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Disney Villains - Blog Posts
I wasn’t going to reblog, but it was too cute to ignore. I love this film, and Frollo’s stupid hat.
Ratigan - The Great Mouse Detective (1986) Ursula - The Little Mermaid (1989) Hades - Hercules (1997)
Had to throw my hat in the ring.
Credit to the maker of the OG meme: https://x.com/sweepswoop_?s=21
Do any of the villains have fears or aversions because of their deaths? Does Cruella get anxious around cars, is Gaston scared of heights, etc?
Love this question! The villains that were resurrected DEFINITELY have some residual trauma that Disney couldn’t care less to acknowledge!
(Also I’m to excited to start answering questions, so here’s an early treat)
Disney Villains and Their Fears
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Since cars are so different now than they were in the 50’s, Cruella doesn’t have much of a reaction to them. A Honda civic doesn’t illicit much fear. But if someone revs their car loudly or an engine sputters, she’ll definitely take a few steps back. Depending on how one views it, since the villains are prohibited from leaving the park’s grounds, it’s fortunate that Cruella hasn’t had the opportunity to travel in a car. She will secretly avert her eyes if the other villains are watching a show that depicts a car accident.
Some of the villains fears don’t seem as prominent unless they’re in very specific situations
For the villains with fear of heights, it won’t really show since there aren’t many situations in the Disney parks where they’d be up high
Not only does Gaston have a newfound fear of heights, he’ll also get anxious during rainstorms/lightning. It ALWAYS storms in Florida, so this doesn’t bode well for the Frenchman. If a park member tells him to go outside, he’ll make an excuse to avoid it. Probably something to do with not ruining his hair….
This goes for Ratigan as well. He’ll also flinch whenever he hears a clock chiming, it’s such a subtle gesture that most people wouldn’t even notice. I like to think that goes for most loud noises now or anything that shakes him off balance.
Frollo isn’t scared of heights, but DO NOT let him near open flames. That’s a one way ticket to seeing the ex-judge have a panic attack. Actually, that goes for heat in general. You will seldom see him outside on days above 75 degrees.
Bill Sykes has a pretty bad reaction to the sound of train horns, and trains in general. You will not see his ass near the monorail.
You’ll never see Clayton in his once iconic ascot, or anything around his neck in general. Even the feeling of his own hair against his neck makes him choke, it’s why he demands a haircut biweekly. The company can complain all they want about wanting him to remain “recognizable”, but nothing is going to make Clayton’s neck concealed again.
Both Maleficent and Ursula avoid sharp objects. You’ll probably be yelled at by Maleficent for holding a pair of scissors near her.
Even though he didn’t die in the film, Honest John wants to keep himself and Gideon as far away from the Coachman as possible. The fox will go through hoops just to avoid being in the general area of the Coachman. Guilt is something Honest John rarely feels, but he regrets meeting the “man” every day of his life.
Maleficent : Bitch give me a fry
(Y/N): Is that how you ask?
Maleficent : Bitch please give me a fry
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Hades: When talking to (Y/N), remember to keep it light and casual. Use our conversation starters if you get in trouble.
Hook: Light and casual, got it.
*5 minutes into at date with (Y/N)*
Hook: IM GOING INTO LABOR
*Jafar watching from the bushes*: He’s pulling the pregnancy card THIS EARLY?!
*Hades watching through binoculars next to Jafar*: If he U-turns the conversation back to cardboard manufacturing we might clutch this
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The other villains: BEHOLD! The town goth has left their house!
(Y/N): Bring me the country music loving farm boy
Alameda: NO! NO NO YALL LET ME GO
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Gothel: Can’t a poor woman like me ever have a little fun?
(Y/N): Yeah, everyone likes to have fun.
Gothel: You like to have fun too~?
(Y/N): I mean—you’re asking about me? I mean, yeah I like too~
Gothel: Oh, yeah~?
(Y/N), annoyed: I already said yes.
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(Y/N): I have 3 dollars and 24 cents. Do something to me
Maleficent: *spits on them*
(Y/N): I love you. I wanna take you away from all of this
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Bill Sykes: They hate to see a bad bitch from New Jersey win
Happy Halloween everyone 🎃 👻!!!!!! I got invited to the Hollows Eve Ball by the lovely Onix, who belongs to @cosmiconix !!! I can’t wait meet everyone at the Hollows Eve Ball! I’m dressed as the classic black cat for Halloween!
These two pics from tik tok inspired my outfit:
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️OMG Arianna would totally do this!!!! I love it ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️😍❤️!!!!!!!!!
“How People see Lucas” and “How Lucas Acts meeting People”
Oh yeah- and “The first Villain Lucas have tried talking to”
@theclassiccake @championstar456
“How to make the old man have friends?”
Words cannot describe how much I love this!!!!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺
I know this would be weird but here’s my villain Oc working at the house of mouse instead of hanging out with the other villains, he only works because he wants to get rid of his depression and start a new life (but it doesn’t mean he can’t be evil anymore 😈). Mickey accepted him and he promised not to do any “evil stuff”...he’s a little nervous at meeting other people because he thinks he could be a disappointment to others (pst- he’s very nice- especially when it comes to kids).... he works as a chef by the way!
Oh yeah before anything else-
Never forget these two 😃
@theclassiccake @championstar456
Based on one of @theclassiccake posts, it inspired me to write a fanfic about it. I love her art so much!!! I want to let you know this is the first time I wrote fanfic so I’m sorry if this cringe for you.
This is the post that inspired me https://theclassiccake.tumblr.com/post/662093490559303680/so-championstar456-had-this-idea-where-arianna
The Fanfic is basically about how Arianna met Clayton.
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“There is nowhere to run! I can’t escape!” Arianna thought as she was being cornered by Shere Khan.
Arianna has started her first day working at the House of Mouse after she found out her best friend Valerie worked here. Everything was fine as she served food to characters at every table. Valerie asked Arianna if she could serve food for the next table because the next customer that Valerie was serving food for made her uncomfortable. Arianna agreed her request without hesitation because she trusted Valerie. “What could have possibly gone wrong”Arianna wondered.
Two things went wrong. One, the customer that made Valerie uncomfortable was the tiger villain, Shere Khan. Two, Shere Khan is known for hating humans with passion, so you can predict how it went.
Now we are at the scene where Shere Khan is about to eat Arianna. “I don’t want to die like this!” Arianna mentally screamed as she was shaking with fear. She couldn’t call Valerie, the staff, or the characters for help since they were far away from the scene. She closed her eyes, tearing up a bit as she was about to get eaten by Shere Khan.
“BANG!”. Arianna opened her eyes as she see where that shot came from. What she saw in front of her was an tall, muscular man. He wore an yellow hunting shirt, green pants, and an red arscost around his neck. He was pointing his rifle at Shere Khan, glaring at him. Arianna recognize him as the villain from the Tarzan movie, Clayton. She was surprised a villain would save her from an another villain.
“Get back you lazy beast!” shouted Clayton as he was getting ready to shoot another bullet at Shere Khan. “Tch. Must you interrupt my meal Clayton” Shere Khan snided at the hunter. Clayton smirked at the tiger, “You know, Cruella has begin getting into stripes lately. She would be estatic if she received a coat made of tiger fur”. The tiger harden his glare at hunter, bringing out his claws as he was ready to attack him.
“What on earth is happening here!?” cried a familiar mouse. Mickey was told by one of the characters that someone was being attacked by Shere Khan. Mickey rushed over to prevent any further damage. As Mickey scolded the tiger that the staff weren’t food, Clayton turned around and faced Arianna.
“Are you alright madam?” Clayton asked the waitress.
Arianna couldn’t help but be entranced by his bravery and accent. She pondered if Clayton was always this handsome. “Yes, thank you for saving me” Arianna thanked the hunter.
“I must say, are you perhaps new here? I don’t think I recognize you here before” Clayton questioned Arianna. She responded, “Actually yes, I started working here. My name is Arianna” Arianna introduced herself.
“My dear, you should be careful around these wretched beasts. They would sooner tear your head off than look at you”Clayton stated. It was natural for him say that since obviously he is an hunter and he hates animals, but I know he was just warning me to be careful. “I’ll keep that in mind, thank you for the warning”
“After all, it would be such a shame if a beauty, such as yourself, was wasted away” Clayton charmingly said. Arianna could feel her cheeks heating up, she was flustered that Clayton would say to someone like her. “Now if you will excuse me, there is a group I need to meet up with. It has been lovely to meet you love” Clayton smiled at the waitress and went to table where Hook and Gaston were sitting.
Even as Arianna watched Clayton, her heart still kept beating fast. Despite knowing he is an hunter villain, she couldn’t help but adore the British gentleman. Arianna wondered is this what love at first sight felt like.
“ARIANNA!!” shouted Valerie as she ran to Arianna and hugged her. “Are you alright?! I heard what happened!!!. I’m so sorry I had to put you up with this. I should have done that order instead of you” said Valerie who felt guilty for putting her best friend in this situation. “Don’t worry about, no one could have predicted this would happened. Besides I was saved by someone so everything is fine now” assured Arianna.
“I guess your first day at work went bad huh” Valerie commented.
“Not really…” The memory of her first meeting Clayton played in her mind, “I may have developed a crush on someone” Arianna smiled dreamily.
Valerie was amused by her response, she was well aware how Arianna was always into romance. “Oh really, which dashing hero saved you?” Valerie curiously asked, she was grateful that one of the characters saved her. She should thank that person when she meets them. Arianna sheepishly smiled “Welllll…. it was Clayton” Arianna blushed as she said the hunter’s name.
“……WHAT?!?!?!?!?”. Valerie now was flabbergasted. What on earth happened while she was serving customers
❤️❤️❤️❤️I FRICKIN LOVE THIS!!!!THANK YOU!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️ THIS POST JUST MADE MY DAY!!!!!!!!
So @championstar456 had this idea where Arianna (their oc) and Clayton meet for the first time after a confrontation with Shere Khan. I thought I'd draw it out. ❤❤❤ :^]
Sorry if this seems messy, animals are h a r d to draw
Drew doodles of Disney villains and my House of Mouse oc, Arianna, interacting with @theclassiccake House of Mouse oc, Valerie!
Here is @theclassiccake House of Mouse self-insert chatting with my House of Mouse self-insert chatting our crushes on villains. I completely understand your obsession with Dr.Facilier 😆, I am obsessed with Clayton. I’m wearing a waitress outfit because I thought it will be a cute idea! I hope you like this drawing!
Go follow @kissentz her art is amazing!!!
some alameda slim for @songwithfivenames~
Been a while since I posted about this guy
I did something with this @blapis-blazuli
(puts this guy on your dash for no reason) do what you want with this idk
I love him,,,, best villain and he’s a burlap sack. step up
Last chapter of The Great Wish Movie Rewrite up today!!!!!!
Guys!!!!!! The last chapter of The Great Wish Movie Rewrite is up today!!! Read here: Link
This rewrite was so much fun! It was especially pressing for me since we can all agree Magnifico deserved better! Haha. It's a good thing we can always rewrite these things if we need to, and have a lot of fun doing it, too! Thanks to everyone who read this novelization/rewrite to the end! Link
Excerpt: Chapter Ten: Rosas Restored
Magnifico awoke on top of his tower.
The hopeful hum of the wishes had returned.
He sat up on the stone cold floor, and stared at them floating in the dawn with utter reverence for so long he almost forgot his kingdom was still in ruins.
He reached out to let one land on a finger. “How glorious.”
The skies above told him two days had passed since he'd entered the black hole.
He had so much time before him now.
Magnifico got to his feet, and walked out onto the edge of a platform. He looked down upon his kingdom of sticky rubble and wreck. “I have a great deal of amends to make,” he sighed as he bowed his head. "And I do not blame my people if they do not forgive me after this."
The first thing he did was to snap his dark staff in two, and toss it over the tower's side into the sea. He picked up his old, less potent sceptre and used it to close up his tower again, its spiked platforms folding in from their star shape back into a dome that protected the wishes once more. Then he went down from his tower, out into the streets where he used it to stop the rhinoceros still barreling around. He shrunk the animal down to the size of a mouse, and gave it to a little girl skipping past to keep as a pet, and she was too overjoyed to be scared of him when he handed it to her.
“Why bless my soul! It’s Magnifico,” said a peasant woman when she saw him strolling around the town, putting things back in order.
“It is I!” he said as he shot down the dragon with a fiery arrow from his scepter, that crashed down into the forest, and he looked so disarmingly cheerful that a grin nearly escaped her as she took in his metamorphosis, and everyone wondered what had come over him a second time.
Magnifico was in such high spirits that if he were wearing a crown and it was knocked off his head by the wind, he'd have been too cheerful to notice and gone right on without it.
Next he sealed up the tears in the earth, then herded the stampede of unicorns into a gated pasture to give to Farmer Finnegan as an apology for destroying his other livelihood, after which he turned to the dark castle he’d grown out of the ground and shrunk it into a merry go round for children to ride in the middle of his courtyard. He found that everything could be reshaped into something joyful.
“Good morning sir!” he said to the baker as he put his bakery back in order with a few zaps. “Such a fine craft you’ve perfected. I have always held it in high regard."
Once all his paradoxes and anomalies had been sorted out with some serious conundrum-solving that left his head in a guddle, and he was sure each of his subjects were as safe as could be, he went down to the edge of the forest where he found Asha and Star Boy bouncing up and down on a discarded trampoline in the shade of the trees, and walked up to them.
The pale white wand in Asha's hand had been mended, and she held it carelessly above her head as she bounced, a few sparks leaking out its end that she didn't even notice.
"A fine day to you!" Magnifico called to them, and their mouths fell open at the sight of him. They ceased bouncing. "What have we here, my dears? Let's have a look." He approached them with a smile on his face.
Asha's face scrunched up into the same one she'd made when her Saba's wish had been yanked from her days earlier. “Go away," she told the king. "Everyone was a lot better off without you. Do you think anyone is going to listen to a big stupid-head when they could listen to me? People just have to believe in themselves to make their dreams come true. You just have to follow your heart, and anything is possible. All it takes is a little faith and a wish upon a star.”
“Enough of these idiotic phrases.” Magnifico plucked the mended wand from her hand, and snapped it in two with a satisfying crunch.
Asha's face went pale, and her jaw nearly hit the ground.
"Asha, it seems you’ve finally earned yourself a proper sentence," he said, and raised his sceptre, but Star Boy was ready, and the fire he shot from his palms collided with Magnifico's spell.
But this time, the fire was no match for the white light bursting from the king's sceptre, and the star was not prepared to be hurled backward into the trees like a worthless gnat.
Star Boy emerged from the prickly plants with the look of a crumpled fly, his hair, full of prickers, sticking up as if he'd been electrocuted. He staggered forward, too dizzy to walk straight, and cried, "The earth's a mess, there's no more delight, I'm done with this, time to take flight." He shook his hair back to normal as he leapt into the air, and a suitcase materialised in his hand. "I've had my fill, this game's a bore, I can't take humans anymore. I'm packing my bags, going off with a zoom, no more human games, I'll return to the moon."
"Wait!" called Asha as Star Boy disappeared in a streak of light like a comet, right after which Magnifico sealed up the Eclipse Enclosure behind him with his sceptre, stronger and more secure than ever, ensuring he could never breach the realm again.
Asha's lip trembled as she watched.
Magnifico turned to her. "For your insolence, you will tend the chickens kept by your people day after day, from sunrise to sunset. No magic, no shortcuts. You will protect them and learn to do some good for society." And with a flash, he transported her back to the Hamlet, where she materialised surrounded by chickens inside a run closed off with barbed wire, outside which she could not step foot without getting a zap.
From then on, Asha had no choice but to follow the chickens, feed them, sweep up their dirty hay, and gather their eggs, all to the tune of relentless clucking. With no escape, she slowly, but eventually learned to focus on her tasks until she found a strange rhythm in the routine that wasn't quite pleasure, though she was no longer restless and wishful.
The same night she received her sentence, Magnifico gathered his guards into a search party to find Amaya, who had gone into hiding after his disappearance.
"I fear she is like a serpent in tall grass, watching and waiting to strike," he told his guards. "She must be found and captured at once."
It was only midnight when his guards returned with his wife, who had been hiding out in a cave in the forest.
"Magnifico, I was possessed," she tried to lie as the guards dragged her off to the dungeons. "I do not know what came over me. It was the dark magic, I swear it was." Her protests faded as she was marched down the dark lower stairwell out of sight. Finish reading: Link
Chapter 9 of The Great Wish Movie Rewrite is up on AO3!
Read it here! Link
Guys, only one more chapter to go after this one! It's been so much fun posting this rewrite! Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading! I can't wait to start the next movie rewrite soon!
In this chapter Magnifico gets sucked into his own black hole of misused magic, and goes through a change.
Excerpt: Magnifico was towed downward by the black hole’s current, the edges of his robes unraveling into threads. He felt himself stretching, as if time itself was taking him apart, strand by strand. Space had swapped places with time, and hurled him toward the void’s inevitable singularity. His head and feet pulled in opposite directions as intense gravity stretched him unthinkably thin.
As his torso elongated, his legs did not immediately catch up, and the pressure on his head intensified. His arms and legs became uselessly long threads. Horrifically, the magic in his blood denied him death until he became a smeared streak, when his soul was finally released, then he floated out of himself.
Magnifico, now immaterial, continued his descent, then, below, in the blackness from which no light could escape, he began to see dozens of embers. It turns out some light survives after passing through the event horizon’s boundary. As Magnifico sank deeper, time crawled slower and slower, and the lights, getting closer, grew brighter, revealing themselves to be dimming stars. Not alive like the one he’d met, but cold, colourless orbs.
Gravity no longer affected him, so Magnifico floated leisurely through their midst.
The stars’ surfaces were webbed with cracks that spilled streams of gold like blood. Some flickered weakly, while others were grey and lightless, perhaps dead, but they were all doomed to spin round together in the current. One floated through Magnifico, its edges curled inward as if it were devouring itself. They clustered in groups, grazing each other, shedding shards of brilliance like falling snow, while a few floated alone, then disappeared into the blackness beyond. Magnifico watched one brighter star shrink away from him as if it knew he were there.
He watched the creeping shadows where the star vanished, that were creating patterns around him: an endless staircase led downward, each step dripping with despair as it dissolved into nothingness, then the shadows became piercing shards that hurled themselves at him, and stabbed through him, though they only passed through him like smoke. These burst into fragments like pieces of glass from his terrible mirrors, and Magnifico finally saw his own reflection in them. The eyes of his shadow self were empty and sunken, and he did not recognise himself.
The darkness closed in, and laughter rang out from each of his reflections, then Magnifico realised they were one and the same with him. At this understanding the dark magic's grip loosened a tiny bit, and he knew that to reclaim his sanity, he would have to confront these distortions of himself.
As he drifted further down, a shadow formed into the shape of a man.
“Is that. . .?” Now Magnifico knew he was dead. “I think I remember you.” The words he’d said to Asha earlier, during her interview echoed through his mind: “He was a philosopher, was he not? Had great magic running through his blood. Always warning people about the consequences of getting whatever your heart desires. . .”
It was him. Asha’s father, the renowned philosopher. The tall man with a short beard and an eyepatch over his right eye, whose hair still stuck straight up after being killed by lightning, spoke. “Remember when magic was the pursuit of knowledge, not a weapon of tyranny?”
Magnifico studied the philosopher, then he nearly laughed. “I should have known you would appear here to mock me. You always were popping up at the most inconvenient of times. But save your laughter. You speak falsely. Magic is not knowledge, it is power. That is all it has ever been.” He found communicating intuitive despite no longer having a body, and could not explain how.
Time became so slow it was as if they no longer moved at all, and Magnifico could not look away from the man.
“Is that all the philosophy you have gained in one and sixty years?” The philosopher’s gaze pierced him. “Or have you forgotten yourself in the midst of wielding power so mindlessly?”
Finish reading here: Link
Chapter 8 of The Great Wish Movie Rewrite up on AO3!
Read here! Link
When Asha is appointed the people's new fairy godmother, she and Star Boy start a civil war. Magnifico confronts them, and dark magic corrupts him further.
Excerpt: Chapter Eight: Civil War
"What's your opinion of our fairy godmother?"
"Your what?"
"Our fairy godmother. She promised she’s going to give us literally whatever we want."
"And who--"
Just then, Asha flashed across his vision, robed in a flowing lavender cape with a hood, a big pink bow under her chin, the slim, white wand between her fingers, then she disappeared behind a tannery, and Magnifico swore he could hear the star's laugh not far behind her.
"Enough!" he yelled. "Enough. There are too many of you." And he pushed through the flock, then stormed back into his castle.
For the next week, Magnifico busied himself staring into his book, which hypnotised him more and more, and there were less moments when the green subsided from his vision. He barely noticed anything else, until one day when a commotion outside grew especially loud. Through a window, he glimpsed the silhouettes of Asha and Star Boy causing more chaos in the village. Deep furrows carved into his brow, and his eyes narrowed as his mouth turned down into a scowl. He had to do something about them, but his fascination with learning forbidden magic was a distraction.
Finally the noise became too loud to ignore, and Magnifico snapped his book shut, then crept down from his tower, and, keeping to the shadows, made his way to the town square where his enemies were fooling around. He pressed his back against a pillar, peering around its edge.
Asha twirled through the village with her wand, the sparkles coming out its end trailing in the breeze behind her. She looked determined to use it at every turn. Meanwhile Star Boy, perched nearby on an awning, revelled in the spectacle, egging Asha on with laughter as he clapped. “Go on Asha! Don’t be shy! Make it bigger, reach the sky!”
Asha basked in the attention, giggling as she made a baker’s oven grow to the size of a dragon. The oven roared and shot balls of magma from its chamber with startling rumbles.
“I only asked for a small upgrade.” Mr. Burphy watched with hands to his forehead as his bakery was caught up in flames.
“Oops! Sorry!” Asha tried fanning away the smoke with her wand, when someone tapped her on the shoulder so she turned.
“Can I have two hundred cupcakes for free?” the spoiled little boy who was now a man asked her.
“You totally can,” she said with her back to the catastrophe, and granted his wish as the bakery’s roof fell in behind her. From the tip of her wand, a poof of cupcakes materialised, each swirled with frosting in every shade of the rainbow, topped with glittering sprinkles. They multiplied rapidly, spilling out into the street, causing an old lady to slip. The young man clapped and cheered as the bakery’s fire was forgotten in the whirlwind of frosting and sprinkles.
Star Boy twirled around a lamppost he’d moved to. “Haha, Asha, what a scene! They’ll never be able to get this clean!”
Magnifico’s frown deepened. In the grip of dark magic, he could care less about the smoke billowing from Mr. Burphy’s bakery or flames licking the edges of market stalls. His focus was entirely on his rivals. Their antics were an affront to his carefully curated image of control. Each burst of confection seemed to mock his authority. Magnifico’s fingers tapped against the pillar as he plotted how he could kill Asha and Star Boy spectacularly in front of everyone.
Asha scampered towards the other side of town, where a young lass wished for a pet rhinoceros. Her wand waved, and out popped a massive, thick-skinned mammal with a sharp horn protruding from its snout. It promptly started chasing Star Boy, knocking over everything and sending townsfolk running in all directions. The star led it in circles, his chronic snickering encouraging it.
“Okay, not what I intended,” laughed Asha as a young man was almost paralyzed when he was kicked backwards into a wall. She produced a lasso made of sparkles she tried to corral the creature with, but it only entangled a couple peasants who became enchanted, then joined the creature in its dizzying dance.
Finally Star Boy shook the creature off, and floated up beside Asha to cheer, “Well well, look at them go! They are putting on quite a show!” He flew high above the fleeing peasants and ruined buildings, just in time to watch as the statue of King Magnifico got its head knocked off. It fell to the ground where it smashed into a thousand pieces. The once orderly kingdom was a wreck.
By now the entire village gathered to confront Asha, encircling her, all covered in many things from ashes to glitter to pie filling. Some were covered in blood.
“Okay, okay,” Asha shouted over the angry mob, her wand waving frantically to try and undo the mess she’d created. “I’ll fix everything. It’s not that big of a deal. Just give me a second.”
Magnifico, looking around the wall of a smouldering shoe shop, let his lips curl into a smirk. “The entire village gathered into one spot,” he thought. “How convenient.” His grasp tightened around his staff, and he imagined Asha and Star Boy, surrounded by the throng of disgruntled subjects, meeting their end in a climatic show before them all.
But before he stepped out to reveal himself, he watched curiously as the peasants slipped on frosting and the rhinoceros barreled past, then an even darker grin spread across his face. Why end this when he could plunge the town into even greater disarray, just for the joy of it? Perhaps Asha and Star Boy were on to something. His ungrateful subjects deserved a lesson, and granting wishes could indeed be great fun. With sudden, wicked inspiration, Magnifico decided to join them.
He walked out into plain view. "Ho, ho, ho!” he announced, his voice a booming parody of cheerfulness. “Who’s ready for a wish?”
The townsfolk, momentarily stunned by the sight of their feared king, hesitated, before their eyes lit up with hope, and typically, they immediately forgot he’d recently committed a murder. His subjects ran up to him with gleaming eyes. “I want a dragon!” one squealed. “I wish for a castle!” another called out.
Magnifico’s staff glowed with dark magic as he waved it theatrically. For each wish, he conjured grand manifestations in flashes of green. A dragon with ebony scales and evil eyes appeared, hissing as it coiled around the square, thrashing buildings to splinters with a barbed tail. A castle of shadowy spires rose from the ground, its piercing turrets sending subjects scattering out of their way.
Asha and Star Boy, hanging back, watching the king from the sidelines with open mouths, soon crept forward, their shocked, suspicious expressions melting into ones of excitement.
“Look at that!” Asha clapped her hands. “Magnifico’s really getting into the spirit!”
Star Boy hovered beside her, a smile splitting his face. “He’s making this a grand display! I’ve never seen wishes done this way!” He flew around the dragon, darting in and out of its coils as it crushed Farmer Finnegan’s garden.
Magnifico’s shoulders shook with laughter as he watched the unrest. Each time a wish was fulfilled, the kingdom was wrecked further. Galloping unicorns with stabbing horns, mountains of gold coins that squashed his subjects, and stupider suggestions still, all executed with poorest judgement.
“This is the best!” Asha turned to Magnifico. “See how sharing is caring? It’s so much fun to make dreams come true.”
Magnifico’s laughter rang louder. The more carnage he created, the more his sense of control returned. But as the evening wore on, his generosity revealed its true cost: a wish for endless sweets resulted in clogged streets, and when a drizzle started, it melted into sticky sugar that ruined everything it touched, so people’s demands turned into abstract contradictions. One woman, caught in the deluge of stickiness, wished loudly, “Only I should be able to make wishes!” at the same time as another man. These pleas warped materiality, so that every time either of them made a wish, their personal reality became disconnected from the rest of the kingdom, fulfilling their desires in isolated loops of their own making.
Matters were convoluted further when Mr. Burphy, desperate to reclaim his bakery, cried out, “All wishes should have good results!” The effect was that everyone began to disbelieve in magic, because things remained the same when no one could define good, let alone understand what was good for them. Subjective wishes couldn’t become objective realities, filling the people with doubt so they began fighting amongst themselves.
Another woman, driven by desperation, wished to transport herself to a future where she could escape the troubles, but didn't anticipate the consequences when the total matter of the universe, which needs to remain constant, was disturbed by her appearance, causing an anomaly that resulted in a catastrophic explosion when she arrived. Time travel, unlike producing things from thin air, does not simply relocate mass. The more Magnifico’s subjects tried to mend things, the more tangled everything became.
“I wish you’d go somewhere far away!” a disgruntled scrivener, shaking a fist, yelled at Magnifico, so the staff in his hand winked, and with a sputtering pop, the king vanished. Moments later, he reappeared, robes singed. Crystals clung to his hair and clothes and he collapsed to his knees. His vision had narrowed to a pinprick, and he had a feeling in his chest of being crushed that left him gasping for breath. He was scarred from briefly visiting a silicon dimension inhospitable to carbon atoms. “No more wishes!” he barked, slamming his staff into the ground to heal himself from the consequences of travelling there under High-G acceleration.
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Chapter 7 of The Great Wish Movie Rewrite up on AO3!
It's up! Guys, I'm excited, Star Boy comes on the scene today. Read the story here: Link
Excerpt: Chapter Seven: The Duel
The Hamlet, a mossy place secluded by forest, where inhabitants made bread from pinecone flour, and kept more chickens than charts or charms, came into view. The moon cast it in sharp-edged shadows as Magnifico readied his staff, murmuring last incantations over it. Before leaving the castle, he’d imbued it with extra power from the night sky, using a spell from his only remaining book, the one he’d been reluctant to use because of its relation to dark sorcery.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” he told himself, though he’d immediately locked the book away again after referencing this spell. He thought mournfully of the rest of his destroyed resources, original manuscripts he’d compiled, containing centuries of study by other sorcerers. “Now I have no idea what a star might be capable of.” He caressed his staff’s fine point that could stab if needed. “The hour has come.”
The carriage silently rolled to a stop behind a towering oak thick as a dragon’s tail, just on the hollow’s edge. Magnifico looked to the driver and raised a finger to his lips, then motioned for him to drive away unseen, as he stepped out into the Hamlet, and the crunch of leaves, which set a carpet of gold beneath his boots, was concealed by ceaseless clucking as chickens talked in their sleep inside their roosts.
The hollow’s modest shielings, stone houses shaped like mushroom-caps, unadorned except by moss or the occasional clothes-line, stood huddled close together, intertwined with roots of trees for protection. The humble hollow did not look like the kind of place to hide a criminal. The king held his staff before him to light the way as he crept between the shieling huts and oaks tall as mountains. As he stepped over a root as thick as one of the castle's pillars, his foot landed on a pinecone, and he clasped a hand over his mouth when he nearly screamed. Just as he approached the centre of the cluster of homes, the staff began humming faintly, its sound growing in intensity.
As the king crept, the staff’s hum shifted in pitch, resonating with a particularly small shieling hut which he paused in front of. He noted a faint glow seeping through its rough, timbre framed windows, and the murmur of voices within. Even muffled by stone walls, self-satisfied pauses emanated, it was the girl showing off, he knew that. Without hesitation, Magnifico raised his staff, then forced the door open with a bang.
The conversation stopped abruptly as Asha’s gaze met his, the recognition in her eyes confirming what the staff already indicated. Its sharp end was pointed up at the star hovering inches below the aisins.
“What folly is this?”
“It isn’t folly at all! It’s simply glorious!” The star did a somersault in the air.
He was a flicker of ghostfire in the form of a young man. Clad in changing hues of white, topaz, and misty red, his clothes echoed the night sky. His bright eyes held glints of mischief, and moving with grace, his cape trailed sparks behind him as he flew in and out the aisins, twisted a picture frame, peeked into a drawer, then sent a stack of books tumbling from a shelf, as if dropping stones from the sky. The playful spirit who’d come down from the heavens laughed, each note twinkling like a warning sign.
The star continued doing flips in the air as he addressed the king. “You see, mighty king, with a crown shining bright, the stars in the heavens dance all through the night. They laugh at your trials, they chuckle with glee, as they dance in the moonlight, wild and free. They meddle for fun, oh, but fret not dear king, for your country will fall, but it’s a burdensome thing.”
Asha laughed, and though she had a hand over her mouth, she looked impressed. “Star Boy,” she said.
Magnifico’s eyes blazed as he raised his staff, and he unleashed a striking green beam that cut through the air. Star Boy, now idly twirling a ribbon of stardust around his finger, tried to dodge, but was struck directly in the heart, and like a mosquito swatted, fell to the ground with an expression of stunned surprise, his stardust trail dim and scattered.
From the floor he looked up at Magnifico, shaking off the remnants of the spell’s green glow. “All right, you’ve got me, you’ve proven your might, I underestimated you, and I’ve lost the fight.” He grinned, then added, “But watch your step king, as you tread. Anger the stars and you’ll find yourself dead.”
Magnifico’s staff crackled again, and he struck at Star Boy with a wave of green fire. The house’s beams groaned under the strain of magic, and shards of stone rained down.
Star Boy darted around, a streak of incomprehensible light, and he paused only to withdraw something from his pocket, a slim, pale stick he tossed down to Asha. “Take this wand, a gift from the heavens. You’re a fairy godmother now, my dear.”
“Aeeeeegh!” Asha let out an excited screech as she caught it.
The wand was swiftly knocked from her hand by a wave of Magnifico’s staff. “You are both banished from the realm for threatening my kingdom.” He raised it again, when Star Boy, hovering just out of reach, laughed as he conjured a torrent of fire, and flames lashed out from his palms, catching Magnifico’s cloak in a dance of light and heat.
Asha scurried forward to her wand, and brandished it as he stomped on the flames. With a quick flick, she sent a stream of light to blind the king. The spell struck his eyes in a burst of bright sparks, so he staggered back. He growled as he struggled to regain control.
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Chapter 5 & 6 of The Great Wish Movie Rewrite Up on AO3
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Excerpt: Chapter Five: A Mysterious Light
That night, the king did the same thing he did after every Wish Ceremony, and sought solace in his observatory to avoid those who felt badly done by, and because he could not face their tears.
"How I long for simpler times," he said to himself, "when my only concern was learning the names of stars." He remembered a peasant who’d once told him he was so devastated at his chance to have his wish granted being pulled out from under him, that after that ceremony, he could not whistle again for a whole week.
The king moved to a nearby shelf lined with books, and pulled out a weathered volume, its spine cracked and pages yellowed. He flipped through its diagrams and notes, seeking to distract himself, before his gaze wandered to an ornate clock on the wall, its hands ticking steadily.
“Midnight,” he realised, “in just a few seconds. It is still very early in the night.”
He shut the book, and no sooner had he lifted it to put it back on the shelf, than a blinding light cracked across the sky, and the hopeful hum of the wishes ceased inside his Wish Chamber.
“What?”
Magnifico burst into the chamber. “No. It cannot be.” He found the wishes quaking like leaves, not dancing, but dimming, and some even rolled across the floor like mere balls of pigskin. No warm glow greeted him, and the air in the chamber hung cold around him. “What has happened here?” He rushed to the room’s centre, gazing up at the terrible sight.
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Chapter 4 of The Great Wish Movie Rewrite is up on AO3
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Blurb: Magnifico kept his shoulders back and head held high as he stepped through his castle’s arched entranceway, into the grand, circular courtyard’s expanse, onto the stage where he’d face his hardest task as king: choosing one person’s deepest desire out of the thousands of tear-wet, expectant faces peering back up at him.
He announced himself to the sea of breathless souls by casting spells with sweeping gestures. With each wave of a hand, radiant, variegated star showers unfurled through the air that transformed into delicate butterflies, and gasps of awe rippled through the courtyard as they left trails of sparkling hope behind them that rained down gently, in the king’s attempt to raise spirits before he would, inevitably, leave some of them broken-hearted, their sobs destined to disturb his dreams for years to come.
Magnifico’s voice, amplified by a spell, echoed across the courtyard. “My dear subjects.” He raised his arms as if to embrace. “On this enchanting night, as the stars illuminate our beloved kingdom, it is not only good to see you, but also an honour to be seen by you. I am deeply moved by the sight of all of you gathered here. Your presence brings warmth to my heart, and a profound sense of gratitude. In your faces, I find the strength and resilience that define our people, and it is your unwavering spirit that guides me in all I do."
Cheers rose to a crescendo, and tears glistened in the eyes of each person as they applauded the king who had brought them peace for nearly two decades.
Magnifico’s gaze shifted to his wife, who had just taken her place on the mainstage, and brought Asha with her as instructed. He gratefully nodded toward her, then turned back to the crowd.
“Now, we shall begin with a matter that concerns the heart and soul of our kingdom. We have two new citizens ready to give their wishes. Helena, Esteban, you are going to be very happy here, I promise you.” He extended a hand to welcome his new subjects who’d sailed from across the sea onto the stage.
The couple, still so young as to be untarnished by the joys and trials of parenthood, climbed the stairs to the stage. Magnifico looked into the eyes of the future of Rosas, and took the young woman’s hand into his own first.
“Now make a wish, and hold it in your heart.”
The woman closed her eyes, then opened her hand in the sorcerer’s, so they both began to glow. Her breathing relaxed as a terrible weight evaporated from her consciousness, and her wish materialised in her palm in the form of a glowing orb.
Her husband did the same in Magnifico’s other hand.
The king swept both wishes toward his chest. “It unburdens the soul, does it not?” Then he raised his arms so the wishes ascended into the sky, where they floated to join the others at the top of his tower. He smiled upon the husband and wife. “Perhaps I will stand here and make them realities one day.”
The man and woman smiled, and left the stage with a new spring in their steps, as if lighter than before.
Once again, Magnifico turned toward the place Amaya sat, and searched for signs on the face of the young woman next to her of understanding or empathy. Surely she’d grasped the weight of his ceremonial words, and the sacrifices they represented. But the young woman’s eyes were clouded, and her fingers fidgeted with the hem of her garment. She looked unmoved and unchanged.
Magnifico exhaled sharply, then turned back to his audience. "Thank you for your applause. Tonight, it brings me great joy to welcome these two new souls into our realm. They have passed through my Eclipse Enclosure, a barrier few are granted to cross. This shield is also a testament to the trust I place in those who enter. Not everyone finds their way through my curtain of star silt, yet here they stand, embraced by the safety I've woven. May their presence enrich our land as we share in the journey ahead."
The king waited as a roar of applause rose and fell, and he knew this was the real moment everyone had been waiting for. He released a final cascade of light from his fingertips that arced across the heavens in a concluding streak. “Now then, who is ready to have their wish granted?”
The crowd’s thunderous reaction was like a storm breaking out, as each person brought to mind their unique wish for a brighter dawn, and Magnifico knew that if witnessing this collective flame, igniting every heart, not solely your own, was not enough to stir someone, they must be beyond redemption in their selfishness.
For the last month, the king had sweated blood and tears discerning which wish he should choose, and deciding was no easier a task than it was any other ceremony. The wish had to be something genuinely harmless, yet selfless enough to make Rosas a better place. Wishes like this were surprisingly few and far between, as most people were not selfless, or wanted to twist fate too drastically. When he came across one that was selfless, but too drastic, his eyes often overflowed with sorrow at a young girl watching her mother die from illness, or a farmer whose crop had failed, who had lost everything he loved.
“It has been a challenge for me to make a final decision today,” he said without betraying emotion, “And it is with clarity and an open heart full of love that I grant today’s wish to someone who has very patiently waited long enough.”
Eyes were wide, breaths were bated, and the courtyard was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
“Sania Osman,” said Magnifico. “Step forward now.”
There were gasps and murmurs, and the crowd slowly parted to reveal a young lass with burning joy on her face.
“Is it really me?” She came forward, swaying as if she would faint. “What have I done to deserve it? Can this actually be?” She was helped onto the stage by those around her when she threatened to fall off her feet.
Magnifico outstretched an arm to help her up. “I mean it when I say, it truly is my great pleasure to grant your heart’s desire, to sew the most beautiful dresses in all the land. It is a rare and noble heart that seeks to bring beauty and joy to others with such selfless devotion."
In the background, Asha was clenching her fists as if ready to throw a fit.
“Never, ever get your hopes up.” A sarcastic whisper came from a clique of teenagers lounging at the courtyard’s side. Their whispers and stifled laughs sliced through the solemn silence, drawing disapproving glances. To crown it all, one of them wiped his nose disrespectfully on his sleeve in front of everyone.
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Chapter 3 of The Great Wish Movie Rewrite is up on AO3. Read here: Link
The rewrite explores Magnifico as the protagonist with Asha and Amaya as villains, and Star Boy comes into the story later.
In this chapter, Magnifico holds an interview and meets Asha for the first time.
Blurb: It was noon the following day, and Amaya had promised to return within the hour with the most promising candidate she’d been able to find. Magnifico waited in his Wish Chamber, a hidden chamber inside his observatory that stored every wish he’d been given, but never yet granted.
He reached out so one of the wishes alighted on his finger. The wisp flickered, leaving a trail like sparks of hope in its wake. The king admired the aspiration, and the sense of longing it radiated made his heart ache, like a tune somebody used to know, then forgot, and heard once again in the distance. He let the wish, light as dandelion fluff, ascend into the swirling cloud of others above him, where they danced in a radiant sky-revel, with stardust pirouettes and leaps.
Magnifico knew from poetry that wishes weren’t always what people should want, but rather, what they did want. They were mysterious flower buds that would unfold and unfold, and might never stop unfolding, until the world was overrun with the complications of them, unless someone did something to stop their consequences.
His people needed to trust his wisdom, for he’d spent the last eighteen years studying the complexities of fate, and now recognised when the time was not right for a wish to unfold. The most challenging aspect of being a sorcerer was dealing with the unanswered wishes, because his subjects could fervently ask for something, believing it to be good and necessary, yet it was not always what was truly best for them. But why their wishes remained unanswered was a mystery to them.
“I opened Pandora’s box by learning sorcery to grant wishes, but now I have a key, and can lock it up again when I need to,” the king told himself, though he was never at peace despite the fact. “But soon,” he leaned against a windowsill, “I will have someone to assist me, should anything go wrong. . .”
Amaya had told him the candidate's name, and assured him that this time, she had complete confidence in her abilities. What had she said the candidate’s name was again?
Gently, Magnifico traced the brass filigree of an old armillary sphere, its interlocking rings representing the orbits of celestial bodies. He studied its familiar patterns, remembering his own days as an apprentice, guided by his mentor's steady hand, and he listened to the faint, melodic hum of the wishes’ hopeful song. It filled him with peace.
A jarring shriek pierced through their tune. Magnifico spun so fast his sphere toppled off its perch on the table.
“Someone is in my tower.”
Despite the horrific noise, the king made his expression calm, though a sinking sense of dread filled him as he feared for each delicate piece of equipment in his observatory. “I suppose this is the best candidate Amaya could find,” he thought sarcastically. “I should never have allowed our meeting to take place here. What was Amaya thinking? Well, I’ve got to give them a chance. . .”
But as Magnifico emerged from his Wish Chamber, the picture was worse than the one his imagination had leant him. A young woman had stumbled in with the grace of a toddler, and attempted to make contact with his book of forbidden magic, evident from enchanted wasps encircling her, which he’d conjured as a safety precaution, to materialise if anyone but him touched the glass case protecting the manuscript.
The girl swatted her arms like a wild monkey, continuing to shriek as the enchanted wasps buzzed in a menacing symphony around her, and Magnifico felt a wave of pity, because she thought they could sting when they were only meant to confuse and to scare. He’d almost raised his voice to yell, but the girl was turning pink, clearly embarrassed, and Amaya had thought her worthy of coming here. There could still be virtue underneath, in spite of this careless accident. He mustered patience.
“No, no,” he laughed, making his presence known as he reentered his observatory. “Asha, is it? That book is forbidden.” Though he hurried forward, he maintained a calm composure. “Now hold still. I’ve got it.” As he raised his hands to summon the swarm, he tried to make light of her mistake. “You can’t have known, but I put, ahem, a spell on the glass guarding this book. It is actually very, very dangerous.”
“Dangerous? Then why would you have it?” Asha, still waving her arms, sounded as if she was going to cry. “I only wanted to touch the etchings around the glass because they were pretty.”
She was so worked up she slipped, and almost kicked King Magnifico in the face just as he’d gathered all the wasps into his hands. Before they could force their way from his grasp, he called up all the magic he could, and shot them back at the case, which they melted into, becoming nothing but ornate carvings once again.
Magnifico sighed as he shut the case, then he rubbed his hands off on his robes. “A king must be prepared for everything. I hope there will never be a time this book needs to be used. Are you all right?”
“No,” said Asha, in what sounded like a whine.
Magnifico was going to overlook this, but then Asha ploughed on in a show-offish sort of ramble, “I mean yes. And I understand if you think I’m, like, totally weird and you want me to leave right now and never show my face again.”
“That would certainly be for the best,” thought Magnifico, but Amaya’s words made him curious whether Asha actually had some mysterious talent not obvious at first sight. “Let’s not over react,” he said instead. “You’re here; you’ve certainly got my attention.” He turned, and wriggled his fingers so a quill leapt into the air, ready to take notes on a bit of parchment he’d laid out on a desk.
“So go ahead; tell me why you think you should be my apprentice.” He waited with hope in his heart.
“Well,” said Asha, in the tone of someone telling a joke to their friends, “I care too much.” Then she paused, as if waiting for a laugh.
“Ookay,” said Magnifico, as hope packed its bags and took a one way trip from his heart. He waited for her to say something else, anything to imply she had some selfless intention, but she just continued staring, as if waiting for a reaction.
“That’s interesting,” said Magnifico finally.
“It’s my weakness,” she burst out, and looked so pleased with herself Magnifico thought she was going to laugh at her own incompetence.
“I see.”
“Figured I might as well get through all the bad stuff right up front,” she ruined her own joke by blabbering on too long. She was clearly used to being surrounded by a group of friends who laughed at everything she said, and was trying quite hard to be quirky.
“Fair enough.” Magnifico already couldn’t wait to send her away. This was not the way someone with common sense acted before the king. It reminded him far too much of eighteen years earlier, when no one had shown him any respect. But he would get through the rest of the interview for Amaya’s sake. He breathed out. “And your strengths? Do you have any?”
“Glad you asked, I have many.” Asha brushed her box braids behind her ear, then pulled a vellum book from her pocket. “I’m a hard worker, and I help well, and I’m young and malleable, and I like to draw.”
Magnifico grasped for something in all these cliches. “You like to draw?” he latched onto the most useful of these irrelevant skills. “And how long have you had this ability?”
At this, the first glimpse of sincerity appeared in Asha’s eyes, and she opened her book to detailed life gestures she’d sketched of goats and lambs. “A long time.” She flipped through more pages of life-like scribbles. “It’s something my father taught me,” she told the king with a proud smile.
When Asha said this, a distant, half forgotten memory stirred inside Magnifico, and he peered closer at the young woman's annoying face.
“I think I remember your father.”
“You do?”
“He was a philosopher, was he not? Had great magic running through his blood. Always warning people about the consequences of getting whatever your heart desires.”
Asha’s eyes glazed over at the last part, but she eagerly started talking about herself again. “Oh yeah. We used to climb that tree by the high ridge in the Hamlet, where I’m from, to look at the stars, and he said they were there to guide us.”
“Your father said a lot more than soft soap like that. He was a very wise man. Did you learn much about his philosophies?”
“Not really. After he got struck by lightning, he wasn’t able to take me out at night as much anymore. I used to want to make a wish that he would get better. But the electric shock left him with lots of burns, and his heart finally stopped one day.”
“I’m sorry. How old were you when he passed away?”
“I was twelve years old.”
Magnifico finally glimpsed something recognisable in Asha, so he attempted to dig a bit deeper.
“It’s not fair, is it?” he asked, taking a gamble as he searched her face for that sincerity again. “When I was young, I too suffered great loss.” He wasn't sure Asha would pay attention as the subject changed to something other than herself, but he went on, determined to finish, because whether she listened at this moment would decide everything.
“Years ago, my entire family was killed by selfish, greedy thieves, and our lands were reduced to ashes,” he told her. “The devastation was beyond imagining. The streets, once bustling with life, were strewn with the bodies of those I once loved. Though the village I’d roamed was silent, I could still hear sobbing of ghosts, of my mother and my father, my brothers and sisters, and my friends. Not a day passes without the haunting thought: if only I had known sorcery then. . .” The king shuddered as the faces of his lost kin grew clear in his memories. He looked hard into Asha’s eyes. "It is for this reason, Asha, that the very foundation of this kingdom is built upon the belief that no one should ever experience the agony of watching their dreams crumble before their eyes. I vowed to create a haven where everyone would be safe, where the horrors of my past would never befall another.”
Magnifico paused to see whether she was listening.
Asha had finally stopped rocking back and forth, and looked contemplative. When the king stopped talking, she blinked. “You’re right,” she managed. “No one should live their life feeling the pain of that loss everyday.”
The king nodded. “Yes. Exactly. And that is why I do what I do.”
Asha’s voice was serious when she replied, “And that’s why I want to work for you.”
Perhaps it was his imagination, or his own good heart deceiving him, but at that moment, Magnifico was overwhelmed, and his heart melted a little. “Come with me,” he said, and led Asha toward the tower’s back wall, where he raised an arm so the stones shifted and slid apart, and his Wish Chamber revealed itself.
“Wow,” said Asha as blue light poured over her, and the domed chamber shone upon her in all its heavenly glory.
“You’re one of the few I’ve ever invited in here.” Magnifico led her inside with sweeping strides. “But if I am to trust you, I need you to understand just how important the wishes of Rosas are.” He glanced at his guest, and was pleased to see her expression was properly impressed, her eyes wide, and her mouth shut. “You can feel them, can’t you?”
“I can,” she whispered. “They’re, uh, everything.”
“That’s exactly it. These wishes are everything.” Magnifico paused to let her take in the brilliance of them.
“I didn’t expect them to feel so alive.” Asha reached out toward the tangible essence of someone’s deepest aspiration: a woman cradling a violin in her arms inside the orb. She shivered as the woman created the beautiful music of someone who’d put in countless hours of practice, each pluck of a string evoking a yearning that transcended the material world around them.
Magnifico laughed a deep laugh at Asha’s first impression. “They fill you with so much longing, don’t they? But that one would do no good to grant. Ambition untempered by effort stifles the growth of character. Denying someone the trials and triumphs of their journey robs them of the refinement of their soul. To grow in virtue is to become something more beautiful than even the most vibrant vibrations of violin strings.”
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