Last night I thought up this interesting little mindset I think works well for my personal idea of emerald duo. (all is about the dsmp characters)

Phil’s absolute worst fear is that Techno will abandon him. Techno grounds his sense of self, he knows everything that has made Phil who he is and he is the only one who truly knows him. Techno is capable of caring for Phil as a person rather then the persona of what modern people know about him. In a way Techno seeing Phil as a good person feels like the only thing keeping Phil from losing himself in regret and mourning of his objectively very harmful life.

Technos absolute worst fear is that Phil will begin to fear him. Everyone Techno has ever known has been genuinely afraid for their own safety because of Techno at some point, that is everyone except for Phil. Techno has been lost to the voices and unintentionally hurt Phil before, that’s just classic emerald duo angst right there. But Phil has always seen that as a separate problem to solve, to fend him off until he gains control again. Phil does not hold him solely morally responsible for those actions in the slightest.

Phil has never needed to expect a violent reaction from Techno, because even when he gets angry the way Phil sees Techno is fundamentally different then anyone else. As seen in the butcher army it’s easy for people to fall into the thinking that Techno is like a wild beast tearing up the countryside. Something that attacks because that’s it’s nature, and maybe there is a bit of truth to that. But Phil has never seen Techno as unpredictable, Phil has learned to study people so effectively nothing is unpredictable anymore. Techno finds immense comfort in the fact that Phil knows enough about him that he is not afraid, it confirms that he does not deserve the dehumanizing treatment he regularly receives. That he is a person that can be understood, not some vicious wild animal.

I guess this is another reminder to never ask me about emerald duo ever, you will get a novel in return.

c!techno and food and the rules of hospitality is so interesting to me because he shows a lot of care and love through food. he comes to pogtopia and creates a potato farm to feed his new allies, he gathers dandelions to make suspicious stew with saturation so these new friends stay fuller longer. he keeps food on him and gives golden carrots to c!ranboo when they need it.

and minecraft as a medium for storytelling is perfect to show this aspect of a character, food as a love language if you will, because a core mechanic of the game is food and eating! it was honestly such a small but brilliant character choice and i applaud cc!techno for it.

The recent announcement of the qsmp election event and q!philza confirming in canon that he is an anarchist kinda rattled something that's always been sort of spinning around in my brain: the fact that both c!emerald-duo (from DSMP) and q!philza (from QSMP) have had their lore tied in with the lore of the Antarctic Empire on SMPEarth. The thing about c!emduo and q!philza is that they are (as mentioned earlier) full-blown anarchists who vehemently oppose government in all its forms, but ae!emduo were, in fact, the co-leaders of an empire.

Now I don't actually know an awful lot about what went down on SMPE (from what I understand, it just sort of...ended?), but like, bear with me here---imagine SMPE is a world of actual empires: citizens, kings, soldiers, armies. A world capable of full-scale war. ae!Phil and ae!Techno are the leaders of one of the most powerful empires in all the land. Then, flash forward some years (decades? centuries?) later, and they're both anarchists completely disillusioned with government as a whole and actively fight against it when they see fit.

What happened? What happened between the birth of the Antarctic Empire and the beginning of the DSMP/QSMP that made them completely give that up and start to oppose what they once supported? 

Was it something they witnessed? One too many peaceful villages burned, one too many mangled bodies found beneath the rubble, one too many of their own men imprisoned, tortured for information, then left for dead?

Was it something that someone did to them? A beloved friend caught in the crossfire of a war; an ally they thought they could trust sticking a knife in their backs in an attempt to seize the Empire for themself; a foe that was simply too strong, too ruthless, too power-hungry to be defeated, much less reasoned with?

Or was it something that they did? Something they did that, for the first time, made their own stomachs turn. Made them question if it was all worth it. Made them realize that it never was. Were they ever at odds? One person begging that they halt their progress immediately while the other doubled down, insisting their actions were justified. Did they fight about it? Threaten the other with arrest for treason? Threaten to leave the other and never, ever look back?

What was the final straw? What makes an emperor become an anarchist?

Wait... maybe it was c!Dream who was the first to boop, booping c!Tommy in exile like a friendly - "Hey, put your stuff in the hole, idiot." :D But it got misconstrued and taken the wrong way and became a trend...

Like clearly the Butcher Army just wanted to evil boop c!Techno -but c!Techno didn't appreciate that so he super booped c!Quackity in the face with a pickaxe -but c!Quackity didn't like that so he spammed c!Dream with boops until he lagged and crashed...

Okay, so Technoblade, right? I really love all the blood god/god of war/god of justice/god of covenant concepts, but Trade is always the one that stuck out to me. A while ago I said this:

So I'm gonna elaborate now. Long long post warning!

Trade with villagers: I think what started this idea for me was the amount of time he spends in villages and also my mental association of Techno and piglins. When he was setting up his trade system in dsmp he didn't set up farmer villagers even though he almost exclusively ate golden carrots. And he didn't set that up because there was a village nearby that already had farmers. It was one of the few cases I saw of a minecrafter treating villages like established communities, where you go because of their skill in a trade and respect the villagers for their established community, and then find sources for other materials on your own. A bit of a tangent, but Techno has more respect for mobs than most players, to the point where it's noticeable in his playstyle, and occasionally at disadvantage to him. Anyways, Technoblade trades in and out of his established trading hall, foregoing more efficient trades for the value of an established community. But still, the interactions are transactional. He goes to the village, trades, leaves. Heals zombie villagers, gets better deals from it, trades, leaves.

Why not a god of death or war?: you see, I don't think that saying Techno is a god of trade is saying that he isn't a god of blood or death or war. I think it just broadens what topics he covers and explains some of his behavior in a different context. If you think about it, what is death other than an exchange from life to death caused by an action? In many cases in the dsmp, Techno's violence is the result of a threat. His life and survival came at the cost of those that were threatening it. This is complicated by his principles on the dsmp but much more obvious on smp!earth, where the policy of the Antarctic Empire was very much "an eye for an eye". But even in the umpteenth war with Tommy in smp!earth he still prioritized negotiation and fair terms. The analogy falls apart a bit when considering the hypixel games, until you consider that life in that server literally converts to coins that can be used in trades.

Hospitality: this is another one I really want to discuss. Technoblade explicitly states on the dsmp (i think around when tommy shows up in his house) that he follows the principle of Xenia. Xenia is a Greek principle of hospitality or "guest friendship" focused on providing protection and generosity to guests by moral obligation as the host. Importantly, xenia is rooted in the importance of reciprocity, and Techno greatly values reciprocity. This is part of what made Tommy siding with Tubbo again such a betrayal to Technoblade. Techno at that point was providing hospitality and protection under a moral obligation, with an expectation of equal understanding that just wasn't there. This concept is also reflected when he says "Those that have treated me with kindness, I will repay that kindness tenfold. And those that treat me with injustice? That use me?! That hunt me down, that hurt my friends? I will repay that injustice a thousand time over" There is the expectation of repaid kindness and exchanged favors that treats interactions like trades. But in this case, the trades between justice and injustice are not equal to the trades of kindness.

This is because Technoblade also trades in trust (hello god of the covenant enjoyers. Love y'all). And when injustice is dealt, not only are the expectations of hospitality and returned favors broken, but so is the trust placed in that person. And trust is a very valuable thing to trade away.

I don't think Technoblade views everything as a transaction. However, I do think that the treatment of his character in the DSMP heavily favors this perspective and that aspects of a transactional view were adopted by his character as a defense mechanism to survive in that world. This brings me to my next topic

Technoblade as "The Blade": This is seen in several other series' where Techno is treated as a weapon or a sort of bargaining piece more than a person. This is most evident in the DSMP, since most other situations involve Technoblade as part of a team. The other examples that come to mind are Techno being added to the ultimate uhc charity event in replacement of two people, Techno being targeted in mcm and other events with no intervention to stop cross teaming by his opponents, and Wilbur offering to let the rest of the Antarctic Empire off free if Techno took all of the blame for taking over the world.

Now to the DSMP. Techno trades his own life as the blade, as a sell sword. He joins Pogtopia even though he wouldn't have been invited to Pogtopia and his reputation precedes him. He trades skill and time for what he thinks is support for goals similar to his own. But even when he is gathering supplies ans farming he gains the nickname "the blade." He is seen as a weapon, summoned for battle, and otherwise treated more like a sell sword than as someone who joined the resistance for his own reasons. Later, he is called an animal and a pig by the butcher army and leaves his retirement in order to survive. Once again he trades peace for war largely due to the perception of others that he is a tool of violence. His reputation on the server preceded his personhood to many. This is especially important after the revengers' stream, when it is revealed that Technoblade only had one life the entire time he was on the server. And at this point Technoblade also reveals that he now thinks that his life is worth it to stand by his values. Technoblade, always treated as a weapon and a means to an end, views his own life as a reasonable cost for his values.

And Technoblade values life and trust almost as much as he values freedom from oppression, but he always prioritizes his values.

In the DSMP Technoblade gives Ranboo a place to stay after doomsday. He trades his safety in his isolation to help another person. He trades favors with Dream but does not trade his obligation to Tommy as a guest for that favor. Philza talks about life over objects, Technoblade values life and freedom over disagreement, since one of his main values is the ability to choose and live freely.

Technoblade trades himself. Trades his trust. Trades his time. Over and over and over again, just to get closer to the world he's trying to reach. He trades isolation for trust gradually. He trades good treaties for his empire for mutually beneficial ones. He trades time and effort for growth. He trades hospitality and protection at the cost of his own safety for the lives of others. He trades, and he trades, and he trades, and the others around him are constantly affected by it, as is he.

Something something something about the juxtaposition of Wilbur telling Tommy they'll fight with words vs Technoblade telling Tommy the only universal language is violence.

Like, people put them together as villains for blowing up L'manberg but their characters are literally so different. cc!Wilbur and cc!Techno both did such an amazing job at writing their characters.

Bro I just started reading your fic like three days ago and I’m already on chapter 14 BUT BRO THIS SHITS CRAZY ITS SO FUCKING GOOD YOUR TECHNO CHARACTERIZATION IS MAGNIFICENT

I love how everyone is trauma trauma mental health disaster angst and then Techno “voices in he head” Blade is out chilling with his inner demons. The Foundation tried to get to him and he was like ‘bruh thanks for the offer but I’m good’

He’s so wonderfully comfortable with himself and his flaws. Well I mean he’s an awkward dork, but still. Of course he’s downplaying his own trauma since that’s how he rolls, but overall he’s having an alright time while causing huge problems for everyone else lol

Shows up 150k words late to the fic in the middle of a disaster with a potato smoothie:

“Hullo did I miss anything?”

THIS SONG

IS SO BEDROCK BROS CODED

So.

With c!Wilbur’s apologies to c!Techno, and Techno’s claims of being lied to about Pogtopia’s plans on reinstating L’manburg as a country, and how he was betrayed. Let me remind you of a moment. 

A conversation between c!Techno and c!BBH which occurred before Tubbo and Quackity told Techno about their plans on reinstating the L’manburg government, and before there was a war, and most certainly before this ‘surprise’ betrayal of them reinstating a government and assigning a president. 

Badboyhalo was talking to Technoblade about the Badlands. He was talking about if Techno would be okay with an anarchist group [the Badlands], and questioned what Techno’s plans are. 

Techno states that he’s fine with an anarchy, that he’s not okay with killing cats, and then he states this;

"I want to leave a smoking crater from which not only will Manberg never recover, but from which no new country can rise in its place. History will FORGET that a country ever existed in this area."

Again. This is before each and every excuse c!Techno has given to Tommy, Wilbur, Quackity, Tubbo, literally everyone, on why he’d set withers on this place. 

He claims he was betrayed by them reinstating government. He claims that Wilbur had lied to him and that he didn’t know about them planning to reinstate L’manburg. Despite evidence of Quackity and Tubbo literally telling him.

But maybe you can brush it off on he wasn’t listening, or he didn’t take them seriously. 

But this absolutely proves that he was planning on blowing this place up regardless of whether they reinstated government or not. This is evidence is before Quackity and Tubbo tell him. This is before the war. This is before the betrayal. He was already planning on blowing the place to smithereens even before Dream had offered and egged him on. He was never going to let this place go peacefully. He was never going to give a new government a chance of being peaceful. It was deemed corrupt before it's creation.

And this behavior is repeated with Doomsday when Tommy works with him. In his To-Do List, he had always had 'destroy L’manburg' listed at the top. Every time Tommy would say he didn’t want to destroy L’manburg, or said he just wanted his discs he didn’t want revenge, Techno would change subjects until he stopped bringing it up all together (vocally, to Tommy. visually he’d highlight the destroy line in the list to chat every time he opened up the book). 

It didn’t matter, it would have never mattered. Doomsday was going to happen no matter what. Dream planned on destroying the place, Techno planned on destroying the place. There would have been no way to convince them otherwise, and Tommy had tried every time it was brought up. It just so happened that a perfect opportunity and cover arose for it to happen then and there.

Tommy’s “betrayal” of Techno by siding with Tubbo (mind you, he’d done so because he realized he no longer wanted to play this cycle of revenge, and he didn’t want to be a bad person, and he didn’t want to hurt his best friend. He chose Tubbo over Techno, just as Techno would’ve chosen Phil over everything in the same situation). 

Tommy’s “betrayal” of Techno was used as a scapegoat reasoning for his destruction, turning a plan that would’ve happened no matter what, into a ‘lesson’ to be ‘taught’ and an ‘act’ of ‘revenge’. 

This is exactly the same as what happened on November 16th. Wilbur was the only official ‘traitor’ to L’manburg deemed by Dream, as Wilbur had been the one on this spiral and dead set plan to blow the place up, egged on and encouraged by Dream. He had no idea about withers, or that Techno had betrayed them in the first place until recently. He had no idea. He still doesn't even know they had a part in Doomsday. He still thinks it was all his fault.

Techno on the other hand, had known before there could have even been talks of betrayal, or before Wilbur could have even ‘lied’ to him. His mind was already made up. 

Pogtopia’s “betrayal” of Techno was used as a scapegoat reasoning for his deadset plans of destruction, that was planned far in advance of the war. 

They are scapegoats that he still uses to this day, and has even built upon adding details such as adding that Wilbur and Tommy had deliberately lied to him, or had deliberately tried to hurt him, which is simply false. In both of these situations, he’s planned from the beginning what he had wanted to do, regardless of how these “betrayals” made him feel. 

***This post is tagged appropriately with critical tags, so if you don’t want to see or hear c!techno critical, you should block the tags. This isn’t a post for debate or argument, it’s an analysis and well, critical post. That’s the point. Thank you. 💛

There are. a lot. of miscommunication, and misinterpretations, of c!Wilbur.

people are literally fucking villainizing Wilbur for what? committing suicide?

"abandoning" the son who never spoke to him about his intention, burnt and destroyed the flag in-front of him, and supported Schlatt, seemingly without hesitation?

Wilbur never stopped caring for his people. he grew afraid of them. He grew fearful that they're traitors. He became paranoid. He was afraid, he was not hateful.

Eret betrayed him.

Schlatt, who was on friendly and good terms with Tommy AND Tubbo, exiled and is responsible for multiple deaths between the three.

Techno killed Tubbo.

Could Wilbur have stopped the execution, and backed up Techno? Possibly. But remember the last time he allowed Tommy to fight? It was the duel against Dream.

Wilbur allowed Tommy to make the decision of what to do, and Tommy lost a life because of it. He wasn't thinking of the life that Tubbo would lose. Techno was in the better position to stop it than either of them were. Tommy and Wilbur both had few items, few supplies.

Wilbur did wrong. He was angry, and he lied to Tommy, and he broke the trust of everyone. But he was SCARED. He wasn't vengeful, or power-hungry. He was full of regret and dread.

After he lost L'manburg, he stopped wanting power. He didn't want to take it back. He saw what power did, what it did to him and Schlatt both. What it had Eret do. What Dream did to keep his power.

Wilbur didn't want a stepping stone for power. He wanted his legacy erased, he could no longer see the good in it.

It was cruel to appoint Tubbo was president. It was cruel to attempt to make Tommy president. But if he didn't, he wouldn't have been able to sneak away. His legacy of death, L'manburg, would live on.

He didn't care what it made the others think of him. He didn't even think much of himself.

His L'manburg was gone; his legacy erased. And along with it, was his life.

Thinking about how all throughout his time housing c!Tommy in the second half of his exile c!Techno was routinely running into c!Dream, but hiding Tommy from him. Techno kept secrets from one of the only people who was usually on his side, not working with him nearly at all. But it was worth it to Techno cuz in his eyes him and Tommy were finally on the same side against a common enemy(Tubbo)!

But then after a single, quick reunion, Tommy turned his back on him, stood with Tubbo again against everything Techno knew about Tommy’s experiences (not much, but that ain’t his fault). And once again Techno was the feared enemy surrounded by people who hated him, even the kid he had given so much to protect.

While I’m sure the story would’ve been different if Techno knew the full extent of Tommy’s exile, it makes perfect sense to me that Techno would go back to Dream. He had already gone through the execution, seen the effects of Wilbur’s death, lived through Manburg, L’manburgs influence still plagued his life and threatened his security. He was retreating back to those he could trust and knew would look out for him, not look at him like a monster or a weapon.

Sorry guys I know it’s been a long time since I brought up this morality debate but I still think man’s was so valid.

the reason that c!techno is actually such a good character is because he did get exactly what he wanted through violent means. that was very much a thing that happened.

but afterwards, he still wanted to change and be better. he was shown violence worked but he went to c!niki and said 'this isn't what it should be about and i need to be a better example and i'm gonna work on that'.

it wasn't perfect. he wasn't perfect but he's a good example of someone deciding to change and better themself solely because it was the right thing to do.

Ok my thoughts right off the back from the stream

- yay no death. Wilbur didn’t intend to kill himself, he just REALLY made it seem like he did. And Tommy was ready to stop him if he tried.

- we got to see the explosion from the burger arc. 

-I really want to know what the book said.

- UT stood for Utah!! WHAT!!

- he kinda apologized to Tommy. Yay. Some awesome c!crimeboys feels

- He is an american, and L’manburg was all about having no Americans XD

- I don’t like this backstory for Wilbur that much. What do you mean that Utah and gas stations are real. What about my cottage core sbi family? What about Wilbur finding tommy and giving him his name? What is the timeline?

- Technically both Techno and Philza have the same jacket, did they also work there?

- The Wilbur cosplay XD IRL wilbur

I can’t believe that was it. I’m not sure I understood that stream completely. Time to gather my deeper thoughts.

But that was it. That was the end of the wilbur lore. I hope we get to see more Tommy pov soon. How will Tommy Cope with Wilbur leaving 

As a Greek Mythology nerd I honestly don't get the comparison of c!Tommy and Theseus.

Like, I get it that c!Techno had the wrong idea of c!Tommy, thats why the whole Theseus thing, but most fans just agree with him.

In the myths Theseus was an asshole. He didn't defeat the minotaur out of the good of his heart and he didn't do it alone! The only reason he got out of that alive has because of Ariadne, witch, by the way, he abandoned in a island in the middle of the ocean with no way to get out! He then was responsible for his father death by negligence and ignorance on his part. Even in death he was terrible! He wasn't exiled because his people turned their back on him, they exiled him because he was an asshole and nobody liked him!

Theseus was a bitch that thought that just because he had royal and godly blood he was better than everyone and that was the death of him.

A way better comparison is c!Tommy to Achilles (check out this post, they go into more detail than me)

I will die mad about this istg

I didn't even talk about farming in my Techno as Trade post even though that's the reason I had the idea in the first place because I'm a fool that wrote the whole post at like 2 a.m.

SO, why I thought Technoblade could be a god of trade, through the lense of farming:

Technoblade is very well known for his success in the Potato wars. While this was a competition between farmers, the fact that it was a war is evident in the tactics used, the time and resources invested, and the mentalities of those involved. It was far more similar to a military campaign than a gardening competition. So, if Technoblade is often treated as a character closely connected to war and therefore bloodshed, but this war had no bloodshed, what is the connection between the two? The connections I found were strategy, respect, trust, and most importantly, trade.

In pvp Technoblade might trade a few hits to himself for an opportunity for a crit. In the potato war technoblade trades time that could be spent farming for an opportunity to evaluate squidkid's methods. In both cases Technoblade has absolute respect for his opponent, but also knows that actions that may seem to be a disadvantage to him may end up being an opportunity to gain valuable intel about the opponent. As discussed in the other post, in war the lives of others may be sacrificed as a trade for survival. In farming, time and effort are traded for the growth of life.

Another aspect that made me consider this idea was Philza retelling stories of Technoblade's hyperfocus on the potato war and the concern his friends had for him. While I know this was a facet if Technoblade's real-life actions and not of his character, his character often reflects that same motivation and dedication, investing his abilities at the cost of himself in order to achieve a larger goal. For instance: farming for hours in the potato war, acting as a sell sword for pogtopia, creating farms and finding armor for the resistance, hiding Tommy, and going to prison for Dream. Each of these examples came at a cost to Technoblade that he traded for his values: dedication and respect of his opponent, anarchy, choice, hospitality, reciprocity, and a life free of control. The trades that Techno makes are not equal trades. Absolute reciprocity does not mean 'fairness'. Trade means that what is traded is perceived by the scale of the value it had to a specific person.

But, back to the farming.

To farm, one is required to invest time, energy, resources, and careful effort for the trade of growth and life. Technoblade does this often: in the potato war, in his retirement, in the syndicate, planting both literal and metaphorical seeds to grow. Plants are a trade of life just as much as war is, although trading water for growth that will be used as food to sustain life is a much more palatable circle of life than trading blows on a battlefield to end one life to save your own.

I've mentioned this before, but I've always associated Technoblade with roses. Did you know roses grow well with blood? The nitrogen helps them grow. But these plants, with their thorny outside that protects delicate petals growing on blood, remind me of Technoblade's reputation as the blade and as the blood god hiding his carefully cultivated trust. But Technoblade trades his time and efforts for his goals. Trades his retirement for his violent reputation to gain protection. Trades violence for choice. Trades freedom for his values. He trades, and slowly - so slowly - the goals he was always trying to achieve begin to grow, just as his garden in that arctic frost begins to grow.

Farming is a trade in the most basic sense. We trade effort and time for growth. But there are many things that grow, and many things to trade for them.