#mlb:ar

Well, not like canonically, but I think it makes sense if he is in the show. And also because I’m doing my own rewrite and have fully creative freedom he is going to be on the aromantic spectrum and NOT JUST BECAUSE I AM OKAY I swear but because it makes sense for who he is.

In the show, Adrien is almost entirely oblivious to people who have crushes on him. He doesn't really think about romantic situations unless others prompt him to or he gets close to someone. In my rewrite, it is very similar. I don't think it's ever gonna be explicitly said or anything but if you wanted to label him it would be as demiromantic.

so I changed how they work.

I love me a well-thought-out and deliberate magic system. I love seeing the different rules and properties of how magic works and I love seeing how the author expands and works around those rules. Limitations are placed, followed, and then explored.

Miraculous Ladybug doesn't do this.

The powers are unbalanced and unrestrained. Miraculous can do whatever the writers want them to whenever they need it to happen. There are no limitations to the powers and the powers don't balance one another out.

This was the first issue I tackled in my rewrite.

Miraculous Overview

I decided that there are two "categories" for miraculous. They are either first or second-ring miraculous. (This is taking inspiration from the miracle box featured in the show and how the miraculous are organized into different rings).

What ring a miraculous belongs to determines how "powerful" it is. All miraculous, regardless of what ring or miracle box they belong to, have the following features:

It is a piece of jewelry

It is connected to and contain imagery of an animal

When a miraculous is worn by a person, the person will be granted, regardless of what ring or miracle box the miraculous belongs to, the following items:

They will now be able to see all Kwamis (regardless of miracle box or ring affiliation)

A unique phrase that will allow them to transform between civilian attire and hero attire

If a person is transformed, they will:

Get a magic girl costume and a magical girl transformation! The costume combines elements of the wearer's personal tastes and the animal associated with the miraculous

Have general enhancements (i.e. they are faster, stronger, have quicker reflexes, etc. but mental capabilities remain unchanged; if they’re dumb as fuck they stay dumb as fuck)

Have a magic weapon/object unique to the miraculous that serves at the housing unit of their special ability

One power unique to their miraculous

All miraculous have the attributes featured above, however, a first-ring miraculous grants the wearer 2 additional special abilities that a second-ring miraculous doesn't.

Special Abilities

In the rewrite, the special ability unique to the miraculous is how I am classifying the powers of each character. Cataclysm, Lucky Charm, Mirage, Venom, etc. are all the special abilities of each miraculous.

Second-ring miraculous have temporary special abilities. If the fox miraculous wearer casts Mirage and then detransforms, Mirage deactivates the illusion dissipates. However, first-ring special abilities are permanent (with one exception, more on that later). So when a ladybug wearer uses Restoration ("Restoration" being the new name for the "Miraculous Ladybug" power seen in the show) and then detransforms, all the damage they just repaired stays repaired.

Powers are also draining to the wearer. The bigger or more precise the use of the power is, the more physically draining it is. It takes a lot of strength, both physically and mentally, as well as a deep connection with the miraculous/kwami to use it for a wider range of uses. It is pretty easy for a black cat wearer to activate cataclysm and let it do whatever it wants, but it is more difficult to control that damage to a certain area or to destroy tougher materials. This adds more restrictions to the powers and gives the characters something to work on.

First-Ring vs. Second-Ring

For second-ring miraculous, there is only one special ability, hence why the fox miraculous only has mirage, but first-ring miraculous have multiple (why the ladybug miraculous has lucky charm and miraculous ladybug and de-evilize/deakumatization and-). This is because first-ring miraculous are more powerful.

I think of each miraculous wearer as having spell slots. For second-ring wearers, they only have 1 spell slot and 1 spell in that slot they can use. For first-ring wearers, they have 3 spell slots with 2 spells that are permanently stuck there.

To use an example from the show:

Any wearer of the ladybug miraculous, regardless of any differentiating factors, will always be able to use "Lucky Charm" and "Restoration". However, that third spell slot can be switched out to fit the situation. This third slot is there to be able to counteract and balance out other miraculous. So if a wearer of the ladybug miraculous thinks the wearer of the butterfly miraculous is using akumatization for nefarious reasons, that third "slot" would acquire a "spell" that directly combats akumatization, which is where the de-evilize ability in the show comes in.

This third ability only exists to combat other miraculous. If, for instance, a ladybug wearer is fighting in a war, the third ability won't make them bullet proof or something because guns are not a product or feature of a miraculous. The third ability only develops to counteract other miraculous.

In addition to that, this third ability only develops as a result of intense emotion. If a ladybug wearer just dislikes another wearer, the third ability isn't going to manifest, but if the ladybug wearer truly believes with every fiber of their being that another miraculous is being used for evil, then the ability will form.

So in the show, Marinette doesn't gain the ability to de-evilize right away. Only when she gets deeply and emotionally invested in the battle does that third ability form.

The final bit about the third power is that you can only use one third power at at a time. Going back to the spell slot analogy, you can have multiple spells you know how to use, but because there is only one slot available, you can only "equip" one spell at a time. When a spell is replaced with another, its effects disappear. Since two of the spell slots are permanently taken up, there is only one "customizable" spell slot.

Final Notes

Miraculous are all about balance. All miracle boxes have 2 rings, and the first ring only ever have 2 miraculous. These miraculous are always opposites and balance each other.

(okay I lied it’s not entirely about how to kill them, that part is simple. I go over that as well as expand upon Kwamis and their abilities)

Also warning, there is discussion of death and terminal illness here. It stays very factual but just putting a warning regardless.

Kwamis and their miraculous are completely indestructible… until they aren’t. Like you can’t throw a miraculous at the wall or crush it to break it and you can’t stab or strangle a kwami to kill it. The only way to kill a kwami is to break its miraculous and the only way to break a Miraculous is with another Miraculous.

First ring miraculous can destroy any other miraculous entirely on their own, whether it be a second ring or another first ring. If three second ring Miraculous are used together, they can destroy a first ring or another second ring miraculous. Using three second-ring miraculous together either means one person is wielding 3 miraculous simultaneously or three different users all combine their powers to destroy it. Honestly, I don’t really know what that means atm lol. (Just to be overly clear, it could also be that one person has one miraculous and another person has two, that will also work to destroy it but it feels a bit redundant to say that). You could have 3 second ring Miraculous from 3 different miracle boxes and use them to destroy a first ring Miraculous from a 4th miracle box. The origins of a miraculous do not matter, just their ranking.

When a miraculous is destroyed, it is gone forever and nothing can take its place (i.e. a new miraculous doesn’t form to replace it). The miraculous is destroyed and the kwami dies with it. You cannot repair a broken miraculous or revive a dead kwami. They are gone forever.

If a person is wearing a miraculous when the miraculous is destroyed, they become terminally ill. Their body functions rapidly fail, their bodies begin to decay and their mental processes slow. They could die in a few hours or a few weeks but no one lives past a month. Machines may be able to keep the body alive but they will be brain dead. There is no way to heal a holder who wore a destroyed miraculous either.

There is one unique property of first-ring miraculous that I should point out. To reiterate, each miracle box has a first-ring and this first ring is always comprise of 2 miraculous that represent opposing ideas. This way the powers are balanced. If one miraculous represents life, than the other death. If one represents innovation, the other tradition. They are opposing so they balance one another out.

If a first-ring miraculous is destroyed, than its counterpart becomes unbalanced. What this means is anyone who wears and uses the unbalanced miraculous will experience severe side effects. They may first experience cognitive issues, finding it difficult to remember things, process information, make plans, etc. or they might experience physical problems like unsteady hands, decreased coordination, muscle deterioration, etc. No one person will experience the same side effects, so people may experience severe emotional problems at first but see no real physical side effects, but the longer a person wears an unbalanced miraculous, the more the symptoms increase in both severity and number.

These side effects cannot be cured. A person might be able to work to lessen the severity of the symptoms effect on their life but they will always be there. If a person wears the miraculous too long these ailments will become lethal and result in their death.

Actively using a miraculous (i.e. transforming and using special abilities) will also speed up the rate at which the side effects progress.

Kwamis are also affected by this. If a kwami is tied to an unbalanced miraculous then they will experience psychological distress. They will have similar cognitive and emotional issues to those humans experience. A kwami is also likely to experience different issues than the holder of their miraculous. These symptoms will not kill a Kwami but they cannot recover from it either so they either live slowly getting worse or they die. (That got dark quick oops)

The (Dreaded) Magic System

This is the section where I overly specific about how miraculous work and the different parts of them. I also talk about changes I make to miraculous with specific references to the show.

Kwamis and Miraculous and Holders Oh My!

I believe that the parts of a miraculous and their functions are best explained through this analogy I came up with (that’s pretty amazing if I do say so myself).

The Kwamis are like a huge tank of water. Their power is the water and this power is tied to the concept they embody.But there is so much water they (Kwamis) can’t control it. If they try to pour a little bit of water out of the tank, it is going to overflow and a lot more water will come out than intended.

This is similar to how we see it in the show. Whenever Tikki or Plagg or other kwamis tried to use their powers on their own, there were huge consequences (multiple Eiffel towers forming, portals all over the world, etc.)

The Miraculous are a tap connected to the tank.They are the means of controlling the amount of water that is let out.

Miraculous themselves don’t really do anything. They contain no power themselves and can’t use the power. They just serve as a means to let others use the power.

Users are the person operating the tap. They control how much water is let out of the tank via the tap. At first, they only have two options, no water or yes water, but as they get older, more experienced/in tune with their Miraculous, mentally and physically stronger, they are able to have more variation and more control. As users improve, they are able to let more water out. They can choose how much water is let out and how quickly. They still can’t use all the power, they are still bound to the tap, but they can access more of it. Instead of a trickle, they can use the water like a hose or pressure washer. But they have to be in tune enough with the Miraculous and physically/mentally strong enough to do so

Additionally, a user’s body is like a water balloon and to use power from the Kwami, they need to fill themselves with water from the tap. At first, it is easy to fill the balloon with little issue, but if you fill it too much, the balloon gets easier and easier to pop. Eventually, there is so much water the balloon pops if it's even breathed on.

Users have physical limitations. Because they can only access a certain amount of water at a certain rate, they might overexert themselves and start using their own energy. If, for instance, Chat Noir wants to destroy a building with Cataclysm, he may not realize that he isn’t advanced enough with his miraculous and end up using his own energy. When he detransforms he will be incredibly exhausted, mentally and physically. In extreme cases, he might experience muscle loss and in extreme cases, he could die.

This puts limitations on abilities and thus, there are consequences. Ladybug can’t always magically repair everything.

Detransforming exists as a safety mechanism. When users are still newbies, they don’t understand how much they can take physically and mentally, so they will automatically detransform. As they get older, users can turn this off, but it becomes more dangerous. If someone is mentally stronger before they are physically and they let out too much water, their bodies could literally combust because it is too much. Vise versa, someone might be physically strong enough, but too afraid or too out of touch with their Kwami to let out any more water.

Kwamis and Kwamis and Kwamis and Kwamis and—

So now, with a user having two Miraculouses, they now have two Kwamis, which means they have two tanks. This, is dangerous, as you can assume, because that’s a fuck ton of water. Now the safety mechanism is still in place, but it is not designed for the use of multiple Miraculouses. Using multiple Miraculous at the same time, especially when you use multiple fancy powers at the same time, is detrimental to you. Maybe you can handle it for a little bit, but eventually, it will become too much and you could get severely injured or even die.

Connecting back to the earlier discussion about destroy a miraculous using 3 second-ring miraculous, it is possible that a single person could wear 3 second-ring miraculous and successfully destroy another miraculous, but that person will die pretty soon after.

And the whole Multiple Mouse thing where Marinette can use all the miraculous bc she multiplies wouldn't really work bc it's still her, just spread out. Like all the duplicates are her just inhabiting more space, so she would defo die in this world if she tried that.

Specific Changes

Powerups are dumb as hell. In the eloquent words of my friend, “Get shit on and written out.”

Powerups, like when they go to space or go underwater or ice skate or whatever are so ridiculously stupid and I'm getting rid of it entirely. 99% of the modifications that result from powerups are literally just costume changes, like that's it bro. We already know that the costumes change depending on the user and their “vision” for it, and so like, they could just manifest the costumes with ice skates for shoes or space helmets, they don’t need fancy food for that.

In the show the only actual “power up” I remember happening is during Syren when they can breathe underwater. That’s it. Everything else is a costume change and they are shown being able to use their weapons (the yo-yo and baton) as oxygen tanks which I think is a much more creative choice than powerups. 

So I’m changing it so that if they really want their costume to have swimming fins or jetpacks or whatever they can manifest it before they transform. But, like the third power, it is difficult to do and requires a lot of focus and emotional investment, this way they aren’t willy-nilly changing their costumes all the time. 

Once they transform and the modification is there, it will last without problems until the detransform. If they detransform and then transform, the costume will revert back to normal

I also like the idea of their weapons serving as a snorkel/oxygen tank. I think that’s a really fun use of their weapons and also provides another layer of restraint to battles. Idk I think it’s fun

Unification is whatever. I kinda talk about it earlier with the multiple kwamis stuff. Basically when someone wears multiple miraculous and undergoes unification, it becomes monumentally harder to use your powers and is more draining on your body. To go back to the analogies:

A user’s body is a balloon and to splash others with water (power) they must fill the balloon. With one tank of water, it’s easier to fill the water balloon, but with multiple tanks, it is hard to keep track of which is which. Which tank fills water fast and which slow? The user may accidentally turn on multiple taps at once, filling the balloon too fast and causing the balloon to burst.

The more tanks (miraculous), the more difficult it is to use any of the power without hurting yourself

So unification or whatever. I'm chill with it you know, like, it’s fine, I just think there needs to be more consequences associated with it.

Final tidbits

This is just more bits of clarification on Kwami/Miraculous nuances.

Miraculous concepts/powers can and do repeat across miracle boxes. The concept of creation and luck are not specific to one group of people, so there will be multiple Kwamis that encompass that idea, they just present that idea differently. 

Concepts repeat but the presentation of those ideas differs (like, the genes are the same but they present differently depending on the kwami/origin)

So one box might have a kwami/miraculous that represents death and it’s all about fear and destruction but another box might have a kwami/miraculous that represents death and it’s about remembrance, change, and progress. They are the same concepts, but are thought about differently and thus, will have different powers and what not.

Kwami visibility is also consistent. For some reason this being inconsistent in the show really bothered be so we changing that. 

Sometimes in the show, people without miraculous can see Kwamis no problem (kwamibuster, shang hai special, probably many more) and sometimes they cant (the origins episodes), so like, decide and make it consistent.

I think I’ve settled on all kwamis being visible to people wearing miraculous, so if Marinette is walking around with Tikki on her shoulder and then Adrien sees Tikki that’s an identity reveal right there. Since only people with miraculous can see kwamis, kwamis would have to hide all the time in public in order to protect Adrien and Marinette’s identities from one another. Like,  that's fun but whatever ends up happening KEEP IT CONSISTENT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE

Also I just headcanon that the outfits are different. Like Marinette likes fashion and she’s her wearing a polka dot morph suit is dumb because girl, I hate to break to you but you will never be a fashion designer wearing something that ugly. So instead I imagine her as like, one of those TikTok activewear influencers with the fancy skorts and like, a fun half-jacket poncho situation or something. The outfit still covers her fully because combat situations + exposed skin = nothing good. Also, please, why is Adrien in a skin-tight leather suit that's so sus considering they are CHILDREN.

In my head marinette has a tiny little circle cape that goes to her mid back that looks like ladybug wings and it could be part of a jacket or smth idk. I just think the cape would be a fun little touch. NO CAPES.

That seems pretty obvious, they are literally the same person. Honestly, I don’t know if this was ever a point of contention in the fandom because I’ve never been, like, properly in the fandom but I remembered hearing about this a while ago and thought I talk about it in regard to my Rewrite :)

Adrien and Chat Noir are the same person, again, obviously, but they act very differently from one another, particularly in the show. Adrien is always polite and carefully spoken while Chat Noir says anything and everything. They act like different people, but they aren’t.

I think every person goes through an identity crisis in their life. Mine has been ongoing but it was pretty bad a few years ago. I felt very lonely because I didn’t have anyone who knew me, but that begged the question, Who am I?

Depending on the situation I act differently. I make different jokes around family than I do around friends. I speak and act differently at work than I do in my house and at school I behave entirely differently, but all of these are me.

At school, I am naturally quieter and more withdrawn. It would be unnatural, not authentic if I were to be super outgoing and sociable. That is me.

But with friends, I make crass jokes and laugh about dumb shit. I instigate conversations and go out of my way to spend time with them. That is also me.

Neither of these versions of me are facades, they are all me, but reacting to different situations. I don’t particularly enjoy school so I go into low power mode, but when I do happen to enjoy a topic or have a friend in the same class then I am more invested. I am fluid and changing and all different “versions” of me are still me.

To apply this to a fictional teenage superhero, Adrien acts a certain way at school, and as time progresses he gets more comfortable in the “version” of him he is at school and settles into it. When he transforms and becomes Chat Noir, another “version” of him surfaces. One isn’t more valid or authentic than another; Adrien is simply adapting to his circumstances.

One minor issue (yes it’s only minor this time around) I have with the show is that they never show bleedover between the different “versions” of Adrien. I may be wrong, but I believe they do with Marinette early on where they show her gain confidence as Ladybug and that transfers over to her as Marinette, but they never do anything like that with Adrien.

Going back to my example from before, in class, I am typically quieter and more withdrawn, but if I have a friend in that class or was just talking to my friends before I went to class, that may change and I end up being more talkative and involved. If something bad happens in my personal life, I will be unfocused and tired in class. These different “versions” of myself are all connected and they bleed together, they impact one another.

As a whole, I think the show should look into this more. Or, if they don’t want to dive into that, they just ignore it entirely, but a lot of the show’s main struggles are with the heroes, Marinette in particular, dealing with having “two lives” that are at odds with each other. It would make that struggle more interesting if they dove into how they personally struggle with this outside of just being stressed, you know?

In my rewrite, I’m not planning on diving into this in great detail, but I want to make sure that the connection is present. I see how changes in one “version” of a character impact the others. 

When Adrien gets his miraculous and becomes Chat Noir, he suddenly has unlimited freedom and gets to experience something new. As a result, he starts to discover himself more in this newfound freedom and realizes he likes making jokes and goofing off but that he likes to do so because it makes the people around him smile. 

As Adrien, he makes the people around him smile not primarily through jokes, but by acts of service. He spends time with them and connects with them on an emotional level to support them. Adrien still makes jokes, but they aren’t his go-to as it is for Chat. Chat likes to connect emotionally with Ladybug, but can’t fully because of their secret identities.

In this rewrite I make Fu a much more flawed character and we see that immediately in his relationship with Adrien.

Fu already has relationships with Adrien and Marinette prior to distributing the ladybug and black cat miraculous. He tutors Marinette and teaches Adrien Mandarin. He's been Adrien's teacher for a few years now.

Fu is preparing to give Adrien the black cat miraculous when the first ever akumatized villain attacks. Before Fu can speak to Adrien about what is happening, Adrien is grabbed by Gorilla and rushed out of Fu's store where the lessons take place but Fu manages to slip the miraculous into Adrien's bag before he leaves.

Adrien later finds the miraculous, transforming into Chat Noir and etcetera etcetera. Fu never tries to talk to Adrien about the miraculous despite still teaching the kid Mandarin. Adrien/Chat Noir doesn't even know that a guardian exists.

Eventually the Mandarin lessons stop and Adrien stops seeing Fu entirely. Hawkmoth starts akumatizing people at increasing rates, leaving Chat Noir and Ladybug completely swamped with responsibilities. In this time, Chat Noir/Adrien finds out that Marinette is training with someone called "The Guardian". Through context clues, Adrien realizes that The Guardian is basically a wise old man training Ladybug in the ways of the miraculous.

Chat Noir asks Ladybug about this, about how often she meets him and what she is learning. You can tell he is feeling left out. Eventually he asks Ladybug is he can train to become a guardian too, but when she returns after asking the guardian she informs him that Chat Noir is not welcome. He asks why and she says the guardian never gave a reason.

But I know the reason because I am writing the story.

Fu is a man who is set in tradition. He was basically indoctrinated into a cult when he was child, the cult being The Guardians, and had ideas ingrained into him that cannot be erased. When Fu sees Adrien/Chat Noir, he sees someone who is immature and reckless. Adrien doesn't exhibit traditional leadership skills and so Fu doesn't want to train him to be a guardian.

Fu never has a chance to reveal his identity as guardian to Chat/Adrien until Fu is forced to help in battle and Chat is like who da fuc is dis guy and then Fu dies.

After Fu's death, Adrien realizes just how much of a douche bag the guy was. While he was alive, he was placing forcing Ladybug to live up to insane expectations that made her question everything. This pressure was only furthered after his death. Adrien watched as Ladybug blamed herself for everything that went wrong in the wake of Fu's death. He watched as she tore herself apart over this crochety old man.

Not my best work, not even my finest work, but it does the job. For some reason, I just decided that their weapons (the yoyo and the baton for chat noir) are the coolest things ever, and have thought through the mechanics of how they work extensively but didn't have enough space or energy to include them all here.

Oh boy, do I hate Lila. Not only is she a bad character, but she's a badly written character too which is a far worse crime imo.

At first, I was tempted to just write her out entirely but then I thought, "What the hell, might as well see if I could make her work" and I'm glad I did.

In the show, Lila is a conniving manipulator. She is constantly scheming, but why? Her reasons for what she does are never made very clear, but that's not her biggest crime.

Lila joins the class randomly and immediately begins lying and deceiving. When Marinette discovers this, Lila begins attacking her and when Marinette speaks up about this, everyone sides with Lila, including Marinette's best friend. For so many episodes, for so many seasons, Lila is a cruel manipulator, and that entire time Marinette and Adrien, two of the most well-liked people in the entire class, are ignored when they speak up against Lila.

I think this is all incredibly dumb and it makes me very angry to think about it so I reworked her character entirely.

The first thing I figured out was Lila's motivations. Why is she the way she is? What are her goals? How far is she willing to go to get what she wants?

The easy conclusion I came to was that Lila wants the luxurious glory of wealth. She comes from a poor family where she's been neglected and pushed to the side her whole life. She wants the power that comes from money. She wants people to look at her and envy her like she has done to others her whole life.

But the more I thought about Lila the more I realized her motivations are more than that.

Her whole life has been lived in uncertainty. She never knew if she would be getting dinner that day or if she'd be able to stay in her home. She never knew if her parents were in a caring mood or a cruel one. She never had any control over her life, and she is tired of it.

Lila wants money because it gives her control, but she also wants to control people. She befriends people to get what she wants or to gather information to force them to do what she wants. She never lets anyone have a leg up on her, because that is surrendering control.

Even if the person she is interacting with doesn't play a role in her master plan, she doesn't want to risk the chance that they might. Vulnerability and authenticity give people access to Lila, to the things that anger her and make her sad, and so she never lets anyone in.

so I'm trying to do her justice.

I am not a Chloe hater but I don't, like, stan her either or anything. I just think the show really messed her character up hard. Chloe was totally going to be "redeemed" or "fixed" or whatever you want to call it but then someone decided he didn't like Chloe and forced her to be a boring, one-dimensional bully.

Chloe was going to be interesting, maybe not good, but interesting, but she was robbed of the opportunity so I'm giving her a second chance.

Chloe is still a bully and a major one at that. She is the reason Marinette is shy and timid, the reason Marinette lacks confidence. Chloe is a bully to everyone and everything, constantly lashing out when she doesn't get her way. This is not good and Chloe's story in the show focuses on her struggling with changing that.

For the first season, Chloe is just a villain. There is one episode where it is vaguely implied that she is in fact a human being who feels things like sadness and guilt, but it's brief and easily forgotten. In this brief moment of humanity, we learn one crucial detail about Chloe's life: her mom is back in Paris and this isn't a good thing.

In season two we understand why her mom living in Paris is bad. Throughout the season we slowly watch as Chloe's cruelty escalates. The bullying becomes so bad that the entire class calls out Chloe and her best friend who has put up with so much of Chloe's shit for so many years finally ends their friendship. For the first time ever, Chloe is forced to face the consequences of her actions.

And this breaks her. She is completely lost and desperately trying to hold onto the life she had, but in the season finale it all finally crumbles. In the season finale (which is two episodes), we see Chloe's mom for the first time and why Chloe behaves the way she does becomes clear.

Her parents are divorced. The two were happy together for a few years after Chloe was born but when she turned 6 things got messy. They were constantly arguing with one another, getting into heated arguments anytime they were in the same room. This went on for years before they finally got divorced, but in this time Chloe had been neglected a great deal. Her parents were so wrapped up in one another that they forgot their daughter. The only times Chloe was given any kind of attention was if she got in trouble. If she acted up in class than the principal would call her parents and they would be forced to show up and pay attention to her. If she refused to listen to her ice skating coach than her parents would have to go to her practice and pick her up. If she caused problems, she got attention. Maybe it wasn't good attention, but having her parents see her and dislike her was better than not being seen at all.

This eventually translated into Chloe's personal life too. She learned from a young age if she wanted attention she would only get it if she was an absolute bitch. So she bullied her classmates, and ruthlessly judged her friends, because if she did then they would pay attention, they would have opinions, and be invested.

But during season 2 this stopped working. Her friends left her and her classmates ignored her. Chloe's only method for connecting with other people was failing and she didn't know what to do.

So she lashed out.

In the season 2 finale Chloe's mother attends a fashion show in which she collaborated with Gabriel Agreste to release a new line of clothes. Chloe and both her parents attended the show and the entire time Chloe was causing problems. She complained about nothing, made rude comments, all in hopes that her parents would pay attention to her, but that never happened.

Chloe was ignored.

And even worse, Chloe was ignored in favor of her half-sister. During the fashion show, Chloe's mom's phone was continuously ringing but was being dutifully ignored until Chloe made a particularly snide remark and her mother stood up and left. When Chloe tracked down her mother, she was standing backstage, arguing with her dad and shouting about Zoe on the phone.

After everything, after all the friends she lost relationships she destroyed before they could've even formed, after all the time and happiness she sacrificed, she still didn't get it. Chloe realized she would never get her mother's attention, would never get her mother's validation or appreciation.

This is a turning point for Chloe's character where she starts to change. She tries to be nicer, kinder. She befriends Lila and earns back her friendship with Sabrina. Chloe is finally making positive changes,

Until she starts being mean again.

At this point, it's important to note that Chloe's character drifts into the background more after season 2. The season 2 finale is kinda the big climactic end of Chloe being an imposing antagonist and Lila steps into that role. When Chloe is at her most vulnerable at the literal end of season 2, Lila appears and comforts her. Lila becomes her friend and helps her "change". Lila teaches Chloe how to be kind, how to earn back the respect of her classmates and her friendship with Sabrina. Lila quickly cements herself as someone Chloe relies on and blindly trusts.

So Lila is in the perfect spot to start pushing Chloe to be a bully again. I haven't entirely worked out the details as to why this happens, that can only be decided when I actually outline the plot later seasons of the show, but I know that it happens. Lila slowly pushes Chloe to be mean and cruel all while convincing her that she isn't.

Chloe realizes at the end of the show that she is really fucked up mentally. She takes a good, long look at herself and sees that she has a lot of problems and needs to take time to fix herself. The show ends with Chloe still being a villain, still a bad person who has said and done bad things and hasn't been able to make up for them, but she is optimistic that she will be able to change.

Chloe is a villain but she has the potential to become better.