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og under the cut

Some further elaboration on the betta fish interpretation of these guys.

Vox kept making allusions to fish metaphors and calling himself a shark, and my very first thought was “If there are any fish metaphors going on here, then you’re obviously a betta lmao”

Which quickly spiralled into the realization that Hell is a Quarantine Aquarium. (Which is a very apt metaphor, considering… everything.)

I ran out of space, so I might do a follow-up with observations about other characters. The Morningstars are almost certainly wrasses of some variety (Hotel = Cleaning Station… also Lucifer’s bucktooth chompers are incredibly telling), but I’m conflicted about which species to identify them as? Lucifer’s hair and Pink Sweater PJs make me think ‘Pintail Fairy Wrasse’, but his barbershop vest makes me think ‘Longface Wrasse’, but his porcelain doll cheeks make me think ‘redblotch wrasse’ (although the cheeks could also be, like… red spot disease, or viral hemorrhagic septicemia… or something)… Charlie’s black hair bands seem to be evoking the black dots that appear on the dorsal fins of some species of wrasse, which are more prominent in females, and tend to fade in males (Lucifer’s sleeve bands)… Lucifer has lavender eyelids, while Charlie’s are a duller grey (which is a common pattern among male and female fish in general, but specifically remind me of the yellow silver-belly wrasse ‘Halichoeres leucoxanthus’, which is one of those species with the black dorsal dots).

Alastor is also tricky. On one hand, he seems to be set up to parallel Vox, and being a Betta Splendens would facilitate this in many ways: Betta Imbellis tend to be more adaptable than Splendens (Vox’s “changing format” / switching out his head constantly vs. Al being old-fashioned), Imbellis tend to be more shy and peaceful (flashback Box Vox) as opposed to the typically-more-aggressive Splendens (Al is always instigating fights)… these two species are apparently so similar that the only way to differentiate two identically-colored specimens is by identifying their operculum scales (blue bars in Imbellis, red stripes in Splendens).

But also... he very obviously exhibited camouflage during ‘Hell’s Greatest Dad’, and knocking Lucifer down a peg seems to be one of his foremost goals, which makes me think ‘Hogfish Wrasse’. Well, that and the upturned nose… and the tentacles (which resemble the hogfish’s long dorsal spines… or maybe those are supposed to be analogous to his antlers?).

BUT ALSO: Vox DID say that Alastor “does NOT have a tail”, which might be a meta-level clue that Alastor is not a fish at all. An octopus, perhaps…? And his reflexive mockery of the insecurities of everyone he meets is a metaphor for mimicry?

Hmm…

If I started talking and this is what my audience immediately started doing, I'd be at least a little offended. But Vox wasn't in the slightest—or if he was, he certainly didn't show it. He just immediately repositioned himself so that he was more difficult to ignore.

And I think that's a fascinating window into their dynamic. Because it's not the first time we've seen it.

When Val was ranting to Vox about Angeldust moving out, Vox got out his phone too.

Val chose to forcibly remove the distraction instead of repositioning himself, but that's also a very in-character difference in their streategies.

If I had to guess, that's how all three treat each other when they're not personally invested in what the other is talking about—which is toxic as fuck, but they all just accept it. I do wonder how Velvette deals with it, when she's the one being ignored, but maybe we'll get to see that in a future season.