Even though sloppy is fine, it might be a bit of a good idea to arrange this particular page because, to be quite frank, as it is right now, it is just absolute garbage. Here's some detail: speculation needs to be substituted with fact or removed entirely, and made more objective.
An aspect is an element assigned to a player of Sburb that dictates their role and powers. It is one half of the player titles, the other being the class. There are twelve known aspects, each seemingly a generalized "element" or concept, that could be considered a primal force of reality.
It had been previously hinted that each aspect was connected to a particular denizen, however Yaldabaoth has been seen to be assigned to a hero of Heart and a hero of Time. Based on this, it is unknown if the previous hints were false, or if aspect is only one factor in the determination of a player's denizen. It should also be noted that Caliborn was assigned Yaldabaoth as a consequence of turning their two player session into a one player dead session. It is unknown if his denizen would have been a different one if he had accepted a two player session with Calliope. Due to the aspects of Time and Space being essential to a session, and Hephaestus and Echidna having connections to the scratch construct and the Forge respectively, it is believed that at the very least, these two denizens may be consistent in normal sessions.
List of Aspects
Time
Time is one of the two basic fabrics of paradox space; its counterpart being Space. It is associated with the Timetables, time travel and exploits, and timeline maintenance in general. The Hero of Time also has a feature installed in their personal world in the Incipisphere: a large structure that will obliterate the game session and reboot it by rewinding everything to long before the game starts. It is a last resort, and would (ideally) result in better starting conditions if the players' session is doomed.
According to Doc Scratch, there is a Hero of Time in every successful session. Dave, Aradia, Damara, and Caliborn are all Heroes of Time. Dave and Aradia are shown to be able to time-hop, and Aradia has been shown
to be able to briefly freeze a rampaging Jack Noir in time. It is currently unknown what Caliborn's abilities may be, though as Lord English he is confirmed to have at least one (rather large) time-hop himself in order to be "already here" despite entering the A2 universe at its death. His other instances of being "already here" may also have used a similar method of time-travel.
In addition, the Time aspect appears to have some sort of connection with death, as seen with the Heroes of Time: Dave collected dead things, Caliborn/English was regarded as the physical embodiment of death in troll culture and is later known as the "Angel of Double Death", Aradia had an interest in archaeology, was dead prior to playing Sgrub, got ghosts to terrorize Vriska, and is interested in death and guarding the afterlife (and refers to herself as "the death fangirl"), Damara appears to desire to serve English and an alternate iteration of her did serve him. This directly contrasts with the Life aspect or could also contrast with Space's association with life and beginnings.
Time players also seem to have a loose connection with technology, as Dave has his turn tables and his land mainly consists of gears, Aradia was a robot, Damara briefly caused Rufioh to be mostly robot and Caliborn having a robotic/prosthetic leg. This ties into their destruction theme.
Known Heroes of Time are Dave Strider, the Knight of Time; Aradia Megido, the Maid of Time; Damara Megido, the Witch of Time; and Caliborn, the Lord of Time. Dave's denizen is Hephaestus, while Aradia's and Damara's denizens have not been shown. They are also all associated with the color red, Aradia, Damara and Caliborn having red blood, and Dave having a red text color as well as red eyes. All known Heroes of Time are Derse dreamers, fitting in the theme of destruction.
Space
Space is the other basic fabric of paradox space, along with Time. From Jade's display of powers, it seems that Space has to do with the size of things and their velocity; their position in existence with regards to physics. It also ties in strongly with the aspect of creation (in contrast to Time's association with destruction and decay). Kanaya mentions that she “Somehow Came To Understand Space Meant More Than Just Space (...) Not Just Physical Room And Dimension For Stars To Occupy. Its Deeper Than That A Field Related To Propagation, The Ones Who Create It”". Consequently, the two Heroes of Space whose sessions were observed more in depth by the narrative, have been in charge of the breeding of the Genesis Frog, which contains a new universe. A Her of Space's Land contains their session's Forge, which plays a vital part in the creation of the new universe as well. Moreover, Kanaya held the Matriorb which she would use to recreate the troll race. Beyond this, both Kanaya and Jade live in similar homes, next to a Frog Temple, and their dream selves are both awake before entering the session. It is unclear how many of these parallels directly relate to the Space aspect. The symbol for Space is very similar to the Borjgali and is symbolic of concepts relating to the roles of heroes of Space. It also resembles a spiral galaxy.
The third hero of Space, Calliope, also shares the attribute of having her dream self awake before playing the game, however this may be connected to her unique circumstances with Caliborn.
Known Heroes of Space are Jade Harley, the Witch of Space; Kanaya Maryam, the Sylph of Space; Porrim Maryam, the Maid of Space; and Calliope, the Muse of Space. The associated denizen of the Space aspect is Echidna, at least for Jade, Kanaya, and Calliope; it is presumably Porrim's as well. There is a possibility that Aranea's denizen was also Echidna, but this is not confirmed, as it was only stated that she had spoken with the denizen, not that it was her own. It is also interesting to note that all of the Heroes of Space seen so far are associated with the color green (which parallels Time players, who are all associated with red). All Space players so far have been Prospit dreamers, most likely due to the connection to Skaia.
Void
Void is associated with "the essence of lacking, or nothingness" and "the obfuscation of knowledge", or its "outright destruction". Calliope suggests that the Void aspect may be the opposite to the Light aspect here. She mentions that Void players have the ability to stay hidden, and mentions that Rose, a Light player, has the opposite effect.
It seems to enable players to act without being seen or noticed, as evidenced by Darkleer's apparent ability to hide a Magic Cue Ball from Doc Scratch, Equius's similar talents during Vriska's struggles with Doc Scratch, and Roxy's occasional "dark patches" from Calliope's viewpoint. Void players may potentially also have the ability to become invisible in some sense, as it is seen that the B2 Draconian Dignitary becomes invisible with the Ring of Void as well as Roxy reportedly becoming both invisible and intangible while wearing it, and then becomes able to do so by herself later. Normally a ring of Orbs does not work on humans, but Roxy thinks the ring is helping her to get in touch with her own Void powers. It is also interesting to note that two of the known Heroes of Void have both used the Fistkind Strife Specibus. The use of bare hands is essentially the lack of a weapon, playing into the theme of Void being the essence of nothing. It is also worth noting that the Void symbol is the inverse of the Space symbol; corresponding to the spots between the arms on the Space symbol.
All known Void players have created a "void" around themselves to distance themselves from the world. Roxy and her drinking, Horuss and his "happiness" and Equius and the hemospectrum.
The Void aspect may be related to the Furthest Ring, which has been referred to as "the void". This is further underlined by Roxy's affinity to the Furthest Ring and Rose causing the blackout under the influence of the gods of the Furthest Ring.
As the Rogue of Void, Roxy is able to "steal" the nothingness from the idea of an object, and thus either conjures the actual object or creates them from scratch. Either way, she has somehow succeeded conjuring up Perfectly Generic Objects, pumpkins, a combination of a Generic Object and a Matriorb, and a Matriorb itself.
It may also be worth noting that Equius's blood is used by Gamzee to void out information on Lord English and himself in the copy of Rose's book possessed by Calliope. Horuss also stated that he used his Void abilities to draw out qualities in himself he did not know he had.
Known Heroes of Void are Roxy Lalonde, the Rogue of Void; Equius Zahhak, the Heir of Void; and Horuss Zahhak, the Page of Void. Roxy's denizen is Nix, and it is unknown who Equius and Horuss's denizens are. All known Heroes of Void have been Derse dreamers.
Light
The Light aspect is equivalent to "fortune", and involves power over luck and fortuitous outcomes. Two heroes of Light have been able to see into Magic Cue Balls. This may also mean that Light could mean "knowledge", in the way that it contrasts with the Void aspect, although it has been stated that Vriska's ability is due to her vision eightfold, and Rose's power may be related to her role as a Seer.
Alternatively, Light players may possess some degree of control over light itself, or at the very least, an enhanced detection of bouncing light rays (this page references making opaque objects permeable to light). Another relation to Light seems to be that Light players are easier to sense from a great distance throughout paradox space, as implied here.
Another possible interpretation is that Light's aspect embodies fate or destiny. Robbing fortune can be seen as stealing away a favorable fate, while a seer mapping favorable outcomes is essentially charting destiny. An example of this is Aranea's "healing" of Jake - she is giving him his destiny.
Light players have also shared a fascination with history and discovery. At least two enjoy telling long-winded stories about what they've learned, forcing their audience to listen no matter what. This behavior properly parallels the Void aspect obscuring information and being ignored.
Known Heroes of Light are Rose Lalonde, the Seer of Light; Vriska Serket, the Thief of Light; and Aranea Serket, the Sylph of Light. Both Rose and Vriska have had Cetus for their denizen. It is unclear whether Aranea's denizen is Cetus, as she has communicated with Echidna.
Mind
The Mind aspect seems to be related to thoughts and decisions of individuals and the consequences of those decisions. Terezi was able to see what decisions will be made, and the outcomes of such decisions with her Seer of Mind powers. Heroes of the Mind aspect also seem to be able to communicate with the otherwise-undetectable "dream splinters" that dreaming players create in dream bubbles, though this may only be possible for Terezi, being the Seer of Mind and literally seeing (or, rather, smelling) the mental image of Dirk left by Jake. Mind seems to be the antithesis of Heart, given that it is associated with logic, reasoning, action, decision-making, in contrast with Heart's association with motivation and emotions.
The Mind aspect may also be associated with the concepts of karma and justice. Terezi's interest in justice and her love of solving crimes may allude to this. It might allude as well to her class, as she studied Alternian law, so knowing actions and reactions of this very well (Seer is a knowing class). Latula, as the Knight of Mind, states that karma makes some sort of intuitive sense to her, and her alternate self, Neophyte Redglare, was said to be a highly talented Legislacerator. Terezi aspires to be a Legislacerator and is strongly motivated by her sense of justice, allowing it to color most aspects of her life including many of her interpersonal relationships (particularly with Vriska, but her first interactions with John, and her relationship with Gamzee also stand out).
Known Heroes of Mind are Terezi Pyrope, the Seer of Mind; and Latula Pyrope, the Knight of Mind. The denizen associated with the Mind aspect is unknown. All known Heroes of Mind have been Prospit Dreamers.
Heart
Calliope has stated that the Heart aspect is comparable to "Soul", or essence of being. This is further shown when Jake's imaginary version of Dirk, a Prince of Heart, attempts to extract Aranea's soul from her body. This is also supported in Caliborn's masterpiece when he depicts Dirk using his powers to trap him, part of Gamzee, and Arquiusprite in Lil' Cal. Calliope also says that this aspect may cause splintering in the Hero's personality. When talking to Caliborn, Dirk has stated that “I splinter, but I don't break”; however, this could just have been a figure of speech. This manifests in Dirk's status as the Prince of Heart, by having simultaneously awake real and dream selves, having his auto-responder AI, a robotic version of himself, and apparently having an imaginary version of himself living within Jake's subconscious. This may also be related to the role-playing tendencies of Nepeta. Although as a passive Rogue, Nepeta's abilities are most likely focused around others, such as how she kept Equius pacified.
Heart is associated with emotions and intuition, and may also be associated with motivations and inclinations to do things. This contrasts with Mind's association with action, and Heart has been speculated to be the antithesis of Mind. Furthering this, Heart may also have something to do with feelings, including feelings of attraction. This could explain why Nepeta and Meulin, both Heroes of Heart, are interested in shipping. This also fits into the theme of splintered selves. Dirk also seems to enjoy shipping in his own manner by making shipped scenes of himself and his friends at Caliborn's request.
Known Heroes of Heart are Dirk Strider, the Prince of Heart; Nepeta Leijon, the Rogue of Heart; and Meulin Leijon, the Mage of Heart. The associated denizen with the Heart aspect is currently unknown. Although Dirk's denizen is Yaldabaoth, he is also the denizen of Caliborn, and Dirk has stated that Yaldabaoth is reserved for extremely strong players. All Heroes of Heart have been Derse dreamers.
Rage
The Rage aspect is most likely tied to negative emotions and rage. Gamzee, the Bard of Rage, was able to enter a berserk mode, presumably by channeling his anger. This mode greatly increased his strength and allowed him to do massive damage to the Black King during the trolls' fight with him. Also, as he entered this rage, he was surrounded by a purple lightning effect which turned red in his sobriety. Gamzee's eyes were also shown to turn a darker shade of orange, and then completely red, as compared to a normal golden troll eye color. However, this could just be artistic representation (although it could also be in reference to "blind fury"(becoming so angry you cannot see straight).
This aspect may have an affect on one's physique. The Grand Highblood, who would by logical association be a Hero of Rage, is the largest, most physically powerful Troll seen in the series thus far, almost matching an Imperial Drone in sheer physical stature. This notion is further supported by Gamzee's incredible attack power during one of his rages, delivering the most damage out of any of the trolls to the Black King with a single blow and easily swinging Terezi's entire body around with one hand, although Gamzee's actual size and physique do not seem to be affected, unlike his ancestor's; this may be an effect that only shows with time and growth, however.
Rage may also deal with sanity or madness, evidenced by Gamzee drawing on ancestral powers to make a whole crew of jokers get to being kind of “MENTALLY MOTHER FUCKIN unstable”. There has been at least one clown posse in Homestuck known to be given willingly to insanity, the likes of which bear tangential relation to the Heroes of Rage.
Known Heroes of Rage are Gamzee Makara, the Bard of Rage; and Kurloz Makara, the Prince of Rage. The associated denizen of Rage is unknown. All known Heroes of Rage have been Prospit Dreamers.
Hope
Hope seems to embody both its literal meaning and certain holy powers. Eridan wields powerful attacks which seem to be based on so-called “wwhite science”. His title, the Prince of Hope denotes both destroying hope itself, as he did by destroying the matriorb, and destruction through hope, which it is possible his white science actually was, especially since they were blasts of powerful white light described as "holy" and "sacred" by Kanaya, as well as Terezi's observation that the light smells "hopeful". Supporting the purported connection of white science and Hope powers is Doc Scratch's line that implies through the angels Eridan learned to "destroy hope with their light". Jake, the Page of Hope, has emitted a huge aura of white energy. The Prospitians also considered him to be providing them with literal hope, so Hope is, at least, literal if not figurative.
An alternative theory is that Hope is the power of belief. For example, Eridan believes in the power of science, which would explain how a mundanely alchemized wand that he thinks is science-powered could be immensely more powerful than the actual "god-weapon", Ahab's Crosshairs. In a conversation with CalibornJake states that he thinks Hope is “all about believing in stuff” and that if you believe in something hard enough it just may come true. Jake also states that “friendship is a HUGE key to being good at hope”.
Continuing this, Hope may mean believing in many possibilities. One example is Jake's many fantasies of being an adventurer. This is in contrast to Rage's connotation of belief in only one possibility. It also represents positive emotions to contrast Rage's negative emotions, and it's worth noting that Eridan (a Hope player) was very focused on science, whereas the two Rage players we know of are strongly connected to religion. This makes sense, as science and religion are classically opposed concepts. Another connection to this difference is the fact that the Hope aspect's color scheme associates more with the Prospitian light-yellow tones, while Rage is more based on Derse's.
Known Heroes of Hope are Jake English, the Page of Hope; Eridan Ampora, the Prince of Hope; and Cronus Ampora, the Bard of Hope. Jake's denizen is Abraxas, while Eridan and Cronus's denizen is unknown. All Hope Heroes so far have been shown to use guns as a Strife Specibus. However, this is more likely just a coincidence. The symbol of Hope appears to be an image of a six-pronged set of wings, likely a reference to seraphim.
Doom
Doom is most likely related to mass destruction, an antithesis of Life. Sollux, as the Mage of Doom, was inherently aware of the impending destruction that would follow the trolls' playing of the game and was plagued by screams of the imminently deceased. He also displayed remarkable skill at using the ~ATH programming language.
Continuing its connotation of death, Doom may also mean sacrifice, since Sollux sacrificed one of his half-ghosts to get the trolls to the Green Sun, and Mituna sacrificed his mental well-being to save his friends from an unknown threat.
An alternative interpretation of Doom is judgement, or law. In fact, this is essentially the original definition of the word. The Doom aspect could, therefore, have some association with the rules that apply to things, such as Sburb sessions. An analogy could be Sollux's hacking skill: he understands the constraints and mechanisms of the system. Of note is the fact that Sollux didn't merely distribute the Sgrub files; he firstly had to reconstruct the code from two sets of ruins, and secondly, it is stated on his introduction page that he had modified the program slightly. This fits in with the theme of an understanding of system rules and structure.
Known Heroes of Doom are Sollux Captor, the Mage of Doom; and Mituna Captor, the Heir of Doom. The associated denizen of Doom is unknown. Both Heroes of Doom seen so far have had two dream selves, though this is most likely due to the Captor's duality theme.
Life
The Life aspect is some kind of innate "life force" of living beings. Life players displayed the ability to heal teammates by repairing grievous wounds, and have even been shown to be capable of resurrecting themselves. Feferi and Jane's Life powers appear to glow in the player's text color. The Condesce was able to extend lifespans, and it is shown that her pre-scratch self, Meenah, is a Thief of Life. If Doom is associated with death, then it may very well be the antithesis of Life.
Meenah demonstrates a very experimental mindset with regards to the way things work (speculating on concepts such as whether it's possible to "double die", as well as wanting to stab Roxy just to see what happens), and as the queen of Derse, the Condesce is perfectly happy to bend the rules by endorsing "tactical shortcuts" in the war against Prospit. Being described as Sea Hitler, Condesce was the one who upheld draconian laws on Alternia that have resulted in the cost of countless lives. As an interstellar conqueror leading an army of murderous troll adults she was accounted for taking billions of lives. On Earth she drove humanity to near extinction. But, being a Thief of Life, Condesce was only able to take lives - any attempt to revive her race (giving life - the exact opposite of her role) ended up in vain.
Known Heroes of Life are Jane Crocker, the Maid of Life; Feferi Peixes, the Witch of Life; and Meenah Peixes, the Thief of Life. Jane's denizen is Hemera, while Feferi and Meenah's denizen is unknown share this.
Blood
The Blood aspect most likely means relationships, including friendship and bonds of allegiance. Common theories include affinity, affection and unity in general, such as the word is used in "blood brothers". Karkat, the Knight of Blood, had a reputation among his friends for sympathy.
Additional evidence for affection is its use in the form of moirallegiance with Gamzee in order to protect the other surviving trolls. Karkat's obtainment of cahoots with his session's Jack Noir may also be a form of this. It should also be noted that Karkat was able to unite the trolls despite their differences (including blood color) in order to reach their common goal. Karkat has also stated that “LEADERSHIP IS IN [HIS] BLOOD”. That may also suggest that the Blood aspect involves unity of some sort.
Jack's bloodied hand is very similar to the symbol of the Blood aspect.
Karkat believed that Blood stood for fighting and having a warrior spirit. However, he admitted that this is only a guess, and he has no idea if that is actually what his aspect means, saying he later realized there's probably much more to it.
It was stated that both Karkat and Kankri never fully realized their potential as Blood players, however, the Sufferer did begin to realize his powers as the former Seer of Blood. These allowed him to see his alternate reality self living on Beforus which triggered his attempt to reunite trollkind, implying that Blood powers may have to do with alternate selves or, as previously mentioned, unity. This is supported by the conversations Karkat held with Jade in which both his future and past selves were present in chat.
Known Heroes of Blood are Karkat Vantas, the Knight of Blood; and Kankri Vantas, the Seer of Blood. The associated denizen of Blood is unknown, though, it is stated by Karkat that his Denizen was in fact very small, and weak. It should be noted that both Blood players were trolls with bright red blood that is considered a mutation. All known Heroes of Blood have been Prospit Dreamers.
Breath
The Breath aspect seems to have some relationship to John's power over The Breeze (such as The Windy Thing). It was never revealed whether Tavros has or could have had equivalent powers, but since he spent most of his time in the game asleep or otherwise passive, it seems unlikely that he was able to complete whatever makes those powers available. However, as shown here, Tavros' breath appears as blue lines similar to the Breath symbol. The significance of this is currently unknown. Tavros also shows a great enjoyment of flight (moving through the air), mainly through a rocket chair and his dream self on Prospit.
Breath may also have connections to direction, since John is very seldom at a loss of what to do next. It's possible that Tavros fulfills his duties as a Page of Breath when acting as Jake's spirit guide, providing Jake with self confidence and in this action, giving Jake direction. It might be representative of freedom, as the post-scratch self of Rufioh, the Rogue of Breath, attempted to steal the freedom from the highbloods and give it to the lowbloods in his rebellion, and he could control animals, stealing their free will. Also, John, the Heir of Breath, inherits or receives a sort of "freedom" from the story line when he is affected by Lord English's "treasure".
In the Act 6 Intermission 3, during his battle with Jack Noir in a dream bubble, John was able to turn into wisps of air to escape Jack's hold and was able to reform behind him. He has demonstrated this power again in Act 6 Act 6 while avoiding Grimbark Jade, in tandem with continued zapping around canonspace due to the effects of English's "treasure".
Known Heroes of Breath are John Egbert, the Heir of Breath; Tavros Nitram, the Page of Breath; and Rufioh Nitram, the Rogue of Breath. John's denizen is Typheus, while Tavros and Rufioh's denizens are unknown. All known Heroes of Breath have been Prospit Dreamers.
Color Schemes
Please note that the use of the colors has not always been 100% consistent throughout the comic and that some aspects have been seen featured a lot less than others. Consequently, some color schemes may be updated as we obtain more information.
Trivia
- The Void symbol is described by Hussie as a hollowed out Space symbol.
- The Rage symbol has a similar shape to clown makeup, specifically that of 'Insane Clown Posse' rapper Shaggy 2 Dope.
- The Space symbol closely resembles a simple diagram of the Milky Way galaxy pictured from above.