Character Analysis - Blog Posts

Something I find really interesting about Stan’s character is how he believes fundamentally that he’s the stupid twin. When in reality he really isn’t and that makes for an interesting parallel between what we see and what he himself sees.

Stan has been conditioned from a young age that there’s only one of brilliance. And that’s in Stanford. The simple intelligence of picking up math and being extremely good with scientific research and knowledge. And because that’ll make money easier, their dad conditioned Stanford to be the ‘smart’ twin that was going places.

Stanley has been shown time and time again to be incredibly creative and socially intelligent (even book smarts too! He literally taught himself how to run a portal) but because that’ll wasn’t valued by his Pa it was shunned.

Stan absolutely could have been an author or comic writer but he thought that he couldn’t be. Stan had a future but it was conditioned out of him. He was told that he would only mean something if he was with Ford. He was told to not care about school work because he’s the ‘dumb one’. I firmly believe that Stan could have gotten wonderful grades or gone to college but because he wasn’t the favorite, that wasn’t an option. Stan is incredibly intelligent, he’s just intelligent in an unconventional way. And that unconventional way is kinda what ends up saving the world.

Filbrick pines they can never make me like you.

(Side Note: But there’s also kinda an interesting autism and adhd aspect related to them. Both the twins are heavily neurodivergent coded so I find it interesting that while Fords autism coded behavior and nerdiness because of that helped gain their Pa’s favor, while Stan’s ADHD behavior got him out of their Pa’s favor.)

Belos is the one most terrifying kids cartoon villains.

But why?

It’s because he’s tangible almost. He’s real.

Let’s break it down.

Belos is human. He can only be seen reflecting ourselves. While other villains are amphibian kings or godly triangles, or even in our own show- a child that holds way too much power, a woman who cursed her own sister, or a witch kid.

Belos is real. Belos is seen everywhere in the world.

Going further, let’s simplify him.

Belos is a religious dictator who says his way is the only way. He speaks for the Titan. And only he can do so. Any who disagree are damned for eternity.

Belos is a human whose core belief is that his race is the superior one. He’s from the 1600s where witch hunting is their culture and to be a seen or side with a witch is a death sentence. He takes this farther by believing that they deserve death and to suffer.

His beliefs and motivations are things that are inherently wrong yet he’s a political figure that people worship.

When he fails to indoctrinate his brother into his inherently evil ways, he kills him.

Belos is a person who goes against every message being pushed in the owl house.

He is against identity. He is a bigoted mad man. He is a religious cult leader. He attempts genocide.

Sound familiar?

Oh wait those are so many of our current government leaders in the world.

Belos is real in the sense that he is human in the sense that his history has happened and will happen again.

And that’s terrifying.

And important.

This mirror of modern times should terrify us. Because belos is only human and so are we.

If this doesn’t make sense, that’s because I’m sick and it’s the next day. This is my own interpretation but please reblog with your own thoughts because this topic is like one of my favorite things about TOH.

Talk to me…I’m a lonely soul…

I think the s5 finale of she Ra is really the first time we see Adora really relax. Of her own violation. And honestly when she does at the end, it makes me wanna tear up.

Like you see her body physically melt. Her expression relaxes. She’s done. She’s free. She can just be Adora.

Something I would like to point out while rewatching HTTYD2 that I think is very interesting and also not at all talked about is this.

HTTYD2 brings lots and I mean LOTS of parallels whether they are visual or spoken but the one I hear spoken about the most is between Hiccup and Valka and them not killing a dragon. Even the movie tries to make this seem like a parallel. They bring it up even!

“Ehh it runs in the family.” Hiccup says after the flashback scene.

But something I noticed is that it is not a parallel. Mainly because of a few key things. It’s more almost perpendicular. They head in the same direction and they have the same realization, then go in complete opposite directions.

Valka runs away. A key part of her character I’ve noticed while I’ve been writing my analysis of her is that she oozes of cowardice and willful ignorance. Now that doesn’t mean she’s a bad person, it simply means that she ran away and chose to stay away. But that’s not the main reason I brought this up.

Remember the flashback where they draw attention to how similar Hiccup and Valka are? They talk about it in a very specific way.

They bring attention to two points. Both of them looked into a dragons eye and saw themself. Then they both didn’t kill a dragon. They show this as some kind of parallel. Maybe to show that Hiccup has someone who understands him, maybe to add a bit of layering to the first movie and how he’s just like her.

But it’s not a parallel.

What’s the difference in this scene?

One dragon is tied up.

One isn’t.

It’s a matter of choice.

“You and your father nearly died that night. All because I couldn’t kill a dragon.” Quote Valka.

“300 years and I’m the first Viking who wouldn’t kill a dragon.” Quote Hiccup.

Hiccups statement STILL rings true. Valka had no choice in if she wanted to kill Cloudjumper or not. That’s why I brought up Valka’s cowardice. Valka was in a trapped house with an injured newborn and an unbound dragon 5x her size. She was in the middle of a raid with people all around. Stoick was around the corner. She simply couldn’t kill the dragon. It wasn’t a matter of would or wouldn’t.

Hiccup on the other hand was alone in a forest with a tied up dragon. He made the decision to not kill Toothless. He wouldn’t. Because he absolutely could have killed Toothless.

“I was a coward. I was weak. I wouldn’t kill a dragon.”

“You said wouldn’t that time.”

This scene (in my own opinion) is meant to show that Hiccup was never the hiccup. He was never a coward. He wasn’t weak. It’s meant to be ironic.

Hiccup let go one of the most dangerous dragons in the world and it was brave. He went against his culture, his tribe because he thought it was the right thing to do.

That’s where Valka and Hiccups story become perpendicular. Hiccup was brave. Valka was a coward.

Hiccup chose not to run away. He chose to change their minds. He thought their minds could change.

Valka ran away. She didn’t listen and didn’t think change was possible. She held this belief until Hiccup comes along.

Valka’s path is where she believes that dragons are more than they seem. Then, “This wasn’t a viscous beast, but an intelligent gentle creature whose soul, reflected my own.” She has the revelation. Then she runs away and stays away. Now she had her own reasons and I am very much phrasing this in a biased way but it’s meant to show a point. She stays away and doesn’t change much. Because she couldn’t kill a dragon.

Hiccups path is where he does not see much to dragons. He wants to kill one to be accepted into the village. He shoots down Toothless and- “Everything we know about you guys, is wrong.” Or- “I looked at him and saw myself.” Hiccup and Valka’s paths cross here. But Hiccup doesn’t run away and he changes Berk’s mind. Because he wouldn’t kill a dragon.

Anyways I think that’s about it for that topic and I think it should be discussed more! Because if you really think about it, there are almost no parallels in Valka and Hiccup. And if there are, it isn’t well executed enough that it leaves a strong impact. I definitely will talk about this more but it’s late and I crave sleep.

honestly, my favourite way of seeing the picture of dorian gray is a sick love triangle.

- basil loves dorian with all of his soul and he lets it devour him. henry loves basil in a sick “you’re my only equal” type of way, and dorian is completely submissive to lord henry.

basil’s love for dorian is the emotional centre of the picture of dorian gray - he’s completely consumed and lost in the tragedy of unrequited love and he feels it so much - that same love ends up killing him. the entire time with basil, his love is prominent. no, it isn’t just adoration and obsession. he worships him, but also loves him. he is constantly warning dorian and he never pushed him to do anything, he always looked out for dorian and wanted him to be happy, leading to his death. he was devoured by him. completely. he couldn’t paint without him, he couldn’t look at dorian without trembling. basil’s emotional character believed loving dorian was worth the pain. and that ends up murdering him.

henry’s love for basil is the most interesting to me. lord henry seems to crave influence over others around him, and all are influenced by him, all but basil. basil argues, disagrees, and even when henry mocks him, he still listens. he still cares for basil even through a twisted way. he cares for him because basil is the only person who wasn’t influenced. his only equal. the only one he can rely on arguing back and standing against him. basil is a long-term friend and unlike most of henry’s phases with friendships, they seem to still be close and constantly close. as soon as basil starts describing dorian and his obsession with him, henry doesn’t seem pleased and is eager to change dorian. and he does just that. he pushes basil’s buttons constantly because he knows basil cares and will react with emotion, unlike dorian who becomes increasingly detached. henry wants emotion because he lacks it. he needs someone who is devoured and powered by emotion because he cannot feel emotions anymore. he needs someone to contrast him. he enjoys seeing the emotional reaction over dorian’s. if he was ever able to be emotionally honest and vulnerable, he would do it with the one man he knows will be honest and emotional with him. he enjoys basil because basil is the reality. he’s there, he thinks what he thinks and he won’t be shaped by henry. dorian is the muse. easily shaped and formed. the tragedy is that he unfortunately prefers control - not connection. that’s why he picks dorian. he knows he’s better with control and he prefers the control because of it. basil forces a connection, he doesn’t like being controlled and won’t let henry control him.

dorian is young, naïve and doesn’t think for himself. henry steps into his life, and he immediately changes - when henry didn’t actually need to do much. dorian seems to submit to henry easily and very quickly. he was seduced and deeply influenced. he quotes henry constantly, he acts independent while also submitting to henry and obeying him. henry’s voice is constantly leading him - even when henry is spewing a thousand lies that even he doesn’t believe.

this makes the triangle so beautiful. none of the love is balanced. no one is giving back what they’re given. it’s unbalanced, it’s bound to fall apart and it’s dangerous. dorian kills the one man who loved him, dorian falls for lies, henry forgets about the one person who cared, henry gets lost in control when he could’ve had vulnerability, basil is killed by the person he adored with all of his soul and that same person he loved was influenced by one of the people basil cared about the most. tragic, but oscar wilde knows how to write a brilliant dynamic.