Vriska Serket, whose lusus constantly demands she feed it, received Cetus as a denizen, a monster known for eating every single fish on the Land of Light and Rain.
More obviously the number 8 is homophonic with the word ‘ate’ (and also takes the shape of the infinity, related to the ouroborous symbol depicting a snake eating itself), and in Homestuck’s symbology the sun - the symbol of the light aspect - is something that is meant to be ‘eaten’ by black holes.
Vriska Serket, whose lusus constantly demands she feed it, received Cetus as a denizen, a monster known for eating every single fish on the Land of Light and Rain.
More obviously the number 8 is homophonic with the word ‘ate’ (and also takes the shape of the infinity, related to the ouroborous symbol depicting a snake eating itself), and in Homestuck’s symbology the sun - the symbol of the light aspect - is something that is meant to be ‘eaten’ by black holes.
Generally speaking the light aspect and its players could be said to be connected to greed, and a struggle against it.
While Cetus doesn’t appear to relate to Rose personally in the way a lot of the other denizens do - Typheus and John’s Dad share a connection to pipes, as do Hephaestus and Dirk to swords - she does overindulge in fish in the same way Rose’s mother overindulges in alcohol.
Vriska’s land and nature tie this connection more closely into the aspect itself; the Serket legacy and the Land of Maps and Treasure are both plagued by the desire for the material form of “fortune”, gold and riches.
In this way both Rose and Vriska’s game quests deal with the overcoming of either one’s own greed or the greed of a guardian.
modern cannibals
ALBION is the story of three trolls dealing with the unique struggles of being a troll in Universe C, told in The Homestuck Epilogues’ prose-and-chat format and with Homestuck-style panels on every page.
Written and illustrated by @jakemorph / @dingodad; updates at least once a week!
went on one of my impromptu act rereads last night - late act 3 through to the end of act 4 - and I stumbled upon a page that immediately reminded me of @mmmmalo‘s musings on bifurcated horses as representations of bifurcated souls.
while I think it would be easy to argue that the line about being sliced in half mid-fenestration poses no significance beyond being a reference to a recurring incident in Problem Sleuth, this line about the transportaliser has no such referential value. Maplehoof passes through the transportaliser just fine in the next panel, and this risk is never addressed again. this very plausibly turns the bifurcation of horses into a motif.
perhaps notably, by traveling through this transportaliser Maplehoof is making its way toward the ectobiology lab in the Veil. it’s from here that Maplehoof becomes attached to Dave Strider and accompanies him to the landing site of his meteor, destroying a record shop on the way down (the bifurcation of the record on Dave’s shirt?): and some 34 pages later we witness Dirk bifurcating a another meteor, simultaneous with the bifurcation of the cruxite egg Dave needs to hatch to enter the game.
Andrew’s commentary for page 1906 suggests that while “most of [the objects held by the paradox clones when they land on Earth] present some attraction to their innate personalities”, “the Dave/pony pair is kind of a head-scratcher. Except when
you consider that Dave probably wouldn’t hesitate to ride a pony down to
Earth, if given the choice.” while this outwardly implies the horse’s significance in the story is just as mystifying to the author as it is to us, this could be a subtle hint that its association with Dave’s meteoric journey is a key factor?? or maybe i’m just throwing asteroid spaghetti to see what sticks.
more stuff is jumping out at me now that I’m looking at the circumstances of the paradox clones’ landings!
the fact that Rose’s meteor killed all the aquatic life in the lake it landed in has been compared to her denizen’s extinctive appetite for fish a thousand times before; but Dave’s meteor also destroys a record shop, signifying the importance of the destruction of the giant record on his planet. Jade’s meteor doesn’t land near her home at all, and she has to travel by boat to her new home (where the temple of the frog is). I’m still musing on the exact symbology of John’s landing, but then John’s overall position in the narrative is less clear cut than others’, so perhaps that’s fitting.
what’s most interesting about this to me, though, is that while Dave and Jade’s landings symbolise their ‘cosmic’ significance to the story - the Scratch and Yellow Yard were not literally Dave and Jade’s land quests in the game, but rather parts of the role they play in reality - Rose’s appears to be a straightforward allusion to the quest the game wants her to undertake and that she actively rebels against. as if Dave and Jade’s evasion or subversion of their game duties are predestined, while Rose’s is entirely of her own flat-out refusal to participate.
even players who aren’t assigned one of the inherently progenitorial roles (hero of space, ectobiologist - a time player who, though being assigned the purpose of initiating the Scratch, is being ordered to literally “become the parent”) seem to be encouraged by the game to grow into a parental figure - which, duh, makes sense, because the act of playing Sburb and creating a universe are inherently progenitorial.
but in this vein I think Rose rejecting the quest assigned to her by the game (becoming a creator of life by playing the genetic codes in LOLAR’s rain and filling the planet’s oceans - which, thanks to Ceuts, are barren, connecting with Roxy’s own infertility?) is intrinsically tied to her rejection of motherhood. her allegiance to the Horrorterrors who oppose creation outright are probably a clearer example of this.
