#just descendants things

Putting a call for descendants fans to analyze this series more, bc I honestly love reading deep-dive interpretations and analyses of scenes and seeing stellar analysis really makes my day.

Did it bother anyone else that in D3 the Rotten Four just like… forgot that they hated their parents…??

D1 and D2 canonically say that the Rotten Four do not like their parents, are afraid of their parents, and do not want to go back to them. I present to you the following movie-based evidence of this (since I’m pretty sure there’s also some in the novels):

Several bits of dialogue suggest (to me) that the relationship between the VKs and their parents is based primarily on fear. The Rotten Four are scared of the consequences that come with disobeying their family, of retribution:

Directly below are the Rotten Four after their FaceTime/Zoom call with their parents on the Isle. As you can see, they look anything but happy. Jay’s expression specifically stands out to me as particularly emotional… he looks so distraught just to see and hear his father again…

Also, this scene in D2 is a brilliant (for lack of a better word) example that really emphasizes the point.

Mal:Carlos, don’t you ever miss screaming at people and just making them run away from you?

Carlos:

Carlos’ expression in the first frame says it all. He’s looking at Mal as if she’s crazy for even asking — of course he doesn’t miss his mother, and none of the VKs should.

Scenes with Uma and her mother also highlight this anti-parent theme well:

Uma’s mother, crashing the Shop with her tentacles, and zero regard for anyone’s safety or life. And here we also see Uma reassuring her crew that everything is fine after Ursula does this. The fact that Uma even has to ensure her crew’s safety also speaks volumes about what it’s like to live with villainous parents, and how said parents don’t give two shits about their kids.

I cannot emphasize the established canon enough, and it is a wonder to me how the writers in D3 ever forgot this.

On the other side, I understand how some VKs do want to see their parents again. Dizzy, Celia, Squeaky + Squirmy have good parental relationships, so obviously these characters would be excited to see their families after leaving to Auradon.

So, given all this…

For some reason, at the end of D3 we still see the Rotten Four suddenly excited to see their parents? And running across the bridge towards them ecstatically? I do like parts of D3 but this last scene is especially irritating. D3 erased a lot of characterization that D1 and D2 established, and it was just so random for Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos to suddenly forget the years of terror and abuse their parents imbued in them, and get excited to see them again.

It’s just incredibly irritating to me, and I will forever be confused about the complete destruction of canon in the last 10 minutes of D3.

Also if you look closely Harry and Uma stay together — in arms reach — when they’re gathering weapons:

So in this scene in d3 Harry and Uma were definitely going to hold hands and no one can change my mind.

Just //the way// they’re looking at each other I literally can’t–

So I was looking through clips of D2 and I noticed an interesting dynamic in Uma’s crew that could really add to her backstory.

All of Uma’s crew members seem pretty damn loyal to her, with the exception of this random guy:

InWhat’s My Name, he’s immediately introduced to us as the potential (albeit minor and lesser-known) antagonist/opposition to Uma’s leadership. Here he is strutting his machismo about like some kind of testosterone-filled peacock:

…only to get immediately demolished by Harry and Uma’s joint awesome-ness…

Despite getting his ass handed to him, he persists to be a frankly irritating challenger to Uma’s leadership. This guy keeps cropping up all throughout What’s My Name in the most random places. I so-happened to be looking at this Huma scene of Harry and Uma clashing their swords together, and there he is again! Pay attention to our guy in the background to Harry’s right:

Here dude is again, darting forward to attack Uma with all his might. Just look at the combo of determination and crazy on this dude’s face; he is ready to do damage:

…fortunately for us, Harry is awesome, and knocks him back with his arm. This is seen in the video above. I never actually realized that Harry was simultaneously defending Uma and clashing swords with her. Pretty cool.

Another thing: When Ursula attacks with her tentacle to break up the happy group, the entire crew freaks out, ducks for cover, and then looks at the offending party (Ursula), and said offending party’s tentacle. But our machismo guy looks directly at Uma: he clearly blames Uma (and by extension her mother) for almost maiming everyone in the Shop. Again, just look at the way this guy is acting in the bottom left:

He is so annoyed with Uma for this situation, as if Ursula’s destruction is somehow Uma’s fault… or as if Uma intentionally let her mom swoop in here with her tentacle. You’ll notice in the second photo he’s literally pointing at someone with his fingers — this could be at Uma, or Ursula’s tentacle which just disappeared. There are clearly some serious leadership conflicts going on here, and it’s just another avenue I think would be really interesting to explore considering Uma’s backstory. (You know, if Disney ever gives Uma + crew a more developed one. *coughs pointedly*).

Further questions as follows:

Why is this dude so disloyal to Uma?

Does he want to be the captain of the crew, and considers himself more worthy or fit to lead for various undisclosed reasons?

Has he caused trouble for Uma in the past? Will he ever cause trouble in the future?

If both Harry and Uma know he is, on some level, a threat, why keep him around at all?