#mischaracterization

You gotta understand that Simon is both A Mass Murderer who was raised in and thrived in a violent cult AND someone who hopes so desperately for a better world, who wants to change, and has never had a gentle touch in his life and wants it so bad without being able to put to words that's what he wants.

I feel like I'm going insane.

Because on one end people focus waaaayyyy to much on his anger. They make him an asshole for no reason who never opens up ever and always makes things more complicated. Like... you guys he was crying for at least half of the movie. Obviously he's not going to open up instantly but please that man had to have been repressing SO MANY emotions.

So many things there was never a chance to express because you cannot convince me that Eden did not have so much toxic masculinity with allllll of that biblical imagery. And when Simon finally had a chance to relax, the moment he realizes that Grace is a Safe Person, those emotions are coming out whether he likes it or not. It's too much to keep in ALL the time and we already know when he's having a Bad Time, he cries.

And on the other end... guys they are NOT going to be good communicators immediately, Simon has never had any therapy ever in his life and again. The raised in a violent cult thing. The only reason that Simon was able to survive in his world at all is because he adapted soooo well to the violence. He's angry, he throws shit around and swears like a sailor, he REFUSES to go down without a fight. In any fight or flight situation, his instinct is always going to be fight. He's not going to know how to properly comfort, at least not right away.

The only thing he knows is how to fight, to bare your teeth and puff yourself up. What do you even do when the monster is in your head? When Grace is having nightmares and there's nothing Simon can fight to fix that?

It will take a looooong time for Simon to even believe this is real, to think that for once there's nothing to fight, nothing to defend against, no battle to win. All that anger still in him that now has no place to go. It's going to come out somehow, and even if he has on some surface level acknowledged that Eden was wrong (we see in the movie he rejects both the COI's and Eden's philosophy in some way), detangling all of that trauma is going to be a lot of work. See when he's arguing with Ava, even when he disagrees with Eden's philosophy, he still falls back on their reasoning out of habit ("At least they're not deluding themselves with some biiiggg future for humanity if we all just believe hard enough") Yes he was the one to stand against them once he started to "grow a conscience" and yes, he still carries over a lot of those violent tendencies from y'know. The ENTIRETY of his life?

I feel like I yapped way too much but just. I have so many thoughts. This isn't directed at any one fic or person in particular, it's just something that's been on my mind a bit.

Feel free to yap with me on the comments! Am I onto something or going crazy for no reason?

it would take Simon a whileee for him to fully trust Grace and be vulnerable around him because of everything that he went through. don’t get me wrong, i love the idea of him being like “get a load of THIS hottie” in some fics because it’s funny and honestly, who wouldn’t find Grace hot? but realistically there would be lots of dissociating and being quiet, unsure if it’s safe for him to let his guard down regardless of how grace treats him. cold, distant, silent fear masked by sarcasm, frustration, defensiveness, and a slightly foul mouth. too foul for Grace’s tastes LOL

honestly, even if Simon got comfortable around Grace, i don’t think he’d let himself cry that much around him—definitely way more than at the beginning, but i just can’t see him constantly being this emotional wreck crying in front of Grace, let alone at their first meeting. a lot of us collectively agree Simon would most likely have PTSD from what happened in the blood ocean, so i’d see it more if he were having an episode, but even then i feel like people always characterize those who suffer with PTSD the same in fics. i’m not saying he never cries or never would, but i see him more as being angry, almost delirious, too much adrenaline to think straight (at least at first meetings). as they grow closer i’d imagine he calms down a lot because no, he isn’t just some angry attack dog 24/7—only under pressure!! and meeting some random guy after being lied to and used by the COI for so so long would probably be pretty stressful!!! he is more complex than being a crazy guy who swears all the time lol

THIS. RIGHT HERE. IS CRAZY. LITERALLY. CRAZY.

season two: will tells jonathan to stop treating him like he's going to break, just like his mom, dustin and lucas do. he specifically doesn't mention mike. because mike doesn't treat him like he's broken.

literally the next episode, in mike's basement, will says, "please don't tell the others. they wouldn't understand." because will believes mike is the only one who understands.

FIRST OFF THE MISCHARACTERIZATION?? The fandom treats ITrapped like an evil son of a bitch that deserves the fucking worst. I SWEAR THOSE TOXIC CHANCE AND DOUBLEFEDORA FANS TREAT MY POOR BOY IF LIKE HE WAS THE HELLSPAWN OF ROBLOXIA… 🥀🥀🥀 People in this goddamn fandom only hate ITrapped for betraying Chance, nothing more or less. Imma tell something about ITrapped that some people didn’t know: ITrapped had held onto the Darkheart during (and probably before) his relationship with Chance. It was confirmed by the forsaken Devs that the SFOTH swords can corrupt anyone that dares hold those swords for longer. ITrapped BECAME ‘greedy’ because of the Darkheart’s amplifications onto his mind. Itrappeds mental health was kinda already like shit ever since he lost two of his friends, Ellernate and Caleb244 (implied, despite those two never being directly mentioned). He was grieving over his friends and the Darkheart made his situation even fucking worse. The effects from the Darkheart? HE LOSES ANOTHER FUCKING FRIEND 💔💔 I feel like ITrapped deep down cared about Chance since he didn’t want to become lonely again…. BUT OF COURSE DARKHEART HAD TO CORRUPT HIM 💢💢💢💢💢 I have a theory that he stole the Darkheart because he wanted to protect himself from any of the admins and try to free his friends, since the banlands is scary ass place that is dangerous when you’re unarmed. My baby boy needs more angst :(

after the butchering of ITrapped’s character, this ‘new’ version gets his ‘fanon’ lore (aka given by the fandom). WHERE THE FUCK IS CALEB AND ELLERNATE??? HELLO??? WHERE WAS HIS STATUS OF BEING A EXPLOITER DURING MAY MADNESS????? His ‘lore’ isn’t expanded from that point, only being used as a plot device for chance’s sad backstory or wtv.

Now moving onto canon, him being the ‘greedy’ one in the forsaken lore never made sense because CALEB WAS THE ACTUAL GREEDY ONE IN HIS FRIEND GROUP NOT ITRAPPED 😔✌️🥀 I need more canon lore about ITrapped that proves to the fandom that ITrapped isn’t pure evil… I’m starving…… but obviously the forsaken devs don’t want to do jackshit beacuse they don’t care about anything (yes yes, drama). ITrapped’s lore in forsaken is the devs basically mischaracterizing their own character, because of the lack of focus on his character’s nuance (see: very first paragraph of this rant), but rather have major focus on him being a shithead to Chance (similarly to ‘fanon’ interpretation). as a result, may madness fans have to slander forsaken’s iteration of ITrapped lmfaoooo 😭

(image not mine, it is from pinterest ig)

I can't take it anymore