- For the post-scratch version of this character, see Neophyte Redglare.
Latula Pyrope is the Knight of Mind and Terezi's dancestor. Not much is known about her, apart from what is seen in Act 6 Intermission 3.
Etymology
The name Latula was suggested for Terezi by Rauthiss. It is derived from Tula, the Hindu sign for Libra. Pyrope was suggested by Dragoshi.
Her name could also come from a skateboard brand named Lush Tula, but this speculation is based around the fact that she enjoys skateboarding. Another speculation is that her name comes from the Romanian word "Latulă" which means "Noose" or "Snare" as a reference to her being the pre-scratch version of Neophyte Redglare.
Biography
Like her Alternian descendant, Latula has a handicap. However, it is different. In an undisclosed incident, she lost her sense of smell, not sight. This handicap makes her slightly insecure; therefore, she puts up the front that she is the “r4dd3st g4m3 g1rl 3v4” to overcompensate for it. It appears a tad off-putting to Porrim Maryam and she tells Latula to cool it on her act.
In Meenah's quest to recruit minutemen for her militia against Lord English, she stumbles upon a door with The Sufferer's signature symbol that only Karkat can open. The player must be Latula in order to release Karkat from Kankri's overzealous preachings.
Upon entering the door which contains Karkat's locked away memories and dream bubble, a small "scene" (Aranea's exposition) gives more information about some of the pre-scratch "ancestors":
- “The Knight of Mind, to even the most casual o8server, is clearly the more "radical" instance of the two Pyropes. 8oth of course have disa8ilities which, if discovered, would slate each for culling in their respective cultures. Culling of course means something quite different on 8eforus. It means she would have 8een selected 8y a mem8er of a higher caste for adoption, and coddled excessively. 8ut for someone with a lifestyle as radical as hers, I'm sure you will agree that would have 8een a fate worse than death. After the tragic accident which left her nasally impaired, her mighty dragon lusus, ancient and wise 8eyond our comprehension, 8egan to teach her "new ways to smell." To reinvent the sense, using other sense organs such as eyes and ears, awakening completely new experiences in her mind. She was truly an inspiration, and proved 8eyond a shadow of a dou8t that any handicap can 8e overcome, and doesn't have to stop you from 8eing as rad as you can truly 8e. Even though Latula has 8een dating Mituna steadily for eons, it's hardly a secret to anyone that she and Kankri have had complicated unrequited feelings for even longer. So really, much like their descendants.”
Personality and Traits
Latula loves to skate, as shown by her love of shredding totally rad moves on her board and spending much time in the afterlife perfecting her headstand trick. In Act 6 Intermission 3, when Meenah requests to be Latula, Latula responds by first making Meenah prove she's rad enough to be her by challenging her to grind some serious rail on a stairway that only Porrim could make appear. She has a sort of 90's skater personality. It should be noted she gives wicked, borderline painful, highfives. It is also worth noting that she takes some form of medication, as she states in a hash tag during Act 6 Intermission 3.
Though Latula is not blind like her dancestor, Terezi, she does wear similar red glasses, though hers are rectangular rather than pointy. She wears a teal/black one-piece body suit, matching with her matesprit Mituna, who wears a yellow/black body suit. From her talksprites, she is shown to have more blunt, human teeth rather than pointy troll fangs. The artist has stated that this was a mere oversight.
Karkat has stated that he is quite sure that Latula's personality is only an act, forcing herself in this sort of "radical personality" to garner attention. The same "attention grabbing" is noted on her inability to smell, which Karkat does not believe is much of a disability at all.
Relationships
Although her matesprit is Mituna Captor, whom she has been dating for eons (even into the afterlife) remaining fully flushed, it's revealed by Aranea that she and Kankri are much like their Alternian descendants, Karkat and Terezi, in the aspect of quadrant allocation. Additionally, some provocative remarks about slapping imply that she had some sort of encounter, likely caliginous, with Porrim. Though Porrim is confused by Latula and Aranea's neutral relationship turning into the bitter cycle of revenge experienced by Redglare, Mindfang, Terezi, and Vriska, Latula states that this does not entirely surprise her. She is very protective of Mituna, to the point of making death threats when approached by Damara in Openbound.
Trivia
- Her title, “Knight of Mind”, and Kankri's, Seer of Blood, in conjunction form a swap of Seer of Mind and Knight of Blood.
- If you listen very closely in GameGrl, you can hear Phoenix Wright, young Mia Fey, and Miles Edgeworth from the Ace Attorney series, shouting their famous "OBJECTION!"'s in the background near the ending of the song. This connects to Terezi's love of serving justice and the books seen inside her hive
.
- Teal Seer can also be heard in GameGrl, referencing Terezi.
