#vs like 30 day. i mean. we all kind of know how 30 day SMP goes so no surprises there?

[elytrafemme]

kind of want to write a song fic to “roslyn” by bon iver ft st vincent but i think someone might kill me for that

[call-me-apple]

uh :point_right: :point_left: hi apple!! i'm a little curious about what you might think about the point in wilbur's vod from feb 4th, at about 1:05:50 in which cc!wilbur explains that he wrote his character based around the lyrics of the song 'Eight' by Sleeping At Last, because you've talked about appreciating how cc!wilbur writes c!wilbur and i was wondering what you might be able to do a bit of in-depth analysis on the character vs the lyrics <3<3 i hope you're having a nice day!!

Hmmm. I've been meaning to look into the lyrics closely for a while since the song frames c!Wilbur in a sympathetic light whereas I have trouble seeing him that way.

I love looking into lyrics and how they fit characters so this is gonna be interesting! (and also long, more research went into this than originally expected)

First of all, in the stream Wilbur doesn't say that he wrote the character based on the lyrics of the song, rather that the song is his "inspiration for how he played Alivebur". Not sure how significant the distinction is but I wanted to point it out. I don't think the lyrics fit the story as much as they fit c!Wilbur's personality.

I did some research into the song and learnt this:

This song was inspired by the type eight from a personality system called the Enneagram.

So then I went to look up what this "type eight" is and found this:

And then I learnt that the song author has a 1 hour 40 minutes long podcast discussing Eights and the song and went to check that out and heard this:

Eights are not as tough as they come across. There really is a vulnerability and a tenderness that they're trying to protect, that they don't want to… sort of expose or share or introduce even to people in their most significant relationships.

So type Eights are sort of traditionally known as "the challengers" and I sometimes like to take that language and even sort of mold it into "the contrarians", right? This is the need to be against, these are really intense, driven people who just have a natural initiating drive within them, and so they hate to be slowed down, they hate to be interrupted. They relate to power very differently than most of the other Enneagram types. And they relate to that through provocation. And this is how they build intimacy and this is how they build trust: through fighting, through conflict, through sort of sass and hassling people.

Not gonna lie chief, this sounds a whole lot like c!Wilbur.

"This is the need to be against" — Revivedbur admitted that he created L'Manburg to "stick it to the man".

"these are really intense, driven people who just have a natural initiating drive within them" — first thing c!Wilbur did on the server is try and start a monopoly.

"they hate to be slowed down, they hate to be interrupted" — Wilbur created L'Manburg out of spite because "the Americans" prevented him from starting a drug monopoly.

This leads me to believe that when Wilbur said "Eight" by Sleeping At Last was his "inspiration for how he played Alivebur", he meant that his character has the type Eight personality from the Enneagram system. I don't think the lyrics particularly matter here. Although since the song is written about the type the lyrics will obviously fit as well.

So let's get to said lyrics.

I was little, I was weak and perfectly naive And I grew up too quick

So the first two verses refer to childhood and imply that Wilbur definitely hasn't always been like this: power-hungry, controlling. He too used to be just a kid, but something changed. I don't know if there is some kind of backstory to this but by the time he arrives on the SMP, c!Wilbur is already noticeably not okay in how he treats others. He is also presumably around 30 years old from what we know of cc!Wibur's headcanon of his character's age (though a headcanon for your own character might as well be canon). He isn't "perfectly naive" by the time he's a server member so these lines either don't apply to c!Wilbur at all or just refer to some unrevealed childhood.

I am very much struggling to see c!Wilbur as someone "naive" considering that his xenophobia and manipulative tendencies show up on day 2-3 on the server and that doesn't sound like naivety to me.

Now you won't see all that I have to lose And all I've lost in the fight to protect it

As needless as the fight for L'Manburg was, people still sacrificed a lot for it, Wilbur included. But Wilbur seems pretty unwilling to show others his vulnerabilities and how his loses affect him.

The "it" could be L'Manburg as a concept or even just his own position in power.

I won't let you in, I swore never again

c!Wilbur is trust issues galore especially after Eret's betrayal so this one is pretty obvious. He is even less willing to trust others after the revolution.

I can't afford, no, I refuse to be rejected

This one is interesting, because Wilbur has a lot of insecurities around trust (or more like loyalty). He doesn't trust anyone to stay by his side willingly and relies on manipulation to instill loyalty, and I think that's what this line is about. He is afraid of people leaving him, and so he manipulates people into remaining loyal, "refuses to be rejected" (his mind-games with Tommy, the election rigging).

I want to break these bones 'til they're better I want to break them right and feel alive

Could be referring to his spiral in Pogtopia? Because his character definitely did a 180 at that time, going from protecting L'Manburg to wanting to destroy it. His spiral could've been a result of him attempting to find a new purpose: "breaking" himself to become a new person, "the bad guy", because he realizes he can't uphold his righteous revolutionary persona anymore. President Wilbur died the moment Schlatt was elected, and he's looking for new ways "to feel alive".

My healing needed more than time

Wilbur is someone very caught up in his own head and there wasn't anyone in Pogtopia capable of offering him the support he needed, so he never got the opportunity to heal. He couldn't do it on his own with time.

When I see fragile things, helpless things, broken things I see the familiar I was little, I was weak, I was perfect, too Now I'm a broken mirror

Again, a throwback to some kind of innocent past.

"Little, weak, perfect" could refer to President Wilbur, someone physically incapable yet projecting the image of the perfect ruler who saved his people from tyranny.

Whereas Wilbur gives up his heroic image in Pogtopia and assumes the role of "the bad guy", Tommy still thinks himself to be the one in the right. Wilbur sees a reflection of his past, president self in Tommy during Pogtopia. He "sees the familiar".

I can't afford to let myself be blindsided

Once again, a fear of betrayal.

I'm standing guard, I'm falling apart And all I want is to trust you Show me how to lay my sword down For long enough to let you through

Once again the lyrics express Wilbur's inability to trust and the fact that there is no one around to help him, even though he wants to attempt to trust. The only person he's close to in Pogtopia is Tommy and Tommy can't provide him the neccessary support (which isn't his fault, but it's unfortunate), because they're both caught up in fighting Manburg, albeit with different goals and reasons.

I'm all in, palms out I'm at your mercy now and I'm ready to begin I am strong, I am strong, I am strong enough to let you in

This line implies that Wilbur eventually learns to trust someone, but that doesn't really happen in the story? Unless you count him revealing his true colors to Tommy. But that wasn't "strength" at all. So I am not sure what to make of this one.

Unless all of my earlier talk of the lyrics refering to Pogtopia Wilbur are wrong and the verses referring to his spiral are the very last ones with the song's character finally opening up in some way.

I'ma shake the ground with all my might And I will pull my whole heart up to the surface For the innocent, for the vulnerable And I'll show up on the front lines with a purpose

And I'll give all I have, I'll give my blood, give my sweat An ocean of tears will spill for what is broken I'm shattered porcelain, glued back together again Invincible like I've never been

I think these last two verses refer to Wilbur's finale: him blowing up L'Manburg. After losing his position in power and realizing he can never again play the part of the righteous revolutionary, he "glues himself back together" with a new purpose – destroying his own creation. He is "invincible like he's never been" because he doesn't fear death anymore – seeks it instead.

Not gonna lie a lot more research went into this reply than I expected and I think I want to come back to this topic at some point, watch the rest of the podcast and see if I can connect more of the points made in the podcast to c!Wilbur, but I don't really want to invest any more of my time into this right now.

To conclude, I think that the way in which the song lyrics and the Enneagram type behind it relate to c!Wilbur is that c!Wilbur is someone overly ambitious yet deeply insecure. He tries to cover his insecurities with power and control – they're his sources of comfort.

There's also this in the song's lyrics comments on genius:

8s push people away because they fear getting close to someone only to be hurt by them. They want to be pursued fully and for someone to not give up on them. They want someone who will put in the effort of earning their trust.

Wilbur believes that loyalty is displayed through sacrifice and demands a lot from his followers and friends before he is willing to trust them.

And I think that's it! For now >:)