| 1 | %% There's a new policy regarding spoiler tags, namely that because Homestuck is a free webcomic with no barrier save length to reading and current spoiler tags are so haphazardly implemented, it's easiest for us to not have them entirely. Please do not spoiler tag anything going into the future. |
| 2 | !![[center:[-'''Main Cast:''' [[Characters/HomestuckKids Kids, Pre-Scratch]]; [[Characters/HomestuckPostScratchKids Kids, Post-Scratch]]; [[Characters/HomestuckTrollsGeneral Trolls]] ([[Characters/HomestuckTrollsOne Lowbloods]], [[Characters/HomestuckTrollsTwo Midbloods]], [[Characters/HomestuckTrollsThree Highbloods]], [[Characters/HomestuckPreScratchTrolls Pre-Scratch]]); [[Characters/HomestuckCherubs Cherubs]]-]]][[center: [-'''Supporting Cast:''' [[Characters/HomestuckGuardians Guardians & Ancestors]]; [[Characters/HomestuckSprites Sprites]]; [[Characters/HomestuckExiles Exiles & the Midnight Crew]]; '''Agents & Monarchs'''; [[Characters/HomestuckTheFelt The Felt]] ([[Characters/HomestuckTheFeltTwo Leaders]]); [[Characters/HomestuckOtherCharacters Others]]-]]][[center: [-'''Expanded Universe:''' [[Characters/HomestuckPostCanon Post-Canon]]; ''Characters/SweetBroAndHellaJeff''; ''Characters/{{Hiveswap}}'' ([[Characters/HiveswapTrollCall Troll Call]])-]]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | The agents of Derse and Prospit and the royalty of those planets. Known as a whole as the carapacians or, more colloquially, as the "chess guys", they're a humanoid species with hard exoskeletons that are either bone white or pitch black, depending on their planet of origin. They wage an endless war for Skaia, with Prospit seeking to aid the players in creating a new universe and Derse seeking to prevent them. Prospit is doomed to lose this conflict no matter what it does; its in-game role is simply to hold Derse off for long enough for the players to come into their own and handle things themselves. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | For the troll universe's version of Jack Noir, Draconian Dignitary, Courtyard Droll, Hegemonic Brute, see the Midnight Crew section in [[Characters/HomestuckExiles the Exiles pages]]. For their version of the Black Queen, see Snowman of [[Characters/HomestuckTheFelt the Felt]]. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | For other notable Prospitan and Dersite characters, including post-Exile versions of the White Queen and White King, see [[Characters/HomestuckExiles the Exiles]]. |
| 9 | ---- |
| 10 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 11 | |
| 12 | [[folder:Shared Tropes]] |
| 13 | [[quoteright:307:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/carapacians.png]] |
| 14 | [[caption-width-right:307:A Dersite and a Prospitan pawn.]] |
| 15 | |
| 16 | * TheAgeless: They have only been shown to die from external causes, and seemingly cannot die of old age. They're even fairly tolerant of injuries, starvation, and dehydration. In fact, there's no indication that the exiled carapaces even ate or drank anything for several hundred ''years''. |
| 17 | * AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of chess pieces. Averted with some other pieces, like rooks and bishops, which exclusively appear on the Battlefield and seem much more monstrous than other carapaces. |
| 18 | * AscendedExtra: Both as a whole, they've become very popular, and In-Universe, where a few carapaces will be exiled and advise players from their former homeworld, and then rebuild civilization with other, unseen, exiles. |
| 19 | * AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The royals on both sides are entitled to enchanted regalia which grant them powers from the players' prototypings. Then [[TheStarscream Jack Noir]] [[KlingonPromotion gets a promotion]], breaking up the regular order of the SBURB session. |
| 20 | * BishonenLine: Odd usage related to hands. High-ranking agents like Jack Noir and the Royalty of each planet have clearly distinct fingers while pawns like WV have more claw-like hands. Inverted with their teeth, though; high ranks have sharp teeth but low ranks have pretty much human teeth. |
| 21 | * FantasticCasteSystem: They live in one that follows basically from chess rules. There is only one pair of royalty per planet, a small number of archagents representative of the special chess pieces, and a massive number of pawns below them. |
| 22 | * FunnyAnimalAnatomy: Follow in Hussie's words "cartoon logic" in that guys don't have to wear clothes, but girls do. WordOfGod is that they have internal genitals. |
| 23 | * MacGuffin: The White Staff can be used to start the Reckoning, and is used to do that by the forces of Derse in an ordinary session. The players then have 24 hours to defeat the Black King and capture the Black Staff, which wins the game. The Queen's Rings are also important because they're needed to light The Forge and release the Genesis Frog into Skaia. |
| 24 | * ManChild: The higher you go up the castes, the more mature they seem. Jack Noir acts like a teenager, the Courtyard Droll and Wayward Vagabond act like young children, and the Royalty of each planet act more or less like adults. |
| 25 | * MonochromaticEyes: Black for Prospitians, White for Dersites, neither having pupils. |
| 26 | * NonMammalianMammaries: Unlike the trolls, it happened because fan speculation pegged PM as female, and Hussie said "[[AscendedFanon Why not]]," and it spiraled from there. Originally, they were intended to be all male, save the Queen. Not true for all women though, as there have been several shown and identified female pawns that are completely flat. |
| 27 | * RingOfPower: The two Queen's Rings and the two King's Staves can prototype any carapace, giving them [[RealityWarper strong reality warping abilities]], as well as conferring on them the features of the things that were prototyped, ie, jesters, cats, various animals, impaled crows, [[RealityWarper First]] [[OhCrap Guardians]]... |
| 28 | * SidequestSidestory: Most Carapacians are irrelevant to the game, but nonetheless are sentient and can interact with the players, and have their own stories going on. However, two Dersites in particular are ways to eliminate the final bosses, avoiding direct combat. These sidequests are only triggered under unknown circumstances, apparently when the resentment of the Royalty by the two becomes unbearable, and may not occur in a session. |
| 29 | ** Jack Noir (and to a lesser extent the Archagents under him) functions as backdoor means to eliminate the Black Queen due to his ambitions. In both the Pre-Scratch Human session and the Post-Scratch Troll's session, he eliminated the Black Queen through direct power grab and a coup d'etat, respectively. |
| 30 | ** WV also serves as a backdoor means of eliminating the Black King. According to WordOfGod, [[http://dl.dropbox.com/u/40585720/Combined_Formspring_Web_Aug-28-2011.htm#andrewhussie898002954 there is always a rebellious soldier]] in every session. Seems to also be ThatOneSidequest in that it's far more difficult to interact with him on Skaia, while Jack Noir actively seeks out players. At any rate, he hasn't pulled it off in either session shown so far. |
| 31 | * TheVoiceless: Odd usage. Carapaces clearly can speak and have done so in commands, narration, and game sequences, but nonetheless they never speak in chat logs. The Mayor is noted to never speak, but is able to convey meaning. It is unknown if he is mute, or if it was a joke based on the previous. |
| 32 | * WomenAreWiser: With exception to some of the pawns in WV's army, all female Carapacians are shown to be more intelligent and less prone to random bouts of silliness. That's not to say they're necessarily kinder however; the Black Queen in normal sessions is quite TheChessmaster, and is arguably more of the BigBad than the Black King. [[OnlySaneMan DD]] seems to be the exception to this, being male and quite possibly the most sane and grounded Carapacian we meet. |
| 33 | * YouALLLookFamiliar: Generic pawns look completely identical. Non-combat pawns vary more in their appearance. Justified as they are produced by cloning facilities in the Veil. |
| 34 | [[/folder]] |
| 35 | |
| 36 | !!Jack Noir |
| 37 | The Archagent of the Dark Kingdom of Derse, he watches events from his CUBICLE OF VIGILANCE. Within the game, he functions as a non-standard way to get rid of the Black Queen, and should players collaborate with him, they can avoid a tough fight at the end of the game, although they should also be cautious that [[AlwaysChaoticEvil he doesn't turn on them]].\ |
| 38 | \ |
| 39 | The trolls' iteration went on to become Spades Slick, leader of the Midnight Crew, after helping the Prospitian trolls exile the Black Queen. Tropes pertaining to him can be found on Characters/HomestuckTheMidnightCrew. |
| 40 | ---- |
| 41 | [[folder:All Iterations]] |
| 42 | * AlwaysChaoticEvil: Jack loves to murder people. He cares very little even for his comrades, and even his idea of consoling someone is kind of paltry at best. |
| 43 | * AxCrazy: Although it's not always obvious at the beginning of a session, when he still has the Black Queen above him keeping it in check, he always descends into this if he has the opportunity. |
| 44 | * BunnyEarsLawyer: He hates his job and has near-uncontrollable violent impulses, but he's [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/5561 genuinely some kind of bureaucratic savant]]. DD can't remotely keep up when he's filling in for him. |
| 45 | * TheDragon: He's the second highest ranking member of Derse royalty, right below the King and Queen. |
| 46 | * EvilCounterpart: The Midnight Crew was always one for [[Webcomic/ProblemSleuth Team Sleuth]] in the bonus material, with Spades Slick being the obvious counterpart to Problem Sleuth. Taken a step further here, with the fourth prototyping essentially the EvilCounterpart to ''[[SuperMode Sepulch]][[LimitBreak ritude]]''. |
| 47 | * EyeMotifs: Bec Noir, Spades Slick, and Jack English all end up with one or both of their eyes being injured. |
| 48 | * FoeRomanceSubtext: [[invoked]]His relationship with the Black Queen is [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/2395 a dead ringer for kismesisitude]]. |
| 49 | * GenericDoomsdayVillain: Both Bec Noir and Post-Scratch Jack are this in one way or another after acquiring the power that makes them so deadly. |
| 50 | * HeroKiller: Whether it be through Queen's ring, Lil Cal's soul, or sheer bloodlust, all iterations of Jack Noir have killed major characters. His total body count, roughly in order: the Black Queen, the Black King, WV's united Prospitian/Dersite army, most of the population of Prospit, Jade's dream self, Bro, numerous salamanders, John, an alternate Dave, Dad, Mom, John ''again'', Rose, Dave, the Courtyard Droll, the White King, the White Queen, AR, mortally wounding WV, the entire army of Aradiabots, all the trolls' dreamselves save Vriska, all the inhabitants of the trolls' Prospit and Derse, all the inhabitants of the trolls' Lands, [[ApocalypseHow every single instance of Earth's entire universe]], Jane's dreamself, two Prospitian guards, Calliope, Roxy, most of Post-Scratch Prospit, Jane, Jake, pre-retcon Dave, whatever was left of Prospit's population, and Dirk Strider. This isn't even including Spades Slick's kill count! |
| 51 | * {{Leitmotif}}: Not the Ballad of Jack Noir, but rather [[http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/liquid-negrocity Liquid Negrocity]]/[[http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/black-2 Black]]. |
| 52 | * MeaningfulName: Jack is the rank below Queen and King in a deck of cards. Noir means "Black" in French, thus Jack Noir being "Blackjack," and in the Midnight Crew's fake band there are songs titled "The Ballad of Jack Noir" and "Blue Noir," which could be a reference to Jack's name. Especially since Spades Slick ''was'' once a Jack Noir. Not this Jack Noir, but a different one. Interestingly, "Jack" is also an alternative diminuitive form of "John", providing an interesting contrast to the kid who is ''also'' named John. |
| 53 | * NoFourthWall: Literally, his CUBICLE OF VIGILANCE is missing its fourth wall on both sides of the Scratch. It was later used by Andrew to provide a recap. |
| 54 | * OddNameOut: He is the only Carapacian with an actual name instead of a title. He ''does'' have a title (SS), be it Sovereign Slayer, Spades Slick, or Scurrilous Straggler, but he's more often referred to by name rather than whatever title he has at the time. |
| 55 | * PerpetualFrowner: No iteration of Jack ever seems to smile, instead always scowling furiously. |
| 56 | * PsychoKnifeNut: All versions of Jack are defined by their love of stabbing and usage of knives as a solution for everything. In fact, he loves stabbing so much he uses it as a ''greeting''. |
| 57 | * StealthExpert: He's infiltrated Prospit in multiple iterations, despite being a famous political figure of the opposing kingdom. |
| 58 | * TrademarkFavoriteFood: Licorice scottie dogs. Both the troll and post-Scratch versions of Noir have been seen hoarding them, although it never came into the story for the main pre-Scratch version. |
| 59 | * VillainProtagonist: He's clearly allied with Derse, but nevertheless becomes the seventh playable character (and the fifth to be [[HelloInsertNameHere named by the player]]). This happens again come Jack's Jailbreak adventure. Done ''deliberately''. Even Spades Slick in the Intermission was part of it. |
| 60 | -->'''Andrew Hussie:''' We learned a lot about his character, even though it wasn't even technically the same character, and never suspected we were getting a primer on the key villain who would rise to power. This was the plan. |
| 61 | [[/folder]] |
| 62 | |
| 63 | [[folder:Pre-Scratch Jack Noir/Sovereign Slayer/Bec Noir/The Cancer]] |
| 64 | [[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Jack3Forms_7962.png]] |
| 65 | [[caption-width-right:250:The three forms of Jack Noir [[note]]The wings are not naturally grey, but are lightened to show black on black details.[[/note]]]] |
| 66 | |
| 67 | As Jack Noir served his role as the Black Queen treacherous second-in-command, he endured a succession of increasingly humiliating dress code changes as she forced him to wear harlequin and princess-themed clothes in the wake of the prototypings. It didn't end well for her. Or for anyone else, for that matter. After killing the Queen and taking her rings, Jack went on a destructive rampage that began by driving the kids' sessions completely off the rails and ended up providing the impetus for most of the early comic's conflicts. |
| 68 | ---- |
| 69 | * AchillesHeel: Besides the omnipotence, which definitely sucks for everyone, the Bec prototyping did actually grant Jack something that can only be beneficial to the protagonists; he possesses a fierce subconscious loyalty to Jade and is completely unable to bring himself to harm her. [[RuleOfFunny Also he has this weird obsession with dog treats]]. |
| 70 | ** This eventually came back to haunt him -- Jade and Dave fought him together and Dave outright abuses this weakness by shielding himself with Jade. So Jack is pretty much in a battle he can only escape from. |
| 71 | ** After that, he was stuck following Jade around like a lost puppy and obeying her commands because of his loyalty. |
| 72 | ** After ''that'', while he was able to engineer a way to kill her, his loyalty made her carry her dying body to her Quest Bed, allowing her to survive and ascend to God Tier. |
| 73 | * AGodAmI: The narration heavily implies that he regards himself as a god after being prototyped with Becquerel. |
| 74 | * AlasPoorVillain: He doesn't die, but it's hard not to feel sorry for him when PM chops off his arm and prepares to finish him off, especially with how genuinely terrified he looks over it. |
| 75 | * AllergicToLove: Both versions of Jack have shown disgust and hatred towards red romance, so it's not all that surprising that when he falls for an angry PM, his first reaction is to run. |
| 76 | * AnArmAndALeg: Because of the prototypings for the Black Queen's Ring, he only has one arm. Still, this does not make him any less dangerous. During Collide, he gets his ring arm cut off courtesy of PM, permanently losing it. |
| 77 | * AndThenWhat: Faces this dilemma after being prototyped with Bec. Killing and destruction are the only ways he knows to pass the time, but he has to be careful so that he doesn't accidentally destroy ''everything'' with his omnipotence, because then there will be nothing left for him to destroy. However just as he's run out of things to blow up, PM shows up and Jack falls in love with her. |
| 78 | * AnthropomorphicPersonification: His insatiable lust for destruction exists because he's the embodiment of the cancer in the kids' universe. |
| 79 | * AppealToForce: The Black Queen is able to humiliate Jack only so long as she can overpower him; once he pulls out The Bunny, he overpowers and kills his queen without a second thought before stealing her Prototyping ring, leading to ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers. |
| 80 | * BadJobWorseUniform: He ''hates'' the outfits the Black Queen forces him to wear. |
| 81 | * BerserkButton: After the fourth prototyping, harming Jade eventually develops into this. According to WordOfGod, it was specifically the clown costumes that finally pushed Jack over the edge. That's how Gamzee made the cancer "terminal" by causing John's fear of harlequins and Jack's humiliation. |
| 82 | * BestialityIsDepraved: Both Spades Slick and B2 Jack Noir have "[[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4896 Terrier Fancy]]" as their PornStash, which puts a whole different spin on the main B1 Noir's instant attraction to PM. |
| 83 | * BigBad: Of Acts 1-5 since he handily usurps the role of antagonist from the Black Queen and King in the Kids' session. He has Dad Egbert kidnapped, causes the Reckoning instead of the Black King, and goes on a rampage in Acts 4 and 5. |
| 84 | * BishonenLine: He looked positively monstrous between John's One-Armed Harlequin prototyping, Dave's Seppucrow, and Rose's Eldritch Cat Princess etching their features onto him. After Bec is prototyped and Jade enters the medium, he loses the tentacles and cat features, and what was left of the harlequin outfit and becomes overall sleeker and meaner. |
| 85 | * BroughtDownToNormal: As of [S] Collide, PM has finally defeated him by slicing off the arm that wears the ring and rendering him back to his old self, to which she knocks him out. |
| 86 | * TheCaligula: He already had the personality, then he got hold of the Black Queen's ring and became the Sovereign Slayer. After being prototyped with Bec, he becomes even more unstable, and also has dog-like thoughts from time to time. And once he enters the troll's session, he doesn't hold anything back, destroying the troll's lands and then their Prospit and Derse while brutally murdering any dreamself who happens to be awake at the moment, as Tavros, Karkat, Feferi, and Nepeta find out the hard way. |
| 87 | * CharacterCheck: His excessive prototyping and desire for trophies leads to him looking extremely ridiculous; upon realizing this, he remembers his hatred for stupid outfits and sheds all his accessories. |
| 88 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Shades of this are creeping into his personality as of the fourth prototyping. Suffice it to say that the combination of limitless power and canine urges isn't doing much for his mental stability. |
| 89 | * ContrivedCoincidence: Jack has a knack for arriving at ''exactly'' the wrong time. Justified though, because of TimeyWimeyBall. |
| 90 | * CoolShades: After the fourth prototyping, he steals Bro's as a trophy. Later on, he realizes taking clothing from dead enemies is stupid and takes them off. |
| 91 | * CombatPragmatist: When he wants to be. Faced with an epic duel between him, Rose, and John, he... uses his teleportation power to warp behind John and stab him the back, killing him instantly. Likewise, rather than fight Vriska immediately, he first follows her trail back to finish off the other trolls, since they're an easier target and still pose a threat. |
| 92 | * CreateYourOwnVillain: Many times, with PM, Aradia, and all of the kids. It's fair to say that everyone who isn't directly killed by Jack becomes much more powerful because of his actions, and even some of the ones that he does kill become much more powerful. He's also partially the result of an attempt to {{invoke|dTrope}} this by Vriska. |
| 93 | * DiscOneFinalBoss: He's the primary antagonist of Acts 4 and 5. It's not until late into Act 5 that Lord English is established as a GreaterScopeVillain who was always meant to supersede Jack's position as the BigBad. Vriska herself expected this, '''merely''' describing Jack as "a murderous asshole" compared to the monstrous Lord English. |
| 94 | * DistinguishingMark: When Jack enters the troll universe, he's seen with a bloodied hand. This serves to distinguish the "future" Jack with the "present" Jack, who lacks the blood on his hand. The blood is eventually revealed to have come from WV. |
| 95 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: Look at the rest of his tropes, then remember that Jack's reaction to Lord English's actions in Act 6 Part 2 EOA was ''shock and fear.'' |
| 96 | * EvilCannotComprehendGood: Jack is [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/5311 bewildered]] that a little thing like murdering all her friends provokes such an UnstoppableRage in PM. |
| 97 | * EvilVirtues: He willingly gives up the package containing the instrument of his rise to power to PM after she brings her the White Monarchs' crowns as he asked, and he takes the time to give Bro his sword back before dueling him again. Both of these things suggest that, while he might be an incredible example of an OmnicidalManiac, he still has a sense of honor. |
| 98 | * FlashStep: Skilled enough with it to keep up with Bro and Davesprite at the same time, ''before'' he was prototyped with Bec. |
| 99 | * ForTheEvulz: Upon gaining omnipotence, Jack goes on a killing spree throughout the Medium not to consolidate more power, but to stave off boredom. |
| 100 | * FromNobodyToNightmare: Goes from a glorified paper-pusher to an nigh omnipotent AxCrazy OneManArmy who destroys planets. |
| 101 | * FullFrontalAssault: Okay, his species has internal genitals, so he isn't showing anything but black carapace, but he's still a member of a normally-clothed race going around with only a scrap of clothing since he ripped off his gaudy uniform. |
| 102 | * GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: Initially from the perspective of the Trolls. They just beat the final boss, are about to claim their great reward, and then suddenly an even more powerful opponent comes out of nowhere, kills all of them, and destroys every planet in their game. |
| 103 | * GoodWingsEvilWings: Evil, black, feathered wings, befitting his prophesied role in the Troll session as the [[LightIsNotGood Lord of all Angels]]. |
| 104 | * GrudgingThankYou: After Mr. Egbert sets his hat on fire, sprays shaving cream all over it and stomps it into ruination, Jack allows him to leave. He really hated that hat. |
| 105 | * HandicappedBadass: The prototyping removed one of his arms, not that it seems to hinder him any. |
| 106 | * HonorBeforeReason: When the Parcel Mistress hands over the White King's and Queen's crowns, he hands over Jade's package, just as he promised. Even though it contained the obscenely powerful weapon that precipitated his rise to power in the first place, and the Parcel Mistress certainly couldn't have ''forced'' Jack to give it up. [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/1961 This turns out to be]] ''[[https://www.homestuck.com/story/1961 a very bad idea]]''. Also, returning Bro's sword to Bro before engaging him in a fight. Obviously he could've killed Bro there and then, but he really wanted a compelling duel. |
| 107 | * HumanoidAbomination: Thanks to the ring, which brings him ever closer to the "abomination" part of this trope with each prototyping. |
| 108 | * IHaveManyNames: Jack Noir, Sovereign Slayer, Bec Noir, "the demon", "the cancer", and possibly Lord of Angels. |
| 109 | * ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: His default state when wearing the ring. The prototyped Seppucrow causes him to sheath his sword through his chest. |
| 110 | * IronicEcho: |
| 111 | ** Troll-session Noir cuts his right hand to show his red blood to Karkat, proving that he's not that different from him. Kids-session Noir has a red blood-covered right hand when he enters the Troll universe and starts killing everyone, including Dream!Karkat. |
| 112 | ** Another echo between (a) the end of the Midnight Crew intermission when Spades Slick poses over the bar scanner with one gouged eye, a missing arm, and a pattern of red laser light on his head and (b) the end of "[S] Jack: Ascend," when Jack is in the same pose after putting on the ring with blood splattered on his forehead. |
| 113 | * IronicEchoCut: The same bloodied hand above is featured in a cut in "[S] Cascade" from when his hands are covered in the blood of Jade's killer to when he enters the Troll session right after having rammed his fist through WV. |
| 114 | * KarmaHoudini: After all the bloodshed he's caused, he lives at the cost of [[AnArmAndALeg losing one of his arms.]] |
| 115 | * KickTheDog: When he goes to Prospit and proceeds to kill all the Prospit carapaces, and later when he ambushes and kills Mom and Dad. |
| 116 | * KlingonPromotion: Upon killing the Black Queen, he takes her ring and takes full control of the Dersite monarchy. |
| 117 | * LogicalWeakness: He may be omnipotent, but his powers come from the Black Queen's Ring. Removing the ring (or the arm wearing the ring) means that he's BroughtDownToNormal. However, it's easier said than done since he ''is'' omnipotent. The only person able to exploit this is PM, who's similarly empowered by the White Queen's Ring. |
| 118 | * LonelyAtTheTop: He's been bored out of his skull ever since he became omnipotent. He also loses all his subordinates, one being at his own hands, and the only person keeping him company for three years is PM, who wants to gut him. |
| 119 | * LoveAtFirstSight: Towards PM after she's prototyped (she doesn't feel the same way) and then Ms. Paint after he's defeated (she ''might'' feel the same way, especially since he's an alternate version of her now dead boyfriend). |
| 120 | * LoveIsAWeakness: Jack is actively afraid of his feelings for Jade and tries to have her killed. Similarly, his attraction to PM leads to him sparing her and later incites him to spend three years running from her instead of fighting. |
| 121 | * LoveRedeems: Seems to be heading in this direction, between Bec's post-prototyping loyalty seemingly becoming genuine in "[S] Cascade" and his VillainousCrush on PM making it hard for him to fight her. Later, after [S] Collide, he seems to have fallen in love with Ms. Paint. |
| 122 | * MarathonBoss: His duel with PM goes on for ''three years'' in-universe. |
| 123 | * MaybeEverAfter: With Ms. Paint in the end. |
| 124 | ** MeaningfulRename: For his new name, Sovereign Slayer, or SS = Spades Slick |
| 125 | ** Also Bec Noir = BN, chess notion for Black Knight. |
| 126 | * TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: Due to the influence of Bec's prototyping, Jack finds himself thinking like a dog at times and sees Jade as his friend and master. |
| 127 | * MonsterClown: Jack, along with all the Dersites, wear clown -- er, ''[[InsistentTerminology harlequin]]'' outfits because John prototyped the Kernelsprite with a harlequin doll, giving them its traits. Subverted in Jack's case, he ''hates'' the clothes and gets rid of them whenever possible, although he still wears its tattered remains when he becomes the Sovereign Slayer. |
| 128 | * MoralityPet: |
| 129 | ** Played for laughs. "You can never stay mad at [[DemonicDummy Cal]]. He is a true friend. The only you have ever known." Makes it all the more fitting considering whose soul(s) reside within Cal. |
| 130 | ** ZigZagged with Jade. He can't bring himself to hurt her because of his prototyping with Bec, and constantly has to suppress urges to gush over her like a puppy. So he orders DD to kill her instead. Except that when someone actually manages it, he's so upset that he takes her corpse to her Quest Bed, reviving her as a ridiculously powerful God Tier First Guardian. |
| 131 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Jack gains the title of Sovereign Slayer after killing both the Black King and Queen, and later killing the White King and Queen. |
| 132 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: |
| 133 | ** Nice job waking up and empowering the one person who could possibly stop you (temporarily). |
| 134 | ** And again at the end of Act 5, when after Jade is killed, Bec's influence causes him to take her to her Quest Bed. Since Jade's dream self was currently the second prototyping of Becsprite, when she revives she has both God Tier Witch of Space AND First Guardian powers.[[note]][[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And dog ears]].[[/note] |
| 135 | * NonHumanHead: After Bec is prototyped, he develops a wolflike head with a scar over one eye. |
| 136 | %%* NoNonsenseNemesis: See his fight with John and Rose. |
| 137 | * ObstructiveBureaucrat: Jack Noir has bureaucracy during the sequence where the Parcel Mistress tracks down the green parcel, although he'd much rather kill someone than push papers. |
| 138 | -->Mr. Noir tells you that ticket had better be notarized and punched in triplicate and presented with the full boondollar penalty plus processing fees, or you are wasting valuable time he could otherwise spend shirking his clerical duties. |
| 139 | * OddNameOut: The only carapace to actually have a name, outside of the Midnight Crew. |
| 140 | * OhCrap: He gets one when he realizes the bunny is loyal to John, again when the ring-wearing ([[RoaringRampageOfRevenge and incredibly pissed]]) Prospitian Monarch appears, and again when he witnesses Lord English's BreathWeapon. |
| 141 | * OmnicidalManiac: Bec Noir after the death of (the original iteration of) Jade. He was already pretty stab-happy before, but this made him go on a rampage with the goal of destroying the universe and any other universe he could get his hands on. |
| 142 | * OneWingedAngel: Happens after he puts on the dead Queen's ring. He does it a second time when Bec is prototyped with Jade's kernelsprite. Arguably more of a BishonenLine, since he loses the tentacles. |
| 143 | * OutsideContextProblem: For the Troll session. |
| 144 | * PetTheDog: See GrudgingThankYou. Also his inability to kill Jade, though this is due to Bec's influence more than anything. Averted right after, where he just asks Draconian Dignitary to do it for him... which unfortunately bites him in the ass. All the more so: he is the reason Jade was resurrected, and he appeared to be genuinely sad and angry about her death, almost as if he started believing the urges Becquerel gave him. |
| 145 | * PhysicalGod: As of his fourth prototyping. He's the second most powerful character in the comic, and the only one more powerful than him is an immortal demon that consumes universes. |
| 146 | * PickyEater: As shown by the Post-Scratch Human Session version, although implicitly applicable to all versions, Jack will NOT eat fresh produce, only [[RealMenEatMeat meat]]. Justified: as he himself indicates via a display of sharp teeth, he's an obligate carnivore by biology. Or, whatever the Dersite equivalent of biology is. |
| 147 | * RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Once Jade is killed (by his own orders, no less), Bec's influence on him sets him off on one which leads him to kill the Exiles, destroy the Trolls' lands, and destroy a universe. |
| 148 | * ScarfOfAssKicking: After killing Dad and Mom, he took Mom's Scarf. He then promptly pulls it off, realizing it looks stupid. |
| 149 | * ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers: In the Kids' session, his only real restraints are making sure he doesn't destroy everything to the point that he doesn't have anything left ''to'' destroy and Bec's influence stopping him from killing Jade. In the Trolls' session, he has no restraints. |
| 150 | * SealedEvilInADuel: Jack was forced into a stalemate by [[UnstoppableMailman PM]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge hunting him through the Furthest Ring]] for over ''three years'', only stopping periodically to hide from her. They finally ended their stalemate in the Post-scratch session, with PM as the winner. |
| 151 | * SinisterSilhouettes: Becomes synonymous with [[FromBadToWorse everything going straight to hell.]] |
| 152 | * [[invoked]]ThatOneAttack: Red Miles. Strong enough to destroy the entire universe, and more. When they say no one can escape the Miles, they aren't kidding. |
| 153 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: When Spades Slick dies, Jack falls in love with Ms. Paint and takes over the Felt in the (non-canon) Snapchat epilogues. |
| 154 | * TheStarscream: All instances of Skaia have a Jack Noir, who will usually contact the players somehow and help them execute a plan to [[SkippableBoss exile the Black Queen before they have to fight her]]. The Kids' Jack Noir is [[OffTheRails a freak case]] in that getting Liv Tyler/the Robo-Bunny allowed him to go after the Queen without the players' help, thus his ascension to BigBad. |
| 155 | %%* TookALevelInBadass: Before: ObstructiveBureaucrat. After: [[KnightOfCerebus where to]] [[OneManArmy even begin?]] |
| 156 | * TwitchyEye: He gets one [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/5355 when he first meets John and Rose again]] after having killed them two years before. (In John's case, Jack has killed him ''twice''.) |
| 157 | * UnorthodoxSheathing: He keeps his sword impaled in his chest. |
| 158 | * VictoryIsBoring: Shortly after killing John's Dad and Rose's Mom: "God you are so bored." |
| 159 | * VillainousBreakdown: The last two years of pursuit by PM have taken the edge off Jack's OmnicidalManiac tendencies. Now he's just confused and a little freaked out, and really wants to find someplace to hide and catch his breath. |
| 160 | * VillainDecay: ZigZagged. While Jack himself is ''far'' from harmless, because of being constantly pursued by PM, who he is both fearful of and has a crush on, he does not focus his attention on the Sburb players. Instead, he spends 3 whole years simply running away from PM, never posing any threat to anyone until both of them make it to the Post-scratch session. |
| 161 | * VillainousCrush: He develops one towards [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4312 PM]]. However, she's gone caliginous for him instead. |
| 162 | * WhyDontYaJustShootHim: {{Subverted|Trope}} [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/3086 VERY]] [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/3696 HARD]] -- shooting him does very little, since he can simply turn his body into a portal and redirect those bullets into your friends and allies. [[JustifiedTrope Played straight and justified]] when he refuses to kill Jade because of [[LoyalAnimalCompanion Bec's influence on hm.]] |
| 163 | * WorthyOpponent: Seems to think Bro is one, having [[HonorBeforeReason retrieved and returned]] Bro's [[KatanasAreJustBetter katana]] for him. Though after the fourth prototyping, Jack is able to overpower him. |
| 164 | [[/folder]] |
| 165 | |
| 166 | [[folder:Post-Scratch Jack Noir/Jack English]] |
| 167 | [[quoteright:130:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Homestuck_JackNoirAlpha_3242.png]] |
| 168 | |
| 169 | This time, he's taking a slightly more direct approach in fueling the Prospit-Derse war. He is subsequently incarcerated for his actions, until he gets [[BrownNote a little something]] from a clown that makes him [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity re-evaluate]] [[AxCrazy his]] [[OmnicidalManiac situation]]. |
| 170 | ---- |
| 171 | * AscendedExtra: At first, it seemed that this incarnation of Jack would be DemotedToExtra compared to other agents such as the Draconian Dignitary, and for three acts was stuck in prison. However, he suddenly regained relevance when sent a pumpkin containing two knives, a hacksaw, and a certain crowbar and DemonicDummy... |
| 172 | * AnArmAndALeg: He cuts off his chained leg and replaces it with one of the Prospit prison tower's spires, further mimicking Lord English's appearance. |
| 173 | * BloodFromTheMouth: After [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4600 the White Queen beans him with her scepter]], which knocks a few of his teeth loose, [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4601 he's noticeably bleeding from his mouth]]. |
| 174 | * DisappointedInYou: [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4894 After opening a pumpkin from Courtyard Droll]], Jack's eyes adjust slightly to convey his DullSurprise emotion at how CD screwed up. |
| 175 | * TheDragon: To the post-scratch Black Queen, aka the Condesce. |
| 176 | * DemonicPossession: He gets possesed by Lord English. |
| 177 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: He admits that dedicated people deserve a proper funeral. Well, at least as proper as he could make it. |
| 178 | * EyeScream: Caliborn makes him gouge out his own eyes, and then makes him put Cal's eyes in his empty sockets. |
| 179 | * GeniusBruiser: While still being his usual AxCrazy self, he apparently has enough technological skill to rewire his prison cell's Sendificator to transport to a specific new location. He is also, despite hating his job, very good at being a pencil pusher and cutting though red tape. You could even say that he's an expert at cutting things and dealing with miles upon red miles of red tape. |
| 180 | * HijackedByGanon: He gets overtaken by Lil Cal (and, indirectly, Caliborn) before becoming a major opponent in the final battle. |
| 181 | * IncrediblyLamePun: He [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4599 delivers one to DD]] when the latter reports that Roxy, the Rogue of Void, has escaped, and Jack asks if that means that she's gone rogue. DD is not amused. |
| 182 | -->''He says the Prince flew the coop. And the girl's gone... You say gone what. Rogue? [[StunnedSilence After a little while]] he says AWOL. [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor The guy doesn't really take a shining to puns and you can't say you blame him.]]'' |
| 183 | * MythologyGag: He ends up in a ''Webcomic/{{Jailbreak}}'' [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4878 adventure]]. |
| 184 | * OffWithHisHead: He dies after Dave cuts off his head with Caledfwlch, but not before taking Dirk (who gets revived later) and Spades Slick with him, and exploding LOTAK. |
| 185 | * {{There is No Kill Like Overkill}}: He feels that if you kill a guard by stabbing him in the back with seven knives and beat his head into a door eighty-eight times it is the proper amount of violence. Although the eighty-ninth time is where he realizes the overkill. And by overkill, we guess we mean bored. |
| 186 | * SoulJar: Since assisting in Lil' Cal's suicide and replacing his eyes with Cal's, it's implied that he's the newest Soul Jar of Caliborn and Lord English. |
| 187 | * SpectacularSpinning: Not Jack Noir himself, but, [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4600 when the White Queen abushes him]], his sword is sent spinning in midair. |
| 188 | * TapOnTheHead: [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4600 Courtesy of the post-scratch White Queen.]] |
| 189 | * VisualPun: After being knocked out by the White Queen, Jack awakens in a jail cell. [[ChessMotifs He has been captured]]. |
| 190 | * YourHeadAsplode: After Dave cuts off his head, it promptly ''nukes the entire planet he was on''. |
| 191 | [[/folder]] |
| 192 | |
| 193 | [[folder:Cherub Session Jack Noir]] |
| 194 | [[quoteright:130:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jack_noir_dead_session.png]] |
| 195 | |
| 196 | Like post-scratch Jack, he assasinates Prospitians. He strikes a deal with Caliborn to kill Calliope. |
| 197 | ---- |
| 198 | * TheCameo: He appears in about four panels and then has a minor background appearance before being killed off-screen. |
| 199 | * DemotedToExtra: Has only appears in a few panels and, considering the outcome of the Uu session, he's not likely to show up again. |
| 200 | * EveryManHasHisPrice: Caliborn paid him off with candy -- implicitly sweet scotty dogs, which other versions of the character are known to be obsessed with -- to murder Calliope. This is downplayed, however, as Caliborn suspects that Noir would likely have done it anyway. |
| 201 | -->uu: I PAID HIM OFF.\ |
| 202 | uu: WITH CANDY.\ |
| 203 | uu: EVERY MAN HAS HIS PRICE.\ |
| 204 | uu: WHEN IT COMES TO SWEETS.\ |
| 205 | uu: [=ALTHOuGH.=]\ |
| 206 | uu: HE WAS PROBABLY WILLING TO DO IT. EVEN [=WITHOuT=] THE BRIBE. |
| 207 | * PaletteSwap: Unlike previous Jack Noirs, he wears white clothing. |
| 208 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: After Caliborn starts making his works of art, he stops being seen or mentioned, implying that Caliborn killed him. |
| 209 | * YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Caliborn's comment on how it isn't good to leave stray Jack Noirs running around implies he may have disposed of this Jack after offing the Black Queen. |
| 210 | [[/folder]] |
| 211 | |
| 212 | !!Other Dersites |
| 213 | |
| 214 | [[folder:Black Queen]] |
| 215 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/glorious_monarch.gif]] |
| 216 | |
| 217 | The Queen of Derse. She possesses a RingOfPower which changes her form to apply the prototyped aspects of the players' sprites when they enter the Medium. While her husband wages the war on the Battlefield, she's perfectly content to just sit around and harass the shit out of Jack Noir.\ |
| 218 | \ |
| 219 | The trolls' version became the member of the Felt known as Snowman, and her tropes can be found [[Characters/HomestuckTheFelt here]]. The tropes here apply to the pre-Scratch session's iteration, and the final iteration in the post-Scratch session was replaced by a stronger [[Characters/HomestuckTheFeltTwo Queen]], who presumably [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt killed her]].\ |
| 220 | \ |
| 221 | The Cherub session Black Queen served as the second to last boss of the conqueror path. Given what we know about Caliborn's rise to power, she was likely killed offscreen. |
| 222 | ---- |
| 223 | %%* ChessMotifs: As Queen. |
| 224 | * CombatTentacles: The B1 version has these, thanks to Jaspersprite. |
| 225 | * DiscOneFinalBoss: She's usually this for Prospit players, and the Uu session Black Queen is the final boss of the eight ball planet, and the last before the Denizen. |
| 226 | * DualBoss: Becomes this with the Black King in a normal session if she or her ring is not otherwise dealt with before he is engaged on the Battlefield. |
| 227 | * EvilCounterpart: She is, essentially, a color swap of the White Queen in appearance. |
| 228 | * FakeBoss: Initially appears to be a threat for the Kids. Jack Noir beats them to her. |
| 229 | * GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: She nearly kills Jack Noir over a uniform dispute. |
| 230 | * GoodScarsEvilScars: Although she has the exact same scars as the White Queen, since they come from the Harlequin prototyping. |
| 231 | * IHaveManyNames: She has been referred to as the Exalted Ruler, the Glorious Monarch and the Black Queen. |
| 232 | * RingOfPower: The source of her changes from being prototyped. |
| 233 | * MixAndMatchCritters: Arguably. She has a carapace, a feline face, two tentacles and wings, the last three resulting from the kids' prototyping of their sprites. |
| 234 | * OrcusOnHisThrone: The Black Queen doesn't seem to do much besides look [[PerverseSexualLust sexy]] --REGAL! We meant regal, and harass [[TheDragon Jack]]. The King however, commands on the battlefield. |
| 235 | * SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains: Her dress is much more revealing than the White Queen's. |
| 236 | * SkippableBoss: Skaia's preset variables allows the players to skip her in some way, usually through contact and correspondence with Jack Noir. One of the confirmed manners of removing her from the game is in the Troll Session, where after Aradia knowingly prototypes the head of the Frog Temple, this causes the Black Queen to outright ''refuse'' to wear The Ring, because it would give her the physical attributes of the Genesis Frog, which is considered a vile creature by Dersite Society. Her refusal is grounds for her to be exiled, which the Troll's Session's Jack Noir and the Troll Players take advantage of after forming an alliance with each other. |
| 237 | * SupermodelStrut: "[S] Jack: Ascend", has a close-up of her swaying hips as she walks with a strut, illustrating her "regal" status. |
| 238 | * WeHardlyKnewYe: '''Twice''', since she was killed and replaced by Betty Crocker in the post-scratch session. |
| 239 | * WingedHumanoid: The B1 version had these, thanks to Crowsprite. |
| 240 | [[/folder]] |
| 241 | |
| 242 | [[folder: Black King]] |
| 243 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_black_king_0.png]] |
| 244 | |
| 245 | The King of Derse, who wages war against Prospit on the Battlefield at the heart of Skaia. He wields [[RequisiteRoyalRegalia a scepter]] which confers upon him increased size and the prototyped aspects of the players' sprites when they enter the medium. Claiming this scepter is required to end the Reckoning after it starts and to win the game. |
| 246 | ---- |
| 247 | * BigBad: Of Sburb, but [[OffTheRails not of]] ''[[OffTheRails Homestuck]]''. |
| 248 | * ChessMotifs: As the Black King, his defeat marks the heroes' victory in Sburb. |
| 249 | * CombatTentacles: As with all other prototyped monarchs. |
| 250 | * EldritchAbomination: [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/2592 In the Trolls' session. Holy crap.]] |
| 251 | %%* EvilCounterpart: To the White King. |
| 252 | * EvilOverlord: He rules over the army of Derse. |
| 253 | * FinalBoss: In an ordinary session, the Black King is the final enemy fought by the players in order to stop the Reckoning, save Skaia, and win the game, and most of the session before that point is spent reaching him and growing strong enough to beat him. |
| 254 | * LargeAndInCharge: Holding his scepter makes him a giant, and he's pretty tall even without it. |
| 255 | * MagicWand: His scepter transfers prototypings and apparently also must be captured to stop the Reckoning. |
| 256 | * MixAndMatchCritters: He gains every prototyping in a given session. This is especially notable in the Troll session, where he was a mix and match of twelve different creatures. |
| 257 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: His title alone is quite menacing on basic grounds of implying evil. |
| 258 | * OneHitKill: The Black King in the post-Scratch trolls' session apparently inherited Gl'bgolyb's Vast Glub, and thus had to be kept from using it throughout the fight. |
| 259 | * RequisiteRoyalRegalia: As mentioned in Magic Wand, his scepter. |
| 260 | * TimeLimitBoss: If he is not defeated before the Reckoning, the Battlefield is destroyed and Sburb is lost. |
| 261 | * WeHardlyKnewYe: Appears three times: once in the original kids' session when Jack shows up to kill him, once in the troll session in a single image of their boss fight against him, and finally, his death in the post-Scratch session as a non-entity on the unevolved Battefield. |
| 262 | * TheWorfEffect: Appears in all of a single flash solely to show how strong Jack is. |
| 263 | [[/folder]] |
| 264 | |
| 265 | [[folder:Draconian Dignitary]] |
| 266 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/diamond_dignitary.gif]] |
| 267 | |
| 268 | An Agent of Derse, and considerably smarter and calmer than his superior Jack Noir. Best described by Dave as a "pretty cold blooded dude", he actually gets things done without being a raging homicidal maniac by employing stealth and actually thinking things through. He was directly responsible for creating Becquerel (at Vriska's suggestion) and thus contributed to Jack's rise to power. Later, he takes over the day-to-day operations of Derse while Jack is off killing everyone, and his nagging is pretty much the only thing keeping Jack from flipping his shit and completely destroying the Incipisphere. |
| 269 | ---- |
| 270 | * ChekhovsGunman: Parcel Mistress first [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/1532 passes him by]] on the way to Jack Noir's office. Of course, by that time, we already had met Diamonds Droog. |
| 271 | * TheChessmaster: After stealing Rose's code, he creates Becquerel and sends him to Earth as its first Guardian. And by the time Jade plays the game, Bec prototypes himself, giving his superior, Jack, First Guardian powers. We later find that there was a [[ManBehindTheMan Troll Behind the Man]]. |
| 272 | * CorruptBureaucrat: Subversion. DD is actually very dedicated to his job. However, he is [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/3560 maliciously lazy]] when it comes to orders that ''distract'' him from said job. |
| 273 | -->''You hit up the droll. The slayer was right, this guy is clearly incompetent. Still, the only real objective here is to get him to stop breathing down your neck with his awful dog breath.'' |
| 274 | * TheDragon: He's Jack Noir's second-in-command, making him a recursive Dragon to the Black Queen. |
| 275 | * DragonWithAnAgenda: Suggested when he stole Dave's copy of Rose's MEOW book and used it to create Bec, apparently not on Jack's orders and with no obvious connection to Jack's plans. Later more or less subverted when Bec was prototyped, and Vriska revealed that she had conveyed the idea to the Dignitary as part of her own plan to ''empower'' Jack. So DD was still ultimately acting toward Jack's ends, even if not under his direct orders. |
| 276 | * HeroKiller: Early on, Dave finds out that going back in time to stop this guy just leads to dead Daves. |
| 277 | * HypercompetentSidekick: Not that Jack isn't competent, by ''any'' means. Still, DD's taken over the administrative end of things while Jack's been rampaging. |
| 278 | -->''You tell him you're busy with things that actually matter. Like running this kingdom on his behalf and all. Levying taxes, oppressing consorts, all the unpleasant chores he would never dirty his snout with.'' |
| 279 | * OffWithHisHead: His fate at Dave's hands. |
| 280 | * PragmaticVillainy: [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/3559 "There's a narrow line to walk between obeying the orders of a clear superior and blindly facilitating a perfectly useless genocide. It takes a very savvy breed of psychopath to pull it off. "]] |
| 281 | * MeaningfulName: DD = Diamonds Droog |
| 282 | * MoralityChain: Played with. He seems to be on mutual levels of respect with Jack Noir to the point where he's the only person able to keep him from starting mindless genocides, but he's clearly just as much as an antagonist as he is. There's also the fact that the respect mostly comes more out of them tolerating the other at best rather than being completely on par with each other. |
| 283 | * MythologyGag: It's Droog, not the Dignitary, who's been shown reading the newspaper frequently -- it's hard to imagine Derse having any periodicals, as opposed to the rebuilt civilization on Alternia. But mind you, that doesn't stop the Dignitary from fantasizing about [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/3559 WAPping Jack Noir on the head]] with a rolled-up Gazette. Later, we find out that Derse does have newspapers -- mostly propaganda-filled tabloids, though. |
| 284 | * OnlySaneMan: DD is one of ''the most'' grounded characters in ''Homestuck'', and considering [[CastFullOfCrazy the characters Homestuck has]], that is saying a hell of a lot. |
| 285 | * TheStoic: All iterations of DD are all completely calm, unemotive, and level-headed, never giving into violent impulses or bloodshed. In fact, the only time that DD has ever been seen to make a different facial expression is when Aradia beats Vriska to near-death, giving a [[PsychoticSmirk smirk of approval]]. |
| 286 | * UnusualEars: Forced to wear fake cat ears after Rose prototyped her kernelsprite with Jaspers. He ditches them after Jack takes over Derse. |
| 287 | |
| 288 | !!! Post-Scratch Draconian Dignitary |
| 289 | * AwesomenessByAnalysis: He coolly convinces the Condesce to lend him extra firepower, even lighting her a smoke [[AchievementsInIgnorance even though she wasn't smoking in the first place.]] He's just that good. |
| 290 | * BrilliantButLazy: Manages to convince the Condense to give him the Queen's Ring and uses it efficiently. You'd wonder why he doesn't go and mess with the kids more, until you remember he's much more interested in making Derse fashionable and [[https://78.media.tumblr.com/8b77ae089dc276f4006eb7e0b64c08f5/tumblr_inline_o4cuypYNB51qh3bq9_540.png neglecting paperwork.]] |
| 291 | * CorruptBureaucrat: Building off his pre-scratch version, he thinks paperwork is undignified, and he's more than happy to let stuff keep piling up on Jack's desk while waiting for him to be sprung from prison. Or arrange with Prospit to have said paperwork shipped to his cell. |
| 292 | * TheDragon: With Jack in Prospit, he instead directly answers to the Condesce. |
| 293 | * DragonWithAnAgenda: Just like his boss, he's pretty ambitious. Unlike his boss, he prefers to take things more slowly and subtly. |
| 294 | -->''See, you tell the boss this is his problem. He's too blunt about his ambitions. Don't get you wrong. It's all well and good for a man to keep his eyes on the prize. But he doesn't always need to step over a thousand corpses and swim across rivers of blood to get there. You remind him there are slicker ways to make your moves, especially when it comes to a lady.'' |
| 295 | * HeroKiller: [[NoNonsenseNemesis Uses the Red Miles]] to [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice murder]] Jane. |
| 296 | * InvisibilityCloak: In addition to the standard RED MILES power, a void session's ring confers this unique ability. But DD doesn't think much of this "dimestore parlor trickery" and doubts he'll ever use it in the future |
| 297 | * JiveTurkey: 30's and 50's slang comes up a bit when the narrator focuses on him in Act 6. |
| 298 | * MenacingStroll: Does this during [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4572 Prince of Heart: Rise Up]], where he calmly walks into the town square to see HB's impaled head. |
| 299 | * NoNonsenseNemesis: When given the chance to use the Black Queen's ring, he uses Red Miles immediately, as Dirk could be anywhere on Derse, as well as having his four Fenestrated Walls destroyed. |
| 300 | * NoSenseOfHumor: Seemingly, but his sense of humor is just very dry and understated. |
| 301 | * ShipTease: In "[S] DD: Ascend More Casually", he gets ship teased a bit with [[UnholyMatrimony the Condesce]] of all people, with her (and her AlternateSelf Meenah) appearing almost everytime the word "wife" is uttered and whilst he's looking at his ''Grey'' Ladies PornStash. He's also shown to be fairly loyal to the Condesce, and respects her more than most other characters do. |
| 302 | * SmokingIsCool: He certaintly loves to smoke while reading The Gray Ladies. |
| 303 | * TheSocialExpert: Unless the Condesce happens to have a particular affinity for him, he definitely qualifies for this: he not only knew exactly how to convince her to lease Dronegorg for his purposes, but even managed to persuade her to ''lend or give him her queenly ring.'' While the Condesce is well-supplied with offensive resources of her own, the RED MILES are a sufficiently devastating weapon that it's hard to imagine she would have given the ring away purely on a whim. |
| 304 | * TransformationSequence: Subverted. Putting on the prototype ring with no prototypes causes DD to undergo a dramatic transformation sequence to change into...himself. Just as well; gaining power through transformations isn't really his style. |
| 305 | * VillainousFashionSense: Dronegorg may be an almighty engine of destruction, but you won't find DD at the helm: [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4937 It's a bad look for him. No style at all.]] In fact, the main reason he keeps Mr. Crocker in such a luxurious prison is because he admires his fashion sense, making it the new dress code of Derse. He loves it so much, that anyone that breaks it is ''[[DisproportionateRetribution executed]]''. His obsession even freaks the Condesce out. |
| 306 | * VillainRespect: Toward Jane's Dad, to such an extent that DD has insisted on putting him up in a LuxuryPrisonSuite and has stressed that he is not to be harmed by the prison guards. The kicker, though, is that DD hasn't taken a shine to Dad on account of any noble traits in his character... but simply due to his impeccable [[PermaShave grooming]] and [[SharpDressedMan fashion sense]]. |
| 307 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: He isn't seen or mentioned during the buildup to Collide or afterward. The last we'd heard from him, the Condesce had demanded he return her ring, but since she doesn't seem to be wearing it during her final stand, it's not even clear whether she had time to collect it from him. |
| 308 | * WickedCultured: Why rush into your villainous plans when you can spend a little time being really classy first? |
| 309 | -->''Sure, you're going to put this ring on. But when you're good and goddamn ready. Maybe do a little reading first, have another smoke. Finish your coffee. Listen to some REAL music.'' |
| 310 | [[/folder]] |
| 311 | |
| 312 | [[folder:Courtyard Droll]] |
| 313 | [[quoteright:242:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/courtyard_droll.png]] |
| 314 | |
| 315 | An Agent of Derse, in the service of Jack Noir. He tries to do important tasks involving stealth and theft, but he's [[MinionWithAnFInevil not really all that good at what he does]]. |
| 316 | %% READ THIS: No tropes for the post-scratch Session's CD go here. |
| 317 | ---- |
| 318 | * AttentionDeficitOohShiny: [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/3668 You are so impressed, you forget what you are supposed to be doing.]] |
| 319 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Very much so. He acts more like a child than a trained agent of Derse, and seems to get involved with John for a bit, even though he was tasked with getting the Tumor from him. |
| 320 | * CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: He may have no idea what he's doing most of the time, but he managed to successfully kill Jade with a [[ChekhovsGun shaving cream]] bomb. Too bad that [[OhCrap a loyal Jack Noir was sitting nearby]]. |
| 321 | ** Additionally, he managed to infiltrate John's group, recognized the importance of the tumor, and successfully stole it, nearly derailing the hero's plans and dooming everyone. (Fortunately, the bunny manages to steal it back, but the Courtyard Droll comes extremely close to dooming everyone.) |
| 322 | ** His post-scratch version was also the only one to actually succeed at killing his target; even ''Jack'' failed, but somehow the Courtyard Droll succeeded. |
| 323 | * TheDitz: He is incredibly air-headed, easily getting distracted from important tasks to focus his attention on unimportant things. [[BewareTheSillyOnes This doesn't make him any less dangerous however]]. |
| 324 | * HappyDance: Sort of adorable and disturbing at the same time, given that he starts it up just after killing Jade. |
| 325 | * HighlyVisibleNinja: [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/1784 "You have unwittingly been tailed by the nefarious COURTYARD DROLL".]] How do you get unwittingly tailed by ''him''? It helps that he can FlashStep [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/1785 out of the way when someone turns around]]. |
| 326 | * LetsGetDangerous: If in the most cloudcuckoolandish way possible. |
| 327 | * MadBomber: Explicitly called Derse's top powdermonkey in the post-scratch session, and he's made dangerously goofy use of explosives in the pre-scratch session and as Clubs Deuce too. A sort of subversion because [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} even though he's certainly out of touch with reality]], he's not crazy about explosions. |
| 328 | * MeaningfulName: CD = Clubs Deuce. |
| 329 | * MinionWithAnFInEvil: John just [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/3678 created and equipped]] the full-sized [[InfinityPlusOneSword Warhammer of]] [[Webcomic/ProblemSleuth Zillyhoo]]. Had either been there, Jack's or DD's reaction would probably have been to slit John's throat before he could figure out what exactly makes this such a special weapon. But CD's reaction? ''High five.'' |
| 330 | ** To be fair, even if he did just slit John's throat, John would have revived again. Getting surprise-killed for no reason isn't going to take out a God Tier player. |
| 331 | ** In his only on-panel fight, he's [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/1790 completely trashed by an unarmed girl]]. With [[UnsoundEffect ADDITIONAL PUMMELING!]] |
| 332 | ** When he actually ''does'' get something vaguely evil done by killing Jade? All he seems to be thinking is that he's incredibly happy to have just done something right and helped out his superiors... and he ''dances'' with glee at that thought. It's actually kind of adorable. |
| 333 | * NotNowKiddo: [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/3960 Here]], he tries to tell Jack that he's nearly succeeded at stealing both the White Queen's ring and the Tumor, both of which are easily within his reach at that point and either one of which would have dramatically wrecked the heroes' plans if he'd obtained them. Jack completely brushes him off. |
| 334 | * NotSoHarmless: Although he's buffoonish and even the people on his own side dismiss him as ineffective, he actually manages to kill one of the kids in both pre- and post-scratch incarnations; for Jade, he actually pulls off a decent IndyPloy by stealing the shaving cream to use as an improvised bomb, while he kills Jake's dream-self by carefully reading his file and noticing his allergy to peanuts. This extends to his Midnight Crew version, which manages to kill two of the Felt by using one as an explosive trap for the other. |
| 335 | * ParasolParachute: Towards the close of Act 5, when airdropping a large shaving cream-based bomb on Jade's house, he hops off the bomb before it lands and parachutes the rest of the way down with an umbrella. |
| 336 | * PetTheDog: He befriends none other than [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/3561 the Cyborg Bunny]] on the kids' battlefield. D'awwwww, ''CD''! He later gives her his iconic clubs patch to use as an eyepatch after WV eats her green eye. |
| 337 | * RummageSaleReject: He actually likes wearing his silly outfit, much to the confusion of Draconian Dignitary. |
| 338 | * ShrinkingViolet: |
| 339 | -->''The dignitary is one of your superiors who makes you nervous. The list of superiors who make you nervous in fact includes all of your superiors. It includes many of your inferiors as well.'' |
| 340 | |
| 341 | !!! Post-Scratch Courtyard Droll |
| 342 | [[quoteright:173:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/courtyard_droll_b2.png]] |
| 343 | |
| 344 | The post-scratch session's iteration of Derse agent Courtyard Droll. Like Jack, he's also taking a more direct approach, although with reservations. |
| 345 | ---- |
| 346 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: He isn't sure killing the heroes before the war begins is a good idea. Despite this, he still goes through with killing Jake's dreamself by feeding him peanuts. |
| 347 | * HighlyVisibleNinja: Much like his pre-scratch counterpart, he seems to be able to sneak around no matter how ridiculous he looks. He infiltrated Prospit and set up bombs throughout Jane's tower while wearing '''[[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4403 this]]'''. |
| 348 | * MythologyGag: His "you're welcome" embosser is based on a [[http://mspandrew.tumblr.com/post/22208186938/softowl-ipgd-softowl-derples-a-little real embosser that Hussie made]] of the infamous memetic picture of him. |
| 349 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Like the Dignitary, he's vanished entirely by the end of the story, with no reason ever being given for his dissapearence. |
| 350 | [[/folder]] |
| 351 | |
| 352 | [[folder:Hegemonic Brute]] |
| 353 | [[quoteright:198:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hegemonic_brute_8.png]] |
| 354 | |
| 355 | An Agent of Derse, reportedly one of the largest and strongest Agents the kingdom has.\ |
| 356 | \ |
| 357 | The trolls' iteration went on to become Hearts Boxcars. In the kids' universe, both the pre-Scratch and post-Scratch iterations are [[DemotedToExtra unceremoniously killed off]]. |
| 358 | ---- |
| 359 | * TheBrute: He's only really used for his sheer strength. |
| 360 | * BrutishCharacterBrutishWeapon: Hegemonic Brute is a towering brute notable more for his inhuman strength than for any particularly cleverness, and serves as Derse's muscle in missions requiring the application of liberal amounts of brute force. Fittingly, he's mainly seen using battle-axes as weapons. |
| 361 | * ButtMonkey: In both the pre- and post-Scratch sessions, he's the first of the four agents to die. Hell, post-Scratch HB dies three panels after his debut. |
| 362 | * ChekhovsGunman: He's the [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/957 safe-wielding minion]] summoned by Jack to put an end to Mr. Egbert's jailbreak. |
| 363 | * DemotedToExtra: The spirit of this trope is in play, even though it affects three versions of the same character within one story rather than across adaptations. All three supporting Midnight Crew members received roughly equal portions of screen time and characterization in the intermission. However... |
| 364 | ** The pre-scratch Hegemonic Brute ended up as nothing more than a flat GiantMook whose sole narrative purpose was to be subjected to TheWorfEffect on two occasions, the second of them fatal. |
| 365 | ** The post-scratch Brute got hit even harder, dying in his first scene; [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4545 Dirk even lampshades it]]. |
| 366 | * {{Irony}}: During the Intermission, Hearts Boxcars beheaded Eggs. After Descend, Hegemonic Brute is beheaded by Parcel Mistress and again in Act 6 by Dirk when he attempts to use an AXE TO GRIND. |
| 367 | * MeaningfulName: HB = Hearts Boxcars. His name also reflects his role as the court's thug. |
| 368 | * OffWithHisHead: PM beheads his pre-Scratch self. |
| 369 | * SmashMook: Not to the point of defeating Dad, though. |
| 370 | * SuperStrength: Given the size of the safe he happens to be carrying during his first appearance, it's a pretty safe bet that he has this. |
| 371 | * WeHardlyKnewYe: Has no dialogue or real focus before being killed mid-way through Act 4. |
| 372 | * TheWorfEffect: Across all versions. Sure, he's the most physically imposing, but name a fight that he's actually won. Even his Midnight Crew counterpart only killed one enemy after SS ended the fight for him. |
| 373 | |
| 374 | !!!Post-Scratch Hegemonic Brute |
| 375 | [[quoteright:247:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hearts_brute.png]] |
| 376 | |
| 377 | The Hegemonic Brute of the B2 session is sent to assassinate Dirk when the Dersites start offing the kids' dream selves early. Unfortunately for him, he isn't aware that Dirk is already awake and is swiftly counter-assassinated. |
| 378 | ---- |
| 379 | * DecapitationPresentation: After killing him, Dirk parades his head around on a spear while inciting an uprising on Derse. |
| 380 | * OffWithHisHead: When he goes to assassinate Dirk's dreamself, Dirk slashes off his head instead. |
| 381 | * WeHardlyKnewYe: He gets killed off a few panels after his introduction. |
| 382 | [[/folder]] |
| 383 | |
| 384 | !!Prospit |
| 385 | |
| 386 | [[folder:White Queen]] |
| 387 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/prototyped_queen.gif]] |
| 388 | |
| 389 | The Queen of Prospit. She possesses a RingOfPower which changes her form to apply the prototyped aspects of the players' sprites when they enter the Medium. She's always a long-term planner, willing to concede defeat or sacrifice herself for the long-term goal. The kids' version abdicates the throne in order to aid PM's quest to deliver Jade's package.\ |
| 390 | \ |
| 391 | For tropes pertaining to her after her exile, see Characters/HomestuckExiles. |
| 392 | ---- |
| 393 | * AbdicateTheThrone: She does this and sets things up for PM to become the new queen in her stead. |
| 394 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: She's very kind-hearted and gentle towards others, but Post-Scratch Jack Noir learned [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4600 the hard way]] that she's not at all hesitant about laying the smack-down on someone if they threaten her allies. |
| 395 | * ChessMotifs: As Queen, she generally is more active than the King and has a greater role in fighting the Dersite army. |
| 396 | * CombatTentacles: The B1 version has these, thanks to Jaspersprite. |
| 397 | * TheHighQueen: It even reflects itself in her text, which is overly flowery and elegant. |
| 398 | * IHaveManyNames: White Queen, Adored Sovereign, and Windswept Questant. |
| 399 | * MixAndMatchCritters: With the cat-features and tentacles, she could be considered this. |
| 400 | * SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains: Her outfit is more modest than the Black Queen's. |
| 401 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Her iteration in the Troll Session is never mentioned, which is odd considering the pre-scratch kids' iteration was full of schemes. |
| 402 | %% The blue team didn't get rid of the royalty. In fact all evidence leads to the conclusion that the Blue team was too incoherent with infighting and romance that they really didn't do much as a team. |
| 403 | |
| 404 | !!! Post-Scratch White Queen |
| 405 | [[quoteright:229:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/white_queen_post_scratch.png]] |
| 406 | |
| 407 | Post-scratch Prospit's queen, who was rather unimpressed to find Jack trying to murder Jane again. |
| 408 | %% The White King's scepter is unknown as of yet; but technically the White King doesn't exist yet (still being a chess piece) as the Battlefield hasn't been prototyped or doesn't exist entirely. Either way, it's impossible to say what it means for her to have the White Scepter. |
| 409 | ---- |
| 410 | * CarryABigStick: WQ reminds us that a StaffOfAuthority is still a ''weapon'' when she knocks out Jack by beating upside the head with it. |
| 411 | * DynamicEntry: [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4600 She debuts]] by storming in and beating Jack senseless just as he's about to kill Jane's dreamself. |
| 412 | * RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: An enemy agent trying to assasinate the Maid of Life? You can call the guards... or you can give him a taste of your royal sceptre. |
| 413 | [[/folder]] |
| 414 | |
| 415 | [[folder: White King]] |
| 416 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2016_08_01_at_22520_pm.png]] |
| 417 | |
| 418 | The King of Prospit, who wages war against Derse on the Battlefield at the heart of Skaia. He wields [[RequisiteRoyalRegalia a scepter]] which confers upon him increased size and the prototyped aspects of the players' sprites when they enter the medium; the army of Derse seeks this scepter and, when captured, will use it to start the Reckoning, leaving the players just twenty-four hours to defeat the Black King, stop the Reckoning and win the game. The version from the kids' session later hides inside the time capsule in the Frog Temple to survive and become the Writ Keeper on the future Earth. %%Tropes here should apply solely to any White King, while the Exile page should apply to the kids' version |
| 419 | ---- |
| 420 | * AbdicateTheThrone: In the face of inevitable defeat, the King surrenders his crown so PM can receive the Bunny from Jack. |
| 421 | * BigGood: In most sessions, he's meant to serve as a major force of good on the players' side and as the main check on Derse's military powers. |
| 422 | * ChessMotifs: As the King, he's less mobile than the Queen, and his defeat marks the defeat of Prospit. |
| 423 | * CombatTentacles: As a part of his prototyping, he gains a long pair of tentacles.. |
| 424 | * FailureIsTheOnlyOption: He is destined to eventually lose the war on the Battlefield and lose his scepter. It just happened much faster than usual in the kids' session. |
| 425 | * GentleGiant: A side effect of holding his scepter. |
| 426 | * LargeAndInCharge: Holding his scepter makes him a giant, and he's pretty tall even without it. |
| 427 | * MagicWand: His scepter can summon meteors to begin the destruction of Skaia. Given that White is destined to lose, said powers are activated near endgame and leave [[TimedMission twenty-four hours]] for the players to prevent the destruction of Skaia. |
| 428 | * MixAndMatchCritters: Lost after his scepter is captured. |
| 429 | * OffWithHisHead: Shortly after reuniting with his Queen, Jack decapitates him. |
| 430 | * RequisiteRoyalRegalia: His crown and scepter. He notably loses just before he abdicates. |
| 431 | * WeHardlyKnewYe: All three known incarnations. Killed immediately upon arriving in exile from the kids' session. Unseen completely in the trolls' session. Killed as a (hopefully) non-sentient chess piece on the unevolved Battlefield in the post-Scratch kids' session. He never had a line. |
| 432 | [[/folder]] |
| 433 | |
| 434 | ---- |
| 435 | [[Characters/{{Homestuck}} > Go Back]]\ |
| 436 | [[Webcomic/{{Homestuck}} > Return to main page]] |
| 437 | ---- |
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