Someone pointed out recently that my reasoning sometimes seems to be primarily shaped by the early days of the narrative and then the stuff towards the end. And I think that’s fair. I’m okay with admitting that. Honestly, the reason that likely is is because that’s the lore I’ve rewatched the most recently and it’s been like 5ish years so it’s not like I’m gonna remember everything that happened and so my examples come from what’s fresh on my mind. Which is especially problematic when considering other characters during the time period of Dream being in prison because Dream isn’t there so I haven’t watched those streams in a while or for some ever. Which yeah makes for a skewed perspective, though no less skewed I think then people misremembering or who haven’t watched at all, but nonetheless I’m okay with admitting that flaw. Though that goes both ways, just as my reasoning is flawed by not utilizing every part of the lore, others are often the same by only considering Exile or Pogtopia or whatever era they like the most that’s freshly on their mind. Not to say those skews aren’t problematic but just that it’s been many years and it’s not like we are going to remember every single detail especially if we are new to the fandom, which is why I often provide links and such so you can see for yourself.
However, despite my sometimes lack of middle lore support, I think generally to understand a character it’s vitally important to consider them at their rawest form in the beginning and their final form in the end. You wouldn’t analyze Tony Stark and ignore the first movie just because there is a different actor for his best friend. In the same way that if you analyzed Loki as a character only using The Avengers and not the Thor movies before and after then your opinion of him is going to be rather skewed as if trying to analyze a curve but only observing the points at the top. But also to retcon or not consider the TV series perhaps because it’s not a movie would be to cut off the impactful revealing of his true motivation and destiny. Like taking a cake out of the oven too soon and then judging it when it’s still underbaked.
After all, I think a well written character should ideally change throughout the story so to analyze them only by a few middle points often of them at their worst does them a disservice. This is what I think often happens to Dream for example as well as many other characters like even Tommy with people using Exile as a representation of their entire dynamic even when you wouldn’t look at Captain American: Civil War as a representation of Captain America’s relationship with Iron Man, it’s a point in time, yes a big tipping point and because of that it’s very influential in the narrative but it still doesn’t depict their whole story, neither of their relationship nor them individually as characters.
So I guess what I’m saying is yes sometimes my perspective can be skewed, though I think even outside of retconning probably all of ours are as we get further and further from the streams’ origin, but at the same point I think it’s so important perhaps the most important to see where the character’s end and began. The early days of the dsmp so often get dismissed but in some ways, I think because they aren’t as scripted (and we get Dream’s pov) that makes them the most telling of these characters’ true nature and motives. Firstly because there are less influences and dynamics and secondly because they are making their own choices not influenced by writers or even fans. And we know the early days are canon because they get referenced throughout the story and in the very end. Plus story wise the script doesn’t exist for the characters themselves anyways so the beginning is just as much their actions as the middle and as the end. And I think the end is also so crucial to understand the characters and just because you don’t agree or like the end doesn’t make it any less a part of the story, so to overlook it is to ignore a huge piece of the character’s development. Especially because ideally you are missing their final form, the result of the change that was taking place as the story went on.
To me, I find it interesting to understand and look at the story in its raw form considering almost everything as if intentional. Taking the story as it is and not as I want it to be by retconning or dismissing things, even if I do sometimes forget about things. It’s then that I can have fun trying to fill in holes and inconsistencies and see what possible ways the story could or does exist even with these scuffed elements. But that’s just me, to each their own. I’m okay with admitting my bias, but I think it’s also fair to say that the middle sections of the story where things were more scripted isn’t the only or even the most important parts either…
