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TabberCanonGrayedCanon • link=Calliope/Dubiously Canon}}Dubiously Canon
For the doomed god-tier version of this character, see Alternate Calliope.

Calliope is a cherub living on post-scratch Earth, long-since abandoned by humanity. Thanks to an obsession with the troll race, Calliope initially implied that she was one, to the extent of dressing up as a "trollsona" named Callie Ohpeee. In truth, she is in fact a lime blood, just not the kind of lime blood found on the troll hemospectrum.

Calliope's handle is uranianUmbra (UU), and her sign is Ophiuchus (☤), the serpent-bearer.

Concept and creation[]

Theories among the Homestuck fandom regarding a 13th troll to accompany the so-called 13th zodiac sign of Ophiuchus had abounded for many years.[citation needed] Just as Calliope (and by extension Caliborn) represents the realisation of this theory, she also, like many of Act 6's new characters, represents the comic's fandom and theorycrafters at large.[citation needed] Fittingly, all of Calliope's artwork is illustrated by long-time Homestuck fan Shelby Cragg, and the cover artwork for the fan-composed album ColoUrs and mayhem: Universe B is one of the many drawings on Calliope's wall.HS

Calliope symbol

Calliope's symbol combines elements of the historically distinct symbols of the caduceus and the Rod of Asclepius, which tend to be conflated in the modern day; the mythological Asclepius was said to have become the constellation of Ophiuchus after his death. Both symbols employ snakes, relating to the serpentine nature of the cherub species - particularly the two intertwined snakes of the caduceus - and wands or scepters, relating to Calliope and Caliborn's weapons; specifically, the caduceus was said to be able to revive the dead and wake the sleeping.HS

The cherubs' birthday and age are never touched upon in the comic; Andrew Hussie has, however, suggested that the patterns established in the comic would indicate they were born on the 11th of November and are 11 "units" old.[1] Cohen Edenfield has further suggested that, thanks to Earth C's larger sun leading to a longer orbital period, 11 Earth C years are equal to 16 modern Earth years, making the cherubs the same age as their human friends.[2]

Etymology[]

Calliope is one of the Ancient Greek mythological Muses, who also gives her name to an instrument often associated with carnivals and circuses. Like her brother Caliborn, Calliope also has an eight-letter name starting with the name Cal.

The name first appeared in Hussie's work as the first volume of Whistles, The Starlight Calliope, which touched upon similar themes of dark clownery. "Cal" and "Calliope" are also the names used to represent the masculine and feminine sides of the intersex protagonist in the 2002 novel Middlesex.

Also like Caliborn, Calliope is unique in having a handle with an acronym consisting of just the letters UU; in RNA, this letter represents the chemical uracil, just as the other chemicals in DNA are represented by the letters G, C, A and T. By Calliope's own account, uranianUmbra comes from her attraction to the planet's UniqUe rotationHS, which has a very nice [...] topspin; in billiards, the spin of a ball is called its "english".[3] There was also another Muse named urania, and uranian came to be an early name for members of homosexual and gender non-conforming subcultures. An Umbra is a shadow, particularly the darkest black part of a shadow; in psychology, a shadow is an unconscious or unacknowledged side of one's own psyche, further hinting at her body-sharing.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Upon losing his mating battleHS, Calliope's father searched for a dying star in whose orbit might be a planet suitable for laying an egg on. This egg contained the wigglerHS which would pup8 into a humanoid form inhabited by the personalities of both Calliope and her "brother" Caliborn. That cherub infant was quickly taken up by Gamzee Makara,HS who sealed the pair within a single room in a meteor complex[citation needed] which had landed on the planet long ago using a pair of unbreakable juju chains.HS

Throughout their lives, Calliope and Caliborn's personalities take control when the other goes to sleep or when they are called by nameHS - they can, however, seemingly write their own siblings' names without issue.HS Before entering their sarswapagus for sleep each "night", Calliope makes sure to shackle herself with the juju chain marked with her sign, which only she can open, and then opens it again next time she wakes up; meanwhile, she is always trapped in her room by the juju chain bearing Caliborn's sign which he places on their other leg.HS

Calliope observing sun

Calliope looking up at the sun.

Calliope has contact with the humans via the computer in her room, and has access to more information about both humans and trolls through a tome left in her meteor home by one Rose Lalonde,HS though most of the information within concerning her and her brother's future and the troll responsible for their upbringing has been mysteriously blacked out with some kind of peculiar indigo ink.HS Like other Heroes of Space, Calliope has also dreamed of the moon of Prospit for most of [her] life,HS and is able to gain additional insight from the nearby clouds of Skaia; however, a unique quirk in her session eventually causes this oracle to become useless to her.HS

Her sleeves feature bright red 6-and-9 cufflinks, probably halves of the Cancer sign à la Sign of the Signless, as has been seen on other characters (Aranea Serket and Neophyte Redglare, for instance). When she cosplays as Callie Ohpeee, she additionally wears a white hairpiece, grey face paint and gloves, and a headband with corkscrew-shaped horns that recall her symbol. She's not the only person to have been seen in this exact garb,HS and the outfit resembles the green jacket and red bowtie of Whistles the Clown, a character from Whistles, one of Hussie's earlier works.

She wields a wand or a pistol, similar to Lord English's staff/machine gun (Calliope mentionsHS that her brother's favored weapon was a little heavy-handed). She and her "brother" share a Sylladex featuring the Juju Fetch Modus, which operates such that whatever one 'sibling' captchalogues is only retrievable by the other. This is reminiscent of Bughouse, a game related to chess where two chess games are going on simultaneously and the pieces captured are passed to partner playing on the other board to be reentered into play. And as we know, Caliborn likes games and Homestuck likes chess. It also somewhat parallels the existence of The Treasure, the supposed key to defeating Caliborn's future counterpart, as much like their shared modus, once Caliborn uses it, it can only be used again in opposition to him.

Sburb and death[]

Calliope later gives Jane the code of her Sucker juju.HS

When a Jack Noir hired by Caliborn kills her dream self, her brother prematurely takes full control of their shared body, leaving Calliope to dieHS. Later on, she appears to Roxy in a dream bubble in the form of Twinkly Herbert and leads her to a locationHS where she won't be seen or heard by English. Because her soul's true form is quite frighteningHS, she assumes the form of Callie Ohpeee to meet Roxy. She explains that, contrary to what Aranea and the other ghosts believe, she does not possess any knowledge or ability that could be used to defeat Lord English.

However, she believes that there may be a version of herself from a doomed timeline where she predominated over Caliborn and played the game instead. Right as they finish their conversation however, Rose Lalonde suddenly appears and Calliope panics, as a Light player would surely attract Lord English's attention, so the cherub ends the brief family reunion by waking both of them up with "ANTI-SLEEPING MAJYYKS."

She is later seen once again in the same hidden spot, regretting waking up the Lalondes so quickly, that is until Jade Harley appears, along with a curious stageHS. Calliope changes to her Trollsona, and the two of them begin to talk and become friendly with each other. Calliope helps Jade make a trollsonaHS, and she uses the stage as a way to show each other their respective pasts, though Jade struggles to remember the events leading to her death.

So Calliope manifests a book to illustrate Jade's story of her presumed death as she progressively regains her memories, and how John Egbert and Davesprite were killed by Typheus early into the journey through the Furthest Ring, mentioning that she met a god tiered Calliope in her dreams who explained to her about a John from an alternate timelineHS.

After an unspecified amount of time, Jane also arrives to the stage and finally meets Calliope in personHS. After an initial misunderstanding, believing the two of them to be actual trolls, Calliope clarifies the situation to Jane and teaches her on making a trollsona as well, inviting her to tell her own story, as she also has memory problems. However, when the story reaches it's end, both Jade and Jane realise that they weren't actually dead, and were merely put to sleep by Vriska Serket.

Suddenly the stage beneath them disappearsHS, and they plummet into another dream bubble, where they meet the Alternate Calliope mentioned by Jade. Calliope has a private conversation with her counterpart, who advises her to be who she is, to live.HS The bubble fades to black, leaving Calliope alone, and then Roxy appears behind her. Roxy presents Calliope with the Ring of Life and they return to the platform where the other players of the B2 session await. Roxy and Calliope then proceed to have multiple personal conversation, after which she finally manages to create the Matriorb, to Calliope's great surprise.

Roxy then leaves Calliope in Jade's house with the sleeping Jade she was talking to earlier and the MayorHS, and stays on the Land of Frost and Frogs during the entirety of the kids' final battle. Jade then takes her to the victory platform and they all enter the new universe they created. She is last seen in the Credits on Earth C, hanging out with Roxy in the Carapace Kingdom.

Personality and traits[]

Calliope horns

Calliope has a very polite, cheerful and friendly demeanor, and she tries to be helpful where she can although she is cautious about revealing too much information about herself due to her situation. She seems to be quite creative and is a writer and a talented artist. Similar to how the trolls were based on common internet archetypes, Calliope is based on the MS Paint Adventures fandom; Andrew Hussie has referred to her as the obnoxious fandom avatar character. She spends a large part of her time writing fanfiction and drawing fanart of the other Homestuck characters and self-inserting her trollsona, Callie Ohpeee, whose name is made to fit trolls' 6-letter names (which mirrors Vriska's spidersona in Alterniabound), into the stories. She often seems to think of her friends as characters in a story rather than actual people and seem to live vicariously through her imagined adventures with them. She also has a thing for wild speculations about the story, making up crazy theoriesHS out of every detailHS, often ending up failingHS miserablyHS.

Her self-esteem is quite low and she considers herself ugly, wishing to be more like humans and trolls, and especially feeling jealous of her ability to experience flushed romance (since she, being a cherub, can only have caliginous feelings). Her usually cheery mood can become defeatist and sometimes cranky when faced with problems, especially those relating to Caliborn, but she usually stays quite polite even when in a bad mood.

Calliope generally uses British English. This ties in with her lime blood, since "limey" is a common slang term for British people. In addition, the alternate spelling of some words (e.g. armor; armour, color; colour) lends itself to a higher instance of the letter "u" than in American English. It also ties into her resemblance to Lord "English". It should be noted that she doesn't always use British spelling where it wouldn't result in an extra "u": for instance she uses maneUver, hemo-, fUlfill, fUlfillment, learned, program and practice (as a verb), instead of normal British "manoeuvre", "haemo-", "fulfil", "fulfilment", "learnt", "programme" and "practise".

Relationships[]

Caliborn[]

Calliope's death

Calliope's dead dream self.

In her conversation with Dirk she talks about her "brother" who is supposed to be her client player, although she has offered to be his client instead. She stresses that he is not her brother in the sense that humans would understand it and they do not even have the same blood color - although they still have a genetic similarity. Calliope's dream self was killed by Caliborn. He promised not to kill her if Dirk plays a GAME with him, however in a TWIST ENDING he revealed that he had their session's Jack Noir kill Calliope before the said game (at least from his temporal perspective). It is also mentioned that Caliborn would like to get his hands on Calliope's Juju (just as she would like to do with his, for that matterHS).

Kids[]

Calliope could possibly be considered the patron of all the post-scratch kids. Dirk explains to Jake English that the chat client, allowing him and Roxy to communicate with Jake and Jane, was given to him by an alien friend in thisHS conversation. This more than likely implies that Calliope is the one who sent it to them and that she did so as a means to set up the foundation for their session.

She later admits to Dirk that she is a fan of the story of him and his friends and is near obsessed with the four. She also admits to having written fan fiction about them, including the romantic kind. Calliope seems very friendly and cordial toward Jane and Jake, offering constructive advice about the alpha kids' session. However, due to the rules of her and Caliborn's game, she tends to be extraordinarily cagey when referring to personal details about herself. She is like this with Dirk and Roxy, but not shown to as much of an extent.

Roxy Lalonde[]

Calliope is very fond of Roxy, and confides in her during the final moments of her visibility into Roxy's session. Calliope reveals to Roxy her name, title, and race, and even gives her some fan art of a Trickster Mode Roxy. She admits to Roxy how beautiful she finds both the human and troll races, and how insecure she is about her own appearance, even going so far as to say that no one would even kiss her as a means of revival as a result. She seems taken aback by the notion of a flushed relationship, due to her race's standpoint on the matter, but does not seem to object much to pale relationships.

Calmasis[]

Calmasis

Calmasis in the films, displaying both Calliope's and Caliborn's symbols.

CotL cover

The published version of Complacency of the Learned, from the post-scratch universe.

Post-scratch Rose wrote a book that seems to reference events involving Calliope and Caliborn and stars a character named Calmasis, who seems to be representative of them both. This would tie in well with Calmasis' androgynous nature. The cover of the book also features Calliope's associated symbol and Calliope's outfit is nearly identical to Calmasis', with the dark green suit and red bow tie. Calliope also wears a wig that matches Calmasis' snow-white hair, furthering the link between them. As Calmasis seemingly represents both Calliope and Caliborn, it is unclear which one is the antihero and which the antagonist.

Calliope and Caliborn are seen playing a game of chess. Caliborn had created tiny caps for his king and queen in order to hide one as the other after convincing Calliope to let him swap his king and queen's starting positions, and thus fool her into believing he had swapped them while actually leaving them in their normal starting position. In the book, Calmasis engages Zazzerpan in a game of chess, which closely parallels the game of chess between Calliope and Caliborn. However, during their chess game, it was, in fact, Caliborn who plays the role of Calmasis, and Calliope who emulated Zazzerpan.

Hussie nursing Slick

Andrew Hussie dressed in Calliope's outfit.

Andrew Hussie was seen dressed in Calmasis's outfitHS with Calliope's sign, horns, and gray face paint. Later, it was shown that Calliope's troll-like appearance was also a costume, meaning details of Hussie's cosplay, such as fake horns and fake grey skin were, in fact, accurate, as it was a cosplay of a cosplay.

Calmasis was also shown in shacklesHS displaying both Calliope's and Caliborn's chat symbols, set against a lime green and cherry red background representing Calliope's and Caliborn's blood colors. When Calliope was revealed, she was shown with a shackle bearing Caliborn's symbol. The jagged two-color split background style seen on that page is one which is normally associated with conflict – for instance, between Terezi and VriskaHS, or Lord English and HussieHS – which reinforces the tension between Calliope and Caliborn. The colors are also similar to those on the Sburb Beta and Sburb Alpha symbols.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

Jake mesmerised by words

Pardon the esoteric tangent. It's hard to resist prattling on about matters like this.

While trivia sections are fine, it might be a good idea to merge some of this material into relevant sections of the main text, because this trivia section is bloated.
In particular: There is a lot of symbolism that could be mentioned in a separate paragraph.

  • Her shipping habits may also be a reference to the cherub Cupid who causes people to fall in love.
  • OneHS of Calliope's conversations with Jane is an antithesis of Karkat's conversationHS with Jade (as well as the oneHS between Kanaya and Aradia).
  • Calliope, Caliborn, and Karkat have all sworn off "hemotyping" and use custom grays which differ slightly from the more common RGB-defined grays. In the hex code of Calliope's color, the 6's from Karkat's color are replaced by 9's (#626262 becomes #929292); Karkat's symbol is an inverted 69.
    • Calliope's suit possesses red '9's as cuff-links, linking her with Karkat's Ancestor, The Signless.
    • 92 is the atomic number of uranium. Uranium is naturally silvery grey, but in some forms appears bright green, similar to the two colors of Calliope's chat symbol and also tying with Calliope being a lime-blood.
    • This also ties her in with Jade, as both are Space players who are associated with uranium. This also makes a connection to Becquerel, who happens to be a First Guardian like Doc Scratch.
    • Karkat Vantas' typing color is directly in between that of Calliope and Caliborn's.
  • Calliope's chat client begins and ends with cheering, which is different from Pesterchum, Trollian, and Bettybother which begin and cease with pestering, trolling, and bothering, respectively.
    • Caliborn's swaps cheering for jeering.
  • Calliope's fake horns look quite similar to the horns in the poster of Gamzee's introduction pageHS. Oddly enough, the poster immediately left of that depicts a clown with horns that curve identically on both sides, resembling a "U" shape as a result.
    • This could be a complete coincidence, but knowing Hussie, it's unlikely. In the event that he planned this bit of imagery, it's worth noting that the image on the right is "The Ringmaster" of Juggalo mythos, and the one on the left is "The Carnival of Carnage." The former is the Dark Carnival's judge of souls, and the latter is a carnival in which cyclical punishment for wrong-doing is doled out.
  • The closeup of Calliope's and Caliborn's eyes are the same closeup of Lil Cal's eyes with different colors.
  • Her holster and gun are identical to the ones in Doc Scratch's possession.
  • Unlike other ghosts, Calliope's body has completely black eyes compared to the white eyes of others. Her troll disguise, however, has white. This may be unique to cherub ghosts.
  • Even though they share a body, Calliope's tongue is whiteHS while Caliborn's is blackHS.
    • Calliope's weapon is also whiteHS while Caliborn's is blackHS, another reference to the yin-yang theme.
  • Calliope has joined the growing list of characters to reference The Wizard of OzHS.
  • Calliope is left-handedHS.
  • Calliope's name is a play on words to what is known as a Space-Time Calliope.
    • This is also a play on words to how she and Caliborn use the Space and Time Aspects, respectively.
  • Calliope's name may also be in refrence to the musical instrument the Calliope seeing as the greek goddesses which she gets her class from the Muses have divine authority over Music.
  • Using Calliope's blood color, aspect, and lunar sway, her extended zodiac sign can be determined to be Cango, sign of the opus.
    • Alternatively, using her speculated birthday for the sign class, her extended zodiac sign can be determined to be Scorgo, sign of the crusader.

References[]

  1. Andrew Hussie. "A1 : 4/13 : John :: Hivebent : 6/12 : Karkat :: A6 : 11/11 : Cal twins Going further, this would mean theyre 11 (units) old" andrewhussie on Twitter. April 13, 2014. Archived from the original on February 24, 2016.
  2. "got an ask about it so I just wanted to clarify: calliope, the beta humans, the alpha humans, and the trolls are all the same age / GA: Sorry I Thought That Was Obvious[HS] / to clarify further: a) much larger red sun=bigger orbit around earth=longer years and/or b) cherub units=/=orbital period" Cohen is a ghost💀 on Twitter. November 12, 2016. Archived from the original on May 8, 2023.
  3. PoolDawg Staff. Understanding the “English” of a Cue Ball.


Homestuck Characters
Pre-scratch
Kids
Heir of Breath Breath Aspect Seer of Light Light Aspect Knight of Time Time Aspect Witch of Space Space Aspect
JohnLogo John Egbert RoseLogo Rose Lalonde DaveLogoSlashed Dave Strider JadeLogo Jade Harley
ectoBiologist [EB]
ghostyTrickster [GT]
tentacleTherapist [TT] turntechGodhead [TG] gardenGnostic [GG]
Post-scratch
Kids
Maid of Life Life Aspect Rogue of Void Void Aspect Prince of Heart Heart Aspect Page of Hope Hope Aspect
JaneLogo Jane Crocker RoxyLogo Roxy Lalonde DirkLogo Dirk Strider JakeLogo Jake English
gutsyGumshoe [GG] tipsyGnostalgic [TG] timaeusTestified [TT] golgothasTerror [GT]
Post-scratch
Trolls
Maid of Time Time Aspect Page of Breath Breath Aspect Mage of Doom Doom Aspect Knight of Blood Blood Aspect
Aries Aradia Megido Taurus Tavros Nitram Gemini Sollux Captor Cancer Karkat Vantas
apocalypseArisen [AA] adiosToreador [AT] twinArmageddons [TA] carcinoGeneticist [CG]
Rogue of Heart Heart Aspect Sylph of Space Space Aspect Seer of Mind Mind Aspect Thief of Light Light Aspect
Leo Nepeta Leijon Virgo Kanaya Maryam Libra Terezi Pyrope Scorpio Vriska Serket
arsenicCatnip [AC] grimAuxiliatrix [GA] gallowsCalibrator [GC] arachnidsGrip [AG]
Heir of Void Void Aspect Bard of Rage Rage Aspect Prince of Hope Hope Aspect Witch of Life Life Aspect
Sagittarius Equius Zahhak Capricorn Gamzee Makara Aquarius Eridan Ampora Pisces Feferi Peixes
centaursTesticle [CT] terminallyCapricious [TC] caligulasAquarium [CA] cuttlefishCuller [CC]
Pre-scratch
Trolls
Witch of Time Time Aspect Rogue of Breath Breath Aspect Heir of Doom Doom Aspect Seer of Blood Blood Aspect
Aries Damara Megido Taurus Rufioh Nitram Gemini Mituna Captor Kankri Vantas
Mage of Heart Heart Aspect Maid of Space Space Aspect Knight of Mind Mind Aspect Sylph of Light Light Aspect
Leo Meulin Leijon Virgo Porrim Maryam Libra Latula Pyrope Scorpio Aranea Serket
Page of Void Void Aspect Prince of Rage Rage Aspect Bard of Hope Hope Aspect Thief of Life Life Aspect
Sagittarius Horuss Zahhak Capricorn Kurloz Makara Aquarius Cronus Ampora Pisces Meenah Peixes
Cherubs
Muse of Space Space Aspect Lord of Time Time Aspect
Calliope symbol Calliope (Alt) Caliborn symbol Caliborn
uranianUmbra [UU] undyingUmbrage [uu]
Guardians
Dad Roxy Lalonde
(pre-scratch)
Dirk Strider
(pre-scratch)
Becquerel
God Cat Rose Lalonde
(post-scratch)
Dave Strider
(post-scratch)
Brobot
Supporting
Characters
Jane Egbert Jaspers Lil Cal Jake Harley
John Crocker Mutie Lil Hal Jade English
Sprites
Nannasprite Jaspersprite Calsprite
Davesprite
Jadesprite
Tavrisprite
Gcatavrosprite
Fefetasprite
Jasprosesprite^2
Arquiusprite Erisolsprite
Davepetasprite^2
Carapacians /
Exiles
Wayward Vagabond Peregrine Mendicant Aimless Renegade Windswept Questant Writ Keeper
Agents
Jack Noir (B2) (Dead Session) Draconian Dignitary (B2) Hegemonic Brute Courtyard Droll
Midnight Crew
Spades Slick Diamonds Droog Hearts Boxcars Clubs Deuce
The Felt
Lord English Doc Scratch Snowman
Denizens
Typheus Cetus Hephaestus Echidna
Hemera Nix Yaldabaoth Abraxas
Consorts
Salamanders Turtles Crocodiles Iguanas
Underlings
Imps Ogres Basilisks Liches Giclopses
Other Black QueenBlack KingSkaian armiesGenesis FrogLususAncestors (The Condesce)HorrorterrorsBetty CrockerColonel SassacreCaseyGuy FieriInsane Clown PosseMaplehoofRambunctious CrowHalleySerenityMSPA ReaderMs. PaintAndrew HussieSawtoothSquarewaveHis Honorable TyrannyCalliope and Caliborn's parentsAngelsFantrolls
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