#dream smp essay

[give-grian-rights]

i forgot about this post but i was based and true .

There are. a lot. of miscommunication, and misinterpretations, of c!Wilbur.

people are literally fucking villainizing Wilbur for what? committing suicide?

"abandoning" the son who never spoke to him about his intention, burnt and destroyed the flag in-front of him, and supported Schlatt, seemingly without hesitation?

Wilbur never stopped caring for his people. he grew afraid of them. He grew fearful that they're traitors. He became paranoid. He was afraid, he was not hateful.

Eret betrayed him.

Schlatt, who was on friendly and good terms with Tommy AND Tubbo, exiled and is responsible for multiple deaths between the three.

Techno killed Tubbo.

Could Wilbur have stopped the execution, and backed up Techno? Possibly. But remember the last time he allowed Tommy to fight? It was the duel against Dream.

Wilbur allowed Tommy to make the decision of what to do, and Tommy lost a life because of it. He wasn't thinking of the life that Tubbo would lose. Techno was in the better position to stop it than either of them were. Tommy and Wilbur both had few items, few supplies.

Wilbur did wrong. He was angry, and he lied to Tommy, and he broke the trust of everyone. But he was SCARED. He wasn't vengeful, or power-hungry. He was full of regret and dread.

After he lost L'manburg, he stopped wanting power. He didn't want to take it back. He saw what power did, what it did to him and Schlatt both. What it had Eret do. What Dream did to keep his power.

Wilbur didn't want a stepping stone for power. He wanted his legacy erased, he could no longer see the good in it.

It was cruel to appoint Tubbo was president. It was cruel to attempt to make Tommy president. But if he didn't, he wouldn't have been able to sneak away. His legacy of death, L'manburg, would live on.

He didn't care what it made the others think of him. He didn't even think much of himself.

His L'manburg was gone; his legacy erased. And along with it, was his life.

[liauditore]

do NOT watch "x-life" whatever you do do NOT watch "x-life"

[chocolatemoneyrascalparty]

We do not talk about pogtopia and the pit and the explosion of l'manberg enough in this fandom!! Philza Minecraft stabbed his son after the most dramatic speech ever??? L'MANBERG GOT EXPLODED BY ITS CREATOR!! Tommy got so furious after the red festival that he straight up fought TECHNOBLADE who had killed his best friend and almost got beaten to death himself?? Wilbur let that happen?? Imagine how Wilbur and Tommy and Techno must feel seeing the sunlight for the first time after spending weeks in a ravine? How cold that ravine must be and how, no matter their attempts on making it homey, it will still be stone and cold and uncomfortable because they are literally in a cave?? How Wilbur must feel after seeing Schlatt and Quackity win the election and instantly changing the name of L'manberg, the country Wilbur fought so hard for? How he felt after getting exiled the minute after? Exiled from his country, that HE founded?? Pogtopia arc is the best arc of the entire dsmp

[appleflavoredkitkats]

sometimes i think about l'manberg as meaning-makers.

they are what made the dsmp transcend minecraft as a statistical, skill-centric game into something where meaning is arbitrary. this works in both an in-narrative and meta angle. on one hand, power in the dsmp before l'manberg was centered on pvp and resources (and ultimately, that also dictated how power is gained and lost for the rest of the dsmp's lifetime). that's the main thing they were fighting against, yeah? that people in l'manberg were not as physically skilled in a more strategic, game-like minecraft sense compared to the dteam and their allies.

l'manberg is literally the introduction of power derived from personal meaning and interests, something more supposedly "arbitrary" than, let's say, being able to pvp like techno or dream. it's the one thing you cannot measure compared to physical power (like dream's insane pvp skills) or resources (dream's ability to build the prison with sam, or dream and the emerald duo being able to blow up nlm). l'manberg literally sets the precedent of the dsmp being controlled by! arbitrary means!

it works in good and bad ways, because i mean like. defying the status quo of power is one thing, but how is a completely other thing. how every l'manbergian viewed l'manberg isn't the same with each other, especially wilbur. besides all the principles he designates to the idea of l'manberg, we can't ignore that he literally brings up geopolitical constructs into the dsmp like discussions of economy (salmon being their main produce) or police (his answer of what they'll do abt pet deaths). but of course meaning-making isn't bad, because, i mean, look at the discs! at the pets everyone owns!

i joke about everyone needing to apologize to the dsmp after the minecraft movie trailer dropped because. the dsmp will forever encapsulate the meaning of minecraft better than that movie ever will. there is always a constant discussion of power - entertaining that this game, this server is winnable. the closemindedness people can have when dictating how minecraft should be played (ie. dream on the pvp side, wilbur on the narrative side) versus minecraft being something entirely up to your decision, something that is a shared space of people with varying opinions and thought processes.

yeah i'm crazy about l'manberg actually, and the precedent it set in the dsmp. what it challenges and what it's caused. what it challenged and reinforced. what a crazy nation

[bleue-flora]

It never ceases to amaze me about how many different dehumanizing labels Dream is cast in. The tyrant, the green boy, the bad guy, the wrong’un, the villain, a psycho, psychopath (which tbh are already rather kinda extreme for his supposed crimes especially at the beginning when they started). But then they go further, calling him a snake thing, pure evil, a monster [clip], a freaking ghoul [clip], even to the point of calling him Lucifer in the finale - The Biblical incarnate of evil [clip].

And what’s really interesting is the inconsistency in which Dream reacts - because on one hand he should stand up for himself, but on the other maybe he should just lean into it and maybe they’ll leave him alone. Maybe the fear and label can be his defense instead of their offense. And that gives him control over it, turns him from the victim to the victor.

In the disc confrontation, Tommy calls him pure evil and asks “how do you sleep at night”, to which he responds “just fine” [clip] {oddly, directly contradicting his comment to Techno about no sleeping btw lol…}. Later, he talks about building the prison with a “little bit of evil” but then counters Tommy’s accusation of calling him evil again with “evil is in the eye of the beholder” and “you’re evil to me” [clip].

In the finale, towards the end, Tommy talks about how he saw Dream as nothing but The villain but that isn’t true, and surprisingly Dream disagrees by saying “I am. I tortured you” [clip] {also contradicting what he says to Sam in Daedalus…}. Which is interesting. In the finale, he also makes statements like ‘we can’t because we’re soo evil’ and “we have done plenty of evil evil things” [clip] (which Punz actually counters with “not for no reason.”) But in instances when they call him a psycho and psychopath he has a different reaction saying “huh, I mean, I wouldn’t say that,” [clip] “I’m not a psycho. Everything I do is deliberate” [clip] and, in the finale, “you guys are psychos. You broke in and tried—and killed me in my own house—the prison.” [clip]

One of the keys here I think is the distinction of having reasons - he’s not evil for kicks, he has a reason and motive and logic behind it. Something, in the finale, he questions whether Tommy has, first because he broke in and killed him unfounded and then towards the end of the stream asking about why he constantly steals and griefs and stuff, “why are you trying to ruin everything all the time.” [clip] - What was your reason? Because that mattered to Dream, someone can do evil things but they have their reasons, it’s when they don’t that they are more so truly evil.

He may have done evil things, he may even be the villain, but in his mind he’s not a psycho or pure evil, or a monster because he has reasons, there is a reason he did the things he did, there is a reason he ended up here. Not that those make his deeds justified and less evil (like Sam and Quackity more so believe) but that just makes him a person, who sure does evil, but also feels, and has reasons, desires, and motivations…etc. Just like everyone else. He doesn’t even see Quackity, who confessed to being sadistic and spent months torturing him, as pure evil or even a psychopath instead saying sarcastically in Daedalus, “like Quackity ‘cause he’s full of feelings… He’s totally not a sociopath…” because that distinction between sociopath and psychopath in Dream’s mind is important. Quackity is a bad person but he isn’t the embodiment of evil, he’s just a person who did evil things.

During the first war, Wilbur calls him a little lizard snake thing, to which Dream responds “I’m powerful” [clip]. Which is strange and kinda sad to me that despite being called an actual animal(s), one more importantly often representing evil like Lucifer the snake, he doesn’t counteract it. Maybe because he’s tired of Wilbur calling him similar dehumanizing terms or tired of arguing with Wilbur in general, since everyone believes him anyways. Regardless, he instead rephrases Wilbur’s words - maybe I am a lizard or a snake but you better not step on me because I am venomous and powerful. Which aligns pretty well with his monologue [transcript] where he talks about “Do snakes just bite?” or is there a reason. Because maybe he can’t change Wilbur and Tommy’s metaphor and maybe he can’t change the label of evil despite his attempts because everyone believes them instead, but maybe he can try and use their own words to defend himself. Maybe then they’ll see him as an actual person. {or not…}

[sootsz]

the cwilbur moment of all time that i think about So Much is after the red festival, after tubbo was kapowed by techno, schlatt started threatening niki and That was the thing that made wilbur "i totally dont care who lives and dies today" soot reveal himself and run through the crowd to protect her and say "if youre going to kill anybody else, kill me", he offered his own life for hers and for everybody there and he was Desperate and techno came with him and blocked arrows with his shield and wilbur refused to leave until niki was running and safe and then he offered himself up Again as a distraction because he will always offer all of himself to others until theres nothing left of him oh i am unwell

[pinkelotjeart]

Seeing this post make the rounds on Twitter, AND DO I GOT THE VIDEO ESSAY FOR YOU. Shameless self promo, I’m not THAT harsh on the fandom, but I think I give a pretty good overview

[bluesky42]

MINECRAFT SMP FANS!!! I am calling on you!

I’m working on a video essay about Minecraft SMP’s and there effects on people and am looking for more insight. I’ve made a google form for this and would be incredibly pleased if people would fill it out.

It would also be super helpful if this could be spread to non-Minecraft communities as well. I would like a bigger sample size then just people who know they like Minecraft.

Here it is! Thank you so much for your help.

EDIT: So it’s not letting me see who wrote what answer, so just know that if you write a written answer that will be shared anonymously.

[voidwizardwholikestheshadows]

please please talk about pogtopia era c!discduo I would love to know what you think about their dynamic and why c!dream had this sudden shift and started being really cruel to c!tommy in exile or maybe you think he didn't shift. I just am collecting as many opinions for this as possible

Sorry for getting to this so late but let’s crack in lol.

Let’s start with this, I Definitely think that c!Dream’s behavior changed when it relates to Exile. Something I feel like a decent amount of people don’t note is that Dream and Tommy used to be pretty close friends. Plus he even left a letter explaining his motivations and such to Tommy during Pogtopia. Even left Tommy his weapon.

“I have trusted you with my most prized weapon which was used to kill you by Schlatt on the day before the election. Only fitting that it be used on him in retaliation.” This is part of Dream’s letter to Tommy. Here is another part where he recognizes that people saw himself as the villain and he wished to stay out of it.

“Last time I tried to take a stand on behalf of the Dream SMP, I was touted as the villain. This time, I can not involve myself. Schlatt is technically a democratically elected president and I can’t overthrow him. If you need my help, I am here but it must be from the shadows. I can’t be caught breaking the peace treaty even if the people I made it with are no longer involved.” This is definitely not the Dream we see after getting the Revive Book and cutting off everyone he cared about. This is not the Dream who has his guard up constantly. He has shown that he truly does want to stay out of it.

Now, the reason is that Dream wanted L'Manberg back was simply because of Schlatt threatening what power he held over the rest of the SMP.

I think Wilbur points this out another interesting piece pretty well. “Dream only gave you that gear, so that you could cause this conflict. You see?! That’s what this is all about! Dream- Dream doesn’t want us to win. Dream just wants both Pogtopia and Manburg to be weak! That’s it!” While I do agree that Dream wanted both Pogtopia and Manburg to be weak, I do believe that he would have preferred L’Manberg. He even states it in his letter that L’Manberg is not weapons or armor but just a group of people.

“Schlatt is ambitious and that’s a bad thing. He’s- He wants power, he wants land, he wants to expand… You guys, having your own little server where you just- You frolicked around in the flowers, that’s fine by me. I don’t care.” Dream clearly does care given that he had an entire war about it but Dream wants that more than he wants Schlatt trying to take more of his land. L’Manberg simply did its own thing and while Dream wasn’t Happy about it, it wasn’t his main concern.

Now we can move on to how he shifted. He threw away a Lot for the Revive Book, that much we all know. However, Dream was griefing builds with Puffy a long time before Tommy even touched George’s house. Plus even George Didn’t want Tommy exiled. Dream pushed and pushed for it. Dream even taunted Tommy within whispers to try and push Tommy into getting more angry.

“<Dream whispers to TommyInnit: :)>

<Dream whispers to TommyInnit: :)>

TOMMY:     Dream..? He’s taunting me. He’s sending me smiley faces. He’s being all…

DREAM:    No, no, I’m- I’m not… Oh, come on now. C’mon, Tommy…

TOMMY:     What’s a nice way to put this…? Um…Uh…. He’s being a huge bitch. And it’s just making me- I’m really-“

He even flat out denies it but he is clearly trying to rile Tommy up to make some more mistakes given that Tubbo was on the right path for a simple negotiation.

Tommy fucking loses it during this time which brings up to the Spirit debacle which then leads to Dream’s famous Spirit Speech. I won’t say that Tommy didn’t do anything wrong because he did. They were so close to a negotiation but Tommy really did just go a bit too far. However, Dream talks about how his only attachments left are Tommy’s Discs.

“DREAM:     I have an attachment to your discs.

TOMMY:     Why would you care- Why would you- Why would you-?! They are my discs! Why would you- Why do you even care about the-

DREAM:     No, nononono. Tommy, Tommy. They are my discs. I’ll get them, I will keep them, I’ll put them in my ender chest and I will keep them for the rest of the server.”

Which leads to Exile, blah blah blah. I’ll go on a rant about Exile later.

I won’t say that Dream isn’t an emotional person. In fact I think he Is a Very emotional character. However, I do think exile was a long thought at plan that was slowly put into action. It’s not just because Tommy was chaotic. All the things that Dream pinned on Tommy was things other people in the server has done. Plus we all know that Tommy is more of a follower than a leader. It’s quite obvious with Wilbur. But I think that once Dream got his hands on the Revive Book, something in him changed. I’m not entirely sure on that something since we don’t know his prospective. I think I’m going to end it here but let me know if you want to hear more or my thoughts on Exile.

[rouge-fauna]

Some people think that your take on c!Tommy having aspd is dehumanizing and/or stigmatizing aspd because you don't like c!Tommy and therefore are biased and this take is based on hating him or seeing him as pure evil or something. How do you comment on that?

[essay on c!Tommy having ASPD]

Well my initial thought, is - say it to my face or don't say it at all ;P... like I feel like I try to create a safe space to have discussions, like if you disagree with me that's fine, let's talk about it. I'd love to understand why. I wanna know your reasons, I wanna see your evidence, and maybe neither of us change our opinions but maybe we gained some insight or at least understand where the other is coming from more by the end.

Besides that... First I would like to say, I never claimed to be unbiased. In fact I've written multiple essays on the topic of bias and how we all have inherent bias in the dsmp and why that might be. I've even talked about how I am biased and the reasons why that might be. As well as how our inherent bias makes it sometimes hard to have good analysis or discussion.

Secondly, while I do dislike c!Tommy in the same way I also dislike c!Quackity and c!Wilbur, I don't think I have ever reduced them to pure evil or dehumanized them or at least I have not intended to do so. They are very complicated characters, who are people and I hope that while I have talked about them not having empathy, I haven't reduced them to just evil. Especially in regards to Tommy, who I have somehow talked a lot about, I feel like I have covered a lot of other facets of him then just noting him as a sociopath or having ASPD (Antisocial Personality Disorder). In addition, for Tommy I have used sociopathy to note how his behavior isn't inherently malicious. I don't think he is trying to just go out and hurt people, but instead I think he does things without the consideration for other people because he lacks empathy. (Besides c!Quackity's confessed sadism) I don't think there are really any characters in the dsmp out to just hurt people on purpose, for the sake of hurting them. I think instead, some characters seem to do things for their own benefit and themselves without any thoughts for other people and any remorse for the hurt they cause. This does not make them any less of a person, but also certainly isn't going to pull any sympathy from me if they themselves don't have any...

Anyways, now about ASPD, I may be far from an expert and certainly don't personally struggle with it. However, I did have conversations about it with three different therapists including my grandfather who worked with people who needed someone bilingual, my sister in law who works a lot with couples and people recovering from substance abuse, and my own well accomplished therapist. Also, in addition to doing my own research looking at reputable sources, my best friend has a younger brother with ASPD. So, I have tried to be knowledgable as I can before talking about it, though it is also a highly complicated diagnosis process that is not agreed upon across the board of psychologists, with many having varying opinions on the matter. Not only with there not being a lot of treatment options, but also a struggle of how to diagnose someone as not having empathy if you are not in their head.

ASPD is very complicated, something I think I have tried to highlight. So much so, that from what I have gathered more recently, it has been confused with other diagnosis such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Something I actually talked about in my essays about why I think c!dream is autistic [post]. Because for a long time when I was younger, I thought I was a sociopath, but as it turns out I do have empathy it just looks a little different than neurotypical's. And I almost wonder, even though it's not my place or area of knowledge to even say so, if these people coming forward talking about how ASPD and sociopathy can be so dehumanized or stigmatized, if they perhaps might actually have a different diagnosis, because the way I understand it they generally shouldn't care about what other people think of them anyways. And since I came across somebody recently bringing up a diagnosis that isn't even a thing recognized by psychologist [post], I am beginning to wonder how warped the Internet is making our perception of mental illness and diagnosis...

Finally, I would like to also just add, that ASPD is a personality disorder, which as far as I understand it, means it is describing patterns of an individual's thinking and specifically behavior. Therefore it doesn't seem unreasonable or stigmatizing to me to take a character, not a real life person, and the actions that happened in canon and classify them as falling into the pattern of sociopathy/psychopathy/ASPD. Not to say the character then represents ASPD or is what it always looks like, but just that it fits them and helps explain why they did what they did...

[ashbeanss]

I’d never heard of precious jewel armor before reading your post talking about c!wilbur songs and now I’m listening to these songs and doing a thousand yard stare into the distance coping with all these emotions, GREAT artist thank you for the inadvertent recommendation!

ofc man! there are a few other dsmp musicians that i always think about: (this will be long check under the cut)

amanda fagan made some of the very first songs for a few characters, most notably her ‘take you down’ for quackity, ‘bittersweet’ for jack manifold, and ‘promises you couldn’t keep’ for niki. i will be very blunt, i do not like how she writes wilbur, and i would not recommend her wilbur songs, but ‘take you down’ is still the best written quackity song out there, and ‘bittersweet’ is incredible. do check out her work.

kanaya is a name most people have heard before but i need you all to listen to a song that is not marionettes or violence because guys. guys my god. yeah ‘i’ll let it burn’ is alright whatever have you heard ‘november 16th’? have you heard ‘us against the world’? please. i love her work. she did a collab with precious jewel amor where she wrote tommy’s song and precious wrote tubbo’s, they’re both great. ‘little hero’ is gorgeous. if i don’t think about ‘no reprise’ it can’t hurt me.

kroh made the ranboo song of all time and i will forever be greatful for that. go listen to ‘typical me’, amazing song, ‘hush’ is cool too. oh yeah kroh also made ‘mr bones’. i guess. but who gives a shit about ‘mr bones’ when ‘typical me’ is so good, you have to believe me. ‘home’ is also really good and way more underrated than ‘typical me’ so you should listen to it as well, more even.

candlebard only made two dream smp songs. and one of them is a dream song. that i haven’t listened to. but i would be fucking wrong if i didn’t tell you about ‘disappear’. oh my god ‘disappear’. i could write essays on this song. i love it so much. it is the c!wilbur song of all time, nothing will ever get him like ‘disappear’. it has everything, seasonal metaphors, an empathetic perspective on wilbur’s fall into destruction, incredible music. that’s all you need to make me happy really. this song has less than 200k views and that’s a crime. go listen to it please.

cjack, like candlebard, only made two dream smp songs, and i have only listened to one of them, but i physically couldn’t not bring up ‘phantom feelings’. it’s so important to me. no ghostbur song is like ‘phantom feelings’ i’m telling you. go listen to it, every other ghostbur song will be ruined for you forever. you will never be able to appreciate ‘blue’ by derivakat again because you will know there is better. and you have heard it.

hatorbee is a musician i’ve literally never seen anybody talk about but i needed to bring them up because they’ve made? so many songs? and to be very frank with you, are they all great? no. like musically some of these songs are not the best, but fuck damnit they should write poetry. also they get these characters more than some songs that sound amazing so. you win some you lose some. ‘one more dance’ was a core part of my dsmp phase and also the only skephalo song i’ve ever heard and the only reason i gave a shit about them. the timing is weird, the vocal performance isn’t perfect and is mixed strangely, but you can feel the passion oozing out of it. they also made the only karlnapity song with precious jewel amor and winks, and it’s kind of incredible? i might cry? also lies in the letters is very good wilbur characterisation. i’m giving it a strong stamp of approval.

bonus: ‘the mad king wilbur’ was deleted in it’s original video form recently but the topic reupload and an animatic still exist. watch one of them, the song is incredible and gorgeous. also not fansongs but cyborg blood’s crimeboys animatics make me very emotional and you should watch them specifically their ‘by your hand’ wilbur animatic.

thanks for reading my essay. have a good day. listen to los campesinos!

[nomsfaultau]

What does being human mean? What would happen to a person if you took their humanity away?

man that’s deep. Hope you're ready for a philosophical info dump! Fault spoilers abound though not really of the plot variety. Tw dehumanization, obviously, plus suicidal ideation mention.

On a very technical level it’s Homo sapians. Like that’s literally just it. (though as a bio major I must add that the concept of ‘species’ is incredibly flawed and so some may consider other hominids humans idk man) As for Fault, Tommy’s DNA is still human. Just because [redacted] happened doesn’t change the fact he is in a human body. His kids would be human. When his body decays into soil, is it still human? Probably not, by the way I instinctively used it to describe the corpse. So then the humanity is stored in the ba- soul. The soul encompasses the summation of that persons consciousness, and so therein lies their personhood. (Now dichotomy between spirit and flesh is false (emotions and memories being created via brain goop) but this ask can only withstand so many digressions. Let’s just say the body influences the soul and move on.)

Which could make the collective Tubbo human, due to having human souls. By that logic you can say The Blade is human, too. Like you could argue that…but does it matter? Does saying they technically are or are not a human change the person before you in a tangible way. I don’t think Fault souls are divided into human/all others dichotomy because I don’t think Wilbur’s soul is different from Tommy’s on a mechanical level. In Philza’s musings, he prizes humans for their creativity, but reflects that they aren’t unique in that ability, only in the scale they’ve managed. So mostly, being human is being yet another type of sapient creature and is largely defined by biology.

There is a divide between a Real and Conceptual soul, but as we see with Phil one can become the other. What I find more useful is the concept of personhood, which encompasses the ideas of someone’s humanity (things like agency, some type of perceived intrinsic value, consciousness, compassion/connections, etc) without strictly tying to a biological yes/no answer. Real souls act pretty solidly as people regardless of humanity, but idk about Conceptuals. I’d prefer to think that Niki is a person, but is Greg? Are random abyssal hands? Weird eldritch plants? It’s messy.

When Tommy lost his Red in the Grey Period, it’s arguably the most traditionally human he ever is in the main body of Fault. At least, the Foundation began considering the possibility of re-classifying him due to lacking anomalous properties. And yet in Tommy’s reflection upon the event he declared:

[“That wasn’t humanity!]…[It was hatred, and terror, and sorrow all writhing beneath a numbness so thick I couldn’t even remember to breathe. I didn’t even want to, sometimes. I may have never been human, but I wasn’t even a person then.”]

In the removal of the support pillar that kept him alive in the hell hole that is the Foundation, Tommy didn’t feel like he had enough value to be a person at the very moment the Foundation had to begin debating if they should consider him one. Which really just proves the disconnect between being human and personhood, and that personhood is defined by the individual’s judgement of value for both themselves and others, and so isn’t a firm metric within the Fault universe. It's somewhat analogous to respect.

Which leads to the second question. Fault deals heavily in themes of dehumanization, even if the person in question isn’t human. But if you want to talk literally and strictly humanity: no, if you believe in the afterlife, which Fault takes no stance on except if you count Tubbo and the voices as a form of afterlife, which I do. Otherwise, yes, using a gun.

When you take away someone’s personhood, it’s a pivotal step in oppression. The moment when it’s permissible, or even right, to harm them. It is easier to abuse something instead of someone, and thus it’s integral to the Foundation that anomalies are not people. And you can destroy parts of someone’s soul and therefore their personhood, be it magically, mechanically, or manipulation. The Foundation does so frequently to anomalies (and humans but the Foundation’s fascism is another essay), in isolation and destroying the bonds between community friends family, in ripping out the memories that people use to compose an internal narrative of themselves and the world, in stripping anomalies of names and calling them numbers and titles and slurs and objects and its, in manipulating their emotions to demonize weaponize control them, in stripping away rights and dignities like privacy, healthcare, freedom, safety. Aside from the amnestics these all are very real ways people are dehumanized. Tommy’s humanity was taken when he was told he’s a monster so often that he believed he could never be anything else, believed he had no agency, believed he didn’t deserve relationships with others, believed his life held no inherent worth. Essentially, it’s trauma. Deep rooted, the kind that destroys how one perceives themselves. Or, how one views a scapegoat population.

There are of course fantastical methods of removing personhood in Fault, usually targeting the soul quadrants.

True Name: this one is nebulous, but encapsulates a person’s agency. What they choose to be, what they long for. It includes self and external perception. Practically, this is propaganda, coercion, persuasion, and labeling (such as monster, hero, weak, what have you). Magically, you can destroy one’s True Name and thus their agency. What was originally a person is left a husk devoid of motivation. They still have things like obligations, emotions, memories left, but don’t want anything, have no will. Kinda stand there and breathe if not under orders. Plus no one can use that person’s names/pronouns anymore, the name ripped out of the world.

Emotion: The most mundane, heavy in the manipulation side. On the magical front this will be getting into Niki territory. The erasure or over ride of emotions that a person really feels that can push them to act in ways they normally wouldn’t depending on their control. But this is also Tommy territory, over riding what a person feels with unfathomable blood lust, driving them to act like a monster. Red is a huge way the Foundation dehumanizes anomalies by forcing them to murder D-Class in the name of research. Against pacifists, it’s a very direct hit to the self-perception. Easier to think you’re a monster when you’ve acted like one. Plus, easier for watching humans to believe it having witnessed horrific acts. And as a bonus treat death row inmates like animals to slaughter for the sake of curiosity.

Bonds: There will be like a whole villain exploring this magically, and has big implications for the vessel/Conceptual power system. Essentially ruin the Power of Friendship and Found Family tm. Practically, it’s textbook manipulation and isolation. Conceptuals cannot break bonds, promises, bargains, obligations, what have you. So for them, that destruction would have horrific implications that probably rip their soul apart physically. For Philza, being bondless means not being a person at all. For Wilbur, growing up cut off from society, it meant becoming human racist. But people also already break their bonds all the time; renege on a contract, break up with a partner, disown kids, skip a day of work, what have you. Sometimes it’s not very harmful, but also losing his bond with Philza immediately made Tommy suicidal, so it really depends on the person and what bond it is. Alternatively, forging a bond. The Blade literally gained sentience through his situation with The Blood God. But Rosalind joining the Hive made her literal less human, so again, depends.

Memory: There’s corrupting memories through introducing eldritch trauma, which can be things like learning forbidden runes that could end the world if uttered, or might explode one’s head, which isn’t much in the way of dehumanization. Proper Void metafictional madness is mostly isolation, existentialism, and nihilism which is already rampant, particularly in the form of conspiracy rabbit holes.

Amnestics are also magic aligned albeit of sci fi flavor, though brain trauma, dementia, amnesia, dissociation etc are real world forms of memory loss. I’m not here to claim people with dementia doing have a soul? Like for the record? But that memory loss can be a massive struggle and make it difficult to function. The amnestics are intentional tools however. Self perception of personhood is reliant upon an internal narrative, which for Philza was ripped out and replace with agony, confusion, fear as his relationships, memories, and synapses were artificially destroyed. (Aha what’s that? The false dichotomy of the spirit and flesh rearing its head again?) His dehumanization was rather literal as losing grasp on his personhood through blows to his memories and relationships directly led to losing grasp on his physical form. In retrospect, Philza considered it the closest to dying he’d ever come in his immortal life. Him lashing out in a rather animistic fashion further justified the Foundation’s dehumanization of other anomalies as yet more fuel for the propaganda machine. (Though he was still fully cognizant for the first amnestics massacre, so no getting off the hook for that one.)

So what would happen to a person if you took their humanity away? Trauma. Which is the answer to a lot of questions about Fault. Trauma, ptsd, suicidal ideation, eldritch madness, or possibly mass murder. Of course you also have characters like The Blade who are dehumanized constantly but are confident enough in their own sense of self that they’re mostly fine, so really depends on the character on how dehumanization affects them.

[same-picture-of-benson-every-day]

Follow if you want the same picture of Benson every day

[snailsnfriends]

I think ccwilbur's comment on utah being an allegory for death was said too casually for me to really believe it. but if we want to play devil's advocate and believe that it's an allegory for death, it's a failed one, because his finale goes directly against that allegory.

for starters, the whole "gotcha!" of the stream was that wilbur wasn't going to kill himself, so if utah is an allegory for death, it defeats the point of the "gotcha!" and removes the absurdity of the finale. secondly, tommy would have never let him leave if he truly and honestly believed that utah was just another way of saying "I'm going to kill myself." it was the entire reason why they even began fighting in the first place; tommy was deathly afraid of wilbur taking his own life again, and even resorted to psychical violence to intimidate him into staying, something that's very out of character for him. wilbur consoled him by promising tommy that he was actually going to utah, and that there was a possibility of him returning. other than the closure tommy received, these are the only reasons why tommy didn't throw an even bigger fit over wilbur leaving. at this point in the story, I don't believe that wilbur was capable of lying to tommy at this point; he wanted to leave everyone on good terms with less guilt than what he was already burdened with. lying to tommy would only add to this guilt. wilbur was being far too vulnerable and honest with tommy for him to lie about this giant thing. utah as an allegory for death fails here because all signs pointed to him not killing himself by the midpoint of the stream. there is no reference to this allegory in the tone, the dialogue, the cinematics, or the title of the stream. literally nothing here shows that utah was an allegory for death. his arc as a whole also cannot be an allegory for death because of how it ends; wilbur may have wanted to kill himself, but decided to take a different path, which was even established before the finale.

all in all, utah as an allegory for death fails if ccwilbur actually intended for it to be that way. there is too much genuineness and themes of hope and rebirth in his finale for the allegory to function. either ccwilbur fucked up with his execution of the finale, or he was just talking out of his ass when he called utah an allegory for death.

[dawnlotus-draws]

Acorn and the Oak

[bleue-flora]

I Saw one person Said on twitter that cdream probably doesn't hate attachments bc the speeches when he said it/implied it were staged and wow they kinda have a point. While tbh i do think there's a bit of true in what cdream Said in those, it does get one to think, what we know of this guy that isn't a lie to make everyone think he's a crazy enough to be locked up? Like cpunz and cdream evil Disney villains moments on the final streams were most probably an act for cclingy so how much of what we know about the guy is a lie just trick us? Cdream can be a manipulator bc he manipulates people into believing the worst of him, using their already hate for him agaist them and it's interesting how it can trick Even us sometimes. We could never know what was on that guy mind the same as the other characthers and make our own assumtions of it and give him motovations that arent his. And when the final came he had the oportunity to Said the others which is his real motovation and not a theory created based on assumtions miscontructed or theories or líes

lol yea that boy is more attached to his attachments than anyone on the server and that’s saying something considering ctommy fought wars just for the discs, the difference is that cdream does not put the value of an item above all else.

But man did you see the way he stands in front of the cat and takes ctommy’s punches to protect it, and how he killed ctommy after already being in prison with him for weeks right after ctommy killed the cat. Did you see the way he snatches spirit from ctommy in the finale or the way he yells about it while being blackmailed, or the way he responds to csam in Daedalus about bringing animals back to life. Did you hear the way he won’t name the dog in prison after ctechno keeps asking him, almost like he’s afraid if he names it it’ll be taken from him just like everything else he’s named. Did you hear the way he screams at csam to get cquackity to stop killing ctechno, the way he tells ctechno he doesn’t want to experience death, and the way he stands in front of ctechno trying to take the hits for him. Did you see the way he not only helps ctechno get totems to dodge death (after he knows he can bring him back with the revive book), not only provides the distraction to help him escape and give him items, but saves his horse Carl. Did you hear the way he tells cpunz they need to separate so he can stay safe from the server coming to kill cdream (right after they save Carl who was used to kill ctechno). Did you hear the way he begs and explains in the dethronement conversation how he’s just trying to protect them, how dethroning cgeorge keeps him safe, how when he crowns him originally he promises to keep cgeorge safe but already begins to worry that he cannot because he can’t be everywhere all the time. Did you see how ctommy gets exiled after he burns down cgeorge’s house. Did you hear the way he comes and asks csapnap for his armor after the jailbreak while he’s already in full netherite, the way he practically begs to have what’s his back for sentimental value.

Cdream is so very attached, even his denial and adamancy of not having attachments proves as much. Of course, he’s going to claim he doesn’t care in front of his biggest enemies right after his dead horse’s leather is threatened to be burned and he’s blackmailed into tearing down the walls while they ruthlessly mock him, after they burned down cgeorge’s house because they know he cares about cgeorge. Of course, he’s going to say he has nothing to lose as everyone rallies to take him down. Of course he’s going to yell how he has no attachments - no weaknesses - nothing they can use against him - nothing they can hurt to hurt him.

He’s so freaking attached it’s why he knows the value of attachments. It’s why he knows the limits of what ctommy will do for his discs, it’s why he gives back their armor after the battles and wars. He values and respects people’s care for their attachments. That’s why he knows the items on the walls will piss them off to the point of imprisoning him, because on the outside it’s the most ridiculous nonsense, he didn’t even steal those items, besides the discs he’s not really been one for blackmail before - and honestly like come on now, the skeppy cage? Showing ctommy all the things he has and what his plan is when he intends to let him live. - He knew attachments would make people blind to how crazy it all was, blinded by their love and fear.

Honestly, one of his funniest lines in the disc confrontation is how people didn’t really have attachments before ctommy and how ctommy creates attachments. Like heh? I’m sorry I don’t remember ctommy being there for bekerson or mars or spirit or cponk’s first lemon tree… people had attachments before ctommy, he didn’t influence that. He didn’t even form L’manberg one of the bigger attachments to begin with. What do you mean ctommy is the instigator of attachments so you can control people — Dream, babe, you make no sense…

I digress, as far as him lying to us and can we even believe anything he says, is it all a trick…etc. I will say that there is a reason the cdream apologists were not surprised by what he says in the finale. It’s because we already knew it was true even before the words left his mouth. Because within his lies there is a thread of truth, the best lies always do. And when he’s not preforming as the big bad villain in front of his enemies, he’s actually very honest with people. And we can determine this by what his actions and logic say versus his words. Where are the contradictions. Where do things not line up quite right or make sense. How does his voice sound. Who is he speaking to, his enemies or his friends. The finale is the most honest we see cdream be to ctommy but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been honest and said his motivation before. In fact, in his conversation with cpunz alone we see him spell it out and I’m fairly certain that’s not the first time either. Needless to say, yes we don’t get to see in his head but even cpunz kinda mislead us leading up to the disc confrontation, and it’s not like other characters are always upfront with their motivations (perhaps they themselves are not even aware of what they are), the reason things get misconstrued and poor assumptions get made aren’t just because we don’t get to see his pov (though that certainly is a big reason), but also because they are based on the actions and words of cdream when he’s around his enemies versus when he isn’t.

Huh… as an aside I’m pretty sure I’ve referenced this in most of the fanfic I’ve written… maybe I should just let Dream and Punz explain ;D (sorry my quotes live rent free in my head so uh enjoy angst I guess lol XD…)

[Misery Loves Another Idiot - Dream]

“It was out of kindness, mercy and attentiveness that he severed his relationships. A form of twisted protection to distance himself. It wasn’t supposed to be this real. He didn’t want them to hate him. He did say he didn’t care, but did people honestly believe him? He should be glad. He should be glad they fell for his lies. But he can’t help but feel betrayed by their incredulity. That no one bothered to consider. To ask questions. To listen. Was he so far gone already that doubt wasn’t viable? He’s a ‘liar’ after all, why was the assumption then that he was telling the truth?”

[Dreamcatcher - Punz]

“He still can’t believe they trusted Quackity and Tommy over Dream’s own words. He remembers so vividly the way Dream pretended it was intentional. Like he wanted them to leave. Like he wanted to keep them safe by not caring. It was easier than facing the rejection. Easier than knowing that his words and actions were meaningless. Easier than confronting the fact that they trusted others and the lies he tried to use to protect them. It was so much easier than facing the fact that even his close friends saw him as nothing but a power hungry tyrant (just like everyone else).That was the moment Dream’s paranoia increased and the line between his villain fascade started to become less obvious. That was the moment Dream learned that he’d have to scream to be heard and lie to be listened to.”

[Hell in a box - Dream]

“Sure, Punz has always been there by his side, through every war, but Dream can’t let go of paranoia and fear. The fear of losing him. Of losing everything. Of losing everyone. The fear weighted by every attachment that gets taken from him. Everything he loves torn from his grasp for others to rub in his face that he lost something yet again. And it hurts. He wishes it didn’t. He wishes he could be the cruel, cold, attachment-less devil they think he is, but he can’t help but get attached. To love a cat or a suit of armor or his ally. To care about the things that allow him to at least feel human. Punz is the only one left. And as much as he wants revenge, he doesn’t want to risk exposing Punz. To risk exposing his key to immortality. To risk having everyone know he does have a weakness. He knows the game, he’s played it before, but unlike Spirit, Punz is alive. And the moment he reveals his attachment, his ally, he’ll be killed mercilessly, just like Hope was.”

[Hell in a box - Punz]

“He still remembers when Dream held attachments, had pets, had a home. When Dream cherished his horse before it was ruthlessly murdered. When Dream spent days upon days making sure his armor and weapons were perfect, before they were stolen again and again. When Dream fought wars and collected items for his friends all the while making them laugh, before they abandoned him. When Dream proudly crafted his secret base, the smooth wood giving it a welcoming warm vibe, before it became a deep hole for a trap.”