I've been wondering for a while now, but what is the reason in your fic that Nightmare has Killer as his right hand as opposed to one of the others?
Oh, I love questions like this! You are asking for some: Character analysis!
So, why would Nightmare choose Killer over the other two? After all, he is hyper, destructive, seems unreliable, enjoys picking fights, and he is unpredictable. When looking at Killer at face value, it would be hard to see leadership qualities.
Look at Dust. He’s observant, calculating, generally mild-mannered, and serious-minded. Or Horror who is more emotionally stable when well fed, the peacekeeper, aware of the needs of others, and can scare the other two into line. Both of those seem far better choices, but Noot knows what he's doing.
Putting a cut here because spoilers ahead for anyone not caught up:
So, in chapter one, you get a feel for Killer and his bad qualities. Yet, NM does see the possibilities:
He chose Killer, a very unhinged Sans who was incredibly effective and enthusiastic. Too much so, Nightmare soon found out. The man had the energy of a child with a matching maturity level. If Nightmare didn't have daily missions, Killer came up when his own, and none of them left the negativity guardian without a headache.
Killer knows how to get a job done and is excited about anything NM asks him to do. This will be accented in a future chapter (used to be in 6, now it’s 7, who knows if that will change). But if you consider Killer’s responses to Nightmare, he is generally quick to obey. Again from chapter one when Nightmare is yelling at Dust:
“And you have seen how Killer responds when I am serious, so you know how to properly talk to me.”
So, those are some good initial qualities. As the first part said, Nightmare just needed to give him something to do, or he would find his own task. Think of Killer as a working breed of dog. They need a purpose or they will make one up. Nightmare gives Killer a purpose and he starts to take the job more seriously. And he automatically acknowledged NM as the one in charge and showed him the proper respect.
But we have to consider, why not Horror. And I am starting with him because he knows why himself. Yet again, chapter one:
It wasn't too hard to convince Horror to join him. All he had to do was promise to supply the AU with food and allow him time off to visit his brother weekly.
So Horror is not always going to be there when Nightmare needs him or to discuss plans for the others. He is also being paid in a way for his services while the others are not. I will go over their joinings in more detail at another time, but Killer joined because he knew it would give him purpose. Dust… uh… well he was kinda kidnapped, but it was for his own good. And Horror was bargained with.
But what about Dust, I hear you all ask. Maybe you might even point at chapter one and say “didn’t Nightmare see qualities in him that could make him the right hand?”:
"what do you mean by worse?" Dust asked, and Nightmare looked at him. He had been becoming more and more impressed with his thought process. While Killer has the leadership skills needed, Dust has his own qualities that could put him in charge when Killer was not there to lead.
What leadership qualities does Killer have that Dust lacks? After all, he is willing to do what Nightmare asks as well. Once corrected he was quick to reply appropriately. He willingly spends time with Nightmare, instead of going off and doing his own thing that can be destructive. So why is he not the right hand? Why isn’t he in charge when NM isn’t there?
As Dust says in Chapter 2:
"sorry, boss, but it's his chore to do until he does it correctly. i get it, it's hard for killer, but that's why. not every part of a mission is going to be active and fun. if he can't stop to pay attention to details when things get boring, he could put us all in danger," Dust explained.
Not exactly a good mark for Killer. Dust is highly observant and analyzes details. But Dust… doesn’t always report those details well. Nightmare needs to be informed of what is going on between his henchmen. While reporting on chores isn’t interesting, it is essentially practice for reporting back after missions. In chapter two, this is actually discussed. Dust is getting tired of the constant questions and Nightmare’s reply is telling if you think about it:
Dust groaned, "seriously, boss? do you do all this with killer when he gives a report?"
Nightmare raised a brow bone for a moment, then grinned, leaning back in his chair a little. "No, I do not have to. Killer comes in here, lounges in the chair you have so far refused to sit in, and then proceeds to tell me far more than I need to know. If anything, I try to speed up the process. You seem set on making this go as fast as possible, only to leave me with a series of questions which you then provide indecisive answers for me to interpret."
Which would you prefer as a Boss? Too much information or gaps in information that you have to interpret yourself at times. Between the two, one is far better at reporting back, which mean, as unobservant of Killer seems, he actually is taking notice of things. This is accented later on in chapter 2 when Horror is about to tease Dust when Dust is feeling prickly:
Something about Dust's body language wasn't right to Killer. He seemed tense; his smile was tight. Nah, this wasn't a good time for any sort of physical joking. Dust was more primed for poking at for a fight than for fun now. "horror, i would let him be."
Killer is observant, but more of his fellow skeletons. He is even more aware of Nightmare than Dust is. In the latest chapter, chapter five, while Nightmare is comforting Dust he points this out saying:
“You judge yourself far too harshly. And I think you are misjudging me as well. I know not where the idea came from that I require you to be emotionless. What I ask of you is for you to be yourself. I fear this is a lesson you will struggle with for some time, but we will work on it,”
If NM isn’t there to lead, it would be his right hand. And that should be someone who understands the others well. Dust’s own self hatred messes with his perception of the others as he just assumes everyone hates him as much as he hates himself.
But there is one other key thing that Dust points out as a reason why he doesn’t even want that role. Back to chapter two at the report scene, Nightmare asks Dust if he thinks he could be a better team leader. Dust replies with:
"no, and neither could horror. killer's better at thinking on his feet and making snap decisions. i… need time to plan more, and tend to think of long drawn out plans that aren't always doable in the time we have," Dust explained.
When it comes to plans, Dust is good at thinking up the long game plans. Killer is good with making any sort of plan, even ones on the fly. Even Horror noticed. In chapter three while discussing the group activity, Killer bemoans about the chores mostly being yard work then states he said he left it up to Dust to pick the ones he wanted to assign everyone and then give him the list of what was left for the team building activities.
“i’m sure you can think of something with it,” Horror replied with a wide grin and chuckle. That was one thing Killer was good at doing. Even if the fun activity was destructive, he was still coming up with something.
“pffft,” Killer grinned and closed his sockets, looking extremely confident, “of course i can, i’m the master of chaos here.”
So, I hope you now have an idea of why this Noot picked this Kills to be his right hand man. I do think these points will be accented more as time goes on, but I have to admit, this was fun to do.
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