#bahlk analysis

An introduction post about the magic system in Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

- Soft magic: It doesn't have much rules, but fairies need wands to cast spells, the wands can be sick and not waterproof, and no magic in No Magic Day. Moreover, the only magical limit I've seen is the number of spells the caster knows (which can be improved by further learning and practice).

- Appearance: Magic in Ben and Holly appear as white sparkles of light (can be compared to white glitter). In the winter or space, fairy magic would change into neon colours to stand out (which is a design choice that I love:

- Transformative: The characters use magic to transform something into the other. Eg: frogs, cats, other animals, etc.

- Unpredictable: How many times the magic went wrong in the series? I've lost count of it.

- Effects on the caster: Fairy toddlers have trouble controlling their magic, which makes it go haywire. Fairy kids and inexperienced casters have to use cast spells verbally, whereas experienced and adult fairies can cast them non-verbally.

- Spells and how to cast them: Rhyming and hand control are the most important aspects of a spell. A spell needs the right rhyming, clearcut meaning, and right hand gesture, or else it would go wrong. And all incantations is temporary, their effects will be worn off at some point.

- Wands: Strangely, the elves are the one who make the wands, and the general structure consist of a 6-pointed star head with faces, and a stick made from the fairies namesake plant, like this:

The internal structure of the wand consist of cogs and springs, truly a master of elven engineering to accommodate something as opposite and unpredictable as fairy magic. Inside the head has the structure that resembles that of a watch, with the faces eyes and mouth controlled by clockwork and magic (presumably from the wooden stick, since it needs to be specially grown). A spring in the stick's centre probably channels the wood's magic to the head, where it is used to control the cogs, then the wand's emotions, and being dispersed outside, in the form of fairy dust. (This is me attempt to explain wand mechanics, and for anyone who studies actual mechanics, please correct me for anything wrong). The internal structure looks like this:

Each fairy has a specific theme colour and has their clothes and wands in that palette and it does not have to be the same colour as the flower/fruit/plant, as shown by Holly (who should be red/green) and Rosie (anything but turquoise). In the reign of Vlad and Sharon, Millicent and Victor, (aka Granny and Grandpapa), the wands used to looked much bigger and crazier (with the exception of Mrs. Fig, whose wand looks normal). From King Thistle's reign to the present, all wands look like the model above, but with different colours and sizes depends on the fairy and their age.

- Healing properties: Fairy magic can cure anything but the common cold.

- Related to plants and life: the fairies' wands' handle is made from specially grown plants, which the fairies are named after). I think this is related to the transformative and healing properties of fairy magic, since plants grow and transform their appearances, and many of them are used medically. Plus, plants are life, and magical objects are sentient (Nanny's cookbook, the wands, etc) so it connects the plant/ life theme I guess 🤷‍♀️. Other observations from canon such as why the wands has faces, etc is in this ask by the blog @ben-and-holly-headcannon-blog (now deleted ;((()

This is the most I that I convey into words (my observational skills are not that good yet) . If you can describe it in more detail, please reblog me!

2 titular protagonists

2 times Holly used her wand as an umbrella

2 lines Derek has in total /srs

2 times Lucy stepped on the Mayor

2 times Gaston ate Timmy (Queen Marigold's pet)

2 times each grandparent was shown

2 episodes Nanny Plum pissed off Mrs. Witch and got turned into something other than herself

2 times the Wise Old Elf caused a jelly flood

2 times Gaston's brother and his family made an appearance

2 times the King had a birthday episode

2 episodes where the chickens ran away

2 episodes where Lucy shrunk down

2 episodes dedicated to Ben, Holly, and Nanny Plum on Redbeard's ship going on an adventure

2 episodes surrounding the elf submarine

2 episodes surrounding "Bunty" (Mr. Elf's ship)

2 episodes surrounding Nanny Plum's wand

2 episodes surrounding dinosaurs

2 two part episodes surrounding outer space

2 two part episodes surrounding Christmas

2 times the gnome criticized a band

2 episodes a robot was featured in

2 episodes where Daisy and Poppy ran away and wreaked havoc using someone else's wand (honorable mention to "My goodness, Daisy and Poppy. You're a long way from home" said by Mr. Elf on both episodes)

2 episodes featuring Dolly Plum

2 episodes where Nanny Plum shuts down the fairies' magic for a day

2 episodes of "queen Holly"

2 episodes where Ben got turned into a rabbit

2 mentions of Bobby Bee

2 episodes Ms. Jolly was featured in

2 episodes of Mrs. Fig teaching magic school ("The Queen Bakes Cakes" doesn't count since it's about repairing the school and not teaching the school.)

2 times the Wise Old Elf got turned into a snail

2 seasons in total

My opinion:

Ben is usually calm, laid-back and chill and often the only brain cell left in dangerous situations. He is a good observer (in the woodpecker episode when he taught the chicks to fly by mimicking the flying poses despite not knowing how to do it himself), pretty handy and good at fixing things (like all the elves do) and a bit ambitious and a good animal tamer (I’m not sure is it the right term to use, but the successfully ride Speedy the Snail (one of the hardest to be tamed.) and forgives quickly (the elf games). But he can be a teaser (in the elf joke episode, with no ill intent), lose his temper quickly and occasionally dismiss fairies' abilities (such as magic and flying, but he learned from it and never did it as often). And talking about the “Ben’s birthday party” episode, he just asked Holly about his birthday card and either she remembered his birthday (I know the writers used that for plot purposes (reminding Holly to make Ben’s birthday card to get the episode going) but I feel that’s a bit insensitive from Ben’s side, so I would make it his flaw. And he's a bit of a power illusionist (in Superheroes when he cosplayed into Elfman, but his friends just called him Elfboy which is very humourous though)

Holly is outgoing, girly and sometimes pretty bossy. She has a kind personality and is naturally curious about everything (especially elf culture, like she always asks Ben what he’s learning at school or go to his school to experience herself). If she loved someone (familiarly, platonically or possibly romantically), she would be attached to them very much (eg: Nanny Plum, King Thistle, Ben, etc). And in my opinion, she’s one of the smartest fairies in the series (she nearly guessed Barnaby’s fairy disguise (she asked him “Have we ever met you before?” - simple to us the audience but considering how dumb the fairies are, this deserve applause). She compliments other people a lot (especially Ben). However, she is often overconfident of her own abilities (eg: her magical skills and the possibility of it going wrong), sometimes looking down on elven customs (but like Ben she fixed that quickly and may be one of the few fairies in BAHLK treat elves with respect (the other are the fairy kids and Mrs Fig)). She can be cruel with her magic when she’s angry (the elf joke day episode), and has a really scary death glare (the wand factory to Strawberry and to the Wise Wand 3000 in the new wand episodes).

I think both of them are optimistic, love adventure and cared deeply and concern for each other when one of them is in trouble, and treat each other as equals despite of class and race divisions (also deserve another applause)

Regarding to romantic shipping (when they are teens/ adults), they would fit into the “Childhood friends to lovers”, “Interspecies romance” and “Forbidden love” tropes ( considering the class and race difference, segregation and we never see a hybrid or a proper elf and fairy romance in the series )

=> Dynamic: (In the series) Very platonic and sibling-like (Ben and Holly treat each other like siblings that they never had since Ben is an only child and Daisy and Poppy are fucking hell spawns)

For example, Daisy's wings are slightly yellow

Queen Thistle's wings are slightly turquoise

Strawberry's wings are slightly green