The Beast sat on his stone throne, his arms lashed to the corners of the room. His bones jutted out from his shoulders and lacerations tore through him, soaking his entire body in blood. Something had sliced open his chest, his ribs gone, showing the still beating heart that lay underneath.
Eris froze. This had to be a dream. The old man of the castle appeared behind the Beast, his moth-eaten black robes shaking with dust as he dragged his feet to the throne. He sank to his knees.
This is the future that I see, the old man said, his words more lucid than Eris had ever heard him speak. A king so blinded by vengeance that he does not see his inevitable failure.
—
Art from The Tempest and the Fire, my Beauty and the Beast retelling. This painting fought me every step of the way, and I’m so glad that I’ve managed to finish it.
Hope you all had a good December and have a happy new year!
Thank you @ewa-a-nie-chce-spac for your encouragement and @shadowlass for inspiration 🙂 I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a year, but recently few things happened that motivated me to do it:
Finally I had a chance to watch “Beauty and the Beast”. Well, I saw the animated version before but watching the new one only made me realize why I disagree so strongly with the conclusions of this fairytale. I was never a fan of this theory which highlights the parallels between Kylo and the Beast. Of course, there is some similarity in the outer layer and symbolism but the core of the story is totally different: while Beast is a proud and vain man and so his task in the story is to learn how to love another human being, Kylo is full of self-hatred and doubt and his main goal in this trilogy is learn how to love himself.
What is more, there are many fairytales that reflect more accurately the main motives visible in the Force Awakens. The two that, in my opinion, are the most fitting here are “Snow Queen” and “Prince Lindworm”. But let me say this: since I’ve become a part of this fandom I admired all those talented people who were creating amazing stores, drawing beautiful fanarts and those who put their extensive knowledge (from fabulously varied fields!) into use, writing metas. I also wanted to contribute and share those bits and pieces that I’ve collected during my studies. I decided to divide this post into two parts: the first one will be about the Snow Queen and I will discuss the similarities between the fairytale and TFA on the level of the plot and its symbolism. This one will be more like a summary. In the second part I will write about Prince Lindwom and more psychological stuff, like trauma, dissociation and archetypal defenses of personal spirit. However, I will focus on Kylo’s relation with Snoke in both parts, because I feel that there are still some things that need to be said.
TLJ has almost exactly the same storyline as The Snow Queen! Only the ending is changed, so when Kai finaly becomes “ his own master, and has the whole world and a pair of new skates” he decides to use his new power instead of going home with Gertha!
Yes, your meta was quite prophetic and predicted the narrative direction and theme of TLJ very accurately. 🙂
May I suggest revisiting your meta instead of rewriting it? This meta is a perfect example of very accurate plot and theme extrapolation of what TFA has established. As such it’s yet another proof that you (and the reylo fandom in general) interpreted TFA the way it was meant to by the creators. It really shows that you understood long before TLJ came out what kind of story they are telling.
Maybe you could add commentaries throughout your meta, pointing out what plot points, character motivations and themes from the fairy tale have already occurred in TLJ?
The last question of your meta where you ask if Kay’s and Kylo’s/Ben’s story ending will be similar would be a really good starting point for speculations about character journeys in Episode IX. I wonder if they stick to the plot of The Snow Queen (in a slightly more elaborate way) or if they subvert it. I kinda hope for the latter because reducing everything to “love will save the day” seems a little bit too simplistic. But maybe that’s just a matter of personal taste. 🙂
JIM HENSON’S THE STORYTELLER: HANS, MY HEDGEHOG
Reylo vibe recommendation by @shutup-fuzzball who describes it like this: “…its obviously a Beauty and the Beast story but The princess doesn’t just sit and look pretty, she’s an active character like Rey and goes out to find Hans and make things right again between them. I love how Hans is the gentle beast; the scars from his youth much like Kylo/Bens experiences have made him who he is later, into an imposing and even frightening figure until the princess opens up to him and they connect.”
__________________
I highly recommend this surprisingly sexy puppet enhanced story. To me there are also Prince Lindworm and East of the Sun, West of the Moon vibes.
It also reminded me of an interesting BatB version from a french fairy tale collection I read very long ago but still can remember. In this version the Beauty marries the literal devil. In their wedding night the devil asks Beauty if he should turn into an animal. Among two or three other suggestions he also proposes to turn into a hedgehog (!). Beauty declines all his offers and rather has him as a his devilish self. 🙄 The devil turns out to be a totally fine and considerate husband btw which is the reason Beauty’s sisters become jealous and start plotting against her. To my never-ending teenage frustration the sisters succeed and Beauty loses her devil husband.
ANYWAY, is there an ancient hedgehog symbolism I don’t know about?
Or does somebody by any chance know this version of the fairy tale? I’d absolutely love to read it again.
Do you have a REYLO VIBE recommendation? Submit or contact me! 💙💙💙
THE NUTCRACKER (USSR 1977)
Animation movie with Tchaikovsky’s wonderful music instead of dialogue.
Reylo vibe recommendation by @ewa-jednak-chce-spac who points out that in this version the nutcracker is a prince who was cursed as a child and Klara is a poor servant girl.
Do you have a REYLO VIBE recommendation? Submit or contact me!💙💙💙
Yesterday I realized that there’s a parallel between the cave scene and the well scene in Disney’s Snow White. While it’s not a big deal, it shows that some tropes – like water as the medium of omen/prophecy (although Snow White’s well isn’t magical, and the heroine treats it as such only in a playful manner), a love interest reflecting in the water (for me it’s certain that we see a glimpse of Kylo’s face before Rey sees her reflection in the cave), or even running away from your future love interest 😀 – are pernament in culture.
Thank you for pointing this out! I hadn’t thought about Snow White as having a reylo vibe before TLJ came out but the well scenes in both movies have very much in common.
The well in Snow White looks a lot like the darkside hole on Luke’s island. Or as many people already pointed out: a vagina in the shape of a well both of which are a metaphor for (female/dark) knowledge and wisdom. We recognise it because this kind of imagery speaks to our collective subconsciousness.
The comparison between TLJ and this classic fairy tale also fits wonderfully with the escape pod Rey uses to meet her prince. The thing suspiciously looks like a glass coffin and in both Snow White as well as TLJ is meant as metaphorical marriage bed.
THE ROSE AND THE RING by William Makepeace Thackeray
Between the kingdoms of Paflagonia and Crim Tartary, there lived a mysterious personage, who was known in those countries as the Fairy Blackstick, from the ebony wand or crutch which she carried; on which she rode to the moon sometimes, or upon other excursions of business or pleasure, and with which she performed her wonders. When she was young, and had been first taught the art of conjuring by the necromancer, her father, she was always practicing her skill, whizzing about from one kingdom to another upon her black stick, and conferring her fairy favors upon this Prince or that.
Reylo vibe recommendation by @ewa-jednak-chce-spac who says: “This book gives me Reylo vibes due to the fact that the main romantic couple is a prince and a servant girl. He’s the rightful heir to the throne (stolen by his uncle) and a servant girl (later she turns out to be a lost princess from another kingdom). He’s the rightful heir to the throne (stolen by his uncle). The servant girl later turns out to be a lost princess from another kingdom. So it gives me Reylo vibes mostly because of the forbidden love between a guy from royality and a poor girl. 😉
There are some adaptations of this book, including a Polish TV series from 1980s. A piece of trivia: In the Anglo-Saxon world this book is treated (as it was intended) as a satirical book, while in Poland it’s treated as a fairytale story for children. ;)”
Do you have a REYLO VIBE recommendation? Submit or contact me!💙💙💙
RED AS BLOOD or TALES FROM THE SISTERS GRIMMER by Tanith Lee
How would it be if Snow White were the real villain & the wicked queen just a sadly maligned innocent? What if awakening the Sleeping Beauty should be the mistake of a lifetime–of several lifetimes? What if the famous folk tales were retold with an eye to more horrific possibilities?
Only Tanith Lee could do justice to it. In RED AS BLOOD, she displays her soaring imagination at its most fantastically mischievous. Not for nothing was the title story named as a Nebula nominee. Not for nothing was the author of THE BIRTHGRAVE & THE STORM LORD called by New York’s Village Voice, “Goddess-Empress of the Hot Read.”
Here are the world-famous tales of such as the Brothers Grimm as they might have been retold by the Sisters Grimmer! Fairy tales for children? Not on your life!
Contents:
Paid Piper (1981)
Red as Blood (1979)
Thorns (1972)
When the Clock Strikes (1980)
The Golden Rope (1983)
The Princess and Her Future (1983)
Wolfland (1980)
Black as Ink (1983)
Beauty (1983)
Dark and sensual retellings of famous fairy tales. Especially THE GOLDEN ROPE (a version of Rapunzel in which a young woman is groomed for a dark god) and BEAUTY (futuristic Beauty and the Beast) are very reylo.
Do you have a REYLO VIBE recommendation? Submit or contact me!💙💙💙
This is (my apologies in advance) an extremely long continuation of the analysis I presented in the Descent, in which I explain the next step of the archetypal Heroine’s Journey as presented in The Force Awakens.
Consider yourself warned: this presupposes a relationship between Rey and Kylo Ren which transcends the familial. Hic sunt leones.
Classic reylo meta from the early days of the fandom.
Incredibly deep and thought-provoking meta shining a light on the parallels between reylo, ancient myths, folktales and works of literature such as Eros and Psyche, Beauty and the Beast, Prince Lindworm, East of the Sun, West of the Moon, Bluebeard, Dracula, Phantom of the Opera, Crimson Peak… By explaining the psychology behind these kinds of stories it is made clear how the dynamic of uniting with the monstrous or “other” man is really a story of female self actualization.
Also the prediction list towards the end holds up VERY well.
Monsters and Villains 