alastors-antlers

[alastors-antlers]

oh my god;;;

guys

look at what my friend sent me im sobbing

#alastor

[alastors-antlers]

*sigh*

spreading the curse;;;

BOO

FROWNING ALASTORS JUMPSCARE

your feed has been cursed. reblog to curse another user.

I'm kidding

#alastor

[alastors-antlers]

They definitely got platonically married because they were besties and it was standard for the time period to be married.

#alastor and rosie #hazbin hotel rosie #alastor #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin alastor #alastor hazbin hotel #aroace alastor #asexual alastor #aromantic alastor #asexual #aromantic

[alastors-antlers]

Um hi my friend told me to make a tumblr blog and i have no idea what i'm doing but here's a doodle i did cause this scene in stayed gone reminded me of something

vox and lucifer should start an alastor hate club

[alastors-antlers]

I know Valentine's Day was two days ago, but I have a slow brain okay.

Anyway, just like everyone else I just want to marvel at how perfect Alastor's Valentine's Day merch is.

Look at this, look at him. Everyone else's pinup was sexy and they had revealing outfits. But Alastor? Someone at this app said that he is a modern equivalent of a Victorian woman showing her ankle. I truly love it, he undone his bow tie and that's it, that's the most he's showing, his neck without a bow. He isn't even in any sexy pose either. He kinda looks as if he was laying on a couch and someone told him to pose.

And then his Valentine's card? It's not about love or anything like this, this is about friendship, about platonic love. It literally says 'On a day devoted to lovers I am glad to have you as a friend' and I'm over the moon with it.

As a fellow asexual I am beyond happy to see that none of Alastor's merch was romantic or sexual.

It means a lot to me and I just wanted to say it.

#alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel #asexual alastor #aroace alastor #aromantic alastor #aromantic #asexual

[alastors-antlers]

^^^^

Honestly, I think the impression of this episode is kind of diminished in hindsight because we get way more soft-ish Alastor in the latter half of the season.

Episode 7 and 8 are "Alastor, Charlie, + Rosie's Big Day Out" and "Alastor bonding with Niff, protecting the hotel, and having a crisis" respectively, and those have some huge character moments, but if we look at what happens before that, Alastor's just maintaining appearances for basically all of eps 1-4.

like:

Ep 1 —> wow this guy sure does hate technology, also he's here stirring the pot and making deals

Ep 2 —> this guy sure does hate Vox, also he's dunking on Sir Pentious

Ep 3 —> this guy is definitely scheming something and wants respect from the other overlords

Ep 4 —> he's not even in this one.

As OP says, Mimzy sets up a solid pivot point for how we understand Alastor's character, and that eases us into all his later moments in the series.

Say what you want about her, but she's essential to the season.

I feel like people have been quick to dismiss Mimzy's importance in Ep. 5

I've been seeing a lot of Mimzy hate, mainly on Reddit, where people are genuinely REALLY hating on Mimzy because she was annoying, interrupted Hell's Greatest Dad, and served no purpose in the episode.

Whilst the previous two points are down to personal taste, I feel like considering Mimzy's role in this episode nonexistent, or that she just exists for fanservice here, is greatly overlooking what this episode is about. There are two focuses to the episode, one of course being Lucifer and his relationship with Charlie, but it's also the deepest look into Alastor's actual character that we've gotten so far, I'd say significantly more than the finale. We see two sides to Alastor that both Mimzy and Luficier bring out, and I wanted to kind of highlight my thoughts and what the episode was trying to show us about Alastor that we wouldn't have gotten if Mimzy wasn't there.

Alastor's instant hostility towards Lucifer makes it incredibly clear that Alastor can't keep his cool all the time - his two biggest flaws is that he is power-hungry and incredibly petty. From what we know - and what is likely to be true considering Lucifer is shown to have no idea who he is - Alastor has never met Lucifer before this. If the theories that he belongs to Eve/Lilith in some way are true, there is reasonable ground to say that this immediate hatred towards him could be justified, maybe it was in some way Lucifer's fault that he's caught in this deal and this is his way of taking it out on him or trying to uphold his end of that deal.

But look how much his mask slips, look how annoyed and angry he is. If this was a font that he was doing to somehow make Lucifer intentionally mad at him for some sort of personal gain, he wouldn't have looked so murderous. Him just leaning down and hissing 'fuck you' right in his face was so shocking for the audience purely because no one has done that to him before, no one has pushed him so much.

This indicates that Alastor isn't just playing some sort of game, Lucifer genuinely got under his skin, because he is so obviously more powerful than Alastor and he HATES that. He hates being reminded that he's not the biggest meanest in Hell - this was explored more in his showdown in Adam, but at the time of this episode's release, this is the most flawed and 'human' Alastor has ever felt. He's dropped from this force of mysterious evil, to randomly picking a fight with the Devil himself because he was so catty about being shown up.

As further reinforced with him snapping at Husk when he also reminded him he wasn't as all-powerful as he sees himself to be, Alastor will lash out at those who make him feel like he isn't the one in control and pulling the strings of everything - we finally see a hint of motivation for him sticking around at the hotel at all.

But then there's Mimzy.

We immediately go from seeing Alastor at his worst, at his most aggravated and petty, to seeing him literally melt into a hug. The demon who, according to Viv herself, hates physical contact so much that he would distort and melt himself to get away from it. We so quickly go from being shocked that Alastor is behaving so spitefully to now having to take in Alastor being ecstatic to see someone who he considers to be a friend.

Having this be so directly after his massive tiff with Lucifer is so important. If this wasn't included in this episode, our only insight into the person Alastor actually is would be that he's an asshole. Picking fights with people just because he wants to stay on top, that its the thing he cares about the most. But Mimzy does come along, and we see that it isn't true at all - and its confusing, and that is so perfect.

You think you're getting somewhere with the person Alastor is, but you see that, hold on, there is actually a semblance of heart in there, here he is actually caring about someone. But what is so important about this being a relationship he shares with Mimzy, and something that couldn't at all be explored with, say, Rosie, is the kind of person Mimzy is.

Mimzy double crossed Alastor. And, according to Husk, this is a somewhat regular occurace. We can see that Alastor is annoyed at her, and I think most of us were prepared for him to do something to her like he was doing to those loan sharks a few seconds before this confrontation.

But...he doesn't. Not at all, he doesn't even snap at her. Perhaps scold her a bit, but other than that, he is so nice to her and just politely tells her to leave and that is that. He does more shit to Lucifer, who literally hasn't done nothing but exist in his presence, than someone who just trampled all over his ego by using him, both as a shield and, well, somewhat emotionally.

In this episode, Alastor is shown to lash out. Easily. All you have to do is be more powerful than Alastor, and he won't like you - that's the impression you'd get from his scenes with Lucifer alone. But we have his scenes with Mimzy as well, and you're being told, hold on, no, that isn't quite correct, because he's not acting the same here. What has Alastor got to gain from letting Mimzy get off of this with no repercussions? Mimzy, someone who has probably sold her soul to someone else and has absolutely no power at all.

Nothing. He does it because Alastor cares about her.

I don't think I would have considered his friendship with Rosie to be genuine at all if it wasn't for his friendship with Mimzy. Rosie is so powerful, and Alastor has so much to gain from being in close cahoots with her, but it's so clear that he doesn't care about that, but he sees her as an equal. If all we saw from Alastor in that episode was him lusting for power, it would render the way we see all his relationships with people to be of some gain to him somehow. ESPECIALLY Rosie and other Overlords like Zestial.

This makes Alastor and Mimzy's relationship arguably one of the most interesting in the show. Someone who is so powerful and unpredictable, who hardly cares for anyone other than himself, caring about this absolute gremlin of a woman. He likes Mimzy purely because she's fun to be around, a sentiment you might expect from Alastor, with his stated reasoning for joining the hotel being to laugh at people, but he's in no way laughing at Mimzy. You can tell that he doesn't intimidate her at all, because she has the absolute balls to pull off the loan shark thing with him.

Mimzy and Lucifer's interactions with Alastor has made him to be one, if not THE most interesting character in the show. Because you're exploring two contradictory sides of the same coin at once. One where he gets so worked up and angry over not having the power he sees himself as having, and one where he's visibly hurt that his long time friend used him. In one instance you have him pulling out all the stops to be as hostile as he could be to Lucifer without actually hurting him (even though he clearly wants to), and another where he has full range to hurt Mimzy as much as he wants to, but he doesn't.

Alastor cares about people. But also disregards people like playing cards. He is such a mixed bag, so far from being one note, and you wouldn't have gotten that insight without Mimzy.

#alastor hazbin hotel #alastor #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel mimzy #mimzy #hazbin hotel alastor #alastor meta #alastor analysis #hazbin alastor

[alastors-antlers]

I think this has been in a good number of fanworks already so I'm not exactly covering new ground here, but the idea of Lucifer helping Alastor with his angelic wound on behalf of Charlie never gets old to me.

Alastor continues to pretend that nothing is wrong until he just can't pretend anymore - is it exhaustion? Is it the fact that his injury is so obvious to literally everyone else that it'd be pointless to keep it up? You decide, but either way, he's forced into an intervention.

And then when Lucifer offers healing — because we can't have you dying on us, you idiot, he says, or really anything of the sort — Alastor refuses.

No! Certainly not. No, thank you.

What do you mean? You don't want healing? Do you want to die again? Because you're going to.

Don't mock me. Why are you here? What do you want from me?

Then Lucifer has to convince Alastor that there is, in fact, no catch. It's not a concession Lucifer seeks to hold over Alastor's head forever (not that Luci isn't free to do a bit of gloating); not a way for Lucifer to harm him under the guise of aid; not a favour for a blank cheque to be cashed in at a later date.

Finally, with no small amount of frustration or needling or "will you please just let me do this holy hell this is taking forever" on Lucifer's part, Alastor agrees.

And maybe when it's over, maybe he hates Lucifer just a little bit less than he did. Maybe Alastor trusts just a tiny bit more.

Seriously, you could write this a hundred times and I would probably read all of that. I'm a sucker for the setup, what can I say?

#alastor #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #alastor meta #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel lucifer #lucifer #if anyone wants to send me fics that fit this criteria I would very much appreciate it #appleradio #radioapple #technically as in their interactions #hazbin hotel headcanon #hazbin hotel hc

[alastors-antlers]

Love this. No wonder they used to get along, and no wonder they pissed each other off hahaha

I love foils. So, here's a collection of similarities between Vox and Alastor!

The classic angry table clawing - everyone knows that one:

Smiling for heightened control and influence (and smiling through annoyance):

The [demonic shock] [slow head turn] [extra filtered voice] "haha, what did you [just] say?" scenes:

These scenes, at the beginning and end of Stayed Gone:

Depicting themselves as a member of a religious institution to vie for the audience's trust:

#alastor #vox #hazbin hotel meta #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel vox #hazbin #hazbin alastor #alastor meta #vox meta

[alastors-antlers]

Being someone who sees a lot of talk about shipping Alastor (sexually, romantically) in fanworks, I just want to take some time to talk about both sides of the issue. It's long, I know - please, please bear with me until the end, and I hope you'll understand what I mean in a bit.

I hope this helps someone, but as an aroace person who understands the frustration and hurt, this is often how it feels to me:

Alastor, being one of the limited cases of aspec rep that I've seen and one of even fewer which I actually enjoyed, means a lot to me.

That being said, his canon rep establishes that he's aroace but not much about how this factors into his life or relationships at all -- and when there's a gap in canon, I turn to fanfiction, which tends to spotlight characters' queerness even when the source material doesn't or can't. Don't we all want to see ourselves in the media we engage with?

When I pull up AO3, there are already a good number of fics about him. Great! Some of them are definitely incredible; but as I read on, it starts to seem like a lot of fics I see acknowledge that he's asexual or aromantic in some way but don't really factor that into the story. It reads like you could have written the story without keeping his queer identity in mind, and it would've come out the same.

Even when representation that does resonate with me exists, it starts to be exhausting to pick through the slash tags to see which ones are written in an aspec-coded way, so I wonder if it would be easier to not read anything with slash at all. On the other hand, when you filter ships out completely, only a tiny fraction of the fanworks are left.

People often respond that aspec people can have relationships, and I think we tend to know that. They can have sex, some can experience sexual attraction in select situations, they can romance others beyond romantic attraction -- any combination of things. But some aroace people don't want either, and sometimes we're struggling to see ourselves in how Alastor is typically portrayed.

Out of all of the fics, sex-repulsed, totally aromantic Alastor isn't seen much. And when Alastor's limited canon seems to be pretty supportive of a reading where he is those things...

Sometimes, you start to feel lost. If fics were evenly distributed along the aroace spectrum of experiences, wouldn't you expect more fics of him being the "totally uninterested" brand of aroace? But there aren't. People seem to have a preference toward seeing him in relationships. Even if they mean well, it can make you think: what does that say about how we view asexuality/aromanticism as a whole?

Is there something less interesting about Alastor, when romance is taken out of the picture? Do others find him less appealing as a character if they can't see him dating, or in love, or having sex or wanting it? Why do we need romance, when romance is already everywhere else, when it doesn't even feel like he was originally really interested? It brings to mind a struggle to be societally accepted, even today.

Even when it's not technically wrong to write Alastor as you see him, being told that we should all be able to ship him however we want can feel like this:

It brings to mind people who try to swing in with misinformed good intentions, telling us "oh, you're aromantic? but you can still have romantic relationships, right? so you can still be normal." when all we want is to be okay outside of the normal.

Or trying to find a partner who can be with us, out of everyone who tells us "I know you don't enjoy sex, and that's okay, but I can't have a romantic relationship with you without it." and being so tired of hoping for someone who gets it.

Or talking with peers, and hearing them all commiserate and fawn over their experiences with love, then telling them about someone you like non-romantically and getting "aww, it sounds like somebody's got a crush!" but not being believed when you tell them it's not like that at all.

Alastor is not a big deal, not really, not in the grand scheme of things. But in an allonormative world, it can feel like a sudden splash of cold water when we were expecting a warm fire to sit around. Even within this ecosystem, we squint to see ourselves reflected.

Society isn't built for us. It can be exhausting to be reminded of that.

~~~

I hope to support people writing Alastor as any variation of aspec, or not even aspec at all. At the end of the day, I think that fanon is really whatever you want it to be, and everyone has their own reasons for writing what they find enjoyable. They should be allowed to do so, and I want to believe that people do what they do with good intentions.

They want to imagine scenarios with the templates of characters they love, and that's okay; even beyond sexuality/queer identities/etc., fan interpretations of characters can be incredibly, wildly different from who they really are in the story anyway, and that's what I try to remind myself. But still, I also can't help feeling disappointed about the aroace representation we could have seen.

(Is Alastor canonically sex-repulsed? Uhh, maybe. If I had to guess, that'd be my top guess, but this might be a hot take: I wouldn't really say there's enough to go off of considering that this view is supported by Angel propositioning him both times, and it's not like Alastor is a particularly big fan of Angel at those points anyway lol)

To my fellow aroaces struggling with Alastor's fandom rep: if you need a break from it all; if you need to block the tags that you hate; if you need to talk to someone about how you're feeling; that's okay. It makes sense that you'd want more representation in a way that helps you feel seen and validated and less alone. I can't speak for everyone, but I think I get it.

I don't have any solutions for how you're feeling, because sometimes I'm feeling the same way. I understand that you want others to get your position and you have the right to express your feelings, but even if you're correct, often being angry or frustrated won't help change others' minds, so let's try to save our energy and take care of ourselves.

Something that helps me to think about is that even now, asexuality is gaining more visibility. We're gaining support. Real change is happening in the world that's helping incredible amounts of aspec people feel freer to be themselves. And maybe one day, we won't be reaching to protect our scraps of representation.

Let's fight until that day together <3

#seriously I appreciate everyone who's out here posting about alastor I love being in the radio demon fanclub lol #just some thoughts that's all and maybe it'll resonate with others #please let's be patient with each other though it's rough out there already #alastor #hazbin #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel #asexual #aromantic #asexual alastor #aromantic alastor #aroace alastor #alastor hazbin #ace #aro

[alastors-antlers]

okay I don't know if Charlie would ever give up her soul just like that. like all things considered she still doesn't fully trust him.

I feel like when it comes to being naive, Charlie is way more naive about the going-ons of Hell than life in general, if that makes sense, so in this domain I don't know if I see it. I guess she apologizes to angels who are literally murdering her though lol so maybe.

That being said, this isn't totally out of the question and would definitely be a neat scene to watch.

Unstoppable villain, meet immovable agent of friendship!

I was wondering in what circumstances Charlie would just OFFER her soul to Al.

And he would short circuit as all his manipulation plans become unnecessary.

Cause Charlie cares about her friends and if they need help she won’t hesitate.

#alastor hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel comic #alastor #charlie morningstar #hazbin hotel charlie #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel alastor

[alastors-antlers]

AGREED.

I believe that Alastor, as he is, is set up as a redeemable figure (to an extent anyway). If anyone wants me to back that up, I am down to write a post lol.

With his unparalleled dedication to protecting his image, I can’t really see Alastor getting close to anyone at the hotel, or even anyone in Hell except maybe Rosie.

Even when he desperately needs help — help with his wounds, help with his deal, anything of the sort — Alastor is so dedicated to not showing it. Without making connections to the others, there is absolutely no motivation for him to change or grow as a person at all.

If they find out, I could see Charlie dedicating herself to saving Alastor as well. If anyone should believe in redemption for all, it’s her.

OP’s scenario would absolutely push Alastor over the edge of secrecy, if through nothing but the prying curiosities of the rest of the cast. He needs something to get him to snap, for lack of a better word.

So basically, I’m saying that if he is going to have a redemption arc, his deal needs to get out and he needs to see that in a closed environment, that knowledge isn’t going to ruin him.

Plus I would love to see Alastor dragged into disclosing his situation and accepting their support haha

very badly want there to be an episode where alastor's mysterious benefactor shows up and absolutely humiliates him in front of everyone he's come to begrudgingly care about. like i want him dragged to the floor on his knees, demeaned and degraded, forced to submit to someone else's authority while the rest of the hotel gang watches in shocked horror. i need him HUMBLED

#alastor #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel alastor #alastor hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor meta #alastor meta #alastor analysis #hazbin alastor #hazbin alastor analysis #not sure if Alastor would ever belong in Heaven though can you imagine #accept what you cannot change and what Alastor cannot change is a desire to murder #redemption into anti-hero is not not in the cards tho

[alastors-antlers]

guys guys GUYS someone sent me this and if it isn’t the best animatic then I don’t know what is

the amazing expressions?? the actually canon-accurate characters??

please I need more people to watch this

#radioapple #alastor #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel alastor #alastor hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel lucifer #lucifer #I don’t ship it but I didn’t know how to tag #youtube

[alastors-antlers]

a brief take on the whole "Alastor's smile is permanent" discussion

hello all!

I've seen a lot of people theorizing lately that Alastor actually smiles all the time because his smile is magically, physically fixed onto his face. All of this seems to come from the fact that he's practically grimacing rather than smiling during the scene where he breaks down in ep8:

As well as this frame of his deal with Charlie: (lower res sorry)

I will say, I do like some of the implications of this theory. The sheer spite of his creditor forcing him to smile as an addition to their deal, almost like a sort of forced silence, is a neat concept. It's fun and dramatic. Plus, of all things, of course Alastor would claim the "smile at all times" policy and make it his own to pretend that it was his decision all along lol.

To be fair, though, I don't think we even need any magical compulsion to explain why he's smiling while he's having a mental breakdown. Actually, if we assume magical compulsion, I think we lose a bit of dimension from Alastor's character. (No judgement to anyone's take though, of course -- I just think this works in the direction of his established characterization, but obviously all personal takes <3)

Hear me out:

Alastor's persona is not just for others to see.

"A smile is a valuable tool, my dear. It inspires your friends; keeps your enemies guessing; and ensures that whatever comes your way, you're the one in control."

That makes sense given what we know about him. If he's always smiling, he seems like he has it together. You can't read him very well, especially not when he's actively trying to keep up appearances.

Now consider that when you think about ep8's fight with Heaven, we see that he's already been through so much in this one day.

He fights an army of angels, presumably not even at his own whim (if we go by his blurb about freedom in the Finale song); he loses to Adam, who he considers sloppy and mediocre; his staff, which we can assume holds some part of his power, is snapped; he comes close to being Angelic-power-killed; and to top it all off, he knows that others watched him get injured and then apparently die or flee, all of which would ruin the public image that he's trying to maintain. It wouldn't even be unreasonable for us to assume that he knows Vox was watching, given that Vox kind of has eyes everywhere.

In a moment like this, in the finale, you could say that Alastor has lost (at least on some level) everything that we know matters to him. He doesn't have access to all of his magic, and it's limiting him. He's reminded that he doesn't have freedom or control over his own destiny. He certainly has taken massive hits to his powerful, composed persona. But he's desperate, and furious, and terrified, and clinging on.

That's why he's smiling.

It's not that he can't stop because he physically can't. It's that he can't stop because to him, the smile is the last thing that is still within his power. When there are so many moving parts that he can't predict what happens to him next, he can control how he responds to it. In these last fragments of autonomy, there is solace.

He needs to keep telling himself that he has it together and that he'll eventually scheme his way free, that there's a solution, that he won't be in chains forever; because letting his pretense slip would be admitting that it's all starting to actually get to him. That maybe this time, he doesn't have an escape plan.

In addition, if you read his interactions throughout the series, we also see something else: Alastor's reputation is of paramount importance to him. At multiple points throughout the series, when others disrespect him by discounting his power or presence, he gets visibly annoyed. And in the battle, we see a glimpse of the part of his personality he seems to be trying to leave behind - a normal Alastor, who's just some guy from Louisiana. No transatlantic accent; no unflappable malice; no sharp wit waiting at the ready. Maybe even unremarkable.

Dropping his smile - arguably the most prominent part of his brand - would be admitting that in reality, he's not the Radio Demon of legend that he aspires to project. And if he doesn't have that... where would he be?

#alastor meta #alastor analysis #hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor #alastor #alastor hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin alastor meta #hazbin meta #hazbin alastor analysis #bro I love this guy so much

[alastors-antlers]

This is what I've been trying to say!

I don't know if I'd say with confidence that Alastor cares for them enough that that's why he risked his life for them at the end, which is how some people are reading that scene. Honestly, the chance of that being compelled under his deal somehow seems higher to me, and I still see it as him being terrified at being able to come so close to dying, not so much at the act of protection itself necessarily.

But I would cite the scene with Niffty as being meaningful. Why would he lie in Niffty's company? He knows he's not impressing anyone with that. Niffty's sure not going to judge him. His radio filter even dims a little when he's talking, which seems to mostly happen when he's letting down his emotional guard.

The nature of his attachment is more debatable; you could say he just thinks they add excitement to his life, but we also know that his "here for the entertainment" business is partly an excuse. You could say that he cares about them, but he sure seems like he's willing to discard anyone and everyone for freedom. Who knows?

Still, the point is: in a show like Hazbin Hotel, so enthusiastically convinced that redemption is possible for all sinners, is it really so impossible to believe even a little that Alastor might be within the purview of redemption?

(related shameless plug lol: a post I was making on aroace Alastor and the honesty to some of his attachments)

I get people questioning whether Alastor cares about the hotel at all (we should!), but I feel like declaring with complete confidence that there isn't even a note of attachment for the residents is a bit harsh. And this is for one reason: what is the point of his scene with Niffty in EP8 then?

This is a show with only 8 episodes! They have to use their time wisely, so there is even more need for every scene to have a purpose for the story than usual. And this scene, beyond simply better showing the dynamic between Niffty and Alastor, introduces the idea that the hotel gang could grow on Alastor. A very interesting idea for the show to explicitly draw attention to. Especially right before the final battle and Alastor having a breakdown over how he nearly died protecting the hotel.

There are other subtle hints that he may care, even if only a little, but this is the most compelling point for me. Of course, the real answer remains ambiguous, but I just wish people wouldn't be completely skeptical of Alastor's capacity to like the company he has found. Especially since this is a show focused on grey morality and "guy manipulates everyone only to suddenly discover he has gotten attached" is a very obvious and juicy direction for the story to take.

#hazbin alastor meta #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel spoilers #alastor #alastor hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin meta

[alastors-antlers]

Why Alastor is good aroace rep after all, written by an aroace

Hello all! I just want to start off this post by saying that I'm one person who definitely doesn't speak for all aroaces, but I wanted to make a post on this anyway, and maybe some folk would be interested in hearing out another perspective?

I'm not really caught up on everything that's been said over the course of HH's creation - only more recent interviews, since I'm pretty new to the fandom. Apologies if I've missed anything, but also I do not have the time to keep up with all the out-of-canon-material backstory unfortunately. I'm working with what we've got here.

So here's the thing:

Alastor is cruel, he's narcissistic, he doesn't care about anyone except himself, he's a serial killer and a monster.

(That's the argument I've heard - please tell me if that's not really what people are going for lol, in which case I've totally misunderstood?)

The issue with aroace rep when it paints asexual people with those traits is that it aims to dehumanizes them. Sex and love are essential to the human experience, right? So why wouldn't someone be interested? Because they're self-absorbed, and cold, and detached. They don't have the capacity to love others enough to feel romance.

And sure, Alastor is a killer, and a schemer, and prideful, and a monster by hell's standards. But no matter how above it all and stylish and in control and provocative he wants to be, he's a very human character, and his aroace-ness never serves to add to his alienation. You could even say that it makes him seem even more personable.

That's what I think is the key difference.

why he's human

Alastor's whole persona is about control, and he basically straight-up says this. He's controlling what his enemies know, what his public image is like. His goal is to be the Radio Demon -- overlord of Hell, charismatic, Machiavellian, and undefeatable. He's not. Despite that smile plastered over his face (a powerful tool, huh) he's so expressive for someone who's constantly pretending.

You see his exasperation with the Egg Bois and with Charlie's ranting; his nervousness in front of Zestial; his frustration with Lucifer and the petty lengths he goes to to piss off the ruler of Hell.

You see his desperation, making that deal with Charlie. He's surprised by the idea of being vulnerable in front of an enemy like Adam, and so close to danger. He drops the radio filter and the affect out of fear, and runs on broadcast TV to let out panic and anger and bitterness in his hideout, where no one else can see him.

He has a smile that tells us he's genuinely happy to see someone; it's a little wider than his default. You see it with Mimzy's greeting, you see it with Rosie. Rosie, especially, serves to make Alastor more human to the audience. More on this later, but for now, I'm just saying that you can see that he at least seems to respect her greatly. Whatever bond they have, we know that he trusts her to touch him, to share history with him, and with support that he trusts no one else for.

He pretends, but he can't pretend it all away. Loads of these emotions aren't even advantageous for him to show. It isn't necessarily how the typical asexual psychopath acts; he's not emotionless or only capable of anger or brutality.

He's so full of emotion that it leaks through, despite all that he does to avoid it. He's not inhuman and aloof, not really - he's so, so human, even when he tries not to be because he thinks that'll be what keeps him above all the rest. In control, and free from his chains.

(If anyone wants to see images about all this, I'll make a separate post - just let me know.)

(I also have another post, talking about why Alastor is at least a little attached to the hotel's residents too, shown via conversation with Niffty. In what way? different question.)

how the aroace part contributes to that

Now, to be fair, we don't hear much about his aroaceness in canon. It's just not relevant a lot of the time.

In the pilot, Angel's proposition ruffles his feathers so much that Alastor blanks for a moment. It's a joke, sure, but that ace panic face is a pretty popular Alastor moment in the fandom - Alastor, thrown off-balance by a sex joke of all things, after so many years in Hell that he should probably be used to this.

It's a moment that makes him more approachable; his aroaceness shows him unprepared for something someone else does for one of the only real moments in the whole episode.

And the other part: the ace in the hole statement.

Rosie apparently knows Alastor so well that she read that he's aroace. That tells us about their relationship; namely, that it is long-standing and genuine enough that she gleaned a piece of real information from him. It's a casual fact that she knows about him before he even figured it out himself. It lends legitimacy to their bond - this bond that shows us a more comfortable and warm side of Alastor that we don't often see.

If their relationship is purely business, isn't this something pretty frivolous and personal? It's not like he has anything to gain by telling her about his life, but she learned about it somehow. How close are they? That's where it adds a layer of complexity and personality to his character..

thoughts on representation

Overall, Alastor's an interesting character who has a level of depth and care and personality (outside of cruelty) that asexual psychopath tropes lack. Again, the moments where he's being represented as disinterested in sex or romance don't make him seem detached. Again, they don't say "look how hostile toward relationships his behaviour is - how separate he is from our humanity". That's what bad villain ace rep is. That's not what the show's doing.

Also: I'm not saying that we need to lower our standards or anything, but even if you think it's not the best rep, I feel like we should be supporting HH's efforts here. I know that on Tumblr we have a pretty queer-friendly space going, which is honestly an understatement lol but

Aces are incredibly underrepresented in fiction. There's a whole Wikipedia page about asexual characters in media, and it's short as all hell, and even if you consider what's on there you see quite a number of one-off characters who are never mentioned again.

In terms of real life business - before the DSM updated their definition of hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) in 2013, identifying as asexual wasn't even a recognized thing. If you talked to a clinician about your lack of sexual desire, you could be diagnosed with a disorder. Only in the 5th edition do we now have a little exclusion footnote about it.

The concept of asexuality hasn't been explored nearly as much as other queer identities in our scientific research. We get crumbs in terms of mainstream representation and understanding. House M.D. has an episode where House "disproves" us because he's just so smart.

Alastor isn't going to be perfect representation. There's no such thing as perfect representation, and from the moment he was conceptualized, you could see how people would take him poorly. Still, I think he's a net positive.

He isn't a side character or a token ace - he's a core part of the show, whose personality and character motivations we can reasonably presume are going to be explored much more deeply in upcoming season(s). He's loved by the fandom. Right now, given what we know, I trust Vivziepop to write the aroace representation he deserves, because with the way I've heard the cast/directing/etc. talk about him, they're trying to do the aroace community justice, so I wish people would let up just a little on the whole "Alastor is bad rep".

Let's give him a chance, all right?

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