! Major content spoiler warning: I will be discussing chapters 236-244 from book 7. If you choose to comment on this post, please refrain from spoilering anything that isn't up-to-date with the eng server. Thank you.
Basic summary of chapter 236-244 from book 7:
In his dream Cater is the housewarden of Heartslabyul with Trey as his right hand man and Riddle as the one who keeps reciting the rules. We see ridiculous trials (such as somebody being on trial for making Cater lose his temper in a croquet tournament) and students writing down witness-statements that don't make sense (like Leona's: "Hey Ruggie, get me a ham and cheese sandwhich for lunch"). Right after Cater loses interest in the trial he throws a party, with Trey preparing cake, spicy pizza and other snacks, and Riddle taking care of the music. However just as Cater tries to feed Leona a snack, Ortho snaps and says that the three of them are just trying to keep them in the dream. Trey, Riddle and Cater turn into darkness and they realise that this Cater was just a clone.
So they fight the darkness and soon the real Cater steps into the courtroom after hearing that Leona came to Heartslabyul to have tea.
Just as Riddle tries to collar Deuce and Grim, Cater wakes up and uses his signature spell to get collared instead. He then beats up the fake Riddle and Trey and the group brings him up to speed. At the end Cater questions why he'd even have this dream when he really doesn't want to be Housewarden. Silver overhears him and says that Malleus' dreams are usually a weird distortion of what they really want.
Did Cater ever want to be housewarden?
I honestly don't believe Cater was lying about the part where he doesn't want to be housewarden. In his dorm uniform vignette he says: "Guess I'm just not cut out to be a team lead" after the team he was in charge of complained about him 'slacking off' during the Unbirthday party preperation.
When you have the "King of Trick's" Cater on your homescreen, there's also this line: "You want to know if I wanted to be housewarden deep down? No way, absolutely not! It'd come with so many hassles, like having to go to meetings and stuff."
In the end he told Silver not to tell Riddle, which also shows that he's kinda pretty ashamed about the whole being housewarden thing.
He isn't the type to do a lot of work, so being in such a high position would only force him to be more serious about school. But that's just not who he is.
That is why the housewarden dream stands for something entirely else.
And this is where my theory starts + all we know about Cater's past.
To be fair, I think Cater did want control and power which the position of a housewarden brings. But in my opinion, he didn't want it over people and rather his own life.
Cater grew up with 2 older sisters who basically made him their life-sized doll. They got him stuff they found cute for his birthday, they dressed him up and forced him to eat sweets until he was sick of it (hence he doesn't eat things with a lot of sugar in it). They are the reason he dreads going home for the holidays even if they did start asking him about his opinion more.
There is also his father who was the reason his family had to move cities all the time, forcing them to leave everything behind every two years.
So I can imagine when Cater finally arrived at NRC, he was able to be a bit of himself. Leona revealed that Heartslabyul used to be the biggest chaos with graffiti on the walls and no rules to follow. I also don't think he and Idia were too far off with saying that Cater and Trey used Riddle to establish some kind of normality in the dorm even if Cater did try to deny it lol.
Perhaps the freedom the last housewarden provided was a little too much for our favourite influencer to handle because he wasn't used to making his own decisions.
His dream shows that he longs to be somebody who isn't bossed around (like by his sisters or even Ridde) and just does whatever he thinks is the most fun (skateboarding, throwing parties, posting pictures, etc.) without being bound by ridiculous rules he has to follow.
Being at the top of the dorm also meant that he would be getting the attention he so wants without anybody judging him for doing whatever he wanted (like skating around in the dorm) (my boy needs compliments to function even if he will never admit it).
Perhaps he wishes for a life without consequences for being himself.
His dream isn't just 'ridiculous' and without meaning. Because it has a lot of meaning that's just hiding under the cover of being a 'normal' dream.
In summary: I believe the dream symbolises Cater's desire to have some sort of control over his life as that was stripped away from him when he was younger. Being the housewarden allowed him to do whatever he wanted while still getting the validation he so craves.
Thank you for reading. If you agree/disagree, feel free to tell me about your opinion, I'd love to hear about it :D
A/N: Is it noticable that I love Cater a little too much? This guy needs to go to therapy, please and thank you <3
prguitarman
tangentwithtanner
pixelskylines
romaincrisis
gracieabrams
baratheonpilled
snowghoul
ellievsbear