Interpretation of Guy & Jasper's characters from Talamasca (TV)
> This is a developed personal interpretation based on my fic "the shape of the mind" on AO3. It is a canon divergent and character study fic based on the prompt "what if Guy met Jasper before Talamasca and 752, when he was just a kid, and they keep meeting onwards"
I mainly wrote this fic because I felt the TV show had so much potential, but wasn't properly handled. I'm a fervent fan of the Gasper agenda, but above all, I think those two have the most interesting dynamic in the whole season, which they clearly haven't taken advantage of (they could have made them platonic, I wouldn't even have minded as long as they made use of Guy and Jasper's dynamic).
(DISCLAIMER: by no means I am here to point fingers at anyone or claim that my take is better than others. This is NOT the point of this post at all. I simply wish to share my own view of the series! I am no analyst either and have watched the episodes only once, so it is a very loose and free interpretation.)
First, let's talk about Guy.
I think that Guy could have been such an interesting and compelling character. He is a telepath, a mind reader, a 'thought snatcher'. He has probably lived his whole childhood struggling with his powers, or at least that is my take.
To me, he probably had a harsh childhood because when you can't control your powers (in this case, reading minds), you definitely will get influenced/tainted/shaped by the thoughts of others. It is one thing to fear how other people see you, but it is even worse when you know their thoughts from the source itself. Not only will it affect your ego and whole perception of yourself, but it will also affect the way you build your own identity. So I think Guy, at an early age, didn't have an identity himself due to struggling with putting barriers between him (Guy Anatole) and the world (the others).
And I think as soon as he understood what boundaries and privacy meant, he would have started to build mental walls to prevent accidentally catching flying thoughts without meaning to. BUT this would also cause him to realise that he is different, he is alone in this world.
Think about it: you have the powers to read anyone's mind, but if you're a decent human being, aside from an occasional peep, you would do your damn best not to sniff around every thought from every passerby. First, because you understand the privacy of the mind, but also for your own mental safety. But knowing that you can read anyway would immediately draw an invisible line between you and the others. We, as normal humans, have no idea, no conception or can't even imagine what it feels like to dab onto someone else's mind; we are made to be individuals. So for Guy, who could casually hop from one mind to another, it would feel absolutely and terrifyingly lonely.
We always seek acceptance and acknowledgement from others all the time. To feel like we belong somewhere and to feel seen, to be validated and noticed. So imagine Guy, who's human, but a telepath, who is aware of everything (to an extent) and is unable to relate to anyone. Of course he can make friends and have a normal life, but I am sure that deep down, if you were a mind reader, you would feel even lonelier than anyone in earth. You see the thoughts of others but what about you? Nobody sees you.
Either you are seen as a danger because you can unearth any deep-rooted and hidden secrets with a single glance. Or even if you empathise and befriend someone, you still have an advantage compared to your non-power friend, even if you don't use your mind-reading skill on them. You are on a different plane (no higher or lower) away from everyone else.
That's why I'm absolutely certain Guy would crave attention. Not only because of his mommy issue (which definitely didn't help with his loneliness), but also because deep inside, he wishes for a sort of connection of the mind. Something that tells him he isn't the only one on earth to see, but also be seen the way he sees others.
And this is something I deeply wished was more developed in the series. Yes he had a normal life before he went to Talamasca, and I'm sure this would have happened if true telepaths existed, but it is never developed in the following episodes. Ep1 sees Guy using his powers and be a bit cocky which yes, he would be. But then, the series focuses more on action and kicking Guy like a bouncing ball between America and London, Helen and Jasper, Keves and Doris, etc., almost without any consequences to his psyche or actions.
I just wish he had shown some more bitterness, some more loneliness, some more weakness about this specific (but important in my opinion) facet of Guy's personality. Especially when Jasper comes in (ep4 was my favourite lol, no surprise there).
To me, he is also extremely lonely. Here, of course, I'm very freely interpreting since we don't have much information about his character (and I have to admit I haven't watched IWTV in a long time so I kinda forgot all the lore etc. about the Immortal Universe's vampires).
But, his coven had been massacred, his whole family murdered, and he seemed completely on his own in the whole season (even before, from what he told us). At best, he has an 'ally' in Olive and a deal with Owen that is based on his blood rather than on shared principles. Add to that the fact that he is a vampire; it can only widen the solitary and lonely aspect of his character.
Which is even more interesting when you consider Guy's involvement in the story.
I love to think that vampires would be absolutely fascinated by Guy, or any telepath, to be honest. They are human, but they have been granted the power to read minds. Yeah, all vampires wouldn't probably have a fascination for humans, and some would definitely consider them as just livestock/walking blood bags, but you know, we are narcissists, so of course there would be some sort of "something" in the way we think and act that makes others fascinated with our nature. Also, the fact that vampires used to be humans could be interesting to dig into that alley as well. Wouldn't be surprised if some very old vampires yearn for their lost humanity, or see their past and lost selves in the bodies of others.
Which is why a human with the mind gift would definitely pique their interest. You have someone who has the values and opinions of a mortal, but with the gifts of an immortal. It's been explicitly said in the series how Guy thinks there's good and bad in the world, and in the following episodes, he begins to understand there is a whole other palette of nuances. I'm sure people would love to mess with that.
And also, as a lot of people joked about, I love the idea of Guy being a sort of vampire bait/vampire catnip because his innocence, coupled with his brashness and 'humanity', would definitely attract a few immortal eyes.
Which is why I love the potential dynamic between Guy and Jasper. Guy would finally find someone closest to what he may feel in a vampire, in Jasper. And Jasper might see the despairing loneliness and the fascination of a human gifted with mind-reading skills in Guy.
What I wanted to play with in this story is how they bump into each other before Talamasca. To me, if they ever meet in the past, they would immediately connect/relate to the other without even realising it, and it'd slowly evolve with time.
To Guy, it's an instant connection (despite having his memories wiped clean) he doesn't understand but yearns for, and to Jasper, he's just interesting and then too bad for him, he becomes obsessed.
I also have an interpretation and fanon analysis about how they'd both react to Guy's potential vampire turning. The idea of it and how each would react to the idea, but I guess I'll have to keep it for a next potential chapter.
Anyway, thanks to whoever read that far and got to the end of my brainrot ❤️
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