Also

What about John waking up completely alone with full control of Arthur's body

You know what I’m reblogging this in case it inspires someone to do it better

@kkachis

I don’t know how to reblog w a video ;_;

It uhhh…. It sure is something. I got the notes to play at more or less the right times, and I consider that an accomplishment. I later tried pitching down an irl violin for the “cello” and it was somewhat promising. The chorus bit is the waltz and it… exists.

canon: the very first thing John did upon gaining control of Arthur's hand was strangle someone to death with it

fandom: with this power they can... no I daren't say it... oh but I must... they can hold hands 😳🤝😳

Malevolent fans making up elaborate theories about the show vs Harlan who trows together episodes by pure vibe

Malevolent vine

Jesus Chris Arthur...he...he is...doing a little dance?

What follows was intended to be a brief elaboration, but turned into a progressively more unhinged essay looking at a component of Arthur’s descent into madness. I’m not keeping this shit in my notes app, so if it survives, it will have to be here.

In the Sad Parent Poem -as I like to call it- Arthur tells his younger self that it wasn’t his fault. Growing up in that family structure, at least in my experience, you don’t see your parents as people like you. It’s like feeling weird when you see your teacher buying groceries. They are your world, and you are theirs, and that’s it. So for them to decide to dip- I can only imagine how a child would interpret that.

Maybe after investigation(by family or police) Arthur learned that this happened because his parents were Cultists. It was Their fault and not his. In the Sad Parent Poem, he also tells his younger self to “swallow all the hate.” I first interpreted that to mean ‘don’t blame your parents, the hate will only weigh you down.’ But now it seems like he stopped expressing his hatred, and swallowed it - pushed it down and let it fester for years. But a part of him always believed that it *was* his fault, and in reality the hatred was a way to distance himself from that feeling.

And then he (ostensibly) impregnated his wife and she died in child birth. But hey, at least your daughter survived to be all that’s left of her, to be your whole world, to prove that you are better than your parents… Whoops, you hyper focused on piano for a few minutes too long and now she’s dead and it is undeniably Your Fault.

I hc that it’s at this point he goes to the US to, ya know, Escape the Pain. After a few years, he lets himself get close to another person- his business partner, Peter “Parker” Yang🕷. Whoops you opened a book and now your bestie’s dead. Bonus points, you hid his body and then practically forgot about it due to Imminent Danger.

But hey, at least you have a voice in your head who you can’t possibly lo- Whoops he’s gone too. But hey, at least Cultist Bad. It’s Not Your Fault Because Cultist Bad. At least you have that. Oh wow eye bestie’s back! Something good actually happened to you. Maybe you can hold on to someone! This reminds you of that dead bestie… oh fuck you have a whole dead bestie that you haven’t even thought about. And then you became besties with his murderer. You didn’t even have the courtesy to mourn him. What the fuck is wrong with y- What’s that, Eye Bestie (murderer of Dead Bestie)? You say Cultist NOT Bad? You say ME bad for not helping?! I try to help, but yoU SAY CULTIST DEAD AND IS MY FAULT?!!? SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUTUPSHUTUP I HATE YOU …hence the negative reaction, probably

Is it ever explicitly stated that John strangled Parker with Arthur's body? Or is that just common interpretation due to the fact that there's no blood meaning he wasn't exactly dismembered like Emily?

Because don't get me wrong, the idea of being very physically killed with the hands of your best friend is deliciously angsty.

But also... The only thing that we know about Parker's death is that he called out Arthur's name before whatever happened, happened. Who's to say that John didn't just magically liquify his organs inside his body? Who's to say that the power of John transferring himself into Arthur's body didn't melt his mind until he literally forgot how to breathe or something?

I'm just saying that as much as I love a bit of angst I think the much more eldritch kinda gory options are really fun to think about, because until stated otherwise there's almost endless possibilities, even eldritch murder methods our minds literally couldn't comprehend.

Arthur: *calls John a Sour Puss*

Me: *proceeds to lose my fucking mind*