Line #2 WMG/TheBlackCauldron


1	[[WMG: The spirit of the cauldron was what turned Luna into nightmare moon ]]
2	It seems that it had great power beyond what it utilized, perhaps it corrupted Luna...
3	** Keep in mind that these are two non-related universes, with no common points. There is also the temporal issue, in that anything after the film would be using a useless cauldron whose dark magic was nullified while anything before the film began takes place in the film's presented back-story. Additionally, Luna's conversion into Nightmare Moon was perfectly explained in that she wanted to be respected and to achieve this gave into using her powers through her own darkness thinking that as the new ruler she would have the respect heaped upon Celestia. King Sombra might be less-absurd but then you run into the problems of combining the two non-overlapping universes.
4	*** Not that I don't find this guess to make no sense, but your argument that "after the movie the Cauldron is useless" is debatable. I have seen some fanfics that feature the idea that the HeroicSacrifice ''stops'' the cauldron's effect if they had previously started, but nothing stops another villain from throwing another corpse in it and re-doing the whole thing all over again. After all, why would the Witches have traded the cauldron for anything if it had become totally worthless ?
5	*** What do you mean, non-related universes? They're obviously both set in Hyrule! :)
6
7	[[WMG: The Horned King is actually the evil king described at the beginning.]]
8	Honestly, I don't know why this hasn't been written yet, but here we go anyway. In the opening, it states that the Black Cauldron was created to contain the evil of a king who's wickedness threatened the gods themselves. When they did this, what if his soul got sealed as well, leaving his decaying body as an immortal lich, constantly searching to regain his power? For a villain who shows up completely out of nowhere, and has no origin whatsoever, this makes perfect sense.
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10	[[WMG: Eilonwy is not actually a princess in the Disney movie.]]
11	While she does introduce herself as "Princess Eilonwy", the Horned King actually refers to her as a scullery maid. While you could maybe argue he called her that because he kidnapped her and turned her into one, he calls Taran a pig keeper immediately before that. So it's possible Eilonwy actually ''is'' a scullery maid in the Disney film, possibly working at the palace, explaining her having a nicer-looking dress than, say, Cinderella's rags, but still surprisingly bland for even daily wear for a princess.
12	* Granted, calling her a scullery maid may have been a reference to the book where she worked as a scullery maid. Also, in the book she actually is a princess. But, given the many changes from the book to the movie, Disney's Eilonwy could have a completely different background than her literary counterpart.
13	* Her outfit's simplistic symmetry and headband have the feel of a uniform more than a princess's casual day dress. Granted, it doesn't seem suited to a kitchen per se, but "Scully maid" could just have been a general insult to her being a lady-in-waiting.
14	* Being able to escape her cell and sneak through the tunnels of the Horned King's palace undetected, and without getting her outfit too dirty or her hair tangled, could be a skill she gained doing chores quietly and discretely in a castle, where a servant always had to look presentable. Her ability to mend pants with sewing, while not impossible for a princess, would certainly make sense for a servant.
15	* And, finally, castle servants ''often use "secret" passages'' to navigate the palace without disrupting royal affairs. Hence explaining Eilonwy's proficiency with finding and navigating secret tunnels.
16	* So in this version of the story, she only ''imagines herself'' being a princess, the same way Taran imagines himself being a knight, creating a great similarity between the two of them.
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18	[[WMG: The Sword is powered by the spirit of the Good King]]
19	Given that the Black Cauldron fuels on the spirit of that dead "evil man", I think we can assume that most magical artifact in the [[TheVerse cauldron-verse]] are powered by the ghost of particular individuals who had a tie with the object when alive. When the sword seems to fight "alone", it's not fighting "alone" per se; the invisible spirit of the Good King is wielding it.
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21	[[WMG: Disney is planning another adaptation of ''The Chronicles of Prydain'']]
22	The company has been sitting on the film rights to the series since the 1980s, and if they haven't let go of the rights yet after all that time, odds are they aren't going to. ''The Black Cauldron'' has yet to see a Blu-Ray release, when virtually every other animated Disney movie has. Not releasing ''The Black Cauldron'' on Blu-Ray means less people will be able to see it, and connect it to any future adaptations of the series. Enough time has passed so that the demographic who would watch a movie based on ''The Chronicles of Prydain'' will have never seen or heard of ''The Black Cauldron''. It's possible that Disney specifically waited until now when technology has vastly improved, and specifically discontinued the original movie, in order to take another stab at the series with less risk that it would be a financial failure.
23	* [[http://variety.com/2016/film/news/chronicles-of-prydain-movie-disney-1201733058/ CONFIRMED!]]
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25	[[WMG: The Sword is a [[Franchise/AssassinsCreed Piece of Eden]]]]
26	A Sword of Eden, obviously. It lights up, emits energy, can easily overpower just about any mortal substance...
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28	[[WMG: The horned king WasOnceAMan]]
29	But there is no tragic backstory where he was SlowlySlippingIntoEvil as a result of dabbling in necromancy. No, he was always [[CompleteMonster a narcissistic sociopath with no redeeming qualities]], even ''before'' he started messing with forbidden magic.
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31	[[WMG: The Horned King is Taran's father]]
32	Taran and the Horned King are subtly presented as counterparts to each other and both share similarities to ''Franchise/StarWars'' characters (Taran is a farm boy with dreams of leaving for greatness like Luke Skywalker while the Horned King is a tall and imposing dark lord with a deep voice that frequently chokes his subordinate for failure like Darth Vader). Since Vader and Luke are revealed to be father and son, The Horned King and Taran being father and son would explain their similarities to each other and take the ''Star Wars'' comparisons to their logical endpoint. Plus Taran appears to be an orphan, begging the question of what happened to his parents. Perhaps his father went off to become a great warrior himself but failed and was killed then later revived through dark magic as an evil lich with no memory of his former life aside from a vague desire to achieve greatness, which for his new persona meant becoming a god that rules over the living with an army of the dead. Alternately, Taran's mother died and his father left to find a way to resurrect her, found some magic that looked promising but wound up being dark magic that corrupted him, turning him into an evil lich with no memory of his former life aside from a vague desire to resurrect the dead, which for his new persona meant reviving dead soldiers to create an army of the dead for conquering the world so he can rule as a god. Either way, the Horned King's search for the Black Cauldron would reunite him with the son he had lost all memory of.
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34	[[WMG: The Horned King has no control over the Black Cauldron or the Cauldron-Born]]
35	While he does seem pretty knowledgeable about The Black Cauldron's evil power, at no point does he display any direct control over it. In fact, the evidence implies that he actually has no control over it at all: 1. His only direct involvement in the birth of the Cauldron-Born is placing one of them in the Cauldron, which only activates the Cauldron's evil power; after that, it seems to be the Cauldron doing all the work. 2. The Cauldron-Born immediately begin shuffling towards the exit and attacking anyone in their path before the Horned King "orders" them to do so, and at no point do they even acknowledge him, let alone display obedience to him. 3. When he tries to feed Taran to the Cauldron, the Cauldron takes him instead, despite his intentions being very clear. All this implies that The Horned King never had any control over the Cauldron once it was activated. This doubles as FridgeBrilliance though as it further highlights that Taran and The Horned King are counterparts to each other: The Horned King displays little to no control over The Black Cauldron just as Taran displayed little to no control over the magic sword, with the sword and the Cauldron doing most of the work for them.
36
37	[[WMG: Fans of this movie will complain about the live-action adaptation being closer to the books]]
38	With [[OlderThanTheyThink many not realizing]] there ''were'' books in the first place, fans of ''The Black Cauldron'' will cry TheyChangedItNowItSucks when the announced live-action adaptation is finally released.
39	* "The Gwythaints used to be cool dragons, but now they're just birds!"
40	* "The Fair Folk used to be sparkly fairies, but now they're just dwarves!"
41	* "The magic sword used to be so cool, but now Taran can't even unsheath it?"
42	* "Since when is Fflewddur a king, and why did they make him younger?"
43	* "Where are the Witches of Morva?"
44	* "Who is this Achren character? Taran is supposed to get captured by the Horned King!"
45	* "What have they done to the Horned King?!"
46	* "What have they done to Gurgi?!"
47	* "Who is this Gwydion character, and why is he the one who beats the Horned King?"
48	* "Why does the Horned King already have the Black Cauldron and the Cauldron-Born?"
49	* "Since when is Dallben an enchanter?"
50	* "Why'd they demote Taran to ''assistant'' pig-keeper?"
51	* "Eilonwy's hair is the wrong color!"
52	** Some of those changes-- the designs of Gurgi, the Fair Folk, and the Gwythaints, Eilonwy's hair color, and the nature of Taran's job-- arguably don't really affect the story much, and probably won't garner much complaint even if they do get kept. It's the big ones like the Horned King's goals and the presence of characters who were previously AdaptedOut that will probably upset most casual fans.
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54	[[WMG: The Horned King MEANT for Taran and Eilonwy to escape]]
55	He deliberately put Taran into a dungeon with a secret passageway leading into it from Eilonwy's cell. He knew that unlike Taran, she would be smart enough to find the passageway and use her bauble to negotiate it. Then she could help him escape his cell. How would they escape the dungeons? With the sword. Why do you think he left the burial chamber containing such an important weapon unguarded. Obviously his men would be too incompetent to stop someone wielding Dyrnwyn. Then with Taran's determination to find Hen Wen and Eilonwy's superior intellect, they would find the pig which would lead them and by extent him, straight to the cauldron. Why come up with this complex plan for them to stage their own escape instead of just releasing them? That would alert too much suspicion. If true, this would make the Horned King a MagnificentBastard on a par with Scar!
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57	[[WMG: The Horned King is a young [[WesternAnimation/AdventureTime Lich]].]]

Context WMG / TheBlackCauldron