#Disclaimer: I love Palutena a lot but she's also kind of insensitive

[descendant-of-truth]

Pit has a lot of character depth to himself already, but throwing Dark Pit into the mix was an absolute game changer for me. And in order to explain why, I’m gonna have to ramble for a bit.

This turned out super long, so I’m gonna put it under a cut.

I’ve joked before on how Pit is essentially your typical Anime Protagonist on the surface; cheerful, loud, not very bright, but with a strong moral compass and a will stronger than steel. It’s an overused trope by now, frankly, since a lot of those characters end up feeling like carbon copies of each other in different circumstances. Even so, I’ve always felt like Pit was somehow unique from all those characters, but haven’t been able to put it into words very well. Which is what this analysis is for.

One thing that stands out about Pit to me (as I’ve mentioned before in previous posts) is that he’s disabled. Sure, having two dysfunctional limbs is a much bigger handicap to us than it is to Pit, but that’s a result of him simply having more limbs to fall back on. In any case, it’s something he’s known for being very sensitive about. We never actually see any of the other angels tease or bully him for not being able to fly, but it’s not exactly a stretch of the imagination. He literally says int the first chapter that it’s really embarrassing being an angel who can’t fly on his own.

And honestly, what an understatement. Dealing with discrimination is a lot more than just “embarrassing,” Pit.

Now, his insecurity doesn’t stop there, certainly not, but can we talk about bitter he is? Just, in general?

As early as chapter 3, he’s getting on Palutena’s case for deliberately putting him in a dangerous situation without telling him the plan--a plan that, by the way, Palutena admits was kind of half-formed.

“Luckily, the pheromone only attracted one of the heads. I was wondering what you would have done if both had shown up.”

“And you still went through with it?! I would have been finished for sure!”

Now don’t get me wrong, this was a funny moment, but it also solidifies a pretty important part of Pit’s character and one of the key features of this analysis: that Pit doesn’t always agree with Palutena’s methods.

This is also shown during chapter 5--which is, interestingly enough, Dark Pit’s debut. Palutena is just giving her tutorials as usual when Pit replies with an almost passive-aggressive remark.

“You know I really appreciate your help, Lady Palutena. But I’d be totally fine without all this hand-holding, too.”

Now, I have messed up the definition of “passive-aggressive” on multiple occasions, so I apologize if I used the wrong description here. But this is another scene that, while otherwise comedic in tone, shows that Pit can get kind of fed-up with Palutena--although he’s too polite to actively show anger towards her most of the time.

It’s times like this that I must applaud the writing in this game. There’s an abundance of comedic scenes, but even they can have serious consequences. And where better to talk about those consequences than in  chapter 23?

Oh, chapter 23. How I love you so. You know, they didn’t have to show us what would happen to Pit if he was cut off from everyone except his most hated enemy. They really didn’t. But they did. They did that for us.

This chapter changes a lot, man. I know I was talking about how Dark Pit was the game changer at the beginning of this post, and he still is (I swear I’ll get to that soon), but I just really need to emphasize this chapter for a minute.

Because you know what happens to Pit when he’s isolated??? He talks to himself. Specifically, he imitates Palutena and responds to his own imitation. It’s not exactly accurate at first, but once you get to the boss fight, his Palutena impression is almost creepily spot-on.

And why is this important, you ask?? Because it shows that Pit has actually become dependent on Palutena’s commentary. He mentions several times that he feels like he’s starting to lose it, and he has to escape before he really goes nuts.

The chapter wasn’t even longer than usual. Assuming the level length is an accurate depiction of how long it is in-universe, he was only in there for about twenty minutes, maybe a little more. He spirals fast, and it’s kind of alarming.

On that note... I wonder if Dark Pit talks to himself, too?

I’m not saying Pit is completely unstable, the rest of the game is enough to prove that--but he’s definitely not in the best mental state, either. And you know what? For most writers, this would probably be enough. You have a perfectly good shonen protagonist who’s been bullied for most of his life and easily derails when isolated, but has strong bonds with other people that keeps him going. They didn’t really have to go further than that.

But did that stop them from doing just that?? No, because Dark Pit exists and I am living.

It’s unclear if Dark Pit is just a clone or literally a part of Pit’s soul that got separated, but I tend to go with the latter. Regardless, he’s described to be “manifesting Pit’s dark side,” which is the most important takeaway here. Because he and Pit have some... interesting things to say to each other.

“Who are you calling a puppet?!”

“Palutena says jump, you jump. She says fight, you fight. That sounds like a very satisfying existence. For her, that is.”

“I have absolute faith in Lady Palutena!”

“The Mirror of Truth doesn’t lie. I’m a reflection of your true self. So maybe your faith in her isn’t quite so absolute after all.”

“What would you know about faith anyway, you treacherous blackheart?!”

ALRIGHT LET’S CALM DOWN FOR A SECOND AND TALK ABOUT THIS.

Can we start with the fact that “treacherous blackheart” is a way stronger insult than Pit uses on literally anyone else in the game?? Or the fact that is entire argument (ignoring the whole “Mirror of Truth” thing) sounds like someone viciously trying to fight off their own intrusive thoughts?

How many conversations do you think he’s had with himself where he starts to doubt Palutena’s leadership and immediately counters with something like this? How many times has he put himself down like this, insulted himself for not having enough faith, for being angry with Palutena even when she deserves it because she’s a goddess and she cares about him and you gotta have total faith in your goddess or else you’re just a crappy angel.

“Methinks the puppet doth protest too much.”

The sarcasm is practically dripping from this line, but honestly, any attempt to rephrase it just manages to make it sound a lot darker. Especially when you consider what Dark Pit says much later in the game.

“You have got to be joking. All you gods and your stupid wars are the ones throwing everything off balance!”

This is something Pit would never even consider saying out loud. He never takes this stance in any of his speeches or arguments. But... it came from Dark Pit. And if we’re to assume that he’s a part of Pit that he never shows to anyone... then that means Pit shares this exact same sentiment. The difference is that he would shame himself for even thinking it, because that’s blaming Lady Palutena for the state of the world. And how could he do that to her?

Pit is so concerned about how he views Palutena that he isn’t even considering how he’s viewing himself, which is... less than ideal, to put it lightly. I’m not saying he lacks confidence, exactly, because he pulls through that whole game with all that and still saves the world just fine. But all that combined with the absolute crap he goes through, from going into a coma for three years to having his wings explode... I’m worried about him. Him and Dark Pit.

I’m going to leave this off with something I’ve been wondering about for a while; if Dark Pit really does have all of Pit’s memories, do you think he ever just wants to be called “Pit” for once?

This has been: Screaming About One (1) Angel For Three Hours Straight with Descendant-of-Truth.