launching my deep, unyielding love for this silly man
cws/tws: discussions of emotional, physical, and religious abuse, manipulation, light mentions of drug addiction
first time writing for this show, so i hope you guys like it :)
also changed up my formatting a bit, the bullet points were getting too close for my liking
stuff underneath the cut!! vv :)
-If I had to write anything about Toki, it would be that Dethklok saved his life in every way you can imagine.
-As we all know, Toki grew up with extremely religious (specifically protestant) parents in a remote area, almost completely cut off from the rest of society.
-From birth, Toki was heavily mistreated by his parents. For some reason, they sensed something… Evil or wrong within him that desperately needed correcting. Maybe they thought it was demonic possession? Or that God had cursed them with an evil spawn for some sin they had committed in the past?
-Either way, the majority of Toki’s pre-Dethklok life was spent trying to atone for sins he had never committed in the first place.
-All of Toki's knowledge of Norse creatures and mythology (like the Norse god that gives you the thingy when you lose your teeth) comes from overhearing the other children in town talk when his family would go there.
-Toki barely interacted with them directly, though. The only time he had contact with people his own age was when his parents were distracted, and he ran off to join them. He would hear about their lives and all of the cool legends and stories they knew, and wondered why his parents never told them to him.
-Toki's family left him with not only mental scars, but physical scars as well. He still has marks on his back that, while somewhat faded, are still quite sensitive to touch.
-Because of this, Toki prefers wearing loose-fit shirts, which don't irritate him as much.
-Due to his family’s strict religious views, Toki did not attend public school or get any kind of traditional (or quality) education. Instead, his parents (his mother specifically) homeschooled him. Toki’s parents were afraid that the public schools would ‘corrupt his mind’ and ‘turn him away from God’ by feeding him false information.
-His parents only gave him the most basic education (how to read, how to write, basic maths, etc.), and made him spend the rest of his time reading the bible or doing manual labour.
-Because of this, Toki had to learn a lot of things very quickly after he escaped home. He had to learn English from watching stuff on television and listening to people talk around him, but even then, it wasn't very good; it still isn't.
-Even now, Toki can only read and write simple English. His reading and listening comprehension abilities are pretty good, but his writing is atrocious. He often spells things phonetically or with Norwegian sounds/letter combinations (think Toki spelling ‘room’ as ‘rohm’) and messes up the syntax of more complex/long sentences. He puts verbs in the wrong places, puts information in weird orders, etc.
-The only people who can really make any sense of Toki's writing are Dethklok, and that's only because they've grown accustomed to it by being around it for so long. Literally everyone else who comes across it struggles immensely to understand it.
-It's the complete opposite deal with Norwegian, however. Toki is (of course) very fluent in his native language and knows a lot of fancy words from reading the Bible over and over again in his youth.
-Whenever Dethklok tours in Norway (or just goes there on trips in general), Toki acts as a translator when needed.
-However, his translations are, in a word…Lackluster. It usually takes a bit of time for Toki to get the message across properly, and even then, he gets a few things wrong sometimes.
-Toki is also just kind of ignorant about a lot of stuff in general; all of his knowledge of real-world issues and history and basically everything that isn’t music comes from the band (who don’t really know anything either), the internet, and the news (which he barely watches).
-It’s not like he’s stupid or anything; he was just never taught a lot of things growing up. If he knows something, he knows it pretty well.
-Toki doesn't particularly like talking about his life before Dethklok; he hates the memories that come up when he does. But sometimes, he lets something crazy slip. Like, the band members are complaining about their parents, and Toki goes, “Yeah! My dads used tos hits me with sticks.” This always leaves the rest of the band speechless.
-Toki is a huge fan of sharing his interests with other people. He's constantly showing his bandmates his newest aeroplane model or drawing. He usually just gets a “That's cool, Toki” in response (because everyone in the band is allergic to earnestness for some reason).
-Toki spends a large fraction of his money on stuff he likes. He has often come home from shopping with bags full of colouring books and sweets (even though he's technically not allowed to have them because, y'know, diabetes).
-Toki doesn’t really do much work to improve his English (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, mind). To him, people can understand him just fine, so he doesn't really need to.
-When Toki first joined the band (and for a short time after that), Charles tried to enrol Toki (and Skwisgaar) into English classes so they could do interviews and stuff like that, but they both refused them because, according to them (mostly Skwisgaar), they “don'ts care.”
-Also, the fans adore the way Toki talks (i’m projecting onto them), they think it’s really cute, and it solidifies Toki’s status as the band’s ‘little brother’ to them.
-Toki is very woobified and babygirl-ified by Dethklok fans. Well, all of the members are, but Toki especially. There are SO MANY edited pictures of him with cat ears and video compilations entitled things adjacent to ‘Toki being the cutest member of Dethklok for whatever minutes straight.’
-Toki is a big favourite around the world in general, especially in his home country of Norway. I like to think that there are tons of things like graffiti, murals, and statues dedicated to him there, especially in the more urban areas.
-Honestly, I can’t decide if Toki would be the 3rd or 4th favourite member overall, so I’ve decided that his popularity fluctuates between those two places. But sometimes, he rises up to 2nd place (usually after idk another band member does something problematic.)
-This is partially because a significant portion of Toki’s fanbase is young and don’t know/aren't allowed to do popularity polls, and typically, Toki is someone's second-favourite member of Dethklok rather than their first.
-Despite his lack of traditional education, Toki is smart. His memorisation abilities are incredible; he's learned off all of his parts in almost the entirety of Dethklok's discography.
-This near photographic memory of his guitar parts is why Toki doesn't feel like he really needs to practice guitar. He already knows what he has to play; he doesn't need to go over it again.
-But, even though he is smart in some regards, Toki is also very gullible and overly trusting of others. This also comes from his lack of education and sheltered homelife. In a twisted way, Toki was raised to see the best in people (even if it meant converting them or exorcising them to reveal that ‘best’).
-The other band members (Murderface and Skwisgaar, especially) use this fact to their full advantage and mess with him a little bit, as a little jokey-joke. For example, Murderface tells him something completely false about American history, for example, that Abraham Lincoln had no toes, and Toki just believes it without a second thought.
-Pickles and Nathan (and Charles, if it’s really bad) are usually the ones who steer Toki in the right direction when this happens.
-Toki’s gullibility has led to some hilarious (and awful) situations. Toki has fallen for scams, copious amounts of scams, throughout his life.
-Do NOT let him wander off in touristy areas by himself; he has been, and probably will be again, a victim of those seedy con artists who say that you damaged/broke something of theirs (like a painting or vase) and that you have to pay for it. Toki has probably paid at least a quarter of Dethklok's revenue to these people (me over exaggerating, but still).
-He now has a little collection of items he was forced to pay for in a closet somewhere in Mordhaus.
-His entire ‘friendship’ with Dr Rockso is literally one giant scam.
-Rockso scams Toki out of his money constantly. He says he needs money for rehab or for child support, or that people are going to kill him if he doesn’t give them a million dollars. He actually spends all of the money Toki gives him on cocaine (ka-ka-ka yeahh), of course.
-It’s gotten to the point where Charles and the Klokateers have had to monitor all of Toki’s transactions and bank accounts to make sure he isn't sending Rockso all of his cash.
-On the mention of Mordhaus, Toki's room is the smallest one, no question. It's very homey and warm in there.
-Despite its small size, Toki's room is packed with stuff. He has drawers full of colouring books and crayons and markers and everything else he could need, and posters all over his walls.
-Toki has poor spatial awareness, especially when he’s performing on stage. Do NOT let him perform near the amps and speakers EVER. He will most definitely disconnect them while moving around, trying to look cool. This is why Toki is usually placed to the far side of the stage when performing, so he doesn't mess anything up by accident.
-Whenever someone around him dies or has something bad happen to them in general, he can’t help but feel like his parents were ‘right’ about him being a bad omen or having some sort of secret evil inside of him. But he usually reasons to himself that that concept is pretty metal and brutal, and feels slightly better about it.
-But sometimes, he can’t help but get bogged down by it. He doesn't understand why these things keep happening to the people he cares about; it’s just not fair to him.
-Toki often uses imagination and daydreaming to cope with stress and make sense of things in his head. Every single one of those bright, colourful scenes (like the one at the end of ‘Dethhealth’ after Toki’s cat dies) is an extremely vivid daydream that is taking place in Toki’s mind either after Toki experiences trauma, or when he’s experiencing something new.
-He’s had this coping mechanism since he could picture things in his mind. Daydreaming and imagining things gave Toki a respite from his abuse like nothing else would.
-Instead of facing the reality of his family's abuse (genuinely, how could he), Toki imagined his family or God rewarding him for all of his hard work. He imagined friends, safety, and love from his parents. If he had to climb a high slope, Toki would imagine he was journeying to save Mary Magdalene from Pontius Pilate, or he was going to visit one of the Norse Gods he had heard about while in town. Anything to distract himself from his torment.
-Toki's behaviour when daydreaming depends on what he was doing before and what he's daydreaming about. Usually, Toki completely spaces out and stands or sits completely motionless, save for a quick blink of his eyes every few minutes. Other times, he paces around his room or Mordhaus in general.
-This is more of an undisputed fact rather than a headcanon, but Toki utterly adores animals. And animals adore him right back (well, most of them do).
-He thinks everything remotely cute or ‘friend-shaped’ (how millennial of him) is safe and has tried to pet things he really shouldn't be petting before (he has a bad sense of danger overall).
-This guy is probably the zoo's (and any other animal adjacent place’s) favourite customer of all time. Toki visits the zoos of every country he goes to.
-He goes to animal shelters often, too. He loves playing with the kittens and cuddling with them (it's so cuteee).
-Toki has tried to keep a secret pet in his room before (most likely a cat), albeit unsuccessfully. The cat meowed too loudly and even escaped into the living room, scaring the everliving shit out of Murderface (the poor guy).
-The ‘Isle of Wayward Kitties’ was also mostly Toki’s idea; he felt really sad that there were so many cats struggling like he once was, so he came up with the idea to put them all on an island so they could be free and happy.
a/n: i finally did it!! the (over) 2k word headcanon post has been completed finally. i really hope you guys enjoyed reading this, and that it wasn't too graphic or saddening for you.
toki as a character both builds and breaks my heart in every way i can muster (i lurve him so bad), i just want him to be happy.
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