Eridan Ampora, also known by his Trollian handle “caligulasAquarium”, is one of the sea dwelling trolls. His associated zodiac sign is Aquarius (♒), and his horns are wavy which could possibly represent his associated symbol.
His name is derived from the river Eridanos, which was poured onto the Earth by Aquarius in Greek myth (or possibly from the constellation Eridanus), and the amphora, a type of Greek vessel for carrying liquids which is often seen in depictions of Aquarius. If his first name is read backwards, it reads "Nadire" (A nadir is "the lowest point; point of greatest adversity or despair"), though this could be a coincidence.
"Eridan" could also come from the star "Eridana," or the constellation "Eridanus", or even the Eridanus Supervoid, a region in the sky almost as cold as absolute zero. "Ampora" means protection which could be ironic with him doing the exact opposite. When you shorten his name to the first and last syllables, it sounds somewhat like Harry Potter (Eri' 'Pora,) although that could be coincidence. It also resembles the word eradicate, possibly referencing his genocidal tendencies. His Trollian handle is presumably taken from Troll Caligula.
He was on the Blue Team.
His ancestor is Orphaner Dualscar, who he named his Flarp character after. Dualscar was the kismesis of Vriska's ancestor, and the former owner of Ahab's Crosshairs.
Biography
Hivebent
Eridan is a sea dweller and a member of a very high caste. The typing quirk he uses (doubling v and w) is a reference to the Aquarius symbol, both forming a zig-zag shape representing waves.
You're a wizard, Eridan.
Eridan dresses very flamboyantly for a troll, wearing a large quantity of rings, an extravagant, high-collared cape, and a billowing scarf. He has a purple highlight in his hair, making him the only A2 troll to have hair that isn't entirely black, and has crooked horns reminiscent of the Aquarius symbol. Eridan's fashion sense, in as much as the term can be used to describe how a troll dresses, could be likened to a combination of supervillain (the cape and jewelry) and hipster (the pants, shoes, glasses, and hair). The cape and scarf, along with the rotated bolt shapes of his zodiac symbol, horns, and hair highlight, also evoke a reference to Harry Potter, also implied by Eridan's obsession with wizards and wands.
Eridan wields Ahab's Crosshairs, a weapon he found in a ghost ship along with Vriska's Fluorite Octet. The very first thing he was seen doing was using it to kill a flying whale
. He did this to feed Feferi's Lusus, in order to keep its voice down.
According to Terezi, Eridan was part of a "conspiracy" that had foreknowledge of Sburb, although he has never demonstrated any. He is an especially powerful and influential member of the Nautical Aristocracy that wants one of Vriska's doomsday devices, apparently intended to kill all land dwellers. The biological differences between aquatic and land-dwelling trolls are unclear as of now, but both Eridan and Feferi are unique among the other troll players in that they have fin-like protrusions on the sides of their heads.
Eridan's hive appears to be the ruins of an antiquated ship, lodged upon black rocks on a small island. This shows that Eridan is comfortable with breathing air, despite his fin or gill-like facial protrusions. In fact, Eridan spends the vast majority of his time above water, although he claimed this is only so he can more effectively wipe out the land dwellers.
Being introduced last along with Feferi, Eridan appeared the least of the twelve trolls during Hivebent and currently has the least number of appearances for a Troll character overall. He was the only troll whose Planet was not seen during those introductions, and he was also not given a Mythological role at the time, an exclusion he shared only with Gamzee.
Upon arriving on his planet, the Land of Wrath and Angels, Eridan began slaughtering the inhabiting angels. He found the angels were difficult to kill, requiring at least a minute of constant fire from his powerful weapon, Ahab's Crosshairs. The angels were not intended to be his enemies, though it is unknown what purpose they were meant to serve. However, according to Doc Scratch, they had some role in granting Eridan his deadly “wwhite science” powers. Also of note is this conversation, in which Sollux Captor, possibly prematurely showing some access to his abilities as the Mage of Doom, talks about an angel as “2ome terriible mythiical demon. wiith the2e awful feathery wiing2. paradox 2pace u2e2 them two u2her iin the end.”
Post-Hivebent
Eridan in hero mode.
Whilst hiding in the lab from with the other trolls, he comes to the conclusion that there is no hope left and informs both Feferi and Sollux of his plans to join Jack Noir. Feferi refuses an invitation to join him, and Sollux decides that he has to stop Eridan and challenges him to another duel. Sollux's eye beams are no match for Eridan's magic science wand and he is knocked out, and when Feferi attacks Eridan in retaliation, he kills her.
DEAD
Kanaya looks on in horror at the murder and starts to go for her weapon, while Eridan holds his wand at the ready. When Kanaya hesitates because of the Matriorb next to her, Eridan obliterates it (destroying the hope of troll re-population, appropriate, given his mythological role) and then kills Kanaya when she attacks him. It wwas fuckin unconscionable. Eridan absconds from the room through the transportaliser as Karkat stares in disbelief at the carnage, vowing to kill him. However, Kanaya, after returning from the dead, takes care of this herself. Once she finds him along with Gamzee and Vriska in a 3x showdown, she promptly disables the latter two, "debunks" Eridan's wand, and pulls out her chainsaw for some vengeance, sawing him in half.
A dead Eridan is later seen in the MINISTRIFE flash lamenting about his tragic situation. Cronus, his dancestor, flirts with him and asks him out to which Eridan agrees to but not before expressing his disdain for him.
Erisolsprite
Eridan's corpse is preserved by Gamzee Makara, and he is later revived as half of Erisolsprite to be Jake English 's corresponding player.
Alternate Selves
As the Trolls' session had many Doomed timelines, Eridan had many alternate selves. However out of all these alternate selves only one has been seen (outside of brief cameos in the flashes). This alternate self had ascended to the god tiers before dying and was seen in a dream bubble with an alternate Feferi.
Many more alternate Eridans were seen during Mini-Strife, featuring various different outfits, most notably "March Eridan".
Personality and Traits
Eridan has an affection for tales of historical leaders, conquerors, and military history. His passion for these extravagant stories of conquest and glory lends itself to his overly theatrical mannerisms and his massive ego. As a result, people tend to see him as a "bit of a tool". He is described by Kanaya as overbearing, to the point where he has been blocked on Trollian by Vriska, of all trolls. He also likes magic and wizards, even though he knows that magic obviously doesn't exist. This may be a contributing factor in his vaguely Harry Potter-esque appearance.
He loathes Land Dwellers and the litter they produce. His hate for Land Dwellers extends to such a level that he has devoted himself to killing them all, as a result of an overpowering genocide complex. He aims to achieve this goal through the collection of deadly weaponry, such as the absurdly overpowered rifle that he wields, and the pursuit of a functional doomsday device, one of which he solicits from Vriska. Much of his weaponry and resources were amassed through sweeps of extreme roleplaying, making him one of five trolls known to partake in that particular sort of game. His character's name is Orphaner Dualscar, a fellow Seagrift like Vriska's Marquise Spinneret Mindfang. The two were an unmatched alliance and brutal competitors, just like their ancestors. Typically trading and sharing the prizes of victory, Vriska would feed the victims of their conquests to her Lusus, while their lusus would be fed to Feferi's gargantuan lusus to keep her happy.
Kanaya says that he has a ridiculous accent, but what kind of accent this is indeterminate, although Andrew has said that he pronounces his "vv"s (double v's) as "w"s. This is likely because "v" is pronounced with a "w" sound in Latin. It is also similar to how the Finnish pronounce English, possibly turning it into a fish pun. Eridan also has a tendency to swear rather a lot - though not as much as Gamzee - and thus appears to not fully appreciate the moral guidelines that are lent through his royal heritage.
Despite allegedly hating all terrestrial life and being extremely dramatic about it, Eridan's tough facade crumbles when faced by his friend(s?) in distress. When told by Gamzee that Sollux is dead, Eridan immediately felt guilty and stated that he felt like an asshole for seeking relationship advice from Karkat at such an inopportune time. He was unhappy with Gamzee for giving poor advice and not being able to help with Karkat's problems, which he seemed to consider more immediately important than his own.
Eridan snaps
Eridan, though firmly stating his disbelief in it, has a fascination with magic, going so far as to pester Rose for the purpose of "learning her secrets". Later, he managed to pester Kanaya into creating a wand and training him in the ways of "white magic science".
Unfortunately, this stops being a joke when he uses the wand to kill Kanaya and Feferi. Killing two of his closest friends may not have much of a positive effect on his sanity...or his longevity, since by killing her, he turned Kanaya into a rainbow drinker.
- [“What would you say if I said a vengeful boy on a path of nihilism was taken under the wings of fearsome angels, and learned to destroy hope with their light?”]
- - Doc Scratch
- - Doc Scratch
Relationships
Feferi Peixes
Eridan has a mating fondness for Feferi but didn't "play his cards right" (as he implied in a conversation with Kanaya and then later admitted to Feferi), leading to a moirallegiance between them in lieu of one more concupiscently-inclined, which he would have preferred. After Feferi's entry into The Medium, she terminates her moirallegiance with Eridan as a result of Eridan's overbearing and taxing nature. This devastates Eridan, although he takes the chance to ask Feferi about them becoming Matesprits instead, which she promptly refuses as well. He is later seen attacking Sollux (whom Feferi was in a matespritship with), presumably in jealous rage.
Vriska Serket
He appears to have been Vriska's kismesis, but has been completely shut down by her shortly prior to the events of Hivebent. He asks Kanaya to mediate and become their Auspice, but she has no interest in his ashen advances. Later on in the comic, far after he and Vriska have both died, she makes remarks about Eridan indicating that she would enjoy his company on their dream bubble pirate ship.
Sollux Captor
Eridan dislikes Sollux , and frequently picks fights with him. He once attempted to solicit Terezi to be their auspice, but she rejected him as Sollux wasn't interested. Feferi interprets his fights with Sollux as attempting to get her to do the same, in order to pull her and Sollux out of their matespritship.
Nepeta Leijon
He also apparently had feelings for Nepeta, and complains that she would not visit his planet even after saving her life by getting her into the game.
Rose Lalonde
After attempting to tell Rose that magic was not real, he asked her to be his kismesis, claiming that they both hated each other. She responded by destroying his computer, which probably did not help his feelings.
Kanaya Maryam
He does seem to have a strange friendship with Kanaya, valuing her for her apparent mediation skills, and he goes so far as to claim that he wouldn't kill her along with all the other land-dwellers. Despite his more sinister intentions, he seems somewhat petulant and relies on the support of Kanaya and Feferi to get by. However, later he ends up killing both of the two.
Karkat Vantas
Like many of the trolls, Eridan seems to regularly seek romantic advice from Karkat. Before they began playing Sgrub, Eridan and Karkat shared gossip with each other. After Feferi "broke up" with him, Eridan sought advice from Karkat, attempting to use both Gamzee and a memo to contact him when Karkat in that particular time was too preoccupied to answer (as Sollux had just died). It's implied that they had many conversations between then and Eridan killing Feferi and Kanaya in which Karkat gave him advice that Eridan ignored. Eridan is very open with Karkat, moreso than he had been to Feferi when they were moirails, and Karkat in return at least attempts to be nice (though sometimes in an exasperated way). It shouldn't escape notice that they've even made a pact. They were more than likely good friends before the game, due to the fact Karkat seems to actually treat him nicer than he does most people. He has done some red flirting with future (and possibly past) Karkat who, seeing as how future Eridan had just killed Feferi and Kanaya, is uninterested for obvious reasons.
Lusus/Kernelsprite
Eridan's seahorse-lusus and battle companion.
Eridan's Lusus appears to be a large sea horse probably known as a "Skyhorse", complete with saddle, which he rides into battle. He rides his Lusus while hunting for food for Feferi's gargantuan Lusus, supposedly out of obligation to Feferi. It's notable that his Lusus is the only one that wears any sort of clothes, for it has a saddle.
Trivia
- Eridan seems to be affiliated with the number 311, just as Gamzee is affiliated with the number 420. Several examples through the comic seems to point to this:
- Eridan answered Karkat's memos two times and both of them display the same set of numbers: 3:11 hours for the first and 311 hours for the second.
- The updates posted on the website around 3/11 all involved Eridan, somehow. The first one, published in 2011, showed Doc Scratch implying him in one of his fables as [“a vengeful boy on a path of nihilism”]. The second one took place during the second intermission of Act 6, where a doomed Eridan showed up with a Doomed Feferi to heal Wayward Vagabond's wounds.
- According to Hussie's formspring, 311 is supposed to represent an emoticon. Since 11 is position number of Aquarius in the zodiac but can also be translated by XI, the number would give something like 3XI, which is a DEAD face. An alternate interpretation is that it is a disgruntled face.
- It could be read as three times eleven, which gives 11 11 11, the arc number of the B2 session. Although this seems to be more a coincidence than anything else.
- Eridan answered Karkat's memos two
- Also according to Hussie's Formspring, Eridan's handle, caligulasAquarium, refers to his romantic obsessions, his need for a black romance in particular. It also was used to show Eridan was a character with more sinister intentions than his personality let suggest, covered by romantic failures. Notice also that Caligula begins by "Cal", the first three letters from three other characters we know, not to mention the two first syllables have the same pronunciation as the Cherubs' names. In the same ask, Hussie also mentions Gamzee and Eridan had the same development as joke characters who've gone darker post-Hivebent.
- Hussie also confirms Eridan belongs to the category of Homestuck's antagonists. He and Gamzee are the only trolls to be classified as villains.
- Eridan was named by Tenebrais.
- As the Prince of Hope, Eridan was prophesized by the angels to use the power of hope to defeat a great evil. This destiny was passed down to him by his Dancestor Cronus Ampora, who ultimately failed in his destiny by abandoning it and allowing hope to be destroyed. Eridan also abandoned this destiny and replaced it with the desire to destroy hope, ultimately achieving his dreams of genocide by destroying the matriorb and fulfilling his class role of Prince by destroying his aspect which was hope. The destiny of being the one to fight the great evil (who is likely to be Lord English) was then passed on to some other hero of hope (most likely Jake English).
- Eridan did not seem to be aware that "Prince" means "Destroyer", as he kept referring to himself in the context of royalty, as if to mean he was an authority on anything involving hope. Just as he also wasn't aware that he wasn't supposed to kill his consorts, the angels (they weren't dropping grist, and they only started fighting back after he started slaughtering them).
- Eridan may have actually been based off of the user Terin's name for Alternia, which was "Eridani". This is also the name of a star in the Aquarius constellation.
- Eridan is the only troll that has never been seen smiling in all of Homestuck.
- Eridan is depicted riding his lusus on the "VII: The Chariot" card and stabbing through a purple heart on the "Two of Swords" card in the Homestuck tarot deck. He is being impaled with several swords on the "Ten of Swords" card. He can also be seen with most of the pre-act six cast on the "Five of Wands" card.
