Hi! I don't think I've seen a denizen thread here before. I hit Ctrl + F for a few pages but there's a million pages, so I didn't do all of them rip. So, if one does exists then forgive me rip.
Anyways. We got the reveal of two web browsers so far. I wanted to compile all the information on the original comic's denizens, and then possibly use the data to predict what Seth and Hermes represents.
Disclaimer: This is mostly based off the top of my head, with the occasional googling. If I stated any wrong information, please correct me
Known Denizens:
Typheus (Breath): Greak monster who causes storms (storms are windy and Typheus is called Father of the Winds, so makes sense)
Cetus (Light): Cetus in greek myth is a sea monster. the Light aspect is associated with water (think about how Rose and Vriska's planets are full of water)
Echidna (Space): Mother of many monsters. I'd say there's some connection to being a mother (the creation of life) with the creation of a new universe
Hephaestus (Time): Hephaestus is in charge of the forge, and Dave's planet was associated with lava and heat.
Hemera (Life): Hemera as a goddess represents the day.
Nix (Void): Nyx is the goddess that represents the Night
Abraxas (Hope): One of two Gnostic gods used as denizens. I had to look him up since I'm not familiar with Abraxas's mythology. To quote from this website I am reading: “The seven letters of the name of Abraxas represent the seven creative powers and planetary spheres, or Angels, recognized in the ancient world. The letters add up to a numerological value of 365, the number of days and powers of the year.” Angels are something associated with the Hope aspect, so that makes sense to me.
Yaldabaoth (N/A): He the second Gnostic god, and an exception. He is not associated with any aspect. Instead, he is a denizen who"... rarely appears in game sessions, and is usually designated for the most naturally gifted warriors." Yaldabaoth is a cruel and malevolent god, and it coincides with him offering extreme Choices to players. The Strong Warriors chosen were Dirk and Caliborn.
This means that the Heart aspect has no known Denizen.
Ok so with this in mind, we could use this to speculate which Aspect best matches with Seth and Hermes, so we can predict what aspects Ly'lac and Swiss are.
Seth (more often spelt as Set) is the first Egyptian god Homestuck is referencing. He is associated with sandstorms, thunderstorms, and flash floods. He also represents deserts, foreigners, and foreign lands. While he did kill his brother Osiris, Set isn't a pure evil god, he is more complex than that. He defends the sun god Ra (order) while he's sleeping by fighting off Apophis/Apep (embodiment of chaos) every night.
Hermes is the Greek god of messengers. He represents cleverness and mischievousness. He is also a psychopomp, being able to freely travel through the land of the Living and the land of the Dead.
(Also, something to note, Hermes's roman name is Mercury. Mercury is also the name of a silver liquid metal, and satyrs have silver blood, described as "quicksilver," another name for mercury. I just thought that was interesting. I realized this while typing this.)
With this information, we can eliminate Breath, Light, Space, Time, Life, Void, and Hope for Ly'lac and Swiss. That leaves us with Blood, Heart, Doom, Rage, and Mind as options for those two.
This is assuming Yaldabaoth is the only exception god. I think if there were more exception gods, it would make Yaldabaoth less important (and that would be hella lame) and would make identifying the Denizens of Aspects a lot harder.
I hope this post provided good examples. I would love to hear people's speculations. Since typing this post, I already got a few predictions now. I would love to know what you readers predict after analyzing this. I will say my own predictions at a later time, once I fully form the basis of my theories. Feel free to also say more information about these gods that I didn't mention, if y'all believe it will help with analysis.
— matpat
