Aranea Serket is fucking awesome. (pt. 2)

[Part 1]

Figured I might as well split this up into two parts because I know this shit has a character limit somewhere and I'm not risking jack dick. My infodumps are passionate and spur-of-the-moment and my ass is not rewriting this shit again.

Picking up where we left off; we reviewed Aranea's power, what her classpect means, an example of it in canon, etcetera. I could have continued and gone on about how that works for Brain Ghost Dirk as well but, again, not risking the post character limit. I'd say it's about time we move onto a point that's pretty fuckin personal to me and a thought that's stuck with me since reading Candy.

Spoilers ahead for the Candy Epilogues. Content warning for suicide. Proceed at your own discretion.

Something that has always intrigued me about Aranea is the way she wedges her way into canon. And, more specifically, the way it contrasts with Dirk handling the same issue the Beforus trolls face in Act 6.

The main point of Aranea's involvement in the story in Act 6, her motivation to do the shit she does, is canon relevancy. Being a light player (and similarly to Rose in this manner), she is aware that she is in a narrative. Uniquely from Rose, however, she doesn't use this knowledge to subvert the narrative and avoid it, she uses it to force herself into a starring role. She's in a story. And by god, she is going to take as much control of it as she possibly motherfucking can.

She fights. And she fights hard. She's the reason for the GAME OVER timeline. She does this because she knows for a fact the Beforus trolls are doomed for canon irrelevancy, and she refuses to accept that.

Now, you may be asking yourself, "What the fuck does this have to do with the Candy Epilogues?"

The epilogues are, just as Homestuck itself is, a story about narrative. About flipping the idea of a narrative on its head, about following it, and about creating it. It is Ultimate Dirk's goal to create a narrative, to create canon relevance again, and that goal hangs entirely on John's decision to defeat Lord English or leave him be.

In Candy, John leaves him be. This decision means there is no narrative for Dirk to take control of. So he fucking kills himself.

I think this demonstrates a key difference between these two characters that literally nobody else gives a shit about. You could even say it's a Prospit/Derse dichotomy if you really wanted. Faced with a seemingly hopeless situation, Dirk completely gives up. Doesn't even try to convince John otherwise. Goes "Well, that's his decision. I'm out." and decapitates himself like a complete pussyfooter. Aranea, on the other hand, forces her way into relevancy. She refuses to allow her story to end on a note that was crumpled up and tossed into the garbage. She finds a fucking way, even if it makes her the villain. And that is why she's so fucking cool to me.