idk why everyone thinks Blood is the shipping aspect. Heart is Right There. Karkat’s only requited definite relationship in HS1 is a moirail, while Nepeta THE fandom shipping avatar troll and drama prince Dirk are Right There. Yes, Karkat makes shipping grids a few times–but like his morailegiance, his purpose in them was not ‘these people look cute together uwu’. *Karkat’s purpose for everything he does is harmony*. His beta kids chart? Utilitarian; he employs Blood–what he intuits about relationships between the kids, as well as not only the game endgoal of repopulation but the kids’ serious view of incest as Very Serious Things to Consider–to accomplish the game’s goal for the kids’ race, while minimizing the kids’ discomfort, so that the kids’ relationships would maximize harmony in the team and maximize output for the goal, saving their culture despite taboos they took seriously. Almost utilizing that discomfort even! The most harmonic pairs were obvious to him, and the way to maneuver forward despite them was obvious to him. His shipping grid with Dave over Terezi? Maximizing harmony in their friend group and to each other, while minimizing discomfort with regards to Dave’s culture and relationship needs, while using troll culture’s flexible romance system as a basis, a frame–a tool for harmony. Karkat views troll romance as the interplay of connection between people, a science with mechanics he’s fascinated by, not squealing adoring fangirl shipping. Blood may be the Aspect of relation, but relation between people isn’t just romance and isn’t as simple as every relationship matching only one single *western* archetype. Blood is the Aspect of the flow and ebb of things between other things, its the Aspect of Garnet-style fusion. Every instance of Blood is unique and on spectrums and *not only romance*. If you think the only relationship between people past the age of twelve is romance, you need to know more people. Signed, a slightly annoyed acearo Knight of Blood
ps Blood as gravity and trees and binding/blood magic and valor and protection and vulnerability and earthbending is so obvious yall, pls stop thinking Blood is the boring and hard to parse Aspect, Breath and Blood literally steer and free the plot in HS1.