#solver cypher

isn't it fucking horrifying that this kid, who spent most of his life with one person, gets sent to the hospital and replaced, dealing with all the shit that sam's done because he gets dragged into it as his friend, and then once he gets essentially kidnapped, he thinks about sam for his Last Final Moments only to be immediately replaced and brushed off with a clone. with several clones. with another version.

you're never going to be your own person. you're never going to be remembered for who you are and only as the concept of you. you're never going to be saved and you're never getting a funeral. they mourn for the lack of you, not who you were.

and the big thing is they never really do. they pay respects, sure, (TS E 21 around the end) but when sam and taurtis two see the letter, sam mostly brushes it off because the higher priority is gym class? and poor 2 who had to grasp the fact that he is a clone, and not the original that he thought he was. and im not sure just yet how much they reference original taurtis, but in the finale when they're discussing about having another taurtis;

GRIAN: At what point do we just... take the L?

SAM: Wait, you don't want Taurtis back?

GRIAN: Well- But- I'm just saying like-

GRIAN: How many Taurtises do we have to kill-

SAM, overlapping: As many as- as there is.

SAM: I'm never giving up on Taurtis.

SAM: HE IS OUR FRIEND, DUDE.

SAM: Even if he gets sacrificed to minion zombies and then meets an alternate version of himself named Jerry,

SAM, louder and harsher: I'M NOT GOING TO GIVE UP ON HIM.

^ from this alone you can see how sam feels about taurtis as a person when sam just wants the comfort of having a taurtis around, not so much that it's him

it's why sam didn't feel as bothered that the original died, he had clones that served the concept well. it's why sam dressed grian up and that was enough to comfort him because the idea of taurtis is around. it's why sam dismisses the fact that they should give up on trying to replace the original because he needs a taurtis to even function (it's why he crashes out multiple times so hard without him) and it's why he says "As many as there is." to grian's "How many Taurtises do we have to kill [before we just have to accept the loss]"

sam just can't accept the fact that taurtis is gone moreso that taurtis is a person rather than something him stable. idk. isn't it crazy that your perception warps so hard that your love for your best friend turns into an obsession that leaves him as an idea to you? isnt it crazy that your love for your best friend has you get dragged in to everything he does, consequences and all, to the point that you're grateful for everything anyway and you never get mourned?

oh my god where do we start. i did say that this was about him as a person and his connection to "identity", and genuinely there is no better person who's identity has been looked over more than anyone in the series and fandom in general

i've talked about this a lot regarding taurtis' struggles to be a ~consistent character in the series, by which i mean that extends more than just seen as sam's sidekick/grian's lover/comic relief. OBVIOUSLY this isn't saying that the other characters AREN'T overshadowed by the trio (all bg characters, salex, sookie, yuki, etc etc) but in terms of ~narratively/fandom wise/IN GENERAL - despite being a well-loved character, taurtis isn't exactly known to be HIM.

what i mean by this is that the most common interpretation in both canon and fandom is that taurtis is strictly comic relief. he is sam's sidekick, and he is the goofy stupid guy that sam hangs out with, and eventually someone for grian to take over (narratively and canonically with the arc which i'll get to later). BY TUMBLR ALONE (NOTE: I AM NOT A TWT/BSKY/TIKTOK/ETC GUY, JUST A TUMBLRINA) - most of the #yhs taurtis tag is usually about how he is attached to a character, mostly sam and/or grian and there is very little about as him as a standalone? im not saying that there SHOULD be more standalone stuff of him thats serious or more than him being funny cause that's who he is! he is funny! he is a good light hearted character but it is a little hard to ~separate him from the two ANYWAY, because there is nobody else that cements both sam and grian's characters more than taurtis

most if not a lot of the fandom (at least based on the tags ALONE in tumblr) can only put him in with someone else AND this is true in canon too because sam canonically cannot see himself without [a] taurtis, and grian cannot be anything but a replacement for him in both yhs and ts, as sam's taurtis replacement (the most common "favorite" arc of most of the fandom) and as sam's sidekick in tokyo soul when taurtis canonically dies off screen

AND THAT'S ANOTHER THING. let's go over the narrative impact taurtis has first before jumping into what that means for the trio and the ~rest of the cast.

taurtis is an important character, we all know this and can say this with absolute certainty. he is a protagonist in all of og (yan/yhs/ts), and he is deemed as sam's other half with the two being inseparable and each other's first actual friend (yan.) and there is reason to believe that they've known each other and have lived together for a long time (yhs) so it makes his connection to sam stronger and vice versa.

on his own, he's quite charismatic. he has an easier time talking to people and making friends than sam has, and he's more seen as someone who is approachable and easy to talk to. i think majority of the cast in general like taurtis, and think he's better to talk to/tolerate than sam, who's been put down consistently. it's why he's so likable that the series kicks off with the murder of jane, and etc etc because yuki likes him! and it's why sam gets so dependant on him, it's because he is all sam's really ever known (assumingly, because of the way he acted) and why sam is ALWAYS set out to have ~him in his life.

taurtis is a catalyst in the narrative of yhs because his impact of HIS MERE EXISTENCE collides with everything ELSE in the series —

and please PLEASE correct me? i've never watched or ever will watch the yhs/ts reboots but i heard that there's ~talk or at least some kind of ~arc on taurtis?? idk i've heard someone say that sam wants to recreate what once was idk, whatever, thats just interesting if Ever but aside from that

— that you'd think he'd be at least seen or treated as such right??

by other characters, yes, obviously. they co-exist in the same story, and they ultimately serve the same purpose as he does, when dealing with sam specifically, the main protagonist as the series' eyes are through his, which is that they are overlooked. im not even gonna bother with tokyo soul's bg cast because i couldnt be invested myself which shows how overlooked they actually are, but with the yhs cast specifically, they arent Actually overlooked (in general/fandom/canon), but to sam specifically, they are disregarded at times for the betterment of his ego (again, seeing through his eyes and mind)

^ okay sure, but what about taurtis. get back to that. sorry - but taurtis is actually more overlooked by sam specifically in my opinion than the cast. what i mean by this is that sam tends to Disregard taurtis for his own comfort. he talks over him, he makes decisions for him, and he CAN'T. LIVE. WITHOUT HIM. sam is another essay for Another time, but ultimately when taurtis was put into the hospital, then you can Really see the actual struggles with him and what it means to have an identity

in the taurtis two arc with grian, taurtis is presented as jerry after getting amnesia and temporarily forgetting who he is as a person while grian is presented as taurtis for sam's comfort and stability in order to keep himself sane. what this could mean in terms of taurtis' identity, we have to go back into the lens of sam and see through it his perspective. he needs taurtis in his life and at all times, and if he doesn't have him with him, then he loses all sense of meaning and what it means to be sane. and to go Back to this sense of normalcy, it means that sam has to Have a taurtis in his life. obviously, we all know how this was achieved - through grian - but i don't think we really realize the implications that this has on taurtis' identity To sam, and by proxy, to the audience who watches through sam's eyes.

taurtis is replacable.

he is an idea to sam, and it's a repeating phenomenon in the series especially in tokyo soul with actual clones, and the ending in mind. in the start of clone arc, the taurtis that comes during the end of the superstore arc, is revealed to be a clone later on but obviously, everyone assumes that this is taurtis himself. when the reveal of clones do happen, there is this sense of horror when there is just Too Much of taurtis.

i — the headmate mostly writing this essay, solver — have an entire post already talking about why the taurtis clones turn to needing sam the same way sam does with taurtis himself, and a pivot to part of taurtis' identity but tldr; the reason why the clones call out to sam is because taurtis himself thought about him in his last moments and it transferred over to their memories

i bring this up cause sam doesn't react with the same sense of urgency to the news of taurtis' death the same way he does when taurtis isn't with him. there's nothing to worry over when taurtis is already with him, and more. he doesn't find taurtis' letter as horrifying as he should and as reality shattering as the clones do. sam is fine, because he already has all he needs. it's only when the last clone dies is when sam starts to panic. it's already in my post that i linked, but there's a conversation in the finale of tokyo soul that shows sam's feelings on taurtis' identity as a whole really well:

GRIAN: At what point do we just... take the L? SAM: Wait, you don't want Taurtis back? GRIAN: Well- But- I'm just saying like- GRIAN: How many Taurtises do we have to kill- SAM, overlapping: As many as- as there is. SAM: I'm never giving up on Taurtis. SAM: HE IS OUR FRIEND, DUDE. SAM: Even if he gets sacrificed to minion zombies and then meets an alternate version of himself named Jerry, SAM, louder and harsher: I'M NOT GOING TO GIVE UP ON HIM.

How many Taurtises do we have to kill– (before we get what we want/give up) -? / As many as there is.

taurtis is an idea, he is a comfort, he is a comic relief, he is a pair of headphones to put on, he is someone funny, he is someone to smile with, and he isn't someone that is seen for Himself through the main lens of the series - sam. (and by proxy, grian, but that's through the above conversation alone. at least one of them has a differing opinion on How, although he agrees on wanting [a] taurtis back)

now, hey. you just talked about sam the whole time as the main reference for this identity. what about the other characters? what about people who meant a lot of taurtis and vice versa, like salex? his first girlfriend and a part of the narrative push of yhs? well the answer's easy because there's a reason why salex looks to him first. why people talk to him so easily already.

you dont need to prove your identity to people who already see you for you

but it's a little bit hurtful when the one person you've known, trusted, thought of, and is the only way to be seen (for the fourth wall) — sees you as nothing but clothes