#idk what else to say but goognight

[watchingyoufromthestars]

I wanted to make a post outlining the Glennry Tangled AU. It is VERY long so it’s going under the cut. And when I say long I mean 3k+ words

The prophecy of the Unsung Hero is a bit different here. I haven’t written it out yet, but it involves the Doodler being released into a host, much like Scary in the Church but a permanent residence. The secret Cult of the Doodler from Neverwinter is now an Order within Oakvale’s palace, Barry the head of operations. He believes his child is the one prophesied to become this all powerful god’s human host. Also, Oakvale is pretty much just Corona, it’s not the commune like in DnDads.

Nearing the end of her pregnancy, Autumn falls ill, so then like the movie the hunt for the Sundrop flower begins. Willy has been guarding the flower for himself for who knows how long, determined to use its powers to live forever. And unfortunately like Gothel, the flower is ‘taken from him’ and whisked away to the palace.

Henry is born not too long after. Within the prophecy is something that alludes to Henry being kidnapped but one day returning ‘when the time is right’, so Barry essentially lets it happen. There’s some kind of dialogue between him and Willy. Barry conveys to him what he believes to be this stranger’s role in destiny but Willy’s like “I don’t give a shit about your stupid prophecy I just want the flower back”. But the flower is a part of Henry now, so his only option is to steal this baby.

He and Barry strike a deal. Willy can keep the ‘flower’ for now, but when the time comes Henry will return to the castle to become a vessel for the Doodler. They agree on sharing the power of the Doodler when it happens, both planning on betraying the other to keep it for themselves. For now it’s just these two slimy assholes that see this baby as something to protect and take care of but for all the wrong reasons. A means to an end with containing the Doodler in a manipulatable container and a source of magic to live forever. But not a child. Not a person.

So Henry grows up in the secluded tower with Willy. A false love, for the power inside him rather than the person who holds it, but it’s not like Henry knows that yet. I want him to still have Rapunzel’s love of painting here, which isn’t too important to the story, but he’s a painter here instead of geologist (which let’s be honest, how the hell would he do that while locked in a tower lol). Also before I forget to add it somewhere else, Pascal is Erin. There’s nothing really that different besides the name change .(idea from @/supremely-unsupervised tyyyy)

Enter Glenn: wanted thief going by a fake name but I don’t know what yet. Could just be Flynn Rider but idk if I can think of something different that ties back to DnDads. Anyways, Glenn is his Eugene, not the name on the wanted posters. The object he steals instead of the Lost Prince’s crown is some important relic, an ornate knife, that's to be used in the future Doodler Vessel ceremony. This will be important later on when they’re in Oakvale and meet Barry for the first time.

The plot follows the movie pretty closely for a while here. Henry asks to leave the tower, Willy says the outside world is too dangerous. Glenn is chased down by Darryl as Maximus (yes. Darryl is the horse). Glenn finds the tower and tries to hide out there, but Henry knocks him out with a frying pan. He attempts to show Glenn to Willy upon his return, wanting to prove he can handle himself in the outside world. Willy blows up and refuses to let Henry leave the tower. Henry instead asks for the paint made from white shells as a gift, which sends Willy on a three-day journey.

Henry strikes a deal with Glenn: the relic in exchange for taking him to see the lights. Here, the lights are a more a marker that one day the Lost Prince will return, rather than hope that he will. Thousands of lanterns in the night sky every year on his birthday, calling out to him that they’re awaiting his return. On the way, Glenn stops by the Snuggly Duckling (which I’ve been calling the Ugly Duckling on accident this whole time oops), run by his friend, Ron. This scene is less an attempt to scare Henry and more a trial run to interacting with society since Henry’s only had Willy before Glenn came along. Really, Glenn just wants to stop by and talk to Ron again. Henry is introduced to all of the regulars they hang out there as often as Glenn (all the characters from the digital scene, they aren’t replaced with DnDads characters). Henry’s very intimidated by them at first, but everyone is very nice which surprises him (so imagine all their softer sides they reveal during ‘I Have A Dream’ except they’re just like that from the start).

Meanwhile, Willy runs into Darryl. Quickly suspicious of why a palace horse would be out here, he runs back to the tower and finds Henry gone. Enraged, he thinks Barry betrayed him by taking Henry back early. He then finds the relic Glenn stole and forms a plan to use this as leverage against Barry to get Henry back and still hold the power over the Doodler in the end.

Cut back to the Snuggly Duckling. Ron, Glenn, and Henry talk for a while before the royal guard barges in looking for Glenn. Ron helps them quietly escape but Darryl continues to sniff them out like the bloodhound of a horse he is. Glenn and Henry are trying to run from the royal guard but are now trapped in a flooding cave. In what seems like their dying breaths, Glenn reveals that his actual name is Glenn Close. Which doesn’t make sense as a sentence but like. You know what I’m saying. Henry says he has magic hair that glows when he sings, and then he realizes he can use that to find their way out of the water, singing his tune just as the water closes over them completely. They narrowly escape the blocked up cave, heaving their way onto the riverbank.

Cut to them sitting by the fire. Henry heals Glenn’s hand from clawing their way out of the cave. He talks about how Willy told him that when he was little, people wanted his magic for themselves, so Willy hid him away where Henry would be safe. He then turns the conversation back to Glenn’s name reveal. Whatever the name is that Glenn was using beforehand, Flynn Rider or something else, it was a character he’d read about in a book as a kid. Same story as Eugene, this kid who had nothing and this character had everything. After they talk, Willy comes out from the trees and approaches Henry, warning him that he won’t like what he finds in Oakvale. Telling him that he should just come back home to their tower. Henry refuses, but Willy only came to start planting seeds of doubt in Henry that everyone else is out to get him and that Willy is all he can trust. This is where we start to diverge a lot from 1-1 with the Tangled plot. Unlike the movie, he doesn’t give Henry the relic. It’s too big of a leverage to practically hand back to Barry because Willy knows eventually Henry will meet with him if they go into Oakvale. He’s counting on Henry learning the truth about Barry and running back ‘home’ to him.

The next morning, Darryl tracks down Glenn and attempts to arrest him (as well as a horse can do that), but Henry calls for a birthday truce, which Darryl reluctantly agrees to. They enter Oakvale and participate in the festival held during the day before the lantern lightings. And now Henry gets his hair braided yayyy they don’t have to carry around all that hair anymore good lord. Alsoooooo maybe maybe might throw in some NPC kids to braid his hair but not Lark and Sparrow (I’ll have something else about them at the end). They’d be more visual easter eggs than the actual kids of the dads because only Ron here could logically be a father to one of them at this point. And Darryl is literally a horse.

Now the Cult of the Doodler and all knowledge of the prophecy regarding Henry is only known within the palace walls, and the common folk of the kingdom are under the impression Henry died shortly after birth. They see the lanterns as a way to honor the prince’s life. The festival during the day was never originally a part of the lantern lightings, but as time went on and people forgot it was originally a memorial, it became more about the lanterns as a holiday than anything to do with the prince.

They come across the large wall mosaic, that of what might be the king and queen of this place holding a newborn baby. Henry, curious about the portrait, asks a bystander about it. They explain that, although the festival has overpowered its original intent, each year on the prince’s birthday the entire kingdom lights lanterns. And Henry looks to the mosaic, and to all his surroundings, and something clicks about the crest he sees everywhere. The Sun plastered on every surface imaginable is the same Sun he’s been painting all over the walls back in the tower. Unsure of himself, afraid of a certain possibility, Henry asks how old the prince is. The villager answers that he passed away twenty years ago right after he was born. Shakily, Henry thanks her for her time and tugs at Glenn to follow him.

Once standing somewhere slightly more private, Henry voices his anxieties. He has the same birthday as the prince; not just the day but the years as well. He points out all the Suns hanging around them. And he points out that the man in the mosaic looks a lot like him. And in his ramble he confesses to Willy visiting the other night when Glenn had walked off, warning Henry “he might not like what he finds in Oakvale”. Unsure of how to comfort Henry in this moment, Glenn begins to speak— he’s cut short by a royal guard. Both of them panic, cornered, but the guard assures them neither have anything to worry about. He only comes to deliver a message: the King wishes to speak with them. And he addresses Henry by name, though it was never given to him. Hard cut to Barry watching from a lower tower, his eyes following Henry as he walks towards the castle.

They’re lead down a hallway filled with various portraits of previous rulers, all looking too much like Henry and ramping up his anxieties. He feels Glenn take his hand, a small comfort letting him know he’s not braving this alone. When they reach their intended room, the door open to the man from the mosaic.

“Welcome home, Henry.”

Lottttttttsssss of talk talk talk here. Barry explains that he knew Henry would return to him today. In fact, he’s been keeping watch since this morning. He’d instructed his guards to let them enjoy the festivities, after all it’s a party in his honor, whether the rest of the kingdom remembers that or not. He wanted to let Henry come to him, but if he did not realize on his own then his guards had permission to guide him once the sun started its descent. Enraged, confused, multiple emotions boiling over at once, Henry demands an explanation for whatever the hell this all is. Barry explains a bit about the prophecy to Henry. How Henry was to be taken away until he was old enough to play his part. Not outright saying that Willy stole him away, but Barry does bring up that Willy’s role was to guard and protect Henry all this time until fate saw fit he return. Henry asks what could possibly be so important, what fate, that his apparent birth father willingly gave him up for someone else to raise. Barry then starts on the Doodler. Insert full prophecy here and how all of it is coming to pass, and then Barry turns to Glenn. He asked for the knife. Seeing the confusion and worry on Glenn’s face, Barry explains that the relic he stole is to be used in the summoning of the Doodler. That a bond is to be broken not only by ripping a god into this dimension but a bond broken between they who spills the vessel’s blood. Barry believes Glenn to be the one who is supposed to cut Henry.

Glenn doesn’t have the knife. In a flicker that only Henry notices, Barry’s eye twitches. Barry repeats himself that they need the knife for the ceremony. Glenn insists he doesn’t have the knife, that it got left back at— he doesn’t say. All of this is bullshit and they don’t have to listen to Barry. He’s not going to participate in some crazy cult ritual and he’s certainly not going to hurt his friend. With a heavy sigh, Barry orders for Glenn and Henry to be taken away. Clearly the ceremony cannot commence but he’s not letting them leave before the knife gets back to them. Immediately Glenn throws a punch at the guard who moved to grab him and yells at Henry to run. The two scramble to make their way out of the room, run down the halls, and out of the castle to the crowded streets where all the lanterns are being prepared. Weaving in and out of the packed streets as guards chase them. Darryl sees them running, but also who they’re running from. Loyalties divided as a guard tries to mount him, he runs away in panic not knowing who to choose. A guard catches Glenn, who screams for Henry to keep running. With tears in his eyes, Henry keeps going.

By the time he’s reached the forest, he’s exhausted. Henry collapses at the edge of the woods, crying as the night sky lights up with lanterns. Yeah that’s right they don’t get their cute boat scene where they almost kiss. Unfortunate. Maybe I’ll rework some other scene in earlier where they almost kiss but idk where that would go.

From the shadows, Willy. The only person he can turn to and one of the only people he can trust, Henry lets his ‘father’ lead him back home.

Meanwhile, Glenn is being led to a cell he’ll be locked away in. Barry might have given him a pass had Glenn played his part, but the knife is missing and now so is Henry again so they’ll just put him in jail until he wants to talk and tell them where the knife and Henry are. Barry monologues a bit to him, and here Glenn learns more about Willy. He realizes that Willy was only using Henry too, but also that Willy knows about all the Doodler shit and the knife is back at the tower (as far as he knows, but all the same Willy has it and can use it).

And then the doors around them close. The slot opens and Ron speaks from the other side, asking for the password. Barry, seemingly calm as ever, demands for the door to be opened. This scene is pretty much the same in that all the characters from the Snuggly Duckling show up to help Glenn escape, led by Darryl who brought them all there. Riding Darryl, Glenn races back to the tower to save Henry from Willy.

Everything from here plays pretty much the same. Instead of realizing he’s the Lost Prince, Henry comes to the realization that Willy was using him too. That his whole life he’s been seen as nothing but an object to be handed back and forth. He just learned his actual father willingly abandoned him only hoping he’d return like cattle for slaughter. And then the whiplash of realizing this guy who’s raised him his whole life, the man he ran back to when there was nobody else to trust, that there was never any love at all. He’s seen Henry as an object from the beginning as well. Henry’s just that damned flower and Willy has been keeping him hidden in his cage.

And Henry sits there and realizes that nobody has ever seen him as himself. Maybe Glenn did, but he’s probably dead by now. And it’s all Henry’s fault but Glenn saw Henry for him.

So the only person Henry has to trust is himself. He refuses to let Willy use him any longer. He’s tired of it all. But Willy won’t take no for an answer. He talks about how he always planned to cross Barry in the end, but he never thought it’d be this easy. All the work was practically done for him. He stands in front of the window, blocking any exit Henry has to escape, and pulls out the ceremonial knife. They won’t do it here, not when people know where this tower is now (because as far as Willy knows, Glenn could’ve told Barry where the tower is) so it’s too risky to perform the ceremony here, but Willy insists they will be summoning the Doodler into Henry and that they’re leaving now.

The rest follows pretty close to the story again from here. Glenn gets to the tower, only to find Henry bound and gagged while Willy fatally stabs him from behind. Willy tries to drag Henry away and out of the tower, but Henry continues to fight against Willy. He insists he’ll never stop trying to get away from him, but if Willy lets him heal Glenn, he’ll go willingly. Willy reluctantly agrees to this. Henry rushes to Glenn’s side, but before he can heal him, Glenn cuts Henry’s hair with a shard from a mirror that broke in Henry and Willy’s earlier struggle. Horrified, Willy begins to age rapidly, trips, and falls from the tower, hitting the ground as a pile of dust.

As the magic dies alongside Glenn, tears begin to stream down Henry’s face. The last of the flower falls with it and onto Glenn, which heals him and saves his life.

I’m not sure how I’d wrap it up from here. Do they run away to another kingdom, far away from Barry and anything to do with the Doodler? Is Barry somehow thrown out of power and the Cult of the Doodler destroyed, leaving Henry to take over if he wishes? I don’t know. But what I do know is that these two get a happy ending. A soft, domestic life where they adopt two beautiful boys that they name Lark and Sparrow. Henry teaches them how to paint (favored more by Sparrow) and Glenn teaches them how to fight and defend themselves.

I don’t know how it happens but I would want Barry overthrown immensely. I want Henry to reunite with his mother who played no part in this. I want Darryl to be everyone’s friend who’s also a horse. I want the Snuggly Duckling to become a much frequented pub where they all hang out. I had a silly idea that Ron makes Darryl a special “horse beer” that’s just a wheatgrass juice.

Anyways I think that’s pretty much everything. This AU has been plaguing me since the idea first popped in my head. I’m glad I managed to outline at least one of my AUs entirely lol.

#dndads #dungeons and daddies #glennry #dndads glenn close #henry oak #henry oak garcia #darryl wilson #ron stampler #willy stampler #barry oak #my god I can’t believe I finished writing this out #this took way too long to write #idk what else to say but goognight