If you've been into the Eddsworld fandom as of late, you've probably seen the official 2023 Eddsworld Pride Post, in which Edd holds an aroace flag at a pride parade.
Not only is this a very cute image, it comes with the blatant implication that Edd is aromantic and asexual. I've heard a lot of arguments in regards to this not possibly being true, and, as an aroace person who has been insane about the concept of aroace Edd since I've gotten back into it, I'd really like to show that there is a very plausible aroace reading of Edd!
Definitions
First, before we dive into this, there's a couple definitions I want to set. First, we'll be using this definition, saying that asexuality and aromanticism are spectrums that cover people who experience little to no sexual or romantic attraction, respectively.
Secondly, the definition of compulsive heterosexuality, which we will be shortening to comphet for the sake of this, which is how people are taught to 'act' heterosexual from a young age through media and societal norms.
So, let's start with the elephant in the room: The Dudette Next Door.
In this episode, Tord and Edd compete over the attention of Kim, who is a super hypersexualized woman that just moved in. This should be an open and shut case, right? Edd clearly has romantic or sexual attraction for Kim, so how could he possibly be aroace.
Do you like my three pixels image. I made it myself.
Anyway, let's start with the obvious: Kim is the stereotypical European definition of beauty. She is thin, has long blonde hair, blue eyes, pale, and has a lot of skin showing.
Part of the argument that heterosexuality is 'taught' comes from the fact that the media we consume often has marriage or 'getting the girl' as the end goal. Often in that media, the love interest is a conventionally attractive girl. While this applies to most media, such as magazines and romcoms, it's particularly true for shitty action movies. We KNOW that Edd consumes a lot of this media! In Hello Hellhole, they plan on watching Return of the Insane Zombie Pirates from Hell III, and it is brought up again in The End (Part 1). We also see the full gang watching Bing's terrible movie in Spares. This part of the argument is, admittedly, very weak, but it's an important part of understanding the rest of this analysis. Cool? Cool.
Throughout all of Eddsworld, Edd seems to only pursue conventionally attractive women. For example, in Casino Night, we see him with this woman.
Obviously, she is supposed to be an attractive love interest. She has eyelashes, which is more than like... most women in Eddsworld. She has iconic the beauty mark, lipstick, and what is supposed to be some sort of nightclub dress.
Shockingly, Edd isn't seen with women much throughout the series; however, in both of these examples, Edd is also treating these women as objects to be obtained rather than actual love interests. He literally does not exchange more than a sentence with Kim in The Dudette Next Door, and he makes no efforts to get to know her. Instead, he just does favors and tries to show off in an attempt to gain her favor.
Furthermore, he is also in competition with Tord in his attempts to get Kim. It is important to remember that for many people, heterosexuality is associated with manliness for men. More girls = more manly. Obviously, I don't agree with this, but this is a real mindset that people have! Now, this wouldn't mean much, but Edd and Tord have been shown to have masculinity "battles." In Tord's Adventure, Edd sends Tord this.
Truly a damning and devastating photo, but its intent is to make Tord look silly, not masculine, and weak. We can gather this because Tord immediately gets into... full military gear, gets in a helicopter, and gets guns... what the fuck?? And the ending of the episode implies Edd fully expected this to happen. Anyway, Tord is proving his masculinity here. Cool. He's also just like that.
You can also make an argument for Breakfast being a similar scenario given how much meat is associated with masculinity, but I honest to god think they're just like that.
Anyway, Edd fighting Tord over a woman is basically just proving his masculinity and having fun with his friend through this lens. It's also very possible that he has zero idea he is aroace. This is just what he has been socially expected to do, and he thinks that's how it works. Once again, hello ever reliable comphet argument.
We see the same thing with him objectifying women in Casino Night, though. He has her under his arm like she is a prize, and she also leaves immediately after he loses his money. She WAS a prize to show how successful he was.
Space Face (Part 1) is where the culmination of my many comphet arguments lead. In the scene where anything Edd draws comes to life, he chooses to draw a woman. She is blatantly drawn to be a romantic interest, as she is shown looking for him. Edd is immediately horrified by the drawing he made, and he disguises himself to hide from her.
The joke here is that the drawing sucks and that the woman is unattractive, thus Edd hides from her; however, from an aroace lens, this scene becomes a lot more. Edd draws what the world has told him he needs to be happy, masculine, and fulfilled: a woman. Upon getting this opportunity, though, he hides.
Now let's talk about the music videos. While they don't have "Eddsworld" in the titles of the music videos, I think they're all worth noting. First, Money (That's What I Want), which... has such blatant aroace undertones I'm really shocked I haven't seen more of a conversation on it.
The lines are literally “your lovin’ give me such a thrill / but your lovin’ don’t pay my bills” and “money don’t get everything it’s true / what it don’t get, I can’t use”. Are you serious. He has no use for love. Is nobody else hearing this.
Next on the list is Sugar, Sugar, where Edd sings about his love to cola cans as they beat him up. Brutal! Anyway, I think given all the other evidence so far, it's fair to say that him singing to an inanimate object about his love for it can probably go into the "proof for being aroace" list.
The last music video is Eddie's Teddy. In it, there's a girl who blatantly adores him; however, he shows no interest back, but that isn't the main point I'm trying to make here. What is is THIS FRAME.
HE'S READING PORN LIKE LIGHT YAGAMI. LIKE IT'S A CASUAL STROLL IN THE PARK.
Genuinely not much of an argument given Tord also goes in public and reads hentai with that exact expression, but I do think that Tord is just like that. Also, it's just really funny.
Real quick, speaking of funny, I'd also like to give a shoutout to the comic Hot for being exactly how it feels to be aroace sometimes.
Like three bits of additional stuff I absolutely consider proof, but I don't really have a bunch of analysis for besides pointing at the image and going LOOK!! LOOK!!! I'll probably come back to it every time I have a Thought about it.
This part from Matt Sucks. Edd says "dinner and a movie first" and when Matt does that he just shushes him. He does NOT want a date he just wants a movie.
Also, I spent such a long time looking for this other one, and I CANNOT FIND IT, but it's a classic animation of this girl having a little adventure. She then finds Tom and Edd fighting, flashes them, and Edd immediately stops punching Tom to look like O_O. I swear it exists guys it used to be on Lost Eddsworld you have to believe me.
Finally, this one. I don't have an explanation.
Overall, I REALLY like aroace Edd, and I think there is a lot of potential there. I think Beyond has done a pretty good job with keeping that aroace characterization, too, such as in Bar.
I, obviously, don't think any of the early aroace characterization was intentional. I am not saying this is the end-all-be-all of Edd Eddsworld sexuality headcanons either because that would be Insane. I'm just saying that there's a lot to it that I think is often overlooked, and I hope that someone who reads this can see the potential in aroace Edd.
Thank you so much if you made it this far, and I'd like to give a big thank to @pixopix for the dividers :3.
hey. happy thanksgiving. do you want an au where bing is tord’s weird uncle who is never invited to thanksgiving but always shows up anyway despite neither of them being american. i dont care
A compilation of winter Edds from Snobody, Christmas Special 2004, Christmas Visitor, Xmas Day, Comic 94, The Snogre, and an honorary Ell from Slippery Slope. Why? Because I ljke them :)
dededos
blakekathryn
origamiaround
2087
areudirty
jacobvanloon
jbbartram-illu
snowghoul
pixelskylines
gummygunk
discoholicmusic
germansingergirl
