Clowning on Hendrik: a national pastime

he shouldn't make it so easy

I could lie to the mermaid and tell her that her boy isn't old and dead, but why? would I do that?

what she chooses to do with the truth is up to her

even if it's sad, or I think it's foolish

he's not going to come back if I don't tell her

...per tooltip, Jasper and Hendrik are the exact same age I am right now

dudes. don't you ever get tired of maintaining teenager levels of emotional intensity?

Sometimes you go through some shit that leaves you kind of a Mess emotionally

I think they would both have been happier if they weren't in the family to school to military pipeline and ran away to do Something Else

learn to if it sucks hit da brickz

have an independent thought

I mean they did have an evil monster skinsuiting their adoptive dad since they were like 20. That probably didn’t help

yeah but learning that sometimes authority does not have your best interests at heart is an important part of growing up

I look at Hendrik's getup, plus horse, plus horse ARMOR, and I see a man who needs to work retail or farm, for his health

I look at Jasper and I see someone who should have quit and moved to a different country fifteen years ago

He should have. Unfortunately he was traumatized at an early age by his mother’s death and dying wish and feels obligated

...and the fantasy military-monarchical complex is of course set up to use just such bonds to prevent people from going off to do independent violence

which has its uses! but does, also, prepare warrior-aristocrats to do atrocities

genuinely a university could have fixed Jasper I think

Yeah I think if he fucked off to be a scholar or a Dragon Quest Monsters protagonist he’d be fine

-meet new people/places/worldviews, expand his view of his options
-setting that values the thing he's best at
-maybe make friends who say things like "your dad sounds like an asshole"

I do think the person who would have the biggest problem with Jasper giving up on the knight thing and doing something else is, unfortunately, Jasper

yeah...

sunk cost man

Also extremely prideful and likely to see it as failing and giving up rather than pivoting to something better for him

Until he breaks and becomes an evil wizard.

yeah...I just think unlearning that shit is what your twenties are for

then again I spent much of my twenties getting the mental illness enforced course of Dealing With Failure

note: college couldn't have fixed Hendrik as I'm not sure he has a brain

Veronica. this is the second time. and Erik asked for this neither of those times.

you are the one here who is attracted to women

unfortunately I do find this name joke funny

it's a really good joke.

Omg

Hendrik, and for that matter Mosheh, should be 100% frozen solid in their full metal armor

just look at him

metal plate over chain

Hendrik how are you so stupid

like. I genuinely have more respect for Jasper, who has decided to be evil, than Hendrik, who apparently never considered that riding down a couple of teenagers on his big black horse for something one of them allegedly did AS AN INFANT might be evil

...as I recall Queen Frysabel is going to end up in a relationship with Krystalinda, the witch who swapped their places in the magic book and pretended to be her

and I think she's so fucking valid

she wants to smooch the witch!

and I bookend this post by Frysabel stealing Jasper's girlfriend

as i tend to lean bisexuality into my reads i assume krystalinda was going to be more of a booty call than a serious relationship and he's less "god damnit" about it and more "good for her"

which her? yes

honestly from what she says I'm not sure he was interested at all

business mode

oh yeah definitely

either is Valid to me

just not anything like, serious and committed

but my joke

she stole his booty call that counts for something!