Personality: Dirk Strider is an enigmatic person. One would know nothing about him at a glance outside of assuming he might be some sort of cool stoic action hero. His weapon is something that's stated more than once as being "unbreakable." Dirk is unyielding and seems unbreakable himself, like he's made of steel. His outward disposition so aloof that people can't get a read on him. His introduction puts a lot of emphasis how talented and cool he is more than anything else about him. Even people who know him best had still needed to put him together like a puzzle. The reasons why he seems this way can sum up to Dirk having no idea how to act like a functioning human being sometimes.
He was alone for sixteen years. Dirk grew up in the middle of a flooded wasteland. He could never venture out into his chaotic world without a threat looming over. He managed to raise himself, somehow, despite this. He had to be active and know how to take initiative because the other option was perishing. Dirk's only (non-artificially created) social contact had been with people over the internet. Out of the five people he knows total, only one existed in the same time frame and two were aliens sharing a body. After starting the game, he has only had about half of year with them. Dirk has difficulty expressing himself and knowing how to act around people. He fails at not making his first relationship emotionally draining for Jake. He doesn't get why they shouldn't spend every waking second together. They were both alone all their lives so why would they want alone time?
It's joked by his friends that he could be an emotionless robot. He looks and acts like a ruthless mastermind. The first in-person meeting with his friends was him saving them in one swoop. He hadn't hesitated for a second to do things like kiss them all and murder himself. He's had to put aside outright expressing things to protect himself and to focus on the task at hand. He's never had to express certain things, anyway. Affection is difficult to express for him. This is true even if it's with Roxy, who he spent his entire life protecting, or his actual boyfriend. He hadn't known how to start a hug or when the proper time for it would be because he's never needed to do that before. Kisses were for the non-affectionate purpose of saving everyone's ass. He won't tell he cares for them outright unless pushed to an extreme. He'll choose to convey it in a way that seems like he's joking or he'll go sharing the thought with someone else. The proper way to share hasn't made itself known. Dirk wants people to know what he's thinking and feeling and expects them to see through any gesture. His lack of proper expression isn't enough to convey unless he outright says what's on his mind. He can appear more or less emotionally unbreakable, like a well-disciplined Vulcan. Even while under the influence of Trickster Mode, Dirk seems detached. His friends express thoughts and desires to eerie smiling extremes. He yells at them but remains in control of himself.
Being around Dirk, with all his social ineptitude, can be difficult. It's stated that Dirk has a usual way of getting exactly what he wants. He believes it's expected of him to do it all. He can be controlling and pushy. Taking the lead and pulling all the strings had been his self-described MO for a while. His method of doing things are the best possible method in his head. The best method could be completely insane to the normal person. For example, to teach Jake fight, he has a robot ambush him and beat the crap out of him. Dirk's method of teaching anyone how to ride a bike would be to shove them down a large hill and tell them to peddle.
His control-freak attitude can turn into playing mind games that border on manipulative. He insists things are good and handled when questioned. He assumes he is the one in control. He thinks of himself as a puppeteer, in every sense of the word (also holy SHIT does he love puppets). He grew up with puppets and robots he was responsible for creating and had never refused an idea from him. He ends up treating real people the same way he would treat the puppets and robots. The only thing that talked back was The Auto-Responder (Hal). He assumes AR to be predictable enough for a long time seeing how it's his brain in there. He gives Jane the title of leader but tells her he is going to be the one pulling the strings in the background. He doesn't ask if they're okay with his plans or even share the details before enacting them. He phrases things as opinions to nudge people into the direction he wants them to go. He assumes he knows what's best for people, knows what they need and where they need to improve. He gave his friends advice to aid their personal development. The advice was pointing out their flaws and explaining how to fix them. He tells Jake to be more skeptical and tells Jane to be less so. He leaves his Auto-Responder on with Jake to keep him toes and force this skepticism. He's the only one in the group that calls Roxy out on her drinking habits and tries to get her to stop.
His friends often have no idea what to make of his actions. They assume something might be part of some grand convoluted scheme they know they can't win. They often don't know how to talk to him directly. When they try, he doesn't realize when he's not letting someone get a word in. Roxy and Jake both express a fear of failing him, of telling him what they think. People have a hard time saying 'No.' It's never his intention to be this way.
Without a human culture to dictate the norm, he picked it apart from the past. His main influence is the long-dead guardian figure of his "Bro" (His universe's Dave). Not only with things left for him (an entire crawlspace filled with orange soda?) but in how he assumed the man acted. He's built up the legend in his head using what information he could gather. This is his idol, the legacy of which he wishes to live up to and improve upon. He believes having this positive figure helped him become a better person. Dave set the standard for who he wanted to be like. Being the overachiever that he is, he takes ironic gestures such as acts of masculinity to an extreme. He's a gay man but refuses to make his orientation anything more than a footnote. One of the reasons is to keep up an act of belonging to a culture that existed centuries before him. The performance, as he words it, is difficult to break. He's been doing it his entire life. This wall of dudebro irony and stoic expression helps him control his world. It allows him to fit in better with Jake and Jane, who exist at the same time his idol lived. They don't understand his situation until it's explained to them later on. This wall of irony also limits how visible his true thoughts and feelings are. This helps protect him from any monitoring by the evil alien overlord.
He's not an emotionless robot under that blank expression. He has a lot of feelings but they're internalized. While he does act upon the art-form of 'irony', there is sincerity in every action. He doesn't claim irony as a reason for him doing anything unless someone asks or he's embarrassed. Irony should, at its core under the many layers, be an act of sincerity. Dirk does know when to get serious. He's willing to admit when things aren't as perfect as he wants them to be when deemed necessary. This is true even in cases where he might justify the problems later. Dirk doesn't shy away from deep conversation when it's with someone he trusts. He knows they will understand what he's trying to articulate. He goes the deepest when speaking to Jane and later on Dave, people who he feels the most comfortable with. He's upfront with Jane right from the start and their conversations are the most telling. He thinks she gets him the most out of his core group. In a lesser instance, Calliope since she provided the method of contacting everyone. He goes to her for advice on things about the game. He is willing to share and offer genuine opinions, express fears and general thoughts. He'll go quiet and just listen in to offer support, despite how inexperienced he is at it.
Dirk has a huge heart. He loves almost unconditionally. He thinks he's being helpful until it becomes clear he's not. His habit of pushing his friends stems from wanting to witness them to succeed. He never assumes that they're incapable of doing something with the right motivation. He doesn't think having a robot kick Jake's ass would ever hurt him because he thinks Jake can beat it. He believes in his friends completely and holds the utmost respect for them. This goes especially for Roxy. He thinks she is far stronger than he'll ever be. He sees her as the only one capable of overcoming her own flaws and the main glue that keeps them (him) together. He feels guilty his love can only be platonic because he just wants to make her happy. Dirk confesses doesn't think he could ever intentionally cause her harm. This carries over to any of his friends. He can't raise his sword to them, even if it he knew it would result in their advancement. He wouldn't want to raise a hand to them either, unless he thinks they can block it. He even hesitates destroying his own creations. He refuses to throw a lifeless puppet away that holds sentimental value. He claims Lil' Cal is his guardian on more than one occasion. The thought of having to intentionally hurt terrifies him. He'd rather sacrifice himself than have someone/thing he cares about face pain. In a doomed timeline (resulting from [S] Game Over), he completely gives up when his friends die. He's too overcome with grief and lets himself fade into pixelated oblivion. In a life where the majority of it had been loneliness, he clings to people that give him the light of day.
Dirk can often play the straight man (pun not intended) to his friends. He's the logical voice of reason while they're all hyped up on magic candy. He calls himself a "wet-blanket." His reactions to antics can be the equal to looking into the camera like he's on The Office. This does not mean he can not be downright ridiculous himself or just plain awkward. He's an intellectual and uses it in endless sarcasm. This displays at times as being an insufferable know-it-all. This like Rose Lalonde, his ectodaughter. Roxy comments with "You're Dirk!" upon hearing her speak. He shares a verbose analytical way of talking to people. This isn't surprising considering his conversational partners were robots. He has habit of getting too long-winded with his writings. While he speaks more like Rose, he has tangents using inappropriate metaphors like Dave. He can be both terse and wordy depending on who he's talking to and the current comfort level. Jake has been on the receiving end of getting blunt one-word replies laced with sarcasm. Jane has gotten paragraphs of rambling filled with pop-culture and literary references. He might say something and have no one know what he means or get carried away. He will immediately shut up when he realizes this. He's completely game for humorous fun when nothing dire is happening. For instance, Dirk indulges Caliborn's request that he draw smut. The drawings end up including Jake eating a baby and Roxy comparing breasts to an ocean.
He knows he might not be completely up-to-date on Normal Behavior 101 but he still thinks he's cool. He knows he's cool. He thinks he's the coolest. He doesn't pretend to be. He thinks he is to the point of having bragging rights about it. He thinks he's basically Batman, intelligent and badass. He has absurd hobbies and interests but he owns that he likes what he likes. He can have people questioning if there's so many layers of irony that he made something stupid cool. He has a lot of confidence when it comes to almost all his abilities. He takes action and is completely confident a plan will work. He knows he's fully capable. He's a perfectionist and an overachiever who puts far more than 100% into everything he does. He sets the bar high for himself and everyone around him.
The only thing he's not confident in is his own personality. A sword may look awesome and be useful in a fight but it's full of sharp edges and dangerous to be around otherwise. He knows he's cool but he also knows "cool" could be a terrible person. Growing up alone, Dirk has been with his own thoughts for a long time. He surrounded himself with versions of himself. This made a constant mirror for him to look into and see his own flaws. He externalizes these versions to the point where he often feels he is an outsider looking at himself. After finally being around people, he realizes his interactions with people can be toxic. He does not believe himself to be a good person in the slightest. Dirk puts himself in a constant struggle to avoid being an even worse person. His own worst enemy is himself, metaphorically and literally. This is clear with how to reacts to the Auto Responder. The AR is an artificial intelligence that started out as a copy of brain at age thirteen. Dirk allowed him to pretend to be him until he realized his behavior is something he doesn't like. The AR points out is the same behavior Dirk would be having in the same situation. The AR is rude to him and Dirk does it back because this is how he thinks he deserves to be treated.
dirk strider | homestuck | reapp | 1/2
Name: Jackie
Preferred Contact:
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Victory Road:
Dirk StriderCharacter
Name: Dirk Strider
Series: Homestuck
Timeline: Act 7
Canon Resource Links: Wiki Entry
Personality:
Dirk Strider is an enigmatic person. One would know nothing about him at a glance outside of assuming he might be some sort of cool stoic action hero. His weapon is something that's stated more than once as being "unbreakable." Dirk is unyielding and seems unbreakable himself, like he's made of steel. His outward disposition so aloof that people can't get a read on him. His introduction puts a lot of emphasis how talented and cool he is more than anything else about him. Even people who know him best had still needed to put him together like a puzzle. The reasons why he seems this way can sum up to Dirk having no idea how to act like a functioning human being sometimes.
He was alone for sixteen years. Dirk grew up in the middle of a flooded wasteland. He could never venture out into his chaotic world without a threat looming over. He managed to raise himself, somehow, despite this. He had to be active and know how to take initiative because the other option was perishing. Dirk's only (non-artificially created) social contact had been with people over the internet. Out of the five people he knows total, only one existed in the same time frame and two were aliens sharing a body. After starting the game, he has only had about half of year with them. Dirk has difficulty expressing himself and knowing how to act around people. He fails at not making his first relationship emotionally draining for Jake. He doesn't get why they shouldn't spend every waking second together. They were both alone all their lives so why would they want alone time?
It's joked by his friends that he could be an emotionless robot. He looks and acts like a ruthless mastermind. The first in-person meeting with his friends was him saving them in one swoop. He hadn't hesitated for a second to do things like kiss them all and murder himself. He's had to put aside outright expressing things to protect himself and to focus on the task at hand. He's never had to express certain things, anyway. Affection is difficult to express for him. This is true even if it's with Roxy, who he spent his entire life protecting, or his actual boyfriend. He hadn't known how to start a hug or when the proper time for it would be because he's never needed to do that before. Kisses were for the non-affectionate purpose of saving everyone's ass. He won't tell he cares for them outright unless pushed to an extreme. He'll choose to convey it in a way that seems like he's joking or he'll go sharing the thought with someone else. The proper way to share hasn't made itself known. Dirk wants people to know what he's thinking and feeling and expects them to see through any gesture. His lack of proper expression isn't enough to convey unless he outright says what's on his mind. He can appear more or less emotionally unbreakable, like a well-disciplined Vulcan. Even while under the influence of Trickster Mode, Dirk seems detached. His friends express thoughts and desires to eerie smiling extremes. He yells at them but remains in control of himself.
Being around Dirk, with all his social ineptitude, can be difficult. It's stated that Dirk has a usual way of getting exactly what he wants. He believes it's expected of him to do it all. He can be controlling and pushy. Taking the lead and pulling all the strings had been his self-described MO for a while. His method of doing things are the best possible method in his head. The best method could be completely insane to the normal person. For example, to teach Jake fight, he has a robot ambush him and beat the crap out of him. Dirk's method of teaching anyone how to ride a bike would be to shove them down a large hill and tell them to peddle.
His control-freak attitude can turn into playing mind games that border on manipulative. He insists things are good and handled when questioned. He assumes he is the one in control. He thinks of himself as a puppeteer, in every sense of the word (also holy SHIT does he love puppets). He grew up with puppets and robots he was responsible for creating and had never refused an idea from him. He ends up treating real people the same way he would treat the puppets and robots. The only thing that talked back was The Auto-Responder (Hal). He assumes AR to be predictable enough for a long time seeing how it's his brain in there. He gives Jane the title of leader but tells her he is going to be the one pulling the strings in the background. He doesn't ask if they're okay with his plans or even share the details before enacting them. He phrases things as opinions to nudge people into the direction he wants them to go. He assumes he knows what's best for people, knows what they need and where they need to improve. He gave his friends advice to aid their personal development. The advice was pointing out their flaws and explaining how to fix them. He tells Jake to be more skeptical and tells Jane to be less so. He leaves his Auto-Responder on with Jake to keep him toes and force this skepticism. He's the only one in the group that calls Roxy out on her drinking habits and tries to get her to stop.
His friends often have no idea what to make of his actions. They assume something might be part of some grand convoluted scheme they know they can't win. They often don't know how to talk to him directly. When they try, he doesn't realize when he's not letting someone get a word in. Roxy and Jake both express a fear of failing him, of telling him what they think. People have a hard time saying 'No.' It's never his intention to be this way.
Without a human culture to dictate the norm, he picked it apart from the past. His main influence is the long-dead guardian figure of his "Bro" (His universe's Dave). Not only with things left for him (an entire crawlspace filled with orange soda?) but in how he assumed the man acted. He's built up the legend in his head using what information he could gather. This is his idol, the legacy of which he wishes to live up to and improve upon. He believes having this positive figure helped him become a better person. Dave set the standard for who he wanted to be like. Being the overachiever that he is, he takes ironic gestures such as acts of masculinity to an extreme. He's a gay man but refuses to make his orientation anything more than a footnote. One of the reasons is to keep up an act of belonging to a culture that existed centuries before him. The performance, as he words it, is difficult to break. He's been doing it his entire life. This wall of dudebro irony and stoic expression helps him control his world. It allows him to fit in better with Jake and Jane, who exist at the same time his idol lived. They don't understand his situation until it's explained to them later on. This wall of irony also limits how visible his true thoughts and feelings are. This helps protect him from any monitoring by the evil alien overlord.
He's not an emotionless robot under that blank expression. He has a lot of feelings but they're internalized. While he does act upon the art-form of 'irony', there is sincerity in every action. He doesn't claim irony as a reason for him doing anything unless someone asks or he's embarrassed. Irony should, at its core under the many layers, be an act of sincerity. Dirk does know when to get serious. He's willing to admit when things aren't as perfect as he wants them to be when deemed necessary. This is true even in cases where he might justify the problems later. Dirk doesn't shy away from deep conversation when it's with someone he trusts. He knows they will understand what he's trying to articulate. He goes the deepest when speaking to Jane and later on Dave, people who he feels the most comfortable with. He's upfront with Jane right from the start and their conversations are the most telling. He thinks she gets him the most out of his core group. In a lesser instance, Calliope since she provided the method of contacting everyone. He goes to her for advice on things about the game. He is willing to share and offer genuine opinions, express fears and general thoughts. He'll go quiet and just listen in to offer support, despite how inexperienced he is at it.
Dirk has a huge heart. He loves almost unconditionally. He thinks he's being helpful until it becomes clear he's not. His habit of pushing his friends stems from wanting to witness them to succeed. He never assumes that they're incapable of doing something with the right motivation. He doesn't think having a robot kick Jake's ass would ever hurt him because he thinks Jake can beat it. He believes in his friends completely and holds the utmost respect for them. This goes especially for Roxy. He thinks she is far stronger than he'll ever be. He sees her as the only one capable of overcoming her own flaws and the main glue that keeps them (him) together. He feels guilty his love can only be platonic because he just wants to make her happy. Dirk confesses doesn't think he could ever intentionally cause her harm. This carries over to any of his friends. He can't raise his sword to them, even if it he knew it would result in their advancement. He wouldn't want to raise a hand to them either, unless he thinks they can block it. He even hesitates destroying his own creations. He refuses to throw a lifeless puppet away that holds sentimental value. He claims Lil' Cal is his guardian on more than one occasion. The thought of having to intentionally hurt terrifies him. He'd rather sacrifice himself than have someone/thing he cares about face pain. In a doomed timeline (resulting from [S] Game Over), he completely gives up when his friends die. He's too overcome with grief and lets himself fade into pixelated oblivion. In a life where the majority of it had been loneliness, he clings to people that give him the light of day.
Dirk can often play the straight man (pun not intended) to his friends. He's the logical voice of reason while they're all hyped up on magic candy. He calls himself a "wet-blanket." His reactions to antics can be the equal to looking into the camera like he's on The Office. This does not mean he can not be downright ridiculous himself or just plain awkward. He's an intellectual and uses it in endless sarcasm. This displays at times as being an insufferable know-it-all. This like Rose Lalonde, his ectodaughter. Roxy comments with "You're Dirk!" upon hearing her speak. He shares a verbose analytical way of talking to people. This isn't surprising considering his conversational partners were robots. He has habit of getting too long-winded with his writings. While he speaks more like Rose, he has tangents using inappropriate metaphors like Dave. He can be both terse and wordy depending on who he's talking to and the current comfort level. Jake has been on the receiving end of getting blunt one-word replies laced with sarcasm. Jane has gotten paragraphs of rambling filled with pop-culture and literary references. He might say something and have no one know what he means or get carried away. He will immediately shut up when he realizes this. He's completely game for humorous fun when nothing dire is happening. For instance, Dirk indulges Caliborn's request that he draw smut. The drawings end up including Jake eating a baby and Roxy comparing breasts to an ocean.
He knows he might not be completely up-to-date on Normal Behavior 101 but he still thinks he's cool. He knows he's cool. He thinks he's the coolest. He doesn't pretend to be. He thinks he is to the point of having bragging rights about it. He thinks he's basically Batman, intelligent and badass. He has absurd hobbies and interests but he owns that he likes what he likes. He can have people questioning if there's so many layers of irony that he made something stupid cool. He has a lot of confidence when it comes to almost all his abilities. He takes action and is completely confident a plan will work. He knows he's fully capable. He's a perfectionist and an overachiever who puts far more than 100% into everything he does. He sets the bar high for himself and everyone around him.
The only thing he's not confident in is his own personality. A sword may look awesome and be useful in a fight but it's full of sharp edges and dangerous to be around otherwise. He knows he's cool but he also knows "cool" could be a terrible person. Growing up alone, Dirk has been with his own thoughts for a long time. He surrounded himself with versions of himself. This made a constant mirror for him to look into and see his own flaws. He externalizes these versions to the point where he often feels he is an outsider looking at himself. After finally being around people, he realizes his interactions with people can be toxic. He does not believe himself to be a good person in the slightest. Dirk puts himself in a constant struggle to avoid being an even worse person. His own worst enemy is himself, metaphorically and literally. This is clear with how to reacts to the Auto Responder. The AR is an artificial intelligence that started out as a copy of brain at age thirteen. Dirk allowed him to pretend to be him until he realized his behavior is something he doesn't like. The AR points out is the same behavior Dirk would be having in the same situation. The AR is rude to him and Dirk does it back because this is how he thinks he deserves to be treated.