#this took forever to format but i did it. i wrote the essay 😭😭😁😁✌✌

[pega-chan]

Valent Damian Rafaelt - The Unintentionally Stellar Aro Rep

finally getting around to this post! in honour of Pride Month and Aggresively Arospec Week (@aggressivelyarospec), i'm doing an analysis on possibly the most well-written aro character i've ever seen in the media - Valent Rafaelt. i never expected to get a POC aro character in the local comic scene, but here we are! /gen sorry for my crappy comic scans in advance. (tagging @nzcienif cuz i think you might find this interesting :D)

[ID: A picture of Valent Rafaelt from the Scrambled comic series looking right at the camera. He is a fair-skinned teen boy with light blue eyes and sideswept, slightly messy brown hair. He wears black-rimmed glasses and a name tag that reads, "Valent Arjuna" pinned to his white t-shirt. End ID.]

Introduction

Valent Damian Rafaelt is a main character from the Indonesian comic book series Scrambled and its Webtoon prequel, Scrambled: Journeylism, both by Rosalina Lintang. set in modern-day Bandung, the story follows plucky transfer student Filan as he seeks out to start a band with his classmates at his new school. Valent is Filan's classmate and ends up being the bassist of his band, named "Scrambled". The kids of Scrambled set to polish and promote their band as they navigate their high school lives.

its prequel Scrambled: Journeylism centers on shy Visi (also a main character in Scrambled), who's just starting her high school freshman year (set a few months before the main series). She gets a journalism club assignment to write an article on the five hottest guys in school—and lo and behold, the list includes Valent, who she first falls in love with during orientation. The story here doesn't really focus on Valent, so i'll be focusing on Valent in the main series.

to describe Valent, i'm just going to copy the relevant bits of his official bio here.

positives: rational, witty, calm, realistic, and very independent

negatives: sarcastic, insensitive, too closed off, hard to read, aloof

hobbies: sleeping, eating, reading books, listening to music, browsing jokes/dog videos on the internet

likes: food, dogs, alone time, good books, puns

dislikes: no food, overly noisy environments, unrealistic and narrow-minded people, having his private space intruded upon

interestingly, there's a section in his bio that describes his type (of person to date). i guess the author didn't want to give away his nonamory earlier on in the story, or since his bio is supposed to be a reflection of his mind, it might just be that Valent feels obligated to have a 'type'. my headcanon is that he's just aesthetically attracted to girls.

type: someone smart, not annoyingly talkative, likes dogs, can cook, and 100% understands his need for privacy

based on that, i think Valent's really just describing his own qualities.

he (unintentionally) embodies some fun parts of aro culture too: pizza is his favourite food, and he would choose his pet dog over a romantic relationship any day. Valent is romance-neutral with a disinterest in romance; whenever it's brought up, however, he expresses his confusion about it and its amatonormative aspects. he's also nonamorous.

he's generally well-known at his school despite only being a freshman, with many acquaintances but few close friends. this is in part bc he's the 'too pretty to be aro' archetype: he's popular with the ladies bc of his good looks and many profess their love for him.

[ID: A three-panel black-and-white comic in Indonesian. The first panel shows two boys looking off to the side as they catch the tail end of a conversation. A girl says: "Valent! Aku...Aku suka kamu...terimalah cokelat buatanku ini!"

The second panel shows the two boys, bemused, watching Valent and a short-haired girl. Valent has his back to them. He says: "Maaf, tapi aku nggak suka cokelat. Omong-omong, kamu siapa ya? Pernah ketemu?" The girl gasps, in shock.

The third panel shows the two boys, bemused, watching Valent and a short-haired girl. The girl turns away from Valent, sobbing. End ID.]

translation:

Nathaniella: Valent! i...i like you...please accept these chocolates i made for you!

Valent: sorry, but i don't like chocolate. by the way, who are you anyway? have we met?

[ID: A two-panel black-and-white comic in Indonesian. The first panel has a black background with a single speech bubble that says, "Sori, tapi emangnya kita saling kenal?"

The second panel shows Valent, rubbing his neck and looking tired as he lets out a sigh; a girl running away from Valent, sobbing; and a boy peeking out from behind a wall, watching them both. End ID.]

translation: sorry, but do we know each other?

bc he's not very perceptive, however, Valent always rejects and dismisses them in an insensitive manner, to the point where he doesn't think that sharing their confessional chocolates with his friends is a big deal.

[ID: A black-and-white comic panel in Indonesian. Valent turns toward two boys, Filan and Axel, watching him, offering a box of chocolates. He asks: "Ada yang mau?"

Filan startles, thinking, "Eh! Memangnya...kamu nggak ngerasa awkward atau gimana??? Kok malah aku yang ngerasa awkward??"

Axel points to himself and replies, "Aku mau." End ID.]

translation:

Valent: anyone want some?

Axel: i do

Filan: don't you feel awkward or?? why am i the one feeling awkward???

Visi: ng...is it okay for you to be sharing Nathaniella's chocolates with others…?

Valent: because i hate chocolate.

Visi: ah, i see...but she definitely wants her chocolates to be eaten by you exclusively, right…? maybe you should ask permission first

Valent's problem is that he doesn't see the purpose of cushioning the girls' feelings bc he doesn't even know them, so it's easier to get to the point when he turns them down. even if he DID know them, Valent doesn't know how to handle people when they're crying. aside from that, he doesn't understand crushes so he doesn't really know how much his actions towards them can hurt them. this is the basis of his arc: he has to learn to be more considerate and sympathetic towards the girls he rejects.

Filan: ...hoi...Lent... it's not wrong to turn them down, but you don't have to be that sadistic, right? if you keep that up, no one's going to like you anymore.

Valent: great, that means i have to be even more sadistic!

Filan: (thinking) my god...is this kid really that ungrateful? don't you see your friend over here isn't very coveted by the ladies?

Filan: (out loud) that's not what i meant! you gotta reject them nicely, not as harshly as you always like to be! then you say 'thank you'! apologize properly!

Valent: i'm too lazy for that, it’s troublesome. easier to get to the point

The first volume of Scrambled serves as an introduction, so Valent's personal arc is explored fully in volumes 2 and 3. here's the major character involved in his story.

Visi

[ID: A bust drawing of Visi from the Scrambled comic series. She has fair skin, brown eyes, and shoulder-length black hair and is grinning. She's wearing her school uniform that consists of a collared white short-sleeved shirt with her school emblem on the breast pocket and a greyish blue tie. End ID.]

the catalyst. Visi has had a crush on Valent since the beginning of the school year but never interacted with him. at first she sort of puts him on a pedestal, but when she gets recruited as Scrambled's band manager, she befriends Valent and discovers another side to him as they grow closer. even though she does get frustrated with how oblivious he is, she still likes him. Visi calculates her chances at a romantic relationship with Valent, and after much thought and encouragement from her friends, she confesses to him over semestral break. when she does, Valent is forced to deal with the aftermath and confront his aromanticism and insensitivity head-on, kickstarting his crisis.

the two have a lot in common and Visi ends up being one of Valent's closest friends, so he cares a lot about her. here's some stuff you should know about her from her official bio.

positives: perceptive, likes to help, hardworking, very loyal, reliable

negatives: sceptical, has difficulty prioritizing herself, pessimist, low self-esteem, has difficulty turning people down

likes: good books, chocolate, romantic things, history, kind people

dislikes: bugs, being ignored, sudden changes in plans, rude people, being disturbed

this doesn't really have an impact on Valent's arc, but is interesting to note: Val is in a subversive love triangle with Visi and Scrambled's drummer, Hosea. Visi is on bad terms with Hosea, who in turn has a crush on HER. her cold shoulder gets warmer until they reconcile in volume 3 (Visi and Hosea are endgame, and it's set up pretty nicely from the beginning). Hosea and Valent are actually good friends, and Hosea advises them both when misunderstandings occur between them post-confession. there's none of the silly "fighting over a girl" plot, bc one of them in the triangle is aromantic and cannot care less.

The Story

the beginning is simple: Visi has a crush on Valent, and decides to build their friendship. while doing so, she tries to estimate her chances with Valent. all anyone knows is that Valent turns down anyone who's ever hit on him, but her reasoning is that they weren't people he knew personally. she thinks perhaps he'd go for someone close to him.

Visi: if...if for example you were friends with someone...then one day they admitted to liking you, how [would you react]...?

Valent: hmmm...well i'd just turn them down.

Visi: e-even though you knew them, you'd still reject them? even if you were close?

Valent: well, how do i put this...even if they did 'like' me, is it not enough for us to be just friends? i don't understand why we'd have to change it into something else. what's the difference with what we have now? is there something that makes it different? i don't get it.

i think this is something that confuses a lot of us aros - the difference between different committed relationships. how exactly are they defined, and how much do they differ? we often don't know, and neither does Valent. we try to define them anyway through our own personal lenses :D

also, notice how he doesn't consider a romantic relationship as "more" than friendship. just "something else". even before he realized he was aro, Valent still said fuck amatonormativity, and that is very iconic of him.

in fact, his nonamory is so obvious, several of his friends comment on it:

Visi: i don’t understand Valent's line of thought...and it seems like he’s not someone who cares about that sort of thing...aside from that, i feel like he always turn down girls not just because he just ‘doesn’t know them’....

Hosea: ah, how do i say this…i think i get it...when i was talking with him, it really felt like he wasn’t the type of guy who likes talking about girls or stuff like that…

despite that, Visi’s friends still encourage her to pursue him, because you never know right? Visi's big push for her confession was during semestral break, where she and Valent were working on lyrics for an original song Scrambled was making. Visi was putting herself down and expressing self-doubt about her writing abilities, and Valent tells her this:

Valent: you can’t think that. In my eyes, you’re more than that.”

obviously, if it were any other character, this would’ve come off as an (amatonormative) romantic gesture. unfortunately for Visi, Valent is not allo, so of course he meant something else when he said it. this one statement gave Visi the courage to confess.

Visi: I LIKE YOU!

Valent: you...like me?

Visi: (nods) tha-that’s why...if we can...i’d like to go out with you...!

Valent: why?

His first reaction was to question why Visi would have feelings for him - not because he’s insecure, but because he couldn’t understand how a crush works. as a logical person, he wants to know how it works, and Visi’s reply doesn’t satisfy him.

Visi: we-well, the thing is...i was surprised and happy when you complimented my piece that was posted on the school news bulletin board. I was happy that you considered me that highly. To the point where you entrusted with several important things [writing pieces]...a-anyway, sorry if my question is too sudden! But this is the first time i’ve ever been able to get this close with someone i like! And the first time someone i liked has ever noticed me! So…!

AND THEN THE BIGGEST PLOT TWIST OF ALL TIME.

Valent: i like you too, Vis. but...do we have to get into a romantic relationship just because of that? Boyfriend and girlfriend...regular friends...i don’t see the difference with what we’ve been doing this entire time.

Visi: of course it’s different! If we were a couple, we would be a lot closer, and--

Valent: we could be like that as friends too. why should we change our relationship if nothing is really different? It’s better if we stay as we are.

After that, he tells her he’s going to give her some time to be alone, apologizes, then walks away, leaving her crying.

If he doesn’t give off aro vibes by now, then idk what to tell you.

As school swings back in session, Valent commits a major mistake - assuming that Visi was similar to him. He thought that, like him, she would be able to move on quickly from experiences such as this one, and could heal by herself. he thought that the confession was the end of it and everything would go back to normal, so he acts like nothing's wrong. because Valent is painfully oblivious, he doesn't notice how Visi is actively trying to avoid interacting with him while she tries to move on from his rejection.

when the rest of the band catches wind of what Valent did, they all agree it was nonsensical for Valent to leave Visi at her lowest point. Visi is a sentimental person, so they advise Valent to try and sympathize with her and be considerate towards her feelings. he doesn't know how to do that either, so Hosea advises that he give Visi some space. and because Valent is so lost in such an unfamiliar situation, he naively follows Hosea's advice without thinking it through like he usually does.

i feel like here his disinterest in romance really backfires on him, bc when he's faced with rejecting someone he very much cares about, he's lost on how to sympathize with an occurrence he's never been in--getting one's heart broken bc of a crush. as you can imagine, mindlessly following Hosea's advice worsens things instead, bc Valent ends up avoiding Visi when she actively tries to approach him and straighten things out. this makes Visi thinks he hates her, and gets discouraged for a while.

i might be repeating myself, but just a reminder that Valent jumping through so many hoops to repair his friendship with Visi is a Big Deal. he's difficult to befriend and has few close friends, so the fact that he's trying so hard to keep their friendship means a lot--especially knowing Visi is a girl and could possibly hit on him and complicate things. to him, a great friend is worth fighting for.

after Valent realizes he's screwing it up even further, and after Visi finds out from Hosea that Valent's just taking his advice the wrong way, the two finally have a proper conversation to sort things out.

Visi: this is all my fault. Someone like me dares to have a crush on someone like—

Valent: No. In my eyes, you're more than that.

Visi: ...What do you mean?

Valent: What does what mean?

Visi: When you said, "You're more than that", Val.

Valent: Well you keep talking as if you're lesser than everybody else. Even though I think you're amazing.

Visi: ...HUH?

Valent:...Once again, I think I worded that wrong..to be honest, I was also confused when you told me that you 'liked' me. Because I don't understand what I'm supposed to do with those 'like-LIKE' feelings. Do you remember when I said I 'liked' you back? But...what about it? Why is it when two people like each other they have to date or pair up? Isn't friendship enough?

Visi: ...

Valent: Do you get it?

Visi: S-so...if you have to ask something like that... what does that feeling of 'like' feel like for you all this time?

Valent: Meaning...?

Visi: For me...the feeling of 'like' means that I want to be considered more special than everyone else... or maybe it's more like the feeling of wanting to be somebody else's...

Valent: Was that what you felt when you had a crush on me?

Visi: Yeah, something like that.

Valent: Oh...well I think it's different for me. What I feel is more akin to awe or respect. Like when you look up to a senior in your school club bc of their amazing personality and skills. Could you imagine dating them because you are in awe of them?

Visi:..No.

Valent: Well, that's how I've been feeling this entire time.

Visi: So...even if you 'like' someone, you haven't felt the urge to 'own' them/'be theirs'?

Valent: When you put it that way...then yeah. I guess I haven't.

this one conversation made me squeal the first time i read it. turns out he went through SEVERAL very common aro experiences: mistaking admiration (or any other positive emotions) for romantic attraction, not understanding the hype around romance, and not understanding romance, period. then he proceeds to COME OUT to the close friend who he rejected after she helped him figure out that, he does not, in fact, experience romantic attraction. this boy, a hormonal teenager, really explicitly admits that he’s never gotten crushes before. i nearly cried bc i felt so seen. and it’s such a surprise bc my country has such an amatonormative society, i didn’t think anyone actively challenges amatonormativity, let alone have a character who is so explicitly aro - and Lintang gave the local comic industry both. needless to say, Valent means so much to me, and i hope topics like this can surface more in local media.

to wrap up Valent’s arc, the epilogue has a scene where Valent rejects a girl--but he's considerate about it.

[ID: A black-and-white comic page in Indonesian with three panels. Valent stands, silent, his expression blank, then says, "Sori. Tapi emangnya kita saling kenal?"

A long-haired girl stares back at him, surprised. End ID.]

[ID: A black and white comic page in Indonesian. A long-haired hair turns away from Valent in frustration, but glances back when Valent says something. Two boys and another girl watch her and Valent from behind a wall as Valent says, "Tapi, makasih udah ngasih tau." End ID.]

[ID: A black-and-white comic panel in Indonesian. It depicts Valent and a long-haired girl looking at the camera. Valent says, "Aku hargain perasaanmu." The girl blushes and looks surprised. End ID.]

translation: sorry. but do we know each other?

but...thanks for letting me know. i respect your feelings.

is Valent aro or not?

from the canon text, it's pretty clear that he is. i don't know how else to read it. he quite literally admits to never having crushes before; i think that's pretty solid. but the author never really confirms it, and i don't blame her if she doesn't--in a queerphobic country, her readers wouldn't take it well. she does, however, admit to having bi and gay characters, but never brings up their sexualities bc it wasn't relevant to the story.

[ID: A tweet in Indonesian with the username blocked out. It reads, "10) anak pertamanya nessa bkn anak kandung alias anak tiri makanya design-nya mirip persis bapaknya (bilang aja ga kreatif (loudly crying face emoji))

"11) there are characters who're gay & bisexual but i'm not gonna tell bcs i don't think it's relevant to the story (statusnya, klo perasaan sih valid)" End ID.]

specifically i'm talking about point no. 11 (these two points were grouped together bc Lintang was doing a trivia drop for Scrambled characters on her twitter).

translation (for the Indonesian sentence): [for] their status [i mean], their feelings are valid

Valent’s romantic orientation, however, IS relevant to his story. In bettering himself, he ended up finally understanding a part of himself that helped him navigate a world saturated in romance. His case is a lot like Saiki K.’s from The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. - pretty obviously aro, but never having it officially confirmed (except Valent of course has more evidence).

In conclusion: Valent Damian Rafaelt is aromantic and there is nothing you could say that can convince me otherwise.

[ID: An aromantic pride icon of the character Valent from the Scrambled comic book series. Valent is in a 3/4 bust view, smiling as he looks at the camera. He is wearing a sweatshirt over a collared flannel shirt. End ID.]