#gamzee.pdf

As a Person? Eridan.

As a Character? Gamzee.

Eridan’s a well-constructed character with distinct goals and a distinct purpose in the narrative. It is excessively difficult, no matter how many people pretend otherwise, to lose track of Eridan as a character within the story. From Page 1 of his existence within the comic, it is impossible to read him as anything other than what he is - a shitty, Pathetic, needlessly violent, Racist little Genocidal Incel with zero respect for Women and anyone he sees as “beneath” him. Not once when he is on screen is it possible to construe him as a positive force. To do so takes a staggering amount of effort. His actions resonate throughout the rest of the story in a really unique way, especially considering how short the duration of his presence is. Which is good, considering his arc culminates in him successfully Genociding the Troll Race in the Destruction of the Matriorb!

Like, I talk quite Negatively about Eridan here on my Blog quite regularly. But that’s not because I think he’s poorly written - in fact, my incessant chattering about him is specifically because his writing is quality enough to give me a lot of very strong opinions about him. He’s well written! Mechanically speaking, he is a good character! He’s just an awful, AWFUL little man, and I’m glad he died. Hope he finds a way to die again. XOXO.

Gamzee’s just a badly written racial caricature that I’m tired of people pretending was good in any way. There’s no true internality to his character. There’s not much depth to him. He mostly exists to serve as a catalyst for more plot to happen - and that’s fine, but his uniquely open existence as a tool for the narrative just kind of makes it weird and annoying when people act like he’s this super deep character. He isn’t - he just does things whilst being riddled with so many AntiBlack Stereotypes it’s almost impressive. And the thing is, the things he does are interesting, and the plots he is at the heart of are interesting, but they just aren’t interesting in the same way that literally every other Beta Troll has the capability to be.

Gamzee Plots are mostly only interesting because of the effect Gamzee Plots have on other people. Like, come on, let’s be serious - no one actually cares about the Gamzee/Terezi Abuse Subplot from Gamzee’s perspective. 100% of the intrigue is in the effect Gamzee is having on Terezi, not in questions of “Why is Gamzee doing this?”, or “What does Gamzee think about this?”. No one actually gives a shit about what’s going on in Gamzee’s head during Murderstuck, right? What we care about isn’t “Wow, Gamzee’s really messed up, he’s going through it so badly that he’s just snapped and killed a guy. Wow, can you imagine what it’s like being in his brain right now? Imagine what he’ll think of this after this is all over, that’s gonna be so rough, how’ll he recover?”, it’s “Holy shit, Generic Scary Guy has just killed Blorbo! Oh no, Blorbo! That’s so sad! Nooo, not Meowrails!!!!”.

Gamzee does not lack agency. No one was controlling him when he was abusing Terezi. He did not lack agency in the scene where he was beating Terezi within an inch of her life. He was in complete control of his actions. This soft, harmless Gamzee that some people believe in so religiously simply does not exist.

This is easily the most violent scene in Homestuck. The brutality of it is real and undeniable- the heavy glitching on Terezi’s face specifically seeming almost symbolic of the pain she’s experiencing more than anything else.

Rage was very specifically made with the Makaras in mind, especially Gamzee, and the symbol is just Juggalo paint. Gamzee's religious obsession to Insane Clown Posse is a racist stereotype against Black men- specifically about their alleged "religious devotion to Hip-Hop/Rap", which was a much more popular myth back during his conception. Rage being fitted for Gamzee specifically is an excuse for Hussie to perpetuate the "Angry, Violent, Unstable, Drug-Addled Black Man" stereotypes as well, alongside several other things. It's all packaged nicely under the label of "Ragebound" to make people not think about that too hard.

The racial coding of the Makaras is an age-old debate, and I really feel like the arguments are constantly being shot in the foot by this seeming complete refusal to acknowledge that Homestuck was written by a person. A person with beliefs. Flawed ones. Deeply, deeply flawed ones.

You can argue that the Makaras were never intended to be Black for ages, but many fans certainly did and they did so for a reason… And the Makaras- especially Gamzee- line up so well with so many Anti-Black stereotypes that it’s genuinely painful. Juxtaposing this with the fact that Hussie was a known racist who loved to make Black people the butt of jokes, and… Suddenly all the Watsonian arguments dissolve into dust and are blown away in the breeze.

Like… You can cite as many sources as you want about the stereotypes in question. You can argue your points in defense of or against Homestuck’s handling of race and racial coding for eons. Searching for a mutual understanding with information or feelings that can be easily argued against will always be a total goose chase. You’re not going to reach a solid conclusion based on anything that can be easily called irrational, or pedantry.

(… Which ultimately shuts a lot of personally affected people’s voices out of the equation, as the closer a topic is to you, the harder it will become to maintain your composure in the face of someone arguing that attacks against you do not exist.)

At the end of the day… Your best proof will always be that Hussie was just a fucking racist, man. And there’s no beating around that bush.

The way Gamzee is written later on in the comic definitely feels like a middle school take on a psychotic disorder, especially schizophrenia. A lot of people did take him as being some flavor of psychotic, and acted absolutely abnormal about it. I will definitely agree with you there. I will say, though, contrary to popular handling, I don't think the Watsonian explanation of "Supernatural Influence" rectifies the situation. Watsonian explanations do not trump the Doylist explanations. There's nothing wrong with writing a little Supernatural Manipulation into a story, but the way that trope meshes with... Everything else about Gamzee's character does not sit well.

I think he's a fucked up 13 year old who did fucked up things. People need to stop judging his actions like he is a real world adult who can be held accountable for his actions. He sucks. He does bad things. It's fine. He's words and lines on paper.

THINGS THAT ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY TRUE:

Gamzee was a severely neglected child who turned to hard drug abuse to cope.

Gamzee’s dysfunction in relationships is absolutely the result of the neglect he faced at the hands (hooves?) of his Lusus.

Gamzee, due to his not only early start of, but also heavy abuse of hard drugs, is absolutely 100% brain damaged. The development of his brain- or “thinkpan”- is permanently impaired.

Gamzee is trapped in an abuse cycle, just like Vriska. He is the ground zero of this cycle, just like Vriska. The hurt he inflicts largely derives from the fact that he was also hurt, just like Vriska.

Gamzee’s treatment of Terezi was absolutely fucking horrifying, with the on-screen portrayal of his abuse towards her being the most violent scene in the entire comic.

Gamzee’s “nice side” is the result of a high, and thus an altered state.

Gamzee’s “evil side” is the result of withdrawal, and thus an altered state.

It’s the fact that most of his time spent on screen is time spent being terrible, predatory, pathetic, and kinda just generally creepy with no true narrative intrigue to help flesh out his character. His most redeeming trait is, judging by other’s opinions, his looks, and that… Does not do it for me. His behavior just completely sours it.

Unlike most other Homestuck characters that can be described as “bad people,” Cronus neither has the level of comedy or level of tragedy to get truly attached to his character. Homestuck’s nature as a tragicomedy is what really helps characters who are “problematic” become the ones you can get the most emotionally attached to, for one reason or the other. Let me list some examples here.

Content Warning: Mentions of Substance Abuse, Regular Abuse, Ableism, and Doc Scratch… Existing.