#sidekick talks!

I don't know much about Black Butler itself but have a friend who is a massive fan and she's currently on a break from the manga bc it's apparently in its final arc and she usually take breaks around these moments in other media to avoid being stressed out with the pauses between chapters.

She does it also because of mental health. The things that we read and watch for entertainment are meant to be a form of escape from reality so we can get a breath of fresh air from time to time.

Now if what you're reading/watching is making you stressed or anxious, a good break from said time to time is the best advice I could echo.

You mentioned coming to the story around the time they were releasing Trey's dream, which I presume is a long time ago bc I wasn't currently in the fandom since I was taking a break around the dream hopping arc, following this friend's advice.

I've been following religiously the story since book 5 dropped (and the eng server as just a dream) but at some point in book 6, I took a break too bc of somethings happening and when I found time to sit down and watch it, I realized it was better than watching it in a hurry or getting worked up about things.

Now I don't think book 8 will take literal years to conclude but also can't guarantee if the story will end there or even take it to a book 9 or anything else. But what you're going through is something that we all can go even if we didn't realize it.

Truth of the matter is that the story will come to an end, regardless of the book. Yes, Twst makes good money with the game but one day that will have to end because either the story will run out or they'll run out of movies/characters to make events based on. And that's normal.

I personally can't speak in the possibilities that you mentioned the way I usually. Although I'll say that I would prefer that Yuu stays in the world instead of returning and the story ends with a almost Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood montage of the characters doing well, just out of normal preference. But even then, if they don't do that and make something different, I'm not that worried over it. After you finish a book, you can always read again or pick up the fanfics, like you mentioned doing. Writers are the best for that!

But if it's making you anxious or stressed to think about it, it's feeling too overwhelming to deal with the media or the people commenting on it, then it's even more important to find time to other things and take a break when you feel the pressure is getting too much.

Because this is a entertainment piece, it shouldn't be a vice or something that harms you. You and the people reading are people (each one of you a real human being) and your well being is more important than any game update.

Sometimes we can cause ourselves a lot of Fear of Missing Out, especially bc it's a vice that was unfortunately learn, without even noticing, from overstimulation and some pervasive commercial tactics.

I've missed a lot of events because of my breaks but I'm still okay bc at least I can read it start to finish and you'll always manage to find someone in a similar position to talk about things, that's why we have the fandom.

But let's say that you're not feeling that bad about it (sorry if I misread the situation!! I get carried away sometimes myself) and it's just that you're sad that things aren't getting here fast or simply that you're feeling late to the party. I had a very important talk with my friend about these couple days about this and she hit the nail of the thing:

if we receive a brand-new toy, we should cherish it and play with it, appreciating every second, and not leave it to dust only dreaming of the new toy to be released.

This was a shock to me bc I realized I was doing that with these characters and reading the new things about Rielle and Minajael (which is ironic considering their situation) helped me realize that, sometimes you just have to value what you still have in hands instead of solely, and I put emphasis on that, thinking of what's about to come. It will come when it needs to.

It's important to know that bc nobody should trade a fear of the present for a fear of the future. You're still in that negative space, the words are just different.

So either it's that serious for you, personally, or not, maybe for other people reading it, and my heart goes to all of you because every update shakes the fandom to its core in good and bad ways, sometimes find a moment to take a break and breath. Go through the old stuff, watch a new show, or something that is healthy for you.

Don't worry because we'll still have plenty to talk about, even if with different people at times! You have plenty of ideas and I'm seeing other people like it too! This is great!

But don't ever compromise your mental health, especially from social media. Believe me, it's not worth it. That's my overall advice. I know it's a bit too much, maybe I don't have the grounds to do it and I don't want to rain in anybody's parade but sometimes we need that advice. It's what I wish they told me years ago in other circumstances.

Saying this from the heart, okay? I'm sorry for not properly engaging with the ideas tho. I tried the be concise the best I could...

Whenever I mention I'm fairly open to Twst direction is precisely so it doesn't take much of my mind. You're doing well in reading some fics or events and taking these little times. Even the ideas I've been mentioning lately, sometimes I remind myself that even if it doesn't happen, that idea isn't "wasted". This is meant to be fun and light hearted, it's just that sometimes we get carried away when typing! 😊

So don't take this as nothing negative to what you're talking about! It's just that, the way I'm reading it at least, you seem to be getting worried a lot and I just want to help.

This means I'll have even more fun with Jamil & Minajael when their time comes!

[Introduction]

Canon: Eternal Snow Fan Club (book 5, chapter 73).

Fanon: The whole idea that they have a forum and subsections is a fabrication. To be honest, it’s not even clear if Neige had a singing career alongside his acting one, so if he reveals that he’s been mostly an actor this whole thing blows up. But it was fun for the experience, at least. [more on that point in the end of this post]

Canon: Rook’s membership number is 0000002. Neige remembers him by his signature of “R” in his letters, how Rook addresses him as “Roi des Neiges” (King of Snows) and the meet-and-greets events (book 5, chapter 73). Neige thought “R” was a girl and that “R” has a different behavior in the events, but it could be related to Rook’s clothes in the events or just his language when talking. The story doesn’t elaborate on that much. 

Fanon: It’s not confirmed if only Neige knows Rook by “R”.

Special: Neige does ask Rook to sign his letters with his name the next time he writes something. This was not made because this is a “forum post” but I just thought it was an important piece of characterization for Neige because he’s grateful for Rook’s undying support and appreciation. 

Reference: July 30rd is “30+7” backwards and the specific hour of 19:37h is to symbolize 1937, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” movie release year.

Fanon: The nickname was chosen by this pool.

Reference: There’s a lot of references to spring and winter due to the scene showing the dwarves mourning Snow White’s apparent death. In a wintertime panel, the narrator talks about how they couldn’t bury her so they made a crystal coffin. Then, in a springtime panel with flowers blooming, it states that the Prince was searching far and wide for Snow.

Canon: VDC mentioned. Just to put an unnecessary timeline into this fanfic-post. 

Reference: “Snow-skinned prince” because Neige and Snow White have skin “white as snow”.

Reference: The word “cœur” means “heart” in French, Rook’s main language. Both related and unrelated, the Queen asks the Huntsman for Snow’ heart and apples sometimes resemble drawn hearts in their shape, a little different than anatomically accurate hearts. 

Reference: The main post cover is based on Michael Jackson's HIStory Book 1 album cover with an apple-like aesthetic.

[Album 01 — The Sword of Majesty]

Canon: Neige’s first role as a child actor was in the theater play “King’s Road: The Sword of Majesty”, which takes its vague story from the movie “The Sword in the Stone” (1963), very appropriately since he would later enroll in Royal Sword Academy whose Headmaster is Twst!Merlin. Rook talks about the details of King’s Road in his Endless Halloween personal story. 

Cover: The background comes from the 4K screenshots of the movie, found in the site Animation Screencaps, both from the opening credits sequence. The colors used are: red, yellow-gold and gray-silver, in reference to Wart’s outfit when he pulls the sword and the color of metal itself. 

Reference: The tracklist is from the movie’s original soundtrack + the demos, with their titles slightly altered as most of the songs that I wrote into this. The special case is “King’s Road Theme (ft. the Jeweled Hills Children Choir)” which was mentioned as a recurring motif by Rook in his card and, here, it utilizes the movie’s “Main Title” as a possible instrumental without vocals.

The Legend of the Sword in the Stone

Higitus Figitus

Main Titles

That's What Makes the World Go Round

Most Befuddling Thing

Mad Madame Mim

Blue Oak Tree

Fanon/Reference: Obviously, like all the albums here, the idea behind the album as a product is a fabrication for the experience. The name for “Jeweled Hills Children Choir” comes from the Dwarves’ jewel/gemstones mines in the mountains.

Fanon: If Neige is 17 years old as of the main story, he was very young when he started performing and Rook was a child, one year older than him, when he saw King’s Road. I estimated that he could’ve started at 10. 

Canon: The details of the play, the Pyroxene/Shaftlands Royal Theater and the fact that it is considered “one of the three greatest musicals of all time” are stated in Rook’s card.

Fanon: I’ll be honest, I don’t know how Broadway tours work or if a situation like this happens, especially because you won’t dump the burden of singing the entire soundtrack on the back of only one actor/actress, regardless of how much clout they’re getting. I think.

Semi Canon/Fanon: It’s revealed by Rook that Neige gives most of his pay to charities, although only the fan club manages to track the details down (because his focus isn’t that he is doing something but the help itself as a whole) as this fact isn’t often made public. (chapter 6, episode 6) Vil says that he’s certain Neige gave his VDC prize to a charity “that aids unprivileged children in their futures”, so I made an orphanage (Jeweled Hills Children) that could fit in that picture. 

[Album 02 — Little Lord Le Blanche]

Cover: The texture is meant to recall the feeling of background in Snow White’s opening title sequence and the colors used are from Snow’s rags dress, with the blouse’s little black bow. The stills referenced in this whole post are from Animated Screencaps.

Inspiration: The name comes from a classic children’s book called “Little Lord Fauntleroy” by Frances Hodgson Burnett in 1885. It tells the story of how young Cedric Errol changed the life of his grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, and turned him into a better person after it’s revealed that he’s the sole heir of the family’s earldom and needs to be educated properly. Other shenanigans happen. 

I still haven’t found the time to read it myself but it’s a classic tale of an orphan (in this little boy’s case, only his mother is alive) that changes the mentality and life of an old, cold rich man. I have read another work of Burnett’s, “The Secret Garden”, and while that book has an initially pampered little girl, the premise is pretty similar. 

Canon-as-Reference: There’s only three movies that are actually mentioned in canon about Neige starring in: the movie that he co-starred with Vil, the children’s book adaptation movie that earned him his Diamond Award at 14 and the movie adaptation of King’s Road mentioned in chapter 5. This is not one of them, obviously.

Fanon: It’s normal for actors to have a first movie just for the sake of debut, although most times they aren’t necessarily the star. Since it needed a time before the movie with Vil and the award winning one, I created this one by combining the tropes of “orphan changes an old and cold person’s vision on life”, “the heir to the fortune is discovered in an unexpected circumstance” and the raw premise of og Snow White, who is also an orphan who changed the lives of seven old men. 

Reference: The tracklist are referring to irl songs from the decade of 30, which is the time Snow White began production and was released. The songs are, mostly performed/chosen by:

The Way You Look Tonight — Fred Astaire (1936);

Cheek to Cheek — Fred Astaire (1935);

Moonlight Serenade — originally by Glenn Miller (1939), version by Barry Mannilow (1994);

Over the Rainbow — Judy Gallard (1939);

Sing, Sing, Sing — Benny Goodman (1937)

Begin the Beguine — originally by Artie Shaw (1938), version by Frank Sinatra (1938)

Winter Wonderland — written by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith, Joey Nash’s vocals (1934);

Reference: Since the movie came from the 30s, I feel it’s natural for Neige to also give this old-timey feel in some parts of his style, just like his uniform shoes.

[Album 03 — Middle School Musical: Gabriel / Neige]

Cover: Takes huge inspiration from the first movie cover of High School Musical.

Inspiration: The movie trilogy High School Musical from Disney Channel was a staple of 00s childhood, for children at the time or around it. Whenever they talk about the movie where Vil is the “bully” and Neige is the protagonist, I always thought that it could (not saying it is) a variant of this story. The only difference is that at least Sharpay would get redeemed and back with the group at the end of each movie for the final dance…

Reference: Because the story mentions they were still children, it’s obvious their version should be a grade under high school (where they’re currently studying). So it became a one movie middle school drama. Neige’s character name “Gabriel Edelstein” is because he’s the Gabriella Montez of Vil’s Sharpay Evans. 

Reference: The Edelstein name means, in German and Yiddish, “gemstone” or “precious stone”, referring to the Dwarfs’ gem mines.  

Fanon/Reference: Although there are album cover variants of the HSM soundtrack albums, especially with a title like “[Character]’s Greatest Hits”, the idea that there will be solo versions of duet songs, per example, is completely fabricated on my part.

Reference: The tracklist refers to most of the three movies’ soundtrack. Underlined titles don’t exist. The songs are, mostly performed/chosen by:

Start of Something New — Vanessa Hudgens, Drew Seeley

What I Was Looking For [Ballad version] — Vanessa Hudgens, Drew Seeley 

Just The Math Boy

When It Was Only Me and You — Vanessa Hudgens

Breaking Free — Vanessa Hudgens, Drew Seeley

Is This My Voice? Finally?

We're All Together — All Cast

You’re The Music In Me [Ballad version] — Vanessa Hudgens, Drew Seeley

Gotta Go My Own Way — Vanessa Hudgens

Life-saver

Just Wanna Be With You — All Cast

Can I Have This Dance — All Cast

References: The song titles “Just The Math Boy” and “Life-saver” are references to Gabriella’s character through movies 1 and 2, as she’s established to be very good with math, winning awards at competitions before high school (Sharpay uses that to push her to the “nerd tribe”) and she worked as a pool life-saver in the Lava Springs Country Club.

Special: “Is This My Voice? Finally?” is a contained reference to Neige’s himself in his rise to fame, though foreshadowing a brief period of difficulty. 

Fanon: There’s little to no information on who are the professionals aiding Neige in his career, unlike Vil’s agent whose voice is at least shown briefly in a scene in book 5. 

Reference: I’m not a huge swiftie but I like to watch some dramas that don’t concern me just for the story aspect of it and I have some swiftie friends who aren’t on Tumblr but shared their deep-lore knowledge with me as research. The aspect of Taylor Swift’s story with her first record label became a good inspiration for part of the ideas in this post.

Reference: The acronym “G. H.” refers to the Evil Queen’s real name, Grimhilde, and the single castle tower is a callback to the first scene of the movie doing a zoom in to the room where the Queen will consult her Magic Mirror. This is a symbolism of how this fanon record label trapped Neige into an aggressive contract when he was very young and “used him”, just like the Queen demoted Snow, her own step-daughter and princess, into a maid. 

[Album 04 — Snow]

Reference: “Snow” is referencing Neige’s snowy white skin color again. 

Cover: This was the only easy cover I had to do because I wanted the trio “Snow, Ebony, Rose” to be as simple yet somewhat aesthetic as possible. “Snow” is the only one who won in the aesthetic meter. I used a normal closed eye sprite of Neige and through some editing, I found a clear enough shade that wouldn’t be exactly pure white but that would offer good contrast. The color palette is: gray, white and black, + the purple of GHC. The idea was that all three albums circled back to the same and next colors of Neige’s face (his skin, his hair/eyes, his lips). Sprites from @/alchemivich.

Symbolism (?): It was partially intentional how the intense close ups intensify the idea that the record label is using this boy (who is 12 years old in this timeline) to the maximum of their industry capabilities.

Reference: The tracklist refers to a mix mash of popular songs of the 2000s, some old classics and whatever felt right for this concept. The songs are performed by:

Snow (Hey Oh) — Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Baby — Justin Bieber 

Nobody’s Perfect — Miley Cyrus

Turn Up The Radio — Main Cast, movie “Lemonade Mouth”

A Thousand Miles — Vanessa Carlton

Boys Just Wanna Have Fun — Davis Mallory (a male version cover from Cyndi Lauper’s iconic “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”)

That’s Why I’m Happy — Helen Kane 

(Mr. Sandman) Bring Me A Dream — The Four Aces 

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head — The B. J. Thomas 

I Feel Good (I Got You) — James Brown

Fanon/Reference: While “Snow” is mostly lead single because it would be the album’s title track (like the recent Marina album, “Princess of Power”, first song has that exact title), “Baby” and “Nobody’s Perfect” were mostly famous hits of their artists in the ‘00s era.

Reference: Betty Boop’s voice actress Mae Questel would mimic Helen Kane’s mannerisms for the character and Betty Boop represented a version of Snow White for a cartoon short once in 1933.

Fanon: The name “tri-color series” is because of the three color composition (white, black and red) of the character.

[Album 05 — Ebony]

Reference: “Ebony” is referencing Neige’s ebony black hair, just like Snow White’s. 

Cover: I hate this one with a passion because I couldn’t find a good way to contrast the black with the red, so I had to use a very, very dark blue/purple and it looks… like that. The color palette is: dark blue/purple, black and red. 

Symbolism (?): While the editing in Neige’s Snow sprite was more pastel-ish, in “Ebony”, it’s full in contrast to bring forth intensity. The only sprite I had with his beret removed also had his eyebrows arched in a sad expression, which was accidental but gave me the idea to make this album more introspective, the closest to an “edgy era” any industry would permit Neige going. For now.

Reference: The tracklist refers to a mix mash of popular songs of the 2000/2010s, some 80s classics and whatever felt right for this concept. The songs are performed by:

Ebony Eyes — Rick James

True Colors — Cyndi Lauper

So Yesterday — Hilary Duff

Baby Come Back — Vanessa Hudgens

It’s Autumn Again — Britney Spears

Wide Awake — Katy Perry, cover by Glee

(Stronger) What Doesn’t Kill You — Kelly Clarkson

Scars to You Beautiful — Alessia Cara

Unwritten — Natasha Bedingfield

Fight Song — Rachel Platten 

Fanon/Reference: My mom listens to Ebony Eyes all the time, so this was the first song that came to mind to be a title track. Other songs are more about missing lovers or leaving your toxic ex behind, with the last four being more “motivational” in terms of message.

Reference: “Wide Awake” and “(Stronger) What Doesn’t Kill You” are direct references to Snow White’s poison incident and her comeback, with the latter also referencing Snow’s apology to the animals after being “awfully afraid” of the forest as she was running away stuck in her mind with the fact that her own step-mother was trying to kill her. “Scars to You Beautiful” tackles the message of inner-beauty, just like the previous “Nobody’s Perfect”.

Fanon: The thematic pipeline of tragedy to rising up is quite special for Neige and Snow White, given their stories. 

Irl-Reference: When discussing whether Neige had power over the decisions of his album, the reference actually goes beyond Taylor Swift’s story with Big Machine Records because it’s a problem a lot of singers and artists suffer with their own labels, especially if they go unaware of how predatory the contracts are due to their age or lack of legal support.

Reference: Got this from one of my swifties’ friends because the fans conceptualized at some point that the fifth song in her albums were “her most vulnerable in emotion” and since then, Taylor followed along and reserved this slot for songs with this purpose. Here, we have the seventh track tradition because the number 7 represents the 7 Dwarves (for both Neige and Snow White).

[Album 06 — Rose]

Reference: “Rose” is referencing Neige’s rose red lips, just like Snow White’s. 

Cover: This managed to be barely a save because of the different shades of red. The color palette is: wine red, scarlet red, white + G.H. “sun disco” in black contrast. 

Symbolism (?): The editing in this close up is purposefully saturated so you can see the red in Neige’s lips. In this timeline, he’s 13 years old and this album is more explicitly romantic than the others, with the intent in mind that the record label were just cashing in with the parasocial tendencies of the masses. Think of the first eras of Justin Bieber for example. He was also an important inspiration for these early stages. 

Reference: The tracklist refers to a mix mash of popular songs of the 2000/2010s, with one Elvis classic and a more underrated song that I discovered while scavenging Spotify for options. The songs are performed by:

Roses Are Red — Aqua

Metamorphosis — Hilary Duff

Beautiful Soul — Jesse McCartney

Candy — Mandy Moore

Born to Make You Happy — Britney Spears

Kiss Me — Sixpence None the Richer

As Long As You Love Me — Backstreet Boys

You Belong With Me — Taylor Swift

Can’t Help Falling In Love — Elvis Prestley

Sunrise – Norah Jones

Fun Fact: Aqua, the group that sings “Roses Are Red”, are the famous group for the iconic and satiric song “Barbie Girl”. No reference, I just thought this song goes well with the concept.

Reference: I fought with myself if I should’ve included or not “Metamorphosis” here because the song is good but also weird in some parts. What kinda got me is the verse “Give me a kiss/ C’mon I insist” that does reference Snow White’s romanticisms and the metamorphosis theme of becoming something else (Snow fall and rise from her rags back to the happiness she deserves). 

Fanon/Reference: “Born to Make You Happy” fanon title “Written Just For You” felt like an inside jab that the label could do to themselves as an open admission of what they were doing but also it’s another song chosen from Britney Spears catalog, another singer that suffered a lot with the industry.

Fanon: Despite the fact that, in this story, the label was purposefully incentivizing a parasocial nature between Neige’s work and his fans, I feel like Neige has somewhat a genuine romanticism. It’s just that in future albums, you feel like it’s more free and personal, like a daydream that’s being shared and not directed at fans.

[Album 07 — Beautiful in Rags]

Cover: This album gave me the most headache because I had no idea what to do (and wanted to leave Neige’s sweater as inspo for another album) but I wanted to maintain the “rags” and “patchwork” look, mixing the feel of the rags dress but with Snow White’s princess colors in focus. As if “sew into the cloth”, we have four images: the apple, the red bow, a white heart with “7” in roman algorism and a white dove. Besides them, triangle patchwork cloths with rags original colors (see Little Lord LeBlanche). 

Reference: From Snow White’s prologue, it states how Snow was clothed in rags, as per order of her jealous step-mother (similar to Cinderella). And that she was safe while the Magic Mirror didn’t acknowledge her beauty… until that day eventually came. 

Reference: The tracklist starts with the first three Snow White’s songs (voiced by Adriana Caselotti) in the movie and it follows with a mix mash of different songs from different eras, but that reflects a bit of a SW vibe to Neige. The songs are performed by:

I’m Wishing — Adriana Caselotti

With a Smile and a Song — Adriana Caselotti

Whistle While You Work — Adriana Caselotti

Apple Pie — Lizzy McAlpine

You Got That Thing — Conal Fowkes, original version by Cole Porter

Cherish — Kool & The Gang

Someday My Prince Will Come — Adriana Caselotti

Survivor/I Will Survive — Glee, originals by Destiny’s Child (1st) and Gloria Gaynor (2nd)

I Believe In Love — Lily Collins

Spring Snow — 10cm

I Have Confidence — Julie Andrews, “Sound of Music” movie

Witch Doctor — Cartoons

Frown — mxmtoon

Happy — Pharrell Williams

Hay Fever — Jeremy Levif

Put Your Head On My Shoulder — Paul Anka

Bashfulness — MeloMance

Scatman — Scatman John

I Love You For All Seasons — The Fuzz

Reference: The classic “Someday My Prince Will Come”, in this album is put as “Princess”. The headcanon is that this originated the phrase for Neige’s beret. “I Believe in Love” is from a modern movie adaptation of the tale, “Mirror Mirror” (2012). The songs from “The Doc Is On?” to “Dobey-Dobey-Dopey” is a direct reference to each of the 7 Dwarfs. And the last one, at 19th, is a reference to 1937. 

Special (accidental) reference: The song for Dopey’s (in this context, written as if Neige had Toby in mind) “Scatman”, was written by John Larkin (“Scatman John”) because he stuttered since a young age and through his appreciation of jazz and scat singing, he grew to turn around what was “a problem” into a talent and a song. I discovered this while making this behind the scenes. My initial intention with the song is that scat singing is an old-timey song style, going as early as the 1910s, and the rhyme felt natural. But with the real song’s original intention? Wow. It felt like it was made for the occasion, really! Although I’m aware that Doc is the one who stutters the most among the seven and Dopey simply doesn’t talk. 

Reference: Other songs have the oldies vibes that I mainly associate with Neige, a little bit of soft pop, season references and other things that kinda tie with Snow’s story.

Inspiration: The feud between Taylor Swift and Scott Borchetta who sold the record label, Big Machine Records, to manager Scooter Braun and with the label, the rights to her first six albums [timeline here]. Before that sale, however, Taylor changed her label to Republic Records. Obviously is not a 1 for 1 retelling but the bones of the dispute is mainly about how predatory the music industry can be. I actually forgot I put the exact same number of albums for Neige (lmao). I was mostly focused on the fact that the 7th album needed to be special for him, given the importance of the number.

Fun Fact: It’s stated that everything was resolved when an unknown someone purchased all Neige’s masters from GHC. and gifted them back to him. I made it vague and mysterious on purpose. While I’ll remain neutral on ships, I wanted to give this moment to Neige’s ships in case this inspires someone’s fanfic or a platonic moment, if you want. I know who I picked for my personal headcanon tho~

Reference: “Alba Cottage” forms the acronym “A.C.”, which stands for Adriana Caselotti. It was sort of perfect because “alba” means “white” and Adriana’s name means “dark/black”, two of SW’s characteristics. The “Cottage” part comes from the Dwarfs cottage, where Snow finds asylum from the Queen’s wrath. 

Semi/Canon (?): The tidbit about being a countryside label comes from Dominic saying they live on the other side of Mount Moln, which puts them in a somewhat vague neighbouring village to Harveston (Harveston event, chapter 4-1). They don’t elaborate more on what that means, though, considering that Neige probably needed to live in Fairest City for his acting career and helping at the house at the same time. So I thought of making a little homage to this fact. We do need, desperately, more light on this fact however.

Canon/Reference: In Book 7, during Vil’s dream, Rook reveals that Neige was awarded as Best Actor at the Diamond Movie Awards (the Twst equivalent of the Oscars) at 14 years old. According to the Disney Wiki, it’s an old misconception that Snow White was meant to be literally 14 years old in the story. They needed a jovial feel for her, as a teenage character, but her age is never outright stated in this version of the tale. 

Symbolism: One thing I really wanted for this album is to feel very authentic to what we know, for now, about Neige and give this sentiment that he’s really putting in the work to express himself (hence the very eclectic tracklist). Like Snow, Neige managed to find his steps to a new kind of journey of freedom and dignity.

Fun Fact/Fanon: While we see Neige’s name written in cursive fonts in other albums, this one (in Mr. Dafoe font) is repeated in the next ones as his real handwriting signature (at least in my headcanon). Also as a way to symbolize Neige’s full ownership of his albums. His full signature is used in the next album, here is just as a monogram next to the songlist. 

[Album 08 — Wonderful Holidays]

Inspiration: Holiday albums are a common occurrence in many styles of the music industry (imagine Neige is someone else’s Mariah Carey lol) and I felt it tied perfectly with Neige and Snow White, not only because of the obvious “snow” association, but also because the movie was released on December 21. Which means Snow White is a Christmas movie like Die Hard or Lord of the Rings. Fight me.

Cover: The image is from an illustration of “Better Homes & Garden” magazine, December 1930. I wanted a vintage feel for this album cover and I really liked this image when I saw it, plus the border makes it look like a post-card. First time Neige uses his full “signature”. 

Reference: The tracklist has a mix mash of old classic and modern Christmas songs. The songs are performed by:

Let It Snow — Dean Martin

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing — Frank Sinatra

Christmas Tree Farm — Taylor Swift

Winter Wonderland — Michael Bublé

Mistletoe — Justin Bieber

Silent Night — Michael Bublé

The Holidays With You — Sara Watkins

Morning After Night — Sarah Kang ft. Sam Ock

Jingle Bells — Frank Sinatra

Mr. Snowman — Sarah Kang ft. Sam Ock

It’s a Marshmallow World — Jo Strafford

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas — Frank Sinatra

Reference: “Snowy Wonderland”, as in “Winter Wonderland”, is indeed because of the many-times aforementioned princess but also because of the Wonderland connotation of Twst’s world. 

Reference: “Cardigans and Ugly Sweaters” comes from Neige’s signature student uniform sweater. I truly believe he really loves his sweaters. 

[Album 09 — Fairest Of Hearts — A Tribute]

Cover: The image used is from an old Snow White promotional poster. The full version is signed by Adriana Caselotti and it’s seen in one of her house’s doors (check trivia in “Angel, Elegant, Lovely” ahead). The font is similar to SW’s title screen and the use of light yellow and dark blue comes from her princess dress. The second image is from 2001 Platinum Edition and the 2016 Signature Collection.

Reference: It’s an overview of Snow White’s movie story, but with the changes following the Twst mindset that the Evil Queen existed separately from Snow (thus several murder attempts didn’t happen… in this version of the facts). It narrates how she became an orphan, sought help from the Queen (not confirmed in canon), worked hard for a lot of years, met the dwarves and eventually reunited with the love of her life, the Prince. What is called “the third age of cinema” is a reference to the decade of 30. 

Reference: The tracklist has a variety of pop and soft-pop songs, with a few outliers in the middle because of their similarity with the plot here stated. The songs are performed by:

Papa Paris — Vanessa Paradis

Someday My Prince — Evynne Hollens

My Destiny — Katharine McPhee

With a Smile And a Song— Doris Day

So Close — Jon McLaughlin

Secret Love — Mandy Moore

Friends Will Be Friends — Queens

I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman — Britney Spears

I Hope You Dance — Lee Ann Womack

True Love’s Kiss — Amy Addams ft. James Marsden

This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) — Natalie Cole

If You Can Dream — Disney Princesses

You’re Still the One — Shania Twain

Your Crowning Glory — Julie Andrews ft. Raven Symoné

Reference: The 13th song, “Bet My House on You”, references a real life occurrence in Walt Disney’s life during the making of Snow White. When the budget for the movie started to thin out and they were barely finished, Disney put his Los Angeles house as mortgage. Even before the fact, the whole idea of a feature film in cartoon/animated format was a huge bet for the studios, Hollywood insiders called it “Disney’s Folly” in the newspapers. But somehow like his heroine, Disney and the studios turned the tables around when the film brought in $8.5 million during its initial international release and it became the highest-grossing sound film of its time (until “Gone with the Wind” surpassed it in late 1939).

Concept: The idea was that Neige made two album tributes to his greatest artistic and personality inspirations, one of them being the Selfless Princess, as Snow is known in Twst. While it’s not uncommon for singers to compose or perform songs with a celebrity in mind, a whole album about this person is indeed hard to come up with. Here, the Snow White movie is thought to be the equivalent of a biopic (obviously following the recounting of events as Twst remembers it).

[Album 10 — Angel, Elegant, Lovely — A Tribute]

Inspiration: This idea came from getting to know a little more about the life of Adriana Caselotti, who gave her voice to Snow White.

Cover: These are real photos of Adriana Caselotti. Cover photos: young and old. Tracklist photo. As sister-album of FoH, AEL utilizes the red used in Snow’s figure on the tracklist. I’m still not sure how I want to make the character of Caselena Adrietta in the story (if she’s still living in Neige’s current time, for example) but I thought it was fair to honor Adriana’s past in full glory. You may also notice that in the tracklist photos, both Snow and Adriana are holding an apple, parallel to each other.

Reference: The tracklist has very few songs linked because Adriana’s career came to a halt due to her contract with Disney, keeping her uncredited in the few roles she got at the time. Each title is referring to a role Adriana acted and some stories of her life:

Dancing Doll in the movie “Naughty Marietta (1935)”

Bunny Girl in the Silly Symphonies cartoon short, “Toby Tortoise Returns (1936)”

Peasant Girl in the movie “First Peasant Girl (1937)”

Snow White in the animated movie of the same name (1937)

Robot Nurse Maid in the Donald Duck short “Modern Inventions (1937)”

Gilda in the opera play from Verdi’s “Rigoletto”. When stopped from acting, the Caselotti’s urged Adriana to try to follow on her mother and sister footsteps in the opera scene but her three attempts at playing Gilda were very unsuccessful and she gave up on doing opera.

Juliet in a verse for the Tin-man’s song “If I Only Had a Heart” in “The Wizard of Oz (1939)”.  

Opera singer in the movie “We Were Dancing (1942)”

Pom Pom in “Hobo’s Lady (1945)”

Singer at the Martini’s Bar in the iconic Christmas movie “It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)”

Opera singer in the movie “Two Sisters from Boston (1946)” but also referring to her sister, Marie Louise, who was an opera singer and teacher of Maria Callas

You Are Loved (Don’t Give Up) — Josh Groban. The song I chose to express the importance Adriana had to the movie and the character.

“A Princess Smile”. Referring to her love for Snow White, despite everything that happened. She was famous for her SW memorabilia in her house. 

“May Your Voice Echo Forever”. So her memory isn’t forgotten.

Reference: “Caselena Adrietta” is a play on the real actress’s full name: Adriana Elena Loretta Caselotti. The initial letters of her three first names also form the album’s title. 

Concept: I wanted to have this moment to appreciate Adriana’s performance and her life story, just as much as I appreciate Disney’s commitment to his story and his dream for the movie while recognizing that he wasn’t perfect by any means. 

Considerations: I wish he wasn’t so stubborn over “not ruining the magic” of Snow’s voice, just because I think much suffering could have been avoided. But people of the time period didn’t have the relationship we have today with voice acting and its actors. The industry itself can be a little difficult even when you’ve had the role of your life: basically, you can’t do anything else because the public will remember “oh, this person is [this character] from [that]!”. But I also didn’t want to simply paint this as solely the tragedy of Adriana’s life. It was difficult but she remained strong against all the odds of her life inside or outside the industry, still smiled and was gentle with everyone. And I wanted that resilience, kindness and beauty to be remembered and appreciated most of all.

[Album 11 — Blue Bird Boy] 

Cover: It’s a bit of a play in the design of Neige’s student uniform sweater, with a few differences (bc I couldn’t get it to look 100% the same, so we’re stuck with “we have Neige’s sweater at home”). There’s the inclusion of the blue bird but the one from this frame. The title is “Blue Bird Boy” for Snow’s kinship to the little bird she rescues that got lost from his parents, before the Huntsman breaks down in tears. The bird appears again to assure the other animals that Snow is kind and she means her apology that she was scared.

Symbolism: While both the Evil Queen and Vil are symbolized by the Peacock, a majestic bird with a beautiful feather tail, a classic symbol for beauty, Snow White and Neige are symbolized by the Blue Bird, a small bird with a simple yet honest beauty. In other moments, she's symbolized by a dove, iconic for its innocence theme. In the tracklist part, that same bird is repeated as three, representing the blue bird family in the movie. The other idea is that Neige incorporated this design as his sweater as we know it, with the aforementioned modifications. 

Fanon: Similar to BiR, BBB (or 3B) is a more personal focused album instead of tributes or for promotional causes.

Reference: The tracklist has a variety of songs, ranging from pop to soft pop, old and new, but that fit Neige’s aesthetic:

Man in the Mirror — Michael Jackson

Can’t Fight This Feeling — JoJo

Time After Time — Cyndi Lauper

Sing Your Worries Away — Alvino Rey

Put Your Records On — Corinne Bailey Rae

Bette Davis Eyes — Kim Carnes

Pocket Full of Sunshine — Natasha Bedinfield

Love Potion Nº9 — The Searchers

Around The World — A Touch of Class

You’re My Inspiration — Chicago

Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now — Olivia Holt, movie “Girl vs Monster”

You’ll Always Find Your Way Back Home — Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana

Every Time We Touch — Cascada

Never Gonna Give You Up — Rick Astley

References: “Boy In The Mirror” has the exact same message as its irl counterpart, from Michael Jackson. Similar to the other fanon music, “Cracks In My Mirror”, the idea is that instead of viewing the mirror as a source of vanity or anxiety, the singer/listener finds the courage to better themselves first and share that with the world. 

Fun Fact/Canon: The 10th song, “A Crow Sings Me A Verse” is a reference to Rook himself. Nº10 is his seat number as a third year and “Rook” is the name of a type of crow. 

Fanon: There’s a few things to consider like how Neige wouldn’t be able to know that Rook’s seat would be nº10 and, following the time of “release” of this album, Rook was a 2nd year and we don’t know if the boys stay on their numbers throughout all their years. But I liked to imagine this is already Rook’s favorite song because it’s a love letter to the fans and it doubles his joy when he reaches 3rd year, goes to the same class as Leona and his seat is nº10. It’s fate, mes ami!! 

Rickroll: Yes. I did that. No, I don’t regret a thing. I’m 100% sold on my own premise that they would use Minna de Yahoo was Twst-in-universe Rickroll and that’s me right that putting that fantasy on a metaphorical screen.

[Album 12 — We Are The Land]

Cover: The first image is of five animal couples in the party with Snow and the Dwarfs, this exact moment is when she sings about the Prince. Because she’s sharing her love, everybody feels emotional and caring with each other, since it’s a universal feeling that brings unity. The second image is from a bridge before reaching the Dwarfs home, representing a bridge between people.

Inspiration: This came as inspiration from the album “We Are The World” and the song of the same name, written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie for USA for Africa. The idea of a supergroup charity album in a collaborative effort seemed to go hand-in-hand for Neige’s aspirations of helping people through various forms. “World” is changed to “Land”, as in Twisted Wonderland.

References: The tracklist consists of emotional, motivational or friendly songs, most of them from the 80s. They are performed by:

We Are the World — USA for Africa

Heal the World — Michael Jackson

The Power of Love — Huey Lewis & The News

Let It Be — The Beatles

Don’t Stop Believin’ — Journey

I’ll Be There For You — The Rembrandts

You Are Not Alone — Michael Jackson

Stand By Me — Ben E. King

Here Comes The Sun — The Beatles

Under Pressure — Queen

Radio Ga Ga — Queen

For Your Babies — Simply Red

Make Your Own Kind of Music — Cass Elliot

Count Me In — Dove Cameron

Canon: Taking back the point from “TSoM”: “It’s revealed by Rook that Neige gives most of his pay to charities, although only the fan club manages to track the details down as this fact isn’t often made public. (chapter 6, episode 6) Vil says that he’s certain Neige gave his VDC prize to a charity “that aids unprivileged children in their futures”.

Reference: Neige’s chosen solo song “Are You Alone?” is the title of Michael Jackson’s song “You Are Not Alone” in question form, existing as the many-times-referred seventh track with utmost importance. While the song was originally composed by R Kelly and unfortunately seems to be a fruit of plagiarism, the feeling expressed by Michael’s vocals and other singers’ covers rang true to many people at the time. The chorus reiterates unity and feeling connected to someone’s heart. I thought of it as Neige dedicating this to his adoptive brothers, the dwarfs, because as tough it was for them growing up, they were there for him and he was there for them. 

[Album 13 — Dove Of My Heart]

Cover: The image is from the wishing well scene, with the doves accompanying Snow to the well while she picks up some more water to wash the stairs and daydreaming about meeting the love of her life. Neige’s name is used in another font, like in BiR, and with a pink-to-green gradient like the flower vines in the well. The tracklist image is inspired by the Prince’s clothes. 

Inspiration: A Snow White based character? Without another romantic album? Impossible!

Tracklist: Most of these are love pop songs, with a few different ones that deal more with emotion (“Love of My Life, Funeral Bouquet”) and motivation (“Peace Sign”). They are performed by:

King of My Heart — Taylor Swift

What Dreams Are Made Of — Hilary Duff (2026 ver, “Mine EP”)

Love You Like a Love Song — Selena Gomez

Princess of Power — MARINA

Apple Pie — Surely Shirley

Love of My Life — Queen

Funeral Bouquet — Sam Parsons

Daylight — Taylor Swift

Paper Rings — Taylor Swift

Pump It Up — Earl Gregoy, movie “The Substance”, original by Danzel

Your Love is King — Sade

Peace Sign — NateWantsToBattle, original by Kenshi Yonezu

Oh, Pretty Woman — Pomplamoose, original by Roy Orbison

I Will Follow You — Ricky Nelson

If You Don’t Know Me by Now — Simply Red

Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love — Glenn Medeiros

Timeline: DoMH is set before Neige’s 17th birthday, while he’s already enrolled at Royal Sword Academy. 

Reference: Sixteen is the number of songs because, in numerology, it would form 6 + 1 which equals 7, our dear little lucky number.

Fun Fact: One of the songs used is “Princess Power” from the album of same name, by Marina. In the visualizer for another song in the album, “Cupid’s Girl”, she’s using a blue corset and a yellow skirt, which many people immediately associated with Snow White. I couldn’t find anything about Marina denying or confirming if this was deliberate or a coincidence. 

Reference: The song “Pump It Up” is used for the body horror movie “The Substance”, dealing with some of the key themes of beauty of the SW’s tale (even if it’s not directly based on that). The story follows Elizabeth, who was a star many decades ago but got fired for being past her prime and the company wanted to reinvent her show with a new, younger lead. In an act of desperation, she uses the substance and it creates Sue, who’s still her but “better” and “younger”, but her vices and carelessness start to endanger their very own body. 

Reference: The songs titles “Delusions In a Crystal Coffin”, “White Flowers Bouquet”, “Oh, To Wake Up and See You” and “Your Love Defy Even Magic” relate to Snow White state after being poisoned by the Queen’s apple. She lays down in a “sleep of death” yet her heart remains alive. The Prince’s true love kiss is what awakens her, being the antidote for the poison. 

Symbolism: Try as they might to separate the themes of love from Snow White, it’s an essential part of her story, especially in the 1937’s version. The Queen denied Snow the love of a step-mother in the face of her father’s death but she didn’t get bitter and never let herself down. This love she maintains in her heart against all odds is what awakens the friendship/family love from the animals and the Dwarfs, brings compassion in the Huntsman’s heart and catches the love of the Prince (who in some drafts/versions already knew her from childhood). 

[Additional things]

I wanted to leave an open ending for this discography with the 14th album because, as the symbolism would have it as 7+7, the fictitious pressure would be off the charts and I also wanted to know more about Neige to discover where he would want to go next after all of this…

Would he go in a Reputation era sorta direction? Just for a moment? Not for the “ohhh I’m so edgy and sad” that Ebony tried to be but, truly honest and raw? Or triple down on what his values and beliefs are? His last stand for the value that resilience is not a scream against the world but to stay put even through the storm? 

And that’s mostly it because I’m not even sure if Neige had a music career. Let me explain the reasoning behind these delusions of mine! 

In Book 5, Jamil hypnotizes Neige to distract the crowds with songs while they are out there fighting Vil on the stage. We, the player, hear “Minna de Yahoo” in the distance to confirm this is going according to plan. But I interpret that as the game putting a song placeholder because it’s just so we get it that 1) Neige is singing; 2) things are under control.

Because it would wear out the freshness of “Minna” if Neige was singing however many times during the timespan of the overblot fight and it wouldn’t make sense in-universe. Like, people would find it odd that he was singing the same thing over and over. Asking for a reprise is one thing, a loop is completely another. 

So I started imagining what would be like if Neige had other songs (a whole career actually) and seeing the posts of people making disco covers of Neige for their Rooks in Tomodachi Life was the last match to start this fire. Sadly I didn’t save the posts at the same </3 otherwise I would put them here because, believe me, you folks inspired me a lot!! And the rest is history.

This took a lot of time, I had countless twists and turns, a terrible moment when it seemed I lost everything but going through the whole story around this movie, the story and Neige himself, is a testimony that you shouldn’t stop in your tracks but rather keep going and trying your best.

Don’t lose your kindness. Don’t lose your love, your passion. It’s another side of the effort that Pomefiore values the most, if you think about it. Because, be it for any of the characters, it’s a story of not giving up and keep moving forward. 

So thank you for reading until here, my dear snowbirds, apple-seeds, snow blooms, winterblooms, blanchefleurs, snowflowers, applings, snow apples, snowflakes and blanchies! <3

I wish the best for you all and have a nice day~ for our snow prince will come someday and may the Twst fandom have patience to deal with us when that happen.