I did say I would write metas for Inky Mystery and I am delivering on that promise lol
Copy & Pasted from discord gc
TDLR @ bottom
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rethinking my stance on Cuphead's character arc after that last chapter dropped. And, now that Fanny and Cuphead are definitely no longer friends after...*that* I'm gonna rethink everything I said here about this whole "Fanny 'likes' Cuphead" situation
so Cuphead's character arc is leaning towards personhood...or individuality I guess is a better way to put it. And I might be a fucking idiot for just now noticing that but whatever lol. I think after thinking through last chapter it really dawned on me how much of Cuphead's...idk existence? Is predicated on what role he thinks he needs to play at any moment. Sometimes he's Cuphead the Thug and other times he's Cuphead the Assassin and other times he's Cuphead the Protector. And he's constantly switching between these three roles at any given moment because Cuphead doesn't really *have* a sense of self any more. Like, it's gone. If his identity is no longer solely revolving around "the mission" or "assignment" he was given by Hat or the Devil, then it's the Quest or rather, the Questers that his identity revolves around. Looking at Cuphead's character arc now, in comparison to Mugman's I think this is why it feels as if Cuphead is almost regressing/ improving at times. Because his central internal conflict is going to be more focused on who is Cuphead? As an individual. What are his goals, ambitions, and desires? What does he want from life, what will be Cuphead's reason for living?
The biggest issue Cuphead is having is resorting to escapism to stave off whatever is bothering him and his need to connect his self worth towards playing a role in someone else's story. For Holly, he's playing the role of Cuphead the Protector and that means keeping her as far from him as he can because if he's to protect her that's what he needs to do. He'll, even back during the gala chapters when Cuphead was envisioning a future with him and Holly, it was still about *Holly* achieving success, making her dreams come true, and following her ambitions. What was Cuphead in this future? Cuphead the Supporter of course, someone who sits on the sidelines watching others succeed while he stagnates. With Fanny, the role he plays is being her detective sidekick; sure, he's just as interested to a degree in Vicious's past but that's not the main reason he joined Fanny on her side quest was it? With the Questers as a whole, it's a mixture of both Cuphead the Thug, the Friend, and the Protector. There is something to be said about how dehumanizing the whole thing is. How seeing yourself as labels holds someone back from their greater potential. In Cuphead's case I don't know what that potential is but it exist within him and it's only gonna come out if starts to see himself as a whole individual rather than just the role he thinks he needs to fulfill at any given moment.
We see this kind of get called out more than a few times, though sparsely. The Labyrinth chapter just happened to bring all of this to a head, showing the extent of which placing these labels upon Cuphead have affected him while also showing from Mugman's perspective how Cuphead has slowly over time lost his sense of self. His hobbies, his interests, his goals, his dreams, his ambitions. So consumed with guilt for the past, and no hope for himself and his future outside of keeping Mugman safe he doesn't really know what he wants. He doesn't know what to do with himself anymore, where he wants to go. Who he wants to be. Cuphead hasn't thought about these things in such a long time since he was a child, back when he knew who he was and who he wanted to be. He had ambitions back then, things he wanted to do. He wanted to move up in the world. Be something.
That talk with Lily is the step towards him fully realizing how he's given up so much of himself including his personhood and individuality that he has nothing left, all because of the mission; of his regrets and guilt keeping him from moving forward. And how he continues to deny himself the ability to be a whole person because of his guilt and self-sacrificial nature. To allow himself to feel comfort, safety...love. The biggest thing that could happen with Cuphead's character arc in relation to Colly is coming to the realization that he's hurting himself as much as he's hurting Holly, denying himself the joys of life not just because of his work, but because deep down a part of him believes he isn't allowed to have those things. Because he's only Cuphead the Thug, Cuphead the Assassin, Cuphead the Protector, and there's no room for anything else when you play those roles. He needs to learn to strip himself of those roles if he wants any chance to move forward in the same way Mugman has. To find his individuality. His purpose, his ambition, his drive.
Obviously I'm talking about Holly. But not in a way where she personally helps him discover this. It's more indirect than that. Especially with Holly's character arc being in direct conflict with Cuphead's goals, but in a good way cause it's what he needs.
Holly feels like a burden on the group and doesn't like being on the sidelines unable to help in any significant way. She wants to learn to fight to fend for herself and help others in the process without feeling like collateral. Holly is also starting to grow into her confidence once again *without* Cuphead being present for it which is great because that's what's needed for both of them. To grow separately rather than having a heavy influence on the others arc.
TDLR; Cuphead's character arc is about individuality and finding his purpose again in life. Some Colly is briefly thrown in there but that is the gist of what I'm talking about.
Was gonna include some stuff about Fanny's character arc where that was going given how she just accidentally ruined her friendship with Cup. And previously in my discord gc I had speculated that her arc would be forwarded by Cuphead, or at least that he'd play a role in it, but obviously that's not the case anymore. I'll have to make a separate post about it I think when more Fanny chapters come out-
