#being given an opportunity to talk about sophie walten always makes my day

[butchsophiewalten]

i'm sure you've answered stuff like this before, but do you think sophie is genuinely rude/antagonistic on purpose? i genuinely think she's a contrarian who does her best to push people away but she's also just not well equipped for social situations

Please never apologize for asking me about Sophie Walten characterization, it is one of my favorite things in the entire world to talk about, and I love this question. I like this outlook on her quite a lot, and I do a lot of thinking about this exact sort of thing. Like, how much of her standoffish behavior is her being antagonistic, and how much of it is just her reaction to feeling antagonized?

As you do, I do like to think it's somewhere in the middle, where her behavior is largely because she's been through a lot and people have treated her poorly, but I also definitely think she's got a bit of an itchy trigger, and tends to assume the worst, and does a lot of lashing out at people in ways that aren't often justified. In my mind I also see some of her behavior as bring driven by a lack of social awareness, where she does things that are rude or impolite without knowing, which I think would happen most often with Jenny. But I also definitely don't think it's always out of ignorance. Sometimes she really is just trying to hurt people.

I've always liked the idea that Sophie sometimes really revels in her status as a Social Pariah. I think past the point of grief about her lack of identity and social connection, she likes the idea that people see her as creepy and unapproachable, or as the kind of person who hurts people just because she wants to and can. Maybe not necessarily knowingly, but I think she uses that as a way to protect herself from people who would hurt her, either intentionally, or unintentionally just as a consequence of being part of her life.

Funnily enough I see that idea reflected in the Fun Fact that Martin gave forever ago, about The Muppet Show probably being her favorite television program, but she'd never tell that to anyone. It's fun to me, imagining her seeing it as discordant to her Persona. She's supposed to like Slasher Horror and she butchers animals for a living and gets into fights. Liking The Muppet Show isn't going to make people afraid of her.