by lackadaisicallexicon

As long as there have been stories, there have been heroes. From demigods like Gilgamesh and Perseus, to the powerful but humble farmers’ sons like Superman, to the modern incarnation of the fumbling but idealistic youngster (as seen in modern superheroes like Spiderman), the concept of a hero is malleable and in constant flux. I believe John Egbert stands at the forefront of modern heroic evolution, and it’s the traits that make him such a good hero that also make him such an attractive character to me personally.



One of John’s most admirable traits is his ability to lead a group without taking it over. Homestuck is all about teamwork. Effective leadership and cooperation are absolutely vital to the completion of a successful session, as demonstrated by how both alpha sessions have crashed and burned, due mostly to the personal conflicts between the players and through the controlling machinations of their leaders. John’s leadership style is much more focused on encouragement and unity; a far cry from the glory-seeking Vriska, Meenah’s violent and intimidating bullying, and Dirk’s robotic and cold assessment of his co-players.

John is also able to learn from those around him. While the other Beta kids were independently exploring their worlds and character arcs, John had a variety of guides. Alone of his generation, he is in frequent positive contact with both his sprite and server player, and even after the narrative requires the sprite to leave him, Vriska takes over the role of the guide.

This powerfully resembles the classic trope of gods giving gifts to heroes over the course of their quests. Instead of winged sandals, our Perseus is given a jetpack, but the effect is the same. And, of course, he has adversaries: initially, his father, and later Jack Noir, whose challenges he overcomes with a mix of skill, pluck, and good old-fashioned luck.

John’s so dynamic that you can’t help but enjoy reading his portions of the story. He’s both a classic hero and a refreshingly positive person in Homestuck’s frequently maudlin, self-absorbed cast. Even in the middle of his session, he took time to play a silly prank on Rose, never taking things so seriously that he forgot he was playing a game.

But like all heroes, John has to grow up and face a reality that doesn’t always work the way he likes. Even though he is the only player of the Beta kids to play the game in the spirit it’s intended to be played (and he is rewarded for it, both with recognition as leader and his ascent to the god tiers), he suffers losses. His father and one of his best friends are killed by his nemesis. Emotionally, this is the most trying time of John’s life. But unlike people like Rose and Tavros (who, if you forgot, was so traumatized by Vriska’s death on her Crypt Slab that he spent the rest of their session on Prospit), who are so affected by horrors that they choose to ignore the rational world, John is centered by his concern for his friends. Upon being resurrected, he seems unconcerned with revenge and instead revives Rose and continues his quest.

This is a point where John becomes an instigator of change. All four players in his session are heroes, but there is a good reason John is leader without ever asking for the role (and even outright denying it). He is first to enter, first to reach the god tiers, instigator of the Scratch via the Quills of Echidna. Where there is change, John stands in the center like a god of storms, whether or not he intends it. The game rewards good players, and John is the best player of all.

This is all well and good when you have a quest, but what happens when you don’t anymore? This is the question that tests John over the timeskip. It’s easy to lose focus during long periods of time when your main goal doesn’t seem to matter anymore (see Circe’s island in the Odyssey). Most of the players slipped into some form of apathy or neurosis during the timeskip, and for good reason.

John notably suffers tantrums, which are a behavior associated with young children denied what they want. And what John wants is excitement, a quest, a purpose. He’s a child forced to grow up without the easy path SBURB provided him. But all that changes when he realizes something that his peers don’t: if you put yourself in the right place, a purpose will come to you. In short, John grows up and realizes that the petty personal dramas tearing his friends apart aren’t as important as the goals he has in life, no matter how long those goals take to come to fruition.

In a narrative full of drama, heartbreak, and miscommunication, it’s no wonder why I would love John Egbert. He’s grown, matured, and changed, but he hasn’t lost his essential self. It’s not that John’s a child at heart so much as that he’s a young man who realized that children had some things right: that a life lived freely, with the important bonds he’s formed with his friends but without the dramatics and the people that cause them, is the only life he wants to live.

John masters the narrative flow. So, naturally, he’s given the power to control it.

In earlier acts, Dave was often deeply jealous of John’s seemingly effortless progression through the game, especially his ascent to the god tiers. But it seems that the abilities granted by the god tiers aren’t actually that useful without cooperation. Jake, Jane, Rose, Dave, and Aranea were all god tier players, ridiculously powerful in their own right, but every one of them was killed in the space of a few minutes. [S] GAME OVER. showed us the end result of a session without teamwork. The result of childish application of independent power against the maturity of the Condesce is absolute failure. And who comes with the power to fix it?

John Egbert.

Not only that, but John has a distinct aversion to negative people, claiming to hate Vriska now that he’s gotten a more accurate picture of her personality, and gravitates toward kind and positive people like Roxy Lalonde, who, like John, is one of the few people in Homestuck to approach her personal issues and her group’s interpersonal conflicts with a selfless and kind strategy. Just with those two, it seems the narrative will be saved.

Over the course of the story, John has gone from being a naive but good child to being a positive, centered young adult, and every step of the way his approach to life, with its focus on teamwork, communication, and friendship, has been affirmed by every part of the narrative as the only way to be really free. That’s why I like John: because living right, whether you’re pranking your friends or saving the multiverse, just works.