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#channary blackburn
impossiblesuitcase · 17 days
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Levana has two core tenets that drive her entire personal philosophy, both actively damaging and sustaining her: her need to be beautiful and her need to be loved. They are irrevocably intertwined and are ultimately her undoing.
Two people in her life dictate these notions--Channary and Evret. Channary implanted the desire to be loved and the necessity to be beautiful once Levana is disfigured. Without any willing participation from Evret, Levana carries over these insecurities, needing to be loved by him when Channary fails her and needing to keep up her glamour to feel beautiful. If Solstice is the only woman he can see as beautiful, that's what Levana must become. She sabotages her relationship with him after she shows him her true appearance; she refuses to be loved for her true self, and once he sees it, he must be disposed of. Evret lives on in Winter, who reinforces that Levana cannot ever control them as she wears her three uniform scars with pride.
With the death of these two motivators, she feels free of the burden of needing them. But the demand to be beautiful and loved is indefatigable, so she replaces them with an unearthly, ethereal glamour in her quest for vanity, and the contrived love from her citizens to feel wanted. These are both fundamentally artificial and never satisfy her, so she must always strive for more. Her body, face, voice 'improve' countless times over decades, as she is never sure that they are perfect enough. Her armies become fiercer, her inventory larger, and she sets her sights on the largest territory to conquer--Earth--all in the name of supplying her people to buy their love. Levana could have at any point abandoned her course of tyranny and used her circumstances to reform herself and her country's systemic disparity. She chooses every day to reject these opportunities and each action deepens her need to maintain the façade of love and looks. She is to be pitied, but not to be pardoned.
In order for Levana to be defeated as a villain, she must not only die, but must have her philosophy completely overturned. Kai takes the place of Evret and she replays her manipulation in the same way on their wedding day. But when she marries Kai, glamouring as his lover as she did to Evret, he dismantles her beauty, stating that she will never be as beautiful as the glamourless Linh Cinder. This directly mirrors Evret's loyalty to Solstice and it hurts Levana--not because she loves Kai in any way like she loved Evret--but because the message lives on in him. She is always inadequate.
Her glamour and her loyalties fall in one fell swoop. Her people come to her door to kill her, and her true face is blown up in the sky, permanently tainting her image. With her vanity blighted, all that's left is the fundamental nucleus of her problems: her relationship with Channary. It is the chief relationship in her life, even posthumously, and is the very cause of her perverted worldview. Levana never killed Channary and that is her greatest regret.
When Cinder arrives--Channary's near reincarnation in appearance--Levana has her second chance. It is particularly imperative to her to eliminate Selene because Levana was never loved by Channary, while Selene was. Her existence is a mockery of Levana's pain because it clarifies that Channary was capable of love and actively withheld it from Levana. However when Levana burnt Cinder alive, she levelled the playing field. She assigned Cinder a life of enduring the same prejudice and inadequacy that she faced. Therefore in their final battle, Levana likens Cinder to herself and her need to be desired. By killing Selene, she will finally prove that she has killed her need to be loved by Channary.
To do this, she sets up the perfect replica for this prophetic revenge. Cinder's friend will betray her as Channary did Levana, and Cinder will retaliate as Levana herself wished to do. It is particularly powerful that it is not Kai in the room at this final battle. Romantic love is irrelevant now. Instead it is Thorne, whom Cinder loves as family. Their almost sibling-like dynamic is now reflective of Channary and Levana. Levana asserts that this kind of love is false. But Cinder and Thorne demonstrate their loyalty to one another--even when Thorne is manipulated to hurt her, Cinder attacks Levana, not him. He proves his love in his sobs and apologies as his body rebels. Levana's final desire, to prove that love is merely a conquest and a war, is dashed.
In the end, Levana stabs Cinder, but it doesn't matter. Her worldview is shattered, her tenuous beliefs severed. That is where Levana is defeated. The final shot that kills her is simply to finalise the matter. Her tenets die with her and can be replaced with the true forms of beauty and love. Cinder and Winter, disfigured and scarred and unashamed. Kai, who loves Cinder and loves her appearance because she gave him good reason to, and never through manipulation. Cinder, who attains loyalty from the citizens of Luna and Earth alike through her action and compassion.
Love is not conquered, love is not a war; it is earned.
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winterczn · 8 months
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daily reminder that channary jannali blackburn, a sadistic tyrant who ordered her seamstress’s feet to be chopped off, loved cinder more than linh adri. A TYRANT, KNOWN FOR BEING EVEN WORSE THAN LEVANA, LOVED CINDER MORE THAN ADRI.
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chemicallyyourss · 2 months
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Levana: “I can’t let my planet have another horrible Queen like my sister, I need to get rid of Selene! She won’t be fit to rule and she’ll be just like my sister! This is what will be best for Luna!”
Also Levana: Indirectly attempts to kill her niece, orders her husband and step daughter to be killed, takes babies from their parents mere hours after birth because of something they can’t control and leads parents to think it’s an infanticide but really she’s enslaving the children to harvest their blood to make a lab made virus, takes kids at young ages from their homes to tamper with their genetic makeup and make them into human-wolf hybrids and strip them of their humanity and rights, lets the majority of her planet live in poverty and work in extremely unsafe conditions and only give them weekly rations that barely sustain them at all, executes people randomly and publicly for little to no reason at times, does corporal punishment and executions of ENTIRE FAMILIES and groups of people for the little actions of a single person that could range from saying the princess is pretty to trying to flee the country to escape infanticide and slavery and poverty
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oliveeeia · 3 months
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The only thing that Channary did right was ship her daughter (Selene/Cinder) with Kai.
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therealkaidertrash21 · 5 months
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channary isnt asian and neither is levana. they’re caucadian
That would be kinda impossible because Cinder, Channary's daughter, IS asian. but, ok.
Also, even if they weren't canonically asian, it wouldn't even change the plot at all if they were. it wouldn't be wrong to headcannon them that way. Like Annabeth Chase in the Percy Jackson series, in the books she was white and blonde, but in the new Disney plus series she's black. And it's ok, it doesn't change the plot, the actress is great for the job.
I guess it's fine if you don't see them as asian, but it's not necessary to send me and ask about it, because is not that big of a deal, Is not like I'm erasing representation.
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sydneyofalltrades · 3 months
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it’s the way levana was ruined by her big sister channary and that abuse channeled her actions for the next 10~ years which made her practically lose her mind
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catoscloves · 2 years
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get to know me ♡ books -> the lunar chronicles by marissa meyer
Maybe the princess could save herself. That sounds like a pretty good story too.
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oceanspray5 · 2 years
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Been obsessed with Beth Crowley's Midnight for Kaider but another song I have on loop atm is Porter Robinson's Everything Goes On. I don't even play LoL and barely know what Star Guardian is but I'd be lying if the story between Xayah and Rakan didn't have me intrigued. So now ofc it has me thinking of a Kaider AU along those lines. Not exactly sure how it'd work but maybe:
Channary gets to live a few extra years. Manages to get a marriage alliance proposition agreed to with King Rikan and hence Kaider grow up visiting each other on Earth and Luna more or less ala @impossiblesuitcase's fic.
Except Channary does die eventually and Cinder isn't old enough for the throne yet so Levana steps in. For this to work maybe the throne passes on to the heir on their 18-21st birthday?
Everyone thinks Levana killed Channary (she didn't) but everyone knows she's going to kill Cinder. Her days are numbered and she knows it despite Kai's vehement denial. I imagine they'd be around 14-16 here?
Except Cinder does end up "dead" in a fire. In a more plot heavy version of the headcanon, perhaps Levana implies Earthens brought the matches and killed Cinder and vows to "avenge" her neice unless she gets reparations. But even if we avoid this whole plotline, Levana does try and pass it off as Cinder dying in a fire.
Earth and Luna mourn and Kai is inconsolable except he refuses to believe he's dead. He grabs on to the slightest sliver of a rumor and holds on to it like its his lifeline. He throws himself into investigating it, discreetly when eventually Torin and his dad and the royal therapist force him to put an end to it.
In this version Cinder doesn't end up in a healing stasis for quite as long. Perhaps a year or two at most. When she wakes up, shes a cyborg and has immense memory loss from the trauma. Garan adopts her, gets Letumosis and dies. Adri and Pearl are their witchy selves. Peony and Iko remain angels.
So you have the setup:
Prince Kai of the Eastern Commonwealth sneaking into New Beijing because Nainsi broke right before he had the conclusive proof he needed to show his dad and Torin that his Selene was alive. At this point everyone in the Commonwealth seems to think Kai is in a deep grief he'll never recover from and atp everyone's wondering if Prince Kai will ever find himself a bride now that he's 20 and still hung up on his childhood love. Its that pity and condescention that only infuriates Kai more so he keeps searching.
He ends up at the budding yet already renowned mechanic Linh Cinder's booth. Kai sees her and does a double take, afraid he's seen a ghost. He could cry because if he's not mistaken, the girl in front of him is his Selene. Except Selene doesn't recognize him. Doesn't know who he is besides the Crown Prince despite his extremely efficient disguise comprising of one inconspicuous hoodie.
She's so different now too. Her fine silks and once shiny hair is now replaced with cargo pants and a grease stained shirt, her hair dull in its luster and sheen now. She has a grease splotch on her forehead that Kai yearns to wipe from her brow but restrains himself. She's just as beautiful as the day he lost her, maybe even more so. But a doubt does creep in for a second...
Maybe he has it all wrong. Maybe she's just a doppleganger. How and why would Selene even be working as a mechanic in the Beijing market instead of coming to him for help or telling the world she's alive? How did she survive the fire even though in his heart he always knew she did. He needs some proof for this too. It's a testament to how not insane he is from his grief at losing the love of his life that he restrains himself from bursting from all these questions and overwhelming her with his grief and affection. Take that Dad! Take that Torin and Royal Therapist!
So Kai swallows down his words and the lump in his throat and the urge to burst into tears and tells Cinder what's wrong with Nainsi and asks her how long it'll take for the problem to be fixed. In that brief interval Kai manages to count at least 10 different ticks that endeared Selene to him. He's memorized every single one since they were kids. He knows this is his missing princess.
He doesn't know why Selene doesn't remember him and it is soul-crushing to know she's right in front of him but he can't do anything about it. He needs to get her to remember or at least gain her trust and friendship long enough that he can break the news of her origins to her gently. Her memory loss runs deep and he doesn't want to freak her out even if that would be the fastest way to laying it all out in the open. But Kai is tactful and shows restraint.
Instead, he ends up showing up to her booth regularly to jog her memory and tries to aski her out repeatedly to the Annual Peace Ball. He hopes if she shows up then it'll help her remember the countless times they spent together at them. Maybe he could sneak her away and show her her old room which Kai had insisted be kept exactly as it was left before she "died". He can't help some affection slipping past the cracks like the fond way he looks at her and the smile he's only ever saved for her.
In summary: if he thought this would freak Cinder out less... He failed.
But Cinder does keep getting random bursts of memories. Sometimes through nightmares. Sometimes through dreams of another life. Of a rather insane mother who doted on her and a charming boy who's love shone in his eyes and gentle touch. She doesn't understand why he looks like Kai and keeps dismissing it as fantasies she's always longed for combined with the exhaustion of Adri's chores. Kai would never like her if he knew she was a cyborg. She has no intention of getting her hopes up.
So Kai keeps wooing Cinder and Cinder keeps unintentionally suppressing her memories or dismissing them, certain Kai's rambling stories about his childhood with the deceased Lunar princess Selene are affecting her sleep.
Now eventually when Cinder gets her memories back it could go one of two ways:
She tells him because it's Kai and her heart bursts with love at how intensely he held on to the trust that she's alive and kept trying to revive her memories.
OR (and my personal favorite cuz angst)
She has the same feelings as in option 1 but is too scared that she'll put him in danger knowing what Levana did to her but also more than that, she's internalized Adri's words so much and the way society treats cyborgs that she's certain Kai would never love her now that she's no longer fully human and has even seemed to have lost her Lunar glamour that may have been able to hide the imperfection of her extremities otherwise that would have made her tolerable to Kai after her little accident in the fire.
So Kai continues to woo his lost princess turned mechanic, more in love with her than ever, new quirks and imperfections and all while Cinder has a daily meltdown about how badly she wants to kiss Kai but also about how badly that would end once he finds out what she's become.
In this AU, Rikan does not die cuz I need Kai stress free so he can continue his shenanigans. Peony also does not die because the only angst we need is Cinder being overly critical of herself and Kai's pained longing to have the love of his life back.
Idk how the rest of the Rampion crew would play into this cuz admittedly I just wanted an angsty Kaider situation where Kai has to save Cinder from herself like Xayah has to for Rakan in the Everything Goes On MV.
Any further suggestions for this AU welcome! Also if someone wants to write it then be my guest and do tag me cuz I am in too much of a writing slump these days to do so myself.
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bumblekits · 7 months
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cinder in apricot? your art is so cute btw!! ♥️
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She's got a lot in her mind
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cosmicnovaflare · 1 year
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Cinder from The Lunar Chronicles. Her name translates to Moon Moon Moon, but I wanted to try a Sun theme
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impossiblesuitcase · 1 year
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So interesting to think about how Channary would view Cinder. Would she find her cybernetics disgusting? Of course. But would she blame Levana and declare her precious Selene innocent? Undoubtedly.
She would hate Adri for mistreating her daughter, and be proud of Cinder for reclaiming the throne and becoming queen. She would be satisfied that Cinder marries Kai—Channary's own choice—and becomes empress. But she would mock Cinder's humble job as a mechanic, and certainly would disagree with her decision to dissolve the Lunar Monarchy.
Channary loved Selene, but would Channary love Cinder?
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so cinder's princessy name is selene channary jannali blackburn
selene = moon
channary = full moon
jannali = moon
so her name literally is....
Moon Full Moon Moon Blackburn
makes sense
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chemicallyyourss · 2 months
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i wanna say that i finally realized the wordplay with the Lunar Royal Family’s surname, like, 3 days ago.
It’s not even that well hidden, and I could figure out all the other little subtle wordplays in the series, but it stumped me at Blackburn??
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therealkaidertrash21 · 5 months
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i was scrolling through Pinterest, and I found this picture that looks pretty much like how I picture Channary
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moonsstan · 28 days
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okay but imagine vampire by olivia rodrigo but its cinder saying those things to levana.
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wassupnye · 8 months
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I just KNOW once adri and pearl kick the bucket, Channary will be tearing them apart for what they did to her baby
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