and she cannot help but draw comparisons. She rarely snaps at him, her intellect checking her temper, but their relationship is more a business contract than a loving marriage, and they both feel it.

9. When Sita is exiled from Ayodhya again, she visits the kingdom of Kishkindha for a spell. She spends more time with Ruma, and Tara figures she is bitter at meeting a woman whose status as queen has always gone unquestioned. But it turns out that it’s only because Ruma and Sita find more common ground, having both been held against their will, while Tara may have been unhappy but was always willing. Sita’s visit reminds Ruma that it might have been worse, that at least she still has her husband’s and her kingdom’s love, and Ruma’s new friendship gives her something to do other than drink. Tara keeps it to herself, but she thinks sourly that of course Rama would do something as undharmic as exile his innocent wife. She has never quite forgiven him for killing Vali from behind. She offers for Sita to stay in Kishkindha, but she insists on returning to the forest.