Zooble has been many things in their past life. A bartender, a tattoo artist, and probably a lot more careers; but none of them had fit.

They’re a dreamer who wants to leave a lasting impact on the world, and I think no matter how many times they tried at a skill (and I bet surpassed #stanZooble), it never felt like what Zooble was meant to be.

The toy parts. The mirrors. While it may be a jab at their bodily insecurities, I think it very well may be their existential ones also - The fear of not knowing who you are.

How can you leave a legacy, when you can’t even tell who you are?

Caine himself forshadowed that he doesn’t know what could happen if a NPC went undetected for long periods of time.

Knowing our beloved Ringleader, Bubbles could’ve been one of the first NPCs for either an adventure or to be an assistant (leaning more towards assistant), and Caine forgot to shelf him; leading to Bubbles being active for so long that he evolved into an aware AI.

I saw a post and one of the commenters asked if the term Jellicle is the overall specie’s name or something more specific; it lowkey made me think and start to analyze the possibilities. Specifically for the society and the people chosen for the play. (So thank you commenter).

In a lot of religions, especially indigenous practices, there are cases where a member of the community is either chosen by the people or by their deity to become a vessel for said deity.

To be chosen is a great honor, and often times the vessel is revered. Prophets, Avatars, Covenants, etc.

From a sociology and psychology standpoint this is to further connect with the religion. You cannot physically see them, so to have a vessel is a way to interact with the deity. A manifested reassurance.

So in a way, when Steve and the other members of the “Cats” family are chosen for a character, they become holy figures/vessels for that specific character’s role - seemingly remaining so even after the Play has ended.

This is where the term, “Jellicle,” comes into play.

Muckustrap referring to Steve as “Old Deut/Deuteronomy” isn’t just him referring to his previous role - It’s him literally addressing the character. Steve IS Deuteronomy. It’s why we only know Muckustrap as the character’s name.

Even after failing and taken out of the Play, the title of Deuteronomy lingers within Steve’s identity.

Being a Jellicle is essentially being the Chosen People. I wouldn’t be surprised if the “Cats” family is GENERATIONS of clowns with the same roles being equally revered and honored because they remain a vessel.

They’re probably seen as the same person/character and not their own individualistic extensions.

It makes so much sense from that perspective, the severity of Steve’s failure. What he did was…blasphemous. Unworthy of a true vessel of the Deuteronomy - banishment is tame in these situations.

In a lot of cases, humans have killed the vessels if they didn’t live up to expectations.

No wonder Steve felt so much pressure that night. It wasn’t stage fright, but the anxiety of not meeting the expectations of a holy figure.

(Before I start I wanna make it known that I am not a professional Psychologist. I’m a psych student who’s a big fan of psychology. So, take this analysis with a grain of salt and if you don’t agree with my interpretations that is okay 👍)

‼️SPOILERS ‼️

I’ll be talking about two points, and in the end make an educated guess on what his redemption could be.

1. Inferiority Complex/God Complex

3. HPD (Histrionic Personality Disorder)

———————

• Inferiority Complex/God Complex

If there’s one thing the fandom can agree on it’s that Vox has a major inferiority complex, especially towards Alastor, and along with it has a massive God complex. Funnily enough the two often go hand and hand - the God Complex being a defense mechanism for the Inferiority Complex.

Vox murdering those above him so he can take their spots, along with wanting to replace the Heavenly God confirms it. He wants to be higher and higher up at the top - probably due to the trauma of not being taken seriously. Like Alastor says, “he’ll never fill his cup / he was always broken.”

Also there are a lot of examples in real life where children who grew up being seen as lesser/not as important, became people who believe they are destined for “greater things” - Elon Musk, and Stephen Hawking to name a few.

• HPD (Histrionic Personality Disorder)

Whenever people discuss Vox’s character, they immediately label him as a Narcissist - which often times can be from being misinformed about what NPD is or personal bias against the Personality Disorder.

While I agree Vox exhibits narcissistic tendencies, there is one thing he hasn’t shown that can confirm the diagnosis: he doesn’t have a victim complex. NPD is at its core a victim complex that’s developed into a defense mechanism due to childhood trauma relating to victimhood. They have been a victim so much in their life, that they are stuck in that mindset - thus when triggered they see themselves as the victim and you the abuser (blaming you for their actions).

Vox hasn’t shown that. When the other Vees stand up to him, he doesn’t lash out and blame them, and when the other sinners or hellborn (Charlie & Lucifer) stand up to him, he doesn’t blame them specifically for his actions. He knows he’s an asshole, and stands by it because he thinks he’s “better.” The only person he’s ever blamed is Alastor, but that can be due to his inferiority complex.

When it comes to HPD however, I can definitely see the similarities, and the thing is HPD is often misdiagnosed as NPD due to how little we know about it.

Let’s follow the assessment list.

Appearance: Vox’s attire is eye catching with it’s stripped patterns and bright neon blue coloring - it’s calling for your attention, and he makes sure that when he’s out in public his appearance is the definition of “perfection.” We see the same with his final outfit when human, he intentionally made it sparkly so it catches your eye.

Individuals with HPD will stay up to the latest fashion, or copy those around them so they’ll be noticed. We can see this with his kills (taking their attire as his own) and how he intentionally mimics Alastor’s own look.

Behavior: Vox has made several unnecessary lewd gestures that it makes Velvet give him disgusted looks each time, and has shown dramatic attention seeking behavior like in “Stay Away,” and “Brighter.” Individuals with HPD are also known to be more prone to lying and scheming as it’s a form of attention seeking behavior.

Vox also loves to use sex as a form of leverage as seen with Val.

Speech: he LOVES to hear himself talk (as many characters have pointed out), and can be very loud and dramatic with unnecessary cursing/use of modern slang.

Thought process: Despite him saying otherwise, Vox is influenced by Alastor’s thoughts on him enough that it caused him to self sabotage/destruct. He also cares about what his viewers think of him - his powers a curse where it needs the validation.

Impulse Control/judgement: The finale. His impulses lead him to almost kill half of Pride, and he has impulsively gone to Alastor as seen in both season 1 & 2. He half hazardously thinks things through, and his poor judgement towards Alastor’s manipulation causees him to isolate himself.

Murdering the other men in his past life is also poor impulse, and this dude thought hanging TVs above water would be fine. Poor judgement.

—————————-

Vox is a serial killer and false prophet. His actions are inherently selfish and are rooted in a deep seated need of external validation. Seeing as how it’s hard to be redeemed from well, murder, I think that in order to be redeemed Vox will need to 1. Find validation from within himself and not others, 2. Be part of something that is greater than himself not as the center piece but as support.