#llamas with hats: epilogue

[strawberrynightmere]

"This was weirdly comforting and bittersweet."

- Me after watching "Llamas with Hats: Epilogue"

[planetaryaethertalks]

Thoughts on "Llamas With Hats: Epilogue"

Like many people who grew up in the early 2010s, I have always had a special place in my heart for Lamas with Hats and how it transitioned short-form absurdist comedy into a broader story. What, now 15 years, later strikes me about the epilogue is how it reshapes the main message of the series in a way that feels like it has grown and aged with the changing times.

The original ending, sad and unceremonious does fit the series as a whole and looking back on it, it speaks to the sensibilities of the time - it was made around the rise of 'dark humor' as a mainstay in internet content and it illustrates the desire for stories with steaks and consequences. This particularly spoke to many young people who, as they are entering adolescence, grew tired of "happily-ever-afters" and the want for connection to the broader world - a world that they were just coming to understand the dark, complex, and scary nature of.

The new ending, likewise, reflects the new understanding of the world that its original audience now holds. We have experienced and watched death, destruction, and interpersonal conflicts similar to that "Lamas with Hats" touches on (albeit with less eating of hands). Constantly being bombarded with images and videos of tragedies all around the world has withered the appeal of hopeless endings. The new ending does not change any of the death or destruction Carl caused, humanity is still extinct and the world is still mostly reduced to rubble and sand, but there is still hope, not for those who have lost their lives, but for a better future.

Even someone as violent and selfish as Carl has the potential to change. That doesn't make them any less dangerous to be around or that their past actions should be forgotten, but that everyone can change for the better - but only if they choose to of their own free will, that you cannot (regardless of how much you care about the person or how damaging their actions are) make then want to change. Carl's change into a tree both symbolizes a literal rebirth and a metaphorical one, but his new form does not have agency in the world. He cannot move, we do not see him speak, he cannot hurt anyone anymore. For him, only by giving up all that he was could he begin anew.

On a smaller note, with his reincarnation, also brings hope for those he had killed in his previous life, that perhaps they too are somewhere in a new form with a new life. The harm that was done to them and to the world will never be undone, but the future will be better, kinder.

These are the hopes that I, along with many others, hope for the future of the real world. The dead are dead, the trauma inflicted, but the future doesn't need to be as harsh as the past and in this way I think the epilogue does an amazing job of keeping true to the characters and the world of the original while speaking to the new needs and experiences of its audience.

[toad-in-a-trenchcoat]

“As long as I stay away from you.”

[vixymix101]

Ultimately it's a beautiful thing~

Husbands with hats <3

I watched the epilogue episode and it was beautiful I felt the doomed yaoi from the very beginning of the series so glad it's canon

[ghostvibesonly]

“do you think we’re together in every universe?”

[mynameisonionhaha]

find the hidden pen cap

[homeless-candy]

Also known as toxic yoai

[thatismyfullname]

some of my favorite comments under the Llamas with Hats Epilogue gdhdjdjdhd

[rca-ryzies-ralley]

the epilogue was pretty cool lmao (dont expect more llamas with hats art )

[coughwheezecough]

"It's a beautiful day friend!"

"Is it?"

"Somewhere it is!"

"I didn't leave you Carl"

"You left the world"

"Spend the rest of your life in solitude. Free the rest of us, from you."

[a-side-character]

Hey guys. How did the titular (bitchular, thanks Athena P) Llamas with Hats even end up together?

Because, to parrot what others have said, the only way this show makes sense is if they loved each other. We've seen that they, in cannon,

Share a house and bathroom

Go on trips and cruises together, just them

Take walks in the park when it's, quote, "a lovely day out" and they're "having a good time"

And are comically entwined with each other in a way that is so convoluted it's gayer than if they made out on screen the whole video.

So I guess I'm just curious as to how that happened? Because clearly Paul wasn't there by force, he chose to spend his life with Carl. Once he hits his breaking point he's pretty easily able to move out and move on, so it's not like he was physically or financially incapable of leaving him before.

And back to the whole episode 5 walk in the park, what constitutes a good time for them?? Paul was waiting for the other shoe to drop, sure, but he also willingly went out with and to some degree enjoyed his time with Carl, so what does that mean for them?

I talked about in my last post the idea that they had a life together before the first hand-nibbling incident, to the point where Paul was shocked and appalled that Carl could do such a thing. Did Carl hide his true nature then? Did he even know what that nature was, or did he genuinely react in self defense only to find unexpected pleasure in the murder and subsequent retaliation?

Carl definitely loved Paul, but did Paul love Carl?

How could he have?

How could he not have?

[octodrawn]

the results of my research

[madnessatdawn]

DOOMED LLAMA YAOI

[gothic-darling]

The scene where Carl instantly tries to come up with things him and Paul can do together when it’s raining is so underrated but one of my favs in the epilogue.

He goes from trying to show him it’s not that bad so that they can do what they had planned to trying to find other ways to spend time together. It’s one of my fav moments because it’s genuinely just them being friends/partners/wtv (before it gets weird) or at least a look at what their friendship/relationship could’ve been like when they were both still together (if we ignore the fact it’s not actually Paul and that he’s faceless)

I imagine that while they were still alive it would’ve been moments like those that convinced Paul to stay, and the reason he was with Carl in the first place. Sometimes there was no murder, no fear, just two people playing truth or dare on a rainy day

[vixymix101]

The ship name for Paul x Carl is now husbands with hats

[marsithefox]

gamer girl