If you're into vat7k, you 100% know about varigo. I'm afraid it just isn't negotiable. However, what if I told you that their side plot romance was actually very important for the development of the story, and essential for it to have a happy ending? Don't believe me? Well, I can prove it.
This post is also on tiktok. If you'd prefer this post in video format, the user there is the same as mine here!
Let's start with Hugo, who is arguably the most important character. I'll explain my reasoning later on. All you need to know is that he's pretty damn important. He's the deuteragonist, after all, and it's for two reasons. One, because he's Varian's love interest and two, he's the only character with direct ties to the protagonists and antagonists. He's a spy. We all know that because he fell for Varian, he changed and became better. By many interpretations, my own included, Yong and Nuru played a role as well. Why is Varian so significant, you may ask. Why aren't his literal friends as important as the guy he has a crush on? Well, there's studies that back up fandom interpretation.
In a study conducted by numerous researchers, they were able to support the hypothesis that long term romantic love can look similar neurologically to its very beginning. I highly recommend reading the study, and I'll place the name of it with my other photos. Along with that, I downloaded the fMRI scan and the collected data from participants, which you can read if you'd like.
The data collected from the study confirms the hypothesis, that long-term romantic love can look like how it does in its early stages. However, the study also compares it to friendship, both with close friends and acquaintances. The results of the study show, "The same regions of the VTA showed greater activation as a function of romantic love scores, measured by the Eros scale and PLS (nonobsessive) items...However, associations with friendship-based love scores, obsession-related items on the PLS and sexual frequency did not show significant effects in the VTA." The VTA, or Ventral Tegmental Area, is responsible for our reward system, motivation, learning, and rewards, often through dopamine. Essentially, the VTA is more active when around someone we feel romantic attraction to, rather than platonic, showing that platonic relationships do not hold that same impact on our brain. That's not to say they aren't important. Connection is what humanity is built on, and if you looked at the charts for this study, you'll actually see that many close friends had close results to the person's partner. HOWEVER, friendship is unlikely to do much in this situation as it is not pre established. With less of an impact neurologically, Hugo is likely going to have an easier time ignoring or pushing past his attachment through manipulation that Donella and Cyrus would present. Believe it or not, Hugo is a very loyal man. He stays loyal to Donella for most of, if not ALL of the journey. In nearly every interpretation, he makes an active effort to stay in touch with Donella and Cyrus. A newly established friendship without a strong neurological impact is not going to be as effective as a new romantic attraction with that strong neurological impact.
The study also states that "These data are also consistent with models suggesting that romantic love is a motivation or drive, differing from basic emotions to the extent that it is not intrinsically valenced (associated with positive and negative emotions), hard to control, focused on a specific target and associated with the dopamine system". The model that this is referring to is the self expansion model, a model that basically says that our connections extend our identity and self concept. Well, this model is often associated with romantic love. In an article by Daniel Dashnaw, he simplifies this model for the average person, explaining how a relationship with the right person can actually provide a better self concept, as well as why breaking up can be so devastating. At the end of the article, he says "What the self-expansion model ultimately tells us is that love isn’t just about comfort or passion. It’s about becoming."
What does this all say about Hugo? Well, it's simple. Hugo falls in love with Varian despite meaning to be a spy. He becomes friends with the others beforehand, but with Varian, he psychologically finds a lot more comfortable with him. His VTA is more active, the right amygdala is less active, and the love he feels encourages a different self concept, one away from the street rat mentality he had to take on to survive. Because the study concludes that the brain reacts the same neurologically when in a long term relationship versus the beginning of love, we may be able to conclude that the same affects are prevalent as well.
Coming the importance of their relationship into the story, we've established that without falling for Varian, Hugo could likely push past most attachment he feels towards the group, effectively betraying them. The keyword here is effective. There are two common interpretations.
1. Hugo betrays Donella first and ineffectively cuts the mission off, tying his loyalty officially to the group
2. He doesn't cut off the mission, but actively works against Donella.
In every interpretation, Varian runs into the library, and Hugo follows him to make it up to him. It's through Hugo's determination that he eventually admits he loves Varian during the fight, which gives Varian the motivation to fight back against his mother and reclaim his body.
Now, imagine, if Hugo didn't love Varian. Maybe if all his doubts were from platonic love, Hugo would still go after him, but the fight would not be likely to go in his favor, especially if Varian still loves him in this scenario. As said before, love can build our self concept, but also destroy it in moments of extreme distress, like what Varian went through here. It's why he gives into Ulla so easily. With unrequited love, Ulla would likely take over Varian's body, and everything is just fucked from there. That's why I claim Hugo to be the most important character, because he singlehandedly causes this, yet fixes it as well, neutralizing the situation.
That's also an important thing - Varian's love for Hugo. It's called Varigo, not "Hugo being gay as shit for Varian" for a reason. Like I just said, Varian would not have won the fight with Ulla if his love for Hugo wasn't requited, or even there. Why? Because as that self-expansion model shows, Hugo is not just a love interest, but a representation of unity, partnership, and Varian's identity and development.
Therein, this implies that while Hugo's attraction is important for his character, Varian's serves the plot. Not only does their love save each other, but the story as well.
Now, we must address my second claim, that without them being a couple, it's impossible for this to have a happy ending. The unity between these two is essential for the plot. In the end, Varian convinces Hugo to stay in Corona, where the two work together and have their own happy ending. This isn't "bad writing", romance can be a good ending for characters. This side plot is a side plot for a reason, and it gets wrapped up in a clear, concise ending. To say that they have every reason to get together and not doing so makes no sense. That's not how you end an arc. Either they're requited and they get together, or unrequited and it ends with one person moving on. The extra possible complexities are still there in between, but an ending usually has one of those two outcomes.
Along with that, with Hugo immigrating to Corona, it gives him his own happy ending. While his feelings towards his home kingdom are complex, it's usually agreed that his feelings are generally negative. Going back would likely just restart the cycle he was in. Varian offers him stability, a promised future, and hope. Hugo does the same for Varian, helping him with unhealthy habits and his work overall. Sharing this workload will also help build their relationship as they overcome these challenges, once again going back to Dashnaw's article on the self-expansion model.
Going back to the happy ending argument, and how romance places, it can definitely help heal Varian. When we go by Erik Erikson's theory of social development, we can actually see that Varian likely did not achieve the positivity and care needed to end up on the right side of this list, specifically with industry versus inferiority, where it's heavily implicated that Varian did not seek the proper connection with his peers. Ironically, this is the stage that can undo the effects of the previous three. Hugo...yikes. Identity versus role confusion did not end well for either of them. However, by the end of the journey, they both achieve what is deemed the proper side of intimacy versus isolation. They quite literally help each other recover from their pasts.
All and all, Hugo and Varian's relationship is essential for the plot of VAT7K. Neurologically, Hugo could not change without Varian. Plot wise, Varian would've never defeated Ulla without Hugo. Their happy endings are intertwined because they are each other's happy ending.
guys…idk how explicit i can get on here. but i was scrolling on twitter being normal i swear. and this video popped up of this guy groping his gfs tits like in public and my first thought was “holy shit that’s so denniscore no like that’s exactly how he’d do that. no like he’d do that.”
