Post by whitewater on Oct 17, 2024 3:09:53 GMT
Given that Ludwig Von Drake has been described as Donald’s father’s brother (specifically by Walt Disney himself), Von Drake also shares an ancestor with Donald named Colombust Duck, I have been more inclined to believe (from theories on this forum), that Donald’s adoptive father was Ludwig Von Drake’s brother, and he left Hortense for another woman, Donald then “retook his mother’s maiden name”, which would actually be his father’s family name, Duck, and he kept it. Ludwig’s brother’s name could be Dietrich (Von) Drake, now doesn’t that sound like an Austrian name? I believe he could also be the pilot Donald mentioned in Donald Gets Drafted, the uncle could be Ludwig, not sure about the cousin, it could be any one of Donald’s distant cousins.
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Now this I like a lot! Dietrich Von Drake is a swell name for Donald's stepfather/Ludwig's brother! Right now, my headcanon has a lot of stuff in it that is contingent upon Quackmore being the aviator father of Donald Gets Drafted and Eider being the aviator uncle. These identifications furnish my theories for how Quackmore died and why Donald and Fethry knew each other in childhood (Donald's Buzzin' Cousin, among other sources) but Donald and Whitewater, based on their lack of familiarity with one another in Log Jockey, seem to have not known each other as kids. So much of my headcanon relies on this "Quackmore as aviator father and Eider as aviator uncle" identification that switching the aviator father to "Dietrich" and the aviator uncle to Ludwig would be difficult, but it tracks given that Ludwig was officially a pilot as per the old TV special Fly with Von Drake. We know that Ludwig was once an aviator. We don't know that Eider once was. Your identification makes more sense, but it would require me to totally recharacterize my headcanon Quackmore and Eider.
To elaborate on a certain point, yes, I do still maintain that Fethry and Whitewater are brothers. I know that it has been a trend on this forum to separate them, but I see no reason in doing so. They are both reckoned by their original creators to be "distant cousin(s)" of Donald, so they do not need to occupy different places on the family tree. The real "issue" would be with having them as children of Eider, whom Rosa depicts as a son of Grandma and Grandpa Duck. This would make them only Donald's first cousins, not distant cousins, but I have rectified this issue with a theory that Eider is actually a more distant relative who was adopted as a child by Grandma and Grandpa after his biological parents passed. I place him as a son of Donald's granduncle Swashbuckle Duck from Outer Space Safari. I do not like splitting up Eider and Lulubelle as a couple. They were always intended to be a couple. Their features mix together perfectly to create Whitewater and Fethry's features, the only noticeable issue being Whitewater's dark hair not shared by either parent. Otherwise, they all fit together so well. Lulubelle's small, unconjoined-from-beak eyes not only reflect Fethry but also Whitewater. She fits as the mama of both. Again, there's really no reason to separate Fethry and Whitewater as brothers. The only genealogical issue we have with the Eider-Lulubelle-Whitewater-Fethry family is with Eider himself, and, as I have stated, I think there are ways around that. Keep this family together as Rosa intended, I say!
I'm of partial German descent, so the name felt like a good choice.
As for Fethry and Whitewater being brothers, I'm still not sure if I fully accept it, even though it has been shown in the Duck family trees. The only confirmation of a sibling to Fethry was his sister (who some say might be Donald's Cousin Dora), she was the mother of Dugan Duck. Plus, Whitewater has been seen as the nephew to Scrooge's cousin Douglas McDuck, which likely would put Whitewater on Donald's maternal side of the family, although it is still possible Douglas married a sister of Lulubelle Loon, but I don't think Douglas ever married. Whitewater could still be on Donald's paternal side, but given his relation to the McDucks I will put him on the maternal side.
Another conversation I have been thinking about are the other grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Grandma Duck. When we see Barks's original works, it seems Donald, Thelma (Della) and Gladstone were the only grandchildren, although Gus Goose was added as one in his 1990s tree, but Barks made another tree where this was reverted, plus Grandma was is his (great)-aunt anyway. I definitely would believe we would have seen another sibling to Donald already, so I am almost certain Della was his only sibling. As for Gladstone, it seems he may have been an only child too, that fits him, being a spoiled lucky child. Of course there are potential theories about Oscar and Sadstone, although in my opinion, they are cousins. And for Shamrock, he is the son of one of Gladstone's male cousins, thus being his "nephew".
I find it hard to place Eider and his family into the tree, but I am fine him being with Lulubelle, a lot of recent comics have shown them having a close relationship anyway, and Donald mentions something about how his uncle never should have taught Fethry to read, but I don't remember the comic's name. However there has already been a comic that explained Fethry was more of a distant cousin, so maybe he was a second cousin, and that might be why we don't see his sister or Dugan and Grandma's farm, they would be closely related anyway.
But maybe Uncle Eider was Donald's great-uncle's son, and he is an "uncle" to Donald, and as you stated it could be possible Eider was adopted.
