Only warm primordial blackness

Quick note: Flowery isn't part of this because he's explicitly a replacement child/wife/BFF multitool. He encompasses all of them. I'm going to talk about Blue, because he IS part of this, but not here. Blue is getting his own post. This one kind of only exists to set a foundation for the Blue post. I'll link it here in an edit once it's up.

(EDIT: Blue Post)

I'm starting with Aqua here just to illustrate each of these factors and their significance using an obvious and agreed-upon example. The explanations for the others won't be as long.

Aqua mirrors Kris in a lot of very superficial ways. She's small, blue, easily bored, and just as easily temporarily amused. She likes knives and uses them on both friends and enemies, which she doesn't get the difference between. These similarities are surface-level but establish an obvious connection to Kris, especially with Kris having to face her alone in their first meeting. Just as obviously, she's extremely different from the Kris we know, though it isn't hard to link her to the mischievous child Kris is frequently described to have been.

It seems clear that Aqua reflects Asgore's memory of Kris as a child, filtered through a lot of distance and a lot of wish fulfillment relating to that distance. His memory is warped by his own flawed perception of them and his restructuring of them through idealization, especially in regard to what he'd want from them in the aftermath of Whatever Happened. Aqua is chronically 4 years old and never unhappy. When something bad happens, she doesn't understand it enough to be upset by it and can move on right away. She's very gullible and she believes whatever narrative the older people around her want her to believe. Basically, if something pretty terrible were to happen, it's unlikely she'd be permanently traumatized by it. It's also unlikely that she'd be at fault.

The really important aspect of the idealization the flowers represent is its connection to Whatever Happened, which we're assuming from here on was the Dess incident. The flowers act how Asgore wishes their real-life counterparts would act, or otherwise in accordance to what he thinks/hopes their behavior means in relation to it. With Aqua, she lacks enough of a concept of good and bad to do anything legitimately bad. During the Justice act, she takes credit for every crime regardless of how unrealistic her guilty claims are. Even the one crime she did commit is phrased to sound like something a little kid would make up:

Given Kris's guilt about what happened to Dess (assuming that that's what the "you promised" business and their thing with Carol is about), their trauma likely stemming from it (considering art therapy and their fear of the shelter), and the fact that they know about the Dark World before chapter 1, it would make sense if they tried to blame themself as a kid and Asgore assumed it was just baseless self-blame from a child who didn't really understand what was going on. Kris's claims being glossed over or not believed is something that's popped up over and over again from the jump:

Kris obviously does have an understanding of what happened back then, and a lot of what they're up to here and now is connected to it. I think a big part of Aqua's wish fulfillment for Asgore is just, like, a happy Kris. One who's too young to process the weight of difficult events enough to be upset by them, who doesn't understand good vs. bad and therefore can't really do anything bad, who doesn't beat themself up over a tragedy. The imperative for a happy Kris, in Asgore's eyes, seems to be innocence.

With the foundations out of the way, I think I can just rattle off the rest. Aqua brings us to Seth.

Seth reads pretty straightforwardly as Asriel to me. They fill an older-sibling type role with Aqua, who they're basically inseparable from throughout the chapter. They treat Asgore like a personal hero in the most childlike (as in "like they're his child") way out of the bunch. They're a textbook Undertale-brand "Nerd" who sees themself in Ralsei, another botched image of Asriel.

Like Aqua, Seth is too young to think less of Asgore for his flaws or leave him. They're old enough to know when not to bother him, but young enough that they still want to. They want his affection and to make him proud by emulating him. It's worth noting how they try to take charge of the group when Asgore's not around, taking responsibility for things that he's too busy for, though they still fall short of being the "man" of the house. When they do leave him alone, it's at his own wishes, not theirs. It's Seth that feels desperate for Asgore's approval and company, rather than the other way around the way it is for Asgore and Asriel now.

Yellow is (imo) the most obvious connection after Aqua. He's the local hero who seeks justice even/especially when it comes at his own expense, blaming himself for things he obviously didn't do and that everyone around him knows he didn't do. He's willing to dispense justice when his loved ones are in the wrong (so he's a Good Cop) but he's also completely harmless (so he's a Good Guy). He's essentially Asgore's ego ideal, a fantasy self who only ever wants to do what's right and whose wrongdoings are quirky misunderstandings at their worst. All of the flowers look up to him and he'd sacrifice everything to make them happy and protect them.

Beyond the hero aspect, the central fantasy Yellow embodies is being a needlessly self-flagellating victim.

Asgore's primary goal is to prove that what happened to Dess wasn't his fault. Finding out who was at fault is just an instrument in achieving this. His search for justice is a revenge fantasy at heart, specifically revenge for tearing his life apart by committing the crime that got pinned on him rather than the act of the crime itself. He obviously does care about what happened to Dess, but at this point in the game, "preventing a tragedy" is consistently secondary to proving his own innocence.

The person who suffers the most from Yellow's actions is Yellow. He punishes himself for crimes he didn't commit after some ragtag bunch of kids tricks him into thinking he messed up to cover their own asses. He represents what Asgore hopes he is in regard to the incident: wrongly accused and harmless to anyone other than himself.

Keeping these last two short. Green is a silent cook who prioritizes the kids' wellbeing over anything else. They don't speak and they rarely do anything that doesn't involve taking care of the kids/flowers. They disagree with the flowers' method of supporting Asgore and preserving his fantasy, but Green's intervention only helps the kids without directly jeopardizing anything involving Asgore.

If you lose the Flowery battle, they'll give you all your items back, but they'll still fight you again when you retry the fight. They're a version of Toriel that is unobtrusive and passive while maintaining her clear moral stance of giving precedence to the kids' safety over Asgore's goals. They can disagree with Asgore, but they can't verbally say so. Their role is taking care of the others and. Again. Cooking. I think of this as an idealization that sort of declaws Toriel in a way that allows the traits Asgore likes about her to stick around without posing a threat. A simplified and silent version of her who just wants everyone to get along is the only one that would be able to exist within this fantasy.

Orange is the last one I wanna pin a specific character to. I went over her a little bit in another post, but I'm gonna go again just to have everything in one place. Orange is a sensitive little kid and tries to pass as ultra-strong and ultra-tough but fools nobody. She's a mouse, and she considers this to be the scariest, toughest shape she could possibly take. She's especially sensitive about people talking down to her:

Her go-to move is to accuse both the kids and the flowers of bullying her and run off threatening to tell on them. She reads as a young Noelle, with certain traits emphasized in order to frame her as overly sensitive and easily upset by the smallest of things. I think this comes in part from Asgore's memory of her growing more and more infantilized the more distant it gets and in part to reduce the guilt associated with making her upset. With Noelle's response to Dess leaving likely being the worst out of the bunch in terms of Asgore-guilt at not preventing whatever he should've prevented, I'd say the purpose of this is to be able to look at Noelle at all without feeling constantly nauseatingly guilty. She's always upset and extremely sensitive, so you don't have to feel bad for setting her off.

It's also worth noting that Orange is the one whose "big sister" is terrified of FRIEND and gives us crucial information regarding why Dess would have left...and that this sister isn't really her sister at all...

First things first, the whole debate is predetermined to fall in favour of one person, which is a reductive and false way of assessing things. When it comes to the question of "Who is a better partner for Harry?" it takes but a quick first glance for the answer to emerge: that Kim is "obviously" the best candidate there is. But that's the thing, a good portion of this assertion is circumstantial and comes from the saying "the right person at the right place at the right time". I will repeatedly stress that all characters are written to be as human as possible, so there is no good reason to jump to extremes and call someone absolutely bad or absolutely good. Humans just aren't.

From the get go, Kim gives off a positive new impression that is of a naturally kind, patient and humorous person who prides himself in maintaining seemingly unshakable composure, impartiality and professional approach to work and life. Anyone would love to work alongside a person like that, getting to know each other while safety breaching professional distance without any scathing scrutiny or judgement. For Harry "who emerged into this precarious cruel world like a newborn", it's perfect, all he could ever ask for. Surely, if he had previously worked with such a partner by his side, he wouldn't have slipped further into misery and destructive habits like he did, right?

And that's, in my opinion, where the unrealistic presumption is. What would it look like if Jean and Kim switched positions? According to Jean and the fact that only he and Judith showed up (and Trant less enthusiastically), Harry managed to screw up the relationships with all the good and talented people who wanted to work with him and his unit by extension. And I dare to assume that Kim would be on that list too.

If you run through some pre-bender Harry facts it's not hard to see why. Do you really think anyone would want to work/stick around for long with clearly mentally unwell police officer who increasingly becomes more volatile and violent as he can't deal with a heartbreak of several years and instead resorts to alcohol, drugs and possibly other self harm methods? Who is an active suicide risk, and who further perpetuates the abhorrent reputation of already crippling joke that is the RCM with his unprofessional conduct? Who constantly juggles contradicting opinions and ideologies, many of which also fall into sexism, racism and downright fascism? Who makes everything about himself and conflates his personal issues with his job? And yet, at times, somehow actually does an excellent detective work all the same? Harrier Du Bois was a walking mess prior to Martinese.

Do you really think that Kim Kitsuragi would put up with all this bullshit, with Harry's whole "Dora mess" he was fortunate enough to be spared from? Lieutenant Kitsuragi, the same man who values professionalism and holds police work to high esteem? Few people put up, and for a range of different reasons. It may seem fairly easy to extend the line of thinking that Kim would, if you draw upon Kim's virtues that is, but let's not forget that we only got the insight of what his attitude towards Harry is at his '"lost" self, not his worst one.

There is no point denying that practically all of us tried to do this new version of Harry justice, giving him a shot at life with a new hopeful perspective, which Kim indeed recognised and welcomed. We all try to build as much distance between the "Tequila Sunset" and Harrier Du Bois, between his worst and his potentially better selves. But can you confidently asset that this possible relationship would stand the trial of Harry's spiral that precinct 41, and Jean as his partner, were subjected to?

You may refute, citing Kim's strength the source of which are stoicism as well as the saintly amount of compassion, which seemingly only he posseses. However, both have limits and conditions, as much as we want there to be none. For instance, there is Judith who is undeniably professionally distant and sympathetic like Kim, but I wouldn't be surprised if Judith had known Harry for longer than two months, she would have already left like people before her did. She is kind, yet equally cognizant of the fact that if Harry doesn't want get better, then there is nothing to be done. No amount of "unconditional, constant" support and patience will mend the person who doesn't see nor want any of it. Even if it's a "right thing", it's not necessarily a correct course of actions; you're fighting in the war where you're losing the battles over and over again, becoming more disheartened, frustrated and bitter (COUGH COUGH).

Next thing I want to touch upon is Kim's "selflessness". Like I mentioned before, Kim's willingness to put up with Harry is conditional, especially at the earlier stages of their partnership. Kim's readiness to risk his life for Harry doesn't come from his internal urge to save people. It stems from the trauma of losing a colleague Kim most likely was very close with, and additionally from the fact that he has a very personal high regard for law enforcement(this deserves a separate analysis), and by extension officers in it.

Kim would not risk his life to such extent if Harry was a mere civilian. Even to Harry's surprise, Kim quickly gets over the deaths of Ruby and those who died at Tribunal, because that's just "how things are when you're a police officer". But cops die too in their line of work. Kim doesn't like the idea of Harry sleeping in the dumpster because "it's unbecoming of an RCM officer", or something along those lines (but otherwise it would be alright huh?). There are a lot of "Harry" moments Kim is willing to overlook, for better or worse, considerable extent of which falls onto the fact that Kim regards Harry as a capable detective (who Harry is when he's not trying to dissolve his brains in ethanol). If Harry was none of it, Kim wouldn't have a milky white disk behind his head.

And that's because Kim is a human with his fair share of biases and unsavoury traits. The only reason he can be called a "good partner" for Harry is because he's a partner to this new, Martinese Harry, and not the pre-bender Harry. In this particular situation, Kim just happens to be an "ideal" kind of person, the one Harry can't afford to lose and the one for who he has to make a step towards self-betterment, now that Harry had baptized himself and is ready to confront his past, lest he loses a person who still holds some untainted hope for him.

Now we get to Jean who, in contrast to Kim who easily imbues positivity in the players, festers anonymity for both you as a player and Harry. Jean has a natural disadvantage of being Harry's previous partner — if that's what Harry has come to (Tequila Sunset), then naturally some of the blame is set on the shoulders of someone who was supposed to be there for him.

But the perspective is different. Unlike Kim, Jean had pretty much had seen it all: the copotypes, the futile war against the addictions, the constant coping through the all possible means, the sudden spur of professionalism and familiar negligence of it — Jean had experienced it all for 2 years at minimum. All this circus from a middle aged man who is higher in position than him, who is a so called "case solving machine", whom he had to watch humiliate and destroy himself because he couldn't pull himself together. Jean shares Harry's diagnosis of depression, but unlike him, he has better time at coping with it. "Why can't Harry fo the same then?" And most importantly when it comes to their partnership, any failures and shortcomings that befall Harry reflect on Jean, who can't help and take them personally. Jean is mad at all times because he's angry with Harry and himself simultaneously.

Jean is sick and tired of Harry's antics, and you are directly subjected to his disgruntlement first hand during the second Tribunal. He only sees his ridiculous partner spew nonsense and wild claims which he had already heard. And from Jean's standpoint, also dragging a good example of a police officer (or a 12 y.o. child who calls them pigs and fags) along with him to make excuses for him. Of course Jean is not thrilled by the fact that his partner had conveniently "forgotten" him; he doesn't have any patience left and the methods of dealing with the old Harry don't work on the new one, agitating Jean further.

But still, why so much crudeness and vitriol? Shouldn't Jean be happy to see Harry, his goddamn partner, recover from the darkness he plunged himself into, ready to make amends and re-enter the RCM with a clear mind? We have accepted Harry because we can only deduce as much from what the game given. Jean, however, has his own impression and relationship to Harry, whom we didn't control during their shared time together, the relationship which we as a player couldn't tailor like we did with Kim's. It's easy to give advice and expect things to be easily forgiven. Jean's reactions, behaviour and scepticism are not baseless and are like a tangled yarn of personal issues constrained by their position as officers and as individuals.

It's not unjustified to assume that Jean had tried to pull Harry through, with what Jean thought was his best. Jean has clinical depression to tend to and the fact that Jean appears highly functional doesn't undermine the fact. He can't deal with Harry and himself despite him making a poor job of it. I do believe Jean tried his best — it just happens that Kim's best is literally willing to put his own life on the line for Harry and also show human kindness to a work colleague from another precinct.

Which leads we to an interesting question:

Are we really measuring the quantity and quality of help of the two different people, on a completely different footing with a contentious person such as Harry, the impression of whom is highly individualized and shaped by Harry's past/present actions and state of psyche? Is it even fair or just?

During the partnership with Harry, Jean suffered from the issues of his own that manifest in antagonism and his inability to let go of Harry, while Kim didn't let his issues out verbally (which he does indeed suffer from as well), but through the unhealthy compulsivity to prevent death by offering his own life instead.

It could be affirmed that Jean wasn't an "ideal" partner for the pre-bender Harry, like Kim was for the post-bender one, but a "good" one nonetheless, to a toxic degree. Because Jean wanted Harry to do the job his higher in ranking partner was genuinely good at, he covered up for his screw ups, he didn't abandon him like many people rightfully did up until he laid wreckage in Martinese. Harry's morale gets healed when he bounces back ideas with Jean.

Jean checked up on Harry despite being told to leave, and was constantly worrying about him until he came to make amends and saw that he was replaced. The way Jean speaks of Dora suggests to me that he wanted Harry to get over her (after almost 7 years!!) for a very long time, very much possibly being subjected to the dragged out aftermath. Jean is cold but he's not made of stone: no work partner is expected to shoulder something that should have, ideally, been resolved with the therapist. But here Jean is. No-one gives the nickname "hetero-sexual life partners" to a relationship devoid of anything relating to those words. "Life partnership" relates to marriage — albeit unhappy in their case, but the one where parties don't magically work through the issues, or just easily divorce from. A "battle-tested relationship" and "[...] a trouble in paradise for that duo" as Chester states.

Jean wasn't being a complete asshole to Harry because he despised him and wanted him to suffer, but because that's how it used to be, and because Jean was pissed off and tired. One of, if not the first thing Jean insults Harry over is him bleeding out because Jean is concerned. If you have ever been in Jean's shoes, then you can recognise that he barates Harry precisely because he wants Harry to fight back and reassert that he has not given up on himself and is genuinely wanting to change.

That's what makes Jean three-dimensional in my opinion. He simultaneously doesn't hold any belief for Harry because he had seen the failed attempts before, but he still leaves Harry room for any sound excuse, while expecting justifications Jean already knows how to handle and refute.

That's why Jean had the third party involved. He dragged Trant into this because he needed someone else outside to confirm that Harry is not bullshitting him yet again and that his anger is misplaced. In the end, Jean takes Judith's, Kim's, Cuno's words because he doesn't complete trust himself to make a correct decision. A very telling moment for me (which also deserves a separate 20 pages analysis), is when Kim gets shot and Jean visits him at the hospital to give his assessment of Harry because he just can't face him unbiased. To which Kim replies that Harry needs Jean now more than ever because Kim knows how unstable and vulnerable Harry is at the moment. If you wish, you may even link/read Jean's readiness to burry the hatchet and give his shoulder for Harry to lean on as a sign of change in Jean's perspective and new hope, especially if you complete the second Tribunal by yourself.