Or The Heroic Titles of Various Characters Within the Arcane Universe.
*Note: Characters were chosen on how much I could remember about their character, and how personally interesting they are to me, my apologies if I missed a favorite side character, or if my analysis of their Classpect differs from yours. Feel free to discuss in the replies, this is not a definitive list and many interpretations are possible. With that out of the way, please enjoy my analysis and have a great 4/13.
Quick Fire Explanations:
(For more in depth explanations of Aspects and Classes go here: Master List – Empyrean Qlippoth)
Active Vs Passive
- The Active/Passive split, can be summarized with the following phrases: Active: For oneself vs Passive: For others. However, I will still give a more in depth explanation below.
- Active classes are selfish, meaning they act with their best interest in mind. This does not make them evil, it just makes them somewhat self serving, which most people are in someway.
- Passive Classes are altruistic, meaning they act with others best interests first. This does not make them inherently good, as it is still based on their perspective of what the greater good is, which can still lead to tyrants.
- (-)=Active [For reasons unknown to mortals]
- (+)=Passive
- Thus classes can be understood as one who [verbs] [their aspect] for [themselves/others]
Classes:
- Classes are how the players manipulates their aspect in a given session, they also represent something that is wrong with an Aspect in a session. Classes divided into active and passive pairs, based around a verb. There are many different interpretations of what the pairs are but I follow empyreanPersonified’s view of the pairs, which are as follows.
- Create: Maid(-)/Heir(+) Absence of Aspect
- Alter: Witch(-)/Sylph(+) Detrimental State of Aspect
- Destroy: Prince(-)/Bard(+) Excess of Aspect
- Understand: Mage(-)/Seer(+) Misunderstood Aspect
- Steal: Thief(-)/Rogue(+) Dispersed Aspect
- Serve: Page(-)/Knight(+) Lack of Aspect
Aspects:
- The twelve aspects of reality within the universe of Homestuck are what they sound like, the aspects which make up reality. That includes both the physical universe where the characters reside as well as the narrative which the comic follows. They are as follows.
- Breath: Freedom, Air, Individuality, and Isolation
- Life: Living things, Positivity, Progression, and Wealth
- Light: Knowledge, Probability/Luck, Light, and Relevance
- Time: Literal Time, narrative pacing, and the inevitable end
- Heart: Identity, Soul, and all Emotions
- Rage: Will Power, Negative Emotions, and Skepticism
- Blood: Bonds, Relationships, and Literal Blood
- Doom: Decay, Destiny, Suffering, and Rules
- Void: Secrets, Darkness, and Irrelevance
- Space: Literal Space, where matter is, size, and velocity
- Mind: Intelligence, Rationality, Logic, and Choice
- Hope: Belief, Desire, Dreams, and Illusion
*The Following lists are in no particular order
Major Canon Characters:
Calvus - Prince of Light
- Calvus is an archetypical Prince. Not only is he actually royalty, his demeanor and attitude fit the often dramatic and arrogance. Granted he seems to hold himself in far too high regard for someone who destroys Light. However, Princes often have at least one part of their aspect they hold dear (see Eridan’s love of magic and Dirk’s want for a romantic relationship) this is seen in Calvus with his desire for glory making a lot of the Bronze Sea story focus on himself. Now for how he destroys Light, well he’s literally part of a secret Order bent on controlling the entirety of the War Seas through the control of information, He hides the secrets of the Caesar family, and he refuses to tell the player what The Order’s plans are beyond some vague hints. He also destroys with Light, through Aether magic, which is described as a more destructive form of light magic.
Iris - Heir of Rage
- I should hope that this is self explanatory. Whether or not you agree with me on what the Heir’s verb is, I personally agree with empyreanPersonified that its verb is create rather than alter, regardless Iris like any good Heir embodies Rage. Rage is the aspect of negative emotions, strength, motivation, and truth. It’s pretty clear that through her short temper and stubborn nature Iris embodies her aspect to a T. This is also shown as Iris creates rage within the story, she gives the MC motivation by exposing the lies of the Ravennan state, thus she also creates truth. Heirs are also shown to be exceptionally strong, which while this usually translates to physical strength, something that would be amplified by magnitudes by Rage. Instead, however, Iris embodies strength her Flare magic which we have seen in story is strong enough to wipe out hordes of Centurions with a single wave. In fact her flare magic is another example of her class, she begins her journey with something which compliments her aspect the trouble of course then comes from learning how to use it properly as other Heir have had to do.
Morden - Witch of Doom
- So when I had first started classpecting AO characters, I thought that Morden was a Lord of Doom, then a Maid, and finally a Witch. The first two were due to myself focusing far too much on the fact he has the Death Curse, something that allows him to Control Death and once he obtained it he was made of Death. However, Doom is a lot more than the act of dying. Doom is fate, bad luck, and rules, all things that Morden is constantly rebelling against. Many people think that Morden is a fairly passive character, however, if you look at what he does he’s one of the most active characters in the story. He is the one who suggests breaking into Fort Talos, in fact he was planning to do it before the MC arrived at Sailor’s. He races against Ravenna to get the Death Curse, to keep it out of the hands of tyrants, and he along with Iris and Neviro actively search for the player after he get’s to Ravenna. Everything he does is in rebellion of his fate. He probably should have died in The Order’s experiments, but he escaped, he defied death, and now with the Death Curse in hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if he achieved even greater death defying feats.
Neviro - Page of Life
- Neviro is interesting. He has little narrative relevance currently, so much so one most likely wouldn’t be remiss to call him a Page of Light. However, while he certainly is a Page, I believe that Life suits him far more than Light. Pages start, like their counterparts Knights, with a deficiency in their aspect, however, where with Knights this deficiency is mostly perceived with Pages it’s all too real. So how does relate to Neviro? Well, as I said Pages have a deficiency in their aspect, and Neviro is certainly lacking in life. His family is dead, he has little magic (Curse Inheritance), and he’s constantly in fear for his life from Ravennan death squads. However, it is in this That Neviro finds his strength, one of the traits shared by the Life bound is that of rebellion. This is shown in Neviro’s refusal to accept the Doom that Ravenna represents for his family and his people. He uses the life he has and dedicates it to the rebellion against the Caesars, thus gaining more life through the process. Which is what defines a Page, they are one who begins with little of their aspect, and through their journey snowballs until they are able to topple even Lords.
MC - Maid of Heart
- A Maid is one who to start is trapped by their aspect, or trapped from their aspect in someway, but through their journey escapes and in doing so becomes their aspect, quite literally becoming made of that aspect. Heart is the aspect of Identity, Emotion, and even the Soul. All of this lines up well with what little we know about the canon MC. The MC is someone who has been literally trapped due to their identity. They are a Legacy, which is all but confirmed at this point to be one descended from the Olympians, and that made them a target for The Order of Aesir. Then when they escaped, they lost their memories, or in other words, they lost their Mind. Leaving them only with those strong emotions which they retained to guide them, meaning that all their decisions (something that Mind is supposed to regulate) are made by their Heart. This is seen in their choice to race towards Calvus after fighting Carina, as well as their decision to follow Iris as their sense of justice was Incensed by the idea of her story. Over all the MC makes rarely any rational decisions, which is not to say they’re insane, but they are incredibly impulsive trusting their emotions far more than anything else. In fact any ration decisions we see the MC make are done in the presence of another character, choosing to sneak into Talos was Morden’s decision as was choosing to hide who they were from Nilah. There’s also The MC’s ties to Spirit Energy, or Soul Energy giving more credence to their aspect being Heart.
Revon - Maid of Blood
- A maid as explained above is one who not only creates their aspect, but also is trapped by it. Blood is the aspect of bonds, relationships, and literal blood, it is the opposite of Breath. Revon is a perfect example of his title, he is a prince, thus he is quite literally restricted by his bloodline. Forced to behave in ways that are appropriate for his station, though this restriction is lessened after Calvus’s death and Revon’s subsequent disappearance. There’s also his loyalty, he is unquestioning loyal to those he chooses, but especially those related by blood. He loves his brother, thinking the man a great king, and unwilling to listen to any other argument. He is also loyal to Ravenna and its people, calming their concerns and helping where he can. Ignoring Tibera as I imagine there is more going on there. I mean Calvus doesn’t actually need to promise redevelopment, it’s not like he’s up for election so I suspect there’s another reason he seemingly forbids any help to reach that city. Regardless it is clear that connection is incredibly important to Revon, to the point that he is able to remember someone he spoke to once after a full month had past. The point is Revon’s a Maid of Blood.
Edward Kenton - Sylph of Breath
- Sylphs are the passive counterpart to the Witch, they alter their aspect for the benefit of others. Breath is the aspect of breath, freedom, individuality, and isolation, all things that describe Edward Kenton. From his voluntary exile to freeing the player from the Eternal Mine, Edward is constantly changing his and others Breath, offering escapes and freeing even the actual user from the tedious act of unloading a ship. Another example of his aspect is his reason for leaving the Grand Navy, he saw the destruction of freedom, through the blockade and bombardment, and it sickened him, causing him to flee into exile. Finally, there’s the fact that often Sylphs have lots of prior knowledge of their aspect before The Game begins, which is shown through Edward being an accomplished sailor, a profession which to many represents freedom. Basically, man’s a Sylph of Breath, that’s all there really is to say on the matter.
Freedrock - Mage of Time
- Mages as explained earlier are those who experience their aspect and grow extremely familiar with their aspect. Freedrock, as an immortal being, older than even Cursebeard (someone fact check me on that) is rather familiar with Time at this point. Time is fairly self explanatory, it’s time, the flow thereof, and when actions take place. It also deals with inevitable ends, such as death, coincidentally something else Freedrock is very familiar with at this point. The only problem with this is that the Mage is an Active or selfish class, which means that he uses his powers mostly for himself. This is contradicted by the fact he seems to always be fighting for someone else, be it Hera (as told by Azarel) or some nebulous greater good which is more important to him than fighting Acheron. However, both can be seen as think of himself first, with Hera it’s his loyalty to her spurring him on, and with the world it’s his own sense of what is right driving his decisions. No matter what he does it serves himself in some capacity. Is this a bad thing? No, the reasons for his good deeds don’t truly matter, it’s the fact he’s doing them at all which is admirable.
Theos - Sylph of Life
- Honestly I don’t know that much about Theos (beyond the webcomic and AR,) regardless I felt he deserved a spot on this list. Basic thing is that Sylphs are those who alter life for the benefit of others, making them a Passive or altruistic class. Theos shows this not only through his magic, which works as a very effective method of healing, but through his actions. He alters the life of the Peacekeeper, helping them grow stronger and giving them purpose. That’s basically all the evidence I have for him, I think it fits, feel free to discuss in the comments.
Minor Canon Characters:
Caria - Maid of Breath
- Alright getting into the more esoteric characters, not because the classpects are more complicated, it’s simply that there’s very little to go off with these minor characters. Regardless, Caria as a Maid of Breath makes sense. She was trapped by the sea (isolation), and escapes through her own power, embodying both the freedom a Maid needs to create for herself, but also the freedom which is Breath’s domain. Even her fighting style represents a sort of uninhibited freedom from thought.
Estrid - Seer of Heart
A Seer is the passive Knowledge class, they know their aspect to benefit others. While Estrid may not be the most fleshed out character in the story, she does show a large amount of empathy and kindness to the player, both things that a Seer of Heart would have in spades. Heart is the aspect of Identity, emotion, and soul, given her profession as a tavern keep I can imagine her knowing a lot of people on a very deep level given the uninhibited emotions that are often present at taverns. Overall this title fits Estrid very well.
Ruby Rogers - Rogue of Hope
- Hope as opposed to Rage is the aspect of falsehoods, desires, and beliefs. Rather than working on logic or what is real, it works off of and affects reality based on the Hope-bound’s wishes. We see this in Ruby and his intense desire to defeat the Six Corsairs, even though for the most part he seems to exaggerating his own ability. Rogues are the passive part of the Steal pair, meaning that Ruby steals Hope from others to distribute for the benefit of those he cares for, this is seen in how he manages to amass a competent crew, despite seeming to us [the players] to be somewhat comical. He has undeniable charisma, another trait of the Hope-bound (at least those who are not destroyers,) and his seemingly preposterous goal is coming true, which is in line with Hope and its reality warping properties. Overall, a very fitting candidate for a Rogue of Hope.
Clark Silver - Knight of Mind
- This is easy, a Knight as mentioned before represents a lack or deficiency of one’s aspect within a session/narrative, and well when you look at Clark next to Ruby, it’s not hard to see why this would be the former’s title. However to elaborate, Mind is the aspect of… well the Mind. It also represents the individual choices one can make, I suspect, though it’s not shown that Ruby would have made many more poor decisions both prior to and after nearly getting arrested by those legionaries at Sailor’s Lodge were it not for Silvers.
Randal - Mage of Light
- A mage is one who knows their aspect for his/herself, often this leads to experiencing all parts of their aspect, both the good and bad. This is seen through Randal quite literally with how his Curse works. He is able to learn large quantities of information and store this information in himself. However, the knowledge comes at a cost to himself. His body is not strong enough to hold the knowledge he has, and thus Randal must store it using the Myriad and resting in his tree form.
Nero - Prince of Life
- He destroys Life in a pretty literal way, by razing Winterveil to the stone. That’s really all that needs to be said, it’s such a singularly destructive act, that there’s really nothing else Nero could be. Besides maybe a Waste of Life.
Warren - Knight of Blood
- Honestly there’s not much more to say beyond the fact that he is focused for most of the story on finding Beringer, his friend, and the fact he’s restricted from acting directly due to his ties to his country. There’s also the fact that Knights often mask parts of their personality, which Warren does through his Ren alias, literally masking his loyalties.
Tucker - Heir of Doom
- As explained with Morden, Doom deals with fate, particularly negative ones, and Heirs embody their aspect in one way or another for the benefit of others. So, when you take a character who sacrificed himself to create a better fate than the others would have otherwise had, there really isn’t a better classpect for him. Particularly since in Homestuck itself, the canonical Heir of Doom, Mituna Captor, shared a similar fate to Tucker, sacrificing himself for the benefit of the team.
Webcomic:
Angel Creed - Thief of Space
- So in the first draft of this Angel’s and Juniper’s titles were switched, so let’s talk about why they’ve changed. Thieves are the Active counterpart to the Rogue, and thus steal their aspect to benefit themselves. Now how does one steal Space, more importantly how does Angel? So Space is all about location and the physical properties of objects, it also encompasses narrative setting and creation. Now Angel is certainly a very Active character, as shown through her tendency to think about herself first, or what she thinks is best for others based on what she wants. How Space fits into it, well… it’s really just more vibe than anything. She’s creative, quick on her feet, always using what she learns in new ways. Which technically personality is more important for determining classpect when it comes to non-Homestuck characters over all she just fits.
Juniper - Bard of Void
- Juniper on other hand is much easier to explain why she’s a Bard of Void. So the Bard of Void is an interesting title as they both destroy Void and destroy through Void for the benefit of others, being the passive counterpart of the Prince. Juniper is a very good example of this, she is constantly searching for secrets, uncovering hidden truths for an altruistic purpose, the destruction of Acheron/Durza. She destroys through Void, by not only her nature as effectively a bundle of secrets with her very nature being unknown even to herself, but through the use of both Shadow (the opposite of Light) and (Equinox) magic.
My OCs:
Sif Pollux - Knight of Hope
- The Knight always has some perceived deficit of their aspect, which then gets translated into actual lack within the narrative a session. Sif, for all his apparent optimism and good natured sense of justice, lacks Hope a lot of the time. This hasn’t been shown too much in my stories yet, but the question of what Sif believes in and how he can believe in anything with his amnesia will come up later in the story. Granted, these analysis are going to more explanation of the class themselves, as these are my characters and I can basically say anything I want about them.
Alex Storm - Prince of Blood
Alex, who I doubt many people remember, but he does still exist (I just haven’t drawn him in a while.) Regardless, Alex is a Prince of Blood, as stated previously with Nero and Calvus, Princes have three main things defining them. Their arrogance, the fact they mirror their opposite aspect, and their desire for one or more parts of an aspect. Alex for his part fits all three, his arrogance is shown in his desire to lead a revolution against the Grand Navy, his free spirited nature matches that of a Breath player, and he values Loyalty and Family to a fault. In fact his crusade against the Navy was started due to Sif’s disappearance.
Adrian Day - Rogue of Light
- A reporter’s job is to seek out secrets and reveal them to others, which is what Rogue of Light does. Rogues are the passive version of a thief who steals and distributes their aspects for others. That’s really all there is too it.
Honorable Mentions (Still my OCs)
- Janet Aura - Sylph of Mind
- Harry Larsen - Seer of Heart
