Basically what the title says. I'm sure this question will get answered as the comic goes on. But I'm so impatient rip. Also I hope no one made this topic before. I did a "Find in Page" for a few pages and couldn't find anything. Plus I typed a lot on my iPad and my back hurts 😭 🙏 I hope it wasn't a waste of time.
So we got 4 examples of nymphs, two stylized, and two characters sprites. I complied them all into one image
AA mentions some sort of metamorphosis, and I may be stupid, (I may be stupid, thats why I'm making this bulletin rip) but I can't tell if its allegorical, like a quinceañera ("your about to become a woman!") or if Ly'lac is about to go through alien puberty.
Homestuck has a trend of portraying adults with either obscured faces (Ancestor trolls always being in shadow), or little to no facial features at all (human adults). So I'm inclined to believe that the tentacles are just long and cover the Caretaker's face. Plus AA is a few years older than Ly'lac (thats what syzygic recitals mean. syzygic refers to the rotation of celestial bodies). So if the Grand Metamorphosis is puberty, then AA would't have 4 eyes? Judging by the Caretaker's appearance. Unless if AA is a late bloomer.
But at the same time, I look at the Caretakers tentacles, and they overlap and the ones underneath are darker, so I'm also inclined to believe that they're like protruding from her "chin." The Caretaker's arms dont have visable fingers too. So maybe Ly'lac will change?
I think it be interesting if nymphs were the reverse of Splatoon Inklings.
Instead of starting out as squid babies growing into humanoid teens, nymphs could be humanoid babies growing into squid adults?
Much to think about. And much to consider as I redesign my fan nymph; she's supposed to be an adult rip
— matpat
I'm not so sure the Caretaker is a Nymph. I think it might be a different sort of creature altogether that has a symbiotic relationship with Nymphs. I do think Ly'lac will end up looking different after the "Grand Metamorphosis", but not quite sure how.
I'm sure Caretaker is a nymph. It says so in the text introducing her, saying that she's referred to by a title because its a tradition Adult Nymphs do, which is why I never questioned her species in my post. I did wonder if she was something else but no, I went back to check.
— matpat
I think that's just in reference to the adult Nymphs that the Caretaker, takes care of? I didn't read it as being in reference to her
The sentence before that sentence is “she's called that because she is the caretaker of the catacomplex's lifers. Adult nymphs often drop their epitaphs in favor of titles.” Using the context provided by the previous sentence, I think it’s clear that that sentence is in reference to her. If you think about it, it wouldnt make sense to drop a random fact about adult nymphs if no adults are present to remind Ly’lac of that cultural fact, yknow?
— matpat
Yeah she is pretty clearly a nymph. It would be weird if they were doing lusii again only this time the lusii are so close to being identical to the kids they look after...
>eats somewhere other than olive garden once
>fucking dies
I think it tends to be both in Homestuck right- things are visually one way as a metaphor but also as literal constructs that you can interact with, and how much things lean towards being literally one or the other at any given moment rely entirely on which answer would make you, the viewer, angrier.
your arms are in your MAGIC CHEST etc etc
Writing for “Fateful Heights”,
a webcomic about boats and magic
and the indeterminable future.
https://inhospitable.net
i really hope the caretaker is not a nymph cause that would just make things...weird?? imagining these kids all aged up and suddenly they're goofy silly clones of rose's princess doll is a bit much. interspecies relations would be so weird.
i also doubt AA being older than Ly'lac other than like, by a few months. very very weird to have like, an 18-year-old with everyone else being like, 15. it could just be like how it was for john, where his birthday was later than everyone else's.
@aj_jesterdude I will say though, AA has been showing some Doc Scratch parallels including within her username that might suggest she's at least a young adult, while Ly'lac is still 15. Her weir behavior towards Ly'lac would be a direct parallel & so would the age gap.
Those seem like cave drawing type things and are more of a generalization. I think all the nymphs will kinda look unique in their own ways unless they really all do just get taken over by their squiddle parts (horrorterror truthers rise up lol).
What references to Scratch are you seeing in AA's username, exactly? Yeah she's watching Ly'lac on a viewing orb, but that was something Rose did, and it appears to be something all nymphs do as a result - Ly'lac herself has both an Orb app on her computer and an orb lying on her bedroom floor. We already know that nymphs measure time in relatively short increments, so it's pretty clear the joke here is that AA is playing up how much older she is as part of the wisened mentor & young apprentice bit. Definitely jumping the gun a bit to compare any weirdness on her part to Scratch-level weirdness and just not general homestuck troll weirdness...
>eats somewhere other than olive garden once
>fucking dies
@aj_jesterdude well like i said, syzygic recitals are another word for planetary orbits, so AA is def a few years older. And I dont think thats weird. It’s like going to highschool, or having siblings yknow? Everyone is a different age but yall can still hang out normally.
@rosebot Me personally, I think horrorterrors are just game constructs. Like carapacians and the amphibia dudes. But if you’re a horrorterror truther then keep truthing dont let me stop you lol.
I do like the idea of nymphs looking unique though. Maybe some have 4 eyes and others have two. Makes the species more interesting by making their looks diverse yknow?
— matpat
@jakemorph You said the things I was thinking but better worded lol
@odderty i forgot to reply to your message, but I think your answer is the closest
— matpat
I just want to say I think its a bad idea to assume that just because AA is older, that mean she’s going to be some sort of weird predator like Doc Scratch. Like I said, 15 year olds and 18 year olds be in the same classes in high school and most people end up with normal friendships or dynamics. And with siblings too. My brother and I have that age gap and we have a healthy relationship. Lets not jump the gun with AA’s age, at least not yet. We dont even know if she’s 18!
— matpat
Oh god this is from my one half baked post that I kinda only talked about because of a few lines of dialogue and visual framing that made me feel like AA was playing up their master student dynamic partially as a result from the read of "Nymphs representing different aspects of Rose" line of theory people have been doing. (I really should have written that post better but kinda wasn't seeing anyone bring some stuff up so wanted to throw it out there and see what people make of some of the thoughts in it)
I think it is far too early to make a proper conclusion about anything we have seen, just that there are parallels with wording
"I'd gamble that thee even awoke before midday and thou know how loathe I am to gamble" (the ol 'I'm not a gambling man' line also doc scratch and Dirk are the only people to mention gambling in the original homestuck)
"I must admit I was disguising the truth" (do I need to)
I doubt they will actually have much in particular to do with Scratch and also am under the idea that all the new species are going to be toxic in their own unique ways lmao (we got Ly'Lac with her whole "oh you probably don't care about me anyway" chatting style). Alternatively I wouldn't put it past a lot of these comparisons could just be a part of nymph culture and how much it has warped around their creators uhh "issues".
Vriskafic8ion comes for us all ::::)
yeah y'all can ask @crystalflare about it more, I was stealing talking points but not elaborating on em' well :P
I also just don't think from a potential like... hmmm how to say... brand advertisement perspective that having all the nymphs look completely identical would be smart if that makes any sense? Like they can look similar akin to trolls, but still be unique.