#hugo analysis

hugo lost his entire family (never had any to begin with), then lost jack, then lycaon. and all he had left was the will to continue on. and the will to forge his own path.

then vivian came along, and protecting her became his new motivation. he would make up for his past "mistake" by giving her a home and love and care.

still, she will leave the nest someday, and hugo knows this well. after that, he will still have only his beliefs left.

will his relationship with lycaon give him something to keep him going again?

and what about lycaon? will he continue to work directly under the mayflower family, or will he "defect" (lol) to mockingbird?

ALSO! I consider the rearrange version canonical mostly because IT MAKES NARRATIVE SENSE BECAUSE WHOEVER MADE THAT COOKED AND IT PARALLELS WITH THE OG EP.

Well... I feel like I'm getting ahead of myself, but Hugo Vlad. Many people have said he's such a Persona 5 reference. I do not disagree. In fact, his whole EP is not only Persona 5 reffed but also Persona. Because Hugo's inner demon can basically be considered as a Persona itself. Hugo's 'I am thou, thou art I.' It resembles more on Persona 4's idea of acceptance about the other self than anything else.

A Persona 4 example of one of the Investigation Team accepting their Shadow half.

And after fighting that shadow...

Do we know who else went thru all of that??? After a drug induced hallucination though...

Just say I am Thou at this point... T_T

Literally fighting his Shadow self...

Just like how you don't want to accept the Shadow self... at first...

But then instead of killing the Shadow, Hugo has accepted it and with this new vow... OK, but seriously, I am certainly not the only one who is this close to calling Hugo's inner demon his Persona. AM I???

Honestly, we talk about how Hugo is Persona 5 coded but it should not be discounted about the Persona 4 vibe here. Where else but in Persona 4 have people fought against their shadow selves and then accepted them to become Personas? Persona 5 is ripping off the mask and accepting the rebellion in the heart, breaking their chains of captivity and accepting the truer self they have kept in the dark. Admittedly, Hugo is both. Accepting and free.

This is where both EPs, the OG and Rearrange version came from. They share the same song but different times, of a past and present methinks.

THIS. I think both EPs are the representation of the last two lines Hugo had said. He once wanted to fight against those ugly truths. But... but the more he rejected them, the more painful. And finally, he accepted it.

The main point, he once fought against his ugliness. He rejected the inner demon. This shows more about the EP Rearrange version than anything.

This was after Lycaon's betrayal, trying to chase after him, wanting to reject those 'ugly truths' that were 'unchanged' and cost him so much regret. That inner demon might have been in play even before that drug induced hallucination, maybe even appearing when Hugo vowed vengeance against his siblings after Serena's death, the first ugly violence...

Again, getting too ahead of myself. We see Hugo getting caged, chained in. Tied by the so-called fate, that he later broke out of.

Go my man, have that gay moment as you break free but in all honestly, I think Jack's words have affected him more than will ever be admitted. The evil seed, the ugly truth... who he was and what it had costed him. He did not want to be that evil seed, he did not want that violent, ugly and evil side that can turn him into the person he hated the most, his father, and that had costed him that bit of happiness with Lycaon... (said with Crownwolf tinted glasses, admittedly).

We see Hugo confronting his inner demon who was not happy that Hugo got out of his cage. Like what is that inner demon doing here, even before the drug-induced hallucination? Hugo has been battling his other self for so long, caging the true self and coming back, not wanting to be denied mayhaps... And what did Hugo do?

In breaking free, he KILLED his ugly truth, his evil inner demon. In the past, that was what he done. He had fought, and rejected and had that gay flashback because he DIDN'T WANT TO BE DEFINED BY THE EVIL SEED WITHIN.

IS THAT WHAT YOU MEAN???? HOW LONG HAVE U BEEN KILLING UR OTHER SELF, OVER N OVER??? Unlike Persona 4 of acceptance, at first, Hugo denied. He rejected. He defeated. He killed. Over and over. But the more it rejected, the more painful it was... and he had to realize his pain fades when its seen. I can only assume the Rearrange version is before the drug induced hallucination, because it was like he was just having a battle within his mind, fought to be victorious with a smug smile that only says so much

Sir, I cannot imagine how much you are hiding beneath that victorious smile. Simply I can't. But 'time heals all' for all the self-reflections and understanding that maturing growth can give. On his own, through self-approved therapy despite kickstarted with the drugs, we go back to the OG version of the EP. THE CONSTRAST BETWEEN KILLING HIS INNER DEMON AND...

This was after Hugo had the top 10 anime battle of all times. Note that instead of the adult version the inner demon posed, at a lost, the inner demon reverted back to the 'weak and powerless' child that Hugo always hated about himself, the seed of evil he refused to grow even when Hugo grew up himself. Look at how defensive, scared HOLDING THAT DAMN KNIFE. AS IF HE EXPECTED TO BE KILLED. JUST LIKE HOW HE HAD BEEN DENIED AND REJECTED FOR SO LONG.

Look at how shocked he looks that Hugo decide to ACCEPT his other self, to not kill, to not reject, to not deny. LOOK HOW FREAKING VULNERABLE HE LOOKS... AHHHHHH!!!

If that is not the most 'I am thou, thou art I', having the heart to accept every part of himself, then I don't know how much Persona coded this can freaking be. You do not gain the inner strength in rejecting your other self over and over, you can only gain the power, the fight, that inner strength, in acceptance and Hugo had all been the better for it.

The EPs, covering a past where he has met his inner demon and they always fight to break free from captivity and in agressive denial over the uglier parts while the other just wanted to defend himself while caging the real Hugo... to the maturing Hugo went through over time in self-approved therapy that he no longer kills the scared child his inner demon really is and hugs him, accepts him. I APPRECIATE HUGO EVEN MORE, AND HIS INNER DEMON TOO. GODDAMNIT, THEY HAVE AN UNDERRATED DYNAMIC FOR REAL.

At this point, I have half the mind to delve deep into the conspiracy that Hugo does have a Shadow and Persona like the Persona games and if they ever make a Persona crossover, most likely with the Phantom Thief of Hearts, Hugo would very well be the main Agent spearheading this crossover, because seriously, how is his other self NOT Persona coded??? Hugo basically going through a Persona adventure on his own, the best love letter to Persona I have ever seen and goddamnit, Hugo... in a Persona game...

Me, works harder in making a Persona inspired series for ZZZ so Hugo Vlad can go acquire vows... ahem, social links even when it's more canonical compliant and I just want Hugo to suffer different video game mechanics/j. Also, more love to Hugo's inner demon because that man is an underrated character even if he's in Hugo's own mind. Their dynamic, whether interpreted as Hugo-cest or not, deserves all the love for their tragic backstory, and enemies to friends kinda vibe.

I thought I would have more to say but maybe Hugo just makes me more speechless than I can ever imagine. How many more references can people find in this man the longer we do this...?

Source for P4 Naoto Shiragone Shadow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z9k3n-y2JU&t=861s

"Hugo, did you do all this?" "...Yes, it was me. I... I killed her."

"Hugo — you... Was this you? All this?" "So what if it was?"

lycaon is content with himself and has accepted his identity as a wolf thiren, but restrains himself on behalf of others to a fault.

he wanted to prevent innocent/good people from dying unjustly at the hands of the cruel and powerful. anger and hatred, when justified and not due to prejudice, almost always come from a place of sorrow/pain.

i always interpreted hugo's tone in this scene as being deeply heartbroken and sad, not cruel.

se libérer de ses fils n'est qu'une utopie pour une marionnette

"to break free from its strings is but a dream for a puppet"... the word "fils" reveals a key metaphor used for hugo. it can translate to sons/descendants, or strings... those might seem unrelated, but a descendant comes from a lineage or bloodline. and a string is a line.

so, the strings that try to control hugo like a puppet are both his literal bloodline, and the threads of fate.

yet, ironically, his inner self is telling him that his Ravenlock blood is the solution to breaking free of these strings. ("suis ton cœur, et le sang de Ravenlock t'apportera la solution")

jack: "a curse that fate has branded him with..." vs inner hugo: "the best gift that fate has ever given you."

yet hugo will neither rely on nor yield to the so-called "curse" he was born with. he believes in himself, not his blood. he can't control what circumstances or family he was born into, but he can control himself. he will become the "puppet master" of his own life.

i know that at least robin, mockingbird's bangboo, seems to mirror hugo's inner world. he acts as hugo would want to act. he (robin) probably picks up his mannerisms directly from hugo's behavior, and/or was programmed to act the way he does. within hugo's illusions/hallucinations, whenever he is dialoguing with his "inner self", it's just... robin.

so, anyway. in this trust event, it alludes to vivian having nightmares in the past and post traumatic stress. in another trust commission, she says she used to struggle with insomnia. says that the way she used to cope with it was listening to fairy tale podcasts at bedtime.

when the proxy says they can't sleep, she offers to read them a bedtime story, as this was what helped her in the past.

...now, we don't know exaaactly when hugo took vivian in. it was either shortly after the exaltists or when she was an adolescent. (bc she said she did a lot to get by as a young lady, and i don't think she'd have to resort to those things if she had hugo.)

so, who knows there. but... perhaps if he didn't read her bedtime stories as a child, he would've been willing to do that for her. also, when robin is displaying concern regarding her sleeping habits and health in this trust event, she mentions him doing this because of "last time"— implying something did happen before. and now, robin is being extremely attentive and caring, monitoring her vital signs and such.