Alternative Character Interpretation in Homestuck.
- This is actually a major plot point with the relationships between the main characters and their parents/guardians.
- John sees his father as an embarrassing Bumbling Dad with an obsession with clowns, when he really is actually a very boring businessman outside of the home, and not really all that into harlequins. He only collects clown-related figurines and memorabilia because he thinks John is obsessed with them, from observing John's subconscious drawings on the walls of his room.
- But then, John's dad is also a badass fighter with the ability to lift heavy safes, punch out powerful monsters, and put the Hegemonic Brute in a headlock. He also ran a joke shop with Nanna before it (and she) got hit by the meteor carrying Baby John. Clearly a man of many layers.
- Rose interprets every action her mom takes as a calculated move in an escalating war of passive-aggressive, spiteful smothering. It's actually been implied throughout the rest of the story that she really does care a great deal for her daughter and wants the best for her (hence the over-the-top pampering), but went slightly nuts after the death of their family cat, Jaspers. Or, per Roxy, is just a bit nuts. And then, there's more to Jaspers's mausoleum than meets the eye...
- Dave looks up to his Bro as the epitome of coolness, and explains away Bro's seemingly-perverse hobbies and obsession with puppets as a high-tier act of irony that is so multi-layered that he can't even begin to understand it. Many of the readers instead see his hobbies as a downright creepy-as-fuck fetish with no trace of irony whatsoever.
- Then again, it's possible that Bro really is being ironic and doing all the puppet-fetish stuff with the deliberate intention of weirding out Dave.
- You can go even further when you realize Bro must have been incredibly young when he found Dave, and may in fact just not know how to raise a kid. Now, whether that means he's outright abusive, well-meaning but not cut out to be a parental figure, or a guy who is genuinely trying his best and doing a pretty good job considering the circumstances...well, that depends entirely on who you're talking to.
- Dave (and the comic itself) eventually seems to come down on the side of Bro was a horrible, abusive guardian figure and everything Dave said to the contrary was merely a coping mechanism.
- Jade thinks of her dog Bec as a GOOD DOG BEST FRIEND with her best interests at heart, even if he does have alarming nuclear space superpowers, but it turns out that Bec was created by the bad guys using the genetic code that the Dark (but not evil) Gods warned Rose to destroy. Yet his loyalty to Jade is undeniable, and strong enough to influence Jack Noir through the prototyping.
- John sees his father as an embarrassing Bumbling Dad with an obsession with clowns, when he really is actually a very boring businessman outside of the home, and not really all that into harlequins. He only collects clown-related figurines and memorabilia because he thinks John is obsessed with them, from observing John's subconscious drawings on the walls of his room.
- Is Vriska a Broken Bird who is just trying to fit in desperately with people in the only way she knows how? One who manipulates everything for fun? A confused little girl trying to live up to the example set by her infamous ancestor, even when she doesn't necessarily find it all that fun? Someone who has atoned for her actions and should be forgiven or hasn't and her ultimate death was justice? Hello, Broken Base! Canonically, she is presented as somewhere in between all of these things. Not helped by the fact that Word of God confirms Vriska is deliberately designed to be as divisive, confusing, and difficult to interpret as possible.
- There's also her mercy killing her lusus. Given how awful it turned out to be (it basically forced her into being an indirect Serial Killer because it refused to hunt for itself. It's explicitly noted that it deliberately refused to eat anything other than trolls, making Vriska lure innocent trolls in for it to eat) one has to wonder whether Vriska genuinely wanted to spare her lusus any pain or was just using that as an excuse to take revenge on her abuser.
- Is Equius a Squicky Fan Disservice pervert or a guy who truly cares for those close to him, but clings futilely to classist ideals?
- Interpretations of The Felt rely on this, as aside from Clover and Snowman, none of them are portrayed as anything more than mobsters.
- Fans often play up Jack Noir's sympathetic traits. Complicating matters is that he's had at least three variations in the story who have been in different situations and behaved in very different ways. (Aside from stabbing people constantly, but at least Spades Slick has only stabbed people who are probably evil. And Karkat.)
- The sequence where Karkat admits that he caused the human universe to be flawed by half-assing on the frogs and his conclusion that Bec Noir is the cancer destroying the human universe seems to imply that most versions of Jack aren't crazy like Bec Noir, which would explain the massive differences. This still leaves a lot open to interpretation though.
- Bro's creepy obsession with puppets seems to be closer to a fetish, and it's really hard to tell where the line between Irony and sincerity blur. (Dirk makes clear this is on purpose, and unnerving others with it is half the joke.) In-universe, Dave interprets this as him being ironic to a level that Dave can't even begin to understand, because it freaks him out to think otherwise.
- Was Darkleer's Wangst legitimate or was Mindfang just being dismissive?
- Daddy Droog, Diamonds Droog as an overprotective father/big brother figure Jerk with a Heart of Gold, especially toward Aradia.
- Calliope is a rather mysterious character, and while she's been presented thus far as a nice girl, there's enough to suggest she's a Manipulative Bitch for fans to believe it.
- Gamzee. Though he was subject to some in early Act 5, and Act 5 Act 2 before becoming sober, he hits this trope high in later parts of Act 5 Act 2 and onwards, and then even more in Act 6 and onward where his motives and reasons for what he does become extremely blurry and unclear. Debate abounds over the extent to which sopor (and the deprivation thereof) affected his behavior, how much he's been Brainwashed or mind controlled, whether or not he has a Split Personality, and how much of his behavior is motivated by malevolence vs. good intentions. Meanwhile, he's one of the most mysterious characters in the entire comic, and any real answers aren't likely to be forthcoming for a very long time.
- Eridan Ampora. Although dead since Act 5 Act 2, fans still argue about him. Generally, he's portrayed as either a soulless monster without any sense of morality, a complete douchebag who only cares about quadrants, or a poor little Woobie whose instability and upbringing are to blame for the things he did. Canonically, he appears to be incredibly fucked up and vindictive, although he really does possess affection, as illustrated by his love for Feferi, and his moments of genuine friendship with Karkat and Kanaya, pushing him more in a Jerk with a Heart of Gold territory.
- On the subject of Eridan and Feferi, the fandom can only speculate as to what his motive for killing her could be. As such, a lot of fans who have made up their own theories have been claiming that their explanation is canon, no matter how different they are.
- Was Feferi a Messianic Archetype who is key to achieving equality on Alternia, or was she just as classist as other highbloods, but in a different way? Canonically, she appears to be well-intentioned, but very misguided. The way life was on Beforus seems to imply the latter possibility, as the Feferi from that timeline was the Empress who had basically enforced White Man's Burden by law.
- Some of her interactions with Vriska and Sollux seem to show a nastier side to her, as she trolls Vriska for no apparent reason (after the latter was being uncharacteristically nice) and refuses to stop babying Sollux even after he states he's uncomfortable with it.
- Both in and out of universe people wonder whether Kankri is genuine in his beliefs, or just using them as a cover to insult his friends. The fact that he snaps at a crippled person for falling over involuntarily certainly pushes it towards the latter, but his own status as part of an extremely marginalized (mutant) class does suggest that he is at least trying to work towards equality. And even then, seeing as he's a parody of stereotypical overzealous social justice warriors, it's entirely possible that he's only working towards equality for his own benefit alone and is only pretending to care about the problems of others to make himself look better.
- A good number of people think that Kankri isn't actually interested in social justice or insulting his friends. Rather, they think he is using these beliefs as a mental crutch of sorts, hiding his own issues by stealthily accentuating those of the others. Given his remarks to Porrim on her seemingly genuine beliefs, it could be that Kankri is either primarily concerned with maintaining this hypothetical jerkish facade above being nice, or is simply hyperfocused on his own beliefs. Speculation continues.
- Or, Kankri is interested in social justice, it's just that (consciously or not) he lets his own personal desires and issues override his judgement. The person he judges the most is Mituna, who happens to be the matesprit of Latula (who he has repressed romantic feelings for). On a more humorous note: Kankri talks Porrim's issues down because he's annoyed at her constantly smothering him.
- Is Damara really sex-crazed or does she just use Obfuscating Stupidity and crazy propositions as a defense mechanism and to annoy those who have betrayed her? Keep in mind that all the people she has made crude advances towards were all those who had hurt her in the past. (Meenah, Rufioh, Horuss.)
- Did Dualscar kill the Dolorosa because he was jealous, or did the Dolorosa (who had just lost her adoptive son and was being sexually abused by Mindfang) ask him to do it and did he take pity on her? Or did he kill her out of jealousy and she just happened to be suicidal at the time? And on that note, did Mindfang really begin to develop real feelings for her or is Unreliable Narrator/Never My Fault at work?
- For that matter, was the murdered slave girl actually the Dolorosa? People tend to forget that's just a theory, albeit one that makes sense.
- A few later updates seem to imply that there's more to the Condesce's brainwashing of Jane than just using her as a pawn; Meenah (the Condesce's alternate self) bemoans the fact that she can't be a Cool Big Sis to Feferi without her royal blood forcing her to try and kill her and the Condesce herself seems absolutely horrified when Aranea kills Jane (and even that can be subjected to alternate interpretation; is she angry because she really cared about Jane or was she just mad about her plans being derailed?).
- And on that note, did the Condesce kill Aranea because she ruined her plans, or maybe...
- Lil Hal, or the Autoresponder, is a fucking playground for this, because ultimately, he is still Dirk, a troubled teen heavily implied to have depression, trapped in a pair of shades, originally created as an ironic joke, and practically seen as such by his friends. Is he still just Dirk, lonely, hurt, and bitter, who's basically lost everything, and goes to enormous lengths to cover his grief and resentment, as well as his hatred of the "Real Dirk"? Is he an egomaniac who legitimately believes that he's the superior iteration, and is mainly just trying to nab a body to complete the package? Or have three years spent being viewed as a toy by his friends, despised by his creator, rendered utterly immobile, and having no foreseeable future outside of those shades warped his mind beyond recognition, even to the point of insanity?
