#maxisrambling

You know, one thing I think a lot of people misunderstood, about c!Phil's advice to c!Tommy, is that he never told him that attachments to objects are bad in and of themselves.

He never said you should not care for material things -like, have you seen the man's enderchest? Many of his attachments are material. But that doesn't mean he'd ever put them over the life of his loved ones.

Because that's the lesson Phil was trying to teach Tommy, imo. He never said material attachments are bad, they're pretty much unavoidable once you start caring for something. What ticked him off, what made it clear to him that Tommy needed to hear what he said, was when Tommy admitted to hesitating in choosing between Tubbo's life and his disks.

And Tommy himself admitted that he doesn't like he hesitated! He put, even just for a few seconds, his disks above Tubbo's life and wellbeing, and he himself realizes how bad that was.

What Phil tried to teach him is that material objects should never come before the safety of the people you care for. Material attachments are good, and it's okay if you feel sad after losing them, but once said attachments come to rank higher than human lives, that becomes an obsession, and the situation can become toxic real fast.

"You have to get this through your head, Tommy. You can't prioritise items over people, you can't prioritise material possessions over people."

"I don't think I want to!"

[...]

"I guess if I was in Tubbo's shoes, I wouldn't have been happy if he hesitated."

"Oh no, you would've been livid."

And Phil is right, Tommy recognizes so too all throughout the vod! He admits that he doesn't miss L'Manburg, he misses Wilbur -he doesn't miss the house, he misses Tubbo.

Maybe Phil was a little too harsh, and the rapple burning could have been avoided. He's far from a perfect character, but he tries, and that's what I like about him so much. Mans is doing his best, with the information he has, and is trying to offer Tommy advice that could help him avoid mistakes of the past, and reassurance that he can do this, he can overcome this situation and come out victorious. He’s still going to protect Tommy, that was never in question, but he’s also trying to help Tommy understand how to grow and learn.