CLASSPECT ANALYSIS: the Bard of Life!

Welcome to another classpect analysis post! This one was requested by a person in the Pesterchum Republic Discord server. The Bard is quite an interesting class, and Life is an aspect many people might not fully grasp the symbolism of. Again I'm utilizing @cannolicritter's awesome guide and Dahni's masterpost.

The Class: Bard

The Bard is in an interesting position among classes in Homestuck. As the passive counterpart to the Prince, the Bard invites destruction of or through their aspect. When analyzing a character with this class, it might seem that they act completely opposite to their aspect; and in fact, that's exactly what the Bard does. Gamzee, the Bard of Rage, is the most well-known Bard in Homestuck. Through his inaction and his lack of rage, he began to become dead weight for the rest of the team. He most often invited destruction through rage, such as when Murderstuck came around, or by causing others to get upset at him, causing people to waste their time and not progress through the game. While Gamzee does not embody rage, he invites it, causing the downfall of others in the process. 

Every Bard has a similar sort of "break" like Gamzee had in Murderstuck, where they maniacally fully encompass their aspect.

The Aspect: Life

Life is an aspect rarely talked about. Life can symbolize a variety of things, including plants and animals, food, youth, or even the concept of physical and emotional growth. Jane, the Maid of Life, yearned to grow past her old experiences and life a better life, but she severely lacked it. Feferi, the Witch of Life, wanted similar things to Jane; she wanted to break out of her shell and become somewhat relevant in the story, but never ended up doing so. Feferi was also very in touch with animals, but also killed large lusii to feed Glb'golyb.

The Classpect: The Bard of Life

The Bard of Life would invite destruction of or through Life, and would start out acting opposite to Life. A Bard of Life might be death-obsessed, perhaps be very old, or maybe just have a very short stature. At the beginning of their session they would be very immature, cautious, and non-confrontational, wanting to grow but never having the will to do it. They follow Life as it's been set out for them rather than attempting to grow and spread their wings.

As the Bard of Life continues through their session, they'd begin to cause destruction by their immaturity. They'd constantly bring down their team with cautionary statements and warnings, their pessimism causing the entire team's morale to lower. As the stress of the game weighs on them, they would finally snap and have an intense drive to grow and change. They would get rid of their old personal rules and would seek a life they never got to live. However, this brash turnaround would disrupt the team; while the Bard of Life seeks change, growth, and luxury, the rest of the team is busy doing what they've already been doing, causing the Bard of Life to quickly grow resentful.

They would eventually go back to their more pessimistic, depressed state, though with a new perspective: despite the finality of life, one can still learn to live it the best they can. They must not give into the whims of Life, like luxuries or gluttony, and have to learn to live with lacking Life.

When making a fan-character that's a Bard of Life, their powers could be to cause death through external means, i.e. they could orchestrate the perfect circumstances for someone to meet their timely demise. They could also remove the luxuries of other people or even cause them to starve. Ironically, a Bard of Life might be very in-tune with animals, but would much rather be around dead ones; perhaps they have a photo collection of roadkill or have some animal trophies on their wall. The Bard of Life would likely be short, perhaps underweight as well. They might be missing a limb or an organ or some other part of their body, signifying a more literal lack of Life—however, something more interesting would be them causing themselves to lose said part of them, to be more in line with the Bard class.

My thoughts?

I loved doing this analysis!! The Bard of Life is a class I've heard absolutely nobody talk about; one of the least-analyzed classes and least-analyzed aspects. It was quite challenging to connect the dots, especially with only one example of a Bard in canon (we don't talk about the dancestors...), but that was sorta what made it so fun! I like this class a lot and I think some amazing characters could come out of this class.