Tag: Anonymous

Have you ever given thought to just why it is that Dirk doesn’t really seem affected by trickster mode outside of appearance? Any theories? Thats one thing the really bugs me and I just can’t wrap my brain around why he would be such an exception

He’s a Heart player, basically. Just as he sees through into the Core of his friends’ identities, so too his fundamental Core is very hard to change in any meaningful way.

All of the Trickster kids’ actions reflect their inclinations and powersets as reflective of their Classpects (more on that some other time) so Dirk’s Heart nature shining through isn’t particularly unique. But maybe a more useful comparison to understanding it requires us to look at a different orange character with existential issues tied to his inherent, inescapable identity as Himself: Davesprite. 

Davepeta lets on that the core of Davesprite’s issues were down to considering himself marginal, irrelevant, and unwanted. It had nothing really to do with his friends and everything to do with his experience of himself as inherently an Extra Dave, the same way Lil Hal felt. What saves him from this?

Nepeta, the Rogue of Heart. By stealing his identity for his benefit, Nepeta frees Davesprite from his own identity, allowing him to experience ego-death and achieve a state close to complete Enlightenment and allowing him to understand the true meaning of his existence as Davesprite in the first place. Davepeta also benefits the audience by cluing us into this information, and Jade (in ways we’ll get into when I write about Jade soon).

So yeah. Essentially, the aspect of Heart is innately linked to a person’s true, undiluted self–so it’s no surprise Dirk’s undiluted self is strong enough to destroy the effects of any corrupting influence. 

What are your thoughts re: Dirk and Bro? Do you think it was purely Cal’s influence that created Bro, Dirk sans his friends’ influence mutating into Bro, or a combination of both?

I don’t think Cal had much to do with creating Bro. Lil Hal’s existential frustration and loneliness already leads him to doing some pretty horrible shit–and Dirk stresses out about it so much because he really does see that potential within himself. The trend with Cal as I see it is to influence and talk to Caliborn, Gamzee, and Bro, but it only really seems to show the former two reflections of their latter day selves as part of Lord English. It doesn’t coerce anyone. 

I think it’s core to the narrative of Homestuck that Caliborn and Gamzee choose what they do, full stop. I think the same is true about Bro, and I don’t think a Bro who grew up in the world–and possibly even with Grandpa and Mom–would’ve taken much convincing, because he wouldn’t be able to have the same relationships with them that he did with his friends. This is especially true if what I suspect about Grandpa is also true for Bro, and he remembers his Alpha life, which I think is plausible given that he’s a Heart player. 

But there is one other thing I think sets Dirk apart that matters at least as much as Dirk having had his friends to grow up with, as I alluded to towards the end of this last essay:

Bro didn’t grow up looking up to Dave. Dirk largely escapes his potential as Bro by destroying that potential in himself and living up to a different legacy–Dave’s legacy of Knighthood and service. That he succeeds so strongly that Grandpa remembers him across universes as a Knight implies this better than anything.

Dirk and Bro are inherently different people on such a wide degree that their mythological roles are fundamentally different. Bro is a Prince of Heart, albeit one who’s gone off the deep end and become deeply destructive. Dirk is a Prince of Heart who strives to act as a Knight, particularly in service to a Page of Hope who believes in him and gives him an outlet for that service in tandem. Hence their differences. 

bless you a hundred times for these posts on jake! it is great to see essays expounding how badly he is underestimated in common opinion. i’m still not sure if he is as thoroughly selfish as you present him (isn’t selfishness supposed to be the trait of assholes?) or if pages are truly active, but on an unrelated tangent let me just point out that dirk’s and jake’s noble gases happen to be the only two capable of forming bonds to other elements. symbolic of something?

Let me answer your points in order of complexity:

1) Thank you! I’m so happy you’ve been enjoying it. 

2) It might be symbolic, but then again, maybe not. I haven’t considered that too deeply, but my instinct is to lean on no–simply because it would imply Roxy and Jane can’t ultimately “form bonds”, and I think the Nobles Prophecy only really applies to these kids insofar as their struggles in the session. If only because by the end they’re all positioned to start forming real bonds, and no cosmic destiny of emotional unavailability could stand before the might of Karkat Vantas’ relationship counseling anyway. They’ll all be fine. 

3) I think I’m going to break up this longest post into four or so sections, and I’ll probably expand the Knights/Pages section to include Karkat and Tavros as well. Hopefully pointing to evidence from other Players will make this reading more convincing. I was also given some additional tidbits on Dave that I think are fun. 

4) I think viewing selfishness as an inherently negative trait is a little simplistic. It definitely can be, don’t get me wrong–but then again, being selfless to a fault only turns you into a doormat, too, doesn’t it? And being selfless is only as virtuous an act as the people and ideas you decide to serve–after all, Gamzee’s a Passive player, too. 

The way I read the Active/Passive divide is essentially this: Active classes generally work based off their own motivations and understandings. They may accept information from a source such as a Seer–Jade certainly does from Rose, just as Jake accepts Roxy’s provided secret. But what they do with that information is something they’ll decide on on their own for the most part. 

Passive classes are likelier to act at the behest of others, and to advance other’s wills. Dave and John both spent most of their sessions either following orders from troll girls or following orders from Rose (or in Dave’s case, Jade too). Rose herself got direction from Doc Scratch as well as the Horrorterrors. 

In contrast, you could read Jade as somewhat selfish, as I’m going to lay the case for in my next essay. She has patience and care for others, but she’ll tell someone if they’re bugging her if she needs to be getting shit done. And she doesn’t really accept much direction from anyone unless it’s in service to the plan she herself set up, as with Kanaya. 

Are Jane, Dirk and Jake overly selfish? Maybe, yeah. Homestuck and Sburb both stress the need to find balance above all else, and Jake’s narrative definitely requires him to become less self-absorbed. In fact, at least one person posited to me that reaching that balance is the core challenge of each side of the coin, which I think is at least plausible. 

But that balance is going to be different for everybody, and different depending on each relationship and situation. Life is complicated. In the case of Jake and Dirk’s relationship, Jake’s selfishness is healthy in extremity simply because it’s what Dirk wants too, and he wants it as intensely. Hopefully filling this role in each other’s lives would allow them to be more considerate and selfless to the rest of their friends, too. See what I mean? 

it looks fine now but if i move the mouse sideways a thing pops up and i cant scroll. sorry if all this is bothering you. it doesnt seem easy to edit things a lot.

Haha it’s trivial, don’t worry–I’m using a tool to set it up. That said it seems like none of these are at all compatible with mobile so I’ll remove it for now and just start using a music tag like i used to unless I find a music player that isn’t awful for mobile later :B

I really appreciate you alerting me to this though bcuz having this silly thing wasnt worth inconveniencing mobile readers at all. Glad I learned it was an issue quickly. Sorry for the hassle though!

the player thing at the bottom is blocking the scroll bar.

why did i make the mistake of thinking basic tumblr functions could ever be good, haha. I tried a different version of the music player–again, if it gets in the way feel free to let me know 🙂

Sorry about the hassle @ anyone dealing with the annoyance! If i cant fix it for mobile i’ll just remove the music player entirely, but for now im just figuring out the ropes