I've rewatched some of Season 1 and 2 vods and I think I need the new people on the fandom to understand that Tommy became obsessed with the Discs only when they were the only thing that he believed he could still have.
A quick explanation for who doesn't know what I am talking about (and by quick, I'm sorry, I already know it's not going to be quick).
Back in Season 1, before they even started Roleplaying, Tommy found some music discs - the two we're talking about are Mellohi (the first one, which he found by actively farming discs with Skeletons and Creepers) and Cat (which he found accidentally alongside with a spider spawner nearby his home). Tommy always cared about these discs, of course, as they were his first one on the server and CC!Tommy has said that both he and the character like Minecraft music discs.
At the time, the lore of Dream SMP is really smoky, because since they were not really roleplaying but merely playing around, everything that happened was canonized later. However, what we know as canon is that Dream stole Tommy's two discs after his involvement in Ponk, Alyssa and Sapnap's war (not one that Tommy started, even if people believe him to have done so. The fact that Tommy brought war and chaos with him when he came in the server is a wrong one, as things happened even before his arrival) and Tommy, of course, tried to take them back - leading to the first Discs war alongside Tubbo.
Of course Tommy cared about his disc. They were his, and they were wrongfully stolen. However, he easily accepted giving up Mellohi to Dream in case he lost the bow duel, if that would help gain L'Manberg independence. And after that, to win the Revolution, he proposed on his own will to give the man Cat too. He was sad about it, and angry, and promised to take them back one day, but he gave them up and he did it willingly for something he cared more about. A person that's obsessed with something would not do that.
The discs were always there in Tommy's mind, of course - but they were a "distant" objective, something he needed to take back because, again, he cared about them, and they were his, but they were not his priority. They were not his priority during the Election Arc, nor during Pogtopia. On November 16th, he actually declined the role of President to actively START seeking the discs - because he was responsible enough to know that by being the President of L'Manberg, he would have to not seek war with Dream again, as he would involve L'Manberg with him by doing so. He, however, was made Vice President (although he had said before that he didn't want to be VP exactly for this reason) and again didn't start a full war on Dream because of it. He always wanted to take the Discs back, but he wasn't obsessed with them enough to ignore everything to go after them. For him, the Discs canonically came after his friends - they came after L'Manberg, after all.
I already said here and here what I think about Tommy's exile but TL;DR for those who didn't see the videos or didn't realize it: Tommy was not merely exiled, but kidnapped and abused, and manipulated to believe himself to be alone even if people would be there.
During exile, Tommy started believe to have nothing, no one there - he had lost Wilbur, he had lost Tubbo, he had lost L'Manberg and everything else. There is nothing there for him anymore - and he can no longer bear the abuses and the loneliness and everything else to the point that not only he actively become suicidal, but he would have actually killed himself once if Dream wasn't there and would have jumped to his death if he hadn't suddenly realized that Dream was abusing him.
From that point on, Tommy escapes - and he goes to Techno, and what does he have?
He lost Tubbo, he lost Wilbur, he lost L'Manberg and all his friend, and he lost Dream too - the fake friend he had and the only thing that he had was a tentative alliance with Technoblade. An alliance for what?
To retake what it was his. The only thing that, while lost, he could have obtained again. His discs, with help from Techno - and for how much I believe that Techno believed he was doing the best for Tommy, and while he didn't say so out loud (and in contrary, he denied this several time) he considered Tommy a friend and an ally in that moment, he was also... shoving him towards a really, dark path, unaware of this or not.
Because Tommy started his villain arc right there. He started torturing people, for god sake. Even Technoblade said to him that he was exaggerating! And he continued, on and on.
Until that line. The line that everyone love to quote out of context.
"The Discs were worth more than you ever were!"
But what is the context of this quote? Tommy's angry. Tommy's angry, because he feels that everyone's (besides Techno) has left him behind. Tubbo exiled him, his friends didn't visit (again, they did, but I already explained here why he felt he was alone), everyone believed him to be a villain who had destroyed the Community House and Tubbo, Tubbo was going to give his disc, his precious disc that was in his care because Tommy trusted him to keep it safe, to Dream. His abuser. And so Tommy attacks, and starts screaming at Tubbo, and in rage, he says this phrase which is absolutely not true.
And then, Tommy stops. Tommy realizes what he has said - and he realized how's spiraling to a dark place. He says it later - "I'm worse than everyone I didn't want to be". Because this obsession is not worth it and he, himself, realize it. And so he gives up his discs - he says to Tubbo to give it to Dream.
People also love to bring Doomdsay and what Tommy was saying - except, Tommy wasn't saying at all to Techno that he cared only about the disc and that he betrayed Technoblade for that, which is way the phrase "Discs aren't people" (which, by the way, is followed by Tommy saying that they are people too, but go off and don't quote that, I guess...) is very out of context there for Technoblade - because Tommy GAVE UP his discs. He gave up them for L'Manberg and he gave up them for coming back to Tubbo. And that's what he was explaining. Him talking about the discs in that situation is for a different reason than "I want my disc back I am obsessed", but it's the one that the fandom actually got out of it.
"But Tommy wanted to take back the discs later too! He didn't gave them up, then! He was still obsessed!"
He wasn't. The fact that he still cared about sentimental objects that were rightfully his in the first place is no sign for an obsession. The fact that he decides to continue trying to get them is not an obsession - because this time, it's not his only reason. He's not alone. He has other priorities and the discs have now a new meaning.
People say "Tommy and Tubbo could have not tried to get the discs back, could have just let Dream burn them." And while that's right, what then? With the discs destroyed, what would have happened? It would have happened exactly what happened in the Season 2 Finale - in the exact, precise moment Tommy would have REALLY renounced the discs, then Dream would have found ANOTHER excuse. After all in the exact moment Tommy gave up the discs, he took Tubbo's hostage!
Do you believe Tommy to be so ignorant? He and Tubbo were going there for the Discs, sure, but they were going there mostly to end the fight once and for all. To end it. The discs were important, but they also were a narrative excuse both in canon and out of it.
And we go to the season 2 finale. In which, again, Tommy renounce the Discs for Tubbo. And sure, then he grabs them, he asks Tubbo if they could stole them while they were in the vault, but again - people are allowed to care about things, even material things. Unless it is really an obsession, there is nothing wrong with wanting to take back something personal.
Fandom likes to put everything on Tommy's shoulder and the importance of the Discs is one of these thing - except, it was Dream that used them against Tommy, and Tommy put them on the side many times, and was only obsessed with them, and I mean the REAL meaning of the word "obsession", when he was at his lowest - in the post-exile and pre-doomdsay period of thime. They were never as "cursed" of an item as the fandom wants them to be.
And, again, if Tommy had burned the Discs, it would have not solved anything. Dream would have just went on to hurt Tubbo.
titsay
vaporwave
dededos
gummygunk
germansingergirl
izzy806
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