#and re write their dark destinies with the power of love. archie - who had multiple partners with very different and distinct personalities

[scorpionwins]

hi, I just wanted to ask something. This has been bugging me for a while, but how come you're not as mad as Archie as you are at Betty? it takes TWO people to kiss...

Why hello!! I'm more than happy to rant about this because it's been on my BRAIN, just sitting there, so thanks for giving me an opportunity :D

So, I'm going to assume you're asking why I don't hold Betty and Archie to the same standard when it comes to bringing up the b*ghead break up/the infamous double judas kiss that started it all. To be as frank as possible; It's very much favoritism. But the justified kind, so lower your pitchforks.

Just by a quick scroll to my blog, I think it's unmistakably evident I like Archie over Betty; Like a red dot in a white room. You can't miss it. It's there. And as third party viewers, our individual feelings, opinion, and attachments we form towards these characters motivate the moral standards we set for them.

Take a generous majority of Betty stans, for example; Despite being united by the same romantic relationship in the show, they have a direct connection in strongly disliking the male half of said relationship; Jughead.

Betty is very much the golden child of B*gheads, so I figured it was fair game. Arguably, you can say some of them maintain some objectivism, but not enough for me to consider it valuable.

Now, am I saying Archie's a perfect angel who could do no wrong? That because he's the fandom's ' haha, big himbo Boi golden retriever stupid wholesome jock' means all guilt and responsibility should be absorbed from his part? No! Absolutely not.

I don't think there's anyone in this fandom who hates the " Archie is a perfect angel and our annoying but beloved protagonist " narrative more than I do;

Fuck. No. Archie is a violent, careless, emotionally inept douchebag, who wouldn't know what a non-dysfunctional relationship was if it spit in his eye. But here's a thing, Archie isn't the protagonist; He's the antagonist.

Arguably speaking, Archie's the most morally ambiguous/morally grey character on the show, in my opinion. Not because he struggles with separating dark from light, but because he chooses both.

I can't really look at a kiss and all that other shit he's done and be like ' oh YEA, kissing was definetly worse!' the same logic can apply to Betty, but here's ANOTHER thing; Archie didn't owe Jughead loyalty.

Archie wasn't his boyfriend; Archie wasn't the one promising he won't do it again; Archie wasn't the one who went behind his back. He's the mistress in this scenario, and mistresses aren't morally indebted to anyone.

Betty was. She was Jughead's girlfriend. She was the one who sang " you're the only man for me" and yet does the opposite, on quite clear multiple times. (There's accounts of consecutive emotional cheating as well) and she's the one who's actions hurt Jughead the most because SHE was dating him.

Hell, Archie and Jughead were barely even friends; I'll even argue to say a constant theme in the show is the constant construction and reconstruction of Jarchie's friendship. How they fail to be friends but still choose eachother, over and over again, because they're held together by memories and nostalgia.

Of course I can't hold the same bitterness for Archie when his involvement and presence in Jughead's life doesn't hold the same impact as Betty's. Archie never promised him anything. Betty did.

At best, Archie owes Jughead an apology, but his real target of compensation should be his actual partner. Veronica. Archie owes her remorse.

I'll even go ahead and say it - the varchie break up hurt more because their relationship was build on actual meaningful, mature grounds.

b*ughead is a middle schooler's relationship goals. Which is to be expected because they were 16, teenagers, yet! Archie and Veronica happen to be characters with more experience in romance, both by direct and indirect contact. (From multiple partners to their own parents separating respectively)

I don't necessarily like comparing emotional damage; I do my best not to cherry pick. However, I don't think I owe cheaters the courtesy of fair thinking.

There's no good reason to cheat. It's a destructive, cruel, abusive act of disrespect towards your partner, and I'm not at all moved by Betty's performative remorse, especially because she clearly doesn't feel it as much as the fandom pushes it.

But I'll say it once and I'll say it for as long as I can; If anti Barchies dislike barchie because they like Betty, I dislike b*ghead because I love Jughead.

#i hope this doesn't come across as ' if your partner cheats on you with your friend - just forgive the friend' #like no obviously. they're BOTH culpable but there's a different standard for them from an emotional standpoint #riverdale #riverdale negativity #kinda #anti betty cooper #anti bughead #jughead jones #meta #archie andrews #veronica lodge #asks #i'd also go as far as to say i'm easier on archie bc he takes actual accountability for what he's done #he's not betty - he can't wear apathy disguised as remorse so he just doesn't find excuses for himself #when jughead confronts him (if you can even call it that) he doesn’t defend himself; he doesn’t expect jughead to just forget this happened #he especially doesn’t expect their relationship to ever be the same after. but like i mentioned - #archie and jughead have different maturity levels when it comes to relationships. betty is Jughead's first girlfriend #and of course he holds a strong attachment to her. in his mind he and betty will stay together forever #and re write their dark destinies with the power of love. archie - who had multiple partners with very different and distinct personalities #knows that's very much not the case. there's a certain realism archie has when it comes to romantic relationships that jughead #doesn't possess until later sessons