In the same vein as your idea of sopor slime as a control mechanism of Lord English, do you think Caliborn being a candy corn vampire might imply that the trolls' candy corn horns are also a means of influence, as though they were all pre-bitten and injected with English's poison? Or as though their horns were really something more like insect radio antennae, receiving psychic signals? It'd be funny if the very thing preventing Tavros from getting in the brainwashing tub was the size of his receptor...
I’ve always been interested by the fact that trolls’ candy corn horns kind of prefigure the tricksters all having their associated candies stuck on their heads, so the idea that they might be the signature of another kind of sugar monster does have an appeal…
certainly horns representing corruption is consistent with the fall from grace iconography that accompanies Lord English’s takeover of Alternia; the fact that Beforans are also hornéd could be considered a solid counterargument to this, but that’s not really stopped me before… what would have been fun for the “Alternians are vampiric Beforans” angle would be Beforans being diurnal, though ostensibly the two races should be biologically identical so using their physiology as evidence of corruption is always a little problematic. bears some thinking about
#wonder if this has anything to do with ‘mindfang’ and vriska’s lusus having the same horn-fang that she and kanaya both have
Ooooh sweet catch. I like how that would link up Spidermom (as a force that compels Vriska to kill people) with Mindfang (as a murderer Vriska emulates) along the axis of psychic influence… I guess Equius having horns resembling the arrow ==> that injects commands into everyone’s heads could gesture at a general association of horns and psychic commands, even if it also works as an extension of his motifs alone…
I also kind of wonder how this reflects back on Problem Sleuth, who started this motif with the two pieces of candy corn he kept under his hat. Using the candy corn to defeat the diabetic final boss has a possible echo in using the “ninja sword” to kill HIC, but that comparison doesn’t tell us much about what the point of the candy was for most of that story…
when I got your ask the first thing that came to mind was a really old theory that troll horns were actually transmitters; psychic powers emanated from there, and Equius’ uncontrollable strength was actually the result of a broken horn messing with his ability to contain his psychic influence. I don’t know if that was ever actually any kind of widespread belief, or if it’s just stuck with me all these years because of how daft I found it; but nonetheless following the horns-as-mindfangs train of thought my first sense was to wonder how Equius’ missing horn might factor into it.
with the outward-pointing shape of his horns alluding to his hidden role as the “Executor” of commands, I suppose having one horn missing might indicate a blockage, or an inability to be influenced? having one “broken antenna” seems fitting for a hero of void, surrounded eternally by radio blackout, unable to be contacted by command stations himself…
(is there a transmitter horn and a receiver horn? is it worth examining the trolls by their chirality, or is cornuphrenology not something the world’s ready for just yet)
shit, I guess now that we’re comparing candy corn horns and candy corn fangs, Equius being missing one is as good a hint at his connection to the one-fanged Caliborn as you can get