I’m genuinely unsure. I think there’s a possibility Xefros is manifesting the Time Aspect (and Dammek the Breath Aspect), and it seems like Joey is manifesting both Light and Life.
So I think we’re starting to see what Calliope referred to when she said players could manifest powers “in defiance of their Aspect” if corrupted or resistant to their true calling.
We saw stuff like that in Homestuck sometimes, but it’s basically always been linked to the complementary Aspect, ie: Rose’s Voidy tendencies, Aradia’s Witch behavior leading to her merging with a symbol of Space through self-prototyping like Jade did (Bec for Jade, a Frog for Aradia), so on.
Until now, that’s generally been understood as Aspect “inversion”, but given what we’re seeing in Hiveswap, I think the system is likely more flexible on the Aspect end, too.
But I don’t know in what way yet. I think Aspect “Switching” happens almost always as a *result* of Roleplay done wrong, but I don’t know if the switching itself is Roleplay, or what rules determine what Aspect one “switches” to, or rather, adds.
Happy New Years, peeps!
In this section of our exploration of the Hero Titles, we discuss the Archetypes each pair of classes is based on. To be clear: This writing is based mostly on my own exploration of the comic! We don’t know for sure whether these play into how the Classes are structured on any official level.
However, I hope it proves a good starting point for understanding the Classes, and getting a sense for how flexible and evocative the Hero Titles are. Let me know if it does!
I feel that the Homestuck fandom overall might benefit from a shift towards Youtube, in some ways, so it sounds awesome to me. Like, I really can’t stress how big a shift I think it’d make.
If you’ve ever played Dark Souls or engaged with its youtube fandom, or for that matter if you’ve ever browsed a game wiki, then you might get why I feel this way.
Like Homestuck at the end game (and in many ways, throughout it’s run), Dark Souls has some extremely esoteric and vague storytelling tactics, and a lot is left for the player to deduce from cryptic clues and environmental storytelling.
The thing is, Tumblr makes this stuff VERY difficult to talk about! I get wordy and overly elaborate when I communicate through text (as you can see), and that lends itself to stuff that’s hard to read.
I think video is a more effective way to communicate this kind of analysis because it forces me to structure my arguments and prioritize brevity and clarity of conveyance.
And the clearer and more enjoyable I can make videos, the easier it is for new fans to take an interest in the comic’s lore and background, which I feel could easily be a huge part of Hiveswap’s appeal. It’s already received substantial exposure from lets players like jacksepticeye and stuff. And again, borrowing Dark Souls’ example: People love deep enviromental storytelling and background lore stuff.
So I think more people deciding they love Homestuck enough to tell people about it on Youtube is a good thing. Let me know if there’s any way I can help if you do! And I have no idea if I’ll have the time to guest in anything, sorta having trouble keeping up as it is, but if we get the chance, that sounds really cool!
Terezi and Karkat, one of which could have been roleplaying a Knight, while the other was a Knight, were linked with the colour white – although in Flip it was only the glasses for Terezi (and wings for Vriska). What are your thoughts on that? (22)
Thanks for the ask! And for the insight. This might well be a solid point in favor of reading Knights as Active.
I honestly don’t know if this scene is meant to convey this kind of Yin/Yang stuff, tbh? That said, Vriska’s roleplaying a Sylph, which is one of the most passive classes. So this wouldn’t match the imagery either way.
Karkat and Gamzee here might certainly back up the view, though. Karkat’s in white, clear as day.
I should mention Karkat and Gamzee here would probably still check out, either way. Bard is one of the most passive classes, and Karkat is the one about to take action here–he’s simply more Active than Gamzee is, at the present moment.
And in the very next shot, the colors invert. And this isn’t the only time just the signs are used to denote Active/Passive status, I don’t think?
So things seem a little muddled to me right now. I suppose I should tip my hand a bit and say that, if I seem hard-headed in talking about how nuanced this is, it’s only because I’m weighing this section of Karkat’s arc with literal word of god in mind.
I’m talking about this bit of a post on Active/Passive dynamics Hussie posted on Tumblr, back in the Good Old Days oh god i’ve been in this fandom so long…:
Being from Derse means you are from a culture of offense and aggression. Being from Prospit means the opposite. [..]
[…] Or maybe sometimes they are tendencies that are resisted, and need to be understood and embraced. As a Prospit dreamer, did Karkat struggle because he was actually passive in nature, but had a very active self image as a leader and conqueror?
Was Vriska an even more extreme case of misplaced active behavior from a Prospit dreamer? These are yet more things to consider when looking at everything contributing to the hero story of an individual in this game.
So there’s that. Karkat and Dave certainly echo Rose’s arc of starting off miserable and quite Active, and slowly growing happier as they adopt more passive roles. So I’m not sure what to think here, but I have to admit, I’m genuinely swayed.
I mean…no? I don’t really buy inversion theory, and even if I did I wouldn’t agree that a Page would invert into a Thief, since I read Pages as active. If you have a particular reading based on lines in Hiveswap’s text, I’m happy to hear it out, though.
In act 1, related to Xefros, I’ve seen a ton of references to Time (largely centered around Xefros’ exploitation by Alternia and his toxic relationship with Dammek), and a good number of references to Rage. Hope has yet to show up on my radar.
Similarly, I’d say the Butler motif links Xefros (and Dammek) to roleplaying a Knight. I don’t think I’ve seen any references to outlaws or pirates or whatnot linked to Xefros, either. I do think there’s an argument for Dammek as a Thief (Xefros explicitly refers to Dammek as ‘taking his stuff’), but none for Xefros just yet.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t there, necessarily, since ofc I missed the Rage references before the extended zodiac pointed in that direction. Feel free to send me screencaps and whatnot of whatever part of the text you feel point to a Thief of Hope reading.
Flying through Storytelling 