Hnowu

I'll start with basic things and get much more complex as we go down, feel free to skip around :D

Sect. I - Who is Venomshank?

This is Vemomshank! He's one of the seven Sword Deities in Phighting. As for his powers, we know a few things about him -

He has control of an army of zombies and can summon them at will.

Venomshank will, on rare occasion, go into a "feral" state, in which he loses complete control of himself and becomes very violent. We don't exactly know why or how this happens, but we do know his mask has locking mechanisms to keep him from biting people when in this feral mode. (PS. I really hate calling it his "feral mode" but we literally canonically only get that term for it)

Venomshank's mask is a plague doctor mask, and although we don't have any records of a plague happening in Phighting, it can be assumed that he has SOME sort of medical knowledge or prowess.

Due to the name "Venomshank," it's a very common headcanon that his powers, or maybe just his interests, involve poisons, venoms, or really any medicinal/mind-altering plants/substances. I don't THINK this has ever been confirmed true, but it can be assumed.

Though he may look quite intimidating with his mask, Venomshank is a very kind inphernal, noted to be one of the 'softest' of the deities. We'll go very in-depth on his personality later :]

Sect. II - Sisyphus

Venomshank has a pet bird named Sisyphus!

According to Venomshank, this is no normal pet bird! "Sisyphus is a part of myself— My wings! We've been together for as long as I can remember! He also serves as another pair of eyes in case I ever lose sight of little Sword..."

Despite being able to control Sisyphus, he can't see through him at all times. In DITF, we see that Sword tells Sisyphus to "cover for him" while he leaves, without batting an eye from Venomshank, so Sisyphus is his own character.

Something I've wondered many times- Why is he named that?

The Greek story of Sisyphus is a popular one, but in case you don't know it, a VERY brief summary is that Sisyphus cheated death and was then forced by the gods to roll a boulder up a hill for the rest of eternity. Every time the boulder neared the top, it would roll back down, and he would be stuck in the horror of manual labor forever.

Not only do Greek myths and gods NOT exist in Phighting, but Sisyphus is a simple little birdie, and Venomshank himself doesn't seem to have many parallels to the story either. For now, it seems there are one of two scenarios going on here:

Sisyphus was chosen simply because it's a cool, divinity related name OR

Sisyphus was chosen because the myth is meant to directly tell us something about Venomshank's character

Not too sure which yet though.

Sect. III - Venomshank's Relationships

Venomshank has many notable relationships!! I'll give them each a mini section.

III.A - Sword

Venomshank is Sword's mentor figure, and the two live together in Crossroads.

Sword has no parents (that we know of), and it's unclear where he came from, but Venomshank somehow ended up raising him. Although it has been explicitly stated that Sword sees Venom as a mentor rather than a father, we can still examine his parenting skills, or at least his skills at raising a child.

Venomshank gives Sword daily training to help him protect himself and become stronger with his gear. When asked in a fan QnA if he thought Sword would ever be strong enough to take him on in a duel, Venomshank said:

"Hmm...I'm not sure.He is a clumsy one, though, has a good heart. There is no need for him to become a great warrior, however, no matter which path he takes I will try to support him best I can."

So, Venomshank is at least very supportive of Sword and his interests.

While he is a very strict parent, keeping Sword indoors at most times, giving him a particular curfew, hiding secrets from him, and keeping him very sheltered, it's clear that he cares DEEPLY for Sword. He only wants his trainee to stay safe, even if his methods of ensuring it may be a tad over-the-top.

Now, let's talk about Venom's secretive nature.

There's one thing we know for sure Venomshank didn't tell Sword about. He purposefully hid the Scorch from Sword, not wanting to know about what Firebrand had done and the people that died, despite Lost Temple being Sword's home region. Not only did he hide it from Sword as a kid, but Sword didn't know even by the time he was 24, so it seems Venomshank didn't plan on telling him for a WHILE.

However... There's more to Venomshank's secrets than just this.

Let's take a look at some recent DITF panels! (Spoilers if you didn't read it, all credits to Soda and the DITF team for their hard work!!!!!!!!!!)

Now. I know that was a lot, but there's a lot of necessary context in there. Let's go over this scene.

They're talking about the Scorch at first, specifically, Windforce is trying to get Venomshank to rule Crossroads in Firebrand's absence. They are talking VERY openly about this. They don't appear to have any qualms discussing the Scorch itself.

Venomshank refuses, and Windforce starts very rudely poking fun at his decisions towards raising Sword. This comes to a head when she says, "I bet you didn't even tell him the truth yet."

Venomshank, VERY IMPORTANTLY, asks, "What truth?" This implies there's more than one.

Now, if Windforce was referring to the Scorch here, SHE WOULD HAVE SAID SO. She CLEARLY has no issue speaking about it, they were JUST talking about it.

Instead she says, "THAT truth."

Windforce and Venomshank both know something very important concerning Sword, something that Sword does not know, and it's clearly meant to be something other than the Scorch itself.

Now, it's a good time to mention Sword's heritage.

Through the many rewrites and retcons of Phighting's lore, one thing has stayed true for years-- Sword is related by blood to Venomshank and the Swords.

We don't know how, we don't know why, but Sword wasn't JUST adopted by Venom, he is BLOOD RELATED to him in some way, and it seems to go a lot more in-depth that "he's just Venom's son or something."

It is completely possible that the 'secret' Venom has been keeping has to do with this heritage. We'll keep that in mind for later!

III.B - Darkheart

Venomshank and Darkheart are siblings. Venomshank is closer with Darkheart than anyone else, though their relationship still seems a bit antagonizing.

While they seem to care about each other, Darkheart is often shown poking fun at Venomshank, sometimes about VERY sensitive topics. Darkheart has been shown to be very unempathetic in the past though, it's very in character for him to ignore/belittle the emotions of others (ex: telling Sword he's a failure that one time). It's important to remember that Darkheart is specifically a moral gray figure, not a villain, but definitely not a saint either.

I will bringing this panel up again later, but for now we can glean two important things here.

First of all, Darkheart refers to Sword as mortal and questions why Venomshank is bothering with raising him. Remember how I said the 'secret' may have something to do with Sword's deity blood? If so, this implies that Darkheart is either being coy or genuinely doesn't know this secret.

Darkheart is also touching some nerves with this particular line; "You know what happens when deities get close to mortals-this story always ends the same way." Likely referring to Sword's death (this is the part I'll touch on later, as it's very important.)

Venomshank doesn't seem to enjoy the company of any of his siblings, so while he may be closest with Darkheart, that doesn't exactly mean they're the best of friends...

Still, they seem to care about each other in some weird mean way, so that's nice.

III.C - Windforce

The relationship between Venomshank and Windforce is something I hadn't ever really thought about until the most recent DITF update, where we've suddenly got a LOT of information about their relationship in a flashback sequence.

Windforce (presumably as a last resort after every other deity refused) asked Venomshank to rule over Crossroads after the Scorch, to which he vehemently refuses.

Windforce has been characterized as quite cruel in the past, and, of course, isn't a fan of being told no. She pokes fun at Venom's decision to focus on raising a kid rather than rule a faction- (a very interesting line coming from her, considering that she is raising a child WHILE raising a faction. She specifically says "Oh sorry, you're too busy playing house." Every day we get more Ban Hammer Neglect Evidence.....)- which he seems very displeased about.

She then mentions "the secret." It's strange Windforce would know this, considering Venomshank is very clearly uncomfortable around her, and DARKHEART doesn't even know anything.

With some major extrapolation, this is the conclusion I can offer: Windforce and Firebrand are close, so anything he knew, he may have told her. Sword is from Lost Temple. Firebrand set fire to Lost Temple for seemingly no reason. Firebrand is a major narrative haunter in DITF, so it's likely we'll be getting more info on him. If Venomshank knows about Sword's heritage, and Sword's weird heritage has ANYTHING to do with Firebrand, which it likely does, then Windforce could know by proxy to Firebrand. ALL SPECULATION.

III.D - Others

Rocket - Due to Sword and Rocket being best friends, it's very likely that Venomshank has some acquaintance with him. We know Rocket finds Venom very intimidating, but it's unclear how Venom feels in return.

Zuka - Because Zuka has worked with all of the deities before, and because Rocket and Sword literally met through Venomshank and Zuka, we know these two must know each other somehow. It's unclear exactly how they feel about each other.

Illumina - While Darkheart most likely hates Illumina due to them being opposites (deities of light and dark respectively), Venomshank has also been stated to dislike Illumina, though it's completely unclear why.

Ghostwalker, Firebrand, and Ice Dagger - It's unclear how Venomshank feels about his othr siblings, but he must have some opinions on them at least.

Sect. IV - OCD RAMBLE

Venomshank has OCD.

.

...

Obsessive compulsive disorder can be broken down simply into two main parts. VERY basically, obsessions are "Unwanted intrusive thoughts and urges, usually about a specific subject or subjects, that cause anxiety, panic, and/or guilt from the person affected." Compulsions are "Repetitive actions or mental processes you must complete to ease the unwanted urges and in a way feel "cleansed" of your thoughts."

Simply put, if you had an obsession about. Murdering someone. You might have repeated visions or thoughts of killing them, which would then cause you a lot of anxiety, and you might think, "Am I a bad person? I don't really wanna kill anyone"

And then a compulsion might be. Sleeping with your knives in a locked safe, that way you can't get to them in the night.

Sometimes a compulsion may make NO SENSE also. Again, this is a DISORDER, it's not meant to be logical. So maybe, the obsession is getting sick, you don't wanna get sick, and then the compulsion is. Eating a piece of candy.

Realistically, would that help at all? NO! But that's how it often works.

It's ALSOOOO worth noting that people with OCD are not always aware of what they're doing. I've become more aware of my compulsions over time, but for a long time I thought it was just. Totally natural to be guilty and anxious constantly and have to do weird tasks to make it stop! I had no idea what was up!

Sorry, it's just. ITS IMPORTANT THAT WE'RE ON THE SAME PAGE ABOUT WHAT THIS DISORDER IS.

Now, that being said, how does this apply to Sir Venomshank?

Well, it's difficult to analyze the mind of someone with a mental illness like this from the outside, but I'm gonna try my best.

I'm gonna say this again before I get into it, but OCD is. A disorder. Disorders are very complex, they don't make sense, they're difficult, and with OCD, obsessions and compulsions are often very unclear and hard to parse. I can point at Venomshank all day and say "Look he's exhibiting Symptoms" but I can't claim this is canon in any way, and you can totally disagree with me and call me crazy.

ALL THAT BEING SAID. Here we go :-]

Venomshank's Mask

Venomshank's mask has a lock on it to prevent him from hurting people when in his feral state. We can see in this flashback (which takes place ten years before present day) that he was comfortable without his mask while at home (though it's unclear if he had the mask at this time at all).

In the present day, he is ALWAYS seen with his mask on, except in QnAs and silly art that takes place outside of canon. He trusts himself and his own instincts less, likely due to the feral episode we see him undergo in the flashback ten years ago.

2. Keeping routines

This one's not as strong but literally LOOK AT HIM.

Remember he literally said "Yeah I'll support Sword no matter what," so this isn't some "aarggrgrgrg I need my trainee to do everything SPECIFICALLY WHEN I SAY TO!!!" he genuinely just likes keeping thigs punctual... (Also he was probably worried about Sword being gone for so long, but STILLLLLL)

Exhibit b:

He just want to stay on schedule and this asshole is here </3

This one's not too important but keeping routines can be a way for people with OCD to maintain a sense of control over things.

3. Reasoning

OCD can be a fear of something happening TO you, or a fear of hurting someone/something ELSE. For me, it's both!! I am very scared at the possibility of getting sick, but I also having intrusive thoughts surrounding hurting others.

This evidence is very supplemental, but Venomshank is a very special case because he DOES have episodes where he loses control of his body and can hurt people.

Many people who develop OCD will feel intense shame and guilt over mere thoughts and things they haven't done, but for Venomshank, whose urges are not only strong, but sometimes become completely uncontrollable, it makes sense that he would feel immense fear about it happening again.

In his case, the obsession IS going into that feral state again, and every compulsion is a way to "prevent" it from happening (although we know it's not preventable)

4. Isolation

This is the biggest point. One of Venomshank's most noticeable character traits, something that ties everything together...

It's common for those with OCD to withdraw from family and society for fear of hurting others. If you're having intrusive thoughts every time you look at a stranger, of course you're gonna wanna go inside and never see a stranger again, because "What if it comes true? What if you really hurt them?"

Venomshank isolates both himself and Sword at home and refuses most contact with the public. He doesn't tell his secrets even to those who are absolutely closest to him, and he seems VERY lonely.

Let's talk about this panel again!

"You know what happens when deities get close to mortals."

But what does happen?

Windforce is literally KNOWN for throwing people off of the island she rules, and even those that get to stay are put under not-so-great working conditions.

Firebrand's kid married a mortal and now they're both so utterly defamed we've never heard their NAMES.

Zuka worked with every deity and had the favor of a few, and then one ripped off his damn arm.

This panel isn't just about the fact that mortals will, inevitably, die. It's about deities SPECIFICALLY causing harm to those they care about.

This is, likely, one of Venomshank's WORST fears, and whether Darkheart knows it or not, he's touching a VERY sensitive nerve here.

The way VENOM hears this is "If you don't get rid of Sword you're gonna accidentally kill him dude" which is a really fucking awful thing to say to someone with OCD </3

AND IN THIS SHOT, Venomshank is surrounded by visages of zombies, staring up at him innocently. People he's formerly bitten and turned. THINK ABOUT THAT. GOD.

At the end of the day, it's impossible to know if Venomshank really has any sort of disorders.

On one hand, his situation as a deity and his ability to go feral are VERY unique to him. One could argue that his issues CANNOT be classified as OCD, and are only an extension of that part of himself. Simply an "allegory," perhaps.

It's very difficult to tell, as. Most OCD symptoms are in the LITTLE details, y'know? Like, I don't know how many times Venomshank washes his hands in a day! I don't know him!!! And I don't know what he thinks. So it's impossible to know :(

In my personal opinion, he's OCD-coded as fuck and I love him very much :-]

Sect. V - Feral State

Venomshank's "feral state" is completely unique to him, as we know of NOBODY else in Phighting with these sorts of states. We don't know much about it, but I feel it deserves it's own section, as it is important to his character!!

When asked about his feral state, his answer was; "Well...I'd go more in depth but I really can't, I don't exactly remember all that much whilst in my monstrous state, just fleeting memories only hours after I snap out of it." Rather than a drowsiness or drunkness, Venomshank is overtaken as a whole, and cannot remember a thing he says or does.

So how does this happen? Is it due to a specific emotion? Can it happen at any time?

Well, the newest comic update has given us some answers, so let's analyze it for clues!!!

Venomshank and Windforce are arguing. He seems uncomfortable, but is talking, articulated, and seemed completely normal.

Windforce goes further and threatens Sword's saftey, even pulling out her own weapon and advancing into the house. At this point, Venomshank is very angry, but he still seems like his normal self.

It's at the very end when we see him begin to change. Sword sits on the ground injured, and at this point Venomshank has summoned his gear and is planning on (most-likely) sneak-attacking Windforce out of this house. However...

His walking becomes less controlled and we see his eyes are now green, which would seem to imply he's now fully slipping out of consciousness and into his more violent state.

It's unclear if this was triggered BY his anger directly, or if it was just a coincidence in timing, however, it would add another layer of depth to his constant calm and put-together nature, if anger truly is what triggers him to go into this state.

He'd HAVE to be calm all the time, lest. This happens...

Sect. VI - Appreciation

Look at him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo beautiful <3

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