The Mystic Isles - Tumblr Posts
If I had a nickel for everytime I saw a Latina girl with no dad, being obsessed with magic, discovers their own magic, discovers another world that's highly dangerous, be mentored by a gay criminal that becomes a parental figure, lead a rebellion to save a women obsessed with red, have an animal companion that talks and is basically a brother, have a purple witch gf with mommy issues, get given too much trauma, and love the colour purple, and a Doppleganger. Their mentors have bird companions and aren't actually bad people and reluctant but protective parents with sister issues since they were children and trauma. I'd have two nickel's.
Which isn't a lot but it's weird it's happened twice.
(I know Vee isn't evil and just wanted to escape Belos)
I wanted to see more of the protectors and see Vega, Orion, and the giant guy cuz isn't Orion the leader? We should've seen him give Sofia advice and tell her stories of how Chrysta started out
The protectors seem to forget that their asking a child to do their job, a non-magical child. The protectors seem to have tens of hundreds of members protecting the mystic isles and none of them protect the Ever Realm even though their are magical creatures their such as Trolls, Fairies, Elves, and Spirits etc. Why don't they actually send an adult or two to protect the Ever Realm and it's people until Sofia gets older and gets the hang of her power's and a healthier mental state. Have her quit a few activities and have people question on why Sofia is suddenly shutting people out, why she's constantly tired and suddenly so snappy.
If she were to quit something's it should be the Ice dancing and Princess adventure club, some new things she's gotten into. Dazzle ball and the Buttercup scouts, activities she's been doing for so long since she was little and Ruby, Jade, Lucinda, and Helen being worried about her. Heck if you want have her quit the Flying Derby team, something she was so passionate about and a place she fought so hard for to go against sexist stereotypes.
I would do anything to make this child less tired and have her take better care of her own health.
Does Sofia have too much on her plate and is she putting too much pressure on herself ?
I apologise in advice for this post being so long. I tried to make it as short as possible while still getting my points across but this was the best I could do. On with the post :)
I think a common complaint about the show is that Sofia has been given too much responsibility for someone of her age. If she was older I don’t think fans would complain so much but because she’s the age that she is , people consider this a little bit too much for a kid to handle all at once.
Between the ages of 8 to 11 , her three main occupations have been her being a Princess , a story keeper and a Protector.
Other occupations she has had are her being a buttercup scout , a member of a the Merry band of helping hands , a flying derby racer for Royal Prep , Cedric’s apprentice and a member of the princess adventure club.
All these occupations fit Sofia’s character quite well but because of her role as a princess, a story keeper and a protector, it’s surprising how Sofia is able to do all these things without feeling burned out or frustrated with all that she has to do. She has however put a lot of pressure on herself to be the best that she can be and has kept her role as a story keeper and a protector a secret. This is what I want to talk about :)
I believe the reason why Sofia has kept these two occupations a secret is because she has put too much pressure upon herself. But I also believe its because she’s being too protective.
Protectiveness
The secret of Avalor -When Sofia is sent to Avalor by the secret library to free Elena, Amber asks Sofia why she won’t tell them the reason they need to hide. Sofia however responds back by saying “Its for your own good, trust me”. Later though , Sofia’s family end up being captured and Sofia hopes there all okay in her absence.
Later , their all freed and Miranda tells Sofia that she should have told them what was going on. Sofia responds back with “I know, I just wanted to keep you all out of trouble”.
This shows that Sofia just wanted to keep her family safe and out of the situation as much as possible.
Even though Sofia has kept her family out of the storybook missions before this one, I believe the events that took place in Avalor made Sofia believe even more that she shouldn’t let her family get involved.
Tale of the Eternal torch - When Sofia finds out that James was in the trunk of her carriage to the Blazing Palisades without her knowing , she was not too happy by the fact that he tagged along.
And when James says he will be a big help , Sofia doesn’t respond to this and just looks worried.
A few moment later , James and Sofia spot the sea monsters and while James is enthused by this , Sofia is more focused on how dangerous this all might be.
James - “Dragons and sea monsters , oh this is getting better by the minute.”
Sofia - “And more dangerous. I have to warn the dragons about the sea monsters”
James again offers to help but Sofia sighs and reluctantly tells him – “I guess it’s too late to take you back now”.
The mystic isles – When Amber discovers the secret library , Sofia is pretty persistent on her going back but Amber puts her foot down and goes with Sofia to the library anyway. After the library tells them that Sofia needs to go to the Mystic isles , Amber wants to come along too but one of the reasons Sofia gives Amber not to go Is that it could be dangerous.
Sofia obviously doesn’t like getting her family involved in storybook missions due to how dangerous they may be but even as a protector , she chooses not to tell them about the wicked nine or how she is now the protector of the ever realm because she is still being protective. Again, Sofia doesn’t want the people she cares about to get involved.
In Cedric we trust – After they all encounter shots of lighting from Prisma and Cedric risks his own safety for Sofia , Cedric asks both Roland and Sofia who that woman was but instead of confessing all that she knows about Prisma , she keeps quiet and looks happy when Roland confesses he doesn’t know who she is and leaves it at that. She then later privately speaks to the protectors without them knowing.
Even though Sofia learned that its sometimes best to let the people you care about aware of what’s really going on so they don’t get into even more danger in the episode “The secret of Avalor” , Sofia’s protectiveness over her family and friends is still keeping her from getting them involved in her missions.
Too much pressure upon herself
While I have no problem with any of the occupations that Sofia has had , it is a bit concerning that Sofia puts so much pressure upon herself and doesn’t let others know what she is going through. What makes things more difficult for Sofia is that her three main occupations of being a princess , a storykeeper and a Protector , have all been things that have been placed upon her.
She never wanted to be a princess but because of her sudden change of lifestyle she knew she had to try her best to adapt to this new lifestyle weather she liked it or not.
As story keeper , it was something Tilly asked her to be just like Orion asked Sofia to be a protector. That’s not to say that Sofia didn’t agree to be either of these things, but it wasn’t like they were future careers she had been longing to have. She accepted these occupations more so out of the goodness of her heart and because she wanted to help people.
But by her accepting all these reasonability’s in a short time frame, she’s only been putting more and more pressure upon herself.
Princess
When Miranda married King Roland , Sofia became a princess and there wasn’t anything she could really do about it. Once she got to the castle , Sofia didn’t feel ready to be a princess , she thought it was all too much and as time went on she felt like being a princess was really hard. The only thing Miranda could really do in the situation was advise her to just do her best and tell her that it’s not her problem if stuffy dukes and duchesses don’t think what she does is good enough. Miranda even tries to give Sofia something she’s familiar with by inviting Ruby and Jade over to cheer her up.
And even though things worked out as well as they could for Sofia by the end of the movie , its shown in the episode “Moms the word” that she still misses her old life in the village where it was just her and her mum and that in the episode “The princess test”, Sofia still sometimes felt like she wasn’t a proper princess and that she had to keep on proving that she belonged because she wasn’t born into royalty.
Sofia : “A proper princess would have done the polite thing and let you go first”
Higgins : “Oh don’t be silly , you are a proper princess”
Sofia : “Not really. At least , I don’t always feel that way”
Higgins : “Why what do you mean ?”
Sofia : “I wasn’t born a princess. And sometimes I feel like I have to keep proving I belong”
Even though season one primarily demonstrates Sofia’s need to fit in as a princess more than the other seasons, in season 3 she still states that she’s still getting used to being one , showing deep down she still needs adjusting. Which is fair enough as when Sofia first became a princess , she had a lot of changes she needed to adjust to such as moving house , becoming apart of a new family , going to a new school ,making new friends , living in a higher society and taken on the responsibilities of a princess.
But as far as I’m aware , I believe the reason Sofia felt like she didn’t belong with royalty was more so out of her own insecurities. Apart from Amber in the episode Once upon a princess where she didn’t want Sofia around for insecure reasons , no one has discriminated Sofia for being born in the village and not having royal blood.
Story keeper
When Tilly says it’s up to Sofia to save Mazzimo and help him get to Wildwing Valley , Sofia isn’t sure if she can do it. Tilly understands that being story keeper isn’t easy but tries to reassure Sofia that she can do it while stating its more about if she will do it than if she can do it.
Sofia : “I’m not sure I can do this”
Tilly : “I know , being storybook keepr is not easy” But you can do it Sofia , or you wouldn’t be here. So the real question isn’t can you do it , its will you do it ?
Sofia thinks it over a little but ultimately decides that she will do it. Tilly however can still sense that Sofia isn’t confident in herself to do it all by herself so she decides to tag along this one time to help her get started.
During the mission , Mazzimo and Minimus get captured by Prince Roderick and they lose Tilly’s bag. Sofia tries to find it but soon tells her self that she’s no story book keeper, making it clear to the audience that she doesn’t think she’s good enough to be one.
Sofia : “ Oh I can’t do this, I cant do any of this. I’m no story keeper”
Merida then gets summoned by the amulet to tell Sofia that she can save them herself but Sofia confesses that she’s still getting used to being a princess and that if she can’t even finish this story then there’s no chance she can finish the rest in the library.
Merida : “What you need can only be found with in you”
Sofia : “What’s that ? ”
Merida : “The belief that you can save them yourself”
Sofia : “That’s just it. I’m still getting used to being a princess, how am I supposed to finish all those stories in the library if I cant even finish this one”
At this point in the series Sofia doubts that she’s even good enough for the job and thinks she isn’t ready to take on the responsibility. Being asked to be the story keeper might have been a bit too much for Sofia to handle at this stage in her life. Which is pretty understandable considering her age and what pressure she has already put herself through as a princess.
When Tilly became Story keeper , she was older than sixteen whereas Sofia was given the job as a child.
It doesn’t really seem fair on Sofia that Tilly was much older than she was when starting out but at the end of the day Sofia chooses to carry on being the story keeper and decides to keep it a secret from her family.
Protector
So far Sofia has the responsibilities of being a princess and a story keeper but now that she has excepted the occupation of a protector, that’s even more responsibility that Sofia has to deal with.
The fact that the protectors ask a 11 year old to protect the entire Ever realm is quite absurd considering their all adults and they have a number of protectors protecting the Mystic isles but if Sofia is already putting pressure on herself to be a good princess and a good story keeper , deep down Sofia is probably putting pressure on herself to be a good protector too. Being a protector is something she takes very seriously and the fact that she’s the first non-magical creature to become a protector will only fuel Sofia’s self-pressure even more.
But why is Sofia putting all this pressure upon herself ? Well , as a character Craig describes Sofia as a striver , someone who is worried about doing a great job and someone who wonders if their good enough.
But Sofia also tends to want to please others and to fit in. These reasons would certainly explain why she puts so much pressure on herself to be a good princess but what are the reasons behind her putting so much pressure on herself as a story keeper.
I think its because of the fact that Sofia has been led to believe that she is the only one who is capable of saving the day and that there is some unknown reason as to why the amulet has chosen her rather than anyone else.
Tilly makes out that being the story keeper is Sofia’s destiny and that because the amulet led Sofia to the library , that’s why she had been chosen.
And while Merida gave Sofia good advice , Sofia might have gotten the wrong end of the stick when Merida told her “The belief that you can save them yourself” as Sofia might have interpreted this as that she has to do it herself. This in turn makes Sofia sing the words “I’m the one that has to save the day” after she had been motivated to carry on being the story keeper.
Sofia believing there is an unknown reason as to why the amulet chose her to have this role is later explored In the episode the Mystic isles where she is tells Amber that she isn’t sure why the amulet chose her.
Sofia – “Somehow my amulet decided that I was to become the story keeper, now it’s my job to make sure the stories in the secret library get a happy ending.”
Amber – “So your amulet glows and leads you here to this secret library which is filled with stories that you need to finish”
Sofia – “I don’t know why , it just happened”
She then later shoots down Amber’s request to go with her by saying she’s the story book keeper and not Amber.
Sofia - “Amber you cant go with me”
Amber – “Why not”
Sofia – “Because I’m the story keeper , not you”
This shows that Sofia has really accepted the idea that this is her destiny and that this role of hers is something that she should bear the responsibility with herself and not put on other’s.
So all in all , Sofia puts too much on her shoulders , puts too much pressure upon herself and needs to be less secretive.
I believe her role as story keeper and a protector will be relieved in the final “Forever Royal” but if there was one person that could show Sofia the error of her ways and can relate to Sofia’s ordeal the most , it would be Cedric. Hear me out :)
Before the incident Cedric felt pressure to be a great sorcerer like his father and after the incident , everyone put a lot of pressure on him to be something great. Like Sofia , Cedric has felt pressure to be the best at what he is meant to be from an early age and has put pressure on himself to prove people wrong.
Cedric is also a tad secretive like Sofia as he didn’t express enough what he was going through emotionally and kept his intention on taking over the kingdom a secret but once all was revealed , things have been getting better and better for him thanks to Sofia’s help.
Keeping this in mind Cedric could ultimately be the one to show Sofia that its not good to put so much pressure on yourself and that it will benefit her much more if she is more honest and less secretive about what she is up too :)
But those are just my thoughts. What do you guys think about how many roles Sofia has had or how much pressure she has been under :)