Writer and art creator

Julia • Weyler • Tyler Galpin apologiest since 2022

[shadowofthesun123]

Somewhere in an alternate universe

[shadowofthesun123]

Join Weyler Reddit

My friend @wanderingguide asked me to tell you about Weyler reddit.

If you're not already there, be sure to join.

Theories, atmosphere and community...

[hunterdoohans]

the similarities between tyler galpin and peeta mellark: a mini-essay word jumble thing

i've seen one or two other people calling out the similarities between tyler galpin and peeta mellark and i've been wanting to write a little think piece on this for ages but am just now motivated enough to do so, lol. also, i am calling this a "mini-essay" but it's really going to be a massive word vomit post, sorry!

despite tyler and peeta living in two completely different words (jericho & the dystopian panem), the two character have more in common than what might meet the eye. both characters are not villains or "evil" at heart. instead, both characters are victims. both boys are victims of grooming and coercion, evolving into perpetrators against their will by the hands of their abusers. both tyler and peeta's character arcs will explore/explored the themes of identity theft, forbidden love, and permanent scars left by abuse.

i have said this time and time again (and will continue doing so forever tbh) that it is both incredibly concerning and unbelievable that the wednesday fandom tries to erase tyler's grooming and abuse. so many people have tried to label him as this one dimensional villain when that is so far from the case. this boy was 16 at the start of season 1. laurel gates was already in jericho for a year and a half when wednesday enrolls at nevermore. it is, in my opinion, an incredibly bad take to just label tyler as such in order to justify not liking him and wednesday as a ship or using his abuse to uplift another ship.

both peeta and tyler are manipulated into committing acts of violence by forces that know exactly how to exploit their weaknesses. for peeta, his weakness is his love for katniss and his moral compass. for tyler, his weakness manifests in the grief he holds for his mother and his disdain for donovan, craving a father-son relationship that he never had.

in mockingjay — part 1, the capitol kidnaps peeta and hijacks his mind. using both psychological and physical torture on him, the capitol rewrites peeta's memories, replacing his love for katniss with feelings of fear and aggression. this reprogramming ultimately leads to peeta's attack on katniss once he is rescued.

tyler's story mirrors peeta's manipulation. during season 1 of wednesday, laurel feeds off of tyler's grief for his mother. she feeds off of his isolation and awakens the hyde in him. as she utilizes his grief, laurel becomes tyler's master, bending and twisting tyler's emotions until he becomes her weapon. despite wednesday and the hunger games occurring within two different settings, both tyler and peeta are stripped of their agency and remade into something dangerous— serving as proof that victimhood can be masked behind a mask of violence.

the grooming that both characters experience transforms them into perpetrators, making them go against the people they loved the most. after his rescue, peeta's aggression and hostility towards katniss is instant. the capitol's reprogramming turns katniss, the center and core of peeta's affection, into a source of threat and danger. peeta's anger and fear leads him into attacking her, displaying a scene that is not only brutal, but devastating as it turns love into betrayal.

tyler's double life as a regular barista/the hyde is tragic in a similar sense. his connection with wednesday is genuine and filled with real emotion. while wednesday did not know tyler's true identity, she fell in love with a normie teenage boy who worked part-time at a coffee shop to earn minimum wage. in season 2, tyler claims that wednesday sensed the monster within him and fell in love with it. i claim, however, that wednesday did not fall in love with a monster. instead, wednesday fell in love with a regular boy who was turned into one against his will. in both wednesday and the hunger games, abuse weaponizes intimacy and twists it into something heartbreaking and harmful.

peeta's and tyler's love stories are both heavily scarred by manipulation. for peeta, the question of what is real and what isn't becomes his way of coping. when he asks katniss if she loves him, her response becomes the thread in which ties him back to his true self. the repeated line, "real or not real," displays peeta attempting to rebuild trust despite him living in the ruins of his own mind.

tyler's feelings are quieter, but equally entangled. his flirtation and attraction to wednesday seems honest, but his actions while under laurel's control are not. tyler's duality —sweetness in one moment, danger in another— illustrates how trauma can affect a person's ability to love safely. in both character's stories, tyler and peeta are forced to hurt the ones they love. both wednesday and katniss provide tyler and peeta with a safe place and a sense of hope. their tragedies are born from a place of manipulation rather than malice.

additionally, both characters face an identity crisis. peeta spends most of mockingjay questioning between fiction and nonfiction, and his confusion is not just about memory but also his selfhood. who even is peeta if his feelings can be overwritten? tyler's identity is similar in the sense that he is split between being a "normal" boy and the hyde lurking beneath. tyler's story ends not with resolution, but instead a signal of hope and a question of what is to come. at this point, tyler is still caught in between the boy he once was and what he has been forced to become. both character arcs highlight a painful truth. recovery from manipulation is not immediate nor linear. it is a slow process of reclaiming the pieces of a stolen self. there is no "perfect" victim and we, as a fandom, need to stop insinuating that there is one.

tyler's first step to self-reclamation is the moment her murders his abuser, laurel. while we, the viewers, do not know what is to come in the second part of season 2, i can hypothesize that it will be a journey of tyler learning to take back his agency and reform his previous relationships, especially with wednesday.

peeta mellark and tyler galpin are not simply characters that turn violent. both characters are portraits of what happens to someone when their minds and emotions are hijacked by people in a position of power. their stories narrate how trauma can twist love into harm, how grooming can turn victims into unwilling perpetrators, and how the recovery process is the beginning to a battle of regaining one's identity.

anyway this was longer than i thought it would be and i'm too lazy to add proper grammar and edit this so here u go.

[shadowofthesun123]

I really like this analysis, and there are a lot of parallels. I also noticed this a long time ago.

But unfortunately, unlike The Hunger Games, the writers of Wednesday don't show us Tyler's inner struggle. We have to figure it out for them.

To be honest, I'm so tired of filling in the blanks for them. I wish they would finally start showing it properly, instead of just explaining it in interviews.

The basic principle of cinema is to show, not to tell.

To be honest, they're not doing a very good job of it.

[itshype]

The modern-day Jekyll and Hyde boyfriend + accessories

[ginnycampbellbower88]

The Hyde-Master Bond: Why Tyler Never Had a Choice

I see it so often on here: people calling Tyler “evil,” “a monster,” or saying that he chose to side with Laurel. And honestly? That take misses the entire point of what the show actually told us.

The Hyde-Master bond is not just about obedience. It’s not like Laurel gave an order and Tyler had to grit his teeth and do it. No — the bond goes deeper. It hijacks the Hyde completely: body, mind, and will. It forces compliance and then manipulates the Hyde into believing it wants the same thing as its Master. That’s what makes it so horrifying. It erases agency. It’s not “servitude,” it’s slavery on every level.

And let me be clear: Tyler was not just “influenced” by Laurel — he was her victim. And don’t you dare argue with me on that. They had to make Laurel actually say out loud that she groomed him. I think that alone says enough about the cold shoulder some people turn on him. Ignoring that is a deliberate refusal to see the truth.

Tyler had no choice. None. Not physically, not mentally. He wasn’t just trapped — he was shackled. Bound in a way that stripped him of autonomy and made him carry out horrors that weren’t his own.

And yet, antis still insist he “went along with it.” They say he was complicit, as if he had the freedom to choose. Do you realize how cruel that is? Blaming Tyler is like blaming a prisoner for the crime their captor forced them to commit (just 10000 times worse). He was caged inside his own body, watching himself hurt people he cared about, unable to stop it. That’s the horror of the Hyde. That’s the tragedy of his character.

Hunter Doohan shows this brilliantly in his performance. Watch the small moments — the way his eyes flicker before he shifts, the cracks in his voice, the almost imperceptible hesitation before the Hyde takes over. That’s not the look of someone enjoying what they’re doing. That’s someone drowning in it, screaming behind glass.

So no, Tyler is not the villain of Wednesday. He never was. He’s a victim — of Laurel, of the bond, of circumstances he couldn’t escape. He doesn’t need “redemption” because he was never truly guilty in the first place. And that’s exactly why his story is so heartbreaking.

“But he smiled when attacking!” Trauma victims smile in inappropriate contexts all the time. Hunter plays Tyler’s Hyde smile as manic, hollow — not joy, but a fracture in sanity. That’s not happiness, that’s survival under control.

“But he tricked Wednesday!” Yes, under Laurel’s manipulation. That’s literally how grooming works — it teaches the victim to play roles, to say the right things, to keep the Master’s plan moving. Don’t confuse survival strategies with free will.

“But he is the Hyde, that’s who he really is!” No. Tyler ≠ the Hyde. The Hyde is a monstrous part weaponized by Laurel. Tyler is the boy who was exploited to unleash it. Holding him responsible for what Laurel made him do is victim-blaming, full stop.

“So then everything he felt for Wednesday in season one was fake?” Absolutely not. That is in every sense wrong. His bond to Laurel didn’t erase his own emotions. If it had, season 2 part 1 wouldn’t exist the way it does. Look at how he behaves: his care for Wednesday bleeds through even when he’s broken. His feelings were real — and that’s exactly what makes his tragedy so raw.

Tyler wasn’t a monster pretending to be a boy. He was a boy forced into a monster’s skin. And if you can’t see the difference, that says a lot more about you than it does about him.

[shadowofthesun123]

My new fanfic based on the second season

I guess some of you might have thought I’d vanished, since I’ve barely written here since the season came out.

But I have actually started a small fix-it fanfic that changes the plot of season two.

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

I’d be happy if you gave it a read and, of course, I’d love to hear your feedback.

As for theories and discussions, I’m going on a detox for this whole month until September 3.

I was so disappointed with the season and Tyler’s arc largely because I’d read so many theories, most of which were far more interesting than what we actually got.

I love fan theories and will gladly dive into them again after the season is over, but right now I want to watch with a completely clear mind, without any expectations.

Maybe that way I won’t feel such strong disappointment.

So, for now, I’m fully diving into creativity and trying to tune out all info about the show except official.

I might share a few new artworks soon.

See you around!

[shadowofthesun123]

My review of the first part of the second season. Unfortunately, I didn't like it. Tyler's arc either, and not just because of the window scene.

It took me three days to gather my thoughts and finally write a review of the first part of Wednesday’s second season.

Spoiler: it’s going to be negative — I liked the first part of season less than I disliked it. Especially Tyler’s storyline, and it’s not just about the window moment. Even without that, there are plenty of problems.

Disclaimer: I’m not abandoning Weyler and I’m not leaving the fandom. The fact that I didn’t like Tyler or his development this season doesn’t mean I no longer like the ship or Tyler as a character. I’ll keep writing about them and will try to fix whatever can still be fixed with a magical fix-it. But I don’t want and won’t justify whatever mess the writers created.

So, let’s go…

First, what I liked:

The visuals have improved, there are some funny jokes, beautiful music, and a nice atmosphere. The acting of Hunter and others, but especially Hunter. Morticia and Gomez are great. The scene where Tyler kills Laurel — fire. Everyone unanimously agreed it was awesome.

What I didn’t like (this list is much longer):

1. The script was clearly rewritten, and it shows. Whether because of Percy, Jenna’s visions, or something else, I don’t know. But the stalker plotline was supposed to be more complex, Weems was probably meant to be alive, and the romance with Xavier, or even a triangle with him and Tyler, was likely meant to continue. Whether the changes made it better or worse, we’ll never know, but there are pacing issues and awkward patch-ups.

2. The show is overloaded. Too many plotlines, poorly developed, everything moves too fast, with lots of contrivances and small inconsistencies — starting from Laurel being a redhead instead of a blonde (hard to believe they give her hair dye in prison), young Tyler’s hair not being curly, and ending with Françoise somehow keeping her dress pristine after years in Willow Hill, or Wednesday lying in a coma fully made up without a scratch.

3. Genre confusion. This was an issue before, but it’s worse now. They’ve leaned more into comedy while still trying to do drama. As a result, it’s hard to sympathize with the characters when everything keeps sliding into farce.

4. Tons of repetition and plotlines that go nowhere.The arc of the main villain and his daughter almost fully mirrors season one — another crazed fanatic and his daughter, Wednesday once again suspects the wrong person.The Ajax/Enid/Bruno storyline is a copy of Xavier/Wednesday/Tyler from season one. Even some shots are framed the same way. The difference is that here Enid ditched Ajax and acted pretty badly, so he’s pretty much the only sympathetic character left.

The black tears and the stalker plot end up going nowhere. The tears are just a plot device to take away Wednesday’s visions, and the stalker storyline wraps up in two episodes as a quest from a fangirl. Cute, but it needed more depth and payoff.

Overall, the stakes and motivation this season feel weaker than in the first. In season one, Wednesday wanted to save the school and figure out prophecy about her. Here, her entire drive is to save Enid.

5. All the characters regressed. Their development from season one wasn’t just reset — it went into the negatives. This is especially clear with Enid: in season one she was loyal and straightforward; here she cheats on Ajax and can’t even admit she wants to break up. Wednesday still refuses to listen to anyone, thinks she knows everything better than everyone else, and only makes things worse. On top of that, she’s ruder and more hysterical, despite her entire arc in season one leading to her understanding the value of having people close to her.

And finally — Tyler… my love for three years and now my pain. I literally cried out of sadness and frustration over wasted potential when I finished watching.

And it’s not just the infamous window scene everyone’s debating. That was only the culmination of an arc that had potential but, in my opinion, went completely off track.

He doesn't have much screen time. Hunter plays perfectly, but his character development disappointed me.I expected him to be either a smart manipulative villain or a morally complex character with an internal struggle. Maybe something in between…

But I definitely didn’t expect him to be a delusional, unhinged guy screaming and growling whenever things don’t go his way, throwing Wednesday out a window over a grudge. Now he can be summed up with one word: delulu.

When I first watched it, I thought he was just a completely unhinged villain with no motivation, but Hunter’s interview somehow made it even worse for me. Turns out, he was waiting for Wednesday in the hospital, for some reason convinced that she should come to him out of grand love (and this is after, as we remembered, he betrayed her and almost killed her).

When she did show up, he went Anakin Skywalker cosplay, proposing they rule the galaxy together, and when she refused, he growled, threw insults, and threatened to kill Enid (whose only crime was stopping him from killing his “great love” in the first season). If that’s not detachment from reality and pure delulu, I don’t know what is.

Structurally, the dialogue with Tyler feels like a cross between a Weyler fanfic and the scene with Xavier in season one, when Wednesday came to him for help and he yelled at her. Except here, Tyler turned out to be an even more unbalanced drama queen. We didn’t like Xavier for this, but give that same trait to Tyler. They promised he would be clever and cunning, but I didn’t see any of that at all.

Tyler in season one wasn’t like this. I like him precisely because he was calculated, he understood Wednesday, knew how to read her, took advantage of situations, and managed to stay one step ahead — all while still being a tragic character deep down.

Where did all of that go? Where’s the strategic mind and complexity?

There was so much potential for a cooperation arc where they’re forced to work together, with Tyler getting under Wednesday’s skin like in the Silence of the Lambs, leaning into the enemies-to-lovers trope. Instead, he just growls, yells, and throws Wednesday out a window.

The showrunners wrote that Tyler would be scheming to get out of Willow Hill. Where are these schemes? They said he and Wednesday would be “tap dancing” around each other. Where’s that?

He had such a perfect opportunity to strike a deal with Wednesday when she came to him for help — a chance to get closer to her again, to manipulate her, provoke feelings, and play mind games. He could have made her release him. The Tyler I knew from season one would never have let that chance slip.

The window scene is, unfortunately, the culmination of all this. And it’s something I just don’t want or can’t justify.In the end, my vision clearly didn’t match the writers’ vision.

Our theories and fanfics were much more interesting.

For now, it’s easier to pretend none of this happened, or to try writing a fix-it to salvage whatever can be fixed.

You may agree or disagree, but that’s where I’m at. I’ll watch the second part, maybe it’ll get better, though I doubt it.

For now, canon for me is only season one.

[shadowofthesun123]

Tyler and his contrasts

Dangerous Hyde and the boy with puppy dog eyes

[shadowofthesun123]

Oh my God, I'm so worried about him. For three years, we wondered how he would be portrayed in the second season. We argued, theorised, hoped… I really want the writers not to disappoint us.

[shadowofthesun123]

Concerns about Tyler’s arc - everything may not be as it seems

I’m tagging this as a “spoiler,” because there will be some spoilers for episode one of the second season.

I know that many of us (myself included) are worried about Tyler’s storyline and fear that they might turn him into a full-fledged villain in the vein of Hannibal Lecter.

And I share these concerns, but I still have hope that this won’t happen, and here’s why.

I’ve read a lot of interviews with the showrunners and Hunter, including ones about season one.

What caught my attention was when they talked about being new to writing detective stories and how determined they were to keep viewers from guessing the twist too early. They admitted they love misleading the audience. Hunter also mentioned that several ambiguous scenes were cut from Tyler’s arc — scenes that would have shown him as more than the sweet barista (we know exactly about the scenes with Donovan and with Xavier). He also said they almost cut the bathroom scream scene so no one would guess he was the Hyde ahead of time (thankfully, they didn’t!).

From all this, I conclude that the mystery mattered more to them than the logic or depth of the character.

I don’t think that has changed much in season two.

But now, our point A and point B have shifted.In season one, point A was “Tyler is the sweet barista,” and point B was “Tyler revealed as the Hyde.”

In season two, point A is “the evil monster,” and point B could be “redemption.”

And because they value mystery so much, they aren’t giving any hints about point B.

If you don't want spoilers, don't read any further.

Right now, Tyler is portrayed as a villain in promos, interviews, and even in Thing’s replies on social media.

However, if we look at the facts:

1. Tyler’s arc in season two begins with his father saying he was made into a monster abd then him watching a video of Tyler as a child on the swings. That’s not how you introduce a Hannibal Lecter-type villain.

2. Wednesday will most likely be the one to release Tyler from Willow Hill. She’s not afraid of him. Clearly, they have some sort of deal.

3. He’s 99% going to be in season three. Why keep him around if he’s just a flat villain with no development?

So, I think they’re setting up Tyler’s redemption, and “monster” is just Wednesday’s perspective and his point A this season. Everything else is simply there to maintain suspense for the audience.

I really hope this gets resolved in the first part of the season so Tyler and Wednesday can team up afterward. I don’t think I can handle another month of this guessing game…

[bibi-the-pooh]

I kind of looked into Tyler's room a little (okay, a lot), because apparently we're going to see Wednesday do the same when she is in the Galpin house. (There is a Twitter thread about this, which you can look at from here.)

It's just so heartbreaking to see that he had sailor-themed wallpapers, a boat drawing framed and hung on his wall, glittered stickers on his doorframe, so many records, a solved Rubik’s Cube...it's all so normal. Everything about the room screams he was just a teenage boy, not a psychopath.

I know they are kind of taking the "incredibly smart, malicious villain" route, but I don’t want to see them turning him into a rip-off of Hannibal Lecter. The inspiration is good, but the possibility of Wednesday’s arc taking the route of “Can I only love a monster?” is kind of stress-inducing—because in the end, we kind of know she won’t take the ballistic route and run amok with a serial-killing psycho by her side.

And let’s be real: in season 1, all of the plot revolved around Wednesday, and no other character got to be explored in the way they should have. Tyler especially got the short stick, because he was the mystery element that needed to be kept under wraps to create the shock factor. I don’t want them doing the same again. This time, I really want to see the real Tyler and the Hyde. It’s not even about romance, romance is the least of my concerns here.

And I don’t want Donovan to die that quickly, because it feeds into the idea of “He lost his father too, there’s no going back. He will take the dark path and likely get defeated by Wednesday at the end, and probably be killed off.”

No. Nothing about this storyline is okay in my eyes. Just because he was left alone by his father and unlocked by an evil woman shouldn't mean he deserved all of this. He wasn’t always a monster. And his one chance at so-called redemption shouldn’t be tied up with a grand sacrificial act either.

How does “enslaved kid convinced himself to like what he had been doing, he needs to be hanged to collect sympathy points from the audience” scream ‘okay’?

Honestly, fuck all of this ship discourse. All I want from this show is to acknowledge Tyler’s arc and do it justice. As soon as I see them keeping him under wraps again, and hinting “He’s going to be the devil the second he’s out of that psych ward” and pulling an “I have a friend for dinner” reference, I’m out.

[shadowofthesun123]

A theory based on the latest video with Gomez and Morticia

They’re discussing whether they should give Wednesday the book. Morticia is against it because she’s afraid of losing her. The conversation is most likely about either the diary with the drawing of the girl crying black tears or Goody’s Book of Shadows.

Could Goody’s Book of Shadows be something like Marvel’s Darkhold? Maybe that’s what’s draining Wednesday and causing the black tears, as well as making her visions unreliable (the vision of Enid’s death is obviously wrong).

Morticia might have taken the book away from her, and now that’s the root of their conflict.

[shadowofthesun123]

Weylers, let’s allow ourselves to dream and enjoy the anticipation of the season instead of looking for hidden traps behind everything.

The last few days have been busy and joyful for Weylers. Like many others, I am on an emotional roller coaster as I await the season.

When I first read the Mirror interview, I was thrilled, but later I was really thrown off by the line about Tyler being a monster not just physically but psychologically. I even thought about writing a separate post about it, but decided it wasn't worth it.

I don't really like when negativity spreads in fandom, and I'll explain why.

This is the first time I’ve ever been so deeply involved in a fandom or waited for a show this intensely. The anticipation, our discussions, inspiring each other - that’s such an important and joyful part of being in the fandom.

Honestly, dreaming, analysing clues, and building theories might end up being even more fun than what we will actually see in the show.

So when something comes out that makes us happy or fuels our imagination, I don't see the point in immediately digging for a darker meaning or trying to "ground" ourselves. Solving clues and dreaming about our endgame is a big part of the fun.

Wenclairs are already constantly trying to ruin this for us, it would be nice not to help them do it.

It's important to understand that canon is unlikely to fulfil all of our dreams, and many theories won't come true. But that's okay. If canon were perfect and gave us everything, there'd be no room for creativity. Why write fanfics if the show already covered everything we want?

We all want Weyler to happen, but even if the show doesn't give us everything we hope for, it's not the end of the world. There will definitely be new mysteries, chemistry, and inspiration for fanworks, and that's what truly matters for a fandom.I honestly don't understand why, in the Wednesday fandom (for all pairings), canon has become such a battlefield, with people launching crusades against each other to prove they're "right."

You don't need a fully canon pairing to ship something. Many of the most popular ships ever aren't canon at all. What matters is chemistry, compelling characters, and an interesting dynamic - the rest is what fanfiction is for.

That said, right now we actually have a huge chance of becoming canon. So let's enjoy the victory instead of looking for a catch.

[thelovelybookworm]

As we start to get converters into this ship, I just want to go ahead and thank everyone that’s currently here and been here for all these years. We saw the potential in these two from the beginning, and we stuck it out through all the hate (and sometimes harassment) and now we’re being rewarded.

It’s been a ride, guys

[kaursblog11]

I feel like Tyler will have a redemption arc in the sense that they're gonna show he didn't really care about Laurel's genocidal plan and was forced to follow her but he is still a violent person (but so is wednesday). Like he's not evil he's just insane (they're gonna match each others freak so well)

He's a sensitive monster but he's still a monster (but that's her type)

[kaursblog11]

NEW WYLER INTERVIEW JUST DROPPED!!

Love!!!

LOVE!!!

Screaming

WILLOW HILL IS ONE OF THE MAIN LOCATIONS CONFIRMED

[source: https://www.themirror.com/entertainment/tv/wednesday-bosses-tease-one-relationship-1286236]

[bibi-the-pooh]

Damn we should’ve known the second they created a new set after sending our boy there THAT is some co-lead energy

[verywolf589]

“I think Tyler has been dreaming of the moment Wednesday is gonna walk through that door and he’s trying to decide how he’s going to play it,” Donohan says of the scene. “He wants to get under her skin, but a huge part of Tyler still has feelings for Wednesday, and when she walks in the door, he’s thinking, ‘She’s finally caved.’ “