Grimdark: What it means and what it can do for you

[rara]

I just wanna put out there a thread about going grimdark, and what i think it means, because i'm not sure if i'm right. and once we get a concrete definition down, maybe talk about who all could/should head down that path. and we dont have to have every detail explained, but a good universal understanding of the concept of what it means to go grimdark is in order, i think.

I assume everyone is up to date on homestuck, but if not, i'm gonna be talking about things that happened and i cant remember when they happened in the story so watch out?

To begin, it seems to me like descending to Grimdark is the opposite of ascending to Godtier. we only have rose as an example, so im gonna cite some info. roses class and aspect (seer of light) had affected her actions from the beginning. She was always illuminating the proper course for others to take, from getting john into the medium, to making a guide to the game to help the trolls in an alternate reality. sure she was curious about the evil god things that lied beyond the furthest ring, but it was always just fascination, not worship. until her mother died. then she started acting in a very opposite way then previously. instead of passively seeking and sharing knowledge, she was actively controlling void stuffs to attack jack. im not explaining this well, but i read a blog somewhere which outlines the dichotomy like pro, ill try and look for it later. The point is, when rose went grimdark, she gained powers that were somewhat opposite of those that she has now that she is godtier.

Also, its possible that in a similar way to the Godtier semi-immortality, those who go Grimdark are destined to die. once again, we only have the one example so its hard to say anything conclusively about it. its clear that the story propagates the concept of opposing forces in the homestuck universe, and that all is pretty much why i think that grimdark is the opposite of godtier. it doesn't mean you cant get both obviously, but i think it would be impossible to be both at the same time. i'm rambling now and i kinda forget why i started this thread?

oh yeah! conversation! so this is pretty much what i believe it is, but if anyone else wants to chime in about it, whether you think i got something wrong or left something out, just respond! also, maybe post what your character going grimdark would be aka powers, what drives them to the unnameable dark lordy god things, do the unnameable lordy god things need to be involved, or did you find some other way to break the rules, stuff like that! in the meantime, we can all start heading in to the medium, and considering most of the peeps are on team 1 at this point, im not actually delaying anyone by not hopping in yet ;p yea im rambling again... kkbye

[NEREID POMANO]

the inversion thing you were talking about could be this one? maybe? best post anyhow everyone should read it.

as for this Grimdark stuff im not 100 percent behind the idea, i personally think we could do without. trolls didn't have no one go grimdark, so it could be all Rose and her horrorterror facination/shitty inability to stay as a Seer of Light, though if a character seems like someone who could do it i guess i could change my opinion.

oh and what about Jade? is she grimdarking as well? or is that just like the Condesce being manipulate-y?

regardless if i like it or not, if we do let grimdarks we rly do need solid rules. i think having someone being both godtier and grimdark is absolute cray and would either split someone in half or kill them outright. as you said they seem opposing as hell. and is grimdark a void-y thing, or was that just Rose and her inversion? would other grimdarks just flip and still be coherent or what? and does it mean they are servants of the horrorterrors destined to die for the sake of letting the gods live a bit longer?

everything is so iffy ;;

[Tantri Ardele]

well really, what i originally gathered from grimdark was it was being influenced by an outside sourcein a potentially bad manner. I thought it would be interesting if Dian sorta lost her "mind" or reasoning in going grimdark and letting her emotions for whatever flip the fuck out and she got all destructive, then comes her inevitable death (come on, most characters die at least once) from a fellow team mate, and then ascension to godtier via her dream self and then she got the full use of her right leg (no more prosthetic, wheee) and can fly. Dreams came true. yus.

HOWEVER

I see the whole confusion that grimdark could probably bring, and I agree it isn't really necessary. I just thought it would be a kind of cool thing to do ^-^

Besides I don't really need the grimdark to go godtier anywhozel.

[haizea]

I believe what happened with Rose was barley the tip of the ice berg compared to another class. Since she was meant to be a Light player? I dunno, I just think if it happened to another aspect it wouldn't be as hard to turn back from and also it would corrupt them more. I believe that your aspect determines what is affected by the grim dark whilst the class determines how it affects you and how you handle it. The fact of the matter is, the idea that Hussie has played so little into this opens a vast majority up for contemplation and exploration as well as creativity and diverging yourselves on however you wish to interpret it. Just as people tackle problems in different ways I'd assume it'd be that Grim Dark tackles people in different ways to corrupt them the best, some are better at resisting it while others not so much.