KNIGHT: “Guardian of their aspect”
Includes: Dave, Karkat, Latula, Alpha Dave, Redglare
Knights are the class of protectors and proficiency with their aspect, while not conjuring their aspect from within themselves, but standing guard over it. They might be unmatched in the actual utility of their aspect. This shit comes naturally to them, as if they have been moulded their entire life to this specific type of work. More than anyone, they would have trouble doing another job, another role.
If you are familiar with the RPG Party Composition Meta of DPS/Healer/Tank, the Knight is a tank, and they are the Main Tank. They set the pace and everyone else in the party kind of has to march to that tune or risk being left behind. But that role comes with a lot of responsibility to the party and the Knight knows this intrinsically. Everyone is in good hands.
But man, is it fucking work. That cliche “if you love your work you’ll never work a day in your life”? Knights laugh at that. They make this shit look good, but fuck it’s work every damn day. When you’re carrying the entire party, your back starts to hurt. This is the greatest struggle of the Knight, the battle with burnout and fatigue. They often find themselves positioned as the load-bearing pillar of the situations they are involved in. They are the people who don’t feel like they’re allowed to take a sick day. It sucks.
If a Knight’s sword is their unparalleled use of their aspect, their shield is emotional repression and cognitive dissonance. You’re a Knight, you’re observant and smart, you can extrapolate. You know the world around you sucks, right? Nah, no, fuck that, everything’s fine. You don’t want to handle that on top of all your other responsibilities, so you choose not to. Holding up that shield can get fucking exhausting sometimes though.
Our canon Knights are all unified in specific ways. They have an innate, powerful understanding of their aspects, and all of them feel the need to compartmentalize their emotions about the world around them and hide behind a shield of bravado. Dave is plagued by the expectations human masculinity dumps on him, from his emotions to his sexuality to his duty to the narrative, and hides behind a cool aloof persona. Karkat is haunted by the violent nature of his society that would consider him worth nothing but a culling, and hides behind a paper-thin facade of self-aggrandizing importance and lies about how he feels about Alternia’s culling. Latula struggles to stand out, to be likeable, to be unique among her group, and has a strong persona of Radness to cover up her vulnerabilities. Even Redglare wears the mask of the dutiful public servant over her hidden emblem of the Signless, of justice and equity.
Such is the plight of the Knight.
The Knight’s greatest strength is the satisfaction of having their desire to help those around them matched by their abilities. Confident aptitude.
The Knight’s greatest weakness is fatigue, the looming spectre of burn-out, and hella anxiety.