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milos-journal · 2 years

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The Asher Family (TW: TribeTwelve)

Ok, long post, I'm gonna talk a lot. scroll on by or just skim for art if you do not care. Second, TribeTwelve post. TW for that. Lastly, I want to say that this post is a character analysis/my opinions on the Ssher family (Milo, Mary and Robert) so this kind of thing is gonna get gross in subject matter. TW for talks of abuse (specifically marital abuse and child abuse), cults (fictional), drugging, suicide, self harm, and a potential plethora of other topics. tread lightly.

Ok, now that that's out of the way, hello! This is just me babbling about underrated characters and giving hot takes that may cause debate or not, we'll see. It's also me showing off the designs I did for each of these bastards. VERY self indulgent, just something I wanted to make. If this post does well, I may do a post on Noah (or rather, the Noahs, plural) because I have a lot to say on him as well. I don't know how to cleverly segue this.

Milo Asher / Mr. Scars

I feel like it's important to start with Milo, half so that people can decide if I'm insane a quarter way through these paragraphs and either keep reading or scroll, and half because a lot of Mary and Robert's notes are going to elaborate on Milo since everything in TribeTwelve is tightly linked together.

From a writing perspective, Milo is one of, if not the character in TribeTwelve with the most depth. We get an almost whole life read on him and we see the trauma that made him the person he is and what lead to his suicide. However, what is interesting about the journal is the Noah notes, and moreso, how dismissive Noah is.

Something Adam does in his writing that I'm not a huge fan of is explain away all potential mental illness Milo and Noah certainly have and goes "It's from slenderman!! Collective influence!!" when a lot of it is much more nuanced. Milo at the least has PTSD and anxiety, and that's the least. Given the childhood trauma of being thrown into cults as a worshipped being, or given the drugging, or being beat as a kid and watching his mother get beat, he definitely has something wrong, whether or not it wants to be admitted.

Milo being "completely fine" despite overdosing on anti depressants and consistently shown with fresh SH scars feels like this weird glorification of mental illness.

But with that amount of trauma and horrific occurrences, something that is not exemplified enough, is Milo never fully heals from this trauma. He instead internalizes it (which, within his scenario, is his only choice) with no outlet, which makes his moral compass towards the end of Milo's Journal very interesting to say the least.

Milo Asher is absolutely a morally grey character. However, being from Noah's perspective the whole story (to the point where all the Milo centric content is literally annotated by Noah with his own thoughts on the matter) he is a consistently praised character. A lot of the story parades that Milo has done no wrong, simply because he's troubled and traumatized and Noah holds him dear. However, I feel like the entries "Mockingbird" and "Institute" are perfect examples of how unhealed trauma manifests unhealthily.

While many may argue Mary deserved every bit of what happened to her, which, in some ways she did, I think the best way to see everything is to pretend Noah Maxwell isn't there. Which sounds weird, but try to read everything wholly unbiased. In Institute especially it feels almost dirty the way its written, all of Milo's words are covered in this grime he has no guilt for. Did Mary deserve it? Yes, kinda, we get more into Mary later. Is it alarming how Milo had no regard for his or her safety, ruined a marriage, grinned as his mother got hit and swore at by his step father, and then beat the shit out of her and went "Well, she deserved it, so.."? Absolutely, it's very alarming. And, because of the fact everything is from Noah's perspective, not only canon but Tribetwelve's active fanbase puts Milo on this weird pedestal of martyr, how he can do virtually no wrong. I don't know, I'd love to see more of Milo Asher in this grim light, but not exactly demonized. But, this talk of moral greyness and unpacked trauma brings me to my next topic.

Milo's Journal almost entirely focusses on the topic of generational trauma in the Slenderverse, which I find very interesting. Within Slenderverse, there are a couple occurrences of protagonists wanting or even having kids, but often something happens that blocks them from having kids or something happens to said kid. However, Milo's Journal explores this concept of what would happen to a kid being haunted by Slenderman with a parent of the same affliction. It makes me wonder what a fully fledged Milo who ended up with a partner and kids would've been like. With none of that trauma unpacked and all choked down, would he end up just like Mary? Somehow better or worse? With the amount of trauma brought onto Mary (more on that later) that trickles onto Milo, it makes some very interesting writing.

Really quick I want to talk about Mr. Scars, just as a character, and how much wasted potential he is. I genuinely wish he had one of two routes, he either was a full and complete villain, creating this psychological horror by being haunted of a lost loved one who literally wants you dead, or for him to be a villain for Mary when she was younger. The villain for Mary route is interesting because it explains why she so desperately wanted to know who Mr. Scars is while also keeping up this theme of generational trauma. I feel like so much potential for both Mr. Scars and Milo is completely unused, and honestly, same goes for the rest of the Ashers.

Do what you will with my thoughts, have the design I did for Milo. I think I didn't do half bad. Tumblr MURDERED my quality, hopefully clicking on it will do it better.

I did not plan on writing this much, so I'm gonna put a cut here. If you're curious about Mary and Robert, that'll be under it.

Mary Asher/Cursor

Alright, this is deep shit now, and mostly speculation. Most of my writing from here on out will be VERY reliant on some of the old Milo's Journal and Sebastian's Journal leaks. You can find those here. (Yes, it's a download. It's a PDF file.) You don't need to read them to enjoy this post, but it's good for if you want a source on a lot of my opinions on Mary and Robert.

Actually into the bullshit now, I want to start by saying I do not think ANYTHING Mary did was okay, and almost everything she did was volatile and inexcusable. Holy fucking shit she's an underrated villain. And so many people brush her off and go "She was mean to Milo, she's the worst!" in the same breath as sucking HABITs toes, so I feel like it's only fair to give her a chance.

She, unlike a lot of the villains in TribeTwelve, has motive. From what we know about the journal Mary kept herself, she went through some TOUGH shit. A lot of her actions can be seen as preventative measures in her mind, a lot of it probably felt like simple protection to her. This does not make her actions valid, of course, but she probably was going through logical steps in her mind, especially since at the same time she was manipulated by a cult.

Need to sacrifice someone and the cult demands it? Have a kid! Kid's experiencing inexplicable paranormal activity that aligns with a cult messiah? He must be special, take him to meetings. Kid exhibiting disturbing behavior she had when she was a kid and at the same time the cult conveniently has pills to help it? It's natural, Milo needed to be protected.

My point is, a lot of her logic is there, even it doesn't track to most. And of course just because there's logic doesn't make it right, I just wish people thought on Mary more. Saw her as more of an interesting villain, y'know? Thought of her with more dimension past cruel and abusive.

I also forget to note, just putting it as a one off note, she was abused by pretty much all of her partners in some way with exception of Robert and John, or what we know of them. It doesn't connect to anything, just wanted to say it before I call it quits on the rant yada yada here's Mary. Quality got eaten.

Robert Asher / Scriniarii

I love Robert Asher as a character despite the fact we know NOTHING about him, and the fact we don't is a literal crime because what we know is so intriguing.

First, we know that Scriniarii is in his archival position without want, when he joins the TribeTwelve discord and nobody is helping him he exclaims "LOOK I DONT WANT TO DO THIS FUCKING JOB. I DID NOT ASK FOR THIS SHIT!" So, Firebrand or someone else forced him into this position. This doesn't help that he mentions he'll be "punished" by Firebrand for talking out of term. Here's the screenshot in question.

Second, we have no idea if Scriniarii is just a pen name or Robert ascended. Whether or not he is a collective member is very ambiguous. It's heavily implied he's ascended and outside the loop but still he could be some guy also.

Third, we know Robert is in the Order. In a screenshot I sadly do not have, he talks about how the order took his family and ruined his life. It is further confirmed in Wizards, when it says "I asked mommy why we have to go to two churches now and she says it’s to get closer to Daddy and closer to God."

All of this information together is so interesting. Did him and Mary meet through the order? (Update, apologies on misinfo for that question in specific, we have canon confirmation they did not and met beforehand) If so, was he on board with the child sacrifice? What about his command under Firebrand, how is he "punished" and how much control does Firebrand have over him? For those who were not part of the TTD while it was running and really wanna know more, The SCRINIARII Code is super useful for a good summary. I swear I had a good archive of the discord screenshots but apparently I don't, so thats the best you get.

Congrats! You got so far into the bullshit you get the final piece of art. Quality looks like he got chewed up and spat out.

That should be it for now. Again, if this post does really well and/or if people are interested, I will TOTALLY make more. Do what you will with my takes, write weird fanfic, call me dogshit, I don't care. Thanks for even reading this far. It means a lot.

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