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thewebcomicsreview · 11 months ago

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Oh hey, Hamsteak 2. Looks like Vriska's...back in Alternia? In a dreambubble?

they sent the thief here in search of power; the power to escape the containment i so painstakingly set up for them

Al confirmed as the Candy narrator. Also confirmed that the black hole is "containment" for the dreambubbles and non-canon worlds, and that all the ghosts falling in wasn't an accident of fighting Lord English.

the black hole could only ever shelter them for so long, and in their haste to shrug off my protection they have opened the door to something far, far hungrier.

This panel is a callback to Karkat about to open the door to the New Universe. Where there were interrupted by Jack Noir. Vriska is interrupted by-

Yoo! It's Davepeta! Who feel into the black hole and has been conspicuously absent ever since. They're the only Ultimate who is not connected to Dirk, and in some ways the only "true" Ultimate. Interesting that Al considers them such a threat, when Davepeta has never been anything but benevolent.

Looks like it's all the sprites, in fact. Why...are there two Nannasprites? Oh god, I'm being pushed to the endless limits of my ability to remember Homestuck Lore. Is one of them pre-retcon? I do not remember.

ERISOLSPRITE: wwe'vve been here for liike a miilliion fuckiin 2wweep2. DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < actually we just got here DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < this place didnt even exist until she popped in ERISOLSPRITE: gue22 ii'll fuck my2elf.

It didn't exist until a character arrived, at which point it retroactively existed the whole time, like how a planet works.

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < does that not sound insane to you fefeta? FEFETASPRITE: 3833 < 383

What? How are Davepeta and Fefeta coexisting? That definitely doesn't make sense.

Well, logic be damned, it's apparently time for a Vriska training arc.

Gah! Talksprites! Also, Vriska enters "Hell" on page 666 of Homestuck 2, which is I think the first time this comic has aimed at any kind of Meaningful Number.

God, we are full on visual novel here. I didn't know Ren'Py could export to web, but I guess it shouldn't surprise me. I presume/hope the save option is default and won't be needed here, it's 1:30am.

Tavros is here and, much more oddly, alive. I suddenly understand jack shit.

I have no memory of Tavros ever forgiving Vriska for anything...or, for that matter, Vriska even being aware she did anything that needed to be forgiven. I presume she's just lying here, though.

This line combined with this pose is the essence of Vriska

So, Vriska's being forced to "grow as a person" and her big idea to finish her character arc is to atone for her sins by getting Tavros to take revenge on her. Vriska thinks that the secret to gaining power is getting Tavros to kill her.

I wonder where she got that idea.

But that time she refused to mind control Tavros into killing her, she wanted him to grow from it, too. Now we're past that.

I felt smart for remembering the K8LL ME bit but we're being really obvious about it now so I guess they just assumed everyone would and I'm not special :(

Oh shit. Erisol wasn't kidding.

Davepeta roleplaying being a cat who dies horribly is kind of the perfect synthesis of Dave and Nepeta. What is this music. It's very toot-y.

Oh hey a text log. How convenient. So we're trapped in a time loop, then, explicitly recreating Groundhog Day. I guess that explains the infinity hourglass on the Plot Point machine.

Vriska's having a bad couple of years.

Davepeta is "countless" cool dudes and kitty girls, which I think is the first explicit confirmation they're an Ultimate Self, though that was pretty strongly implied at least. The only Ultimate to do so without Dirk's involvement.

Stop letting me intuit things and then immediately making them clear! I don't care if it's good writing, it's making my liveblog bad!

It's so weird to compare this Davepeta to the one in Homestuck OG. There Davepeta was presented as this wise sage mentor figure who'd achieved enlightenment, and here they're much more of "Dave + Nepeta's combined silliness as one character". It's a subtle difference, but go back and read Davepeta giving this same kind of talk to Jade back in Homestuck 1. I guess that's the difficulty of a character with so little screentime in the original, they're either very limited or they feel slightly off.

Oh my fucking god, a to-be-continued select screen. Shit, that takes me back in an unexpected way.

Also, from the associated news update, "the big flash" is apparently several months away (10/25?), and I have to say they might want to be careful about overhyping it, if they have small flashes and now Ren'Py novels that are just preludes. If it's anything less than a Cascade after months and months of hype it could fall flat where a surprise [S] Enter would've popped the fanbase hard.

#Homestuck #Homestuck 2 #Homestuck 2 Liveblog

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explaining-homestuck · 1 year ago

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What did Gamzee do after the events of the meteor pre and post retcon? The wiki page just made me more confused.

Ooh, here's an interesting one.

One thing to keep in mind is that while a lot of earlier acts made a point of showing exactly what happened to cause things to occur, characters to be in certain places and have certain things happen to them, Act 6 (and more specifically, Act 6 Act 6) tend to throw that out of the window. This is a choice made for a number of reasons: for one, showing every single thing that happens to each character would take forever, especially for two or more timelines worth. Also, narrative obfuscation is a theme of Homestuck, especially A6A6, where Caliborn spills stardust all over the game cartridge, causing glitches to obscure certain events, both for the audience and the characters.

The question given here is "what happens to Gamzee Makara after the meteor trip", so I won't go into much detail about what he specifically does while on the meteor, or in the dream bubbles (though to simplify: he hides in vents for 3 years, plots with Kurloz to help Lord English, romances and abuses Terezi, and ignores Karkat; in the post-retcon timeline Vriska puts a stop to most of this).

However, story-wise, while this is going on, Gamzee appears a couple of times in Jane's session, providing her and her friends with guides (prototyping dead trolls) and taking part in trickster shenanigans. And, he's also seen in Caliborn's session, helping him! What's going on here!?

Let's start with the pre-retcon timeline, in Jane's session. When the meteor arrives, Grimdark Jade arrives and teleports all its passengers (except Gamzee) to LoMaX, where they encounter John.

Gamzee does several things in the Alpha session, which may be impossible to actually order correctly due to the time travel involved, so let's give them in the order they're shown.

Appearance One

First, we see Gamzee, a short while after Jane Crocker entered the Medium (when she returned back to her house at the end of Myststuck), with Aradia Megido's Time Travel Music Boxes (her version of Dave's Time Tables) which allow him to travel through time to any point in the session he's in. He likely retrieved them from somewhere in the meteor, or from a dream bubble. They may also be Damara Megido's, it's impossible to tell.

He's also wearing a fake God Tier outfit, which was made for him by Kurloz Makara in a dream bubble. Furthermore, he has a large variety of bottled potions, which are made from the blood of the seven trolls who died on the meteor (Vriska, Tavros, Equius, Nepeta, Feferi, Sollux, and Eridan); he tries to sell these potions to Jane.

He also has with him a fridge, which contains Vriska Serket and Tavros Nitram's bodies, including Tavros's non-robot legs, which he then prototypes into Jane's Kernelsprite to form Tavrisprite, who proptly spritesplodes, launching Gamzee away from Jane's house.

Appearances Two and Three

According to Roxy Lalonde, Gamzee similarly appeared to create Fefetasprite with her Kernelsprite and Feferi Peixes and Nepeta Leijon's bodies immediately after she arrived back at her house in the Medium post-entry, and can be surmised to have done the same for Jake English's Kernelsprite, making Erisolsprite with Eridan Ampora and Sollux Captor. (Jake also implies this.)

Not much else is known about these appearances.

Appearance Four

While Dirk Strider is having a rather dramatic conversation with Lil Hal about whether or not he's going to prototype him, Gamzee sneaks up behind him and prototypes Equius's body into the Kernelsprite, forming Equiusprite. Hal is then subsequently prototyped, forming ARquiusprite. Gamzee also does a silly honk dance while this is happening, followed by tearing up and prostrating himself before Dirk in reverence of ARquius's majesty.

Gamzee is also present when Dirk joins the Tricksters, the Fefetasplosion, and the Trickster Alchemy Montage. The less said about all that the better.

Appearance Five

At some unknown time, Gamzee was on Derse with the Courtyard Droll, and with him, placed Lil Cal (the green suit one, which Gamzee had in his possession since Murderstuck), as well as a large assortment of knives, a hacksaw, Crowbar's Crowbar (which he received from Kurloz) and a card saying "YOU'RE MOTHER FUCKIN WELCOME" with a picture of Gamzee's face on it, into a pumpkin marked with the words "LET'S PLAY A GAME", which they then transportalized into Jack Noir's Prospit cell. Jack then was cursed by Cal, and proceeded to become Lord Jack, who then destroyed Prospit's moon and a large amount if the main planet itself.

(Technically, Appearance Five is shown before the second half of Appearance Four, but since that takes place in the same location, I grouped it together.)

Appearance Six

Once Jade Harley and John Egbert's battleship arrives in the Alpha Session, Gamzee sneaks aboard the ship after Jade, John, and Davesprite have all left (John by retcon) and steals the Ring of Life John accidentally left on the couch he was sleeping on. He then hides in the fridge, and in his dreams, gives the ring to Aranea Serket, who is revealed to be currently (and possibly previously) manipulating his mind. Aranea uses the Ring to return to life, and appears in the Alpha Session.

It's implied within this section that Gamzee's silence during his actions in the previous parts of Act 6 was due to Aranea's control over him. However, this cannot be proven for sure, although I'll mention it again later.

Appearance Seven

During the chaos on the Land of Frost and Frogs, which would later become the event known as GAME OVER, Gamzee jumps from somewhere under Aranea's control in order to prevent Crocker-Tier Jane from using her Life powers to resurrect the recently killed Grimbark Jade. He grapples and gropes her, until Terezi Pyrope appears, kicking him off of her and engaging in combat with him. She stabs him multiple times, but due to Aranea's influence, he doesn't fight back, and he survives because of his clown immortality.

When Brain Ghost Dirk breaks Aranea's concentration fully (when she's flung back after his re-fakening), Gamzee snaps out of her control reverting to his original StOnEd QuIrK. He asks Terezi to stop, telling her she's hurting him, which causes her to drop her weapons in shock, but he then flies into a clown rage, beating her mercilessly, then hanging her over the lava. Rose attempts to intervene, but Gamzee dodges her spell, then taunts Karkat and Kanaya (who are at the edge of the lava lake) while putting Terezi in a headlock.

[If you want images of this fight, go to the actual comic, please.]

Appearance Eight: GAME OVER

Immediately following Appearance Seven, Gamzee is attacked by Karkat and Kanaya. Using Terezi's canesword, he stabs Karkat twice and throws him into the lava, before Kanaya cuts him in half lengthways with her chainsaw.

This is all of Gamzee's appearances in the Alpha Kids session pre-Retcon. While Hussie has said that Gamzee cannot be killed in any timelines he knows of, bisected Gamzee is very clearly out of the picture for other appearances.

Additional Notes

Because Gamzee had access to time-travel, it's near impossible to position these events in a particular order from his point of view, except that all of them must take place for him after arriving in the Alpha Kids session (otherwise Dave would have been able to similarly skip forward and enter the session without taking the 3 year trip), and appearances 7 and 8 must take place sequentially and last.

The ordering of the first 3 appearances is trivial, as it's likely he didn't time travel at all between 1 and 2-3, just went to the planets to do the prototyping when they appeared.

Aranea may also have been controlling Gamzee through all of his earlier appearances. There's evidence to suggest that she is the narrator for the segment where he tries to sell Jane potions, and that she engineered Tavris's creation in order to pacify Vriska with Tavros's traits, making her less likely to interrupt her plans and also to distract Meenah, but that's dipping into the lines of theory more than facts.

ARquius's creation, and sending Cal to Jack, are likely more motivated by aiding Lord English, whether Gamzee understands why he did them or not.

There'll be another post sometimes soon talking more about Gamzee's motivation, including what cause him to go crazy in Murderstuck, but that's all of this for now.

Except, of course, the other timelines.

Post-Retcon

John's Retcon journey ensured that Terezi would not fall for Gamzee's Murderstuck tricks, and led to her capturing him in the basement shop area. John also prevented her from killing Vriska.

During the meteor trip, Vriska stops Gamzee from doing much of his mischief, preventing his and Terezi's relationship, stopping him from stealing all the bodies, which he complained to Kurloz about in the dream bubbles.

Vriska, using the Music Boxes, also did most of Gamzee's interventions in the Alpha Session, prototyping Jane's Kernelsprite with exclusively Tavros, and Dirk's with ARquius again, in order to help deal with God Cat and de-Crocker Tiering Jane respectively. She left Roxy and Jake's sprites open, which later became Jasprosesprite^2 and Davepetasprite^2, which was not her intention.

(There is a slight inconsistency here, as somebody has to have provided Jack Noir with Cal in order for him to become Lord Jack, and make Jane and Jake become God Tier. Nobody knows how this happens in the post-Retcon timeline, though Vriska creating overpowered Jacks in order to have them later be defeated is a recurring theme with her; all 3 Noirs that took part in [S] Collide have her to blame for their presence in one way or another, if she is the creator of Lord Jack. However, this is once again theory, not facts.)

Upon the arrival of the meteor crew in the session, or perhaps some time before or after, Gamzee was locked in Jane Crocker's fridge by Vriska.

In this fridge he remained for the rest of the comic. It was briefly transported to LoMaX by Jasprose to use as a table for her, Nepetasprite and Jake's tea party, and then once she joined Jane on LoCaH to aid with the coming battle, it was used by ARquius as a weapon against Cans, with Gamzee still inside. When Cans and ARquius began travelling between different moments and locations in the battle, the fridge went with them, eventually ending up on LoTaK, where Dave, Dirk, and Terezi were fighting Lord Jack and Spades Slick.

Gamzee was shown inside the fridge and one point, crying.

Most of LoTaK was subsequently destroyed by Lord Jack's head exploding into a black hole. Terezi, Dave, and Dirk all got clear of the blast via time travel, but Gamzee's fate was unknown.

However, this isn't the end of Gamzee's story after the Meteor.

Caliborn

A Gamzee, wearing a fake God Tier outfit, discovered Calliope and Caliborn's egg on Future Earth C, in Universe C (thousands of years after the events of the Homestuck Epilogues, with Earth's new sun expanded to a red giant reminiscent of Alternia's sun).

How this Gamzee got here is unknown. However, he raised the baby Cherubs the best he could, favouring Calliope to Caliborn (possibly because Caliborn bit him)

Gamzee set their room in the wreckage of the meteor up, providing them with meat, candy, special stardust, computers, their Jujus, the chessboard from the Cherubs famous game, and various other items. Where he got these is unknown, but one of them is Rose Lalonde's book that she and Kanaya Maryam wrote, on the workings of Sburb and the events of their sessions (with additional artwork by Dave Strider and Karkat Vantas). However, he edited it, mostly using Equius's blood, removing references to Lord English, Doc Scratch and himself. He also gave Calliope Karkat's ~ATH book (although neither the version from the Alpha Timeline, as that was destroyed in Karkat's computer explosion, nor the one from the timeline an Aradiabot brought the HoNkhOnK code back from, as that one was covered in blood, and also was already used by Doc Scratch, and once Andrew Hussie, as a scrapbook.)

He also set up Calliope and Caliborn's chains, and then left them alone until Caliborn entered the Medium, taking the Earth with him. At this point, Gamzee appeared to him again, offering to be his guide.

Caliborn shot him a bunch instead.

Gamzee followed him anyway, giving him the Crowbar and a set of keys. This may imply that this is the same Gamzee from [S] Collide, since the Crowbar was wielded by Lord Jack during the battle. The fact that Caliborn's Denizen was Yaldaboath, who was also Dirk's Denizen, and resided at the core of LoTaK, which was also consumed by the black hole, and that Caliborn *also* entered his Medium via a black hole, lend evidence to the theory that Lord Jack's head acted as a portal to Caliborn's session (which may also be an explanation for how ARquius arrived for Caliborn's Masterpiece, though it's one of many possibilities.)

Gamzee may also have got to Earth simply escaping the fridge after LoTaK's destruction, going through the Victory Door, and then waiting for thousands of years, as he might not age along with his clown immortality. He may also have entered the universe via the door at a later time, since there's nothing that confirms you must arrive at a specific time or place.

Hussie says:

I'm not even really sure how he got here, to be honest. Maybe he stowed away in a shitty Liberty? Or maybe he was just hiding in one of the ventshafts on your meteor when you entered? He had YEARS of practice to master that move, now that I think about it.

Anyway, Gamzee then assisted Caliborn in his quest, where they also found Lil Seb and Lil Cal, and the 14 regular members of the Felt. Later, in Caliborn's Masterpiece, they encountered the 8 kids, and in the ensuing battle Gamzee was once again bisected lengthways (likely by Dirk), and half of his body was sucked into Lil Cal, then banished into the void to eventually become part of Lord English.

And that's everything that Gamzee did after the meteor.

I hope this confused you slightly less than the wiki! I'm going to be doing a follow-up explanation on Gamzee's motivation and the factors which changed him from silly clown boy into homicidal maniac cultist (and why that's not actually what happened), as requested by someone else, but that's not going to be the next post, so please, ask me more things! I've done two rather long explanations now, so a short one or two might be good, but feel free to ask anything!

(Oh, and I forwent the Epilogues here, because they're kind of a mess, but I can tell you with 99% certainty that the Gamzee that meets Caliborn is *not* the Gamzee from most of the Epilogues; Vriska kills that one.)

#explaining homestuck #homestuck #homestuck lore #gamzee makara #cw: abuse #cw: blood #cw: gore

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blaperile · 9 months ago

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Homestuck: Beyond Canon (reactions page 666 - “Davepeta feather” path)

Ok, finally got around to writing a reaction to this update

I was very surprised to see Vriska was not in this update!

It's funny, because beforehand when looking at all the images for the different chapters, this was the one that seemed the most obvious, showing Davepeta's feather and implying another conversation between Vriska and Davepeta.

After the previous update, I was convinced it would be about Davepeta trying to help Vriska move on from the traumatic Doc Scratch conversation.

Instead, we get a surprise Jasprose appearance!

Again, I'm very happy about all the new talksprites we got in this update :D

And FINALLY we get an update addressing the bonus stories the old creative team made! I'm actually surprised it's in this way though, I thought that perhaps they would first integrate all the old bonus panels into the main comic, but apparently not.

On the other hand, the things Jasprose said here only briefly touched upon the events of the Catnappped bonus story, so perhaps when it properly focuses on them again there will first be the old panels (maybe a URL link, kind of like the old Homestuck days with some panels about the Exiles being on a separate page linked from a normal panel?).

Anyway, only after a while I realized something quite sad: this is only the first time in the entirety of Homestuck^2 that we see (a version of) Dave and Rose interacting. Because with the events of the Epilogues, both the Meat and Candy versions of Dave and Rose got entirely separated from each other.

And even now, Davepeta and Jasprose are in totally separate realities, only managing to talk to each other via sprite magic.

If you start thinking even harder about it, Jasprose is technically from the Meat timeline while Davepeta originates from neither seeing as they weren't on Earth when the timeline split happened.

Though I guess you could wonder, IS there a Candy Jasprose? What if she was also outside of the normal reality when the timeline split and there really is only one version of her as well? Then the same thing could be true about Gcatavrosprite, Erisolsprite (wherever the hell he suddenly came from) and Nannasprite (ok not entirely, there's 2 versions of her but that's already from before the Meat-Candy split, haha).

That's something to think about.

Anyway, let's talk more about the actual content of this update, haha.

I like how the music utilizes the Sunsetter leitmotif, referencing the Davesprite song that was already used for Dave's walkaround music in Openbound.

So, all chapters now retroactively got names, with this one being Chapter X. Makes sense to not be a number, when all the other numbered chapters follow Vriska and seem to indicate in what year they're taking place.

Does it mean the next update, the 8-ball path, will be "Chapter 8" and take place in year 8? It would make sense thematically, as well as be an excellent transition with how this conversation between Davepeta and Jasprose ended.

It's also good to know that in the outside world only an hour or so should have passed. I mean, obviously they wouldn't have let years pass by, but it also means that Vriska isn't INSTANTLY back from the perspective of John, Roxy, Calliope and Sollux. What will have happened there in the meantime? Will Vriska be returning at a very climatic moment?

It's interesting that Jasprose claims she's only been in Midnight City for a night. But on the other hand, it's basically always night there! So she might as well have spent a pretty long time there, who knows!

I like that they addressed this Rose's alcohol problem. Good to hear she's not fallen off the wagon!

#Homestuck #Homestuck: Beyond Canon #update #upd8 #update reaction #Davepetasprite^2 #Jasprosesprite^2

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ao3feed-jonmartin · 2 years ago

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One More Light

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/CEZFfDd by Rajani_the_Freak It's a Game Over. But as Terezi begins to plan how to fix things, it turns out that Rose wasn't quite dead just yet and she has a few additions to the retcon plan. or how the archival staff of the Magnus institute end up in a different kind of apocalypse. (Warning: Crow Strider AU of Homestuck. I have a basic idea of what entails written down bellow if you have never read it before but it implies there are differences for regular Homestuck, just so you don't jump the gun and then become confused. Also I recommend reading the AU because the art is good, all the characters get screen time AND character development, even the less popular ones, and everyone lives) Words: 9719, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Homestuck, Crow Strider AU - Fandom, The Magnus Archives (Podcast) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Characters: John Egbert, Roxy Lalonde, Nanna Egbert | Beta Jane Crocker, Terezi Pyrope, Jade Harley, Crow Strider, Rose Lalonde, Jas Lalonde, Fefetasprite (Homestuck), ARquiusprite (Homestuck), Erisolsprite (Homestuck), Sasha James, Tim Stoker, Martin Blackwood, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Gerard Keay, Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Melanie King, Georgie Barker, Basira Hussain, Dave Strider, I'll add as I write them (there are a LOT of them) Relationships: Jade Harley/Crow Strider, Jade Harley/Dave Strider, (a dave just not one that decided to keep the name), Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, (adding the pairings as I write them because I have no patience) Additional Tags: Fix-It, i took someone else's fix it au and added another fandom into the mix to 'fix it' even more, not necessarily a good or bad one, (technically I was only going to 'fix' the other fandom, but I decided to go wild and add a few other characters so there's that), (yes that means I'm saving Mom and Dad and maybe some other ppl too), anyway the archival staff is going to have a TIME in this, just... a time read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/CEZFfDd

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #tma #jonmartin #jmart #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #jonmartin fanfic

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nervousbreadpuppy · 2 years ago

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gamzee and death

so i find it interesting how gamzee is the only character that doesn't die.

like it's explicitly pointed out in canon how he is notoriously hard to kill because he's a clown.

and he doesnt have any doomed timeline selves either, despite being known to exist in doomed timelines.

and thats really interesting.

because first of all, it implies a few questions. like what happens to the gamzees in doomed timelines. do they just fade into nonexistence? does he gain some awareness of them/their memories (such as with doomed!rose from davesprites timeline)? is he constantly every version of himself?

i can't tell you. its just interesting to ponder.

and through not being able to die, gamzee is denied the closure of death. he cannot become a martyr the same way vriska and eridan do.

because arguably, vriska and eridan do similar amounts of harm. like maybe not "directly causes every single problem in the story" amounts of harm, but still. vriska killed thousands of trolls. and even in the context of murderstuck, eridan killed more people than gamzee did.

but they are not punished for their actions aside from their deaths.

(vriska) is able to have a complete character arc and realize how she wasn't happy doing what she was raised doing. in death she is allowed growth.

eridan isn't given the same amount of mercy, but he still is able to reach an understanding? through erisolsprite. they hate themself, but they are still able to say about gamzee "fuck that guy"

gamzee is not allowed to die. he is not allowed to experience the mercy of death. he is put through incredible amounts of pain without dying (see: caliborn's machine gun, terezi's stabbing, getting cut in half (twice)). the only reason he is so despised is that he is not allowed death. he is not allowed mercy. he is not allowed martyrdom. he's too important for that.

#gamzee makara #homestuck analysis #gamzee analysis #homestuck #he's a really tragic character man #anyways this is kinda rambly but yeah

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cerulean8looded · 5 years ago

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Solluxxxxxx

This took way too long hjhkhkj anyway here’s my shitty analysis of Double Time

(Heh. This is ridiculous.)

Yeah, it is.

One of me is my enemy

the other me is a pretty cool guy

but I haven't seen him around lately

we don't see eye to eye

One Sollux is in Erisolsprite—his “enemy”—while the other is just chilling, being a cool dude. The two of them don’t see each other, and one of them literally cannot see. It seems pretty obvious that Sollux wouldn’t get along with Erisolsprite though. Additionally, it can refer to Sollux’s bipolarity in that he hates himself some of the time, but thinks he’s actually pretty good other times. For a large chunk of the comic, we just didn’t see Sollux, giving an alternative analysis for the second half of the lines.

There's too much noise and too much spit

but I think I've gotten the hang of it

or at least I thought I did

until you up and kicked the bucket

(Wait! I mean... oh, f*ck it)

For a long time, I forgot Feferi existed and assumed this was about Aradia dying. It can also apply to Feferi, but the double meaning is probably intentional.

What do you see in him? What could I say

to convince you not to hop his way?

“Hop” connects to Aradiasprite, and her sudden attraction to Equius. It could technically apply to Feferi and Eridan, but she was quite firmly hopping away from him.

I've never been too good at the ebb and sway

much prefer the electrical current

This one does apply more to Feferi and Eridan, since Equius would have no connection to ebb and sway.

The bees are buzzing in my mind

that double crossing and two-timing (get it?)

prospectors pan shifting through sand

searching for a golden nugget

I don’t have anything to say about these lines, I just like ��em.

Little brains build little bridges trying to connect, but I'm already on the other side,

you'd know a lot about that, right? I'm twice the man as he is, I'll work for you double-time

Would that be fine?

“Other side” could refer to death, but I’m not sure on that because I don’t remember Sollux’s deaths in much detail.

“I’m twice the man that he is” can refer again to Equius or Eridan. More likely Equius since, to go back to the death idea, “you’d know a lot about that, right?” implies he’s talking to Aradia.

Primarily, I'm primary

though some may say I'm incomplete

and should be in a jar

label me "DO NOT EAT"

Primary colours are his whole schtick—yellow blood, and likes red and blue. Obligatory mind honey joke, which is superbly executed.

Hope has struck me in the face

and with his ace of clubs he shoved me

back into the race

cause second place still wins a trophy

Of the three people Eridan attacked, only one went down for good. Kanaya was known to be a great—one may say an ace—auspistice—the clubs quadrant—so that was a very cool way of saying “Eridan attacked us, but we get a second chance at life anyway.”

I might have overheated, now remind me how I died, was it my motherboard, or just my RAM?

Seriously, remind me how he died? It happened too many times. Overheating would be an apt description though and RAM, while being a computer joke, can also refer back to Aradia—Aries being the sign of the Ram.

Now I've found a player two in you, I'm glad I fried, I'm using every second that I can

of Double Time, Double Time...

Dying a couple times is worth it if it means you can spend the rest of eternity with your girlfriend.

Double trouble bursting bubbles

Where you go I'll follow

Hollow-eyed and now I'm fine

I'm only making up for lost time

“Double Trouble” refers to the duo of Aradia and Sollux, and “bursting bubbles” is about their travels, of course. Although they didn’t actually do the bursting themselves, but it sounds cool and they did travel through bursting bubbles so whatever. Sollux was mostly just along for the ride, there to follow Aradia rather than having any goal of his own in mind. “Hollow-eyed and now I’m fine” refers to how his blinding had silenced the voices and he could finally relax and chill out. “Now I’m fine” is also reminiscent of dead Aradia, and how she was just fine about everything, connecting to how Sollux adopted her abandoned quirk.

Tick and tock and red and blue

The colours and the sounds I never knew

When they were all I saw

Now sightless-eyed and empty-jawed

“Tick and tock” — clock sounds, as well as being a big part of Aradia��s song, to once again tie into his connection with her. I’m not too sure on how to analyse the other lines, but they sure do sound nice.

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ao3feed-rosekan · 6 years ago

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The Homestuck Afterwords- The End of the Symphony: Side Candy

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2WrjkaF

by StepperOfTheLongEarth

The End of the Epilogues didn't feel complete but we don't know anything about what is coming next. This sad state of affairs is going to be changes by yours truly. I present The Homestuck Afterwords! A continuation about what happens AFTER the Epilogues. This duology of Homestuck Fan Fiction can be read in any order weather Candy or Meat. They will be updated one chapter per side (or not if I feel like adding one or more chapter at a time). This is intended to be the same work regardless of how the number of the series is displayed. For your convenience I will be placing links to each of the corresponding chapters and the next equivalence so that you may read this however you want. For example: Start with Candy 1 -> Meat 1 -> Candy 2 -> Meat 2 or vise versa. Or just read each straight through. This will be an ongoing project and as I'm shitballs terrible when it comes to planning for writing, the schedule is currently up in the air. This fic may also contain fonts that your computer does not have so it may not display correctly. I will be providing download links for you to have the most authentic (tm) experience possible. I have no idea will go. Enjoy!

Words: , Chapters: 1/40, Language: English

Series: Part 2 of The Homestuck Afterwords

Fandoms: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other

Characters: John Egbert, Rose Lalonde, Dave Strider, Jade Harley, Karkat Vantas, Gamzee Makara, Tavros Nitram, Eridan Ampora, Sollux Captor, Equius Zahhak, Terezi Pyrope, Vriska Serket, Kanaya Maryam, Aradia Megido, Feferi Peixes, Nepeta Leijon, Jane Crocker, Jake English, Dirk Strider, Roxy Lalonde, Calliope (Homestuck), Alternate Calliope (Homestuck), Nannasprite (Homestuck), Jaspersprite (Homestuck), ARquiusprite (Homestuck), Erisolsprite (Homestuck), Gcatavrosprite (Homestuck), Davepetasprite (Homestuck), Damara Megido, Aranea Serket, Meenah Peixes, Meulin Leijon, Rufioh Nitram, Mituna Captor, Kurloz Makara, Lord English (Homestuck), The Felt (Homestuck), Midnight Crew (Homestuck), Spades Slick, Diamonds Droog, Hearts Boxcars, Jack Noir, Draconian Dignitary, Courtyard Droll, Peregrine Mendicant, White Queen (Homestuck), Ms. Paint (Homestuck), Serenity (Homestuck), Secret Wizard (Homestuck), Clan of the Secret Wizards, Casey (Homestuck), Crumplehat (Homestuck), Consorts (Homestuck), Turtle (Homestuck), Nakodiles (Homestuck), Andrew Hussie, Dad Crocker, Original Troll Character(s) (Homestuck), Original Carapacian Character(s), Maplehoof (Homestuck), MSPA Reader, Sawtooth (Homestuck), Squarewave (Homestuck), Mierfa Durgas, Nektan Whelan, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Swifer Eggmop, Cliper Borden, Vriska Lalonde, Tavros Crocker, Harry Anderson Egbert, Davebot Strider, Rosebot Lalonde, Jasprosesprite

Relationships: John Egbert/Roxy Lalonde, Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, John Egbert/Terezi Pyrope, Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam, Jade Harley/Dave Strider, Meenah Peixes/Karkat Vantas, Jade Harley/Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Vriska Lalonde/Vriska Serket, Terezi Pyrope/Vriska Serket, Jane Crocker/Jasprosesprite, Davepetasprite/Jade Harley, Jade Harley/Happiness, Jane Crocker/Roxy Lalonde, Jake English/Dirk Strider, Calliope/Roxy Lalonde, Roxy Lalonde/Terezi Pyrope, Original Male Character(s)/Original Female Character(s), Original Female Character(s)/Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s)/Original Male Character(s), Roxy Lalonde/Original Character(s), Terezi Pyrope/Original Character(s), Tavros Nitram/Vriska Serket, Nepeta Leijon/Dave Strider, Aradia Megido/Davebot, Rose Lalonde/Terezi Pyrope, Jade Harley/Feferi Peixes, Calliope/Jane Crocker, Tavros Crocker/Vriska Lalonde, Harry Anderson Egbert/Vriska Lalonde, Alternate Calliope/Dirk Strider

Additional Tags: Tags Contain Spoilers, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Alternate Universe, Canon Compliant, Canon Divergent, Meta, epilogue compliant, Non Epilogue Compliant, The Homestuck Epilogues, Mind Control, Manipulation, Misogyny, Sexism, Incestuous Undertones, Transphobia, Misgendering, toxic masculinity, gender transition, Nonbinary Character(s), identity questioning, World War, Political Intrigue, Genocide, Speciesism, Political Rebellion, Fascism, Revolutionary Rhetoric, Capitalism, gerrymandering, Robots, Drug Use, Rough Sex, Implied Sexual Content, alcohol use, Mental Illness, Polyamory, Friends to Lovers, Interspecies Relationships, Unhealthy Relationships, Past Relationships, Developing Relationships, established relationships - Freeform, Long-Term Relationships, End Game Ships, Infidelity, Possession, Power Imbalances, Light BDSM, Furry, Anthropomorphic Characters, Body Horror, Alien Biology, Ghosts, Death, Self-Sacrifice, Guilt, Self-Hatred, Family Dynamics, Dorks in Love, Multipairing, Fan Characters, Worldbuilding, Canon-Typical Violence, Cults, Frogs, Aliens, Friendship, Kissing, Crying, Multichapter, POV Second Person, POV First Person, POV Third Person, POV Multiple, Forgiveness, Unrequited Love, clown, Romantic Fluff, Canonical Character Death, Trickster Mode (Homestuck), Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Ashen Romance | Auspistice, Post-Sburb/Sgrub, Post-Canon, The Homestuck Epilogues: Candy, Earth C (Homestuck), Breaking the Fourth Wall, Video Game Mechanics, Time Travel, SBURB (Homestuck), Weird Plot Shit, Brain Ghosts, Trans Roxy Lalonde, Doomed Timeline(s) (Homestuck), Dreamselves, Implied God Teir Powers, Rainbow Drinkers, Beforus (Homestuck), Alternia, Quadrant Vacillation, Quadrant Confusion, Pesterlog(s) (Homestuck), Time Shenanigans, The Author Regrets Nothing, The Author Regrets Everything, Self-Insert, Reader-Insert, Problem Sleuth references, Meta Bullshit, Metafiction, Gambling

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2WrjkaF

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #rosemary #homestuck

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fetefox · 8 years ago

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Eridan Ampora Compilation

1. He’s a violet seadweller, one blood caste below the fuschias.

2. Wavers his “w” and pronounces his “v” as “w”, replaces “of” with “a”, and cuts the “g” on the verbs (ex: bringin).

3. Hates littering and the trolls that litter.

4. His weapons are rifle kind (Ahab’s Crosshairs) and wand kind (science stick)

5. In his introduction and narration, he thinks himself having a genocidal complex, and the only reason he doesn’t was because he thinks it would upset Feferi.

6. He considers himself a tool.

7. Describes magic to be “fakey fake fake”.

8. Has a collection of wizard statues, wands in the fridge and possibly a wizard hat somewhere as shown by his other timeline self.

9. Has lots of treasure and gold in his hive.

10. Has rings on all of his fingers except for the ring finger.

11. Hunted lusii for Feferi and her mom Gl'bgolyb, probably even before he found Ahab’s Crosshairs.

12. Uses fish puns only to humor Feferi. Has never said “nyeh” or “wweh” like the fandom of the past though he did. That would be Cronus, who said “nyeh” that one time.

13. Ahab’s Crosshairs was powerful enough to shoot through a gigantic sea whale, the blast easily twice as large as him saddling Seahorsedad.

14. Emulated Dualscar and was highly interested in Alternian military history and tactics.

15. Was in a moirallegiance with Feferi until she broke it off. He asked if she was interested in going red, she wasn’t.

16. Feferi admitted to staying in a moirallegiance with him due to his usefulness at feeding her mother. She was not pale for him at all and considers him a burden. The moment she broke it off, her words thereafter were “FR-E—-E!”.

17. Was in a kismesissitude with Vriska until she broke it off. They FLARPed together and even against each other as the spoils are split between them; trolls for Vriska’s spidermom and the trolls’ lusii for Feferi’s mom.

18. Implied to have flirted with Nepeta and Equius.

19. Flirted with Rose and offered to teach her kissmesissitude and she reacted with blowing up his husktop.

20. Asked Terezi to auspistice between him and Sollux, was rejected.

21. Dealt well with his rejections and was quite civil about it.

22. Fought with Sollux on LOBAF.

23. Was fixated on kismesissitude with Sollux, this fixation disappeared and was abandoned in the end.

24. No one knows exactly why the Angel-killing began but apparently they’re “not gettin any less pissed” according to Eridan, forcing him to keep up shooting them, possibly in a means to survive from their Wrath.

25. From his confusion as to who this “her” Karkat raged about him loving in their pesterlog it indicates he was not fixated on matespritship with Feferi or was initially not flushed for her at all.

26. Admitted to repeatedly telling Feferi he was over her which Feferi could not accept at all and accuses him of attempting to force her to auspistice between him and Sollux, even though he showed no signs of going black for him anymore.

27. Genuinely thinks badly of himself / has low self-esteem.

28. Felt like an asshole after learning Sollux’s death from Gamzee. Was upset that Gamzee would rather think of “miracles” rather than give emotional help to an upset Karkat.

29. Does not listen to some advice given to him.

30. Kanaya alchemized a wand for Eridan, giving him a medium to channel his magic (Hope) through.

31. Mistook “Prince” as a game title for his social rank rather than him being an offensive and highly Destructive game player.

32. Was disliked and alienated by nearly every troll on the meteor.

33. As the game goes on to show deteriorating “hope”, Eridan believed the higher means of survivability was to join Jack Noir.

34. Approached Feferi and suggested her to come with him after deciding on joining Jack. She rejected him and wanted to halt him from probably leading Jack to their base.

35. Sollux declared hostility to Eridan and mentioned a wish to have killed him back on LOBAF. Feferi stayed in the sidelines instead of joining Sollux in fighting Eridan.

36. Eridan KO’d and blinded Sollux.

37. Turned Grimdark once (confirmed by Hussie).

38. He shot Feferi through the chest after she charged at him with her trident.

39. Shot the matriorb and Kanaya after glancing at her holding her lipstick.

40. Nearly fought Gamzee and Vriska. Snapped out of his Grimdarkness from shock of seeing Kanaya well, alive, and glowing with anger.

41. After death, was seen again waking up whole and dead and confused with Feferi, Sollux and Aradia approaching him, smiling.

42. One dead Eridan was seen in God Tier accompanied by God Tier Feferi.

43. Implied to have an interest in crossdressing.

44. Cronus Ampora flirted with an Eridan to which he accepted while bemoaning his situation.

45. The Eridan Ampora:s of other timelines were seen in the battle aganst LE, some of which are alive, one was even seen smiling in glee while sitting on Shrekdad’s shoulder holding cottoncandy.

46. An Eridan was marching behind Vriska on the way to defeat LE.

47. Was left for a month on LOWAA. Alone. No one visited him, not even Karkat who promised to do it.

48. Lost Seahorsedad during Sburb.

49. Nepeta was his client player.

50. Was good friends with Karkat and seemed to open up to him more than he did with Feferi.

51. With how confident he was at wielding his wand- err, “science stick” against Sollux in a battle, he might have practiced and trained with using it after getting it from Kanaya.

52. Shows no discrimination when hunting lusii as seen when a dead and bleeding indigo/violet blooded lusus was seen floating on horrorterror seas.

53. His dead body was fused with Sollux’s thus forming Erisolsprite who took the opportunity to apologise to Fefetasprite for killing Feferi.

54. Erisolsprite was occasionally seen in the background whenever Trickster Mode was in place.

#homestuck #eridan ampora #fox talks #character analysis #compilation #appreciation #in this house #we love and appreciate eridan

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existentialspiral · 8 years ago

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Classpect Analysis: Mage of Hope

DEFINITION: The aspect of Hope holds ties over possibility, potential, imagination, desire, drive, angels, the infinite, friendship, and the non-capital concept of hope. Hope is an easy enough aspect to talk about, with varied displays, multiple users, and, best of all, several characters speaking with an operative definition of it. As well, it is well shown that Hope has a very specifically defined counter-aspect, that of Rage, allowing us further insight into the aspect. Firstly, on the subject of its heroes, we have Jake English (Page of Hope), who manages two amazingly powerful displays of his power: the Hope Bubble, a literal burst of manifested Hope that somehow contained more energy than that of the Green Sun, and the manifestation of Brain Ghost Dirk. Most obvious is the Hope Bubble, mostly due to its ability to overpower the Green Sun-derived powers of a First Guardian; as a First Guardian can be said to have effective omnipotence due to their ability to harness the limitless power of the Green Sun, then this means that Jake must have been outputting, at a minimum, more power than that of an effectively omnipotent being, possibly even a greater level of infinite power than that of the Green Sun itself. More impressive is Jake’s manifestation of Brain Ghost Dirk, where he not only violates the principal of conservation of mass and energy, but actually creates a living being, with its own mind, memories, drives, and even separate knowledge, entirely because he believed that Brain Ghost Dirk was real (or at least, so long as he was whammied by Aranea into that state). Next we have That Worthless Fuckup (Prince of Hope), who was able to manifest Hope as a destructive force, one capable of overpowering Sollux, something he couldn’t do at any point prior despite having a weapon that has been described as one of the most powerful that the riflekind abstratus would allow (presumably, anything larger or stronger would fall under cannonkind, artillarykind, or seigekind). Most interesting about this display is that, despite That Worthless Fuckup being able to use his power through a wand, the wand in question is stated to be nothing more than an ordinary wand, likely alchemized out of the shitty wands of the shitty wand pile; this implies that That Worthless Fuckup’s wand held power entirely because he believed it held power. As well, as a Prince, That Worthless Fuckup actively destroyed his own Hope, destroying his romantic hopes (by being a stressful genocidal asshat), his personal hopes (by fulfilling his personal role as Orphaner, when an intentional failure would have served him better), and even destroying his hopes within the session (by suicidally attacking the angels of his Land). Lastly is Cronus Ampora (Bard of Hope) and his post-Scratch counterpart, Orphaner Dualscar, who was actually more pitiful (although less miserably pathetic) than his Dancester; unlike That Worthless Fuckup, we haven’t seen Cronus display any hope-related abilities, although it should be noted that, as a Bard, he passively destroyed his own Hope, driving away any potential romance with his slimy personality, ruining potential friendships with his relentless creepiness, and even demolishing his own destiny by abandoning it. Meanwhile, for less-derived and more spoken information, Aranea Serket makes specific mention as Hope being a difficult aspect, due to its strongly-curved growth (that is, it takes a significant amount of time or effort to gain power), but also lists it as possibly the most powerful of all aspects, something borne out by the events of the comic, with the power of Hope being shown as greater than that of Time (and, by mirror implication, Space) with Jake overpowering the young Lord English, who had already gained ‘limitless power’ from his Quest. Lastly, it should be noted that, in general, Hope players tend to be of a rather high opinion of themselves, from the unthinkingly self-important (That Worthless Fuckup) or callous (Jake English) to the outright delusional (Cronus Ampora). As for the powers of a Mage, we really have no solid ground to stand on. Every Mage shown so far has failed to display any active associated abilities, and the Mages in question are all failed examples of their class. However, we can gleam some info from them, through the three shown incarnations of the class: Sollux Captor (Mage of Doom), Meulin Leijon (Mage of Heart), and Meulin’s post-Scratch counterpart, the Disciple (Mage of Heart). More specifically, examining them all gives the following definition: “One who experiences and comprehends one’s aspect.” Sollux notably had comprehension of the ~ATH programming language, a language built on the very concept of doom, and was able to experience Doom in a way no one else ever could, having had both two dreamselves, his original body, his half-ghost body, and his unlife as Erisolsprite in the doomed Game Over timeline, allowing him to die a total of five times, each time experiencing a new expression of Doom. Also notably, Sollux manifested the ability to hear the voices of the imminently deceased, a passive ability that would seem most appropriate for a Seer of Doom, possibly the result of his rejection of his aspect and apathy to his class causing his class to invert, implying an active-passive pairing with Seer. Meulin herself, meanwhile, is noted as having a great deal of skill with shipping, especially in the redrom quadrants, and so can be said to comprehend matters of the heart; additionally, she is stated to have little permanent luck with romance herself, implying that she has dated and been in many relationships with many partners, and thus that she has a great deal of experience in matters of the heart. Lastly, the Disciple is most notable for her relationship with the Sufferer, where it is stated that they fell into every quadrant at once with each other; this unique relationship allowed her to experience the full troll romantic spectrum, the human concept of monogamous romance, the cherub concept of devoted kismessitude, and the leprechaun concept of a “Heart-Moon-Star-Clover-Diamond-Horseshoe-Balloon-Rainbow-Pot” relationship (i.e, a full 3x3 trove); thus, it can be stated that the Disciple was allowed to experience every form of romance, and thus the near-complete experience of the Heart aspect. Now, if you wish for a fuller, more in-depth dissection of the Mage, I recommend preforming one yourself and sharing your conclusions with the community; failing that (or simply wishing to be entertained by my conclusions), I recommend reading my analysis here. With all this, we may now parse the Mage of Hope as, “One who experiences and comprehends imagination, possibility, faith, or hope.” Other Hope players have to rely on a sense of hopefulness and confidence to maintain a connection to their aspect; not so much for the Mage of Hope. The Mage of Hope does not need to keep faith in Hope, because he knows. He has felt the rising joy of his aspect, and known the crushing despair of its absence. Where others are left adrift, wondering what there is to believe in, the Mage of Hope has learned that faith, belief, imagination, these things stand alone, stronger than the weight of ages if you’re willing to keep to them. Sinners and saints, heroes and horrors, the devoted and the desperate, all of these see themselves staring back out the knowing eyes of the Mage of Hope. ABILITIES: The Mage of Hope, as one with comprehension of and experience with Hope, functions as a Jack-of-All-Trades, able to fulfil any needed role the aspect of Hope could allow, which (with Hope being the aspect associated with possibility, potential, and imagination) is essentially every role. Having practice and understanding of his aspect, the Mage of Hope can inspire, manipulate, destroy, assume, or wield Hope itself. This pairing of an extremely varied and viable class with an extremely varied and powerful aspect results in the interesting result of a player who can not only fulfil any actual role, but can actually succeed in any role that doesn’t outright require a specific aspect, or which doesn’t require the specialization of a specific class (such as Thief or Muse). In video game terms, it’s easiest to think of the Mage of Hope as an upgraded Red Mage-Mario; that is to say, someone with access to most, if not every, ability, albeit usually at the cost of generalized weakness (the Red Mage) combined with someone who, while not specialized in anything, is instead passably good at everything (the Mario). Put in raw stat terms, think of other classpects as having a set of stats ranked from 1 to 10, with most classes having 9 or 10 in one or two stats and the rest averaging out to about 5 or 6. In this, the Mage of Hope wouldn’t have a 10 in any stat, but instead would have 7 to 9 in all of them. In more mortal terms, the Mage of Hope is a less-physical SBURBian Superman. At lower levels, it seems likely that the Mage of Hope would be able to access some useful powers of their aspect, likely along the lines of magic attacks or other related abilities, making them an effective lower-level striker, along with their already burgeoning understanding of their aspect’s nature allowing them to help inspire their team and help them with their own issues, such as despair and misery or overconfidence and arrogance; meanwhile, as a learner class, they would be expected to do everything they could to learn more of their session, to tear the lore apart in search of whatever they’d need to bring their session victory. Through their understanding of Hope and its associations they could be expected to come up with some daring plans of action, to accomplish the seemingly impossible, to be generally good at things they set their mind to, and to discover the important secrets and hidden goals of Skaia’s Game, all while also helping to prevent the team from falling to either overconfidence or hopelessness; in other words, a Mage of Hope is probably one of the best possible candidates for a team leader, one rivaled only by most Blood players and some Heart, Mind, Breath, Space, and Time players. This, though, could be countered by their classes influence on their fate, forcing them to experience both the good parts of their aspect and the bad, resulting in spectacular failures and truly hopeless losses. However, while this tendency might be directly problematic, it does serve the triple purpose of both A: teaching the Mage more of his aspect, B: keeping the Mage’s feet on the ground, averting a definite issue with Hope players, and C: helping the rest of the team to not see them as someone ‘beyond’ them, in either status or ego, and so allowing them to actually help and inspire the team to greatness, at least so long as these failures don’t seem to overcome the victories. In other words, “Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker.” Upon reaching God Tier, the Mage of Hope experiences a less dramatic increase in direct power than other classes, but an infinitely starker increase in utility; no longer limited to their mortal abilities, the Mage of Hope can directly affect changes they intend upon the world, and with their comprehension of their aspect, they can use their more-limited but wider abilities to far greater effect than others, as well as being able to better use their understanding to help their team, inspiring the doubtful and taming the doubtless, and also being able to divine ever more information from the world by their greater understanding of Hope, including its associations with all that is possible (and thus, impossible), with potential (and, thus, all that merely could be), with imagination (and all that isn’t so conceptually concrete), and with goals (and, by implication, what those goals need to be fulfilled; goals like the breeding and growth of a Genesis Frog). For more direct abilities, sky’s the limit; the power of Hope is essentially limitless, being shown as more powerful than Time, and is directly associated with things such as imagination, so the actual limits of someone who can truly comprehend Hope are difficult to guess. Feats such as the manifestation of imaginary objects, the healing of the injured or despaired, the direct weaponization of Hope, the open manipulation of their power, the free manifestation of Hope itself, these and more all seem to be possible. Any actual limits would likely be psychological, either due to the Mage losing hope or confidence, or due to the Mage simply not yet understanding just how much their aspect can accomplish; in other words, the abilities of one who comprehends Hope are limited by their hope or comprehension. At highest level, the Mage of Hope is closer to a full-fledged deity than almost any other God Tier player, having abilities far in advance of some entire classpects, or even entire aspects. Being someone with both power and comprehension of imagination, possibility, faith, potential, and the infinite, the actual direct abilities of a Mage of Hope at their absolute upper limits are less, “awesome magic powers of amazing strength,” and more, “localized and absolute control of reality.” By this point, the Mage of Hope can be said to not only have as much power as they can get, but also as much understanding of Hope as is possible, and so any actual limits on their abilities are purely in relation to the level of power they can output; as the power of Hope (albeit channeled through a Page, THE most directly powerful class) was able to overcome the outright statedly-limitless power of the Green Sun itself, it is %100 possible that a full-fledged and conceptually fulfilled Mage of Hope is truly omnipotent; if one were to establish limits they would likely be in the area of power, leaving the Mage as only being able to use their power limitedly, either as full omnipotence within a specific area, or as only being able to realize one effect at a time, or even only being able to manifest their effects limitedly (such as being limited in the size of imaginary objects they could conjure, or in the actual joule output of their Hope Beams). Of course, all of this doesn’t mean that a Mage of Hope is unbeatable. As their abilities are directly tied to their imagination, they are also limited by their imagination: if the Mage in question can’t think of a solution to a problem, then all the power in the world isn’t going to help. Also, as the power of Hope is implicitly tied to friendship, a Mage of Hope is likely going to need the support of their friends to use their power fully; indeed, as Hope is so heavily tied to belief, self-image, and positivity, any disbelief or negative emotions and thoughts could have limiting or even outright depowering effects. Also, while the power of Hope is great, greater than any other aspect, it cannot actually do everything; no matter how powerful a Mage of Hope becomes, he can never travel backwards through time, or change the lines of other’s thoughts, or manipulate luck, or breed the Genesis Frog, or to truly create something from nothing. Lastly, the greatest weakness of a Mage of Hope at the top end of their power is that, while they have something close to omnipotence, they would not have omniscience; “It doesn’t matter how fast you are, how good you are, ‘cause it’s always the bullet you didn’t even see that gets you.” QUEST: We aren’t actually shown any proper Quests for a Hero of Hope, or for a Mage; Jake’s Quest was never shown, and neither was Sollux, Meulin, or Cronus’, and That Worthless Fuckup actively sabotaged his own Quest. However, we can gleam some information on the very little presented to us. On the side of Mages, the only thing we have to go on is his Land, the Land of Brains and Fire, which ties directly to the source of his power (Sollux’s “hiideou2 mutant brain”) and his suffering (the “cacophony of phy2iical paiin [his] hiideou2 mutant braiin cau2e2”), although that is, unfortunately, the only real information we have on his land. On the Hope side, we have the lands of both Jake and That Worthless Fuckup, the Land of Mounds and Xenon and the Land of Wrath and Angels. Jake’s land’s name is, unfortunately, worthless due to his status as Noble of a Void Session, and its actual environment is mostly worthless, being both filled with explorable burial sites (like all Void session Lands) and marked with an X, possibly as a reference to Xenon starting with X, and possibly a once-removed reference to his relationship with Dirk by way of Plato. Lastly, we have That Worthless Fuckup’s Land and Quest, which do provide some information. Firstly, as the Land of Wrath and Angels, it references both Hope and Rage, Hope’s counter aspect. Next, looking specifically, we can note that, with That Worthless Fuckup being a Prince, he seemed to better embody his counter-aspect, destroying his own aspect within himself, displaying his weakness right alongside what her needed to overcome it. Also, while we don’t have any direct observation of his Quest, we do have some info presented to us. Specifically, the info presented by Doc Scratch, who states that That Worthless Fuckup was taught by the angels how to destroy hope with their light; indeed, with that as context, it becomes far more difficult to decide if That Worthless Fuckup was supposed to talk with the angels like in a normal RPG, or if he actually was supposed to slaughter them all, with his growth as a Prince being hampered by his use of a top-tier weapon, or even if it allowed both options. Taken together, I shall posit that the Land of a Mage of Hope would likely have to do with something related to Hope, such as Angels, Joy, Imagination, Crosses, Crescents, Salt, Sanctuaries, or Imagination, and something to do with the character in question’s suffering. An example would be the Land of Loss and Souls. As for Quests I may only speculate, but knowing that the Quest is intended to help players become more complete people and to better fulfil their roles as Heroes, I’d guess that a Mage of Hope’s Quest would purposefully expose them to constant hopelessness, while also showing that sometimes things really are hopeless. To give an example using the above posited Land: the Land of Loss and Souls is home to the wandering ghosts of passed consorts, forced to haunt the land because of the actions of the Land’s Denizen, as well as the living consorts who were left behind. The player’s goal is to help the ghost consorts to move on from their present state, at first by helping them personally, then by completing the grand challenge imposed by their Denizen. As well, the Mage of Hope will have to learn that, while they can fulfill some of the ghost consort’s requests (such as being able to see their long-lost child one last time), some requests are truly impossible (such as a request to have been able to start a family of their own blood, ghosts obviously not being able to sire or birth children). The only denizen shown for Hope players is Abraxas, who becomes less clear as you inspect him. Abraxas is one of the only two Denizens to have a name from a mythology besides ancient Greece, the other being Yaldabaoth. As Yaldabaoth is supposed to be the strongest Denizen for the strongest player, it can also be implied that Abraxas is the weakest Denizen for the weakest player, although this is difficult to judge. As such, until Hussie either shows us Karkat’s Denizen, or shows us the Denizen of another Hope player, we shall have to mark Abraxas as a ‘maybe’. Also, I state now that, as the past section notes, the Mage of Hope is also a character with the potential to be essentially omnipotent; if that isn’t enough to justify the appearance of Yaldabaoth, I don’t know what is. VERDICT: Top. Fucking. Tier. The Mage of Hope is, at its higher levels, one of the best classpects period, and at the height of its power could probably solo a session except for the Frog Breeding; if it weren’t for the ticking clock mechanic, a Mage of Hope might even be able to solo a Dead Session, without any Leprechauns to help. The only thing which curbs it from being unstoppable is a possible power limitation and its dependence on positive thinking, the exact kind of thing that would likely doom a Mage of Hope from actually soloing a session, Dead or otherwise. As it is, the Mage of Hope is still a force to contend with, able to comprehend Hope and so use Hope in almost any way they wish; the only real limits to a Mage of Hope come from a lack of understanding on their part. As well, it seems incredibly unlikely for a realized and dangerous Mage of Hope to ever have any actual loyalty issues, being that comprehension of their teammate’s hopes and dreams is well within their remit. Either as an inspiring leader or competent teammate, it is very hard to do much better than a Mage of Hope. The Mage of Hope needs little in the way of support, being so outright capable with the actual doing of deeds, and so outright requires few things beyond positive attitude. To this end, a Sylph or Bard of Mind, Light, Heart, or Blood would be all they need to keep themselves at the height of their power. The Mage of Hope doesn’t really need much in the way of leading, possibly being the leader themselves, but in the situations that they are a follower, a Breath or Blood player of most classes would do best. For synergies, the Mage of Hope works incredibly well with most classpects, able to adapt to most needs, so the best possible pairings are with most players of Time, Space, Heart, Mind, and possibly Void. Lastly, in the unlikely event that the Mage of Hope goes rogue, you’re in for a bad time. Actually fighting a Mage of Hope requires one to either be resistant to the Mage’s power, or to be able to attack in a way they can’t counter. Witch or Prince of Mind would be a definite, if unsafe, option, as would a realized Page, Prince, or Knight of Rage, and possibly a Knight of Space. Possibly the safest, if not most effective, counters would be a Prince, Thief, Rogue, Witch, Maid, or Knight of Heart, these being generally safe classpects, but still able to fight back against a Mage of Hope.

#Homestuck #Classpect #Analysis #Classpect Analysis #Class #Aspect #Mage of Hope #Mage #Hope #Long Post

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