// lifesteal world spoilers for infume if people dont wanna see tho i think its all over twitter by now
guy that’s not just a speedrunner or something
6 hearts in the corner represent the hearts he gave away to people and then he’s outside the frame of lsw idk there is some vision they got me locked in art making
Jamato is a very good character imo and has a lot of complexities to him.
I want to touch on some specific points here:
Idea of change
Treatment of Spoke
Hypocrisy
Tendency to run away
and Intentions
Idea of Change
Jamato has a very narrow minded mindset and once he believes something he struggles to change.
This is most consistently seen with Spoke. Jamato cannot imagine the idea that Spoke can change with the proper help (this last part is important!!). He is hellbent on the thought that Spoke should just be able to change. The thing is, Spoke isn't. He has built this idea in his head that he is incapable of change, and part of that is because of Jamato.
When Spoke starts abusing the exploits in the beginning of the server, Jamato never goes out of his way to forcefully stop Spoke. All he ever does is warn Spoke about the possibilities with them. Which, in all honesty, did more harm than good. Jamato's response once things got too out of hand was to leave the main server as a whole. In doing so, he unintentionally established an idea in Spoke's head that he cannot change for the better. This, along with everybody else constantly reaffirming this belief, led Spoke to believe that he is not able to change.
In the episode where Mapicc goes missing for the first time and Jamato and Spoke talk in the lighthouse, Jamato tells Spoke that he has always had the ability to change, but never took it. Now, I will say, Jamato is right. The thing is, though, is that Spoke has always had the belief that he can't be enforced in his head. Which is why he didn't. And Jamato, during this entire scene, doesn't help with deconstructing that idea.
What I'm trying to say is, Jamato is part of the reason as to why Spoke doesn't change for the better. Jamato has a very narrow minded view point and believes that Spoke cannot change. He enforces this view onto Spoke and through that Spoke also believes he cannot change.
Treatment of Spoke
Connected to this, Jamato's treatment of Spoke is very unhealthy.
He uses Spoke as an outlet for his want for control and his moral righteousness.
Something interesting about Spoke's pov is that he pushes everybody around him into specific roles. Spoke is the "hero" and commander. Jumper and Mapicc follow his directions. Jamato's position in this is to act as Spoke's teacher. And he plays into this through his want for authority over Spoke.
Jamato enjoys his position of power over Spoke. It gives him an outlet for his moral righteousness—that this is a requirement for the safety of the server and that trapping Spoke is okay because he's dangerous. It's his way of justifying it, but I also believe Jamato is doing this for himself. He constantly points out Spoke's flaws and uses that to prove how he's "better." He enjoys having a moral high ground over Spoke and enjoys showing that. It's like "I'm better than you and you will know I'm better than you. There is no other way."
The thing is, despite all of this, Jamato still holds some form of care for Spoke. Obviously not completely pure or healthy, but it's still there. He worried about Spoke during the mafia, and honestly, probably still does. For example, he cared about Spoke's survival in Purgatory. He might say he wants Spoke to die, but he takes every opportunity to save Spoke when available. Never executes him, yells his name when it seems like Spoke is going to follow Vixuality down, so on so forth. Because he does care about Spoke.
Hypocrisy
Jamato is a huge hypocrite and continuously goes back on his words.
One of the most notable examples is displayed in the first episode of the Purgatory arc and in "My Best Friend Went Missing on the Unstable SMP," where Jamato is seen using the exploits (water in the Nether, floating flowers, etc.). Spoke calls this out, saying something along the lines of "I thought he said he'd stop using the exploits."
A large reason as to why Jamato is hunting down Spoke is because he abuses the exploits. So why is it when Jamato uses them, it's okay? It shouldn't be.
Jamato also continuously blames Spoke for the fact he hasn't changed, and he's partly right for that. What he refuses to acknowledge, though, is that he is also at fault for Spoke not changing. This is delved deeper into the section 'Treatment of Spoke' but basically Jamato helped build this idea into Spoke's head that he is incapable of change. Not only that, but Jamato actively encourages Spoke's support system (more specifically Mapicc and Jumper and Zam a little bit) to leave him. While I do believe Jamato has the best intentions, he is hurting Spoke more than helping. Which is the goal.
In doing this, he is dooming the server even more. If Spoke truly has as much influence as Jamato says he does, why would Jamato want to hurt Spoke while knowing the destruction he is capable of? A bit off topic, but I believe this is part of the reason he created NULL. To still be able to break Spoke, but in a contained area, so he doesn't cause more damage than he's already done to the server.
Running Away
Whenever he is confronted with his problems, Jamato always runs away.
When things get too dangerous with Spoke, instead of directly forcing him to stop, he leaves the main server entirely.
When Spoke tries killing him on the lighthouse, Jamato doesn't come back and call him out—he leaves and starts creating NULL to hide behind.
The list goes on.
Jamato also encouraged Mapicc and Zam to run to the Farlands with him. He believes that the solution is to run away from the problem in hopes it'll solve itself. In this case, the problem is Spoke.
Intentions
Despite all of this, I do believe Jamato is actually doing this because he thinks it will benefit the server in the long run.
The thing is, Jamato is so detached from the main server that he cannot give it what it needs. The server doesn't need some hero cleansing it of its impurities, it needs peace. Jamato can't bring that peace.
The server is so unstable (say that again) because of the power struggle, and Jamato can't just solve that by removing the 'bad' players. Because people don't operate in black and white—there's reasons as to why they do things. Lettuce felt the need to rise to power because he felt they were being oppressed by the stronger players. Saparata felt the need to rise to power because he felt the old players were being ignored in favor of the new players. They also hold the best intentions for the server but they've done some pretty bad things.
Jamato's narrow minded mindset is not fit for a protector because he doesn't think of the nuances of people's situations. He labels them as 'good' or 'bad' and does what he believes in necessary to them.
Apart of this, Jamato is selfish when it comes to Spoke. He keeps him alive despite believing the server would be better off without him, and goes directly against his ideals.
Basically
JamatoP is very flawed and isn’t aware of those flaws. He is extremely detached from reality and because of that he can’t do what the server needs despite that being his goal. He has good intentions but because he is so unaware of his own hypocrisy and cowardice he cannot perform his good intentions in a way that is reasonable.
And in the end, Jamato still cares about Spoke. In a very unhealthy way, but that care still exists.
