2022-07-21 17:14:06 ¶ ●

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Do you have any takes on why fiamet is wearing a aquamino sign instead of one more connected to her theorized sign of canra? I have no idea what it means honestly

I’ve only given it a little bit of thought… while my first thought is to agree that Aquara would make a lot more sense, I can think of a few reasons why it wouldn’t be that.

we don’t really know at this point in time if the aspect bindings and lunar sways are actually “a thing” in-universe; like, does a troll know what it means to have a sign with a “prospit sway” or to be “mind bound”? if those things mean nothing to a troll then the symbol they choose as a disguise is totally random… and if those things do hold meaning to a troll, isn’t it more likely Fiamet chooses a sign that doesn’t match her birth sign, to enforce the deception?

I realise, of course, that there are symbolic considerations, and that Fiamet didn’t actually choose her seadweller drag sign. it was chosen by… someone? artist? writer? and it might make sense to assume that whoever chose that particular sign had a reason to do so… however, I think it’s been well established by now, through various insights into and comments concerning the game’s development, that these characters were not designed with their zodiac signs in mind. it seems to be that Fiamet was designed by Andrew’s hand, and notably, without a sign; Trizza, too, was Andrew’s design, and when she was first conceptualised, she was a Pisces. i know many will disagree with me or calling me boring for this, lol, but I stand firm by my assertion that the signs given to the Hiveswap cast are of little significance. and while the low regard i have for classpect-oriented analysis in general plays into this, I do think the quote unquote “"randomness” of the Hiveswap trolls’ signs is deliberate in its own way. signs had a significance in Homestuck where heroes were born from ectobiology, and there were forces of destiny at play causing Vriska and Aranea to be given the same sign. Hiveswap exists outside of that mythology, on a more “realised” version of Alternia, where Trizza can be born from the Condesce’s gene and appear to be in almost every way a clone of her ancestor, but be given a totally different sign.

ALL that being said, i’m not totally convinced Fiamet’s “true sign” is gonna be Canra just cus of the obvious axolotl motif… it’s possible the axolotl look was a coincidence, or even more likely, that whoever designed the signs (which in contrast is a process of which we know remarkably little… to my knowledge we know who wrote the extended zodiac copy, but the making of the graphics is basically an unknown?) knew hiveswap would involve a limeblood with an axolotl motif and saw the opportunity to make one of the signs fit, even if it wasn’t the sign in question. I’d be silly to deny, of course, the possibility, or even the likelihood, that The Axolotl Sign is in fact fiamet’s. but my existing hypothesis on Fiamet’s sign, which part of me would still love to be true, is based on this carving in Dammek’s hive:

which looks a lot like Dammek’s sign carved next to what could easily be some greenblood’s sign, but probably not Canra. if it isn’t a carving of Fiamet’s sign, then i’ve no idea what it is! but i guess that’s the kicker, that I really have no idea. it’s been tempting to think of these trolls in terms we’re familiar with, where everyone’s girlfriend has to be a character we already know about. but like I said, we’re outside of that Homestuck mythology now, and any troll can be friends with any number of trolls we just haven’t met yet…