#Alastor meta

[alastors-antlers]

a brief take on the whole "Alastor's smile is permanent" discussion

hello all!

I've seen a lot of people theorizing lately that Alastor actually smiles all the time because his smile is magically, physically fixed onto his face. All of this seems to come from the fact that he's practically grimacing rather than smiling during the scene where he breaks down in ep8:

As well as this frame of his deal with Charlie: (lower res sorry)

I will say, I do like some of the implications of this theory. The sheer spite of his creditor forcing him to smile as an addition to their deal, almost like a sort of forced silence, is a neat concept. It's fun and dramatic. Plus, of all things, of course Alastor would claim the "smile at all times" policy and make it his own to pretend that it was his decision all along lol.

To be fair, though, I don't think we even need any magical compulsion to explain why he's smiling while he's having a mental breakdown. Actually, if we assume magical compulsion, I think we lose a bit of dimension from Alastor's character. (No judgement to anyone's take though, of course -- I just think this works in the direction of his established characterization, but obviously all personal takes <3)

Hear me out:

Alastor's persona is not just for others to see.

"A smile is a valuable tool, my dear. It inspires your friends; keeps your enemies guessing; and ensures that whatever comes your way, you're the one in control."

That makes sense given what we know about him. If he's always smiling, he seems like he has it together. You can't read him very well, especially not when he's actively trying to keep up appearances.

Now consider that when you think about ep8's fight with Heaven, we see that he's already been through so much in this one day.

He fights an army of angels, presumably not even at his own whim (if we go by his blurb about freedom in the Finale song); he loses to Adam, who he considers sloppy and mediocre; his staff, which we can assume holds some part of his power, is snapped; he comes close to being Angelic-power-killed; and to top it all off, he knows that others watched him get injured and then apparently die or flee, all of which would ruin the public image that he's trying to maintain. It wouldn't even be unreasonable for us to assume that he knows Vox was watching, given that Vox kind of has eyes everywhere.

In a moment like this, in the finale, you could say that Alastor has lost (at least on some level) everything that we know matters to him. He doesn't have access to all of his magic, and it's limiting him. He's reminded that he doesn't have freedom or control over his own destiny. He certainly has taken massive hits to his powerful, composed persona. But he's desperate, and furious, and terrified, and clinging on.

That's why he's smiling.

It's not that he can't stop because he physically can't. It's that he can't stop because to him, the smile is the last thing that is still within his power. When there are so many moving parts that he can't predict what happens to him next, he can control how he responds to it. In these last fragments of autonomy, there is solace.

He needs to keep telling himself that he has it together and that he'll eventually scheme his way free, that there's a solution, that he won't be in chains forever; because letting his pretense slip would be admitting that it's all starting to actually get to him. That maybe this time, he doesn't have an escape plan.

In addition, if you read his interactions throughout the series, we also see something else: Alastor's reputation is of paramount importance to him. At multiple points throughout the series, when others disrespect him by discounting his power or presence, he gets visibly annoyed. And in the battle, we see a glimpse of the part of his personality he seems to be trying to leave behind - a normal Alastor, who's just some guy from Louisiana. No transatlantic accent; no unflappable malice; no sharp wit waiting at the ready. Maybe even unremarkable.

Dropping his smile - arguably the most prominent part of his brand - would be admitting that in reality, he's not the Radio Demon of legend that he aspires to project. And if he doesn't have that... where would he be?

#alastor meta #alastor analysis #hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor #alastor #alastor hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin alastor meta #hazbin meta #hazbin alastor analysis #bro I love this guy so much

[darkfire359]

I know that some aros/aces are kind of disappointed with Alastor as representation, what with him being an evil cannibalistic serial killer and all. However, I think that Alastor is not only non-problematic aroace representation, he’s actually GOOD rep. Here’s why:

1. Even if you consider Alastor a villain, there are a lot of character MORE villainous than him—often with their sexuality being part of their scumminess. For instance, Adam would be way less gross if he didn’t sexualize all the women around him, and Valentino wouldn’t be able to be nearly as harmful if he were less lustful.

2. In contrast, Alastor being aroace is portrayed *positively*, often actively humanizing him—something extremely refreshing. Rosie knowing Alastor’s sexuality when he’s unaware of it himself is a huge indicator of their friendship. Along with Alastor’s deer-in-the-headlights responses to Angel Dust’s flirting, it also shows that Alastor isn’t as all-knowing and put-together as he can seem. Plus, it’s clear that even if Alastor is manipulative towards Charlie, he’s not being predatory towards her like THAT.

3. Alastor also breaks several stereotypical aroace tropes in a way that’s nice to see. He’s not a loner. He’s very good at understanding people and navigating social interactions. He’s happy to take on a parental role. He puts his hand on people’s shoulders, gives hugs, and happily engages in partner dancing. I’ve seen some people write Alastor as being uncomfortable with physical contact, but TBH I’ve seen him give (and comfortably receive) more physical affection than most people I know.

4. Alastor lets us get the great ace version of the “Your daughter calls me daddy too,” joke. Which i think is WAY funnier than the allo version.

#hazbin alastor #alastor hazbin hotel #Hazbin Hotel #Alastor meta #aroace #asexuality #aromantism

[justanotherhh]

alastor and touch

just a post documenting alastor and touches throughout the show

I didn't include the pilot, but i do want to mention it, because one thing that's quite striking is how they changed that element from pilot!alastor to show!alastor somewhat. might make a separate post for the pilot at some point to compare

I also did a mix of when alastor noticeably doesn't touch someone directly and in what contexts he gets touched, as well as a couple of other related boundaries and moments of interest

ep1 overture: alastor doesn't touch anyone in this episode. also noting that this is the episode where we get him unequivocally turning down angel's advances, and avoiding being filmed several times, with the iconic "this face was made for radio" line, so not only is he not touching, he's also making some general boundaries clear

ep2 radio killed the video star: 1. niffty crawls up alastor and he picks her up and puts her down. she crawls up him again. he clearly doesn't mind 2. sir pentious rips off a corner of his coat. alastor blows him up -- he later burns the piece of coat that sir pentious had kept: "not many people have been able to take even this much off me." 3. the entirety of the vox vs al showdown is of course notably done over radio/tv, so they're never in the same room. just interesting in terms of how it goes down with them generally in s1, they're constantly kept at a distance via screens and airwaves

ep3 scrambled eggs: 1. taps an egg boi with his staff, while threatening it. generally uses his stick to interact with the egg bois -- pointing, tapping, etc 2. another brief "makes screen fuzzy on a security camera"

ep4 masquerade: notably the episode (with lots of sexual content and specifically valentino) where he doesn't appear, except for briefly in a flashback

ep5 dad beat dad: 1. shakes lucifer's cane, rather than his hand -- he also wipes his hand on his suit afterwards, as if disgusted 2. TOUCHES CHARLIE'S SHOULDER!! notably in front of lucifer in order to piss him off. then goes ONE STEP FURTHER and partially puts his arm around her when saying how proud they all are of her 3. grabs lucifer and spins him out of the way during his part of the song 4. picks niffty out of the toilet 5. during the song: dances with charlie, pats her on the head/tucks her in, and puts his hands on her shoulders 6. during the song: pushes lucifer aside again, including doing a little hip shove 7. lucifer grabs him by his lapels and gets right in his face 8. hugs mimzy 9. grabs charlie and steers her by the shoulders 10. grabs/strokes husk's ear 11. grabs husk via his leash 12. rips the bad guys apart with his tentacles. also picks them up with his hands and eats them 13. mimzy pokes him several times in the chest. he removes her finger in annoyance, and boops her on the nose condescendingly

ep6 welcome to heaven: the other episode that notably includes a sex club (and also heaven and a lot of talk about redemption) that does not involve alastor

ep7 hello rosie: 1. grabs charlie's shoulders, and then her face, forcing her to smile 2. grabs her shoulders again when talking about the angels 3. touches her hair, and then sidehugs her while selling her on the deal 4. DEAL HANDSHAKE 5. more shoulder grabbing, cheek pinching, and patting on head when he's talking about her being charming and capable 6. links arms with her while taking her to rosie 7. rosie joyfully grabs him and spins him around 8. grabs charlie when introducing her to rosie 9. gives charlie his mic in order to help her inspire the cannibals (later replaced with a cane given by rosie) 10. dances with rosie, including a little dip

ep8 the show must go on: 1. more attempted screen voyeurism by vox 2. charlie uses alastor's cane again to speech 3. niffty crawls over him again and places a crown of roaches on his head (possibly his most openly joyous moment) 4. fights adam using his shadow tentacles and creatures, before getting seriously wounded by him (and then has his famous mental breakdown at the idea that his reputation could have been blemished by having been read as altruistic of all things, *spits*) 5. the torn picture of alastor and vox shows them a little apart from one another 6. appears in the middle of the hotel gang and is hugged by charlie, patted on the back by vaggie, and also adorably hugged around the legs by niffty

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS: 1. other characters do initiate more touches, with husk being the other character who's more standoffish, but that's also his general slowly beginning to open up emotionally and he shifts especially with regards to angel after ep4 (although he does do casual pats and the like before that + the massage) 2. generally everyone touches casually in some way or other throughout the show, including in background moments, except for alastor, who always touches very deliberately, whether it's for violence, manipulation, condescension, or affection -- he doesn't seem to engage in casual touch, but does accept it from certain individuals (mainly niffty). for example in dad beat dad in which he initiates the most touches, he's pissing off lucifer and manipulating charlie. he hasn't touched her before this on the show proper, and he's doing it because he has an audience and is trying to convince both lucifer and her of something (that he's a better mentor/support system than lucifer) 3. similarly when he's being very familiar with charlie in hello rosie, he's selling her on making a deal with him, and then on making himself indispensable to her, while also grooming her*** [EDIT: been informed that this could be misread: "grooming" here meant in the general sense of mentoring her in a way that would benefit him, as he says "she's full of potential that i could guide," NOT in a sexual context] -- in true alastor fashion it's hard to say what's sincere and what's self-serving, but it certainly all serves a purpose 4. that being said, i think charlie has become a character he doesn't mind touching, just like he doesn't mind it with niffty, rosie, or mimzy. funnily enough the only time charlie initiates a touch with him is in the finale, when she's relieved he's alive 5. i think the kinds of touches from each of these characters is different. with charlie it's that aforementioned part-manipulation, part-mentor type vibe, where he's very much insinuating himself into her good graces and trust, with niffty it's because She Is A Creature Who Crawls, with mimzy there's a Past (and she clearly crosses a boundary because she thinks she can with him, and he puts his foot down on that), and with rosie there's a respect. before i did this noting down i also thought he touched rosie way more than he actually does, but he only does it once in order to dance (which, if anything else even applies, i think is his main source of actually enjoying touching others, i personally don't think he actually enjoys hugs, it's just a Thing some people expect of you), and simply acquiesces to her grabbing him in the first scene. again, i think he accepts this because he likes her 6. This Deer Does Not Touch Men If He Can Help It

CONCLUSION: if alastor respects you, he will let you touch him to an extent. he's not touchy himself, and mainly does it as a show of power, manipulation, and condescension (lucifer, mimzy, husk, charlie), but he likes dancing. he stays faaar away from sexual contexts in general

I also want to do a separate post on alastor and respect/closeness/familiarity, because i think it's worthwhile analysing how he expresses these things with characters on his terms (for example, giving charlie the mic says far more about his positive feelings towards her than any of the times he touches her), and it's mostly very clear when he's comfortable in a situation and when he's not

#aroace alastor #alastor #hazbin hotel #hh meta #alastor meta #my meta

[snowyh2o]

So, saw a video on YouTube that was analyzing if Alastor exhibited traits similar to someone diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. It was interesting, if a bit superficial and missing a lot of the smaller blink and you’ll miss it details (as well as for some reason omitting his past relationships and focusing only on his current ones), but it got me thinking about how much we know of who Alastor is.

And I think that we actually know a lot more about who he is as a person and what makes him tick than we think we do. What we don’t know is what his situation currently is, and that’s sort of conflated with not knowing or being sure of him and his motivations.

So to list what we do know of him in no specific order:

He claims he’s sponsoring the hotel because he wants to watch other people fail for his own entertainment, something that we know for sure now is not the case, or not the entire reason.

He was very desperate when making that deal with Charlie, this is something he was probably aiming for and has been waiting to do for a long time.

His disappearance is a sore spot that he doesn’t want others to be prying into.

He’s trapped in a deal that appears to be restricting either his actions, power, or both and he desperately wants to get out of the deal.

Related, the deal appears to be new, based off Husk’s comment and Alastor’s reaction/surprise at the comment.

Related, he HATES being reminded of his deal.

All his shown past friends are women. Conversely, he seems to get along well with women over men.

Related, he lets Mimzy, Nifty, and Rosie all touch or manhandle him around without showing discomfort or distaste. He also lets Husk poke him in the chest, and appears to have grown equally as comfortable around Charlie.

Related, he offers Charlie his microphone twice when she needed to do a big inspiring speech.

Related, his microphone appears directly linked to some of his powers, and could also be considered a weakness of his should it be broken.

He knows that Mimzy only ever comes to him when she needs something, and doesn’t care that he’s being manipulated and taken advantage of into taking care of her problems. In fact, Mimzy stated that he loves taking care of her (problems).

Related, the hotel is important enough that he can’t risk having that kind of behavior with Mimzy here, that he’s willing to shoo away one of his few friends he’s genuinely happy to see.

Rosie is his best friend, he’s the most comfortable with her and while in Cannibal town. It’s the only time we’ve seen him so cheerful and relaxed and smile like he means it. His smiles here are wide enough to show his gums, but his eyes and lips reveal its not just a well disguised snarl.

Related, he’s very excited to show off Cannibal town to Charlie when he brings her over.

Related, he hasn’t gone to see Rosie since the overlord meeting despite having had 5 months to do so after coming back from his hiatus.

Related, he doesn’t ask for Rosie to help during the battle, he specifically restates his favor to “well your cannibals help at least”. She’s seen sipping tea and listening to the news in the aftermath.

His beef with Lucifer started way before he ever met the guy. In his advertisement, he makes a note to say there’s no tacky circus decor at the hotel. When he sees the welcome sign he visibly sneers at it. When Lucifer finally shows up and hugs Charlie his eye is twitching.

Related, whatever beef he has with Lucifer is unrelated to Lucifer’s attitude towards him when they finally meet, though that certainly does not help.

Related, it’s also clearly not about being the most powerful person in the room because he doesn’t behave that way when speaking with Zestial, or during the overlords meeting.

Related, he’s bothered when Carmilla reveals she wasn’t curious about his absence (which fair. I’d hope my colleagues would ask where I’ve been if I went MIA for 7 years).

He offers Charlie advice on projecting confidence and control when she’s not, a tactic he employs every minute of every day.

He tends to be helpful but in a backhanded way. He helps Charlie get out of her funk by being mean about it and mocking her for accidentally landing the hotel in hot water. He summons an old fashioned mint condition camera for Vaggie at first before replacing it with a beat up and bandaged video camera. He helps Vaggie with the advertisement after watching her struggle. He does get rid of the eggs, but only for a day by taking them with him on his overlord meeting trip.

Related, more miscellaneous menial labor is usually done straightforwardly, like fixing the wall, for the umpteenth time and apparently unclogging the toilet when nifty gets stuck.

He likes listening to people vent about and struggle with their situation.

He does not like listening to people vent about and struggle with their love life.

Whatever he’s up to it appears as though he’s truly thrown his lot in with Charlie and the hotel, at least for now.

Apparently used to be friends or friendly with Vox. And will let people take a picture of him if it’s with an old fashioned camera.

After the battle, instead of returning to the others he drags himself to his radio tower, the one that fell down off a cliff after Adam destroys the hotel. This means he didn’t head there first when he retreated, and only went afterwards once the fight was over. He was probably staying close enough to see how the fight was going, evidenced by how he knew where to go to find his radio tower.

During his mental breakdown, he’s smiling harder than ever before, and only seems to regain some semblance of control when he’s restating his current goals.

Related, Alastor’s current objective is to free himself of the deal or find a loophole around it. He’s probably planning on using Charlie’s favor for that.

Related, Alastor could’ve also wanted a favor from Charlie as general insurance in the off off chance she ends up betraying him. He seems to let his guard down around her more after the deal, and even helpfully supplies her an army without any more prompting or deal making.

Alastor’s expression when talking about making soul deals in general.

Related, Alastor’s expression when talking about how Charlie still has her soul specifically.

Used to take out last overlords for slighting or doubting him, doesn’t do that anymore. There’s a chance he stopped doing that before his seven year absence.

Related, apparently Sir Pentious also didn’t know about what Alastor did to overlords back in the day??? And they’ve fought 20+ times??? Strengthens the assumption that Alastor stopped killing overlords after he’d established himself as a top dog. Deer. And before his disappearance.

Related, while Carmilla was surprised to see him at the meeting, she and the other overlords like Zestial weren’t scared of him and accepted his presence without complaint. If he were still actively hunting down overlords I doubt, as overlords themselves, they’d have been so comfortable in his presence.

Didn’t appear to have any plans in announcing his sudden return until Vox provoked him.

Related, his broadcasts might’ve been about overlord gossip, aside from the screaming.

Shared what he can do to help during the battle with the rest of the hotel. Specifically the shield he conjures.

Related, likely volunteered himself as the one to take on Adam, since he’s the most experienced and strongest fighter in the group (Charlie’s inexperience with using her power means she’s unsuited for the task).

He speaks fondly of the group as a whole when talking to Nifty when she speaks about how much she likes them (and can we keep them, please?).

Apparently he doesn’t just enjoy watching people’s suffering but also the bonds these wayward souls form with each other.

He does, still, enjoy kicking people when they’re down. Or rather kicking people when they try to challenge him and think they have a chance.

He really knows how to get under people’s skin.

Shark snacks go nom.

Additional points from the replies:

If Alastor was sent to the hotel against his will, then whoever sent him there also did not stipulate that he couldn’t make deals with the residents, which is a huge oversight. (Peppersnap79)

Husk and Nifty appeared to stay behind and help the hotel of their own free will, Alastor did not appear to order them to stay in any way. (Peppersnap79)

My Conclusions based on more things than just what I’ve listed out: he’s probably insecure about his status in hell after the seven year absence. Whatever happened during that time is also a sore point for him, something he doesn’t want others to know about or pry into.

His reputation as the Radio Demon is very important to him. He put a lot of effort into crafting the Radio Demon’s reputation and persona as someone to be feared and not to be fucked with. This is put at risk when he nearly dies protecting the hotel.

He smiles to put himself in control, to trick both others and himself into thinking that he’s got control of the situation or himself more than he actually does. He does not like being reminded that he is not in control of his life at the moment, and his current greatest desire is freedom from his deal. The more out of control he feels, he harder he tries to smile.

He is very soft and forgiving/tolerant with the few friends he has, and has grown visibly attached to or fond of the rest of the hotel. He also appears to be protective of them, in his own weird way. Constantly defending Mimzy against whatever trouble she brings and ultimately leaving Rosie out of the actual battle. This is counterproductive to his plans, and interferes in a way he hadn’t been expecting it to. Part of his breakdown is a direct result of this unexpected interference, that his own emotions had gotten him to risk his life defending the hotel (the group).

Restating his goals to eventually escape seems to reassure him and calm him/act as a grounding mechanism when he feels like he’s losing it. He’s using the Radio Demon persona like it’s a lifeline, because the Radio Demon is who he wants to be, needs to be, if he wants to get out. The Radio Demon’s always in control, he’s the one who holds all the cards, pulls all the strings. Nothing scares him, and nothing controls him.

He’s sadistic, calculative, intelligent, spontaneous, a showman, a softie, arrogant, egotistical, insecure and paranoid. He gets attached to things more easily than he’d care to admit, and lies to himself as much as he lies to everyone else. His Radio Demon persona is just as much a part of him as it is a mask to hide what’s going on underneath. What’s there to hide if he shows them what they want to see? The audience should only care for the play, not the actors behind the scene.

#hazbin hotel #alastor #alastor hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel spoilers #character analysis #long post #hazbin hotel meta #Alastor meta #if anyone has other things they wanna add to the list #feel free! #if I tried to add everything itd never end #also there’s a bunch of stuff here I’m borrowing from other better put together meta #I’ve reblogged the ones I like best if you wanna go check it out

[insanethankstoradio]

To play a part: Alastor's raison d'etre

Alastor's personality, role, and purpose

“It's the purest kind, my dear: Reality! True passion! After all, the world is a stage and the stage is a world of entertainment.”

Alastor has been presented to us as an omniscient force: somehow possessing an awareness that makes us doubt ours, a stubbornness that shadows others, all while holding something to unveil. Alastor’s testament in the writer’s community shines through the controversy around his character, whether he has an altruistic nature while forbidding it, or is merely choosing to play a part in the circus Hell is, we can't say. It is because of this that I wanted to do an analysis of Alastor and look behind the veil he challenges others to look past. On one hand, Alastor is a shadow. But if he's a shadow, who owns it? One can only become conscious of the shadow in personality by recognizing reality.

On the other hand, if the world is sheer entertainment, who will lead, who will act, and who will watch? 

note: first analysis & post! hope it’s written well, considering english isn’t my native tongue.

note 2: i'll first list things i find interesting about his personality, how much of a mentor he rly is, and in the end i'll determine if he's the director, actor, or spectator. and of course his purpose of life, not for the show.

Alastor has a pathological need to exert his power. It's not the biggest secret.

The need for control is fundamental in human experience and a drive of human nature. It is an ersatz emotion, in a way. It's a self-imposed need, not quite something to feel.

For someone like Alastor who abhors primal instincts, he’s driven by them. His instincts rule his world: he needs to have power, to rule in tyranny, to hunt, and to feel the thrill. To represent Alastor as a Jungian Shadow or as a person with a conflicting Ego isn't too far-fetched. He is all that Charlie refuses to accept of Hell, and his own shadow betrays his face. If an inevitable force is neglected for too long, it'll fester and grow until depravity is wished for instead of what it represents. It is his id and superego that is unbalanced. His unconscious desires and his moral and social standing. To overlap is possible, and we can certainly see a fair share of unhinged and yet forcibly restrained moments of him with Charlie. He is not good at controlling himself, he's a feral animal waiting just the right moment to pounce on his prey.

Someone who seeks to exert their control will look for someone in need of guidance. As a mentor figure, Alastor is complicated. With a regime to follow, it is he who festers on the darkness of Charlotte Morningstar and uses her need to know she matters to control her power, but it is also he who guides her to greatness and the like. Soo...

There are many causes as to why obsession with control and power arises. Trauma, insecurity, misguided righteousness. Positively, these kinds of people want to take charge and make an impact, seeking positions of leadership and pursuing others at their best. At their worst, they assert their power by controlling others to feel sure of themselves over how powerless they are otherwise. But what if this need for control is (in most of situations) for attention because they need it to thrive and not uniquely for leadership because they’re insecure of their environment? it can be both, but one more than the other. Alastor is a showman, contradicting himself in his ethics and in his phrases. 

“No tacky circus decor,” when his philosophy of life is derived from entertainment and the destruction that would happen if he’s left unattended for too long.  YOU are the circus alastor

In the Overlord meeting, he is left in disappointment and in ridicule as he expects attention due to his self-imposed importance. Recurringly, doubts over his power arise in the hotel thanks to his distaste for sinners and neglect towards them. He comes back after 7 years to be derided. Alastor is always caviling against authority, is this because he is the authority pushing down "rebels" in his world or wants to be it? There are only two ways of winning this authority: 1. to destroy 2. to become 

"I'm sure you've all been wondering!"

Characteristics of Alastor aside from the obvious charm, of course!

imposed belief of importance and/or of interest. It is not a deluded belief. It is something outsiders keep on giving him: the attention and thrill of being renowned. This can be seen from common sinners to Vox.

His list of priorities: 1. Alastor 2. Red fluff guy 3. Oh-Deer-Mug-Guy 4. Weird Cat Alastor and so on.

And it's not entirely incorrect! Vox gives him so much attention, no matter if negative. While Alastor can build his radio empire thanks to Vox... Alastor isn't entirely amused.

It's the annoyance.

Alastor is bemused at being threatened by others of an equal or higher rank, as seen with Lucifer as well. Continuing...

2. this "narcissism" is assured by minions that he knows how to play like pawns. If he cannot get his resource of attention from outsiders, he’ll get it himself with Niffty, Husker, and his weird-looking minions. 3.… all while destroying & humiliating those that are averse 

See Vaggie in Alastor's reprise and in the series. See Sir Pentious and… everyone. He is a contradictory character, he pits everyone against each other so he looks amiable compared to them, and yet he can’t help but antagonize those allied with him because he sees them all as pawns that he needs to force authority over. he continuously makes the people in his surrounding environment be as unregal as they can be compared to the likes like him. He holds himself with such an air of confidence there’s no room to doubt, and there are no other doors that lead to other rooms. His only acquaintance who appears to view him as a person interested in business is Rosie, a fellow cannibalistic overlord who praises manners, amorality, and culpability.   Last thing to determine what exactly he is..

he likes dependency and thrives on it

he forces it beyond remedy and thrives in deficiency in both tastes and relationships. He also has an inherent lack of respect.

Alastor is incredibly observant, see his assumption of Charlotte's struggles with her father due to her lack of resistance and heightened trust in Alastor as an authoritarian and therefore paternal figure. He doesn't seek dependency of others, worship, because just they could be useful. He seeks this form of worship as a pathological need for attention and power aside from the efficiency. To be the most important person in the room and have someone to corrupt. Charlie is a sheltered, young woman with childish hopes and dreams thanks to the care of the fallen angel, Lucifer and the first woman, Lilith (her sheltering mainly came from Lucifer and his inherent shame and culpability of raising Charlie in Hell while her hopes were enforced by her mother, the siren of hell). 

Alastor, at his arrival, states his true intentions to Charlie: 

“I want to watch the scum of the world struggle to climb up the hill of betterment only to repeatedly trip and tumble down to the fiery pit of failure!”

 but quickly regains his moral high ground in his reprise of Charlie’s song, “ Inside of Every Demon is a Rainbow '' , raising a feeling of importance and awareness to the original singer. It gives the message that someone held on to that song with quite an admiration to the point of a reprise. You can assume that, but the lyrics are a whole other mess. Alastor warms Charlie up by giving her the assurance she so craves while demolishing her beliefs.

“inside of every demon is a lost cause,”

He causes discord between the other residents of the hotel, humiliating Vaggie further by slapping her in the ass, shoving her, and so on. He also takes Charlie to dance and squashes her cheeks. What a lovely boy! 

…That’s what we think until we check in five days later, in Overture. Alastor is vain, so he only lets himself be tasked with a lazy chore(or a perfunctory courtesy) to gain trust and doesn’t accept any interventions from anyone, including the same person he did the chore for to manipulate. When Charlie, while praising him, interjects, Alastor isn’t convivial. 

His behavior is rather ordinary for everyone in the hotel as well. He belittles all the same, making it normalized and taken as a bluff, when he is in fact lowering everyone, including Charlie, in his world-view. Alastor is an egoist who doesn't advise acumen nor gives counsel. He has his own self-imposed self-discipline, recalcitrant and rigid all the time. That’s why he’s the perfect yet worst archetype of a mentor: he has a regime to follow and a mentor does not shape the younger counterpart into a reflection, they make the counterpart great like them. It's simple. While Alastor knows a lot of things and has his intellectuality, he's not willing to give it away for free. And yet, he is apathetic to most of the struggles even if he can take the pathway of becoming morally helpful and increasing trust with his comrades. It simply isn’t his bother and is neglectful most of the time with those that are not superficial (while loathing the act of being superficial) and when something catches his interest, he’ll force his way in, deprecate them, and take advantage of the situation (ep2 & ep7). He’s so arrogant that it’s his flaw, so prideful that ONLY if his power is threatened, his demeanor will change and seeking attention thanks to his power will become insecure about his surroundings and a potential risk of losing the power he collected (dad beats dad). He's paranoid, prideful until something else great comes in thanks to culpability. He analyzes the situation and uses everyone's skeletons in the closets against them. He establishes his power on the defenseless so as to not lose his social standing when stressed.

It’s not that he has a great patience and tolerance... it’s that whenever he fears or feels threatened, he demonstrates it against the "vulnerable" behind scenes. 

And it is in this that he finds the chance to mentor Charlie into greatness. A path into not snapping in front of Charlie and keeping his social image intact, impeccable, serving as someone to look up to for Charlie.

She’s filled with potential that I could guide

It is in episode 2, if not 1, when Alastor’s facade & pride starts to crumble as everyone questions his authority & power within and out of the hotel. he gets increasingly more stiff until "finale". but that's for another time! So, after summing up Alastor's character in brief words,

what is he? hypocrisy.. coming from ὑποκρίνομαι, 1. to answer 2. to interpret 3. (attic) to dialogue, to answer on the stage; to play a part, to be an actor.

He's like a chameleon, shifting between roles and motivations, often blurring the lines between mentor, antagonist, and entertainer. He is a symbol of hypocrisy, playing different roles to suit his own desires while leaving others to question their own perceptions of reality. Whether he's an actor, a director, or simply a part of the crowd is "unknown". He's perfectly misaligned. But from what we know right now…

he's paranoid, in the end. without attention, without leading people, without any aspect of what makes him him, even the smallest things, he's scared of what he earned to be taken away, to be manipulated.

Once I figure out how to unclip my wings, guess who will be pulling all the strings?

IMO an antagonistic force that doesn't mirror charlie, but rather is a shadow to make her confront everything while forcing her to give over her power: he's part of the crowd. he cannot participate thanks to his deal, he can't lead, but he can spectate. he isn't an entertainer: he expects to be the one the others are putting on a show for. His purpose in life is not to lead, it's to gain. to gain liberty, to gain power & control, to gain worship.

#this is disappointing #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel #meta #alastor meta #alastor analysis #alastor altruist #alastor the radio demon #hazbin meta #alastor #hazbin hotel pilot #this is like obvious and i feel stupid but i guess some people need 2 wake up #dont worry guys i also like to indulge in fanon but come on we have a serial killer here with potential dont let angst go away

[villainsposting]

Alastor being aroace makes his dynamic with Vox like 100% funnier. It's a villain rivalry, you immediately know people will look at these two and think "they crave each other carnally", except only one of them has the capacity for it. Which is the perfect set up for a ridiculous one-sided obsession, but then Alastor is shown to be acting way more unbothered by Vox than he actually is. Dude is walking the streets of Hell menacingly staring into cameras and doesn't even have the excuse of homosexuality. Both of these fuckers are goofy as hell.

#hazbin hotel #alastor #vox #they have everything wrong with them #tv or radio #original post #hazbin meta #aroace alastor

[nunalastor]

WE DONT TALK ABOUT THESE SCREENSHOTS FROM THE PILOT ENOUGH

1. HE'S USING HIS STAFF ON THEM

2. MUSIC NOTES??

3. LIL DEMON SKELETON DEER?

4. ALLIGATOR SKELETON??

5. LIL DEMON HAS A KNIFE

6. HIS ROBES ARE TAKING THEM DOWN

7. HIS DEMONS HAVE HATS LMAO

#hazbin hotel #alastor #meta

[metalatias5]

Lucifer, calling up Heaven after discovering that this is not even that rare of an occurrence: WHO THE FUCK MADE DEER BE LIKE THAT??!!?

Also yes, Lucifer spontaneously dematerialized both his hat and coat in shock/anger XD

#Hazbin Hotel #Hazbin Charlie #Charlie Morningstar #Alastor #Radio Demon #Vaggie #Hazbin Lucifer #comic #Meta #MetaTheTrifox #MetaLatias #MetaLatias5

[prince-liest]

More thoughts on Alastor and why I don't think he's actually outdated:

I totally understand why many thoughts are going in the direction of him disliking Vox and TV as a whole because it is the technology that more or less replaced radio in the public eye, but I also think that we (so far, as of episode 4) have never really been given any evidence that he dislikes TV on principle rather than because he dislikes Vox and Vox is TV. Like, yes, he maintains a very dated aesthetic and does things like call TV "picture shows."

But also.

He throws around phrases like, "And now he's pissy, that's the tea!" and speaks with a permanent transatlantic accent (commonly used for TV and radio during his era but not actually naturally-occuring) at literally all times. This guy is not clueless - he's putting on airs. He knows modern lingo and he uses it comfortably and naturally.

There's a fanfic that, to save my life, I cannot remember the name of, where Angel Dust asks Alastor something to the tune of, "So what I'm getting out of this conversation is that you know it's called a cell phone and you just talk like you've never seen one on purpose?" and Alastor responds with, "Naturally!" that I think hit the nail on the head.

Especially when Alastor's anachronisms are so pointed. He calls Vox's TV show a "video podcast," which, 1) a podcast is a pretty modern term for him to know, originating at some point in the early 2000s and 2) deliberately reframes Vox's entire thing in terms of an audio format. It's not television. It's a podcast (a form of audio media that originated in the desire to download online radio broadcasts) with some video tacked on, he guesses.

Anyway, the tl;dr is that while I'm sure Alastor prefers his own era, I don't think Alastor is actually outdated, I think he's being fucking annoying on purpose.

Look at him. Look at his smug knifecat face. Bastardous. I love him.

ETA: The fanfic I mentioned is Anguish of the Marrow!

#and good for him!!!! #hazbin hotel #alastor #vox #hazbin hotel vox #hazbin hotel alastor #personal #meta #he very well might hate TV for TV's sake but also I really don't think he's actually stuck in the past #he's just being disrespectful lmao

[alastors-antlers]

I think this has been in a good number of fanworks already so I'm not exactly covering new ground here, but the idea of Lucifer helping Alastor with his angelic wound on behalf of Charlie never gets old to me.

Alastor continues to pretend that nothing is wrong until he just can't pretend anymore - is it exhaustion? Is it the fact that his injury is so obvious to literally everyone else that it'd be pointless to keep it up? You decide, but either way, he's forced into an intervention.

And then when Lucifer offers healing — because we can't have you dying on us, you idiot, he says, or really anything of the sort — Alastor refuses.

No! Certainly not. No, thank you.

What do you mean? You don't want healing? Do you want to die again? Because you're going to.

Don't mock me. Why are you here? What do you want from me?

Then Lucifer has to convince Alastor that there is, in fact, no catch. It's not a concession Lucifer seeks to hold over Alastor's head forever (not that Luci isn't free to do a bit of gloating); not a way for Lucifer to harm him under the guise of aid; not a favour for a blank cheque to be cashed in at a later date.

Finally, with no small amount of frustration or needling or "will you please just let me do this holy hell this is taking forever" on Lucifer's part, Alastor agrees.

And maybe when it's over, maybe he hates Lucifer just a little bit less than he did. Maybe Alastor trusts just a tiny bit more.

Seriously, you could write this a hundred times and I would probably read all of that. I'm a sucker for the setup, what can I say?

#alastor #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #alastor meta #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel lucifer #lucifer #if anyone wants to send me fics that fit this criteria I would very much appreciate it #appleradio #radioapple #technically as in their interactions #hazbin hotel headcanon #hazbin hotel hc

[saltwatersweets]

i think it’s really funny how many people say that alastor is ace, not aroace, just because viv has only called him ace.

love you guys but you are GRAPHICALLY overestimating people’s knowledge on aromanticism and asexuality and how they are different. they have been confused with each other since their existence, and just because someone is queer doesn’t mean they’re incapable of confusing the terms or using them interchangeably. alastor is clearly shown to not have romantic feelings, just take a look at some of the official jokes.

both of these are explicitly non-romantic. not just non-sexual, they are both jokes and comments about being aromantic, not asexual.

yes, rosie only mentions him being asexual in episode seven, but again, this is a joke made about the idea of him being in a ROMANTIC relationship. unless rosie was implying that she knows alastor and charlie wouldn’t fuck? which 😭😭 i don’t think she would do that??? it was definitely a joke about him not wanting romance because of his romantic and sexual orientation. and yes, i understand how annoying it is that asexuality and aromanticism are being used interchangeable in this instance, and this is an issue ace/aro people have been facing for years, but this is clearly a joke about him being aroace, not just ace.

again, you guys are giving alloromantic/allosexual people WAY too much credit on how much they know about ace/aro people, when most of their knowledge (if any) is “asexual people dont want sex, aromantic people don’t want romance” and that’s it. vivziepop, despite being queer herself, is still allo as far as im aware. allo people BARELY know anything about asexuality or aromanticism or care to learn the difference, and it’s clear that aro/aceness is being used interchangeably here. alastor is portrayed as aroace, and is clearly meant to be seen as aroace, even though he’s only ever been explicitly called ace by viv.

#this isnt even mentioning that his va called him aroace and viv never corrected him lol #(in front of her i might add) #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin alastor #alastor the radio demon #asexual #aromantic #aroace #aroace alastor #aromantic alastor #asexual alastor #hazbin hotel meta #hazbin meta

[justanotherhh]

what does being aroace do for alastor's character?

thing about alastor being aroace is that there's so much juicy potential (cannibal joke) embedded in this concept that i don't know about going too far into, as it's still early days and who knows what the direction will be. but. some analysis. some predictions. some headcanons. mix and match with hedonistic abandon. and at the end a bunch of feelings

first and foremost and basically what all the subsequent points will be about in some way, is it's such a great flipping on its head of a tired idea that aspec-ness (in the vague way it's often discussed) is a way of depicting inhumanity -- characters who can't love are Other, characters who don't want sex are childlike, the way to become a Human Adult Person is to enter into these partnerships, to be fixed. in alastor, being aroace is very much the thing that brings him to humanity, grounds him in something beneath the constant mask he wears. to dig deeper...

just visually, i like how his mask literally slips when he's propositioned/involved in sexual comedy/when people discuss romance too much around him. he glitches, or becomes otherwise uncomfortable, or zones out. i like the crack hc that he avoids val at all costs, that val is actually vox' best weapon against alastor, just because his whole Essence is outside of alastor's ability or wish to process

2. the fact that he's caught off-guard by attachment. he's created an untouchable persona (emotionally and physically to an extent/with exceptions -- the distance of the radio to the listener is something i think about a lot), that with the aroace read comes off partly as protection, especially considering how hypersexual hell is, and how generally hyper-romantic earth would have been (hell is romantic with caveats... more in a sec), so when he realises he almost died to protect the hotel gang it sends him into a full-on meltdown

3. that being said, the way he interacts with women is full of charm and ease: mimzy and rosie first and foremost, then also charlie and niffty, and even to an extent vaggie and possibly carmilla, and maybe cherri in future. he's able to get closer to women, able to be respectful in a southern gentleman old-timey way. it reads as chivalry-with-a-demonic-twist. alastor may be unsettling and untrustworthy for other reasons, but not about crossing sexual or romantic boundaries, which makes him surprisingly safe to hang around. i wonder if this was the case whilst living (and if, ironically, it meant that women ended up crossing his boundaries)

4. i especially would be into this tying into his relationship with niffty, who feels like a woman scorned/wronged/hurt in some way in a 50s housewife-ish romantic way (i personally think her story will be incredibly messed up when it's finally shown), but is very happy hanging out with alastor. sidenote, i bet alastor is so proud of her for killing adam

5. the fact that "ace in the hole" is a comment directed at the idea of alastor-and-charlie is fun and spoken about in-depth, and i will wonder until we find out (if we do) how rosie figured it out, and what it says for their relationship that she hasn't told alastor. that they have limitations to their closeness, or that she knows he'll reject it, or that he needs time to get there. personally i think alastor is so detached from himself that he wouldn't know what to do with it at present, it'd be functionally useless until he's learnt to come into himself more -- aroaceness as the end of a journey of humanising a character, not the thing that needs to be gotten away from in order to be seen as human

6. romance! in hell! it's a little stickier there, with sex-with-no-strings seeming to be a more popular pastime, so i think that part was more of a concern whilst he was alive, but that being said, im interested in how this plays into the above relationships, how characters will react to this part once he starts being more openly on the side of/affectionate with the wider hotel gang, and in how this might come up in future, with regards to...

7. vox! voooox! oh i want vox to become. so creepy. currently we've got underlying creepiness to vox' pathetic obsession with alastor that's coded as having been partially romantic and sexual in nature at one point (if not still romantic and sexual...). there's something about it that speaks to the way that alastor is not aroace because of trauma, but there is trauma involved in being aroace

8. that is, constantly having ones boundaries overstepped, whilst not having the words to say how or why or assert them properly, being projected onto by vox and maybe others while he was alive and post-death, potentially when-alive having that framed as a form of inhumanity in and of itself (and how that ties to him being a serial killer, which im so into)

9. the idea of having been made to feel alien in his own skin due to amatonormativity and not knowing why he feels this way, and compensating by creating boundaries that are extreme, but they work as coping mechanisms, up until... perhaps they won't (hinted at in the finale of s1)

10. (i soooo want vox' creepiness to eventually lead to him actually beating alastor in some way, temporarily, and alastor having to face the mortifying ordeal of being saved by the hotel gang, knowing he's weak and needs to be taken care of by them, knowing that they know that vox won in some way, knowing that vox will take it as vindication and become more powerful from it, know all his walls weren't strong enough in the end -- like a part two to the finale, which ultimately the others didn't see (although vox did) and was already such a big deal for him. gimme some alastor angst!!!)

11. smthinsmthin when we have an aroace character whose whole Deal is being untouchable (emotionally and physically, barring Certain People) being pushed into a space where he has to allow himself to be cared for and through that engage with his own boundaries and which ones have become poisonous to him vs the ones which are actually Who He Is

12. i like to think that he and angel could have an unlikely friendship with a lot of shenanigans, because they both have narratives focused on (re)establishing a relationship with their own bodies, after being made to feel unable to inhabit them as who they are -- angel due to abuse, alastor due to being aroace/repulsed (angel learning to respect alastor's boundaries and being protective of them as an extension of his own journey)

13. alastor filtering through what parts of him are him and what parts are the walls/coping mechanisms -- it's been a lot of years, even before he died, of building them after all. who is the man beneath it all?

14. big fan of how this interacts with his past as a murderer too -- the metaphor is made into something much deeper when the character's aroaceness is a humanising factor in a story about people who have done/do bad things. this not to say he'll necessarily be redeemed (but who knows, vaggie has killed a lot of people and probably will be, or, she'll probably stay in hell with charlie, but the narrative will go "she's chill now." in fact it already pretty much has), but that it adds to all the grey areas of his character. he's not a pure, sad little soul who's always suffering, he's dealt in suffering himself, he enjoys the suffering of others, and he's in control all the time

15. it must have been incredibly humiliating not only to die so stupidly/randomly/without say, but to become a deer demon after that. again, prey, weak, lack of control. his whole Thing is control of the narrative, and his death was totally out of that control, and that in and of itself plays into aroaceness as the idea of "if you can't verbalise yourself, if you can't adequately create boundaries, then overcorrect. become the most inscrutable, untouchable, unsettling, disturbing version of yourself. make people not want to get close to you in the first place"

16. and yet despite all that, he can't help liking people, he can't help being charming and funny and smart and in some ways there's a mask in that too -- sharp wit to cut people down, when you're not... literally cutting people down, a cool, shallow friendliness that deliberately keeps a tension at the forefront, the smartness helping to control and shape and keep power. funnily enough, when he's ready to be aroace, oh the real power he'll have (whether he'll use it for good or bad, or a mix of both... who knows, but he'll be fully himself at last, and that's a happy ending)

17. on the flipside to angel, i think it would take charlie a hot second to deal with it -- she'd be supportive in word, but also she's a known boundary-crosser/someone who has her fixed ideas of how things ought to be and it takes a strong "no" to make her realise when she's got it all wrong. all this to say, she might get the ace part, but she could struggle with the aro, trying to twist it into a version of love so that she could humanise him on her terms, using the word "love", until someone steps up for alastor in some way (in my head, angel, but that's my angel and alastor unlikely friends agenda)

18. husk already knows in some way. also not with words, but he's like, yeah this guy. none of that. are y'all surprised????

19. i wonder if when alive he briefly thought he might be a homosexual, or if he knew from the start that he wasn't, especially considering that men are more disgusting to him overall than women

20. i wonder if mimzy knows or suspects, and also if she was in love with him during their lifetime

21. i like to think in life he's utilised the tactics of the song "the gentleman doesn't believe" and just gone "i hate kissing i mean and uh. dancing. and jazz. and uh... smoking. and walking. and everyting else!!!! (but mostly kissing)" as a way of getting out of someone suggesting a date

22. alastor as hot and charming and unfuckable and unromanceable and repulsed by the idea of it all, and who has the supremely aroace fantasy powers of a. "am not being perceived" and b. "am so terrifying you wish you couldn't perceive me" and whose relationships are dictated by his aroaceness, not despite it!

23. ultimately, this point is the main one for me, regardless of how the story actually gets there: aroaceness as the end of a journey of humanising a character, not the thing that needs to be gotten away from in order to become human

24. pal of mine @creepysora said: "they didnt let anyone walk so now he waltzes ready for murder" and yeah. jumped straight to complex character with big, wonderful flaws in a strange little universe, bypassing all the dull explanatory 1-0-1 that just isn't my cup of tea and into a way of writing aroaceness that can be complex and nuanced and based in character, story, theme, rather than education -- he's not implied, he's not one-note, he's not there to explain, he's not defined solely by his role in the story as the token so-and-so, he's not there to be fixed, he's not there to be dubbed as Other, he is

this character genuinely doesn't exist elsewhere, outside of the stories and ideas i see shared and share within my community. this kind of focus, it's... kind of heady to be honest. like you only ever tasted something sweet in crumbs, and then someone gives you a boatload of it all at once

and tbh. he deserves a little murder. as a treat. because fuck, being aroace is hard

#alastor #hazbin hotel #aroace alastor #vox #radiostatic #angel dust #husk #niffty #rosie #charlie morningstar #mimzy #valentino #hazbin hotel meta #alastor meta #(staticradio is forever onesided) #sex repulsed alastor #romance repulsed alastor #loveless alastor #my meta

[snowyh2o]

So here’s something that’s been on my mind lately.

When Rosie gives Charlie advice on her relationship with Vaggie, and whether or not Vaggie really meant all the things she had said or if it was just lies, she tells Charlie that “—words, are cheap. But actions, they speak the truth.”

And the reason I’ve been thinking about this line lately is that, everyone on YouTube and Reddit and occasionally on Tumblr are all clamoring over each other about how “Alastor is clearly the main antagonist/villain of the series”, “Alastor doesn’t actually care about the hotel or Charlie, he’s only manipulating everyone”, “clearly, Alastor’s line about controlling all the strings means he’s planning on taking over hell!”. But I can’t help but feel like that’s…. A very shallow interpretation of him as a character and his role in the story.

The way he’s designed and implemented into the story has him filling the “morally dubious very suspicious and probably out for his own goals sponsor of the hotel” trope, and part of what draws people to his character is that we really don’t know what he’s going to do. Is he going to betray Charlie and the hotel? Is he going to give up on his goals for Charlie and the hotel? How is he planning on using that deal he made with Charlie? What will he try to do to get out of his leash? Because as it stands he could very easily swing one way or the other, or both at the same time.

But I also understand that a lot of people are saying those things because of what Alastor himself says about his goals in the series. Particularly in the finale, but also during the pilot and again in the first episode. Alastor says he’s here to watch people fail for entertainment. He says he wants to take control of the strings. He mocks the idea that he’d die for “his friends”.

But Alastor says a lot of shit, and not all of them are entirely true.

Words are cheap.

So, what do his actions say?

In the pilot he offers Charlie a deal centered around him sponsoring the hotel, Charlie refuses and instead orders him as the princess of hell to help out with the hotel for as long as he desired. Alastor agrees to this, and doesn’t push for making another deal. Immediately after summons Niffty and Husk to help staff the hotel and work on cleaning up the place. He then defends the hotel against Sir Pentious’s death beam and beats him up (because he destroyed a wall and interrupted his song—). He renamed the hotel, and then presumably attached his radio tower to the side of the building and moves in to live with everyone else.

In episode 1, he makes a really well put together video advertisement despite his infamous distaste for anything and everything related to modern technology and TVs. The ad is edited, voiced over, and contains custom animations. He would’ve had to have used a computer to do all this. The video itself was satire, likely because he was very annoyed at being told he couldn’t just make a radio ad for the hotel, and not what Charlie or Vaggie had wanted. Later on, when Vaggie decides to remake the ad, she asks Alastor for a camera, he summons a vintage photo camera (again because of his distaste for all things video) and Vaggie has to specify for a video camera. He summons a video camera that looks like it’s being held together by duct tape for Vaggie, and he’s clearly not happy about it, but the camera he gave her still works, and he still did what she asked of him. When Vaggie fails to make a proper ad, he mocks her in a “not so easy now is it?” Way, before offering to help her make one. He makes a deal with her, being that if he helps her with this ad, that she never asks him to deal with “this frivolous television technology ever again.” When she agrees, he summons up an entire movie productions set along with a change of clothing for all the members of the hotel (going above and beyond with this “help”), and by the end of the day had even pulled some strings and limbs to get it to air that very same day after they were done making it. Also, despite Alastor being in frame for the video, he’s the only thing that’s distorted, even though other instances of him being in frame distorts the whole image.

Episode 2 has Alastor defending the hotel from Sir Pentious’s attack again, though he’s also the reason Sir Pentious was attacking in the first place. And has him summoning minions to fix the wall before he leaves for the tailor. He doesn’t do anything tk Sir Pentious, except act a little threatening despite Sir Pentious having ripped off a piece of his suit, and what his reaction before Sir Pentious became a hotel guest was. Alastor is also seen participating as an audience to the “Drug dealer” skit, probably to laugh at Angel’s misery. He doesn’t do anything about Sir Pentious being a spy for Vox, but does appear to have scared Vox into not trying anything else.

Episode 3 has him interrupting his breakfast to help Vaggie deal with the Egg Bois, humanely. Despite how very obviously irritated he was by their constant pestering, he doesn’t do anything to them, even though he was very eager to do so earlier before Vaggie specified he couldn’t kill/eat them. He even makes sure they don’t get themselves killed by saying something stupid in front of Zestial, and tried to keep them outside the building full of powerful and potentially temperamental overlords. He uses Frank to spy on Carmilla, and threatens him into silence (it didn’t work), but doesn’t try to dispose of them and ends up bringing the whole group back to the hotel.

Episode 5 has him in a pissing contest against Lucifer, and we learn that he makes old timey puns, is a reliable hotel manager, and apparently unclogs toilets for them. Charlie notably, agrees with what he says, or doesn’t say anything to contradict his words, and she’s generally much more comfortable during Alastor’s portion of the song than Lucifer’s. When Mimzy appears, he’s very happy to see her and initiates a hug. Despite this, he insists on joining Charlie with giving her dad a tour around the hotel. Alastor appeared upset at the mention of his 7 year absence, but tries to play it off. When Husk pokes at his sore spot, Alastor pulls out the chains and starts threatening him with a tortuous death should he say anything about that again, but doesn’t do anything else to Husk and leaves him alone the moment he has Husk’s agreement. Alastor actively defends the hotel against the loan sharks after Mimzy, and then seriously asks Mimzy, the only friend we’ve seen from his past, to leave if she’s only here to bring trouble to the hotel. He doesn’t interrupt when Charlie and Lucifer finally reconnect and reconcile.

Episode 7, Alastor speaks with Charlie in private and forces her to confront the situation the hotel is in by mocking her about landing the hotel in hot water. He doesn’t stop when she tells him to leave, and is able to successfully get her out of the bed covers and onto her feet. He offers advice, and a little insight to his own smile. When Charlie is at her lowest and most upset, he offers the solution to her problem for a favor at a time of his choosing where she harms no one. He doesn’t ask for her soul, even though it looked like Charlie was both expecting him to and appeared just about ready to offer it herself. After the deal, he voluntarily takes Charlie to Cannibal Town, no strings attached, to meet with Rosie. He was very bored listening to her vent about her love life, but didn’t try to interrupt her or get her to stop. When Charlie has trouble explaining the situation, he steps in and tells Rosie what kind of favor they want. Rosie agrees to help, because Alastor has never wronged her before. Alastor gives Charlie his microphone with no prompting when she comes back to try and rally the cannibals again. When she looks over to him and Rosie for support, he gives her a thumbs up, despite being somewhat awkward about it. He helps bring the cannibals on board with the offer of angel meat! During a more private moment with Rosie in the song, Alastor stated that he believed Charlie could do it all along. Then talks about how she’s powerful, and wanting to guide her potential, before saying they should stick with her if they want to win.

Episode 8: Alastor is an active member of the war council. He shared the details of his ability, or at the very least his shield, and either volunteered for or agreed to be the one to keep Adam occupied should he enter the battle. He lends his microphone to Charlie again during her final night before the battle’s speech. Alastor shared a quiet moment with Niffty. He doesn’t deride her for her attachment to the members of the hotel when she shares how much she likes them, and even almost agrees with her. When Niffty starts laughing uncontrollably, he looks at her for a moment before joining her in laughing, it’s very forced lol. During the actual battle, his shield was paramount in minimizing the number of angels everyone had to deal with, and he kept Adam busy for several minutes, only retreating after taking an almost fatal blow to the chest by Adam’s holy weapon. He disappears from the battle, but likely stayed nearby, and only went to his radio tower after the hotel had been destroyed or the battle had already ended. In his radio tower, he’s in disbelief over his near death experience. His expression when speaking of how he’d almost died for “his friends”, it isn’t anger or derision, it’s shaken, unsteady, and struggling to keep it together with a smile. He uses his anger and desperation to take focus himself again. In the end, he shows up at the hotel again, appearing perfectly fine and totally uninjured, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with him at all, no siree! (His microphone is missing)

I think, maybe he doesn’t believe in the hotel, but he does believe in Charlie. Whether he’s aware of exactly how much he believes in her, and for what reasons, is unknown, but he’s placed his lot in with her, and he’s put a shocking amount of trust in her as well.

He’s also put in a shocking amount of effort into keeping the hotel running and doing what Vaggie and Charlie have asked of him for something he claims to think is a joke. If he weren’t serious about it all, he wouldn’t have been nearly this cooperative with it. Just take a look at what he did for the ad when he was doing it begrudgingly!

So I don’t believe him when he says he’s only in this for the entertainment. I don’t believe him when Alastor’s reassuring himself that he’s only in this for himself, that he doesn’t give a rats ass about the rest of the hotel.

He’s spent a little too much time and effort for it all to have been meaningless to him.

Alastor’s words are cheap. But his actions do tell some semblance of truth.

#hazbin hotel #alastor #alastor hazbin hotel #meta analysis #alastor analysis #Alastor meta #hazbin hotel analysis #hazbin hotel meta #long post #what Alastor says vs what he actually does #for the hotel #for Charlie

[chaoticace2005]

Vox’s Rivalry with Alastor: Need for Control

The whole thing with Vox is control. He’s the embodiment of modern technology and surveillance. The privacy issues we face? In Hell that’s all Vox. And when you think of it like that his whole rivalry with Alastor makes so much sense on a logical level.

Things Vox Controls:

-The public: constant surveillance, brainwashing, and further control over media content they consume. He doesn’t just control what people watch but he watches people.

-This partners (to a degree): we see this with how he interacts with Valentino. He isn’t the one in CHARGE, but the thing with Valentino is he tends to be very explosive, and Vox is able to direct the blast in a direction that won’t harm him (offers to bring up employees for Val to kill so he won’t make a public display about Angel)

-Himself: We see how he puts so much energy on to be publicity ready and have a smile on his face. Talking very much like a businessman or politician. He acts completely different in front of camera.

Even his smile. Both Vox and Alastor use smiling as a mechanism to hide their true selves. But with Alastor it works as a way to keep people guessing, to inspire a level of fear oftentimes.

Vox isn’t like that. He puts on a fake, plastic smile. Alastor tries to make himself off putting on purpose, Vox doesn’t. He does it to keep them complacent. Alastor smiles so people won’t figure him out. Vox smiles so people trust him enough not to try.

We see that the second Alastor is brought up that smile vanishes. His self control is gone. Throughout the song we see him lose more control over his public persona, getting more visibly angry, while at the same time the public turns more to Alastor. Meanwhile Alastor also butters his partners up and publicly announces to the world that “no, Vox can’t control me. Trust me, he tried.”

Every single thing Vox controls is threatened when Alastor is involved. Vox has no way to control him.

-Methods he uses on the public? Surveillance and media? Won’t work because Alastor can’t be captured on camera well and hates modern technology. Brainwashing the public? Won’t work if they’re paying more attention to Alastor than him.

-His partners? Alastor declined his partnership and is willing to poke at the relationship between the Vees. All the Vees carry some weight in the relationship, but Alastor could make Vox seem obsolete. He’s able to control their public perception, yes- but one of them could easily go rogue and blow that to bits.

-Himself? Demolished. Gone. He has a public breakdown. He glitches out. Fully cries at the end of the song. Maybe it’s the fear of what Alastor could do, maybe it’s their past, maybe it’s Vox’s weird hate boner, maybe it’s unrequited feelings. Who knows. All logic and control goes out the window when Alastor is involved.

And the thing Alastor seems very much the same. He hates being under someone’s leash. He needs to be in control. When he’s reminded he’s not he lashes out. The first time we really see their masks break is when they’re reminded of the fact there is someone out there that is a threat to the control the have. The “What did you say?” they both do before lashing out.

I’m interested in seeing how they’ll interact in the future. Because they really do seem like two sides of the same coin. The only difference is we know who Vox is afraid of, we don’t fully know who Alastor is of yet. They need power over others, but more than that they need power over themselves. (Alastor being controlled by whatever the deal he made was. While Vox is controlled by his emotions towards Alastor. And both being controlled by their fear.)

( @gabrielsbubblegumbitch I’m curious on your thoughts? I’ve read some of your analyses 1’s would love feedback.)

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel meta #hazbin hotel analysis #hazbin hotel vox #hazbin vox #vox hazbin hotel #alastor hazbin hotel #alastor #radio demon hazbin hotel #staticradio #radiostatic #one sided

[villainsposting]

Favorite aspect of Alastor revealed in the show has gotta be that he loves being the center of attention. He's said to be an enigma, yet he thrives on people being curious about him. He wants to know what people think of his deal with Charlie. He wants people to wonder why he has been missing for seven years. And the majority of the few times we see his smile grow tense is when his mystery is disregarded.

Which explains why he enjoys his rivalry with Vox. Vox's obsession is a reliable source of attention for him. No matter what Alastor does, Vox will be there trying to undermine him. And watching him try is a dual source of enjoyment: it is fun to see his enemy stumble and glitch in frustration, but damn does Alastor also enjoy being in the spotlight, even if in the mind of just one person.

#alastor #hazbin hotel #vox #radiostatic #tv or radio #original post #hazbin meta

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

I really want the show to go into more detail about Husk's backstory as an overlord, partly because I feel like it's something the fandom is kinda glossing over and partly because it's lowkey one of the biggest obstacles that a Husk/Angel relationship would have into overcome.

'Loser Baby' emphasises the similarities between Angel and Husk's situations, but it also (probably deliberately, since Husk is the one leading it) brushes aside one of the most major differences between them.

Namely that when Husk tells Angel that he's not the only one who sold his soul, he's not just singing about himself.

Husk sold his soul to Alastor, yeah (or lost it at least, which amounts to the same thing), but he also traded in souls. He was that “psychopathic freak”, and was operating fro long enough to achieve Overlord status.

And, honestly? Having your soul owned by Husker back in the day probably sucked.

The one benefit of soul contracts for the person selling their soul is that they seem to get a fair amount of say in how the contract is written.

Angel's contract, for example, apparently has a clause stating that he's only under Valentino's jurisdiction when he's in the studio. (Which, btw, puts a whole other spin on why Val is so pissed when he moves out of studio accommodation and into the Hotel.) And Val is apparently bound to that. Even though he's pissed off and actively wants to put Angel in his place, he can't make any moves against him in the club.

Equally, since most overlords seem to be associated with a specific location/industry, you can generally choose who your working for and therefore roughly what kind of stuff you're gonna be doing.

In practice there seems to be a lot of manipulation and coercion going on on the part of the Overlords making these contracts— they're not fair by any means— but the sinners signing them are theoretically at least guaranteed the right to a (somewhat) informed choice and some control over the deals they make.

Having an Overlord who uses human souls to pay his gambling debts, however, completely undermines all that.

Imagine going into work for your job running the roulette games at the casino only to be told that the boss played a bad hand in a game with Valentino, and so you're a sex worker now.

Or being traded to someone who has you fighting turf wars for them, and realising that your contract doesn't have any clauses to protect your personal safety because you only signed up to be a bartender.

Or selling your soul for a job near your home and family so you can guarantee their protection, only to be traded to someone whose territory is on the other side of the pentagram.

Husk is a victim of his own addiction, yeah, which is one of the reasons why Angel relates to him. But his backstory implies that there must be a significant number of people out there who were also victims of Husk's addiction, and may not be as sympathetic. Dude basically owned other people as property (… we have a word for that) and then literally played games with their lives.

And like, I'm not saying he hasn't changed. He seems more empathetic on the show than his backstory would imply, and apart from anything else, he's had a pretty clear object lesson about what it's like to be on the receiving end of that sort of thing. (Ngl, I'm pretty sure one of the reasons Alastor keeps him around is because he's the type to find the irony amusing.)

But like, he's in this place where he can relate to Angel Dust's situation, while at the same time probably also being able to relate to Valentino and Alastor's perspectives (although I doubt he was quite as bad as Val to work for).

And I'm curious as to what would happen, later in the series, if the gang met someone who had sold their soul to Husk at one point. Someone who would also be able to relate to Angel's situation, but with Husk as their version of Valentino.

#hazbin hotel #angel dust #husker #huskerdust #meta #hazbin hotel meta #yeah i just got thru watching this series and I have Thoughts #alastor hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel headcanons #valentino #hazbin hotel spoilers