#AND LIKE. “F1X TH1S” definitely has relevance in john's arc but ill need to reach that point in my reread to like. articulate it

[sillayangel]

thinkin about character arcs in homestuck and how they interact with the narrative....the way that so many character arcs are DEFINED BY how they fit into the narrative itself....

throughout act 1-4 john generally does. whatever is required of him by the narrative, sometimes for reasons that are difficult to justify from the perspective of Character Motivations that would probably be called bad writing in more traditional stories. why did john create the ectobabies? he's a curious kid and likes fuckin around with technology he doesn't understand. but mostly because it's what the alpha timeline (i.e. the narrative) required of him. when we get to act 5, this starts to tie into vriska's characterization of "character who steals agency and relevance from other characters" (see also: jade's narcolepsy, creation of bec noir). instead of doing whatever the narrative requires of him, john does whataver vriska requires of him. who is so tied into the narrative at this point it's essentially the same thing. fast forward to a6a6 - caliborn takes control of the narrative and john is literally fighting against him to RESTORE the narrative. he's still doing what is required to uphold the traditional narrative but he's doing so in a way that requires his AGENCY - because the narrative is no longer able to guide and direct him anymore - because he needs to save the people he cares about from being twisted and mischaracterized until they are no longer recognisable.

vriska too, her arc throughout most of act 6 being. coming to terms with being irrelevant to the narrative (i.e. dead) after working so hard to strive towards relevance for her entire presence in the story. the culmination of this being becoming (vriska) - putting her name in parentheses as the ultimate irrelevance. dave's arc as well (i am definitely less versed in daveology than johnology and vriskology) but how he is constantly stuck in the "refusal of the call" step of the hero's journey - he basically states this outright in a6i3 when he talks about being "supposed" to defeat lord english.