The Character Effects of The Retcon

*** Im admittedly going into this very blindly and am going to voice a lot of thoughts that I've never properly written down so bear with me! ***

I've always been a HUGE fan of the concept and way the retcon is handled in Act 6 of Homestuck, most notably the way individual characters seem to 'change' but in reality are just given different environments to engage in separate parts of themselves. This whole post is going to go over characters one by one in no particular order and I'm going to voice my individual opinions and thoughts on each of them.

! - This will NOT cover sprites or characters who don't seem to change much pre/post retcon such as the Cherubs who are kind of outside of the main timelines as their stories happen outside of the sessions.

Small Explanation:

While a lot of people, from what I've seen, believe that the retcon is considered lazy writing, or a chance for Hussie to change characters with no consequence, I think its actually well-handled. Its easy to blankly say that the retcon changes the Alpha Timeline at its core, but I don't think this is the case. John gained his retcon powers through the actions and continuation of the timeline, and even once he retcons items, the "new" Alpha Timeline couldn't exist or succeed if John didn't have the powers and took the actions he did. Its a unique way to show how complicated the timeline works and the kind of ways it bends and mends itself considering certain factors. While, yes, I believe that Game Over COULD have become a doomed timeline, I think that through this event it proved that the timeline we had been following was the Alpha Timeline all along, the one that follows John's Journey. Anyways onto the characters -

ANALYSIS START

John Egbert: Its hard to talk about this topic at all without starting with the character who was specifically responsible for the event! I briefly mentioned this all in the last paragraph but the way the story presents the powers that John uses during this event as unstuck or "retcon" powers, which allow him to alter events in the Alpha Timeline without creating a doomed one, which when talking to Dave about even he is extremely concerned with the consequences of such a thing. I like to believe that this is not necessarily the case, as what if John were to, in a completely different reality, kill everyone one by one? would that then just be canon and the alpha timeline becomes the end of this universal reproductive cycle that is Sburb (or Sgrub)? I like to think that John's powers aren't just 'non-consequential timeline altering' but instead function very similar to time travel, but instead of time he's able to travel over the storyline! Every jump we see him make is to a point in the story, past or future, even to the extend that we, as the viewer, assist in inputting positions that relate to events we've already seen that John necessarily hasn't like some of the troll's quest.

With that specification out of the way, what about john's progression as a person? It's easy to say that John, and also Roxy, being the only two that actually make it out of the doomed timeline (that aren't sprites) are very traumatized by the events. This is true of fucking course!!! However, the way that John approaches his trauma is to lock in, and realize that its entirely possible to mess things up, alpha timeline or not. Its easy to forget that for the Beta humans that the entire time they're playing the Trolls tell them what is going to happen, and after they escape, Rose becomes the one to tell them what is going to happen, and even later Terezi becomes the one to tell John what is going to happen after they leave the session. John is never left to make his own decisions, until he enters the new timeline. For the first time, someone, Vriska in this case, is telling everyone to listen to HIM (and her because she can't help herself) but he's given the floor to explain what happened, why it matters, and give the warning that things CAN have HAVE gone wrong.

The retcon finally highlights john as the proper Protagonist of this story, and successfully does so if you ask me. Yes, he falls in line once they settle the retcon dust, and follows the rest into battle normally but thats his choice to do so! He knows his importance, he knows that he really is their leader if not in a literal sense then in the sense that he's in charge of them all being alive past, present, and future.

Roxy Lalonde: Following John I want to talk about Roxy specifically, since of course as mentioned they were the only two who made it out of Game Over. Roxy, arguably, took the emotional hit much harder than John did, at least outwardly. John was thrown into Game Over after the event, he didn't see the corpses or the murders, he was only told it all happened and he was too late. Roxy is the one who had to witness this, and deliver the message, AND had who she considered her Mom die in her arms. This is devastating for her, and for a moment of time all is lost until of course its revealed that all of this could be fixed. Even then, she feels like giving up, and John is the one that has to push her to at least do SOMETHING that isn't giving up (very leader-ly if you ask me).

If John is considered un-stuck from canon by this point in the story, then that makes Roxy the only canon survivor from that timeline, forced to be the one to remember and bear the stories of the versions of everyone who died after it all. If you ask me, I almost think that Roxy wasn't supposed to survive at all! As mentioned she was ready to die with the reality until John simply told her to go see Nix which led her to be on John's planet when they vanished from the timeline. In a similar vein, her death in the new timeline felt rushed, sudden, and gave the vibe of a creator having to rush a solution for this new Alpha Roxy coming along with John.

Also I'm biased but, I can't write about this without acknowledging that this event brought her and John closer together blossoming the chance for a relationship with two nerds with now-haunted pasts. One that arrived too late and another that was forced to watch the timeline fall apart. (roxygen <3333)

The retcon turns Roxy into a bearer of tragedy and events that haunts her presumably forever. It forced her to acknowledge her aspect of Void, one that tends to isolate those who have it from others, which was used in an extreme example here. She's shown that giving up is not an option and that trying even when everything seems lost means something. It gives her a sense of appreciating what she has while she does, and you no longer see her pushing her relationships too far like she does during her growth, and instead appreciates just being around her loved ones, and doing what she can to spend time with them - such as being the one to 'revive' Calliope and allow her to be with the rest of them.

Terezi Pyrope: now for the one arguably just as responsible for the events of the retcon, as the one who gave John the directions for what specifically to do. Terezi in the 'doomed timeline' was at the end of her wit. Between her guilt for Vriska's death, her self-worth issues escalating after meeting Latula, and her abusive relationship with Gamzee, she has no hope for herself and after seeing everyone she loved die during the battle she was broken. Theres even a moment where she reaches her lowest, when she first tries to do her mind-y thing to help John, only for it to fail, leaving her standing there, dying rapidly, as John left her behind. This is the lowest Terezi could possibly be in this story, dying with no one around, blaming herself for the deaths of likely everyone as the resident Mind player.

However, as we know, she's given a second chance when John understands the powers more, giving him instructions with the maximum use of her powers. She feels that usefulness and realizes that this is why she's here, why she lived as long as she did, and that its what she has to do. This, of course, is successful, the steps she wrote out led to events that allowed them to beat the game while also helping her character in the long run such as acknowledging her need for approval from others (Karkat, Vriska, etc), and trying to give her tips from an alternate timeline where everything went wrong for her im particular.

Despite all of this, we see post-retcon that Terezi still feels the need for acceptance. She still looks to Vriska for support constantly now that she's alive, and during the team meeting she expresses that she feels useless and that she can't help at all. What's important is that Vriska successfully plays the role as her moirail and gives her not the chance to lean on her as she had been, but instead gave her advice to move forward and be happy with herself. Of course, as we know, Terezi never stops struggling with her character and her aspect, and that feels like a part of the Mind aspect - someone who has such an understanding of the mind makes it so they can never truly understand themself or fit themself into a logical position.

The retcon highlights Terezi as someone who is deeply flawed specifically with the idea of herself. It shows that even when presented with the truth that a version of herself could do things as important as save the Alpha Timeline, she still has self-doubt and can't comprehend that as something she'd done. The only version of Terezi who embraces her truest self is the one who died soon after.

Vriska Serket: Alright im not going in-depth into any sort of Vriskourse and will not be talking about specific issues I have with her, only the ones that are highlighted by this part of the story.

Lets start with the obvious one - she is ALIVE because of what happened, John stopping her from making the choices she did to be killed by Terezi. On top of this, its shown that she is pretty integral to stopping most moments of issue in the retcon's Meteorstuck. She prevents Gamzee from coming onto Terezi, she stops Rose from 'imbibing' too much, she keeps Terezi happy and focused, and makes it so theres no weird love triangle between Dave/Terezi/Karkat. Then, of course, she's responsibly for putting both Jane and Jade to sleep so they can't be corrupted, and forms the plan that leads to the success of [S] Collide. While yes, from the outside this is an INSANE amount of positives that she was responsible for, it doubles as a way to highlight that her character in turn has no growth in my opinion.

Her personality does not change, she's still self-confident and Bossy McBossy through and through (see the planning sequence for Collide). She still believes that pushing her friends and being hostile is the right way to teach them lessons (still bullying Karkat and being blunt and mean with Dave/Dirk relationship issues, and GCatTavrosprite^2). Just because she lived an realized she should put her 'energy' into more beneficial events to progress the story, doesn't mean she's become a better person. I also feel its not a jump to say that Terezi is giving her pointers throughout Meteorstuck on what she should be putting her energy towards, and holding her back from making bad decisions (like a good moirail does). Lastly, she still believes she's the Hero, she's the one who rivals Lord English in the end even though she doesn't defeat him she certainly thinks she can.

Lets alternatively compare this to doomed Vriska! Someone who spends her afterlife regretting her choices when Terezi killed her, then having a second wind when she realizes she can still do something important to the story which she believes is her destiny. Pirate adventure, ghost army, Aranea, etc etc later, she succeeds, but she's abandoned by everyone finally. Her 'support system' of people following her is removed and she's left defeated and passionless, stuck only with Meenah (in a relationship I will not be touching on). Only when she's fully removed from the story, and proven that she cannot do anything anymore, abandoned by her ancestor who supported her, and her friends who were behind her, does she have time to grow as a character. She realizes she was never happy, was lashing out, and felt as if she HAD to act like that given the conversations she has with Meenah. She changes, lets herself be happy - and in the process abandons her individuality to gain the attention of the only person with her. Despite that she's genuinely happy and lets her emotions show. That is - UNTIL - her happiness is ruined by VRISKA of all people. The only version of her that got to be happy is broken down completely by the 'alpha' version of herself. The last person she cares about is taken away, she's shown that she is truly not important without it being her decision, and is left sobbing with nothing alone in a dream bubble. Obviously this concludes with a happy ending between her and 'doomed' Terezi as ghosts but it still is the most intense Vriska moment in-canon imo.

The retcon simultaneously proves that Vriska can be happy if given the chance, while proving that it cannot ever truly happen because she's in her own way, introvertly and in the one most intense case - extrovertly. It highlights her self-worth issues while also putting her on a pedestal as someone who is responsible for the success of the session. It shows her at her best and at her worst, both sides of the same Vriska.

Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas: I am writing the entry for these two together for a reason, which I feel is very obvious. That being their relationship that they have in the 'doomed' timeline and in the 'Alpha' timeline.

Let me start by saying, I don't think that sexuality, or gender identity, is something that changes because of differing timelines. I think that different universes, yes, can have them identify separately, but in the case of these two timelines they have the same internal battles and identities whether they embrace them are not. Again THIS IS MY OPINION! Im more than okay if you disagree and im not saying this is canon, just that it feels right for the way this story handles timelines and characters in general.

in the doomed timeline these Knights are always at each other's throats, and that is for one reason specifically - Terezi. The actions they make towards each other, Karkat's anger, and Dave's sarcasm and 'irony', could be interpreted as jokes between friends, but because they had a common reason to hate each other they instead take them in a hostile way and choose to fuel the anger they have towards each other. Towards the end of the doomed timeline, when its obvious Terezi has fully cut any possiblity between any of them, the friendship between the two starts to blossom a bit (see: speaker crab scene where they both care for her, even if different ways with Dave letting it be 'her business'). They are both extremely emotional people, but it is cut off early, seperated when reaching the new session and dying before they accomplish anything successfully.

Now lets look at the retcon timeline - the option of seeking out Terezi as a romantic partner is severed as soon as John changes things, telling past-terezi "you don't need him" which imbues her with the idea of not needing to lean on relationships to ensure her self-worth. This leaves them at a loss, and those goofy quips and ironic moments begin to make them realize that they have more in common than they would have thought otherwise. With everyone paired up and Gamzee hiding they spend the most time together (with the Mayor of course) and feelings blossom. It helps Dave realize his sexuality and gives him time to look inwardly on his past interactions with his friends and the feelings he had that he would bury due to the environment he was put into. Karkat ends up no longer wanting his leadership position and used to no one listening to him because he has Dave to talk to, as well as the Mayor.

I want to elaborate on Dave just a bit more for this section - as his emotional journey is arguably highlighted way more towards the end of the story given some conversations he has with Dirk (my favorite part of Homestuck). Dave is given the chance to realize the shit he was forced through was, in fact, *bad* and not a normal childhood. He primes up those emotions for the crashout he experiences when finally talking to Dirk, using him as a placeholder for his brother who died long before he could put the pieces together to confront him. This, famously, concludes with "how did you tell your friends", which, not saying it outwardly, is him expressing he knows who he is now and wants to be able to tell his friends without being worried that they'll see him differently. I like that they don't do this on screen, and simply leave it up to the reader's imagination for how he does it. This marks the conclusion for Dave's character arc for the story, one that was not possibly to reach given the circumstances of the 'doomed' timeline.

The retcon gives these two misguided emotional souls a chance to think about themselves and work through their troubles together, both directly and indirectly. It gives them time to realize their similarities and leave behind the misguided feelings about their roles and who they 'have' to be. And, of course, it lays the groundwork for the possibility of Davekat as a relationship.

Gamzee Makara: hoo boy, what a complicated and fucked up character he is. I'll be honest its hard to touch on certain more abstract aspects of him as his position in the timeline is not very linear. from the moment Gamzee gets his hands on Lil Cal in Meteorstuck, and stops partaking in Sopor, he becomes a puppet that bounces between one person to another. In each step of his journey, however, he is working towards the goal of helping what he believes to be his God, Lord English.

The Gamzee in the 'doomed' timeline is the one who does all the dirty work behind the scenes in the story. He's the one who influences Kurloz into giving him the god tier outfit, he's the one who dooms the human's session, he's the one who chooses to kill his 'friends', he's the one who raises the Cherubs and assists Caliborn, he's the one who haunts the Alpha human's session, and he's the one who is manipulated by Aranea to help her try to take over the Game Over session. This is antagonist Gamzee, the one who haunts the story, and his weird fucked up timeline ends when he's killed by Kanaya during Game Over.

In contrast, we have what I consider to be 'doomed' Gamzee, the one who is stopped every step of the way in the new Alpha timeline. He is blocked from coming onto Terezi, he is tied up pre-Meteorstuck instead of being falsely calmed by Karkat. He is mind-controlled by Vriska to keep him in check, and when they arrive he is locked in the fridge to prevent him from affecting anything. This Gamzee is in the most literal sense inconsequential to the story, he's seen complaining to Kurloz that he can't do anything, showing him as a more childish character as opposed to the grim antagonist that he is treated as before this.

The retcon highlights just how important Gamzee really is as a character in the earlier parts of the story, making the line "The Most Important Character in Homestuck" feel more genuine, even though it feels more and more like a joke the further you read into the story. These characters could not be more different in my eyes, but have the similarity of always being controlled every step of their Journey, be it by a Serket, Lord English, or simply drugs and religion, Gamzee will never be truly himself. One Gamzee is all thats needed to haunt the storyline, which is further supported by the fact that there are no Gamzees in the dream bubbles, Gamzee cannot be killed, he can only be stopped in the ways we saw during the 'retcon' timeline.

Jane Crocker: Jane, I feel, is an example of a character who's progression is halted dramatically due to the influence of the new timeline.

Pre-Retcon, Jane is corrupted by HIC, turned into a drone to follow orders, but at the same time is influenced by her own emotions. This is shown in example of putting Jake in prison, but still expressing her emotions that she had towards him in the process, which makes a truly uncomfortable scene to read. Then, of course, she is involved in the Game Over fight, leading to her death and Jake's. I think that this series of events, if Jane had lived, would have been a major event for her character. She would have seen the influence that CrockerCorp truly had, and the awful influence that the industrial corporation had on her as a person.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, this doesn't happen in the 'retcon' timeline. She is put to sleep shortly after being corrupted, and Arquiousprite hacks her free and leaves her as the resident healer for the big Collide fight. Despite seeing Roxy's death, and partially blaming herself for it, its not to an extent that I feel the 'doomed' timeline Jane's actions were. I think this lack of repercussions for Jane allowed her to become who she did in BC, not learning from the issues that becoming a dominant corporate CEO psychopath would cause. NOTE: she immediately starts using Gamzee as a puppet, who infamously is used and persuaded by various antagonists of the series.

The retcon doesn't allow Jane to grow as a character that Game Over's story might have given her. It leaves her as a background character who is simply a healer that is reunited with her dad which, by the way, she didn't seem all that excited for? but thats a topic for this thread.

Dirk Strider: Oh Dirk, my poor character with the inability to be happy simply ever. Admittedly, I don't think the retcon directly affects Dirk all that much, but there are a couple of notes that I think are worth touching on.

Dirk, in Game Over, does not help. He is forced out of it and arrives too late, similar to John, who, when meeting after it all, he simply tells, "I failed". Dirk has the same main character syndrome that Vriska has, but less explosive. He blamed himself for everyone dying, but didn't even check to see if there were survivors before the glitches took him over. He was defeated, feeling useless, and just let the doomed timeline take him over.

In the 'retcon' timeline, Dirk is similarly forced into corners during the closing events of the story. Vriska only accelerates his arrival so he can talk to Dave, something that he was given no warning or time for, leaving him emotionally vulnerable. And again, during the Collide battle, is willing to let himself die for the sake of helping others. He's selfless, but selfish at the same time, he thinks he knows more than he does and it leads to him becoming Ultimate Dirk to finally acknowledge the splinters of himself that he thinks haunts him.

Which, by the way, splinters don't inherently haunt a heart player in my opinion. While its 'fanon', the new BC updates show that Nepeta's splinters (imo) are encouraging her and making her stronger as a character. Dirk's splinters haunt him because Dirk has 0 self-worth but acts like he has tons.

The retcon doesn't change Dirk inherently, but gives him the chance to look inwardly because of the other affected characters talking to him. It highlights his issues by showing that even when given the chance to fight he ends up in the same corner as a background character in the last moments, leaving him to die even if not permanently. Especially considering he is beheaded, implying his past is still haunting him, his life is an infinite cycle of loops.

Jake English: Jake's whole character by this point in the story is an emotional breakdown. His charisma comes crashing down and the front he put up online while living on his own is ruined when he realizes he can't spend time around people without his social battery imploding.

In the 'doomed' timeline this is shown once he's put in prison. He's uncomfortable with his god tier costume, uncomfortable with the way Jane talks to him, uncomfortable with how Aranea treats him, uncomfortable with how Dirk treats him. Jake is in a place where he really didn't want to be, he didn't want to be the center of attraction, didn't ask to be. This concludes with him unable to hold back his powers anymore when Aranea forces his maximum potential onto him, making the equivalent of a hope nuclear bomb. And what does he do when that eventually wears off? He immediately gets himself killed in a heroic way by trying to save his friend.

Now, in the 'retcon' timeline, Jake's social issues are the center of his character. He isolates on that platform away from the rest, feeling uncomfortable, feeling that he did everything wrong and people hate him, doesn't know how to talk to people, and is basically on the brink of having a panic attack with how many people there are. This highlights that this really is a kid who grew up alone on an island with no proper social interaction with people. All the conversations with his 3 friends had underlying desires within them. Yes, they were friends, but everyone wanted more with Jake and he had no idea. It made him feel stupid and unable to trust his emotions or the words of others.

The retcon, while not changing Jake, highlights his personal issues with socializing and his opinions towards himself. It expresses that Jake works his best when alone, shown when he manages to successfully fight off the felt during Collide with just a bit of outside help. The most desired bachelor in-canon turns out to be someone who is best left alone with himself.

Jade Harley: Jade, similar to Jake, is less changed by the retcon but instead some certain traits about her are highlighted and enforced by the changes.

'doomed' timeline Jade goes through a toxic relationship with Davesprite, one that leaves her with issues with Dave, that are shown when she becomes corrupted and has an argument with him building up to Game Over. Her opinions on individuals are enforced by outside influence easily, jumping to conclusions about people. This, of course, concludes with her death while still corrupted.

Now, lets look at 'retcon' Jade! Someone who is left alone on the ship while travelling to the new session. No relationship with Davesprite, no John to spend time with. She's isolated, and anyone forced alone like that gives them time to think introspectively and decide truths about themself. When Jade finally arrives she is again, put to sleep by Vriska, and has a dream with Jane and Calliope. She's told that she should just sleep and do nothing, that her job as a character is over. She kickstarted everything with her Prospit knowledge, and much of the contribution she had was in the earliest parts of the story. She became more and more useless overtime, and now, at her own personal end, Davepeta tells her not to take the story throwing her aside. That she should do what she wants to do, feel what she wants to feel, and make her own progression! She takes care of the Dog Gods to conclude the influence of her story on the timeline, wrapping her up as story.

The retcon highlights Jade's struggle with herself and her position in this wild world and story. Due to surrounding influence she's given the chance to make her own story and decisions, not to be told what to do by others or by the rules of the universe or whatever.

Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam: Im not going to lie, I dont think these two had much influence from the retcon. and can summarize it pretty easily.

The retcon allowed these two to have a happy and healthy relationship. Rose didn't become an alcoholic, Kanaya didn't have to hunt Gamzee, they got to spend time together. They both got to embrace their individual roles in the conclusion as well as getting to spend their time together. I will say that looking at the 'doomed' timeline and what went wrong between them can be seen as foreshadowing of the toxicity of their relationship which becomes apparent in BC, but thats up to individual interpretation.

CONCLUSION

Whew! And thats it! All the things I had to say about the effect of the retcon!

I hope this is a good read and gave some insight into some things you might not have thought about before given this part of the story! As I mentioned before all of this is completely my interpretation of events and characters and you can have your own opinions! Im happy to hear them out! :D

I just hope if nothing else, that this is some good food for thought about a topic I dont think is talked about enough.

Thanks :)

-kingKorby