Go Back? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Briar Beauty Headcanons
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Yoohoo, I'm Meeshell! And I like playing experiments on my very spelltacular lab rat Briar Beauty. The content of this page is about my headcanons of Briar and what I personally think she acts outside of what we see in Ever After High! Meeshell probably knows what she's talking about 70% of time. Reminder to not take any of this to offense; in the end, I am just harmlessly perceiving a character and I've put plenty of thinking and reading into all of this! You may ask questions on my Atabook if you're interested for more info or to ask some clarifications ♡
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
⠀𝄁 ̥̣̣͜◜❀࿔⠀⠀ Bipolar Spectrum ⠀⠀
I am ABSOLUTELY firm about Bipolar Briar and I will not be less annoying about it unless you give me a good explanation about why I can't give her that. As a heads up, I just want to let it be known that I am a psychology junkie and is super fixated in psychotraumatology and pathophysiology; I absolutely love learning about disabilities, mental or physical, and how people handle and live with it. I myself am also neurodivergent, specifically “moderate” ADHD, and I struggle with it a lot than I should despite only being “moderate”. I have done major and deep research and reading on the Bipolar Spectrum, and I am more than willing to hear more insights! And likely the headcanons over here will be more often than not, disorders and the adjacent.
First of all, I would like to keep things as is for Briar by just simply stating she's under the Bipolar Spectrum; if you ever bothered to ask me, I'd likely say I'd put her under either Cyclothymia or Bipolar 2! But then again, these aren't strictly how I'd classify her and I'd rather not strictly put her in any other box. Her Bipolar episodes I like to think are mostly triggered due to stress and anxiety. On bad or sudden days, Briar is reminded of the graveness of her destiny and becomes super shaken about it. Often the paranoia and anxiety builds up and it either results in a depressive or hypomanic episode. Briar is trying to drown out her thoughts during both episodes, just in different ways. Of course, I do not think Briar's Bipolar symptoms flare up ENTIRELY due to stress; while it's usually the case, Briar obviously has episodes triggered in other ways too! Most I can name where episodes can be triggered are after great or hype events (parties, a really fun hangout with others, and the like), and changes in sleep routine too (while it is a symptom of episodes rather, it can also be a trigger to episodes). I mostly speak about Briar having her Bipolar symptoms flare up due to her being shaken about her destiny because I think it fits her character to some extent, and also a great way I can show how I personally think Briar has Bipolar Disorder and how she handles her episodes.
In Briar's hypomanic episodes, I like to think it's basically just textbook hypomania: abnormally high energy and elevated mood, racing thoughts and to some extent speech, and increased confidence. Briar would also be highly emotional, jumpy, and irritable, so it's quite harder to keep pace with her; she is prone to risky and impulsive behaviour, and how it manifests is her usually flying out and about chasing experiences. Briar gets little to no sleep at all during hypomanic episodes and when she does, she's dead asleep. Briar prefers being knocked out dead over staying awake all night doing nothing; when Briar's wide awake doing nothing, she gets conscious about the fact that she's doing nothing with the time she has and she perceives it as "wasting time", which shakes her up a lot. Briar's middle state is how we usually see her in the show. Lastly, Briar's depressive episodes would also be the textbook stuff: fatigue, loss of interest and pleasure in stuff she usually enoys (anhedonia), and negative emotions (irritability and hopelessness are usually the dominant emotions, I like to think). During depressive episodes, Briar would be more reserved and usually doesn't mingle with others as much as she does in her middle or hypomanic state. Briar also experiences hypersomnia (state of excessive sleepiness, usually during the day) and usually wakes up not feeling refreshed at all. Briar also willingly enters sleep a lot more than letting her narcoleptic tendencies best her, so she naps a bit extra than she usually does. Briar sleeps more than usual (and even sleeps willingly) to drown out her fatigue and excessive, racing thoughts.
In the context of Briar's bipolar symptoms being triggered due to her anxiety and stress over her destiny, the thought behind everything is that Briar thinks she is running out of time. It's just that she handles her reaction differently in the two states. Briar becomes desperate to beat her thoughts of doom and hopelessness when it becomes too much, and it slowly builds her way into a hypomanic state; in her depressive state, Briar simply becomes tired of thinking about her destiny too much and it really wears and drains her out. Basically, Briar trying to fight against it more often than not leads her to a hypomanic state, while Briar succumbing to her thoughts leads her to a depressive state. Do note it isn't always like this every time her symptoms are triggered!
Inspired by a BFFA of mine, Bipolar Disorder in the Ever After High Universe would probably be called Topsy–Turvy haha.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
⠀𝄁 ̥̣̣͜◜❀࿔⠀⠀ Narcolepsy ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Honestly this shouldn't even classify as a headcanon but it kinda is. We've seen Briar's narcoleptic tendencies in the show a LOT of times, but the show more often than not plays it as a Briar quirk more than a distressing condition. Then again, it's dumb to expect that from a literal kids' show. It's basically semi–canon at this point (semi– because as I said, it's more portrayed as a quirk than a condition) but I wanted to explore it more deeply because to me, it's as equally important along with topsy–turvy Briar. (Hi, this is Meeshell a few hours after writing this thesis. Briar's narcolepsy/narcoleptic tendencies are explicitly recognized in her book story, so that's something! I'm very happy ♡)
I would like to let it be known that Briar's narcolepsy is inherited from Sleeping Beauty! Explicitly stated in Briar's Story. Sleeping Beauty struggles with side effects regarding her century–long sleep and is “known to doze off frequently”. Narcolepsy can also be developed later in your life, so it's safe to believe (and is canon, anyway) that Sleeping Beauty presumably had developed it later after her century–long slumber as a side effect and it passed down to Briar.
(Thank you to my BFFA for the screenshot #YoureAwesome)
Regarding Briar's narcolepsy itself, I would also like to keep it as is; if you ever felt the need to ask me, I'd likely answer Narcolepsy Type 2. In my own humble opinion Briar would most likely tick Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS) at best but I wouldn't be too sure about the Hypocretin deficiency and the Cataplexy. Besides, Briar displays NT2 symptoms in the show either way, so I believe it's safe to perceive it that way. If Briar were to even have Hypocretin deficiency and Cataplexy, it would be mild at best. But I definitely considered Briar with Hypocretin deficiency at some point, but I scrapped it because it's starting to feel like I'm putting too much bullshit on her, haha.
Though I think it's certainly possible for Briar to develop Cataplexy later in life! From what I've observed, it's not uncommon for NT2 patients to develop Cataplexy later in their diagnosis or have their Cataplexy become more blatant and recognized. Also, not sure if it's factual, so take this as further/backup information than something I actually believe in and will apply; Briar apparently has some awareness in her during her century–long sleep, so she's basically stuck in a state of somnolence while her mind still clearly processes everything. It's somewhat similar to a Cataplexy attack, where you lose all muscle tone and buckle up yet you're still conscious. Where is Meeshell getting with this, you ask? I don't know, I just wanted to point it out haha.... but I'm not saying some riddlish bullshit like “Briar had a Cataplexy attack and slept for a century because of it” please don't view it that way I'm not Dense. I think what I'm trying to point out is that a CENTURY of paralysis will really be a factor of Briar developing Cataplexy as an adult... that is, if she (unwillingly, unknowingly) follows her destiny, haha.
Obviously, Briar's sleep attacks are spontaneous and sporadic and nobody, not even herself, is warned beforehand. Sleep attacks are a symptom of EDS and it's defined as a sudden, overwhelming, and uncontrollable urge to fall asleep, and as stated earlier it can happen without warning. It's pretty much been showcased in the show before: Briar suddenly falling asleep before Dexter could ask her how to ask Raven out, Briar suddenly falling asleep AGAIN before she could tutor Raven and the rest for Prof. Rumpelstiltskin's impossible test, and then Briar falling asleep... again... when she was supposed to be helping Ashlynn with unboxing shoes. You can pretty much perceive it as textbook sleep attacks. Happens anywhere... everywhere... and it's uncontrollable.
Briar usually acts normal after waking up from a sleep attack in the show, but I like to think sometimes everything clicks to her somewhere throughout the day or later than that and suddenly she's a bit ashamed of falling asleep just like that... usually because she's perceived it as “wasted time”. If she fell asleep during a time where she was needed (like when Ashlynn had her to help unbox shoes) she'll usually feel a bit bad about it later on too. Her sleep attacks can certainly string up a Bipolar episode in Briar too, depending on what's up.
Now that I've mentioned Briar's bipolarity, it's a good time to point out her narcolepsy goes hand in hand with her bipolarity, too! I unfortunately can't grab my hands on any articles on how they can be comorbid and I found little posts about people having them both, so this part will be a little bit improvised. I believe I've stated or implied once that her EDS symptom flares up more often in her depressive state and usually leads Briar into hypersomnia (let it be known that I am referring to hypersomnia as a descriptive and in a general sense—not referring to idiopathic hypersomnia). During hypomanic states, Briar usually faces less sleep attacks and generally barely sleeps, but when when a sleep attack comes up, she sleeps for a long LOOONG while.... and also in general. Briar's really just knocked out dead if ever she got a hint of sleep during hypomanic episodes, in short.
Briar hadn't really questioned her narcoleptic tendencies too deeply because she doesn't really think it's like... an ACTUAL disorder. Briar would probably think it's just a quirk she inherited from her mother and it's normal and something part of her destiny. People dismiss her narcoleptic tendencies too because of course, she's the daughter of Sleeping Beauty. It doesn't make it any less annoying for both Briar and others though. Said by my BFFA too, Briar's narcolepsy isn't likely to be even referred to as “narcolepsy” in-universe; it'll probably be called a sleeping curse. She probably wouldn't have a diagnosis. Maybe she won't even step into a hospital or even near a physician ever after. But it's.... really obvious, and people aren't even likely to perceive it as a “curse”, just a Briar A.K.A future Sleeping Beauty thing.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —