Active/Passive Basics

If you have not already checked out my post on Aspect Basics or on Class Basics, you should because this post assumes you have a basic understanding of aspects and classes.

The active/passive dichotomy is complex and has been defined multiple different ways by different characters in the comic. This page will discuss several of the ways that the dichotomy is conceptualized within the comic by characters and outside the comic by the author. I have boiled these down into single-sentence paradigms that can be more fully understood by reading the accompanying text.

Calliope's Benefit Paradigm

More active classes tend to exploit their aspect to benefit themselves, while more passive classes tend to allow their aspect to benefit others.

Calliope gave Roxy a "starting point for Understanding the dichotomy" (Homestuck, page 4514) of passive and active classes. She defined passive classes as ones who "allow their aspect to benefit others" and active classes as ones who "exploit their aspect to benefit themselves" (Homestuck, page 4514).

This paradigm is a good foundation, but Calliope did note that "there's plenty more to it, and that rUle is in no way absolUte" (Homestuck, page 4514) when it comes to dividing the classes into the passive and active categories. So it can be understood that some classes may fit this paradigm better than others and it is possible that some classes may not fit this paradigm at all. This actually applies to every paradigm discussed in this document; paradigms are not strict rules, but are instead guidelines.

By the word of god:

"Passive/active classes are also a pretty vague thing, and don't resolve so easily into simple dualities like defensive/offensive and such. Those are the guidelines for understanding them, but there is clearly a lot of flexibility within that system. They seem to suggest tendencies rather than absolute capabilities. Like there isn't a rule that says a passive class could never use an offensive technique," (June 15, 2012, Q & A on Andrew Hussie's tumblr).

Roxy's RPG Paradigm

More active classes tend to be offensive, while more passive classes tend to be defensive.

Roxy presented the idea of passive and active classes being like "offensive vs defe[n]sive magic in an rpg" (Homestuck, page 4514). Derse and Prospit have also been described as active and passive respectively using this exact same concept (June 15, 2012, Q & A on Andrew Hussie’s tumblr).

A note of clarity: offensive in this context does not mean 'causing offense' but actually means 'attacking' as the counterpart to defensive.

A note of interest: Rose once described Skaia as a "very passive entity" (Homestuck, page 4706), potentially supporting this paradigm. Though, this could also simply be a general statement, rather than anything to do with classpecting.

Hussie's Action Paradigm

More active classes tend to act and are responsible for making circumstances happen, while more passive classes tend to be acted upon by others and circumstances.

It has also been noted that active and passive relate to taking action. "Jade and John had more passive roles...[they were] players who were "acted upon" by other players and circumstances...It wasn’t until she reached god tier as a Witch (said to be a highly active class) that she became extremely active, making lots of stuff happen, rounding up planets and all that." (June 15, 2012, Q & A on Andrew Hussie's tumblr).

Further supporting this idea is when Vriska (Homestuck, page 2974 and page 2975) and Caliborn (Homestuck, page 5673), who are both confirmed active classes, intentionally acted to retroactively make themselves responsible for situations that affected others. Another way of thinking about the Action Paradigm is by thinking about them in terms of active classes being proactively or preventatively responsible for circumstances and passive classes being reactive or responsive to circumstances.

Conclusion and Further Reading

Anyhoo, to summarize, there are three primary paradigms that are brought up when trying to understand the difference between passive and active classes, which I have dubbed the Benefit Paradigm, the RPG Paradigm, and the Action Paradigm. Together, they state that passive classes tend to allow their aspect to benefit others, to play a defensive role, and to be acted upon by others, while active classes tend to exploit their aspect to benefit themself, to play an attacking role, and to act upon others.

And that's the basics of the active/passive concept as presented in Homestuck! If you're curious about learning more about classpecting, check out my other classpecting pages.

I hope you enjoyed! Go forth and classpect~