Iāve made a new blog @blitzmybeloved so yall should follow that lmao. I just kinda wanted a fresh start and Iāll probably start posting actual things Iāve made on there too. It will be mcyt focused btw
When Phil has been working in the basement for ten hours, and youāre hungry, and you could ask for food to the neighbor who āstands for peopleā, but you are hungry not desperate.
Techno does have themes and character development and I'm tired of pretending he doesn't
Agency and personhood. 1/3 (?)
Okay, let's talk about technoblade!
Imma do a Techno centric analysis of the major plot points in dsmp and how they relate to the topic of agency (here defined as capacity to freely control how and why you act) (1) , being used and personhood. Techno does not struggle with the fact he is a person and not a weapon, the tension instead comes from reconciling how he sees himself with how others treat him.
Usual disclaimers, I don't have a background in literature or media analysis so treat me kindly when you rip me to shreads /lh
Pre-Red Festival
I consider this part to largely function as a backstory. His acts before the red festival work largely provide context as to how and why he joined Pogtopia, and establish his ideology (anarchy) and some of his character traits. In this time he function is mostly utilitarian. He is a dangerous weapon that we're pretty sure is being wielded by Pogtopia but with enough to sow doubt in that and cause tension surrounding him and his interactions with everyone. Less than a minute after he logged in for the first time Schlatt wrote something in chat that implied Techno was working with him against Pogtopia. From the moment he was brought onto the server he was considered a weapon with the question of who was truly wielding it. In this era he could have been replaced with an unstable atom bomb and it would have functionally been the same.
He does not have massive amounts of thematic development in this era nor is he particularly narratively important, though this does set up the backdrop for how characters and audiences view him later.
Red Festival
This is the first time we Techno is developed outside of just his use as weapon, because he deals with a great deal of internal conflict which is at odds with Pogtopia.
Audiences who were familiar with Anarchy, were more able to realize that Techno was being misled and used before this point, but for the majority of DSMP audience, this moment introduces the idea the Techno might be more than just a prop.
Here we see how both his enemies and allies deny his agency and deny his personhood.
Enemy - Schlatt
I'm not going to go into huge amounts of detail here, as I have already written about how Schlatt denied Techno the ability to choose, and his ability to act a moral agent, but it is important to note the Schlatt did not care what Techno wanted. Techno was largely just wielded as a sword, someone to carry out Schlatt's dirty work, and someone he could exert control over. It should be pretty obvious who schlatt forces techno to act against his will, and how Techno is denied agency and personhood because of that.
Tommy, Wilbur and Tubbo
During the execution:
Wilbur, Tommy and Tubbo don't consider Techno as a person with an internal world during the red festival. Wilbur and Tommy instead watch Techno as if he were undergoing a character test.
Instead of seeing Techno as a complex person who is scared and trying his hardest and who has no other options, he is flattened to a flow chart, where if he kills he's a traitor and if he doesn't he's the hero.
Wilbur, Tommy and Tubboās streams frame techno as an NPC, someone whose actions are only relevant in terms of how other people feel about them. We see him from a long way away, disconnected from Tommy and Wilbur. The 3 of them talk to each other in a chat which other characters cannot see. The reassurances are directed at Tubbo and Tommy, not at Techno, we as an audience are not encouraged to consider his emotions. (2)
This is at odds with how Technoās stream presents the situation. Visually we see his characters gaze flit around constantly, looking for a way out or for someone to help him. His asides to the audience highlight how he is scared and unsure he is, and how he is out of his element. He stutters continuously, his attempts to control the conversation are shut down. When he does finally kill Tubbo, we see him already apologising. We are very much encouraged to empathise with Techno in these moments. The text explicitly states how he feels, we see this reflected in his non-verbal cues. (3)
There is a tension here between these 2 veiws. How much of a person in Techno in the red festival? He only considered in terms of being a weapon, where the question is āwho is wielding him (pogtopia or schlatt)?ā, not āwhy did Techno do what he did?ā.
During the fesitval is his not seen as a person and he is not given autonomy.
Response:
Wilbur and Tommy's response to Technoās actions also dehumanises, him in how he is treated like heās superhuman. Tommyās anger at techno stems from the fact that he is convinced Techno could have done otherwise and been fine ābecause he can literally flyā (4), despite Techno repeatedly explaining that he couldnāt have taken on a whole army.
His attempts to explain himself are denied, and he is unable to articulate fully why he did what he did. Not only does he incorrectly summarise the threat of death as being āPeer pressureā, but Tommy and Wilbur repeatedly ignore him and repeat the same argument over and over.
Wilbur, in this situation, is the one in control of what is occurring. He encourages Tommyās anger, he ignores Techno all together and he ultimately decides on āThe Pitā and itās rules. This is dehumanising for both Techno and Tommy. The pit is reminiscent of gladiator battles against animals, visually we see it carved out the walls and undecorated. It positions Tommy and Techno lower than Wilbur, both literally and metaphorically.
He does not allow Techno to throw the first punch, instead encouraging Tommy to take out his anger using violence instead of listening to Techno. The fight begins one Tommy decides to act. (5)
The Red Festival marked a split in viewers. Those who watched Tommy, Wilbur or Tubbo, still saw Techno as a flat character with few emotions, someone be watched, but not to be empathized with, a symbol of the growing distrust among pogtopians. Techno's veiwers instead see him as someone of Schlattās rule, where he was unable to do otherwise, and then was cast aside by what were supposed to be his allies.
Techno goes against what Wilbur and Tommy want, not by his own choice, and is punished for it through distrust and anger.
As a whole, the Red festival brings the concept of agency and personhood to the center of Techno's character.
Between
Between this and the next major event, the theme is not explicitly revisited other than recurring references to the execution. Tommy forgives him, Tubbo forgives him and Wilbur congratulates him. After a moment of tension we see it simmer down again.
However, it does simmer in the background. Wilbur lies to Techno about his goals of anarchy (6) which misleads Techno about the purpose of the revolution. He obtained weapons, gear and food under the pretense they were overthrowing the government and disbanding it all together.
THIS IS HIM BEING USED.
Someone deliberately misleading a person about why they should work for them, they are being used. If I spend hours doing work collecting money for someone after they told me they were doing a charity fund, and it turns out they were using it to fund an oil company, I have been used. I did not make the decision to fund the oil company of my own volition, I was denied agency.
In the same way, Techno maybe acting freely, but he cannot make meaningful choices, as he is being misled. He is not able to control how and why he acts.
While agency is not the central focus on this part of the story (it's wilburs mental spiral) it runs as an undercurrent.
The tension rises as we get closer and closer to the revolution
NOV16
It was at this moment that I realised Iād been usedā¦. In the end, theyād only been using me to seize [power] for themselves (7)
After realising that they had intended to set up another government all along, and after Wilbur blows everything up, after his allies proved themselves to have been lying, he spawns Withers.
Within the stream, Technoās speeches center both anarchy and betrayal. He talks extensively on how the time and effort he had put in was being used to replicate the systems that brought about the conditions of Manburg. They went against everything he stood for (8)
These speeches are reinforced by the fact he delivers them to people who are wearing the armour he acquired. It reframes the previous friendship and comradery between the pogtopians to being based on deceit.
This is when we revisit what was set up in the Red festival, and also the undercurrent of between plot points. He was still being used and seen as a weapon, and this is where that clashes with who Techno actually is. He is not a weapon to be wielded, without wants or desires, that can be used without issue, who needs no control over his how and why he acts, he is a person with internal goals and motivation, that are independent from Tommy, Wilbur, Tubbo and Niki ect.
.
There is also a focus on refusal of these conditions.
NOV 16 was not a fight Techno won, it was a last ditch effort to prevent people from taking advantage of him and replicating systems that cause ācountless atrocitiesā (9). Techno does not succeed on NOV 16. While he does impact the land in terms of violence, Lāmanburg ultimately rebuilds and reforms. His attempt to control his own past was futile, and he does not get to change how he was used.
However, he was able to freely control how and why he acted on NOV 16th. He was exercising his agency in these moments, even though he sacrificed his perceived personhood as he did it.
Other revolutionaries' surprise at Technoās actions showed they hadn't been listening to him, they had not been thinking of him as more than just a tool used to plan and acquire resources. The fact they did not listen to him even when he was clear about his goals, is something that he brings up a lot and clearly stuck with him.
He got approval from them while he was giving them things, and while they didnāt listen to what he had to say, and then when he exercised agency and made his words un-ignorable, he was villainized. (10)
I see I was wrong to rely on other people (11)
From this we see him internalise the idea that peopleās love is contingent on his capacity to be exploited.
That being seen as a person is incompatible with exercising agency.
Retirement:
After being used by Lāmanburg, Techno isolates himself.
He'd lost everything, he'd failed to achieve anarchy, failed to prevent a government from reforming and found out his friends had been using him. What they had was formed on false premises.
This is where his relationship with agency and dehumanization are more stable, however this was earned through choosing isolation. He decides he cannot trust other people and instead has to live alone in order to protect his personhood.
It's a time where we see him re-evaluate his own methods, and his relationship with violence and other peoples' agency. He plans to change his method of spreading anarchy from one of violence to one of information.
āYou just canāt free people who donāt wanna be freed, I think the real way to achieve our goals ā¦ is to prove that our ideals are the best (12)
It is a moment of reprieve from the intensity of revolution, this is where Techno does a lot of introspection.
In terms of pacing his streams, he had longer solo streams that focused on him gathering materials and telling stories. As a result we slow down and consider Techno as a character. This is the first time we see Techno entirely separate from other people, and not actively preparing for war. It is a period of time where viewers are encouraged to connect with Techno outside of revolution, and see him as a person.
The place he ends up as well is noted to be cold and barren (13), a absent of life, absent of people to exert control over him. Visually it is untouched by other people, a place with no history. It is vast and empty unlike the closed space of the ravine. It provides an opportunity to start fresh, to try again. This is where the arctic being a place of healing is born. It is a place of peace.
However, he exists in negative peace, the absence of conflict rather than the presence of justice.
While he has found himself a place where his agency is not violated, and his personhood is not reliant on other peoples view of him, it is a place of instability, of isolation. This is what we see unravel next. (Post coming in a few days maybe)
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After thoughts
Okay this marks the end of what I consider to be his first arc in terms of Techno's relationship with agency. He starts with little to none but a lot of companionship, and ends with full control over himself but little to no friends.
I have left a lot out here. The theme of agency and personhood is just one of the many many themes techno embodies. It connects hugely to power, to communication, to loyalty, all of which are things explored by the DSMP as a whole. Much was sacrificed in the name of brevity and even then I failed.
These posts were originally going to 1 big post but I got like a 3rd of the way through and had hit 2kā¦ so I decided to split them up a little more.
This is my first attempt at this sorta analysis and its been fun if difficult. I don't expect to be perfect by any means, my formal education in this sorta thing finished longgg ago, but it's been good to give it ago. Discussions are welcome
As always, sources will be added in the reblog. Hopefully this is something that persuades people that techno does have a story and plot. Sources will be in the reblogs as always
Technobladeās purpose in the political narrative of the Dream SMP
I canāt sleep so I decided to finally write the post Iāve been struggling with for literal months, except way more casual because I canāt be bothered anymore and also Iām sleep deprived.
So the thing is: to me the DSMP storyline has always been primarily political, probably because I was introduced to it through Wilbur who was definitely going for political, and also because Iām just generally interested in political narratives right now. Obviously I appreciate the character work and the personal relationship stuff, thatās what makes it more interesting than just dry allegory, but when it comes down to it, this story is about politics to me. So thatās the angle Iām going to approach it from.
Also not to spoil the conclusions here, but Iām an anarchist, thatās my lens.
(Obviously all of this is about rp from here on out unless otherwise specified)
Basically the situation as Techno joins the server is this: L'Manburg exists as an autonomous nation and is de facto independent although not officially recognised by the Dream SMP. The self-appointed president Wilbur Soot decides to hold an election and rig it in order to consolidate his power over the nation he founded and he gets his VP Tommyinnit to join in on the plan. Their scheme fails and they end up voted out instead. The new president, Schlatt, immediately establishes himself as an authoritarian figure and exiles Wilbur and Tommy.
A couple of points on what the election arc demonstrates:
1: the appearance of democracy can be used for distinctly undemocratic purposes.
2: even if the elections arenāt rigged, the electoral system could be massively flawed and end up favouring a party that in fact didnāt have the popular vote
3: even if the winning government (the coalition in this case) has the majority vote, that doesnāt guarantee that theyāll actually act according to the popular will.
4: the supporters of the losing parties basically just have to let the majority overrule their wishes, espcially since apparently LāManburg doesnāt have an established role for an opposition, yikes. Thatās actually a MAJOR oversight in the system but Iām not gonna go into that too much.
5: frankly as an anarchist I am just deeply cynical towards representative democracy, and just because you have a token appearance of choice and consent doesnāt mean that it isnāt a hierarchical and authoritarian system. And to be fair, from my point of view this applies even to so-called liberal democracies and progressive parties. Full disclosure: even if L'Manburg was the ideal example of a representative democracy (which it very much isnāt) I would still be opposed to it because I fundamentally do not believe in top down systems, even electoral ones.
6: despite all these flaws, all the characters seem to implicitly accept the electoral system as legitimate. Thereās criticism against the actions of individual characters acting within the system, such as Quackity calling out Wilbur for trying to rig the election, but nobody is questioning the system itself.
So at this point Iām sitting there, watching all this go down, and thinking āman, this would be so much more bearable if there was an anarchist point of view being represented in the story.ā
Jack has continuously lost everything for people who couldnāt care less.Ā
1) Left behind when everyone else fled for Pogtopia, he still decides to fight for them in the war. He scrounges up what supplies he can to help, but where Pogtopia reaps the benefits of Technoās work and has netherite, he only has iron.Ā
Jack only has iron to his name when there is a fullĀ set of enchanted netherite left at the vault when they head off to the war. His absence shows.
Yet, he still he choses to fight for them.
And Wilbur kills him.
2) Later on, he gets himself enchanted diamond armor, itās not great, and most people have netherite at this point, but its his.Ā
Heās been busy, but nonetheless he finally finds the time and decides to go visit Tommy in exile, being one of the only people to do so. He still cares, even if he hasnāt been around much.Ā
He startles Tommy, and in turn Tommy digs out the floor underneath him.Ā
Still trying to go along with the joke, he tries to swim up the lava to get back to Tommy.
And his helmet breaks.Ā
And Tommy shoots him, blocks the lava up, and Jack loses everything on him.
Forced to start from scratch again.Ā
3) Tired, tired of it all, he fights for Lāmanburg even if they didnāt do shit for him. He fights for what he used to know, and his land, and to for onceĀ be taken seriously.Ā
He finally has full, enchanted netherite.Ā
They lose, because of course they do, but Jack still challenges Techno to a fight.Ā
Caught in the heat of the moment and tied to complicated feelings about a country that didnāt seem to care about him, even if he cared about it.
His chestplate breaks, and Techno kills him.Ā
He tries to get those things back, but it all turns to dust in an explosion caused by a wither Technoblade placed.
.
He has nothing.
Nothing other than Manifoldland.
And he just sets that aflame himself.
Because no one really gave a shit what he had anyways.Ā
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