Icarus Juniper

"Sure, I die, but at the very least, you could say that my destiny was pretty fly."

- A typical example of Iccy's dark humour

Icarus Juniper is the son of the brother from the Juniper Tree, a gruesome fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, where a young boy (the brother) is killed by his evil stepmother as he stands between her daughter and the inheritance.

Icarus is a guy who is accepting of his destiny, even though he regards it as gruesome. In order to get himself past the general disgust he has for his tale, Icarus makes jokes and writes music, often with a very dark tone. That has given him a reputation of being a rather grimm and sarcastic sort of guy, a claim he flaunts proudly.

Otherwise, Icarus is generally rather determined, loyal, and caring towards people he bothers caring about. Those people include his family, and in some odd circumstances, even friends.

He aligns as Rebel, and owned by DatAsymptote.

Personality
Just like his namesake, Icarus is a guy of reckless ambition, willing to throw whatever he could risk away to get his wishes. He is made out of big dreams and a lot of inspiration, leading to his hard-working and overachiever nature. He always wants to be better than it is possible to be, and by all means, that is his biggest strength and most dangerous weakness.

This leads onto his natural confidence. Icarus believes himself as capable of anything, so he acts like that. He's a bit cocky and abrasive, and sometimes he gives off the sense that he doesn't care about other peoples' feelings. Icarus is the kind of person who radiates confidence that is both inspirational and slightly scary.

Icarus is the one Juniper who has a little bit of chill in him, being a very calm and usually serious person. In a sense, this nonchalant nature of Iccy is essentially his defense mechanism. He thinks that if he's calm and relaxed, he'll look nonthreatening and generally an approachable person. It's his way of making people like and trust him – by giving himself a sense of predictability and order.

Snark and sarcasm goes hand in hand when it comes to this guy. Icarus' speech is often riddled with sarcastic and snarky commentary, as Icarus likes to speak his mind. Icarus is a very straightforward and open person – there's no doubt in what he thinks about anything.

Icarus is actually quite proud of his role in the next generation of the Juniper Tree. He gets grim enjoyment from explaining what happens in the story, and loves people’s reactions to the story. However, he's not very fond of the pity people often give him after. In fact, Icarus is irritated by it – if he is alive by the end of the story, with revenge done, then what's to worry about?

Appearance
The protagonist in the Juniper Tree was described as "red as blood" and "white as snow".

Icarus has inherited the bright red hair and pale skin, which is dotted with a lot of freckles. He has brilliant blue eyes that contrast sharply with his skin.

He's rather tall and wide, being quite well-build. Icarus is also strong and can lift really heavy things (like two people at once) or an entire millstone.

Fairy tale – The Juniper Tree
How the Story Goes

A mother wants a baby. Once the baby was born, the mother died from happiness. Her husband soon remarried to a woman who wanted to kill the son because he would interfere with her daughter recieving the inheritance.

The stepmother offers the son an apple from a chest, then slams the lid on the boy's head, which tumbles into the chest. Afraid that she would be accused of her murder, she reattachs the head onto the boy and places the apple in his hand. Finally, she finds her daughter, telling her to ask the boy for the apple. If he does not respond, she should box him on his ears.

The daughter asks her brother, who (naturally) does not respond. So she boxes his ears, and his head falls to the ground. She bursts into tears.

Her mother comforts her, saying that they will disguise the body by making him into blood pudding. At dinner, Marlinchen, the girl, is still in tears, but the father devours the pudding with gusto.

Later that night, the girl goes to the Juniper Tree outside the window, crying tears of blood. Suddenly, a beautiful bird escapes from the tree, singing a song. Jeweleries and blacksmiths and various other craftmen hear this song, and offer the bird gifts.

The bird flies home, drops a pair of shoes into the girl's hands, a golden neckchain into the father's hands, and an anvril on top of his stepmother's head. The Juniper Tree bursts into the fire, and the boy returns, well, alive and happy.

This story is seriously macabre.

How does Icarus come into it?
After the brother fulfilled his destiny, he started a band, and started singing lead. After a while, he got bored, and went on to play the clarinet in a symphony orchestra.

He met Icarus' mother at a party after a concert, when she accidentally spilt wine over his shirt. Eventually the two got married, and had Icarus. Icarus' father remembered how his mother had died after giving birth to him, and did he best to prevent it. However, the mother soon fell ill to post-childbirth illnesses and died.

She was buried under the Juniper Tree, as per tradition.

Icarus only found out the truth about his destiny two years before he started Ever After High. At first, he was scared of it, but slowly accepted it as a normal part of life, and readied himself for his early grave and dramatic resurrection.

Father
"My father ruins everything."

- Icarus Juniper's diary

Icarus resents and respects his father. It's mostly resentment.

Macintosh Juniper doesn't seem to be too terribly fond of his son, either. The two definitely have a strained relationship, prone to arguments and fights. Mac sees his son as the one who led to his mother's death, the one who took away all the passion he had for life. Icarus sees his father as incompetent and thoughtless, and a "strain on the family".

Icarus also resents his father for "ruining" the Juniper Tree, since Mac never married after his wife's death. That led to Aunt Marlene having to sacrifice Avian to be the next Marlinchen, resulting in the next Marlinchen and his "brother" being cousins instead, disobeying the tradition of Marlinchen being the daughter of the previous brother's second wife. "I don’t know, I just want him to recognise that I matter, too. Not just as part of our destiny, but as a person."

- TFW you're dead and epic

wip

Mother
"She’s dead! Why do you care so much? Why you care about what I say about her, but never about me?"

- Icarus to his father about his mother in The Fear, The Fear of Falling Apart

Joyce "Joy" Juniper had been the violinist of an orchestra rivalling Mac's, and the two got married despite the whole orchestral rivalry. It was actually a pretty intense wedding – both orchestras arrived and the strings section got into a symphonical battle.

Icarus' parents had one of the most happiest marriages ever, but sadly it was one of the shortest. Joy soon feel ill to post-childhood illnesses after having Icarus.

The boy never really got to know his mother, and his father never talked about her to him. Icarus has never really valued his mother, and doesn't really relate to the concept of "motherly love"

Aunt Marlene
"She's truly the brain of the family. My aunt is witty and sharp and makes this family slightly more bearable."

Marlene Juniper, the previous Marlinchen, is the closest thing Icarus could ever have to a maternal figure. She was the one, after Joy's death, who looked after Icarus and through her bitingly sarcastic nature, led to Icarus getting his natural sarcasm and stubbornness. The only problem is that Icarus finds his aunt a little too energetic and overbearing, but other than Avian, he regards her as the most important person in his life.

He thinks she's more than tolerable.

Avian Juniper
"Avian and I, we're close. The same kind of closeness Marlinchen and her brother were supposed to have, even though we’re cousins. Even though I’m only slightly poisoned with guilt that Avian never managed to escape the family destiny, I’m glad he’s the next Marlinchen."

- Icarus Juniper's diary

Icarus is closest to Avian, and there's no denying it. The two grew up together, and know each other's quirks and habits. In a way, they're more like siblings than cousins, since Marlinchen looked after Icarus intensely for a good portion of his early childhood. The two bicker a lot, fight over petty stuff, but in the end, Icarus would risk anything to protect Avian.

Icarus thinks Avian has no chill though.

Lea die Birke
"I would probably never call her my family, but I was starting to accept that she was a Juniper."

- Icarus Juniper's diary

Lea is the girl whose mother married Icarus' father recently. Icarus' father is an advocate of Lea being the one to inherit the Marlinchen destiny.

Icarus is sorta friends with Lea, his step-sister. He still doesn't think of her part of the family or the destiny, mainly because he's protective over the Juniper Tree, thinks Avian would be a better Marlinchen, and doesn't want Lea to have such a horrid destiny.

Icarus is also slightly wary of Lea since the girl had fallen for his sort-of-friend Airmid Valerian, and the guy finds that a little disconcerting, as it makes Dead Epic meetings with Airy more awkward, and he's pretty sure that his physician friend will break his sister's heart one day.

Airmid Valerian
Ship: Things We Lost in the Fire "What are we, other than broken kids trying to help other broken kids?"

- Airmid talking to Icarus about Dead Epics.

Icarus is on friendly terms with his fellow Dead Epics, but doesn't exactly consider many of them as friends. In particular he has a weird sort of acquaintanceship with Airmid Valerian, who appreciates (but doesn't understand) his sarcasm and takes a lot of things he says literally.

Basically, Icarus puts a lot of faith into the next physician. Airmid's clever, brilliant, and despite her pyromaniac tendencies, reliable and organised, all of which are traits that Icarus admires. Unfortunately Airmid makes for a terrible wingman, because she usually ends up hitting on Icarus' dates. (Icarus wouldn't mind so much if it weren't for the fact that most of the dates actually return Airy's advances).

They're bros, basically.

Tenley Rosewood
"Tenley, you're brilliant. Also, please keep dating my sister, because you're gonna be a great in-law."

Tenley is g8, basically. Lots of sarcasm, lots of dry jokes. Icarus approves of her dating Lea die Birke, even though he doesn't like Lea.

Romance
According to Avian Juniper, Icarus' ex-girlfriends have been "fake" and that the Storybook of Legends was "almost as fake", much to Icarus' irritation.

Icarus writes love poetry and romantic songs, but doesn't actually seem all that interested in romance itself. At least, he isn't awkwardly flailing over girls like his sister and his cousin is. Although, there's no denying that Icarus does have a pretty good arsenal of pick up lines, though.

Quotes
"Alright, I attempted maths for five seconds. I think that’s enough for me. I give up."

- Icarus can't math

"Good music never dies. It just blends into the crowd. Or maybe it stands out, like a super awesome cadence at the end of a song."

"Seriously Airmid, you're scaring the newbies. Maybe you should stop trying to look your-so-called-definition-of-cool and try for approachable instead?"

- Icarus nitpicks on everything that happens in Dead Epics.

"I’m going to ‘adore’ the lady who might kill me. Thanks dad."

- Iccy when his dad tells him about his new stepmother

"The only reason why I bother to help run Dead Epics is so I can fill up my service record"

- Icarus confessing that he doesn't care

"Oh, so this is how you choose to break Lea's heart."

- Iccy, Airmid offered you her hand platonically.

Trivia

 * Avian Juniper, his cousin, often argues with Icarus on who is truly the protagonist of this tale.
 * The Juniper Tree isn't actually proper folklore! It was actually a tale written by some guy and given to the Grimms, which makes sense considering the hexload of Biblical references in it.
 * Icarus has a currently unclassified eating disorder, and because of this, often never eats in front of people he doesn't trust.
 * This eating disorder springs from how as Icarus gets older, he starts to look more and more like his father, who he can't stand. Coupled with his hate for how he looks, along with his self-hatred for not being strong enough to keep his family together & protect Avian, amongst other things.
 * He's pretty good at hiding it, even from his family and friends.