VASKA wrote: ↑Sat Nov 23, 2019 6:08 pm
snip
even if it was the Condesce stated to have
scattered all but the children throughout the galaxy after the Summoner's rebellion, that's no reason to believe it was entirely her idea or even that the order literally came from her mouth. there's strong precedent in the story for her to have been manipulated into taking certain actions by certain shadowy figures pulling Alternia's strings (or even the narrative itself!), considering she is outright stated to have been
really just the Lo+rd's slave all alo+ng [...] thro+ugh manipulatio+n by his cunning emplo+yee, and considering this exact thing happens to Vriska:
Andrew Hussie, in the Homestuck Act 5 Act 1 book commentary, wrote:It's already evident that Doc Scratch has been manipulating circumstances to help this gruesome series of events unfold.
[...]
One reading of Doc is as a manipulative devil-creep in the model of many fictional characters who fit this description; he's a fairly recognizable and traditional presence in the story, when viewed that way. A less traditional reading centers on his role on a metatextual level, as a nefarious, all-knowing, profoundly evil alt-author presence. A guy who has the full powers of the author, who essentially IS the author with certain dark authorial impulses greatly exaggerated, while functioning as a character in the story who can speak to and influence other characters in support of an evil agenda. (That is, the summoning of yet another, even more satanic alt-author being into the comic.) Viewed this way, his conversations with other characters take on a different quality. Normally, the author remains a disguised presence and influences the thoughts of characters with an unseen hand, simply by writing their thoughts directly into their heads, their words into their mouths. This alt-author is essentially doing the same thing, but as an actual character and a known presence to those he influences. He whispers in their ears, gets them to do the nasty, terrible things that are latent within their nature to do, which I as the unseen author easily could have done myself through a conventional writing process.
if vriska was partially influenced to do what she did by Scratch, the condesce was literally given the reason and the means to do so by him in the form of gl'bgolyb.
even though the Condesce used scratch's gift to
delegate oppression to the subjugglators, whose unique abilities and exceptional brutality made them natural enforcers, in the same breath the land dwellers are referred to as
a self-governing body (notice that despite being royalty,
Dualscar has to grovel before the Grand Highblood to have anything done about the criminal Mindfang, seemingly lacking the authority to do anything about it himself) - a fact reinforced by Equius'
insistence that the highbloods and sea dwellers are enemies and not allies. a great example of the Condesce's relationship to clowns given to us directly by the comic is the way she utilised the Insane Clown Posse on earth; even though she seemingly had them put in place as a
a puppet regime, she also gave them
carte blanche to carry out their idiotic whims to the extent of pumping Faygo through the world's plumbing in place of water. Dirk's own theory is even that she
just loved the idea of delegating the extreme subjugation of the world's population to a pair of demented clown rappers rather than doing it herself.
this whole setup is clarified even more when Porrim describes the situation on Beforus which could be
superficially o+bserved as a matriarchy o+n a fuschia-do+wn basis, but where
o+n a practical level all o+f the enfo+rcement and po+litical po+wer go+verning mo+st classes was delegated to+ the higher [Cobalts, Indigos and Purple]s (and remember the purples are dominated by a cult that glorifies the coming of Lord English - the very same goal Scratch had in shaping Alternia in the first place).
the comic even goes as far as to say that the Condesce only goes off to scour the galaxy for planets on her own personal flagship is because she thinks she has an unshakable grip on the throne, even when other evidence suggests that's not the case. I think we're supposed to see Meenah running off to the pink moon as a parallel to this; it is in Meenah's nature to skirt responsibility by flying off into space. I would even argue that Scratch was taking advantage of this very fact by putting her in charge post-Scratch at all, even when everything else seemed to be under his control; by putting a woman he
knows has a penchant for letting other people take her responsibilities at the 'head' of Alternia, he's ensuring there's room for him to manipulate things to his whims while keeping the 'superficial matriarchy' Porrim talks about in place for the sake of giving trolls a false sense of security.
I think there's also something to be said, in this line of thinking, about the fact that the Condesce wasn't actually gifted any superpowers by Lord English until
after Alternia was already dead - another parallel to Meenah, who only arrived into relevance in the dream bubbles after the other ancestors had been pissing about in there for thousands of years already. the Condesce's role in the plan wasn't on Alternia; she wasn't necessary there. her role was on Earth, killing off humanity and leaving the planet ready for the rise of Lord English. and he didn't need a politician for that! he just needed someone who was good at letting other people fuck shit up for her.
obviously i'm not saying that the Condesce was completely devoid of political power or that her hands are clean of the atrocities committed in the names of Alternia or the Betty Crocker empires; rather I don't think she
cares enough to have a proper hand in how things are run in her regimes, and is perhaps more of an enabler. i think Meenah is a thrillseeker rather than out-and-out malevolent, in a way pretty similar to, say, Terezi, and blaming her outright for the structural and moral problems with Alternia is kind of like blaming Vriska's random monster mother for the way she turned out as a teenager when there are obviously more sinister influences at play.
