helter skelter character analysis because I'm fucked in the head and rewatching burglary and bobsledding again. I really hope I did the research for this right, feel free to correct any of my facts if they're wrong, I could only research as long as my adhd ass would let me--
also please note a LOT of this is inference and my thirst for angst. @cook-a-little-chicken i believe you wanted to be tagged, so here you go.
post writing me here. uhm if you need something to read for an hour... here you go? I started this on june 12-
also still post writing me. everything under the cut is 3387 WORDS??? that's longer than chapter one of the BaM timeloop fic. holy shit I sure did have a lot of thoughts on this guy huh.
okay let's start off with the basics, some of which I wrote up in this post. the general plot has him so doomed.
his brother is murdered, and he keeps going down that same mountain and tries so hard to win so he can feel like he avenged his brother. he's forced to work with his gambling addict of a father because nobody else is there for him, and eventually his father dies as well, leading behind an extraordinary amount of debt that he would have to pay off. mind you, this all happens in just over one week.
just for clarification on that last point, helter's father is said to be two million krona in debt. sweden doesn't pay its olympic athletes, so he would've got nothing from the start, and the european bobsleighing championships (which sweden isn't even a part of?!) don't have a prize that is publicly known. he easily could've earned nothing despite all the effort.
ignoring debt dad for a minute (although he's impossible to fully extract from the narrative, he's arguably more crucial than helter himself), I'm going to quickly talk about jörgen.
from what we see of him, he's a really kind guy. especially in his death letter, we see that he really values his brother. they know each other very well, jörgen mentions he knows helter will win in "the right way" - reinforced by helter's refusal to play dirty, which I'll elaborate on later. they have sibling banter, evidenced by jörgen's clarification of "this is not a height joke", which is decent proof they have a good relationship outside of what we see on screen.
also, to elaborate on jörgen, he says, and I quote, "as you know, my happiest years were spent in the valleys," in his note. the only time in his life he was away from sweden he said to be his happiest, in the note he gave to helter. to drive how bad this is home, jörgen says at the start he only went over to dorset and wales to help pay off their father's debts.
now, as a quick note before we move onto actual analysis, I'd like to put in what's likely the most UNHINGED idea I have on this play, to do with something even outside of the improvisers's control:
the mic cuts.
arguably, they add to the story. a lot. the mic cuts out three times this play: when hans and ham are talking about how they robbed the A479 gear, when helter's dad says "do you wanna know what I think about the germans?" and during the applause when helter wins the championships.
now, again, most unhinged idea. but we could treat these cuts as helter telling the story to us, and cutting those parts out, either due to ignorance or trauma. this idea is actually enforced a bit by some of the stuff that happens, such as ham going (paraphrasing) "oh, somebody had BURGLED it?" and "yeah, I'm the bad guy!" . it could be taken as future-helter trying to justify everything that happened to himself, as the fates of the bürgerführers are kept unclear. also their surname sounds a bit like burglary, which could either be a coincidence or helter coming up with a name because he forgot. it just feels like a fairytale, like a "and I survived it all" kind of story. it feels as if it is fake, left far behind in the past as a reconstruction of something horrible helter did. what that might be? possibly getting revenge on the bürgerführers, and that might be backed up again by how their fates are left unclear, but, overall, I'm not sure.
back to the actual plot and not some conspiracy theory nonsense. before we move onto most of this post (debt dad) I want to have a quick talk about helter's relationship with the town and with his work.
his bobsled, made down the road (presumably due to financial issues from the gambling problem), is the most valuable thing to him. he and jörgen travelled everywhere on it, even outside of the competition. they mention that they've been neglecting proper work while training for the competitions, and to me it sounds a LOT like somebody with depression and / or a shit ton of trauma leaning on escapism. later in the play, his dad convinces helter to let him bobsleigh by saying he knows the mountains like the back of his hand, which implies helter does not despite going everywhere via bobsleigh.
at least to me, that feels like somebody zoning out or daydreaming to get away from the world they're in. and that it's probably a reoccurring problem considering his absent (I'LL ELABORATE LATER) father is aware of it.
also, helter mentions how he teaches kids how to bobsleigh in their family's ski chalet. on its own that isn't too much of a fact, but for one he is said to be "neglecting his work" and near the start he and jörgen say that nobody bobsleighs like they do, implying not even the kids trust helter's guidance in bobsleighing, and / or he's been absent so much training that they just learn another way. the funeral officiator says "lives" before he turns to see helter. he forgot helter even lived.
all this to say that nobody in this town likes helter, barely even his own brother despite their relationship seeming brilliant on the surface. jörgen actually hesitates in the three-way handshake at the beginning.
now, onto what you've all been waiting for: debt dad. keeping on the handshake, at the start both helter and jörgen put in two hands, but he only puts in one - this is at the same time he swears to give up gambling, which could show he's unfaithful to actually giving up, which would line up with his past behaviour (it's said he promised he'd quit several times before, but the skelter brothers keep trying to stop it anyways).
the dad, even at his own son's funeral, ties the conversation back to his debt, and guilt trips helter into letting him join his bobsleigh team. he knows the mountains and has been everywhere, and yet the conversation always comes back to money in some way. even when talking about the skelter's mother, he manages to say "I saw money". he's so focused on his debts he refuses to let his kids live out a life, he, intentionally or not, makes jörgen leave behind sweden to help him pay them off.
now, another important thing that you unobservant (/j) people wouldn't tie in as important to my crazy world: the accents.
people, particularly kids, often take on the accents of people around them. helter has no trace of his dad's "new york pirate" accent, and vice versa. it's clear his dad didn't spend much time with his kids growing up, because they didn't adapt to his accent, which is the absent father evidence I mentioned above.
also, to do with accents, jörgen's has very clearly changed based on his time in the valleys, and though it's unclear when he came back, with the fact they've been training rather than catching up, one can assume it's probably been at least a few months. and yet, jörgen's accent is nothing like helter's. and we can see his accent change so, so quickly when other people come on stage, like how he becomes more german when talking to hans. obviously this is due to tom's inability to do a swedish accent, but in character it could be seen as symbolic of him not being able to or not wanting to adapt to helter. jörgen's the big brother, even only by a few seconds. he's expected to take care of helter, but he can't bring himself to, and, again, his happiest years were spent away.
jörgen doesn't want to be friends with helter. the hesitation, the note, the accents. helter is just too much for him to handle, but he still doesn't want to destroy his brother's dreams, so he goes along with everything, and he meets his end because of it.
on the other hand, helter loves jörgen. he doesn't have any hesitation, jokes around with his brother, cries at his funeral and is very visibly uncomfortable when their dad tries to divert attention from, y'know, his brother's funeral, and, importantly, from just one conversation he figures out that the bürgerführers murdered jörgen. he's deductive, he can detect lies and deceit easily, which I will again come onto later.
they're even foils to each other, in a way. at the start, before the olympics, helter says "I can't wait for tomorrow." then, jörgen replies with "I can't focus on tomorrow.".
first of all, hans and ham. they're true foils to the skelters, in a great way. the skelters refuse to play dirty, playing dirty is all they do. the skelters have silent hesitation, the bürgerführers have loud anger.
and, the bürgerführers are willing enough to, well, brutally murder multiple people. as one does.
they're in league with the swedish house mafia, they know about the debts the skelter's dad has. hell, they get sponsored by the group, for presumably so much money considering they were sponsored for the following ten olympics, so it's most likely a close relationship. and, despite having everything planned out, hans doesn't tell ham about the partnership until after he commits a murder. no, he lets it happen. he lets it happen, because it increases their chances of winning, he lets it happen because it is easier that way. he lets it happen because he can. because he wants to see how helter reacts.
they sign up for the championships, despite getting gold medal in the olympics and being all set up for the next ten. they bully and sabotage helter, again, because they can. the only motive aside from comic evil I can imagine for this is that their father's debt is so bad the only way to make up for it is to wipe him off the planet in every way imaginable. to remove him from existence, to take away everything from him.
even the lives of his family, even the life of himself.
although, there is probably a bit of personal grudge in there as well. upon meeting helter and his father, ham infantalises him, saying "you found yourself a little playmate?". the 'younger' wording might imply a long-standing issue since they themselves were both younger, or might be a reference to helter's inability to communicate with kids as seen in his teaching job.
again, most of this is just here to back up how badly helter has been traumatised by multiple people. it isn't just his father. it's his brother, it's his tendency to overwork, it's himself, it's the bürgerführers. it is everybody.
now, onto the big part, which will take the most time despite me rambling about each of my points so far for several paragraphs:
helter's relationship with his father, and the consequences of that.
helter skelter and his father have a horrible relationship. that much is clear. helter hates the issues he has with gambling, but he still tries to make sure his dad is okay, he still tries to help him, still tries to redeem him. his father, on the other hand, turns conversations to himself ignoring circumstance, prattles on about his debt, and is so focused on himself he doesn't let his kids have a life.
he says he saw money when talking about what happened to the boys's mother. he only adds "a family" as an afterthought. now, even my afamilial ass can tell that's not exactly a good sign.
in fact, just for a scale, his dad is 2 million krona in debt! that is about 154k pounds or 211k dollars. that's like. a cheap house. he literally says "they'll come for the two of us" when referring to the swedish house mafia at jörgen's funeral. he's given up the ski chalet, given up their whole livelihood and possibly the lives of both his sons for... a night out, I suppose.
now, this brings me onto my proper theory: how helter was abused by his father, and my evidence to back it up.
first of all, let's start with a silly thing. neither jörgen nor helter know what a helter skelter is, despite this longform taking place between 2008 and 2012 (due to the involvement of the swedish house mafia), making access to internet likely - unless they do not have access thanks to debt and therefore inability to pay bills, which to be fair is also likely - and how helter skelters were invented in 1906. this could imply, as before stated, inability to access electricity, or just not going on any trips. I believe the former is probably more likely, but that could just be angst thirst so I'm putting forward both ideas. something backing up the second though is how jörgen still has the money to go to dorset and wales, but, again, doesn't know what a helter skelter is by whatever year this is in.
a lot of helter's personality and behaviour reads to me like a traumatised, conditioned person. his primary trauma response is repression, is compartmentalising and ignoring his problems, such as when his brother died and he instead fixated on winning the championships a week later. he shoves aside all the hatred he has for his father and works alongside him, just so he can have a chance at winning, however slim. he compliments his father's bobsled before the cover even comes off, which makes it seem like he fears not praising his father. like something bad will happen if he does not.
helter is scared of breaking the rules. I've mentioned this earlier, but he consistently refuses to play dirty, even against the people who murdered his brother, and only accepts to do so under obvious discomfort, and only out of fear of his father. his father puts forward the idea to use the jets, he is the one who shows helter, and helter practically lets him do what he wants - even though he tries to stop his father doing it, he does it anyways. and eventually, helter gives up. too, he gets incredibly panicky when losing against the bürgerführers, and still refuses to play dirty, opting to avoid their attacks rather than fight back.
in particular on this, while his dad is talking about playing dirty, helter starts to say "don't take something from-" before getting cut off, which makes me thing he was trying to stop his dad stealing from the opponent's bobsleigh as revenge.
likewise, he's scared to lie. he doesn't want to lie to the performance and to his integrity as a bobsledder by playing dirty as mentioned above, and he even tells the truth to the bürgerführers, literally says "I don't lie." referring to his parent's bobsled.
but he's not entirely timid about it. even at the beginning, he stands up to his father about his gambling addiction, repeatedly tells him to cut it off. however, noticeably, his fight goes away after the death of jörgen. he loses his courage to fight back, and focuses more on damage control, on stopping anybody else from getting hurt no matter how he feels. he doesn't move on from his brother (although, again, the longform is only a span of a week). referring to the championships, he starts to say "at the winter-" before correcting himself as if the winter olympics were still coming up. he hasn't forgotten about how the opportunity of winning was so unfairly taken away, he hasn't processed how he will never see his brother again. his mind can't tell that those times are over now.
a couple of related things. he has a breakdown when his father mentions his debt at jörgen's funeral. he's so tired. things like this have seemingly happened so much, and he's tired, he just wants it to be over. as aforementioned, his dad gives up helter's whole livelihood (the ski chalet), and possibly sacrifices them both to a debtor's prison for a night out.
which ties me back to how he didn't let his kids have a childhood. helter hasn't grown up, not fully. he always tries to see the best in people or in situations, tries to avoid any harm no matter how warranted, holds his father back from hurting people ignoring how they hurt him, and remember, he "can't wait for tomorrow". his presumably older brother, who cared for him, couldn't focus on tomorrow. he kept thinking about the past. helter has a heart of gold, and he can't understand how cruel the world has been to him. he is optimistic, he always believes in the best.
he never gets the best. and though he seems like he doesn't give up hope, not even for a moment, there are those moments where the mask slips. where he breaks, and his self comes out with all the pent-up feelings and hatred and unfairness. his father takes advantage of this, infantalising him ("don't be a cry baby") in order to help manipulate him into getting the job done at the championships and getting his debts help paid off.
and, I just want to draw some extra attention to him trying to calm his father down for a moment. he tries to stop his father hurting the bürgerführers. this, to me, speaks like somebody who thinks everybody has lived how he has. I am of the belief helter has survived thinking everybody lived with a neglectful father, with self doubt, with a life he didn't want to have. he believes that nobody should need to be "taught a lesson", because he thinks everybody is suffering enough already. he is a traumatised man who has never learnt to see the world another way.
only three more things left, thankfully. short one first, he has a massive rivalry with norway, especially near the beginning, tying their victory to be solely motivated by norway getting second place. despite this, norway never shows up in the play, they're barely even mentioned beyond this. helter's deflecting onto something that's less of a problem to avoid the bigger ones.
now, I believe helter to be neurodivergent in some way or another. obviously part of it is PTSD, just look at this post, but I do believe he has some kind of psychotic disorder too. my main evidence is how although he panics a little when the ghosts of jörgen and his mother appear, he regains composure fast, which reads like somebody who has experienced things like this before. and, his mind seems to be grasping at straws, leaning on things already established via the plot (the umbilical cords-) rather than coming up with new encouraging points. as if it's not his mother as a person, but it's all helter knew of her. schizophrenia and cluster B disorders, which I believe are the most common causes of major psychosis, are both often based in trauma. though not always the root cause, childhood trauma does often play a factor in their development, which I feel I should mention.
and, lastly, to end this massive fucking thing, the plot tries to redeem the skelter father.
he did so much, even just in canon, and, as I hope I've proven here, has been implied to have done so much more as well. and the plot has him die. it has him leave his debts to his son, who cradles his father in his arms and weeps as he loses life. helter, who tries to help him despite everything, not out of fear of the debt, but true human emotion.
this man is too pure for this world oh my visionary.
his dad says, paraphrasing, "I didn't do it for the money - I did it because I enjoyed it, it made me feel alive."
his father wanted to love his son.
he failed.
the plot tries to redeem what he's done. and yet, helter's fate remains unclear. most likely, he ran away before he could get taken to a debtor's prison, because the money from the championships wouldn't have been near enough to pay off his father's latent debts.
and still, helter watches his father die in his arms. and he thinks that this is normal.
I feel like it’s possible to say Toriel’s actions at the end of chapter 4 were in poor taste without calling her a horribly abusive mother who should die in agony
Talking to more privileged/wealthy LGBTQ+ people who have only ever lived in big cities in blue states is actually unhinged because some of them will actually act like they don't understand why you'd be in the closet and look down on you for it.
"Just stop caring about what people think of you!"
As if it's about self-esteem and not that I could actually be in danger
While I don't know if that anti-royal man should have been arrested, I don't see why he had to protest on today of all days. He couldn't let us have this one historic day
do you… know what a protest is? do you know how protests work? what would be the point of an anti-monarchy protest at a big anti-monarchy event full of anti-monarchists? grow up
