The Wayward Vagabond is a mysterious wanderer who exists 'years in the future, but not many' - in 2422, in fact. Prior to becoming an exile, he was a Dersite pawn known as the Warweary Villein. He became a playable character during Act 2. Like all other exiles, he lacks a sylladex and simply picks up objects when told so without further complication. Though this severely limits his inventory capacity - to the number of things he could reasonably carry - it also means he isn't prone to Fetch Modus-related shenanigans.
"Villein" means a "free person under the feudal system" as well as a farmer. To differentiate commands between his past and future selves, his past self's commands end with a question mark (?). All exiles each have multiple titles composed of two words. The first and second words of each title start with the same letter.
Biography
As Warweary Villein/Wizardly Vassal
WV leading the combined armies.
The Warweary Villein was WV's name while he still lived in the Medium. Once a part of the army of Derse on Skaia, he resigned from the war to work as a simple farmer, and used his uniform as part of a scarecrow. Already frustrated with the endless warring, he turned to blame the Black King after his crops are destroyed by fire. He stood up against the tyranny of war, uniting the pawns of Prospit and Derse in a revolution against their monarchs. However, as the rebellion was cornering the Black King, Jack Noir soared in to assassinate the distracted monarch (the scarecrow was ineffective). The Warweary Villein seethed in anger as Jack coronated himself. He is a much beloved folk hero to the survivors of Jack's rampage, as shown in [S] Seer: Descend. He is known to them as "the dark kingdom's defector."
Jack confronts WV's troops.
The Warweary Villein then watched as Jack Noir slaughtered all of his troops, irrespective of color, leaving just him standing there, traumatized, as Jack wreaked havoc on The Battlefield, before causing part of Prospit to fall to the planet. To date, no reason has been given as to why Jack spared WV, other than "only he knows." The possibilities that it could have been to leave a witness to his power or that it was out of respect for a fellow mutineer were put forward in the recap. After his failure, he donned a Rag of Souls (Dream John's bedsheets).
While wandering The Battlefield, he discovered the White Queen's Ring floating through some water. Some time later, he saw Dream John on his Quest Bed rising to god tier. He then began traveling across Skaia with John, who regards him as a Wizardly Vassal. The time he spent with John is most likely the reason why in his future, but John's past, he commanded John to do The Windy Thing, as he saw John do it before and did not understand why he did not do it then.
He and John were then joined by the Courtyard Droll and Liv Tyler (the bunny, not the actress). Due to his affinity for green things, he ate Liv's green hugifier eye, causing a disagreement between them. Fortunately the Droll mediated between the two. John then was the leader and gave the three of them a mission: to deliver The Tumor, which he had retrieved from Skaia's core, to Rose and Dave on Derse's moon. John relinquished the wallet to him.
The three took a Dersite battleship to travel across the Incipisphere. However, the Courtyard Droll betrayed them and stole the wallet and left the ship via an escape pod. Liv fortunately witnessed this and was able to steal back the card with the Tumor. WV was alarmed by the loss of the wallet, but was relieved that he still had the Queen's ring.
Unfortunately the Droll then contacted Jack Noir, who teleported to the ship. He shattered the ship with a blast of green energy. The side WV was on landed in a Skaia defence portal and got sent to future Earth, where he would become known as the Wayward Vagabond.
As Wayward Vagabond
What a dunce.
The Vagabond was an exile wandering through the desert of the post-apocalyptic world. He stumbled upon
a mysterious construct bearing the Sburb logo at the ruins of Rose's house. Opening the hatch, he descended into a derelict Underground Base. It contained a computer depicting John Egbert back in the story's present day which allowed him to command John.
He got bored of this, and so founded Can Town. After numerous shenanigans, including the rescue of Serenity from a piece of amber and eating
a nugget of uranium, he tried to escape the station before an ominous countdown he discovered got to zero. He failed, and so was carried with the station to a set of mysterious ruins.
After arriving at the ruins of Jade's Island, he helped the Peregrine Mendicant deliver John's package to Jade. He befriended her and the Aimless Renegade, and showed her his drawings and the computer in the base. He set up Can Town outside, and AR set up his bullet soldiers to defend it. The three were then joined by the Windswept Questant, the former White Queen of Prospit. After a hearty meal together, he went back to his computer to see how John was doing.
Unfortunately John was in grave peril at the time due to the green flames summoned by Jack Noir. He insisted that John do The Windy Thing and eventually succeeds. However he had to use caps lock to do it, which also locked him inside the capsule. Though John survived, he died soon afterwards on his Quest Bed. WV, not understanding how time shenanigans work, assumed that he was dead for good. Being locked in his station, he built a fort out of the panels on the walls and took a nap inside.
Wayward Vagabond's dream
WV's nightmare dream bubble seemed more like the imagination world from Problem Sleuth than the dream bubbles of the kids and trolls, especially since he is in a dream fort at the time. While a player's dream bubble is a collage of memories, his dream was similar to a more traditional one, which is far more abstract; however, he was besieged by narration via Morse code, which talked about the admiration of anthropormophism. At the beginning of the dream, he was a mayor, but when a manifestation of the ring's powers appears, he was transformed into a prototyped state. The sun symbol from his sash was burned on to his carapace and turned green, representing the Green Sun. When he saw the fellow Dersites and Prospitians that followed him into battle many years ago, he reached out for them with a bloody hand, but the blood becomes the ring attack "red miles" and killed them all, much to his horror. This most likely represents deep survivor's guilt over leading his friends to their death at the hands of Jack Noir. This also might mean he subconsciously knew what would happen if he put the White Queen's ring on, but feared becoming similar to Jack Noir, who killed every single one of his comrades.
...which quickly turned into a nightmare
Near the end of his dream, he saw a "weird bug," which turned out to be a miniature version of god tier Vriska, who kicked him in the snout and told WV not to interfere with her fight with Jack, as she wanted to be the one to kill him. She also spoke in Morse Code, but still with a recognizable typing quirk. This was apparently a joint dream bubble Vriska had with WV shortly before she was challenged by Tavros.
The Windswept Questant stated that a Wastlandic Vindicator will confront the Slayer using the weapon he protected. Soon after he awakens, however, Jack Noir (who arrived via the Lotus Time Capsule) sensed the uranium lodged inside WV's gut. Noir impaled WV, covering his arm with blood. PM, who survived Noir's attack, found the wounded Vagabond in his station. She took his ring, giving herself the same powers as Jack Noir. Bringing WV with her, PM travelled to the troll session the same way Jack did: using a machine in WV's station. This led the two of them to the trolls' victory platform shortly after the Critical Moment.
Dying and unable to be saved by PM he is transported to the Green Sun by PM in hopes that the trolls and kids will be able to aid him. Rose assures the rest of the group (and an anxious Serenity) that they'll be able to get him help on their way to the post-Scratch session.
He was later seen being healed by an alternate Feferi who had managed to ascend to the god tier as the Witch of Life. Shortly after, he was shown to have worked with Terezi, Dave, and Serenity to have built a new Can Town in the Trolls' Meteor. Along with the meteor's other residents, he entered the dream bubble Aranea was located in. He was upset to see his friend Serenity being unwittingly taken out of the bubble by Dirk.
In Act 6 Intermission 5, as the meteor was reaching the Alpha Session, WV was still expanding Can Town and had enlisted Rose's help. In her drunkenness, she professed WV to be the smartest one of the group.
In Act 6 Act 6 Intermission 1, WV had been teleported to LOHAC with Dave. In order to bribe Dave into engaging a training sword fight with her (augmented by god tier powers), Jade pushed him off of Dave's roof and into the lava in an attempt to either kill him or persuade Dave to use Time powers to save him. Dave, however, dove down towards the lava, caught him just above the surface, and used his god tier flight abilities to fly away. After this Dave shoosh/papped WV and reassured him that everything would be okay. These events were temporarily altered by John, using the power he got from Caliborn's juju to change established events. In the new version of events, Jade didn't push WV off the cliff. However, these events were once again altered when John stopped his past self from altering them, restoring the original timeline where Dave saved him.
Personality and Traits
He quite enjoys TaB!
Initially, the Vagabond was rather rude, typing in all capitals, repeatedly referring to John as 'boy,' getting angry at Rose for losing her connection while moving the car, etc. However after a flamewar an argument with John caused the Vagabond to switch off his caps lock accidentally, a compartment opened in the Vagabond's room, releasing a book on human etiquette which he seems to have taken to heart (or stomach). Whether he is rude or polite, the Vagabond has a habit of barraging John with suggestions which causes John to zone out, much to the ire of Rose.
WV shows perfectionist tendencies. He is constantly smacking himself for doing stupid things and lashing verbally at John and Rose when they make mistakes. He also likes soda, specifically Tab, and flipped the fuck out in joy after discovering a stash of it within the base. He also displays a fondness for cookies and seems unable to understand how anybody else could fail to share this love, COMMANDING John to retreive the cookies Nannasprite prepared and insulting him when he fails to do so.
The Vagabond appears to be intelligent despite the lack of etiquette; he knew how to operate a computer from the get-go, trumps the player's initial suggestion of retrieving one's arms by interrupting the command to point out that he had them already, figured that the Underground Base runs on nuclear power from the atom diagram on the power cell, and knew that his knife is actually a flag from a mailbox. He also appears to understand Morse Code, as this is the means by which Serenity communicates with him. He also has an uncanny knack for tracking precise distances he has already traversed, evidenced by his proficiency with selecting items to be appearified on the appearifier using coordinate and elevation dials on the machine. He makes no mistakes whatsoever while doing so, except when he tried to appearify a pumpkin he had previously already eaten, which would have created a paradox.
The mayor of can town.
The Vagabond has a deep, intense hatred for Kings, who he sees as bossy tyrants, stemming from his past as the Warweary Villein. Instead of royalty, he likes the concept of democratically elected mayors, to the point of building 'Can Town,' a town made out of cans of food, and pretending to be its mayor. He sets the cans in a "military training" session that is remarkably like a game of chess, for four hours and nine minutes. (It is interesting to note that all his activities within the station seem to mirror various prophecies within the story, such as how "black defeats white" in his game of chess, and the uncanny correlation between his seemingly random city backdrops and actual planets within the story and their positions in the universe. However, this could simply indicate a lack of creativity on the Vagabond's part, seeing as all this would technically be history to him.)
While the Vagabond hates Kings, he is quite reverent and respectful of the Windswept Questant, aka the White Queen. He and the Aimless Renegade quickly craft a crown to gift her upon sight.
He appears to have an unusual appetite for objects of the color green, edible or otherwise. Over the course of the story, he has eaten or attempted to eat a green potted plant, the stalk of a pumpkin, a green chunk of uranium, two sticks of green chalk, Jade's letter with green print on it, canned green vegetables, and Liv Tyler's green eye. Also, he referred to the green fire created by Bec Noir as "delicious looking."
As a Dersite his skin is actually a "rigid carapace", and he has four pointy fingers. His face has two ogling eyes, and blunt teeth like "that of livestock". To say nothing of the Vagabond's initial rudeness quite uncharacteristic of the other ogler in the MSPA multiverse, and the necessity of an instructive text to imbue him with proper manners. He does not have nostrils, but does have a sense of smell.
On his left wrist is a bar code pattern that he would rather not think about, marking him as a citizen of Derse. As he is wandering a barren wasteland, he is incredibly hungry, and will immediately devour any food, food-like substances, or green objects he can find.
Using the keyboard of the computer, the Vagabond is able to send commands to John. Though John usually does what the Vagabond suggests, he will refuse to do anything he finds personally distasteful, just like when he is being controlled by the suggestion box. He does not seem to understand the significance of being able to command John, nor does he show much interest in doing so. Three other, corresponding control stations offer the ability to control the other three kids; each one seems to have the ability to monitor all of the players, though.
The Vagabond is very critical of himself when he thinks dumb ideas (player commands), calling himself stupid and feeling dislike towards himself for a short time after. This could probably be because he has a permanent negative outlook on himself after the death of his fellow pawns at the hands of Jack. He therefore beats himself up on small mistakes he makes.
WV's Base
The four planets drawing, with LOWAS on the far right and LOFAF on the far left.
Oddly enough, the room the Vagabond begins in seems to be a metaphor for the situation the Homestuck Kids are in, back in 2009. This includes the planets he draws on the wall in addition to some of the actions he does in the room.
In the game he plays, Black prevails in the end, via the Black Queen, as in the battle between Light and Dark that Nannaquin describes to John.
The drawings on his wall approximate a viewpoint from within Skaia, his former home as the Warweary Villein. Prospit, and Derse are visible through the clouds, along with LOWAS, LOLAR, LOHAC, and LOFAF, in right-to-left order. LOFAF is drawn with the forge erupting. This was probably a weird subconscious foreshadowing thing.
The Dark and Light planets on the opposite walls represent Derse and Prospit, and their moons.
When the Vagabond presses tab on his keyboard, a picture of a planet representing Prospit falls on the floor and the TaB cans come out. This mirrors Prospit's moon falling onto The Battlefield and Dream John and Dream Jade entering. It's also notable that both the TaB cans and Dream Rose and Dave (strangely not Jade and John, but that is related to the color of the planets they are in) are covered in pink.
The TaB can explosion after the chess game the Vagabond plays could be seen as Dream Jade's death. The Vagabond seems to "mourn the loss of the citizen tab", while the Grandpa does the same with Jade.
The Vagabond seems to "decide" how the planets look like and if they have any moons. They come to be exact replicas of the four planets, Prospit, and Derse because WV originally comes from the B1 kids' Incipisphere. He recreates the world he knows, either from his memories or due to some subconscious knowledge he has as a game construct.
Relationships
Serenity
This energetic little firefly became WV's loyal companion after he rescued her from the amber she was trapped inside of. She constantly blinks messages to try to aid him, though he doesn't always understand her morse code.
Peregrine Mendicant
WV initially met and befriended PM when they crossed paths during their time in exile, and they appeared to become close friends. During their time spent with the Aimless Renegade, it became apparent that he harbored some level of romantic feelings for her, as he tried to win her over with gifts. After being unceremoniously gutted by Bec Noir, PM donned the Queen's ring and teleported him to the meteor crew in a desperate bid to save him.
Aimless Renegade
After initially greeting WV with several rounds of rocket propelled grenades, as well as a significant amount of gunfire, they too became close friends with one another, although they were constantly fighting for the affections of PM and the Windswept Questant in the short time they knew one another. During Cascade, AR hesitated to blow up Rose's Sburb station, as WV was still trapped inside. This hesitation cost AR his life, as well as possibly WV's own.
Dave Strider
WV seems to be quite close to Dave since Dave helped him rebuild Can Town. When Jade almost killed WV Dave saved him and gave him a big hug. Dave goes as far as admitting that he loves the Mayor. It is unclear whether or not he means platonic love, and whether he's being ironic; either way, Dave is best bros with the Mayor.
Trivia
- He may very well be based on the Jawas from Star Wars.
- On this page
WV is seen with 5 fingers on one hand and his usual 4 on the other. - Unlike the other exiles, who all have a somewhat special build, WV shares his stature with other Prospit and Derse standard pawns. Having been a mere farmer before his revolution, this is unsurprising.
- Here WV learns that Karkat's class is Knight because he was told so, either from Andrew Hussie or the MSPaint reader.
- In [S] YOU THERE. BOY., if you go to John's room and click the Con Air poster behind the door, the dialogue option "IS THAT JOHN CUSACK?" appears, suggesting that WV has at least a passing familiarity with Earth movies or universal constants.
- WV is depicted on the "King of Pentacles" card alongside Serenity in the Homestuck Tarot card deck. Kings of Pentacles are self made men who wish to be seen as important members of their community and consider it their job to encourage others and work hard. He is also on the "Five of Pentacles" card.
