Episode 10 - Epilogue

I’d originally chosen a different song for this episode, but I have a few problems with choices the band in question has made since I made that initial decision. Instead, I used Live To Rise by Soundgarden. This song was written for Avengers Assemble, so it’s incredibly on-the-nose here, but it started playing when that film introduced Thanos as a cliffhanger, so it felt appropriate here as well. I imagine it starting to play just as the final moments of the post-credit scene appear.

Structure

Even in the first draft, this was always intended to be told through the lens of Bunnyx Prime making one last appearance in the Contingency timeline before she’s locked out forever. I think I did a better job at introducing it in the second draft, and it is useful as a framing device to structure what we see around the different parts in the future.

The Legion

I’ve been putting a lot of thought into how the Legion will work over the last two years. I’ve got lots of ideas and I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to show all of them, but I think that the concept of the Legion being a volunteer group, who maintain strict scrutiny over what the Legionnaires do in the Legion’s name, is the core element. The Legion has a lot of money, because at the founding Adrien donated most of his inheritance (and his house) to the Legion, as did André Bourgeois after divorcing Audrey and selling the Grand Paris.

Most of the other background I’m going to try to play close to my chest until I’m able to put it into the story.

Not Everyone?

It was really tricky deciding who would make appearances in this episode, outside the Burrow. I knew that I probably wouldn’t be able to include everyone, but I wanted to have a broad selection.

Obviously Marinette, Kagami, Adrien, and Chloé would have to feature, because they are the main characters of Miraculous: Contingency but the other cast? It was trickier. I tried to include a few cameos – Even if they didn’t make an appearance I think almost every original member of the team at least get a mention – Zoé is the only one I missed, which I honestly didn’t realise until I’d started this commentary, and now I’m annoyed with myself. Oh well, I know exactly what’s happening with Zoé in Miraculous: Legion so I promise we’ll see more of her.

Alya and Nino are the biggest exception, but I have a plot reason for why they’re not here yet. I also used the opportunity to introduce the expansion of the Legion – I enjoyed Purple Tigress so much when I finally watched past season 3 that I considered trying to bring her in in the main body of Miraculous: Contingency but I couldn’t really work out how to introduce her there.

One very minor cameo, confirming that Ladydragon exists in Miraculous: Contingency and that she’s Marinette’s cousin (I’d mentioned Fei in Mayura 2, but we can now assume that Marinette’s uncle has adopted her), was added in the very last version of the episode. Miraculous World: Shanghai is the only special that really fits into Miraculous: Contingency in any way, although I suspect it happened differently from how it took place in the special. The New York special had to be written out of continuity because of how Firesaur and Big Monkey: Parts 1 & 2 played out, and Paris and London definitively take place after the split and rely upon things which can’t fit into the contingency timeline. It’s a shame, because I like all of the specials apart from the New York one.

Kids

This was something that needed to be addressed. Marinette’s always had a (slightly worrying) plan for her future with Adrien and, even if it’s been adjusted to include Kagami, I wanted them to still follow most of that plan. So here I am, introducing Hugo and Emma – although Kagami carried Hugo and Marinette carried Emma, both children are being raised with three parents. One thing I always wanted was for this relationship to work out.

Chloé and Maria are going to have a daughter soon as well – it’s gonna come up pretty early on in Miraculous: Legion but Chloé and Maria have had a new form of IVF where they are both genetic parents of their child. It means they can only have daughters, but they can live with that. That was their choice, and it doesn’t diminish other people’s choices to adopt or have surrogates or other methods of having children for family structures which aren’t as common.

Other characters have had kids at different points between Contingency and Legion, but for the most part the children won’t be the main focus of the story, which will still focus on the now adult superheroes. The exception is introduced at the end of the story

Post-Credits Scene

I didn’t mention Gabriel’s name once in the body of this episode. That was a deliberate choice. Everyone in the Legion has moved on from him. There’s a brief moment where Adrien reflects on taking his wives’ names, but that’s it. Then the episode ends on a sweet moment and that’s it. Although the MCU didn’t introduce the idea of post-credits scenes, it has become synonymous with those films now, and this was probably the most overt tribute to it.

I always knew that Mayura Reál was going to find Nooroo between Miraculous: Contingency and Miraculous: Legion, so it felt really bad giving him that moment of relief at the end of the last episode.

The big deal is obviously Seraphina Agreste. I had a few hints running through season 4 suggesting that Nathalie was pregnant – they misinterpreted morning-sickness as food poisoning after some sushi, then there a couple of mentions of doctor’s appointments she was keeping from Gabriel, a letter she was hiding from him, and lastly she tried to tell him before Chamela cut her off.

I want to confirm – Seraphina is Gabriel and Nathalie’s child, not a Senti that Mayura Reál created. She is why I needed to make it absolutely clear earlier in the story that it’s a bad idea to stay transformed while you’re pregnant. Mayura Reál hasn’t detransformed since The Last Play: All These Lies We’ve Told. Just like her brother, her second cousin, and her sister-in-law, Seraphina isn’t entirely human, but she’s different in her very own way. I’m looking forward to exploring this character.

Miraculous: Legion – Sequel-Bait, or Trolling?

Okay, now I’m going to be completely honest with you. When I first started writing Miraculous: Contingency, I was only ever intending it to have a target audience of three. As the story started growing, and I considered the idea of actually putting it online one day, I came up with the idea of jokingly putting sequel-bait in the final episode. That idea grew into the concept of making the final episode an epilogue which looks into the future.

So, my concept was that I was going to be a troll (not something I usually aspire to, but it felt like fun for once) by including lots of little hints of where the story could go. I had no intention of writing a sequel. When I finished the first draft of the Epilogue I was expecting to step back from Miraculous: Contingency and move on. Over the next few weeks, my cousins teased me by saying “Oh, but you know you’re going to write it, don’t you?” and I’d deny it. But their constant comments meant that my brain never stopped thinking about it. This is actually where I came up with my technique of using songs to help me plan a story.

I had the idea of using Otep’s cover of Lorde’s Royals as a background song for a Queen Bee focused episode. Over the next couple of months, I began pulling together as eclectic a mix of songs as I could, from genres and artists I don’t always listen to, getting recommendations from my cousins, and using the mood, lyrics, or themes of the songs to inspire plot ideas. When I finally started writing the second draft of Miraculous: Contingency it was a given that I was going to eventually write Miraculous: Legion as well, so I’ve started putting the hints in place in various episodes through the story. The first reference was way back in season 1, The Spoiler. One of the things which I definitely need to bring in are the Celestial Guardians and the Monastery.

Miraculous: Legion is going to be following the main cast when they are ten years older. The story will be aging up a bit with them – similar to the change in tone between Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. I’m not going to start hurling around swearwords and having brutal violence onscreen, but the events and the impacts will be a little darker, more intense, and higher risk. The hint in Bunnyx and Heikegana’s last appearance in this episode says that someone is under threat in the story.

So, if you’ve made it through this much of the story and even read this much of the commentaries, thank you, and I promise there will be more story coming eventually. Unlike with Miraculous: Contingency I still need to write this one, so there will definitely be a gap. Now that this is the end; I may as well make one last nod to one of the inspirations for this story…

Ladybug and Chat Noir will return in Miraculous: Legion!