by ohthewhomanity

In a conventional story or video game, PM would be nobody important. She’s a nameless NPC, the kind of character the heroes would maybe talk to once and move on, ultimately insignificant to greater events. But this is Homestuck we’re talking about, and it’s anything but conventional, so instead, PM–Parcel Mistress, Peregrine Mendicant, and Prospitian Monarch–gets the story of a hero. She is the nobody called to adventure by circumstance. She is integral to the plot of Homestuck.

She’s also a total badass.

PM is a pawn, the simplest chess piece. Pawns can only move forward, and PM does exactly that. She is single-minded to a fault. She has a tenacity to rival that of Chell from the Portal games. Whether her goal is delivering a package, collecting mailboxes, or pursuing the Sovereign Slayer, she keeps it in sight at all times and does whatever it takes to get the job done–even things she thought she’d never do, like use a sword.

The chess symbolism goes further: when a pawn crosses the chessboard and reaches the other side of enemy territory unharmed, it becomes a queen. PM does just that. When they’re reunited as Exiles, WQ declares PM the new queen, and PM later puts on the queen’s ring to chase Jack Noir and save the Mayor.

Something that makes PM especially endearing to me is her humility and insecurity. She is unambitious, content with the simple pleasures of her job. When WQ makes her queen, PM nearly rejects it outright, and even after she agrees she is frequently “overwhelmed” with the new heavy expectations that have been placed on her. PM has never thought of herself as somebody important.

But she is important, and despite her misgivings, she steps up to the work demanded of her and makes a difference in the universe. If not for PM, Jade would never have gotten John’s package (meaning the kids would never have met and basically anything that had to do with Jade’s pumpkins wouldn’t have happened), John would never have gotten Jade’s package (meaning John’s dreamself would have been killed, the White Queen’s ring would have ended up in Jack’s hands, and the tumor would never be delivered to Rose and Dave), the Mayor would have died in Cascade, and Jack would have caught up to the meteor before it reached the new session. She is the pawn who turned the tide of the war, and I like her.