#explaining twst

Now, as I have been so quietly watching the fandom's reactions, I have found reasoning for this guy's name! Credit will be given to a specific creator who figured out Minajael's first name on tiktok. These are mostly guesses, but I do explain them, so it will be long! Please read the whole post before commenting! (Note- This post has been edited since it's original post date due to a lovely reply below giving more explanations!)

Minajael, to my sheer glee, may have to do with the Aladdin sequels! To keep it shorter than my usual though, The Aladdin King of Thieves sequel has a "Hand of Midas" that thieves are after, they need something called "The Oracle's Scythe" to find it. Scythe is spelled "Minjal". Minhaj, a name some people have been renaming Minajael to, means path or way from what I can personally find. This could be referencing the way the Oracle's Scythe helped the thieves find the Hand of Midas, as the Oracle was all-knowing but could only answer one question per person. Now, if you combine "Minjal"(Sythe) and Minhaj(Path) and Oracle, you could get a name like Minajael. This is fitting since he is mentioned to be extremely smart, you could say the oracle was smart, or it could be more so be pointing to his family's magic. Some of this was originally found by "idanielions" on TikTok, so I wanted to credit them for most of this paragraph. However, there are some differences in our theories because I couldn't find the same meanings for Minhaj that they could when I was fact-checking and looking into it myself. This could be a fault of Google or different site results, I'm not sure. Please give their slide show a read if you have the time! Another reasoning of his first name was brought to my attention by a reply to this post. Please read the replies, I tried to fact check it, but again was lead to different meanings than those commented, though they were still fitting, which could easily be due to different dialects or changes in different area's that are not popularly online so their important to consider, especially since they mentioned being Arab and I am in no way claiming their wrong. I am listing my findings from it though. There is the name Minajl, which means path, the second part "Ael" was harder to find, I did find a similar word Ela, from Turkish that means hazel, which could relate to Minajael's eye,hair, or skin color, if this part of his name is from this. "Ael" though as it is,took some digging I did find one place siting possible turkic origins but said stone instead, and a different one related it to "El" or "Aul" “a union of tribes” or things like a country/nation from proto-turkic, apparently. So that part is shaky for me due to contrasting information. Combining these words could lead to Minajael's name again, once more being a mix of words to create a unique name. (Thanks to rinaseema16 for replying and giving me more things to look at!)

Tealrajah, now let's get the obvious out of the way. Rajah is obviously a reference to Jasmine's tiger Rajah, Rajah as a name, though, can mean hope, wish or ruler depending on the source, though these specific meanings seemed repetitive for the name. Some sources noted Rajah itself being a historical Sanskrit title for Royalty or very high ranking nobles. This is obviously fitting for both the movie and Jasmine's character due to the story around wishes and hopes of everyone, and royal lineage for Jasmine, by extend this fits Minajael.

Now to the part everyone is mad about, Teal! Now I do understand the anger people have towards a random English word in his name, but as everyone asks where it came from, I would like to remind us all that he is not the only one with an English word in his last name, while also not being an English character. For example, we have Leona (King-scholar), Jack (Howl), Rook (Hunt), Idia (Shroud), and Jamil (Viper) himself. Jamil gets away with it more because not only English calls viper snakes vipers. But this was mainly to point out English words aren't new and haven't been complained about till now, for the most part anyway. Ruggie does not have an English last name, but the 2 dark skinned characters from his dorm do? It's a bit weird. I think that should be pointed out/complained about first. Given the lack of reaction to these other English word-using names, when the characters are not based on English stories or cultures, I can imagine the devs thought this was fine, sadly. Teal in Arabic also seems to be a bit long, and they may have been to committed to including Rajah and Jasmine's colour. Thanks to a reply under this post it has also been brought to my attention that it is also possibly meant to reference a bird. The Eurasian teal/Common Teal. The Eurasian Teal/Common Teal is a river duck with teal on their head. Now, if I attempt rationalizing it character design-wise, kinda a dead end, but I'll try! Could be referencing Jasmine's multiple scenes with birds as well as her desire to be free like one, and the magic carpet ride over a river. Could be because they're trying to push the idea that he is a very calm character. Teal across cultures is related to calmness. Potentially, this is more of a theory, but teal could be the royal family colour for scalding sands since both Jasmine, and the Sultan wear it. Jasmine's mother also has that teal gemstone on her headband, like Jasmine, even though she dresses mostly in purple. Not that we would know because Twst hasn't looked at that! (Thanks to rinaseema16 for replying and giving me more things to look at!)

"Al" As Kalim Al-Asim explained, "Al" means he is the son of "Asim" and is included in his name. This is excluded from Minajael's name, and I have seen complaints about this. However, I do think it's fitting. LET ME EXPLAIN BEFORE YOU GET PITCHFORKS!!! In the translated lines I have read, he mentions not liking the outdated laws, and liking how free school is compared to his home. These laws he does not like, are made and upheld by his ancestors and parents. Since he doesn't agree with those ways, he could have removed it himself as a rebellious way of self-expression or even started detachment from his family(Since Jasmine runs away). It could also be his way of quietly rejecting his royal title, as he has lines telling Jamil not to talk to him formally, as he looks obviously displeased by it. I wouldn't be surprised if the school allowed him to remove it, or he simply dropped it from introductions, since he doesn't agree with the people it relates him to.

A list of locations people in Twisted Wonderland seem to be able to live or hail from. I will be including places within places. This list only cover's places shown by the time this was posted. !!!!SPOILER WARNING!!!! Two places mentioned are questionable! 1. Greenlands Wetlands surrounded Rose castle and Rose Castle is mentioned to be neutral ground now, but that isn't expanded on. 2. Elephant Legacy is the "Elephant graveyard" with geysers and popular for the hot springs. A bit unclear if people live within this area however since it's popular for business as a tourist attraction, some people might. Queendom of Roses Clock Town (Queendom of Roses) Crimson City (Queendom of Roses)- Riddle's dream Land of Dawning Isle of Sages(Land of Dawning) Isle of Sages Foothill Town (Isle of Sages) Briar Valley Greenlands wetlands(Historically Briar Valley) Dragon City (Briar Valley where Castle Blackscale is)

I was going to continue the OC possibility series, but I see this is complained about a lot. I'm aware some of it is likely in jest or a joke or just to find more Vil fans, but I wanted to take a more serious look at the topic as to why Vil isn't, why Neige is, and why some feel it shouldn't be so, beyond just following the Snow White character designs and story that was used for inspo.

Japan has different beauty standards

Typecasting

Neige is hardly developed

Approachability I will have my points in bold below if you wish to skip to specific ones easily!

My first point is Japan, and well, "western" (To generalize a bit better) beauty standards are not shared. From music artists to designs, the tastes are extremely different. This isn't to say Vil is less popular with the JP side of players and viewers, it's just to say Neige was likely designed more in line with the general standards and "stereotypes"? of Japan's idols and popular fashions. For example, many popular characters, idols, actors, and fashion aesthetics tend to lean towards cute and friendly aesthetics, often accompanied by dark hair. Western beauty standards tend to lean more towards elegance, blonde hair, and heavy makeup. AGAIN, this is not to say either isn't popular in the other, just that generally each prevails in different places, especially keeping in mind Twisted Wonderland has been around a while, so while some of these standards MIGHT be shifting, back during designing, it might have been different. It's a Japan-produced game, so it isn't far-fetched to assume Neige would be considered the "Prettier" one by some of Japan's most popular standards. (Plus, he is extremely close to the og Snow White design, and they are following that story concept, but again trying to exclude this point)

My 2nd point is typecasting. I actually hadn't thought about this much until seeing somebody else point it out. Vil has been canonically targeted as a child because he played the villain too well. Though Jack protected him, Vil didn't seem very startled, and I believe he said he could have handled it on his own, so I can assume that was nothing new to Vil. Now he keeps getting typecast to play MORE villains. This will affect how possible fans would see Vil. Of course, an actor is not their role in real life...normally. There are several actors who get cast more based on their personality than their ability to play roles, or are also getting typecast into one very specific personality, which leads fans to see their real personality that way. For example, since you always see a certain actor cast as that, you don't expect much different from her real personality, even if they were very different. (Example could be "The Rock", "Awkwafina", "Jack Black" maybe not the best examples, but idk actors very well) The difference is, Awkwafina and other actors do tend to have some work outside of their type casting, even though they are still extremely tied to a specific role, Vil doesn't. Vil was put in the villain role from a young age, and was so good at portraying it that directors and writers wouldn't pick anything different. He's iconic as the villain. Some people would naturally see this not as acting, but as Vil playing himself instead of a character. Therefore, damaging his reputation and "Beauty" after all, thinking somebody is genuinely bad can shift you to perceive them as unappealing or even if you find them attractive, you wouldn't want to.

My 3rd point is Neige isn't really a developed character. He has a face instead of a black silhouette. But as a character in the game, he is bland. All we really know about him is that he's considered the most beautiful, he and the dwarves are likely found family, he likes Vil, he's really nice to everyone, and he attends RSA. Players, readers, and watchers have no real reason to find Neige pretty beyond this and headcanons. Neige is a good character in concept, but he hasn't really been expanded on enough for most to feel like he earned the title of "Most Beautiful," especially if somebody really liked Vil. We don't see Neige put in the hard work, and we don't form a relationship with him in-game we do, however, with Vil, which causes a rather reasonable bias. Much can be assumed or headcanoned of Neige, but he really isn't given time to shine.

My 4th point is how approachable each are in general. Neige, from what we see and hear, is very friendly and easier to meet as shown through the mention of fan letters and how he just generally acts, as little of him as we see...Meanwhile, Vil may be kind, but he is certainly not the easiest to get near or get along with. Vil is very demanding, clean, with high standards, and a chase for perfection. With the cleanliness idea, I doubt he would want to accept physical letters from unknown fans, even if there were safety and cleaning measures. A lot of people will prefer Neige purely on the count of possibly being easier to simply be around, meanwhile Vil's high standards might leave a sour taste in some people's mouths.

This post relates to a previous post about how I think Beastmen and Merfolk evolved into their current forms and positions. This post will look more at my idea of animal cruelty and the possibility that some domestic animals could have become beastmen. Credit to "d4lucia" again, since this post will look at a lot of stuff from my post inspired by one of their posts.

Now, if you don't wanna go read that very long post, this is because of Chenya and Lucius. I will also touch on Gino/Gidel, who is from an event. I will include grim...but since we don't actually know what he counts as and some foreshadowing, it's a bit difficult. So Grim will be his own section at the end. I have been thinking of this for a long while now, so this post will be long...again, not as long as I expected atleast. Also has sensitive content! I have put a warning before the possibly sensitive paragraph so you may skip it and move onto grims discussion easily.

Chenya, Lucius, Gino inclusion explanation

Starting with Chenya! Chenya doesn't look like any wild cat, the Cheshire cat itself looks more like a house cat and was likely a parallel to Alice's cat Dina. Who was a pet cat. This said, though, the Cheshire functioned more like a stray since he had no owner, but wasn't a wild animal species like most others in the original movie (Walrus, Dodo bird, rabbit, other birds, caterpillar, ect). The live action has dogs that can speak, but I'm only looking at the animated original since that is what Chenya and most others are based on. Disney seems allergic to useing spin off material in twst anyway.

Lucious is involved because of his smarts and because he's one of the few animals students talk to. Azul displays that they have a class on communication with animals, and Lucious interacts with some other cast members, as rare or shallow as the interaction is since he's normally with Trein.

Gino/Gidel is very house cat-looking. His original inspiration was Gideon, the cat seen with Honest fox in Pinocchio. Pinocchio wasn't as popular, so in case you haven't seen it awhile here's a pic with Gideon. He is the cat holding Pinocchio's feet.

He isn't a specific cat breed, but he doesn't resemble any wild ones either. I think he resembles the Abyssinian cat breed when it comes to his warm colored furr and lighter parts, obviously not exact, but I don't think he is meant to be an exact breed, and animation exaggerates things for easier drawing.

We have not had any straight-up domestic animal based character's in twst, Gino/Gidel is the closest, and he is still with a "wild" animal as Ernesto is a fox. However, it seems highly possible since we have 2 cat breeds that look similar to domestic cats. This could mean that some level of being free/wild is required for a species to start evolving into beastmen, which could be as simple as being a stray for repetitive generations. Opening the door to the idea of "Domestic" species existing just on a smaller scale, and perhaps not resembling specific breeds, because stray cats would not care about mixing with other breeds, all that matters is it's another cat that's compatible(So not a mountain lion lol). Only Indoor cats are kept away from mixing because of the owners.

Now that I have established why I think it's possible, I think this also shines more light on why beastfolk seem to be treated poorly or kinda racist. Notably, I play ENG, so a lot of stuff is watered down, and this treatment could be worse in JP servers, I acknowledge.

Sensitive content portion, please skip if sensitive to elluded inhumane actions or a lack of human rights. Skip to grims section if sensitive. - Now as to why I don't think twst will ever show us any! If there are beastmen types that are from domesticated types of animals gone stray. This brings in some questions I don't think twst want's to answer, and is why I don't think we will ever get shown beastmen that are partly a identifyable domestic animal. If they were, this would make them face the fact that beastmen, more than likely, were treated as actual animals to be hunted, captured, trained, controlled, sold, or "kept" to put it lightly, all while being at human levels and forms but without the rights or treatment of a human. If they keep obvious domesticated animal types out of beastmen, they don't have to try to handle this subject, as it is a very dark and sensitive one. They can just let people assume things, which also means they don't have to touch on human relations with the sunset savanna. After all it would bring in a lot of questions about how humans reacted to finding an entire civilization of something they consider equal to pets.

GRIMMM this has some fae stuff tooo Now there is a whole theory that he is like a blot creature, and I think that is interesting, even with this theory, but on the off chance he isn't, one could almost see Grim as a phase between full animal and full beastman, but more on the animal side. We've got Lucious as an example for how twst cats look, Grim looks very different. His head is different, he stands on 2 legs a lot, he can speak human speech, he can use magic, and some of his features, like his tail, don't look normal for anything. He is a magic beast as far as we can tell currently, so this may be all natural to his "Kind," and if there is a "Kind," he seems like probably the last one. So what if he's the last of his line, or almost the last, and is slowly gaining "human" aspects?