Technoblade Analysis: “Death”
Nor dread nor hope attend A dying animal; A man awaits his end Dreading and hoping all; Many times he died, Many times rose again, A great man in his pride Confronting murderous men Casts derision upon Supersession of breath; He knows death to the bone – Man has created death.
-”Death,” W.B. Yeats (1929)
So when I first read this poem my thoughts immediately went to c!Technoblade. Honestly this poem could relate to so many characters in the DSMP since we all know death is a common theme in the rp plot. But I’m focusing on Technoblade for this post.
We all know Techno has an...interesting relationship with death #technobladeneverdies. Somehow, despite all the chaos and conflicts he has been involved in, he has managed to survive and retain his canon lives. The “Technoblade never dies” meme has almost become an SMP myth in itself, a major point in the plot. He dances with death, coming so close but never dying (the Butcher Army’s failed execution is probably the most well-known example of this). Techno neither dreads death nor hopes for it, rather he is haunted by other things: the voices in his head and his alias the “Blood God.”
“Many times he died
Many times rose again”
This obviously brings to mind the totem of undying he used to cheat death by anvil at the Butcher Army execution. The language in these lines invokes almost deistic connotations (”rising again”, or resurrection, is a common theme in many major religions/mythologies), hearkening back to the “Blood God” idea. Nearly unbeatable, Techno seems almost like a deity at times with his power, both physical and mental.
Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar says, “Cowards die many times before their deaths. The brave experience death only once.” This aphorism likely reflects c!Techno’s attitude towards other SMP characters who have died multiple times, spiritually/mentally as well as physically. We “die” in the course of our lives many times, through failure of nerve or failing to live in some other sense. Emotional “death” comes through emotional states such as depression (TommyInnit), insanity (Wilbur Soot) and a consuming lust for something such as power (Dream/Quackity). c!Techno has (or appears to have) a very strong will and mental stability, in contrast to other characters. He chooses when, where and how he will die and he is confident in his ability to evade death until he decides to accept it.
“A great man in his pride Confronting murderous men Casts derision upon Supersession of breath;”
When I read the first two lines, Techno’s confrontation with the Butcher Army comes to mind. The BA, led and inspired by Quackity, had one main thought on their minds: bloodlust. Lust for Techno’s blood. In their eyes, what they were doing was right and justified. But in Techno’s eyes, they refused to accept his efforts in moral development and only wanted to murder him. He confronted the “murderous men” and ultimately emerged victorious, “casting derision” upon their futile attempt to thrust death upon him before his time.
“Derision” basically means contemptuous mockery, which Techno used on Quackity in their post-execution confrontation in the tunnel (”did you really think, Quackity, that you could kill me that easily?”) followed by the ultimate form of derision: killing Quackity to show Techno’s own power and Quackity’s powerlessness against him.
“Supersession” means the act of replacing one person or thing by another, especially one held to be superior. Techno is superior to his enemies (in his eyes at least), both in his PVP skills and his (perceived) higher morality. It also brings to mind Techno’s commitment to anarchy: his greatest moral goal is to “replace” any and all government with a negation, with the absence of government--only the negation is superior to the thing being replaced. “Supersession of breath” is basically a fancy word for death. Again, Techno scorns the idea of death as something for lesser people.
“He knows death to the bone – Man has created death.”
This line was a little tricky for me to reconcile with Technoblade, but I did my best...Techno knows death to the bone in more ways than one. He has an intimate relationship with death through his avoidal of it, but also with his familial relationship with death’s literal personification in the SMP lore: Philza. Phil, the “Angel of Death,” is the father of Technoblade, the one who never dies. He has such a close relationship with Phil, yet he exists farthest from death than perhaps any other character on the server. “Man has created death” well, what does that remind you of? *cough* withers *cough* Techno literally created withers, agents of death and destruction, over L’Manberg. And he has been creating SCORES of MORE wither skulls, creating death over and over again for his own purposes, to bring retribution on those who have wronged him. He is the agent of wrath and will not hesitate to resort to violence. Techno evades death himself, but he will not hesitate to bring death to those whom he believes deserve it.
So yeah...that was my analysis of the character Technoblade from the Dream SMP and the poem “Death” by W.B. Yeats. If you read all of this long post, thank you! Please reblog if you enjoyed it, and I will be posting many more character/plot analyses juxtaposed with various poems and/or other literary themes/characters/motifs. I find the Dream SMP plot and characters to be incredibly interesting and truly a storytelling masterpiece, both in structure (livestreamed Minecraft games) and in writing/acting skill. In the relatively brief time I’ve been in the SMP fandom, I’ve seen so many parallels and connections to great/classic stories and myths (whether intentional or not). It makes my English major heart happy and I want to share my thoughts with the rest of the DSMP fandom! Please be nice in the tags (no hate/racism/sexism/other rudeness) and let me know if there’s any characters/themes you would like me to cover!
-Hamster <3
