by ohthewhomanity

I don’t think any of us were really ready for the upd8 of 10/25/14, any more than Homestuck fans on 10/25/11 were ready for [S] Cascade. Three years after the Act 5 finale, Hussie provided us with [S] GAME OVER, another jarring, heartbreaking, medium-bending, “WTF”-inducing flash. He welcomed us back from the Gigapause with a solid assertion: The year of dead air changed nothing. Homestuck was just as exciting, wacky, and full of feels as ever.

Once the shock wore off a bit, I realized something about [S] GAME OVER.: while it is chock full of characters dying, it is also chock full of characters caring for each other.

Every single reckless action taken by our protagonists in this flash was motivated by how much they cared for another person. Karkat for Terezi. Kanaya for Terezi and Karkat. Dave for Jade. The Becs for Jade. Jake for Jane. Rose for Kanaya. Roxy for Rose. Terezi for Karkat and Kanaya. John for, well, everybody.

Because of this caring, each of these characters were willing–driven, even–to jump head-first into danger, in an attempt to help or avenge the people they cared about. In most cases, these leaps were reckless acts and resulted in death. But the motivations were what stuck with me, even more than the grief. They weren’t senseless deaths. They made sense.

Homestuck is a story about relationships and teamwork; if the heroes will die for anything, they’ll die for their friends. That was true before the Gigapause, and even if these events are wiped away by John’s canon-altering powers (which looks like how the story’s going at this point, though it’s unclear just how far back John will make his changes), it will remain true.