The Secret Library

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"**The Secret Library**" is the fifty-eighth episode of the Disney Junior animated series *Sofia the First*. The episode premiered on October 12, 2015 and is the sixth episode of the third season. It is the first installment of The Secret Library story arc.

## Plot

At Enchancia Castle, Sofia is having a flying derby race with her friends, when suddenly Aunt Tilly arrives and pays a visit. Upon arriving at the castle, Aunt Tilly asks Sofia about how she's doing with the book she gave her and reminds her to read Chapter Seventeen, which is her favorite. Sofia later goes to her room and reads more of the book and finds a small blue book that tells her about secret passages inside the castle. Clover comes in and shows the secret passageway he uses to get in the castle. Suddenly, Sofia's amulet glows a bright blue, to her surprise. She uses her shrinking ability to get inside then back to normal. She then follows a set of stairs that lead her to an underground river. Sofia climbs aboard a magical boat that takes through a tunnel, passing settings that reference the worlds of the Disney Princesses. She reaches another staircase that leads to a gate, and using the strange book as a key, it opens the gate, allowing her inside a place called The Secret Library, where many books have missing endings. Aunt Tilly welcomes her to the library and reveals to Sofia that she has been chosen to become the next storykeeper. Thirty years ago Tilly became the previous storykeeper of the Secret Library when she was still a little princess, tasked to find happy endings for the unfinished stories. Now she hopes to pass that legacy onto Sofia.

The library then chooses her first story called *The Tale of Wildwing Valley*, the story of how Minimus's brother Mazzimo wished to live free as a wild horse and left his family behind to find Wildwing Valley, a magically hidden valley where magical creatures roam free. Unfortunately, he was captured by the greedy Prince Roderick of Borrea. After the story, Aunt Tilly tells her she needs to find a better ending for Mazzimo, which is to free him from Prince Roderick's captivity and grant his wish. Sofia rushes to Minimus and head out to rescue Mazzimo with Aunt Tilly and her flying horse Athena.

They have reached the Borrean Castle, where Mazzimo is caged in a stable. As Sofia and Minimus sneak and find him, an argument soon breaks out between Minimus and Mazzimo. Suddenly Prince Roderick shows up with his stable master Gavin. Sofia tells him that Mazzimo doesn't like the stable and wishes to be free, but Roderick doesn't listen and plans to test fly him. However, Aunt Tilly intervenes, allowing Mazzimo a chance to escape. Roderick and Gavin chase them, and during the pursuit Sofia falls off Minimus because he is too busy arguing with Mazzimo to pay attention to where he's going. Aunt Tilly catches her but ends up losing her bag, while at the same time Minimus and Mazzimo are captured by Roderick and Gavin. While Aunt Tilly and Sofia search for the bag, Sofia becomes doubtful of being the storykeeper when her amulet begins to glow and Merida appears. She hopes that Merida can help her find her aunt's bag, but Merida tells her she doesn't need it, all she needs is to believe that she can save them herself. At first, Sofia still feels doubtful that she can do it but with a little more encouragement from Merida, she finally gains confidence that she can save Minimus and Mazzimo and fulfill her task as the storykeeper. She takes Athena and flies off to the rescue.

Meanwhile, Roderick and Gavin are heading back to the castle with Minimus and Mazzimo. Sofia flies in frees Minimus before defeating Prince Roderick with an umbrella. They later free Mazzimo at last, find Aunt Tilly's bag and head to Glittering Gorge, with Tempest and Ellegra wanting to join them, leaving Roderick and Gavin stranded in the woods. They arrive at Wildwing Valley and Mazzimo is given a warm welcome to his new home. Sofia, Aunt Tilly and Minimus bid him farewell, completing *The Tale of Wildwing Valley*. With Sofia's first story complete, she now waits for the next unfinished story to finish.

## Cast

* Ariel Winter as Sofia
* Bonnie Hunt as Aunt Tilly
* Eric Stonestreet as Minimus
* Ruth Connell as Merida
* Cary Elwes as Prince Roderick
* Hugh Bonneville as The Narrator
* Dean Norris as Mazzimo
* Wayne Brady as Clover
* Fred Tatasciore as Gavin
* Abigail Mavity as Tempest
* Grey DeLisle as Ellegra
* Jessica St. Clair as Athena

## Trivia

* In this episode, Merida will be the first and only Pixar character to appear in the series to aid Sofia.
* Bonnie Hunt is known for her Pixar roles, and Merida was right next to Tilly in the end of "Save the Day".
* This will be the fifth time Sofia and Minimus go off on a mission together. The first four times were in "Finding Clover", "Princess Butterfly", "The Leafsong Festival" and "Carol of the Arrow".
* This will be the third time Sofia wears one of her Flying Horseman outfits for a mission. The first time was in "Finding Clover" and the second time was in "Minimus is Missing".
* Sofia wears a new Derby Race outfit in this episode.
* Tilly is revealed to have a flying horse named Athena in this episode.
* Instead of being voiced by Kelly Macdonald, Merida will be voiced by Ruth Connell who provided her voice in the *Disney INFINITY* game series.
* Prince Roderick will be the second villainous prince on the show, the first being Prince Hugo. However, unlike Roderick, Hugo reformed, making Roderick currently the only villainous prince on the show.
* Merida will be the tenth Disney Princess to appear on the show.
	+ ​The first was Cinderella in *Sofia the First: Once Upon A Princess*.
	+ The second was Jasmine in "Two to Tangu".
	+ The third was Belle in "The Amulet and the Anthem".
	+ The fourth was Ariel in *Sofia the First: The Floating Palace*.
	+ The fifth was Aurora in "Holiday in Enchancia".
	+ The sixth was Snow White in "The Enchanted Feast".
	+ The seventh was Mulan in "Princesses to the Rescue!".
	+ The eighth was Rapunzel in *Sofia the First: The Curse of Princess Ivy*.
	+ The ninth was Tiana in "Winter's Gift".
* ​Merida will be the second non-traditional animated Princess to appear on the show. The first was Rapunzel.
* Cary Elwes, who will voice Prince Roderick, is also known for his portrayal of Lawrence Gordon in the *Saw* Series, Wesley in *The Princess Bride*, and the titular character in the Mel Brooks film *Robin Hood: Men in Tights*.
* It revealed in this episode that the Amulet of Avalor has the ability to act as a compass to the Secret Library when the one wearing it has the magical book that's the Secret Library's key. Unlike the Amulet's other abilities, which make the amulet give off a purple glow, this ability makes the amulet glow blue.
* Merida is the third princess to not sing after Aurora and Snow White.
* She is the first Princess to give her lesson in the instrumental bridge of the episode's song instead of singing it or just giving it.
* Merida is the third Princess after Jasmine and Mulan that doesn't disappear magically after aiding Sofia.
* Merida is the third Disney Princess not to be shown in her redesign, instead wearing her normal princess dress. The first two was Ariel and Mulan.
* She is the first princess to fire a weapon at Sofia to get her attention.
* Tilly will ride a flying horse for the first time in this episode.
* Tilly will meet a Disney Princess for the first time in this episode. While it was the first time onscreen, she probably met others before and perhaps already met Merida before since she's a previous wearer of the Amulet of Avalor.
* Sofia will use her shrinking ability for the second time in this episode.
* Tilly will reveal she knows the truth of Sofia's Amulet due to being the last person who wore it before her.
* Minimus will be revealed to have a brother named Mazzimo.
* This is the second episode to be narrated the first being *Once Upon A Princess.*
* This is the fourth episode which has a different background in the credits, the others being "Holiday in Enchancia", "Ghostly Gala" and "Winter's Gift".
* There are Disney Princess Easter eggs in the secret tunnel to the library.
	+ The Wishing Well and the Cottage of the Seven Dwarfs from *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs*.
	+ The Castle clock, the Pumpkin Coach and the Glass Slipper from *Cinderella*.
	+ King Stefan's Castle and the Spinning Wheel from *Sleeping Beauty*.
	+ The Blue Lagoon from *The Little Mermaid*.
	+ The Enchanted Rose from *Beauty and the Beast.*
	+ Agrabah and the Magic Carpet from *Aladdin*.
	+ The mountain, and the wind from *Pocahontas*.
	+ The lilies, the Magnolia tree and the bridge from *Mulan*.
	+ The fireflies in the log from *The Princess and the Frog*.
	+ Rapunzel's Tower, Corona castle and the lanterns from *Tangled*.
	+ The Ring of Stones and archery games from *Brave*.
	+ The icy wind and the ice droplets from *Frozen*.

* This will be the second time Sofia falls off Minimus, the first being *Just One of the Princes*.
* This is Abigail Mavity's second character in the series, the first being Princess Lani of Hakalo.
* This is the fourth episode (and the second in a row) to feature only Sofia and not Amber, James, Roland, and Miranda. The other three were "The Little Witch", "Mystic Meadows", and "Minding the Manor".
	+ It's also the first princess episode to do so.

* This is the first Princess episode where Sofia sings an entire song herself, instead of the princess and Sofia.