The End is Just The Beginning
By Stephanie Ma
If your childhood was somewhat similar to mine, you would’ve also watched the animated series ‘Ever After High’, a show about the descendants of fairytale legends, and fallen absolutely in love with it. From the fashion and character design to the non one-dimensional character development, the series that was (extremely) unfortunately cut short has stayed with me for all these years.
The story begins with two different episodes focusing on the same event, showing a split between the royals and rebels through Apple, daughter of Snow White and Raven, daughter of the Evil Queen which becomes the main focal points followed throughout the show. They are the foils to each other happily ever after. Apple wants to be poisoned so she can find her prince charming through signing the Story Book of Legends, the book that confirms you are to follow your parents destiny, and Raven wants everyone to be able to choose their own happily ever after.
One of the things that circles back into my mind every few months is the theme song. While I don’t think the song ever got an official name (besides ‘Ever After High Theme Song’), it’s a lovely intro that I think perfectly encapsulates the character development of the main cast. Apple has to put her own wants aside, learning to accept that some things will be unknown and Raven has to embrace part of her destiny that she could not leave behind her. By the end of the story (or at least the end of the animated series since there was never a real ending) they start to become more like each other in the best ways, with rebel causes and royal hearts.
Despite how disappointing it is to me that the show never finished I think it’s a good accidental callback to something that we get reminded of every episode, ‘the end is just the beginning’. We don’t get to see how their story ends, but funnily enough the beginning of each episode assures us that their stories have only just begun, after all, they’re all only in high school, and now that they’re not forced to follow their fairytale destinies, they’re free to shape their lives how they want it.
All that to say, I think about this show often and its message, so for the graduation edition of the Mary Word I wanted to call back to this series. The end of this chapter is fast approaching, especially for those graduating themselves, but that doesn’t mean the end of the story is, and as cheesy as that metaphor is I think it’s always a good one to remember, for our lives are ours to shape.
