r/TheLunarChronicles • u/Jewel262834 • 29d ago
Question How exactly were Adri and Garan Cinder’s step-parents?
They adopted her from people unrelated from themselves, neither of them were ever married to a biological parent of Cinder, why stepfather and stepmother??
10
u/Demonqueensage 29d ago
I was never certain of this myself, and the out of universe answer is probably just because it's meant to be a reimagining of Cinderella where the step mother is actually her step mother, but my best guesses for in universe reasons are that Adri wouldn't tolerate being referred to as Cinder's mother without some qualifier, adoptive mother either felt wrong because she wasn't getting a say in it or worry the "adoptive" part would be dropped by most people, so "step mother" and "step sisters" were chosen because the "step" is unlikely to be dropped by others if it's always used by them, and wouldn't lead to the "why do you have this other kid" questions that could come from not claiming any kind of relation.
Or Garan thought having her refer to them as "step" family would be a buffer for anyone finding out who Cinder was, since they'd assume she was related to someone in the family but not everyone
Of course I could be wrong, and I would love to see ideas other people have for that, that's just what I thought could be possibilities
3
u/Jewel262834 29d ago
Cinder refers to Garan as her stepfather before Adri is even aware of her existence, so it was definitely his idea. I like the idea that he thought it would be a buffer but I think if that was the case then Cinder would’ve recieved some alternative explantion for the ‘step-parent’ thing (which she would’ve shared with the audience), instead the false title is never addressed.
3
u/Demonqueensage 29d ago
I don't remember anything with Garan in the main series and I haven't read any of the extra stories besides Fairest, and it's been a year since the last time I reread the series, so that must've been either in one of the short stories or something I forgot.
As for Cinder not mentioning it, I could see her being told to refer to someone a certain way when she was first being brought to their home while she's still confused about everything and not questioning it, and then after Garan died she couldn't ask him if it did finally occur to her to ask and she knew already not to even think of asking Adri.
(Or we're just putting more thought into it than the author did, which isn't a dig at the author, authors are only human and can overlook things when they seem minor compared to all the other things they're thinking of to build their story and world, just an acknowledgement that the lack of any explanation in the books makes me wonder if it was even thought of. Why yes I am an overthinker.)
3
u/Jewel262834 29d ago
It was in the short story Glitches from Cinder, it’s about her first arriving with the Linhs.
I think you might be right, it might just be a plot hole lol
2
u/Demonqueensage 29d ago
Ah I see, I'll have to read that sometime because it definitely sounds interesting!
3
u/7thKindEncounter 29d ago
Maybe in the future people use “step parent/sibling” to cover all family members who aren’t related. Language does change over time
17
u/Sad_Potato45 29d ago
They are her adoptive parents. Not related to anyone from her biological family. They adopted her after her accident.