The Events Of This Update Are Taking Place Within One Of Skaia’s Vision Clouds:

[S] Jasper: Mental breakdown.

Hi! I was wondering if a Knight of Mind, Heir of Blood, or Seer of Heart would be a better leader?

Well, it would depend.

A Knight of Mind would be good at using façades and choices, exploiting and maximizing the usefulness of thoughts, rationale, and the outer self in order to get things done. If balanced, they could also use their Rogue of Heart inverse to obtain, redistribute, and share souls and inner desires.

An Heir of Blood would be good at influencing and inviting change relating to bonds, pacts, and connections of a group. If balanced, they could also use their Mage of Breath inverse to understand what direction the team should take—their goals and quests—and use that knowledge to act or lead.

A Seer of Heart would be good at understanding the core of each person in the group, such as their strengths, weaknesses, fears, and inner desires. They would then guide the team using that knowledge. If balanced, they could also use their Witch of Mind inverse to change others’ minds—their rationales and decisions—and their outer selves.

I’m inclined to think an Heir of Blood would make one of the best leaders in general, but there are a lot of factors to consider. It’d depend on the individual leading, the group dynamic, the purpose and goal, and what the team actually needed. It’d also depend on how “realized” (and competent) the person is.

Certain classpects are probably naturally better skilled and equipped to lead than others, but each classpect has the potential to be a good leader (or a poor leader), depending on the circumstances.

Useful Classpect Tools and Resources

Classpect Tests

There are many Hero Title tests available, but the two I like best are thepageofhopes' and inaniloquacity's. Both of them use tests from widely accepted psychology theories as a basis.

While both tests are not without their flaws, they provide a good starting point for determining a Hero Title.

Information

My Classes Chart and Aspect Keywords posts provide a simplified overview of the classes and aspects.

InfinityWhale has an amazing Ultimate Classpect Post describing each aspect and each class in detail.

Dahni has in-depth descriptions of ALL 144 (standard) HERO TITLES! An excellent resource for understanding each mythological role.

Space and Time

Light and Void

Hope  and Rage

Heart and Mind

Breath and Blood

Life and Doom

Dahni also describes the tendencies and challenges of each class separately (search her Class tag for detailed information).

BladekindEyewear has a lot of information on classes and aspects, particularly related to duality and inversion. He's basically a father of Classpect Theory, as InfinityWhale, Anna, Dahni, and many others (myself included) base their works on his class- and aspect-related theories.

“Meat” and “Candy” Thoughts and Speculation

Spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn’t read both.

“Meat” and “Candy” are essentially fanfiction—perhaps specifically fix-it-fics—written by Homestuck characters themselves. While it doesn’t make them any less “true” or “real,” (even though it divorces them from the Three Pillars of Canon), it does explain the “fanficcy” feel.

“Meat” is written/narrated by Dirk and Alt!Calliope, each fighting for control of the narrative. Dirk might actually be Caliborn/LE, or at the very least, influenced/corrupted by him.

Dirk did something like this before, when he “wrote” Pony Pals for Jane, altering the original story by replacing parts of it with his own commentary.

Each page contains lovingly hand-written commentary on the deeds of this intrepid young horse.

Later, about halfway through the book, rather than see the gag through to the bitter end, Strider began pasting over entire pages of original text with his own completely rewritten version of the story, while keeping all the chapter titles. His revision is a tough, emotionally draining read. But it's cathartic, in all the worst ways possible. He tends to get carried away with his projects.

Sounds familiar, right? Using Pony Pals as an analogue, Alt!Calliope might represent the author of the original story, while Dirk modifies and rewrites it, twisting it into his own version. Alternatively, neither Dirk nor Alt!Calliope are the original author of the Epilogue, and both are altering the story as "Meat". Perhaps the book found in Calliope’s picnic basket is the original, unmodified story—the "pure" version of the Epilogues. (More on this below.)

Dirk is becoming Lord English/Doc Scratch. The parallels between Dirk and Caliborn/Doc Scratch are uncanny.

It might have something to do with Dirk's Ultimate Self and gaining access to the thoughts/memories/experiences of all his splinters and alternate lives. Those alternate selves/splinters include Bro (who was raised/corrupted by Lil Cal), Lil Hal, Doc Scratch, and Lord English, and the lines between all of them are blurring.

If Dirk is indeed LE in some way, shape, or form, the events of Meat may be LE’s way of trying to take over Post-Canon, exerting his influence beyond his domain of Canon.

(I plan to elaborate on the Dirk = LE theory in a future post.)

As a parallel to Dirk = LE, Jane is essentially becoming the Condesce. I’m not sure of the connection with her Ultimate Self, although I suppose that would include Crockertier Jane.

It might have something to do with the Condesce grooming her to be her heiress, and possibly even Jane inheriting her immortality curse? (I need investigate this further.)

Dirk and Jane even have the same alliance as LE and the Condesce: Dirk and LE pulling the strings while Jane/Condy carries out the plans. Similarly, Dirk and LE rule the metanarrative/story and travel through space, while Jane/Condesce rules the planet(s) of Trolls and Humans. (Credit to @wisdomdissimulator for the original observation/theory.)

“Candy” is written/narrated by Calliope from the Meat timeline. In Meat, Roxy mentions Calliope stays home and paints the walls with what sounds like the events of Candy.

ROXY: its not as bad as it sounds i promise ROXY: some of it is like ROXY: weird and violent?? ROXY: like lotsa nasty purple blood and um ROXY: nudity???? [...] ROXY: but MOST of it is cute stuff like... various combos of all of us being happy and gettin married . . .

While the Calliopes seem less inclined to control/force the characters and narration than Dirk, there are still moments of bias and asserting their will—specifically anything regarding the Trickster Lollipop.

Calliope (as the narrator) may have even controlled/influenced Dirk to suicide, possibly as a way to “save” the Candy timeline from Dirk’s influence. While the narration claims otherwise, it’s also possible Dirk killed himself of his own accord in a twisted mixture of Heroism and Justice, knowing what he could become if he lived, and thus wanting to spare the timeline.

Terezi of “Meat” is the same Terezi communicating with John in “Candy”. Since she’s still in Canon, she basically transcends the Meat and Candy timelines until she reaches Meat’s Earth C. This is why she expects Meat’s John to be older, why she thinks John and Roxy might be together, and why she has a hunch that things wouldn’t have worked out between John and Roxy—because this is true of Candy’s John, at least at the time Terezi last spoke with him.

Gamzee’s presence and influence might have something to do with the unexplained weirdness of the Candy timeline. Characters seem oddly blind or impotent to the circumstances around them, almost like there’s a Ragey influence sowing discord, anger, confusion, and obliviousness among the characters—just as what happens with the Trolls during Murderstuck. It isn’t until after Gamzee’s death that the characters start to seem more like themselves and are more capable and hopeful.

While Gamzee has “Joker immunity” within Homestuck, he’s able to die in Candy because it’s outside of Canon. (My theory is that Lord English grants him immortality, since Gamzee must become a component of LE and thus CAN’T die.)

John needs to take a third option, different from The Choice™ of either Meat or Candy. There's a book in Calliope’s basket, so the third option very well may be the book. Which would also make sense since a book represents/contains a story, and Meat and Candy, while food, also represent stories.

Another interesting third option would be “Vegetables”—or specifically “Pumpkin”—which Roxy could potentially summon via Void powers. It would make a cool reference and callback to “What Pumpkin”.

(More elaboration on the Third Option theory planned for a future post.)

I have a LOT more thoughts and ideas on the Meat and Candy Epilogues, so I’ll probably continue this in another post.

So JASPROSESPRITE^2. Has a full body. Instead of a ghost butt. And looks like Rose’s dream self. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!

Everyone keeps debating what quadrant Dave and Karkat’s relationship is. Each has valid and supporting arguments, and they all make sense in their own ways.

But why limit it to just one? What if it’s actually ALL the quadrants?

It was said their love went beyond the four quadrants, transcending the grid entirely. Whatever that nonsense actually means.

Perhaps Karkat is following in the footsteps of his ancestor?

Upon first glance, this passage seems to describe the Beta Kids’ kernelsprites...

...The pre-entry prototypings that evolve the battlefield and affect enemy characteristics.

Now, the passage seems to be alluding to the components that created Bec Noir, who we all know has wreaked havoc across the kids’ and trolls’ sessions and universes.

But what if the passage is referring to something else?

“Maimed clown”...

“Undead cat”...

“Impaled crow”...

(Davepeta is kind of both the Undead Cat and Impaled Crow combined.)

“Omnipotent dog”...

(Notice how even though Bec Noir and PM have all four prototyping elements, they’re only ever referred to as dogs at this point.)

“These four shall be held in reverence for the eternity they serve to cut short.”

What if this passage has yet to come, and is related to the end of Paradox Space?

Gamzee is obvious in his role, and Bec Noir would be no surprise, either. But others, such as Jasprose, Davepeta, and the Mayor (recall his dream) would be really interesting and unexpected.

Oh... OH...! OH SNAP!

THE SWEATY MUSCULAR GHOST APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE.

It’s Arquiusprite! Lil Cal contains the souls of Caliborn, Arquiusprite, and (half of) Gamzee! THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE, YOU GUYS!

The song “Eternity, Served Cold” plays in both [S] Caliborn: Enter and [S] Collide. There is some overlap, but the first half of the song plays in the former, and the second half in Collide.

[S] Caliborn: Enter ends here:

And in [S] Collide, when the rest of the song begins to play, it starts here:

This has to be intentional and significant.

Tavros has cat allergies and has only been prototyped once. What if GCat shows up, triggers Tavros’ allergies, and...

ACHOO!

...He crashes into and fuses with GCat! It’d make a nice parallel with Jade and Bec sprite-fusing, plus be all kinds of hilarious and ironic.

Plus, Tavcat? Catros? could be super effective against Bec Noir and PM because cat distraction + animal communing powers + First Guardian powers. Although he’d probably be a perpetual sneezing mess.

Even if this doesn’t happen, I have a feeling Tavros’ cat allergies will result in him inadvertently double prototyping with something or someone. And, also, Tavros controlling GCat would make a great distraction for the Becs. (As would Jaspers.)