Hiya! Name’s Pena 💙, I’m 29 who loves to bake, draw, and making friends! Atm I'm into Encanto and now Date Everything!✨ (👁️👁️🫶🏻) Cover art: deedle Pfp: trickmoon
I'm tired of Hector's mischaracterization (it's eather "he's an innocent cutie" or "he's a creepy stalker") so I decided to write a list of his traits first. Feel free to add your own opinions!
1. He is shy and deeply insecure (obviously).
2. However, he does not hate himself entirely. He takes pride in his role as the HVAC system. It is the way he looks that makes him self-conscious. I also feel like this confidence helps him to fight his fears so quickly, stand up for himself in the Hate Route, or even indirectly confront Keyes' arrogance.
3. He's a yearner and deeply devoted person. I feel like his intense devotion can come across as obsession to some people.
4. He lives a life of enforced solitude. His deep-rooted loneliness fuels both his devotion and his yearning. In the player, he finds the sole focus for his profound need for connection.
5. He's kind of melodramatic (he said so himself). This could be a self-defense mechanism for him - over-exaggerating his feelings to make potential rejection feel less painful.
6. He's more sensual than sexual. I'm basing this opinion on his teasing at the end of day 2 and on his fanfic.
7. But that doesn't mean he lacks a freaky side (teeth getting involved at the end of his fanfic reading… or the fact that the fanfic exists at all 😅). If you decide to spend the night with him after his Realization, you can see for yourself that he's not all talk.
8. Deep inside, he kind of feels entitled to the player's attention and affection, seeing it as a natural response to his care and devotion. This comes through more clearly in the Hate route. I feel like this entitlement is the reason he would even threaten to freeze the player to death if they were being extra mean. Although he never actually acts on his threats, using the excuse that he takes too much pride in his work.
This is probably partly his melodramatic tendencies coming through, a signal of the hurt feelings of a devoted servant. Therefore, his sense of entitlement is fundamentally different from that of the stereotypical "nice guy" who's been rejected by a girl he felt entitled to.
9. He's playful and mischievous, but this is deeply buried under his shyness. He does tease you on several occasions, and even chuckles if player get flustered by his fanfic.
I feel like him creating carnival masks in his ending really suits this trait.
10. He seeks considerable control in his life. While he enjoys the player's ability to tell him what to do, in some aspects he's adamant about doing things his way (you can see this if you pester him in the attic for 3 days in a row at the start of his route). He also easily accepts it if the player states that they don't want to control him. Perhaps his submissiveness in the relationship with the player is also a conscious choice rather than his inherent trait; that's why he freaks out when things don't go according to his plan - such as if the player approaches his grate again after he has invited them to the attic.
11. He is also kind, cares for those around him, and is ready to forgive the player's missteps (but not cruelty, not without candy, at least).
12. But most importantly, he isn't afraid to be vulnerable. He acknowledges his feelings (albeit melodramatically), his devotion, and his need. This requires profound courage, especially from someone so inherently shy.
I think that's all. Thoughts? Prayers, perchance? 😅
I like this!! I wanted to add my own two cents, especially for #10, that I think in his own isolation he’s found a level of comfort in fantasy and fiction that he doesn’t seem to be able to replicate in real life, at least not immediately—as seen in his first interaction with the player in the attic, genuinely face to face, how nervous he is and how little he can think of what to say and he needs a bit of time to become poetic the way he normally presented himself. I think his desire for control is also anxiety. Maybe his submissiveness and wants for the player to control him also comes from that anxiety, like a desire to take a break and not worry about managing things? Speaking as my own experience as someone who learned social cues from the media I consumed because I was really isolated and also found myself struggling with control issues, I kind of find myself inclined to think he’s got a lot of anxiety from his isolated lifestyle and (part of the reason why I see him as autistic myself) is he’s really good with following a script, hence why he’s so romantic in the vent, where he has control over everything and the way he presents himself, but becomes so anxious and less well-spoken when exposed, because he outside of his bubble the world is super unpredictable and that might stress him out. Fiction, which he expresses himself through in the form of hiding his face, constructing a persona, literally writing fanfic, has a clear structure, an ending and a way to reach it, and you always know what’s going to happen, and he has some adjusting to do when it comes to living in a world of people and not characters. I think that also is where his level of entitlement might come from should you reject him, because this kind of heavy vulnerability and affection is what works in stories, things like books and poetry, all of which he clearly has an appreciation for. And his very isolated, restricted worldview has trouble grasping the many, many nuances of real life. I think getting out of the vents more consistently, he’d probably be a lot less intense as he learns social cues from experience and not just observation.
This is more headcanon than anything, but just kinda extrapolating ig. Maybe I’m reading too much into it. He’s so interesting to think about… I just wanna put him under a microscope.
you know that classic trope where the princess is dressed in commoners clothes in order to experience the way the other half lives? yeah that but make it these two.
Princess Carmen and Knight Hector belong to @dororoxpenana
OK so here's more of @dororoxpenana 's Knight!Hector and Princess!Carmen !!💝! Work has been kicking my butt and it doesn't seem to be letting up any time soon, resulting in these 3 wips at various stages of doneness.
Also! I meant what I said about these two activating me like I'm some kind of sleeper cell, I could write essays about them, And I Will!!! Below the cut bc I have quite a few things to say
Ok so I am a huge fan of princessxknight aus specifically bc of all the possibilities to tell an interesting and complex story, as a way to really dig down into the depths of two characters and figure out what translates and how!
Like, example!!! Carmen can canonically hid her freckles growing up, and I wondered how that'd carry over! Does she choose to wear a veil , a la Catherine of Arogon in the show 'The Spanish Queen', similar specifically in the scenes where she's is making her way to England and wears a veil to protect her modesty before she is wed? Does Carmen start out that way and grows more confident in her appearance and ditch the veil entirely? Is it considered risque by the court and worrying by society at large? I can totally imagine Carmen adopting a very laissez-faire attitude about the veil and not wearing it much especially around hector, but hector (despite very much enjoying the clear view of her face) insisting she keep it on. She commands attention no matter where she goes, and if they want to keep fooling around the way they do, they need to adhere to the rules society has established so no one goes fishing around places they shouldn't be and they aren't found out.
Also, the most obvious question would be how do these two meet? My personal idea that I've been rotating around my head like a rotisserie chicken goes something like this. Mayhaps Hector first encounters Carmen while he's still a squire or perhaps shortly after he's been knighted. At first it's a silly crush. Hector chalks it up to his patriotism for crown and country desperately trying to funnel onto something tangible. But as he spends more and more time around the castle, watching from the outside, these feelings develop into something that had teeth and weight to it. He tries to push it off, he's just some lowly knight, and logically, these feelings arent ever going to amount to anything. And so he dedicates himself to the brotherhood and his knightly duties. That is until! His actions make him stand out amongst his peers and uh oh he's been assigned to the princesses personal guard. Hijinks and romance ensues! (I have tried to come up with ways that they'd have met before hand, perhaps in some kind of childhood friends to lovers type of situation bc I'm a sucker for that as well but I've been stumped.)
Years of pent up longing and keeping self appointed vigil suddenly worsened with this forced close proximity (delicious troupe is delicious 🫦🫦🫦) , and Hector is sweating bullets. Won't somebody think about the vow of chastity knights are meant to take!? Come on people, he may be a knight but he's still just a man at the end of the day!!! Think about the tasty angst! The lust filled angst!!!
Ok so Personal heacanon time: a squire, the night before they are to be knighted, engage in an act of ritualistic bathing and prayer at a church, to then dress in specific clothing whose colors symbolizes the core tenets of knighthood. Now, white specifically is meant to be a reminder of the vow of chastity and purness they are meant to inhabit. I imagine that Hector adopts this ritualistic bathing on an almost nightly basis the longer he is with Carmen. At first it starts out as a reminder of his chosen brotherhood, the honor and camaraderie that can be found in his chosen profession and the baths reflect this. Warm water, soaps and oils, dutiful anointment. However, as the crush deepens into what he considers to be too intense (you GD loser its love! Love is normal!), the baths slowly become a punishment for himself. Frigid water, no symbolism lives here, only hard cruel reminders. He also makes frequent trips to the chapel to try and pray his way out of this forbidden romance, to the point that the friar or priest know to leave a light on when he's there in the middle of the night bc his brain won't stop replaying the giggle he heard two days ago.
Also!!! What about the political implications of a low born knight philandering with the princess! A princess is no doubt inundated with marriage proposals, politically motivated or otherwise. There's no way they could be together openly ! How would hector handle that information? He certainly isn't the type to ask Carmen to run away with him, I don't think. His values and her responsibilities are too strong to ever attempt that, no matter how tempting the poets in his books make it out to be. And how does Carmen handle the reality that separation seems inevitable, theres no way she is going to be allowed to take her personal guard with her to her betrotheds palace. Will she crumble or will she try her hand at changing the entire world, for love of all things? Is love a noble enough reason to crack the earth open? To topple the firmament of the very society she rules over? Is she the type of person to think so?
GOSH GOLLY there is just so much to think about!!!! Like I haven't even brushed the topic of the political and social ramifications of if they had sex like COME ON !!! THINK OF THE IMPLICATIONS!!!
Once long ago, I was a fanfic writer and lemme tell ya, I could wring out a 20+ chapter 200k word fic outta these two back in my prime. But Sigh, this dog don't hunt no more
Anyways I'll be trying to work on these as much as I can between my one million jobs. just know that when you look into the sky and are wishing upon a star, despite it all, i will be thinking of them....
SCREAMING CRYING THROWING CHAIRS EVERYWHERE SO MUCH GOOD FOOD AND IDEAS HERE I CANT EVEN COMPREHEND WOWUWOSJSMSUSKDJS 😭😭😭❤️❤️😭💖❤️💖😭💖😭💖❤️💖❤️💖😭💖❤️💖❤️💖😭💖❤️ there's so many little details to appreciate this AU can go in so many directions and I'm flourishing to see it spark so much creativity 😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️😭💖❤️💖
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