The War Against Ever After: Titania and the Fairy Tale Field

[The Swordsman]

WARNING This post is a long one. 
 

Spoiler

 

So ever since E17's release I've been ruminating over Titania's frankly dream like Gym area, the Fairy Tale field and how this all ties to her character. For a brief refresher on Titania before E17's release, we knew that she was the tough but cynical Steel Gym Leader and that she went into a false relationship with Amaria, her friend since school, so that Amaria wouldn't commit suicide. Come E17 we get to explore her "gym" and we find a subverted fairy tale that seems to be be written by Titania or seemingly about her, while also strangely paralleling current events.

 

"History and literature have a awful habit of letting little girls wander past the forest's edge. Only to be swallowed up by any number of enchantments beyond."

"Between wolves, witches, and rabbit holes. The world conceals a plethora of dangers waiting to leap upon and ensnare the unsuspecting and unshakeabley innocent children."

 

Here we get the introduction to this gym's tale which laments the dangers of the world that children will have to face, keep this part in mind. as while it has no impact on the tale right now, it will be key to setting something up later. As for us in the real world it subtly foreshadows Lin's ambush.

 

"She awakens in a tower,"

"Stone"

"Cold,"

"Alone."

 

While in the real world we awaken in a tower, in the tale this is the first glimpse we get of the tale's protagonist who is a girl, emphasis is put on the detail that she is cold and alone. The fact that she is a girl and that she is alone will not only be important to the tale later but also may reveal something interesting about Titania's character, which I'll get  into later.

 

"A dragon guards her, its' fangs barred to the world."

"Brimstone breath faithfully reserved for whatever metal-clad ignoramus dares think himself so mighty that even fire may not char his miserable flesh."

 

While the tale here seems to be setting up a classic scenario, notice here that the dragon is protecting the girl from the world, the same world filled with dangers. This subtly sets up that the dragon is not what it seems to Titania's tale and that the disdain in the later verse is our first sign that the "hero" is the antagonist in this tale.  Which is quite interesting, as when we look at the current events the role is split between us and Lin. As for us, we get the role of dragon slayer...

 

"But in truth, there is one who can slay the beast:"

"The one whom its back is turned."

 

while Lin gets to be the "beast/man" that the girl, whose role is filled by Titania, slays in retaliation. We then get the reveal of the subversion,...

 

"So after its' death she must weep. For it is a terrifying endeavor to face such a creature as that, man, and lose a dear friend, as a dragon. And finally, to have to find yet another one, who would be so willingly lock her away, and keep her safe from history, true love and other such poisons. After all, "Happily ever after" just means the writer stopped paying attention."

 

that the girl, despite being lonely, willingly locked herself away from the outside world, not only to protect herself from the dangers, but also from the changes of time and potential joys of life, (which are cynically derided as poison) the dragon is revealed to be protecting her from having to face it. The man comes to try to save her from this quite sad state but is killed by the one he wished to save for his troubles. The girl than goes back to running away from life, while the author muses that "Happily ever after" is the point where the writer stopped paying attention. However this is false, as the story's world only goes on as long as the writer writes more to it. Happily ever after is not only used to signify that the tale ends well but also to summarize the happy period of time the protagonists have experienced till their death, as many people as writers and even as the audience find victory/stable marriages to be boring. (Not me though, but it doesn't change the fact that these tropes exist) As I noted earlier, Titania fills the role of the girl in current events, so the tale implies that not only is Titania is running away from her problems (which has been noticed by the Reborn community but under different circumstances) but that even if she did secretly love Amaria, she wouldn't really go through with it thanks to her cynical nature.

 

So how does the Fairy Tale Field fit into this? Well lets look at the field itself, it boosts Fairy, Dragon and Steel while also making Steel strong against Dragon. Steel and Fairy also get battle cries, Steel's is "For justice!" and Fairy's is "For ever after!". This field neatly implies its own tale where once upon a time Steel came in to help Fairy fight Dragon, saving the day despite Steel being a threat to Fairy and Fairy's own strength. Sounds way too optimistic for Titania, doesn't it? However Titania's gym battle makes the tale a perversion, Fairy still fights for their ever after but are now cut down by their allies, which is protected from Fairy's "poisonous" idealism. This also neatly fits into the two paths. If you take the idealistic Zekrom's path, Titania will stay with Amaria and no one will die, allowing the potential for Fairy's happy ever after but her issues with Amaria haven't been properly dealt with yet, leaving some doubt. However if you take the harsh but truthful Reshriam path, Titania will do Amaria justice (Steel) by not lieing to her anymore but now she is alone and the happy ending is lost as Taka dies and Amaria may commit suicide again. If the Fairy tale was allowed to be play out in the game then it would be a full good outcome without either drawbacks, after all both Truth and Ideals are needed to hand out justice and achieve the happy ever after. Thank you for your time.

 

 

Edited July 24, 2018 by The Swordsman
I meant Idealism when I used the simular optimism word, this change helps the post flow better

[uberle]

Well this was an interesting read

 

Also worth pointing out that when Titania's Klefki used Draining Kiss the text "Love never hurt so bad!" pops up