Fairytales Before They Got Pretty

If you think fairytales were always about talking mice, shiny dresses, and soft morals, well… that version came a little later.

The stories we now associate with childhood - Snow White, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel - were originally passed down orally, by women. Nannies, midwives, village storytellers. These tales weren’t entertainment - they were moral codes, warnings, rituals, survival tools. They were messy. Raw. Filled with sex, violence, body horror, and unremorseful power.

There wasn’t one ultimate “canon version.” Every telling was alive, different. It flowed through history and started, no one knows where.

Then came the collectors - obviously, most famously, the Brothers Grimm, who began putting them to paper in 1812 and 1815 with the now-legendary Kinder- und Hausmärchen.

But even that wasn’t first.

Roughly 100 years earlier, a French author named Charles Perrault (yes, the actual guy behind the paper Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, and Puss in Boots) had scribed his own versions. Though he only formally claimed authorship of a poetic tale called Peau d’Âne (Donkeyskin), his broad work shaped a lot of what the world thinks fairytales are.

Except… they weren’t quite what we imagine now.

“Schneewittchen” - Johann Heinrich Ramberg, 1819
Source: Grimmbilder Wiki, https://grimmbilder.fandom.com/de/wiki/Schneewittchen_(Illustrationen) Used under § 51 UrhG (German Copyright Act) as a visual quotation for explanatory purposes.

Early Editions Were Wild

Those famous first-ever writings in collections included (but were not limited to):

• A queen who eats what she believes are Snow White’s lungs and liver (as if Snow’s death wasn't enough for her).

• A Rapunzel whose surprising pregnancy is revealed when she asks why her dresses are getting tighter - how it happened, one can only guess ?

• A Red Riding Hood who gets eaten. No rescue. The end. You can go. Case closed.

And the kicker? These books weren’t meant for children. Famous brothers were scholars - linguists. To them, fairytales were cultural fossils: evidence of German identity, language, and history.

But as the books got popular, something changed.

“Rapunzel” - Edward Henry Wehnert, 1853
Source: Grimmbilder Wiki, https://grimmbilder.fandom.com/de/wiki/Rapunzel_(Illustrationen) Used under § 51 UrhG (German Copyright Act) as a visual quotation for explanatory purposes.

The Great Clean-Up

By the 1820s, the stories were getting edited.

Wilhelm Grimm scrubbed out the sex, added religious tones, made everyone morally black-or-white. Dialogues changed. Characters softened. Violence became symbolic. And by the time a certain label got involved? Most of that raw power was long gone - making way for ballroom merch for little kids.

“Rotkäppchen” - Ludwig Emil Grimm, 1825
Source: Grimmbilder Wiki, https://grimmbilder.fandom.com/de/wiki/Rotkäppchen_(Illustrationen) Used under § 51 UrhG (German Copyright Act) as a visual quotation for explanatory purposes.

Our Take: No More Masks

Swords & Slippers isn’t trying to "restore" anything - but we’re not pretending these stories were always sweet.

We’re going back to the roots - the messy ones. The sensual ones. The disturbing ones. The ones where women weren’t sanitized symbols, but complex archetypes: full of power, flaws, and agency.

Sure, our game is stylized. It’s playful. Comic-book wild. But the source material isn’t a joke to us.

We pull directly from the original tone - not the polished, kid-safe versions, not even Grimm, but Perrault ones. And we mix it with our language: action, sensuality, exaggeration, drama.

Fairytales Were Always About the Body

In those older stories, sexuality wasn’t taboo - it was everywhere.

It was how characters grew, changed, were threatened, were freed. Real redemption. It was part of the power struggle. The magic. The warning.

That’s why, in Swords & Slippers, our heroines’ sexuality isn’t an add-on - it’s narrative.

Their sex appeal isn’t just style - it’s agency. It’s armor. It’s subversion. It’s story.

So, let’s break that down.

Snow White – Cold Eyes, Hot Blood

You know the color code: black as ebony, white as snow, red as blood. That’s the first line of her fairytale.

We added blue - the color of command, calm, strategy. Our Snow is the leader. She’s sharp. Alluring. Dangerous.

Her armor hugs her form, but doesn’t reduce her to it. Her sex appeal is deliberate. It’s a tool. Not an invitation.

Rapunzel – No Tower Required

She doesn’t hide her power.

Loose fabric. Bare shoulders. Hair that reaches the floor and strangles anyone dumb enough to get close.

In the old tales, her hair was fertility, sensuality, and strength. We just ran with it.

Our Rapunzel doesn’t wait for rescue - she wraps you in, pulls you close, and decides if you’re worth the breath.

Red Riding Hood – She Hunts Now

Red Hoodie was always framed as prey. But in older versions - including French ones - she flirts with the wolf. Sleeps with him. Learns from him. And you know… quite a lot.

Sometimes she devours him.

Our Red owns her wildness. Her body moves like a dance and a threat.

Her cloak hides nothing. Her teeth are her own. She smiles at you like she hasn’t decided whether to kiss or kill.

Final Word: We’re Not Making Fun of Fairytales. We’re Taking Them Back.

There’s humor in Swords & Slippers. There’s attitude. Absurdity.

But underneath it all is respect, actually, for what these stories were, before they were cleaned up, toned down.

We use action, sensuality, and visual punch to bring back what was buried - female archetypes that were always there, but got locked in towers and bleached for mass comfort.

And now? They’re out. Armed. And really well dressed.

So tell us - if your childhood fairytales had looked like this… Would you have turned out different? Be honest.

Wanna talk a bit more with the community? Here's [Discord] for y'all.