| 1 | %% Please refrain from base speculation. These are popular targets for WMG, but keep it canon for now. |
| 2 | %% Use of brackets [=like this=] can be used to stop text from red linking, and is necessary for some of Caliborn's text. |
| 3 | |
| 4 | !![[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]]); '''Cherubs'''-]]][[center: [-'''Supporting Cast:''' [[Characters/HomestuckGuardians Guardians & Ancestors]]; [[Characters/HomestuckSprites Sprites]]; [[Characters/HomestuckExiles Exiles & the Midnight Crew]]; [[Characters/HomestuckAgentsAndMonarchs 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]])-]]] |
| 5 | |
| 6 | A child with two [[SplitPersonality personalities]] sharing the same body. The two personalities are playing a game of Sburb, in a supposed two-player session between both of them. Though initially hinted to be trolls, the child belongs to a new race entirely, the Cherubim. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 9 | |
| 10 | [[folder:Cherub species in general]] |
| 11 | * AlienBlood: Cherub blood is either bright red or bright lime green. Only one of these is natural to humans, and both would be considered mutations among trolls. |
| 12 | * BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: Adult cherubim serve as a powerful cosmic force for this trope, helping to promote the growth of civilizations within a universe and thus allowing a universe to reproduce via Sburb. |
| 13 | * BizarreAlienBiology: |
| 14 | ** Cherubim have coloured blood like trolls but are distinctly different from trolls, sharing two personas (one "good" and one "evil") in the same body until maturation, at which point one becomes "predominant" over the other. Until that time, one is active while the other sleeps, and their blood, eye, and facial marking colours switch when their personalities do. Upon predomination, a cherub develops wings and claims a huge swath of interstellar territory, fueled by the death of the star that incubated their egg for millennia. |
| 15 | ** Their reproduction is entirely by kismesissitude, driven by their attraction to and loathing of cherubim of the opposite gender and moral alignment. Mates find a black hole with a dying star and duel in the form of titanic, nigh-immortal serpents until one dominates. The loser is fertilized and loses its territory. If the male is fertilized, the alignment & gender pairing of the parents is copied in the two personalities of the child; if the female is, it flips. Other than that, biological gender is cosmetic. [[ParentalAbandonment Children grow up wholly alone]] except for their hated other personality, leading good cherubim to become [[MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold benevolent loners]] and evil cherubim to become cruel tyrants. Eventually, the loneliness of losing their other self drives them to seek out a cherub like their other half and repeat the cycle again. |
| 16 | * BizarreAlienReproduction: When two cherubim of opposite sexes and moral alignments meet, they head towards a black hole, transform into immense serpents one astronomical unit in length (that being the distance from the earth to the sun), and start viciously fighting each other. The loser, assuming they survive, is impregnated regardless of sex and limps off to find a dead world around a dying star, while the winner takes over their territory. The loser then lays and abandons an egg from which a wormlike larval cherub hatches, which eats the egg and becomes a wingless humanoid child with two personalities, one good and one evil. Eventually, in the normal course of things, one personality quashes the other, matures into a winged adult, and flies off into the cosmos. |
| 17 | * EarlyPersonalitySigns: A cherub's dual personalities are determined at birth, with one being good and the other being evil. When we first see them as babies, Calliope is smiling happily and resting her head on Gamzee's shoulder, while Caliborn is frowning and angrily biting him. |
| 18 | * GoodWingsEvilWings: The only good adult cherub seen in the comic has white feathered wings, while the evil adult male has black ones. |
| 19 | * TheGreatSerpent: Cherubim turn into serpents with a length of one astronomical unit (149,597,871 km, the distance between the Sun and the Earth) when they mate. |
| 20 | * MessianicArchetype: Aranea states that cherub siblings and parents tend to be pairs of this and SatanicArchetype, one being pure good and the other being pure evil. As per tradition with these tropes, it's implied that this extends to their affects on others; Calliope's positive personality, for example, is hinted to have brought out the best in Gamzee, whereas Caliborn's influence only serves to corrupt him further. |
| 21 | * OurAngelsAreDifferent: Cherubim are incredibly solitary creatures, their only form of romance is BelligerentSexualTension, and they look like Lord English (with white or black wings if they mature normally). |
| 22 | * PhysicalGod: Mature cherubs are immensely powerful beings, and capable [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/5965 of shattering planets]]. |
| 23 | * ScaledUp: Cherubim turn into astronomically giant serpents when mating. As in around 150,000,000 km in length. |
| 24 | * ShoutOut: |
| 25 | ** [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/5972 The cherub parents' final pose at the end of their mating duel]] is one to AURYN, the snake amulet from ''Film/TheNeverendingStory''. |
| 26 | ** Their species' desire for their lost "other halves" being the motivating force behind their sexuality is reminiscent of Aristophanes' speech in Plato's ''Literature/{{Symposium}}'' (possibly more familiar as "The Origin of Love" from ''Theatre/HedwigAndTheAngryInch''.) |
| 27 | * SiblingYinYang: By nature, all cherubim are born with two personalities -- one empathetic, loving and benevolent and the other vicious, violent and cruel. |
| 28 | [[/folder]] |
| 29 | |
| 30 | [[folder:Both of Them]] |
| 31 | * AfterTheEnd: Their world is so old that their sun is now a red supergiant that's ready to collapse any day now, and its original native inhabitants are all dead. It's also covered in pixelated Statues of Liberty[=/=]{{Shout Out}}s to ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'', and the pair live in decaying buildings on the Troll's meteor, which has since hit Post-Scratch Earth, which was relocated from the dying B Universe to another sun. |
| 32 | * AlternateUniverse: Thanks to [[TimeyWimeyBall WEIRD TIME SHIT]], this lets them treat the events of the A1, A2, B1, B2 chain of universes as ancient history[=/=]legend and as events taking place at the same time, though evidence shows that they actually are not as separate as Calliope believes. They in fact live on the Troll Meteor which has hit a version of planet Earth, which was removed from orbit around our sun and placed in orbit around theirs, according to Hussie's AuthorAvatar. |
| 33 | * AmbiguousGender: |
| 34 | ** Cherubim seemingly don't even have gender in the same way humans do, but both personalities have opposite identified genders. In fact, there's no way other than eye, cheek swirl, and blood color to tell them apart before maturation. |
| 35 | ** Mature cherubim avert this trope appearance-wise, but their body appears to be [[NoBiologicalSex sexless]] or {{Hermaphrodit|e}}ic, as males can lay the egg if they lose to females in their mating ritual duel. |
| 36 | * AnimalMotifs: Both are loosely associated with snakes. |
| 37 | * BagOfSharing: |
| 38 | ** Subverted. Their shared modus is JUJU. Putting something in it sends it to the other's Sylladex. In their hands, it's as impractical as you can get -- they hate each other, so it gets used as a communal garbage dump. Nevertheless, it resembles the key mechanic in bughouse chess, a variant played by two pairs of players where captured pieces on one board are passed to the teammate on the other board, reinforcing the story's ChessMotif. |
| 39 | ** Averted once Caliborn gained complete control of his body. It loses the BagOfSharing and... allows him to just retrieve items without any bullshit. |
| 40 | * BrotherSisterIncest: Because of how their species works, when one child dominates the SplitPersonalityMerge they will come to long for the half they lost. They will then seek a mate similar to that half in order to mate with them in their MasochismTango. |
| 41 | %%* DarkerAndEdgier: Caliborn is a dark version of Karkat while Calliope is a LighterAndSofter version of him, both literally and figuratively since their chat colors are lighter and darker shades of grey than Karkat's respectively.%%How? |
| 42 | * EvilCounterpart: Caliborn is this to the trolls. He's actively mean and malicious where they're ornery or pranksters at their worst, and his communication program indicates this: he's not trolling, he's jeering, and he's looking forward to the chance to kill Calliope when the game starts. |
| 43 | * FauxSymbolism: In-universe, they've been associated with the symbols associated with Karkat, as well showcasing exaggerated aspects of his personality. Together, Calliope and Caliborn's text colors (#929292 and #323232) average together to be Karkat's (#626262). Their symbols contain candy red for Caliborn and lime green for Calliope, which are Karkat's blood color and where his blood color ''would'' be in the order the trolls are listed in, if he had a normal blood color (ie, between Sollux's mustard and Nepeta's forest green), in addition to lighter and darker shades of grey. These colors are their blood colors as well. |
| 44 | * FromBadToWorse. So much worse. At the very least, ''an entire planet and a player'' were prototyped -- or worse -- when the sprites of both players were released at once, collapsing into a black hole. |
| 45 | * GoodCounterpart: Although they weren't exactly evil, Calliope is a kind counterpart to the trolls. Even her communication program indicates this: she's not trolling, she's cheering! |
| 46 | * HarderThanHard: Caliborn's session isn't a null or void session, but a ''dead'' session, which is what happens when you try to do a one player session: the Kernel becomes a black hole, sucking the planet in, and the game will never produce an universe even with outside help. It can only be won in a different sense. Just to truly enter his land and actually start the game for real could take ''years''. |
| 47 | %%* JekyllAndHyde: With Calliope as the "Jekyll" and Caliborn as the "Hyde". |
| 48 | * LastOfHisKind: Initially assumed, since they were the only living thing on their world aside from Gamzee. However, with some exposition on how cherub reproduction works, it turns out it's perfectly normal for a cherub child to be the only living thing on a given planet. Their species is space-borne, and tends toward extreme isolation. While they are the only cherubim seen in the comic (flashbacks/exposition notwithstanding), it's made pretty clear there are plenty of others around. They just aren't relevant. |
| 49 | * LikeFatherLikeSon: When a male cherub gives birth, the child is born with the same alignment as the parent with the same sex. Opposite from the females, where the alignments are flipped. This is why Caliborn is like his father and Calliope her mother. |
| 50 | * MenActWomenAre: Their classes, Lord and Muse, are the two most Active and Passive classes in Sburb -- at least within a typical session. |
| 51 | * MetaGuy: Calliope is a reference to [=MSPA=]'s fandom, while Caliborn is a reference to its anti-fandom. They lampshade a lot of things, including Calliope's own exposition and the colors of the pesterlogs. |
| 52 | * OffTheRails: What little that has been seen of their session is ''incredibly'' bizarre and doesn't correspond to any other session: Dersites wear white while Prospitians wear black, and Skaia has clouded over and become stormy. According to Aranea, cherubim were never meant to play SBURB themselves, and nobody is meant to go through a session solo anyway, so Caliborn's attempt is extremely nonstandard and glitched. |
| 53 | * OverlyLongTongue: A post-canon snapchat update shows Calliope eating steak, her tongue wrapped around a large piece. |
| 54 | * SiblingYinYang: |
| 55 | ** Calliope is kind and "cheers"; her brother threatens and "jeers". One is a huge fangirl of the game and the human players; the other professes to hate it all. Their typing quirks are a mirror of each other--[=all lower case bUt U's or ALL uPPER CASE BuT u's=], and their SBURB classes are the most extreme opposites in terms of the active/passive split. Calliope is a fantastic artist while Caliborn can't even draw a circle. |
| 56 | ** This even extends to their (alleged) blood colors and the FantasticRacism attached to it: she's lime green, while he's cherry red. Also Calliope's tongue is white, while Caliborn's is black, probably the most blatant Yin-Yang reference. |
| 57 | ** To both confuse and reinforce the trope, Calliope considers Caliborn a brother, but Caliborn thinks that human concept is insulting and refuses to consider Calliope his sister, although he does state (via narration): |
| 58 | --->You love having a dead sister. Having a dead sister is an experience you would highly recommend to everybody. |
| 59 | * SkullForAHead: See the pictures below. |
| 60 | * SmartPeoplePlayChess: Subverted. Calliope is pretty smart, but Caliborn is BookDumb and usually gets beaten by her... until he does something underhanded and cunning. |
| 61 | * SplitPersonality: The two are sharing the same body, and calling out one's name causes the other to "wake up". Like a living example of an [[Webcomic/ProblemSleuth innocuous double]]. |
| 62 | ** LiteralSplitPersonality: However, they do have separate dreamselves. |
| 63 | ** SplitPersonalityMerge: It's hinted at that this is the natural course of maturation for cherubim, and by killing Calliope Caliborn will be unable to grow up psychologically. |
| 64 | ** SplitPersonalityTakeover: Caliborn takes complete control once their Sburb session begins, symbolized by the spirals on his cheeks becoming solid red circles. Aranea believes that restoring Calliope is the key to defeating Lord English. |
| 65 | * StealthPun: There are two [=UUs=], or two double u's, i.e.: WW. |
| 66 | ** Calliope is the fandom avatar, Caliborn is the anti-fandom avatar. In other words, [[IncrediblyLamePun they're u]]! |
| 67 | ** Caliborn's terrible drawings are seemingly actually done in MS Paint, making them the first since the first panel of ''Jailbreak''. |
| 68 | * StrongFamilyResemblance: They look very much like smaller versions of Lord English. |
| 69 | ** FamilyEyeResemblance: And they have the 'juju' Lil Cal's eyes. |
| 70 | * SuperpowerLottery: Both cherubim are stated to have the two most powerful classes in Sburb. Calliope is the most passive class, the Muse of Space and Caliborn is the most active class, the Lord of Time. They also both naturally have abnormal abilities, according to Calliope. |
| 71 | * ThemeNaming: All of the other handles have initials that correspond to the base patterns of DNA (except John when he changed his handle). Their shared initials come from uracil, a base pattern in ''RNA'' (which replaces thymine). Both of them have the word "Umbra" in their names, which is used to refer to the deepest and closest shadows cast by celestial bodies, which may also tie into the fact that they consider the human sessions to be mythological, as historically, celestial bodies were considered gods. |
| 72 | * TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Subverted. Calliope is introduced with visible eyelashes. However, because of the fact that they share a body, her brother ''also'' has the eyelashes. |
| 73 | * ThisIsMySide: Calliope is chained so she can't reach her brother's side of the room. Before she goes to sleep, she makes sure to fasten the chain that prevents him from reaching ''her'' side of the room. The area both chains reach just contains the exit and sarswapagus. |
| 74 | * UnintentionallyUnwinnable: Because Caliborn killed Calliope's dream self, the session is considered one-player, and is therefore a "dead session" -- one that is impossible to win, and intended more to be a punishment for someone who tries to go through the game alone than anything else. |
| 75 | * VerbalTic: They both have a tendency to repeat things [[ArcNumber eleven times]], similar to Vriska's eight-based tic. |
| 76 | * WalkingSpoiler: Several bits of information crucial to understanding these characters are tied to huge spoilers: the fact that neither of them are trolls (in spite of what the story suggests up until that point), the fact that they share the same body, the fact that Gamzee raised them for a time, and the fact that they look like young versions of Lord English (and one of them outright ''is'' a young version of Lord English). The last one is so surprising that Andrew Hussie released fake pictures of Calliope's appearance shortly before TheReveal. |
| 77 | * WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: |
| 78 | ** Calliope expresses disappointment that she cannot have flushed feelings, which is a trait common to their entire species. [[BelligerentSexualTension Kismesissitude]] is the only form of romance that cherubim know. |
| 79 | ** Her brother is just as fascinated with platonic redrom but purely from the perspective of it being depraved and sick, like someone who views {{Shock Site}}s for fun. |
| 80 | * WildMassGuessing: |
| 81 | ** They inspired a lot of it. A ''lot'' of it, so much so that a hefty portion of the Jossed section are disproven theories on Calliope's identity. Once their true identities were revealed, even '''more''' speculation came around. |
| 82 | ** As well as prompting it, [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/5109 Calliope engages in it]]. |
| 83 | [[/folder]] |
| 84 | |
| 85 | [[folder:Calliope]] |
| 86 | [[quoteright:124:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Calliope_9996.png]] |
| 87 | [[caption-width-right:165:[[labelnote:Her trollsona]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/callie_ohpeee.png[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 88 | |
| 89 | A kindhearted Cherub who cheers Jane and her friends on in their quest. She is beginning her own session with her brother, and is fascinated with the four human and troll sessions. |
| 90 | |
| 91 | Her Strife Specifus is set to [[MagicWand WANDKIND]], which has an object duality to PISTOLKIND. Her Juju is/was a green Lollipop. |
| 92 | |
| 93 | She is the '''Muse of Space''' of her session. Her chumhandle is uranianUmbra. |
| 94 | |
| 95 | ->@@she commUnicates Using lower case except for the letter U@@ |
| 96 | ->@@Uses stUpid-looking emoticons ^u^ <and emotes!>@@ |
| 97 | ->@@and Uses faUx british phrases sometimes too love@@ |
| 98 | ->@@as alternate calliope she types with no caps at all in a deadpan manner, and types in her brother's blood color.@@ |
| 99 | ---- |
| 100 | * AffectionateNickname: Roxy calls her "Callie" as a sign of their friendship. |
| 101 | * AliensOfLondon: Her British accent is {{Lampshaded}} by Dirk and Calliope herself. Her quirk is learned behavior, which is why she wasn't quite sure about how she used the phrase "Bob's your uncle," not actually knowing what an uncle is. |
| 102 | * AmbiguouslyGay: InUniverse -- John is uncertain of the exact nature of Calliope and Roxy's "weird ambiguous relationship", mostly because Cherubs [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove aren't biologically hardwired to feel romantic love]]. |
| 103 | * AntiquatedLinguistics: A few of her StockBritishPhrases are anachronistic sounding. |
| 104 | * AuthorAvatar: Her Trollsona Callie Ohpeee is a major character in her InUniverse fanfiction. |
| 105 | * AudienceSurrogate: Just as how all the trolls represent common internet archetypes, Calliope represents the MSPA fanbase. She's read about all the kids, made fanart of Dirk (and Cal) as the Prince(s) of Heart, and written fanfiction that she's embarrassed to share. |
| 106 | ** She also enjoys speculating about them, though admits the fanfiction is something she enjoys more, reflecting that theorizing is less popular than the absolute deluge of fanworks. |
| 107 | ** She also represents the fans that try to get other people to read ''Homestuck'', even if they have no interest in it. |
| 108 | * CallBack: |
| 109 | ** Her debut conversation starts out very much like Karkat's debut conversation, except she's actually nice to Jane. |
| 110 | ** At one point Jade tells Karkat that if he was nicer to her she would have believed what he was saying. Jane specifically says that Calliope's niceness is what makes her somewhat more believable. |
| 111 | ** Her refusal to spoil things before the Kids reach them smacks heavily of Jade's own philosophy up through Act 5. |
| 112 | ** Her fanart is titled "dirkisthisyoU" and "roxyisthisyoU"--a reference to Terezi's drawings. |
| 113 | * ChekhovsGunman: Jake mentions [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/1955 here]] that someone had to twist his arm to get him working on the bunny. When Calliope talks to Jake, she mentions giving him "more arm twisting", revealing that Jake was referring to her. |
| 114 | * CosplayOtakuGirl: She enjoys cosplaying her own fan character and spent some time dressed as her during Act 6. |
| 115 | * CovertPervert: |
| 116 | ** In [=A6A6I4=], when a doomed Jade talks to Calliope about Typhaeus and describes him as a large green snake, she immediately associates him with the mating form of a cherub, and begins to snicker as Jade describes Typhaeus as 'awake and ready for [John]'. Though admittedly, a "large snake" being "awake and ready" for someone would probably sound kind of dirty to a human too. |
| 117 | ** Take a look at her symbol (a caduceus). The cherubim species mating form is snake-like. A caduceus has two snakes wrapped around it. Her symbol is the mating form of two cherubs. |
| 118 | %%* CuteMonsterGirl: Even though she's convinced otherwise. |
| 119 | * DaddysGirl: [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/5986 Apparently, towards]] [[ParentalSubstitute Gamzee]] when she was a baby. It's actually really adorable. |
| 120 | * DungeonBypass: Much of Act 6 since her "death" has focused on finding her in dream bubbles, to defeat Lord English. This whole process is rendered irrelevant by Calliope herself telling Roxy her name, and that calling it out to Caliborn will cause her to take over their shared body. However, this was revealed [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/5461 early on in act 6 intermission 4]] to not work, as Calliope is dead. |
| 121 | * ExpositionFairy: As part of her role as representing the comic's diehard fans, she loves to ramble on about anything and everything, and fills in both the B2 players and the readers about quite a few Sburb mechanics. She tries to avoid "causal spoilers" that the kids are intended to eventually figure out on their own, but grows less and less concerned with that as time goes on. |
| 122 | * FaceDeathWithDignity: Knowing that she's about to face DeathOfPersonality courtesy of Caliborn, she spends her remaining hours chatting with the kids and giving them some last pieces of advice (and finally sharing some of her artwork with Roxy), takes one last walk outside her home to admire the sun, and cleans up the room as a parting jab to her brother before getting into the sarcophagus. She's clearly terrified at the implications of dying, but decides to face it head-on and with a measure of grace. |
| 123 | * FandomNod: Fanart commonly depicted Calliope as looking like Calmasis with troll horns. [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4671 Hussie acknowledged this through cosplay]]. Amusingly, it was revealed she essentially ''was'' cosplaying as Calmasis with troll horns. |
| 124 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: She is cheering instead of trolling. Calliope is not a troll, but a '''cher'''ub. |
| 125 | * AFormYouAreComfortableWith: She takes on the form of her Trollsona when she meets Roxy in the dream bubbles, presumably because she believes herself to look hideous. However, Roxy claims that she's absolutely fine seeing what Calliope really looks like, making this an InvertedTrope. |
| 126 | * GoshDarnItToHeck: On the rare occasions where she genuinely loses her temper, the insults that result tend to fall into this because she's normally so mellow and passive. Caliborn mocks her for it. |
| 127 | * HerCodenameWasMarySue: Since she represents the fandom, she also has a [[SelfInsertFic self-insert]] [[SailorEarth trollsona]], Callie Ohpeee, whom she has written many stories about. Some of which may or may not be {{Lemon}}s. |
| 128 | * IAmNotPretty: She dresses like a troll because she thinks she will never be truly beautiful, though she's still pretty cute as far as green skull monsters go. |
| 129 | * InSeriesNickname: Roxy calls her Callie, which by coincidence is the name of her trollsona. Some of the other kids use this name too, due to being introduced to her by Roxy. |
| 130 | * LivingMacGuffin: During Act 6, many of the ghost players are trying to find her in the hopes that she'll prove to be an ace in the hole against Lord English. [[SubvertedTrope She isn't]]. Ironically, she only ascends to be considered this trope after Caliborn kills her. |
| 131 | * MagicWand: It doubles as [[RevolversAreJustBetter a revolver]], and uses the bullets loaded into the latter to fuel magic, though we never actually see her using it. |
| 132 | * ManBehindTheMan: Calliope is responsible for quite a bit of the events that occurred in the two human sessions. |
| 133 | * MeaningfulName: The "uranian" in her name refers to the unique sideways rotation of the planet Uranus, which she admires for its resemblance to a pool ball's topspin, or "english". Umbra usually refers to the deepest part of a shadow cast by a celestial body; taken literally, her name means "the shadow cast by Uranus" or, more symbolically, "the shadow cast by [the planet with the] English". |
| 134 | ** Calliope is the name of a famous Greek Muse. Specifically, the muse of epic poetry (that is, heroic stories). She is also commonly depicted as holding a tablet--think fanart. And, of course, it starts with "Cal", which turns out to be her brother's nickname for her. |
| 135 | ** Also, Urania is the name of another Greek Muse: the muse of astronomy. Urania was said to be able to tell the future by looking at the stars--similarly, as a Prospit dreamer, Calliope can see visions of the future while dreaming by looking up to the clouds of Skaia. |
| 136 | ** Both this Calliope and Calliope/Cal from ''Literature/{{Middlesex}}'' have bodies of ambiguous sex. |
| 137 | ** When she was first introduced, many fans pointed out that "uranian" [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranian is an archaic term]] for "gender variant". This is one of ''many'' things that lead to a IKnewIt moment when it was heavily implied and then outright revealed that Calliope and Caliborn shared a body. |
| 138 | ** Finally, a calliope is an instrument commonly associated with circuses--and her caretaker Gamzee is a MonsterClown. |
| 139 | * TheMuse: Literally, though her powers are only vaguely alluded to. Despite having done almost nothing in the plot so far, an entire army of spirits is aiding her in her cause against her brother. |
| 140 | * MsExposition: Explains about Sburb titles, and seemingly has spent time researching them. |
| 141 | * MysticalWhiteHair: In her cosplay outfit. She's cosplaying a limeblood, who were known for their powers. |
| 142 | * NiceGuy: She's one of the most helpful and polite characters in ''Homestuck''. She even tried to get along with her {{Jerkass}} brother, who unfortunately does not want to return her favors. Her kindness is even demonstrated when she contacts people: she's ''cheering'' them! |
| 143 | * OracularUrchin: Like all Space players, her dreamself is awake on Prospit before the game begins. Calliope also has the ability to [[NonLinearCharacter communicate across the timeline]] like the trolls can but is doing so ''before'' entering the Medium. Calliope knows that the B2!Kids will meet the B1!Kids and promises that together they will escape the influence of the Green Sun and build a safe future for their descendants. She also has Rose and Kanaya's detailed walkthrough, so she's able to convey a lot of information about Sburb's mechanics. |
| 144 | * RageQuit: Caliborn's bending of the rules of {{TabletopGame/chess}} makes her angrily quit, [[FlippingTheTable hitting the table]] and declaring her (platonic) hatred for him. |
| 145 | * RuleOfSymbolism: Her computer's symbol is a combination of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_of_Asclepius Rod of Asclepius]], a medical symbol associated with [[WesternZodiac Ophiuchus, the 13th astrological sign in some versions of the Western Zodiac]] and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caduceus Caduceus]], a symbol of commerce and negotiations associated with Mercury. |
| 146 | ** In universe it's complicated as well. It contains both Grey and Green, matching her resemblance nature to Jade and Karkat. The lime portion of her symbol matches the color used for First Guardian powers and Uranium both. Limebloods are also the Troll caste in between Sollux and Nepeta, aka where Karkat ''would'' be if he had normal troll blood, though this fact turned out to be {{Fauxshadowing}}. |
| 147 | ** The use of the Caduceus is also symbolic in universe, as Greco-Roman mythology influences the Denizens, among other things. |
| 148 | * ShipTease: She acts British, so a lot of her lines come off as rather flirty. |
| 149 | * TheSmartGuy: Fits pretty well, and gets easily flummoxed by Roxy. She's apparently spent some time researching the B2 Session and the legendary figures (i.e. the players) of it, and knows quite a bit about Sburb titles. |
| 150 | * SpaceMaster: Has the potential to be this due to being the Muse of Space. |
| 151 | * SpoiledSweet: From the moment of their hatching, the cherub children were provided with everything they could ever want by the worshipers of Lord English--meat, candy, computers, a lifetime supply of special stardust, and of course, their precious jujus. |
| 152 | -->'''Aranea''': The acolytes had clearly gone to gr8 lengths to harvest such items from all over the cosmos, so they could lavish their young master with gifts. |
| 153 | * StealthPun: Her symbol and blood color is '''lime'''. "Limey" is old slang for Brits, particularly sailors. |
| 154 | ** Calliope was hinted to be a Troll and is a fan of the Sburb players. In other words, a ''[[SailorEarth fan troll]]'' (all of which were jokingly canonized by WordOfGod). |
| 155 | ** She uses UsefulNotes/BritishEnglish, and she looks like Lord English. |
| 156 | * StepfordSmiler: She's one of the sweetest characters in the comic. She pretends to be a troll because she finds everything about them to be better than her--prettier, more fun, more interesting social dynamics--and feels that nobody would ever love her or bother to kiss her back to life. |
| 157 | * WishFulfillment: She writes fanfiction of her trollsona having romantic pursuits. |
| 158 | %%* WholesomeCrossdresser: She dresses in a suit. |
| 159 | |
| 160 | !!!God Tier Calliope |
| 161 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doomed_calliope.png]] |
| 162 | |
| 163 | The ghost of a version of Calliope from a doomed timeline, who overpowered her brother, becoming their body's sole mind, and played Sburb in his stead. While she entered the god tiers as a fully realized Muse of Space, she eventually perished due to her timeline being a doomed offshoot and lingered in the dream bubbles, where she plots Lord English' fall. |
| 164 | ---- |
| 165 | * TheAtoner: She seems to regret killing her brother through predomination to some extent. |
| 166 | * ApocalypseMaiden: This Calliope exists only to bring about the destruction of the Green Sun. |
| 167 | * BeyondTheImpossible: Rose and Aradia had both expressed disbelief about whether the Green Sun could be destroyed. Act 7 proves them quite wrong. |
| 168 | * BigGood: What this alternate, doomed-timeline self turned out to be, being powerful enough to destroy the Green Sun and depower Lord English. |
| 169 | * BlessedWithSuck: Her incredible power came at the cost of complete isolation from everyone she would come to protect. |
| 170 | * CarpeDiem: After a life of loneliness, her final advice to Calliope and to Jade is to "live" and "have fun". |
| 171 | * ComesGreatResponsibility: She points to the restraint Space players must have with their incredible powers, [[HypocriticalHumor immediately before turning the largest star in the universe into a metafictional black hole]]. |
| 172 | * TheComicallySerious: Downplayed. She's one of the least humorous characters, but her ultimate fate has her [[Webcomic/SweetBroAndHellaJeff drifting into the sun like a fucknig piece of gargbage]]. |
| 173 | * FriendlessBackground: Alpha!Calliope theorizes that this one never contacted the humans. |
| 174 | * GoodCounterpart: As a fully realized Cherub, this Calliope acts as the closest counterpart to what Caliborn becomes as Lord English. |
| 175 | * MercyKill: She went to Echidna to die rather than to live forever in a dead session. |
| 176 | * MiseryBuildsCharacter: While she had no human friends in this timeline, her isolation with only her evil twin Caliborn for company made her strong enough in her resolve to predominate over him, something her alpha self never could have achieved. |
| 177 | * TheStoic: As she was completely isolated throughout her life, this Calliope never shows any emotion and speaks only with lowercase letters. |
| 178 | * TimeAbyss: Part of her Choice with Echidna involved spending long, long ages as a ghost, completely alone. |
| 179 | [[/folder]] |
| 180 | |
| 181 | [[folder:Caliborn]] |
| 182 | [[quoteright:126:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Caliborn_6935.png]] |
| 183 | |
| 184 | A mean-spirited Cherub who jeers Dirk from time to time. He detests everything, most especially his "sister", Calliope, and the four human and troll sessions. He will grow up to become [[Characters/HomestuckTheFeltTwo Lord English]]. His Juju is/was a red Lollipop. |
| 185 | |
| 186 | He is the '''Lord of Time''' of his session. His chumhandle is undyingUmbrage. |
| 187 | |
| 188 | ->@@[=COMMuNICATES=] uSING ALL CAPS EXCEPT FOR THE LETTER u.@@ |
| 189 | ->@@DROPS IN A LOT OF PERIODS. WHERE [=YOu=] MIGHT EXPECT COMMAS INSTEAD.@@ |
| 190 | ->@@AND ALSO. SOMETIMES ENDS STATEMENTS WITH A [=QuESTION=] MARK?@@ |
| 191 | ->@@uSES [=RuDE=] EMOTICONS LIKE tumut@@ |
| 192 | |
| 193 | ->@@HAS TAKEN TO SPEAKING IN ALL-CAPS AND WITH HIS SISTER'S BLOOD COLOR. AS A TOKEN OF HIS RUTHLESS TRIUMPH.@@ |
| 194 | ->@@ALSO PUTS SPACES IN GENDERED WORDS. SUCH AS CRAFTS MANSHIP. AND A MISS.@@ |
| 195 | ---- |
| 196 | * AlasPoorYorick: He is shown holding a poorly-drawn version of Lil' Cal's head in his overly-dramatic soliloquy. |
| 197 | * AllWomenAreLustful: A firm believer of this. When he briefly sees Roxy and Jane on the same screen, he expects them to start cuddling ''immediately''. |
| 198 | * AmbitionIsEvil: Invoked. Ambition is the only human quality he admires, which serves to make him look more like a jerk. |
| 199 | * ArtEvolution: From indecipherable scribbles to a perfect circle made out of straight lines to a step above stick-figures to imitation manga to an improved version of the "straight line art" to crude [[{{stop motion}} stop-motion animation and claymation]]. |
| 200 | * AscendedFanboy: |
| 201 | ** Inverted. He represents anti-fans of ''Homestuck'', particularly people who complain about being constantly told by fans to read the comic but don't find it enjoyable. For example, his vehement dislike of the colored pesterlogs refers to a common criticism about the comic. Due to the rest of his personality, he may serve as a TakeThatCritics. He also represents much of the negativity of the ''Homestuck'' fandom, serving as a TakeThatAudience. His complaints about the kids wasting time refers to the fans who want the plot to move faster instead of having romance drama or humorous interludes. |
| 202 | --->uu: OH MY GOD. WHO CARES?\ |
| 203 | uu: [=IT'S JuST SOME MORE POINTLESS TRASH FOR YOu TO OBSESS OVER, AND DISTRACT YOu FROM GETTING ANY ACTuAL RELEVANT SHIT DONE=].\ |
| 204 | uu: [=THE AMOuNT TIME YOu PEOPLE WASTE. IT IS FuCKING uNBELIEVABLE TO ME=].\ |
| 205 | uu: [=I READ ABOuT SOME OF THE THINGS YOu AND YOuR PREDECESSORS HAVE DONE. FAR MORE THAN I CARED TO. TRuST ME=].\ |
| 206 | uu: AND EVERY TIME. I'M ALWAYS [=JuST=]...\ |
| 207 | uu: *GET THE [=FuCK=] ON WITH IT ALREADY.* |
| 208 | ** He has been shown to be overjoyed at the sight of worldbuilding, which is something that Hussie hates. |
| 209 | * ArmouredClosetGay: To date, he is the only character in the whole webcomic to express quasi-homophobic attitudes (particularly towards Jake/Dirk) because hey, why not have another reason to hate him? So, naturally, when he speaks with either Jake or Dirk, the HoYay goes off the roof. All of this [[{{Irony}} despite]] the fact that he lives in what may be an hermaphroditic body, [[BizarreAlienBiology but cherub sexuality has been shown to be rather complicated]]. He clearly identifies as male, so the point remains. |
| 210 | ** His [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/6192 gushing]] over how big and strong Quarters and Cans are makes one wonder... |
| 211 | ** [[AmbiguouslyBi Zig-zags in the update]]: he seems to appreciate [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/6869 the "yaois" and the "bishies"]], then starts thinking about [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/6885 how attractive submissive females are]]. Though there's always [[DepravedBisexual that third option...]] |
| 212 | * AxCrazy: He's playing the game to kill, he plans on killing Calliope, and he's also threatening people with death. It turns out that he has already killed his sister's dreamself by proxy. His reaction to first seeing Gamzee, and being asked by him if he wanted him to be his guide? MoreDakka. |
| 213 | * BadBoss: To any version of Jack Noir. Who he proudly proclaims he'll dispose of once they outlive their usefulness. |
| 214 | * BaitTheDog: The infamous "[[ItMakesSenseInContext Porn Drawings]]" incident made him look like he would be something of a fairly likable {{Cloudcuckoolander}} {{Jerkass}}... and then he revealed that he killed his sister through proxy. |
| 215 | * BloodKnight: He specifically wants his session with Calliope to be about competition between the players, mainly because he enjoys the idea of bloodshed. When told by Dirk that the game may have assigned him a role that would pressure him into restraining his bloodlust, he blows off the idea. |
| 216 | * BookDumb: He admits that he has trouble learning new things, when he isn't doing things the hard way from some perceived notion of it being in easy mode. |
| 217 | * BreakTheHaughty: Implied in [S]GAME OVER: John enters a fight with Caliborn, and at first, they're evenly matched. However, John, who is ''very'' mad at this point, gains the upper hand, tears Caliborn's cape in half, humiliates him, and then jumps on top of him and proceeds to beat his face in. It's implied that if John didn't teleport, '''he would not have stopped till Caliborn was dead.''' Caliborn looks visibly shaken by this event, staring into the sky while barely blinking. |
| 218 | * CallBack: Caliborn's first conversation with Dirk, in which Dirk responds that he though Caliborn was angling for him to draw more weird porn after Caliborn acted like Jigsaw, is a reference to Hussie's insane "[[http://www.mspaforums.com/showthread.php?24118-Cheerfulbear-PLAY-ME Cheerfulbear]]" ''Franchise/{{Saw}}''[=/=]''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies'' parody, previously referenced by Bro messing with Dave. It's also a call back to when Vriska interrupted John to tell him to get going because he'll be wasting time; turns out he was wasting time because he was talking to Vriska. |
| 219 | ** Later on he calls back [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/1394 a line from Karkat]] and a [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/665 letter from Bro]], both of which were previously called back by other characters. The strangest thing is that Dirk finds them both familiar. |
| 220 | ** Once he enters his land, he makes Callbacks to John and Karkat's Intro poetry, [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall before going into a awareness-addled reverie]] [[LampshadeHanging on why he thinks of that]]. |
| 221 | ** When he first talks to Jane he calls back to [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003503 another line from Karkat]] which was said first (chronologically) [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004078 by Vriska]]. |
| 222 | ** He currently wants to make Jake into a WorthyOpponent and become the cause of everything like Vriska. |
| 223 | --->uu: SO I FEEL THAT. THE MORE I GROW IN POWER.\ |
| 224 | uu: THE MORE STUFF IT SHOULD TURN OUT I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR.\ |
| 225 | uu: UP TO AND INCLUDING. EVERYTHING THAT EVER HAPPENS.\ |
| 226 | uu: EVEN IF IT HAS TO BE.\ |
| 227 | uu: RETROACTIVELY. |
| 228 | * CaptainErsatz: Has an apparent fondness for "puzzlemurders" Ã la [[Franchise/{{Saw}} Jigsaw]] or The Riddler. Note that WordOfGod has stated Lord English resembles Jigsaw. |
| 229 | * CardCarryingVillain: So evil, he wraps around to cute... Or maybe adorabloodthirsty. |
| 230 | * CassandraTruth: He's completely correct about Lil' Cal being a bad omen. On the other hand, even if Dirk took his advice and destroyed Cal [[YouCantFightFate it's unlikely that it]] [[StableTimeLoop would actually prevent anything]]. Then he learns that ''he'' would be the one who makes Lil' Cal a portent of ruin. |
| 231 | * CharacterBlog: [[http://i-am-your-lord.deviantart.com/ Right over here]] You can find all of the art he drew in Act 6 Act 6 Intermission 3, and the drawing that inspired his AuthorAvatar. |
| 232 | * CharacterDevelopment: Defied. He has no interest whatsoever in becoming a better person; only in winning. |
| 233 | * ChubbyChaser: He lusts after Jane because she's "meaty". |
| 234 | * ClusterFBomb: |
| 235 | -->TT[[labelnote:*]]Dirk[[/labelnote]]: What if your real quest is to put aside your differences and work together, if you want to both survive, and grow as a person? |
| 236 | -->uu: NO.\ |
| 237 | uu: NO. NO. NO.\ |
| 238 | uu: [=FuCK=] THAT SHIT.\ |
| 239 | uu: [=HuMAN FuCK THAT SHIT. NOT EVEN ALIEN FuCK THAT SHIT. SO YOu CAN uNDERSTAND BETTER. THE KIND OF FuCKING=] OF THE SHIT THAT'S GOING ON.\ |
| 240 | uu: [=HuMAN FuCK IT SO MuCH=]. SO HARD, AND SO ANGRILY. |
| 241 | * ComicallyMissingThePoint: Happens a lot, since he refuses to even acknowledge how the game is supposed to be played, but reaches a zenith when he is utterly incapable of picking up Hussie's increasingly obvious hints that he should give Leprechaun #7 (the future Crowbar) his crowbar. |
| 242 | * ComplexityAddiction: ''Beyond any reasonable extremes''. Caliborn tends to do any and all tasks, from the pedestrian to the epic, in the most needlessly convoluted way possible. Calliope, Aranea, and The Narration/Hussie himself all state that Caliborn revels in performing tasks that would make most others RageQuit right away, and goes out of his way to do such things. |
| 243 | * CreateYourOwnHero: Invoked. Caliborn eventually starts grooming and advising Jake to become his future [[TheRival Rival]]. |
| 244 | * {{Determinator}}: Dead sessions of Sburb are supposed to be nigh-{{Unwinnable}}, requiring the player to go through excruciatingly tedious and difficult trials for the barest chance at victory. Caliborn actually managed to ''beat one''. |
| 245 | -->ARANEA: And while [[NintendoHard such trials]] might discourage most players from even trying, our villain's response was quite the contrary.\ |
| 246 | ARANEA: He was only em8oldened 8y the mind num8ing chores. He took to them with gusto, as if performing them out of spite. |
| 247 | * {{Deuteragonist}}: As the sole player of the fifth session in the narrative, Caliborn takes his place as the Pentagonist of the story, following John, Karkat, Roxy, and Meenah. |
| 248 | * DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: He killed his Denizen, Yaldabaoth, by beating it to death with the crowbar juju. |
| 249 | * EveryoneHasStandards: Even he thinks Jake sounds like a bit of a CasanovaWannabe and a douche. |
| 250 | * EvilCannotComprehendGood: While Calliope at least attempts to understand romance in all four quadrants, he dismisses it as being stupid and asinine. This is probably why his requests for "pornography" are simply mundane depictions of red romance. |
| 251 | ** He also fails to understand why anyone would bother giving anyone a funeral. |
| 252 | * EvilLaugh: After he reveals he killed his sister. |
| 253 | ** Later he directly echoes Cal's "haa haa hee hee hoo hoo" laugh. |
| 254 | ** Does a seemingly endless laugh after destroying discs 1 and 2 while saying there's no disc 3. |
| 255 | * EvilVirtues: He's a miserable, spiteful bastard to the core, but he ''embodies'' Tenacity and Work Ethic. The primary reason he's a threatening villain is that, when he decides he wants something, he will stop at nothing to get it. |
| 256 | * FateWorseThanDeath: He thinks that having to listen to "[[LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn Elevatorstuck]]" is this. |
| 257 | * FlippingTheBird: He makes liberal usage of the emoticon "tumut", which represents a person holding up both middle fingers at once. |
| 258 | * ForTheEvulz: Once he encounters Gamzee in his land, he promptly treats the troll to MoreDakka. |
| 259 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: In the updates on April 12 and 13, 2015 he reveals the big fight between him and the eight kids: The Beta Kids get sucked into his juju, a glowing Homestuck logo, which will become the trapped kids weapon. Caliborn then delivers a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on the Alpha Kids (equally, because he's not just a misogynist he's a "pro-sogynist"); watching Dirk getting beaten causes Jake to have a "hope-splosion". Also, at some point Gamzee gets sliced in half vertically. |
| 260 | * FromNobodyToNightmare: He goes from being a largely harmless brat chained to a wall far from any other living creature, capable only of verbally tormenting people, to an EldritchAbomination who tears universes asunder to destroy everything that exists. |
| 261 | * GambitRoulette: The beginnings of his tendency towards such plans are visible in his "art", where he draws a circle using nothing but an enormous number of scribbled right angles by squashing them together in a circular shape. That he expends all that effort rather than just plain drawing a freaking circle shows how, in the future, he'll construct convoluted plots and schemes where simple ones would suffice out of the conviction that using a simple way would be ''dumb and for girls''. |
| 262 | * GeniusDitz: He's a bit of a reckless thug, to be sure, but he's ''excellent'' at planning. In fact, he actually prefers elaborate schemes purely to spite those who say he can't. |
| 263 | * GiftedlyBad: Only someone as vain as Caliborn could think art as bad as his is good in any capacity. |
| 264 | * GoodGunsBadGuns: [[http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Riflekind#Black_Rifle Uses a tactical AKM-style weapon]], shared with his eventual self as Lord English who is the primary antagonist of ''Homestuck''. |
| 265 | * HalfTruth: Like Doc Scratch, Caliborn enjoys using these on occasion, managing to convince Jane that Dad was being tortured despite the fact that he told her earlier that BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad for him, when Dad was given the 5-star-hotel treatment. |
| 266 | * HandicappedBadass: |
| 267 | ** AnArmAndALeg: Bites off his own leg, losing a tooth as he does so, then replaces it with a metal prosthetic. |
| 268 | ** He also has a learning disability but still manages to outwit his sister, who did not seem to have one. |
| 269 | * HeManWomanHater: He shows blatant disrespect for women but also prefers that at least one female be present in any of his "porn". |
| 270 | * HostileShowTakeover: Act 6 Act 6, by ascending to the highest God Tier and being on his magical mystery planet. |
| 271 | * HotBlooded: With red-hot blood too. |
| 272 | * HypocriticalHumor: |
| 273 | ** Expresses his hatred of long, meandering chatlogs in the form of a long, meandering chatlog where he's doing most of the talking. Lampshaded by himself and Dirk: |
| 274 | -->TT[[labelnote:*]]Dirk[[/labelnote]]: For someone who has such strong opinions about long winded people,\ |
| 275 | TT: You've kinda been talking my ear off. I do actually have shit to do.\ |
| 276 | uu: uGH.\ |
| 277 | uu: YEAH.\ |
| 278 | uu: [[GotMeDoingIt SEE HOW YOu PEOPLE SuCK ME INTO YOuR BuLLSHIT]]? |
| 279 | ** He goes into long, meandering complaints to describe in a long, meandering way what he's complaining about, and then makes a long and meandering complaint about ''that''. |
| 280 | * IncestSubtext: Starts to go a bit off the rails in [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/6885 Act 6 Act 6 Act 3]]: |
| 281 | -->NOT TO IMPLY THAT ANY OTHER ASPECT OF HER IS LIKE YOUR SISTER. LIKE BEING ATTRACTIVE. WOW. WHAT? READ INTO STUFF MUCH? YOU DECIDE YOU HAVE TOO MUCH TIME ON YOUR HANDS. YOU STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS TOPIC STARTING AS OF IMMEDIATELY. |
| 282 | * IneffectualDeathThreats: Makes many toward his sister. [[SubvertedTrope Until he actually]] [[NotSoHarmlessVillain gets her killed]]. |
| 283 | * InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Deconstruction. All of the things he does despite his learning disability would be inspiring if they weren't so horrible. |
| 284 | * InterfaceScrew: Courtesy of [[CrowbarCombatant Crowbar's signature weapon]] [[PercussiveMaintenance applied]] to the [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou MSPA narration terminal]]. |
| 285 | ** Hussie also implies that this is part of the reason that the Cherub session is so messed up. He said that if Caliborn kept attacking the narrative, he would create many problems--including many for himself. |
| 286 | * IntriguedByHumanity: He asks Dirk to draw romantic pictures of Dirk and his friends. When he starts drawing on his own he draws mostly human characters, and includes things like "alpha males" being kissed by the ladies, or even other guys. This is not because he ''likes'' humans in any way. Rather he seems to get off on humans and [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove their concept of romance]], like it's a sick deviant fetish. Which it probably is, [[BizarreAlienBiology by the standards of his race]]. |
| 287 | * {{Jerkass}}: Caliborn is probably the '''least''' pleasant character to interact with in ''Homestuck'', and he's more than willing to toss insults at people whenever he feels like it. This extends to ''people who are trying to help him'', and in one case, ''his loyal acolyte/adoptive father''. |
| 288 | * KickTheDog: He ''revels'' in being pettily spiteful for the sake of spite alone. |
| 289 | ** Making Dirk draw "porn" of his friends to keep him from murdering his sister, then sends Jack Noir after her anyway. |
| 290 | ** Laughing his ass off at the kids' supposed deaths while mocking his sister all the way. |
| 291 | ** Beating the stuffing out of Gamzee when he was only trying to help figure out how to get the game to work. Even worse once you find out that Gamzee ''raised him'' since he and Calliope were infants. Granted, the misery Caliborn inflicts on Gamzee is hilariously cathartic for many readers after that slasher spree on the meteor and the shit he does after ''that''. |
| 292 | ** After calling Jane fat (and trying to pass it off as a ''compliment''), he describes Mr. Crocker's [[UnreliableNarrator supposed]] torture in vivid detail. On her birthday, no less. |
| 293 | %%* LaserGuidedKarma: |
| 294 | * LaughablyEvil: When he doesn't go overboard with being completely sociopathic, he's actually pretty funny. |
| 295 | * LaughingMad: He has a laughing fit [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=006875 when he reveals that he killed Calliope's dreamself]]. |
| 296 | * {{Leitmotif}}: "Eternity Served Cold" [[note]]Originally titled "Eternity's [[Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice Shylock]]" but changed, in part, due to [[GreedyJew Implications]][[/note]]. |
| 297 | %%* LemonyNarrator: During his brief time running Act 6 Act 6. |
| 298 | * LoveMakesYouCrazy, [[LoveMakesYouEvil Evil]], and/or [[LoveMakesYouStupid Stupid]]: Despite what he says he actually loves playing the game, it's just that... |
| 299 | -->UU: his passion for games transcends any [=hUman=] Understanding of love.\ |
| 300 | UU: for [=yoU to Understand it woUld be to fUlly=] comprehend the meaning of...\ |
| 301 | UU: how to [=pUt=] it.\ |
| 302 | GG[[labelnote:*]]Jane[[/labelnote]]: Um.\ |
| 303 | GG: Beauty?\ |
| 304 | UU: horror. |
| 305 | * MadeOfIron: ''[[AnArmAndALeg Bites off his own leg]]''. It doesn't even slow him down. |
| 306 | -->THIS IS YOURS TRULY. MY SELF INSERTION GUY. WHICH IS MY PREROGATIVE TO DO AS AN ARTIST. |
| 307 | * MeaningfulName: undyingUmb''rage''. Umbrage also means annoyance, or offense. Taken literally, his name could be interpreted as "Eternally annoyed" which describes [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin him pretty well]]. Umbrage also has an archaic meaning of "shadow", connecting him to uranianUmbra, and the "undying" part may also be a reference to his conditional immortality as Lord English. |
| 308 | ** "Caliborn" is likely a corruption of "[[Theatre/TheTempest Caliban]]", though perhaps he bears a closer resemblance to Marvel's [[ComicBook/XMen Caliban]]. |
| 309 | ** It also could be a variation on Calibur, derived from Excalibur, which is derived from Caledfwlch--[[TimeMaster Dave]]'s "legendary piece of shit". Excalibur, of course, being the sword of Myth/KingArthur. You know, the most famous mythological king of England. The ''Lord'' of the ''English''. |
| 310 | * MediumAwareness: In a way never done before (in ''Homestuck'' at least)! After having entered the Medium, Caliborn is somehow capable of understanding the narration of his thoughts, and goes to express that he has MAJOR PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS. The only thing close to this is Hussie's dialogue with the reader/narrator. And then he finds an Exile terminal and [[MindScrew starts to talking back to the narration]]... |
| 311 | * MoodWhiplash: A funny scene where he wants Dirk to drawn "porn", but without any human sexuality, and just the relationship stuff, whiplashes when he decides that the scene of Roxy and Jake married with a baby isn't cutting it, and he wants a picture of Jake ''eating'' the baby. A few pages later, just as we're getting used to Caliborn being unstable but harmless, he reveals that he killed Calliope's dreamself.%%Act 6 Intermission 4 is almost entirely made of these moments. |
| 312 | * {{Munchkin}}: He plays games only to win, purely and simply. He's even more of one than Vriska, who at least had a FreudianExcuse and an actual excuse ([[HorrorHunger in the form of her Lusus]]) to be one. |
| 313 | * TheNapoleon: He's shorter than Gamzee (the shortest troll, if Hussie really meant it). He compensates by being as abusive as possible. |
| 314 | * NeverMyFault: Whines that a nerd "beat him up because he didn't like his art" (John beat him up because he's evil) and that it happened after he "tragically lost his sister to murder" (conveniently leaving out that ''he'' murdered her by proxy in the first place) after John beats him up. |
| 315 | * TheNicknamer: |
| 316 | ** He's addressed his leprechaun minions collectively as gnomes, elves, frog men, puppet people, and toad goblins, and individually after the colors of their hats. |
| 317 | ** His names for the "Homosuck" trolls are Krabkrab (Karkat), Honk Friend (Gamzee), Cape Douche (Eridan), Smelly Horse Man (Equius), Other Guy (Sollux), Bull Horn Wimp (Tavros), and [[AndTheRest miscellaneous bitches]] (all the girls, collectively). |
| 318 | * NoIndoorVoice: As part of his typing quirk, HE SPEAKS IN ALL CAPS EXCEPT FOR THE LETTER u, AND SWITCHES ENTIRELY TO ALL CAPS AFTER KILLING HIS SISTER. |
| 319 | * NotGrowingUpSucks: His stunted development leads him to become a PsychopathicManchild, which only serves to make him worse and worse as a person. |
| 320 | * NotSoHarmlessVillain: At first he seems mostly bluster, given that we'd already seen trolls who talked big but tended not to follow through, only for him to kill Calliope's dreamself and divide by zero his own session. Not to mention that he's the younger version of the comic's BigBad. |
| 321 | * OccidentalOtaku: Well, the alien equivalent. After getting his hands on a ''How To Draw Manga'' book he's become a "man gaka" and an expert at "the {{yaoi}}s" and "[[{{bishounen}} bishies]]" ("[-IF YOU'RE CONFUSED, BASICALLY THE IDEA IS. YOU PRETEND THEM TO LOOK MORE LIKE GIRLS. TO MAKE IT LESS WEIRD FOR EVERYBODY WHEN THEY DECIDE TO TOUCH EACH OTHER.-]") and the concept of "{{tsundere}}" ("[-IT IS A TEMPESTUOUS LIAISON OF MUTUAL GRIEVANCE. AND YET, DEEP DOWN. THEY KNOW IN EACH OTHER'S HEART THAT THEY ARE SOLID DUDES.-]"). |
| 322 | * OddNameOut: The first person to have a non-uppercase chat handle. |
| 323 | * PetTheDog: [[AvertedTrope Every time he attempts to reach out to someone, he intentionally uses it as a vehicle to toss cruel insults at his target.]] He did, however, refuse to hurt his loyal minion Sawbuck when prompted to by Hussie, and he did refer to Gamzee as a friend when working on ''Homosuck''. |
| 324 | * PlugNPlayProsthetics: He sticks a homemade mechanical prosthetic onto the stump of his freshly severed leg and walks away, apparently through sheer {{determinat|or}}ion. |
| 325 | * PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He's incredibly misogynistic, referring to female characters as "bitches" and speaking of them in a very demeaning way. |
| 326 | * PsychopathicManchild: Caliborn acts like an obnoxious brat while gleefully thinking about how he killed his sister. |
| 327 | * RealMenEatMeat: He tells Dirk that meat and candy are the only types of food he likes, to the point he refers to Roxy/Jane as [[FandomNod Cotton Candy]] and refuses any pictures of Dirk/Jake saying the colors are too much like a pumpkin. |
| 328 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: In contrast to Calliope's softer green eyes. |
| 329 | * RenaissanceMan: He comes to think of himself as a man of many varied talents. In truth, he's grossly incompetent at everything he tries his hand at. |
| 330 | * RuleOfSymbolism: |
| 331 | ** Caliborn's sigil is a red tilde overlaying a capital U, which is a somewhat obscure [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiuchus_%28astrology%29#Symbol symbol for Ophiuchus]]. U is used in ~ATH code as shorthand for Universe, and the shade of red matches Karkat's blood and the color used for the kids' universe. Taken together, the red tilde over a U can be said to resemble a universe bathed in blood, which reflects his BloodKnight attitude. |
| 332 | ** On the cruxtruder he was using, it showed a red tilde with a lime U, instead of a red tilde overlapping a black U. The Ophiuchus symbol of the tilde and the U together was meant to be a man's arms holding a snake. Here, the arms were Calliope's as the U was lime green and the red snake was Caliborn meaning that Caliborn has escaped from Calliope's grip and is now in complete control of his body and wherever he wanted after escaping Calliope's Juju-enchanted lock. |
| 333 | ** The timer's display of ~U is similar to ~ATH, or tildeath, coding. While the actual in-universe coding we've seen in ~ATH has been different, some would suggest ~U parses as "At the Death of the Universe," which would certainly be a feasible entry time for anyone entering a black hole, as relativistic time could cause them to experience the rest of the universe in a short amount of time near the event horizon. |
| 334 | * RulesLawyer: |
| 335 | ** The king and queen are wearing each other's hats, but they're still the same pieces. No rules against decorating chess pieces, and even if there were, Calliope did it first. This, understandably, [[RageQuit upsets her]]. |
| 336 | ** Later, he starts beating Gamzee with a crowbar after being told that he wasn't allowed to shoot him. |
| 337 | * SelfInflictedHell: By killing his sister, he undergoes a punishment twofold: |
| 338 | ** Instead of trying to undergo a SplitPersonalityMerge with her, he will be stuck as a [[PsychopathicManchild stunted, miserable tool]] forever. |
| 339 | ** He is punished by the game for starting a one-person session, which is called a Dead Session. It will take ages for the actual game to ''start'' and, once it does, it's going to be NintendoHard. Of course, [[ComplexityAddiction that's what he wanted all along]]. |
| 340 | * ShoutOut: His [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/6882 Self Insert]] is based on [[http://www.mspaforums.com/showthread.php?33350-Steampunk-Shenanigans-with-Nakki-and-Ruka&p=4313799&viewfull=1#post4313799 this fan art]]; the self-insert also gets a DoggedNiceGuy trilby and connects two memes: |
| 341 | -->[[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/tips-fedora "MY'LADY" HE DOFFS]] [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/in-this-moment-i-am-euphoric RATIONALLY. THE MAN BRIMS WITH INTELLECTUAL IDEAS SHE WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND]]. |
| 342 | * SlasherSmile: Try any time he smiles... |
| 343 | * SmallNameBigEgo: As far as his artistic "talent" goes. He thinks of himself less as a spiteful little imp and more as a tortured artist around the time of Act 6 Act 6 Act 4. |
| 344 | * TheSociopath: The only person that he outright ''likes'' is Jack Noir, known best as the guy whose selves '''doomed two universes'''. Just let that sink in. |
| 345 | ** Being liked isn't necessarily a good thing for Jack [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/5804 considering]] [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/5808 what]] [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/5810 Caliborn]] [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/5812 inflicts]] [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/5814 on]] [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/5820 him]]. |
| 346 | *** Later, he decides that once he gets what he wants out of any given Jack Noir, he'll arrange for his death. "It's bad form to leave stray Noirs wandering around" indeed. |
| 347 | ** He seems to have grown fond of Hussie, in his own twisted way, and throws a tantrum when Hussie falls silent and "sheer force of petulance" proves no longer able to get him to talk back. He also likes a few of his leprechaun minions, particularly Crowbar. |
| 348 | * SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: His EvilLaugh is a variant of Calsprite's and Doc Scratch's laugh. Given that both Calsprite and Doc Scratch are tied to Cal, which is a vessel for Caliborn, their laughter is understandably derived from him. |
| 349 | * SpoiledBrat: From the moment of their hatching, the cherub children were provided with everything they could ever want by the worshipers of Lord English--meat, candy, computers, a lifetime supply of special stardust, and of course, their precious jujus. It did not make Caliborn more pleasant...not that it could have, anyway, due to the nature of cherub physiology (a cherub is born as two souls inhabiting a single body, one purely good and the other purely evil). |
| 350 | * StealthPun: Dirk is the only person Caliborn can stand to talk to. In the process of transcription of DNA to mRNA, Thymine is replaced by Uracil. In other words, TT becomes uu. |
| 351 | * SweetTooth: Candy is the only non-meat food he will eat. |
| 352 | * TakeThatAudience: His complaints about slow pacing were mocked by Dirk for Caliborn actually causing the story to slow down while providing insight into Caliborn's character, much like how the fandom complains about both the slow pace and detailed characterization of some characters being neglected for pacing issues. |
| 353 | * TeensAreMonsters: And, according to the narration, he will remain that way forever, at least mentally, because his predomination occurred much earlier than for most cherubim. |
| 354 | * TerribleArtist: |
| 355 | ** Dear ''god''. He's even worse than Karkat. His "drawings" are indecipherable scribbles, not even coherent enough to be stick figures. Put into perspective, starting [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4715 here]] we see Dave and Karkat fighting over a marker, causing them to create an absurd scribbly mess all over the page (with some crudely-drawn penises courtesy of Dave's trolling). [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/5109 When Calliope finds it]], she immediately recognizes the drawing style... as her brother's. |
| 356 | ** He's gotten better: He can draw circles now! [[http://tinyurl.com/JANETHISISYOU Kind of]]. |
| 357 | ** [[http://tinyurl.com/JAKETHISISUS You can actually tell what this is supposed to be]]. |
| 358 | ** Despite his status as a decidedly bad artist and terrible person, [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/6250 he does dispense some sound advice for the aspiring]]. |
| 359 | ** His people look like people now! Really, ''really'' amateur, person-who-just-discovered-anime people, but people nonetheless. |
| 360 | ** Even his "sketchy" style has improved, [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/6922 as seen in A6A6A4]]. |
| 361 | ** He's branched out to crude [[{{stop motion animation}} stop-motion animation and claymation]] (via Website/{{Vine}}). |
| 362 | * ThePeepingTom: He peeped into a pillow fight between Jane and Roxy. |
| 363 | * ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Upon meeting Gamzee, Caliborn proceeds to unload his assault rifle into him for ''four straight pages,'' even taking the time to DoubleTap Gamzee's motionless body. |
| 364 | * ThousandYardStare: After having his shit kicked in by John, his reaction is simply to stare blankly and reach for his mouse. |
| 365 | * TimeMaster: He is the Lord of Time. |
| 366 | * TokenEvilTeammate: He just wants to get into the game so he can "[=FuCK. SHIT. uP.=]" That includes playing the game competitively instead of cooperatively and killing Calliope at the first chance. |
| 367 | * TookALevelInBadass: [[CompleteImmortality Did]] [[TheOmnipotent he]] [[BigBad ever]]. |
| 368 | * {{Troll}}: The kind that says you suck and issues death threats, but ''not'' the literal kind. |
| 369 | * UngratefulBastard: He doesn't appreciate anything anyone does for him. |
| 370 | * TheUnreveal: When he finally draws a picture for Dirk, it's too {{terrible|Artist}} for us to distinguish what he looks like at all. |
| 371 | * TheUntwist: He's Lord English. After a major flash sequence that implied it, it was outright revealed in a pretty dismissive way. |
| 372 | * UsedToBeASweetKid: Played straight and quickly subverted. When he [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=007884 briefly shared his conciousness with his sister]], he seemed to be content and non-malicious. However, [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=007887 shortly after he gains control]], he [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=007888 became like the prick that he is years later]]. |
| 373 | * VillainousBreakdown: John's ass-kicking of him is enough to cause him to cry (near the end of a prolonged soliloquy). |
| 374 | * VillainProtagonist: Of Act 6 Act 6, where Caliborn actively takes over the narrative for five self-indulgent interludes where he portrays the story to match his own hideous taste. |
| 375 | * TheVoice: Until the end of Act 6 Act 3, his text was the only thing that was shown, not what he looks like. |
| 376 | * WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: For Caliborn, human romance based on love instead of hatred is the equivalent of sick, deviant, alien porn. ''And he likes it''. |
| 377 | %%* WhenHeSmiles: Except when matters of his species' culture or [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/storyfiles/hs2/05958_2.gif worldbuilding]] come up. |
| 378 | * YouKeepUsingThatWord: Dirk calls him out on using the word "ironic" to characterize his enjoyment of observing human love and romance, when it's clearly more of a weird {{Fetish}}. |
| 379 | [[/folder]] |
| 380 | |
| 381 | ---- |
| 382 | [[Characters/{{Homestuck}} > Go Back]]\ |
| 383 | [[Webcomic/{{Homestuck}} > Return to main page]] |
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