OFF-THE-CUFF HOMESTUCK THOUGHTS #8: THE BALLAD OF VRISKA AND
TEREZI, OR: I BROUGHT MY GIRLFRIEND BACK FROM THE DEAD AND ALL SHE DID WAS BLOW
HERSELF UP IN THE FURTHEST RINGSo.
Let’s talk about Vriska.
*earsplitting crack of ominous thunder*
I actually really enjoyed Vriska’s storyline in Act 6 and 7
of Homestuck, and I think it’s a phenomenal ending for the character.*Screams ring out. Small children crying can be heard. Big
burly men are weeping and fainting. Rotten tomatoes start flying at me. The
juice begins to run down my previously spotless Rogue of Light outfit.*I think it’s a phenomenal ending for Vriska because it’s critical of Vriska and everything she
believes about herself.*brief pause*
*Tomatoes start flying at me again, but from the other side
of the room this time.*Seriously, though, Vriska’s storyline in Act 6 and 7 not
only makes a fitting culmination for the character, but explores some of
Homestuck’s most essential themes. I’m going to explain my reasoning here,
which you may or may not agree with, but I hope you’ll at least find it
interesting.First, though, we need talk about what Vriska is, and what function she serves within
Homestuck.Because Vriska is a shell game.
This this this this this.
^^^^^^
Bless you for this meta, because THIS is the thing I feel like people miss, when they forget that Homestuck is a dissection of narrative arcs and storytelling itself.
And if you think Vriska never got a happy ending, you are buying into the same false assumption that the living Vriska bought into— that you are only as ‘real’ as your plot relevance and important deeds and status as a Player Character.
Dead!Vriska is not a ‘fake’ or ‘failed’ Vriska, and it is this Vriska who finally gets the chance to ask “Is ducking out of the plot in pursuit of my own happiness as criminally weak and selfish as I have been taught? Is happiness selfish?”
And it’s dead!Vriska who gets the conclusive happy ending with dead!Terezi, who has also gotten to grow (and decide that she did not want to make the ‘right’ Alternian choice of killing someone she loved in service to a greater narrative purpose).
Living!Vriska and Terezi? They’re left as the plot relevant main characters, with that unanswered question hanging over them.