#the fact that vash's comes before ww is even gone

[roserocksrapidly]

Never ever ever ever ever ever in my life getting over the way these panels in vol 10 parallel each other. Just btw

[greetingfromthedead]

To find you in the endless chaos of this planet, of this universe, was nothing short of a miracle. Two souls intertwined to thoroughly, no force could untangle that bond. Nothing could erase you from his being. In your eyes he sees the poems Rem used to read, in your embrace he feels at home, in your voice he hears a thousand unsung lullabies. You're a million dawns all at once, painting his world in vivid colors. You have been, every day, even in the darkest, most hopeless of days, nestled in his heart.

I've seen a lot of people rant about the different versions of the character of Trigun and what is and isn't canon and how every iteration "ruins" something. And I've seen this slander the most when it comes to Tristamp Vash or just Vash in general. But here's the thing, I think they are all valid versions of him and they are all canon, they are simply different stages of him.

Welcome to my Ted talk on why I think every version of Vash makes perfect sense!

In my head the different versions of him evolve like this:

Pre-canon Vash before starting to lose his marbles

Tristamp Vash

Trigun '98 Vash (+ Badlands Rumble I guess)

Trimax Vash

And I think (hope) we will see this evolution through the later seasons of Trigun Stampede so I put the following into the context of if Tristamp explores the change in Vash.

Let's start with Tristamp Vash:

From the very first scene we see him in, it is clear that this man does not have all his ducks in a row. He has started to lose his mind and my guess is that most of it comes from the fact that he has realized that Kni has set his plans into motion, he has to act or everything he has tried to protect so far will go up in flames. But this takes a huge toll on him and shakes his very ideals, he is simply in denial about it. He puts on a mask and pretends everything is great, but he is shaken and he is angry.

People say that Tristamp Vash isn't angry, but how could you say that if so often when he has his gun pulled at someone truly evil and dangerous, he looks like he will fucking shoot them (EG Mine is probably the easiest example of that). I feel like the idea of "for the greater good" is sneaking into his head, but killing anyone is so opposite to what he believes in that it again tears at him.

He goes on this journey with Wolfwood and he knows that Wolfwood is there to babysit him, yet their ideals rub off on one another. They start very radical, especially WW, they both think they know when to pull the trigger. By the end Wolfwood gets softer in his views and Vash starts to see WW's POV too, enforcing the "sacrifice for the greater good" idea. The motif of WW and Vash changing each other is a core theme in every iteration of Trigun, but I put it here since it makes the most sense.

By the end of Tristamp S1 we have the July incident, it's something we haven't seen first hand in any other iteration of Trigun, it has always already happened so ofc this version of Vash is different, he only now goes through the incredible trauma of that event and he has his brain scrambled by Knives as a bonus.

This brings me to Trigun '98 Vash:

This man barely has any ducks left and they are scattered to the wind. The placement or Eriks is a bit difficult considering where it happens for the other versions, but I believe that when we get to Tristamp S2 we will pick up with Eriks who has lost most of his memories due to Knives meddling in them and also his brain trying to protect him from the trauma of July.

The Vash that comes after Eriks is goofy and childlike, I believe he has gone quite mad, but still forces a mask onto himself, in conflict not only with his fragmented mind, but also his moralities. If S1 Vash says he can't help himself, his body reacts before he can to protect others, then '98 Vash does it knowingly. He takes the full abuse of gunfire knowing full well what he is getting himself into.

I think he finds freedom and relief in letting the craziness out a bit, the way he plays with children and interacts with the bad guys, he embraces the madness, but not enough to show his true self because he doesn't even fully know what that is.

Trimax Vash is quite similar to '98 Vash, but goes through another big development (Warning: some spoilers for Tirimax, duh):

It is very gradual the change from one version to another here, but the biggest difference happens when he regains the knowledge of what happened in July and Kni's return. It will probably be a Creature Vash moment where his Plant powers go berserk again, unlocking even more of his latent abilities he is not aware of and doesn't know how to control. So far he has been very human, since the beginning he has had this idea of himself being useless as a Plant, he has been under the impression that he doesn't have any powers and that he only has human needs (food, water, sleep). But his gunmanship alone won't be enough to stop Kni, he has to embrace his Plant side, he has to learn to control it. And once he starts getting the hang of it, he is able to save even more people than he would have before.

Trimax Vash, especially towards the end is a lot more confident, he has a better understanding of his morality and he has added tools to fulfill it. He still is a pacifist, he actively chooses to be good, he always has, but the motivation and doubt surrounding it has shifted a bit over time

The version of Vash that we have at the very end of Trimax in a way circles back to the Vash before July and Wolfwood, an earlier, slightly more sincere version of Vash without loosing the lessons learned from the past. The mask he has worn for so long falls away and he can feel genuine happiness because he is no longer driven by guilt, he has atoned in his mind.

Pre-canon Vash:

We know very little about Vash's past. Sure, we see a little bit of his childhood on the ship with Rem and Kni, we see glimpses of him with the crew on Home and we saw the incident where he activated his Angel Arm for the first time and lost his left arm due to it. But after that it's a whole lot of nothing. He is a very tragic character since basically day one, from a very young age he has been thought to pretend to be human in front of those who don't know his nature. A mask has been forced onto that 1 year old child. Not to mention the Great Fall and the guilt from that's pushing him forward and remaining his central force for the next 150 years.

I think after he became a drifter he learned to be even more human, he perfected his mask and lived as a human because leaving out the interactions with the Plants who needed his help, he only knew the human ways, his sisters were in a tank, their true nature locked away in a higher dimension anyway, the only other being like him on the whole planet is Kni and he hasn't seen him since he declared that in 100 years he will eradicate humanity, the very thing Vash loved so much.

Drifter Vash is probably the sanest version of him, confined to a routine of constantly moving on. But I also think that's the most naive and innocent version of him. In July WW comments that Vash freezes up as soon as a human is put in front of him and I think that's quite a defining characteristic of him in this period. A very stubborn outlook to life where he feels the need to save everybody and he would sacrifice himself for that rather than pick up arms to even get himself out of a sticky situation. He only shoots to save others, but not himself because he thinks he is expendable.

He lives in denial for the next 100 or so years following losing his arm with the same mindset of feeling like he needs to save everybody he can, even making promises he can't keep (like in the case of Rollo). When the Plant robberies start and probably even before that Vash realizes that Kni's plan has been set into motion and it will probably only make his guilt worse, knowing that he will have to go after Kni and save him too, otherwise his beloved humanity will pay the price for his inaction. And that's the start of his mental downfall leading into Tristamp S1. And perhaps there are other attributing factors...

This concludes my speech on the topic. I love this character and the intricacies of it and while everybody has a right to their own opinion, this is my understanding of it and I do truly hope that Trigun Stampede will continue exploring Vash's character and how trauma changes a person.

Feel free to expand on these ideas! I'm happy to discuss all of this in the notes or in my inbox :)

My fic Tempest Wind takes place before the events of Tristamp and this long, yet brief character analysis might help people understand the character arc of Vash in my story.

Tempest Wind is a 18+ Vash x F!Reader fic with some spice, some gore, a bit of action and a lot of fluff, for added flavor there's a sprinkle of angst too ofc.

Until I have finished the whole story, feel free to indulge in the published DEMO chapters:

Perfect Morning - domestic fluff, intimacy, mild smuttiness, shy Vash

Festivities - delusional bliss on an unfamiliar planet with weird traditions, ice skating and sweet Vash

Burn - basically smuttiness with little actual plot

Keep an eye out for a new demo chapter coming withing the next two weeks. It's gonna be Vash trying to seduce the reader before they get together!