#homeland theories

[linguisticalities]

[blindmagdalena]

rapid fire predictions for the finale of the boys s4: SPOILERS AHEAD.

sage left behind her cute little maeve notebook full of manipulative misinformation that homelander or firecracker or both will conveniently misuse exactly as sage intends them to

sage shows up at the boys headquarters to say 'hey losers, ready for the next stage of my plan?' and reveals to them that she's been the guiding hand for them this whole time, and she was just manipulating homelander. she got fired on purpose as to not be caught up in the downfall of him/the seven/vought. she doesn't want him in power any more than they do. why else would she help them so much? we're left uncertain if this is true or if she just intends to get back in homelander's good graces.

soldier boy and maeve both made merch appearances in e7. one or BOTH of them appear in the eleventh hour of the finale???

billy becomes a meat puppet for joe kessler, setting him up as a secondary BBEG for season 5. we get DOUBLE BUTCHER as he is now the hallucination screaming at joe. ryan will be the key to restoring butcher to his senses? this one is maybe more abstract and unlikely.

this thought i'm WAYYY less jazzed about but feel is possible: homelander, hurt by ryan excluding him from his televised family spiel and possibly driven into a spiral by ryan expressing a desire to leave him, reveals to ryan the truth of how he was conceived, and how there's no way becca actually loved him because of it. he will also throw her death in ryan's face, and how butcher also can't love him because he killed his wife. he will insist that he is the ONLY one capable of loving ryan. he will say literally anything to try and isolate ryan because he is that desperate not to lose him.

[hoelandah]

I wish I could study the whole "no sympathy for Homelander" phenomenon among viewers because...

Either people think you have more control over your life's path then we think at a very malleable age and enduring extreme trauma or people really don't be watching the show.

Like I get Kripke's deal: he's a shitlib riding the popularity of "orange man bad." Amazon is likely also in on that marketing. It's bad branding meeting mediocre writing at the end of the day.

But the audience... it's there in the text that this dude had no chance to be anything except what he is. You, as the viewer, know for a fact that he was ruined before he ever reached his teens but yet everyone's holding him responsible for his actions as if he lived a perfectly normal life then decided to turn evil at 40. I know what the show is implying but do you not remember the actual canon??? The text???? The literal described series of events?????

And then the other people are Nazis.

I do not understand how people were surprised by the US's election results.

[nervoussystemss]

Thinking about how Homelander refers to Supes as their Supe names and not their non Supe names but regular humans as their names (with the exception of Ryan, who doesn’t have a Supe name yet, and the exception of Supes who use their regular names as their Supe names). On one hand, what else could he call regular, non-Supes? On the other—

"William."

"Becca, we had a deal."

"Women, right, Hughie?"

"Stan."

On the other—

"Come on, Starlight!"

"Deep."

"A-Train."

"Soldier Boy."

—why call Supes anything other than their Supe names? Their Supe name is them. To him, the persona they've crafted around their Supe name is who they are now, how they present themselves, because they are no longer regular humans—they're Supes who work for the Seven, and even those that don't, he still refers to them as their Supe name, because they're what they made of themselves by simply being what they are.

Maybe he didn't have that.

He was John and seemed human and weak to those around him and then he was Homelander. When did the switch happen? At what age did he think that having a Supe name and persona around that name meant that you were different and better and that you needed to be your Supe name, and not just that, but live up to it? Before the torture or after? Before Stillwell or after he got on that stage in front of a million people?

Maybe the lines became too blurred for him to notice or care anymore when the distinction between John and Homelander became too great and a piece of him broke in two—John, who was sensitive and wanted to be loved, and Homelander, the Supe who didn't bat an eye when lasering someone's head off and didn't need or want to need any love from anybody, who thought and knew he was better than any other Supe or human. That is what and who got him through the Bad Room. That persona.

So Supes aren't the people who they were before to him—they can't be. They are a Supe and that is their sole identity. Who cares about their human name? It ties in to weakness. After all, who cared about him when he was John and they were hurting him?

Everyone cares about him now that he's Homelander and the strongest Supe on Earth. Everyone loves him.

He'll never be that same weak and hurt John again.

[averytiredchild]

This might be a bit optimistic of me, but I have a theory that Sage (the smartest person on earth) is secretly not on Homelander's side.

First; when they were choosing which HL supporters so kill in order to frame the Starlighters, they "just happened" to choose the guy in a relationship with MM's ex-wife, possibly in order for The Boys to see him there and know what really happened at the rally

Second; I really don't think she'd fall for the evidence Ashley planted in, what, a couple of hours? On Cameron Coleman. He has literally no motive to betray Vaught

Third; Webweaver has had deals with Butcher before. If she knew about them, it means she knew The Boys would infiltrate the party under his guise to plant bugs, which would mean at some point they'd have to go through Tek Knight's library to get to his sex dungeon in order to not blow their cover, which is why she made sure to be there. Then, she knew just what strings to pull to get MM to shoot her specifically in the head (those threads also prove she knows about his family, aka Monique's partner from my first point). This made sure she had an excuse not to help HL with the rich assholes at the party, whom he couldn't have handled without Neuman there. There're two possibilities for this one; either she actually didn't know Neuman would be there, and it didn't go according to her plan, or she knew The Boys would plant bugs, which would give them incriminating evidence for a cupe against her. Regardless, this blunder did buy enough time for them to get the information out of Tek Knight

Perhaps I am completely insane

[toxycodone]

oh what i’d give to peg homelander

I think maybe if he got his prostate pounded flat he’d stop being such a bitch.

[dirtypopchik]

So, i've seen people point out that Antony Starr would be perfect Albert Wesker, but i don't remember anyone have talked about how similar Homelander and Wesker are.

Calls himself God

Potential love interest was with him for her own purposes

Works for a "pharmaceutical" mega-corporation

Was "made" in laboratory in order to create the perfect human

Convinced that most part of humanity is garbage that must be destroyed

Is a psychopath

Has red demonic eyes

Old scientist regrets of his creation

Has an illegitimate son

Just look at them... i mean....

I swear im not crazy (also im really sorry if i made a mistake in the lore)

[nonokoko13]

SPOILERS MANGA CHAPTER 3: OCTAVINELLE

OMG THIS YUU IS SO SO CUTE!!!!!!

LOOK AT HIM/THEM. ADORABLE. I WANNA HUG HIM/THEM 💖💖💖

Edit: Apparently his name is Yuuta, 16 yo. Maybe his surname is Mito, from what I heard in Reddit. I also read there that his family owns a Chinese restaurant, until you have better sources or find where it says that yourselves don't take it as official.

[plasticfangtastic]

okay so i did say I was gonna be annoying here's my first little analysis of the trailer for the boys. this shit is messy but its 8 am over here and i just need to ramble... spoiler talk here...

i'm a little concerned about Ryan being so down to kill people this early on in his life, like he's straight up just killing or trying to kill a man in front of a small crowd that got a bunch of phones out, he's also with who i assume its Zoe Neuman and at first I thought it was butcher who was getting thrown againts a building bcuz the guys's colour scheme matched but frankly i don't know.

lowkey feel like the whole arc between Starlight and Homelander will be about him trying to prove to Starlight that she's in the wrong side of history, he just looks so fucking smug when the riot takes place and both his and starlight stans are beating each other up-- frankly both scenes do not seem to be in the same spot... but there's just something in his face that screams "I told you so" to me. its also really interesting how nobody sees him in the middle of the carnage like nobody its stopping their shit when he shows up compare to Gen V where the whole school froze.

likely to be a parody of the captain america musical scene from the Hawkeye's tv show if i had to take a guess but as some xmas production (as u can see the baby jesus scene in the back)

I already seen ppl throw cloning theories over these hairs that I bet are Madelyn's but its just his murder shrine which do include Black Noir so I guess Homelander cheated on Maeve with Noir, I would not be surprise if he has a whole wall of ex-gfs and we might see some Becca's stuff but my question is why its A-train in his house, is he stealing something/breaking in to spy or was he invited by Homelander? and where in the apartment is this? like is down mystery hall over here:

I wasn't sure who this guy its but I'm gonna say Webweaver as he looks like nobody I recognize and his hair its too logn to be Frenchie or Joe and he's according to Vought HQ meant to die by Homelander's hand (maybe he's fucking Anika and Homelander no longer accepts race traitors in his ranks)

I imagine Splinter over here its connected to Firecracker as he seems to be in the conspiracy theory convention and Firecracker its supposed to be yassified Alex Jones plus the con its called truthcon and her show its called truthbomb...

and here's the most spoilery thing and what tells me the Vought HQ spoilers are real... Kimiko will lose her arm to Zoey according to the spoilers and here's she is fighting kimiko and her powers seem to match the description.

I imagien that they finally decide to take a hit at Neuman and try to kidnap Zoe/Zoey and this is the end result...

[allegg]

I’m not sure on any fans theory of what will happen to homelander at the end of the show so I’m just putting my personal prediction out there.

I think it’s best that he lives at the end but loses all his powers. Sure I’m not against that he just dies but i love the idea of him being unable to escape the idea that he, no matter what powers he has, no matter how much he scares/controls others, no matter how much he thinks of himself as a god, he is just human and he can’t escape that.

The fact that solider boy is still very much alive and can get rid of a supes powers is probably my biggest reason to why I think this is true. Sure homelander could just take v but maybe the boys figure out a way to make it permanent (like improving soldier boys powers or destroying all compound v).

The best part is homelander could very much use this to his advantage to win over the public completely by being “oh woe is me my powers have been stripped completely and now I’m unable to protect any of you” but he won’t. He has been shown time and time again especially throughout s4 that he isn’t actually that smart or emotionally mature enough so he would probably blow any chances of winning over the public by showing his most true rotten self because he lost what he thought made him better than them.

[psychic-refugee]

Theories on Marie’s powers

Marie can sense Compound V in the blood. We know that most Supes were dosed as children, so Compound V must replicate itself and is attached to the blood if she can still sense it in the blood of adult Supes.

We know that when Supes take Compound V recreationally, they get a high and their powers are enhanced for a short while.

How she survived Homelander: Marie can subconsciously produce more Compound V/concentrate it more in her blood when she’s under threat, therefore making her powers more potent.

Most Supes seem to have some level of invulnerability and heightened strength. Some Supes are specifically strong as their main power, such as Sam, Queen Maeve, Soldier Boy, and Homelander. Others it seems to be more of a fortification, such as Andre who was able to put up a fight with Sam but it’s not his main power.

Homelander is so strong because he got a higher dose than normal of Compound V in utero, and basically was made that way. Stormlander and Soldier Boy were part of the OG experiments and I believe it’s implied with a more pure or concentrated form of Compound V, and they happened to survive. It’s made them super strong and have longevity.

I believe Marie has a baseline of invulnerability and super strength that most Supes have. Because she can basically dose herself with more Compound V, she can give herself temp bursts of enhancement.

Because Compound V is attached to the blood, could she also reverse its bonds? Could she naturally filter it out from the blood? Soldier Boy can burn it out with his nuke powers, could Marie detach it from the blood?

Could she eventually be the one to be able to depower Supes?

I feel like Marie could have a Scarlet Witch, House of M moment where she says “No more Supes” and extends her powers worldwide to detach Compound V in all Supes’ blood and wipe out powers that way.

I need Gen V to have like three more seasons, a cross over event with The Boys, and at least one movie.

[tarnishedbloodhound]

Flowers of Liurnia, Far From Home

Or, the Tarnished goes on a photography trip throughout the Lands Between, and all for one specific flower of royal Carian blue.

This small blue flower grows plentifully in groups, on dry land or in shallow water. Whilst found extensively in Liurnia, there are small patches of found growing in other regions as well. I've noticed that they are found near exclusively in or near places associated with sorcery, with a couple exceptions.

These flowers are scarcely found in the Shadows Lands, except for two places, the Cerulean coast, where they glow with almost magical effect, and the Manus Metyr cathedral.

This got a little long so more under the cut:

All throughout the Liurnia region, the player will ride and fight through countless patches of the blue flowers in question. Both within and without the Carian Manor and the Three Sisters grounds:

in the gardens of the Academy of Raya Lucaria:

outside the Carian Study Hall, glowing vibrantly as those in the Cerulean Coast in the Shadow Lands do:

the Church of Vows, but curiously only specifically inside the church, not outside. The blue and gold flowers together likely signify the bond once made here by the Houses of the Moon and Erdtree, by Rennala and Radagon:

Outwith Liurnia, these flowers can be found in Limgrave with their red counterparts, on the road south leading to the Weeping Peninsula:

In Caelid, there is no surprise they are found growing in the Sellia town of magic, suggesting a hardiness to these flowers to be able to resist the rot:

but also in the Caelid region they can be found surrounding Lenne's Rise:

I have found the flowers in two spots so far in the Altus Plateau Leyndell region, in a shallow pool of water between the windmill pastures, close to where a lone battlemage stands watch on the rocks above;

and in the outer moat, where you fight the Dung Eater and where the death-touched (coughGodwyncough) shell crabs live:

I've yet to find in the flowers are in the Mt. Gelmir region, but it is a volcano so I doubt there would be many flowers growing there. Still, I'll check in the future.

Even in the Consecrated Snowfields there are flowers to find. Whether they are actually blue flowers just covered with frost, or white flowers with a slight blue tinge, it is difficult to discern, but evenso. I'll let you be the judge of them:

Now, about those flowers in the Shadow Lands. My search is ongoing, but obviously they are found in vast glowing quantities in the Cerulean Coast, giving the region its name. They grow in such quantities that they are likely native to the area, and merely only happen to share the appearance of their Liurnian counterparts.

The non-glowing flowers can also be found in the Cathedral of Manus Metyr. In the tortoise ponds at the back:

And very specifically, growing around the grave of Yuri, son of Ymir:

So what's the point of this long flowery post? We know Ymir was once a mentor of Princess Rellana of the Carian royal family. Likely he came to the Shadow Lands as part of her entourage, either as a Carian himself or an independant researcher, we don't know when exactly he left his allegiance to the moon.

As Rellana's mentor, he would have had access to the Carian Manor, home of the royal family, and the Study Hall as well. As a learned sorcerer, he would have spent much time at the academy too. He would have likely spent much time in any one or all of these places, and travelling between the three. As an observant man he would of course have taken note of the plentiful, beautiful, blue flowers.

I like to believe that before he was sent or decided to go to the Shadow Lands, he took some of the flowers of Liurnia with him as a keepsake, and after all in the Shadow Lands were abandoned and forbidden by Marika from ever returning to the Lands Between, they were one of the few pieces of his homeland he managed to take with him. (I highly doubt those who left for holy war in the Shadow Lands knew that Marika would abandon them there. Would they honestly go if they knew?)

The flowers in the cemetery are well cared for. They and the grass around them are lively and with colour, the foliage around them the same drab lifeless colour as plantlife in lands touched by the war.

We don't know for certain if Yuri was always just a fingercreeper or once a human boy who passed away before the events of the DLC. Nevertheless Ymir loved him enough to surround him to with the flowers of Liurnia, of magic and sorcerers, of their homeland. A small patch of beauty amongst the bleakness of the land.

[blindmagdalena]

do you think there was any significance as to why Homelander brought a cake to the lab? it was just random to me. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to be funny or if it was a silly attempt to break the ice in a way.

i do think it was largely an ice breaker. it's also kind of just... what you do. it reminded me a lot of the early seasons of Dexter where he endeared himself to his office by becoming known as the donut guy. he just always brought in a box of donuts, and that was enough for people to like him.

Homelander was visibly terrified walking into that lab. i said before that i don't believe he knew exactly what he was going to do. the cake was a way to disarm people when he himself felt disarmed and uncertain.

and it worked! people were immediately smiling and distracted while he stood off to the side. it took the attention off of him and let him process. when we cut back to him staring at the incinerator while everyone else is eating cake, that's when we see his body language and expressions change.

that's when he decides what he's going to do.

[wisefoxluminary]

Vigor: an essay on Toxic Masculinity in The Boys - character analysis of Soldier Boy and Homelander

So The Boys account posted the full magazine cover of Soldier Boy that Kimiko was reading in the recent episode and a interesting detail caught my eye. Years after his supposed death, Soldier Boy is a poster child of a men's health magazine titled Vigor, a word commonly associated with physical strength and good health. Soldier Boy is a symbol of a true patriotic America and how all men should act. They don't make men like that anymore because Soldier Boy's influence is still strong. This cover is very striking to me as it supports the idea that all men need to be strong and conform to the societal norm. Encouraging men to break up with their girlfriends or to not enjoy interests that aren't associated with manhood etc. There really is an underlying issue of toxic masculinity as Soldier Boy is a literal representation of it. Men are supposed to be strong and that by showing emotion, it is considered weakness. To fit into society, men need to adopt machismo traits in order to preserve their image. Soldier Boy represents how a man should act and behave, we see in season 3 about his outdated views on how men should dress and act, especially his belittling of Hughie.

Men who align themselves with toxic masculinity normally have toxic role models. People in the public eye who have a bad influence on young boys, they further encourage/bring out their toxic traits and mold them into the worst version of themselves per Soldier Boy's warped idolization of Bill Crosby whom he considers to be America's dad when he is far from it. Bullying and deliberately harmed others because they feel they are a threat to their masculine pride just like Soldier Boy's abusive treatment of Black Noir and Soldier Boy considering Homelander, his own son, a disappointment because he doesn't know how to be a father and he sees himself reflecting in Homelander's eyes, the man his father thought had cheated to get compound V in his system, passing on that cycle of abuse and toxic masculinity to Homelander who is slowly breaking under his own pressure and passing that down onto Ryan. We had the scene prior to this of Butcher and Soldier Boy talking about their own abusive fathers and this is key to his character. By becoming his father, Soldier Boy can reject his own flesh and blood and thus driving everyone else to turn against him. This is conflict uprooted in toxic masculinity.

Homelander idolised Soldier Boy way before he learned that he was his father and his desire to reunite stemming from his need to be loved and thus being rejected by him really shakes up Homelander's world. He goes through a mid-life crisis, has fears about becoming old and dives deeper into psychosis by using his power to make other men do things that bring harm to their strong masculine image (hence the blow a-train and the whole scene with Marty.) Homelander may have went back to the lab to come to terms with his past because he felt like he was hurting Ryan, but this was something he had to do for himself to grapple with the effects his father's rejection left on him, how his departure led HL to spend his life in captivity and torture, bringing out his depraved almost childlike ego. A mask he has to wear to hide his fragile masculinity which came out in full force after Soldier Boy called him a fucking disappointment to his face and that continues to slip away the more people challenge him/the more unstable he becomes.

He wants to make himself better and by bringing this harm to others, it's making him fall down the path of becoming a monster, someone worse than even his own father. He considers humans to be below him because they are toys for his own amusement that he can burn down at any second. Someone that he can swoop in and save the day for but could easily control like puppets until they destroy themselves. A common attribute associated with toxic masculinity as males with this type of scorned ego seek to use their bad influence on people to make them feel smaller and to cause them to embrace this toxicity and fall down a dark path of violence and hatred hence falling into place like dominos. Sage encouraged him to adopt this mentality in order to crush the masses with his influence. He is influenced Ryan to embrace this dark behaviours, the same way Soldier Boy used it to put the fear of god into his teammates. Soldier Boy rejected Homelander and by doing that Homelander is falling down this rabbit hole of toxic and fragile masculinity. I'm not saying Homelander wasn't as much of a psychopath before this but it is further encouraging him to adopt this damaging traits and it has sent him too far gone into unhinged territory. Without the love of his father, Homelander has allowed that rejection to take power over him and to shape him into the unforgiving monster he is today. Homelander wouldn't be the way he was in season 4 without Soldier Boy. His influence is greatly felt this season and this is why Homelander has grown into a such snivelling monster hellbent on destroying all of mankind.

With this being said, Soldier Boy also deals with his own kind of fragile masculinity as seen in season 3 when others like Hughie challenge him as a way of emasculating his own overly assertive ego and how he thinks he is better than everyone else. He isn't exactly the red blooded American hero everyone thinks he is and there is something deeper underneath the surface. Soldier Boy serves orders blindly and unquestionably like a unforgiving soldier and is pompously up his own ass. He resorts to violence whenever someone challenges him because he thinks that by smacking the shit out of them, they'll do nothing to harm his ego. They won't expose him for the man he truly is. Soldier Boy really struggles to break out of this mold. He is compensating for his masculinity because he thinks that's how a man is supposed to be strong/fit in to the societal norm when he is far from it. The magazine directly challenges this, taking hits at Soldier Boy's fragile ego by saying is "metrosexuality threatening your manhood"

This takes us into a further deep dive into Soldier Boy's head and how people many years later perceive him. Metrosexuality is relating and denoting men from urban areas who pay too much attention to their personal appearance and cultivating a upscale lifestyle. Men who are obsessed with fashion and how they look, interests that are traditionally associated with women and gay men. It is basically like a heterosexual adopting trends that are stereotypical with homosexuals. Metrosexuals could be openly gay, straight or bisexual.

Soldier Boy is the definition of this term. He is seen in the past quite frequently with the way he performed on Solid Gold, the movie career he cultivated and his sexual activity such as his role in founding herogasm. Caring only about his appearance in public rather than anyone’s perceptions of him, getting lost to drugs and sex as all depraved heroes do. He was high on the eagle's nest. Soldier Boy could very well have experimented with bisexual tendencies at this time but chose to adopt toxic masculinity traits because homosexuality was considered as a crime and far too outside norm at this time and a damaging weakness to a man's ego so Soldier Boy had to keep up this macho facade as a way of not bringing shame to his country. Soldier Boy is the type of guy who is inquired about a fling with another man but then denies that it's gay because he is too strong and egocentric to admit that about himself. This is seen in the way he treats Mallory on the battlefield as his fragile ego gets tested. He embraces misogynistic and homophobic views as a way of looking down on people because he feels that he needs to deflect from the person he truly is. A defensive mechanism so to speak to hide who he truly is. That true part of himself he keeps under lock and key with this toxic persona he has cultivated for himself. By suppressing his true desires, Soldier Boy must become a literal monster and use that power to wreck people's lives with it. It's just as The Deep said, violence is power and that influence will cause others in their wallowing toxic masculinity to do unspeakable things.

I think in season five, we will see Homelander waking up his father from his cryogenic chamber and conspire a truce with him. Manipulating Soldier Boy to join his supe army in their global conquest in exchange for restoring his public image and redeeming himself in the eyes of Vought and the public. Soldier Boy is overbearing, controlling, not really in align with his son's ideas. He uses this partnership as a way of getting revenge on the people that trapped him in the box, mainly The Boys and Stan Edgar. With these issues I've talked about father and son facing, this could eventually lead conflict to stur between Homelander and Soldier Boy. Soldier Boy doesn't think Homelander is fit to lead his team as his power and insanity is slipping by the day. All he cares about is getting his father's approval for the heinous things he's done rather than confront the problem at hand. So Soldier Boy uses his toxic influence to turn the rest of The Seven against him, encouraging them to adopt violent tendencies and to no longer fear Homelander. This leads to Soldier Boy and Homelander to fight as this alliance is likely to end bloody for everyone. Homelander feels rejected and angry and it causes him to go completely off the rails, maybe even violently kill someone in public like the end of season 3 when he felt rejected by SB. I think this was subtly teased with the VCU slate back in episode 5 when a movie called Homelander vs. Soldier Boy: Annihilation was shown, hinting that eventually all blows over and they fight. A father driven to pure hatred of his only son who stages an uprising against him all because Homelander's ego is too fragile for him to handle and it will cause his inevitable downfall. A cycle that is too broken for them to fix.

So in conclusion, Soldier Boy is a character stemmed in toxic masculinity and that influence he carries has damaging consequences for his own son Homelander and everyone around him. By rejected Homelander, Soldier Boy gets rid of that fragile part of him he hated and suppressed for so long. Someone starved for attention and craving for love like he used to be.

End of essay

[botslayer]

So I was just playing Lego DC Super villains when a thought occurred to me: There's a non-zero chance that in the universe of The Boys, Lego Batman is instead Lego Black Noir or Lego Tek-Knight or something. Consider the following:

-Seeing as most big time heroes are just under Vought, you gotta imagine Soldier Boy (Voiced by an imitator) was in a few with Homelander. Makes you wonder what those games had as their hypothetical relationship as part of a story. Baring that, Soldier Boy might just be a bonus unlockable seeing as basically the entire country thought he was dead. Albeit, the rest of Payback might have been part of them considering they were Noir's first team.

-Season 2 established they just make things up for villains in the movies and stuff. So the bosses and enemies, things like that, are completely yours to interpret. I doubt they would use actual super terrorists. This is Lego we're talking about... However...

-There's a real chance it might not even be Lego. Mattel owns Mega Bloks/Construx. Hasbro owns Kre-o. Vought might have its own Lego knockoff brand or a brand of silly, smaller toys to base these hypothetical games on.

Just me broadcasting random thoughts into the cyber void.

[shibuya-111]