#I think the problem is Le Inconsistency

[freddyyeti]

The more I think about I probably should do ask games more often but there is a Problem I Have where I’m all for yapping about my ships but once I’m actually Prompted to talk about them I kinda just draw a blank and go

[nesiacha]

Thank you, Elisabeth Le Bas!

Thank you for these touching memoirs. Her modesty also moved me, as she is clearly one of those women behind the scenes who encouraged their revolutionary husbands, who would not have been as effective without them. She possesses an extraordinary strength of character and integrity that many men should have been inspired by instead of placing their individual interests first. The revolution could have been saved (no need to specify who I am targeting here). Although her memoirs may at first seem to portray a woman who simply supports those she loves, it is actually much deeper than that. She attended political debates with Charlotte Robespierre, showing that they were far more politically engaged than they appeared. By the way, I have a theory about Philippe Le Bas based on an excerpt from Elisabeth Le Bas:

"It was the day when Marat was borne in triumph to the Assembly that I saw my beloved Philippe Le Bas for the first time.

I found myself, that day, at the National Convention with Charlotte Robespierre. Le Bas came to greet her; he stayed with us for a long time and asked who I was. Charlotte told him that I was one of her elder brother’s host’s daughters. He asked her a few questions about my family; he asked Charlotte if we came to the Assembly often, and said that on a particular day there would be a rather interesting session. He urged her to come to it."

I haven’t found any evidence that Le Bas defended the rights of womens citizens (I hope I’m wrong because I really like him as a revolutionary, so feel free to correct me). Yet, I have no valid reason to doubt what he said to Charlotte Robespierre about encouraging these two women to attend a session of the Assembly. I get the impression that Le Bas was one of those men who valued women’s political opinions, had no problem with them attending political sessions, but didn’t see the point of them participating more actively in political life. I imagine he had no objections to discussing it privately with Elisabeth.

Philippe and Elisabeth Le Bas form such a touching couple (I almost applauded when they were finally able to marry), and I really liked that, together with Henriette Le Bas (another woman who is too unknown in the revolution, but fortunately Tumblr is here to bring them out of the shadows), she accompanied her husband and Saint-Just (she was one of the many women who accompanied the revolutionaries on their missions, like Charlotte Robespierre, Sophie Momoro, etc.).

I also really appreciated the relationship she had with Eleonore Duplay, where we also see the courage of her sister in adversity. Paradoxically, it’s in Elisabeth Le Bas’s memoirs that I began to appreciate Charlotte Robespierre. Charlotte Robespierre’s memoirs contain quite a few inaccuracies, as other Tumblr users have pointed out, and I thought to myself, it’s impossible, she’s way too “saintly,” I don’t believe it for a second (not to mention that she comes across as too apolitical, but I imagine those who helped write the memoirs didn’t want a thinking woman). Here, thanks to certain passages from Elisabeth and what we know from the Mathons, we have proof that she is certainly not a saint (no one is), but she’s not a heartless, toxic, or selfish woman as I’ve seen (not on Tumblr but on other forums, where they oddly bash Robespierre but blame Charlotte for disowning her brother; those who say these things are inconsistent, plus I’d like to see how they would have reacted if they had faced the same threat as Charlotte). She is a woman with touching qualities (like her kindness towards Elisabeth, her desire to accompany her brother on a mission, when she designated Mademoiselle Mathon as her heir, or that at the end of her life, she wanted to rehabilitate her brothers) but also with weaknesses (I would start with her completely inaccurate memoirs, I think the disagreement between Madame Duplay, Eleonore, and Charlotte involved shared faults, just like the dispute between Augustin and Charlotte, especially the letter Augustin wrote to Maximilien about Charlotte, etc.). Thanks to Elisabeth Le Bas’s memoirs, Charlotte Robespierre is neither a monster nor a too-perfect being, she is just a human being. By the way, I don’t blame her for disowning her family name and her brothers temporarily because the danger could have been real. She was a civilian who didn’t seek trouble, and in that respect, it was trouble (more precisely, the Thermidorians) that came to her. I also don’t blame her for asking Bonaparte for a pension and continuing to receive one under Louis XVIII because life for a single woman was very hard at that time. It took extraordinary strength of character to avoid doing all that, and not many people had it. Where I do criticize Charlotte Robespierre is for embellishing the reality concerning her in her memoirs.But it was very sad that she was not able to reconcile with her brothers especially Augustin before she died because none of them seem toxic to me. If France and the revolution had no longer been in danger, if they had survived, I think they would have reconciled, but I can't speak for them.

Returning to Elisabeth’s memoirs, I smiled when she idealized the revolutionaries she was close to, like the Robespierre brothers or Saint-Just, although after recognizing many of his qualities, she said he could sometimes be severe due to his great love for the country and the revolution. But it’s normal that she idealized them and defended them loyally because she was simply being loyal to the revolutionary struggles they were leading and in which she believed, even though it would have been good to see their flaws in her memoirs. Memoirs are always subjective, even from an honest person like Elisabeth Le Bas. Despite everything, she is attached to her country and is capable of making a judgment when she says in the excerpt, “Nevertheless, he needed to leave; Robespierre, who had great confidence in Le Bas because he knew his wise and prudent character well, had chosen him to accompany Saint-Just, whose burning love of the patrie sometimes led to too much severity, and who had a tendency to get carried away.” On the other hand, what troubles me about this statement is that normally, a person is not sent on a mission based on the will of just one other person; it usually requires the majority of votes within the CPS or the CSG (sometimes in the Convention). But we see that Elisabeth stays in the background yet makes a thoughtful political judgment to better safeguard the endangered French Revolution.

However, I didn’t like that Elisabeth constantly put herself down by describing herself as scatterbrained when everything indicated that she was not. I was saddened by the tragic fate of Philippe Le Bas, even though we all knew it was inevitable. At least they were able to say goodbye. At least he died before seeing the tragic outcome of the revolution. I found Madame Duplay’s death unfair. Poor Duplay family, who went through one tragedy after another but found the strength to bounce back. I admired Eleonore for helping Elisabeth during her most tragic moments in prison. I applauded when Elisabeth Le Bas showed astonishing courage in front of her adversaries from prison to her release. She never asked for anything and displayed extraordinary strength.

Even though I wouldn’t have blamed her for abandoning the revolution to survive with her son in such difficult times, she didn’t do it, whereas some “revolutionaries” greedy for their wallets destroyed the revolution, endangered France, and undermined the revolutionary people's efforts for social progress that had begun since 1789. The obligation of loyalty to the revolution that deputies like Fouché, Barras, or a general named Bonaparte should have respected was found in the daughter and wife of an authentic revolutionary (especially in the worst moments). Honor to her (and to the many men and women like Elisabeth) and shame on all those greedy ones (I must admit that my language is blunt and could be more nuanced if making a historical judgment, but I’m more in the realm of value judgment, so I feel I can allow myself some liberties, sorry for the fans of theses characters it's only my view).

On a more positive note, thank you, Elisabeth Le Bas, for fighting against this all-too-common black legend of the revolution through your memoirs.

Thank you for your journey as a fighter. If only the greedy deputies I mentioned earlier had a quarter of your integrity and courage and remembered that they were there to serve the people, as they are in their positions solely because of the people and thanks to them, the revolution would surely have lasted longer.

Thank you, Elisabeth, for all you did with so many others. May your life serve as an example and a source of strength for us.

[yuikomorii]

Maybe you were asked this again but why don’t you want a new game to appear?

// Look, I get that a lot of people want a new game but I genuinely wish Rejet would stop milking DL’s story.

All franchises must come to an end, and I believe 7 games are more than enough. LE was widely disliked, and CL barely got any reactions, so I doubt a new game will make a difference. The more games they release, the less appealing they become. I'd rather not have an eighth one than see some characters getting ruined or the routes becoming bland and repetitive. On top of that, a new game would only make room for even more inconsistencies because the writers won’t remember what they wrote years ago. Even if a preview came out, a lot of fans would think of a bunch of interesting predictions, yet they would be let down by the final product. I have nothing against Rejet as a company, but let's be honest: we all know they don't take the games as seriously as they once did, given the clear lack of creativity and quality.

Most of the time I like the merch lines, but my issue lays in the fact that they impulsively release them. Last year, I remember three sets being released in the same month that even Japanese fans were complaining about how they couldn’t afford spending so much money in such a short period of time. Another problem is how they keep delaying a lot of goods. I can understand it happening occasionally, but when it becomes a regular occurrence... that's definitely not good.

[lisa972kdlz]

Le cœur a sa mémoire :(Heart got his memory)

Another theoretical analysis about Underverse! More specifically about Error's character, his development, his personality and what might be going through his mind in the context of the series.

When you look at Error's behaviour in Underverse and compare it to his behaviour in the original comic, you quickly realise that it's not the same. And when you browse through the various versions of Error to be found in fandom, whether in fan fiction, comics or simple gags, it's this version of the Underverse that's found with varying degrees of nuance. In other words, a serious, grumpy, tsundere Error who hiss at the first person he meets. And... I'm really not a fan of this Error, because in my opinion it's less interesting and, above all, leads to received ideas that head straight for the cliché highway. Why do we have this skewed image of the character? Is it really inconsistent and unworthy of his integrity? Is this a bad thing, and does Underverse follow this line? Should we limit ourselves to saying that Underverse isn't canon so there's no reason to criticise constructively or even try to find connections?

Obviously not, because with a bit of imagination (and philosophy), there's (almost) always a way to put the pieces of the jigsaw together to give it concrete form! First of all, let's dissociate the Canon version of Error from its Fanon version.

In terms of personality, Error Canon is more like the Collector in The Owl House than the vampire-spider Miguel O'Hara in Spiderverse. An unhinged and paranoid Collector, but all the same. He's chatty, he smiles, and has no trouble talking to anyone, whether it's the creators who ask him questions, his prisoner Swap!Sans, or that strange visitor, the Sans that Fresh usually owns. It's a far cry from the grumpy, withdrawn character who refuses all human contact. In the comic, his reticence is often relatively controlled, and in any case, if he does do any harm, it very rarely comes back to the Gaster blasters. When Swap gives him a completely off-the-wall speech about friendship, yeah, he abandons him temporarily in the Anti-Void to teach him a lesson, but even in a panic he doesn't hurt or attack him. When he thinks he's being manipulated by Darkblitz8, he hangs her high into the air with his strings, but nothing more. Then he calms down straight away and quietly puts his hands back in his pockets and says, "What a nice lady, I love making new friends."

"Love. Making. New friends."

Yes, that's Error saying that, can you believe it? It's said as a joke, but OF COURSE he's sincere... And for a thousand and one reasons. What I mean is that, like every Sans else, he more has a tendency to hide his thoughts behind jokes or false humour than to reject or attack others. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it's a tendency.

The only time he pulls out his blasters (outside of destroying AU's) is when he gets a surprise hug from behind and when FRESH shows up out of nowhere. So it's relatively legitimate (but only relatively because there's nothing legitimate about exterminating your neighbour Ú^Ù).

Nevertheless, the Fandom version and the original version have one thing in common: Error is completely anti-social, fearful of others, and hates himself viscerally without admitting it to himself. But the "Tsundere" version is highly caricatured, with temperaments that are sometimes the exact opposite of what Error is! He is portrayed as cold, distant, incapable of not shouting when something displeases him, and so on. But in reality he answers questions, accepts a handshake from a stranger and even describes it as "pleasurable", talks about his tastes, admits word for word that he likes having people to talk to, concedes to requests... The only sensitive subjects are his personal problems, which include Papyrus, Toriel and, of course, himself.

But he hates glitches, right? The AU's and all that, he hates them?

Yes, he hates them, but subconsciously he makes a dissociation between the mass of shapeless glitches and an individual. When he goes to destroy AUs, they're glitches. When he meets someone at random and starts to build a human relationship with them (Swap), he almost forgets that he's supposed to hate him.

Canon Error plays the villain, but in fact he's a frightened little beast in denial about his extreme loneliness and strong self-hatred. This also fits the fandom version, but in a kind of misunderstood inverse: not only does he lose all his glitched, unpredictable, paranoid and nightmarish side, but above all he also loses his cute and childlike side, naive, unaware of social references like the term "ship", with surprising tastes and a real desire to form bonds when he feels it's safe to do so. As a result, he loses that strange duality that creates a feeling of unease, a mixture of fear and attachment, because we sense that he has totally human emotions but is too deranged to be able to be a truly healthy friend with anyone... He can hardly even be described as a narcissistic pervert, because he has already shown real compassion and even if he blames people for his misfortune, he won't tell them directly or make them feel guilty about it; he's more likely to say it to himself. He's more direct when he's in "destroyer" mode, but it's still accusations about people's glitch state in a general sense, like a "hate you all". No, he's not even just an asshole, he's just.... Insane. We forget that he's insane.

Also, when he feels threatened, Error will automatically step into his villain role with sardonic laughter and striking retorts. The Fanon version, on the other hand, will spit in the person's face and express his anger. He's rational, hateful, sinister, a killjoy and stable in his tempestuous character. Of course, there are fanarts and gags where the cute side is brought out... But they're usually just gags, and in fanfiction and comics they're rarely shown and often anecdotal without much imagination...

OK, I've been talking about the Fanon version for a while now, but does Error in Underverse have this problem?

Well...

No ┐( ∵ )┌!

Firstly because in Underverse it's moderate, and he's presented in situations where it's understandable (the majority of his interactions are with Ink, his sworn foe so obviously he's going to be on the defensive), but also, we'll see later, because the series raises an important side of who Error has become over the course of time, and confronts him with an ultimatum, where his status quô goes is smashed to pieces.

I'm not in favour of Error being ultra-aggressive and cold in stories in general because I find it makes him interesting as a dead rat, but portraying him as more serious, intelligent and aware of the world around him isn't a bad choice. How can we explain it?

Well... He grew old, that's all.

The Error of Underverse, and by extension of the Fandom, is a character who has evolved, been revisited and experienced in many different ways. He's gone from the "guy who messes things up in the AU's" to the "Destroyer", his overall power too has increased as fans have seen his potential for danger, which may be a parallel to the fact that he's... simply trained and toughened up as he goes along? There's nothing to stop us imagining a future based on the Canon we've been left with. He simply accumulates memory. Even the fact that Ink and Error are enemies, it isn't canon, but... Well, it makes perfect sense, because by putting universes in danger, of course he had to face the protector at some point!

Error has visited AU's, encountered situations that have taught him lessons... He has grown in maturity. Fine, he still gets nought for emotional maturity, but he has grown anyway, which is normal and a good thing (because if the characters never evolved in an open world, we'd be a bit bored all the same).

That said, there's a rather annoying glitch that's going to mess things up a bit...

It's her again, Ma'am the Canon description ! ✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧

In Canon, canonically, in real real real real.... Error is incapable of evolving. It's in his nature, quite simply. Because he's an "error".

According to Crayon Queen, the ending of Error's comic should have gone like this: Swap! Sans, as a result of being exposed to the Anti-Void, becomes an error in his own right, an erratic and unhinged being whose character and memory become dislocated and distorted. He retains his positive and heroic character, so it doesn't make him a villain, but he remains unpredictable and difficult to follow, and therefore dangerous. Error will feel horrible about this and will even be confronted with a deep guilt that will convince him to let him go. "Blueberror" will then be guided into the Omega Timeline by Core Frisk where he will go to live. And Error will find himself alone again in the Anti-Void, alone in this white nothingness, alone in the middle of All. As time goes by, he will forget all about the experience and return to the person he was before without questioning, for such is the destiny of errors. Corrupted things with no hope of salvation.

Yes, it's tragic, but that's the way it is! And Passive!Night is dead, get used to it!

(Never! QwQ)

(*Rubbing her hands) What if we tried to slip through the cracks and get round this restrictive element, all the while respecting the character and his universe?

Come on, let's get started?

We're off!

So why does Error lose his memory?

Because he's an error, all right. But is that all? Aren't there other remarkable factors that make him forget?

Already, exposure continues to the Anti-Void, where living leads to harmful consequences. To explain why, I had theorised that, being the opposite of the Void, it was the Core of the Multiverse, also known as the Great Whole, where codes intersect and aggreate. –I've done some research in the meantime and the Doodlesphere can't really be a Core, because it's Ink's 'private' dimension. It's an empty zone (perhaps an empty AU which is recognisable by its nature as a white or off-white nothingness without, however, corresponding to the properties of the Anti-Void) where the painter has grouped together some sort of links to access the AUs. It's a bit like a custom Doc document with thousands of URLs, but not a Heart.–

Exposed to the Anti-Void for too long, some of our codes end up merging with the dimension; we lose some, we receive some, until we become errors, a bit like a slow dissolution. Our memory is obviously affected. At the moment of transformation, but perhaps also as we continue to be exposed to it?

If you don't like this theory, there's also the fact that, well... It's a void. White. No wind, no heat or cold, no light, no shadow, no palpable matter. EVIDENTLY it causes an alteration in the brain and memory. If Error left the Anti-Void for somewhere less... Creepy, it's easy to imagine that his continual amnesia would be less severe.

And finally, the last and most important reason...

Error is alone and bored shitless.

Now let's going to do a bit of philosophy, because philosophy of the real world is science of fiction.

What is Memory (and owh shet I don't have fucking idea of the nuances of vocabulary in English philosophy–) ?

(Well in French "Souvenir" is meanging like memory and "Mémoire" the global uniting of the memories, I suppose there exists a term to make the nuance but I don't know enough about it so... Let's say that Souvenir = memory and Mémoire = Memory, okay?

Sorry ...TwT)

So, roughly speaking, it's the collection of our memories recorded by a stade of consciousness of a moment that was present but is now past. Not to be confused with storage medium: there's a lot of information recorded by the brain that we can't remember (in Error's case it's most certainly out of order too, at least in part).

The conditions for a memory are as follows: to fixate on an object, situation or person in order to take aware of it. Reflecting enables this to happen, because reflecting is about taking the initiative and interrupting the flow of thought in order to consider a specific idea; thinking that you've had that thought. It's like a computer: there are lots of images stored inside, but you won't have access to them, or only with difficulty, if you don't think about printing them out in physical format. In any case, to have a Memory, you need a trigger, something that connects you to reality and makes you say: I remember that.

And Error doesn't have that. There's nothing memorable about his life as an anomaly. He is alone, all the time, in a nothingness where nothing happens, where there is nothing beautiful. A memory is only a memory if we have a consciousness of a past and a present. But Anti-Void has no day, no night, no timetable, no real time. And the only time Error goes out is to kill masses of people he doesn't care about and doesn't even consider to be living beings. He doesn't care about the AU's he destroys. If we were to make a scrapbook of his holiday memories... It would be limited to sewing, sleep, Undernovela, destruction, conversation with imaginary people (his dolls or even us), Outertale, sewing, sleep.

He's alone and he FEELS alone. So lonely that he hears voices in his head, so lonely that he talks to his own dolls. He needs others. We can even assume, in the Canon at least, that he's an extrovert.

Yes, I just said Error was extroverted, and that's extremely weird 😅

But really, it's not so crazy. An extrovert is defined by the way the person resources themselves. Introverted, by being alone, extroverted, by seeing people. It's perfectly possible to be extroverted AND asocial and anti-anti-anti-antisocial. And there you boned a bit.

I'm not making any claims, what I can see is that Error has a certain ease in expressing himself and talking about himself (as long as it doesn't have to do with his problems) and that he's quite talkative. But then, maybe he's something else, intro or ambi, because in his condition of absolute solitude, ANYONE would have an immense need to be with other people.

Besides, don't you think that in his comic, the longer he lives with Swap, the more logical, stable and thoughtful he becomes? It's experience that accumulates. It's the Memory that works. Because with Swap, a friend at last, he can remember what's going on and realise how much time has passed. When he learns to knit with him, when he watches Undernovela with him, when he answers the creator's questions with him, and so on.

It's only after Swap has gone that Error closes in on himself again, letting the Anti-Void devour him once more.

To have a Memory, Error needs to get out of Anti-Void AND have a face, someone he can see fluently to remind him of his past experiences. And who fills that role perfectly in the Fandom, I'll give you three guesses?

Ink.

This is arguably the strongest no-canon relationship in the Undertale Multiverse. His exchanges with Ink, whether it's a confrontation, a tempestuous dialogue or a bullshit funny, all these little interactions help to forge an emotional bond between the two nemeses.

Whether fans develop this into a rivalship, a bromance or a romance, who cares,

EVIDENTLY Ink is very important to him.

EVIDENTLY he sees him, in some twisted way, as a friend.

Because Ink's the ONLY stable, long-term human relationship he has. And the only way to keep that bond is to keep destroying over and over again to get the painter's attention, and maybe even other people's attention. And given that Error's incapable of being healthy with anyone, because he hates himself too much and is too afraid of other people, what better way to show his attachment than with an "I hate you"?

I'm going to use a really stupid reference here, but Error has a bit of a Dory memory. She forgets everything as she goes along, but from the moment she meets Marlin, she forgets less and less. All she has to do is look at his face and she remembers everything they've been through. And afraid he'll abandon her all alone again, because she doesn't want to forget again.

What if that's what Error was afraid of in Underverse, when Ink 'abandons' him to go and play with X-Gaster? What if he's afraid that if he loses him, all his progression he accomplished so far will go up in smoke?

Ink is Error's Memory. It's very ironic.

And the icing on the cake is that Ink has a lot in common with Error: faced with extreme loneliness in a white void, loss of Memory, ignorance of the conscious state of the beings around them... Ink expresses this suffering through a desire to protect, and Error through a desire to destroy (it's superbly explained in THIS comic you'll found just after validated by the creator, I recommend it!) Isn't he the perfect friend? The funny thing is that in Underverse, the roles are 'reversed'. Ink is prepared to destroy everything, while Error is prepared to do anything to save what attention he has left. OK, he destroys the AU's, but he doesn't care about the AU's, he cares about Ink. He had the chance all along to do it, but he waited until the ultimatum. Because his battles with the painter and his status as quô are vital to him. He was pushed to the limit to commit the irreparable.

If that, is not two lunatics walking on a beam, I don't know what is.

I'm extrapolating here, but imagine that the odd island in the middle of the sea had been requisitionee by Error to be his new den precisely because he'd had enough of the Anti-Void and the memory loss it was causing him? Perhaps, having had a truce with Ink, he no longer felt the need to protect himself from him by staying in the Anti-Void (since Ink has a great fear of white spaces, it makes a good lair) and he was able to move in later. After all, the only time we see him in the Anti-Void is when Ink kicked him back in the arse and in the 2nd Xtrascene when he's snoozing. It's as if he's been sleeping off his wine or something, as if he's gone back there in a fit of rage to forget everything again in frustration at seeing Ink having fun without him. Haven't you noticed that the dolls and the footstool he sits in only exist in his dream? And that when he wakes up, he's on the floor with nothing around him? Why didn't he sleep in his footstool? It's as if he's actually moved all his stuff, except his souls, since they're best kept in the Anti-Void by Ink. The footstool isn't on the island in Xtra scene 1, but it is in Comic the Truce, Error moved it. Maybe he really leaved the Anti-Void and is only using it as a repository for souls? All this just to... Stop being mad? Live a more or less normal life? Become aware of who he is and... Simply be?

Very capylotract but I love this theory xD

And I also think that Error doesn't just see Ink as a tool or a means. I think he really thinks the two of them have a special relationship. Because he's romantically inclined, which is suggested by his Sans past, his taste for Outertale and the fact that he watches a rosewater series with a ship where his alternative version and the alternative version of the woman he loved are in a misunderstood and forbidden relationship, because he's afraid but also wants to be loved deep down given that he's incapable of giving himself self-esteem, because he shows intense frustration when Ink doesn't show him that it's mutual...

And because RIVALSHIP! It would be a perfect match for the Joker/Batman relationship in the Lego Batman movie and I think it's HANDSOME!!!! (*shakes fan-girling head)

(I don't know if Jakei will go with what I have developed but whatever she does will still be super awesome, I wouldn't worry about it ✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧!)

.

Error belongs to @loverofpiggies

Ink belongs to @comyet

Underverse belongs to @jakei95

[quidam-sirenae]

😏🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 and I don't have the right emoji on my phone but who's your favorite arthuriana parent?

😏- Gawain?

This guy. This guy. I do think I have quite a different idea of who he is since one of my Core Arthurian texts is Gawain and the green knight. I also really like the wedding of sir Gawain and dame ragnelle so my thoughts about him are essentially “oh he gets bitches” which tbh if I was straight I would be a Gawain girlie. However apart from like those two stories, do not shack up with that guy. Especially if you are narratively in the vulgate. It’s going to cause problems, he’s basically a Jason character in the vulgate, but a bit more charming. He’s so interesting to me because he changes so much in the different stories- he’s the best of Arthur’s court, he’s the worst of them, he’s married, he’s a perpetual bachelor, he’s super chivalrous all the time, he’s killed a hundred people in a rage, ect. His narrative inconsistency is so sexy.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿- Pick A Pelli Spawn (Percival, Aglovale, Tor, Lamorak, Aylane, Dindrane, Donar, ect)

Percival 10%. He’s my guy. I have a paper in the works about symbolic sex and thigh wounds and Christianity ect basically arguing that the thigh stabbing scene in le morte is both a castration and an orgasm. Which is really hard to bring up at parties when people ask what I’m interested in. Also read spear by Nicola Griffiths it’s good. There is not a version of Perceval I’ve met so far that I don’t like, though he’s much less fractured in characterization than Gawain or Kay. Though I will admit I haven’t actually read his section in the vulgate yet- I’ve read none of the grail quest narratives from the vulgate as of now.

Favorite Arthurian parent-

In terms of favorite to dissect: Arthur. He’s so interesting in terms of succession and children especially the mayday massacre and I love to dissect that. In terms of least shitty: Morgan actually has some really cute moments with Lancelot in the vulgate so I’m going to pick her despite the everything else about her. (I also want to look at the eyelid kissing in the vulgate and contrast it with Catullus)

[miyakuli]

Flowers - Le volume sur printemps

Amour et les fleurs ne durent qu'un printemps

Flowers is a series of visual novels immersing us in the daily lives of young female students at a Catholic school where friendship and love collide. We follow the shy Suoh, freshly arrived in this new school, whose objective is to make friends and try to detach herself from her traumatic childhood. This springtime introduction is full of sweetness and poetry, but I still felt that certain aspects were still a bit in the bud state.

❤ The aesthetic of the game is really well done, whether for the menu, the illustrations, the sprites or even the text window. It's flowery, soft and cute, and totally in tune with the calm and romantic atmosphere of the story. ❤ Beneath its air of innocence and purity, the game tackles some fairly sensitive subjects, such as psychological abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder and neglect… but remains very modest in its approach. Also, in terms of its girl's love theme, I liked the fact that the character asked herself questions about her sexuality and that it wasn't something she immediately assumed. Her reflections on the fine line that can exist between love between friends or a deeper love were, in my opinion, very relatable subjects, especially for a character of that age. ❤ I think the development of the main character is very well carried out. She gradually opens up to the world around her, her dialogues become less indecisive and we gradually feel her more relaxed in her relationships with others. We don't get rid of her shyness, which is an integral part of her personality, but we do see Suoh gain in confidence and self-assurance. I've seen far too many media where the shy side of a character's character was quickly erased in favor of their development, as if it were something to be ‘’fixed‘’, so I was reassured that this wasn't the case here. ❤ The secondary characters are all very engaging (more so than the love interests, which is a bit of a shame) and add a lot of dynamism to the life of this school. A special mention goes to Erika (who's supposed to be the focus of another episode, bless), who has the best affinity with the heroine, and who clearly should have been a love interest (or at least earned the status of best friend, because frankly, she's the best).

+/- The music played by the strings and piano is perfect for accompanying the scenes, but there isn't much of it. One particular piece of music takes up 80% of the sound space and although it is long and beautiful to the ear, the musical redundancy is often felt. I also think there's a problem with the sound balance, as I had to turn the volume of the soundtrack down as low as possible to get the best out of the voices of the dubbing actresses, who interpret their roles very well, and it would have been a shame not to appreciate them more. +/- The story is easy to follow and plays out like a slice of life, with little episodes from the daily lives of these teenagers. Personally, I liked this approach, but some might criticise the lack of more intimate moments with the LIs. On the other hand, I found the last 2 chapters almost inconsistent; relationships suddenly rush in, and the attitude of one of the main characters changes drastically to the point of becoming toxic, with no real transition and no consequences at the end. It's quite confusing, and I was even put off playing this character's route after those events (because, on top of that, the route only unlocks after you've finished the ‘true end’, something that's never made clear). You should also bear in mind that the ‘true end’ is not really a happy ending either which leaves a bitter taste in the mouth once you've finished the whole game. It's a daring decision but one I didn't really like.

✖ At times, Suoh lends herself to games of deduction in which you have to pay attention to small details to solve enigmatic situations (otherwise, it's game over). The problem is that these ‘investigations’ are extremely difficult, as they either involve word games based on kanji that are not translated, or require highly specialized knowledge that is never mentioned in the story. So it's almost essential to take a guide with you… ✖ I don't usually pay too much attention to the cliché of femininity in Japanese games (which doesn't necessarily bother me) but here, it was over-emphasized at times with some rather embarrassing remarks; girls outside the norm of gentleness/politeness are called tomboys, the emphasis is often on the heroine's larger breasts, which make her seem more ‘feminine’ than the others, and too many categories are put on what it means to be a ‘real girl’. The game isn't that old (2014), but it feels that way :/ ✖ There's a lot of typo in the English translation, with mixed-up letters and repeated lines of dialogue. I was even given white text on a white background - genius!

It's a pretty good first part, in my opinion, although it's a bit frustrating in terms of its conclusion, which I think will encourage us to get on with the sequel. I've also heard that the following games are much better and focus more on the secondary characters, which makes me all the more intrigued. In any case, if you like your romances flourishing against a backdrop of slices of life, your spring will surely be more radiant.

➡ My personal VN ranking (in french) ➡ My Steam page

[cookies-sports]

England 2 - 1 South Africa

I found it tricky to get a good sense of how I wanted to word the performance on Tuesday. I don't know if it was because there were so many changes in the team that I expected there to be a lot of inconsistency (which is why changing so many of the starting 11 may not always be as useful as some people think), or whether it was just the lack of the team finding a solid rhythm... It was an odd one to watch.

South Africa were interesting to watch; I always enjoy watching international games where the opponent is a team who I haven't had the chance to see play often, either as a whole team or individual players. They have players in the SAFA Women's League, Liga MX Femenil, the Saudi Women's Premier League, the NWSL, and the Lithuanian A League, which aren't easy (or, in some cases possible at all) to watch in the UK. Some teams stream their matches to their own YouTube channels or Facebook pages, others have select games available for international viewing, some have no streaming at all from what I can tell.

When the camera panned around the stadium and you saw South African supporters out to cheer on the team, and then when you see clips from the end where the team go around to thank their fans, it is clear how important growing the visibility of all women's football globally is.

I know that England were the favourites for this game and there were low expectations for South Africa after the game against Denmark, where visa problems saw them missing multiple of their starting 11. However, the way some people talked about South Africa pre- and post-match really bothered me. I enjoyed watching them play, they have talented players, and I feel that for some the focus has been too much on what England didn't do and not what South Africa did do.

More below the cut.

Rather than go play-by-player, I've ended up with a few thoughts about some of them and left the others, then some additional thoughts outside of player-focused at the end.

Positive Game for Some Younger Players

For me, Clinton, Le Tissier, and Naz as some of the young players on the pitch had a good game and I definitely felt there was a lot more positive to say about them than critiques. Clinton has been widely praised; she was very strong, composed and mature in that midfield. She played roles in attack and defense and just seemed to work so hard. I would put her into the starting 11 conversation, and if not there yet then she should be getting 30, 40+ minutes in games.

Le Tissier was much more confident this time than the last game she started, getting an assist to Clinton's goal and having decent pace to get up and down that pitch. She showed good reading of the game for some long balls and her assist as well. She didn't do as well when she was moved over to the LB position to make way for Bronze, but still a reasonably decent 30 minutes out there. I would like to see her getting game-time as not just Bronze's back-up.

Naz often found herself surrounded by defenders as soon as she had the ball, but never seemed to be phased by it. She also passed in a very calm and well-timed assist in a busy eighteen-yard box for Williamson's goal. She did drift out onto the wings more than you might want for a striker, but that's likely due to her predominantly playing on the wing for Spurs, though she has played as a striker before. I liked seeing Naz and Hemp on the field at the same time during the Germany game and I would like to see how Hemp on the left wing and Naz on the right, with Russo or Beever-Jones in the striker position would go.

Earps Back in Goal this Game

Earps did fine in goal. There wasn't a lot for her to do, though when there was it was often with a dash of on-field chaos... She got momentarily squished under Clinton and Magaia, had to basically take out Morgan by claiming the ball from her feet in a slide, and came out for an important save when Bright made a defensive error shortly after coming on.

With the conceded goal, as I predicted would happen in the long post I wrote before, some fans of Hampton have already claimed she would have saved it, just like fans of Earps said she would have saved the goals Hampton conceded. The second Germany goal and the South African goal had some similarities in lead-up and execution. For Gwinn's goal, Hampton chose to stay back; for Kgatlana's goal, Earps chose to close down the angle. Hampton was criticised for not closing down the angle; Earps was criticised for being so far forward. Can't win, can they, goalkeepers? Maybe if each of them had chose to do the opposite, they would have saved them, maybe not. Who knows.

Anyway, I think it makes sense to put your experienced goalkeeper on the pitch when there are many younger, less experience players on the field.

Williamson...an odd game

I feel like Williamson's overall performance has been overshadowed by her first goal (for her fans) or her passing error leading to England conceding (for her detractors). She was better than she was against Germany, with some confident challenges and blocks, and pressing players back defensively more deliberately than the other game. Her pace, however, is still off and it was her mispass error that led to the goal, which seemed to shake her a bit.

Could be still coming back from her ACL, could be some mental component to it, could be struggling to refind form, could be so many things. Only time will tell, I guess. I think she wasn't as bad as her detractors claim, and she wasn't as good as her fans claim. What I think is clear, though, especially with the how Bright got outpaced when she came on as well is that the Bright-Williamson pairing shouldn't continue.

At times physical (and occasionally chaotic) game, Stanway did not stay out of the duels as Wiegman asked them to!

I actually think Stanway got more of a knock than first realised during one heavy collision; she was limping afterwards and seemed to make more mistakes. I thought she would get subbed out, but she played the full 90.

It was a physical and fast-paced game; which I think is an important learning experience, especially for young players. Football is a physical sport and you will get clattered, and you've got to learn to keep your head, keep your composure, and not let it rattle you. Some of them have experienced it at the domestic level, but experiencing it at international level can be very different. Good learning opportunity and I think the younger players coped quite well.

Not many yellow cards. That said, one could have been a red since it looked to be quite a reckless challenge on Russo that connected with her achilles, which I've seen players sent off for many times before.

South Africa making England's back-line panic!

Kgatlana is a brilliant player to watch, isn't she? She gave the England defenders so many problems and was just everywhere in the attack when they got into England's third. The players sat behind her in an attacking role, Magaia and the Cesane twins, also had their fair share of opportunities to drive forward and sow panic amongst the England players.

When South Africa got on the attack or the counter-attack (via some well-placed long balls for some of them from the defense and midfield) they looked promising. A bit more work on composure in finishing and they will have a strong counter-attacking threat.

Also, it's not easy to be a goalkeeper coming on halfway through a game, but Dlamini had a composed time in front of goal when she had to sub in for Swart at half-time.

Commentary on South Africa

Because all my social media feeds have women's football in the algorithm, and the England team specifically, I get a lot of stuff coming up from all kinds of people interested in women's sport. Sometimes, I see opinions that lead to me hitting the block button and wishing I could hit it a few times more. I really didn't like the tone of some after this game.

There was mockery of the South African players for going down after making or being on the receiving end of tackles, and of the South African medical team when they came on and off the pitch. Now there were a fair few collisions and heavy tackles; as I said, it was a physical game, and the South African players often came off worse than the England players, leading to their medical/physio staff having to come on the pitch.

Some of the comments, however, really felt like they were coming from a nasty, Anglo-centric perspective, and there were absolutely some that were just racist or xenophobic. The latter were predominantly on TikTok, which can be just as much of a cesspit as Twitter.

Related to that and some of the comments, I think some fans of women's football do not consider that there are many barriers and fewer resources for a lot of women's football teams around the world. While women footballers in England still face barriers, mistreatment and other issues that impact their equal access to the game, many of them (and especially those playing in the WSL) are in a much more privileged position than many players worldwide. There was a report released recently exploring this with players from a number of countries. Thinking about this and acknowledging it also doesn't mean downplaying the talent or the performances of players in those teams; it's simply understanding how much of impact different barriers have.

Commentary on Naz vs Beever-Jones

Now I understand that some people were frustrated that Beever-Jones did not get minutes this international window. What I don't understand is why, for some, Jess Naz is being dragged into this. Some people have claimed she doesn't deserve to start over Beever-Jones, that she's not a particularly good player, their various stats have been dragged into it from last season, some are claiming Naz is "over-hyped" (Where? From a quick search, she certainly doesn't have more articles about her than Beever-Jones, nor more social media commentary, so it can't be a direct comparison they're going for), and all kinds of other stuff.

Naz is a decent player and deserved her opportunity to start. I think she has shown positive play and promise every time she's come on for England. Naz being on the pitch does not prevent Beever-Jones being on the pitch; they can both play multiple positions. As I said above, you could try Naz on the wing and Beever-Jones central. If people are unhappy about Beever-Jones not playing, I understand directing criticism towards Wiegman or the tactics, but I don't understand why Naz has been dragged into this.

I've also seen a few people suggest Beever-Jones needs to start refusing England call-ups or be allowed to stay at club if she's always going to be left on the bench? She's been called up twice so far, both this year. May 2024 was her first senior call-up and we're in November 2024, with two international windows. I don't think any disappointment she may or may not be feeling is quite at the point yet of refusing to join the squad... If she keeps not getting minutes, sure, but it's a little dramatic right now. That said, men's football also has some of this kind of dramatic commentary, too, so presumably it's a fandom meets sports thing.

Anyway, I enjoyed the game. Didn't like some of the external commentary. Glad we got to watch South Africa play, and now I need to choose my fantasy WSL team before I forget... trying to figure out who took knocks on international duty.

[lol-jackles]

I sent the asks about the anon asks to cynifer's blog and I forgot to add that in going through responses to a tweet that had screengrabs of cynifers posts, someone said that his "branding and endorsement agent" was with him. Seems weird unless he's going to start doing endorsements for overseas products?

https://x.com/NataRomanovaBW/status/1796570683335745949

(I had to unblock this assh*le to even see this post lol)

Link. While actors do overseas commercials all the time, but I don't believe it requires a 'branding/endorsement agent' to be present. Even now most American celebrities don't expect their American fans to see the often-embarrassing foreign commercials.

This is the guy they're claiming was with Jensen in Germany? (X)

_____________________________________________

When you read through his LinkedIn, his background is music branding. I said here that Jensen should probably lean into musician persona to help paper over his inconsistency/unpredictability issue and seem "mysterious" instead. Maybe that's why Cormac was allegedly seen in Germany to figure out how to help Jensen with his branding problem? I still think it's strange that a Gersh agent would be at a fan convention unless he's already in Germany for a different purpose.

[cookiepotofchaos]

Some long(ish) ramblings and thoughts about the England vs Ireland game and U19s England vs Lithuania games below the cut.

I'm glad the U19s games are becoming more available, it's interesting to watch and see up-and-coming players.

U19s England vs Lithuania, Final Score 10-0

Difficult to really assess a team's quality when even the commentators pointed out that Lithuania would never normally be facing a team like England at this stage of a competition. It must be a bit disheartening going into a game you are fairly certain you'll lose substantially in.

Lithuania really did struggle; there were moments of sparks, where the ball was driven forward with intent, but lack of follow-up or people to pass to just meant it always ended up back with England. Darija Mikuckytė had such a hard shift in goal - the 25 shots on target do not tell the full story of pressure she dealt with. Kudos to her for continuing to throw herself at the feet of players to prevent them getting shots off even as the scoreline increased.

But, as I said, it's tricky to tell how well a team plays when they are so totally in control of the game. Vivienne Lia looks a clever player out on the wing, she had a decent number of well-placed crosses in and got a goal of her own. Arsenal have got some quality youngsters coming through for the upcoming season; as well as Lia, I've seen decent things said about Michelle Agyemang and Katie Reid, with Agyemang getting a hat-trick in this game alongside City's Poppy Pritchard.

They face Serbia on Wednesday, so it'll be interesting to see how they fare in that match.

England Vs Ireland, Final Score 2-1

Pleasantly surprised to see Weigman use all 5 substitute slots available, with all but one well before the end. Good to see some players who haven't seen much, or any, international minutes get time.

I find it interesting how there's still a lot of "such and such is benched, they're washed/out of favour/not good enough/no longer first choice" in football discussions, rather than just that some people are better against certain opponents, play styles, tactics, or so on. Rotation is good and so is flexibility. The England squad could probably benefit from some more of it, though there will be the teething problems and inconsistencies that come with that learning curve. Which was apparent against Ireland.

Park was fantastic, making and finding space in the middle, nipping in and out, strong passing and vision; probably player of the match for me. She seemed to have some indecisiveness when nearer the goal, at times keeping the ball for too long when she should have passed earlier, and at other times passing the ball when I think she may have been better positioned to take a shot. But that's something that'll come with age and experience, which hopefully she'll get more of on the international stage.

Thought Le Tissier was pretty decent in RB, made some good runs with well chosen and placed crosses in and forward to help open up chances. She seemed more confident when she was a bit further forward, making those long runs down the right, and a little less certain deeper in the England half. When she was tracking back, she seemed less sure and more prone to just passing back (though...that was a bit of a feature of the back-line overall). Overall, I think she put in a solid 90 minutes and shows decent potential.

I was delighted to see Naz get her debut, think she's a great player (sympathies to poor Kirby though, she looked very unwell when the camera panned to her...). Naz had good anticipation, read the game and momentum of play well, and used her pace alongside that to make runs that caused trouble for the opposition. She nearly got a shot on goal with her first (?) touch, and Ireland took a yellow card to stop her sprinting off on a counter attack (probably sensible, because she would be gone). I'd love to see her get a solid spot next squad call, and not just be a reserve, though I know the quality of players available makes the decisions challenging sometimes.

Didn't get to see enough of Beever-Jones (her coming on earlier would have been great), but she got straight into play with crosses and passes into the box which showed sparks of her potential. Hope she plays more as well.

On a wider scale, moving away from the newer players, it was a bit inconsistent in places. Which, with so many changes and so many usually core players not playing there was always going to be some wobbles. But you've got to try new things sometimes.

I've seen a few comments about it was only 2-1 because of the penalty, so could have been 1-1, but the penalty was given because Hemp was pulled down when she had an open goal in front of her. Without Hemp being pulled back, I don't think Brosnan would have gotten back in position in time to make a save. I think it would have been a goal either way.

There does seem to be some hesitancy or uncertainty or...something near the box and with taking shots on goal. I think this is where England miss James the most and it is difficult to replace a player like James when she's not available.

Other players seemed to have some wobbles, Greenwood had some great tackles and defending and then wobbled in other place, Carter and Charles both had interspersed moments of solid defending and then some heavy touches and misplaced passes. I wondered if the collision Carter had in the box after her shot on goal may have been a bit heavier than first realised, she seemed a second off her usual after that. And Charles is coming back from an injury, so there will always be some shakiness there.

Hampton was also a bit shaky at times. Made some solid saves, interceptions, and crosses collections, but some definite indecisiveness on the ball and her long-ball distribution was not great which meant there was a lot of short passing. Under pressure, you can see the same couple of shakes and errors start to creep up for Hampton. And, of course, there was that panicked moment of heavy touch that she had to race to fix and, thankfully, kept focused and did.

It felt at times like the defense were over-relying on Hampton's reputation for long-ball distribution to get the ball forward and when, for whatever reason, that wasn't working for her, it left Hampton getting the ball more than was fair, which made the indecisiveness worse.

Interesting to see what happens against Sweden.

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

Cut out the reblogs for length, I'll try to quote you so people have context to what I'm replying to but stuff is going to get lost so I'm sorry about that

I absolutely did not agree with the idea that it devalued the characters we'd been following the whole time because of the levels of meta involved.

I also don't think that the "meta"-ness of the retcon was the problem. Homestuck is a postmodern work, and thus, meta commentary is inextricably woven into the story from the very beginning, all the way through to the end. The problem I have with the ending actually has nothing to do with how "meta" it is. It's about how character arcs - which are ongoing even through Act 6, right up until post-Game Over - get randomly discarded en masse, which is completely inconsistent with the ENTIRE story up until that point. Karkat and Jake are the big offenders, but, for example, Dave never really resolves his hangups about not wanting to kill LE and then is suddenly just doing it, Davesprite's problems are all fixed by being combined with Nepetasprite, and Rose's alcoholism is solved by Vriska knocking a glass out of her hand. Kanaya's bad habit of completely disregarding, and even bullying/trying to kill people she doesn't like is also never touched on, and it's not like Dirk, Jane, or Roxy ever properly resolved their bullshit either.

But when the comic multiple times looks directly at the audience and says "nah man character arcs are bogus people are just people," it makes sense to think that maybe Hussie wasn't really clear on where he wanted every character to go by the end of the story.

Okay, so... when the characters are doing this prior to the retcon, it is because their character arcs are ONGOING and they are still struggling with their place in the world and what it means to be a hero, Dave especially. Much of the early comic, with Vriska and John, sets up how they kind of "cheated" their way into god-tier, or otherwise fell ass-first into it, and they muse on the implications of taking shortcuts, and whether that was detrimental to them. Given that god tiering is a metaphor for adulthood - a semi-permanent state to be reached at the end of the coming-of-age that SBURB/SGRUB is, this basically sets the tone that Vriska, and all of the kids, "grew up too fast," without having proper time to examine the circumstances that led them to god-tiering or resolving their childhood hangups.

This is ESPECIALLY true for Rose and Dave, who muse the most about their arcs and their storylines - Rose discussing whether or not it's even worth it to do her planetary quest, or if it was calibrated for a 13 year old girl and wouldn't be relevant to her anymore, and Dave's constant refusal of the call and duty to slay Lord English. What I'm saying is, the reason these characters are refuting their arcs pre-retcon is because they're still in the middle of grappling with said arcs.

Rose has ALWAYS wanted to be taken more seriously and more grown-up than she actually is. This fuels much of her arrogance in the early story, her desire to subvert the path SBURB has laid out for her, and allows Doc Scratch (the creepy uncle) to manipulate her. This also fuels her alcoholism - not only is drinking a very Adult thing to be doing, but because Rose spent so much time trying to be Better and More Mature than her whimsical mother, she wound up missing out on having a loving relationship with her, and now she's trying to reconnect with her via alcohol. Her musings about doing her planetary quests now happen as a direct consequence of the alcoholism nearly wrecking her life:

ROSE: I wonder if our young parents are like this? ROSE: I wonder if I will ever find out? ROSE: And what should I do in the meantime? ROSE: Should I... ROSE: Should I really work on completing my personal planetary quest? ROSE: That whole thing where I learn to "play the rain?" ROSE: I guess I should feel exhilarated to have the chance again after all these years. ROSE: Of course I should. ROSE: But then, ROSE: Why does it sound like such a drag? ROSE: I haven't played the violin in a long time. ROSE: I wonder if I even remember how. ROSE: Honestly I can't recall ever feeling less motivated to satisfy a looming obligation. ROSE: I think my quest was fundamentally bound to the nature of this land, which was customized to the profile, needs, and potential for growth of a thirteen year-old girl. ROSE: But I'm not that person anymore. ROSE: What if I ROSE: What if I just ROSE: Didn't bother doing it? ROSE: Like, ever? ROSE: Would anyone notice my dereliction? ROSE: Would the powers that be strike me down where I loaf? ROSE: What if I just said fuck it? ROSE: What then, silly pink tortoise shells? Hmmmm?? ROSE: ROSE: I guess I should stop procrastinating and have This Conversation with Kanaya.

The text at this point is NOT saying, "yeah man, character arcs are bogus and people are just people." It's saying, "I know I messed up somewhere, that I failed to resolve my problems, but I don't know if the advice and guidance I could've gotten when I was younger would even help me now." And here's the other thing: SHE SHOULD BE DOING HER QUEST.

We know this because John attaining the enlightenment needed to fully harness his retcon abilities is the direct result of finishing his quest. The quests remain relevant and helpful even now that they're older - in fact, Skaia/SBURB is outright stated to be sapient and omniscient, so it's actually implied that it will modify things on-the-fly to account for its players' decisions and current states of mind. LE's existence and actions are described as "sanctioned by paradox space," that is to say, paradox space has already accounted for his existence AND his defeat, which includes John's retcon powers - which is why John's quest is literally tied to said powers, and always has been.

What Rose doesn't realize - and apparently the audience doesn't realize, either - is that she's very much STILL IN THE GAME. Her planetary quest has likely already accounted for the fact that she'll be older and wiser when she finally gets around to it. Her arc has not stopped. It is currently ongoing, and questioning whether she should do the hard, gruelling, unfun, uncomfortable work of examining herself and fixing her unresolved childhood problems is part of her arc.

Rose outright likens not doing it to "loafing." This is especially true in the context of the Dancestors, who represent failing at growing up and maturing as hard as you possibly can, with so many of their problems directly stemming from NOT engaging with their mythological roles or responsibilities - Porrim ignoring frog breeding and Meenah's Entire Backstory. More on the dancestors and LE later, but I'm just going to mention here that the take that they only exist to mock the fandom is INCREDIBLY reductive and COMPLETELY misses the point. The Dancestors represent the game's Fail State - their actions are meant to be the OPPOSITE of aspirational.

So let's look at Dave, the other guy who spends the most time complaining about his arc pre-retcon. His baggage, I think, is a little more obvious than Rose's, because he was one of the few characters that actually got to talk about it post-retcon. He spent his childhood being tormented and abused by his older brother, under the guise of making him "stronger," and he spends much of the early comic defending his brother's actions and looking up to him as an ideal to achieve. Moreover, their living conditions were abysmal, and it was implied Dave had to be very careful even just to get food to eat. Thus, while Rose was obsessed with being more adult than she actually was, Dave was thrust into self-sufficiency - forced to grow up too fast.

And his planetary quest seems to mirror the expectations his brother placed on him - Dave is meant to reforge a broken blade and use it to kill LE.

DAVE: i mean DAVE: i think i might be "supposed" to kill him anyway? #air quotes DAVE: thats the feeling i get like there are all these clues about that ive kinda noticed #remember that bullshit about the pimp being in the crib? #hahaha oh god DAVE: so if i am THE GUY that needs to take him down then fine ill do that if and when i get hornswoggled into some big showdown with a ridiculous green space pimp or whatever he is #i heard he has a gold tooth #are you fuckin kidding me DAVE: i dont know i think im not really cut out for the whole reluctant hero shtick #im better at comics DAVE: like the whole scene is so obvious and trite and i cant even tell if my reluctance is ironic or if im playing it straight #reluctant before it was cool #and before i was willing DAVE: like ill wonder if im being reluctant enough to cut it or if im actually just being reluctant to be reluctant #how reluctant do you even have to BE to DOOOOO something like etc etc #sbahj DAVE: it turns into like meta reluctance and then all i can think about is how fucking stupid the whole thing is  #i also think about puppets sometimes… #unrelated DAVE: i think im probably just too self aware for this hero bullshit so dont even waste your time on me #ironic self pity

And again, we know that the end point of his reluctance is that he does need to complete this quest, because he DOES complete the quest - either when he kills Jack English with Caledfwch, or when he and the beta kids land the final blow on LE in the dream bubbles when the treasure is deployed.

In fact, maybe one his biggest moments of refusing the call is when he's talking to Grimbark Jade about this exact situation after they alchemize Caledfwch.

DAVE: the empress can suck it DAVE: i have no intention of fighting him DAVE: and this isnt even me pulling more lame self aware reluctant hero junk DAVE: i am just straight up not going to do it DAVE: see thats not reluctance its just petulant refusal on my part DAVE: reluctant hero shit is when the guys like aw shucks i dunno if i wanna but deep down we all know he really does DAVE: but i really dont DAVE: why should i DAVE: i dont give a damn about lord english or his nebulous atrocities out in nowherespace DAVE: what kind of villain is someone you never met who hardly did anything evil to you or your friends directly DAVE: or even to anyone in your universe for that matter other than through some vague insidious influence DAVE: who even is this guy and why should i hate him DAVE: am i really supposed to be pissed off at a green muscle monster i never met DAVE: cause i aint pissed off at no muscle monster DAVE: hell wasnt he in some ass backwards way responsible for us existing in the first place? DAVE: or all of humanity for that matter?? DAVE: maybe i should thank him before chopping him up via welshscalibur

But it's important to put this in its proper context: right before he has this conversation with Jade, he's looking through his old bedroom, soliloquizing about his old interests and looking through his old selfies, which causes him to laugh so hard he breaks down crying.

The context is, Dave spent 3 years on a meteor emotionally alone - Karkat hated his rap and would constantly tell him so, Kanaya and Rose didn't care, and he rejected Terezi and she started hatedating Gamzee. Moreover, he spent those three years not being able to help anyone. Rose became an alcoholic and started having relationship problems with Kanaya; Terezi's relationship was incredibly toxic. One of the big hangups he complains about to Grimbark!Jade is that he was helping her with the frog quest knowing the entire time that he would have to die and leave her alone - it's safe to say that the fact that so much bad stuff seems inevitable to him as a time player is weighing heavily on his shoulders.

The reason he has such a strong emotional reaction to his old selfies is because they represent an innocence, hope, and joy that he's lost. Much of this sequence is him thinking about what could have been and interests he forgot he had. In other words, at the point of time where Dave is saying he refuses to fight LE is when he has depression. It's not meant to be a good thing! It's not meant to be a profound statement on how people are people and don't have arcs! It's meant to show that Dave is going through it, so mired in his personal hangups, his depression, and his unresolved childhood trauma, that he's literally refusing to make their situation better.

He is literally incorrect about LE having done nothing directly to them - he WATCHED his dead friends getting double killed in the dream bubbles. Moreover, boiling LE's influence on the story and its events to nothing more than "a sinister influence" is a nutso take for him to have when that encompasses things like the Condesce being in the humans' sessions, every manipulation Doc Scratch performed, and even parts of his own abuse, as his older brother was being influenced by LE inside of Lil' Cal (sure, he doesn't know about these, but that's dramatic irony - we, the audience, are supposed to know that he's full of shit because LE has done WAY MORE than just ominously hang around in the background). By saying he thinks he should thank LE for bringing them into creation, he is functionally saying that he thinks maybe he should thank his abuser for abusing him - we are NOT supposed to agree with Dave here! This is supposed to be Dave's lowest point!

And at least part of Dave's hangups about killing LE like he's "supposed to" are displaced feelings he has towards the way his brother treated him. He has had expectations on his shoulders for his entire life, and he secretly always resented that. Now that he's once more being forcibly pulled into the line of duty, this time by Grimbark!Jade, he's going Fuck that!

But that's the setup for his arc, which he's still on. It's about processing the abuse he suffered and then choosing to better his situation. It's about taking up the sword not because the SBURB is telling him that he should, but taking it up because it will make life better.

Dave is under the impression that he's supposed to be an archetypal reluctant hero - someone who pretends like they don't want to do the big heroics, but secretly wants to deep down, and he thinks he's failed to live up to this. He genuinely doesn't want to take up the blade and confront LE. But that's because Dave is wrong about what his arc is supposed to be - making things better, and fixing your problems, is hard. Choosing to improve the world instead of letting it stay rotten is hard. It's unpleasant, boring, and unfun. But it should still be done. He CAN regain the joy and hope that he lost - he just has to make the hard choice, and do the hard work. He has to understand what parts of his childhood were cruel and unfair, and what things in his present day seem cruel and unfair, but are actually helpful and useful to him, and choose to pursue them even if he doesn't want to because it will make his life better.

[Hussie] definitely knew where they wanted the plot to go by the end, even if they fell victim to the same shit all long-running media creators face when they realize how fucking huge their narrative has gotten. I think Game Over and the retcon were, in a way, a response to Hussie believing they'd written themselves into a corner.

I agree that a large part of the post-Game Over story truncation was driven by the fact that they realized how much more writing they would have to do before they could achieve their original intended and set up ending. I'm glad that we agree that there was originally another ending planned.

However, I am going to disagree about Game Over and the Retcon being a means of escaping a corner. I believe that these elements were always intended, for several reasons:

First, because a horrible ending like Game Over actually fits perfectly into the story that was set up prior. Caliborn outright talks about how he set up the circumstances of his own defeat - and if it's Caliborn doing the setting up, then of course he'd create a situation where everybody loses!

We even see in the retcon that the characters from the Game Over timeline still exist, now with (parentheses) around their names. This means that the Game Over crew, who are now dead and in the dream bubbles, are now in position to fight and defeat LE. Thus, the story Caliborn has written for everyone is one where, yes, he is ultimately defeated, BUT it comes at the expense of everyone else dying and being screwed over, too.

So then, the retcon. It does NOT come out of nowhere as a means for Hussie to write themselves out of a corner - the retcon powers are actually a natural final culmination of John's arc as a well-meaning guy who's everybody's friend, and, perhaps more damningly, as a player of Breath.

Blood and Breath are matched pairs - if Blood is about bonds and connections, then Breath is about FREEDOM and CHOICES. Let's not forget that everything to do with LE has been sanctioned by paradox space, and, thus, is accounted for by the sapience of SBURB. And this includes granting the most fully-realized Breath player, who never gave up on his friends and never stopped wanting the best for them, the literal ability to CHOOSE A NEW FUTURE, unbound by the machinations of LE and his control over which timeline is the alpha. Because, let's not forget, the actual definition of the alpha timeline is "the timeline that leads to LE's arrival." The story has always set up that its happy ending would be one where that outcome is refuted.

And finally, there are elements that survived into the post-retcon story that appear to take cues from this setup of the Game Over crew still having arcs and adventures in the dream bubbles after dying, while the post-retcon crew are assembling and finishing their character development. The most glaring are the dangling plot threads, but there's also shit like the Ultimate Self that Davepetasprite^2 talks about, which seems like it's a way to turn the tragedy of the Game Over cast dying and staying dead into something bittersweet instead - it means that eventually, as every surviving character achieves ultimate selfhood, this will include their memories of being their Game Over iterations, so those sacrifices don't remain forgotten.

It also would mean that Lord English is defeated exclusively by dead and (irrelevant) characters while inside the dream bubbles - symbolically rendering him "nothing more than a bad dream." This 1:1 mirrors the existence godtier!Calliope:

CALLIOPE: you don't need to do anything. CALLIOPE: be who you've become, and who i didn't. CALLIOPE: consume the fruits of an existence i could never understand. CALLIOPE: live.

Those that were most screwed over by LE's existence get the satisfaction of being the ones to pummel his face in. And, by taking on that responsibility, that sacrifice, the surviving characters post-retcon are able to live - happy, together, and free.

And, here's the thing. If Hussie wanted to bring everyone who was dead back? That's what the retcon would've been there for. It was the perfect opportunity to have John pop in between all of the major fights and stop a few murders. Even if you want to argue that Terezi wouldn't have thought of that, there were absolutely no rules on that shit.

Yes. This is actually why I am arguing that that was the original plan and then it was discarded. It literally makes no sense that Karkat, who has spent the entire meteor ride complaining about missing his dead friends, whose aspect is blood, which governs bonds (such as friendship), is sitting there with MULTIPLE means of resurrecting his friends and NOT SAYING ANYTHING.

Because it's so WILDLY out of character for this to happen, it seems much more likely to me that not bringing back the dead assholes is author fiat, as it's a decision that can't be justified in-universe. I'm glad that we agree that the retcon existed as a way to bring everybody back.

This is the comic that created 10-12 caricatures of fandom culture meant to be as annoying as possible and whose main villain is a screaming tween at a computer.

I am going to outright tell you that the - apparently common - fandom take that the dancestors Only Exist To Spite The Fandom is completely untrue. There are elements there that do serve as parodies of the worst parts of the fandom, but the dancestors are incredibly thematically relevant AND fill in a lot of backstory (it's heavily implied that the dancestors cringefailing so hard literally gave rise to LE). I go very in-depth on that here - it's a whole essay on its own - but reducing them to "Hussie was mean to the audience" and LE/Caliborn to a "screaming tween at a computer" completely misses the point.

The dancestors and LE are shallow and immature - you've correctly identified that - but think about it in the context of Homestuck's broader themes. It's a coming of age. Hussie outright says it's always been about maturing and growing up.

And thusly, the main villain is a child who stunted his own growth and completely refused to engage with the SBURB's usual coming-of-age stuff by murdering his co-player before it could begin. The dancestors, who either gave LE entry into their universe, or even caused LE to be created in the first place, got to that point by being so shitty and immature to each other that they reached physical adulthood without managing to fix even a SINGLE emotional problem or interpersonal issue between them. If the story is about how kids should grow up, mature, and be kind to one another, then the dancestors and LE represent children who physically grew up but emotionally remained the same, who were immature, and who were CRUEL to each other. They could hardly BE better antagonists for this specific story, so diametrically they are opposed to its fundamental themes.

You can still choose to believe what you believe - end of the day, sometimes we must agree to disagree - but it does seem kind of odd that you bring up so many points in favor of much more being set up than Hussie was able to execute, only to then argue that they didn't have any grand plans set up. I think you might want to try re-examining your own arguments.

Murder, Love, and Destiny: An Eridan Ampora Character Study

Warnings for things from Homestuck, like discussions of child abuse, mental illness, murder, suicide, etc. etc.

Because there's a huge wall of text after this point, I'm going to summarize what I hope to convince you of in bullet point format, and then hope you'll actually read the rest of the text before arguing with me about it.

Eridan is the least casteist highblood, if you ignore all the slurs.

Those are his emotional support slurs.

Pale EriKar was not only canon, but set up to be endgame.

Eridan is incredibly plot-relevant, thematically relevant, and was definitely originally intended to be brought back to life, alongside the other dead trolls.

He's Sad.

The first thing we have to establish is what counts as "canon" for the purpose of this essay. I am only counting the original comic up to Game Over, after which there's a general consensus that Hussie kind of gave up on his original planned ending, and slapped together something that most people hate. So I am immediately disqualifying Pesterquest, supplementary material, fanworks deemed canon, the epilogues, and Homestuck^2.

Moreover, we are taking Hussie's commentaries with a grain of salt, for two reasons. The first reason is that I firmly believe - and will be arguing - that the original plan was to bring Eridan (and the other dead trolls) back; therefore, Hussie (who has a track record of playing coy with future plot twists) can't speak too fondly of him, lest he give it away. The second reason for de-emphasizing Hussie's words is that, post-retcon, Hussie isn't very well going to say that he had plans for a better ending, and then didn't execute on them; to save face, he has to act as though his trashing of several prior plot threads, including but not limited to Eridan, was the plan all along.

Therefore, this essay will not be putting too much emphasis on Word of God, and will instead be relying on textual evidence from the comic itself, of which there is plenty. So without further ado:

Eridan is a Consummate Murderer.

The reason I'm starting with this point is that, far more than any other, this truth lies at the core of his being. Eridan is formally introduced to us with a murder, and he's haunted by an overpowering genocide complex. He outright describes to Rose at one point that "killin is all i evver done practically," and uses "murder" as an expletive (ie "swweet stinkin murder"). With a conservative estimate of 5 kills per week for 4 sweeps (Vriska looks VERY young when she has to start killing, and Eridan was likely a similar age when he began), both Eridan and Vriska easily have bodycounts above 2000 - the real number is probably even higher.

At this point, many raise an objection that Eridan is only killing lusii, but I believe we need to count his kills as troll murders, for three reasons: first, a dead lusus results in the orphaned troll being culled; second, one has to assume he has had cases of trolls trying to defend their lusii, or coming after him for vengeance; and third - and most importantly - Eridan HIMSELF is thinking about the orphaned trolls.

Compare Feferi: Go Home:

That should keep her happy for a while. At least until she dies.

To Eridan: Go Home:

That should keep her happy for a while. And make a freshly orphaned troll somewhere very sad.

So Eridan, to a much greater extent than even Feferi, is thinking about the orphaned trolls he's leaving behind, and considers his own actions to be murder.

Now that we've established the facts regarding his murders - a rough bodycount, and the fact that, by his own admission, he barely had any hobbies outside of it - we can move on to the effect that it's had on him. It's not very good!

Vriska's manipul8tions and murders had to be done for her own sake - if she ever stopped, she died. Therefore, much of Vriska's personality revolves around justifying her own actions so she doesn't have to reckon with her softer feelings, like guilt or kindness - which she expresses would be viewed as scandalous by others of her caste.

But if Eridan ever stops feeding Gl'bgolyb, everybody dies. The stakes he has riding on his shoulders are, at all times, the fate of all trolls, including all his friends. Given Dualscar's title was "Orphaner," it's implied that killing lusii for Gl'bgolyb has always been a violet blood's duty, and is seen as such by the others, which is why nobody expresses gratitude for his hard work even a single time.

Which brings us to our next point:

Eridan is Crushed by Anxiety.

If Eridan stops killing lusii, everybody - especially his friends, but everybody else, too - dies.

If Eridan ever shows guilt or kindness, he'll be considered "weak" by the standards of highbloods - he shares this with Vriska.

Eridan is expected, by aristocratic tradition, to take on the mantle of his ancestor Dualscar and finish his work. Dualscar met a comedically cringefail end, so this is a massive undertaking.

Before finding out that god tiering is an option - so, for nearly his entire life - Eridan has had to live with the expectation that he will outlive all of his friends. The lowbloods from culling or dying on the battlefield, the highbloods from old age, and Feferi from being killed by the Empress when she gets old enough.

(This is reflected in who he talks to the most - Feferi, who's the only one with a natural lifespan longer than his, Vriska, who's a highblood, Kanaya, who's practically guaranteed to survive into adulthood, and Karkat, whose anonblood allows Eridan to give him the benefit of the doubt.)

Also if he can't land his concupiscent quadrants he'll die from that too, but that seems pretty secondary to the rest of his concerns.

He can't even make friends with the other highbloods, because sea dwellers are expected to hate and antagonize them.

He had a free ticket into adulthood, but would almost certainly be expected to join the army and serve as a commander. That is to say, his fate of performing the role of a vicious, murderous sea dweller seems dreadfully inevitable to him.

NO WONDER he can't stop having emotional breakdowns. NO WONDER his chatlogs swing wildly from relentless self-aggrandizement to traumadumping. NO WONDER he's obsessed with murder and death and genocide.

Doc Scratch calls him a "vengeful boy on the path of nihilism," and it's not hard to see why: Eridan's entire life has been about living up to the role imposed on him by society, sacrificing his own time and sanity for everyone else, which he "nevver got any appreciation for anywway." And all he had to look forward to was more of the same, all his friends dropping dead one by one before him. For Eridan, there has never been any hope.

SGRUB could have been a way out for him, but a combination of his own terrible choices, spurred on by his anxieties, and his teammates' unwillingness to knock some sense into him, meant that he only wound up mired even deeper in his hopelessness.

We all know about how Eridan wouldn't stop killing the angels on his planet, provoking their aggression and turning it into a ball of death. How he was definitely not supposed to be doing this, and how his stubborn insistence on it led to his further ostracization from the rest of the group. The thing is, when we look at his angel-murders from the point of view that Eridan's entire life has been about murdering things or else Something Bad™ happens, it actually starts to become... kind of sad.

KARKAT: BETWEEN A TRIGGERHAPPY PRINCE WITH A GOD WEAPON BLASTING ANYTHING THAT TWITCHED AND A MILLION CRAZED ANGELS HE DELIBERATELY ENRAGED, IT WASN'T WHAT I'D CALL AN IDEAL SOCIAL HUB. KARKAT: IF YOU WERE LONELY WHY DIDN'T YOU VENTURE OUT MORE OFTEN? ERIDAN: wwell i wwoulda but nobody else wwas vvolunteerin to pick up the slack on angel killin duties

Killing the angels is something he feels like his has to do, because his entire life has been about killing things he doesn't want to kill. He's unable to break out of that mindset on his own, and his unpleasant personality has scared off anyone who might want to help. No one on the team tries to understand his thought process on a deeper level, not even Karkat, who just tells him it was an idiotic thing to do without addressing his underlying anxieties at all. Indeed, "nobody understands."

And this is really the root of why I think so many people get the wrong read on Eridan - Eridan is constantly contradicting himself, constantly denying his own feelings, constantly pushing an image that he doesn't actually believe in, and constantly insisting that he's fine with all the horrible shit in his life - that he likes it, even. After all, he can't admit to his guilt for his murders, or how much he doesn't want to watch his friends die, or how scared he is about the future - that'd be weakness!

CC: I can't look after you anymore. CA: I DIDNT EVER NEED ANYONE TO LOOK AFTER ME CA: i was totally fuckin fine my ambitions were noble

You see his contradictory nature with his stated love of history, which he only ever offhandedly mentions - because he's not actually that interested in history, it's just something that's expected of someone of his station. And you see it with his wavy accent, which he himself calls "weird" and drops when he's trying to be emotionally sincere. And you see it with his dumbass outfit, which is very clearly an imitation of Dualscar (with the only exception being the wizard-ass scarf, because wizards are his actual interest. I don't believe he likes fashion. I genuinely believe - and Eridan himself says so - that he basically has no hobbies outside of murder).

Even being proud to be a sea dweller is pretty much an outright lie:

CC: You can't )(ave t)(e sort of affinity for "our kind" t)(at you profess if you've only spent, w)(at... CC: A few days underwater, maybe? IN YOUR W)(OL-E LIF-E!

One that he tells because he's SCARED OF THE OCEAN. Because he knows what lives in the ocean, because he's been feeding it his entire life. I see a lot of people who give Eridan an interest in marine life, and I'm telling you, that's just got no basis in canon. He's fucking TERRIFIED of the sea.

And for that matter, land dweller genocide. Eridan doesn't want to do it. Both Feferi AND his internal narration call him out for not actually wanting to do it. He outright states he wouldn't kill his friends.

CA: wwell CA: im not goin to vvery wwell kill you am i that wwould be fuckin unconscionable CA: wwhat kind of friend wwould i be

But he feels like he HAS to want it, HAS to believe in it, HAS to be talking about it constantly, because that's what's expected from him as a sea dweller, and a sea dweller is ALL that he will get to be. The mutation that puts a violet streak in his hair is damning. It's a fate he feels like he can't escape. Which brings us to:

Eridan is Not Actually Casteist, Well He Is But Not Like That, It's Complicated

Secondary title: Those Are His Emotional Support Slurs, Okay

In the exact same vein (haha) as secretly not wanting all the land dwellers dead, Eridan also genuinely doesn't feel like he's better than lower blood castes. Vriska and Equius obviously put quite a bit of stock into being nobility, and both have acted superior to Karkat for it. Feferi actually revels in her high status, and while she is genuinely well-meaning, she's not as interested in abolishing casteism as she is in changing the meaning of "culling" specifically (the hemocaste, aristocracy, and casteism still very much exist in a Beforus under her rule). Gamzee MIGHT be the only highblood less casteist than Eridan, but then again, as soon as he snaps, he does say a lot of casteist stuff to Equius, although it's unclear how serious he is, and he also proceeds to get really into his weird highblood clown cult.

Meanwhile, Eridan - despite all his slurs and talk of genocide - does not actually try to "pull rank" on a lowblood for being a lower caste than him with a single exception. That exception is Sollux... after he's already shown having entirely caste-neutral opinions on Sollux:

CC: But Sollux finally came t)(roug)(, and now I believe t)(e full c)(ain is complete! CA: man that guy CA: hes a fuckin drama machine it is fuckin pathetic CC: YOUR STUPID FIS)(Y FAC-E IS T)(-E DRAMA MAC)(IN-E T)(AT DO-ES NOT)(ING BUT W)(IN-E AND GLUB. CC: 38P CA: fuck SORRY CC: Anyway you s)(ouldn't say t)(at about )(im, )(e is a )(ero and )(e saved my life. CA: yeah sorry

CA: my feelins seem petty and meaninless noww CA: she had better things to wworry about than my ovverwwrought bullshit CA: like the dead guy wwho savved her CA: so forget it thanks anywway

It's only AFTER he's mad at Sollux for dating Feferi that he starts going in on Sollux with casteist rhetoric... which is treated as unrequited flirting and not serious casteism:

ERIDAN: hey finless this doesnt concern those wwith mustard sludge slippin through their vveins ERIDAN: its a matter for royalty only ERIDAN: so keep your mouth closed or ill slit you open ovver my next meal SOLLUX: w/e bro, not iintere2ted. FEFERI: -Eridan, please! I don't want to see any more dueling. FEFERI: Don't try to provoke )(im. It's not like I don't know w)(at you're doing! You keep trying to spark a rivalry wit)( )(im to get me to auspisticize between you two, and pull us out of our quadrant! FEFERI: It is t)(e oldest and lamest trick in t)(e book. It didn't work t)(en and it won't work now!

THEY don't even think he's being casteist.

In fact, directly contradicting this earlier argument he has with Feferi:

CC: T)(is is t)(e last time I will say t)(is. CC: W-E AR-E NOT B-ETT-ER T)(AN ANYBODY!!!!! CC: GLUB. >38( CA: pshh CA: hemospectrum begs to differ

He OUTRIGHT states his real feelings here:

CA: im the biggest fuckin idiot who ever lived CA: i cant BELIEVE i just opened up to you like a chump when i knew what was comin CA: i am one sad fuckin brinesucker CA: overemotional sappy trash youre right im not better than anybody CA: im worse than anybody CA: EVERYBODY CA: all the bodies

So the question of "is Eridan casteist" has an answer of "kind of, but also no." Eridan DOES espouse the rhetoric; he's constantly saying stuff that a casteist sea dweller "should" be saying. However, if you look at his ACTIONS, and the way he actually treats people, he doesn't actually care about blood color. He'll hit on anybody, and he's rude as fuck to everybody. The real problem with him is that he's terrible to talk to, not that he's discriminatory.

That's the thing about Eridan. Understanding him means looking past the way he presents himself, the lies he tells to himself, and even, at times, the way the narration presents him. His "overblown emotional theatrics" seem a lot less overblown when his problems ARE so real, deep-seated, and constantly causing him an unimaginable amount of anguish.

The problem is, the main people he has to bounce those problems against are Feferi, Vriska, and Kanaya, three of the people most comfortable with their privileged positions, for whom Eridan's genuine emotional distress seems like needless melodrama. Feferi loves being a princess, Vriska enjoys her noble privileges, Kanaya doesn't need to worry about culling. But for Eridan, his noble status, and the duties and expectations placed on him for it, have caused him nothing but pain - of course he would feel like nobody understands. Most of his closest friends genuinely don't, nor do they try to.

Because that's what he is at his core - a traumatized fucking child, who doesn't see any way out. Eridan is not a casteist genocidal sea dweller... he just wishes he was one, and tries to be one, because if he actually was one, he wouldn't feel so awful and scared and sad all the time. He'd be normal, like his friends.

The reason he constantly spouts anti-land dweller rhetoric and uses casteist language is to assuage this cognitive dissonance. That's why he has to come off so strong, present himself in such an aggrandized way, act like such a douchebag. They're his emotional support slurs. He doesn't actually believe what he says, which means he's a Bad Sea Dweller, which means he's Failing, which means Something Bad Will Happen, so he'd better get his ass in line and say something casteist!

And it's all made worse because:

Eridan is Dumb of Ass (and True of Word)

Oh my god you guys he's so stupid that it hurts.

Okay, that's not entirely fair. Eridan is clearly well-educated and book smart; he has some of the most elegant prose out of the trolls, and he's prone to going off on insane rants with it. (Actually, his language gets more flowery and showy when he's trying to impress a stranger, and gets progressively more laid back, chill, and even kind of "bro"-y when he starts talking to people he doesn't feel like he needs to impress.)

CA: at this point i find all her adorable black pixie dabblins to be prime kiddie playtime shit CA: all of her FRAUDULENT MAGICS cannot come close to posin threat to my mastery ovver the TRUEST SCIENCES CA: an wwith my empiricists wwand i servve as the righteous hope that wwill incinerate delusion and the deluded alike CA: my holy fire is the wwhite fury bled from the wwrath-wweary eyes of fifty thousand nonfictional angels CA: and wwhen theyre finished wweepin they wwill boww before their prince GG: wow what are you talking about

What I mean is this: his brain is so full of anxiety and cognitive dissonance and murder and death that he struggles to care about other people, which has devastating effects on his social skills. I go really in-depth on how his though process informs his behavior here. The question may have popped up in your mind already: if his casteism stuff isn't actually real, then what is Eridan actually like? The answer is, overwhelmingly, and discomfortingly, SINCERE.

This boy is gunning at 100% emotional earnestness 100% of the time, and it's deeply uncomfortable for others to deal with. He'll swing wildly from insults and derogatory language, to stating a desire to kill all land dwellers, to awe and amazement at his friends' prowess, to demanding that they do things for him, to traumadumping and venting, without missing a beat. Often in the same conversation.

CA: kan its hard GA: What CA: being a kid and growwing up CA: its hard and nobody understands

He's also specifically terrible at parsing hostility. Functionally, he interprets all hostility aimed AT him as either pitch/ashen flirting or "ironic repartee," and similarly views his own hostile words as verbal jousting, pitch/ashen advances, or even just factual descriptions of the world around him (ie calling Nepeta a "kittycat shipper cavve girl"). Hostility and aggression are just kind of his baseline, default state of being, and he basically has no ability to differentiate between good and bad attention. I talk more in-depth about his emotionally bereft upbringing (and shitty lusus) here, but suffice to say that our boy isn't getting any emotional support at home, and as a result, craves attention, no matter what kind.

This also means he's insanely gullible. For example, Rose calls him an idiot to his face, and then blows up his computer, sarcastically calling it "your first lesson in showmanship." Eridan proceeds to literally considers it that, blowing up Jade's computer after he's done talking to her. Furthermore, Kanaya sees him as a burden, insults him to his face, and pretty much just bullies him along with Rose for fun.

So she trains Eridan to become a powerful white wizard of hope to challenge her, as a joke.

And yet, in spite of all that, Eridan still has nothing but gratitude and praise for Kanaya:

ERIDAN: kan i been meanin to thank you KANAYA: For What ERIDAN: for all that trainin you did ERIDAN: i wwouldnt be the incredible holy wwizard i am noww wwithout your help KANAYA: But I Didnt Even Really Train You I Just Made You A Wand ERIDAN: yeah wwell thats all i needed i guess ERIDAN: i just needed for someone to showw a little faith in me so im sayin thanks i owwe ya KANAYA: Okay Then Youre Welcome KANAYA: I Hope You Use Your Magnificent Powers Of Light And Hope For Goodness And Purity And Lets Not Forget Science ERIDAN: dont wworry im all ovver that shit you dont evven knoww KANAYA: Uh Oh I Hope That Didnt Come Off As Too Sarcastic ERIDAN: wwhat KANAYA: The Thing I Just Said KANAYA: I Didnt Even Realize How Sarcastic I Was Being Its Starting To Become A Problem I Think KANAYA: Please Dont Take Too Much Offense ERIDAN: haha damn kan if thats your idea of offense bein made then i honestly gotta fuckin wworry for you ERIDAN: tell you wwhat ill givve you some lessons in dealin out the dark umbrage to repay you for your tutelage in the wwhite science

Like, he's in the middle of genuinely thanking her for believing in him, she makes fun of him to his face, and his response is to laugh it off and offer to teach her how to properly insult someone. It's honestly... kind of sad. Not that he doesn't deserve the ridicule, but what we're seeing here is a traumatized, emotionally neglected boy trying to communicate the best that he can that he loves and appreciates his friends, and receiving nothing but mockery in return.

It's really not a surprise, then, that he goes off the deep end. His entire life prior to the game has been shit; he got broken up with as soon as he entered the game (by someone who didn't even care enough not to use fish puns while doing it); he's ostracized and avoided for the game's duration; and then he spends the rest of his time on the meteor being bullied. He feels deeply hopeless and anxious about their situation because he literally doesn't know how else to exist, and his concerns are dismissed and mocked at every turn. When Feferi turns on him with intent to kill, that's his breaking point.

I see a lot of people say he goes grimdark, or succumbs to external influence somehow, but I don't think that needs to be true (nor is it) - he's just a deeply traumatized kid with almost no support network who's finally been pushed to the edge, despite displaying every possible warning sign and making multiple cries for help. Yes, ultimately, he's guilty for his own actions, but his killing spree - alongside Gamzee's and Vriska's - represents a cohesive failure as a team to address very clear problems in their midst.

So Feferi and Kanaya are sick of his ass. Sollux hates him platonically, Equius doesn't like him, and Nepeta thinks of him as a creep. Vriska is his awkward ex, and Terezi agrees with him when he calls himself pathetic. He never interacts with Tavros, Aradia, or sober!Gamzee. Is there anyone that treats him nicely?

Uh, okay, so I swear this isn't shipping goggles -

Pale EriKar Is Canon And I Can Prove It

So, I'm going to start this with a disclaimer: you can ship what you want to ship. I don't mind. I don't care. Headcanons are valid, death of the author, etc. What you do in your free time is up to you.

What I am attempting to argue in this section is that an Eridan/Karkat moirallegiance was heavily foreshadowed, one of the most heavily foreshadowed things in the entire comic, and - assuming that the original ending of Homestuck included all the dead trolls being brought back and redeemed - was going to be endgame. There's a torrential amount of evidence pointing to this, and very little of it is acknowledged even by the EriKar shippers, which is a shame.

At the very least, I'll be happy if I can convince some Karkat RPers to be extra nice to Eridans, because they are actually just friends who care deeply about each other. Canonically.

The first thing to note is that Eridan and Karkat, at least prior to SGRUB, talk all the time, to the point where Feferi feels the need to comment on it:

CC: You know, I'm not sure w)(y we never talk about our romantic aspirations. CC: We s)(ould more often. It is kind of -EXCITING! CA: shrug CC: Probably because you fill your gossip quota wit)( your nubby )(orned bro. CC: You leave not)(ing left to talk about wit)( your dear sweet moirail! CC: We are supposed to )(elp eac)( ot)(er wit)( t)(at stuff too, remember. CA: maybe CA: seems kinda CA: odd though

("Can you please stop having an emotional affair with Karkat" "Eh, I'll think about it")

The second thing to note is what the contents of those conversations entail. Sure, they "gossip," but it goes deeper than that, because they gossip about things that Karkat would NEVER gossip about with anybody else, because Karkat usually respects his "VERY GOOD FRIEND"s. For example, here Eridan mentions that Karkat has speculated on Kanaya's love life with him:

CA: you dont wwant to be our auspistice cause you dont wwant to get locked into that sort of relation wwith her i can respect that GA: No Thats Not It CA: yeah it is your real feelins run pretty awwful RUDDY methinks evverybody knowws it CA: especially that assblood karkat he and me havve you so pegged about that its upright silly

And it's not even a one-off thing, because here Karkat is again, mentioning Nepeta's crush on him:

KARKAT: OK, BUT TO BE FAIR, I'M PRETTY SURE SHE'S STILL OBSESSED WITH ME. KARKAT: IT'S A VERY UNFORTUNATE, VERY RED AND VERY UNREQUITED SITUATION I'VE BEEN TRYING TO TIPTOE AROUND FOR A LONG TIME, OK? KARKAT: HER DISINTEREST IN YOUR ADVANCE WASN'T A REFLECTION ON YOU AT ALL. KARKAT: COME ON, WE TALKED ABOUT THIS.

It's a situation he's been trying to "tiptoe around for a long time," and he tells ERIDAN, of all people? MULTIPLE TIMES? (AND HE ALSO TELLS ERIDAN THAT THE REJECTION WASN'T HIS FAULT???? WHAT??????)

So we've established that they talk frequently and about some pretty seriously sensitive topics. But did you know that they also talk about... their feelings?

See, the thing is, Karkat has always been weirdly nice to Eridan. Here he is in a memo near the very beginning of their game, when Karkat is at his most "rah rah, I'm the big bad leader":

FCA: i got a problem FCA: wwith feferi FCA: and im really kinda sittin here in bad shape about it emotionally speakin CCG: OK, WELL CCG: I GET THAT, I HEAR YOU BRO CCG: BUT THIS IS STILL NOT THE RIGHT PLACE FOR THIS SO I'VE GOT TO BAN YOU. CCG banned FCA from responding to memo. CCG: BUT SERIOUSLY JUST GET IN TOUCH WITH ME IN PRIVATE ABOUT IT, OK MAN? CCG: WE'LL GET YOUR SHIT STRAIGHTENED OUT.

Compare that to Tavros asking for advice later down in the same memo:

PAT: sINCE i DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE NOW, bUT MAYBE HELP ME, PAT: aBOUT A THING THAT HAS TO DO WITH A GIRL, PAT: lIKE, PAT: a ROMANCE THING, yOU MIGHT KNOW ABOUT, CCG: YOU PEOPLE ARE IMBECILES. CCG: ALL OF YOU. CCG: I AM NOT POSTING THESE MEMOS TO COUNSEL YOU ON YOUR PAST AND FUTURE DATING PROBLEMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CCG: WHY ARE YOU ALL SUCH BASKET CASES. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY ANYMORE. PAT: sORRY, CCG: SHOULD I BAN YOU? WHAT'S EVEN THE POINT ANYMORE! ONE OF YOU STOOGES WILL BE RIGHT ON THE LAST ONES HEELS WITH ANOTHER SOB STORY. CCG: JUST CCG: HURRY UP AND TELL ME WHAT YOUR PROBLEM IS BRO.

He then proceeds to dispense no actual love advice; he just points out that Vriska can totally read this memo too, and then mocks them both when she shows up - thus making it clear that he is giving Eridan special treatment.

You see it again in his discussion with Eridan in [S] Kanaya: Return to the Core, where Eridan invokes a "pact" between them, and Karkat immediately plays nice with him, despite himself being extremely high-strung and stressed out:

KARKAT: RIGHT, IT'S POWERED BY SCIENCE, I FORGOT. KARKAT: OR HOPE. WHATEVER THE FUCK THAT MEANS. ERIDAN: i dont fuckin need this from you i take enough shit as it is from the rest a you dirtscrapers i thought you and me had a kinda pact or wwhatevver KARKAT: OK FINE, SHUT UP, I APOLOGIZE. I KNOW IT'S TOUGH BEING YOU.

That's definitely pity, which Karkat states to be the basis of all relationships besides pitch. But, sure, okay, Karkat is sometimes nice to his friends. He is, after all, the Friendship Troll, so that's not necessarily out of the ordinary. But how about the fact that it goes both ways?

That's right, Eridan "100% aggro 100% of the time" Ampora is actually really considerate toward Karkat's feelings, and basically nobody else's. Upon hearing that Karkat is distressed that Sollux has died, Eridan actively puts his own meltdown about his breakup with Feferi on pause:

TC: BeCaUsE OuR GoOd bRo sOlLuX JuSt kIcKeD ThE WiCkEd mOtHeRfUcKiN ShIt CA: wwhat the fuck do you mean by that CA: are you sayin hes dead TC: YeAh :o( CA: oh fuck CA: oh god fuck noww i feel like an asshole

He then goes on to chastise Gamzee for his shitty advice, demanding to be given the chance to comfort Karkat himself instead:

TC: BuT I ToLd hIm tO Be cHiLl TC: BeCaUsE ThErE Is a mIrAcLe cOmInG, i cAn fEeL It CA: that is the wworst fuckin advvice CA: wwhat an awwful thing a you to say CA: MAGIC ISNT REAL STUPID STOP BELIEVVIN IN IT TC: i'Ve gOt tO BeLiEvE At wHaT My hEaRt tElLs iN Me, EvEn iF It's a fAkE ThInG TC: HoNk CA: this is a lot a pointless fuckin rubbish and isnt no emotional help to him or me either for that matter CA: put kar on

Before finally giving up when Gamzee insists he's "too scared of Jack" to help, drinking some Faygo, and trying to ask past Karkat for help, because past Karkat isn't sad yet about Sollux dying. So, to recap,

Eridan's first instinct when in emotional duress is to go to Karkat.

Eridan feels like he knows Karkat well enough to know that Gamzee's advice would be useless (and is proven right by the fact that Gamzee and Karkat's moirallegiance fails for similar reasons).

Eridan is willing to shelve his own emotional meltdown for Karkat's sake.

Eridan demands to be the one to provide Karkat with emotional support.

And this is, again, not a one-off thing. In the memo Karkat opens right after Eridan and Gamzee have both turned murderous, after he's spent several minutes making death threats toward Eridan and insulting him directly, he goes:

CCG: I'M SO UPSET, I'M JUST COMPLETELY FREAKING OUT IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE. PCA: yeah i knoww wwhat its like you wwanna talk about it

Eridan spends this entire memo under the belief that it's a completely run-of-the-mill conversation they're having:

PCA: i mean yeah obvviously i kneww you wwerent serious PCA: i guess i appreciate the effort youre puttin into cheerin me up PCA: i can alwways count on you for some good ironic repartee kar nobody else really gets our sense a humor CCG: UGH, NO PCA: are you busy PCA: you said youd try to make it to lowwaa soon wwell howw about it

Which implies that offering to listen to Karkat's feelings is also a completely regular thing for them.

But something magical is ALSO happening within this last memo, and to really explain it, I'll first have to be a little mean to the GamKar shippers (sorry).

So, canonically, GamKar doesn't work out for them, despite also being somewhat foreshadowed. In fact, they feature on Nepeta's shipping wall, which is actually, in my opinion, foreshadowing that it WOULDN'T work out. (Nepeta's ships being wrong, and shipping being something she needs to learn to outgrow, is a whole essay on its own, that I'm not getting into here.)

But the thing is, the seeds for them not working out were also planted in the first - and only - real post-moirallegiance interaction that they have with each other, where Gamzee tries to calm Karkat down... and FAILS:

GAMZEE: naw brother, i was just about to all say for you to try and get your settle down on, maybe. GAMZEE: :o( ... KARKAT: OK KARKAT: OK YEAH KARKAT: I GUESS YOU'RE RIGHT. KARKAT: NO, YOU'RE RIGHT, I SHOULD RELAX. KARKAT: AND BREATHE. KARKAT: I MEAN, WHAT ARE MOIRAILS FOR, RIGHT? KARKAT: THIS IS HOW IT WORKS, I STOP YOU FROM KILLING EVERYBODY, THEN YOU RETURN THE FAVOR AND CALM ME DOWN AND I JUST KARKAT: BREATHE KARKAT: LIKE KARKAT: THIS... KARKAT: SNIIIIIIIIIIIIFFFFFFFFFFFFFUCK, THAT SUN IS BRIGHT. KARKAT: CALL ME CRAZY, BUT IT'S KIND OF HARD TO RELAX WITHIN A STONE'S THROW FROM, OH, I GUESS ONLY THE BIGGEST FUCKING STAR ANY MORTAL HAS EVER LAID EYES ON. ... KARKAT: BUT I MEAN, CAN THIS BE HEALTHY? KARKAT: AREN'T WE GOING TO GET BURNED OR HAVE OUR RETINAS SCORCHED BY LOOKING AT IT? KARKAT: OH GOD I THINK I'M HAVING A PANIC ATTACK.

But let's go back to that memo where Karkat is freaking out in every way possible. This is how he starts that memo - so upset about the deaths of his friends and terrified by Gamzee that he can barely string together a coherent thought:

CCG: WE ARE SO SCREWED. CCG: OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK. CCG: GUYS, I AM TERRIFIED, I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. CCG: I'M IN A ROOM FULL OF BODIES, AND I THINK I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO TURN MY BACK ON THEM? CCG: OH MY GOD, I JUST HEARD A HONK. ... CCG: FEFERI, I'M SORRY. CCG: IT WAS MY FAULT, I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. PCC: Sorry for w)(at?? CCG: FOR CCG: I CCG: I CAN'T DO THIS CCG: IT'S TOO MUCH FOR ME, I'M SORRY.

In fact, he's so distressed that he bans Past!Feferi and Past!Gamzee almost immediately after they come in. But then Eridan comes in, and... I mean, first of all, just compare how long it takes for him to ban Eridan:

But more interesting are the contents of their conversation. Over the course of talking to Eridan... Karkat completely calms the fuck down. Like he's entirely forgotten that he's shitting his pants with fear. In fact, he even starts critiquing Eridan for his dumbassery:

PCA: evven if i wwasnt compelled to think you wwere still bein flippant and ironic wwith me you cant exactly outright reject me can you CCG: WHY NOT PCA: cause youre future you PCA: doesnt count unless its present you til then its all fair game CCG: IS THIS REAL, ARE YOU BEING IRONIC OR SOMETHING, I CAN'T EVEN TELL ANYMORE CCG: THE PROBLEM IS, I CAN'T PUT THIS SORT OF BEHAVIOR PAST YOU AT ALL, SO I DON'T KNOW. ... CCG: YOU'RE KILLING ANGELS NOW, AREN'T YOU PCA: no CCG: YOU ARE KILLING FUCKING ANGELS, RIGHT NOW, IN THE PAST, WITH YOUR SHITTY GUN. I JUST KNOW IT. PCA: wwell uh PCA: therere just so damn many kar and theyre not gettin any less bloody pissed is the thing CCG: THIS IS WHY IT WOULD NEVER WORK BETWEEN US, MAN.

It's extremely funny. Over the course of talking to Eridan, he goes from:

CCG: OH GOD OH GOD OH MAN OH GOD CCG: NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

To:

CCG banned PCA from responding to memo. CCG: ANYWAY CCG: THAT'S IT I GUESS.

Eridan isn't even trying to calm Karkat down. He still succeeds in doing so. This is because they are soul mates. And I mean that in the sense that the comic literally calls being moirails soul mates, which it doesn't do for the other quadrants:

A reasonable human translation would be the concept of a soul mate, but in a more platonic sense, and with a more specific social purpose.

That "social purpose" being that an even-tempered troll calms down a more hot-tempered one, and vice versa.

It also goes on to note:

But some pale pairings, as the one above [referring to a picture of Nepeta and Equius], will be strikingly obvious to all who know them.

But what's really interesting is the next page.

And yet others will seem to have been hatched for each other.

Did you catch that? Let me zoom in.

(Also, the blue and red cuttlefish to represent Sollux - Feferi and Sollux spend the whole game together, and even wind up talking about their feelings constantly in a pile - more on piles in a sec.)

In fact... in Eridan's first visual appearance...

The crab has always been there for him.

It's also important to talk about the bottle of Faygo that's been photoshopped to be candy red, Karkat's blood color. The path that it takes actually directly mirrors Karkat's relationships with Gamzee and Eridan - it's initially something that Gamzee has, but winds up being ejected out of his life, and washes up on Eridan's shore. In fact:

TC: SnAtCh aN IcEcOlD, dOg TC: MoThErFuCkIn cHuG ThAt sHiT LiKe yOu aNd tHe bOtTlE WaS ReUnItEd lOvErS CA: are you recommendin a bevverage to me or somethin CA: is that wwhat this is TC: YeAh mAn SlAm A FaYgO CA: i dont havve a fuckin faygo you stupid fuck wwhy wwould i keep that disgusting shit on hand TC: ArE YoU MoThErFuCkIn sUrE AbOuT ThAt? CA: oh CA: oh god youre right i do CA: i totally forgot about it TC: YoU SeE MaN TC: MoThEr TC: FuCkIn TC: MiRaClEs TC: :o)

When Gamzee and Eridan discuss this exact bottle, Gamzee even likens it to "reunited lovers"; it's something that Eridan has had this whole time (after all, he was cheating on Feferi with the guy), but never realized.

There are a few miscellaneous things that don't really mean anything on their own, but put next to all this other stuff, is worth considering, so I'll list those now.

First, they both do the bonk:

Second:

CG: ARE WE NOT FRIENDS ANYMORE BECAUSE OF STUFF I SAID. TA: eheheheh you LIITERALLY a2k me that every tiime are you jokiing. TA: ii cant even tell anymore. CG: IT'S A JOKE MORON. CG: HONESTLY I'M JUST GLAD NOBODY ELSE IS PRIVVY TO OUR CONVERSATIONS.

Third, Karkat muses to his future self about how he misses his friends, especially the assholes, two pages before staring at a dead Eridan's ass (joking, he's definitely looking at WV, but it's still significant that this thought is being associated with Eridan):

CCG: I MEAN, DON'T GET ME WRONG. CCG: I MISS ALL OF MY DEAD FRIENDS A LOT. CCG: EVEN THE ASSHOLES! I MISS THEM TOO. MAYBE EVEN ESPECIALLY THEM, IN SOME PERVERSE WAY. CCG: AND I SHOULD BE RELIEVED THAT THEY ALL SEEM TO BE HAPPY IN SOME WAY, EVEN IF IT'S BY FLOATING NEBULOUSLY THROUGH DREAM PROJECTIONS WITH THEIR FREAKY BLANK EYES. CCG: AND I GUESS I AM RELIEVED ABOUT THAT. CCG: BUT AT THE SAME TIME IT'S LEFT ME UNSETTLED.

Fourth, in the same conversation, he bemoans his failed relationship with Terezi, before Future!Karkat chastises Past!Karkat for his instability and mixed signals. Going back to the page on moirallegiances, an explicit function of a proper pale relationship is stabilizing a troll's other relationships:

The two partners in a strong pale relationship will serve to balance and complement each other's emotional profiles, and thus allow their other relationships to be more successful.

Of course, I don't need to tell you how messy and unstable Eridan's relationships have been.

And finally, Piles of Stuff™ are associated with moirails, and directly stated in-comic to cause an outpouring of emotion:

Standing near this pile stirs powerful emotions. The closer you stand to piles of stuff, the more freely the feelings flow. It is a law of reality.

So here's a seven-word tragedy for you: For Sale, Shitty Wand Pile, Never Used:

ERIDAN: at least i got the upright basic decency to hide my shitty wand pile somewwhere in the lab you wwont find it dont evven bother lookin KARKAT: WHY DO YOU ASSHOLES HAVE PILES OF THINGS, JUST STOP.

(Which he specifically tells Karkat about.)

So, yeah, what I'm saying is, there's just, like, a weirdly large amount to read into here. That Karkat and Eridan are probably soulmates or whatever. And that this is important because...

Eridan Is Plot Relevant (Well All The Dead Trolls Are But This Is An Essay About Eridan)

So. Now we are going to talk about themes. Yes, like we are in schoolfeeding again. I'm going to keep it simple, because "The Themes of Homestuck" is a whole essay on its own, and this one about just the shitty fish boy is already way too long.

I think it's fairly non-controversial to posit that the main theme of Homestuck is, "children should mature, care about each other, and throw off the shackles of their old society, because they will be responsible for a new world one day."

Up until Game Over/the Retcon, this is so prevalent and well-established that SBURB/SGRUB's coming-of-age themes will outright be commented upon by the characters, and the main villain is a child who deliberately stunted his own growth so he could go around kicking over other peoples' toys forevermore.

So, the thing is, with that being the theme of Homestuck, if ALL of the Alternian trolls don't survive to the end, the ending is thematically unsatisfying, because the message suddenly gains an addendum of "well, some kids just need to die," which totally sucks. Like, sure, Eridan was a violent, crazed murderer even at the best of times, but his permanent death within the canon ending kind of means that the comic is saying that people in his position don't deserve kindness or second chances. That position being a traumatized, emotionally neglected child, who was being bullied by people he considered his friends. It's a pretty terrible message.

It's even worse when you consider what other trolls don't make it to the end - Nepeta, the most outspoken troll against the hemospectrum (and Davepeta does NOT count, don't try to tell me the final culmination of Nepeta's character arc is being combined with some guy she barely knows and a bird). Feferi, who genuinely wanted the best for others, even if she was kind of a privileged princess. Aradia and Sollux also stay behind in the bubbles, even though their lives have pretty much been endless parades of suffering and being used by other people. Even Equius doesn't deserve it - he was kind of a casteist freak, but not irredeemably so, and the fact that he became kinder to Karkat over the course of SGRUB proved that he had the capacity to change. And Tavros, allergic to himself and being insulted by Vriska, is a terrible way to end his arc.

It's also really clear that, since half his friends are dead, Karkat just doesn't really have anything to do. His title is the Knight of Blood, and Blood is about bonds - romance, friendship. And yet, he ends the comic having never figured out what Blood was about, with no confirmed filled quadrants (sorry DaveKat likers, but within the comic itself, DaveKat is never confirmed), and most of his bonds nothing more than ghosts in the bubbles. It's a terribly unsatisfying ending for the most narratively important troll.

I think, then, that even if you don't agree that Homestuck should have ended with full revivals and redemption arcs for all the trolls, the essay is going to proceed on like you do, so, sorry, I guess.

The thing with Eridan, specifically, is that he's actually tied deeply into the plot and themes, and his return means more than just Karkat finally getting a date (although that's important, too). Eridan is directly intertwined with a prophecy to kill Lord English; he's set up to mirror Caliborn and Calliope; and thematically, his redemption would be the most clear instance of the "interrogating society" part of the theme of Homestuck, because Eridan is kind of the Society Troll. And also, he was definitely supposed to be Roxy's wizard boyfriend.

Just gonna get that last one out of the way real quick because it's a fast one, Roxy fucking loves wizards and is a hipster. Eridan is a wizard and is also a hipster. Roxy has a crush on a prince. Eridan is also a prince. Roxy wears a purple striped scarf. Eridan wears a blue striped scarf. Roxy uses rifles. Eridan uses rifles. Momlonde's introduction includes a passive-aggressive fridge battle that features a cameo of Eridan's quirk.

Using the colorful MAGNET LETTERS, you recently left a succinct message, which may or may not have been directed toward anyone in particular. But you couldn't find the letter W, so you just stuck two V's together. Your mother then purchased a fresh pack of W's and left them there for your convenience.

Yeah. So. Uh. Not only did Eridan need to be brought back to date Karkat pale, but he also needed to be brought back to date Roxy flushed. Can you imagine how funny it would be. They'd get together within 5 minutes of meeting for the first time and Rose would lose her shit. Anyway.

Him being a parallel to Calliope and Caliborn is also a quick one - Caliborn uses Riflekind/Sceptrekind, and Calliope uses Pistolkind/Wandkind. Eridan's two weapons are rifles and wands. Lord English is described as an evil wizard and at one point is shown using Calliope's wand. Eridan is also an evil wizard who uses a wand.

Look, I'm not saying that Eridan is necessarily directly related to these two, nor am I even necessarily saying that he and Roxy HAVE to date, but I am saying that he's got Weird Plot Connections that make him bizarrely relevant to characters that only come into play well after his death - almost like the comic was setting up that he would be coming back. His reaction to Cronus supports this, which I go into detail about here.

There's other strange "Eridan's plot important" things, too - like the fact that he's completely unimpressed by Faygo, considering it to be "just soda," and seems to be the only non-cultist who's okay with it. Or the fact that he's actually been awake on Derse since before the game (but unable to hear the horrorterrors, maybe foreshadowing some psychic resistance?) which he casually reveals to Kanaya and which Terezi is aware of, hence he's included in the people she names are "in" on the existence of the game. Or the fact that the genetic code for Alternia's first guardian was written within the pages of four FLARP books, with the addition of a fifth code Gamzee wrote in Karkat's ~ATH book... but Eridan was the fifth FLARP player in the team, implying that Doc Scratch/LE influencing Gamzee caused him to usurp Eridan's part of the first guardian code, giving LE his way into the trolls' universe.

Individually, it's all kind of nothing, but it just paints a bigger picture of Eridan being weirdly relevant, especially when we get to the juicy stuff:

The Prophecy

ARANEA: The 8ard of Hope may seem a little jaded these days, 8ut he once had a deeply a8iding faith in magic, and dedicated himself to 8ecoming a great wizard. He 8ecame convinced he was hatched to defeat an extraordinarily evil magician, one he swore the angels foretold of. ... [T]his magician once somehow from afar tried to strike him down at a young age, so he would never have to face him. 8ut the evil spell was deflected, sealing the magician's spirit away in a series of unassuming vessels until he could find some other cunning way to enter our universe. ... ARANEA: 8ut at some point he 8ecame disillusioned with magic. If there ever was any truth to his far fetched vision, the legacy of defeating the evil magician would have to 8e passed on to his descendant, or if his descendant proved to 8e as much of a failure as he did, then perhaps on to some other Hero of Hope.

ERIDAN: i slaughtered enough angels to knoww my limits and wwhere i stand against the lord of all angels they prophecized

GG: im pretty sure hes from the future! CA: wwhy GG: because he said hes my grandson CA: wwhat the fuck is a grandson CA: is that some kind of pervverse human familial thing GG: umm yes ... CA: that gun i just gavve you is somethin of a hatchright to the kid CA: happy i could play a role in your dirty stinkin lineage GG: like an heirloom? i guess it could be ... CA: i kinda think thats wwhy i found the gun in the first place CA: but noww im forsakin it because fuck i just found a better destiny than my old crappy one wwhich i nevver got any appreciation for anywway

Jake is supposed to have been the one to defeat Lord English. (No, Jake defeating pre-LE Caliborn right before he gets sealed into Cal doesn't count! He doesn't even get the final blow in that fight, DIRK does.)

But Eridan at one point had that destiny on his shoulders. Aranea turbohealing Jake, and the resultant hope field, summons a bunch of angels, which are heavily associated with Eridan - yet another random connection that Eridan has with future plot events.

Jake was another character, alongside Karkat, who was kind of reduced to a joke by the end, despite the fact that he had literally, directly, been passed the destiny of defeating Lord English. It's hard not to see this as a consequence, at least in part, of removing Eridan from the story. By cutting him out of the fabric of the ending, several plot threads - including this prophecy - are left dangling in irrelevance. And so Jake, like Karkat, now has nothing to do.

Homestuck is generally a series where every prophecy does come true, which makes it kind of startling when several prophecies fail to - Feferi's to "unite the two races," Jake's to defeat Lord English, and Karkat's to bring "compassion, forgiveness, and equality among all bloodlines" in the Signless's place.

That last one is actually relevant to:

The Thematic Importance of EriKar As Soul Mates

Eridan represents the worst aspects of Alternian society. He's a sea dweller at the top of the caste structure, with free reign to murder whoever he wants, soaked in the blood of thousands of innocent trolls. He espouses the casteist rhetoric that their society is built on, calling for the deaths of all land dwellers and the oppression of the lower castes. And while he should be benefitting from his position of privilege, it has also done nothing but hurt him.

Karkat, meanwhile, is a pariah. A mutant who would've been culled on sight, who spent his entire life living in hiding, and most of the game in fear that he would be ostracized or worse by the rest of his friends if they found out about his blood color. He's also the second coming of Troll Jesus, and thus, more despised by the Alternian ruling class than a mutant normally would be. For most of his life, he dreamed of nothing more than finding belonging within the society that had deemed him unfit.

Their friendship is something that "should not be." The highblood and the mutant. The royal-v and the off-spectrum. The empress's sea dweller and the second coming of the signless. Eridan "should" see Karkat as a miscreant to cull on sight. Karkat "should" be terrified of Eridan's very existence.

But in reality, Eridan doesn't give a shit about blood color, and Karkat just wants to be accepted. Eridan just wants someone to care about him, and Karkat loves his friends. Aside from Feferi, Eridan is the only highblood who never comments about Karkat's mutant blood, and they were best buddies even before Eridan knew.

Eridan and Karkat getting together isn't JUST the two most undateable trolls on the team finally landing a stable quadrant. These two, moreso than any other pairing, represent the themes of Homestuck. Children growing up, caring about each other, and throwing off the shackles of their old society.

In the pre-retcon timeline, their team failed to do so. This led to Gamzee falling into his highblood clown cult, Equius letting himself and Nepeta die by submitting to his place in the hemospectrum, Vriska killing Tavros because she couldn't allow herself to show weakness, and Eridan completing his caste's dream of genocide. Karkat spent the entire meteor trip and beyond beating himself up about it, since he considered it all to be his fault.

But with the introduction of John's retcon powers, they have the chance to, one by one, redeem themselves. I believe that's how the original ending would have gone: Terezi would ask John to bring Vriska back, because she only feels comfortable fixing her own mistakes. Vriska would then have asked John to bring back Tavros, whom she regretted killing. Tavros would be there for Gamzee, rendering him an ally. Gamzee would ask John to bring back Equius and Nepeta. Equius would ask John to help him not make the same mistakes with Aradia, and Aradiabot would catch John by the wrist and demand he bring her back in time to before she died, allowing her to circumvent her own death and Sollux's guilt. Sollux would ask John to keep him from provoking Eridan, saving Feferi. And Feferi would be pretty ok with the way things were... but KARKAT would then pull John aside, and drop an entire book of mistakes he made on John's lap, and this would result in a finalized timeline where all his friends are alive and god-tiered.

Because all the trolls SHOULD have survived.

Vriska should've survived because people should be allowed to have second chances.

Tavros should've survived because caring about each other, and being willing to show kindness and mercy, are good things.

Gamzee should have survived because people mired in religious fundamentalism and cults deserve to be offered a helping hand.

Equius should've survived because people should be allowed to grow and change their beliefs.

Nepeta should've survived because she was the anti-casteism troll. Casteism is bad, folks! Not only that, but I'm convinced that she was originally going to give the Ultimate Self exposition, and Davepetasprite^2 had to be contrived in the canon ending in order to shortcut Nepeta's character development, ruining it in the process.

Aradia should've been allowed to stay with the rest of the team and live a life free of the control of evil uncles and shitty ancestors.

Sollux should've been allowed to stay with the rest of the team because we all deserve to heal and be happy.

Feferi should've survived so she could be in a kismesistude with Nepeta, and realize that casteism itself is bad, not just the definition of culling, and then used her Witch of Life powers to even out the lifespans between the next generation of trolls, which needs to happen or else casteism will just happen again as long-lived highbloods inevitably amass power. And, also, it would complete the prophecy Gl'bgolyb gave her that she was intended to unite the two races (dream bubbles don't count, because by that metric, Sollux did more than she did by establishing a connection between the trolls and humans).

And Eridan should've survived, because the harm society has done to us can be undone. We don't have to submit to the roles it imposes, to the laws it wrote, to the abuse it inflicted. We can be free.

I've seen a lot of people who believe that such-and-such character did SUCH awful things that they don't deserve a happy ending. Oftentimes, it's Eridan, but nearly all of the dead trolls have gotten this treatment. So, let me just ask all of you who have gotten this far and still hold that opinion one thing. Do you think that's what Troll Jesus would have wanted?

This is why pale EriKar is so important: for it to happen, Eridan has to make a choice between upholding the beliefs of his shitty society, or pursuing a happier, kinder future, one where he outright rejects the caste system. For it to happen, Karkat has to shake all his insecurities about not being good enough by Alternian standards, and take on the duty of creating something better than what he came from. If pale EriKar happens, it means Eridan and Karkat choose love, not fear. Compassion, forgiveness, and equality.

This choice - this pairing - is the ultimate representation of giving Alternian society one big middle finger. Saying, we don't need you anymore, fuck off! Saying, we reject you at your core; we will choose something better! Saying, we will create a new world, and it will be kinder than the one we came from!

Pale EriKar means LOVE WINS.

Thank you for reading.

[rotationalsymmetry]

Trolley Problems and Deconstructing Trolley Problems in Fiction

Saw some more trolley problem discourse yesterday, arguing that it's lazy/unrealistic/whatever the ethical equivalent of a spiritual bypass is to not engage with the concept on its stated terms. So, it's been bouncing around my head.

1. Kobayashi Maru (Star Trek)

Not a trolley problem as such, but does the same thing that taking a trolley problem at face value does: accepting that sometimes things are going to suck no matter what you do, and also you gotta still make decisions anyways. Kirk's "solution" to the Kobayashi Maru was to hack the program so that the unwinnable scenario became winnable.

Does this work for him in the real world (ie other parts of the Star Trek story that aren't a simulation?) The theme comes up again in The Cobromite Manuever: Spock thinks that logically there is no way out. Kirk decides to just make something up. It works.

In The City on the Edge of Forever, the trolley problem played straight. If one social worker gets saved, a chain of events gets triggered that results in the end of the world as Star Fleet knows it. For history to reassert itself, she has to die. (Although, something interesting here is Kirk does not see the trolley problem and is not the one making the call, which begs the question of whether he could have found a way to wriggle out of the trolley problem if he'd been the one making the decisions there.)

2. Animorphs

So, I'm going to contrast this with Lord of the Rings for convenience: every time a character has a moral dilemma in LoTR, doing the most ethically pure thing is the right thing to do, and doing the more "realistic" thing ("we should use the ring, obviously?" "Sauron can't be beat, we should side with him") is always wrong. The tension in the story mostly comes from whether the characters will be able to stick to the rules or not, not what they should do. I think this is also probably the default stance in children's media: the morally correct choice is also the one that lets the good guys win.

Not so in Animorphs. The kids get ethical dilemmas all over the place, and make all sorts of different, often wildly inconsistent decisions when faced with them, and whether their decisions work out or not does not cleanly line up with whether they're having ethical scruples. And other characters -- one of the really big examples of this is Seerow's Kindness, an Andalite's decision to give Yeerks space travel out of sympathy for them, with disastrous results. Another relatively big example is a younger Elfangor refusing an order to kill Yeerks in a defenseless state, starting a chain of events that involves his friend getting permanently stuck in a Taxxon body and another Andalite getting infested by a Yeerk, who will become the main villain of the series.

(The ethical calls work out sometimes, like when Cassie takes a leap of faith and lets one Yeerk go free after learning the Animorphs' identities.)

Circling back to The Lord of the Rings, that's kind of an outlier even among Tolkien's works. The Hobbit is more morally gray (the dwarves are not really motivated by altruistic concerns, and neither is Bilbo) and the Silmarillion has an awful lot of characters who behave terribly (but often do some good in the process.) (Or who behave purely and get crushed.)

3. Those Who Walk Away From Omelas

It's a trolley problem. Is actively causing suffering for one worth it if it results in greater happiness for the many? And what would you do?

Except, in general trolley problems are explicit about the parameters. There's no uncertainty (unlike in every conceivable real life scenario.) In Omelas, uncertainty about whether it might be possible to have a different foundation for a happy society is baked in. Also, if you read it, Le Guin basically says out loud "I wanted to write a nice happy utopian story, but I figured no one would find it credible unless I included something horrifying, so here, have a neglected child. You weirdos."

As you might guess, I'm going straight from here to The Scholomance Trilogy, where El Takes A Third Way or whatever the TV tropes article is...and also, she's not always able to avoid people dying, not by a long shot.

[stupidphototricks]

I wrote this stupid thing about 10 years ago after seeing a professional performance of Les Miserables, which is an amazing show and I enjoyed it a lot. But I thought there were some, let's say inconsistencies, in the plot, which I found funnier the more I thought about them, so this is what happened.

(Spoiler warning for Les Miserables, if you aren't familiar with it)

Les Miz (The ultra-condensed version)

Prisoners: fml Javert: 24601, you’re on parole. Valjean: I am not a number, I’m a free man! Javert: Good luck with that. Nobody's going to hire a thief. Valjean: I stole. A loaf. Of bread. It's been 19 years, I think I’ve paid for it. Javert: You'll always be a thief to me.

Valjean: [tries to get a job but can’t] Bishop: As a man of God, I’ll help you. Valjean: Everyone treats me like a thief, I might as well act like one. [steals the Bishop’s stuff and sneaks off] Policeman: Hey, what are you doing with the Bishop’s stuff? Valjean: Uh, he gave it to me? Bishop: I’ll cover for you this time but you’d better be good from now on. Valjean: I’ll sell this stuff and use the money to change my name and start a new life. Bishop: You can repay me when you get rich! Valjean: Uh yeah sure, I’ll totally do that.

A few years later…

Workers: fml Foreman: Fantine, you got a letter. Worker: [grabs letter, reads] Hey, Fantine has a kid! Worker: Obviously it follows that she’s a slut. Fantine: Wait, how does that make me a slut? Workers: Slut! Valjean: [now the mayor] What’s all this then? Worker: Fantine the slut won’t give it up for the foreman, so now he’s cranky. Valjean: [to the foreman] That sounds like a you problem. Foreman: Fantine, you’re fired.

Fantine: I thought my life was bad before, but this really sucks. Prostitutes: Tell me about it. Fantine: [sells her jewelry, her hair, and her body] Fantine: [develops tuberculosis or pneumonia or something] Valjean: What’s all this then? Fantine: Oh, it’s you. Valjean: Do I know you? Fantine: Yeah, you were at the factory when I got fired for no good reason, so I blame you. Valjean: Oh, now I feel bad. Let me get you some medical care, but since it’s like the 18th century it probably won’t help. [goes out to find a doctor]

Javert: You remind me of a former prisoner of mine who broke parole. I’ve been looking for him everywhere. Valjean: Oh, well that’s um… Javert: But now I’ve found him! Valjean: [looks nervous] Javert: He’s in custody awaiting trial right now! Valjean: Wait, what? Javert: He denies it, but I’ll be able to prove who he is by the prison number I know must be tattooed on his chest but somehow haven't checked yet. Valjean: You don’t say. Valjean: [aside] I’m really conflicted, but I can’t let an innocent man go to prison in my place. Even though Javert can't prove anything since obviously this guy doesn't have the tattoo, I'd better reveal myself. Valjean: [rips open his shirt] I’m Batman! I mean, I'm Jean Valjean! Fantine: I have a high fever and I’m hallucinating, so it seems like a good idea to give my daughter to that man who got me fired. Valjean: Fantine, I promise I’ll take care of your daughter even though I barely know you and I’m about to be arrested again. Fantine: [dies] Audience: [cries] Javert: I’ve got you now, 24601. Valjean: Okay look, this dead woman just gave me her kid, so I have to get that sorted out. Give me three days and then I swear I’ll go with you. Javert: Valjean: Really, I promise. Javert: Do you think I’m an idiot? Valjean: Kinda? [they scuffle, Valjean gets away] Javert: Now it’s personal.

Cosette: I’m a big-eyed maltreated waif dressed in rags, but I dream of a better life. Mme Thenardier: Cinderella, I mean Cosette, when you’re done sweeping the floor, go fetch some water. I don't care how dark it is or how heavy the pails are. Eponine: Mama, look how beautiful I am in in the dress that you bought with the money Fantine sent for Cosette. Thenardier: I’m a jovial, unscrupulous innkeeper who has an undeservedly high opinion of himself! Mme Thenardier: [eyeroll] Valjean: I found this poor child lugging heavy water pails in the dark. Her mother died, and you are clearly horrible people, so I’m going to take her with me. Thenardiers: We're not going to let her go without taking you for all you've got. Valjean: Fine, if it will shut you up. Let’s get out of here, Cosette. Cosette: I love you with all my heart even though I just met you.

Many years later…

Gavroche: I’m a cheeky street urchin who may or may not be Eponine’s brother, and I’m destined to be killed at a tragically young age. Eponine: I’m grown up now and I love a student named Marius, but he doesn’t like me that way. Possibly because I don't have nice clothes anymore. Students: We’re idealistic and passionate, and the only thing keeping us from making some grand, misguided, and ultimately futile gesture of protest on behalf of the working class is the knowledge that there is one person in power who is on our side. But if he dies, all bets are off. Valjean: This town looks familiar. Cosette: That boy’s kinda cute. Marius: Who is that beautiful, well-dressed woman? I love her instantly. Eponine: You absolute hypocrite. You talk about how everybody should be equal, and then you fall in love with the first rich lady you see. Marius: Eponine, do me a favor and see if you can find out where she lives. I must speak to her. Eponine: fml [goes off to ask around]

Eponine: I thought she looked familiar, it’s freaking Cosette. Of course Marius falls for her. Thenardier: I thought he looked familiar, it’s that guy who took Cosette. I bet we could get some more money from him. Valjean: I think that man recognized me, we need to leave before he blows my cover. I don’t even know why we came back here. Student: Hey, that powerful friend of the people died! We have to start planning our revolution! Marius: But I just fell in love! Students: Get over yourself, this is actually important. Students: [build a barricade for some reason] Marius: Eponine, did you find that girl? Can you take me to see her? Eponine: Ugh, I guess. [they walk] Here’s her house. Marius: [throws pebbles at the window] Cosette: omg it’s the cute boy! Marius: You’re so beautiful and rich! I love you! Cosette: I love you with all my heart even though I just met you! Eponine: Gag. Thenardier: Okay gang, this is that rich guy’s place. Let’s grab some loot. Eponine: Dad, what are you doing here? Thenardier: Eponine? Get out of here! Eponine: Dad, you're a horrible person. I’m going to scream and warn them. Thenardier: You wouldn’t dare. Eponine: I still love Marius, so. [screams] Thenardier: Don’t bother coming home, you brat. [leaves with gang] Marius: Thanks Eponine, you’re the best. [punches her arm] Eponine: fml

Javert: I’m going to infiltrate the students’ rebellion and spread some disinformation. Javert: Hey peeps, what’s the haps? I got some connex I can hit up to suss out what’s going down. Word. Students: Um, okay. Marius: I’m in love with Cosette! And she loves me! But she says she and her father are leaving soon! Students: Sucks to be you. You either have to stand with us or… not, I guess. Red and black! Do you hear the people sing? Marius: Wow, that was a really convincing argument, I'll stay. Marius: Eponine, will you take a note to Cosette for me? Try not to get shot or anything. Eponine: fml [goes back to Cosette's house] Eponine: Hey, I have a note for your daughter. Valjean: I’ll take that. Eponine: I was supposed to give it directly to her, but whatever, I hate her. Valjean: [reads note] Uh oh, Cosette has a boyfriend. I’d better go check this Marius guy out.

Javert: Dudes, I’m back with some intel. The law enforcement officials... er, pigs, are going to lay low tonight. So you all can just chill for now. Gavroche: You know we know you’re Javert, right? You’re like the worst spy ever. Students: [tie up Javert] Eponine: [gets shot and stumbles back to the barricade] Marius: Eponine! Did you give Cosette my note? Eponine: [bleeds] Marius: [aside] Well, I’d be lying if I said this didn’t solve a problem. Marius: Eponine, since I’m a decent guy and you don’t have long to live anyway, I’ll hold you and tell you that I love you. Eponine: And I’ll imagine that you mean it since it’s the last bit of happiness I’ll ever have. Eponine: [dies] Audience: [weeps]

Valjean: Hi, I was wondering if I can join your revolution or whatever? Students: Sure, we’re not at all suspicious of another older guy that we’ve never seen before. In fact, why don’t you go shoot this traitor we found? Valjean and Javert: What an interesting turn of events. Javert: [closes eyes] Fine, get it over with. Valjean: Oh no, you don’t get to be the bigger man here. I’m letting you go. [unties Javert] Go on, you can escape through the sewers. Valjean: That should prove my moral worth once and for all. God, some people.

Valjean: Hey, which one of you is Marius? Marius: Sup. Valjean: Good to meet you. Valjean: Lord, I don’t ask for much, but hear me now. Just from that brief exchange, I can tell that Marius is the son I always wished I had, and he should marry Cosette. Kill everybody else if you have to, but let Marius live. Amen. God: If that’s what you want.

Students: [fight] Student: We’re getting pretty low on ammunition. Gavroche: I bet I can steal some from the other side! Students: Gavroche, no! Gavroche: Already doing it! I got it! I’m coming back! I’m… shot… Gavroche: [dies] Students: Oh man. Audience: Yeah, we saw that coming. Student: You kiled Kenny, I mean Gavroche! You bastards! [gets shot, dies] Student: [climbs to top of barricade, gets shot, falls off, dies] Student: [accidentally shoots self, dies] Marius: [gets shot, falls down] Students: [all dead] Prostitutes: What a senseless waste of human life. Valjean: [struggles to feet, limps to Marius, listens to his heartbeat, puts him over his shoulder and limps off to hide in the sewer]

Thenardier: [is stealing stuff from corpses, which are in the sewer for some reason although all the fighting was above ground] Valjean: [stumbles and puts Marius down, then collapses] Thenardier: [goes over to Marius] Nice ring, dead guy. [pockets the ring and starts to go through Valjean's clothes] Valjean: [sits up] Thenardier and Valjean: Aaaah! Thenardier: Sorry, I thought you were dead. Wanna loot with me? Valjean: You're a horrible person. [picks up Marius again and trudges off] Thenardier: Whatever. Javert: [aims gun] 24601. Valjean: Javert, what the hell. Javert: You know I still have to arrest you. Valjean: Honestly I don’t care, but first I have to get this man to a doctor or he’ll die. Javert: It’s always something with you, isn’t it? [mimics] I have to care for a child. I have to save a man’s life. Why can’t you just be a normal criminal? Valjean: Javert: [points the gun at him, then lowers it as Valjean limps off with Marius] Javert: If he’s actually a good person, then I don’t know who I am anymore. [climbs bridge, jumps off and dies] Audience: Finally.

A few weeks later…

Cosette: Marius, you’re almost well! Marius: I still wish I knew who rescued me. Also, I have a wicked case of survivor’s guilt. Cosette: Never mind, soon we’ll be married and live happily ever after. Valjean: Marius, I have to leave because I’m not who Cosette thinks I am. She can never know. Marius: Okay, if you say so. Valjean: Really, don’t try to find me. It’s best if I just disappear. Marius: All right. Valjean: No, no, my mind’s made up. It’s better this way. Marius: Valjean: I’ll just go. Cosette: What happened to Papa?

A few weeks later…

Cosette: Marius, this is such a wonderful wedding. It’s too bad Papa couldn’t be here. Thenardiers: What a great party! [stuffing their pockets with canapes] We don’t even remember that one or possibly two of our children died like a month ago. Thenardier: Sorry to crash your wedding, but I have some information for you. Marius: Tell me. Thenardier: [rubs fingers together] Marius: You're a horrible person. [gives him some money] Thenardier: Okay see, after the revolution I was in the sewer for a completely innocent reason, and I saw your father-in-law stealing stuff from the bodies. Thenardier: Here’s my proof, a ring from a body that he was dragging around. Marius: I don’t know what that would prove, since you’re the one who has it. Marius: But this is my ring! And therefore Valjean must be the one who brought me home that night. That is a logical conclusion that makes total sense. Marius: Cosette, we must find your father immediately! He was the one who rescued me! This convinces me that he should be part of our lives, regardless of his secrets. The fact that he raised you and cared for you wasn’t enough of a reason, but this is! Cosette: Wait, what?

Valjean: Cosette! Marius! You found me. I guess I wasn’t trying very hard to hide. I’m not even pretending to be mad that you’re here. Cosette: Papa! Now will you please finally tell me everything I always wanted to know? Valjean: Sure, why not. I was a prisoner, but I escaped, and you had a mother who loved you very much, but she died. Hey, there she is now! [waves at Fantine] Cosette and Marius: Valjean: Oh crap. Valjean: [is surrounded by Fantine, Eponine, all of the Students, the Bishop, maybe even Javert, who knows] Everyone: Do you hear the people sing? Audience: [sobs] Cosette: [weeps] Marius: [comforts her] Valjean: [dies]

Fin

[marythebitchasscanary]

Total multishipper here but my primary is sonadow. Just gonna throw my hat into the ring.

So I have this theory. Sonamy reminded me a lot of the whole Naruto x Sakura anti debacle pre/early shippuden and other than pink girl I think it’s this.

1.) Girl is portrayed in a specific and at the time what was considered an empowering way while maintaining girlhood. 2000s wise.

Some of the innate problem with that is that it’s written by grown adults who are basing things off of tropes born in the 80-90s but maintain some status quo.

When an adult is writing kids for kids they tend toward silly and not taking kid’s emotions fully seriously. Such as love and crushes. Which leads into 2.

2.) Kids will look to the coolest representation of themselves and take what those characters say and do seriously, even if the adult writing it didn’t.

This I think is partly why the emo goth characters get a bombardment of love but that’s neither here nor there.

When you’re attached to a character early on it becomes The Best character and you want them to come out on top. You want their goals and dreams realized, nothing wrong with that, but blinders lead to clashes with other’s favorites. And younger fans, especially kids, will have the “my dad can beat up your dad” mentality with their favorites.

3.) In the case of Sonic, the first favorites (the starter pokemon if you will) are typically Sonic, Amy, and Shadow. These groups having such a range of ages will expose the newbies to fandom space to things they were not prepared for and ill equipped to deal with.

How do you deal with conflicting characterizations? What are ship wars? How does character criticism and character critique differ from character bashing?

While I love a good bash fic, there is a difference between using a stereotypical archtype for fun plot reasons and juat pumping villain(ess) evilness into a character you don’t enjoy. New fans, but specifically new to fandom fans will see abundance of content and not be able to navigate.

Sonic itself is a fandom that is many people’s first fandom. So it’s almost a testing ground for understanding how things work. Good and bad.

4.) Unfortunately for Amy, she gets the newest fans for shipping. Default heteroromance, as close to canon as a ship can get without committing, and a long standing base. The caveat is that because she and sonic are “baseline” romance and the wave of younger (but no longer new) fans to branch out to OCs or few steps removed canon self inserts realize their personas can date. In trying to create distance and reason for Amy not to date Sonic, the trope of obsessive girl or mean girl is used. Base girl is almost always ending up labeled as juvenile and cringey, reason one and two kinda feed into that.

Young fans who haven’t really learned kind internet etiquette then attack in the way they think is right.

Ideally they’ll grow out of it and learn not to engage but some just get stuck.

5.) Internalized misogyny. Pick me mindset wrecks young fans, they want an independence and coolness that the writers denied their reflection. It’s a whole other rant but it’s also self explanatory.

Some of this can be explained by the guys in the fandom, the whole “Amy is annoying” crap. Does not help anything

6.) Characterization division. Between crap translation and purposeful changing of intention and word use, the characters of Sonic have the disadvantage of inconsistency and weird stereotypes. Amy suffered some flattening from what I can tell, right as she was getting characterized. Her purpose was flat before but it kinda nipped her arc in the bud especially for english audiences.

It created a nasty rift. Really with all the characters but it seems to have hurt Amy the most.

Really what it comes down to though is people not being able to separate themselves from the bad habit of “my way or no way” and expecting there to be a singular path to enjoy in fandom. Fandom is for exploration, and canon isn’t the law. We need to be better 🙂‍↕️

Sonamy gets so much hate on Tumblr and I'm tired of pretending it's not

By few bad apples, specially on tiktok and Instagram all the community has to suffer from it

I can see how many fans who have Sonic x oc hate sonamy and Amy with a passion that have dedicated tags for "anti Amy" "Anti SonAmy" and make up it's comments by saying "I'm an Amy fan too" "I just care too much for characterization"

But majority of these users misunderstood Amy, fix their narrative to fits with their opinions, and you know for what? To make fun of fans who like the character and ship

I've seen how majority of sonelise fans also hate us, how majority of sonadow fans hate us, how majority of sonaze fans hate us, majority of sonally fans hate us. almost all Sonic's ships hate us.

Many say we sonamy fans "exaggerate" the bullying and just shows the lack of enpathy

Not all sonamy shippers are toxic people just like not all Sonic shippers are toxic

By few we have to suffer. Go to any tik tok about Sonamy and you would almost find a sonadow fan making fun of it.

I've seen how majority of users who dislike sonamy of had beef with them have say they like when sonamy fans get bullied or get "what they deserve" (not in a good way) of in general when the community gets as the punching bag they get happy.

Many have asked to get respected when their ship gest disrespected but the moment it's a ship you hate then that changes it🧐

Users complain that the Sonic ships sides is toxic but majority are not helping with it in anything. Many think that keeping with the cycle of hate will get things better but it keeps them WORSE

I've seen how many shippers hate us by "misunderstood" Amy or how we disgust them for hypocrecy but they are not the best people to say it when many users have spreed hate when people don't Get their pov's. Get mad when sonamy fans call out then or say something like "hey I don't agree with it" "UHH those sonamy fans are hypocrite and annoying Am I right?" :/

If you hate sonamy and Amy so much. Let it go. Better focus on what you like in Sonic. Better grow to keep your ship community to be healthy and strong 'cause the more You spend your time hating on something it can affects your health and how you interact with people inside and outside internet.

And you would say, why you keep talking about this? BECAUSE THEY TAG SONAMY AND AMY SO WE CAN SEE HOW MUCH THEY HATE THE SHIP AND THE CHARACTER 😅

I couldn't care for my non-ships as sonelise, sonadow, sonaze and sonally. You won't almost NEVER see me there 'cause I don't like tonsoend time on things i don't like for the sake of my mental healthy.

I've met beautiful and toxic fans of all these ships. I won't get all my energy in making fun of them or writing pretentious analysis about what's wrong with them

I will have fun in the sonamy tag and they can have fun with their ships

I don't vibe with those ship and considering them as anti or even hate them is wasting my time

Why would I want a Tag of my Anti ship being part of My Tumblr. Waste of time

I'm not defending toxic sonamy fans I defending fans who want to have a good time on the tag, who don't bother other fans. Fans who try to make better community

Cause Sonic shippers love to pointing us to resolve all problems but this is a work in community not individual.

We need to be better

[ilargizuri]

Introduction

Hello,

I am new to Tumblr. I am still not sure how everything works on this Site, but I will do my best to figure it all out. I came to this Site because I was tired of Twitter's character limit and even if that very rich Man Child will make it bigger, I won't start writing bigger messages than I do at the Moment.

I will continue to be on Twitter because I made some friends there which I don't want to lose.

But enough about that, more about me, I love to read, Books, Comics, in short everything that is written in a language that I can read, I read it. I don't take everything at Face value and I am most critical about nearly everything, my Grandma always said: Your Problem is that you think too much and worry about things you can't change.

My Favourite Authors are ... let's be chronological: Jane Austen, Jules Verne, Lyman Frank Baum, Arthur Conan Doyle, Erich Kästner, Astrid Lindgren, Llyod Alexander, Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Ende, Bernard Cornwell, Terry Pratchett, George R.R. Martin, Cornelia Funke, Neil Gaiman, Kai Meyer and much more, these are just those who should be more prominent and therefore more well known. Or at least you can find them with a Wikipedia-Page. I didn't read every Book of these Authors, but some of their Works are my all-time-favourites which I always at some time reread.

I usually like it when Books have some tropes, but I really hate the Prophecy-Trope. At least when it makes sense in-universe, so that the Characters can interpret the Prophecy and act accordingly. So there are cases in Stories where Prophecies don't bother me, it would be a better Book without it in my opinion, but in General, I don't care that much about it.

I love to play the Sims 4, and I really love to build Houses. I don't think I have a specific Style, but I think I am a decent Builder. Sometimes I create Houses for Characters out of Books or Houses based on Books. For Example, I tried to build a Russian Dacha after I read Shadow and Bone. A Book series I don't like that much, giving the only PoV to what I would call a female Love Interest, instead of the male protagonist, just to make sure it could sell more Books to women was a problem during my read. At least it felt like that to me (personal Opinion! There is nothing wrong with that and if you have a different one, good for you), because I got the impression the Author became more and more frustrated with that female Character. In my Eyes that was confirmed after I read how she was portrayed during the last 2 Books in that Universe, holy moly that was a different Character. But If I was together with a Womanizer I would probably change like that too. To all those who want to scream at me, that the Male Protagonist changed because he loved his Female Love Interest, I recommend reading "A Game of Thrones" there is a female character who says:

"Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it can not change a Man's nature."

And if you do that as a Rule for your Antagonist, do it for your Hero as well, I hate inconsistencies where "Rules for thee, but not for me" is at play. Which happened in these Books more than once. But I like to watch how Authors evolve and change during their Careers and the Author became better since that Debut. So my advice for her would be: To kill that Character in the next Book, if there is one more. If a Character frustrates you get rid of it.

This leads me to my next point, I love to write myself. I am Nanowrimo-Participant and Winner for several years. I started writing because my Father died when I was 10 years old. So it started as a therapeutic measure, but it became a lot more over the years. I thought about publishing, but I made a bad choice and today I am not so sure anymore. But I have some WIP's of my Fanfiction on AO3, which I occasionally update, I mean, when you see that no one reads it, you can update it whenever you want. At the moment I work on 3 Original Novels at once, they are all in one World and because there are references to different Parts, I write them simultaneously. And on top of that I write 3 Fanfictions and plan one more.

So I think that is enough for an Introduction about me, if you have any questions, ask them, I try to answer, it would at least help to find out how this site works.

[quercusfloreal]

Le 3e Gédéon

I was hesitating to talk about it but here we go. May I introduce you to the manga "Le 3e Gédéon".

Warning long post

What it's about ?

Manga in 8 volumes, it tells the story of Gédéon Aymé who dreams of becoming a deputy to the Estates General to save the people from misery. George, the Duke of Loire and his former comrade, also seeks to change the system, but instead use violence to achieve his goal. This is going to be a story where the two characters will fight each other, one wanting peace and peaceful change, the other a radical and violent change.

What did I think of it ?

I found the story good. It manages to mix fiction and French revolution. It's full of inconsistencies but somehow it works. However I wouldn’t advise this manga to everyone. There is psychological and physical torture, gore and nudity. The images can sometimes be very crude.

What about historians characters ?

Well, we have the most badass portrayal of Louis I've ever seen in my life, he’s able to detect the slightest lie. Marie Antoinette may seem shallow, but she knows perfectly well how to play her charms to turn the tables in her favor. Their couple is interesting because each of them can't really love the other completely. Madame Roland is an ambitious woman who we learn had a daughter with Gédéon. Saint-Just is the slightly confused teenager who will eventually grow up and assert himself. Charles Philippe, the sociopathic Count of Artois, wants his brother's place and Elisabeth, the king's sister, wants Marie-Antoinette's place.

But what about Robespierre ?

I said in an old conversation that Maxime had daddy issues. Let me explain. One of the main themes of this manga is family and father figures. We learn that Gideon's father is the duke and he has exchanged his son's place with George so that Gédéon can be closer to the people. George has a real grudge against the duke because when Gédéon will be older, he should have become a servant again. But by trapping Gideon he kept his place.

Maxime has a real grudge against his father and George will use this information to manipulate him.

The first time we hear about Robespierre is in the first chapter. George is looking for easily manipulated men who can help him destroy the old system. Saint-Just, recruited by George, tells him that Max would be a potential candidate. Maxime is invited to George's house and has to save a former peasant, now a bandit, from the death penalty because he attacked George. Of course Maxime succeeds but it was a test. Of course, George can’t deny Maxime's skills but I believe it’s hearing the conversation between Maxime and Gédéon about Gédéon’s daughter that made him decide :

Robespierre : Shouldn’t you start trying to be a good family man ? You should leave the Assembly to single people like me !

We see Robespierre again later in a rather amusing scene with Gédéon. Gédéon, drunk, says Saint-Just's erotic writings told the boy is a virgin and is amused. And who is the virgin in the same bar as Gédéon? Boom Maxime !

Their following conversation will confirm that Louis XVI is the father of the kingdom.

Yeah, but when does George act ? Well, Gédéon sees Maxime again when the Estates General stagnate and there is a talk about creating a new assembly. Since Gideon is now part of the King's police force, Maxime asks him if he can meet the King discreetly to solve the problem. But without clearly knowing it, George is already starting to manipulate Maxime.

Keep in mind the puppet representation. It will be important for the next step. Because it’s present when Maxime's words contradict a part of his thoughs and when this thoughs takes controls.

After Gédeon refuses to join Saint-Just, Maxime explains to him, if Gédéon continues to hang out with the royal family, there will be repercussions. And if Gédéon tries to find his lost daughter and make politics at the same time, he will lose both. Because for Maxime, children are burden to their parents. Maxime explains his childhood, his dead mother and his father who left. He is resentful of himself because he believes it was his behavior as a child that made his father disappear, that he was a burden to him. This is why he doesn’t want children.

But underneath this justification, even if he pretends the opposite, he has hatred towards this father who abandoned him.

Gédéon : You have the right to hate your father.

Robespierre : In this case, I have the right to kill him, right ?

On the day of the meeting with the king, on the way to the palace, Maxime admits to Gédéon that his father sends him letters. In this letters, his father talks about his new family. Of course he knows that this is probably a trap, but we feel that it’s a sensitive subject for him.

Robespierre : Over my shoulder, I saw myself when I was ten years old.

Then comes one of my favorite scenes, a scene of tension between Louis XVI and Robespierre. Louis explains there are three locks on the table, if he thinks Maxime is lying, he will break one of them.

Robespierre : Since that time, I have always respected you as a father.

Louis XVI : One...You were warned, lies don't work. Either you don't respect us, or you don't respect the concept of a father.

After two, Maxime admits being one of the instigators of the problems at the Estates General and to make it stop, Necker must be dismissed because he makes promises that the nobility will never accept. Louis accept to think about it.

And here comes the chapter where I most wanted seeing George to lose and die painfully because his plan is totally twisted. Maxime receives a letter from his father who tells him that Henriette might not have died if he had been there, implying that it is Maxime's fault that he left. Then Maxime sees in front of his house a woman abused by a man. He threatens to take him to court but the guy explains that Maxime has nothing to say about the correction of a husband to his wife, named is Henriette...Oh boy !

The next day, Maxime proposes her to leave her husband, that he can help her by offering her a place in the convent of Arras. There, she would be safe. But she refuses because her husband will find her and she is unworthy of his help. Maxime feels unable to do anything. He remembers his dying sister. In the evening, another intermission, but this time Maxime decides to act. He intervenes until the girl confesses her father married her.

At this words, Maxime becomes mad and releases all the hatred he has accumulated towards his father. George's plan to make him forget any peaceful method succeeded

Robespierre now lets his hate guide him. If Louis is the father of the kingdom and the father of his subjects, then he must pay too. He goes to see Necker, tells him to accept his resignation to become a martyr and harangues the assembly to join the people and take up arms. He explains the first attack will be at the Invalides, then the people need to take care of the Bastille afterwards, because it is a royal symbol.

Camille : Maxime notice me !

Gédéon doesn’t agree with Robespierre, he thinks it’s necessary to think of a more peaceful method because it risks having deaths. He no longer recognizes his friend

Robespierre : I assure you Gédéon, I haven’t changed. Gentlemen ! Listen up ! We've been trying to find a resolution through dialogue for a long time! Alas, all our efforts have been in vain...a pure waste of time...and why !?

Robespierre : You too, Gédéon, I bet you've seen abused children love their fathers so much that they fall apart. Gédéon: Yes...

We see him again only after the march of the women on Versailles. Gédéon tells him that George is the one who sent him the letters and played on his dislike for his father to kill the king. He wants to find the wise and peaceful Robespierre.

Gédéon : And this other one love his father.

But Maxime does not believe him. His hatred is still too strong. When another lawyer asks Maxime to save a man, Maxime takes time to think, because the man looks like his father. It’s the words of Saint-Just that convince him to give up this man because he had previously seen the damage caused by the Duke of Loire on his sons George and Gédéon.

Robespierre : He’s a complete stranger, there is no doubt about it !! Saint-Just : Wouldn't it be better if he were really your father? If he were condemned to death, you would be delivered from him.

Saint-Just : Destroying everything to build a new order, that's what I think revolution is !

Finally, Maxime is released when the king died. Gédéon has found the death certificate of his father, confirming Maxime has sent an innocent man to death. Maxime seems to be happy on the day of the king's death but when he saw George and reconised him as the girl he tried to save, everything gets destroyed. He cries because after all he has done, he cannot go back.

Saint-Just embraces Maxime who he’s crying : I will always remain at your side, until death separates us.

The last time we see him is when marie-Antoinette curses him and other revolutionaries at her execution;

I reconize Saint-Just, Robespierre, Desmoulins, Marat ? (right middle), Danton, Hébert, Mme Roland, Augustin ? (bottom right)

[hxhhasmysoul]

I said the story is "not for you". not that it's inherently good... I don't think JJK is inherently good, I've criticised it repeatedly. Just you know, criticied it for issues that couldn't've been solved by simply paying attention to the story. but sure, hyperbolise what i said and argue against that, whatever entertains you.

your response feels like you’re taking this as a personal attack

ah yes, the classic "you're taking it personally" to devalue my points up front. le sigh, whatever entertains you.

In regards to what I meant about the villains in the shibuya arc I meant they seemed to get really powerful all of a sudden going from not being able to defeat 1st and 2nd year sorcerers a few episodes prior to being able to kill grade 1 sorcerers with years of experience. I don’t really get how you interrupted that as me not understanding why they were there

which villains? who hadn't they been able defeat that they suddenly could in Shibuya? please, do you have a single concrete point? i already pointed out to you that you were wrong about Jougo's fate. so I'm asking, who exactly are you talking about? Which situations? because you're saying very generic things that i honestly can't place in the story.

You make this really strange assumption that I didn’t understand the villains plan despite the fact that nothing in my original post indicated that.

i literally quoted the sentence i didn't understand. and said that it's my interpretation of that sentence. i didn't think it would upset you so much that someone failed to understand your sentence. I'm sorry.

but my point is that they were heavily marked as a trio and being really close when they’re not

huh? when were they marked? by whom, the marketing department of Weekly Shounen Jump and Mappa? I'm sorry corporate marketing lied to you, it's not the story's fault. I'm sorry they do not follow some trio rules or expectations you seem to have. I never had those so I was never disappointed. I actually came to the story not having some presuppositions of what there will be in it. I'm sorry you were disappointed that the story wasn't what you imagined it would be but that's not the story's fault.

Because that's the things with stories, they are not all the same, even if they use some trope, archetype or whatever they are not actually obliged to present it in some strictly defined way. Subverting expectations is one of the ways one can tell a story, so is subverting tropes and diverging from archetypes.

Also Nobara and Yuuji get really close over the course of the literal few months that they know each other...

The magic system is not complex just poorly written we’re only given information about it right before a fight scene in you guessed it exposition dumps, the information isn’t provided in an organic or interesting way.

power system infodumps are kinda a staple of battle shounen. you may not find the ones Gege writes entertaining and that's okay. but you were not really paying attention to them. because if you had, i think you'd be less confused about the outcomes of battles.

The world feels incredibly underdeveloped and small.

to you, it's not a universal feeling.

And again my problem with the powerscaling is that it is very inconsistent regardless of whether that’s the point.

The power system is very consistent in the parts covered by the anime, there are some questionable moments much later on. You just simply don't know the rules, but not because they weren't provided to you, you just didn't pay attention. Probably because you don't vibe with Gege's writing. That's not a universal problem people have. That's why I said repeatedly that JJK just isn't for you.

Powerscalling is an attempt to create some ranking of power among characters. Which with a system like jujutsu is pointless. Not because it's not thought through well, it's because it was not designed with powerscalling in mind.

Strength is a whole fucking theme in JJK, and yes, a part of it as a cult of strength.

Characters go from being incredibly powerful and strong to getting their asses kicked next episode and vice versa without any plot or character reasons.

Which characters? Which episodes? Please, anything concrete. I have no clue which character and which episodes you are talking about...

We’re told Gojo is so powerful he could probably defeat sukuna in episode 1 so why wasn’t he trying to track and defeat the villains inbetween arcs.

Because no one can force him to? Which was made obvious early on in the story? Because he's lazy and selfish? Which has been pointed out directly by other characters? Because he's reckless, which has also been shown several times? Because that's the whole point of him.

Also the person who says that Gojou could defeat Sukuna is... Gojou. Not some omniscient narrator, Gojou is making that claim about himself.

All things you did not pay attention to.

Sukuna is presented as this big bad but we know very little about him outside of an exposition dump in season 1.

I think there's just one "exposition dump" about Sukuna in season 1, when Gojou takes Yuuji for his admission interview with the headteacher Yaga. Gojou and Fake Getou (I hate calling them that, it's disrespectful ;-; ) mention Sukuna a few times too, but those are singular sentences. The most we learn about Sukuna in season one is from Sukuna himself:

When he first awakens in Yuuji

In the detention centre, when he refuses to help, then when Yuuji switches with him anyway, when he fight with Megumi

In his inner domain when he makes a binding vow with Yuuji

When he refuses to help Junpei, then when Mahito enters his domain

You're factually wrong about how information about Sukuna was presented in the story, because, and I can't stress this enough, you don't know much about the story apart from it not really vibing with your personal tastes.

And yes, all this doesn't give us super much information about Sukuna, but there is some quite interesting stuff there already. And Shibuya makes it all the more interesting because it sheds light on Sukuna's relationship to the main villain of JJK.

Controversial opinion the JJK anime is not good.

The hard magic system is incredibly poorly written and really sloppy, we don’t learn anything about jujutsu sorcery until right before a fight making it feel like the rules are made up as gege goes along making everything feel inconsequential and pointless since there’s no actual reason for characters choices besides gege deciding that’s what he wants them to do.

The relationships between characters are so poorly written that it’s hard to care about what happens to the characters and whether they live or die when the characters in canon don’t even care. Nobara Yuji and Megumi were pushed and marketed as a trio despite the fact there’s actually very little screen time with all 3 of them and Megumi and Nobara barely even interact one on one.

The show relies way too heavily on fight scenes and there’s very little plot or character development outside of them. So many characters feel like they are defined by their strength or abilities as a sorcerer with very little development for them as actual people

The power scaling also feels pretty werid for me sukuana is supposed to be this extremely powerful demon yet so far in the anime he doesn’t really feel like a threat. Like when Goni fought Jogo he seemed WAY MORE POWERFUL THEN HIM. While when Jogo fought Sukuana he managed to survive. I also feel like a lot of the characters would go from super strong in one episode to kinda weak in the next and I felt like the bad guys majorly powered by with no explanation in the Shibuya arc

JJK might the only anime ever to suffer from lack of filler the characters don’t feel like real people but more like archetypes, I don’t care about any of the relationships between characters whether romantic or platonic and I feel so many of the interesting elements of the story are underdeveloped. The shows only strong suits are good fight scenes and hot anime boys