Possible Hiveswap spoilers, so only read this after you've finished playing I guess, But what do you think about the fact that Dammek has a camera in Xefros' room? Like, what the fuck?
I’ve been seeing a lot of discourse about Dammek already so I’m glad I got this ask, haha.
I mean. It’s obviously, transparently fucked up? We know it, the narrative knows it, Joey knows it and loudly screams about it. Dammek’s treatment of Xefros isn’t on the up and up.
This, by the way, makes perfect sense to me in a way. I don’t think this means Dammek doesn’t CARE about Xefros–I’m sure, after all, that Pa cares about Jude and Joey. But caring alone does not make healthy relationships.
On a related note, Xefros has numerous references to being a Page–I’ll be making a post compiling those soon–and Pages have a recurring motif of getting pushed around and “helped” by friends who care but overstep boundaries. To me, Dammek seems like an extension of the trend–the Vriska to Xefros’ Tavros, or the Dirk/AR to his Jake, so to speak.
What their relationship will specifically look like and how it will grow and evolve, of course, is still an open question. Which gets to the heart of how I feel on the matter:
I’m seeing a lot of people say they HATE Dammek now or he’s TERRIBLE and PROBLEMATIC or whatever at this point, and that seems like…really really jumping the gun to me? It plain old doesn’t make much sense to build up all this outrage at a character whose flaws we’re learning about here, BEFORE HE’S EVEN INTRODUCED.
Yes, Dammek is transparently, indisputably being an asshole. Dammek is also one of the protagonists of this duology, who will get at least four acts to grow and develop from the point where he’s being introduced. Obviously this is going to be a character trait that Dammek will have to grapple with and overcome one way or another, because that’s what good stories do: Introduce characters with flaws and challenges, put them through conflicts, and have them overcome them.
Especially since it’s not even like Dammek is like Vriska. There is legitimately and truly no future for either Xefros or Dammek that either of them want to be a part of unless Dammek succeeds at his wild ambitions, and he’s living in a fascist totalitarian hellscape, so there’s pretty good grounds for him to be as paranoid and intense as he is. Not to mention that he’s doing that while being…you know, a damn kid?
We’re talking about a narrative where it’s altogether likely that literal genocidal maniac TRIZZA TETHIS will be redeemed, given she’s completely and utterly doomed by the system and timeline she’s in, so that people are SO pissed at Dammek for…being KIND OF A SHITTY DOUCHE at, what, 15? is…short-sighted, frankly.
Can’t we focus on how nice it is that Xefros and Joey’s new friendship is already helping Xefros come out of that mindset? Can’t we look forward to character growth instead of being really really angry about INTRODUCTORY CHARACTER TRAITS?
So like yeah I think it’s good to keep in mind that Dammek and Xefros aren’t the rosy best buds fanon imagined them to be. But spurring a bunch of outrage or w.e is just going to make the fandom really insufferable to deal with when they inevitably reconcile or come to new terms of behavior later, as with Dirk and Jake. I am begging to the spirits above we can avoid that grisly fate.
But can we avoid fandom’s deadly addiction to outrage points? Alas, likely not. PS: Relatedly, I have never seen a guy be more friendzoned than Xefros blushing on that deercat in my goddamn life. The fact that people are apparently complaining that that was ‘hetbait’ is hilarious, because Joey was the one with all the gay coding in this game, and she did NOT look interested that way. Just thought I’d say that too while I’m here.
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