Heir - Blog Posts

My interpretation is that Witches are active and Heirs are passive Magician classes, which involves changing, manipulating, and controlling their aspects.

Likewise, Maids are active and Sylphs passive Healer classes, which involves healing, creating, and (re)generating their aspects.

As far as “giving” goes, that’s something Rogues already do. Thieves technically can give, too, as I see Thieves and Rogues as classes that involve aspect allocation and redistribution, but Thieves are mostly inclined to take, while Rogues are inclined to give or share.

For now, I’ll link some of my related posts:

John the Wizard touches upon the Witch/Heir connection with magic.

Healer Classes: Maids, Sylphs, and Revival describes the Maid/Sylph connection with healing.

Classes Chart is my take on the class meanings, pairings, etc.

Useful Classpect Tools and Resources has links to more information from others (including @dahniwitchoflight​).

It’s not much, hopefully it'll provide some insight.

Homestuck theory: Heirs are the “passive giving” class.

IE: Heirs are diametrically opposed to Thieves: they give their aspect and inspire others to do the same.

John:

All evidence that Breath/Breeze is connected to delivery comes from John, Tavros has flags, but not the mailbox kind.

John uses the Breeze and parcel pyxis to invite giving through breath (note that I’m also assuming that Equius and Mituna had and aspect driven parcel system on their planets).

Upon receiving the ultimate freedom (retcon zaps are said by many to mean breath) and being faced with drowning in oil, John instead zaps the oil away (gives his breath) in order to take on the responsibility of completing his personal quest (in which he also gives the fireflys freedom). It’s noted by Jade that he does this instead of zapping away himself, something which I think is a defining moment for his character.

John fits the messianic archetype, so it would make sense if he would give spirit and freedom in return for responsibility, friendship and warrior spirit (Blood).

Is “giving spirit” something the natural leader does? If so, Roxy and Kanaya talking about John being such a great motivational leader that he makes others better leaders at the same time counts as evidence towards John giving and inviting the giving of Breath.

John takes on warrior spirit when doing the windy thing? This is a bit of a shaky one I admit, but the thing is we often see John sort of “not taking things seriously” and making unnecessary jokes and observations, as if the graveness of his situation hasn’t really set in for him. The only time he comes down off this cloud is when he’s airbending.

When John decides to not go through the gate and is instead pulled back down to earth (in a moment which is cited to show the Breath/Blood dichotomy) thanks to alt Dave’s influence, alt Dave gets wings (as in John gave him freedom/Breath).

Equius:

In this page Calliope mentions that people with opposite classpects can have similar abilities, so Equius might possibly have Thief of Light powers (as in, if this theory is correct Equius should be able to theoretically steal light from everyone by giving them void).

So while Vriska steals the spot-light (ie: relevance, ie: Light) by creating Bec noir, Equius has become part of the most important character in homestuck: Lil'cal, and gives the alpha kids a lack of showdown (bear in mind though that Equius does this to help the humans, whereas Vriska does it to stroke her ego, fitting what we know about passive classes working for the team and active classes working for themselves). 

Vriska is also accused of stealing light in the form of agency when she controls trolls, and Equius controls Nepeta’s actions in some respect at the start of Hivebent and also stops her from joining the red team (again because he believes it’s in her best interests). Deceiving his team-mates and becoming the blue team leader counts as giving lies and also another count of stealing relevance.

Equius also gives fakeness in the form of Vriskas arm, Aradia’s body, and Tavros’s legs. Also as Lil'cal he arguably teaches Dirk how to build robots and therefore invites the giving of fakeness?

Equius is probably also the reason the ring of void moved from the human’s alpha session to caliborn’s, ie: he delivered void. 

Mituna: 

I don’t actually have much to say about Mituna, as we don’t know much about him or his arc. Although…don’t you think it’s funny that the Thief and Heir of both troll sessions had aspect pairs that we pretty much know where opposites? 

The Ψiioniic though, fits this theory pretty well. He gives/delivers the ship using his death, and often very gave death to aliens in the form of the Condesce (and invites her to give death).

Medieval connection:

The Heir class represents a medieval aristocrat passively giving away all their inherited fortune. Inheritace itself is them inviting giving.

John the Wizard

Remember after the Trickster arc (A6A5A2), how the story returns to A6A5A1? Caliborn yells at Hussie for going "BACKWARDS BY AN 'ACT'." He thinks the Trickster shenanigans were "erased," to which Hussie responds:

What are you talking about? I didn't erase it. It was still a thing that happened. Do you really think I have the power to make something unhappen?? I would have to be a wizard to do that.

Well, it turns out someone does have that power:

Which means John Egbert is a wizard.

John already has plenty of wizard allusions:

DISREGARD THE UNIMPORTANT MALE GHOST BEHIND THE CURTAIN.

An obvious reference to the Wizard of Oz saying, "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."  

JOHN: let's all go see a big pompous wizard to solve all of our problems.

JOHN: we didn't realize it at the time, but there were still a bunch of problems waiting to happen. [...] JOHN: but don't worry, i'm working to overcome all those problems right now. JOHN: that's why i'm here!

  Frigglish bothered his beard, as if unkinking a hitch in a long silk windsock. [...] As a matter of fact, his cadre of fellow wizards were all putting similar moves on their beards as well.

Thanks to John's god tier hood (wind powers help, too), others (mostly Roxy) continually mention windsocks with reference to John.

ROXY: im all ears johnny windsock

Even the Magician's Hat John wears as part of his "Clever Disguise" and the Bunny Sassacre Fedora---one of the first items he alchemizes---are wizardly.

  One of the very first snippets of information we learn about John is that he's "an aspiring AMATEUR MAGICIAN." While it appears to mean a magician in the sense of an "entertainer who is skilled in producing illusion by sleight of hand, deceptive devices, etc.," a magician is also a "person who is skilled in magic" or a "sorcerer"---in other words, a wizard. Couldn't it mean both?

If Heir is indeed the passive counterpart to Witch, both classes who "change, manipulate, and control (with/through) their aspect"---which I like to call the Magician Classes---wouldn't that make the Heir of Breath a magician or wizard, anyway?

John and others continually refer to John and his abilities as "magic":

EB: everyone i know is turning magic, it's ridiculous. EB: including me! i'm magic now.

("Everyone" specifically alluding to Jade and Rose, an actual Witch and a Seer with the inclination toward Witch inversion.)

John calls his retcon abilities "weird retcon magic," and describes it as "some kind of surreal, history altering... reality hopping... magic power.” Roxy calls it “magic ‘fix literally everything' powers.”

Although John aspires to become a SKILLED MAGICIAN and a CUNNING PRANKSTER, he is “neither of these things” for most of the story.

At first, John has no control over his magic powers (first wind, then space-time jumping retcon abilities). However, eventually he learns and masters his powers, becoming a SKILLED MAGICIAN.

JOHN: i've noticed whenever i learn to do new things with my powers, it's usually in response to something. like something important that has to be done.

JOHN: i learned how to turn into wind and swoosh around about a year ago. [...] JOHN: i thought for sure i was a goner, when suddenly i poofed away from his tentacly grasp like houdini's slippery ghost. later i rematerialized to seize the tactical advantage!

JADE: he dispersed every drop throughout existence

JADE: leaving a little mark for anyone who might notice, signifying his final mastery over his confining reality

Thanks to his powers and Terezi's scarf instructions, John becomes a CUNNING PRANKSTER, as well.

JOHN: i am like the ultimate prankster now... nanna would be so proud!

Previously, John was neither a skilled magician nor a cunning prankster. Now he is both.

John, a magician, the wizard with the “power to make something unhappen."

Bonus points for shipping fodder: Roxy LOVES wizards.

John = Wizard. CONFIRMED.

Hi! I was wondering if a Knight of Mind, Heir of Blood, or Seer of Heart would be a better leader?

Well, it would depend.

A Knight of Mind would be good at using façades and choices, exploiting and maximizing the usefulness of thoughts, rationale, and the outer self in order to get things done. If balanced, they could also use their Rogue of Heart inverse to obtain, redistribute, and share souls and inner desires.

An Heir of Blood would be good at influencing and inviting change relating to bonds, pacts, and connections of a group. If balanced, they could also use their Mage of Breath inverse to understand what direction the team should take—their goals and quests—and use that knowledge to act or lead.

A Seer of Heart would be good at understanding the core of each person in the group, such as their strengths, weaknesses, fears, and inner desires. They would then guide the team using that knowledge. If balanced, they could also use their Witch of Mind inverse to change others’ minds—their rationales and decisions—and their outer selves.

I’m inclined to think an Heir of Blood would make one of the best leaders in general, but there are a lot of factors to consider. It’d depend on the individual leading, the group dynamic, the purpose and goal, and what the team actually needed. It’d also depend on how “realized” (and competent) the person is.

Certain classpects are probably naturally better skilled and equipped to lead than others, but each classpect has the potential to be a good leader (or a poor leader), depending on the circumstances.

Classes Chart

Here's a chart of all the classes, both Standard and Master.

My goal was to define, describe, and categorize them as efficiently and accurately as possible, based on my understanding of the classes. I based as much as I could on canon information, while inferring the rest.

(For clarity, "–" denotes Active, and "+" denotes Passive.)

(Note: If chart looks distorted/shrunken, right-click and View Image.)

Special thanks to bladekindeyewear, dahniwitchoflight, infinitywhale and probably others for their insight and information, helping me understand the classes and aspects. I couldn't have made this chart without them.

Some clarification: I am aware Hussie essentially said any gender can have any class (i.e. female Princes). I don’t like the idea of gendered classes, anyway, and I think it’s needlessly restrictive, not to mention sexist and stereotyping.

However, my chart reflects what’s been depicted in comic, based on what Calliope states, looking at the characters’ classes and gender distribution, and then making some inferences based on Hussie’s penchant for balance and based on class names and god tier outfit designs.