the thing is that there are two ways of looking at archangel-true vessel relationships (ok more than two but let’s go simple for now): each entity as fundamentally distinct from the other despite the similarities and fate connection, and each entity as being actually just a component of the other. two halves made whole in the poetical sense of partnership (each is one of two, 1/2) or in the more mathematical sense of being different facets of a single unit/each other’s shadow versions (each is .5 of 1).
most of the fandom focus has been on the relationship between two distinct individuals, which is fair enough but i do think canon (especially early on when the true vessels thing is introduced) invites you to think about both. and personally i’ve always been 100% willing to go in on the idea that an archangel and true vessel are facets of the same entity. i don’t think that is 100% accurate to what is going on, but i am willing to pretend it is. i don’t think that’s any more simplistic than over-simplifying the other direction and considering them totally distinct either.
and look ok. the thing is that two pieces of one individual just do not have to relate to each other the way two separate individuals do. finding new parts of yourself can be like meeting another person, like damn who even am i?? i’ve felt this way when dealing with particularly negative emotions, and when reckoning with parts of my identity i had either repressed or not ever needed to confront before. it’s weird and unsetttling, but i’m not literally a separate person from myself because of bits of me i dislike or feel alienated from. i do not consent, necessarily, to those parts of me being part of me, they just ARE. i can’t banish them just by saying i don’t want them in my life the way i (theoretically) could with another person (who i would hope would respect my boundaries). i can either decide to be how i am indefinitely, or i can accept that that’s part of me and try to change it. but that’s not the same as how i would interact with another person and it wouldn’t make sense to treat it that way (your mileage may vary, maybe you are better at self-distancing than i am). consent is a different experience when it’s about aspects of your actual self.
is that thee most accurate way of going about it? tbh i don’t really care because i do think it is THERE in the show, it’s a fair line of analysis even if it isn’t The Best, and it is what is most personally compelling and exciting to me.
and like yes i do call myself an archangel/true vessel shipper but am i really? i’ve personally never been sure. it’s more like selfcest to me than anything, mostly. and i totally get why that wouldn’t be for everyone but i think it at least partially explains why i have not. like. succeeded at or really enjoyed engaging with especially samlucifer in ways many other people do or assume that i would
