A Twisted Tale (Literature)

A Twisted Tale is a series of young adult novels written by Liz Braswell, Jen Calonita, Elizabeth Lim, Farrah Rochon, and Mari Mancusi, and published by Disney Press.

Set within an Alternate Continuity with a Darker and Edgier feel, each novel revolves around a What If? story if a certain event in a Disney Animated Canon film (as well as Pixar films later on) had played out differently, usually by a negative outcome that results in the story's Downer Beginning by The Bad Guys Win while the heroes work towards fixing it.

As of 2024, entries in the series include:

A Whole New World: What if Aladdin had never found the lamp?
Once Upon a Dream: What if the sleeping beauty never woke up?
As Old as Time: What if Belle's mother cursed the Beast?
Reflection: What if Mulan had to travel to the Underworld?
Part of Your World: What if Ariel had never defeated Ursula? Adapted into a graphic novel in 2023.
Mirror, Mirror: What if the Evil Queen poisoned the prince?
Conceal, Don't Feel/Let It Go: What if Anna and Elsa never knew each other?
Straight On Till Morning: What if Wendy first traveled to Neverland with Captain Hook? Adapted into a graphic novel in 2024.
So This Is Love: What if Cinderella never tried on the glass slipper?
Unbirthday: What if Wonderland was in peril and Alice was very, very late?
Go the Distance: What if Meg had to become a Greek god?
What Once Was Mine: What if Rapunzel's mother drank a potion from the wrong flower?
Almost There: What if Tiana made a deal that changed everything? To be adapted into a graphic novel in 2025.
When You Wish Upon a Star: What if the Blue Fairy wasn't supposed to help Pinocchio?
Set in Stone: What if Arthur wasn't supposed to be king?
Suddenly Super: What if Violet became an agent of Syndrome?
A Twisted Tale Anthology, consisting of 16 short stories, each telling a different movie's what if.
Fate Be Changed: What if the witch gave Merida a different spell?
Princess of Thieves: What if Maid Marian were the real outlaw?
Sally's Lament: What if Sally discovered Christmas Town?

Compare these other Alternate Continuity approaches to the Disney Animated Canon:

Once Upon a Time
Maleficent
Cruella
A Frozen Heart: A Frozen novel, telling the perspective of Hans and Anna during the movie as well as exploring Hans's background.
A Tale of...
Descendants: A franchise of television films, shorts, and books about the children of Disney characters, including of villains.
Disney Chills: A Goosebumps-esque book series about Disney Villains haunting children.
Villainous
The Queen's Council
City Of Villains
The Kingdom Keepers
Dark Ascension

Tropes in this series include:

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In General

Alternate Universe: Aside from the general “what if” plot point, a few stories have a few more divergences from canon that aren’t specifically tied to the main change. Such as Gus and Jaq being regular mice, Mr. Smee being a hallucination by Hook, etc.
Cerebus Rollercoaster: This series fluctuates wildly when it comes to its maturity and violence levels. In general, most of the books are varying degrees of Darker and Edgier compared to the Disney Animated Canon movies they are based on. The violence reaches its peak in the books A Whole New World and Once Upon a Dream, featuring gruesome deaths, blood, and ruthless villains. Part of Your World is near the middle, with a more serious tone and darker themes than its base movie, but not quite as horrifying. At the opposite end of the scale, Conceal, Don't Feel is Lighter and Softer, a stark outlier from the other dark Twisted Tales. It is the only Twisted Tale that does not show any blood whatsoever; what little violence in this installment never exceeds what is already in the movie it is based on. The Anthology book is also on the lighter side overall, though it varies from story to story and it may be because a number of them are lower stakes stories in comparison to the full novels.
Darker and Edgier: Since the books are usually about the bad guy almost winning and expanding on the villains, these Disney stories are subject to this by the series. There's a lot more blood, death, murder, tyranny, revolution, mentions of abuse, and so on. Heck, Part of Your World even establishes that Cthulhu exists in the The Little Mermaid universe.
Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Most of the books are named after the Signature Song of their source movie or a lyric of it. The announced Pixar movie-based entries are the exception due to not being musicals, meaning they instead have titles based around relevant words or phrases from the movies.
Thematic Series: Outside of the sharing the central premise of the books all being set in alternate universes where events diverge from the events of their respective movie, the books don't intersect in any way. As such, they can be read in any order and entries can skipped entirely with no issue.
What If?: The main hook of the series; every key plot twist can be traced back to a key moment in the original narrative.

A Whole New World

Adaptational Backstory Change: The orphan children that Aladdin and Jasmine meet in the movie are related to people in Aladdin's social circle. The brother and sister are also the nephew and niece of Duban, one of Aladdin's friends.
Adaptational Name Change: In the comic series, Aladdin's mother was called Zena. Here, she's known as Hatefeh.
Adaptational Nice Guy: Razoul of all people turns out to be a lot more pleasant compared to how much of a sadistic brute he was in the movie. He's more understanding of Aladdin's thievery as he witnessed the boy grow up before he became captain and isn't as cruel-hearted as in the movie.
Ascended Extra: Remember the woman in yellow who remarks about Aladdin "getting into trouble early"? In this story, she becomes a major participant in the uprising against Jafar as she rallies the other townsfolk to fight on behalf of Jasmine and Aladdin.
Bittersweet Ending: Jafar spites the heroes by using his last wish to erase all types of magic. Not only does this leave Genie powerless, but it also will make it harder for Aladdin and Jasmine to fix the mess the evil vizier left behind. Despite this setback, Jasmine still decides to push forward and rebuild the kingdom into a better system for everyone. She is promoted to the Sultana of Agrabah and as her first decrees she appoints Morgiana as her new vizier and makes Aladdin her First Consort.
Broad Strokes: Aladdin and the King of Thieves is referenced, with Aladdin's father having left the family in search of a better life for them and Aladdin's mother dying while her husband is gone, resulting in Aladdin becoming a street rat. However, it is stated that Abu was a gift from Aladdin's mother, while Aladdin: The Series establishes that Abu left a circus of thieves to join Aladdin.
Broken Pedestal: Jasmine experiences this when she learns of the social problems in Agrabah and acknowledges that her father was a more flawed ruler than she believed.
Death by Adaptation: The Sultan is killed early on as part of Jafar's coup, and Jafar sacrifices Iago and Carpet to gain more power. Razoul and several of his soldiers would also be killed and used as undead minions.
Humanity Ensues: Jafar wishing all magic in the world away has the side effect of turning Genie into a human, with the only hint of his former nature being a slight blue tint to his skin. Since magic is as natural to Djinns as something like walking upright or reading books is to humans, he's not happy about this turn of events. And he's none too fond of the whole walking thing either.
It's All About Me: A good assessment of Jafar's final act, as he wishes that all magic should die with him.
The Magic Goes Away: The last thing Jafar does before dying is to wish all magic in the world away, which also has the side effect of turning Genie into a human.
Morality Pet: A dark variation of this; Jasmine speculates that Jafar sacrificed Iago to try and see the future because Iago was the only thing Jafar remotely cared for, and otherwise his sacrifice would have meant nothing.
Mythology Gag: Morgiana shares the same name as another resourceful woman from the Arabian Nights collection.
Original Character: Duban and Morgiana, Aladdin's childhood friends who grew up on the streets and join him and Jasmine's rebellion.
Ragtag Band of Misfits: A good description of Aladdin and Jasmine's efforts to oppose Jafar, with the aid of Agrabah's street rats and lower-class citizens.
Shoo Out the Clowns: Iago is nowhere to be seen in A Whole New World. This is because he was killed so that Jafar could see into the future.
Walking the Earth: Feeling regret for killing a human (Jafar), Duban decides to leave Agrabah and travel the world to work out his issues. At the very least, he's accompanied by the now-human Genie.

Once Upon a Dream

Armor-Piercing Question: At one point, Maleficent is shown torturing Aurora's parents, and explicitly asks if they never tried to keep their daughter in their lives because they would have preferred a son.
Death by Adaptation: Maleficent kills Aurora's parents, King Stefan, and Queen Leah, to use their blood to maintain her power in the dream world. This is especially heartbreaking as it means they will never be reunited with the daughter they were forced to give up as a baby.
The Bible: Aurora references the story of Noah's Ark and Philip's horse is presumably named for Samson.
Parental Substitute: In Aurora's dream, Maleficent becomes one to Aurora after uprooting her Abusive Parents.
Shown Their Work: Philip states that his horse, Samson, is part Nisaean. Niseans is an extinct horse breed, but are historically known to be treasured for being "super-horses". At the time of Sleeping Beauty (roughly 14th century to 16th century), the Nisean horse breed would've been very endangered or extinct according to known history.
Spot the Imposter: At one point, Maleficent tries to trick Aurora by sending a duplicate of Philip to confront her; the real Philip confirms his identity by sharing various embarrassing secrets that the impostor can't believe he'd tell anyone.
What the Hell, Hero?: While Aurora never has a chance to deliver it directly, after she learns of the circumstances that led to her being raised by the fairies, she often asks why her parents hid her away or why her guardians never told her about her real history, as they could have told her about her real family and presented it as a game without telling her that it was true.

As Old as Time

Ascended Extra:
- Monsieur D'Arque just had a couple of scenes in the original film, but here is revealed to have been part of the long-term prosecution of magical beings in the region.
- The bookstore owner (named Monsieur Levi in this adaptation of this story) as opposed to his one scene in the film, where he not only turns out to be one of Les Charmantes himself, but is also a friend of Belle's parents and was named as her godfather when she was born.
Adaptational Villainy: Monsieur D'Arque is portrayed in this story as a racist, sadistic Mad Scientist who experiments on Le Charmantes in order to "cure" them of their abilities, not even caring if they die, contrasting his original counterpart who was merely the head of the asylum and wasn't shown to be as sadistic.
Big Bad: Monsieur D'Arque, who has revealed to have been locking up those with magical abilities, including Belle’s mother.
Bittersweet Ending: At the conclusion, Gaston is in prison and Monsieur D’Arque is dead, but the Beast is still trapped in his beast state even if his servants have been restored and Belle’s influence helped him retain his mind.
Covered with Scars: As a result of years of torture at Monsieur D'Arque's asylum to remove her magic, Rosalind's beautiful blonde hair is prematurely white and her face is heavily scarred.
Death by Adaptation: Monsieur D'Arque is stabbed to death by Gaston in the story's climax to keep him from killing anyone else.
Even Evil Has Standards: Gaston may be an Egomaniac Hunter who's trying to get Belle to marry him (like in the original animated film), but even he's horrified that D'Arque is kidnapping and experimenting on innocent people.
Fantastic Racism: Monsieur D'Arque has an excessive prejudice against magical creatures, even if their 'talent' consists of nothing more than an ability to make really good cakes.
From Nobody to Nightmare: D'Arque goes from being a random, friendly (albeit somewhat racist) guy with medical skills to the cruel and sadistic head of the asylum.
Gratuitous French: French words are dropped every now and then, but much of it is used incorrectly. For example, Lumiere continuously calls Belle, "mon chéri", rather than "ma chérie".
Heroic Sacrifice: At the conclusion, the Beast sacrifices a chance to return to human form so that his servants can be restored instead.
Hypocrite Monsieur D'Arque is heavily prejudiced against "Le Chamantes", despite being one himself.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: D'Arque is killed when Gaston stabs him in the back with his machete.
Likes Older Women: Alaric Potts’ diary notes that he had this preference, to the point that he wondered if his son (Chip) would end up falling for the daughter of his friend Maurice.
Mad Scientist: D'Arque has shades of this, as he conducts cruel experiments on people in order to "cure" them of their abilities.
Missing Mom: Belle's mother Rosalind was missing for much of her life - not by choice, as she was taken by force to Monsieur D'Arque's asylum and submitted to years of torture to make her 'pure'.
My God, What Have I Done?: Rosalind has one at the end after she realizes that cursing the prince and his servants wasn't the right way to protect her people, especially after she realizes that it affected those she cares about.
Named by the Adaptation: D'Arque, whose first name is never revealed in the film, is given the first name "Frederic".
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The key divergent moment from canon is when Belle touches the rose before the Beast finds her in the West Wing, which somehow disrupts the spell and literally seals the castle from the wider world, while also giving Belle a vision that reveals that the Enchantress was her mother.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Monsieur D'Arque. He claims that he's curing Le Charmantes to protect the kingdom, but it's clear he's simply acting out of his own racist prejudice.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Rosalind gives one to the royal family after they refuse to do anything to prevent prejudice against her people.
Shipping Torpedo: Lumiere’s relationship with the duster, who is never named in this version of the tale, is unofficially over when she expresses prejudice against magical beings that Lumiere does not share.
Spared by the Adaptation: Gaston ends the story in prison for killing D'Arque and thus does not fall to his death as in the original movie.
Villainous Rescue: Gaston kills D'arque before the latter can kill anyone else.
That Man Is Dead: D'Arque, after managing to remove his own powers, proclaims that he's no longer the Le Charmantes he once was.
Villain with Good Publicity: Gaston (as in the original film) is adored by nearly everyone in the village save for Belle. Subverted at the end after he kills D'Arque, however.
We Used to Be Friends: Frederic D'Arque used to be friends with Maurice and Rosalind before he betrayed them and murdered one of their other closest friends.
What the Hell, Hero?: At two points in the flashback portions of the story, Rosalind calls out the royal family for not caring about what happens to "le charmantes".

Reflection

Chinese Mythology: In Reflection, Mulan journeys with the Shang family's guardian, ShiShi, into the Chinese underworld, Diyu, which is ruled by King Yama.
Demoted to Extra: In Reflection, Mulan leaves Mushu, Khan, and Cri-Kee in the living world while she travels to Diyu. She specifically leaves Mushu because she knows that he will complain during the journey.
- Shan Yu only appears to injure Shang. This is all but explicitly stated to be because he still survives the avalanche like in the movie, so he's not in the underworld and is likely still making his way to the Emperor.
Downer Beginning: Reflection starts with the Huns definitely being killed by the avalanche this time, but Shang is fatally injured by Shan Yu in the process.
Deliberate Values Dissonance: Just like in the movie, the book doesn't even try to hide the sexist worldview of Ancient China. Not only is it mentioned that women are only expected to marry someone, but Shang also believes that only men should be soldiers. He later changes his mind after he learns the truth about Ping.
In Spite of a Nail: Shang still finds out that Fa Ping is actually Mulan. He also mentions that he plans to reveal this to the Emperor but the book ends before he goes through with his plan.
Missing Mom: Averted. Shang mentions that his mother is at home, which is why she isn't seen in the movie.
Real After All: When Shang recovers, he comes to assume that his experience in Diyu we as just a dream. Ping reveals to him that it was real after all by claiming she had the exact same dream as him and recounts the specific details of it to him.
Rescued from the Underworld: Reflection is about Mulan journeying into Diyu to rescue Shang.

Part of Your World

Adaptation Expansion: Eric's kingdom is named Tirulia.
Classical Mythology:
- Ariel mentions that her cousin Lara is an athlete and at one point mentally prays to the gods that things work out.
- A circuex is described as a powerful magic spell. "Circuex" is likely derived from Circe, an enchantress in Greek mythology.
- The Tirulians have a story about Neptune and Minerva competing over who would be the patron god of Tirulia, and Neptune somehow won by conjuring up a useless font of undrinkable saltwater from the sea. This is taken from the founding myth of Athens, except now with their Roman counterparts and Neptune winning.
Downer Beginning: Part of Your World starts with Tirulia having become an empire two years after the events of The Little Mermaid and has been invading neighboring countries while Eric and Vanessa are in charge. We learn shortly afterward that Ursula/Vanessa succeeded in marrying Eric without intervention and Ariel was forced to return home without her voice, acting as the new queen of Atlantica while her father has been presumed killed by Ursula (officially as punishment for her role in Triton's apparent death, but mainly because none of her older sisters can be bothered with the responsibility).
Eldritch Abomination: Ursula intends to use the powers of the Elder Gods (yes, those Elder Gods), who is said to have come from "seas beyond [the seas of the Old Gods], between the waves, between the stars".
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: At the beginning of Part of Your World, Tirulia invades a village near the Ibrian Mountains in the kingdom of Alamber. In addition, the village lives near the Veralean Mountains, the village of Garhaggio, and there is a later mention of the village of Arlendad. Judging by these pseudo-Spanish names as well as the Ibrian Mountains likely being a reference to the Iberian system of mountains in Spain, Alamber is likely the equivalent of Spain.
Handicapped Badass: Ariel has managed to be an effective ruler of the seas for five years despite the obvious handicap of not having a voice.
I Surrender, Suckers: In the climax, Ariel surrenders herself to Ursula, suggesting that, rather than the risk of summoning the Elder Gods, what Ursula really wanted was to rule over the Mer as penance for her exile. Ariel offers herself, Triton, the Trident, and the right to rule Atlantica, to Ursula in exchange for the lives of the humans — but while bidding Flounder farewell, Ariel abruptly attacks the surprised Ursula with magic, courtesy of the fountain's sea water, while declaring never to trust the word of a sea witch.
Jerkass Realization: As well as Triton accepting that Eric played a key part in his rescue and acknowledging that his past hatred of humans was excessive, Arista apologizes to Ariel for leaving her responsible for the kingdom and volunteers to assist her father after his return so Ariel can pursue her new role as ambassador to the humans.
Shout-Out: Ursula uses the dark powers of the Elder Gods through a book she got from Carcosa to unleash death on the Merpeople and the Tirulians.
Villainous Breakdown: In retaliation for Ariel surrendering falsely, Ursula yells that she will kill everyone, humans and Mer alike, and tries to seize her and Eric in her tentacles while holding Triton in the ampule. Ariel escapes and gives Triton to the humans for safekeeping, but Ursula tries to strangle the trapped Eric, while Flotsam tries to stab the prince. Eric uses his last burst of strength to launch Ursula into the water, bringing himself and Flotsam in with her — and Flotsam accidentally kills Ursula instead of Eric. But even then, Eric is trapped in the water with Ursula, but Ariel saves him, turning back into a mermaid in the process, before he drowns.
Would Hurt a Child: Ursula has Flotsam and Jetsam "fish" for Flounder, and Ariel and Sebastian are horrified at what she may do to Flounder while he's in her clutches.

Mirror, Mirror

Abusive Parent: Ingrid and Katherine's father is hinted to have beaten them as children and is also misogynistic, yelling at them for not doing chores like the women they are when he finds them playing with toys on the floor.
Adaptational Alternate Ending: Instead of the Evil Queen dying from falling off a cliff as she does in the film, she is imprisoned (still in her hag form) in the dungeon of her former castle and will remain there for the rest of her life. Also, Snow White and her prince don't ride off into their castle in the clouds - instead, Snow White is crowned the new Queen of her kingdom and expresses hope that one day she and Henrich will officially marry.
Adaptation Expansion:
- Snow White's parents are named King Georg and Queen Katherine.
- Snow White's parents ruled over a province and answered to the Holy Roman Emperor.
- The Evil Queen's name is Queen Ingrid.
- The Evil Queen is the sister and lady-in-waiting of Snow's mother, thus making her Snow White's aunt as well as her later stepmother.
- The name of Snow White's prince is Prince Henrich.
- Henrich's kingdom borders north of Snow White's.
Adaptation Name Change: The Evil Queen's name is Queen Ingrid, rather than the typically used Queen Grimhilde (which hasn't been used as much recently, except for in A Tale of...).
Age Lift: Snow White is seventeen during her story, rather than her more well-known age of fourteen.
Always Someone Better: When Snow reminds Ingrid how she chose to do away with her own sister to protect her mirror, Ingrid, who saw Snow's parents as threats, demands that she not say Katherine's name to her. Snow deliberately disobeys and says Katherine's name repeatedly just to drive her insane. It works, [[as Ingrid lets out a scream that cracks her mirror.
Beware the Nice Ones: Snow White is most well known for being a kind and gentle girl, but when she finds out that the Evil Queen not only poisoned her lover but also killed her mother and banished her father, this takes her on a path to remove her evil aunt from power and have her tried for her crimes.
Cain and Abel: Ingrid is glad that her sister, Katherine, is gone so that she can marry Georg and be the new queen. In fact, Ingrid lethally poisoned her own sister. However, a flashback shows that it wasn't always like this, as Ingrid used to be a good big sister to Katherine and both were subject to their father's abuse.
The Corruptor: It is all but explicitly stated that the Magic Mirror is the reason the Evil Queen turned to evil, and it even attempts to do the same to Snow White before she manages to destroy it.
Disappeared Dad: Snow's father disappears after the passing of her mother, Katherine, and his subsequent marriage to Katherine's sister. The Evil Queen spreading false rumors that he went mad leads to the assumption that he ran off. He was actually banished by her, his absence further enforced by a spell that made him feel ill if he tried to return to the kingdom, but he and Snow manage to reunite during the story.
Earn Your Happy Ending: Snow leads her kingdom in an uprising against the Evil Queen with help from the Dwarves and throws her in jail to have her tried for her crimes.
Evil-Detecting Baby: One of Ingrid's flashback chapters reveals that when Snow White was a baby, she would cry every time her aunt (reluctantly) held her. Ingrid was convinced from these reactions that the infant could sense the darkness in her soul.
Point of Divergence: Strangely, while the book is marketed as "What If? the Evil Queen poisoned the prince?" (which is revealed to eventually happen during the prologue), the actual point of divergence is much earlier, when the prince finds Snow White before the Queen does and helps her reunite with her father.
Glass-Shattering Sound: When she learns that her plans aren't going as she wanted, Ingrid screams so loudly that her precious mirror begins to crack. Snow uses this to her advantage in the climax.
The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Between Ingrid and Katherine, whom Ingrid had poisoned.
Greater-Scope Villain: The Magic Mirror, the source of the Evil Queen's evil.
How We Got Here: The first chapter begins with Snow discovering Henrich seemingly dead before the rest of the book flashes back to the events leading up to it.
Ironic Name: The Evil Queen's real name is Ingrid, which means "Ing is beloved/beautiful" when her father had little real interest in being a father to either of his daughters.
Missing Mom: Snow White's mother fell ill and died. She was actually poisoned.
Mistaken Identity: Near the end, after suffering a Villainous Breakdown, Ingrid mistakes the young woman before her for Katherine. It's Snow White.
Mythology Gag: A Tale of... previously used the idea that the Evil Queen's father turned out to be abusive.
Only Mostly Dead / Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If Ingrid hadn't described Henrich as "as good as dead", Snow White wouldn't have figured out that he wasn't actually dead in time to break the curse.
Spared by the Adaptation: The Evil Queen is thrown into the palace dungeon at the end of the story instead of falling to her death.
Strong Family Resemblance: Snow is described as having her mother's face and her father's eyes. Near the end, Ingrid mistakes her for Katherine.
Switching P.O.V.: The chapters alternate between Snow White's POV and her stepmother's.
Took a Level in Badass: Snow White; rather than just running away from the palace to hide, she takes steps to rally opposition to her stepmother.
Ingrid: Katherine?
Snow White: It's Snow White. You will be tried for your crimes. Guards, take her away.
Villainous Breakdown: In the climax, as the Evil Queen says that Georg and Katherine threatened her future, which was why she banished them, she learns from one of the castle guards that Snow White's army has invaded the castle, that they can't hold them off, and that she must leave the castle. This freaks out the Queen, whose magic mirror then advises her to remedy her mistake. Snow joins in by accusing her aunt of choosing her magic mirror over the life of Katherine. Ingrid yells at her niece not to say Katherine's name to her. The guard, the mirror, and Snow all talking at once to her causes Ingrid to cover her ears, unable to think. Snow White then deliberately ignores her aunt's warning not to say Katherine's name and says, "Katherine!" over and over again. This causes Ingrid to scream so loudly that it causes the magic mirror, already slowly cracking, to crack further. Her meltdown also serves to weaken her and eventually put her at Snow's mercy.
Virtue Is Weakness: The Evil Queen's justification for ruling the kingdom differently than Georg and Katherine. Ingrid believed that their kindness and generosity made them weak rulers, which is why she poisoned Katherine and eventually banished Georg.

Conceal, Don't Feel

Adaptation Expansion: The book introduces Lord Peterssen and explains that he was Elsa's regent before she officially ascended. This is carried over into Frozen II: Dangerous Secrets.
Adaptational Early Appearance: Olaf was created by Elsa just after the deaths of her parents, serving as an important confidant to her over the next few years.
Affectionate Nickname: According to the Barnes & Noble edition's exclusive chapter, Iduna nicknamed her friend Tomally as "Molly".
Alliterative Family: The three hens in Harmon's chicken coop are named Erik, Elin, and Elise.
Angst Nuke: While the castle staff tell Elsa about her parents' deaths: "She had the sudden feeling she was about to burst into a million pieces, exploding in fragments of light."
- While Elsa is grieving her parents' loss not long after, she pulls off a real angst nuke when she screams and suddenly blasts ice across the room.
Audience Shift: While most Twisted Tales are aimed for ages 12 and above, Conceal, Don't Feel is only 8 and above. It is the shortest Twisted Tale with a simple, straightforward writing style compared to others of this series. This makes the book easy to understand for middle-grade readers.
Bookcase Passage: Agnarr opens one of these to enter a hidden room containing a special lockbox which he gives to Elsa.
Brought Down to Normal: Due to the curse, Elsa not only lost her ice powers but also forgot she ever had powers in the first place. This way, she grows up as a normal princess.
Canon Character All Along: Freya, a seamstress from Arendelle who's also the best friend of Anna's parents, is actually a disguised Queen Iduna, periodically checking up on her daughter.
Chekhov's Gift: Elsa receives a special lockbox from her father, who tells her to seek help from the box if she's ever struggling in her life. Fast forward to three years later, when Olaf finds a painting and letter stashed inside the box's velvet lining. The painting shows Elsa's full family with her lost sister Anna, and the letter is from her mother explaining how the sisters were separated. This helps Elsa discover the truth about her past.
Evil Chancellor: Hans attempts to set himself up in this role with the aid of the Duke of Weselton, the Duke introduces Hans to Elsa so that the prince could become a confidant for Elsa due to their similar ages. The apparent long-term plan was that Hans would marry Elsa and form a trade agreement that was more beneficial to Weselton than their current arrangement, but this obviously failed as Elsa legitimately never sees Hans as more than a friend, and he is so desperate by the time he finds Anna that he tips his hand as to his true agenda too quickly.
Flower Motifs: According to this book, Elsa's favorite flower is purple heather. Hans brought bouquets of the flower to her every week. The flower helped Elsa cheer up through stressful times.
From Bad to Worse: Elsa intervenes when Grand Pabbie tries to change Anna's memories, which results in a curse that causes Elsa and Anna to lose their memories of each other, in addition to Elsa forgetting she has powers and that Anna's heart and body would freeze over again if she spends too much time around Elsa. As a result, Agnarr and Iduna are forced to have Anna's godparents raise her instead while they keep an eye on Elsa.
Happily Adopted: Anna is raised by her godparents, Tomally and Johan. Tomally is an old friend of Iduna and the couple are ordinary bakers.
Lighter and Softer: Conceal, Don't Feel is heavily toned down and family-friendly compared to other installments in the series. While most Twisted Tale books go all-in on violence, gore, and mature topics, Conceal Don't Feel is an exception to this. Any violence in this book never exceeds that of the original movie. It is also one of the only Twisted Tales with no blood whatsoever.
Market-Based Title: The book was renamed to Let It Go in the UK.
Mythology Gag: Some of the words from the songs of the original film appear in either dialogue or Elsa’s thoughts.
- Two of the castle's servants are called Kai and Gerda, the main characters of Frozen's inspiration The Snow Queen.
No Name Given: Interesting example, works like an inverted Named by the Adaptation. Marshmallow the snow monster is never addressed by name during this story. This is because Olaf named him in the original film, but he is absent from Marshmallow's only scene.
No-Sell: Hans attempts to court Elsa and Anna, but Elsa never sees him that way and Anna's already into Kristoff by the time Hans learns she even exists.
Traumatic Superpower Awakening: This is how Elsa regains her powers after they remained dormant for the past ten years. After learning of her parents deaths, her anguish and grief caused her Emotional Powers to reactivate.
- According to Grand Pabbie, he foresaw that Elsa's powers would reactivate when the sisters "needed each other more than ever before".
Unperson: Anna's royal identity is completely erased. No one in the kingdom remembers her existence, and they believe that Elsa is the only princess of Arendelle.
Wistful Amnesia: Anna and Elsa don't remember each other but miss each other anyway. Anna loves playing in the snow and making snowmen, and her trademark cookies are shaped like a snowman who would look suspiciously like Olaf.
Worst Aid: During Elsa's flashback when she and Anna baked as kids, Anna accidentally burned her finger on the stovetop. Elsa soothed her sister's burn by freezing a pot of water and dipping Anna's finger in. In reality, you should not treat a burn with ice or cold water. Doing so can damage the burned skin tissue and make the burn even worse.

Straight On Till Morning

Adaptation Expansion: Tinker Bell was cast out of the fairy society for wanting to hang out with Peter Pan instead and they refuse to help her with anything unless she comes back.
An Arm and a Leg: In the final confrontation, Wendy implies that people are telling tales of how Hook will keep losing other limbs to Peter.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When attempting to interrogate Peter Pan’s shadow via torture, Hook tried using “Knives, pincers, hot brands, tacks through the nails, fingernails drawn across slate boards” and having Smee play the concertina while drunk. None of those methods worked.
Batman Gambit: Wendy's final plan to confront Hook depends on him reacting in a certain way.
Break Them by Talking: Wendy attempts to do this to Hook.
Cute Mute: Tinkerbell, as always, with Wendy having trouble communicating with the fairy without Peter to "translate" as he did in the film.
Deal with the Devil: With Peter having never come back for his shadow, Wendy makes a deal with Captain Hook to get to Neverland in return for the shadow.
Exact Words: As in the original films, Hook exploits this; he agrees with Wendy that he will take her to Never Land and back at some future date, but intends to force her to stay on the ship as he never explicitly agreed to take her to the shore of Never Land.
Green-Eyed Monster: Tinkerbell is forced to overcome her own jealousy when Wendy is the only person available to help rally the forces of Neverland against Hook's pirates after Peter basically disappears.
Imaginary Friend: Mr. Smee is a figment of Captain Hook's imagination in this version instead of a real person.
My God, What Have I Done?: Wendy is quite horrified to learn that by making the fateful deal with Hook, she has played a part in the demise of Never Land, to the point where she breaks down crying. Even the text in the book clearly says: "What had she done?"
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The whole situation of this novel arises because Tinkerbell prefers to keep Peter away from the Darling house rather than help him retrieve his shadow, which leads to a bitter Wendy making a deal with Hook and giving him access to Peter's shadow.
The Smurfette Principle: As it turns out, Skipper, one of the Lost Boys, is actually a girl, but she basically enjoys so many of the Boys' activities that they don't consider her a "girl" in the same sense as Wendy.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Without any evidence that Neverland is real, John and Michael have grown out of Wendy's old stories, John, in particular, being very cynical about his sister’s tales.
Translator Microbes: Tinkerbell uses pixie dust that allows Wendy to understand what Tink and the other fairies are saying.

So This Is Love

Adaptation Expansion: The opening details Cinderella's conversation with the prince, as well as how her father and mother got married.
Adaptational Nonsapience: In this story, the mice are just mice, and so they can't help Cinderella escape being locked in.
Adaptational Villainy: The Grand Duke, a loyal servant to the King in the animated movie, is here a Treacherous Advisor seeking to overthrow the King and take control of the kingdom for himself.
Because You Were Nice to Me: Lenore (Cinderella's Fairy Godmother) reveals that this is basically the reason she's Cinderella's godmother; Cinderella's grandmother protected Lenore when magic was originally banned from the kingdom, prompting her to promise to protect Cinderella's mother after she was born, but Lenore fled in fear as the prejudice against magical beings became greater, only checking back into the household after Cinderella's mother was dead.
Didn't Think This Through: The Grand Duke invokes this as he muses that it's inevitable that practically every woman he meets will claim ownership of the glass slipper for the chance to marry the prince, cursing the king's impulsive proclamation.
Drama-Preserving Handicap: Cinderella is forced to break her remaining glass slipper to prevent her stepmother from using it to claim one of her daughters was the mystery girl at the ball, and the Fairy Godmother is limited in how much of her own magic she can use to help Cinderella; as she describes it, she can set Cinderella on a path, but it's up to Cinderella to take proper advantage of those opportunities.
Eek, a Mouse!!: Cinderella basically uses this to escape the prison the Grand Duke sent her to; she gathers mice in her dress and then throws crumbs on the guard who comes to take her away, leaving him staggering back long enough for Cinderella to escape.
Fantastic Racism: There's a longstanding prejudice against fairies in the kingdom, which is why the Fairy Godmother kept her magic secret.
Named by the Adaptation: The Fairy Godmother is named Lenore, The King is named King George, the Prince is named Charles, and the Grand Duke is named Ferdinand of Malloy. The kingdom itself is named Aurelais, while the city is named Valors.
"Rashomon"-Style: Invoked when Lady Tremaine recalls her first meeting with Cinderella, as she recalls her stepdaughter treating Lady Tremaine like a new present and showing off to her own daughters, where Cinderella thought she was just being polite and didn't expect that Anastasia and Drizella would be as bad at music as they were.
Reasonable Authority Figure: The prince's aunt and the king's sister, Duchess Genevieve, who learns about Cinderella's status as the 'lost princess' and accepts her as Charles's wife because she recognizes that Cinderella wants to marry Charles for the right reasons.
Secret Test of Character: Lady Genevieve gives Cinderella one after she confirms that Cinderella is the woman Charles has fallen in love with, Cinderella's reaction to the idea of becoming a princess assuring Genevieve that Cinderella recognizes the responsibilities of being a princess and queen where other girls would just be interested in wearing fine gowns and expensive jewelry.
Timmy in a Well: When the Grand Duke locks Cinderella in the dungeons, her dog Bruno alerts Genevieve and Cinderella's friend Louise to the fact that she hasn't just left the kingdom.

Unbirthday

100% Heroism Rating: Mary Ann. Everyone in Wonderland adores her, and even the Queen of Clubs is shocked and saddened upon hearing of her death.
Babies Ever After: The epilogue mentions that Alice and Katz went on to marry and have children.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: The Wonderland residents, as usual, but especially the Queen of Hearts. To wit, she’s sacking her own land, executing and pillaging anyone she can get her hands on, just in order to gather enough toys so that when the end of time comes, she’ll be the winner. What will winning do? Absolutely nothing – she won’t get to enjoy her spoils, and she won’t remember it after the reset - she’ll simply be the winner at the end of that game. Alice finds this latter part absolutely bizarre, but to the other Wonderland residents, it makes perfect sense.
Camera Fiend: Alice, whilst in England. Most of her days are spent running around and photographing things. This actually proves especially useful when bringing the real culprit behind Mrs. Yao's smashed window to light.
Clock Tower: Wonderland has one: the Great Clock on the Plain of Time. Being Wonderland, it has a surprisingly friendly face with eyes that move back and forth.
Does Not Like Spam: Although Alice is deeply fond of sweets, she can't stand licorice. However, she is prepared to force one down if it means she can alter perspective and crush the Card Cutter's skull.
The Dog Bites Back: The White Rabbit was already tired of the suffering, but it was Mary Ann's death that pushed him over the edge, causing him to deliberately try and end time before the Queen of Hearts was ready.
Eye Scream: The Queen of Hearts is fond of inflicting this on her enemies for some unknown reason; most notable is the Hatter who had an eye plucked out by Jubjub birds for refusing to give up Mary Ann’s location, and Mary Ann, whose sole appearance is wearing a blindfold with blood running down her cheeks.
Family-Unfriendly Violence: A surprising amount of it, ranging from Mary Ann’s bloodied appearance in the photo, the March Hare’s fate, Alice getting skewed by a tove and feeling cutting through her sinews and muscles, and later on getting stabbed in the heart and almost dying.
I Never Said It Was Poison: After Alice is mugged, she’s able to figure out the culprit fairly quickly, due to them mentioning the one item that was stolen before she’d had a chance to tell them properly about the theft.
"I never said it was my camera that had been stolen."
Interquel: The story is revealed at the end to take place between the end of Alice in Wonderland and the beginning of Through the Looking-Glass.
Karma Houdini Warranty: The Queen of Hearts' cruel reign finally comes to an end as she is deposed and then thrown into a cage by her former subjects.
Knight of Cerebus: The Card Cutter. Anytime he’s mentioned, the mood turns dark. And when he does finally make an appearance, the encounter ends with Alice being stabbed in the heart.
Meaningful Name: The White Rabbit’s double, Mr. Coney. A “coney” is an old word for “rabbit”. And there’s also Katz, and his double, the Cheshire Cat.
My Instincts Are Showing: During a giant game of Snakes and Ladders, the Dodo has to hood himself with a colander so that he can stomach sliding down a snake. Later on, this is what makes the White Rabbit so tricky to catch, as his instincts cause him to evade any and all attempts at capture.
Mythology Gag: There are several references to the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that inspired the Disney film that provided the basis for this book:
- There are three references to things connected with the original novel:
  - Kexford, the city Alice lives in, is a thinly veiled reference to the real-life city of Oxford, where it was written.
  - Alice mentions her friend "Charles" and his maths. The author of the original book, Lewis Carroll, a.k.a. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, was a mathematician.
  - Finally, Cheshire Cat refers to Alice as 'liddel Alice'. The surname of the "real" Alice which the story was written for, was Liddel.
- At another point, the Hatter quips that Alice once “believed in 6 impossible things before breakfast”, a nod to Through the Looking Looking Glass, the official sequel to the original novel.
No Periods, Period: Averted. The family housekeeper, Mrs. Anderbee, notes that it’s not the right time for Alice’s "flowers" when the latter feigns sickness.
Not Himself: The Mad Hatter, who had the Nonsense knocked out of him. This being Wonderland means that his appearance is affected as well, appearing more in proportion, and somewhat drabber. Worst of all, he’s more logical and makes sense, which he hates.
Perspective Magic: Alice is unable to grow and shrink as she once did, but instead she’s able to alter perspective, such as making things smaller or larger or reaching off into the far distance to grab things.
Reasonable Authority Figure: The Queen of Clubs. She won’t immediately get involved with the Queen of Heart’s affairs, but if Alice is able to show an egg enough proof that the Heartlanders wish to rise up against their queen, she’ll step in to assist. She also takes the time to heal Alice after being attacked by toves, and awards both her and the Dodo a prize for winning Snakes and Ladders.
Reset Button: What the ‘End of Time’ actually entails; it ends the both the game and Wonderland entirely. In their place, a new game/Wonderland begins, and anyone deceased is brought back to life. There also seems to be some small amount of choice as to what someone is the next time around – the Dodo still wants to be a Dodo, but with a different wig, and the Hatter wants to try his hand at being a Cobbler.
Shout-Out: Alice is told to forget the 'airspeed velocity of an unladen sparrow'.
Spooky Photographs: The plot is kicked off when Wonderland residents start appearing in developed photographs that Alice takes. Terrified Wonderland residents. Uh-oh...
The Unfought: The Queen of Hearts. Granted, Alice tries to fight her, but is interrupted by the Gryphon, and the real final challenge ends up being the White Rabbit.

Go the Distance

Adaptation Dye-Job: Persephone had blonde hair in the movie, but is described as having dark hair in the book.
Ascended Extra: Persephone was a background goddess in the Hercules movie and the animated series, but is a major character here.
Beta Couple: Hades and Persephone have fallen in love, similar to Meg and Herc.
Covers Always Lie: Despite being featured heavily on the cover, Hades isn't a prominent figure in the story and appears sparingly.
Deity of Human Origin: Meg's quest is to become a goddess so she can stay with Hercules on Mount Olympus.
Disappeared Dad: Meg's father Leonnatos walked out on her when she was five and she hasn't seen him since.
Friend to All Children: Phil turns out to be this, immediately tending to Meg's ex's infant daughter, and telling Meg that satyrs are naturally proficient at taking care of children.
For Want Of A Nail: The story kicks off because Zeus refuses to let Hercules leave Olympus after his parents have spent so long waiting for him, requiring Meg to attain godhood in order to be with Hercules instead of Hercules giving up his newfound godhood to be with Meg.
I Just Want to Be Special: One of Meg's goals in attaining godhood is to figure out her place and contribution to the world.
Meaningful Echo: Meg's canon line "I’m a tough girl, I can tie my own sandals and everything" becomes this, with her now repeating the last words her mother said to her.
Mythology Gag:
- When in Asphodel Meadows, Meg says her last name is Egan, the same last name as her voice actress in the movie Susan Egan.
- Also literally, when Meg is leading her ex's wife out of the Underworld, Hades warns her that she must not look back, or else both of them will be trapped in the Underworld. This is a reference to the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which the former was also instructed not to look back at Eurydice.
Narnia Time: Meg thought she spent a week in the Underworld after making her initial deal with Hades, but in reality, she was there for two years, which better justifies her former lover moving on.
Race Against the Clock: Meg is given ten days to complete her quest.
Rescued from the Underworld: Meg's goddess test is to rescue her ex's current wife from the Underworld within ten days.
Wacky Parent, Serious Child: While Thea generally worked hard to provide for her daughter, she was also prone to rash impulsiveness which annoyed Meg.
Unreliable Narrator: As it turns out, Hades manipulated Meg so that she thought her ex quickly got over her and moved on after a week when in reality she was in the Underworld for two years.
Veteran Instructor: Phil has declared his retirement now that Hercules is a god, only to take it back when he hears that Meg's ex's child is fated to became a famous hero under his tutelage. Phil, who's grown fond of the baby, says he's sure he can delay his retirement a bit longer.

What Once Was Mine

Adaptational Species Change: Pascal is a skink instead of a chameleon. Subverted when Rapunzel uses her hair's magic to transform Pascal into a chameleon.
Combo Platter Powers: Rapunzel has several different powers that she cycles through based on the moon's phases. She can kill anyone touching her hair on a new moon, transform animals into different species on a crescent moon, and heal on a full moon. She is also shown with the power to shrink objects or revert them to earlier states.
Commonality Connection: Both Rapunzel and Gina were raised by Goodwives.
Enfante Terrible: As a baby, Rapunzel accidentally killed a maid named Lettie with her magical powers when she tugged her hair too hard while brushing it and Rapunzel cried.
Fanfic: The story is one in-universe, being told by a boy to his sister as his own spin on the film.
Historical Domain Character: Countess Elizabeth Bathory appears as an antagonist.
In Spite of a Nail:
- Rapunzel still ends up locked away in a tower under the watch of Mother Gothel. However, the circumstances are different; instead of being kidnapped for her powers, Gothel is a good wife to the royal family and was given Rapunzel to care for due to her powers making her dangerous to other people and herself.
- Rapunzel still escapes from the tower because she wants to see the floating lanterns on her birthday, albeit her nineteenth instead of her eighteenth.
Living Weapon: Gothel was raising Rapunzel to be this so she could sell her.
Lunacy: Rapunzel get's her hair's magic from the Moondrop Flower, so her powers are closely tied to the moon. Rapunzel needs to focus on the moon for her powers to activate. She receives different Combo Platter Powers depending on the current moon phase. For example, she has the power to kill on a new moon, the power to change animals' species on a crescent moon, the power to heal on a full moon, and so on.
Mystical White Hair: Due to Arianna ingesting the Moondrop Flower instead of the Sundrop Flower, Rapunzel is born with silvery white hair instead of golden blonde hair.
Mythology Gag:
- Instead of the Sundrop Flower, the Moondrop Flower is found, and instead of giving Rapunzel the power to heal, it instead gives her the power to hurt. The concept of a Moondrop counterpart as well as the "Hurt Incantation" (the fan name for the Reverse/Decay Incantation before they were officially named) was introduced in Tangled: The Series.
- Rapunzel and Flynn are joined by a third companion, Gina, much like Cassandra in the television series. And like Cassandra, Gina wasn't raised by her parents but by someone else.
- Taking the Moondrop does make your hair a magical glow like in the show, but Rapunzel ends up with silver hair while Cassandra got blue hair.
Point of Divergence:
- Because Arianna ingested the Moondrop Flower, Rapunzel instead has magical silver hair that gives her the power to hurt. This also means Gothel still has the Sundrop Flower.
- Flynn is accompanied by another thief named Gina.
Power Incontinence: Throughout the book, Rapunzel struggles to suppress her hair's powers to avoid accidentally killing anyone.
Russian Reversal: In the original film this book is based on, Gothel warns Rapunzel to never leave the tower because the world is a danger to her. In this book, Rapunzel is a danger to the world.
Self-Insert: It's implied that the boy created Gina as an insert character for his sister.
Shout-Out: The story is told by a boy to his sick sister in a reference to The Princess Bride.
Show Within a Show: The framing device takes place in the "real world", with the siblings having watched Tangled and the brother basing his story off of the movie.

Almost There

Amnesia Missed a Spot: Although Facilier wiped Naveen's memory of his time with Tiana as a frog, he still feels attracted to her.
Back from the Dead: James, as part of the Deal with the Devil.
Big Creepy-Crawlies: During a picnic at Congo Square, a swarm of Mosquitoes (almost ten times their normal times) invaded to cause havoc around (also attacking Naveen while he tried to shield Tiana from them). Their unusual size is a result of the Friends on the Other Side being impatient over the feact that the deal hasn't been firmed yet.
Cruel and Unusual Death: After Tiana managed to trick Facilier with a deal after she let him drink a potion she (and Roselande) created and he let Tiana sign his contract, she wrote "Goodbye Shadow Man" letting Facilier be shocked that the shadows he once called friends were coming to him, and during the process, he felt his face becoming mottled, with red splotches appearing on it, and in need of gasping for air. After that, his last words were "Are... you... ready? Are you... Ready, Tiana?" just before the shadows barged in and dragged him out of the room, presumably back to the Other Side.
Deal with the Devil: Tiana is manipulated into making a deal with Dr. Facilier to get her restaurant and bring her father back to life, setting the plot into motion.
Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: While LaBouff has given Naveen a job at his factory, Naveen knows that his role is basically just a token gesture and he's trying to find something to do that lets him feel like he's making a difference, or at least doing something he enjoys that helps others in some way.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: It is stated that Facilier cared about his mother and that her death lead to his descent into villainy.
Fake Wizardry: While trying to convince Tiana to help him, Facilier has to resort to more conventional means of threats, such as burning band instruments before a key performance or claiming responsibility for a thick mist, as he doesn't have the personal power to do anything more explicit to her.
Gaslighting: Facilier resorts to this while manipulating Tiana, trying to convince her that she signed a contract with him last year when she really just made a verbal deal and Facilier signed it on her behalf.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Facilier only learns with a few days to go that because he signed a contract on Tiana's behalf, his soul is forfeit as payment rather than Tiana's.
Like Brother and Sister: While explicitly calling them "siblings" might be an exaggeration, even after being friends with Naveen for a year Charlotte freely declares that he's one of her best friends and shows no romantic interest in him.
Magic Feather: Facilier has enforced this on Tiana; she believes that she needs to add a potion provided by Facilier to every pot of her gumbo she creates to keep her father alive, but in reality, this potion helps Facilier influence others and has nothing to do with her father's continued existence.
My God, What Have I Done?: Tiana starts to feel this way about making a deal with Facilier, especially after seeing how badly it affected those she cared about.
Pet the Dog: At one point, towards the end of the story, Facilier gives money to a boy who was standing by the river, and swiftly berates himself for that pointless bit of conscience.
Put on the Bus: Mama Odie is away visiting her sister.
Rules Lawyer: Facilier is the victim of this when his "friends on the other side" point out the small print on the contract he drew up to bring Tiana's father back to life; since Facilier signed the contract on Tiana's behalf rather than getting her to sign it herself, technically his own soul is forfeit within a year of the resurrection if he can't get Tiana to sign the contract as well.
Spanner in the Works: Facilier has been able to trick Tiana into helping him spread his influence by telling her to add some drops of a potion to her gumbo, claiming that it helps keep her father alive when in reality those who eat the potion-tainted gumbo will be susceptible to Facilier's influence. However, this plan fails to help Facilier gain influence over Charlotte's father for the simple reason that LaBouff always orders the etouffee when he eats at Tiana's restaurant rather than the gumbo.
Walking Wasteland: It is revealed that the apparent corruption in New Orleans is basically because Tiana's father has become this; with Tiana's original deal with Facilier about to expire, the world is objecting to the unnatural nature of his continued presence.

When You Wish Upon a Star

Adaptational Karma: The Pinocchio villains are all punished by the good Fairies for their wicked deeds, with Stromboli, Honest John, and Gideon being afflicted with terrible nightmares and the Coachman being turned into a donkey.
Canon Foreigner: Ilaria/The Scarlet Fairy, Chiara/The Blue Fairy's sister.
Deal with the Devil: Ilaria makes a deal with the Green Fairy to become famous in exchange for her heart.
Enfant Terrible: During her fairy training, Chiara encountered Stromboli as a child and it is clear he was unpleasant even back then - he tortured the crickets and monkeys that performed in his father's sideshow and enjoyed watching his elder brother Vito being abused by their father.
Failed Audition Plot: Ilaria's dream of becoming a famous opera singer is shattered at her audition in Vallan. Not because she arrived dusty from a bumpy wagon ride and sweaty from running late to the audition (although these didn't help matters), but because the residental diva, Maria Linda, and conservatory director, Maestro Lully, thought she didn't have the 'presence' to become a prima donna. This rejection ulimately leads Ilaria to making a deal with the Heartless.
Fairy Devilmother: The Heartless Fairies.
Friend to All Children: Geppetto loves to carve wooden figurines for the children of Pariva, which would later inspire him to become a toymaker.
The Man Behind the Man: The Heartless Fairies to all of the classic Pinocchio villains.
Named by the Adaptation: The Blue Fairy is given the name Chiara.
Was Once a Man: The Blue Fairy and Scarlet Fairy were once human women before becoming fairies.

Set in Stone

A Child Shall Lead Them: Arthur is only fourteen and has to deal with the responsibilities of being king.
Becoming the Mask: Guinevere was only supposed to pretend to become Arthur's friend as part of her duties as her mother's spy. Mim certainly wasn't counting on them becoming friends for real.
Canon Foreigner: Downplayed; Guinevere doesn’t appear in the movie the book is based on, but she sure does appear in Arthurian legend.
Cassandra Truth: No one from modern-day Bermuda believes Merlin really is who he says he is, instead believing he's just an old man suffering from heat stroke.
Company Cross References: Merlin uses the words "misculus, moosculus, Mickey Mouse!" as part of a magic spell to turn Arthur into a mouse.
Composite Character: Madam Mim and Morgan le Fay, separate characters in the original novel, are one and the same in this version.
Crossover: Merlin mentions having crossed paths with the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella during his attempts to return to his own time.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Ultimately Guinevere confirms that Mim genuinely does care about her by offering to be burnt to death with Arthur, forcing Mim-as-Arthur to show her magic and end her deception.
Everyone Loves Blondes: Arthur's relationship with Guinevere in a nutshell.
Hijacked by Ganon: Arthur pulling the sword out of the stone was engineered by Madam Mim so she could place her own puppet ruler on the throne of England.
Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: Mim didn't recognise Arthur as Merlin's student because she only saw him as a bird rather than as a human.
Named by the Adaptation: Guinevere's birth mother, unnamed in the original legends, is here given the name Camile.
Related in the Adaptation: Guinevere is Madam Mim's foster daughter in this version.
Springtime for Hitler: Madam Mim arranged for Arthur to become king in hopes he would be a puppet that she could easily control. She wasn't counting on him actually being good at the job without any help from her.

Suddenly Super

Adapted Out: Edna Mode does not appear at all in the story (considering that this is set around Bob's second visit where he wears the red super-suit for the first time, which goes off the rails), the Parrs already have their supersuits at the start.
Adaptational Badass: Violet herself (and to a lesser extent Dash) due to her being the main focus instead of her father, which means her powers are far stronger here than they are in the films (though her story path of using said powers is very much similar to the original film beat-for-beat), to where she can go toe to toe with and survive against Syndrome's deadly Omnidroids, something only her father Mr. Incredible was capable of doing in the film (and something she struggled at against V10 in the first film's climax). During her first mission, Violet is able to steal the Nullifier from the Mastermind on her first attempt.
- Jack-Jack gets this treatment via having all 17 of his powers from the second film, rather than a select few as in the original film and short.
Adaptational Jerkass: While still a loving and caring mother as in canon, Helen is far stricter and ruder in this version. After she catches Violet using her powers illegally to get out of a high school party she was forced to attend to that she wanted no part in (due to Violet's high social anxiety) by turning invisible, Helen grounds Violet indefinitely. She also threatens to hire babysitter named Mrs. Caruso who Violet doesn't like to look after the kids while she visits Bob at his work conference, which is reality a trip to the Mastermind's lair, though she relents and leaves Violet in charge instead, considering that punishment enough. Following the failed attempt on her life when the Conference turns out to be a trap set by the Mastermind to explode in an attempt at taking out her husband, and her eventual identity being revealed to Syndrome. This forces Helen to have a Heel Realization once she goes into hiding and gains an even harder one once the mad fanboy tells Elastigirl that Violet and Dash will be the end of her, when they appear to arrive to back him up.
Adaptational Villainy: Played With Mirage appears to be far more vile and cruel in this compared to her film counterpart who had a Heel–Face Turn especially when she easily kidnaps the kids, whom she has no problems putting in harm's way by offering Violet a job working as Syndrome's Agent, it's likely due to not having Dash sneak off to follow his mom on the plane allows Mirage to be as vicious as her boss at first. However like with the original film, Mirage outright despises children getting put in harm's way and quickly saves them as they are leaving the house from a group of hired goons, and because of the kids being in her life slightly earlier in the timeline causes Mirage to form a powerful protective bond with them over the course of the story forcing her to become the temporary Team Mom, and the way her boss outright cruelly treats the kids, by trying to fuel Violet's rage and anger (not helping Syndrome's case is that he was also abusing Mirage the same way to make her more loyal to him for years) causes Mirage to once again pull a Heel–Face Turn in the climax once his plan of turning the Parr siblings into supervillains almost succeeds with Mirage talking them out of it by revealing to Violet her parents are still alive, forcing her an uneasy alliance with the surviving Supers.
- Violet and Dash also counts early on during their training under Syndrome albeit reluctantly in Violet's case and Violet begins to get more confident and bolder after pulling off her first mission by stealing the Mastermind's Nullifier, though she and Dash later breaks free of their boss's control once they finds out that their parents are alive, which completely wrecks Syndrome's plans of taking control of the city.
Alternate Universe: Is set to be one of The Incredibles, though it was initially unknown which important plot point of the original film it'll diverge from.^note
Badly Battered Babysitter: Mrs. Caruso likely was an inverted version of this when she had to deal with Violet and Dash while babysitting them, though it's implied Violet got most of the abuse from her. Played Straight with Kari being this once again, it plays a major role in Syndrome's defeat like it did in the original film as it allows Jack-Jack to activate his powers, turning the tide against Syndrome and defeating him for good.
Big Sister Instinct: Violet is willing to do whatever it takes to protect her brothers by any means necessary especially with her parents' presumed dead at the hands of the Mastermind and is forced to mature to an adult very quickly throughout the story, such as by hiring Kari as a babysitter to watch Jack-Jack and subbing in for Dash once the Omnidroid tests starts getting far more serious and troubling for him. She hesitantly accepts Syndrome's job offer, knowing that she'll be able to provide for her younger brothers and accepts the mission to steal the Mastermind's Nullifier, knowing she needs the money.
Bittersweet Ending: Very downplayed at first, but comes very close to a Downer Ending. Ultimately, things work out for the Parrs after they're reunited at the end, with Violet appreciating her powers after briefly losing them, being on better terms with both Dash and Helen again, and being more hopeful/confident about her social life and pursuit of Tony, though she was forced to kill Syndrome, which will leave her haunted. However, there's even less of an indication that the Supers will be made legal again (since the battle didn't happen in public and Dicker and the NSA keep it all under wraps rather than letting it revealed to the government, there's no inciting incident from the Underminer for Winston Deavor to contact the Parrs and Lucius, all but likely ensuring Evelyn's dream of no more supers), the family is stuck in living in a motel for a while (though Violet and Dash do at least like the regular access pool and frequent Chinese takeout, respectively) and the family is likely going to have to deal with the Mastermind's plans for them, and even then she explicitly doesn't want to kill them like Syndrome, and with no Winston in their lives means the possibility of the Parrs facing homelessness is far more likely if not fully inevitable.
Break the Cutie: Poor Violet and Dash after Mirage tells them that Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl (Bob and Helen) are dead after attending the superhero conference (in reality Frozone saves them and helps them go into hiding with his own family which Mirage keeps as a secret from the kids). While Dash gets over his grief quickly due to the nifty gadgets available (though he ultimately breaks down when he fails against the Omnidroid), Violet on the other hand is completely broken both physically and mentally over her parents' deaths (and likely feels even more guilty because of her earlier antics at the party that put her in a bad relationship with her mom) and as a result Violet is forced to grow up fast in order to protect her brothers by doing whatever she thinks is necessary such as taking up Syndrome's job offer which she accepts, where he assigns her to steal the Mastermind's Nullifier (which she pulls off successfully on her first attempt). To make matters worse, Violet and Dash are put through a violent and brutal training session by Syndrome in order to hone her's and her brother's respective powers and skills by fighting against Syndrome's Omnidroids that pushes them to their limits, which takes a far worse toll on Violet's mental health all but wrecking her physically and emotionally to the point that Violet was willing to use the stolen Nullifier on herself to get rid of of her powers permanently (only for Mirage to talk her out of it, when she reveals that she would be dishonoring her parents' legacy and offers Violet full support that fully restored her morale). Syndrome's abuse towards Violet nearly turns her into a supervillain (Dash ultimately gives up his dream of being a Superhero once he realizes what the session is doing to his sister and is beginning to sway to a villain). Both kids are only spared from going too far into evil when they learned that their parents are still alive (though Violet was the closest to fully turning into a mad supervillain since Syndrome put more focus on Violet), though the parents are shocked and outright enraged over their kids' turn as supervillains at Syndrome's hands when they arrive to back him up, only to be overjoyed when it's not the case when Violet suddenly starts attacking her former boss, followed by Dash.
Canon Foreigner:
- Frozone's extended family finally makes an appearance in the form of a niece named Lucy, who is a popular older student at Violet's school who knows about the Supers and their plight.
- The most important of the new characters is the Mastermind, an old enemy of Bob and Helen's who is the inventor of the Nullifier.
- The least relevant is the Parrs' neighbor Mrs. Caruso, who Violet doesn't like and says smells like licorice. Helen threatens to have her babysit the kids, but she ultimately doesn't and plays no major role in the story.
Children Forced to Kill: An enraged and pissed off Violet beats Syndrome within an inch of his life when he arrives to kidnap Jack-Jack as the family and Mirage beg the fully enraged Violet to stop and Violet relents realizing she's turning into him, ultimately Jack-Jack ends up mauling Syndrome to death in his demon form.
Compressed Adaptation: The story combines the main story of The Incredibles with that of including the events of Jack-Jack Attack and giving Jack-Jack his remaining powers and his love of cookies from Incredibles 2, with Kari taking over as the new babysitter as in the the first film and short after Mirage kidnaps the kids and kills their would-be other kidnappers as they escape, this ends up saving Jack-Jack's life and activates his superpowers when Kari triggers them as she does in the original short. Unlike the short, Jack-Jack has all 17 of his powers from the second film right off the bat.
Creator Cameo: Brad Bird (writer/director of both films) gets a name drop as an in-universe director who has a retreat/camp for aspiring actors. Mirage wanting to attend it is a plot point, since she can't afford to go if she quits working for Syndrome.
Curbstomp Battle: The Final Battle between Syndrome and the Incredibles goes far worse for the former, especially once Jack-Jack activates his entire powerset in conjunction with a rage-fueled Violet who is hell-bent on destroying him for all the abuse she suffered at his hands. Leading him a far swifter defeat compared to his film counterpart that kills him.
The Cutie: Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack are this per usual (that's until they're broken by both the news of their parents' tragic deaths and later on getting put through an intense and violent training program by Syndrome, designed to torture the kids and turn them into evil Supervillians, which appears to succeed, only for them to reject the path. Kari is also back in full babysitting force. And then we have Frozone's adorable older niece Lucy (who doesn't appear in the films).
A Day in the Limelight: Violet Parr herself is the lead character, with her brother Dash as a major secondary character, instead of her father and mother, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl (who were respectfully the protagonist and sidekick in the original film). Bob alongside his wife Helen have been captured by Syndrome on his island, with him and telling the kids (and Mirage) that they were killed by Mastermind in order to sway then to Syndrome's side and steal her Nullifier for him.
De-power: The Mastermind's ultimate weapon the Nullifier has the ability to strip any Super of their powers, that Syndrome assigns Violet to steal on her first mission, which she succeeds. Violet considers using it on herself at first to get rid of her superpowers forever to live the normal life she so desperately dreams of and successfully does so and attempts to convince Dash to do the same that leads the Parr siblings to briefly fight against each other, Mirage is able to talk some sense into Violet as its not what her parents would have wanted. Syndrome ends up using it himself in the climax to de-power Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl and Frozone briefly in the hopes of finally killing them, only for Violet and Dash to eventually snap and beat Syndrome down to snatch it back and use it to return their powers to normal, turning the tide of the fight to the Heroes' favor, when he attempts to kidnap Jack-Jack, only to get crushed by the combined effort of the baby's numerous powers and his rage-fueled siblings, killing him.
Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: Mastermind hosts a party for several unseen villains to celebrate the supposed return of Mr. Incredible, implying that they are all on good terms. She even has photos in her office of herself standing with Bomb Voyage, the Underminer, and Syndrome (which helps tip off Violet that he isn't who he says he is). Downplayed as she's still not Syndrome's ally and he has to steal the Nullifier from her.
Evil Plan: As in the original film, Syndrome's goal was to wipe out all Supers so that he can give others who lack powers his tech so they can become super themselves and he attempted a different method of getting rid of Mr. Incredible (and Elastigirl) by setting up a NSA Superhero conference that was rigged to explode with the Mastermind's help, when this plan ultimately falls apart due to him not taking Bob's Nigh Invunlerability into account (which allows him to shield Helen who was only partially immune) and Frozone's timely arrival to sprint the Parr couple to safety. He tries to trick the Parr children into stealing a power nullifier so that he can take away the powers of all Supers (which Violet succeeds at early on in her first real mission) and make everyone else Super, but Violet and Dash ultimately reject his efforts at turning them evil even before they learn that their parents are alive.
Evil vs. Evil: Appears to be set up this way between Syndrome and the Mastermind when he describes his rivarly with the latter to Violet during his mission briefing. In reality they're actually secretly working together as by providing Violet an easy target to test her Invisibility powers with and to ensure that Mr. Incredible is finally dead by having him depowered and she's ultimately revealed to be the one who set up Mr. Incredible's and Elastigirl's attempted murders. Ultimately Downplayed after the story's end with the Mastermind pulling a Heel–Face Turn and working with a reformed Mirage, who are both slowly working on a way to reverse the now irreversible banning of Superheroes, mainly so the Mastermind can experience the thrill of battling the Supers again.
Face–Heel Turn: Violet herself becomes a supervillain (as does Dash) while doing Syndrome's dirty work throughout the story once she begins to work with him and starts suffering from severe anxiety and pressure to do good all while trying to grieve and honor her dead parents. It isn't until Violet notices that something's really off with Syndrome's and Mirage's fabricated story about her parents' supposed deaths at the hands of the Mastermind and Syndrome's so-called story about being her father's biggest fan, causes Violet to suspect them both throughout the story early on. And when she discovers prior to the raid on Metroville that her parents are in fact alive and well, and are in hiding with Frozone's help (confirming that both Syndrome and Mirage had in fact lied to her and her brother (Syndrome did so in attempt to break the siblings' spirits which ended up working to sway them to join his crusade), where as Mirage only went along with the plan mainly to protect the family in general (while also getting revenge on Syndrome for all the years of abuse and manipulations), which Mirage revealed was her plan all along to ensure Syndrome doesn't win) does Violet slowly come around to being the heroic girl she is in canon. Syndrome likewise tells his idol and his wife during the climatic raid on the city how he succeeded in turning their own kids against him as he depowers them with the Nullifier, only for an angry Violet and Dash (who at first appear to still be evil which is enough to enrage both Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl) to surprise Syndrome and beat him to regain the Nullifier to re-power Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl and Frozone, forcing him to flee and go after Jack-Jack. It isn't until that Syndrome was threatening Jack-Jack's life and due to all the abuse Violet suffered under him that Violet goes on the warpath against him, leading to his final defeat and death.
Heartwarming Orphan: Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack end up like this as part of Syndrome's master plan against his former idol, which appears to have gotten Bob and Helen killed. In reality, they got captured by the Mastermind and ultimately managed to escape and went into hiding alongside Frozone and his family, taking them out of the main plot.
Heel–Face Turn: As in the original film, Mirage ultimately turns against her boss once she's horrified by what Violet and Dash are turning into under his care (it also doesn't help that Syndrome was already doing the same to Mirage for years), all but removing Violet's suspicions of her.
- Violet and Dash ultimately switch back to being heroes themselves before the climatic raid on the city when Mirage tells them how evil Syndrome is, it doesn't help that Syndrome offered them the opportunity to join him during the raid to take over the city which they quickly turn down, implying the deaths of their parents would have made Violet's and Dash's resolve to be superheroes far stronger.
Heel Realization: Both Helen and Violet have very hard ones that completely breaks them:
- Helen realizing how hard she was being on Violet for her strict parenting methods and that her grounding Violet indefinitely for using her powers illegally in the story's beginning, nearly turns her own daughter into the path of a supervillainess. On top of that her strict style of parenting nearly turns Violet into a far worse version of herself, when she attempts to take Dash's powers away by force with the Nullifier. Syndrome himself gloats at this development right as he has Helen and Bob at death's door.
- Violet realizing that her dream of being normal with no powers and how her mom's strict parenting all comes at a steep price, nearly turns Violet into a far worse version of her mom that almost destroys the already unstable relationship she had with her little brother Dash when she attempts to take away her brother's super speed with the Nullifier that leads to them fighting and breaking off their sibling team, Mirage immediately calls Violet out on this mindset and gives her a huge What the Hell, Hero? talk that fully causes Violet to look at herself in the mirror.
I Just Want to Be Normal: Taken to even darker extremes here unlike the film, with Violet wishing to have her powers stripped from her in order to live a normal life after her mom Helen grounds her indefinitely for using them, to the point that she actually considers killing herself after she finds out that her parents are dead. After successfully pulling off the theft of the Mastermind's Nullifier in her first real mission for Syndrome. The pressure of heroics affects Violet's mental anxiety and depression so greatly that Violet ends up using it on herself to finally rid herself of her curse of having superpowers permanently, and she even attempts to convince Dash to do the same, much to the latter's anger that leads to them fighting against each other and breaking them up with Violet briefly disowning Dash. It takes for Mirage giving the now powerless Violet a personal What the Hell, Hero? talk that Violet's becoming far more like her mom than she wants to admit, and that her parents were legendary heroes who wouldn't want her to get rid of her powers as they would be considered it to be a dishonor to their memory and that her brothers need Violet more than ever, Mirage also reveals that Violet's mom was only trying to be strict to them was to protect her and siblings from being outed as illegal Supers and being thrown in jail. This conversation ends up finally convincing the completely broken Violet that her powers are in fact a blessing and not a curse, that she agrees to continue the mission without hesitation and she quickly restores her powers, this talk is also what helps bring Violet and Dash back to being heroes in time for the climax and allows Dash to finally reconcile with Violet when he overhears them, realizing that his sister was only doing this because she was scared.
Jumped at the Call: Violet immediately jumps at the opportunity to be a Superhero while working with Syndrome, who offers Violet the opportunity to be the Super her parents forbade her from becoming, with him luring her with words about how he's her father's biggest fan and wanting her to honor his heroic legacy, while also "revealing" that the entire Superhero Registration Program was all a lie in order to manipulate her anxiety and depression to his advantage. Hoping to use Violet as a personal weapon to bring Supers back in the limelight and repeal the law, Violet slowly realizes that Syndrome, her boss is actually trying to use her to destroy Metroville and the NSA by battle-testing his Omnidroids and having her steal the Nullifier from the Mastermind (who never killed Bob and Helen) with him hoping to make the kids his supervillain sidekicks, it nearly works except he didn't count on his own minion Mirage betraying him.
Karma Houdini: Though she did help the Parrs and Lucius survive by betraying Syndrome, Mirage was ultimately still complicit in kidnapping Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack for him and commiting murder by killing the hired goons that were sent to back her up. But because she's now working for the well connected Mastermind, she's unlikely to ever face any legal punishment for her time in Syndrome's employ, unless the Parrs come into conflict with the Mastermind.
- Same also goes for Mastermind, as she remains unharmed and free to do whatever she pleases in the end, even though her creation of the Nullifier lead to a lot of problems (even if she never actually intended to use it herself), judging by how she treats the Parr family (especially Violet), she's likely to be on friendly terms with them in terms of villainly, seeing as they were able to recover the Nullifier.
Killed Off for Real: Syndrome dies at the end of the story just as he did in the film, this time he's indirectly killed by Violet rather than her father (who badly beats him within an inch of his life) and Jack-Jack's hands when he threatens to return and try again, only for Jack-Jack to go berserk and maul him to death with Violet's approval.
A Lighter Shade of Black: Mastermind is this compared to Syndrome, as best demonstrated from how they both confront Violet when they're at odds. Unlike Syndrome, she wants the Supers back just so she get the thrills that come with fighting them again, whereas he wants to destroy them for good and replace them with Badass Normal humans using his technology. This is likely why Mirage goes to work for her in the end instead.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: What Violet ultimately delivers to Syndrome in the Final Battle that leaves her family and Mirage horrified with Helen, Dash and Mirage begging her to stop which a broken down Violet relents. Ultimately Jack-Jack kills Syndrome himself by accidentally mimicking Violet's actions by mauling him to death in his demon form.
Oddball in the Series:
- This is the first book in the series to be based on a Pixar film instead of one from the Disney Animated Canon, with Fate Be Changed set to be the second.
- It's also the first book to have multiple different characters narrating, rather than having one main character narrating the story, as aside from Violet (who would be the main narrator of the story). Mirage and even Syndrome gets to have a narration of their own, albeit far, far less than Violet.
- It's also the first to take place in a setting completely devoid of magic, along with being the most contemporary so far.^note
Pet the Dog: Mirage, despite kidnapping the Parr siblings is revealed to be just as heroic and caring towards the orphaned Parr siblings as she was in the main timeline (where she interacts with them more far earlier in this timeline as she didn't even get to meet nor interact with them period in the original film as she only heard Elastigirl's distress signal that revealed her kids were onboard) and successfully manages to talk Violet out of de-powering herself (not before giving the broken teen a huge What the Hell, Hero? moment) and is the force that keeps Violet and Dash from truly falling off the deep end (which doesn't help that Syndrome has also abused Mirage in the same vein as the kids for far longer). In fact, this leads to Mirage to pull a Heel–Face Turn in the climax against Syndrome as his plan of having Violet and Dash nearly succeeds in pulling a Face–Heel Turn (and not to mention threatening to have the kids kill her as a sick test) with Mirage reminding Violet and Dash of who they're fighting for that they turn against Syndrome, with Mirage joining the surviving Supers.
- As seen in A Lighter Shade of Black, the Mastermind actually gave Violet significant props on stealing her Nullifier on her first attempt and admits she would make a great superhero to have a rivarly with, she also tips off Violet of her boss's true motives that sets up Syndrome's defeat and eventual death.
Red Is Heroic: Subverted, then nearly Averted and finally Played Straight in the end, with Violet and Dash wearing the red supersuits that was given to them by their mom before she leaves for the conference, which Violet wears throughout her time as Syndrome's Agent. The parents are already heroic people to start off with Dash trying to remain upbeat in spite of the severe situation he and Violet are in, even though the poor kid mentality gets trashed during Syndrome's test against the Omnidroid, the Parr siblings still wear their red supersuits even when they start pulling a Face–Heel Turn, only for Mirage to reveal that their parents are alive and well causes them to switch back to being superheroes.
Retired Monster: All of the professional villains became this, as they soon became irrelevant after the Supers were forced to go into hiding by the government. Mastermind in particular despises being retired and is aghast at the notion that she'd kill her old foes, as she desperately wants to fight them again like the old days.
Shout-Out: One of Syndrome's lairs is underneath a closed down seafood restaurant that is called Nigel's, which is decorated with seagull imagery.
Turned Against Their Masters: After finding out that Syndrome is truly evil and was holding her parents captive, and make her, Dash and Jack-Jack into his supervillain sidekicks, Violet turns against him and goes on the warpath during the Final Battle, eventually killing Syndrome with Jack-Jack's help.
- Thanks to her Pet the Dog moments earlier in the story and bonding with the Parr siblings, causes Mirage to turn against Syndrome once she sees how evil and uncaring he is, she ultimately arrives in the Final Battle to help the Parrs and Lucius.
Voice Changeling: Lucy is a skilled impressionist, which turns out to be a Chekovs Skill when she poses as Mastermind over the phone. It should be noted that she is explicitly not a Super, so this is just a talent, not a super power.
What the Hell, Hero?: Mirage's private pep talk with a broken down and de-powered Violet is this after she attempts to de-power Dash to force him to quit being a superhero that leads to Violet and Dash having a nasty fight that breaks them up with Dash vowing to never talk to Violet again, with her telling Violet she's doing exactly the same thing her mom Helen had been doing to them for 15 years, causes Violet to break down even more.
Would Hurt a Child: Much like in the original film, Syndrome has no qualms about subjecting the 14-year-old Violet and her younger brother Dash to an intense and brutal training program in order to test their powers by having them fight against his Omnidroids (most notably V9, the one who manhandled Mr. Incredible in the original film), this act ends up nearly breaking the young encouraging Super to her mental limits (with poor Dash fairing far worse).
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: During Mirage's pep talk with a now de-powered Violet, Violet explains to her why she wanted to get rid of her powers with the stolen Nullifier. Revealing to Mirage that Violet always hated having superpowers and she considers them a curse that made her look like a freak and made her completely friendless (especially to Tony Rydinger), and having to live by her mom's strict rules on not to use them due to the anti-Super laws, on top of the abuse of a nasty babysitter, has made Violet feel like she failed them as a hero and as a daughter who isn't wanted. Mirage is able to completely counter this by telling Violet that her mom was only doing so out of fear of losing her only daughter to possible jail time because of the laws and that getting rid of her powers would not only tarnish her parents' legacies, but would ensure that Elastigirl would never ever forgive Violet for doing the deed, while also reminding Violet that she stole the Nullifier on her first try, survived against Syndrome's Omnidroids during her training and that her younger brothers need her more than ever causes Violet to finally accept her powers as a blessing, and uses the Nullifier to restore her powers and Violet reconciles with Dash who overheard everything. This act of comfort prevents Violet and Dash from completely falling into evil when Syndrome attempts to corrupt them to his side when he attempts to have them join him in his raid on Metroville.
You Are Grounded!: The plot starts off with Violet herself is subjected to this indefinitely by her mom Helen for illegally using her powers at a high school party she was forced to attend that she didn't want any part of and after she goes to the same conference to find Bob and orders Violet and Dash to stay home, which Dash obeys this time around sets the entire plot in motion. This ultimately causes Bob and Helen to end up presumably killed by the Mastermind, but in reality, they were actually both being kept prisoner by Syndrome.

A Twisted Tale Anthology

Cast Out

Adaptational Badass: Snow White learns how to cast spells from the Magic Mirror, and uses these new skills to defeat the Evil Queen herself.
Adaptational Heroism: The Magic Mirror covertly aids Snow White against the Evil Queen.
Stepford Smiler: Snow White actually does mind being made to scrub the floors and labor in the castle, but hides it.

A First Mission

Adaptational Job Change: Mulan accepts a position as an Imperial councilor, the same rank and position as Chi-Fu.
Pet the Dog: Despite being his usual Jerkass self for most of the story, Chi-Fu ultimately gives Mulan in his report as a subdued thanks for her saving his life.

Et Voilà

Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Given that the main Point of Divergence is Remy meeting Colette first, it naturally results in Remy bonding more with her than Linguini.
The Ghost: Anton Ego is mentioned in passing, but doesn't actually appear.
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: There's some hinting that Remy's imaginary Gusteau may actually be a bit more real than we thought.
Setting Update: In contrast with the film's Ambiguous Time Period, the story is set in an unmistakably modern Paris, with mentions of smartphones and social media.

The Envelope

Canon Foreigner: The story introduces Benoit, a royal footman who bonds with Anastasia after delivering the invitation to Cinderella's wedding and acts as her chaperone on her journey.
Deceased Parents Are the Best: Lady Tremaine's late husband is revealed to have been a good hearted man who only wanted his daughters to have fulfilling, happy lives.
Double-Meaning Title: The title refers to both the invitation to the wedding, but also to the note that Anastasia and Drizella's father left for them to read after his passing.
Hidden Depths: According to the people in her late husband's village, Lady Tremaine was once a romantic young woman who would sing with her future husband. This understandably shocks Anastasia.

A New Dawn

Adapted Out: Because of the divergent direction his life took, Simba never ended up in the care of Timon and Pumbaa, so they're absent.
Spared by the Adaptation: Mufasa survived the stampede, resulting in a new timeline where he accepted Scar's subsequent excuses and relinquished the throne to Simba (in title if not practice) due to be left physically impaired.

Rattle the Stars

Adaptational Villainy: Downplayed. Jim sides with the pirates, but still insists that the coup to not be a deadly one and even feels shaken when his enemy Scroop is killed, even though he thought he wanted it to happen. He's still ultimately the same good kid at heart, but he's playing the part of someone more ruthless so he can get a cut.
Was It All a Lie?: This is how Jim feels about his relationship with Silver after hearing him tell his pirates he was just getting on his good side. He spends the story wondering if he ever genuinely cared for him while we know he does, all while pretending he himself never cared for Silver as part of his bluff.

A Royal Game of Chess

Adaptation Name Change: The canon Robin Hood is known simply as Red here.
Composite Character / Decomposite Character: Maid Marian is secretly Robin Hood, while the fox who animal history remembers as Robin Hood is her lover and accomplice.
Furry Reminder: There's a fair amount of these, particularly with Sir Hiss.
Future Imperfect: The basic conceit of the story is that the tale the animal kingdom tells of Robin Hood is incorrect and is based on the deceptions used to keep Marian's true identity secret.
Invented Individual: Robin Hood is Maid Marian's persona who she and Lady Kluck fool into thinking is a separate fox.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: In spite of his shortcomings, Prince John is still nonetheless a lion, and is noted to have what it takes to maul many of his subjects if he wants to.

The Secret Exchange

In Spite of a Nail: Even though Ariel never makes her deal with Ursula due to already properly meeting Eric, Ursula still comes to menace her.

Dust to Dust

Adaptational Villainy: Subverted. Tinker Bell is Captain Hook's spy, with her only getting close to Peter and the Lost Boys so she can betray them to Hook. But she ultimately has a change of heart and saves them and the Darlings.
Becoming the Mask: Tinker Bell grows attached to Peter despite their friendship having started off as a plot by Hook.
Exact Words: When the elder fairies told Tinker Bell to leave their domain (essentially Pixie Hollow) for disobeying them, she assumed she was flat out banished. When she goes for them for help saving Peter, the Darlings, and the Lost Boys from Captain Hook and his crew, it turns out they were more-or-less giving her a timeout and were fully expecting her to come back when she was ready.

Gonna Take You There

Adaptational Heroism: While he does ditch him due to not wanting to go back to Maldonia right after getting to New Orleans, Lawrence doesn't betray Naveen to Dr. Facilier (who doesn't even appear). He later willingly reunites with Naveen and apologizes, while clearing up the misunderstanding that caused the situation to begin with.
"Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: It turns out at the end that the King of Maldonia was never sick to begin with and the message summoning Naveen home was actually delivered to him by accident. It was actually for the unseen prince of Spain, as someone had gotten them mixed up since both were foreign princes visiting New Orleans.
Shipper on Deck: While Lottie did want to charm Naveen herself, she quickly notices his chemistry with Tiana and encourages her to make a move.
Take This Job and Shove It: Part of the Point of Divergence (aside from Naveen seemingly getting summoned to return to Maldonia) is Tiana quitting her job as a waitress at Duke's Café much earlier after Duke belittles her one too many times.

Fates, Three

Adapted Out: The Crow isn't present when the triplets visit the Witch.
A Day in the Limelight: The triplets are the main characters of the story, rather than Merida.
Allohistorical Allusion: One that's actually internal to the Twisted Tale books, along with Production Foreshadowing to boot; The brothers briefly wonder if the Witch could give them a spell that could send them back in time. The Witch's magic sending Merida back in time instead of turning Elinor (or Hubert, Harris, and Hamish) into bears is the core premise of Fate Be Changed.
Divergent Character Evolution: Due to now being teenagers, the triplets have developed their own unique traits from each other; Hamish has remained the most like their childhood selves and is a prankster and storyteller, Hubert is athletic and wants to fight alongside his clan's warriors like Fergus, and Harris has become a bookish aspiring scholar and is gay.
Happy Ending Override: There's still some tensions and incidents between the clans that need to be mediated, particularly between MacGuffin and Dingwall. This is presumably because the clan leaders' sons - who all became fast friends and respect Merida - have yet to succeed their fathers.
History Repeats: Averted. Despite deliberately seeking out the Witch so they can get a spell, the brothers don't get turned into bears (or highland cattle, as Hubert keeps suggesting) like they did as tykes. The Witch instead shows them visions of potential undesired futures in her cauldron, which gets them to rethink what they really want.
Politically Correct History: Harris has feelings for another young man - Alistair of the MacGuffin clan - and it's not regarded as unusual by his brothers, who are actually supportive of it despite a little teasing.
Put on a Bus: Merida is stated to be away on a diplomatic mission.

A Dragon in the Snow

Adaptation Name Change: Mim's real given name is Morrigan, but she couldn't pronounce it as a child and this resulted in her say "Mim" instead, and it stuck. She's fine with it, but likes having Merlin call her that when they're kissing.
Call-Forward: Excalibur is shown in the stone early on and it's mentioned that Uther Pendragon couldn't pull it out.
Fantastic Racism: Mim is a victim of it in her home village due to her being born with dark magic.
Freakiness Shame: Mim's unusual features such as her hair color and pallor are a sore spot for her.
I Was Quite a Looker: Turns out that Merlin and Mim were fairly attractive when they were young adults, at least enough for them to find each other attractive; Merlin was tall and lean young man with long black hair with a Skunk Stripe who Mim clearly liked to look at despite finding him frustrating and annoying, while Merlin found Mim to be unique looking Unkempt Beauty who could only hide it so well.
Promoted to Love Interest: Mim and Merlin fell in love when they were young, though it was ultimately doesn't work out...at all.
Start of Darkness: The story acts as an origin for Madam Mim, expanding greatly on her backstory, history with Merlin, and why she has it out for the Pendragons and Camelot.
Then Let Me Be Evil: After realizing that she was never going to get the opportunity she was training for, Mim decides to stop trying to be accepted and embrace being a dark witch.
Wizarding School: The Lyceum trains the magical population of Brytannia, including Merlin and Mim. The main purpose is to produce an apprentice for the king's royal mage.

The Journey Home

Adaptational Mundanity: While the Beast and his servants presumably still exist, they are never encountered at all, leaving the story devoid of anything fantastical.
Adaptational Wealth: Belle and Maurice become successful businesspeople as a result of his machine winning first prize at the fair in Annecy. She even gets to buy her beloved bookshop and make it a thriving business in their village.
An Offer You Can't Refuse: Gaston will only agree to help Belle get Maurice's unstuck from a ditch if she has dinner with him. This motivates her to solve the problem herself.
Awful Wedded Life: Gaston is said at the end to have gotten married to a widowed noblewoman. Good for him? No, because he's apparently stuck waiting on her hand and foot like a servant.
Pet the Dog: LeFou is genuinely impressed when Belle finds a way to free the cart from the ditch herself, despite being dismissive of her beforehand.
Took a Level in Kindness: The people of the town have come to accept and appreciate Belle and Maurice, embracing the books she recommends them and the comforts brought by Maurice's log chopping invention.

Call It A Hunch

Adaptational Alternate Ending: Instead of letting him sacrifice godhood so he can be with Meg, Zeus insisted that Hercules live as a god.
Adaptational Job Change: Hercules serves as the God of Heroes on Olympus, while Meg essentially becomes a detective helping other mortals with issues involving the gods.
Ascended Extra: Athena is relevant in the story, whereas she was merely a voiceless incidental in the movie.
Jerkass Gods: Hermes puts the entire population of Thebes at risk by stealing Athena's statues throughout the city just because he wants to prank her. To a lesser extent, Athena is quick to subtly threaten Meg if she fails to find Thebes' statues of her.
Series Continuity Error: Meg is able to spend time with Hercules, Zeus, and Hera on Olympus, even though she shouldn't be able to because she's mortal. It's possible that there's a loophole of some kind though.

The Reluctant Prince

Babies Ever After: Well, almost. Faline is pregnant with two fawns, and Flower and Thumper's mates are also expecting.
Calling the Old Man Out: Bambi does this to the Prince, though the elder stag is more amused by it than anything else.
Paper Tiger: Ronno only seems like he could make for a stronger prince than Bambi, who still bests him when the two clash yet again.
Reluctant Ruler: Bambi doesn't like the idea of taking over for his father as the Great Prince of the Forest, until realizing he can be a different kind of protector than him.

The Rose and the Thorns

Acceptable Breaks from Canon: The sleeping spell with the cursed spinning wheels works on everyone instead of just its intended target of Aurora, such as Philip and even Maleficent.
Adaptational Badass: For her protection, Aurora has been trained in fencing and archery, and also knows a couple of protective spells. This ultimately helps in her confrontation with Maleficent.
Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Due to Aurora having never been hidden from her true identity, she and Philip met each other much sooner and consider each other best friends before they admit that they're in love.
- Additionally, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather don't raise Aurora as "Briar Rose" as her supposed aunties, so they're instead her teacher (though she still cares for them, particular Merryweather).
Crush Blush: Aurora blushes just thinking of Philip, and it goes bright red when he brings up the idea of waking her from the curse.
Disappointed by the Motive: Aurora is far from impressed that she was supposedly only cursed because Maleficent wasn't invited to her christening. This is partly because she had her entire life to think of possible motives (such as Maleficent having been her father's jilted former love). In actuality though, even Maleficent thinks it's not a good enough reason, and she reveals she was mostly trying to kill Aurora because she believes her to be the light meant to counter her darkness due to her name.
Happily Ever After: The story explicitly ends on this note. Fitting, given that it's the very last story in the anthology.
Hoist by Her Own Petard: In the end, Maleficent is done in by her own sleeping spell while in dragon form, and left to sleep and die under a beautiful field of flowers and trees grown by Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather.
Shipper on Deck: Even if it's with strings attached, Merryweather is happy to allow Aurora to sneak off to have a romantic rendezvous with Philip.
Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Banning all spinning wheels and sewing needles from the kingdom has resulted in a lot of problems; most common citizens wear worn out rags since they can't repair or replace their clothes, there's not enough blankets to keep warm during winter, people have to reuse whatever scraps of fabric they can't get their hands on, and the price of thread has massively inflated. Even the royal family feels the effects of this, as even Aurora's wardrobe is limited and the dresses are gifts from Philip's family's kingdom.
Swapped Roles: Philip is put to sleep by a cursed spinning wheel and Aurora - who never succumbs to the curse - is the one who wakes him up with the kiss of true love. Aurora points out the irony in this, given that Philip had already suggested he could wake her up.

Fate Be Changed

Oddball in the Series: It is the first Pixar story to focus on a Princess^note and the 6th overall and the first story to have Time Travel be the main focus point.
Shout-Out: Early plot details reveal that Merida will be the one to eat the pastry in this rather than her mom Eleanor, with the pastry sending Merida back in time (instead of turning her into a bear as it did with her mom), in which she meets her parents as teenagers (whose clans are actually arch-rivals in the past and both accuse Merida of being a spy for the other) and accidentally interrupts their romance that threatens to erase Merida and her clan from existence, a plot literally straight out of Back to the Future (though with a pastry instead of a car, but unlike the film, there's no hint if Merida will make it back to her own time).

Princess of Thieves

Death by Adaptation: While King Richard was alive and well in the original movie (being out on a crusade for the majority of it), he's apparently dead by the time Maid Marian returns to Nottingham.

Sally's Lament

Crapsaccharine World: The synopsis heavily suggests that there's a hidden unseemly side to Christmas Town.
Oddball in the Series:
- This is the first book to be based on a film not made by Walt Disney Animation Studios or Pixar, and the first based on a movie that was produced by Touchstone Pictures.
- Due to being named after a song with Sally's name in it, this is the first book to have the main character's name in the title.
- It's also the only one to be based on a Stop Motion film.

Literature / A Twisted Tale

Tropes in this series include:

Cast Out

A First Mission

Et Voilà

The Envelope

A New Dawn

Rattle the Stars

A Royal Game of Chess

The Secret Exchange

Dust to Dust

Gonna Take You There

Fates, Three

A Dragon in the Snow

The Journey Home

Call It A Hunch

The Reluctant Prince

The Rose and the Thorns

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Index

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Literature / A Twisted Tale

Edit Locked

Tropes in this series include:

Cast Out

A First Mission

Et Voilà

The Envelope

A New Dawn

Rattle the Stars

A Royal Game of Chess

The Secret Exchange

Dust to Dust

Gonna Take You There

Fates, Three

A Dragon in the Snow

The Journey Home

Call It A Hunch

The Reluctant Prince

The Rose and the Thorns

Previous

Index

Next