lilietsblog:

theothin

If you’re interested in seeing the discussion, it basically starts here.

Gotcha!
*reads*
…aaaand neither side presented any actual evidence. Only “it’s heavily implied” and “obviously”.

I have old headcanons of Condy which incorporate her actually caring about her empire a lot, if on a very abstract level, like a strategy game player. And also not being very good at ruling, because power was mostly pretty much handed to her on a silver platter.
Her not being involved with most of day to day decisions and a lot of what’s attributed to her being generated by her high-level underlings (purple down patriarchy) is very consistent with that, actually! She understood her own (interstellar, so presumably incorporating other species) empire so badly she drove humans to extinction. It’s also implied, of course, that she was good enough to take over Earth in the first place, but tbh power, privilege (which she had hella on her starting position as Sassacre’s wife) and long lifespan go a long way there… and it’s not like we know exactly how much help she had from, say, Doc…

Karkat respected Condy for being a capable leader, but I don’t think he understands how the power structure actually works, and how little leadership capabilities Condesce would need to hold her position. Especially if Doc/LE, being interested in keeping someone not too smart and not too empathetic (unlike Feferi) on the throne, put some effort towards keeping her there!

Condesce as a spoiled kid, less mature than Meenah, having no idea what to do with the big wide world without her favorite toys is a view that appeals to me a lot.
It does not make her a “force for good”, of course – in fact, it mostly makes her a force for nothing, making what contribution she had almost entirely neutral… well, a force for destruction given what she made of Earth *rolls eyes* double juggalo presidency??? this girl had no idea how governmnent actually works / is supposed to work..

IDK I’m just saying there is a grain of interesting there, and that the insistence that Condesce is responsible for ruling her empire as much as Karkat thinks she is, is not the only possible viewpoint!

BTW, the fact that there is a patriarchy – that troll society is heavily implied to have the same cultural gender binary with the same misogynistic undertones as our own – with the same slurs and all – is good evidence in favor of Condy not being nearly as much in control as it’s cool to imagine she is…