Doom Aspect - Tumblr Posts
Cinna really caused a mess huh
(Serpentine and Rhodizite are @hostilemuppet ‘s ocs)
so i finally did it: flowey the flower's classpect & asriel dreemurr
obligatory disclaimer that this post will include massive spoilers for undertale and undertale yellow.
let's get the obvious out of the way first - what is flowey's ASPECT? this is something that i feel is pretty obvious, he's a very clear-cut doom player.
he deals with inevitability and predestination, has a very nihilistic and cynical worldview based on his soulless perception of the world and the repetitions he's gone through, and he's associated a lot with some very morbid and edgy imagery. in particular, i think it's his manipulations with fate and inevitability that solidify him as a player of doom (save states and such). it's for this same reason that i believe sans is a doom player, but that's for another essay.
what's his class? well, let's get into how flowey experiences doom.
flowey's existence, from the very moment of his creation, has been defined by doom. an inability to die or cessate his own existence that leads to a plethora of lives full to the brim with death, experiments with predestination and a general morbid curiosity. flowey does things until he's exhausted every single possible outcome of the situation, and then he moves on to the next until he's sucked all novelty and nuance out of it, effortlessly manipulating doom and making it bend to his whim.
a lot of people would be quick to place him as a witch because of this, but personally i think that flowey's absolute will and dominion places him at an even higher tier.
flowey isn't a witch, he is a lord of doom. he holds absolute control over the aspect of doom, exhibiting full control over inevitability and decay in every facet.
let's just look at some of the things flowey does. he subjects clover to countless resets and deaths at his hand for his own amusement, sets up the denizens of the underground like little dolls for him to play with until they break apart, all the while plotting to grasp more control and seize true dominion. he's a textbook lord, endlessly determined and power-hungry as he lets nothing stand in the way of his goal (acquisition of the SOULs). much in the same way, we see caliborn's quest for power leaving similar destruction in its wake and he holds the same determination, hell, they're even associated with the same laugh soundbyte! the similarities are all there, and the stunted mental development definitely shows for both of them given they're a kid who never properly got the chance to grow up.
in fact, it's the link to caliborn that brings me to my next point. what of asriel?
simple. in the same way the caliborn has his calliope, the muse of space, flowey has his asriel, the muse of life. this may sound contradictory to the asriel we see in the finale of undertale, but i propose that this is an asriel still under the throes of the inversion that brings flowey his classpect.
their true classpect has always been the muse of life, it's merely that flowey's soulless state brings about an inversion that is only 'fixed', if you will, after asriel is brought back to normality.
the real asriel is much like a muse. he is tender, emotional, caring, perhaps a little weak-willed or timid at times. he is the narrative's driving force but in a wholly passive manner. throughout the whole game asriel is the inspiration that hangs over the plot (throughout BOTH games in fact, his role in deltarune very much cements his role as a muse) but we never see him until the final hour. much like a muse, he has become his aspect for the sake of the narrative. life, of course, represents growth, affluence, the natural energy of all things, and uses both baking and plant-life as symbolism. consider what asriel and chara used for their plot, and what flowey is now, and those two symbols make a lot more sense.
so, though asriel and flowey have two separate classpects by technicality, they are still the same person and it's a inversion similar to that people say rose underwent during her descent into 'grimdarkness', going from a seer of light to a witch of void.
now, this is a controversial statement to make because a lot of homestuck fans question the validity of the 'inversion' argument, saying that it's never explicitly stated in canon and to that i say that homestuck is quite possibly the poster child for 'death of the author'. i want you to bear in mind this is my personal view on the subject and homestuck's fanbase has never been one to agree on any concrete interpretations of the classpect system.
that's all from me. until next time, tumblr.
CLASSPECTING DUCK GUY: DHMIS and the aspect of Doom
Saving the best 'til last, of course. I'm not at all biased.
I love Duck Guy. I think this crusty old son of a bitch is the best character in the show and I think he's a very interesting one to analyse.
His Aspect is, of course, very simple to pin down. Duck dies all the time. He dies so much they have backups to make sure he can come back. There's an entire episode revolving around him dying. Duck is an obvious Doom player.
His relationship with the Aspect, though, goes far deeper than just 'he dies a lot'. When you expand Doom to cover rules, regulations, acceptance & compliance, you realise just how well he fits into the box. Duck is the only one of the guys never to reach self-awareness. His attempts at rebellion end in his mutilation and destruction. He's the only one with the wool pulled over his eyes, obedient to the system that controls them.
This, of course, makes him sound more like a Hope player, but... Doom has more facets than people give it credit for. Duck is 'fate's chosen sufferer', to use the EZ's description, for sure. Plus, who better to represent the aspect of rules and compliance than the guy very much portrayed as a right-wing bootlicker? ('Memories of him telling me about the military, digital currency, etc'...)
The Class is where things get interesting. Duck is a narrative joke, just in a different way to Yellow. Duck is the chewtoy, the plaything, when somebody needs to get hurt, he's the one there. He's an arrogant jackass to boot, and, here's the kicker - Duck passively influences the other characters to gain awareness. He destroys their suffering and limitations, he's just unaware of it. Episode Five, anyone?
That's why he's the Bard of Doom. Sure, he doesn't exactly fit the pattern of the Bard's journey (ghosting their opposing Aspect 'til a dire crisis pushes them into their own), but he's definitely got the traumatic incident that gives him an influx of his Aspect covered. Episode Five, anybody?
Duck's a tragedy, made to suffer over and over again, existing to demonstrate the limitations of their universe and ultimately showing the dangers of falling into compliance. But in his mere presence, his actions erode the limitations and regulations that bring suffering to those around him, his rebellion and irascibility leading to their liberation.
Plus, a series like DHMIS could sure use somebody to represent the aspect of predestination and acceptance. One could argue Duck destroys that too - his death is the straw that breaks the camel's back and leads the other two on to fight against the cycle.
Tomorrow, I might be giving another little insight into two of the show's most prominent figures...
there's definitely something to be said about the life:doom dichotomy inherent to the drug trade.
life representing the hedonism and overindulgence of the culture and the properties of the drugs themselves, doom representing all of the suffering and atrophy and ruined lives that the trade brings about.
are there any other characters you can feasibly see as heirs of doom? cassandra seems an obvious choice (if not a something of hope) and ive always seen jesse pinkman of all people as one as well.
Nothing comes to mind, but Jesse Pinkman is really good, from what I’ve seen of him and heard of his arc. I love that a lot.
I need to get back on my watchthrough of Breaking Bad. I finished Season 1, but got distracted by FD Signifier existing… Been real caught up in watching through more of his essay catalog, lol. Soon…
Uploading this screenshot bc if I reblog it it won’t show up when you search for the tags, I just rlly want a name for her bc I’ve been leaving her ref sheet open for a couple of days now
If you can’t come up with a name, I’d also like to know the difference between a seer of doom and a mage of doom to properly classpect her ^^
neat
This is The Envelope! Their aspect is doom, and they’re based off of Cluedo because it is a game revolving around the aftermath of someone’s demise. They each have jujus instead of powers, excluding mister Cadabra himself (who is a former DD, the group’s “Snowman” essentially), and they run a small chain of hotels. They spend an great deal more time figuring out who’s abusing their juju and causing dead Cadabras to show up almost daily, making the death of their own Cadabra ever more likely. And if their Cadabra dies, their timeline is doomed.