Homestuck Theory - Blog Posts

“Meat” and “Candy” Thoughts and Speculation

Spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn’t read both.

“Meat” and “Candy” are essentially fanfiction—perhaps specifically fix-it-fics—written by Homestuck characters themselves. While it doesn’t make them any less “true” or “real,” (even though it divorces them from the Three Pillars of Canon), it does explain the “fanficcy” feel.

“Meat” is written/narrated by Dirk and Alt!Calliope, each fighting for control of the narrative. Dirk might actually be Caliborn/LE, or at the very least, influenced/corrupted by him.

Dirk did something like this before, when he “wrote” Pony Pals for Jane, altering the original story by replacing parts of it with his own commentary.

Each page contains lovingly hand-written commentary on the deeds of this intrepid young horse.

Later, about halfway through the book, rather than see the gag through to the bitter end, Strider began pasting over entire pages of original text with his own completely rewritten version of the story, while keeping all the chapter titles. His revision is a tough, emotionally draining read. But it's cathartic, in all the worst ways possible. He tends to get carried away with his projects.

Sounds familiar, right? Using Pony Pals as an analogue, Alt!Calliope might represent the author of the original story, while Dirk modifies and rewrites it, twisting it into his own version. Alternatively, neither Dirk nor Alt!Calliope are the original author of the Epilogue, and both are altering the story as "Meat". Perhaps the book found in Calliope’s picnic basket is the original, unmodified story—the "pure" version of the Epilogues. (More on this below.)

Dirk is becoming Lord English/Doc Scratch. The parallels between Dirk and Caliborn/Doc Scratch are uncanny.

It might have something to do with Dirk's Ultimate Self and gaining access to the thoughts/memories/experiences of all his splinters and alternate lives. Those alternate selves/splinters include Bro (who was raised/corrupted by Lil Cal), Lil Hal, Doc Scratch, and Lord English, and the lines between all of them are blurring.

If Dirk is indeed LE in some way, shape, or form, the events of Meat may be LE’s way of trying to take over Post-Canon, exerting his influence beyond his domain of Canon.

(I plan to elaborate on the Dirk = LE theory in a future post.)

As a parallel to Dirk = LE, Jane is essentially becoming the Condesce. I’m not sure of the connection with her Ultimate Self, although I suppose that would include Crockertier Jane.

It might have something to do with the Condesce grooming her to be her heiress, and possibly even Jane inheriting her immortality curse? (I need investigate this further.)

Dirk and Jane even have the same alliance as LE and the Condesce: Dirk and LE pulling the strings while Jane/Condy carries out the plans. Similarly, Dirk and LE rule the metanarrative/story and travel through space, while Jane/Condesce rules the planet(s) of Trolls and Humans. (Credit to @wisdomdissimulator for the original observation/theory.)

“Candy” is written/narrated by Calliope from the Meat timeline. In Meat, Roxy mentions Calliope stays home and paints the walls with what sounds like the events of Candy.

ROXY: its not as bad as it sounds i promise ROXY: some of it is like ROXY: weird and violent?? ROXY: like lotsa nasty purple blood and um ROXY: nudity???? [...] ROXY: but MOST of it is cute stuff like... various combos of all of us being happy and gettin married . . .

While the Calliopes seem less inclined to control/force the characters and narration than Dirk, there are still moments of bias and asserting their will—specifically anything regarding the Trickster Lollipop.

Calliope (as the narrator) may have even controlled/influenced Dirk to suicide, possibly as a way to “save” the Candy timeline from Dirk’s influence. While the narration claims otherwise, it’s also possible Dirk killed himself of his own accord in a twisted mixture of Heroism and Justice, knowing what he could become if he lived, and thus wanting to spare the timeline.

Terezi of “Meat” is the same Terezi communicating with John in “Candy”. Since she’s still in Canon, she basically transcends the Meat and Candy timelines until she reaches Meat’s Earth C. This is why she expects Meat’s John to be older, why she thinks John and Roxy might be together, and why she has a hunch that things wouldn’t have worked out between John and Roxy—because this is true of Candy’s John, at least at the time Terezi last spoke with him.

Gamzee’s presence and influence might have something to do with the unexplained weirdness of the Candy timeline. Characters seem oddly blind or impotent to the circumstances around them, almost like there’s a Ragey influence sowing discord, anger, confusion, and obliviousness among the characters—just as what happens with the Trolls during Murderstuck. It isn’t until after Gamzee’s death that the characters start to seem more like themselves and are more capable and hopeful.

While Gamzee has “Joker immunity” within Homestuck, he’s able to die in Candy because it’s outside of Canon. (My theory is that Lord English grants him immortality, since Gamzee must become a component of LE and thus CAN’T die.)

John needs to take a third option, different from The Choice™ of either Meat or Candy. There's a book in Calliope’s basket, so the third option very well may be the book. Which would also make sense since a book represents/contains a story, and Meat and Candy, while food, also represent stories.

Another interesting third option would be “Vegetables”—or specifically “Pumpkin”—which Roxy could potentially summon via Void powers. It would make a cool reference and callback to “What Pumpkin”.

(More elaboration on the Third Option theory planned for a future post.)

I have a LOT more thoughts and ideas on the Meat and Candy Epilogues, so I’ll probably continue this in another post.

This is relevant again with the Meat and Candy Epilogues. Just replace the Mayor with Jade as the auspistice.

Everyone keeps debating what quadrant Dave and Karkat’s relationship is. Each has valid and supporting arguments, and they all make sense in their own ways.

But why limit it to just one? What if it’s actually ALL the quadrants?

It was said their love went beyond the four quadrants, transcending the grid entirely. Whatever that nonsense actually means.

Perhaps Karkat is following in the footsteps of his ancestor?

The Third Scratch

BladekindEyewear has a theory that there will be a third Scratch, one in Caliborn’s session. While I’m not completely sold on it being necessary (and I disagree on the events that will play out if it happens), thematically, a Third Scratch makes sense, and evidence does support it.

Three scratches across Gamzee’s face:

Dave’s game glitching, making it unplayable and unwinnable:

Time to reset for the third time this hour.

> Dave: Reset.

So, if a third Scratch will indeed occur, what can we extrapolate?

We know a Scratch Construct is different between sessions.

It will always be an edifice of similarly cryptic design, located on the planet that is home to the Hero of Time. Its environment dictates the nature of its construction.

The Trolls’ construct is the Cardinal Movement, which looks similar to Aradia’s time machine music boxes. It also reflects the Land of Quartz and Melody, Aradia’s planet. Damara must have the same (or similar) planet as Aradia.

  The Kids’ construct is the Beat Mesa, which matches Dave’s emblem and his time tables. It also fits with the gears and tech theme of his planet.

  That just leaves Caliborn, the Time player of the third session. And what’s the theme not of his planet, but his entire session and character? Billiards.

Caliborn’s session includes a planet representing each pool ball. Notoriously missing is a Cue Ball planet.

What if Caliborn’s Scratch Construct is an entire Cue Ball planet, and we haven’t seen it yet? Or seen it in its final form, anyway. Rather than being ON his planet, it IS a planet.

Two likely candidates are Caliborn’s planet (Earth), or the Land of Heat and Clockwork, Dave’s planet.

  (Personally, I love the idea of LOHAC, and its transformation resembling a cue ball.)

During a typical Scratch, once the construct’s surface is scratched, it will head toward Skaia.

  Except Caliborn’s session no longer has a Skaia. However, recall Skaia transformed into a black hole. The black hole Caliborn uses to sink the pool ball planets!

I predict Caliborn’s Scratch will involve scratching the surface of a Cue Ball planet and then sinking it into the black hole that was formerly Skaia. In billiards, pocketing the cue ball is called a scratch. How perfect is that?

TT: This terminology can be very literal sometimes.

What do else do we know about Scratches?

Its power is dangerous, and is meant to be utilized only in emergencies such as yours. TT: You mean, in sessions where victory is no longer possible? Yes. […] TT: Then, it's like a panic button for the players to push once they realize the cause is lost.

Only in this case, replace “session” with “reality.” It sounds like this could describe the situation the heroes are in, with Lord English wreaking havoc throughout Paradox Space. An even greater emergency would be after Vriska begins the process of the Green Sun’s destruction, which has the potential to lead to the Big Crunch of Paradox Space.

Within the context of Rose and Doc Scratch’s exchange, “victory” means ability to successfully create a new universe, which is the goal of a typical session. However, Caliborn’s session is unique and extreme—a dead session. Its goal isn’t to create a new universe. In all likelihood, it has some connection with all of Space-Time, all of reality itself. A Scratch for a dead session would be employed for a different, more extreme reason.

TT: What exactly does the Scratch do, then? It resets the game. […] The release of temporal energy will be quite massive. This is a hard reset. It will reboot the conditions in your universe well before you began playing the game. You will have lived different lives after the reset. The different initial conditions will ideally lead to a more favorable scenario in the new session. Unfortunately, you will have no memory of anything that has happened in the session you are in now. TT: What will happen to us? Everyone in this session now? You will all cease to exist completely if you remain here during the Scratch.

Now, all this is true of typical null sessions. If scratching a null session resets the universe, perhaps scratching a dead session—Caliborn’s session—resets REALITY.

Instead of resetting the cherubs’ universe and which cherub plays, I think the third scratch will reset all of Paradox Space, all of reality, producing an alternate reality. A new reality perhaps ruled by a Pink Sun instead of the Green Sun.

Just as the kids escaped their Scratch and entered the new, reset instance of Earth’s universe—the Alpha kids’ session—through the window, the heroes will have to find a way to escape the third Scratch (and the Big Crunch) and enter a new, reset instance of Paradox Space.

While simultaneously destroying reality, the massive black hole created from the Green Sun’s destruction could very well be their escape route, like the hole in the window.

UU: and while the emerald eye of this storm is fixed in the abyss forever UU: today yoU are poised to escape its scowl once and for all. UU: by skaias gUiding light, yoU may leave behind its tUrning arms of bright coloUrs and mayhem, and secUre peace for yoUr cosmic progeny for all dUration.

A third Scratch, the destruction of reality, a black hole escape route, and the creation of a Pink Sun would make absolutely lovely parallels to the events of [S]: Cascade. It works.

About your Beforus First Guardian post, I think it's super cool but impossible, as the A1 session never had an ectobiology lab meteor in order to create a first gaurdian, or the players themselves for that matter, which is why they had to scratch in the first place.

Oh, interesting point. Hmm…

Although, if that’s the case, wouldn’t the same be true of the Alpha Kids’ session? Yet they managed to make GCat.

I mean, I suppose they could have used the ectobiology equipment from the Trolls’ meteor, but…

I don’t think it was so much that the Beforus trolls lacked an ectobiology lab as it was that the trolls originated from the post-Scratch (Alternia) session instead of the pre-Scratch (Beforus) one, so they needed to scratch in order to ensure their existence.

This is what Doc Scratch said on the matter:

Though they could not recognize it for the bad omen it was, this session was not the one in which they had been spawned. Such is the symptom of a subtle glitch affecting certain sessions, an error designed to trigger an unfathomable cascade of misfortune throughout paradox space. This glitch is the calling card of the one I serve.

It says nothing of ectobiology equipment or lack thereof, just in which session the trolls were spawned.

Also, Beforus would have had a first guardian regardless, because:

Every planet destined for intelligent life has such an entity meant to protect it, and facilitate the planet’s ultimate purpose.

So yeah.

I struggled with the same concept while formulating this theory, because Calmasis from CoTL sounds more like Caliborn than anything else. Basically I’m thinking the actual Calmasis will be the true union of Caliborn and Calliope, possibly even the Caliborn who made “HOMOSUCK” and is about to face Yaldabaoth.

Consider what Art!Caliborn says:

THE ATROCIOUS HATERS AND WEAK CHILDREN WILL SAY THAT I AM A MONSTER. THAT I AM THE BIGGEST BAD GUY. AND THAT MY EVIL CRIMES NEED TO BE STOPPED USING TANTRUM PUNCHES. BUT NO. I AM JUST A SIMPLE ARTIST.

I HUGELY INSIST. THAT I WALK THE PATH. NOT OF A VILLAIN. BUT OF AN ARTIST!!!

I mean, I think it’s pretty clear Art!Caliborn is not the one whose soul is trapped in Lil Cal and eventually becomes LE. And Calmasis’ description of “antihero and chief antagonist” indeed easily describes Art!Caliborn. So maybe he ends up fusing somehow with some form of Calliope, and that union forms Calmasis.

Regardless, tons of evidence supports an Alt!Calliope + Gamzee + Davepeta fusion, and I really think I’m on to something here. Whether or not they’re actually Calmasis (or form part of them) doesn’t really matter. I mostly chose to call them Calmasis as a placeholder name, for lack of anything better to name them. (Notice how I said, “For now, let’s call this fusion Calmasis.” Emphasis on “for now.”)

I mean, hey, maybe their fusion ends up being Zazzerpan? Or maybe they end up fusing with Art!Caliborn, too. We don’t really know. But for now, they need a name, and Calmasis seemed like the best one.

The Mirthful Messiahs: Lord English and Calmasis?

We already know Lord English is a fusion of the souls of Caliborn, Arquiusprite, and ½ Gamzee.

But what if there’s a Calliope counterpart? A fusion consisting of Alt!Calliope, Davepetasprite^2, and ½ Gamzee.

Keep reading

The Mirthful Messiahs: Lord English and Calmasis?

We already know Lord English is a fusion of the souls of Caliborn, Arquiusprite, and ½ Gamzee.

But what if there’s a Calliope counterpart? A fusion consisting of Alt!Calliope, Davepetasprite^2, and ½ Gamzee.

Gamzee states that he finally understood his Mirthful Messiahs were always both him, :o) and Do:, who seem to represent both Caliborn and Calliope. Later we learn that Gamzee is literally a component of Lord English, (likely) one of his Mirthful Messiahs. Wouldn’t it make sense for his other half to be a part of his other Mirthful Messiah? And wouldn’t that messiah also represent Calliope?

For now, let’s call this fusion Calmasis. Perhaps the Mirthful Messiahs are Lord English and Calmasis, and both are central to the end of Paradox Space.

Recall Sollux and Terezi’s exchange:

GC: WH4TS 4N 4NG3L TA: 2ome terriible mythiical demon. TA: wiith the2e awful feathery wiing2. GC: Y1K3S TA: paradox 2pace u2e2 them two u2her iin the end. GC: HOW DO3S 1T KNOW WH4T 4NG3L TO US3... ........

Caliborn and Calliope are both Cherubs—or angels—and Lord English is obviously a “terrible mythical demon” who “ushers in the end.” However, notice Sollux says “them,” and Terezi essentially asks “which angel?”—implying more than one. While Alt!Calliope alone could represent another angel (as could Bec Noir and PM), it makes more sense for Gamzee also to be included in a Calliope counterpart to LE.

So if Caliborn + ½ Gamzee + Arquiusprite = Lord English, it seems reasonable for there to be a Calliope counterpart with parallel components: Alt!Calliope + ½ Gamzee + X = Calmasis.

Davepeta seems the most likely candidate for X.

For one, Arquius is a sprite consisting of Equius and a version of Dirk. Davepeta is also a sprite (squared), consisting of Nepeta (Equius’ moirail) and Dave (the other Strider). Sprite + Troll + Human (well, and also Crow + Sprite). None of the other sprites contain representations of both a troll and a human.

Davepeta also has this inexplicable desire to fight Lord English.

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i have this weird urge...... DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < to go fight lord english […] DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < im just strangely drawn to the idea DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i wasnt at all before as a really depressed bird version of dave DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < and nepeta didnt even know who he WAS until recently DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < but now it sounds cool suddenly DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i f33l like... DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < the exact blend of people i am DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < is a being that he should in some way be vulnerable to DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i cant even explain why i f33l that way

This makes absolute sense if Davepeta is destined to become a part of Calmasis.

Caliborn even distastes Davepeta’s colors. Perhaps that means something, as well.

uu: ORANGE AND EMERALD. uNPLEASANT TOGETHER. uu: I HAVE NO TASTE FOR PuMPKINS. OR ANY HORRID VEGETABLE MATTER.

Alt!Calliope is already established as a key to defeating Lord English. Dave is also crucial for defeating LE.

As for Nepeta… During Murderstuck, the only trolls Gamzee kills are Equius and Nepeta. (The other trolls are all killed by others.) We already know how Equius’ death is essential for the eventual creation of Lord English, one of Gamzee’s Mirthful Messiahs. Perhaps Nepeta’s death is intentional and crucial for the same reason—for the eventual creation of Gamzee’s other messiah. (On another note, Roxy even makes a comment about Fefeta being a secret weapon, which, while sounding absurd, is also intriguing, considering Fefeta is a sprite consisting of Nepeta, just like Davepeta.)

In a previous post, I discussed an alternate interpretation of a passage from [S] Seer: Descend.

If Paradox Spaces uses both Lord English and Calmasis to “usher in the end”… And if Calmasis contains the souls of Gamzee and Davepeta along with Alt!Calliope…

A maimed clown (Gamzee), an undead cat (Nepetasprite), and an impaled crow (Davesprite) would make three of the four “held in reverence for the eternity they serve to cut short.”

A fusion of Alt!Calliope, Gamzee, and Davepeta in the form of Calmasis is the perfect parallel counterpart to Lord English—both of the Mirthful Messiahs and mythical demons ushering the destruction of Paradox Space.

My thoughts exactly. ;)

The Pink Sun?

I dunno, I feel like there are little clues hidden everywhere:

  Keep reading

Upon first glance, this passage seems to describe the Beta Kids’ kernelsprites...

...The pre-entry prototypings that evolve the battlefield and affect enemy characteristics.

Now, the passage seems to be alluding to the components that created Bec Noir, who we all know has wreaked havoc across the kids’ and trolls’ sessions and universes.

But what if the passage is referring to something else?

“Maimed clown”...

“Undead cat”...

“Impaled crow”...

(Davepeta is kind of both the Undead Cat and Impaled Crow combined.)

“Omnipotent dog”...

(Notice how even though Bec Noir and PM have all four prototyping elements, they’re only ever referred to as dogs at this point.)

“These four shall be held in reverence for the eternity they serve to cut short.”

What if this passage has yet to come, and is related to the end of Paradox Space?

Gamzee is obvious in his role, and Bec Noir would be no surprise, either. But others, such as Jasprose, Davepeta, and the Mayor (recall his dream) would be really interesting and unexpected.