It’s an understatement to say that Marvus is a lot. He’s so much, in fact, that I had to split my thoughts about him into two posts from the get go. This got predictably long as hell so catch it under the read more.

This first part has to do with how he evokes various themes of Rage. I don’t think Marvus is Ragebound, but he seems to be the first direct evidence we’ve gotten that the Aspect influence of each Blood caste doesn’t necessarily have to manifest negatively.

Marvus seems to be so self-actualized and self-aware that he’s successfully reconciled and incorporated Rage into his identity, regardless of his true Aspect. Indeed, I’ve seen compelling arguments for Marvus as a Light, Hope, Mind, Heart and Life player so far–besides the personal impression I came away with of Blood.

He reminds me a lot of Doc Scratch, in terms of being someone who is so competent that they successfully blend and blur mastery of several different Aspects. Scratch wields virtually infinite influence through at least Space, Light, Rage, and even Time and Heart depending on how you look at it simultaneously, for example, which makes it hard to really assign him a true Aspect.

Marvus is obviously not that extreme, but given that he’s presumably a mere mortal in the end, he might be substantially more impressive. Anyway, lets get to noting the Rage references.

Obviously Its interesting that they start well before Marvus himself shows up. This has to do with the Reader becoming more aware of the nature of their reality as artificial/unreal/contrived, though, and that’s important to note for what comes next. For now lets keep it in mind and move on.

Zebruh, of course, inspires Rage through his “clowns are woke” comment, this time through simple anger. Of course, we’re inclined to think of Zebruh in terms of Doom and maybe Void, right? So maybe its a coincidence…

…but, huh, there it is again. Mentioned by name this time, no less.

This gets at an interpretation of Rage I’ve been meaning to talk about: Rage as a passionate spurt of fashion. The definition for this idiom, “all the rage”, says:

“The current or latest fashion, with the implication that it will be short-lived, The use of rage reflects  the  transfer of  an angry  passion  to  an enthusiastic one”

This understanding of Rage vibes heavily with Rage as indicative of the Hindu concept of “Maya”: The physical world as an inherently illusionary, unreal, ever-changing place.

When something is highly fashionable, it generally involves a lot of passionate reproduction in the realm of physicality-whether its an object, like Zebruh’s scooter, or a particular kind of performance.

Things like sports seasons, for example, are a kind of performance that comes about every so often, generating intense passion and fervor when they do. This is why I see Xefros’ interest in Arena Stickball indicative of his Rage inclinations.

In the same way, both the traveling circus and the music festival are fundamentally events of the moment, and when they’re in town, they draw our eyes to artifice, meaningless (if fun!) spectacle, and when they’re good, hearty guffaws or empassioned bellows–all things associated with the Comitragic heart of Rage.

Zebruh’s designs on Marvus also evoke Rage. He asks us to engage in a theatrical performance (one centered on Black feelings, no less–Kissmesitude itself is inherently linked to Rage via Kurloz and Gamzee).

It’s pretty odd that Zebruh is so taken with Rage, but I think that’s simply the nature of Marvus’ performance–and perhaps tells us a bit about how Aspects shift and spread through individuals. Zebruh is thinking entirely about clowns, purplebloods, and Marvus specifically, and that seems to influence his actions–and so is really everyone in attendance at this dark carnival.

The whole spectacle of Marvus’ performance deeply evokes Dionysian festivals to me. I’ve previously covered how Gamzee Makara is deeply entwined in the myth and symbolism of Dionysus, and its pretty clear by now that this association is inherited by all Purplebloods.

As a refresher, cults to Dionysus generally involved people–usually his female attendants, the Maenads, (who you might remember from Chahut’s last name) entering states of ritual madness and tearing animals or sometimes even humans apart with their bare hands.

Which uh, you know. Might have some parallels here. Just maybe.

Actually, Zebruh’s particular dismemberment feels a little more specific. Just as I’ve speculated that Gamzee has links to Dionysus or Terezi to Themis, I’ve suggested that Equius may have links to Orpheus, who was torn apart by Dionysus’ Maenads at the end of his life.

I’m thinking its a possibility that Zebruh is inheriting Equius’ Orphic legacy here, just as Marvus is inheriting Gamzee’s Dionysian one.

Ok everyone should be about gone by now which means we can finally stop talking about Zebruh, just you and me. Finally.

Let’s cover some other things Dionysian worship tended to cover. Dionysus was also the god of religious ecstasy, which I think we see in the intense, deific love Marvus inspires. He’s also an entity of sexual transgression–much of his worship included orgies, and included in his male attendants were the Satyrs, goat men with perpetually erect penises described as “archetypal musicians and dancers”, associated with the breaking down of traditional values.

I think this is part (but not all) of the intense horniness that surrounds Marvus. Moreover, most of that horniness takes a pretty specific bent. It’s not just that people are horny for Marvus, but that he inspires some intense and very physical reactions, usually involving things we culturally see as debasement, degradation, and filth.

In other words, the specific kinks invoked through Marvus generally fall in the camp of things that are likely to outrage or disgust the audience, and so I’m ascribing that to his Rage influence as well.

I am well on record as describing Hope as the “horny” Aspect, but it’s worth noting that as its complement, we have precedent to see Rage as pretty horny, too, and in precisely this way: It brings to mind Gamzee’s bouts of necrophilia or profoundly upsetting approach to expressing his sexuality with women.

And of course, he’s putting on a performance of artifice and illusion for his fans–his show’s as much Theater as music. He even tricks them into thinking he killed you, sending them into a frenzy (ritual madness) that has them all tear each other to death. But more on that later.

The most important way Rage manifests in Marvus is through his deep awareness of the theatrical, metatextual artifice that is The Friendsim itself. Like Gamzee before him, Marvus is aware of the nature of the story he’s in. He rivals Boldir or even Davepeta in his understanding of the implications of this, even.

But where the Heartbound tend toward an existential/spiritual focus on
the fates of the characters locked in the narrative, Marvus devotes his
awareness to dissecting the meaning and mechanisms that underpin this
entire narrative framework.
He transgresses against the rules of Paradox Space itself, and insists
that there is meaning even in the paths that seem most meaningless.

Interestingly, even the way he thinks about PSpace feels Ragey:

He says it doesn’t matter if a path is completely contrived and illegitimate–acknowledging a state of being as unreal can still inform how you interpret reality, and so choose to act upon it. The awareness of unreality can be a source of power in itself, as well as a source of confidence and motivation.

So for example, acknowledging Homestuck as unreal/artificial could have allowed Gamzee to interpret himself as immortal, or at least informed his choice to reject Homestuck and follow Lord English.

Or one could be Marvus, who is empowered by this awareness–I’m sure it’s easier to perform for crowds of adoring fans when you’re aware you’re in a video game in which you’re a pretty major character–and still choose to be the exact opposite of Gamzee. In the face of unreality, he chooses to be a friend and a comforting hero. Which is why hes bae.

Mirroring, Distorting, Magnifying–these are all tools of theater, of jokes, of circus acts and the deliberate construction of art and narrative.

Marvus is suggesting that any individual timeline expands the meaning of Paradox Space as a whole by exaggerating, paralleling, or subverting different elements of how we see it, and putting new elements of each character and the setting into focus as a result.

And he argues that wearing down or violating continuity can itself bring that continuity into sharper focus. By “defiling” the story, its the shape of its integrity is further defined.

This is terribly exciting, because its basically Marvus straight up saying that plot holes and contrivances are another element of Homestuck’s story, and that is absolutely crucial to understanding how Lord English attacks the characters, the audience, and Homestuck itself.

Every little thing Gamzee does or manipulates others into doing that pisses us off and makes us further question whether Homestuck is worthwhile or a pile of dreck is being directly acknowledged here as explicit and intentional.

Hell, his actions have the exact payoff he claimed they would–we’ve fundamentally learned something new about the nature of Paradox Space because of what he’s done. It actually CAN come undone around the characters, provided they’re resistant enough to dying or dissapearing as a doomed timeline demands.

I previously believed that was impossible, and that timelines in Homestuck simply faded out naturally when players went to sleep instead–meaning there couldn’t be any Gamzees who didn’t go to sleep and merge with the Alpha iteration of the guy. That presumption is now in question.

At the same time, we can now be pretty sure that those hypothesized Schrodingers Gamzees out there never turned into horrorterrors, since we know what happens when someone resists the pull of a doomed timeline and it’s…not that. So that old bit of fanon is that much more questionable.

Now we have new questions, like: Why did this doomed timeline collapse so quickly, as opposed to say, Dave and Rose’s, which lasted four months? And so, through this singular violation of the rules of Doomed timelines, the grander design that informs them has come into sharper focus.

By far the most interesting thing he says though, is this. This is. A lot. let’s try to unpack it. Basically, he’s saying even an incident outside of canon contributes to a wider fandom metaconciousness.

So for example the Game Over timeline isn’t canon, but we still know that when Jake reaches full Hope power he can summon Brain Ghost Dirk, and that even after Dirk breaks up with him, Jake thinks of Dirk as his boyfriend. So that is meta knowledge that we all hold, even though it didn’t happen in the “canon” timeline. Alright. Simple enough.

But then he suggests that that metaconciousness is built by, and might even be defined primarily by, the various interpretations held by those who observe the event, and the discussion where they exchange those ideas afterwards.

In other words, what defines the metaconcious reality of Paradox Space is…us. The audience. And the various interpretations of meaning we derive from what we’re witnessing, whether canonical or non-canonical. We’re the ones who tie it all together, in our heads and through our conversations and relationships with each other.

The album’s lyrics describe the leader of the Carnival, who serves as
one of the judges of one’s soul in the afterlife, as being created from
the listener’s own evils.

When I read that, it reminded me of “The Ringmaster”, the juggalo Joker Card we’ve been associating with Marvus in my patron server. The juggalo card suggests that the leader of the carnival is created by “The listener’s own evils”, and in this context I think we can trade “listener” for “audience” and “evils” for general thoughts. Paradox Space as it exists in Homestuck/hiveswap is created by our thoughts.

But of course there is a bigger ringmaster than Marvus out there. Is it worthwhile to consider that the true judge of souls in Homestuck’s afterlife–Lord English–is born from our evils himself, in some way?

Dunno. It’s all a lot to think about. For now, this wraps up my discussion of Marvus’ extensive links to Rage, so join me next for a discussion on what I’m certain is his Class–Lord–and my personal guess at his Aspect–Blood.