dirk does not own any video game consoles of his own but he has been roped into several sessions of gaming with roxy, who owns literally all the consoles. even the ones that aren’t out yet for us. that’s right. she absolutely has a ps5. anyway roxy is a nintendo gal at heart and one day she lends dirk and jake her gamecube for some fun and gives them a few games. they make their way through a few rounds of super smash (literally the game they were playing in my most recent fic chapter, obviously) and a couple bouts of mario kart. they poke through some of the other games she handed over, but most of them appear to be single player ones they’d have to take turns at.
“oh, here we go,” jake says, and hands one over.
it’s fuckin mario party.
dirk loses. dirk loses every round. it should not be humanly possible to be this bad at minigames. jake keeps getting items that let him steal dirk’s stuff. dirk keeps landing on spaces that make him lose coins. dirk lands on a star and doesn’t have enough coins to buy it thanks to a bad landing last round. meanwhile, jake is swimming in coins. the star moves and through happenstance jake ends up catapulted to the other side of the board and lands on the star 2 turns later. jake wins every bonus condition star. once, the game gives dirk exactly one pity star for having the fewest stars.
jake is delighted. he’s not BAD at video games, but this is the first one he’s been genuinely good at! every time dirk grouses and suggests they play something else jake begs off one more round. he starts making bets with dirk to keep him engaged. “all right strider, if you win this one then I’ll do all the dishes for a week!” “ok dirk this time what’s on the line is trash duty. are you going to be able to bring it for real?” dirk cannot back down from a dare. unfortunately for him, his luck never improves. he has a week’s worth of chores on his shoulders and the only reason he doesn’t make jake sleep on the couch is because jake is very persuasive when he tries to be. (there may also have been a bet involved with that too. dirk isn’t telling)
Category: Uncategorized
2. The Neverending Story –
Muse/Lord & The rules of Paradox Space
[Spoilers for The Neverending Story]
I’m not the first to note Homestuck’s references to AURYN, the magical amulet from The Neverending Story. The symbol of the intertwined black and white snakes is directly referenced only twice in Homestuck’s story, and both times it tells us a mind-boggling amount about the nature and function of Homestuck’s universe.
And even that only scratches the surface. So instead of starting off with Homestuck itself, let me tell you a little bit about The Neverending Story itself.
The Neverending Story is a book split in two. In the most commonly printed version, it comes in Red and Green text halves. The real world, the realm of humans where you and I live–those sections are printed in Red. Fantastica, the world of fiction and stories and all things imaginary, is printed in green.
And as with two sections, The Neverending Story is split into two central figures:
The Childlike Empress, and Bastian Balthazar Bux.
Muse & Lord
In the green-lettered plains of Fantastica, The Childlike Empress rules over all. Although her authority is accepted by even the most evil and mostrous in Fantastica, she never gives orders. Even so, she is both eternal and eternally childlike. Good and evil are equal in her eyes.
Sometimes called the Golden-Eyed Commander of Wishes, The Childlike Empress’ authority only manifests when she grants her gem of wish-fulfilling powers–AURYN–to another. This other is treated as though the Empress herself were present, and acts as an emmisary for her.
She is the embodiment of Fantasy itself, inspiring others to act out her will.
She is a question, a mystery, a wonder. She is, in short…A Muse.
And she has a direct parallel in Calliope, who similarly draws no distinction between good and evil (people forget that she read what was likely the worst of Vriska without being exposed to her growth, and seemingly wanted to be friends with her anyway)…
And who similarly has absolute power over reality, yet never gives orders, even as the entire narrative is shaped around her. Just as with the Childlike Empress, without Calliope’s existence, none of the other characters in the comic can exist either.
Everyone is entangled in and created by Lord English’s Alpha Timeline, but that web is Calliope’s as well, and she’s causally entangled in the creation of all four of the universes we follow.
And again like the Childlike Empress, Calliope who bestows her Symbol on others, granting AURYN to humans–an emblem which endows in the wearer the ability to make any wish come true.
Hell, Calliope even seems not to grow up normally in Act 7 and [S] Credits.
A Childlike Empress indeed. And as for her counterpart? Bastian may not be as much of a jerk as Caliborn, but the parallels between them are even more explicit:
Where The Childlike Empress is a Muse only by implication,
Bastian is textually and demonstrably a Lord.
But let’s back up a bit.
Bastian Balthazar Bux is a little boy who steals a book named “The Neverending Story” from a bookshop and hides in his school to read it in one sitting.
His sections, those taking place in the Human world, typically feature text colored Red.
However, around the halfway point of The Neverending Story, he realizes that the story is not only aware of him, but calling out to him. And he eventually finds himself pulled into the realm of Fantastica.
Bastian is a human, you see, and only humans can create stories–the inhabitants of Fantastica themselves cannot. And once the Childlike Empress is reborn with a new name, Fantastica must be reborn as well. So The Childlike Empress meets Bastian in the void between the two realms of Fantastica, and gives him the amulet AURYN, the symbol of her power.
And so, she entrusts him with a quest:
To fulfill his wishes in Fantastica, and re-create the realm of Fantasy as he goes.
Incidentally, receiving AURYN also changes Bastian’s race. Bastian is explicitly white, but upon arriving in Fantastica transforms into “a young prince from the Orient”. I’m not sure why that even happens, to be honest? Let’s note that this book is from, like, 1979 and definitely not perfect.
Anyway, I only mention it because this lends some credence to my assertion that Trickster Mode’s whiteness is not at all tied to the “actual race” of the kids– since whatever that race is, changing it would be within AURYN’s power.
To be honest, I should’ve noted that was explicit earlier, since Homestuck all but explicitly states that Tricksterfied Cherubs would look like Lil Cal, which definitely entails a primary skin color swap. And there, as with Humans, the transformation always renders the subject Caucasian-looking.
Now, where were we?
Ah, right. So, the first thing you might notice is that Bastian’s ascent to Lordship also coincides with him leaving the World of Men and entering the World of Fantasy/Ideas.
Which strikes his first echo with Caliborn. Both characters’ entries into power are marked by changing their text color to Green–the color of their respective Muse figures. And like Calliope dies for Caliborn to Enter, The Childlike Empress disappears from Fantastica as soon as Bastian becomes it’s Lord.
Bastian spends most of his adventure in the realm seeking to meet her once more, on some level–just as Lord English spends an eternity in the Void, trying to find and destroy the Calliopes.
And during his search, Bastian also accrues subjects and followers who carry out his will. Bastian is adored for his ability to create stories–which instantly become Real– across Fantastica. With The Childlike Empress’ AURYN around his neck, nothing can resist his will. Bastian becomes, for all intents and purposes, a God.
Although he loses his humanity little by little with every wish he makes.
The memory of being weak, the memory of being ugly, the memory of being scared– as Bastian travels, he grows more self-satisfied and arrogant, desiring the adoration of others without true regard for their feelings and hearts.
Until in the end, he’s exploiting those he calls friends through sheer force of will.
At this point, Bastian seeks to replace The Childlike Empress entirely, attempting to become the Childlike Emperor–just as Lord English seeks to emulate Calliope through a multitude of stylistic choices in his personal aesthetic.
I think banditAffiliate puts it well in this forum post:
“Doc Scratch was born to serve as Lord English’s other half, replacing the role Calliope served when the two shared one body. From Caliborn’s warped perspective, the two share many similarities. They’re both wordy, intelligent, and (as Caliborn saw her) quite smug. He scrapbooks with a ~ATH book like she did, and carries her weapon.
In addition to being a pastiche of his sister, Scratch is also a symbol of his other weakness, the cue ball. Both are heralded to be the key to his defeat, after all. He does double duty then by killing Scratch, hatching out of his body and growing more powerful (by assimilating Scratch’s first guardian powers), “predominating” over him and asserting his dominance over both his vulnerabilities once again.”
And Bastian, well…
Sound familiar at all?
By the end, Bastian is at risk of becoming what is essentially a Yaldabaoth–an arrogant God with full dominion over his material reality, but blind to the world of ideas outside of him.
Luckily, Bastian escapes this fate, and goes on to live a happy life, becoming a world-renowed storyteller. His path is not the path of the Lord forever. But that is another story, and shall be told another time.
There’s one last thing to note about AURYN, because it appears in two places in Homestuck. There’s the Lollipop, yes–and by linking AURYN to the Cherubs, we learn a great deal about both Muse and Lord, Calliope and Caliborn.
But AURYN’s impact is a bit more far-reaching than just them.
The emblem is also depicted during the mating ritual of Cherubs, remember? And it’s important to view this image in context, because as Aranea tells us…
Mating Cherubs tap into the forces of power presiding over all that is eternal. Cherubs are linked to the primordial forces of reality by their nature. The source of Cherub’s powers is their intrinsic connection to the flow and nature of reality.
Which suggests that the principle that AURYN is inscribed with, the principle that guides the power of its magic, is also the fundamental principle of Homestuck’s universe. Cherubs are simply beings with a unique ability to tap directly into it. And that principle is…
“Do As You Will.”
Nothing in Homestuck’s reality happens except by the Will of someone living inside it. Individual will is the backbone of all events and objects, all circumstances and beings, all people and universes in Homestuck.
In Homestuck, everybody always gets what they want–one way or another.
That is what AURYN– placed here, at the center of the forces of creation and destruction– suggests. A good example of this is Lord English’s creation, where Caliborn and Gamzee’s wills to become Lord English meet Arquis’ desire to have a heroic moment of unfathomable impact onto reality:
Thus resulting in a scenario that fulfills all of their desires, and results in the creation of Lord English and Doc Scratch:
I’m not going to list a bunch of other examples because this kind of stuff is literally always what happens in Homestuck. The only thing that trumps a person’s desires in Homestuck is the desires of another willing to undermine or exploit the former.
And that kind of authoritarian behavior is the closest thing to “Sin” Homestuck’s setting has. It always comes with consequences. This is also why Karma exists in Homestuck’s causality, as noted by Latula. This is what the cycle of revenge was about.
Not even killing someone can truly erase the impact of their will on reality in Homestuck’s universe, and usurping or denying others their wills always comes with a whiplash effect back on yourself. So what does that mean for Lord English, who has so thoroughly usurped and denied the wills of every other member of the cast?
Well that… is another story, and shall be told another time.
Next time, we’ll talk about the Mother franchise’s two later installments:
Mother 3, and Earthbound. There’s much to discuss. Perhaps we’ll even find an echo of Lord English’s karmic punishment there?
Ah well. That’s all for now.
I hope you’ll check in next time.
[Master Post]
Keep rising.
aawb:
what the actual fuck
Men don’t know women can pee
ive been sitting on the toilet for 20 minutes trying to piss but the pee keeps getting lost in my confusing Woman Body
LORDLY OVER THE BOWL
@revolutionaryduelist please give feedback on this, I believe you can make more sense to this than I ever could hope to.
The oddity of how Lil’ Hal became lil’ Cal has confused me, because I probably missed something.
But honestly I’ve come to this best solution so far. Cal island short for Caliborn, and seeing how Caliborn interacted more so with Dirk can only, this might of had an effect on his adult Beta self. Seeing as Caliborn had made his way to… the computer, accompanied by Gamzee, Liv, and lil’ Hal/Cal, Who knows what could’ve entirely happened. Other than Gamzee being shot multiple times. Besides, I digress. My point May be choppy, ill-supported and as well as short lived, I believe Caliborn had an effect to the point that Dirk/Bro from our starter timeline, the Beta timeline, had renamed the puppet after him in a way.
I’m not sure what you’re referring to, to be honest. Hal doesn’t exactly “become” Lil Cal–Arquius, Caliborn and Gamzee are all fused into Lil Cal and become parts of Lord English/Doc Scratch. This is what the Masterpiece is about.
As for Lil Cal originally being named for Cal, yeah I think that’s likely. Don’t know that Bro had to name him anything, though. Cal is printed right on the doll’s name, after all.
Feel free to reply with the nature of your question in case I’m missing something.
The Fruit of Life — Making the Most of Jane Crocker
Hey everyone! Finally, here’s my post on Jane. I don’t really think this “fixes” Jane’s arc for those who aren’t pleased with it, and while I’m not exactly banking on it I am hopeful to see Jane’s story be expanded on in the Epilogue.
Still, I think there’s a lot about Jane that’s incredibly interesting to talk about, and I think Homestuck was attempting to go for something coherent with her ending, as well. I hope this post sways you in that regard, and that you come away with a more positive and fleshed out view of Jane as well.
If not, I hope you let me know why you disagree! Homestuck is always super fun to talk about.
Keep Rising.
[Youtube] [Patreon] [Hiveswap Discord]
Homestuck Meta Theory: 1.5 Years After
When the comic came to an end, I made this huge post about why I felt it was a good ending and how it changed my entire perception of the story, and while I still stand by it- Actually, no, while I stand by the better and more detailed theory by @revolutionaryduelist, there are a few things that I feel I didn’t quite explain back in the day. I’ve seen the theory circulate a few times, and I’ve seen both fair amounts of criticism and appraisal, and now that I’ve done a little re-read of some of the story with a pal, I wanted to clear a few things up about it.
First of all, when I saw the Ending for the first time, I was happy. The point of the entire theory was not to invalidate people’s own thoughts about the ending or to find a way through which I would enjoy an ending like that. I hadn’t thought about any of the Meta Stuff at that point, but I enjoyed the ending, and I saw so, so many people through the tag complaining and bashing the finale. I wanted to put my opinion out there, in a sea of people that seemed angry at the ending, to see who else actually enjoyed it, to find why I actually enjoyed it. It was only then than I started to think deeply about the story and began to find a common thread through everything.
Second, as I said, my intention wasn’t to invalidate people’s opinions or start a discourse about why the ending was objectively good and anyone trash talking it is bad. You can be disappointed by the Ending. You can not like Open Ends. That’s fair. However, while I do agree that the story and the characters are every bit as important as anything else the comic showcases, saying that making the narrative intent, moral lessons and bending of the medium and the meta of the story important undermines the enjoyment of anyone who enjoyed the comic for the story is ridiculous. I’ve heard how authorial intent shouldn’t influence a story that’s a grounded narrative, and that doing so towards the end just shits on everything that’s happened before and makes the story ‘pretend to be something it wasn’t until the end’, but…
The thing is, one of Hussie’s earliest talks about Homestuck described it as a Creation Myth. Furthermore, given Jade’s very handle introduced in Act 1, gardenGnostic, the Gnostic and Philosophical themes of the story are actually, not part of any theory, but grounded firmly in the author’s view of what the story is or should have been. It’s fair for people to not enjoy thinking too hard about these things. It’s fair for people to dislike authors putting more personal opinions or views on things in their work. But Homestuck was never something that shied away or hid its intent. If anything, it was just obscured by the fact Hussie’s style tends to be complex and intertwining, and the sprinkled humor through sections doesn’t make it any easier to decipher it. I personally like overthinking this kind of stuff. I know other people don’t.
What I’m trying to say is that, not enjoying the ending is totally valid, and not accepting a theory about its more meta aspects and the philosophy within the comic doesn’t have to make anyone like it any better. But these themes do exist there, and are put out early and through the entire Comic. And in the same way focusing only on the Meta Aspects undermines the narrative itself, ignoring and refusing to accept the existence of something deeper in the story is also a detriment to it.
Last of all, I would like to add that, a year and a half later, I still love the Ending. But furthermore, I still love the story itself in its entirety. As I said, when I got to the end, I was surprised to see how many people disliked how it all ended. Maybe it was the wait, maybe it was the expectations. Whichever the case? Reading beginning to end with someone who hadn’t read it before was amazing. Seeing their reactions to events and new characters, to deaths and shocking bits, going from beginning to end without having to wait for an update. Remembering the good times, noticing things you missed the first time through.
Homestuck isn’t perfect, nothing in life is. Everything has its flaws, and yes, the pacing towards the end isn’t the best, yes, it has an open end and a lot of things you can’t quite know if they were intentional or if you’re reading too much into it and any more casual reader won’t pick up on it and become confused. It’s not for everyone. But with the themes it presents and how it delivers? The way it’s changed my life and my way of thinking? The enjoyment I have gotten out of it and out of this Fandom, and I still get on the daily basis as I wait for the game to come out?
Whether the theories I believe are right or not, whether people love or hate the ending, as far as I am concerned, Homestuck is a Masterpiece, and I will cherish this dumb, long-ass, crazily intricate Webcomic and Fandom for the rest of my life, and keep on sharing the joy it’s brought me with anyone and everyone that’s willing to give it a try.
I am quite late, but “he’s never said something was going to happen in Homestuck and then not delivered at all.” he never delivered on more than three Homestuck books, after assuring fans in one of the Q&As he would definitely deliver them all.
Oh no, not awkwardly formatted books for a free product that is already available online. Truly this has destroyed the reputation of a man who put out a genuine multimedia creation myth epic up online for free and repeatedly powered through hiatuses and wait periods on the process of doing so.
I’m not sure why you’d think the books should be a priority once the Hiveswap shit hit the fan and his focuses narrowed to Hiveswap and finishing Homestuck but you do you, I guess?
I’ll revise my statement to “He’s never wavered from advancing the plot of Homestuck and telling us when a long wait is due to him working on something for it.”
tfw ur high level friends help you through an area
do you think theres actually going to be an epilogue? like theres supposed to be, right?
Yeah, I don’t have any doubt about it and I think it’s really, really weird and annoying that the regular fandom line has sort of turned into this self-assured, smug skepticism about it. It makes literally no sense to me.
There are like, three plot lines all set to converge on The Masterpiece and the clash between Vriska and LE in the Void–Terezi finding Vriska, the fates of the Alpha and Beta kids, and the ghosts in the Void. Hussie already literally said there’d be an epilogue, and delays aside, he’s never said something was going to happen in Homestuck and then not delivered at all.
There’s no real reason to doubt the epilogues existence, and from my vantage point it’s honestly the likeliest thing delaying Hiveswap at this point, since he said himself he’d withhold releasing the game until this “other project” was ready as well. And since Hiveswap itself looks excellent and is already fleshing out Homestuck’s lore, I just don’t have a reason to doubt the quality of either the game or whatever the hell the epilogue will be.
I think the smug skepticism is us all trying to protect ourselves?
If it doesn’t show up, if it turned out Hussie did get bored and moved on to better things, we weren’t patsies. Homestuck might still have its claws in us, but at least we’re accepting it for what it is, shitty ending and all.
#i’m just scared#i love homestuck so much and i don’t want all this promise to just be nothing#not because some capitalist cancelled it but just because we loved it more than he did#i’m so scared#just y’know#while i’m being honest tonight…
I think that’s reasonable, don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to diminish other people’s feelings, I just largely…don’t share them.
It helps a lot that I don’t really think we need an epilogue to have Homestuck to have delivered on it’s promise, thematically. It’s a more coherent work than it’s given credit for, and looking at what’s there now in the present is a lot more illuminating in understanding it than anything the epilogue is likely to give us, I think.
Flying through Storytelling 