Notes on Witch/Seer overembracing/underembracing (rebloggable)
abyssclockworker asked: (making my answer rebloggable)
Do inversions always have to be emotionally brutal, or is Jade’s a special case? I mean, she was like that since the start of the comic.
I’m really glad we have Jade as an extra example of inversions in general: They don’t always have to be brutal, but they do have to go against your true nature or psyche. Either by gradual insinuation, outright trauma, or both.
The true nature one’s class and its inversion afford are also relevant. A realized Witch is an extremely active class which takes control and personally brings about change, slinging things around and stirring up trouble. A Seer is a quite passive class which conducts others to advance an agenda. So, let’s break this down by attitude…
An overembracing Witch would try to throw herself dangerously into the fray, taking reckless and/or unjust control of everything, either trying to change the unchangeable or cruelly imposing her will over her others who don’t deserve it. (Damara, inverted Rose, (EDIT: and Grimbark Jade, who looks startlingly similar to Grimdark Rose!!))
An underembracing Witch would feel impotent, like she cannot or simply doesn’t have the skill or courage to bring about change herself. (inverted Jade, Jadesprite)
An unrealized Witch might not truly recognize or appreciate the need for herself to bring about change at all. (Feferi)
An unrealized Seer might not recognize the need for their advice and guidance in the unfolding of reality, or may be stuck on the wrong sort of guidance they need to be giving others. (Kankri)
An underembracing Seer would feel like guiding their friends is a waste of time, and frustrated with the seeming immutability of events, would prefer to attain and exercise power to get things done herself. (inverted Rose)
An overembracing Seer would orchestrate events with too little regard for the wills and desires of those being conducted, advancing her designs at the expense of others. (on occasion, Terezi)
If you overembrace your role, you’re set to become a tyrant. Enforcing your will over others unjustly, wielding too much power over reality, and set for unhappiness and possibly an easy comeuppance. See how Terezi’s actions came back to teach her a lesson, both with Karkat (who lost trust in the purposes behind her actions) and Dave (who she got killed, herself only appreciating the magnitude of her actions afterward). And how Vriska ended up deserving a Just death. Trickster Mode might even be demonstrating some of the harm capable in overembracing a positive-sounding role like a Maid of Life. And Aranea's involvement with the alpha session is one of the clearest examples you'll get of how even the kindest, fuzziest, most beneficial sounding hero titles you can imagine -- a Sylph, a passive healer and giver of Light -- can become obsessed with a motive that takes their role too far.
If you underembrace your role, become disillusioned or underconfident with it, you’re liable to become less effective and move closer to inversion, still impacting reality but in the opposite of the way you’re meant to do so. And because Jade found her Grandpa’s corpse, eventually thought he committed suicide, was kept via constant narcolepsy from feeling self-sufficient, and was exposed to a steady stream of Skaia’s clouds as evidence of all the stuff across Time that would happen without more than her occasional involvement… well, you saw what happened. She reduced herself to a cog in the machine, still conducting important events but not feeling powerful or influential herself. (Though, she never achieved full resignation - the feeling that nothing she did as an active agent of change would ever matter - except as the dreamself who died in the process of saving John, becoming Jadesprite and living out her afterlife and re-life convinced that not even her largest active attempt to make a difference (saving John) had ever had a chance of working.)
And of course, if you find power in your inverted role and exercise it, you’re likely to find it causing destruction and misfortune - in other words, despite your apparent influence, the course of reality may be even farther out of your hands and true desires than if you hadn’t inverted at all. See what Aradia wrought inverted to a Bard of Space, for instance, and how even Jade’s harmless-seeming inversion brought forth the bunny present that allowed Jack Noir to ascend.
In the worst case scenario, you can invert your role so hard that you intentionally revel in the misfortune it causes, in how your actions are liable to tear apart everything you truly want and love. And that’s part of what makes Jane’s potential inversion so dangerous.
Do inversions always have to be emotionally brutal, or is Jade's a special case? I mean, she was like that since the start of the comic.
I'm really glad we have Jade as an extra example of inversions in general: They don't always have to be brutal, but they do have to go against your true nature or psyche. Either by gradual insinuation, outright trauma, or both.
The true nature one's class and its inversion afford are also relevant. A realized Witch is an extremely active class which takes control and personally brings about change, slinging things around and stirring up trouble. A Seer is a quite passive class which conducts others to advance an agenda. So, let's break this down by attitude...
An overembracing Witch would try to throw herself dangerously into the fray, taking reckless and/or unjust control of everything, either trying to change the unchangeable or cruelly imposing her will over her others who don't deserve it. (Damara, inverted Rose)
An underembracing Witch would feel impotent, like she cannot or simply doesn't have the skill or courage to bring about change herself. (inverted Jade, Jadesprite)
An unrealized Witch might not truly recognize or appreciate the need for herself to bring about change at all. (Feferi)
An unrealized Seer might not recognize the need for their advice and guidance in the unfolding of reality, or may be stuck on the wrong sort of guidance they need to be giving others. (Kankri)
An underembracing Seer would feel like guiding their friends is a waste of time, and frustrated with the seeming immutability of events, would prefer to attain and exercise power to get things done herself. (inverted Rose)
An overembracing Seer would orchestrate events with too little regard for the wills and desires of those being conducted, advancing her designs at the expense of others. (on occasion, Terezi)
As a hero with a role, you're sort of on a sliding scale. You first have to rise to be a hero at all - realizing a role as one who has an important impact on reality's unfolding in any capacity - and after that, you have to embrace or reject your designated method of affecting reality.
If you overembrace your role, you're set to become a tyrant. Enforcing your will over others unjustly, wielding too much power over reality, and set for unhappiness and possibly an easy comeuppance. See how Terezi's actions came back to teach her a lesson, both with Karkat (who lost trust in the purposes behind her actions) and Dave (who she got killed, herself only appreciating the magnitude of her actions afterward). And how Vriska ended up deserving a Just death.
If you underembrace your role, become disillusioned or underconfident with it, you're liable to become less effective and move closer to inversion, still impacting reality but in the opposite of the way you're meant to do so. And because Jade found her Grandpa's corpse, eventually thought he committed suicide, was kept via constant narcolepsy from feeling self-sufficient, and was exposed to a steady stream of Skaia's clouds as evidence of all the stuff across Time that would happen without more than her occasional involvement... well, you saw what happened. She reduced herself to a cog in the machine, still conducting important events but not feeling powerful or influential herself. (Though, she never achieved full resignation - the feeling that nothing she did as an active agent of change would ever matter - except as the dreamself who died in the process of saving John, becoming Jadesprite and living out her afterlife and re-life convinced that not even her largest active attempt to make a difference (saving John) had ever had a chance of working.)
And of course, if you find power in your inverted role and exercise it, you're likely to find it causing destruction and misfortune - in other words, despite your apparent influence, the course of reality may be even farther out of your hands and true desires than if you hadn't inverted at all. See what Aradia wrought inverted to a Bard of Space, for instance, and how even Jade's harmless-seeming inversion brought forth the bunny present that allowed Jack Noir to ascend.
Okay, so you're saying every aspect has a symbol, right? What about Life? I'm guessing it's a fork.
I actually edited this into my Aspect Duality post!
Life is symbolized by Cake, which represents the energy and power found in nourishment, enjoyment, and a healthy mix of maturity and immaturity. (And by Utensils, which reflect the propensity to indulge in Life.)
I'm rewriting all the aspect pairs in it to be more up-to-date and coherent, adding pictures and the symbols each represents, with links to inversion examples, et cetera.
So far I've rewritten (2/6) pairs: Life/Doom and Light/Void. I still have to do the rest, and haven't yet because I have been BUSY AS FUCK. Which is also why I've been preciously light on ask-answers, especially a nice mid-length answer explaining the alternative theories to Classpect Inversion, the justification for each, and why I still think "yes there's inversion" is the strongest answer.
You guys could help me, by the way, about these symbols... Space has frogs, Time has clockwork, Light has eyes, Void has cracked shades, Life has cake and utensils, Doom has red fire and explosions and skulls, Mind has coins, Heart has hats, Breath has mail and rockets, Blood has rings and shackles... but I have nothing for Hope and Rage.
I know Hope is embodied by Angels, the same way Light is embodied by Skaia and Void is embodied by the Horrorterrors. But those aren't quite symbols. So what objects symbolize Hope, and which symbolize Rage? Any ideas?
Because I don't think Rage is Soda.
We don't have much to go on; I doubt it was hidden in Grandpa Harley's stuff somewhere? I mean, I've only just managed to scrounge up a single bit of Grandpa's aspect-affiliated actions:
EB: hey, what do you think we should prototype this fussy little orb with? EB: heheheh, it seems like so long ago that rose fed mine a clown.EB: we were just messing around, we didn't even know what we were doing. GG: i dont know... GG: there are so many possibilities EB: yeah... EB: it's almost like your grandpa put all this crap here knowing we'd have to make that decision. GG: hmmmmmm! GG: yes, it sure seems that way
In arming them with possibilities, he was exercising his role as a Page of Hope!
But... ahem. Anyway. Do any of you have ideas for symbols Andrew's hiding in the comic for Hope and Rage?
