violetlight

I don't view their initial relationship as very healthy and what I mean when I reference people insisting that their relationship was toxic from the start is when they specifically characterize it as Minerva always acting as she does post-delta. I think that a lot of people struggle to see Minnie past how we/clem/the player gets to see her, and they don't take into account how she was as a person before we saw her, and people often characterize her to be just how she is after going through such an intense change, and don't acknowledge that it was a change in the first place. Which is why I dislike when people see her as "just a bad person" and that there's nothing more to her character than that, when even if you just see her in the delta, you can tell there's so much more to her that that. The characters put so much emphasis on how different she is.

I think that while it is important to acknowledge their relationship as unhealthy, it's also important to acknowledge that these are both traumatized kids in an environment where forming a healthy relationship to begin with is incredibly rare, and holding them to the same standards as adults and jumping to view their dynamic as incredibly toxic or even abusive where Minnie is this god awful person with no nuances or genuine care for Vi is something I don't like seeing, so I like how you acknowledge the nuances of their dynamic and their characters and how while Minnie's behavior can have a negative impact on Violet, there's so much more to it than that.

I think that people really forget that every Ericson kid is flawed and that that is an important aspect of their characters, as well as the fact of oh well, they're kids. These people are not grown adults, and that also applies to Minnie. She and Violet must've known each other since before the apocalypse started (even if TWDG season 4 does get the timeline pretty messed up) and so they quite literally grew up together, and not only did they just grow up together, they grew up in an environment completely different than what most kids grow up in, their way of socialization during their development would impact how they view socialization and typical concepts that most children their age would comfortably grasp when for when, it isn't as easy.

I wanna talk a little more about when I mentioned that I like to see Minerva as someone who could bring comfort to anyone [at least through Vi's eyes] and Violet being someone who very deeply needed comfort. I really like to think about this aspect of their dynamic as them finding comfort in knowing they are both "complicated people". Violet is noted as a very reserved person and I think her backstory is important to think about when I note this, and I think because she's considered so reserved and can be shown to act out at times, her knowing and building a connection with someone who's more social and also can be shown to be cold/mean/whatever(im tired) at times would be a lot for her.

I think that often times, a traumatized person can find comfort in the fact that another person also carries trauma but is still capable of forming a connection with them, or at all, especially given that is something Violet struggles with. I like to think of this as Violet being deeply hurt by Minerva's behavior at times, but also trying to see it as something she can relate to, and so while she would be hurt by it, she would also feel like she understands because her own behavior has been seen as "harmful" in the past. Ultimately, I think that Violet and Minerva are really similar, but I also think they are very different,, and so this mindset of Vi's could easily lead her to excusing Minnie's behavior and also sometimes misunderstanding where it comes from/how may differ from hers.

There is a lot I can make up of their relationship, I feel like their are just so many parts of them that they'd understand and so many parts that they would struggle to understand, they just wouldn't properly communicate the parts they don't understand because they both struggle with communicating, and so they'd have to fill in the blanks by themselves.

Those are some of my headcanons and thoughts about them I often have. I think there's also a lot people can explore in regards to Minnie having toxic behaviors while also hating the concept of violence,, but I've already said a lot so.

But yeah what I like is that you acknowledge the fact that they are really young, and their love is complicated because their lives are complicated, but it was genuine and important even if not healthy. People tend to immediately view complicated dynamics through the perspective of them both being grown adults when it's really important that they were kids. And I really love that idea for a comic,, I can definitely see that happening between them and I think just that short interaction can say a lot about their relationship. Minnie's trauma from the delta will never not fail to make me sad.

Again I appreciate the response and I absolutely love your art of them ^^ (btw, I love cptsd/bpd Minnie!)

i don’t even have much to add to this because i just agree with everything you said lmaoooo

also i love the point of violet excusing minnie’s actions in a at-least-im-not-the-only-one-fucked-up-here way (to put in very simple terms ig??)) i think that’s really intriguing to think about!!! + the “they’d fill in the blanks by themselves” in regards to lack of communication… agreed

answering these got my head into such a minerva mood again that’s been making me drawing her a lot😭 gonna post a drawing soon about how she might not have been able to look in the mirror after killing sophie -> which leads to her cutting her gay ass haircut all of a sudden in a fry attempt of resembling sophie less 😭 ive been wanting to make something in regards to sophie too💔

thank you so much!!!!! minerva is one of my favorite twdg characters, her character is such a puzzle and i love trying to piece the few pieces of information we have about her together.

though to be fair, i do think violet and minerva were a liiittle broken from the start… i just wouldn’t say it was clear to either of them at the time.

i.e minnie’s class president line about violet reads as a obvious tactic to keep violet and ericson at a distance. but still i cant help but think that minerva always did believe that was true to some extent,,,,

we don’t know why the twins and tenn were sent to ericson so.. my personal headcanon kinda circles around the death of their parents (since minerva mentioned that they’d meet their parents in heaven so adamantly), then their legal guardian became another family member that sent them to ericson due to the psychological distress their parents death may have caused + they read to me as rich kids (ericson looks so pricey… which also ties to my other hc that violet’s mom used grandma’s inheritance money to be able to sent violet off to ericson) + maybe that family member just didn’t want to take care of them. maybe they’re even responsible for their parents death who knows (jk im going to far and ive not thought abt this part before)

ANYHOW what i meant to get at is that hc leads to another that is that the diagnosis minnie got at ericson would be cptsd/bpd. which is what kept her at ericson. also, all the info that the twins were very soft and gentle come from violet who has major rose colored glasses going on because of grief and her deep and genuine connection to minnie and the siblings…

also the fact the violet used to make fun of another classmate’s braces leads me to the belief that this quadruple (twins, vi and brody) weren’t the best (not saying they were the meanest girls of all but honestly i dont mind thinking yeah maybe they were???)

so yeah tbh i do think minnie was more often than not too mean and brutally honest even to violet. and i think some of these moments have hurt vi deeply. i was actually just working on a comic/drawing that originated from the question mark of why didn’t violet ever dance with anyone if she dated minerva? i dont think minnie was opposed to dancing, she seemed to be describes as fairly outgoing and friendly. so in that comic I include minnie choosing to pick out someone else to dance publicly with, despite their relationship, and when asked abt it she speaks out loud about how stiff violet is or a comment of the sorts. to everyone’s face

im so sorry if that rules out everything you said in this ask!!! despite all that i do think their love was genuine and that their first love was so important despite their flaws… and i love them sm omg drawing them together makes me happy!!! they were just soo young and with such complicated childhoods </3 i also do agree with you and do not like when their relationship is depicted as the most toxic one ever… i try to walk that line with caution.