𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛 𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚖𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝟸

Ophelia deserved better

I have came here today to basically ramble about how both the animated web series and the books did no justice for Ophelia

Ophelia is the replacement for Scarlet after it's revealed she 'isn't an SD' cuz of a (fake) mistake, and you'd think we'd learn more about Ophelia and how Rancora got her to be her unaware puppet 

But we don't really. The most we get is that she tried to get into Starling Academy but failed a bunch of times and to get in she pretended to be an orphan, which was if I remember correctly it was Rancora pretending to be Lady Stella that told her that

We don't actually learn what's up with Ophelia. She ain't an actual orphan, so what's her story? Where is her from? What is her motives? She's just a shy, meek, and sweet girl that Rancora got her hands on to mess up the SDs but the relationship between Ophelia and Rancora is never explored

The 12 SDs are based on the 12 Zodiac Signs, and so is Ophelia in a way. Ophiuchus, the constellation of the snake bearer is sometimes considered the 13th sign of the Zodiac. Think of it being to the Zodiacs as Pluto is to the other planets (IT IS A PLANET NASA) the main difference being that it's pretty much agreed upon stuff like zodiac memes and astrology that Ophiuchus ain't a zodiac sign

Ophiuchus is between the 2 constellations Scorpius, AKA Scorpio, and Sagittarius. Ophelia replaced Scarlet for a time when their school records were switched as part of a scheme to ruin the SDs so the Ophiuchus-Scorpio thing checks out (random and may be me just being a nerd, but there's a version of the whole 'Orion says he'll hunt down all animals so Scorpio kills him' myth, where Ophiuchus revives him with some antidote thing after, hmmm...)

But there was a wasted opportunity with the Sagittarius part. The Ophelia-Scarlet dynamic got explored to mirror Ophiuchus-Scorpio, but there's no Ophelia-Sage dynamic to mirror Ophiuchus-Sagittarius 

That could've been a great way to expand on Ophelia beyond being a super timid, quiet girl with a backstory that's one big question mark and doesn't have true significance in the story besides kickstarting a plotline. Ophelia and Sage. 

Scarlet and Ophelia are counterparts. One is bold, the other is soft-spoken. One is super skilled and the other needs lots of practice. Both are outsiders, one coming off as asocial and the other being shy and lonely

Sage and Ophelia could've been another set of counterparts. One is hailed as a natural leader, the other struggles to interact with people and have her voice heard. One has lots of  talent, the other needs serious help. There's so many ways they could've went about this

There could've been a point where Sage wasn't available to be the leader for a variety of reasons, and Ophelia could've stepped up and learn to take charge. Ophelia could've practiced so so much and eventually becomes on par and even better at Sage at wish energy manipulation. Rancora could've manipulated her to make her hate/fear Sage, or even the rest of the SDs too but especially Sage

She could've been the antithesis of Sage, like how Tony Stark and Steve Roger's were antithesises of each other. 

Sage is loud, outgoing, but really needs to learn to put more thought into things. She comes from what sounds like a pretty well off family (a government worker for a dad, a famous scientist for a mom, and a house in the luxurious capital of Starland lol), has had her skills and talents praised and nourished since she started using wish energy

Ophelia is once again soft-spoken, anxious, empathetic but has trouble standing up for herself and taking risks or just stepping out of her comfort zone in general. Idk what her family is like, but even if she ain't an orphan her dorm room is very very plain and she doesn't seem to have much belongings. She had lots of trouble applying into SA which implies getting a good education may have hard for her, altho since Rancora told her to basically act dumb when she was an SD that implies that she may be very intelligent. 

If Sage has Lady Stella, then Ophelia has Rancora, and here's a way I feel Ophelia could be improved

Ophelia comes from a not very wealthy family and before she faked being an orphan to get into SA went to a bunch of subpar schools. She's for some reason very weak at properly controlling positive energy, leading her to get bullied and mocked often. After it's revealed Scarlet is an actual SD and that Ophelia is the imposter, she grows bitter and feels betrayed since she felt welcome by the SDs. Rancora notes this and becomes her mentor, and teaches her how to use negative energy. Ophelia finds out she's super skilled at harnessing it with little harm to herself, and Rancora teaches her that Sage (and the other SDs but especially Sage) are basically gonna bring upon the apocalypse. 

As her negative energy powers grow, she takes down Lady Stella for Rancora and the SDs are left in despair until it's (somehow lol) revealed to Ophelia that Rancora is a jerk and has been manipulating her the entire time. She manages to use her negative energy powers for good and helps them defeat Rancora and Lady Stella is safe

She kindly says no to switching to using positive energy cuz she proved that negative energy, in the hands of a good person isn't necessarily bad, and regains confidence and gets character development lol

Ophelia being a more fleshed out character is one of the reasons I think she should've gotten her own book. Tbh there are virtually endless ways to improve her role in the story, both through keeping in with the canon story and going into fanfic potential lol as usual leave any thoughts as comments