Possibly. I'll have to think on that. Though if you have any ideas about it yourself it would definitely be cool to hear!
I saw some great fan denizens on homestuckresources when I was making a mistake and trudging through every single page. (I was in search of shipping icons. It was a noble quest, and one that did not go completely unrewarded.) Most of those fan denizens were not from Greek or Roman mythology, like the canon ones were, yet the pixelated icons that were submitted were in the same style as the canon browser icons. They were so great! If I can find the post again (might have snapped it to Evernote) I'll link it here. I do think that some gods would make great denizens for particular classes/aspects, and some denizens are canon not specifically tied to an aspect. So I think there's a lot of room to play around with fanlore. Alternate post title: An AU where the characters actually play SBURB/SGRUB the way it was meant to be played. The game has so many interesting mechanics. I swear that thing is sentient and it creeps me the hell out.
Oh my god Spoiler: upd8 best recap I think that's actually the first one we've seen since the Liv Tyler flash, yeah? And this one's tracing the twisted temporal path of the other major Homestuck artifact.
Ok let's celebrate this update with why the Handmaid makes me think of Gaelic myth and polytheism. For me one of the biggest things with Irish recon was having to learn that, no, not every being worthy of worship is going to be like Guanyin. Those aren't necessarily the only sorts of beings worth that kind of devotion. Also not all of those beings are warm. My first experience with an Irish god was Lugh, who is very bright and very warm. He can be terrifying, but Lugh is just a great dude. Great dad. Great son. Great leader. Great friend. And then you have gods like the Morrígan. Are they worth respect? Oh definitely. Each of the four sisters (or is it three or five or even six???) is worth respect, veneration, and worship. They're also not very warm or easy to get with, and the matters they deal with are decidedly not happy things. Namely they deal heavily with things like war, death, and fear. There's also things regarding fertility and sovereignty as well. Then there's the how they go about things. They've cursed entire countries for being shit, drove Cú Chulainn to reach ever lasting fame by almost killing him three times, and have predicted the end of the world alongside a prayer for peace to celebrate a war that was won. Her ways are mysterious, some would say even counterintuitive. They're also very unpleasant and trial by fiery. And then you have the Cailleach who is another bag of coldness all together. And then there's the Handmaid. Mysterious figure that pops up throughout the history of a world to off people or fuck shit up for entirely unknown reasons. Why? Well Scratch obviously, but the people being gibbed probably didn't know that. Maybe. We don't really see much of her. We see that and we see that she's ridiculously unhappy with her situation. Enough to the point of suicide attempts and the best thing being when the Condesce finally killed her. Her status around Alternia netted her a sort of fear and respect. Why the hell wouldn't it? She's a mysterious woman that shows up to fuck shit up and then disappears to god knows where. It's not as direct a connection as the cloud thing was. But the Handmaid makes me think a lot about the sorts of gods and goddesses that I've come to respect. Yes they're terrifying and violent. But they're worthy of respect and a sort of awe. Partly because they're terrifying and violent. There's more to them though. A lot more. And I think one of the saddest things about the Handmaid is that she was just kind of. Fucked. And we never see much of her. How much more to her was there? And what could she have become?
okay so i just had a thought that maybe everyone already had? anyways. it kind of goes with your theory. Spoiler: cal so everyone is currently freaking out about the similarities doc scratch had with equius, or AR, or gamzee (half of him anyways) and i just realized. what if caliborn was never going to end in lord english? maybe the only way to get an LE is to combine one equius, a pinch of dirk psyche (because we know the reason dirk can make all those AIs in his projects is because he's putting a bit of his soul in each one subconsciously) half a gamzee, and then one whole caliborn? the same caliborn that has a history of cheating his way into victory of control in a shared body.
that was such a nice update T^T why do i feel the next one is going to be a "just kidding" of some sort. Spoiler: spoiler edit: not that i am under any sort of delusions that that wasn't a cleaned up version of events so vriska could paint herself as the hero again. it felt very much like a "insert yourself into the story and make it better" situation, like what she did with john. tavrossprite tavrossprite tavrossprite omg i'm so excited.
DAMARA THO. Like okay, let me sperg about how happy I am about this one fucking panel. This girl has gone through so much. This is a girl who was so badly broken by those around her that she turned on them to a horrifying degree. She's a mess. And here she is, actively socializing--with one of the people who ruined her life, no less!--and not antagonizing anyone, as far as I can tell. She's fucking recovering and I know she's a minor character and it's never gonna be followed up on but I'm so happy. I'm just so fucking happy.
;_; Also I got to see Porrim again. Doing things! PORRIM. THE BEST CHARACTER. EVERYONE ELSE SUCKS EGGS. really though i am just really emotional about the whole thing for reasons
Tavrosprite surviving to hang out with Jane and Roxy and Fefetasprite Gamzee being mind controlled into staying put long enough to listen, instead of running off to help the antagonists (Vriska will happily step in to do it instead since it gets her more camera time). Gamzee staying to chat with Kurloz about meddling Seekers instead of just doing their Messiahs' bidding. Dave and Karkat being less stressed for their friends' wellbeing Rose and Kanaya and Vriska butting in, Vriska and Terezi wandering around snickering and recovering their friendship. Man, it's Homestuck so it's all bound to go bad somehow, but right now it's so promising. :')
Spoiler: upd8 dismay: raining on parades under the cut I'm miffed by the upd8. I am not a Vriska fan and even though it was probably filtered through VriskaVision 9000 it still felt too... sweet to me. Even if she's just painting herself as the gr8est hero it still makes me feel she hasn't changed very much. And I had it up to here with her already in the halcyon days of Make Her Pay arc. I was also kind of worried by the way she was subduing Gamzee. I don't even like the clown and the way he seems to be the tame butt of jokes is... unsettling. Does he ever actually interact with the rest of the meteor crew besides Vriska and Terezi? Did he just revert to a placid :| mode on his own? Is Vriska mindcontrolling him? The last time a Serket steamrolled his mind in canon it culminated during Game Over, so, y'know, that would be worrying. I'd get into my grim and unlikely theory how Vriska is trying to replace Rose, but that'd get too neurotic. This has been your regularly scheduled rainstorm.
It was very saccharine, but it also kind of makes sense that she'd have an effect. Everyone originally on the meteor was kind of passive. Dave doesn't do anything, Karkat just yells at himself, Rose and Terezi see but don't do, Kanaya only reacts, leaving the only person who takes initiative to be Gamzee. No one's talking to anyone else about their issues. But who goes out of her way to try to solve problems? Vriska. Even if she just makes things worse or is doing things for bad reasons, she tries. She's an active player, both in class and personality. She doesn't learn; her whole story arc is her failing to learn. Now she just happens to actually be in a place where being herself is a help rather than a hindrance. Anyway, the major difference is probably actually Terezi. Not being depressed and vulnerable from killing Vriska, not dating Dave or Gamzee, and thus not getting drunk or her eyes back. And of course Vriska would take the credit for not getting stabbed in the back, but Terezi was the focal point for the Dave-Karkat-Gamzee mess; Vriska's role is to just occupy Terezi's time with something less destructive.
Vriska seemingly getting a redemption arc was one of my favorite things about it. Along with Terezi being the major difference more than likely. To me redemption and EVERYONE being worthy of chances and help is like. Everything. But then I'm crazy and believe that failing at the Enlightenment thing is impossible.
Yeah, this is p much where I am. I feel like Vriska really has to get better somehow for the full punch of Terezi's scarfplan to work but... it can't be that easy, right? *worried* Or, to put it another way, my upd8 reaction: ಠ‿ಠ
not sure how to feel about Vriska, i'm kinda tired of the morality whiplash and wish hussie would just kinda stick with her being irredeemable. but maybe that's just me projecting
Well, I dunno about anyone being irredeemable, but in Vriska's case in particular, I think that a lot of her tragedy comes from how many chances at redemption she's had and gotten so close to but ultimately decided not to take and turned away from. So I'm hoping this one sticks, even if it takes some work yet. That said, if she's responsible for making ARquius happen in the retcon timeline, like the latest flash implies, she's responsible for making the unbeatable endboss. Again. Goddammit, Vriska.
I'm just not sure where this is going story-wise? it seemed like the lesson there is that some people are incapable of becoming a good person and they should stick with other bad people. but like. hanging out with the same friend group which you killed some of is pretty messed up too.
