So when rose went grimdark she was role playing a witch of Void, and when Jane went crockerteir she was forced into the heir role. So what role was jade forced into when she was turned grimbark? Or am I misunderstanding the theory?

This question hits upon a lot of nuances that I’m not sure about myself, so I want to be clear that I don’t have this system figured out by any means. I think it’s consistent enough now that it’s worth talking about, just because there’s so many cases built up, but I don’t understand everything about how it works and I don’t want anyone to regard me as being particularly In The Know, here.

I’m figuring this out as I go along with everyone! And tons of times stuff that other people say sets off a cascade of new startling revelations. This is at least a weekly occurence lately.

So first up, as to Jade:

It’s a possibility that Grimbark is just a joke/parody, so it’s hard to tell if this is just a joke/comment and she’s really only acting like a Witch. Which means I’m not sure, but if she’s roleplaying at all, I’d say her acting like a thief might be a solid bet. It’d mean she’s acting More Active than usual, which does line up with her behavior.

Gotta stress though: I don’t really know if this is a case where roleplay applies.
Rose got way longer, so she’s under the cut.

As for Rose, I’d say: In my view, not exactly, with the caveat that I’m honestly not sure here either?

I think Rose is roleplaying as a Witch, and I think she’s doing so partly because she imagines her mom as a Witch (Rose’s inability to really understand Mom is a key part of their conflict, after all). But there’s two important nuances I’d like to clear up:

1) It’s important to understand that Rose trying to be a Witch doesn’t mean she’s not being a Seer! It’s easiest to understand Roleplay as the characters adding Verbs/Archetypal symbols to their behaviors, with their true classes as intrinsic verbs they can’t change.

So Vriska can try to Make stuff and gets associated with Fairy-dom. She can discard that behavior, eventually. But she can’t discard her instincts to Steal/Take things, nor the associated outlaw/pirate imagery.

The same applies to Rose. She’s still a Prophet, and in many cases her Witch behavior acts in service to her prophetic behavior (using magic to tear the prophetic text she wrote into the Void, for example.).

And as she’s also behaving more like an Active class, this also makes her more like an active Prophet. Indeed, Rose is also referenced as a Mage at least once.

I’m not sure what parts of this are actual references and what parts are me reading too much into things, though. I’m just saying the symbolism surrounding this stuff can get muddled, and I’m not enormously sure where the lines get drawn.

2) I don’t think she’s roleplaying a Witch of Void specifically. I think the Void stuff surrounding Rose is likely a side effect–the more she commits to the Witch persona, the more her powers manifest “in defiance of her true Aspect”.
And in Homestuck, powers manifesting that way generally tend to default to manifesting as the “opposing” Aspect.

In other words: Rose is just roleplaying a Witch, and aspect switching is what happens with any case of roleplay that’s unhealthy enough. Aspect “inversion” just seems to be the default, when that does occur.

At least, that’s the way I usually feel.

But because of Xefros, Dammek, and Joey, I don’t really think that’s
necessarily the rule. So maybe the Void part is also Roxy’s influence
after all???

It wouldn’t quite be unprecedented. Hal–A Prince of Heart’s– emulation of Dave–A Knight of Time– includes him trying to take over the temporal logistics. So maybe that’s the case after all.

What I will say is that in one respect, it’s crucial to understand Rose as both a Witch of Light and a Witch of Void.

A Witch always has a Familiar, intrinsically linked to their Aspect:

And how succesful they are at self-actualization is linked to how well they take control of their lives from their Familiar, which will protect them, but also try to control them. Jade has Becquerel, a Space Familiar. Feferi has Gl’bolyb, a Life familiar.

In Damara’s case, that Familiar is literally a Patriarch–Lord English, an embodiment of Time itself. And unhappy, miserable, isolated Damara decides she wants to serve him completely.

That’s why the Damara God Tier in the final army against him is such a
big deal, because it means a version of her succeeded in rebelling
against her familiar and asserting her true feelings.

Rose, then, has two Witch familiars, who work together to manipulate her.
Her familiars of Void are the Horrorterrors, of course. Interesting that to Feferi, Gl’bolyb is just a fact of life, a reality she has to deal with. To Rose, the horrorterrors represent the absolutely unknowable and unimaginable.

Her Familiar of Light is Doc Scratch. It’s easy enough to say the Cueball represents omniscient knowledge, information, and so Light. But Scratch’s light coding goes quite a bit deeper.

Doc Scratch is an alias for the Devil, or Lucifer. Lucifer is a fallen angel, known as the “Morning Star”, or “Lightbringer.” There are also a decent amount of historical references to Lucifer as a Prince of hell. And Scratch, it so happens, is predominantly made from the soul of AR–a Prince.

He’s also Rose’s literal Patriarch, since being Dirk’s clone, he is technically her uncle. So yeah, I think Rose’s relationship to Scratch and the Horrorterrors is more visceral and understandable that way, and I wouldn’t want that nuance to be lost because we’re still reading her exclusively as a Witch of Void.

There’s actually a LOT MORE nuance to Scratch’s presentation than I’m expressing here,(surprise! Scratch is also roleplaying!) but this post has to end sometime. So that’s it for now.

Everyone can feel free to send me whatever insights they have one way or another on either point, I just can’t say I have all the answers. I think I’m onto something here, but if I am we’re more than likely gonna uncover most of it together.

LIVE-ACTION ROLEPLAY and
the IMPACT OF ANCESTORS

Pt. 2 – Horrorstuck & Active-Passive Shifting

Alright, the key thing you need to know here is that Classes’ Active/Passive alignments borrow heavily from the concept of Yin/Yang.
Yang is the Active principle, and describes the White swirl with the Black dot. Yin is the Passive principle, and describes the Black swirl with the White dot.

To quothe the great source, Wikipedia:

Yin 陰 or 阴 Noun ① [philosophy]
negative/passive/female principle in nature

Yang 陽 or 阳 Bound morpheme ① [Chinese philosophy] positive/active/male principle in nature

Homestuck inverts the polarities, making Passive classes Positive (+) and Active classes Negative (-) for mysterious reasons. Other than that, the connotations are identical.

Now, Homestuck’s imagery will sometimes fall into this Two-Color character conflict style, and it will serve as our guide for this section. Notice that PM, who is colored in White, is the Active (or Yang) party in this shot–she is preparing to attack Bec Noir. Bec Noir, who is colored in Black, is the Passive (or Yin) party–he is hesitant and uncertain, stunned into inaction by shock.

So we can roughly understand these color-contrast shots as follows:

If the character is colored in White, they are being Active.
If the character is colored in Black, they are being Passive.

Now let’s apply this logic to the trolls as the chaos of Horrorstuck plays out, and see what it tells us when combined with the concept of Roleplay.
Starting with this: The moment that Eridan kills Kanaya.

Things start off pretty simple here. Eridan, the Prince, is in White.
Kanaya, the Sylph, is in Black. Prince is Active, Sylph is Passive, and as we all know, Eridan wins this round decisively, with a simple magic blast.

What’s more interesting is how we got here. Eridan seems to be roleplaying a Magician for this stint–in particular, a Witch, influenced by his interest in Rose and Jade and said to be a “highly Active” Class. He tells Jade he’s moved on from following Dualscar’s destiny, just before trying to get Feferi to betray the team.

Dualscar is a Bard–a Passive class. This means that relatively speaking, Eridan is playing to his strengths as an Active Destroyer more by channeling his energy into a more Active role, explaining his firepower buff. But is it really that easy for Eridan to leave his ancestor behind…?

Let’s come back to that question. Now let’s look at Gamzee, who for this stretch is living up to the image of the Grand High Blood–a Prince of Rage.

This section begins in earnest with Gamzee killing Equius, and–yup. There it is.
Gamzee, the Active party, is in white. Equius, the Passive party, is in black.
Equius submits to Gamzee’s will, and dies at his hands.

Gamzee is terrifically effective at roleplaying the Grand Highblood–he goes on to set Terezi up to kill Vriska in a grisly re-enactment of Redglare and Mindfang’s showdown at the Grand Highblood’s order. But this rampage comes at a personal cost.

Gamzee is incredibly unstable during this period, with the whole loud honking and red eyes thing. Insofar as we’re allowed into his head, Gamzee does not seem particularly comfortable or at ease in this role! It’s only once Karkat calms him down that he reverts to his more Passive role, and begins acting like his normal self again.

So we’ve got two instances of Active behavior linked to White, and Passive behavior linked to Black. We’ve also seen that roleplaying can explain how Gamzee changes from his traditional role of Passive destruction, to one of Active destruction–at a personal cost.

Now let’s look at an example that incorporates both Yin/Yang and Roleplay for both parties, in the conclusion of the 3x Showdown between Eridan, Vriska and Gamzee.

Of course, we’re actually interested in Kanaya, who turns out to dominate this fight utterly. Kanaya is one of the few highbloods who seems completely uninterested in roleplay. But then, in this context, maybe she doesn’t have to be.

Vriska suggests that a player’s destiny is tied to their Ancestors’, and while this definitely involves an element of “choosing to take on the life they left for you”, it also seems to have Karmic implications.

The Dolorosa, after all, is interwoven in the story of The Grand Highblood, Mindfang, and Dualscar–she becomes Mindfang’s slave, and is murdered by Dualscar.

Despite his claims to having moved on from Dualscar’s legacy, in this flash, Eridan is cast in his shadow. Meaning he’s being placed in the role of a Passive player, in the context of this sequence.

So Kanaya isn’t just getting revenge for Eridan’s crimes–there’s an implication she’s making up for Dualscar’s cruelty to her Ancestor, as well. Finishing what Dualscar started, so to speak. The Dolorosa being a Maid, we can understand Kanaya as roleplaying a Maid of Space.

And a Maid of Space is one who Makes Space…

For her own benefit.
Bard is Passive is Black.
Maid is Active is White.

A couple side notes:

1) Kanaya, like Gamzee, seems pretty drained after her spurt of intense Active behavior. Roleplaying as a more Active class can be effective in the short term, but it also seems pretty exhausting, as a general rule of thumb.

2) Given that Kanaya is revived as a Rainbow Drinker–a creature of fantasy–and that she glows pure Hope-White, we could even read Eridan here as inviting his own destruction through Hope. Just one of those little things I find so satisfying with Homestuck.

3) Relating Kanaya with the Dolorosa like this gives us some extra nuance with which to understand Vriska’s flash of red feelings for her. She related to Eridan and Tavros primarily in the terms set by their ancestors, after all–small wonder she’d find Kanaya more exciting as she completed her own Ancestor’s work, as well.

I found this pretty exciting once it came together for me, so I hope it does for you too. Let me know what you think! That’s all for now.

[Patreon] [Hiveswap Discord]

Til next time, keep rising.

LIVE-ACTION ROLEPLAY and
the IMPACT OF ANCESTORS

Pt. 1 – Vriska the Sylph & Tavros the Rogue

I’ve written about Homestuck’s Roleplay mechanic before, so you can read these links if you want some background. Roleplay is based on Jung’s idea of Archetypes, and Homestuck is a deeply Jungian work, so I think there’s a strong basis for considering the story in these terms.

The basic idea behind Roleplay is this: Whatever a character’s Class, if they strongly admire or want to emulate a figure with a different Class, they’ll adopt said Class’ symbolic imagery and key verb behavior. This will pretty much always go poorly, since the player in question is focused on being someone else instead of being themselves.

Vriska is like, kind of the ur example of this behavior, just because it’s so central to her character. I’ve talked about how she tries extremely hard to act like Aranea/Mindfang, by acting out the part of a Fairy.

Not much to add there, except to note that her Fairy God Troll behavior towards John (behavior that only Kanaya, a Sylph, shares while also succeeding in what she accomplishes) also leads to her Making/Creating Bec Noir.

But let’s talk about someone who isn’t very interested in Roleplay at all:
Tavros Nitram.

Vriska tells us that the common bloods are less likely to value historical legends and Alternian traditions, and that actually seems to reflect in the story mechanically.

Eridan, Gamzee, Equius, Vriska, Terezi–all of these characters roleplay very heavily, and sit relatively high on the spectrum while sharing a passion for FLARP and/or historical systems of power, like the Hemospectrum or the Subjugglators.

Aradia, Karkat, Sollux, Tavros–all of these characters don’t really have much of an interest in their Ancestral Legacies. Tavros comes the closest, but it’s important to remember that his Rufioh is not the Summoner! He’s just a guy Tavros made up in his head or got from the Pupa Pan movie, not Rufioh himself.

Vriska’s the one who read Mindfang’s Journal, and so she’s the one who relates Tavros to the Summoner, who is a Rogue of Breath. And when she tries to make Tavros stronger, what she wants is to make him more like him.

Let’s take this to the critical point of Vriska’s investment in Tavros, and focus on Tavros for once. One thing people don’t tend to notice is that his Aspect powers nearly came to light as he prepared to kiss Vriska–or, in other words, to give her Breath. This was something he made a conscious choice to do, which I view as a critical part of his arc as a Page–the Active Serve/Give class.

If he’d succeeded, he’d presumably have learned how to control his powers better, and become a more effective member of the team by taking direct control of his power.

He does not succeed, as Vriska wants him to do things her way instead.

And her way, of course, is to attempt to have Tavros kill her to spare her an agonizing death. Put another way, Vriska wants Tavros to steal her life, for her benefit. This is behavior that would come naturally to a Rogue of Breath,
but it does not come naturally to Tavros.

Notice that Tavros grows increasingly covered in Blood during this section, by the way.His freedom and personal momentum are utterly crushed under the weight of his relationship with Vriska, and the responsibility she thrusts on him.

Calliope tells us that if a character is “corrupted by an outside influence”, their abilities may manifest in ways “in defiance of their Aspect”. Funnily enough, through roleplay, we can in fact reach scenarios similar to those of Inversion Theory, since it is true that players who are roleplaying intensely sometimes take on connotations of their dichotomous Aspect.

This is a perfect example, since a Page and a Rogue are in fact entirely opposites in verbs and active/passive affinity. Tavros does not like behaving Passively, and does not find himself comfortable killing for Vriska’s benefit, or for that matter being told what to do.

And both of them suffer heavily for it as a result. Vriska dies a slow and painful death, and Tavros finds the whole event so traumatizing and exhausting that he basically withdraws completely for the rest of the session. That’s the kind of intensely negative effect that forcing roles on others can have in Homestuck.

So what happens when characters willingly take on roles that aren’t natural to them? And how much can this system be said to apply to most characters in the story?

Let’s try to answer both questions next time, when we explore the roleplay behaviors surrounding Eridan, Gamzee, and Kanaya during the height of Horrorstuck, and how Active/Passive alignment is communicated to the audience through visual symbolism.

[Patreon] [Hiveswap Discord]

Til then, keep rising.

Someone told me to post this so here it is. Probably my best vocalization yet of the Roleplay mechanic I’ve been talking about, which ties the Ancestors into the Classes and makes the whole system a lot more flexible and comprehensible.

If nothing else I think it’s interesting to consider and discuss, so do let me know if you agree or disagree. Here’s some other examples of Class roleplay I’ve found time to write about:

Dirk, Terezi, Xefros -> Knight

Dave-> Prince

Jane-> Heir

Unifying Myths: Prince/Bard – Royalty

I’m more than a little upset I’m going to have to work these into my Force and Flow essays soon, but I figured I’d write these posts on the Unifying Myths for the Steal and Destroy classes because they’ll help me get my thoughts in order for the Classpect video I’m writing the script for.

(PS: That’ll exist soon! Ideally an easy way to introduce all sorts of newbies to the Classpect system. I’m excited!!)

So let’s talk about the unifying myth for Princes and Bards: That of Royalty.
Related terms include aristocracy, nobility, and high blood by association.

I…don’t know why it took me so long to notice this? I guess I got tripped up by the royalty focus on the Fuschias, but I mean, class roleplay is an established thing and the Ancestors, as complex and multifaceted people living in the real world, muddy the water with the multiplicity of symbols they portray all the time.

Also, both Meenah and Feferi explicitly reject their royalty status and abdicate the crown. So. I really don’t know what was stopping me here. Anyhow, let’s get into it.

I think this mostly speaks for itself, honestly? Equius attributes Dave’s habit of destroying things to the training Bro–a Prince–gives him. He suggests it makes him nobler than others, and Dave himself likens himself to a King while carrying out the behavior.

This contextualizes Dave’s habit of destruction during Act 5 as him roleplaying as a Prince, in imitation of Bro. Fittingly given his confused state with regards to his abusive parentage, Dave doesn’t realize that’s what he’s doing or why, but his habit of breaking random stuff is one he mostly drops as he grows out of wanting to imitate Bro on any level (with one notable exception).

If the Royalty classes have a coherent theme, it’s a focus on historical legacy, lines of descent, and inherited destiny. Where other classes draw their interests from fiction, abstract concepts, or their own creative interests, the Royals typically find their biggest interests in the past–that of themselves and of their people. So Dirk and AR both view themselves as scions of Dave’s legacy.

The Makaras are beholden to their Subjugglator bloodline, and the allegiance to Lord English it represents. They don’t seem to believe in the cause of the Mirthful Messiahs so much as simply know the inevitable reality of their success well in advance. And why wouldn’t they, with evidence all around them like Doc Scratch, Lil Cal, and Lord English already wandering the Void?

And while we’re talking about Gamzee, I may as well cover Bard’s link to Royalty. I should note that this is part of a recurring trend with the Classes–one will generally relate to the unifying myth very directly, while the second will come with a host of references and plot beats linking it to the myth indirectly.

So a Witch is a magician by name, while an Heir is revealed as one through the myriad references John gets to wizardry. A Sylph is a kind of fairy by name, but it’s Maids who get described as being “Made of” their Aspect, and so their brand of magic. So on.

In this same respect, while Princes are Royalty manifest by their very name, Bards–though Gamzee–are lifted into the noble circle by implication and continuous reference.

Gamzee’s allegiance to LE results in the cultural dominance of Subjugglators, both on Alternia and on the Alpha Earth. The Mirthful Executives give us the clearest link to Gamzee, since their rise to horrible, aristocratic power is prophecized well in advance, George Washington describing them as “Salty Bards”.

The relationship between Bards and royalty could actually go back to Hussie’s old adventure Bard Quest, where the Bard’s acquisition of a cod piece much like Gamzee’s earns him the worship and devotion of some random dudes in an alley. So…yeah. Thanks, Hussie.

The Amporas seem to have two distinct lines of inherited destiny–one related to their Blood, and one related to their Aspect. Their status as scions of the legacy of the Angels sees them as champions of fantasy, belief, and Hope.
It also sets them up as natural rivals to the Makaras, and threats to Lord English.

But both Amporas fail to live up this legacy, and instead of believing in anything fantastical or magical, both stake their self-worth on an unhealthy fixation with their blood color and the presumption that it makes them “Better” than their friends. This, of course, is false and unimportant information, so it’s fitting that it renders them irrelevant and marginal.

It’s also likely deliberate to some extent, since it’s suggested that someone close to Lord English talked Cronus out of his relationship with Magic, and Alternia was all but designed to bring out the worst in Eridan’s entitlement complex and arrogance.

Since Caliborn had prior experience with the danger of a Hero of Hope, it makes sense he’d want to neutralize the others by prompting them to believe in something darker to believe in.

Which brings us to the arrogance and entitlement the Royalty classes often struggle with–the part of their natures that seems to constitute their greatest challenge before achieving fulfillment and balance.

The concept of High Birth seems to manifest in a sense of inherent superiority for Princes and Bards, and it’s this belief that tends to destroy their ability to make relationships. Both Makaras and both Amporas harbor these intense, megalomaniacal worldviews.

This, however, is where the best Prince begins to set himself apart.
A successful, happy, healthy version of a prince who reaches balance is one who humbles himself, and gets over their sense of arrogant supremacy.

Dirk is actually…pretty close to that already by the point he’s introduced in the comic. Alpha Dirk references this egocentrism as something he definitely struggled with at 13, but 16-year-old Dirk has mostly switched to an intense self-loathing reminiscent of Karkat, with a toxic relationship with a version of himself to boot.

So we can see Dirk as a loose, loose glimpse into what it might look like for Eridan, for example, to chill out after a couple of years–had he gotten the chance. Of course, Dirk was never half as domineering or controlling as Eridan, so this is an unequal comparison, but I think it’s worth noting how their three age difference is meant to influence or readings of the two.

AR/Lil Hal is the version of Dirk that commits most of the abusive/manipulative behavior people usually pin on Alpha Dirk, and fittingly, he’s the one who actually distinguishes himself as Above his friends for most of his narrative.

In AR’s case, he does so on the basis that he is cybernetic and cyber-omniscient, a state he views as superior to being flesh-and-blood, even likening it to an aristocratic position once he’s mixed with Equius.

To swing things back around to Dave’s roleplay, there actually is one final act of destruction in his arc. After talking things out with Dirk and coming to see a version of his Bro as someone with the potential to do good, Dave and Dirk engage in what I can only describe as a 2x roleplay combo, with Dirk serving Dave through his Self and Dave killing Dirk to finish off the Jacks.

I like the sense of inverted symmetry here, and it puts into context why Dave’s attack is a positive thing for him–this moment is about Dave accepting that there can be some good in Dirk’s nature, and being willing to incorporate some of Dirk’s influence into his person at an appropriate time.

By embracing Dirk’s affinity for destruction and giving Dirk the chance to put his fate in someone else’s hands, Dirk can find absolution and Dave can find a coherent understanding of his identity, and Bro’s influence on it.

Anyway that’s about it. I’m glad to finally have coherent myths for Princes/Bard and Thief/Rogue, but we know how these classes work mechanically, so it’s not like they revolutionize my whole understanding of the canon. Feel free to send me asks with your thoughts, but for now…

Keep Rising!

[Patreon] [Hiveswap Discord]

You mentioned in one of your essays that Dirk rp’s a knight. Can you go into more depth on that? (Or direct me to someplace you already have?)

Yeah, my writing on roleplay is strewn all over the place. I really need to write about it as it’s own mechanic in more detail, which I suppose I’ll be doing for videos.

Here’s a couple of the sections that are most relevant:

https://medium.com/@RoseOfNobility/force-and-flow-steal-and-serve-83c1e077c50f

The Serve part of this essay outlines how Pages tend to inspire characters to act like their Knights, and how Jake’s summoning of Brain Ghost Dirk fits that mold.

https://revolutionaryduelist.tumblr.com/post/159876062077/nobility

Here I talk about how Dirk and AR are both trying to emulate Dave in their narratives, though it could use a bit of updating.

https://revolutionaryduelist.tumblr.com/post/159913879902/as-you-wish

Here I go over how Dirk’s attempt at roleplay is validated by the narrative through Grandpa.

https://medium.com/@RoseOfNobility/pulling-the-strings-dirk-as-manipulative-puppetmaster-ba781ad33c2c

And here I go on about how AR was the clear winner of the power struggle leading to Unite Synchronize and Dirk didn’t do like 90% of the shit people pin on him, which I’m dumping a link to as well because like, why not? I love dirk thanks

Man this stuff is going to be a nightmare to condense into a single video. rip

jollysunflora replied to your post “I knew Inversion Theory was just a fan-theory and wasn’t canonically…”

Tbh that doesnt seem like enough evidence to debunk it

I’m not really sure what to tell you if WP staff saying “I’ve spoken to Hussie about this and am speaking from a position of privilege; it isn’t canon.” isn’t enough for you. I kind of take it as tacit confirmation of something I already knew, personally.

There’s nothing about inversion theory that I don’t feel is more accurately explained by the basic dynamic Calliope proposes with Aspects, and Roleplay set up by FLARP and the focus on Ancestral/Historical influence for Class stuff. Simply put, there are better explanations that render Homestuck a more cohesive and complete narrative, in my opinion.

Do you think the ancestors and dancestors have the same classpects?

Like, Aranea and Mindfang sharing classpects?

Yes. In fact I think them sharing them is canon, easy to prove in the story, and central to understanding the impact that Ancestors have on players. EXTREME ROLEPLAY of the kind we’re introduced to with FLARP actually has a lot more weight in the story than the fandom has thought up until now, I feel.

I’m actually writing a post sort of about that right now, since it suggests some things about Xefros’ potential Class. I’ve been writing about this for a while but it’s been sort of hard to get people interested? But it’s really important and adds a lot of richness to the characters imo.

What to remember when roleplaying Dirk Strider

whinesaboutrp:

Yo, yall, I saw someone in the cherubplay tag asking about a guide for this and I like to think I’m pretty good at Dirk roleplaying, so let’s go.

I was going to try and keep this away from most “fanon vs. canon” stuff, but as a heads up, with both Striders it’s fairly impossible to avoid talking about that because they put up such fronts that get read as their actual character. (More on that in a sec.)

While on the one hand you have the misreadings of Dirk that result in desperate, clingy, whiny “looking for doms” bed starfish, on the other hand, you have the suave, domineering, puppeteer Dirks who control literally everything their friends do, are always in control, and definitely never panic in a bad situation. While both of those misreadings are bad, I’d actually argue the second is more OOC than the first, and this is a post about why.

Anyway, this is gonna be a really long post because I like talking about Dirk and his complexes way too much, so hit the readmore.

Keep reading

Dirk might not be a Knight, but he has all the same hallmarks as Dave of desperately armoring himself in “being cool” to avoid letting people see the raw underbelly underneath. If you come out of Homestuck reading that Dirk believes he’s the best thing since sliced bread, then … well, then he fooled you. You saw his front, accepted that for all he is, and moved on, and somewhere, the metafictional concept of Dirk probably let out a sigh of relief and wiped sweat off his forehead.

I’m reblogging this specifically because I think it’s relevant that Dirk acting as a Knight is objectively correct? Like, not just in terms of his characterization echoing Dave’s–in the sense that Dirk actively tries to roleplay a Knight throughout his narrative, in his emulating Alpha Dave.

So I think it’s pretty cool that someone picked up on this element of his characterization now that I think it’s like…a literal, explicit game mechanic, consistent not just in Dirk but throughout all of Homestuck (and Hiveswap, considering what we’ve seen up until now).

Classes are cool, y’all. Also Dirk Strider owns and I love and will protect him.

LIVE-ACTION ROLEPLAY and the IMPACT OF ANCESTORS

LIVE-ACTION ROLEPLAY and the IMPACT OF ANCESTORS

LIVE-ACTION ROLEPLAY and
the IMPACT OF ANCESTORS

LIVE-ACTION ROLEPLAY and
the IMPACT OF ANCESTORS