Farewell to The Land of Stories

I never did get to post after finishing TLOS so here it is.

It has previously been established that Chris Colfer is brilliant, so let me just confirm that.
Fairy tales exist to tell stories that teach us lessons about real life...that you must be courageous, that everyone has the ability to find love, etc. And even though Colfer already has these fairy tales that have morals, he is still able to create his own. One of these would be the story of Sleeping Beauty. We all know the story, she was put under a spell and fell asleep and was awoken by her prince. The fact of the matter is that she was asleep for one hundred years and she may have woken up a queen, but woke up a queen ruling over a kingdom that had fallen apart in those one hundred years. Colfer talks about her struggles as the new queen in bringing the kingdom together and having to work hard to assure her people that they would once again prosper. He presents here not as a damsel in distress, but as a hero.

Also, than you to Chris Colfer for explaining another confusing tale...Goldilocks. Why the heck was she snooping around the bears' house anyway? In TLOS, it is explained that as a young man, Jack (from the beanstalk) and Goldilocks were lovers and Red Riding Hood was jealous because she too loved Jack. So one day, Red wrote a letter to Goldilocks pretending to be Jack and telling her to meet him at this specific house, in hopes that the bears would get angry and eat her arm or something. However, it resulted in the bears pressing charges against Goldilocks who became a fugitive and couldn't be with Jack. The amazing thing about these tales is, who ever thought that they could all be related? It seems like too much for just one society to have so many crazy people in one, but that's what The Land of Stories is.

Now I thought everyone knew that the man in the evil queen's magic mirror was her lover, but apparently not. Anyway, the Evil Queen becomes a fugitive and Snow White's armies chase after her. She tells the protagonists of her story how she ripped out her heart so that she would never have to feel the pain of losing her lover inside the mirror, and that is why she poisoned Snow White, because her body physically couldn't feel emotions. Then what follows next is something I want you to think about...
"I've done many terrible things in my time but many terrible things have been done to me as well. So as far as I'm concerned, the world and I are even."
Makes sense right? I mean, I am a firm believer in doing good things and karma and all that, but I can't deny that it makes sense that if you've lived a horrible life, then you should be excused from doing certain horrible things.

Again, the humor. Even in the world of fairy tales, there is still a caste system; still cliques. When Red Riding Hood is getting chased by wolves and Snow White's knights aren't assisting, she yells "If I were Cinderella, none of this crap would be happening!" Because apparently Cinderella is the queen bee of princesses. Makes sense.

Again, adding to the brilliance, Chris Colfer explains the origin of the term fairy tale. It was pretty obvious from the beginning that the protagonist's dead father was from TLOS, but it wasn't explained until the end. It turns out that their Grandmother is the Fairy Godmother to Cinderella...the most powerful of fairies in TLOS. She explains to the kid how she made her way into the real world and saw all the sadness and heartache and it made her want to cheer everyone up. So she began telling stories from her world, and she started bringing other fairies with her so they could go around the world sharing these tales, cheering people up, teaching them life lessons, and also to believe in love and magic. Hence the term fairy tales.

Now I have some speculation. I know the kids are brother and sister in this book, but so many of these tales have been distorted that there are so many versions and they don't all fit perfectly. But anyway, I am convinced that the kids are Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. Now this partially because I am upset that Peter Pan wasn't in the story and I love him. But it makes sense. The kids are related to the Fairy Godmother, so obviously part fairy, and since the Fairy Godmother and most fairies are women, then maybe it is more prevalent in them which is why Tinkerbell is full fairy, but Peter Pan is just magical. Also, they travel between worlds just like in Peter Pan. And remember how Peter would always fly past the clock tower? Well at the end of TLOS when they meet up with their grandmother, they do it in the clock tower. Not a coincidence.

In the beginning of August, the new TLOS comes out. Until then, I suggest everyone pick up a copy and get reading!