analysing queercoding in sethos's haikaveh voice-line
(This analysis is from my Haikaveh queercoding essay found here!)
In Cyno’s Story Quest II Alhaitham and Kaveh’s progression goes unspoken by the Traveller and Paimon in comparison to previous events and quests where their relationship is questioned (which you can read here!)
This lack of mention of the visible progression of their relationship points to a secrecy that the player is not privy to, and this development is only mentioned when Cyno highlights the unlikeliness of Kaveh and Alhaitham studying together in the House of Daena
Kaveh and Alhaitham’s relationship has tangibly improved, in their dialogue with each other, their listening and comprehension of each other, and their active reliance on each other, however, a status of their relationship has still yet to be given.
With the lack of questioning from the surrounding cast, this appears to be a continual deliberate method of avoiding labelling Alhaitham and Kaveh’s relationship status (further discussed here). This aligns with the previous method of queercoding Alhaitham and Kaveh’s relationship in avoiding labels of friends, and here, it can be seen that labels such as ‘roommates’ are also avoided. This omission continues to be deliberate, and it is even more poignant due to the progression of their relationship, alongside the secrecy of what it entails and how it came about.
Sethos’ voice-line about the two highlights this to an extreme. As discussed, his voice-line is entitled ‘About Alhaitham and Kaveh’, and is the only voice-line in the game to pair together two characters when a character gives an opinion of another.
In this, Alhaitham and Kaveh are inextricably linked together - not only in being delegated a joint voice-line, but also due to Sethos’ opinion of them.
This separates them from the crowd due to an intimacy shared between the two of them. Sethos states that Kaveh is always speaking, to Alhaitham, in a low voice, as if to not let others overhear. This directly indicates a secrecy between Alhaitham and Kaveh which is not to be breached by the crowd, Sethos, and the player included, as Sethos fails to overhear anything to relate back to the player.
Sethos finishes by claiming that when Alhaitham and Kaveh are “together”, they become a different force entirely as if they were alone, as seeing them together means “you just can’t look away.”
Sethos’s voice-over creates an allusion to a secret existing between Alhaitham and Kaveh, and this secret conveys very much the essence of queercoding itself??
The two discuss something which cannot be known to the player, or someone attempting to breach the line between the public display of their relationship and that of their private relationship. This private relationship occurs outside of the player’s knowledge and pertains to the development of their relationship, along with what the two now consider the other.
The ambiguity of their relationship here only continues to point to the two’s connectedness, in that they are coupled together by an outsider. It’s interesting that rather than the personal pronoun ‘I’, Sethos uses the collective pronoun ‘you’ when referring to Alhaitham and Kaveh as a pair.
This directly addresses the player, and draws attention to the uniqueness of their relationship. Yet again, this is the same method used to purposefully cause the player to question Alhaitham and Kaveh’s relationship – and, just as other instances, there is no clarification.
This secret that is generated between Alhaitham and Kaveh directly equates to the idea of queercoding, as no definitive answer is given as to what exactly the secret, or intimacy, is – and this aligns with the game’s inability to confirm queer characters or relationships.
Alhaitham and Kaveh having reconciled is considered of prominent importance. This is seen in their balanced viewpoints having the power to bring about good for others, but here, it is specifically highlighted that Alhaitham and Kaveh are ‘other’. They are separate from the crowd, regardless of being surrounded, and they are perpetually in their own private sphere, despite attempting to be intruded upon by an eavesdropper.
Together, they become a unit that stands out, and yet this is contrasted by the intimacy of their togetherness. It is unknown what the two discuss, only that it is private between the two of them alone. This intimate covertness, this secrecy, in the presentation of Alhaitham and Kaveh’s relationship demonstrates the usage of queercoding.
As established here, this aligns with the queer taboo, in that closeted queer people live a life secret to the heteronormative public, and thus become ‘other’ in this secret part of themselves. The secrecy of Alhaitham and Kaveh’s relationship can correlate with the real-world negation from heteronormative bonds, found in queer relationships not accepted by the society around them.
This is seen in how the true nature of their relationship is avoided within the game, and, yet, is highlighted by several characters for the player to question. This lack of answer, as established, leaves the interpretation to the player. It appears deliberate that Alhaitham and Kaveh’s relationship status is constantly called into question in previous quests and events, but their relationship, when improved, goes unmentioned by the very characters that once questioned it, such as Paimon.
Yet again, Alhaitham and Kaveh’s relationship is styled to deliberately avoid labels, and yet, their closeness is deliberately highlighted. Along with this, the secrecy of their private life is poignant, seen in both Sethos’ voice-line and in the ambiguity of their relationship in Cyno’s Story Quest II.
With this method, the game purposefully allows for questions which ask as to the specific nature of Alhaitham and Kaveh’s relationship – just as it deliberately avoids giving a specific answer. Highlighting the two’s closeness, and the ambiguity of this, is an active method of queercoding.
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which sans aus do i think would believe in climate change challenge GO
horror: really sans (and by extension any classic variant) would believe in climate change due to being former scientists. like what type of scientist DOESN'T believe in climate change. so horror would believe in climate change but he'd be really damn pessimistic about it (because he's an asshole!) like he genuinely wouldn't care at all. sometimes on bad days he purposely litters. on really hot/cold days as a result of climate change he'd complain and start considering bring environmentally friendly. but he never does. horror wouldn't care at all
killer: he would believe in climate change but he similarly to horror wouldn't care. because he simply has more important things to care about (kities :3 nightmare :3) he thinks those things are somehow above climate change (dumbass!!!! nightmare would melt like wax because of climate change) but when faced with the reality that things are actually being affected by climate he'd be like damn.... this shit id actually happening and i'm contributing to it.... but then he'd immediately move on and get back to more important business
dust: climate change believer but he just does not care. like he tries not to be wasteful and litter and he probably properly uses a recycling bin but in the end he doesn't really give a shit if his efforts are really helping. also he kinda forgets sometimes and that's really not helping the globe. dust would bring it up in fights that he recycles and then people (horror an killer) would shit on him for A. being a pretentious stuck up dick who thinks hes better than everyone for being environmental and B. because he's a goddamn hypocrite that doesn't even stick to his own recycling goals. goddamn asshole
nightmare: he's smart enough to know that climate change does exist but he purposely pretends that it isn't real to piss people off (and get those delicious delicious negative emotions :3) and he'd do it so confidently and he'd belittle you so much that either you get so pissed off and irritated at him or you start questioning yourself and if climate change actually IS real? he'd make up fake sources for climate change being fake and site the mtt as his source because they used to be scientists 💀💀
ink: this fella doesn't even know what day of the week it is do you think they would remember climate change??? absolutely not. anyways ink probably has it scrawled down on his scarf: CLIMATE CHANFE EXISTS. IT WILL KILL THE CREATORS/CREATIONS. but then he still doesn't manage to remember it!!!! but if they could genuinely remember everyday i think ink would try to use less earth harmful stuff for his art and try to be environmentally friendly. key word TRY. this is the guy that goes around teleporting and fighting with ink they would litter the substance everywhere
dream: he really really struggled with grappling with the concept that YES climate change exists. YES there is enough trash out there to kill the earth. YES there is not much he can do about it. like every moral dilemma question about climate change was asked by dream (to swap) and he's very upset about climate change prior to maturing. but after maturing he knows that he can't do much to help climate change but he is FERVENTLY environmentally friendly and tries to remind everyone around him to help the earth (without shoving it down their throats because he's nice like that). if dream had the time he would probably start a nonprofit for helping the earth. he would start a nonprofit for everything actually. modern au dream where he has several nonprofit organizations to help various causes. someone out there's gonna love this idea
swap: he does. i think he would make a joke about it at first when being asked like CLIMATE'S CHANGING? I HOPE HER NEW OUTFIT LOOKS GREAT! or some dumbass fucking joke like that but this guy is even more environmentally friendly than dream. he goes to RALLIES for the environment. he would use environmentally friendly soaps and even fucking kitchen utensils. this guy is just here for saving the earth. he wants to really really believe that big corporations don't mean bad with pollution but he knows. theres no convincing himself that big corp wants to save the earth. even someone like swap who always has hope can't convince himself of that shit
cross: he would obviously believe in climate change. i actually don't know if theres someone here that i don't thinm believes in climate change yet. anyways cross would and he'd recycle regularly and try to be good at it. but accidents happen and he messed up his recycling sometimes and then he feels bad for it because the goddamn earth is gonna die if he doesn't at least contribute his part. cross is baffled by people who don't believe in it the same way i am at flat earthers. like HELLOthe rising temperatures are right there!!!!
error: doesn't care. he lives in the antivoid climate change doesn't effect him. also it would just make his job easier :3 error LAUGHS in the face of rising temperatures
now you may ask why did you decide to post this. but what you should really be asking is why not shouldn't i have posted this. the question was clearly on everyone's minds. i was just the only one brave enough to step up and determine if these fictional characters would care about our world melting to death (OBVIOUSLY)
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[ID digital drawing of redesigns of the VKs from Disney descendants, years Evie, Mal, Jay, and Carlos. Evie has the front of her hair braided back with a little crown, a white princess shirt, and a blue cape with gold and red details and a high collar. She has a blue skirt with a heart belt and red panels stitched on the sides and a ruffle white skirt under. She has black tights, white ruffle socks, and red Mary Jane heels, and red and blue fingerless gloves. Above her is the symbol of a heart shaped mirror with a crown on top of it.
Mal has big horns, pointed ears with many piercings, messy purple and green hair, and is holding a knife. She is wearing a fishnet shirt with a purple crop top and a ripped jacket. She has low rise very wide leg pants with green flames on the end, and big spiky boots. She has mismatched gloves and a couple belts. Her symbol is a broken heart with horns and wings and is on fire.
Jay has an orange beanie and a ripped vest with a belt across it. He has cargo pants and tall sneakers, a few belts and fingerless gloves. His symbol above him is an orange toothy cobra snake coiled up.
Carlos has stripy black and white hair and goggles and glasses. He wears a stripy shirt and has a fluffy collar coat that's patchwork of black and white polka dots, and patchwork shorts and mismatched loafers. His symbol is a black and white crossbones. End ID]
👑😈🐍☠️
This from like... May? I think? It got lost in the 1k of my drafts (a lot I know) But I was thinking about redesigning them yet again! so expect that at some point too lmao.
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Hi. in addition to HoM, you also drew au by baby Randy & First. can you tell me about her? ( ͒•·̫|
YES absolutely I can. I kind of made up this AU on a whim, but i actually love it sm, i wanna draw more for it so thankyou for this ask!
So, basically, Torn Pages AU is set up inside the Ninjanomicon, where First's soul resides. Something happened on the outside - in the real world - which caused the Ninjanomicon to get damaged so badly it affected everything. First 'awakens' inside to find himself in now chaotic and hostile dimension of what once was his peaceful afterlife, with Plop plop missing, some strange new power in his left eye AND a matching green eye set on a much much younger face of the current Ninja, who doesnt seem to remember First or most of his life.
Confused, disoriented and now with a tiny charge depending on him, First sets out to find out what happened and if it could be fixed from the inside, trapped as they are in the nomicon. On the journey to the heart of the Ninjanomicon, he will encounter ghosts of his past, all the while inevitably bonding with Little Randy through some cute shennanigans and unexpected battles to protect them both.
so ye, basically i want to explore/worldbuild some background for First Ninja and also make him bond with baby!Randy so he would get Dad tm feels ;D
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