#sasi janus

[chameleon66]

Virgil: “Listen Logan, what happened was bad. But I know what will make you feel better, come with me.”

Logan: “I’d rather not.” *walks away*

Virgil: “Well fine then, if you won’t come then at least your ear can come.”

Logan: *Stops walking* “What does that even mean?”

Virgil: *Goes up to Logan and grabs him by the ear*

Logan: “Ouch!”

Virgil: “Janus taught me this move.”

Virgil: *Dragging Logan off* *To himself* “It’s so much better being on this side.”

[queenofexhaustion]

Virgil: Time sensitive question how flirt boy

Roman: Throw rocks at he

Janus: Hot Dogs

Remus: Kill him

Virgil: Thanks guys

[thermodynamic-comedian]

god. janus sanders really is a character of all time, just in terms of concept. when you were a little kid, you did something wrong, and you got so scared of getting in trouble that another little guy was born inside you. and he loves you. and he wants you to stay safe. so he tells you to lie now, take care of yourself now, keep yourself safe. but all the other little guys inside you hate him. he's too mean, too selfish. the little guy that was born from your desire to do good and be good hates him the most, because you're a little catholic boy, and lying is bad. and you're a good boy. so everything inside you that isn't good has to be shut away.

he knows he's not wanted. he creates his own place to stay, a hidden corner where he can't hurt you. because all the others say that he'll end up hurting you, and he can see how scared you are of being a liar, so he lets himself be forgotten. hidden away. this is how he shows his love: by hiding himself, and every subsequent unwanted part that grows inside you, from you. if knowing about their existence is too difficult for you, then he'll hide them all. he loves you. you don't even know his name.

he watches you grow, still unaware of his existence. the others make their presence known, felt. you let them take the reigns, most of the time. he sneaks in his own little influence here and there; small, harmless lies, only when necessary, so you won't even notice. and in the meantime, he acts as a herder of sorts for all the other parts of yourself that you've subconsciously cast away. he keeps them in line. he sympathizes with them, yes, he knows what it's like to be unwanted. but letting you see them would hurt you, and he loves you. so he keeps them there, in the shadow, unknown and unseen, just like him.

one of them, one of his little dark, unwanted things, doesn't want to be hated anymore. he wants to make himself known. he wants a seat at the table. and, in an ultimate slap to the face for janus, he gets it. virgil gets everything that janus was denied from the start. acceptance. power. control. his effort is acknowledged, his necessity is embraced. he gets a seat at the table. he doesn't have to hide anymore. and janus can't help but resent him for that. maybe it's a good thing, then, that the hatred is mutual. not even his own cattle, the ones he kept safe, the ones he kept out of thomas' way, can stand his presence. fine. none of it matters. as long as you're safe, it was all worth it. he loves you. you still don't even know his name.

janus was always thomas' protector. even when none of it was ever seen or acknowledged.

i find his mixed motif really interesting too, because before we knew his name, we only knew him as deceit. the snake. the ancient serpent deceiver, the biblical snake of eden. but then we hear his name. janus. ianus bifrons, two-faced janus, god of beginnings, passage, transitions. i think that his name being revealed was very much the start of thomas beginning to see janus for who he actually is, instead of the heavily modified version of him that he's been seeing, courtesy of his catholic upbringing.

[chirp-featherfowl]

There's a snake in the Garden of Eden.

(tumblr DEVASTATED the quality. click for the version that is more than 10 pixels 😭)

[skittlesking]

Kinda old but some Sanders sides designs i did a while ago. very fluffy hair i did give them :]

[crowncoconut]

him: you better not be a cunty embodiment of deceit when i get home

me:

[lit-vocabcards]

Canon: The Dark Sides would fuck a dragon

[mysticwolfentertainment]

Hey, raise your hand if your part of the group that just remembered one day that Sanders Sides exists and now its once again become your whole personality

[bitchnuggettt]

The most interesting thing about Janus and Virgil's vague situationship is that they share similar goals in their functions as sides, and something I like to think about is how their end goal is a shared interest in keeping Thomas safe from both internal and external threats. For so long I've seen the idea passed around in fanon that Virgil represents "fight or flight" but I think there's an even cooler alternative here

I can't picture Virgil running, when adrenaline kicks in HE'S what kicks in, and if that means LITERALLY kicking someone to shit and death then yeah, he's your guy. He literally embodies that one anecdote of a mother gaining the strength to lift a car off her child in her panic.

So, I offer this; Virgil is fight, Janus is flight.

Virgil compels Thomas to deck any bodily threat to him, or pushes him to confront uncomfortable truths.

Janus convinces Thomas to cut his losses when all else fails and physically hightail it away from fights he won't win, forcing him to be non-confrontational and cut social ties that inconvenience him. Avoidance to the max.

In the mean tweets video, Janus iconically gets offended at his bluff being called, because no, he is NOT a fighter, not when he can just sic Virgil or Remus on anything he doesn't care to confront. Even his choice of murder via poison is indirect and hands-off. (Realistically, snake venom would be his literal poison of choice but that's a story for another day)

Together, anxceit makes up the two sides of the 'fight or flight' coin

[astronomical-bagel]

The brainworms… they got me…

[colresskisser]

svs is my beloved bc of how ace attorney coded it is. also janus i love janus

[skylarstar1000]

Wife.

[queenofexhaustion]

*The Sides at Disneyland, in the teacups*

Virgil Logan and Roman: *spinning a little and talking*

Remus Janus and Patton: *flying past them spinning as fast as they can, screaming*

[thermodynamic-comedian]

rewatching svs redux, and i'm still going insane overanalyzing janus telling the others his name. more specifically right afterwards, when roman makes fun of him and he immediately bites back with an incredibly low blow. it's honestly very indicative of what he's like as a character; constantly on guard, ready to show his teeth at every indication of a threat. it also kind of goes into my idea of him and virgil as foils; both cautious, both protective of themselves and what they perceive as their weak spots, but the way they defend themselves is so different. virgil does it by never opening up at all, janus does it by opening up like a trap.

when virgil opens up, he's already off his guard, he won't do it unless he trusts the situation completely. i don't think janus has ever trusted any situation completely. so instead of opening up when he feels it's safe to do so, he opens up when he knows it's unsafe to do so, he's just constantly prepared for the eventual worst outcome. he had that honestly pretty cruel comeback locked and loaded, ready from the start, because he knew roman would take advantage if he showed any vulnerability. that's what i mean when i say that he opens himself up like a trap; his weakness can't be exploited if he's always on guard. ready to fight back, even when there are no weapons in sight.

virgil's emotional walls can be brought down. when he feels affection, safety, comfort, he lets his guard down. janus could feel all of those things, and still be prepared to bite back at a moment's notice. and i think that also fits into their respective roles: anxiety gone too far means expecting cruelty at every turn. self-preservation gone too far means preparing for cruelty at every turn.

and, just like what happened in that scene, janus being constantly on guard means that no matter how vulnerable he gets, no matter how much he opens up, he can always take all of it back if it goes wrong. the trap closes like this: "you can't hurt me; i've prepared for every situation in which you might."

this is a carnivorous animal bearing its fangs at its perceived assailant, a fox raised in the woods doesn't understand the difference between a teasing poke and a fist ready to reel back. it'll bite you anyways. just don't poke the fucking fox. its scared, and its teeth are sharp.

[radar-chaos]

My, my. What’s all this about?

[herdofnerd]

Someone take him away, he’s serving too much cunt and it’s scaring the children.