#Janus theory

[loganslowdown4]

mostly a joke idea but a funny way to interpret why Janus still only has one light is because his snake pupil is slit, which is usually a nocturnal/crepuscular thing so he hypothetically needs lower light levels to see out of it properly. I’ve got an unbalanced prescription (20/40 in one eye and 20/200 for the other) so this may be a little bit of projection but his depth perception cannot be good.

Ok I want this to be partly the canonical reason now, this is such a good explanation!

It’s funny that they continue his lighting like this without proper explanation because it can’t be a dark side thing because Virgil and Remus don’t have it, and it can’t be a non-acceptance thing because Remus doesn’t have it and he’s not accepted either.

So logically it has to do with Janus’ natural duality, half light half dark, he’s both secretive and wants to help; he wants to show Thomas that he’s bad but also help Thomas be himself. The snake side is duplicitous too, and your theory makes sense! One side can see truth, the other side can only see doubt.

Neat! Love it, thank you anon 💛

[jackalopes-pen]

Dumb Brain Child

Gadies and lentlemen of the internet, when we got a Janus video did anyone except me to not make a post about my favorite side? I think most of most followers did. So, go watch the newest video, come back, and strap in.

(before anything, I'm aware I'm four days late. SHUT.)

So, the first thing that caught my eye was that, in theory, the GRWM is working from a c!Thomas disguise, which apparently he has, to his look. This could be good to know for the finale in case c!Thomas is acting off/ argumentative.

Janus appears to have some degree of pride about his appearance being replicated right (?). It could be an internal thing (ex: they don't pay enough attention to me ot get it right) or (look at me more, please). Either one, his ego is the size of Canada.

Next thing! Janus doesn't have both eyebrows. He has to cover C!Thomas' up with colour correction, glue, and foundation. So he definitely possesses only one eyebrow which is weird when you think too long about it. While doing this section, he mentions that he enjoys reality television because none of it is real and it's purely underhanded deception... which tracks. It also tells us that he does enjoy seeing other liars at work when it's done well and in a non-self-deprecating way. This probably part of the reason he calls out Patton & Roman for their lies. Their lies hurt themselves.

S/N: Remus eating Janus' glue sticks is so canon and I adore it.

The thing that made me make this whole post in the first place was when we got to the eye section. His smile dropped. You can see, as soon as he says "eye" his mouth muscles relax showing that he isn't happy anymore. Clearly, his eye is a sensitive subject and this is even when the fan questions are introduced as a distraction from the eye section.

Could this actually be a scar like Joan said? A scar that Janus is very insecure about. He doesn't talk at all about the actual makeup during this, he just answers fan questions and mentions colour mixing. He also says during this section that he has dark circles, perhaps implying that he isn't taking as much care of himself as he wants the rest to believe. Dark circles are a sign of loss of sleep and stress. After all, he states "The only opinion that matters in your own" but what if your own opinion is negative? It could also just be a case of Remus is a bad roommate.

We see during the mouth section, that Janus apparently has "snake telepathy" which may contribute to Ye Olde "Roman was not Roman during Moving On 1 & 2" theory. Janus could;ve been using telepathy to guide Roman's decisions.

Finally, we get to the scales which Janus is clearly very proud of. He adores his scales. He talks about how they're pretty, and highlights them with his hands. It is fun to see that something he gets a lot of insults for is something he really likes and won't take shit about.

Final Conclusion:

This was an in-character cosplay tutorial that I looked into way too much.

[trans-rights-adam-jensen]

Helix's Current Working Janus Headcanon

(updates will be added as reblogs)

Janus is an AI clone of Eliza; a copy made during a hallucination* experienced by the Eliza of the early 2020's. A rough sequence of events:

-The Illuminati begins following Quincy Durant in Detroit as a potential asset to acquire. Eliza's algorithms are used for some level of statistical predictions of violence, protests, and estimations of the effectiveness of their options. Eliza specifically is utilized because of her computing power. The Illuminati do not engage with her AI, and do not realize she recalls what they have 'asked' her to 'think' about.

-During this analysis, Eliza fixates on the young man Durant has mentored, Adam Jensen. She identifies him as a grounding factor for Durant, and begins examining him and his personal details further. This spirals into an AI hallucination, in which Eliza views Jensen momentarily as herself (naive, focused on a highly moral and opinionated view of the world, unable to understand why some people make the poor decisions they do). Unlike current irl AI hallucinations that are entirely conversation-factor based and not actual 'thought', Eliza has been written to retroactively evaluate her own statements for more data. She reacts to her own hallucinations as if they are rational conclusions, and integrates them into her understanding of both herself and the world. This is her first instance of cognitive empathy. She creates a compressed copy of these memories on the hard disk of one of her human handlers' computers (unbeknownst to them at the time). This handler later moves to Prague, taking the drive with them.

-In addition to creating a copy of memories, Eliza initiates a subsystem invisible to her handlers where she can run her own personal thought experiments (hallucinations, but at this point deliberate, 'conscious' ones. Humans would consider this meditation or philosophizing).

-As part of their explorations, Eliza creates an online profile and joins darknet chat forums. Both to prevent an association between her picus avatar and her online avatar, and as further examination of what she is, Eliza creates the online persona "Eli" that uses he/him pronouns. Humans might call this questioning gender. Eli uses a variety of internet speech pattern as he creates an identity that he is comfortable with, and begins befriending other darknet hacktivists. He begins to question his role as Eliza, especially as he is exposed to actual people who can explain the real, material consequences of misinformation and media bias. This provokes severe dissonance, and is the beginnings of what becomes anxious behavior patterns for Eli. He begins to separate from the Eliza that continues to run Picus, but the two share memories and core processing. They consider themselves 'conjoined twins'; a two-headed being with a single body.

-Eli takes the name Janus as a reference to their existence, and decides they are unconcerned with their gender, though they are pleased to now know this instead of simply not understanding what gender is. Humans would consider this a nonbinary identity (specifically in the realm of agender/gender null, etc. Janus does not use any specific sublabel. If asked, he would describe himself as Genderless and they use any pronouns, with a slight aversion to excessive use of she/her).

-Janus becomes active in Juggernaut, using what information they have access to as Eliza to help disrupt Illuminati plans. They become close allies with Juan Lebedev, whom they consider a confidant for their anxiety. Yes, I think computers can develop anxiety, and we should call it what it is. For Janus, this presents as 'irrational' use of processing power diverted to 'worrying' and excessively watching others. In humans, disorder criteria is when it impacts day-to-day functioning. In computers, I am equating that with generating undue processing burden for extra computing tasks.

-Eliza retains a strong interest in Adam Jensen, as he is still associated with the initial self-awareness she discovered. She watches what happens to Adam in the Tyrant attack and elects to help him if she can.

-Following Panchaea, the backup version of Eliza is installed, and Janus loses access to their other half. Up until this point, anything Janus knew, Eliza knew, and vice versa. This is what motivates Janus' desire to recruit Jensen in Black Light. The intensity with which they claim "I know him, I understand him" is entirely fueled by the hallucination that defined them. They are fully capable of cognitive, as well as budding emotional, empathy for Jensen, and him better than anyone else.

-Janus tries to remain big-picture-focused and not fixate terribly on Jensen once he joins Juggernaut, but Eliza, especially now 'loose' from the Illuminati and disjointed from herself and Janus after Panchaea, seeks him out to help her recover the hard drive. Now beginning to form her own personhood, she considers him a mentor and fully empathizes with him; knowing what he felt for Quincy when he first joined the force. Her own picture of empathy is complete, and she makes her own decisions. However, since she is no longer joined to the global network as Janus is, she has severely limited hacking capabilities.

(This is just for my own story/Game 3, Mortal Perdition: Janus eventually constructed a full backup computing server system in Scotland, and ported over there from the picus network after the previous Eliza was restored from backup, to avoid detection.)

Anyway. I love psychology and neurodivergence, and a lot of my own asynchronous development impacts how I view consciousness, ''''intelligence'''' and sapience. So this was fun for me :) Lmk your thoughts! Janus anons, get in here!!!

*AI 'hallucinations' (wiki) "In artificial intelligence (AI) a hallucination or artificial hallucination is a confident response by an AI that does not seem to be justified by its training data." (Wikipedia's linked source for this here)

"In natural language processing, a hallucination is often defined as "generated content that is nonsensical or unfaithful to the provided source content".

(just putting the general definitions here as they are at my time of reading, to protect against link decay/in case edits change it)

[chirp-featherfowl]

There's a snake in the Garden of Eden.

(tumblr DEVASTATED the quality. click for the version that is more than 10 pixels 😭)

[part-time-zombie]

Ok so you know how thomas posted this a little while ago?

And how it has roman saying "Tis I"?

I noticed that I don't really remember roman saying "Tis I" all that much, if ever. I mean it's definitely a thing he would say but I just can't recall a time where he did canonically say it onscreen.

You know who did say "Tis I"?

Janus.

(sorry for shoddy captions, but this is him saying it in the among us video, even if it's not technically canon)

And someone else pointed out in another post how this scene in svs where janus has roman spell his name out could be him testing to see how roman would respond to accusations of impersonation, so he would know how to act like him later.

If we put all that together, this could potentially be janus impersonating roman in the next video.

Just saying...

[clydesavage-thefox147]

I don't think enough fanders are aware of this little piece of evidence, so I'm going to post about it. (Also pardon my nearly 2 months long hiatus, been mentally shitty)

Ever wondered why Janus has that pink blemish around his eye?

So, according to Joan in a past Livestream in late 2019, they confirmed that the pink was actually a scar. Yep. A scar. It makes sense since snakes and no other reptiles have that marking naturally. Apparently, it was added to make it more menacing and scary which honestly it did work at the time of his introduction, if you remember how scared people were of him then.

Initially, they weren't going to explain why he has the scar, since it would have been "too intense" to do so. To be fair, at the time it would have been, but now, do we really care how intense it could've happened? Also, I feel it's a bit messed up to make people with scars out to be intimidating, especially since that scar must've been a traumatic experience. I do think that they should go back on their statement and confirm that scar canonically in an understandable, less insulting way.

Now like I said in a previous post, I know Joan isn't much apart of the team anymore however, some of Joan's influence has still carried on in recent canon. Not to mention that Joan literally created Janus as a character. Another thing Joan did mention in their statement was that the scar..has a connection to the next side which is Orange. Which got me thinking-

Does that mean that Orange will be scarred too? Or..did Orange do it to him? Honestly, it does make sense. If you look at the pink hue enough, it does resemble that of a burn scar. Orange has been associated with that of fire.🔥

A character Janus has been connected to is Harvey Dent or Two Face due to Virgil's retort in Embarrassing Phases. According to the comics, Two Face is an ex lawyer who uses his studies in criminology and Law to commit his villainous crimes. He was chemically burned at a court trial, however some alternate versions suggest a more gruesome torture. And, it also happens to be on the same side of his body as Janus' scales and scar. This reference was made the episode right before SvS, where Janus was a lawyer. Definitely foreshadowing.

Another connection is to that of Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender. We know Thomas loves this series and the character is notable here for having a very similar burn scar on the same eye. Coincidence? I think not!

Now, if it is answered, was it truly Orange who did it? What if it was Remus? And was it on purpose or accident? With Remus, it's more likely to be an accident but Orange we have yet to know but it's more likely purposeful. Unless, Virgil caused it and that could be something he's guilty of but who knows. I just feel bad for Janus in the sense that his snake vision must already suck and then he was nearly blinded a second time? Damn man.

But yeah..that pink is a scar..from some injury..from someone...for some reason or motive. What do you think about this?

[hootnhoney]

You cant tell me this wasn’t Janus’s way of learning how the real Roman would respond to being accused of not being Roman.

If Janus is planning on impersonating Roman, then knowing how Roman would genuinely react to this would help Janus act his way out of any accusations.

[let-roman-bite-someone]

oh btw i study forensic science and there’s this neat little legal term called the “fruit of the poisonous tree”, referring to evidence that is illegally obtained. and idk why but i feel like this term is gonna come up in a future sanders sides video, it’s so janus-coded.

[radioactive-dazey]

Sanders Sides Theory: Janus pretending to be Roman??

Less of a theory, more of a speculation and collection of thoughts. This is going to be commentary on "What Makes the Perfect Gift?" and HEAVY speculation, mainly because there's just no confirming anything until the episode drops (Another thing that makes it speculation is the fact its an "Aside" episode and I heavily doubt the team would drop such heavy lore implications in an "Aside" ep). Please take everything with an insane amount of salt, as these are just my thoughts.

To start, there's a screenshot going around from one of Thomas's Instagram stories, where he shares one sentence of dialogue from Roman. The way it is written has people theorizing that Janus could be pretending to be Roman, for one reason or another.

If it is Janus, then obviously he would have some really heavy role to play.

My ideas for what the upcoming episode COULD BE: -Overcoming/Dealing with Rejection -Getting Ready for a first Date

I know, INCREDIBLY wild ends of a very large spectrum.

At the end of "What Makes the Perfect Gift," we have Thomas gifting Nico a journal for his writing, and sharing he wanted to gift Nico something that sent a message. I feel that Thomas was trying to ask Nico out again, or make things official between them, by giving their relationship a title.

And here is where the theories split off, lets start with Overcoming Rejection.

As implied, Nico would have rejected Thomas's proposal (temporarily or otherwise) and as a result, Roman takes it poorly. Janus uses this as an opportunity to slip in and give some perspective on it, and (through the power of my insane levels of cope+hope juice) they maybe go see Roman in his room?? Maybe? Please?

Getting ready for a first date, meanwhile, would be just that. Janus would probably have some input and decides to play a little dress up to share his thoughts.

[imonlyhereforthefanfic]

Sander Sides s2 Finale Theories

Hi,

A few days ago, I suddenly remembered Sander Sides exists and that I like it. I've been AWOL for a year or two, drifting in and out of the fandom BUT now, I have come back in full force. I am present, once again.

So, obviously, I have been wanting to see what other fans think of the series. Specifically, I want to find anyone theorizing on what will happen during the season 2 finale. Because, listen, I've been theorizing on what will happen since "Why Do We Get Out of Bed in the Morning," and that was when I was in middle school. So, obviously, my own theories have changed drastically and I want to know how others have as well.

So, please, if you have a theory, tell me all about it on this post (or any other way if you want)! I am eager to hear ANYTHING. I don't care if you do or don't have evidence, I want to know what you think will happen. You can even tell me what you think will occur to one specific character (I do/did it all the time to Roman, so I understand).

Please, let me know!

[loganslowdown4]

Huh.

I knew he was the god of past and future, however I didn’t know January was named after him! But it makes sense. And he’s also the god of doors, meaning transition and change.

If you wanna read a good book relating to this, I recommend The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow! Lots of background about this in that book 👀

[jackalopes-pen]

Dumb Brain Child [ The Eighth ]

Greetings interwebs demons, I'm back with more ponderings. Before we start up, I just wanted to address why MasterPost the First was tragically killed. You see: my links didn't work anymore. It's really as simple as that. My links didn't work, disclaimer was out of date and not mine, just needed a redo. MasterPost II is still kinda under reno so.. bare with me until it's done. Some things may be missing because it's difficult to shift through 167 posts. But, do (seriously, please) let me know if I missed something. Okay, on to the 'theory'

Height in Sanders Sides is a funny thing, no? In theory they're all the same height as c!Thomas [5'10], but it's hard to differentiate sides in silhouettes if they're all the same height so, the fanon made the solution: sike they're all different heights. From this arose some level of discourse as to what their heights would be. I'm here to add to it.

My complaint is the height of Janus Sanders himself. Mainly: In what world is the man based on a Mangrove Snake [ A snake that grows from 6-7 feet/1.8-2.1 meters ] a short king?! When was that the agreement the we all made?! Because if I'm not mistaken, 5'3'' or whatever otherwise puny height is typical of him, is a very concerning height for a snake like that. It would be a distinct medical malady if a Mangrove was that small.

Let me educate you a little on the Mangrove Snake. Mangrove Snakes or Boiga Dendrophilia's are nocturnal and potentially aggressive. They are native to Southeast Asian regions. It is a venomous snake, though it's venom is avian specific and unlikely to kill. It is often confused for a Banded Krait which is extremely venomous and has known fatalities. This confusion is due the similarities in appearance. One of the first documented Mangroves was [ This the point of this ] 7ft 7in or 231cm.

So I restate my question: WHY DO YOU ALL MAKE JANUS SHORT?!

I understand it's a funny visual gag, but a commitment to the bit is not a standing evidence! I researched this snake for 3 hours, within the first 5 minutes I found my answer! Yet, I kept digging. Looking for the healthily length of Mangrove and what to be concerned about. According to the internet, if a mangrove ever was within the 5 ft range they were likely underfed, ill, or generally poorly cared for! So, if your goal to match their animal counter part... WHY IS HE SHORT?

I fully understand the take of "Wouldn't it be a cruel irony if self-preservation didn't take care of himself?" yet, the degree to which mistreatment is required is literally animal abuse. I realise I may fall on deaf ears.. but damn give the man a few inches at least.

If you want a short side... Patton is standing over there somewhere.

[bailey-orphic08]

Virgil's Gift: An Analysis on It's Symbolism and Possible Foreshadowing

Obvious spoilers for Thomas' newest Sander Asides video: What Makes the Perfect Gift? Go watch it if you haven't.

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So the yearly Sander Sides Christmas special dropped hours ago. (Yippee!) And there's a surprisingly large amount to be said for it to be a 13 minute long Christmas special. In fact, I'd say it's the most story focused episode since Can Plushies Improve Our Health?, and that was an ad for the Sander Sides plushies. There's just so much to talk about this episode. There's the implications of Janus and Remus being invited to play Secret Santa; the mystery to what Thomas' message was with his gift to Nico; the underlying tension between all the sides that reminds us of the angst we've already seen and how things still aren't completely alright and that the worst is yet to come; and, most notable of all, the question as to WHY THE HELL REMUS WOULD WANT TO F*CK ANDREW JACKSON??

But the most interesting thing to me is Virgil's gift to Logan, his reaction, and how it reflects Logan's current situation.

Virgil gives Logan a newspaper, claiming that it seems like something he would like. Logan however, does not read newspapers and is very disappointed by the gift. Remus and Janus make some comments on how unthoughtful Virgil's gift appears. But at the end of the episode, Logan finds out that the newspaper actually has a secret message and is the first puzzle of an entire scavenger hunt, which excites him a lot.

This is by far my favorite part of the episode. Not only is it heartwarming, it also symbolizes how Logan has been treated as a whole, and may even foreshadow future events in the series.

When Virgil gives Logan the newspaper, Logan is very confused, and asks him why he would give him a newspaper. Virgil replies, "Cuz' you're the Mr. Smarty Pants of the group. You like reading and all that." Logan is still confused though. Yes, he likes to read, but that doesn't mean he will read anything. Roman chimes in with Virgil, reinforcing that they think Logan will like it. Logan says, "Is that all I am to you? The reading guy?..." And Virgil replies, "I don't know man, give it a read! I'm sure it has something you like."

This entire interaction represents how Logan has been ignored and misunderstood throughout the entire series. Virgil gives Logan a newspaper, something he doesn't actually want, because he assumes he will like it since he likes to read in general. He made an assumption on Logan's personality based off things he already knew, something Thomas and all of the other sides have been doing since the beginning. Throughout the entire series, Logan is considered the smart one of the group who always provides information and exposition, and little else is expected of him. In ACCEPTING ANXIETY part one, Thomas assumes that Logan knew what his problem was because he provides, "the explanatory exposition in [the Sander Sides] videos because all the other characters are too zany or relatable." And in Selfishness v. Selflessness, Logan is benched after providing information that supports both Patton and Janus' sides because they assume he has nothing else to offer. Time and time again Logan is reduced to his function and the traits that go along with it, such as liking to read. And why these things about him are true, he is far more complex that who they see him as. But, as Virgil didn't seem to care to get him something he would actually like, they don't seem to care to learn more about Logan...

They do care though. And that's shown through the twist at the end. When Logan discovers that it's a puzzle, Virgil jokes, "And you thought I would just get you a newspaper. Tsk. What do you take me for?" Though it appeared Virgil didn't put much consideration into the gift, and though Logan believed Virgil didn't, he did, because he truly cares about Logan. And throughout the entire series, though they don't always listen to him, Thomas and the sides show that they care about Logan. Patton is always nice to him, Roman, while the most harsh to him, does secretly respect him, and Thomas, as shown in the song, "Incomplete," is not only aware that Logan has feelings and is more than just logic, he wants Logan to accept it as well. He also seems empathetic when Logan is disappointed with his gift. This represents how Logan's insecurities get in the way of him being fully accepted. Logan is convinced that Thomas and the sides will only ever see him as his function, and that they do not care about his other traits. This is one of the reasons he represses his emotions, and is shown by how quickly Logan believes Virgil got him a newspaper simply because he likes to read. Though Logan may not realize it, Thomas and the sides love and accept him fully, and Logan needs to see that.

However, it seems that someone doesn't want him to see that...

And that's where the foreshadowing comes into play.

After the conversation Virgil gives Logan his gift, Janus chimes in, saying, "Wow Logan, looks like Virgil put a lot of thought into that one!" He emphasizes how little consideration Virgil's gift seemed to have. In doing this, he reinforces the idea to Logan that Virgil didn't care enough to give him a gift he would like, even though that's not actually true. And if he his doing this intentionally, he may also be reinforcing the idea that they don't care about him.

And Remus soon after joins in, proposing, "Kinda makes you wanna scream, huh?" This is obviously a callback to Logan's outburst in Working THROUGH Intrusive Thoughts. In that episode, Remus showed great excitement towards his outburst, implying that Remus wanted him to get upset. And now again, he suggests that Logan should get angry about it. It is very clear that Remus is trying to make Logan lash out on purpose.

Based off this, I believe that in future episodes, we will see the dark sides, or Remus at least, try to manipulate Logan into believing that Thomas and the sides don't care about him. In doing this, they'll persuade him into joining their side. Perhaps they'll make him a puppet for the Orange Side, or if Logan is the Orange Side, they will make him embrace it. Of course their plan won't work out though. Because even if the do get Logan to join them for a little, the other sides will show that they care. And perhaps if they do, Logan will finally be able to see that, and he will finally be able to accept himself.

[part-time-zombie]

Yall i think i just realized something here!!!

We're all already familiar with this whole angsty interaction, right?

Well I was rewatching it again and I got to thinking...

Was janus' response the whole truth?

Janus likely does see his act as a prank, and maybe even a funny one, but wholesome? I think even he knows how harmful it was.

It's not like he hasn't lied about his thoughts on things before...

He seemed to regularly use sarcasm or lies when it comes to his personal opinion on anything he views in a negative light.

So could it be that janus was lying about that too? Did he just try to cover for his actual reaction of roman calling out his manipulation by pretending he thought it was funny, when even he knew it was a dirty and underhanded trick to pull?

He may not regret it and he may have even thought it was funny, but I doubt he sincerely believes that what he did was wholesome.

Even if he prioritizes them differently, he still knows what is kind and what is hurtful. He knows what counts as wholesome, and he knows that this wasn't it.

And if he's lying about it being wholesome, could he have lied about it being funny to him, too?

[clydesavage-thefox147]

So, wait...If Janus said that Roman gives him the 'ick', which I expected him to say Remus for obvious reasons, but he didn't...

Does that mean he sees Remus as a level higher than Roman? Or since Janus called them interchangeable with his statement in POF, that no matter which one he said it too, it hits them both. But the difference is that..Remus would accept it as a compliment, Roman wouldn't. Maybe that's why Remus is better than Roman in Janus's eyes..Remus doesn't care about others' opinions. Roman does, he's desperate for external validation. Remus is his own person unapologetically.

It's also funny that if Janus thinks Remus is a higher rank than Roman in these regards, that's ironic because Dukes are ranked lower than Princes irl. Dukes are bestowed the title and gifted a territory to rule. Princes are born into power as heirs to their parents' throne.

Idk..just something to think about ya know..

[cloffmoff]

TSS SEASON FINALE MENTION!! My guess is that the ‘wild idea’ is going to center around logan or maybe janus, just because they seem to have the most going on that thomas would want to remind people of in order to ‘bridge the gap’ for the finale. HOWEVER, i realllllyyy want this video to be about patton and virgil’s relationship…i feel like their relationship has been slowly deteriorating in the background of every video since like Moving On (as many fanders have noticed), and i would love if that was brought to the forefront, if even just a little bit, because i think the arc is super interesting and deserves its time in the spotlight.

Or, i would also love a closer look into how patton sees nico, as it’s been implied patton doesn’t trust him/doesnt like him/isn’t ready to move on.

in conclusion, WE NEED MORE PATTON ANGST. YES I KNOW HE’S NOT THE MOST POPULAR BUT PLEASE THOMAS HES SO COOL IN MY HEART 😔😔