#The Stolas Project

[chaifootsteps]

Can you think of any cartoon characters that have unfitting voices?

I can say that about most of the Hazbin characters.

I mean, I hate Stolas's enough to sit here editing it in such a way that I can pretend it still sounds like the pilot, so there's that.

[askfordoodles]

A detail I don't see mentioned about the confrontation between Blitzø and Stolas is that while Blitzø is understandably angry and lashing out, he also ends his rant with an invitation to Stolas, imploring, no, demanding he meet him at his level, to get as angry as he is, to FIGHT HIM, right then and there.

We've seen frequently that imps are violent in general, they're originally native to Wrath, and we see that most of their bonding rituals often involve violence and/or bodily harm (just look at how much Millie and Sallie May messed each other up at the end and while being able to laugh about it; a broken bottle fight and broken bones is their version of a light-hearted pillow fight)

While Blitzø is also very self-destructive, even by Hell's standards, it should be noted that he's technically begging for Stolas to connect with him in this moment, to speak a language he understands. "At least respect me enough to fight me! If you care, why walk away? Get real with me, if we can't get physical with our genitals, then at least let us get physical with our fists!"

Unfortunately, Stolas has had the exact opposite cultural upbringing, having been taught his whole life that emotional outbursts are unseemly and improper, so his main go-to for conflicts is avoidance. He avoided confrontation with his father, he basically avoided Stella as much as he could even when she was openly shitting on him at parties; and ONLY just recently has he managed to stand up for himself and when he finally does, it's not to strike back, but simply stand his ground for once, emboldened his new-found love for Blitzø and the knowledge that his daughter isn't fooled by the act anymore and will soon be of age anyway.

It is not currently in Stolas' nature to be confrontational the way Blitzø desperately needs him to be.

Blitzø says: "Please, if you ever actually cared, you'd fight for us Get mad, show me that you care!"

What Stolas hears is just the most literal interpretation with zero subtext, because he isn't attuned to the subtleties of arguing and especially not what it looks like for imps, i.e. he focuses on the "I always hated you" interpretation.

Both gave the other an opening, but only heard dismissal, because it wasn't spoken in a language they were familiar with.

I'm not saying either handled things well here, Blitzø shouldn't immediately respond with anger and Stolas shouldn't default to walking away, that's my whole point.

I just thought it was an interesting angle that their differences aren't just societal (privilege/wealth/respect) but also cultural in how it influences how they each handle emotional confrontation, or, in the case of Stolas, how they don't.

[lesoldatmort]

STOLAS the Mighty Raven

The Thirty-sixth Spirit is Stolas, or Stolos. He is a Great and Powerful Prince, appearing in the Shape of a Mighty Raven at first before the Exorcist; but after he taketh the image of a Man. He teacheth the Art of Astronomy, and the Virtues of Herbs and Precious Stones. 

Another more "canonical" entry to my project of Hell Employees.

💀 PATREON | X | IG | Prints&merch

[bbonbonss]

⋆˳⁺ overdoing it ⁺˳⋆

[helluvahusker]

Autistic4Autistic Stolitz, hear me out

Stolas gives high masking undiagnosed autistic who always felt a little different and didn't always understand that people were making fun of him, or if he did, then why.

As an adult he uses social scripts when he can but he's really easily thrown off if people don't follow along and behave as expected. Blitzø perplexes the shit out of him but also lets him unmask a little cuz he doesn't have to worry about appearing odd. Blitzø has such different standards of normalcy that he doesn't even notice if Stolas says something strange half the time.

They take turns info dumping to each other, even though Blitzø is really awful at listening to information he doesn't care about (he's working on it).

[blitzwhore]

Tell me why I just spent an hour of my night imagining what would happen if, during the trial, it was revealed in front of all the Goetias that Blitz caused the fire, and Blitz was present, and he got really really triggered so he ran outside and Stolas followed him and found him cowering in a corner.

And then Stolas tried to touch Blitz, but Blitz hissed and hid his face, and so Stolas asked, “Darling, can I hold you? Let me hold you...” and very carefully rested his hands on Blitz before pulling him very close, at which point Blitz buried his face in Stolas' chest feathers because he couldn't bear the thought of Stolas seeing him break down like this, but he also agonizingly craved the the physical comfort.

And so Blitz just cried, and cried, and cried, feeling like he was about to die and he couldn't breathe past this and he was falling apart. And Stolas held him through it, not knowing what to do, just rocking him slowly and holding him tightly while Blitz sobbed and gasped for air, whispering over and over again, “I'm right here, I won't let go, I've got you, I'm not going anywhere.”

And eventually—after many minutes—Blitz's sobs died down, but he was still crying, just silently now, heavy tears rolling down his cheeks as he breathed Stolas in and tried to regain some semblance of control over his body. Still feeling terrified, still so, so scared that Stolas would let go of him and he would break.

Stolas didn't let go, though, and just kissed the top of his head over and over again, running his fingers up and down Blitz's back, trying desperately to comfort him. And eventually, Stolas said, “I didn't know... I had no idea...” not knowing how to finish those sentences. And, after hiccuping and fighting to catch his breath, Blitz mumbled “I—I—” but he couldn't form a single word without breaking down. So Stolas said, “It's okay, dearest. You don't have to talk about it,” but Blitz replied, “I-I want to, but I—I can't.”

And then Stolas said, “You could write it down... Would that help?” but Blitz just shook his head against his chest feathers, arguing that, “I would just m-misspell everything. I—give me a moment.” So Stolas did, holding him tight, not letting go, never letting go, and Blitz, after several seconds of trying to speak and failing, finally managed a muffled, “I was...” And then, after a few more moments, “I-I was in love with him.”

And Stolas didn't say anything—just let that information sink in heavily in his heart, that Blitz had been in love before, with someone else—and waited for Blitz to continue. “W-With Fizz. I was—I wanted to—t-to tell him. On his birthday. But I couldn't. I—” And Blitz sobbed again. “I chickened out, and pushed the guy carrying the cake, and the candles—they—”

And Stolas thought... Oh. The fire. That's how it started. His arms tightening around Blitz again, pulling him close as Blitz went on, “And Fizz was right by the fireworks when they went off and he—a-and—”

“Oh. Oh, Blitz,” Stolas rasped out, tears welling in his eyes as he took in the horror of what Blitz was describing, of causing such a horrible accident to happen. And Blitz hiccuped against his chest, his fingers digging into Stolas' sides as he held on to him with wild desperation, and said, “A-And my—my mom—” but couldn't continue, breaking down into sobs again as Stolas rocked him back and forth, back and forth, cheek pressed against Blitz's head, crying silently at the horror of what Blitz had been through. Whispering, “I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, darling.”

And Blitz clung to Stolas, feeling like he might die if Stolas let go now, feeling like even this much touch wasn't enough, like he needed to crawl inside Stolas' chest, needed to be held so fully and overwhelmingly in order to not feel like he would disintegrate at any second. But, at the same time, he felt completely unworthy of this; of Stolas. “I'm a monster,” he sobbed. And again, “I'm a monster.” And Stolas pulled him desperately closer, saying, “You are not a monster, Blitz. It was an accident. It was a tragedy, it was horrifying, but it wasn't your fault,” needing Blitz to believe it.

But Blitz couldn't, shaking his head, crying, hating himself. Hating the all-encompassing aching in his chest that made him feel like he might die from it.

“It wasn't your fault,” Stolas repeated. “I'm so sorry, Blitz. I'm so sorry this happened. I'm sorry I found out like this.” Cradling him back and forth, back and forth. “I'm sorry. And I'm not going anywhere. I'm here.”

And it was true, Blitz realized. Stolas still hadn't let go of him. His body started to believe it. He still wasn't ready to let go, though. But that was okay with Stolas, who wasn't going anywhere. No matter how long it took, he would stay with Blitz, and hold him through it.

... Aaaaand I had no idea how this mental scene played out after that so um. Bye!

[bokvshou]

i loved the stolitz scene. all the conflict begins with blitzø almost refusing to return the book, and it's like... but it's not all about the book, is it? blitzø needs the book to work, yes, but it's also an excuse to be with stolas without having to accept that he WANTS to see him. for blitzø it's the perfect excuse to not deal with his own feelings because "well, i HAVE to, i made a deal, i'm obligated".

leaving the full weight of their relationship on their deal (the book) means that blitzø can take the blame off of anything. he needs that shield, that excuse, to keep avoiding facing the situation, "nothing that happens can be my fault if i'm being forced to be here, right?"

he's scared. makes sense, considering that he thinks all the failure he's had in his relationships to have been his fault. PLUS, the book serves as a guarantee that stolas won't leave him because "that's the deal, isn't it? as long as i have the book he wants me".

so asking for the book back is a threat to that state of conformity blitzø feels. it means he would have to finally accept he wants stolas, his feelings, and a relationship where everything he does, good or bad, would be his own decision, with all its consequences.

asking for the book back is breaking the deal, which also means (in blitzø's head) stolas doesn't want him anymore, and it's a rejection. that's why despite having a new option to go to earth, as soon as blitzø heard that it meant no longer seeing stolas he felt unhappy.

if blitzø didn't care, he wouldn't have reacted like that as soon as he heard stolas say "you don't have to stay here with me". it really scared him to think that he no longer had a reason (an excuse) to keep visiting stolas, he felt rejected, but he also refuses to believe that anyone can love HIM, he even thinks stolas is joking, and he panics when he realizes that's not the case bc that bitch HATES himself lemme tell you that. this is a mess and i'm just yapping bc i feel you buddy.

so, what happens when blitzø refuses to accept his own vulnerability, is terrified of commitment, and doesn't consider himself to have any kind of value worth worth loving? self sabotage! he gets defensive, says shit without thinking.

and that's how he ends up hurting the person he didn't want to hurt. blitzø quickly regrets it, but what's done is done, and all that's left is a painful emptiness and silence. let's go BPD king.

[fletchingbrilliant]

more work for yourself is okay, actually depending on the situation

i really was hating the shading on the first several portraits i did so i redid the coloring on all of them to flats and i feel a lot better now

also made alastor's colors match the outfit i designed for him and completely redid caelum/stolas' color scheme to be more in line with his human form in the show, it just looks better even with that insane level of pale

more persona project, more loveless bond art, more archangel designs, and more HELLUVA HUNGRY GAMES coming up soooooon

[valkyrierhapsody]

"You don't owe me anything but you can't just ignore all that!"

HARPOON ME. IT WOULD HURT LESS.

[hazbinhotelho]

Stolas and Blitz are both autistic and just have different special interests. You can't change my mind.

[ripplestitchskein]

Some of you assholes are about to make me do an entire essay on writing structure, serialized fiction and like, fucking, the basic iterative creative process as it relates to HB.

Broad strokes though:

Pilot. 👏 Episodes 👏 Are 👏 Just 👏 Concepts 👏

Concepts are the INITIAL stage of the creative process. You may start with a character looking and behaving a certain way but by the time you get a final product they are completely fucking different. Or a story starts out in one direction in your early drafts but once you’ve really sat down and fleshed it out you realize you need to change it completely. This is why we have sketches, why we do drafts, why we do concept art. Every creative endeavor involves these steps. It’s rough -> refine -> refine -> refine -> finished product (or as finished as you can get with time/money/resource constraints).

That’s how every creative endeavor goes plus or minus some refinement steps. Things like money, time, and the number of people working on a project and tools available can change this math a bit but it’s ALWAYS the same basic principle. You start with a concept, you refine it over and over until it’s as close to done as you can make it. This can take a few days, this can take a few decades, but it still happens every time. Whether you SEE it or not.

Most of the time you don’t see the pilots of television shows. In major corporate productions all the behind the scenes growing pains happen before you lay your eyes on it. Examples we do have of true pilots often differ vastly from the end product and are usually released as special bonus material. Sometimes a show will call an episode the Pilot but there were versions of that pilot that got left on the cutting room floor. Before that there were character sketches, draft scripts, set designs, story breaking sessions etc that no one but the main creators see.

Independent productions, however, like Helluva Boss, like indie games, like web comics often don’t have the resources to go through that process without some transparency, they need to generate interest and capital. So they release concept art, pilots, Alpha versions and other pre-production materials to the public to get people to buy in and help them fund the project. That’s how they get it made.

The problem is some of you can’t seem to see past that rough draft.

Helluva Boss gave audiences the basic idea of the show with the Pilot. After they had secured interest and resources they could actually afford to flesh it out. And guess what? Like all creative cycles, shit changed. Characters changed. Designs changed. Stories changed. Then they released the first episodes, the final product, and those episodes said “Hey, this is what we landed on in terms of direction and this is the story we decided to tell. Here are the setups for what you’ll see going forward. Those set ups are:

“IMP is a business is hell specializing in the assasination of humans at the request of people already in Hell. There are four employees, Millie, Moxxie, Loona and the boss Blitzø. They accomplish this through the use of a grimoire that the title character (the boss) Blitzø is in possession of. He got this book from another character Stolas, they make a consensual sexual deal for use of the book. We have some indications of personality and characterization, financial struggles, but we’ll find out more in subsequent episodes.”

That’s episode 1. The first goddamn episode for the series.

Episode 2 is “Here is what we’ll actually be exploring through the course of this show beyond the broad premise you saw in episode 1: Blitzo’s relationship with Stolas. Stolas’s relationship with his family specifically his daughter and his failing marriage. Blitzo’s relationship with Millie and Moxxie. Blitzo’s relationship with his daughter. Blitzo’s issue with the Fizzarolli bot. Moxxie and Millie’s relationship dynamic.” All these things are setup and that is what the show is about. It’s what the show remains about, it’s what we’ve slowly been revealing and exploring.

So this whole “the show BECAME about Stolitz and Stolas is all sad owl now” is only an argument if all you saw and internalized was the rough draft. Because the actual FIRST. TWO. EPISODES. OF. THE. FINAL. PRODUCT. Very Explicitly layout what the show is going to be about and THATS WHAT ITS ABOUT. Blitzo’s relationships, including and very importantly his relationship with Stolas, Stolas’s relationships, and very importantly his relationship with Blitzø. Moxxie, Millie, Loona, Octavia and Stella are part of that. IMP is part of that but the central core of the show, as setup in the first two episodes are IMP, Blitzø, Stolas and the relationships that spiral off from those core things. And they have not changed, they have been expanded upon and revealed because….its a story, and that’s what happens in stories.

[chaifootsteps]

Pilot-ified argument. Also Blitzo did nothing wrong.

Full episode here.

[hezuart]

Hey in your video you mentioned the leak from a future episode about millie plot and I wondered if you could share the screenshots and things here? Please and thank you if you do

Normally I'd considering sharing leaks amongst the animation community to be morally unacceptable

but this is a genuinely fcked up thing for Viv to allow if this is real , and for that reason I'll share a portion of it here down below

I received this from a friend via Google Drive, that allegedly originated from a (now fired?) ex member of Spindle Horse, who posted this stuff to their portfolio either on accident, or they posted it, forgetting to private the portfolio.

~~~~

But yeah no joke , this ghost's entire thing is to read your deepest insecurities and fears, and he tells Millie she's a bad wife

and Millie goes to kill herself over it

Blitz is the only one who stops her in time

What a nasty joke for a character Millie is. Again, if this is real, then Viv's entire defense over Millie on twitter was completely useless nonsense if it wasn't already. Helluva Boss doesn't pass the bechdel test and Viv's shows are not woman-lead. Its so ironic that this show is written by a woman... like how did we get here. How did this happen?

For her sake, I hope she deletes this episode or changes this scene so Millie has actual legitimate insecurities to consider stepping off for this situation. (Actually I take that back, just delete the episode. This stuff is extremely heavy and triggering, I don't think ALL our characters need to be subjected to this nonsense since we've been through a lot of this already. Moxie has already been told he's a weak burden. Blitz has already been told he's an asshole who is gonna die alone. Several times over, mind you. Its over done. Try something else, Viv pls. This isn't new or interesting information.)

[skunkoon]

I've got Stolitz brainrot right now and it's the only thing keepin' me afloat

[sugar-autumn]

STOLITZ AMV WHILE WE WAIT FOR FULL MOON TO DROP

(it's also on youtube if anyone wants to watch it there)

[janus-cadet]

Third in the row, for this fandom! Here is Stolas, as the Five of Pentacles.

I was not expecting to like that owl so much, but oh, well. Explanation for the choice of card under the cut!

Oh boy, not the funniest card. When the Five of Pentacles turns upright in your hand, you're going through a hard time. You have lost the sens of stability you used to have; it may be a lost home, a financial loss, or a broken family. However, you can already find hope in that the card only holds temporary effects: this shall pass. Apart from that fun start, you, little owl in your cage, feel isolated and alone. You feel as if you have been left in the cold; you feel like no one would bother to come help you in your time of need, like no one really care anyway. That's the trick: you're waiting for someone to come and help you (one person, really, one special imp), but really, you need to be proactive. Communicate with the people you need to to get out of the tough situation you're in. And don't let your fear of rejection stop you from reaching out and expressing your feelings.

Similarly, the Five of Pentacles suggests that you fear you don't have enough, you can't do enough, you are not enough. You're certain that because you can't provide what others (again, one specific other) need, you're going to lose what matters most to you. You have to train yourself not to fear for the worst, and hope for the best instead. Giving that crystal sure is a good first step, my friend, but make sure you communicate while doing so.

Reversed, the card indicates a end to difficult times. Rejoice! That stupid marriage is finally over! You may start to feel as if life is worth living again, which better be what happens in next episode I swear I'm out for blood there give those boys happiness. You might still feel as if something is missing or entirely out of place; on deeper reflection, you may come to realise that you have placed too much emphasis on your material wealth and have neglected your spiritual well-being. That might be how you've been raised- but not everything can be bought, and your worth is not determined solely by your social status. All you have to focus on is the thing that truly matters to you. The person, maybe. If you truly value something, the Reversed Five of Pentacles tells you you have the means to make it happen.

(@simuran I hope you won't mind me tagging you on this, but you did seem excited for it 👀)

And that's it for today! It seems like I'm really on a roll to draw the characters from this universe. Therefore...