ur post about aiden was so good. u have fundamentally changed how I view him and now I'm even more obsessed with him. pls can u talk more about him? in any way?
oh god, how do i go on about him without restating everything ive already said 😭😭😭
and yet at the same thing i feel like there's a MILLION things i could touch on!!
The way the fandom perceives him, his ships, his cut dialogue, the way he's drawn, the ridiculous discourse. He's been my comfort character for so long it almost feels like i'm talking about an old friend lmao
i think to start i should probably specify that these are 100% my own opinion; yes they are forged in my interpretation of canon content, so that means that some of this post will seem really tight-knit to canon, while other portions will seen outrageously out-of-character. And that is ok! I try to base my head-canons and perception of characters off of their personalities and such, but I can't help but be a little silly sometimes.
Probably first on my docket is his weird obsession with Lukas and Jesse...Yes i call it obsession, though I wouldn't call it far to suspect that Aiden is dependent on Lukas, he's so grotesquely attached. Even from the first time we meet him, Aiden's immediately searching for Lukas' validation.
"Lukas! Get a load of these losers!"
Why? Maya and Gill have already stirred enough insults that surely he's heard by now. Is it just the potential of being addressed? Of being heard? It's only to be brushed off.
Lukas calls the shots. That is told to us very early on. Whether that's because he's actually respected or Maya and Gill are forced to fall into place because Aiden will listen to him- who truly knows (probably the first one).
Later on he antagonizes Jesse again, and once again, only really deterred by Lukas. He's trying to lighten the mood, ease the tension. All the while Aiden seethes behind him. The hatred is so clear. Once again like I said before he's in this constant fight for attention against Jesse. First it's just with Lukas, then its with the world.
You could even say him breaking the lava was for attention. He smashed a STONE BLOCK. WITH HIS BARE HAND. This is past school bully levels of torment now, he's so desperate to make sure Jesse stays below him that he's willing to break his hand in order to destroy Jesse's build. And you know.
he doesn't even start to realize how bad of an idea it was until lukas comes up from behind him.
Of course, depending on whether or not you make Olivia and Axel stay to save the build, Jesse's gang either wins or loses. Of course the interaction you get from Lukas afterward is different, but god.
"It's not cool you had to deal with Aiden being an idiot."
You just know he was lingering behind a stall, overhearing a conversation he wasn't meant to. Later on we meet him again and somehow he seems even more pissy.
"How's your stupid pig" it's not out of genuinely. Lukas probably made him ask. He goes on and on, he won, why is he so mad?
Of course this eventually bounces off into the birth of the Wither Storm.
Aiden was in the conference room when it happened. When was the last time he saw Lukas? All he knows now is that there's some devilish creature tearing the earth apart and EATING people. Maybe for once he's worried about someone other than himself, but of course he's terrified. Hell he's the first one out of there.
He manages to group up with Lukas again, only to lose him. We know that post EP4 he managed to evade the Wither Storm because he can show up to help distract it in the ending battle, so it further begs the thought.
He and Maya and Gill were out there alone. Without their leader- helpless. They probably presumed him dead, or worse. And in the wake of the rubble it's almost like Aiden has a change of heart—and then a miracle. Lukas is okay. Lukas is okay and he needs their help. He needs Aiden's help. Oh sweet recognization.
He does their bidding for what? To have his spotlight be stolen by Jesse. And just when he thought he got Lukas back, once again. He's been taken from Aiden. First by the Wither Storm, now by Jesse.
Because Lukas is a hero now. And Aiden is just the guy who won the building competition.
The gap between EP4 and EP5 is unexplained but we can guess from the reactions of the townspeople to the state of Beacon Town that it's been at least a month or two- maybe more.
But in that time Aiden's been lingering, meditating on his thoughts. He tries in some way to confront Lukas probably, to try and regain what they'd lost. But no, no there's no going back. So the Ocelots are no more, and the Blazerods rise from the ashes. Aiden is their leader now, and it's getting to his head. Lukas called the shots, Lukas was his shining star in a way- but now with Aiden as their lead, he has no one to look up to—a big fat fucking lie.
Aiden will ALWAYS need Lukas' validation. Even in his attempts to berate him there's almost a weird sense of falsivity to the statements. Insistence that "they ditched him", the Ocelots were "Lukas' gang" anyways. They're not connected to him anymore! (Gill even comments about the Ocelots being a cooler name. almost like a sign that breaking off from Lukas was Aiden's idea in the first place. A strike back for leaving him.)
"The minute the Order decided you were cool he wouldn't stop sniffing around you like a tame dog."
He is SO jealous. It's a statement that's embedded in cruelty but at it's core, he speaking to a mirror. Was he not following around at Lukas' side for the whole of EP1? Searching for him? Hoping? If anything Aiden is the tame dog here, Lukas is the one holding the leash.
I won't recite everything I said in the last post (though I'm sure I've practically already done that), but once again he goes from heeling to Lukas to trying to murder the guy. Talk about a messy break-up.
Part of me wishes that his last fight was with Lukas rather than with Jesse (of course this would never happen obviously). We only get a snippet from he and Lukas' mini fist-fight in EP5, which ends horribly no matter what you decide to do. But there's such a strong hatred in the lines.
"I've got him Jesse!"
"Oh you've got me?"
It's angry. When did it turn from "The Ocelots," from "Lukas and Aiden," to : "I've got him." Betrayal. This is almost a final hit. A final straw that breaks the camels back about every thought Aiden has been thinking since Lukas left.
Lukas isn't his friend anymore.
Lukas is on Jesse's side now.
And Aiden will not have that. Not one bit.
How did he go from struggling to fight, to kicking Lukas off the edge? A sly advantage once The Founder falls? A clean cut punch that dazes Lukas enough to knock him off his feet? It doesn't matter anymore. Because as far as Aiden knows now—he's made his choice. His problems are gone. Lukas is gone.
I wonder a lot about what happened during the "before" of Sky City's end. Did they just go ham? Or did Aiden sit and think about what he'd done for a few minutes. What about Petra and Ivor? What goodness did he have in his heart to let them go? Maybe just the shock of coming to terms with the fact that he just killed his best friend. No. No Lukas isn't his best friend anymore. He just killed his enemy. The biggest pain in his side.
Anyways, most of this is probably just me recounting what I've already said. When it comes to his story it's pretty clean-cut and simple, it's just the interpretation. For me, it's a descent to madness. And honestly I relate LMAO
I think a real big eye-opener for me was codf1shbaby's Aiden's Memoir, which is. So. Fucking. Good. It's heavy as hell, but god damn is it well written. Really got me to thinking about his psychology on a deeper level, which is GOOD!! Aiden is one of those characters who gets read at face value (which is fine, I expect it. He has like a total of 40 lines in the whole of MCSM), which I think forces a narrative that there's nothing there worth looking for.
I implore you to read Aiden's Memoir if you like deep psychological stories, and if you like the writing PLEASE check out my friend Cosmo's stuff (shameless plug), he's extremely talented.
I also implore you to do your own searching! There are so many characters who are worth diving into!
It's 12:30 in the morning for me right about now, so I'm sure I'm going to wake up and face-palm about all the bullshit i wrote and everything i forgot !! But I will continue to go into Aiden more. Probably more into fandom interpretation and such next!
