Love Is Never Ugly

Inspiration Second Half

Part 3 - The Servants

As timeless and wonderful as the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale is, originally it was mostly just focused on Beauty and the Beast within the castle which works for a simple fairy tale but not for a complex story like I was trying to write, I also wanted to include as many Hazbin characters as I could. So like Disney, I added servants to bring more complexity and comedy to my story. But just like how writing Charlotte and Alastor had to be different and not just copy of Disney, so did the servants.

In my story Alastor is born a beast, turns cannibalistic, and until Charlotte comes along, he doesn't recognize that he's doing anything wrong. Which means he shouldn't have any postive human contact before her, that would further explain his ignorance. But how does one do when they have human servants? Or maybe not. As I re-read the original story, I learned that the prince's servants, like him, were cursed by they were just merely turned into monkeys and bird. (Or turned to stone, depending on which version) so I thought, I'll just do with them what I did with Alastor. The servants are natural born animals but they were given human characteristics and why animals? Because animals do not find appearances as important as humans do. (Unless they can use it as survival technique like zebras and chameleons do) Therefore it wouldn't be as hard for them to sincerely care for Alastor.

However because they're animals they don't see killing human beings as evil or wrong. To them it's just natural order, no different than a frog eating a fly or a wolf eating a sheep. This explains why they never spoke up against Alastor's cannibalism for all those years. Another reason why I thought animals would work is because in many cases, if treated kindly, animals will be loyal in return. Granted in realistic sense that would probably only apply to Husk who's a cat whereas moths, spiders, mice, and lizards don;t really care that much for human compassion but work with me on this people. 

As the years go by and they continue to live and feel as humans do, the servants eventually have their own desire as well. A life with meaning. One of the reasons why they want to become human is because humans don't just survive like animals do, they live life. They have accomplishments, dreams, goals, they get to experience love and passion, and music and dance, reading and learning. Before they became Alastor's servants they just tried to not die for as long as their short lives would allow and they didn't have anything to make life worth living. But that all changed when they were given a purpose other than just to survive. Caring for Alastor allowed them to learn about emotions, talents, ambitious, and relationships. They learn what it means to be really live and be happy. So of course the very thought of going back to that existence of not feeling anything or knowing anything, with no one to love or care for, terrifies them. 

 Alastor's servants are more than just his staff, they're the closest thing he's ever had to a real family and they've never once been bothered by his appearance, so he loves them and cares for them and treats them very graciously. They love him too and they're very grateful to his mother for giving them the opportunity to be more than just animals. So when Alastor's mother dies while he's still so young, they feel a paternal instinct to look after him in her place and try to somehow help him break the curse in order to repay his mother for giving them a reason to live.

Vagatha is the only sane man or should only sane woman in the entire staff. She's also pretty much Alastor's responsible older sister figure, the kind who tries serve as his voice reason and but can be bossy at times so he'll tune her out occasionally. To Charlotte she plays the role as the loving and supportive sister that she always wanted Helsa to be, you know helping her with her hair and giving her advice, some girl talk here and there. Unlike the others, she can understand Charlotte's discomfort with Alastor's diet and actually voices it to him, this being because she is a gypsy moth and they are herbivores. Also being a moth, she is the most prone out of the group to live a shorter life whether it be through getting killed or just outliving herself in a small amount of time, this makes her very cautious and careful about things. At first she is very cynical about love and hope, too scared to have anymore dreams because she wants to delay being reverted back as long as she can. This causes her to end her romantic relationship with Anthony and put some distance between them because she doesn't want to inspire love or see the point in having it when it won't last. But seeing Alastor and Charlotte fall in love and happy they are, she learns that she's just doing exactly what she did when she was a regular moth. Just surviving and not living. So she learns to re-embrace love and to have faith in miracles.

Anthony serves as comic relief and a reminder that not everything in the castle is all dark and gloomy, but those aren't not his only character traits. He's kind of like a positive example of how a person should react when life puts you in a really shitty situation. He's the servant who can relate to Alastor the most because being a spider, he's not the most beloved of God's creatures. He knows what it's like to have the call you ugly or gross or scary or want to kill you every time they see you. But unlike Alastor, Anthony doesn't want to believe he's the awful creature like how most people view him, he wants to prove them wrong by becoming something great. Hence his passion for fashion, he loves to make lovely gowns and fine suits because he's bringing beauty into the world, proving that he's not just a creepy arachnid. This is also why he is the most desperate of the servants to succeed in becoming human and to continue having a life-fulling purpose. But helping Alastor break the curse isn't just for his benefit, he loves Alastor like a brother and he's eager to bring him and Charlotte together because he wants Alastor to have a reason to live too. He recognizes that he's becoming depressed and self-loathed and miserable, so he correctly deduces that falling in love might help him learn to love himself and find meaning in his life. 

Canon-wise Niffty is much younger than Alastor and Charlie, but with both the main characters being motherless, I felt they needed a maternal figure and I couldn't think of anyone else to fill that role except Niffty. Niffty is very warm, caring, and romantic who dreams of true love for herself and for others. However she knows that love is something that takes time and to make it work you have to be honest and sincere. She recognizes that Charlotte is someone that wants real, true, love and not a superficial infatuation so she is always encouraging Alastor to win her heart just by being himself. She teaches him to recognize his own self-worth and to not let his looks get in the way of being happy, letting him know that Charlotte is someone who can love the real him. The charming, talented, funny, sensitive but sad and lonely prince with a lot of love in his heart to give if he's only taught how to do so. She also the first person to make Charlotte realize that Alastor is human and that he has potential for good, convincing her to give him a chance and to try seeing things from his viewpoint. 

Husk is very much like the animal he is. A cat. Lazy, aloof, grouchy, likes to keep to himself. But he's by far the closest thing Alastor has to a male role model and possible paternal figure, now I know what you're thinking, how could a lazy, drunk, cat be a good male role model? Well in my fic Alastor values honesty and truth above all things and no one tells it how it is more than Husk. Alastor admires that Husk is always honest and blunt, that he never lies or pretends to be something he's not and that he has the guts to tell him the ugly truth instead of a beautiful lie. And this influence proves to be very positive on Alastor because one of the reasons why Charlotte falls for him is because he has never lied or deceived her, making him very trustworthy in her eyes. Husk himself, is also very trustworthy, Alastor confides in him his deepest issues and he gives him good advice without coming off as a know-it all like Vagatha can at times. And when he gives Alastor advice, he's doesn't judge him or anything, he just tells him the flat out truth and nothing else. 

Cherri doesn't have as much characterization as the other servants but that doesn't mean she has no important role. She comes off mostly as comic relief and as Anthony's yes-woman but he kind of needs her for the latter. This being because Anthony is trying to inspire hope in all the other servants who are starting to give up and that's a little difficult when you don't have any supporters. Cherri is Anthony's friend so she serves as an assurance to him that he's not wrong to still have hope and to keep him from doubting himself. And part of me wishes I had expanded more on that aspect but I've already been expanding on like ten or twelve characters, and I'm just one woman. Think of her as the wardrobe from Disney's Beauty and the Beast, not a lot of the depth but still an enjoyable character and useful to the story.