Empgold
probably should have put a cut before my wittecest post as well, but, well. we live and learn
tw: incest, age gap, grooming, all part and parcel
What made you ship it? ironically, one of the first things I was exposed to in a toh context was empgold related. um... so it was in my head when I started watching. and it's... hunter loves belos so much, early on, and belos is so creepy about it and so willing to twist hunter's affections to do things for him and then there's this undeniable layer of emotional incest and imagery related to sexual abuse you can subtextually read into the work so... it was around eclipse lake? and then it just gets even 'more' heavy later on. probably one of the earliest things in their relationship was hunter just guiding belos behind closed doors, this whole... 'special' and private role designated for hunter that just had to be him despite adults existing in a capacity where they could do the same thing.
What are your favorite things about the ship? in many ways, it's a natural extension of something like wittecest. there's a codependence, and one that hunter has really no choice in whatsoever - he has to rely on belos. belos is his guardian. belos shapes his world. it's also a viscerally terrifying and traumatic dynamic, and that's a big part of it. i'm really... well I'm attracted to complicated traumatic dynamics that have some 'love' to them (more from hunter's end here). and that make me feel things. there's always an element of fear and unease. there is so much trauma to unpack from hunter's angle of the relationship - he's expected to cater to belos in all these ways he really shouldnt've have to, and he never really gets what's up or is even capable of understanding WHERE he stands because belos never informs him of anything - and HE'S the one who knows more about belos than anyone so there's no one else he can ask either! and then of course, there's belos' side where he just sees this, shadow of his brother in hunter and he's holding up this comparison, this photo side by side with hunter and hunter is just never aware of it. even though belos can be hurt in ways he won't admit, he's ultimately 'playing' when it comes to hunter. and for hunter, he's not playing. he can only believe what belos tells him. there's this really fascinating tug of war of hunter being this... confidante who is blessed with these private moments with belos, who seems so 'obviously' special on the face of it, but really having absolutely no real context for his relationship with belos, not really, and who is constantly mistreated. and he can't have any context because No One knows. I love the projection, too. it's a very tragic dynamic. especially because hunter is willing to do anything early on to make belos happy, and his world is so firmly shaped by belos.
Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? not really? I guess I would like to see more trauma based work on the relationship that really digs into the depths of it, but like. I do know people doing that, and it's always really interesting (you, for one) I think it's a shame it's so hard to talk about this kind of relationship though, or the specific kind of abuse potential going on here is such a taboo topic. I think it's just unfortunate to me that sexual abuse/grooming of that nature seems so alienating to talk about when philip is, in canon, someone who grooms and is willing to kill kids (and almost certainly has, given like, so many plot elements) I don't think suggesting there's sexual abuse going on in this dynamic is unusual given philip's absolutely weird obsessive relationship with his brother, how he projects that onto hunter, how he plays with hunter's mind, how emotionally incestuous he is to hunter onscreen and how very few limits belos has on violating any moral code - it's a very easy read from the text for me. philip has this weird dynamic with kids in general, and I think sometimes people who read into some kind of obvious implications are shamed for it.
