Can we get some more love for Ms. Fillyjonk?
It feels like people forget about her a lot, but she’s genuinely such a good character!
Like, I see a lot of art and attention about so many of the more popular characters, but what about my anxious neat and tidy little lady? She’s everywhere in the books but nowhere in the fanart…
I think Fillyjonk does a really good job of symbolizing the stresses and struggles that come with living in a modern society. She’s always stressing out over whether everything is clean and in the right place, obsessing over what other people might think of her, and going over the same routine over and over again. She receives visits from friends and interacts with other characters in a very unique, Fillyjonk way. She’s a mother herself, and wants to raise her children to be just as neat and tidy as she is.
She might not understand that other people, namely the Moomin family (who are very wild and strange people), have different opinions and lifestyles than her. She tries to make others conform to her vision of an ideal reality, and often sees others as ridiculous or uncouth. This makes her a bit of a terrible parent, not letting her kids be themselves and constantly keeping watch over them. And that’s okay for a fictional character to do! She’s an antagonist. That’s her character.
Personally, I think Fillyjonk is doing the best she can. She’s so nervous and anxious, barely holding on in a sea of chaotic emotions within her, while trying to keep it clean and tidy on the outside. I find that pretty relatable. Complicated characters are good, especially ones that have some issues. And in the Moomin stories, everyone has issues of some kind. It’s their way of dealing with those issues that makes them so compelling and their world so beautiful and tangible.
Anyway, I’m interested to know what everyone thinks of Fillyjonk!! How does her character impact you?
Also here, have some doodles of her and her weird triangular children
