#stolas character analysis

Hi there!! It's not a strange question at all, and if you want the [way too] long answer to why Stolitz just doesn't work for me, you can check out this post here where I talk about it in detail [comparing it to the BlitzStrike ship and why it was way easier for me to get on board with that ship than Stolitz]. :)

For a shorter[-ish] answer, let me clarify something very important: I don't dislike the concept of Stolas as a character. In fact, when I first got into Helluva Boss, I really liked him as a character. I followed the Instagram accounts, I read all the extra content, and I was completely HOOKED on the Stolitz ship. However, what happened around the time that season 5 came out is that I started to really think about things from a full story perspective, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had some maaaaaajor problems with Stolas's character as he was being presented in the show, as well as how the relationship with Blitz was being interpreted and presented and supported by fans and the show's creators themselves. I had gone into the Stolitz ship thinking that it was going to be the classic "here are two people who are in a fake relationship that isn't actually a healthy loving relationship at the start, but as things go on they're both going to realize that they were assholes and things are going to progress into something healthier". What I started to realize was actually happening however is that the relationship wasn't actually showing any kind of progression at all, but it was being treated as though it had even though nothing had changed between them in the show. Not only that, but the show suddenly seemed like it was trying really hard to set the foundations for pushing towards a healtier relationship kind of out of nowhere, and it did so at the expense of setting aside the very interesting plot points that had been building up throughout the season [i.e. Stella as a villain, Stolas's marriage and Octavia, the latest plot thread with D.H.O.R.K.S, etc] in favor of just putting the full attention on trying to make Blitz and Stolas work through their relationship right there at the finale. I had thought that the Stolitz relationship was something that was going to be MULTIPLE seasons worth of sorting out and exploring, seeing the two characters grow and change as they grow closer together. Honestly I would be so, so, so much more open to the idea of their relationship if the showrunners had just taken their time to really let their relationship develop slowly over time--properly balancing out the complexities of their relationship with the really creative and suspenseful story/plot points that they've made. Instead....it feels like they're just trying to squish all of that development into the last two episodes of season one. I'm not sure why, but it feels very unbalanced and really kind of awkward.

Also, and I apologize if this offends anyone--that's absolutely not my intention here at all--but I'm going to be honest and say that the other big thing that's kind of turned me off from Stolitz and Stolas as a character.....is the fandom. I know there are so many lovely people out there who ship Stolitz, and I'm sure there are even some lovely fans of Stolas who also are willing to acknowledge his flaws and don't excuse his shitty behavior as being shitty behavior, but I can also honestly say I haven't come across many of them. Most of the people I've seen in the Stolitz ship are strangely aggressive towards people who aren't on board with it and openly hostile if you say any kind of criticism against Stolas's character in general. I don't really get why he's treated like this perfect being who can do no wrong when I really do think that his flaws are what make him an interesting and relatable character, but who knows? I honestly don't understand it and actively try not to be a part of it. To clarify again just in case someone missed it before though: I'm not saying that everyone who ships Stolitz is that way, or everyone who is a fan of Stolas is like way. I'm fully on board that you're free to ship whoever you want to ship if it's making you happy and isn't hurting anyone else. All I'm saying is that there are people out there who are far more hostile and unforgiving than I'm comfortable interacting with, and there's enough of them to make it extra hard to get behind Stolitz and Stolas in any kind of positive way.

.....I think I'm actually going to start crying here and what's more I'm going to thank you for it. ;-; Honestly though, the credit for me writing the kind of BlitzStrike that I do here really circles back to you. Your BlitzStrike posts were some of the first ones that I ever saw here when I first jumped into the fandom, and they really were what inspired me to actually be brave enough to post my writings publically for the first time in a long time. So THANK YOU so so much for everything that you do, and for always taking the time to say such nice things about the pieces I write!! I feel like every time I see your name pop up in my notifications, it always brings the biggest smile to my face because it always turns out to be you saying the kindest and most supportive things, and they really do make my day every single time. Truly, thank you so so much for that!! <3 <3

Now.....let's talk about the owl in the room: Stolas.

Stolas is a character that I feel like I've gone on the biggest roller coaster ride with ever since I first got into the Helluva Boss fandom. There's a lot of contradiction, a lot of complexity, and in a way I almost feel like the canon is just as conflicted on how to portray him as the fandom is. To be honest, I kind of am too in that when it comes to my own fan writings that he makes an appearance in, and more specifically I always find myself torn in one of two main ways:

1. Do I portray him as someone who's genuinely naive and misguided, and who gets to go on a long and painstaking character arc of much needed development to become a better being?

or

2. Do I portray him in his fullest potential from what we're given from the canon and just let him be a huge fucking dick because there's nothing wrong with that?

Honestly? And this is purely personal opinion here and I know that there are people in the fandom who are going to hardcore disagree with me on this, but I think that it's kind of a shame that the way I write for Stolas in my "Dark!Stolas AU" is something I even have to classify as a Dark!Stolas AU. For me, I totally agree with corporate on this one and think that they should be one in the same. And from watching the show thus far [as of episode 6 for future readers] I haven't really seen any evidence that proves that they're NOT one in the same. It's actually part of the reason that I write and post as much Dark!Stolas as I do--because I really want to show that writing him from a more maliciously angled headspace really isn't that jarring or contradictory to what we see of him in the canon. I might even dare to hope that it's something that Vivziepop plans to eventually establish is canon. I think it adds an extra layer to Stolas that makes him a lot more interesting as a character, and doesn't betray any of the actions that he's taken in the show thus far. And--if I'm being completely honest here--I just have a lot more fun writing him this way than I do as the innocently oblivious noble who has the profound character quirk of being able to act like a shitty person just because he doesn't realize that he's being one. >>