#if anyone has thoughts on the connection between jake & rose thematically pls send an ask or dm or something

[applestorms]

if you consider the ways in which dirk & jake parallel one another in their (attempts to be) embodiment(s) of the Ideals of Masculinity, ultimate dirk being portrayed visually as super buff is actually really fitting?

like: dirk and jake both try to take on a few key Masculine™️ traits they see as ideals, but seem to naturally embody the inverse of one another. or basically: dirk is way more adept physically but tries to present himself as hyper intelligent & this mastermind pulling all the strings when in reality he’s more of a puppet than the puppet master. this is not to say that he’s stupid, his interest in history (and plato, if we’re to interpret the Timaeus part of timaeusTestified that way) and rose-adjacency is evidence against that, but even just in comparison to the other people he grows up with (AR, the cals, and, yes, jake) he doesn’t have the same kind of quasi-omniscience necessary to really keep up. it’s not a coincidence to me that dirk’s role in a lot of his major flashes is largely physical too, and specifically spurned on/directed by other people (synch/unite was conceived of by AR, prince of heart rise up was advised by callie, etc.)

jake, on the other hand, very clearly tries to take on the role of a dumb jock action hero like in his favorite movies, but his true strength seems to really come from his intelligence, and to some degree charisma (though that’s got a big * attached to it and is also kinda part of that intellect). i think it’s more well known by now, but though jake hides it well his intelligence seems to be practically on the level of AR and other such mostly omniscient-narrator types. this is, ironically, most obvious in how brain ghost dirk provides jake with information he in his own words “has no business knowing,” to the point that aranea even asks him how tf he figured out that his name is connected to lord english the Big Bad. he also figures out AR directed synch/unite almost immediately upon getting dirk’s head and manipulates jane into friendzoning herself so he doesn’t have to reject her etc. etc. watch the optimistic duelist jake english series on youtube

i really like the interpretation of lord english as being basically just patriarchy, violent and active and non-stop aggressive but also the powerful shadow leader of a gang and wealthy beyond belief. it really vibes with the most key queer elements of the comic imo, not just in terms of relationships but greater themes too, like how hussie is comedically against the concept of heterosexual reproduction in homestuck to the point of fucking absurdity.

so it makes sense in my mind that dirk & jake, as the human kids closest to caliborn himself that he explicitly latches onto, both are and try to embody these Masculine™️ traits in one way or another. this is really a key part of their Dualisms to me, and since homestuck is way into duality especially by the time we get to the cherubs i think that dichotomy is important.

moving this forward to ult. dirk, iirc a lot of his actions are actually pretty physical (kidnapping rose, all that shit about worldbuilding or whatever which in retrospect might be tied to the timaeus thing too idr). ult dirk is pretty clearly influenced by lord english too, likely in the fact that combing all iterations of Dirk also probably involves taking bro strider (influenced by the “filled” lil cal) and AR (possibly even in the form of the arquius that made up LE), which fits the whole pretending to be the puppeteer but actually not in control at all thing he’s got going. what i’m really interested in, however, is how this ties into the concept of an ultimate jake, especially when considering how the hope aspect might influence him there in comparison to dirk’s heart aspect and splinters influencing his ultimate self. (also: BGD seemingly not being included in the ultimate dirk still fucking stands out to me. good lord i hated the epilogues and hs^2 but i still read so much of that shit why past astro why did you do that to yourself.)

edit: forgot to mention this, but it might be interesting to reread some of the meat timeline’s dirk dialogue w/ the thought of how his taking on of the narration itself might be causing him to be influenced by the other characters just as much as they’re influenced by him? e.g. w/ the whole controlling davekat to get their shit together thing, how much of that is dirk controlling dave and karkat and how much is dirk being influenced by dave and karkat’s subconscious thoughts. might not be anything, dirk in the original comic is mostly just influenced by the quasi-omniscient beings i mentioned earlier, but him slowly getting puppeted by everyone not just LE’s influence is an interesting thought to entertain

#literal 1 am thoughts don’t come at me if this isn’t coherent #i might clean this up and add actual citations later but i don’t have a computer rn so that’ll have to wait #also none of this is necessarily new but i wanted it all together as i keep thinking about this shit #get ready for more essays ig is what i’m saying lol #ugh now i’m tempted to read more plato too but also UGH i kind of hate plato srry #if anyone has thoughts on the connection between jake & rose thematically pls send an ask or dm or something #btw #hs #dirkjake #astronaut rambles