Warning: The Storybook of Legends major spoilers ahead.
Welcome back, readers! When we last left off, I was pointing out how amazing Apple is in general, and labeling Raven a backstabber. It all went down
here. I'm sure that last part left many of you like
whaaaat? and maybe wondering if I bumped my head real hard just before I wrote it. Don't worry, I'm just fine -- no head injuries here -- and I do plan on backing up my claim with supporting evidence. But that stuff comes at the end of the book, and today I'd rather take a look at the beginning. First impressions are everything, so let's see how we meet our lead princesses.
After a brief prologue we go into chapter one. Over the course of ten pages we learn a whole lot about Raven Queen. As far as exposition dumps go, it's handled fairly well. Given what we see in the webisodes, it's easy to forget that Raven is pretty much a rich girl who grew up in a lavish castle. Just because it teemed with evil doesn't mean it wasn't a home of the wealthy. Her parents are royalty, let's not forget. Raven is packing for her return to boarding school, and she does indeed have servants who help her. Not much is made of this, although it's worth noting that Raven is distractedly playing with the family cook's kids while telling said cook what she wants for dinner. Yes, it's a bit rude, but the fact that it's the servant's kids distracting Raven softens the blow. Anyway, Raven's family unit consists of she and her father, called Good King. They have a good relationship, which really is nice. He treats her well, and it's obvious she loves him very much. Her mother is out of the picture. This is curious but in just a page or two we'll not only find out why, we'll actually get to meet her. (And yes she's all kinds of awesome and wicked and wickedly awesome.) Raven has the powers of black magic, but she hasn't entirely learned how to use them correctly and they tend to backfire on her. (Come on, Raven! You're not a child anymore, get with the program!) Raven has a brief memory of her mother and we learn she and Raven had a strained relationship.
After supper Raven heads to the Queen's Wing, which is on the opposite side of the castle. Along the way she notes the multitude of pictures of her mother striking various evil poses. (Awesome.) It's here that we meet the Evil Queen. Turns out her mother is in prison and Raven must communicate with her via a magic mirror. Wow. The Evil Queen, we learn, went truly mad with power and tried taking over all the kingdoms of Ever After. She was captured and thrown in the slammer. But this hasn't gotten the Evil Queen down. Nope, she's bored but just as vivacious as ever, immediately asking her daughter for the latest gossip. She throws in a great barb directed at the Good King that pisses Raven off big time. Ha! The Evil Queen points out how boring Ever After has become without her, and begins to lecture Raven on the importance of becoming the Evil Queen. She points out all the power Raven will hold, and reminds her that at least she doesn't have to be some damsel in distress. She's not wrong. Really, this whole exchange between mother and daughter is fascinating. Raven is all kinds of conflicted about her mother, who she kind of despises, but also can't help but love. In one of the best moments of the entire book, Evil Queen plays on her daughter's emotions to try and trick her into freeing her from prison. It's manipulative, truly evil, and very fun.
Manipulation aside, in many ways the Queen's lecture is more a pep talk for Raven. Everything the Evil Queen says is true. Raven
does have the potential to hold the world in her hands, to show the "dull" people just what she's made of. She's trying to give Raven a little perspective -- but her daughter refuses to get her head in the game. (Well, if you ask me, anyway.) Here's a nugget of advice from the Evil Queen that carries some mighty big implications:
"You have to go out there and force life to be what you want it to be, like I did." Okay, wait a minute. The whole problem Raven has is that she doesn't want to be evil like her mother. She doesn't want to sign the Storybook of Legends and follow in her footsteps. But if she doesn't sign the book, which it's implied would seriously eff things up in Ever After, isn't she doing exactly what her mother just said to do? And if that's the case, does not signing the book, in fact, make her kind of evil? And following from that thought, this would mean that either way, whether she signs the book or not, Raven will simply be evil. There's no way around it for her. It's her destiny and destiny cannot be broken.
By the very nature of the setting of EAH, there's a lot of symbolism at play here. In this case, it involves mirrors, the things we look into to see ourselves. As their conversation comes to an end and her mother's reflection disappears, Raven is left looking at only herself. The chapter ends with Raven noting how remarkable the resemblance is between she and her mother. Hmm...
In chapter two we are introduced to Apple White. She only gets five pages to Raven's ten, but whatever. This first introduction to Snow White's daughter is pretty damning. Much is made of her reliance on servants, an interesting contrast to how they're barely mentioned at all in Raven's intro chapter, yet are there the entire time just the same. Apple calls her servants by the wrong names, and when one points this out she patronizingly pats him on the head and calls them all "sillies". Yes, it's all very cringey and not a great first impression. The slant is pushed even further when we meet Apple's parents. Her father gets a big ol' dose of emasculation as he lays his hand on his sword, which we're told he has never had to actually use since "his claim to fame had been falling in love with a comatose girl inside a glass coffin." Ouch. We're told her mother's voice is "high and a little squeaky", which I can only read as a subtle dig at Disney's 1937 Snow White film.
Luckily things get better for Apple from here on. We learn she's incredibly popular, beautiful, and an overachiever. The book literally says that last one outright. Animals flock to her side, helping her prepare for her voyage to boarding school, while the villagers outside hold signs in her honor and cheer for her. Hers is a charmed life, no doubt about it. It would be easy to hate Apple, so perfect is her life. But Apple has a few concerns of her own. As the villagers fawn over her, Apple thinks they must have noticed her dedication to the people, her hard work, all the preparation she has put in to become the next queen. In short, she hopes they've noticed that she's worked her ass off to be the very best for her people, and that she takes her upcoming responsibilities very seriously. But no, they only notice how beautiful she is. And that she doesn't have ebony hair like she's supposed to. (In a cute running bit, this is a constant annoyance for Apple.) Her chapter ends with her vowing to show everyone that she's more than a pretty face, that she's capable of ruling as queen with brains as much as beauty.
There's a reason why Apple is so dedicated to her duties as future queen, why she works so hard, why she depends so much on her storybook future and takes it so seriously. When she was six years old she almost died. We don't learn this until considerably later in the book, but I have to discuss it now as it will inform everything else I discuss in later installments. At the age of six Apple fell down a well. She was by herself, no one knew she had fallen. Her petticoats pulling her under the water, unable to grip the slick walls of the well, Apple faced death head-on. She was eventually rescued but the damage was done. From that moment on Apple embraced her storybook future with a vengeance. It is known, it is secure. It leaves no questions unanswered and no possibilities other than happiness. In short, for little traumatized Apple, it is the opposite of death. It is the promise of life. Sure, she may die in the story, but there is also the guarantee that she will be brought back. Nearly drowning basically gave Apple PTSD, and clinging to her storybook future was the only way she knew to cope. To have that storybook future taken away is, in Apple's mind, to have her very self taken away. To be faced with an unknown future is to be right back in that cold well, fighting for her life, unable to scream for help. For Apple, no storybook future doesn't mean merely facing the unknown. It means facing death. And it only makes sense that the prospect is downright terrifying for the young princess. It leaves one wondering -- what kind of person, knowing Apple's history, would do that to her?
That's all for today, folks! Up next: Apple is gracious and kind, Raven is cynical and selfish, and a run-in with goblins proves Apple is always one step ahead.
