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Lorax Au - Blog Posts
here’s my oc for my lorax twiceler au! this is like her assistant outfit, but i’ll have a seperate one for her other job (this definitely isn’t just me 🤭) i’m just gonna call her sorialice, that’s not my name but that’s what i go by online so :D maybe sorialice funce-ler?
guys i’m doing it i’m making a onceler au 😻😻 i’m gonna call him the twiceler! (let me know if you happen to have that name for yours but i didn’t see it on the list so i snatched it) my idea is that he’s like in the movie but before all the trees are gone he listens to the lorax decides to hire people to collect to remaining seeds and replant so he can continue biggering the business. he’s called the twiceler because he gets a second chance here for the company! i’ll be drawing a planter oc for this soon ^^ ik i didn’t change up his look too much but i made him just a bit fancier since the company doesn’t fail in my au
guys oml you know that theory that granny norma and the onceler were together at one point and ted is his grandson?? i just noticed that after granny norma and ted talked about how he hadn’t heard about trees yet granny went into the store alone and came right back like five seconds later with marshmallows. like maybe ted made a list but dude oml why have i not seen this pointed out
i don’t understand why people don’t get the onceler fandom,,, we’re not the ones that made him sexy and submissive illumination was 😻
Onceler x Reader Fluff
Neutral Pronouns!!
for @arson-n-barf (for some reason your name won’t come up when i try to tag you 😿)
It finally happened. Your boyfriend, the Onceler, had gotten to the lowest point in his business. His machines had cut down the last truffula tree. His family, seeing how this would bring his business to an end, up and left the second they noticed. It had been about a month since it happened, and Onceler was hidden away in his little factory home, wallowing in his misery as he finally realized what he’d done to the truffula forest. You’d tried to contact him a few times now, but each time you’d open the door a wooden mallet would quickly shoo you away. This time, you wouldn’t accept that. You knew you needed to talk to him, and he needed to talk to you.
Taking a walk from the Onceler’s wagon to his little house was always a bit depressing. What used to be lush landscape full of pink, orange, and yellow shades, was now a desolate wasteland of stumps and smog. It was a long trip by foot, but you didn’t have the resources to get there any faster at the moment. Approaching his home, you knew better than to knock on the door this time. A faint light was shining through a boarded up window, the only light you’d seen in what felt like hours.
That must be where he is…
“Onceler?”
No response. You didn’t expect it to be so easy, but you weren’t going to give up.
“Onceler. I’m not leaving until you let me talk to you! Please just say something. Anything at all?”
“Go away. I don’t know who you are and I don’t care.”
That’s harsh! How does he not know? Can he not recognize my voice?
It then occurred to you that with all the smog you had to breathe in on the way, your voice had become a bit raspier and lower. Not to a disturbing point, but apparently just enough to mask your identity. Just then, peering up at the window, you noticed a small bucket up by his window.
That’s right! Before everything went downhill, he had a bucket where he’d accept gifts from any of his fans while he was away or was too tired to come out of his house!
“Mr. Onceler, I have a gift for you.”
There was a pause, and then a longer pause. Suddenly, the sounds of clattering metal began to approach. As soon as the bucket was close enough, you hopped in - as best you could anyway.
“Okay I’m leaving now!”
The Onceler waited for what seemed like an eternity before quickly pulling the bucket up to his window. He peeked through the holes of his boarded up window and that’s when he saw…
“Y/N?”
His voice was trembling, and his eyes appeared shiny and reddish.
“Onceler, let me talk to you. Let me help you! You can get through this. It isn’t too-”
“You shouldn’t be here Y/N. The air is too polluted. Go into town, it’s farther. It’ll be safer for you.”
The bucket started to lower, so as fast as you could you swung it forward, grabbing onto the boards. You were now dangling off of them, as the bucket was on the ground.
“Y/N!”
The Onceler punched through the wood and pulled you inside. He fell backwards, and you collapsed on top of him. You could now see the state of his room. It was nearly empty, except for a bed, a drawer, and lots of tissues and empty marshmallow bags all around. Onceler hugged you tight, sniffling and crying.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to push you away! I was just so lost in my own head. Will you forgive me, Y/N?”
“Of course, Oncie! I was never upset with you, I was just so worried. I wanted to tell you that it isn’t all as bad as it seems. You still have all the money you had before. You still have all this land to remake what’s been destroyed. You still have me! Unless we do something now, this will all be lost to time.”
The Onceler looked at you, and then to the window.
“Unless we… Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to change… That’s it! Y/N, you’re a genius!”
“I am?”
Onceler took your arm and pulled you up off the ground. He walked over to the little drawer and opened it, reaching in to find a little brown seed.
“Oncie… is that?”
“Yes. The last truffula seed. I think you should be the one to plant it.”
“I think we should plant it together. And I have the perfect spot. Come on!”
You led the Onceler back to his wagon you’d been staying in. Everything outside was dark and gray, but the wagon was still a place full of warm light.
“If we plant it here, Oncie, we could bring the forest back. One truffula seed at a time! Does that sound good?”
The Onceler nodded, and you got to work. Using a little shovel you found inside, you dug a hole in the ground. Onceler looked hesitant, so you took his hands in your own and planted the seed into the ground together. You enveloped the little truffula in soil, and stood back to admire your progress.
“Now it just needs…”
“I’ve got it!”
The Onceler ran inside and came back out with a little metal watering can. He watered the seed, and reached out to hold your hand.
“What if it doesn’t grow?”
“I’m sure it will. I’ve heard that truffula trees grow much faster than any other kind. We can check in tomorrow?”
Onceler nodded, and placed his head on top of yours. You felt him shaking a little. With that, you led him inside and sat down on the bed.
“Do you want anything to eat?”
“Oh, Y/N, you’ve been troubled with me enough already. I think what I’d like the most would be for you to just relax.”
You smiled, and headed over to the couch to lay down. You assumed the Onceler needed space, since he’d locked himself away for a month now. About a half hour passed, and neither of you were asleep yet.
“Y/N… I don’t want to sleep alone tonight.”
You picked up a bag of marshmallows you’d been munching on, and offered him one in his bed. You fed him some more, and eventually the two of you cuddled to sleep. With that, the night was over. The next day, the truffula seed had grown to a little fluffy pink sprout. Eventually, the two of you managed to replant almost the entire valley together. The Lorax didn’t show up immediately, but in time he came back to help out, bringing back all the wildlife that had travelled away long ago.
and that’s it! hope it’s good and fluffy enough, I got a little carried away in the beginning there 😿
(Audrey Flowers art part 2!!), link to the first drawing and her character description here: ( https://www.tumblr.com/sleepymeepies/781295937575321600/i-have-my-own-au-audreyaudrey-oc-for-my?source=share ) <333
I wanted my Audrey to have two outfits. One that was darker and cooler colors for the middle of the story when she's going through harder times, and one outfit that was brighter with warmer colors to represent she's healing along with nature towards the end of the story. The first drawing I posted was of her first outfit. For this second drawing I also wanted to draw her looking more playful and happy, I've also been wanting to draw a character in this pose for a while xD (if you're wondering the L is directed at Once-ler, whom she lovingly teases like he's her brother)
(Audrey Art part 1.) I have my own AU Audrey/Audrey OC for my "Once-ler-pon A Time" fic now and this is her and I love her. This is Audrey Flowers and she's 20! Click "Keep Reading" to hear all about her!!!
My Audrey seems very serious and somewhat closed off before you properly meet her, partly because her parents are very critical of her and judgemental and because she's constantly been picked on by classmates. But also because the destruction of nature and beginning of O'Hare's dictatorship started when she was a teenager so she was forced to grow up too fast and become pessimistic and sad.
But once you get to know my Audrey and she trusts you, she will love you and trust you deeply forever. Once she trusts you she's very very silly and playful and totally embraces her inner child around you. She will constantly do silly things.
She's also extremely gentle and polite, even before she knows or trusts anybody, but if she senses injustice she is fierce and fights back. She's extremely protective over her loved ones and has strong morals.
She's also very artistic, mostly liking painting and dancing. She finds painting is the only way she can truly express herself and her inner child without her parents or strangers judging.
One day Audrey gets tired of living in Thneedville and trying to be a "perfect, lady-like young woman" for her parents so she sneaks out of town and while aimlessly exploring she comes across the Once-ler who's been isolated for a few years and is an emotional mess. She hates him at first when she realized what he's done and who he is, but she soon comes to understand why he did what he did and realizes he actually has a pure heart and feels like a scared little kid who grew up too fast just like her (And he has mama issues just like her). They end up becoming best friends with a sibling-like bond and I love them. (My Audrey is actually partly inspired by my best friend Monique as my Once-ler is partly based off me xD)
I think I'll ironically name this artwork "Ted Wiggins if he slayed". Click the "keep reading" for the context behind this art...
My best friend (Monique who I keep mentioning) wanted me to give Ted Wiggins from the 2012 Lorax movie a "cooler" design. 1, because she thought he was so basis looking (for some reason? He's probably like? 13? 14? lol) and 2, because we're absoluetly huge dorks and we had just voiced over the ENTIRE Lorax movie together. Before we started we were practicing voices and casting ourselves and each other as characters and I made her be Ted even though she strongly disliked him for "being so basic and boring". As she was reading the script because watching the movie, she ended up making him sound so sassy and so zesty and as we were watching the movie she started doing his internal dialogue making him say "guys" a lot as if we was talking to an imaginary Youtube channel in his head. The voice she was doing was so funny and she gave him so much sass. We both love Ted now 😭. This Ted will probably end up being my Ted OC for "Once-ler pon A Time" story now (cus I needed one) but he still needs a unique name. I'm thinking maybe Ted Wigglesworth.
(Comfort Characters part 5.) Once-ler my beloved. 🙏 :')
It's been about five and a half months since I rewatched The Lorax movie for the first time in yeaarrsss, and since then I've been very obsessed with this movie, esspecially the Once-ler who has always been my favourite. I've had a weird ??aromantic??queerplatonic?? crush on the young 2012 Once-ler (or emotional attachment towards him anyways) since I first saw this movie as a seven-year-old. I remember when I was little I more just thought he was cute and silly but was sad when he became "Greedler", but now that I'm older I love his entire story and how tragic he is (along with the silliness/cuteness). I was absolutely elated when I found out he had a fandom.
(Beach Audrey is NOT my OC, she was created by Miru667 :3 )
Hi @miru667 ! 🧡 I hope you don’t mind that I drew your girl again :3💕💕 I was practicing drawing character’s faces from the side and suddenly got so inspired to draw your darling Beach Audrey x3💛 Sorry if her colors or outfit are off, I drew her mostly from memory 😅. I hope you like her, and I hope you are doing well and I send lots of love :3🫶❤️
This was my last drawing of 2024 and also quite possibly my favourite thing drawing I've ever drawn. :'3 Unlike lots of my art (esspecially sketchbook stuff) I'm not just like "that's cute hehe", but I am actually proud of this one. JUST LOOK AT MY DEAR ONCE-KINS IN HIS LITTLE BAKERY 😭
I accidentally doubled the shadow layer and that was like the best thing that could have possibly happened to this artwork, my Once-kins looks so 3D 😭😭 I also spend lots of time drawing his expression and pose to create the energy I wanted. The thing I think really took this drawing to the next level for me was the background. At first I was just gonna draw a basic colored block background but then I decided to suffer instead :'D I wanted to take the time to make this image look as close as possible to how it did in my imagination. Also I discovered drawing food just feels so cozy and wholesome and is so weirdly relaxing and satisfying \(^-^)/💕
My dear Once and Melvin ❤️. This was actually the first digital drawing I made using some new, more gentle brushes. I wanted my digital version of this piece to have the same softness as the sketch. I think I probably succeeded and I will definitely keep using these brushes ❤️. Sketch in “continue reading”… <3
“Don’t want money, just someone who wants my company”. 💔
Click “read more” for info and a blue version.
I wanted to make an art piece of Once-ler when he’s all alone after his company failed because as heartbreaking and gut wrenching as his sadness is, I think it’s such an important part of his story. I think his sadness and how tragic he helps make him feel so human and relatable, because we’ve all been through sadness. It’s an especially important part of his story in my Once-ler-pon A Time AU and something I’m going to explore a lot. (Of course in my AU I’ll give him a happy ending much sooner than in the movie).
I added lyrics from the song “The Prophecy” by Taylor Swift because I think that song fits this part of Once’s story sooo perfectly. That Taylor song has made me so sad since the first time I heard it and Once’s sadness makes me sad so I’ll be honest and say I hurt my own feelings with this drawing. My intention was to vent my own sadness but no.
I also made a blue version because I had this idea that maybe in my AU, Oncekins changes into a blue suit after the Lorax leaves/during his lonely part of the story because blue is the color of sadness. However I’m not sure how I feel about it.
The truffla fluff he’s holding was the one on his jacket btw, but it’s wilting and dying because symbolism.
This is my darling Once-ler OC for an AU I’ve been creating called “Once-ler-pon A Time”. I’m not 100% what to call him as he doesn’t really have a theme or any defining characteristics, but I’ve been affectionately calling him “Once” and or “Oncekins” (same things I’ll call canon 2012 Once-ler) so maybe one of those could be his name/what he’s known as on Tumblr?
About my AU: In my Once-ler-pon A Time AU (which I’m gonna write as a fanfic) I squished down the movie’s timeline a lot so that Once will get a happy ending while he is still very young. He’ll still spend time alone (I still want him to be tragic) but not as much. And I’m gonna have him, Audrey and Ted team up against O’Hare who is dictating Thneedville. I’m also gonna explore Once-ler as a character a lot, like his thoughts, feelings, backstory, what he did after his company failed, and all that jazz!!
About my OC: my Once-ler is almost exactly like the Once-ler in the 2012 movie. The main difference is I made all my head-canons about movie Once-ler FOR REAL CANON for my Once-ler!!! My Oncekins is a burnt out given, highly sensitive person who’s extremely creative. He’s constantly belittled, ridiculed, ignored and made to work too hard by his family causing him to crave validation, admiration, love and success. He’s extremely clumsy, can be reckless, a free spirit, and tries being tougher than he is sometimes (because of his upbringing) but he’s really just a hugggeee softie. He can be a bit of a space cadet and he’s very talented.
About this drawing: this is supposed to be Once at the very end of the story where he’s living happily. I gave him a new outfit combining elements of vestler and Greedler and gave him flowers to show he protects nature now (plus it’s cute). I’m not 100% on his ending yet, I feel like he’d give almost all his money away, take care of the earth and spend time on his passions like art and music but maybe he’ll run a nonprofit bakery? I don’t know, something wholesome and heartfelt that can feel healing and comforting to him after all he’s been through. ❤️🩹💚 (Also his vest pattern is the same pattern Miru667 used for her Audrey’s dress, just wanted to point that out, that pattern isn’t mine)
I know some people see "Greedler" as a separate character, but I see him as just Once-ler in his silliest, sassiest, most chaotic state (maybe cus he's secretly miserable umm). So with that in mind I thought it would be really funny to draw him drinking red wine (like a fancy rich person would) with a silly straw because he's goofy like that. I also wanted to acknowledge his ridiculous glasses that look like they came from a St.Patrick's Day aisle of a store soooo that's how this was born. Here's the original sketch from my sketchbook...
I also happened to find this meme on Pinterest like a couple days after finishing this drawing and thought it was so funny that somebody had the exact same thought as me.
GUYS, IT'S THE LAST CHAPTER!!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE WHO READ THIS, LEFT KUDOS, COMMENTS, BOOKMARKS, ETC!!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE THE GREAT LORAX REWRITE IS FINALLY COMPLETE!
Excerpt:
He spent his days staring at the tally marks he'd scratched into the walls. They sprawled unevenly, some deep gouges, others mere scratches. He counted them again and again, fingers tracing the jagged lines, as he mumbled under his breath. "One... two... three... four..." His voice faltered and he started over. "One… two… thr—no, wait." He could only pray his count remained slightly accurate as the years went by.
Once he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, a flash of green in the broken shard of metal that hung from the wall. He whipped his head around, only to see his own reflection glaring back at him. But it wasn’t him—it was that other him. The green, twisted version, eyes hollow and black like two bottomless pits.
"What do you want?" he whispered. "Why won’t you just leave me alone?" The reflection only smiled, a slow, creeping grin before crawling slowly away.
At night, the walls breathed. That’s what it sounded like to Once-ler—a long, wheezing inhale, a brittle exhale. The wind rushed through the gaps with ghostly arms that reached for him. He woke up, shivering, convinced he heard humming-fish singing just outside.
"Hush! Quiet, they’re back!" he whispered to himself. Pressing his ear to the walls, the cold metal bit into his skin. All he heard was the wind. He slumped back down, knees pulled to his chest. "They were here," he murmured, rocking back and forth. "I know they were here…"
Desperate for routine, every morning, Once-ler reached for the rope he’d rigged to a bucket. It wasn’t for food or water—those needs had faded—he pulled it up just to see if the world had sent him something, anything. Most days, it came up empty, swinging in the breeze like a useless pendulum. Once or twice, he found a few broken pieces of old advertisements. He kept them, not because they were useful, but because they were better than nothing.
The gloves fused to his hands were another enemy he could never beat. They itched and burned, the skin underneath painful and raw. He scratched at the seams until his fingers bled, trying to tear them off. However, the fabric wouldn’t budge. "Get it off, get it off!" he screamed. He tore at his flesh until exhaustion took him.
The days twisted and knotted together into an indecipherable net, ensnaring him. Once-ler sat in his corner, and all he could think was, "Willingly. I chose all of it willingly."
He wondered if the Lerkim would be his tomb. Or if, by some cruel twist of fate, he’d live forever within its rusted walls, alone with the ghosts of choices that could never be unmade.
The only other thing left to do was the thing he did most of all: Contemplate the meaning of the stones. "Unless." Unless what? he wondered.
Unless he changed his ways?
Unless he somehow escaped?
Unless he said he was sorry?
Unless the humming-fish had been trying to warn him?
Unless the Truffula trees were still out there, watching?
Unless the wind has been whispering the answer all along?
Unless his reflection knew the truth and he didn’t?
Unless the rain spoke a language he couldn't hear?
Unless the Lorax never left and was invisible?
Unless everything that was happening was a dream?
"Unless," Once-ler whispered again, as his brain overheated with puzzlement. "Unless... I was never meant to understand."
(Read the rest on ao3).
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I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS DONE! For over I a decade I would see people complain about this movie and how it could be better. I would see posts about how people were going to rewrite it, but they never really did beyond summaries. Now I've finally finished this, so my life is complete. This is the longest fanfiction that I took the most seriously finishing. Thank you for all the kudos, comments, bookmarks, etc. that I didn't know if it would get.
Me and my coauthor on this account are hoping to create more rewrites after this. Currently, we're almost done with the first draft of a rewrite of Disney's Wish. We're aiming to start releasing it around Christmas, depending on how things go.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO READ THIS STORY! Please let me know if you have any feedback about how you liked this rewrite. We'll take it into account for how we handle rewrites in the future.
Chapter 14 is up!
Super late post today, but here it is! THIS PART IS THE MOST SAD. The movie didn't make enough consequences for his actions.
Excerpt:
"How've you been, sir? Are you doing well, Mr. Once-ler?" a forlorn voice asked.
Once-ler spun around. "You?!”
The Lorax didn't say anything for a while. The sound of rain over the balcony grew heavier as the storm rumbled behind him.
"Just came to look at the view. You've accomplished a lot, haven’t you?"
Once-ler backed away at the sound of thunder as the Lorax entered the office. The mossy old creature hopped onto his desk to stare at the model city. His torso was matted and streaked with grease. Wiry hairs stuck out from his mustache and eyebrows like bent broom bristles. The fur that had once had an attractive orange sheen was all brown now, caked with dirt, and had a damp, washed-out look. The Lorax might have been a chewed up jelly bean that had been spat back out.
"The Virtue of Selfishness," the Lorax read the title of one of Once-ler's books, stroking his mustache. "Lessons we could all learn from, I'd guess."
"You know what? I don't want to hear from you right now!" Once-ler yelled. "All you do is say everything is bad, and I'm really sick of it." He seized the Lorax and hoisted him under his arm, ignoring the creature's protests.
"It's not just the trees I'm trying to save,” the Lorax’s voice cracked, “but you, from digging your own grave."
Once again, the door wouldn't open when Once-ler tried it, and the alarm wouldn't go off when he pulled it. But he wasn’t going to be defeated. He carried the Lorax to the balcony and held him at arm's length. The Lorax hovered over dark hills that had been uniformly sheared—bristly white stumps where once had been trees dotted the shaved hills of dead grass. Advanced axe-hackers rolled by like monsters, searching for more wood that they couldn't find, before wheeling away to look deeper into the mist.
"Are you going to kill me?" asked the Lorax.
"I know you're causing the storms," growled Once-ler, shaking him. "The thunder that never stops, the lightning that strikes my tower. And all the clouds that have that same purple hue as when…" He trailed off, remembering the first tree he'd cut down, when he'd first seen the Lorax come out of the sky.
If it wasn't for that day, he'd have believed the Lorax was no more than a funny animal like the Barbaloots or humming-fish, with a higher cognitive level and more annoying voice box. But it had been the sight of him that day, coming out of the sky with a terrible look in his eyes, that, as much as he tried to forget, made Once-ler secretly terrified he really was a deity.
His hands trembled as the Lorax's beetle black eyes bored into his, suddenly looking very old and very powerful. Once-ler wondered if it was even possible for the Lorax to die. “Whatever you're doing, I want you to stop it. Right now," he growled, not recognizing his own voice. With each word, he leaned closer over the edge of the balcony.
"Why?" asked the Lorax. "You don’t seem to care how your own actions are fouling the air."
"Yer rusting up my factory. We got work to do. I’m the one in the legal right here. So make it stop." His face was close enough to feel the Lorax’s mustache.
The Lorax chuckled at this, legs dangling over the parapet. "Laws and codes, written by man. What have they to do with nature's plan? What have they to do with morals or your soul? Are laws the things that define all your goals?" His long, spindly hand slowly reached out and grabbed his tie.
Before Once-ler knew it, they were both falling. Through wind and rain they plummeted as the storm thickened. Soon a churning mist concealed everything around them as they tumbled through a funnel of purple clouds, a passage that went on much longer than Once-ler knew it should have.
As they spun round and round, reality evaporated. It was as if Once-ler was melting into the Lorax and the Lorax was melting into him, until nothing but a haze of orange and green remained. Then they unconnected, plunging their separate ways.
Once-ler's spine cracked against a pipe, and he bounced onto the black, dry riverbed where water no longer ran. His head spun; reality had not gone quite back to normal. Somehow they had survived the fall as if it had been merely from a playground, rather than half a mile from the tallest building in the city. His back, however, would never be quite the same. Sharp pains when he attempted to straighten himself told him it had been fractured.
The Lorax was standing on a rock, eyes aglow, fixed on his enemy. An army was growing around him of bloodied, skeletal birds missing patches of feathers, a few crinkled fish that had been too weak to leave, and the ghostly Barbaloots that hadn't died yet.
Once-ler choked, and limped behind a rock. "I don't want any trouble," he pleaded.
The Lorax gave a slight nod to the army behind him, and they marched somberly back into the gray expanse. As they trailed away, single file, Once-ler knew in his heart they were marching to their deaths. At the end of the line he spotted an animal he hadn't thought of in a long time. His old friend, Melvin.
"Hey…!" He crawled up to the trembling old animal that fell to the ground. Melvin put his head in Once-ler's lap. His coat was thin and sooty, breaths slow and tired. The eyes that met his master's were filled with sadness that slowly dimmed into an empty stare as his head slumped to the ground.
READ THE FULL CHAPTER ON AO3~!
Chapter 13 is up! (Millionth Thneed Party)
The millionth Thneed party was another beat that would've been interesting to focus on if the movie didn't waste time on Ted. I can't believe there are only a few more chapters left to post now!
Excerpt:
There was another orange flash. Now he was sure he'd seen it. The Lorax was throwing a fit. "Close the drapes on all the windows." He stopped a servant. "It's taking away from the show on the ceiling."
While he'd been lost in thought, Once-ler's Ma was busy orchestrating the next highlight of the evening. She had insisted on this, claiming it would add a touch of whimsy to the grand event.
"Laaaaaadies aaaaaand geeeeeentlemen!" her loud voice boomed through a microphone, cutting through the chatter as the music fizzled out. "May I have your attention, please!"
Faces turned towards the menagerie that she stood in front of, wearing a pink, fluffy gown and beaming with pride. Behind her, in a large glass tank, were more humming-fish. Their scales gave way to multicolored sheens under the bright lights, but they were clustered towards the back of the tank, their large eyes darting around the room.
"We have a special treat for you tonight," she went on. "Tonight these little beauties--straight from the heart of the forest--are going to serenade us with a grand song!"
Polite applause rippled through the audience, though many guests still appeared more interested in their conversations and cocktails. Once-ler's Ma signaled to a technician, who turned a dial on the sound system. Soft, enchanting music began to play, and the humming-fishes' voices were, one by one, slowly drawn into the tune with quavering but rich intonations.
Air fol-la-lull derry dum toor-a-lie-ay
Rrye-dum diddledum darruhdum
Troll, fol-de- roll, troll, fol-de- roll
The haunting sound filled the room, with echoes that could only be described as capturing the very essence of the valley. In less than ten seconds, the previously bored faces had all turned towards the tank, conversation dying on their lips.
Oh--Oo--Oh--Oo--Oh--Oo
Oloho, oloho, oloho, oloho
Whack whack, lady lady lie
The music sounded like the wind through the trees, the ripple of water, and birdsong mixed together with something else that was ancient and indescribable.
Once-ler knew from being a musician how hard it was to get people to pay attention to even his most beautiful songs, and animals usually flat out ran away. Barn cats dived for cover, mules twitched their ears in irritation, and birds flew off--to ordinary animals, even man's most sophisticated music held no appeal. However, when the fish started their underwater opera, the world itself paused to listen with rapt attention.
All other noise stopped, including the ticking of clocks and background noise of the river. The air was respectfully still, and the stars outside the window could be seen ceasing to twinkle with baited breath just before the servant closed the curtains.
Only then did Once-ler realize, as a shiver crept down his spine and tears slid unprompted down his face, that the world had never been deaf--it simply needed to hear a performance in the right key. A key that one could only hit, apparently, if they were a particular type of fish.
"Isn't it just marvelous?" his Ma cooed into the microphone when there was a break in the rhythm, and the crowd clapped. "Aren't they just the most delightful little creatures?"
Once-ler frowned. Something about the song had changed, and the spell was breaking. The fishes' voices were wavering as their eyes dilated at the thunderous applause. He could see they were in distress, but his Ma was oblivious, giving the aquarium a little shake to jolt them back into song. She turned to the crowd again, encouraging them to applaud louder.
The guests whistled and shouted for more. The humming-fish were gasping now, turning a grayish hue. Their notes came out in rasping croaks:
Air... air... loll-dee-daa
Yay-dee, lay-dee... oh...
Ahhhh!
Once-ler stepped forward, but his Ma shot him a sharp look.
Before he could do anything else, the lights flickered, and the temperature dropped with an icy blast. The guests glanced around, crying out as some of them dropped their drinks. The music from the speakers warbled and then cut out entirely, leaving silence in its wake.
After a moment of stunned confusion, a glaring orange glow filled the ballroom. The humming-fish stopped any painful attempt to sing, raising their eyes to the spector. The silhouette of the Truffula Valley's guardian materialized in the center of the room, shimmering with bright light.
Once-ler's Ma dropped the microphone, and bumped into the tank as she jerked back. The crowd gasped and looked around, unsure of what was happening.
The guardian's saw-dusty voice rang out, mightier than the rush of the river. "You've gone too far, Once-ler, it's clear. Now greed is going to bring you to tears. You've shown no regard for the lives you’ve disrupted. You've taken nature's beauty for something corrupted. You've taken the wonder for your own gain. Now you will suffer consequences and pain!"
The ghostly Lorax's eyes locked onto Once-ler’s as he stood paralyzed with guilt and fear. "Greed has brought you to this moment. It's time to face your mistake and own it."
As the orange phantom raised its hands, the glass tank holding the humming-fish shattered, and water poured out and soaking the ballroom floor. The grand fountain began to tremble and crack, and the ornate structure burst apart, sending a torrent of water to flood the room.
Guests screamed and scrambled to escape the rising water. Norma's curly hair was drenched and straightened. Mcbean dived under a table, only to be washed out again with his cigar put out. Once-ler stumbled, trying to regain his footing as the water surged around him, suddenly waist high. The Lorax's voice boomed above the chaos with a final damnation: "Your greed will drown you in the end! As the river should have before this happened!"
With that, the ghostly spirit vanished, leaving the ballroom in disarray. There was a loud CRACK and Once-ler fell backwards into the water.
Chapter 12
Once-ler turns evil. Gets dark at the end. Read the whole thing on Ao3. Excerpt:
It was nice when he could get a second guitar without even thinking about it. Perhaps even nicer than it would have been to someone who didn't have heartbreaking memories of always being told his parents couldn't afford a good one for him. After all, hadn't it been just the other day he'd asked for one on his eighth birthday in front of the music store window and gotten tears in his eyes when his dad told him no?
He didn't have any memories of clothes-shopping as a child either. All he'd gotten was hand-me-downs for short people from his church's charity drives. Surely other people had always gotten measured at tailors to get jackets and trousers of the highest quality to fit them perfectly. This, of course, justified the exorbitant bill when he bought a new designer wardrobe complete with extra tall top hats in his favorite black and bright green colors.
It turned out, the world was full of things he'd never been able to appreciate before he'd had money:
Clothes, drinks, cars, trips, events. There were so many more opportunities when you weren't just a poor helpless urchin…
He would never go back to being poor. Never. He was even worse than his Ma, after a short time.
"Oncie, don't ya think maybe we could take a day off to have a family picnic and celebrate the end of summer like in the old days?" she said to him one day.
Once-ler looked up from the photos he was studying for a new billboard advertisement. He'd almost settled on what he thought was a charismatic picture of himself with his arms spread wide and an eye-popping grin on his face, though Brett had remarked it made him look rather possessed.
"Ha!" He slammed down the photos. "You mean the old days when we were poor and miserable? Why don't we take the whole week off and have a real party? Or better yet, a month-long tropical vacation?"
His Ma blinked. "Sounds real nice, honey, but who's gonna run the company? Didn't you just get back from a cruise? Ain't ya gettin' just a little too extravagant these days?"
"Who cares? I'm rich! We got a million employees now. Besides I deserve it cuz of all the sufferin' I went through before."
This excuse got less impressive by the day as Once-ler's new luxuries quickly outweighed any misery he'd previously endured. His identity as a lower class citizen faded even more quickly from his own memory and personality than it did into the past.
"I'm so glad that in the last year I was finally able to discover the real me," was something he'd told everyone in his family more than once since they'd returned. It never occurred to him that what he meant was: "I'm so glad I finally have money to do whatever I want without any consequences."
***
2nd excerpt:
"I just wanted to tell you, the Barbaloots are dying."
Something got through the iron-clad self absorption that had enclosed Once-ler for the last few months. He was surrounded by terrible people all the time now, but when harm fell upon innocent creatures, it was different. He remembered the little Barbaloot that had given him a hug after the fiasco in the river.
"What do you mean dying? How can they be… Surely they're not actually dying ?"
"There was something in the water that made 'em sick. Something from your factory that set in quick. It's making 'em not move and lay around. And some of 'em…" There were tears in the Lorax's eyes. "Some of 'em ain't gettin' up from the ground."
READ THE FULL THING ON AO3!!!
Chapter 11 is up!
IF YOU HAVEN'T STARTED READING NOW, IT'S JUST GETTING TO THE FUN PART!
Excerpt:
As the meetings became more frequent, the character he had invented started to take on a life of its own. It was no longer just a way to get through the day. He would slip into his green suit, the color of money, and with it, would transform into someone else entirely. His voice would change—louder, more charismatic, filled with a confidence that didn’t quite belong to him. His handshake would be firmer, his smile broader, his laugh just a bit too loud.
Brett, Chet, and Gizette, who had seen the transformation firsthand, started calling him “Greed-ler” behind his back. They found the whole thing hilarious, completely different from the brother they knew. Gizette doodled pictures of Greed-ler on scraps of paper, turning him into a cartoon character with exaggerated features and dollar signs in each eye.
It wasn’t long before Greed-ler became more than just a private joke. The image of the green-suited CEO with a maniacal grin spread throughout the company, and soon, it wasn’t just his siblings drawing cartoons of him. Employees began to share these drawings, and Greed-ler started popping up in more official places—on company newsletters, posters, even merchandise. What began as a role to get through the day turned into the official mascot of Thneeds Inc.
READ THE FULL CHAPTER ON AO3!
This chapter is a little longer because I want to take my time showing how Once-ler's personality devolves. I've also never seen any writing about what an average day at the company would be like. As I go through the whole movie, I want to thoroughly explore every last thing like this for once. There really is more than a novel's worth of potential in this story, if it's given its due.
Also, instead of always making Once-ler doubtful about his family's selfishness, I wanted it to be clear he was joining in with them and being an equally terrible or worse person. This is key to making the story work and have a more powerful lesson.
Chapter 10 is up! Who started the fire?
I added a fire because I thought more things needed to happen to Once-ler to show why he doesn't care about anyone else's opinions anymore. I thought this story beat would add more character development (and every story is better with an extra mystery).
Excerpt:
Once-ler looked up from his drawing board as the air grew suddenly thicker. The proud smile he’d had on his face as he drew modifications for his products faded when a dark feeling descended upon him. The sky was dim and gray, but it didn’t feel like rain. It was a dry, ominous darkness, and there was an eerie silence. It was a deep, all-consuming quietness in which even the wind had stopped.
A flock of swomee-swans burst over the horizon, hooting and speeding south as if death was on their tails.
In his pajamas, Once-ler ran out of his house. Black clouds were forming all around. Not rain clouds, which he was more than familiar with, but something even more sinister and hot.
"No…" He cast around helplessly as the sky around the construction site of his new assembly line glowed orange. "No, no, no, no, no, NO!"
The Lorax and his band of Barbaloots and humming-fish appeared quickly beside him. "We have to flee!" he cried. "Where's your family?"
"I… I told them to leave."
"Did they go? Yes or no?"
"I dunno!"
"I gotta get all the animals out. I'll get Melvin too, if you need me, shout!" The Lorax and his own strange assorted family of creatures dashed away, leaving Once-ler on his own.
READ THE FULL CHAPTER ON AO3!!!!
Also I shall be away next week, that's why I'm posting this early.
Reminder that Chapter 9 is up
While I like the concept of Once-ler having a mean, selfish family that shows why he turned out the way he did, I'm going to make it clear that listening to them and destroying everything was his own choice.
EXCERPT
It was unsettling how much having his family move in made Once-ler's life feel exactly as it had before.
Somehow they still managed to make him feel like the one imposing, despite them being in his house. It wasn't long till his closets were full of their clothes and shoes, and his ice box with things like "Brett's pickles, don't touch." "Gizette's hot sauce. No Oncies allowed" or "CHET ONLY" signs on the orange juice. Yuck. Once-ler patiently pushed the orange juice aside to fit eggs and milk for his pancake batter.
Since the time he'd seen them, Gizette had taken up soccer and now kept her equipment thrown across his lawn. It appeared she'd gotten her glasses somehow, glittery pink frames that she left laying around and never wore. Brett and Chet brought parts of motorbikes they fiddled around with, that Once-ler never saw in the long grass before they tripped him. His Ma seemed to have gotten even more knickknacks, clothes, and yarn than ever for someone who always complained about having no money.
However, he didn't know if he should complain because of how much she helped with the company. In fact, she helped a little too much, staying up all night on the phone, networking, negotiating, planning ads, and scheduling meetings for him to attend. She seemed to have become an expert manager overnight.
"Didn't you know I got a degree in business when I was in my early twenties?" she told him. "I used to help yer dad back when he was first startin' his wood cuttin’ business." Once-ler had not. She had never mentioned having any helpful skills up till this point.
Some of her ideas were better than others. Once-ler did appreciate the plans to expand the market, like with the promotions she took charge of. He liked the new top hat she picked out for him, to make him look like a proper CEO. And thanks to her fundraising efforts, the blueprints for his factory were becoming a brick and mortar reality atop the nearest hill beyond his window.
However, when it came to her suggestion about chopping down the trees to gather the leaves faster for their expanding customer base, Once-ler was annoyed.
"No. Truffula Trees take a hundred years to grow back, so that's not a good business strategy. Why don't we just use ladders?"
“Well, that’s pretty demanding of you,” said his Ma. “You make us move out here to help you, and won’t even provide the proper accommodations. Brett fell off one of those dangerous old ladders the other day, and got a big purple bruise on his nose. It’s not funny, don’t laugh. You gotta learn about bein’ a decent boss.”
Once-ler’s Ma’s opinion of a good boss seemed to be one that gave her whatever she wanted. Well, why did he have to give his family whatever they wanted all the time? His stubbornness was, indeed, the last thing still keeping him from getting out his ax and being done with it. The ladders and picker really were a pain. It would be easier to just yell “Timber!” and harvest a whole head of leaves from a fallen trunk, but he didn't want to give his family the satisfaction.
Oh, and there was his promise to the Lorax too.
Chapter 8 is up!
EXCERPT:
He'd finally become such a joke to the townsfolk, it seemed they'd entirely forgotten he was human.
Instead of just tomatoes, the grocer volunteered wheelbarrows of spoiled produce that some teenagers mixed with glass and rocks. A particularly well aimed stone knocked out a tooth as he was belting out his favorite jingle:
"The Thneed is good, the Thneed is grea—YOW!"
Once-ler usually didn't stop for anything, but the taste of blood made him drop his guitar on his foot. This hurt even worse, so he sprang up and down. The guitar bounced onto the concrete while the crowd laughed and cheered.
Once-ler didn't get a chance to see if the instrument had broken, because, in a fit of enthusiasm, the mean little girl with red hair ensured this was the case. She smashed it on the ground with the second worst noise Once-ler had ever heard.
A tomato landed in his stunned face, but he didn't even feel it. He just watched open-mouthed as fruits and vegetables pelted him and the girl stomped on the pieces, giggling with her parents who stood back and watched.
"Alright, sweetie, that's enough, we have to get to Grandma's house," the mother finally told her. She smiled and pulled out a big bag of chocolate-coated pretzels for her daughter as they walked away.
Once-ler's last shred of optimism finally evaporated. After his father had passed away, the guitar had been the only good memory he'd had from home.
"THAT'S IT!" he roared. "I've had enough!" He stormed from the gazebo with tears in his eyes.
Only the baker looked slightly sympathetic. She twisted a strand of curly brown hair around her finger as he strode past.
"Is this really the way to treat a stranger?!" he heard her yell at the grocer.
"Oh, come on, Norma, he's just a self-centered out-of-towner." The grocer sounded slightly abashed.
Once-ler turned to see Norma stomp her foot. "I know he is, and I know that piece of junk he's selling looks like a wadded up piece of bubblegum with hairs stuck in it, but you just gotta understand! Homeless mentally ill folks need to be shown charity..."
Her words just infuriated Once-ler more. "My family was right. I quit!" He ripped the Thneed from his neck, and accidentally whipped the baker in the face as he threw it away. It knocked off her glasses, which fell to the ground and shattered. Oops.
He walked away faster. Luckily his long legs took him back to the forest before anyone could call the police.
The Great Lorax Rewrite (beginning)
Hey guys, here's the beginning of the fanfiction I'm writing on Ao3. The aim is to tell Once-ler's whole story from beginning to end without Ted interrupting. There are four chapters up so far, and a lot more to come:
"Where is it? Where did you put my guitar?"
Once-ler smacked his head as he looked under the triple bunk bed he was forced to share with his brothers in their small house.
"Reckon if ya don't get out there n' chop some trees, I'll let Brett n' Chet smash that dang guitar for good!" his Ma's voice called from the kitchen.
His younger twin brothers and sister laughed from the dinner table.
"Hurry up n' get more money from yer wood," Brett complained. "We only got three potatoes in our stew today, n' they're smaller n' ping pong balls."
"Yeah, an' none for you, Oncie," said Gizette. "I get the last one!"
"Why can't I ever have any of the stew if I'm always the one earnin' the money?" Once-ler tripped out of their closet-like bedroom, and squeezed around the table through the equally cramped dining area. This was made even harder by his abnormal height; he always had bruises on his knees and elbows from being such a tall person in such a small house.
Before him sat his shorter, but equally ungainly family, squished around the table: his mother with her teased up hair balanced by a bow, in her patched polka-dot sweater while serving brown stew water, the twins Brett and Chet with ripped up overalls and squashed hats who were staring eagerly at two tiny potatoes on their plates, and the youngest "baby" Gizette with ratty hair, buck teeth, and the biggest serving of stew of all (which was still not very big).
In the corner Once-ler's father was asleep in the rocking chair by the fire, using his old gray coat as a blanket. His gray hat was pulled over his stubbled face, and his ax laid on the floor beside him after his long day of woodcutting. Once-ler had to avoid the blade as he tiptoed to the only corner of the room with enough space.
"Because, sweetie," said his Ma, "You're the oldest child, and we have to think of the youngins. It's time for you to be an adult. Anyway, we've all got to make sacrifices when times are hard." The fancy unidentifiable dead animal she always wore around her neck bobbed its nose as she scooped the last tiny part of the stew into her own bowl.
This was always the excuse whenever Once-ler said he needed anything: "We have to think of the youngins." He understood the sentiment, really. It just seemed like he couldn't recall anyone ever using that argument during the short time he'd gotten to be the youngest. The youngest kids were also older than he'd been when they'd first started using this excuse. In fact, it seemed his family had decided Once-ler was an adult the second he'd been born, and that the others could never grow up.
I was only going to release one chapter every Wednesday, but felt like posting more for fun. Comments/likes/kudos are REALLY appreciated, so I can get an audience. Please share this novelization with anyone you think would enjoy it.
I've been working on it for an abnormally long time, and got really carried away doing multiple drafts, especially for the later parts. The aim was to make it better than one of those professional Disney movie novelizations. Hopefully it feels like a full satisfying book with a lot of little things that connect and foreshadow.
Because the original had a lot of plot holes and wasn't satisfying.
What to expect:
1. Actually tells the Once-ler's whole story from beginning to end (no Ted)
2. Gives Once-ler more agency and develops his motives beyond "my family made me do it."
3. Includes "You're all going to jail!" scene
4. Animals die/the stakes are raised
5. Logical explanations for why they couldn't just plant more trees or use a ladder, why Once-ler didn't just plant the seed himself, etc.
6. The Lorax is actually significant
7. Characters like Once-ler's dad, Norma, and O'Hare are woven in, but don't steal the spotlight. (Example: Norma isn't an annoying girlfriend who steals the role of the Lorax).
8. NO ANNOYING OCS, MARY SUES, OR STUPID ROMANCES!!!!!!!!!! Just a straightforward, comprehensive narrative of what the movie should've been like.
This entire novel is complete and has been through multiple drafts. If you follow it, you can be sure that it does have an ending and the author knows where it's going with foreshadowing and extra plot twists. Chapters will be released each week.