The PureDarkness ramble (divorced Purelily)
It's weird that I personally consider myself more of a PureEnchantress shipper than a Purelily or ShadowVanilla shipper despite never making any posts about them. A lot of it is due to the fact that these two only have 4 very brief interactions together (5 if you count the intro battle), plus I’m much more creative with other ships.
But when I do write ShadowVanilla fancontent I write it in the way I enjoy Pure Enchantress, a mutual feeling of divorce, frustration and veiled yearning. Also ShadowSalt too, is essentially just PureDarkness but somewhat one-sided (I struggle to picture Salt loving Shadowmilk romantically)
But this relationship fascinated me the most, because of how ironically on the same page both of them are. Both are so fucking mad at eachother but they can’t bring themself to genuinely hate the other because of the past friendship they had. Both of the still yearn for the other, still wishing for the other to join their side of light/darkness (yes Dark Enchantress wants Pure Vanilla to be compliant with her wishes just as much as he does)
So I’m going to analyse all of their interactions and express why I’m so captivated about this divorce
Note: I will be following this ramble up with a ShadowEnchantress ramble as well, so be sure to check that one out later!
Ahh the good old days! The humble beginnings surely this war will never repeat itself and the world will live in peace in the absence of both heroes and the dark villain! (-the world after WW I)
It's crazy to think that Pure Vanilla still believes this, no wonder why Dark Enchantress despises his ass, I’msurpised how calm she is during this interaction (although she does ruthless beat the shit out of them as a result). It's also interesting that of all the kingdoms she chooses to confront them in, it's his. Her best friend, yet the one who has the most opposing viewpoint regarding their creation. Pure faith and devotion
(side note: Lily should not be here lol, she has only one line in the intro and it's the first line in the seane (with no substance) none of the characters acknowledge her existence here, so I think she’ s genuinely not meant be here)
It's interesting how all of their future interactions directly build off of this one. All of them reminisce about this same interaction, about the same themes and topics. Pure Vanilla vs Dark Enchantress is the most strictly played good vs evil, light vs darkness relationship in the story. Both of them are completely dedicated to their devotion to light and darkness, there is no real nuance or willingness to change that (unlike the Beast vs Ancients). However this relationship is the most personal. Because they still have the past feelings of friendship buried underneath their conflict.
They too don’t hate each other, they can’t. They are so frustrated with each other, for very understandable reasons. But this relationship is a war, a constant battle that both really want to end, but in completely opposite ways. So let's see who wins shall we?
I was so locked out of this story until this moment (that sitting up meme would be me) the tension here is so good, and I still consider this to be one of my favourite crk moments ever.
Dark Enchantress brings out a side of Pure Vanilla that no other character does. A visible but firm frustration and a willingness to stop being gentle and play things straight. It's what I hope we get out of future Shadow Vanilla interactions in Act 2, where Pure Vanilla plainly expresses his anger at Shadow Milk’s cruelty, while still trying to understand why. Similarly how he locked in to seal her away (mind you, without his souljam) which is still his greatest feat of power and until Beast Yeast, resolve.
Side note: there is a cool parallel between the Vanilla kingdom and the spire of deceit, where time breaks and past memories echo.
But Dark Enchantress can hurt him in only a way she can. Because she is also right, Pure Vanilla is a hypocrite. She is essentially the center of all of his insecurities and thus, can dismantle his debate so easily. How dare he stand against her when he deploys the same methods she does!? He’s a weak, self-righteous coward, and she is proof of that. And internally he agrees.
But Dark Enchantress isn’t free of weakness herself, as he too invokes a feeling of unease. After all, he’s her best friend and yet now her greatest enemy. It's interesting how dark enchantress and white lily cookies have the opposite outlook on Pure Vanilla. White Lily admires and idolizes him, while Dark Enchantress slanders and condemns him. Both Lily and Dark Enchantress are the same, but two separate approaches to coping with extreme trauma. But because they are both White Lily cookies, they share these conflicting feelings. If White Lily yearns for Pure Vanilla (BY eps 11 & 12) then so does Dark Enchantress. But does that mean White Lily despises Pure Vanilla?
Weird to emphasise his smile here Enchantress. The smile that you once adored and gave you hope and comfort. Why be so frustrated about it?
Do you simply hate his hypocrisy for being in opposition with you? Or do you hate that you ever had feelings of love and admiration for him, and that this smile still invokes some?
Anywho, in this battle I’ll have to give it to Dark Enchantress she got his ass good here:
Dark Enchantress Cookie: 1
The theme of time, past present and future. Is consistently very important to White Lily’s relationship with Pure Vanilla, and so with Dark Enchantress. Dark Enchantress so desperately wants to bury the past and move forward towards the future. The present, the atrocities she commits are just a means to the end, being the future that she prioritizes.
In contrast, Pure Vanilla is attached to the past, clinging on to the times before tragedy and hyper fixated on trying to understand where things went wrong. He is terrified of the future and this anxiety turns him to deceit and seclusion to deal with his grief. Him taking the burden to sacrifice himself to seal the Dark Enchantress away embodies his broken approach to heroism in the darkness of guilt and doubt.
So it's fiting how Pure Vanilla’s character development in Odyssey is all about him learning to live in the present moment. To not conceal the dark truth of the past from others and instead through the friendships he holds in the present he can find a way forward. Pure Vanilla is a wise cookie, but like Enchantress said he’s a hypocrite and a lair. But that doesn’t diminish the value in his words, and that he still has the time to grow with his friends and loved ones to become better.
So this interaction he shares with her and Gingerbrave is so important to the conclusion of this arc (which I admittedly forgot about...)
The main theme of friendship and solidarity between groups of very different cookies in culture, flavor and values is the core theme of Odesy. And while Dark Enchantress views the diversity of different individuals as the root of conflict amongst cookies. Pure Vanilla values this diversity as its through the different perspectives of individuals that come together is the key to creating a prospering future for all.
THAT'S WHY HE’S THE GOAT, THE GOAT!!!
This line here by Dark Enchantress is so interesting too, because it's really ironic. Pure Vanilla is the one who grows and changes. Its why hes so awesome because he always accepts the opportunity to better himself as a person despite his mistakes, and listen to conflicting world views and opinions to better his own (like how he agreed with Clotted Cream’s Bold statement against the Ancient Heroes) and how he continues to fail and change then succeed throughout Act 1.
But Dark Enchantress hasn’t changed in the slightest. From beginning to end she refuses to give up her self imposed destiny. She believes that anyone that isn’t unconditionally with her, is against her. She refuses to allow others outside of the darkness to properly understand despite her terrible attempts to make her cause known. Because she enjoys the push back, the struggle and thrill of war. She has no real remorse for her actions because she justifies everything as simply a means to an end.
She’s a hypocrite, a liberator of cookie kind through ruthless oppression and cruelty.
Which is why she can’t rebuttal Pure Vanilla’s question. They too are very different cookies, who have changed over the years and yet became friends due to a shared goal to better the world. And now they are fighting because of their goals to better the world. Share can’t assuage against it because he is speaking the truth. She just resorts to insults which reign hollow because he is right:
Dark Enchantress cookie: 1
At the edge of light and darkness:
Both of them keep making the horrible mistake of believing that they and they alone must carry the burden of endearing despair to bring the world to right. But Dark Enchantress makes her despair by treating people as means to an end. Making her evil, and she doesn’t feel guilty if anything she enjoys it (the guilt is given to Lily). Inflating her pain on others is the goal, even if she believes that the witches will be her real victims, the cookie kind which will ultimately suffer the most.
She wants to be understood, but not help or educate cookies about the truth, but so she won’t suffer alone. And yet she refuses to give up, to seek forgiveness from her friends by properly communicating her pain. Because even if deep down she misses the friendships she once had, they mean nothing in her goals. And her goals are all that matter.
Their interaction in the episode is incredibly short, but there is substance here.
Pure Vanilla has grown, he can see through this bullshit. (this isn’t really clever but because this game’s for 12 year olds, I suppose it is) Its quite fucked up of her to speak of the war like a happy past time.
This attempt to reach out is fake, and so were all her past attempts as well. She never intended to reach out to be reached in every single instance. Pure Vanilla can’t join her because of his “weakness” but because of her own weakness. Her own anger at the world. Because it's valid, she’s right the world is cruel, witches and cookies. But she doesn’t want to be proven wrong, she doesn’t want either to become better, for cookies to thrive and be happy. Because she isn’t and she’ll never be.
Dark Enchatress is sympathetic, because her anger stems from a cruelty outside of her control. But she doesn’t want to stop being angry, she doesn’t want to grow. She just wants revenge, on the world and everything.
Pure Vanilla will never join her side, he’ll never approve of her actions even if he understood why. She knows this, and that's why she’s angry at him.
White Lily doesn’t despise Pure Vanilla cookies, she’s guilty. She’s wrong and she doesn’t want him to confront her because she’s a hypocrite. She doesn’ t want to be understood even if she deep down yearns to be, because she wants to be angry, she wants others to suffer:
Dark Enchantress cookie: 1
Ahh the ending to this war, there is so much to unpack here
I always found it fascinating how Pure Vanilla views Dark Enchantress. He treated her like she’s her own person, separate from Lily but with the same past. And yet he is desperately trying to find an ounce of the Lily he knew within her. Trying to understand how these radically different people are the same.
But he didn’t see Beast Yeast episode 11 and 12. That they have the same flaws of isolation in self importance and self hatred. That both are too stubborn to give up their goals at the expense of innocent lives. They have the very same traits he admires in white Lily, he has grown to suffer from in Dark Enchantress. So in a last attempt to stop her, instead of resorting to violence, to actually reach out and persuade and understand. He uses the past.
But what he didn’t know (until timeline of fates episode 7) was that he never understood her, even in the past. Her words here are so interesting, because she did hold a bit of resentment. She felt abandoned by him all the way back then. Because of this I thought it was Pure Vanilla who backed out of Lily’s experiments because of the moral dubiousness of it all. But as we have come to learn, it was Lily who went behind his back, to open the book and now flip the next page.
Dark Enchantress victimizes herself, by blaming all of her problems on the world. But Pure Vanilla calls her out, she can be free if she looks within herself instead of others for once. He was right, freedom for thee shouldn’t be the oppression of everyone else.
But he fails to persuade her. Because both of them were right. They both have their weaknesses. Pure Vanilla struggles with the future and Dark Enchantress struggles with the past. Dark Enchantress was never free, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be. Pure Vanilla never understood her, but that doesn’t mean he can’t.
Sidenote: she straight up tells him the truth here, but of course the story can’t have him putting two and two together :/
She destroys what's left of her “humanity”. Transforming into a human shaped monster. Dark Enchantress would have never let pure Vanilla in, because to be understood were to be a person. And being a person is to be weak. She hates that smile because it makes her guilty, how she can ruthlessly betray her friend, her values and her world, just like the witches betrayed her and cookiekind.
She hates humanity, her own especially.
There are no winners in war.
If Pure Vanilla is meant to be the grounding force in White Lily’s life, that reminds her about her love for the world and compassion towards those around her. No wonder why Dark Enchantress “hates him” because she views this love as weakness for anger as her main strength. If Pure Vanilla managed to understand her, he would have tried to console her and she’ll lose this anger she realises on to justify her actions. She is looking for any reason at all to hate him so she can hurt him. But the Truth is that deep, deep down, she is ashamed of herself. She’s guilty underneath the layers of trauma, power and ultimate dough.
It's important to understand the Dark Enchantress to understand White Lily cookie. Because she holds half of the story, the feelings and the flaws that make Lily who she is. Dark Enchantress is White Lily Cookie's actual weakness. Her arrogance and pride to refuse prioritise her goals above all else. She has the capacity to love and empathise (as shown with the cookies of darkness) but she hates this about herself because quite what got her hurt when she seeked the truth because of her compassion.
Dark Enchantress despite everything, doesn’t hate Pure Vanilla cookies, she wants to but she can’t. White Lily’s reluctance to stay close to him isn’t because she values their friendship less than she does, it's because she is so ashamed of herself for hurting him. She is so wrapped up in her own broken ego and guilt that she pushes him and everyone away to hold on to her goals and the despair that fuels it.
It took two wars, dying, burning, shattering her soul jam twice and being emotionally beaten by Silent Salt for White Lily to change. Dark Enchantress who has viewed every loss as simply a minor setback, and her anger is being induced by ultimate dough. Of course she’ll refuse to accept White Lily as a part of her, she had just baked away the last of her humanity.
As for Pure Vanilla, it frustrates me when people say he's naive for staying true to his faith and beliefs. The story does nothing but affirm that he is right, just because the world is cruel, doesn’t make people fundamentally evil as well. But he lacks the understanding as to why the world is so broken in the first place, and what actually drives people to darkness. It's why he doesn’t win with her in the end despite coming so far.
Seeing him defy the “weakness” Dark Enchantress claims he has in the end of Episode 7 was so incredibly awesome for me. Because he’s right, he’s winning but also suffering. Dark Enchantress was actively walling up her heart to prevent him from understanding her, it's not on him that he couldn’t, it's on her.
She believed she didn’t deserve him, go prove her wrong! (and learn to stop making others suffer your responsibility !!!)
They are the embodiment of each other's weakness and failure, they’re conflict with each other because they serve as each other's biggest obstacles to their conflicting ideas on how to better the world.
The relationship ends in tragedy, because they wanted it to end instead of living in the present. To understand each other and grow from each other's flaws.
But there's still time, to learn from the past, to look towards the future and grow in the present. But that's up for Timeline of Fates episode 8, to decide.
sugurugetos
theartofmadeline
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