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So, i was playing around a bit with the basically abandoned 'silver wings' story and it mutated into something else.
See the idea of Silver Wings to kind of be a bit anti-trope, where a prince is turned into a princess and doesn't adjust well, at all. Instead becomes anti-social, violent and basically very unhappy, while also addressing the issue of abandoned characters. Often in stories I see characters who are little more than mono-dimensional villains. Even some of my favourite stories have characters on one side who can do horrible things and it's handwaved, while the other side does evil things and don't seem capable of being anything but mindlessly evil baby-eating monsters.
My idea is to make a villain a main character and show that they have depth and aren't just evil for the sake of evil.
Then, we have this idea that spawned out of it.
Basically there is a kingdom ruled by a fair and just king, his loving wife and their...not so well behaved son. In this there is also the king's brother who did not wish for the throne and instead serves as an advisor, amongst other things, and he has a wife and daughter.
When the two children (the prince and duchess) were young, they were the apple of their parents eye. They were well behaved and as close as close can be, but as they grew they also grew apart. The prince started feeling heavy pressure from his mother and father and was heavily constrained. He started to lash out with his friends, misbehaving and embarrassing his family.
The Duchess (do i have the right rank there for cousin of the prince?) was fairly well behaved however, but highly critical of the prince, and they had several verbal confrontations.
The King's Mother is a powerful witch and also critical of her grandson, but it should be noted that his family loves him, they're just growing frustrated at their inability to control him and teach him. Then one night he assaults a maid and his father has had enough, they're considering what to do with the whole family, sans the duchess and prince...the prince is furious however. He learns that he is to be a servant in the palace until he learns humility and in a drunken fit of rage...sexually assaults his cousin.
This is where things go wildly out of hand.
His father, mother and uncle are enraged, beyond rational in fury. The well-meaning and kind duchess is devastated and so, they act. With blessing from the King's Mother, they transform their son into a girl...and lock him in a brothel for a week. They will not tolerate this kind of behavior and are determined to ensure he regrets his actions and never even THINKS about doing this again.
It's an...unpleasant week. Though the prince (now princess) doesn't know it, the 'clients' are all guards to ensure that she isn't hurt...too badly. But the last person is her own uncle who brutalizes her before she is returned home.
Tempers need to cool and for safety and protection purposes, the princess is locked in her room while the family discusses what to do next. The duchess is unaware of what happened...but on the third day, the princess is gone.
She has escaped through a secret passage in her closet, one that was supposed to be used should the castle ever come under siege and they have no idea where she is.
Guards are sent out to try and find her, but she has disappeared entirely.
Anger remains in the family for some time...but as days turn to weeks and then months, anger turns to regret as they realize that they acted in a heinous, despicable way.
They hold out hope but...
Ten years later, the princess is found living in a village on the farthest edge of the kingdom, with a son that looks frighteningly similar to how she did at that age.
She, very reluctantly, returns to the castle upon her discovery where it is revealed that the son is her uncle's child. She can't be turned back now, and her hatred for her family is all consuming. Her cousin gets the apology she wants...but learns of her uncle and father's actions and is horrified by it.
She is shocked and dismayed while the uncle grieves: he has a son now but it's a child that will never love him.
Honestly I don't know how to finish this story and it's dark but I think it's interesting.
If anyone has any ideas or advice or just wants to write it, feel free.
Comments
Try writing some
It's an interesting idea, and I'd like to see it fleshed out.
The key will be how you develop the characters.
Gillian Cairns
an idea for an ending
The ending could be revealed to be a flash-back told by the uncle while at sword point, or some such, by the princess' son who's now grown up and seeking vengeance for his mother. Wither or not the son runs his father through would be up to how you want to play it.
I Agree
I agree with a previous comment. You have a decent summary of the story up to a certain point. Try writing the story itself, showing the events as they occurred. The story may lead (or try to lead) you down a rather different path. You might let it, and if it goes too far astray, you can redirect it in revision -- and perhaps figure out why it went the way it went. (Sometimes, your characters take on lives of their own, or you've given them enough of a personality, that you instinctively write them the way they would react and not the way you want them to.)
BTW, I don't think that Duchess is the term for the cousin to the prince. She might be a princess, or might have some other title/rank -- or even none. Your prince, I believe, is not only a prince, but also Heir Apparent. (In Britain, I think he would be called the Prince of Wales.)
-- Daphne Xu
Titles etc
The heir, if a direct descendant of the king, could have a variety of titels. The generic one would be Crown Prince (or Crown princess). In some countries you have/had a specific title bestowed such as Prince of Wales or Dauphin. Members of the royal family normally would all be considered princes/princesses. Exactly who would have had the right to these titles often depends/ed on gender of the royal parent and marital status or some other, often arbitrary, reason. E.g one Swedish princess is married to MR O'Neill (by his own choice) while a Swedish prince is married to a girl who became Princess Sofia.
In many countries princes and princesses are/were also given other titles in addition such as Duke of Cambridge, Count of Flanders, Duke of Orléans ...
The storyline above opens up a variety of possibilities regarding who would be the heir to the throne. It would depend on whether the country allows female rulers, if not allowing female rulers whether it allows women to transmit a claim to the throne, view of children born out of wedlock and so on. If the former Crown Prince is to become the next ruler what would the family do? She could wait until she has the power for her revenge. Preemptive counter-strike from the Uncle? Redemption through the cousin? A coup led by the cousin to clean out the mess of the present rulers?
Lineage to the throne
This depends on time period, wedlock within royal lineage is a relatively modern concept, as often kings would take a concubine (who would have had no standing other than being the mother to the heir) for the sole purpose of providing a male heir.
For whatever reason it may have been, the queen being barren or only having girls.
Also in licorice's synopsis if the lineage only allows males to be heirs, the once prince now princess could rule on the behalf of her child until he comes of age, the title would be Princess Regent.
And if I understand correctly with how real world lineage goes, the kings brother, if he was younger, would have no claim to the throne while the king, queen, the now princess and her son are alive.
I say real world because while the model for the story is likely based on that, the fictional model may have some different rules.
There are actually
three Princes of Wales. so Daphne's theorem of,
would appear to be correct, as these are Prince Charles, and his sons Princes William and Henry (aka Harry) who are the next 3 in line to the throne of the UK
Oh my
We got ourselves into the tangled weave of titles and how to inherit the throne. In order not to dig ourselves too deep I suggest that Licorice use whatever system fits the story best.
It's highly probable that there will be a precedent for it in history anyway. Some examples: oldest child of the monarch regardles of gender, oldest son or in the absence of such the oldest daughter, anyone that is the son or grandson of a previous king is eligible, any male who's part of the royal family by blood or marriage is eligible, any male descendant of an earlier king no matter whether by male or female line (highly detrimental to one's health in 15th and 16th century England), only sons of a sister to the king are eligible and so on. Ultimogenitur I have only seen in fiction though.