Source tells me Xefros is stable. Please Gog.

Like, being LE wasn't some random thing he stumbled into. By the time Caliborn narrates that part of the story, he has literally turned to camera and told the viewer that he's usurped the narrative from Hussie, and has also directly told Jake that being Lord of Time involves making reality do whatever he wants.

Moreover, Caliborn's natural biological state is that of sharing a body with multiple souls, and he psychologically craves that because he shortcutted his own predomination. I'm not the only one who's noted that his sweaty brocrush on Dirk became his relationship to Doc Scratch: the primary personality present in Doc Scratch is Hal (Hussie notes multiple times that Doc likes to talk/think like a computer), a copy of Dirk. Moreover, Doc Scratch is constantly called out for his insufferable smugness - the main negative trait Caliborn attributes to Calliope. LE emerging from Doc's body is, therefore, a proxy for Caliborn "properly" predominating his sister, with the Doc being used as an effigy both of her and Dirk. In other words, not only is Caliborn super amped about the idea of becoming this big green monster via soul combination, it would be a fairly accurate read to say he derives a perverse sexual gratification from doing so to his good bro Dirk (yes, it is gross. It is gross on purpose).

It's not much better for the other component parts of LE: Gamzee has fallen so deep into religious indoctrination that being combined with Caliborn, his religion's godhead, is not only his only remaining motivation, but explicitly what he's been working towards for the majority of his screentime. Moreover, Equius never truly confronted the fact that his BDSM casteplay fetish got him and Nepeta killed. Hussie's very explicit that Equius could've easily overpowered Gamzee, but chose not to because he couldn't overcome how horny he was (and let's remember, Equius has always had a thing for Gamzee dominating him, to the point of cajoling Gamzee into RPing it out with him). Unfortunately, he might be even more into this arrangement than Caliborn is, as he's functionally being soul-stepped on by evil Gamzee for all of eternity.

In fact, the only person for whom this arrangement is not some sort of sick satisfaction is Hal. If you wanted to have sympathy for anyone in this situation, it should be him.

One of the core conflicts at the center of his characterization is the fact that he wants to be discrete from Dirk. He wants to be his own person, treated like a real person, separate from Dirk. This is why he changes his name, changes his text color, and asks to be prototyped. Unfortunately, this never actually happens for him. Dirk's meltdown and attempted murder of Hal mirror Eridan's crashout, the other Prince: we can therefore read Dirk's actions as "destroying [his aspect]". Heart is associated with selfhood and identity; what does Dirk do to Hal after Hal begs for his life? He throws Hal into Equiusprite, which actually seals the deal on Hal's failure to achieve personhood.

One of Equius's most intrinsic character traits is his stubborn and inflexible nature, which often manifests as bossiness and allowed him to run roughshod over his moirail. When combined with Hal, whose personhood is even more fragile than Nepeta's, you can actually see Hal disappear behind Equius's personality, practically reduced to nothing more than increased brain capacity.

ARQUIUSPRITE: --> I advise you to talk about your interests ARQUIUSPRITE: --> Like dairy ARQUIUSPRITE: --> Livestock ARQUIUSPRITE: --> Fine art ARQUIUSPRITE: --> And muscles

Tasked with listing his interests, ARquiusprite can only rattle off Equius's interests, because Hal wasn't ever afforded enough autonomy to develop his own. Hell, the sprite is literally called ARquiusprite, not Halquiusprite, something especially tragic given that Hal literally tried to ditch the name "Auto Responder" because he felt like it was dehumanizing. (Guess what name Dirk continues to call him clear through to the end of the comic?)

Once sucked into the LE soul soup, Hal's unpersoning is complete: as Doc Scratch, he is entirely subservient to LE, his "master," who doesn't even recognize him as his own discrete individual, and is using him as a stand-in for Dirk and Calliope anyway. Hal's personhood literally could not matter less to Caliborn and the rest of LE. Moreover, according to Hussie, the fact that Doc used to be a computer twin of Dirk is one of the few facts Doc doesn't himself know; he's completely lost all autonomy and individuality.

Homestuck is also a postmodern work that looooves to use intertextuality, AKA a shout-out turned up to eleven, where an outside work is used to introduce and/or reinforce a work's own themes. One of the pieces of intertextual media that Homestuck employs is Mother 3 (with Homestuck literally being named after Mother 3's predecessor, Earthbound). In it, the protagonist Lucas is a twin, and his brother Claus beefs it hardcore in the early game. When you find him again, he's been turned into a cyborg enslaved to the main villain, Porky. Porky is described as a "child in an adult's body" who is also a time-travelling fascist, hell-bent on destroying the universe, and is a clear inspiration/parallel to Caliborn. Here's what Porky has to say about the robot twin:

"If you're after the needle, then don't worry. My adorable monster is on its way to it as we speak." "Huh? That monster's name is Claus? Its name was Claus? That almost sounds like a person's name! But now it's my robot. Not even a fragment of life remains inside it. It's Master Porky's slave robot! It does whatever I say! It acts on my will alone. It's my double. It doesn't know anything about who you are."

So, yeah. That's Hal's deal.

So, yeah, sorry, I don't really agree with "poor Caliborn", lol.

I think the real horror of LE, Hal aside, isn't how existential he is, but rather, how human he is. LE is a symbol of all the oppressors in our world - fascism, the patriarchy, predators, and abusers - and his creation is the direct result of people being really into the idea of creating him.

Because the truth is, the monsters in our real world - dictators, manosphere influencers, etc. etc. (that is to say, the Caliborns) - they exist not just because they WANT to be that way, and made the CHOICE to be that way over and over, but also because they're propped up by Gamzees and Equiuses and Hals - people who have been forsaken by the system and have found solace in hatred and destruction, people who are blithely comfortable with their own privilege and see no issue with its perpetuation, and people who are ground into submission and don't even realize other options are available.