the spirits are slightly annoyed today

My headcanon stardew valley sexual orientations:

The emotional and narrative heart of Hades 2 is Hecate. The way that her undying devotion to her adopted daughter is accompanied by insecurity and guilt about not being her "real" mother is HEARTBREAKING. Hecate is haunted, scared, tired, and so full of love. She dedicated her life to a wild years-long plot to right every wrong committed against Melinoë. Along the way, Melinoë became HER family and she couldn't figure out how to cope with that. She feels like she can't fully embrace Melinoë in that way because she's not "supposed to" be raising her and isn't her "real" mother. What Hecate struggles to accept is that to Melinoë, she's more than a mother, she's her whole world. Hecate is all that Melinoë ever truly had.

Stardew Valley and the Hades games take very similar approaches to character storytelling and evoke very similar feelings for me as a player. In both, there is a sizable but very intentionally curated cast of characters who tend to leave strong first impressions. You think you have them figured out, but there's always a wealth of complex human depth just below the surface. At first, Hades himself seems like an unfeeling tyrant but he's actually heartbroken and wants to protect his family. At first, Alex seems like a self-centered dumb jock but he's actually gay and also perfect.