UaS!Ashas Character Arc

UaS!Asha’s Character Arc

Please keep in mind this all just personal opinion. Despite what I may say I don’t hate the movie Wish. If I hated it I wouldn’t be making this Rewrite/AU in the first place.

Hello everyone and welcome to my TedTalk. I’ve had this ruminating in my brain for a while, and now that I’m back to writing in Asha’s POV I feel like I need to talk about it.

I’ve said before how I don’t like Asha’s personality and character arc in the movie. There’s nothing wrong with the adorkable leading woman trope in Disney films, it’s just that they’ve done it so much throughout the 2010s and 2020s. So sort of as a joke, I thought “Hey, what if we subverted that trope and made Asha a sword-wielding badass?”. (I blame watching The Mask of Zorro around that time.) And so that’s what I did.

As I began my rewrite and started taking Asha’s character more seriously, I realized there was a lot of potential for a really interesting facet of her character arc. One that I haven’t seen too much in Disney films. Not having to bear your burdens alone, which ties into her arc about trusting people. Let’s dive into it.

Canon Asha and Strong Women

I have a few problems with how the writers went about portraying Asha. As I’ve said before, she has little to no character arc in the movie, and she suffers from it.

Now, it is possible to make a protagonist an audience can root for who doesn’t have a character arc. My favorite example is Cinderella. However, there’s a key difference between her and Asha. Cinderella was in an abusive situation, but remained kind and caring to others. It made the audience root for her and want to see her go to the ball. On the other hand, Asha lives a perfectly content life. Her family isn’t struggling to get by or act abusive to her, and the most people would kill to live in her home of Rosas. She can come across as very annoying and selfish, so you root for her less. It also feels like Asha was meant to have a bigger arc, but in the movie she changes her mind about Magnifico and Rosas in the first twenty minutes. It just makes her feel flat and less compelling.

Something that pops up a few times in the Deleted Scenes of Wish is how they wanted to be her own hero and feel like a stronger protagonist. Hence cutting Starboy (R.I.P). And it really frustrates me for two reasons.

1. There are several instances of Asha’s problems being solved for her or things just happening to her

2. Sometimes the strongest thing you can do is ask for help.

I’ll only focus on a couple instances of Asha’s problems being solved for her because this post is long enough. Early in the movie, she has the interview with Magnifico and gets to see the wishes. But it feels unearned. She doesn’t demonstrate any knowledge of magic or qualities that would make her a good fit for the position. She just gives Magnifico a short sob story about her dad and he just lets her see the wishes. If she had shown an unusually high knowledge of magic or a deeper desire to protect the wishes it would have felt more justified. But no, she just bumbles around like an idiot. The second instance in the climax. Asha starts singing “This Wish (Reprise)” before Magnifico stops her. Then Dahlia starts singing, and all the other people in Rosas join in, which starts to break Magnifico’s magic. Asha only sings again during the last verse, which feels really dull and underwhelming. (Which goes for the climax in general). There was nothing stopping her from continuing singing, she was just laying there. Hell, Dahlia gets knocked over once and immediately gets back up to continue. It just doesn’t make sense to me why the person who does the least in taking down the movies villain is the hero, especially after saying you want to make them stronger and more independent.

Going back to Cinderella, a common complaint I hear about her is that she did nothing in the movie and needed the fairy godmother’s help. It boggles my mind, because…how do you expect her to get out of her situation? She has no money and no one to turn to. She’s practically a slave. Without the fairy godmother she would have stayed in an abusive household for the rest of her life. Sometimes in life there’s no other option but to ask for help. It doesn’t make us weaker, quite the opposite in my opinion. This is what the writers of Wish seemed to miss. It’s not an inherently bad thing to have Asha solve all of her problems on her own, but it sort of reinforces this stereotype of “strong women don’t need help from anyone”. Which really sucks, because you can make a good female character who’s strong but still has flaws and needs help. Just look at some of the woman Hayao Miyazaki writes. Someone Disney could learn from in those regards. *cough* Star Wars *cough* Marvel.

There’s quite a bit to fix when it comes to Asha’s arc. It feels at best flat and at worst nonexistent. Which can work, just not for this story. So, how did I go about writing UaS!Asha’s arc? Well first, we need to look at a certain fearless hero and his character arc.

Puss in Boots and Vulnerability

(Who knew the Spanish cat from Shrek would have such a huge influence on my rewrite?)

Okay, now for the stuff I really enjoy. I’ve joked before about how similar UaS!Asha and Puss are, but I think there really is something to be said when it comes to their arcs. A smaller part of Puss’ arc in The Last Wish that I wanted to expand upon in this rewrite is vulnerability. There are a few scenes in particular that highlight what I’m talking about. Spoilers ahead of you haven’t seen The Last Wish.

In the opening song of the film Puss sings about how he’s "Never been touched by a blade". Then in the scene where Kitty shaves him, it's shown as a moment of vulnerability as he's asking for her help, and she uses a blade to cut the beard. While the first encounter with Death is definitely the intention for that line, you can also interpret it as he's never allowed himself to be vulnerable on that level before. It’s a nice scene and from that moment of vulnerability Puss gains something: the gatito blade, which saves him in his final fight against Death.

The next scene is obviously the panic attack scene. This one is a little different, since Puss has no choice in how vulnerable he is in the moment. But it does lead to Puss opening up to Perrito about his fear of death and and how he regrets leaving Kitty at the altering Santa Caloma. Kitty happens to overhear this and reconsiders her view of Puss. It also results this exchange, which I think perfectly encapsulates Asha’s mindset in Upon a Star:

In Puss’ mind, he has to be fearless no matter what. He’s a legendary hero, he can’t afford to be vulnerable.

The last scene I feel is worth going over is the tree scene. In this scene Puss apologizes for leaving Kitty at the alter and admits he was afraid that day. And she forgives him, admitting she didn’t come to the wedding either. Through this moment Puss is able to mend his relationship with Kitty and get that day off his chest.

The main takeaway from these scenes (moreso the panic attack scene the the others) is that it’s okay to be afraid or vulnerable, as long as you can get back up and move forward. This is especially true in the final fight with Death. Puss is still afraid and even falters, but pushes past it. And in the other two scenes, it ultimately helped him to open up. This is what I mainly wanted for Asha’s arc. Speaking of which, let’s take a look at her. She is the main subject of this post.

How Does UaS!Asha Tie In?

I’ll try to spoil as little as I can here. Like I said, my message through Asha’s arc is that you don’t have to bear your burdens alone. Part of why I made her a sword-wielding thief is to emphasis this point.

At first, she seems pretty formidable. She takes down several guards and gets away from the remaining few easily. Later she continues to show her battle prowess and cunning. Until she meets with our antagonists and…well, you can imagine it doesn’t end good. Think back to the first fight with Death in The Last Wish. A couple scenes prior, we see Puss take down several guards and a giant 100x his size easily. So when Death comes in and absolutely wrecks him, even drawing blood, it makes it so much more impactful. It still works without the giant fight, but there’s a lot less weight to it as a result. As well as the scenes I’ve already talked about. That’s the effect I’m trying to achieve with Asha.

It’s also worth noting that she doesn’t mean to call down Earendel. I mean, I don’t think any of the Asha’s meant to, but they were still seeking guidance. In my version of “This Wish” however, Asha is just trying to gain some confidence and makes a wish for good luck. So when there’s suddenly a random glowing kid in front of her insisting on trying to help her, she’s a little frustrated. Because in her eyes, she shouldn’t need help. She’s the Alondra of Rosas! She’s the one who’s supposed to be helping other people. It’s also why she turns away from other people, fearing they’ll think less of her if they realized how vulnerable and insecure she is deep down. Through a new pseudo-sibling relationship with Earendel and a blooming romance with Flazino however, her walls start to finally come down.

Final Thoughts

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If you’ve read all the way through to this point, thank you so much! I enjoy talking about how I develop ideas for my creative works a lot. It helps me break down and understand aspects of my work better. The problem at this point in time is spoilers. Like I have a whole backstory for Manuel and Tomás, but talking about it messes up the big reveal later in the main story. Most people will probably have guessed it by then but still.

@rascalentertainments @hopeyarts @chillwildwave @wings-of-sapphire @tumblingdownthefoxden @oh-shtars @annymation @uva124 (+others)

I hope you all enjoyed my rambling :) One day I’ll I more of these, I swear.

Chapter Four: So I Make This Wish

The next morning is cloudy as we fade into Asha and Sabino’s house. Asha is laying in her bed, soundly sleeping. We see drawings covering one wall along with some other sparse decorations. She opens her eyes and blinks before sitting up. Valentino gets up from the foot of the bed and stretches, slinking over to Asha. She smiles and scratched him behind the ear. “Good morning Val.”

Asha gets out of bed and walks behind a divider. The smock she was previously wearing is tossed over the divider and Asha emerged in a red dress, tying her hair in a ponytail. She walks out of her room and looks around the main part of the house. Her expression becomes confused. The main room is empty. Sabino should have been up by now… “Sabino?” Asha calls. No response. She walks over to a window and looks outside. No sign of him. She finally walks over to his bedroom door and knocks. “Sabino, is everything alright?”

Taking a deep breath, Asha walks into the room. Sabino is laying in bed, facing away from the door. “Hey tonto, you slept in,” Asha says, walking over to Sabino with a smile. “Come on, time to get up.” She gives him a gentle shake, then frowns. Her voice trembles as she speaks. “Sabino?”

We cut to a small graveyard just outside the hamlet, where it’s raining around dusk. Asha is standing in front of several other people, looking sorrowful. We cut to a shot of a fresh grave with a tall rock as the headstone. A man dressed like a priest is standing in front of the grave, facing the crowd of people. It looks like the whole hamlet has gathered to mourn Sabino. He clasps his hands together. “Sabino was a good man. He helped Tomás aid many people who managed to escape Rosas. Without him, several of us would not live here today. When Thomás disappeared he took charge and acted as the Hamlet’s leader for several years. He was a brave, generous, and caring man that we will always be grateful for. May he now rest in peace.”

The other residents of the Hamlet repeat the last line and begin to disperse. Asha remains in front of the grave. Valentino softly whines and rubs against her leg. One girl with short hair lingers. She sighs and walks over to Asha “I’m sorry for your loss,” she says gently.

As soon as Asha notices the girl she instantly straightens up and changes her expression to a more neutral one. “He will be deeply missed. I don’t think it will ever be the same without him.”

There’s a few moments of silence before the girl speaks again. “Listen. If you ever need somewhere to go or anyone to talk to, my family will always be there with open arms.” She gestures to a man, woman, and a younger child who look similar to her, who are talking to Safi and his mother. “We knew Sabino quite well. He helped our family, and we’re willing to help his.”

Asha nods and looks away. “That’s very kind of you Hal. Although I think it would be best if I mourned alone.”

Hal frowns. “You don’t have to push us away Asha. We want to help you if we can. It’s the least we can do. You’ve helped the hamlet as much as Sabina had, and we want to repay you for it. Please, just let us help you.”

“I’m not pushing anyone away,” Asha says sharply. “I have a lot on my mind right now and the last thing I need is to do is let my guard down.” Hal looks surprised at Asha’s words. Asha’s expression softens and she sighs. “I’m sorry, I… I should go.” She turns around and walks away to her house. Valentino chitters and follows with his head hung low.

Hal begins to walk after her, but Safi grabs her shoulder, making her stop. “Just let her go,” he says.

The rain is beginning to clear as Asha walks into her house. It’s quiet as she looks around. Too quiet. She spots the chair where Sabino usually sat. His lute is leaning against it. Asha walks over to chair and sits down, picking up the lute. She gently plucks at the strings, then begins to strum it. Valentino leaps up onto the arm of the chair and presses against her. She blinks away tears and begins to do what any Disney heroine does when they’re distraught: she sings.

🎵 This Wish 🎵

Asha

Woman’s Voice

I thought our dreams were meant to set us free So why do I feel so heavy hearted? If I could show them everything I've seen What happens then? Do I dare to start it?

(Asha continues to play the lute, looking out the window towards Rosas. We can see the castle in particular standing high above the trees. Asha looks deeply conflicted)

But when I stand, my mind says "Sit down" But I’m done waiting on a wish that’s never coming I look around me now No, we’re not where we belong And I may be young, but I won’t hide this song

(Asha sets aside the lute and stands up on the second line. She walks out of her house with Valentino and gestures to the hamlet around her. She looks down on the last line before looking upwards.)

So I look up at the stars to guide me And pray that he’ll send me a sign If no one else will rise up here beside me Then let me be the first to stand in line So I make this wish To have something more for us than this So I make this wish To have something more for us than this

(We get a brief shot of the sky as the clouds part, revealing the starry sky. She looks back at the Hamlet one more time before walking into the woods on the first “So I make this wish”. She stands in a smaller clearing and opens her arms wide on the last “This”)

Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah, ah-ah More than this, oh-ah-ah-ah

(Fireflies fly up around Asha, making her smile a little. Valentino looks around with wide eyes and swats at a firefly.)

I’ve seen the fire inside you all aglow What you could be, what you could do The light that makes you whole But there’s a missing piece we buried long ago Now there’s an aching in my soul, about to overflow If I could shake away every hesitation If I knew where to begin Could I cut through the lies Open up their eyes To see the truth again?

(We cut to a little later as Asha continues to walk troughs he woods. She stops and looks back at Rosas. Then she looks down on “if I could shake away every hesitation”. There’s a mixture of emotions on her face. Fear and sadness, yet also determination.)

If you can hear me now, I’m begging you for a sign. Just tell me how to make it through My legs are shaking, but my head's held high The way you always taught me to

(She looks around the forest, as though she’s trying to find someone. She stops as she looks towards the willow tree, tears brimming in her eyes. A younger Asha and her father are sitting on the tree. They look up at the stars before fading away, and the camera pans up.)

So I look up at the stars to guide me And pray that he’ll send me a sign I know there will be challenges that find me But I can take them on one at a time So I make this wish To have something more for us than this So I make this wish To have something more for us than this

(Asha breaks into a sprint, climbing the tree and standing on a larger branch. She walks forward, holding her hands to her chest. She closes her eyes as petals swirl around her. Valentino chitters and looks around in awe.)

Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah (so you make this wish) Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah, ah-ah (to have something more) More than this, oh, ah-ah-ah

(Petals swirl in the wind around Asha before blowing out towards the sea. Asha doesn’t notice the other voice. She opens her eyes on the last line and smiles. She looks towards a smaller star in the sky and focused on it.)

So I make this wish To have something more for us than this

(Asha looks more confident and determined on the last line. The camera zooms out to show more of the sky and the song ends on a softer note.)

The star begins to twinkle, and glows brighter. And brighter. And somehow brighter. Asha frowns and shields her eyes as the whole sky is enveloped in bright starlight. The light spreads over the kingdom.

Hal, Safi, and his sister look out from a window and smile, letting the light wash over them. A few citizens still awake in Rosas watch the light in awe. Flazino, who’s tossing and turning in his bed settles as the light passes over him. We cut to Manuel and Amaya’s bedroom. As soon as the light touches Manuel he jolts awake, clutching his chest as he gasps. He gets up and grabs his staff, running towards the window. Charo yowls as he’s knocked off of the bed.

Manuel stares at the light and shakes his head. “No no no no-“ He freezes before turning around and running up to the wish chamber. He slams the door open and see’s the wishes shaking and vibrating. He slams his staff down, and magic flashes at the wishes.

“STOP!”

The wishes slowly settle down. Manuel stands there panting, pushing his hair back into place as the light outside fades. Amaya walks in cautiously. Charo follows her and yawns, stretching. “Mi rey, what are you doing running around like a wild animal at this hour?”

Somebody did it,” Manuel says, looking at the queen.

Amaya blinks. “Did what dear?”

“Somebody summoned a star from the sky,” Manuel replies, turning back to the window. “And I think it landed in the Uncharted Forest.”

“What?” Amaya blinks, more awake and alert now. She walks up to Manuel and looks out the window. “Who would even attempt that?” Manuel’s eyes shift. Before he can respond-

We cut back to the forest. Asha is still standing on the tree, blinking and rubbing her eyes. “What was all that light?” She slowly gets down from the tree, holding Valentino. “You felt it too, right? It was so warm and loving and joyous.” Asha frowns and shakes her head. “I sound ridiculous. Light can’t be loving or joyous.” Suddenly a ball of light zooms past, making Asha jump back and yelp. Valentino chitters and squirms out of her arms, running after the light. “What- Valentino no! Get back here!”

The light barrels through the forest, making several animals scamper away. “Sorry! Sorry sorry sorry- OW!” The light crashes into a bush.

Asha slows down, cautiously approaching the bush. She pushes Valentino behind her with her foot. “Stay back.” She parts the bush, and the head of a young boy pops out. The two stare at each other for a few moments.

“Hi-“

“AAAAAHHHH!” Asha screams and fall down, scrambling back.

The boy, who looks to be around 12 years old, flinches back. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He floats up from the bush and brushes himself off. He’s wearing a black tunic and pants with a long black cloak. The hood has little antlers. Curly blonde hair pokes out from the hood. The boy stretches and twirls around. “Man, that was a rough landing.”

Asha slowly gets up and takes a step back. “Who- Who are you?”

“Oh, I’m Earendel!” The boy says, floating upside down. He grabs Asha’s hand and shakes it.

“Okay…what are you? Why are you glowing?” Asha asks.

“Well duh, I’m a star!” Earendel says as if it’s obvious.

Asha blinks in shock. “You’re a what?”

“A star! Haven’t you seen a star before?”

Author Notes

Generally I don’t have much to say about this chapter. I think it mostly speaks for itself, but I do have a few thoughts.

First of all, huge credit to Jonah Who Two on YouTube for the rewrite of “This Wish”. I thought it fit this story perfectly. I only had to change a line in the chorus and a couple pronouns to make it work. Check out his original video here:

So yeah, Sabino gets axed in this rewrite. I wanted to do this for a couple reasons. 1. It establishes the danger of having a wish crushed for later events. 2. It’s the perfect catalyst for Asha to finally stand up and do something. She doesn’t know his wish was crushed, but she knows it was stolen from him, and that he died without a chance to ever fulfill it or get it back. So she makes a promise to herself to never let it happen again, leading into “This Wish”.

With Asha’s song, I wanted it to be less about her asking for guidance from the stars, but instead guidance from her father. As well as generally ease her mind. So she makes her own wish. And accidentally calls down Earendel.

I’ll keep my thoughts on Earendel here brief since hell get a lot more screen time in the next chapter. With the last scene I wanted to give the audience a basic idea of his character. He’s established here as a sweet, naive and curious kid. His personality will really shine through in the later chapters, and he’ll be the emotional glue of the trio.

I’ll have more to say with the next chapter. We’ll get to “I’m a Star” and perhaps Flazino and Asha finally meeting. Depends on how the pacing ends up.

Thanks for reading!

A very angry frog 🐸

"There were versions where Star really helped Asha, where Star was very powerful, but we kept making Star less and less powerful, so she'd have to do it on her own."

Just say you don't know how to write strong female characters without having to make everyone (especially the men) around them "weaker" and go, just because YOU are of the believe women can't be strong heroes with (strong) men around. No need to embarrass yourself like this.

Though, I find it kinda funny how they literally admitted why the Star we got in the movie is the most annoying weak ball of shit and they genuinely thought they cooked.

I will literally never forgive Disney for scrapping Star Boy and their arguments why they did it only make it worse.

𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗅𝗂𝗍𝗍𝗅𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾𝗅 𝗐𝗂𝗌𝗁𝖾𝗌 𝗎 𝖺 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅𝗒 𝖽𝖺𝗒 ♡

𝗏𝗂𝖺: 𝖾𝗇𝗀𝗅𝖺𝗇𝖽𝗁𝗂𝗅𝗅_𝗓𝗈𝗈