I’ve been writing Moon Knight a little more (as in the alter, not just the whole gang—for the alter I’ll refer to him as MK for this post from here on out) and it’s kind of an interesting dilemma I’m facing on how he views his own origins. I say in this post that MK most likely formed when the body accepted Khonshu’s magic and it was such a painful process that they split, forming MK. To MK, he has always been Khonshu’s fist because he was formed during the process of accepting the Moon Knight power and becoming Khonshu’s avatar.
That is not to say that he actually has the memories of any previous Moon Knight, since he is just an alter—MK is not actually Moon Knight permanently any more than Marc is and would most likely go dormant if the Moon Knight power was removed out of the body.
In a really interesting thread with @thessence, their oc Asante comes into contact with MK from Marc’s phone (maybe for the first time?) after Marc had been trying to draw MK out. MK, like Jake, causes the Moon Knight system amnesia while Marc and Steven are typically co-concious and don’t experience amnesia between switches.
I am as old as Khonshu. I have always been his fist. I came when we became Moon Knight.* It’s my sworn duty to protect them. To serve as Khonshu’s fist. I have always existed within Khonshu.**
That first asterisked sentence “I came when we became Moon Knight,” is true. MK formed from the trauma. But his first misunderstanding of his existence—probably because of the fact that no one’s explained DID to MK yet—is that second marked sentence. He says, “I have always existed within Khonshu,” which is incorrect. MK was split from Marc, so is Marc’s alter, not an extension of Khonshu. But why wouldn’t he think that?
So, since you exist as both Khonshu and Marc, you’ve been able to experience all facets of life, right? Do you have any interesting stories?
…No. I don’t remember very much. I only remember Marc, Steven and Jake. And getting them out of bad situations.
MK only formed to serve as Moon Knight when the others could not as his primary and sole function to stabilize the body through the continuous trauma. He causes amnesia and time loss to protect them from what they couldn’t handle. He later explains what these “bad situations” are when Asante prompts him to:
Moon Knight related danger. If they cannot handle the stress and the fear, I, as Moon Knight, and Moon Knight alone can protect them. Moon Knight is a position that requires great sacrifice. Marc, Steven and Jake were not built for this life* nor its responsibility.
He mentions that Marc, Steven and Jake weren’t built for this responsibility. It can be inferred then that as a late formation, MK might already be aware that Marc, Steven and Jake had already formed as alters when the body was still in childhood. MK is the only alter to form as an adult, so more likely knows more about them than they do of him.
He also doesn’t know why he doesn’t remember much. It’s not wrong to assume that MK also is amnesiac between switches of the others, and maybe only comes into co-consciousness when the stress levels are rising. It can also be speculated that MK is able to force one of the others out of the front, and take over the situation before it’s completely uncontrollable or even he can’t prevent something bad from happening from how bad it’s gotten with another one of them at the front.
Because MK’s switches causes amnesia and time loss, they probably didn’t know about him for a long time or considered themselves to be “blacking out” whenever he fronted (not wrong.) Moon Knight would know of them, more likely than not, but due to the amnesia would have basically no life of his own (not to say no wants, very specific wording here) that isn’t Moon Knight or combat-related. This puts him in an awkward position of having no reason to believe he is not just Khonshu-adjacent or Khonshu’s power, if he was even formed within the system at all. To MK, he is something completely other.
He may one day learn about his actual origins as a facet of the original mind (again, not Marc—he is not the original in my portrayal) and a useful tool for keeping them all safe. But I am not sure how he’d handle it yet, if he’d handle it well at all, or if he’d completely ignore the truth for the sanctity of his own mind.
For MK, he has one purpose in life. To be Moon Knight. But then you bring up this idea that he is not Moon Knight as much as Khonshu is Moon Knight, but instead he’s a part of this human system and mind that, theoretically, could be a person without Moon Knight. That would shatter MK.
Just things to think about.
