When Sea Glass said that about Jasper hating everything from where she is... I never thought about it that way. That's a really smart way of writing.
Also, I love how your work talks about tackling evil with greater evil is not a good option. The original show felt sweet and child-like when covering the subject of forgiving, and though some people thought it was sugar-coated and childish, it's the better way to give hope to the younger audience the show aimed to, but the way you get deep into it for an older audience feels so on-point and important in today's world, with extremism coming from every sides. Your work kinda helps me have hope in humanity.
Honestly, most of my depiction of grey morality comes directly from the show itself. I don't even think it was that childish - it was just a kid's show, but the way the show presented good people making mistakes and hurting others was and still is really important to me in my own storywriting!
I honestly can't take credit for the whole 'Jasper hates herself' theory. It's been around for a while. She's very much a mirror image of Rose, who hates herself more openly, but expresses it in a different way to Jasper, who externalizes the hatred and discontent she feels. It's part of the reason she's so much fun to write. :)
In my never-ending Jason phase, I would like to discuss how long it really took Jason and Piper to get together. In terms of fandom debate, people either argue for them getting together in less than a week or having taken a few months to get to know each other before officially dating.
Contrary to popular fandom opinion, both opinions can be ‘proven’ using the short story, “The Quest for Buford”.
To start off with, let’s explain why the short story is so important in regard to establishing the Jiper (Jason x Piper) timeline. To put it simply, this short story is the earliest chronological instance we see Piper and Jason officially dating.
Despite the situation, her multicolored eyes sparkled like she was trying to suppress a smile. Now that she and Jason were officially together, Piper looked like that a lot.
Demigod Diaries pg 125
Figuring out when this story comes chronologically is also figuring out how long Piper and Jason actually took before deciding to date each other. So, let’s get into it.
To begin with, let’s look at the former opinion. That Piper and Jason took less than a week to start dating. This is based on the fact that the timeline of the story is given to be on Christmas eve. Here are the quotes I found that either seem pretty explicit in it being Christmas Eve or imply it.
1
The camp’s weather was magically controlled, so it wasn’t freezing and snowing like it was in the rest of Long Island, but still Leo could tell it was late December.
Demigod Diaries pg 131
2
Christmas Eve. Leo couldn’t believe it was here already.
Demigod Diaries pg 132
3
Babette laughed. “The beverage of the season! Behold the power of the thyrsus rod!”
She slammed her pinecone staff against the ground and a white geyser bubbled up. “Eggnog!”
Maenads rushed forward to fill their goblets.
“Merry Christmas!” one yelled.
“Party!” another said.
“Kill everything!” said a third”
Demigod Diaries pg 146
4
Camp Half-Blood didn’t really celebrate mortal holidays, but everyone was in a good mood at the campfire. Some kids were drinking eggnog. Leo, Jason, and Piper passed on that and went for hot chocolate.
They listened to sing-along songs and watched sparks from the fire curl up to the stars.
Demigod Diaries pg 167
So, what is the importance of it being Christmas Eve? The answer to that is dates. We know that the Lost Trio met each other four days before the winter solstice, December 21st. Christmas Eve, conveniently, is December 24th. That leaves approximately less than 7 days from when they met and less than 3 days from the quest ending to choose to get together. That is not a lot of time to sort through fake memories and cope with amnesia.
Any inconsistencies with the how long it has allegedly been in text, can easily be explained away via both Riordan not knowing his own timeline and Leo being confused by time because he probably forgot to sleep.
Nonetheless, when it comes to this short story, the discrepancy in time can also be considered just as significant as the date given. As such, in this specific chapter of Riordan forgot his own continuity, the two-month time frame still has just as much of a basis for the ships set up.
Let’s dig into that side. To start off with where it took them months’ time frame comes from, let’s start with it on a basic level.
On a simplest level, Leo constantly mentions it’s been 2 months, literally from the get-go.
Leo blamed the Windex. He should’ve known better. Now his entire project-- two months of work-- might literally blow up in his face.
Demigod Diaries pg 125
In his two months at Camp Half-Blood, Leo had spent most of his time at Bunker 9. After all, he’d rediscovered the secret workshop. Now it was like a second home him
Demigod Diaries pg 126
Both times, it’s been two months. And there’s this...
Jason folded his arms. “You lost it. Don’t you have an extra? Can’t you pull one out of your tool belt?”
Leo shook his head. His magic tool belt could produce a lot of great stuff. Any kind of common tool --hammers, screwdrivers, bolt butters, whatever-- Leo could pull out of the pockets just by thinking about it. But the belt couldn’t fabricate complicated devices or magic items.
“The syncopator took me a week to make,” he said. “And yes, I made a spare. I always do. But that’s lost too. They were both in Buford’s drawers.”
Demigod Diaries pg 129
The syncopator took Leo (at least) a week to make. A week more than they would have had given the above timeline. The only way for that to work is if Leo thought the project, he is consumed by, took far longer than it was supposed to. And that’s not even including the time spent making the spare (even assuming if most of the week was spent figuring out how to make the original, the machinery is still plenty complicated enough that Leo can’t just whip up a new one within an hour or afternoon)
A week from returning their quest is way after Christmas. In fact, it even looks like Christmas already passed them by. At least once. Let’s look at the ‘Christmas Eve’ quote again. Only this time in full.
Christmas Eve. Leo couldn’t believe it was here already. He’d been working so hard in Bunker 9, he’d hardly noticed the weeks passing. Usually around the holidays he would be goofing around, pranking his friends, dressing up like Taco Claus (his personal invention), and leaving carne asada tacos in people’s socks and sleeping bags, or pouring eggnog down his friends’ shirts, or making up inappropriate lyrics to Christmas carols. This year, he was all serious and hardworking. Any teacher he’d ever had would laugh if Leo described himself that way.
Demigod diaries pg 132
The Christmas and holiday season very much sounds like the sort one would have at camp. Also based on the way Leo thinks about his holiday plans, it really gives in sense that he’d already had Christmas at camp.
Nonetheless, if Christmas really already passed, then how come it seems like it’s Christmas again? It being Christmas eve plays significant part in the narrative. Why would all the characters treat it like it’s that time of year and why would Leo think that if it isn’t?
This is where we enter the wonderful void called head canon. Keeping in mind that it’s been about two months, that brings us to February. Which conveniently is the dreaded month of aros and lonely singles alike. Valentine’s day. Leo Valdez is single. He is lonely. Add on that Piper and Jason canonically just got together and unless you consider them clueless friends, they are therefore very aware how this affects Leo. As such, they, maybe, brought this up with one of the Stoll brothers. Who had a brilliant idea. To prank everyone into thinking its Christmas again. That way Leo makes it through the holiday none the worse for the wear (and maybe Travis can get over his deal with Katie Bell) while focusing on the Argo II.
The Maedeads are also called because of this. It’s a holiday out of season. It calls to them like service to Mr. D. They don’t care whether its Christmas or Easter or Valentine’s Day. All they know is they are being called to a party that Mr. D. didn’t know about to prevent them being summoned. And the theme is Christmas. Of course, they’d come ready to party lugging eggnog.
If this version is true, then far from getting together in less than a week, Jason and Piper started dating after about 2 months of knowing each other. Which, for two teenagers at a summer camp is not only plenty of time to sort out false memories but far longer than usual time taken for summer camp romances.
All said and done, bc it's a case of messed up continuity, both versions are equally valid and equally flawed. At the end of the day, everyone should stick with the headcanon they like best but hopefully this clarifies the point of view for both sides.
You know, I've been thinking about this quite a bit and I want to get it off my chest. I'm so excited for Jaspers return, more than anything I want her to come back. She is so important, amazing, and interesting. I need to know more about her. But with the way things are going. I worry about how the other gems are gonna treat her. I keep imagining that Jasper will be shunned. She'll finally pour out what happened to her in malachite and everyone will just ignore her or put the blame on her. They'll shun her and call her manipulative, crazy, bad, deserving. They won't believe her. I keep feeling like they'll punish her for speaking out. They'll try to silence her or fight her or something. Lapis will hurt her or trap her again. She'll keep Jasper quite. I worry she'll be abandoned in favor of lapis. Or be forced to be kept under harsh watch in scrutiny so she doesn't hurt anyone. I know I may sound crazy but I just worry that more bad stuff will happen to her and it gives me anxiety just thinking about it. I want to believe that they'll come to love her and they'll treat her with respect and they'll listen to her but now I'm not so sure.
Dude. Jasper is really growing on me now that she’s allowed to just wander around doing whatever the fuck she wants. This is WAY more fun than watching her try to be a stern space cop wielding some flimsy little enforcement weapon, like man, that was never her style. Like, I think when there was active warfare going on, her temperament was considered a lot more valuable than it is now, in what feels much more like a chilly, rigidly-controlled, stable regime. I think she’s been bored for a long time, and jumped at the chance to return to Earth, her old battleground where she had so much to do and felt so alive.
And I’ve seen people pointing to her first appearance saying, look, she used to be so calm and cool, she’s lost it, she’s out of control now, but to me? She looked unhappy back then. She was dismissive and apathetic, turning her back on what were presumably direct orders from her Diamond just because she didn’t like what she saw. “You don’t need me for this. Just blast them with the ship.” That... didn’t read as discretion, honor, or anything of the sort, to me; that read as bitter disappointment, and that was enough for her to drop her orders. By contrast, Peridot when she was loyal would never have decided she knew better than Yellow Diamond. Ever. She followed orders to the letter. Jasper only ever lit up at the prospect of a good fight, and wow did she sulk when Rose wasn’t there to give it. That is what she came for. We’ve had it from her own mouth now, confirming what I’ve been thinking for a while, which is, she lives to fight. Loyalty to Homeworld was secondary to what she considers her true calling, which is to fuck shit up. She was loyal because they gave her what she wanted, nominally, in a subdued and ultimately unsatisfying form. Warriors aren’t cops (not even when they’re scary dystopian cops). She literally wasn’t built for peacetime. I feel real sympathy for her over this; she doesn’t have a clandestine wrestling ring to sneak off to at night, she doesn’t have friends to spar with, and she still firmly believes that she NEEDS to do what she was built to do. Maybe she’s even right. So what’s she supposed to do? Resurrect an ancient war so she can fight in it, apparently, by any means necessary, and she’s becoming a huge problem, and damn is it satisfying to watch.
If the Crystal Gems could eventually find a way to get her on their side and put that aggression to good use against Homeworld, that would be fabulous, but you know? Only if they don’t defang her the way Homeworld tried to do. I’m not interested in seeing any kind of redemption that takes away this, like... gleeful abandon she’s got going on right now.
She actually seems to be enjoying herself now. I like it.
Hi! Love your podcast! Was rewatching season 1 and had another theory on Jasper/Bellamy. Do you think that part of the reason that Jasper doesn't hate Bellamy for Mt. Weather is because he still (given the short timeline in The 100) feels somewhat indebted to him for trading his life for Jasper's when Murphy took Jasper hostage in the drop ship? I know you mentioned Jasper also saw Bellamy actively trying to save everyone inside the mountain, but I had forgotten about their scene in season 1.
Hmm, maybe! That certainly is a factor contributing to Jasper’s trust and faith in Bellamy, and I could definitely see that being a piece of the many things that make Jasper react differently to Bellamy’s role in Mt. Weather than Clarke’s.
The more we talk about it, the more it makes total sense to me that Jasper would except Bellamy from the full weight of the Mt. Weather blame! HIGH FIVE, META TEAM
Someone was saying a while back that they loved Jasper because they can’t really think of any other female villains like her. There are plenty of cruel, hyper-violent, strength-obsessed male villains, but no female ones (or, at least, none that I know of). Like some of Jasper’s traits are almost unheard of in female villains! A completely unsexualised focus on her body as the locus of her strength! Muscles muscles everywhere! Her absolute adoration of the idea of violence! Like, look at her face when she’s fighting Garnet! She is definitely getting some sadistic pleasure out of the fact that she’s going to be beating someone up.
She definitely exists partially as a counterpart to Garnet – Garnet’s strength and physicality are mirrored in her. Both Garnet and Jasper smile a lot during their fight, but Garnet is joyful and purposeful because she’s just been reformed and has escaped from a seemingly hopeless situation; Jasper is excited to crush any small hope Garnet has just regained.
Where Garnet uses violence out of practicality (although not always out of necessity), Jasper uses violence out of a desire to cause pain and an enjoyment of the pain she causes. The fear and terror Jasper inspires in Lapis and Peridot as their leader is like what the respect and awe the crystal gems have for Garnet could be if taken to its extreme (and I think Secret Team is a really interesting example of that, of Garnet having to step in and let Pearl and Amethyst know that she’s not going to kill them if they fuck up. Which she does by semi-attacking them haha I seriously love Garnet!!). Jasper is such a terrifying villain though!! She is a thoroughly awful gem who has so far shown no redeeming qualities whatsoever! I love that.
And that’s kind of why I hate this idea that’s semi-popular in fandom that she’s got this really sad backstory and has all these reasons for doing all the terrible things she does because:
a. Even if she does have a super sad backstory and has all these reasons for what she does, I don’t think she can really be excused or justified. Like. Come on.
b. You don’t need to have a ‘sad’ backstory to become a villain; Jasper is a strong and powerful gem in a militaristic society that values strength and power. Her thinking is warped because she’s in such a powerful and respected position and all her violence and cruelty is rewarded. Jasper is a villain because she’s been so successful in a warped society with fucked up power structures – I think that’s a much deeper villain backstory then ‘Maybe she’s sad because of the war :(’
c. You be a complex character and still be a terrible, evil character
d. God, I just want an awful, evil female villain who didn’t have to experience some awful, traumatic event before they were able to become powerful! I’m so sick of female characters who are bad because they’re broken, instead of being bad because they’re just! Bad! People! It reminds me of Gillian Flynn saying that she wrote Gone Girl because she wanted to prove that women can be just as villainous and evil as men (although there are a lot of politics there that I don’t necessarily want to go into)
And I think, to some extent, we are already meant to feel a little sorry for Jasper at this point in the show. Malachite dragging herself into the sea is definitely a disturbing moment, and even though the crystal gems have won, it’s not presented as triumphant at all. We’re meant to view Jasper as an evil threat, but we’re also meant to recognise that Lapis’s decision to trick her into forming Malachite is self-destructive and wrong in a really creepy, visceral way – especially after the Sardonyx saga. That’s what complex morality is! Not: yeah well maybe Jasper had a really good reason for wanting to quote ‘beat [Rose Quartz] into the ground’.
Anyway I love Jasper and she is terrible and evil :)
