So I was reading through @faemytho’s discussion about the new costume set and how it relates to Viridescent Daydream and Moonflower Faerie. And it got me both rereading and thinking about Midsummer Night’s Tragicomedy from a new angle.
I don’t actually think Pure Vanilla was looking for Moonflower Faerie to fall in love in the original story. I think he was actually looking for something else (perhaps Ad-Lib Ending? or perhaps a way out?), and he succumbed to the flowery haze before he could get the wish/answer he was searching for.
Here’s my evidence and my thoughts (story copy-pasted from the wiki, btw) (also sorry about the length; I wanted to get all my thoughts in here):
The story starts with the faeries gossiping about the Faerie Queen and her ability to grant wishes. Pure Vanilla, who until the dream starts in earnest is very emotional and nervous, tries to get information to find her. He is looking for something specific: a Truth that the faeries pick up on.
(Side note here: interesting that White Lily is always Moonflower, but Pure Vanilla is called by his name. Especially with traditional Faerie lore, it might hold some interesting significance that the pixies know his true name and use it liberally. Also, there’s some big differences between the pixies here and the Faerie Kingdom, which might be another thing to keep in mind)
The fact we are left with a question in this passage feels very telling; almost like the love potion we all assume is part of Viridescent Daydream’s story is not actually real. Rather, the faeries are trying to make assumptions of the motive of a cookie who is hard to read, yet is clearly restless.
The fact Pure Vanilla refuses to respond to this question is also telling considering his character. Pure Vanilla is not always the most open person, but his subjects and friends can often get him to answer questions, even if he gives a very basic answer. So the fact he is so tight-lipped about even the thought of answering a question is strange; especially one so innocent as “do you have a wish to make”. Almost like he doesn’t want someone to know what he’s planning.
And again, the secrecy feels important here. He is going to the shrine so quietly, at a time of night that no one else would think to check for. Clearly, he wants this information to remain secret; yet he has no fear proclaiming his newfound love to the rooftops later on. Which implies the reason he’s sneaking out to see Moonflower isn’t his supposed romantic feelings, but rather, something much more secretive and imperative.
This here is a very interesting passage, and it really piqued my essay-writing brain when I reread it. “Smitten, Pure Vanilla Cookie recalls his wish” is a very fascinating line, if only because it actually has two very different meanings in one. And in such a dense piece of media which mimics quite a bit of Shakespearian prose, it can be both simultaneously.
While yes, this line can be taken at face value (that being smitten reminds him of his wish to fall in love), there is another possible way this could be taken. This other interpretation is that he is smitten, yes, but he remembers his wish despite being smitten. Which in turn pushes him forwards and makes him try to fight against the sleeping spell rather than succumb to it. I find this second idea more compelling, as it gives him much more agency while also making the pain of him inevitably failing all the more crushing on both parties. Despite the spell, he’s trying to fight back; because what he seeks is more important to him than anything else.
(Firstly, interesting that Silence is a consistent theme here, considering the fact this set was designed at the beginning of Beast-Yeast, so Salt and the other Beasts were on their minds. Nothing I have concretely here yet, but just thought I’d mention it)
This is such a dense passage, so I’ll give the sparknotes here (though if you’re curious, send an ask for any one of these little snippets and I’ll give a more thorough response to it):
- “Something calls his name, the wind…?” is very vague, and like the other questions prior the line feels like it’s trying to imply that something else is calling out for him.
- “…but Pure Vanilla Cookie must persist through its blissful haze” shows that the affection is taking over him, but to get his answer he must defeat it. Ergo, Moonflower’s love is not his actual wish.
- “…having overcome the flower’s spell. Then, the flower blooms…” highly implies that the spell did not actually take root until this very moment; and that the flower blooming was the catalyst that put him to sleep/removed the last of his original wish.
- “…her smile benevolent yet tinged with sorrow” shows that White Lily has an idea of what’s going on even before she asks her question. Perhaps she knows that he’s been corrupted by the flower? Or perhaps she knew all this was a hopeless endeavor from the start.
This here is the part I think truly sells the idea that love wasn’t his goal. If falling in love with her was his plan, why is his soul “shrunk and withered”? If adoring her to the ends of Earthbread was his goal, why would he be unhappy? Surely if the words he was speaking were the ones he wanted to say, he would be elated to court her rather than humbled before her.
I think this is the last moment both of them have before the script takes over fully. The last action Pure Vanilla takes as himself before he becomes Viridescent Daydream entirely. His only goal from here on out is love and affection, but it is hollow. Shrunk and withered. What little hope he had of asking his true question has officially died, and the bliss takes away what’s left of himself to love Moonflower.
Pure Vanilla has only had to verbally follow the script once before this, and every other action to fight against this bliss and find his answer was done in silence. And yet the moment he is forced to speak again, it makes Moonflower cry. Not because she rejects his affections inherently, but rather because that’s not the Truth he sought. It is the plea of a broken man, but it is not his wish. And thus, she cannot grant it, as we next see.
White Lily admits here that the smell of the flowers is what’s causing this. Not his “wish” to love her, but rather the haze both the dream and the blissful flower have sent him into. She just wants this story to finish; to be done with so she can move on and take the lily scent from him. And yet in leaving, she takes the only person who could grant his wish away and breaks what remains of his spirit.
A horrible twist: that Pure Vanilla can only find his answers through a method that can never give them to him.
She indulges this new Pure Vanilla, but any idea of what he’d looked for is long-since in the past. His memories are tainted by the blissful flower bud, and the happiness of his dreams are forever ingrained into him. It is safe to say that he’s forgotten his purpose, and what remained of his agency and self is now swept away in an obsessive love towards Queen Moonflower Faerie.
With all the new context we have, the story now reads about one’s attempts to fight back being smothered by feelings of affection and bliss. Which should not be nearly so surprising when you consider that Eternal Sugar is the one who wrote it. Perhaps she believed it was kindness, or she thought it would make them happy (much like she does with Ad-Lib’s tragic ending), but in reality all it has done is removed all agency in Pure Vanilla, leaving him forever to pine for a cookie who can do nothing to save him.
TLDR:
Midsummer’s Night Tragicomedy is not about love and affection; but rather Pure Vanilla’s futile struggle to achieve an impossible goal wrapped in blissful forgetfulness. Neither him nor White Lily could truly fight Eternal Sugar’s script, and thus both are bound together into a story that erases all agency and personality from them. Forever encasing their lives in a tragic ending that lost its meaning and its Truth somewhere along the way.
(I would love to hear your guys’ thoughts on this! I also have some ideas about Hollyberry here that might explain why Shadow Milk has short hair and why Pure Vanilla and White Lily are being shoved together, but that’s for another day lol)