#plot things

what happens to it if he can't compete anymore?

Ok I actually have a headcanon for this I just didn't find a way to include it in the book.

So he finds out he's going to lose his scholarship in the same conversation in which his very baffled academic counselor informs him that his tuition for the semester has, nonetheless, already been paid by an anonymous donor.

And he goes home to have an argument with Alex about it because he just assumes it was Alex. But Alex is like, no?? I didn't even think about that. Why didn't I think about it? Who did?

But it remains a mystery and Eli starts saving his Youtube Money and is like, if that doesn't cover it maybe I'll let Alex help, we'll see. Except next semester rolls around and his tuition is paid for again. And again it wasn't Alex.

It’s especially interesting to go back and listen to Anneliese’s lines in “Free” after this, since it adds a new understanding to just what it is she would like to be free from, since not only is she not able to choose her own spouse, but she is also regulated in her presentation right down to the emotions she is allowed to express and, in some cases, which ones she is allowed to feel, since “to be a princess is to never be confused.” It’s pretty telling that while Erika explicitly wants to be free from her debt and the endless work hours, and she wants to be free to sing, and to travel the world to do so, (“People will gather around the world to hear my song”) Anneliese is only able to sing about what she wants to do in abstract terms, “Free to try crazy things” and “Free to fly.” She’s effectively so regulated she doesn’t necessarily know what, beyond choosing her own spouse, she would do if those guidelines were relaxed. It’s just a nebulous concept to her. Which, now that I think about it, is also quite fitting to the arc she has in the film, since we see her learning to do things about the situations she’s in (the bedsheet ghost, having Serafina deliver the ring and tag, flooding the mine and floating up in a barrel, etc.) instead of simply dreaming about what she might like to do.

The song also becomes an example of how the characters’ arcs tie into each other’s. We have Julian and Erika’s arcs being tied together as people who came from outside the palace and courts and having to learn more or less how to fit. It’s not really stated in Julian’s case, but we know he didn’t grow up in the courts because of an earlier conversation with Anneliese in which we learn that his family could only afford a room in the village, and so we can assume that at some point, he also had to learn to adapt. His arc is also being tied to Anneliese’s, since his song is used to communicate things about her and also about his feelings for her. And of course, it further ties Erika’s arc to Anneliese’s, showcasing their differences despite their similar appearances, and showing Erika learning to adapt as Anneliese will later do in Madame Carp’s Dress Emporium, as well as the situations where she has to act as a bit of a trickster to escape, since we had already seen Erika disguise herself to sneak out and sing in the square. And in “Free,” her line, “She can never stop my schemes” as well as Madame Carp’s exclamation of “Here again?” when she spots her singing implies this isn’t the first time she’s done something like this. And of course, that’s only the examples that directly connect with “To be a Princess,” since outside of that, there are also ways in which Julian’s character is tied to Preminger’s, with their effectively being opponents in the Princess Anneliese situation, as well as being foils due to having both grown up in poor families and working their way up, but where Julian is perfectly happy being the tutor, Preminger’s ambition leads him to desire kingship, something which Julian, based on his reaction when he learns of Preminger’s ambitions, cannot understand. 

Jim had trekked through Siberia once. A month long mission in the middle of frigid wastes where the cold seeped through every thermal layer to chill and chill and chill. But it was nothing compared to the ice that clawed at his veins at Lugo’s words, eyes downcast as Jim swallowed this information with difficulty. 

Walker.

He’d been Jim’s hero once, the inspiration for his signing up to serve. Jim had gone down a different track with the Navy but the implication had been the same. He’s still not meeting Lugo’s gaze and he wonders if he even realises Jim knew him. A different time by all accounts because this isn’t the Walker Jim remembers.