#just removed the tags and username because idk how tumblr etiquette works and thought I’d play it safe

[jimjamjomjum]

Hey so I LOVE this interpretation of Wilbur, too, and I am so desperate to talk about Wiley with anyone who will listen so here’s my actual take, which aligns closer to this one (it’s long):

My actual, realistic interpretation of Cross is one of disillusionment. In Black Friday he just oozes the energy of a guy who has lost his faith in humanity. For a lot of reasons, I think that the separation of the “truly good” and “truly bad” in Monsters and Men is based largely on hope. Lex and Hannah are kids in Black Friday, so their hope is untouched by the disappointments of the world. Redeemable characters like Tom Houston fall for the spell because they have lost some of their faith in the world and fell for Wiggly’s promises, but at the end of the day they believe that there is good worth fighting for and it can be won (Tom and Tim being a family again, Becky finding peace through a new family, etc). Linda Monroe has given up all faith in humanity (at least in Hatchetfield), evident by her monologue about “the real Hatchetfield” to Becky. She claims to see the world as it really is, ambivalent at best, evil at worst, ugly all around.

This idea is supported in other musicals, too. Even though Grace is also pretty much the same age as Lex in Black Friday, she, due to her religious upbringing, sees the world as being one full of sinners. Even Ruth, with whom she was friendly, she condemns to hell for being bisexual. This condemnation-over-redemption mindset is what preps her perfectly for her evil turn at the end of the show. When the only person she can trust to not be a sinner is herself, and the Lords in Black give her unimaginable power to right the wrongs of the world, she takes power into her own hands and goes mad. It all comes from her lack of faith in others, a character trait she had from the beginning.

SO, my take on Cross pre-portal is actually that he was a guy who was secretly losing hope. Maybe being in the military for a long time was wearing him down. Maybe he never had hope to begin with. I’m not sure when exactly it happened - pre PEIP, during PEIP, or as he met Wiggly for the first time, but at some point Cross lost faith in humanity (namely in the context of government) and Wiggly promised him power. And like Grace, he took it.

This idea seems most supported by the Made in America spiel, where the concepts of corruption via capitalism and materialism seems entirely personal to Cross and not something Wiggly is entirely concerned about beyond manipulating it to distribute his dolls. Cross clearly held these beliefs pre-Wiley. Basically, Made in America is Wiley’s Dirty Dudes Must Die.

When MacNamara says that Cross went mad when he went in the portal, my actual interpretation is he went mad the same way Grace did, where the writing was on the wall before hand, but it was a betrayal to MacNamara and the rest of PEIP all the same. I don’t actually think that in canon Cross’s personality was forcibly or drastically changed by the Lords in Black via a deal.

I do love the idea posited in these tags that Cross was seeking the Lords in Black to get power, though! I can’t remember when it was that Cross killed Douglas Keane Sr. but I’m sure it’s another piece to this puzzle haha.

THAT ALL BEING SAID I like to make myself sad sometimes and part of that is making REALLY depressing headcanons which led to this drawing haha

Be right back.