by marathemara​



Sometimes in Homestuck, you run into something that looks like an abandoned plot thread and have to stop and wonder, “where was this going? What was it gonna do, and what changed Hussie’s mind?” Rose and Dave’s personal quests come to mind, but there’s an even more glaring one: the plot arc about the role of Hope players in defeating Lord English has just been left hanging.

Hope is the Aspect of belief and unlimited possibility. It’s probably associated with Skaia and Prospit; its Derse-associated complement is probably Rage. And we know it’s a special Aspect because it comes with its own game constructs: all three Hope players we’ve met so far (Cronus and Eridan Ampora and Jake English) have been accompanied by terrifying spectral angels.

The special power of Hope players is to cause fake or imaginary things to become real by enhancing people’s belief in them, or by using their own belief. Brain Ghost Dirk is a cool example of this: he is Jake’s memories and understanding of Dirk, projected into reality more and more as Jake’s powers grow.

Eridan’s science wand is a less pleasant but equally cool example. Kanaya made it as a joke to shut Eridan up. It shouldn’t have worked, but it does, and with deadly force, because Eridan believes it does.

Hope players make imaginary things real. They should be among the most powerful players in the Game, and the most powerful forces for Skaia and against Lord English. A weapon that can beat the ultimate undefeatable boss? Sure, if you can imagine it, I’ll make it exist! And if you choose to believe anything Aranea or Cronus say, there’s some evidence that the Hope players of Homestuck are destined, or at least feel destined, to be the one to take down Lord English. Comparisons are made between the Amporas and how Harry Potter was chosen by fate to defeat Voldemort. Cronus even uses this as the obviously bullshit story of how he got his scar. And if Aranea is to be believed*, this Hope destiny, if it’s real, passes itself from player to player–from Cronus to Eridan to Jake.

All of this could have been a real and important part of Homestuck. But none of our Hope players live up to their supposed potential. Ironically enough, they all fail to live up to it in ways that correspond perfectly to their mythical titles. Cronus, the Bard of Hope, squanders it passively by spending his whole session, and then his afterlife, being passive-aggressive about everything, having a mysterious crisis of faith (of belief?) about the value of magic, and trying to hit on people who keep turning him down because they can see through his bullshit. Eridan, the Prince of Hope, destroys his potential deliberately, gunning down the angel consorts on his planet instead of learning from them, and then having a much louder and more public crisis of faith, using what belief he has left to power his science wand and killing two of his teammates in the process (Kanaya got better).

Jake, as the Page of Hope, just hasn’t achieved his potential yet. He still has a chance to do so, but so far he hasn’t gone much of anywhere. Aranea tried to speed up the process in the Old Alpha, but that just attracted the ire of the Condesce and started Game Over.

And in the New Alpha, he might never do it, because Hussie seems to be trying so many other different angles to defeat Lord English. John’s retcon powers? Check. Roxy’s Void powers? Check. Saving the Ring of Life to use on Calliope? Check. Dave getting a cueball sword? Check, though that might not happen anymore in the New Alpha. Any combination of actions by Rose, Terezi, and Vriska that are possible as a result of John’s retcon powers? Check, check, and check. The awesome and maybe fake destiny of Hope players may not even be a thing anymore. Which is a shame, because the point of Hope is to make fake things real. Even if Cronus’ dreams of Harry-Potter-like grandeur are total bullshit, the power of Hope really should allow Jake to make them happen.

Note 2016/2/11: I finally found this in Openbound 2.