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I have not finished watching video yet but I immediately subscribed! I thoroughly enjoy your insightful commentary on a show I've grown to love, especially because your detailed explanations, such as the definitions and examples you gave at the beginning, help me to understand Hazbin Hotel better, while also expanding my vocabulary in the process (I'm French, so improving my English while learning new things about my current interests is always a plus). I've always been impressed by people who can understand pieces of literature and media more than I ever could and I aspire to learn more from you. Thank you very much for all the effort you've put in your videos and I'm looking forward to hear more of your commentaries, whether on Hazbin Hotel or on other topics!

I don't know about that, if you look at his shadow which shows his true feelings, his shadow was very excited to take on Adam. Maybe he was starved after making that shield and his mind was addled by hunger. Also Zestial said that the rumor was that he fell TO holy arms, meaning that he would have been DEAD dead. Maybe he had to make a deal to recover from being mortally wounded by holy weapons, although you'd think he would have been more careful about facing Adam.

Note how he doesn't drop the deal until right after he's become absolutely sure that Charlie doesn't know that angels aren't invincible. He knows that it's unlikely that she knows, but he's still smart enough to first receive verbal confirmation from Charlie that she thinks angels are invincible.

When Sir Pentious ripped his coat I believe that foreshadowed his loss against Adam. He let his guard down. Toyed with Adam like he toyed with Sir Pentious. Though he took down Sir Pentious more efficiently in the pilot because he wanted to show off to his new housemates.

I don't think his initial rise to power was fueled by a contract or voodoo powers, at least not entirely. He wouldn't have been the first to have that sort of opportunity after all. Rather I think it was an opportunity he got from the use of radio technology which was novel to Hell and could be used to outwit the less clever of the older overlords. He's very much a brains over brawn kind of fighter and tends to underestimate foes such as Adam that he views as intellectually inferior even if they are much stronger than him, while he respects the ones such as Zestial whom he views as an intellectual equal. When H.G. Wells' novel War of the Worlds was read out loud as a radio broadcast listeners literally thought that it was news coverage of an actual alien invasion. Knowing that imagine the kinds of tricks Alastor could play on the denizens of Hell to make himself seem more powerful than he actually is. A fake it till you make it strategy if you will. But eventually technology progressed and in order to keep up with that level of power Alastor knew he would have to make some kind of deal so after his failure to defeat the Vees he went on his 7 year "sabbatical" during which he made a deal and trained in the use of some new powers, fully expecting he would be clever enough to weasel out of the deal somehow of course. Interestingly his dislike of modern technology is never portrayed as a weakness. First of all, he is shown to be skilled with making a video using a digital camera, and he seems to know quite a bit of modern tech lingo and has understanding of how Vox's technology works. Secondly Vox's technology is shown to hypnotize and brainwash its users so that the viewer gets the distinct impression that Alastor is smart for avoiding it. I suspect Vaggie's deal with him is going to bite her in the ass when he turns out to be able to easily defeat Vox but refuses to do anytime about it unless Vaggie makes a different kind of deal with him.

GREAT video! I'm a psych professional, have a masters and currently working on a phd, lots of treatment experience and personal life experience. thank you so much for your thoughtful and educated explanation of SUD. I've seen some pretty terrible takes on Angel's character. I also have some sw experience and am a survivor of DV and SA. I think this character is an excellent representation of all of these, including the part where he's not an "ideal" victim. He makes bad decisions, he does things that people judge him for, and we see how this affects people's perception of the abuse he suffers and his mental health disorders. You mentioned how he blames himself and it's clear other characters and other real life human viewers do too. This makes it so much harder to report abuse and recover from harmful coping techniques like SUD. I plan to rewatch this video, probably right now, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. thank you SO MUCH for providing some commentary on Angel and SUD that's actually useful and factual!! you're so right too how the substances even help you forget about the problems with using substances. the way the brain and these chemicals work really optimizes it to be as difficult as possible to quit. i love that in the show, just like in real life, having his basic needs met, being given a social network that includes people who accept him, and ways to feel productive without exploitation like helping with Niffty and Sir Pentious, leads to Angel's recovery. i have so much to say on this topic! I loved your alastor videos so thank you for not disappointing me with your approach to this difficult topic. i was like, no, i just found this creator, please don't mess it up! lol the opposite happened and I'm a bigger fan now! can't wait to see more!

Laying my cards on the table. Angle Dust has never been my favorite. So you can tell me i am a little biased against him. One of my major problems and many others is the context that the porn industry is portrayed in. In it of itself there is nothing wrong with telling a story about a sex worker or adult film actor being exploited, abused or inslaved. It is a real world problem and these stories should be out there. Especially a story that is sympathetic to the victim. Showing the cycle of abuse, how hard it can be to get help. The way that victim blaming and shamming traps people in bad situations. The way the Husk reaches out, not by saying “we can fix this” or “it will get better”. Husk says don’t blame yourself, you are not the only one who has made mistakes and ended up in a low place. It is all very good stuff. However this type of storyline can add to the negative perception of the industry. More knowledgeable and talented people than i have made essays specifically about angle dust and the porn industry. The sort version is that most of this criticism will disappear if they show other sex workers and or adult film actors in heathy relationships with their boss and work life. I know that the world building leans to one person controlling an entire industry. I feel like it wouldn’t be too word breaking to have a small indi studio. Small enough that Vox hardly notices but has a healthy work culture. There are a lot of misunderstandings of angle. There are some issues with the way Medrano and crew frame their story. I hope my explanation was comprehensive enough to make sense. Again other people can explain this way better.

This is such a good video. Truly, thanks.

Thank you for the lesson in terminology and thoughtful analysis! [subs]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

good insights and commentary, thank you for sharing! i've seen a LOT of folks talking very authoritatively about various characters' sexual orientations which aren't canonically confirmed in the text as presented, but have been mentioned in past livestreams and/or tweets. for example, at first i had no idea where the fandom's firm insistence that Alastor is ace actually came from, because it's only barely blink-and-you-miss-it HINTED at in the text via one line from Rosie (also i maintain that it should be normal for fictional characters to have plot arcs that have nothing to do with romance or sex, whether they're aro/ace or not), BUT it was presented as paratext via streams/tweets... at least, until Vivzie gave in to fandom bullying and officially stated that none of the Hazbin characters have a canonical sexual orientation. and that's super frustrating, because that is a huuuuge lost chance to showcase marginalized identities on a huge platform! and if the fandom already accepts paratextual content relating to sexuality as canon, why not just make it TEXT, yaknow?? (disclaimer/to be clear: i WANT Alastor to be canonically confirmed aroace, even if he doesn't use modern words to label it. people shouldn't have to rely on paratext for representation.)

So one. You must live in a different time zone from me. To be clear i don’t actually want to disclose where you live. It is more the distance seems like it is far enough apart that you post time is a wild hour where i am. Second i think when people ask for interesting female characters in greek mythology Penelope gets skipped over. I think she gets put in the “wives of heros” category and because most of them could be replaced by a sexy lamp people forget she is given agency in her part of the story. One thing specific to Panelope is that the point or one of the points of the odyssey is that it takes for ever and is a monster every island story. To the point where odyssey became a type of story. By the time you make it to the end with Penelope many story tellers have run out of time or energy to do her justice. She is cleaver in all of her tactics to distract her suiters. But it is still a crazy long time. To the point where i wonder if Athena intercedes for her a few times. Seems reasonable that Athena would want them to be reunited and try to help Penelope protect herself. I admit i never really liked Odysseus even in the stories where he is less of a narcissist. So modern reimagining where it is about single mom Penelope navigating politics of the kingdom by herself while she waits for her husband to come back has potential. What i mean is i agree that a historic greek audience would make the connections and think it less of a strech for Penelopy to succeed for so long. Now adays looking back it seems improbable how ever cleaver for Penelope to repell the guys for long with weaving tricks. Even if athena didn’t apear in front of Penelope a past audience could speculate that she was being protected by Athena. I may of may not have spelled some names wrong. Apologies.

what do you mean the pilot is no longer canon? it's still canon,I think your thinking of helluva boss pilot,cause I've never heard that the hazbin hotel pilot is no longer canon,I've never heard it from viv or anyone that's worked on the show

Alastor doesn’t wear gloves, those are his actual hands. His arms and legs are pitch black, fading into normal skin between his elbows and shoulders, and knees and waist respectively. We never have, and likely never will, see his exposed limbs in the show itself, but Viv canonized what they look like in a response to a piece of fanart of Alastor in a Hawaiian Shirt, and swim trunks, saying that they got the design of his limbs right. He also has hooves, like Charlie.

I admit this is yet another video i spent the entire time staring at the one wall art. I don’t know why but my brain is convinced it is abstract art of a stereotypical flying saucer. I am talking about the one lat is near your left shoulder while you film. The blue and magenta and white stripes. I don’t know why i find it distracting but i is neat art.

As for more the content of the video over the topic…. The gumbalia thing. I think in the pilot medrano and crew wanted to jam in some references to New Orleans and that was an easy way to do it. His strange diet could be a set up for Rosie and the canabal being important later. I am not sure we see to much of what everybody eats. I will have to re watch i guess. What i mean is it completely get what you are saying about contradictions in text. I just maybe wouldn’t have used this example… I do like that you point out that charlie really tries to listen and the antagonists like sera and adam do not. I feel like some of the audience didn’t catch this. I feel like it is partly because charlie listening wasn’t as blatant. As you said it is all there and contrast is drawn between charlie and emily trying to listen as well as see past the outside layer contrasted with Sera and Adam. However earlier in the show we see Charlie struggling to listen or pick up some of what is in front of her. Specifically regarding Angle dust. Husk didn’t spend that much time with Angle, vaggie or charlie when he says he knows everything about people. There have been hints right in front of charlie that Angle is not as happy as he seems. And despite wanting to to be the person people tell there troubles to she has struggled on some occasions make people comfortable with telling her things. Interesting, besides vaggie and maybe her dad. The person she has the best time reaching is pentious. After being caught and saved by charlie he seems to be honest with her. I mean the next episode he says he wants to shoot everyone else and sure he may not be able to read a room but he and charlie do seem to get a long. When charlie and her dad have their moment in E5 sir pentious says that was sweet which i thinks shows some of his changle. I think charlie reaching sir pentious can tie into charlie being vonerable to alistor. When he was at a low point he was lucky it was charlie who reached him. When she was at a low point she was unlucky that Alistor was the one to reach her. That contrast i think has a good message about reaching out to people if you see someone at a low point, if you are able to. If it isn’t you or someone trust worthy it would be someone with bad intentions. (Side note she did have her two goats stepping into to try and stop alistor but charlie called them off.) I do think getting better at listening to people or making herself someone people want to talk to is part of her character arc. As well as seeing people for who they are and learning when to be open and when to put on a front. I guess i have tied less of this to what is known publicly about Medrano. I know she has had public scandals most of which has been…. Empty. But life does affect art. I was more interested in her anti capitalism message mostly in the other show and the report that she hasn’t been good to the animation team. Not that that is remotely unique the whole animation industry struggles to pay people. I don’t know how much sense this makes….

I appreciate your guts walking head first into this topic. As for what you have to say…. I do largely agree. One thing that you don’t mention about the text being the most important for analysis and evidence is that it levels the playing field. By this i mean by centering the text and excluding pera text everyone starts with the same deck of cards. With the fans having to wait so long between updated and releases of the official show there has been a semi consistent drip feed of bonus content and the spin off. If that made sence. Asking everyone you are talking to watch every song lives stream or let’s draw or interview is impractical and unfair. talking to other fans who have this context is fun. And sometimes additional stuff can be useful or just fun in a discussion. I think the Hazbin fandom in particular is more prone to paratext being important than other fandoms. I can point to demographics and trends. A large chunk of the fandom are also fans of The Owl House and Gravity Falls both shows encourage fan theories and speculation and once those shows were done Hazbin absorbed a lot of them. But Medrano herself has encouraged this type of fanbase on her own. Both by the schedule and the types of additional content and the way most of this has been presented (lore world building and such). I definitely feel there are fans who treat information from live streams as both intragal to the show and mandatory viewing. I have definitely fallen down the rabbit whole of arguing about para text more times then i want to admit to. For this show and others. For me it is usually fun and i try to be up front with non textual speculation. Or more detected imagination. There are some reading of abrahamic text where Osmodeus is the child of Lucifer. Picturing the Osmodeus of the show doing half sibling activities with charlie is supper entertaining. In conclusion call me out if i wonder off the rails without making it clear that is where i want to go. Or if mu argument has holes or insufficient evidence. Sometimes it is easier to state something and wait for questions….

Yeah, WHY is alastor so sensitive about this secret? I don't think it's UNHEARD of for an overlord to be in a soul contract with another entity, considering just HOW common selling one's soul is in hell......

This account is underrated

How crazy that would get you sent to hell is extending grace, the stated basis of redemption by many Christian churches - they are all sinners and it is only grace that gets people into heaven

the pilot is still canon

Where to start! I really like you brought up Mimsy in the context of Alistor’s deal/promise what ever. I don’t think it is a coincidence that husk brings up alistor’s chain the same episode he acts out of character and is called out for not being his usual self by a different old friend. I think a lot of people lazer focused on what Zestrial said and his call out of Alistor’s disappearance and the rumors. While people liked the confirmation of the back story she gave. Her call out is more interesting. We do not know to much about Alistor and what his life in hell has been like for decades. She does. It is easy to take his answer to vaggie in the first episode as the truth because it feels plausible. He is a sadistic self centered guy. Why wouldn’t he want a front row seat to failure!? I think i have only stumbed across one other youtuber who discussed the significance of Alistor kicking out Mimsy. Aside from his confidence and possibly not having a choise, i think he might have thrown himself into the fight with the sharks because he needed an outlet for his anger. He had a pissing contest with Lucifer and then got called out by husk. He probably wasn’t in a great mood and put on more of a show then he needed to. The other reason floated is he has enough belief in or commitment to the hotel and charlie that he feels he must enforce the rules. I mean he sits with the group watching Angle’s “show and tell” I don’t think he is remotely interested in adult films and don’t think any promise to help charlie would cover this. He sits through some of the trust building shenanigans and he even hangs out during the group relax time before the fight. The only group activity i can think of him skipping is the group bar hang out with cherri bomb. Funnily enough i actually forgot he wasn’t there. It’s easy to miss with all pf the new characters and trying to juggle the recurring cast. Also nifty is there. Maybe he just crashed on the couch or something and didn’t feel like being around that many people. But my point is some of the social activities are probably not covered by what ever deal he made meaning his participation was more voluntary and that could point to a bond with charlie. He could just hang out because his calendar is blank what else is there. Might as well get the entertainment he told vaggie he wanted. It could be to throw off charlie and vaggie or anything else. So when he enforces the rules against an old friend. He could be trying to keep a good thing going. He knows that mimsy will bring fights and messes and probably pick fight with Vaggie and possibly piss off charlie and he needs to nip that in the bud. But he also could be keeping charlie and the hotel safe. I don’t think we get to see husk react to Alistor kicking out mimsy but i wonder if he thought it was wired. Him pleading with Alistor to send her packing earlier points to him knowing this behavior is unusual and unlike mimsy and possibly nifty he knows more about the deal alistor is trapped by. I don’t know how coherent this is. I think you made a good observation that Alistor kicking out minsy is string evidence that he does not have the autonomy that he pretends he has. Charlie and probably Vaggie take this at face value. While they do have some idea who he was it probably just rumor and maybe seeing him is passing. Maybe if he has more moments of people who have know alistor longer like Mimsy, Husk, Rosie, Zestial many even Vox vaggie could pick up on it and realize that alistor is trapped. Liked a caged animal alistor could eventually snap and lash out to escape possible hurting charlie to do so. It will not matter if they have a bond is Alistor is desperate enough he may stab charlie in the back to save himself. Which plays into your season three idea! Last point on Minsy, some people thought she was an anti-Semitic characature. She was not intended to be. She is supposed to be a chicken demon. That is why her nose is like that. I tend does not absolve impact of course. I would not mind if she got a redesign if/when she comes back. Make her more bird like, more chicken feather and i think people will be less offended. I don’t know, it was a small blow up when the show was reaching people who were not already neck deep in the fandom.

I really love your content (also first because sayign that when you comment first is a thing apparantly), especially your stuff hazbin hotel becuase it feels more authentic and analytical rather than just followign common fan rhetoric. In terms of my thoghts on Alastor, lillith, etc. I am of the belief that Eve is somehow involved becuase I feel what we know about lillith (ie she felt herself equal to Adam and is likely quite stubborn as she refused to bottom(I know that specific interpretation is from other sources but hehe) and made good from beign made queen of hell) it feels kind of out of character for her to make a deal with Adam. It sort of involves a level of submission, but she was totally against this. But who was literally designed to submit to Adam? Eve. Thus comes the theory that it was Eve disguised as lillith we see in heaven at the end of season 1. From this there are 2 possibilities. 1: Something happened to Lillith 7 years ago due to Eve and in desperation and care for her little girl she turned to Alastor as a last resort to ensure Charlie remained safe while Lillith was comprimised. 2: Eve has been masquerading as lillith for far longer, perhaps even to the extent that she's charlie's mother (potential backing for this is in conventional lore that lilith can't bear children). This potentially also explains why she kept charlie and lucifer apart and then seperated from him. But 7 years ago something happened and Eve made deals with Adam and Alastor. I definietely want the second idea to be true just because of how batsh*t crazy it is but if eve is "lillith" the first seems more likely.

1:36 I agree Charlie had been warming up to him, but when Alastor was in manipulator mode that episode, his liking of Charlie is a lot less convincing. Not to mention Alastor's long-term intentions with the Hotel being to let Charlie invite Sinners in for the entertainment in seeing her methods fail, but eventually having many different Sinners in one place might benefit him as an Overlord, and who knows if his soul contract has anything to do with it too. For now his and Charlie's "bond" is very one-sided. 8:21 For casual fans and new viewers, maybe, but hardcore fans of the Hellaverse (who would be a majority of the viewers of this show) would know from the meta lore about the demon power hierarchy (later visualized as the chart you used at 12:09), that the ruling family are the most powerful beings in Hell (potentially matched only by Roo but we have yet to meet her or see her power scaling). Because of how interpersonal she is, *Charlie just doesn't think about or maybe realize just how powerful she is*. 8:43 I don't think her reaction in the pilot was explicitly about him hurting her, but about his chaotic evil reputation that meant that his presence meant trouble for them and their business- not from his "hard power", but his "soft power" as a trickster who thrives on chaos. If her worry was about "hurting" them, it'd be mental or emotional hurt and how he'd hurt the hotel as a business. That's why she was wary not only of him but his intentions of helping with the hotel.

LMAO He doesn't have to look at her he already committed her to memory.

Alastor offered his assistance for the pleasure of seeing sinners fail spectacularly. She ordered him to assist the hotel so long as he wished to. In a way he is working for her. There are things he might not be able to do because of contract that he could get her to do.

great video and I like your eye makeup! Looking forward to part 4.

The last stand alone comment i was going to make is on the song ready for this. I really like your focus on the song as a part of Charlie and Alistor’s character development. It is very underrated. As a song it is… not the strongest written in words but also competition of music. I think the song needed only one or two melodies with maybe one bridge for Alistor’s and rosie. The song as a song lacks cohesion. It doesn’t flow. As a musically number in a story it is really important. I don’t know how intentional this was on Medrano’s part. The end of the song has a some royal brass when the canabals sing they are ready for it and when every one sings the time has come to go to war. That exact sound has a long history of being used to introduce the royal families of europe. The big brass makes the individual seem powerful and underlines both the royal’s martial prowess as princess and kings were supposed to be warriors. As well as their political might. The head or state governing or ruling the people. In theory it was a king or queen’s job to create or maintain peace and prosperity for the people. I like to think the strong brass in the end of the song represents Charlie striving for the goal of being a political and military leader. The canabals sining with the brass symbolizes they accept her command and will willing be her soldier in the upcoming fight. I probably saw more into the uses of brass than Medrano was going for. Just pretend this comment fits in with the discussions of hard and soft power…

You know that moment you highlighted of vaggie tells charlie that maybe she could use some of the power she has in hell. With out knowing the plot twist with vaggie you could assume she is more versed in some of the soft and hard power dynamics of hell. She always comes off are more street smart than charlie after all. But knowing that vaggie has spend about three years in hell at that point. It is more interesting to consider her prior environment. I wonder when she says charlie could use she status to do stuff if she was thinking of someone like Lute or Adam. Both seems inclined to happy to wave around what ever power they have. The way he casually bullies charlie and then frames himself like he is really important in the hierarchy of Heaven. Or atleast he seems like his is trying to imply this when he walks down the cloud stairs. Lute seems awear that she and possible adam don’t have any real rank in heaven at least amongst angles important enough to be in the court room. Maybe amongst earth born soles Adam is important. Lute uses her proximity to adam to control the other exorcists. Adam seems like the type to abuse what ever power he has and try to make himself seem more powerful and important. Understanding that some of when we see is songs is not literal or diegetic. Songs are often mostly or entirely non diegetic but Haven is very ambiguous about this. So even if he did walk down to her on cloud steps i sure he did something to make himself seem more important that the princess of hell. That was more of a tangent. Where i was trying to go with all that is we know with complete certainty that Vaggie has to spend a lot of time near adam. This is how he acts. She spends time with the princess of hell who undersells who she is. At first that must have been really refreshing. But i am sure there are times when vaggie wishes charlie knew how to throw he weight around. Not that she ever wants charlie to be a narcissist or bully like Adam but certainly know how to play a strong hand during negotiations.

In the beginning you talk about charlie’s tone and word choice when she criticizes alisor. While you are probably right that she is a bit unsure of him and the strength of their professional relationship. I also this she is just conflicted averse. It is one of those second or third time watching hints i think. Lots of new fans watched the pilot after the first episode and took charlie’s reaction to the crappy add as establishing her lack of backbone and excessive need to stay positive.

You are over thinking the issue,it just comedy

Part of the joke is that Abner is convinced Gladys has gone 'round the bend, moreso since the Stephenses moved in next door. So his responses to Gladys are frequently nonsensical and dismissive. The other part of the joke is that you are completely devoid of humor.

I thin kyour videos are really interesting but the way you insert clips to back up your point can be annoying when they have content so similar ist gets repetitive (for example when you went from your statements about alastor and the radio to the near identical ones made by mimzy)

totally didn't see how he was manipulating Lucifer to keep the hotel going and not just antagonizing for some unknown reason. this makes way more sense. Still can't believe some fans think he really feels like a father to Charlie. he's so good at manipulating it even works on some of the real life audience lol. can't wait for the rest of the videos!

I really do hope that part of Charlie’s character growth is learning how to manipulate politics to get what she wants. It would be cool if she could learn from people like Alistor and Rosie how to navigate power struggles and do hard ball negotiations. Learning how to force someone’s hand by threatening to take everything away. It is not in her nature but i think she can learn to do it knowing she is working for what she wants even if some of the steps are not what she wants to be doing. Because we see less of Emily it is hard to say definitively that she lacks the skills to play hard ball in politics. But it seems that Sera kept her away from the more intense political side of heaven and so Emily should learn this too. Both Lucifer and Sera seem to have neglected to teach their respective child figure how to weild the power of a serephim angle. I think a lot of fans want to see Charlie learn from Alistor. Wether or not he is intentionally teaching of if charlie has simply picked up his behavior. If emily does fall. Big if. Maybe she would be a better student. She wouldn’t have anything more to loose and may have more motivation to change the system. I don’t think emily is going to like Alistor but seeing them interact could be great fun! SorryI could not stay focused in my comment….

I never thought of hell's greatest dad as alastor indirectly pushing lucifer to step up, thats clever 👍

Even when Amazon picked the series, this is still, at heart, an indie project and for most indie projects, some information is expected to come from outside sources. Even big multimillion projects like War of Warcraft do it where you need to buy extra material to have the full lore, that doesn't mean is not canon or a theory. Facts are that Alastor is a mixed creolle, was from New Orleans around the 30s, was a serial killer and radio host, was a mama's boy, had a moral code similar to Dexter's, was mistaken for a deer and was shot in the head and that's why he's a deer demon in Hell. There is a prequel comic that is canon and the pilot too, this last one more in facts than imaginery. Also, those are his hands and he really pulled his hair, there is a tuff of hair in his hand.

Grow up.

In defense of Lucifer I will say that it was natural for him to be distracted by Charlie's pets, after all he created them, they are like his babies that were entrusted to Charlie. Second, Charlie has too much pride and that complicated the relationship between her and her father. She complains that her father rarely calls her, but how many times did Charlie call her father in the last 7 years? ZERO. Also his father had depression, depression can cause fatigue and lack of energy. Feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, worthlessness, guilt and self-hatred. Loss of interest or pleasure in activities that the person previously enjoyed, among many other things. He didn't ignore his daughter because he wanted to, he was going through a bad time and saw himself as someone who could cause problems or be a burden to others. That is why he was surprised by his daughter's invitation, regarding Charlie's project it is natural that he was not convinced, from what we know about him is that he was not different from Charlie, he was happy, creative, positive, and an enthusiastic dreamer. But he was betrayed and banished for giving free will to humanity and was condemned to not be able to see the good actions of humanity, he could only see the bad actions and after thousands of years he lost faith in humanity and felt guilt for every thing. Charlie didn't understand her father, she just projected her frustrations in him without knowing anything about him and without having tried to understand him. the typical case where the mother raises the daughter in a way that only develops a bond with her and not with the father.

I personally hate it when people ship him with other characters because he's canonically aro/ace and they whine because they can't accept queer people.

9:33 When it comes to physical contact there's a big difference between touching other people, and other people touching you in terms of how it makes either person feel. When we say Alastor is adverse to touch the fanbase means the latter. In paratext (as you call it) lore, Viv has said that Alastor has double standards when it comes to his moral code- he doesn't hold himself to the same rules as he holds others to, and that can be seen in how he handles physical contact. He may be touchy with others (and I theorize he does it to make others feel he's dominant over them, and as some level of control freak that in turn gives him a sense of security), but when he's not, he's almost always positioned at a distance from others. The times where other people touch him are a lot fewer in number and all have one thing in common- females he trusts (Mimzy, Niffty, Charlie); he seems physically guarded around everyone else. In episode 5 after his kaijuu moment he even takes Mimzy's hand off him, so perhaps he has a limit to how long others can touch him?

if you zoom in, alastor did pull out his hair. it’s easy to miss but i’ve watched the scene over and over and i can say there is hair in his hand. also he doesn’t have gloves they are just his hands lol. if you want me to i can post a video circling exactly where the hair is if you’d like.

I haven't heard anyone bring this up but I'm not convinced Alastor really killed the other overlords just because they disappeared and people heard screaming on the radio. Nobody ever saw a body, actually saw Alastor abduct them, or is confirmed to have recognized the voices on the radio as specific overlords. I'm not set on that and I don't have a huge alternate theory, I just wouldn't be surprised if there was more to that story. Also, if his rise to power is so unusual it makes sense there would be some kind of trickery or deal-making involved. It doesn't clearly say he gained his powers by killing overlords, just that that's what made people take him seriously. Yeah they don't need to spell out every single thing about how it works and this could be inferred but the fact that it's not stated leaves the door open for a surprise reveal.

Hello! It has been brought to my attention by a very helpful viewer that Vivienne Medrano has confirmed in a livestream that Alastor is Creole. I'll admit I'm not the biggest studier of paratexts, but I did want to acknowledge this here.

As far as the first point goes alastor was indeed confirmed to be mixed creole and was a resident of new orleans at the time of his death, and the symbols that appear around him are from Voodoo, which in real life was a religion formed by creole peoples specifically from haiti, so the proximity to new orleans, his favorite dish being jambalaya, which originated from creole peoples in new orleans, and the fact that viv confirmed him as mixed creole, likely means that he is creole, but since he's mixed its likely that his accent came from the other parent. The other two points are very valid however, and I do agree that there is absolutely a problem in the fandom with certain head cannons becoming a toxic part of the fandom because they get pissy when it turns out not to be true.

The pilot made it kinda clear that it's not just about people suffering. It's about them trying to better themselves and failing at that. He wants to watch people repeatedly try and fail at what he sees as a hopeless task.

Really great video, looking forward to seeing the next parts! I also noticed alot of popular fan theories that seemed to come out of nowhere. I've only watched the pilot and the first season, but I haven't seen anything else like the streams from back then when the pilot was being made. From reading comments and looking at videos from around when the pilot came out, I have a feeling that maybe these theories are being carried over from before the show on Amazon. There are already quite a few differences from the pilot and the series, so I can see that long time fans would assume all the lore that they have learned from years ago would apply to the series now, even though that won't necessarily be the case. As an example, just from watching the pilot, I guess I could see where people are getting the "Alastor is Creole and from Louisiana" bit from since Alastor says he's hungry for Jambalaya at the end of the pilot. But it's not clear if that really is the case for the Amazon series.

I do not know if this is going to be a part of your four part dissection but i did want to saw something about Alistor as Ase rep. (Yes i abbreviate asexual as ase not ace.) I have been out as asexual for longer than the pilot has been out. Alistor is a bit controversial in the ase community as he embodies a lot of the negative stereotypes that we get attached over. His narcissism and associated traits like a lack of empathy and being a mysterious loner. Being extremely manipulatively. His violence and cannibalism and sadism are trope more broadly used to demonize the LGBT. I can explain in detail why any one of these is an issue if anyone wants. Just a short statement about the two more tightly linked to the asexual phobia. To many not being sexually attractive is inherently narcissistic. Narcissus himself was too obsessed with himself to be interested in anyone. Some phobes think this is how asexuals work, if they were less self obsessed then they would be normal and attracted to people. Being manipulative works very similarly. Asexual not could in theory manipulate people though sexual mean while not “being vonerable” to the same. None of this is how asexuals work. But a lot of people do not know that so having a solitary asexual character play into these damaging stereotypes is a problem. There are plenty of ases who like him as a character and or do not mind him as representation. That’s fine. I will say he is a rare ase of color which we need more of. I think medrano can do better and give the ases in her fan base more than alistor. Non thrilled about Manmon as he has similar issues to Alisor but Octavia could be good representation assuming the writing comes together. This is not an i hade Medrano or i hate alistor or i am mad at the fandom’s handling of this character. Just pointing something out about representation. The ases tend to get really sad scraps and i am hoping for better in the future.

I am so excited to see one of four!!!!!

And there's the line "if hell is forever then heaven must be a lie" I don't really know what that means