WMG / The Property of Hate

The world Hero and RGB are saving is the world of make-believe.

The world itself has so many fantastical concepts that it only makes sense after all.

• Confirmed on page 301

RGB is the titular Property of Hate.

As in, he may be under her control, but not willingly. He's described as neutral, Ambiguously Evil, and is only trying to save the world to prevent everyone from dying. In other words, he belongs to her as a material object. The logo on the site is also designed with his color bars.

Dial, Click and TO-by have their reasons for joining Hate.

• Dial was once a Hero like RGB, but eventually grew embittered with being unable to stop Hate and simply gave in. Since we've learnt that Hate listens in on Dial, he can't leave her even if he wanted to.
• TO-by was probably a child like RGB before he was torn to pieces and reconstructed with his own nerves. He's stuck with Hate because he can't do anything by himself (Hero had to help him sit up) and just wants to be left alone since his independence is gone and he's left to wallow in bitter misery.
• Click might have been a Hero or was just a soldier doing his job. He probably encountered RGB and was eventually killed only to be revived as a bitter, hateful shadow of his former self. As such, when he does encounter RGB again, he decides to stop at nothing to get the revenge he desires.
• So far, Dial and TOby's reasons are still open to interpretation, though it seems that the bit about Click is Outdated by Canon. In the actual comic, Click was implied to be a Sociopathic Hero who was the second hero after RGB himself, and was left to die by his former mentor. It's likely now that Click's reason for joining Hate was so he could take revenge on RGB for murdering him.

Alternate to the above, TO-by was a La Résistance type of Hero

• His punishment is much more physical and brutal than the other heroes, meaning Hate must've really disliked him compared to the others. And despite going through such torture TO-by still tells Dial to fuck off with Hate's offer. That, to this troper, is a mark of a Hero who did everything in his power to directly oppose Hate when it was his turn. Whether he actually raised an army or just a Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits or even just tried to start a Spark of the Rebellion, he did whatever he could to undermine Hate's goals far more directly than any Hero before. And Hate crushed his plans and punished him accordingly

The weird rabbit with one eye and candles on his head is Time

• His speech bubbles do come with clock hands and he occasionally seems to reply to things that Hero hasn't said yet, so it is possible.
  • Confirmed by name on Page 422, although there are strong hints beforehand.

There is a reason for the appearances of (some of) the former Heroes

• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier (Click)... The rhyme doesn't seem to fit all of them but in a world like this surely it can't be meaningless...
  • Dial might count as the "spy," as he actively transmits conversations to Hate without RGB's knowledge.

Hero will find something to remind her of her original name, and this will endanger the quest.

• One of the key points to Hero taking on the role was forgetting her original name. As the hare, Time, states, this was part of her original story in her old world ending, so that her new story in the Land of Make-Believe could begin.

• It is common for young children to have their name sewn into their clothes or written on the tag. While Hero has lost her original jacket, at least for now, she still has her original shirt and shorts. Who is to say that she won't find her old name written on there? This is just one way that she could remember.

• If she does remember her name, then that could lead to an "identity crisis", or a "continuity error", in the sense that those things could manifest in the Land of Make-Believe.

The jumper the hero gets from The Market was owned by someone who died in a fire

• It's mentioned that the items are objects that were once loved, such as the favourite clothes of someone who died. The hero mentions that the jumper smells like a bonfire.

Hate and her henchmen are structured similarly to Odio and his incarnations.

• Hate herself is very much like Odio in that she may've been a different person before taking on her current name and is the main antagonist of the story, with her henchmen representing the different ways hatred manifests.
  • Click is a tin soldier who represents violent hatred and he's the first villain in the comic who isn't a mindless monster and is actually trying to kill Hero and RGB. Out of all of Hate's minions, he's the most persistant and stops at nothing to try and murder his targets only to thrown into the sea. He was the second hero after RGB himself and was on the path to destruction, being crushed his own Temper underfoot only for it to become a Grief and destroy him. His alliance with Ratfink is an Evil Counterpart to Hero and RGB's partnership in that both of them are heroes of the world; but whereas RGB and Hero respect each other and go through hell for each other, Clink uses Ratfink as a vessel to restore himself and the two hate each other. This represents how Click's hatred drives him to degrade himself further and further as he becomes more and more self-destructive and delusional in a slow march towards his own death.
  • Dial is RGB's cousin who seems nice enough but is actually working directly for Hate. He represents secret hatred in that he's manipulative and insincere, pretending to be affable to everyone while secretly despising them. Unlike her other henchmen, it's implied that he has little choice in serving her because he can her voice in his head, making Hate inescapable for him.
  • TOby is a stuffed doll who is openly grouchy to everyone and represents self-pitying hatred. As a doll reconstructed from his nerves, TOby is unable to do anything for himself and is forced to rely on others. He's openly bitter about his fate and wants to be left alone so he can wallow in his own pity, knowing that he can't do anything to change his situation.
  • The Butterfly appears to Hero, asking her to be wise. She represents hatred in that she preys on other people and tries to erode their trust in others only to viciously turn and play the victim when confronted. During her fight with RGB, she shows herself as envious of other heroes and intends to steal Hero's eyes after she asked she should trust them.

Hate was RGB's girlfriend/wife/stalker back when they were both human.

For starters, the story RGB tells T Oby about Time and Hate's relationship can easily be construed as a metaphor-laden retelling about his relationship with Hate with Time taking his place. Then there's the nightmare he has in Page 250 in which a feminine figure asks if he used to dance, implying that she knew about RGB's life as a performer. The same figure appears again in Page 476 when RGB goes off to find someone to be a hero after being given a second chance by Hate, implying that the figure represents her. Then there's the symbolism involving irons which could imply that RGB was burnt to death with a hot iron after trying end his relationship with Hate, something that she took very, very poorly. Furthermore, Negative!RGB could be RGB's repressed anger and other emotions towards her that he can't remember likely due to the form only activating under traumatic circumstances.

Hate is the final boss, but she isn't the final opponent in the story.

With Hate being the Big Bad and her henchmen representing the various ways hatred manifests, Hero and RGB have to defeat her and the World of Make Believe is saved, right? Well no. Hate has one last trick up her sleeve. She forcefully possesses Hero and transforms her into a monstrous form representing self-hatred. This is the part of the story where all the themes come together and RGB is forced to die in order to free Hero and the world from Hate's tyranny, leading to a Bittersweet Ending that caps everything off.

Hero is going to fail.

... but RGB won't. As to the first, she's already began her transformation - like other Heroes before her, who in all probability used to be human (this is all but confirmed for Click, and RGB does go to the human world to recruit her) but were turned into cartoonish/nightmarish creatures, she's already lost some body parts and gained another. But there's something more she's gained: genuine, selfless love from RGB. His first attempt at saving the world was unsuccessful, and ended with him pleading for his life, for a second chance - maybe being a Hero requires a Heroic Sacrifice, which he didn't make for the world, but won't hesitate to make for his little girl? Maybe this is his second chance not at life - but at being a Hero?

RGB actually is Hero's father.

He Was Once a Man, has Laser-Guided Amnesia and can't really know, but what if?

Click won't be so lucky the second time.

It's likely that after the whole ordeal in the House of Lead, RGB and Hero will come face to face with Click and Ratfink. The scenes with Dial digging a hole and Ratfink searching for Click's body parts are connected by Dial singing the lyrics for The Hole in the Ground, which will likely foreshadow that Click's attempts to regain his former body will go horribly wrong due to it being established that when a character changes enough, they can't go back to being the way they were.

During this fateful encounter, we might learn from Click what happened after he was left to die, which sheds more light on his connection to Hate. It also showcases how far Hero and RGB have come in terms of character development, allowing them to blindside Click and Ratfink who utterly hate each other and whose teamwork quickly falls apart due to their mutual animosity. It's possible that Ratfink may even try to screw Click over multiple times and may even pull a Heroic Sacrifice in order to kill Click once and for all.

The Butterfly is intending to create a new body for herself

Why steal Hero's eyes at all if they're not intending to use them for something? Considering the ties between the Butterfly and Hate, and that the (at the time) recent chapter is called Cutting Room, perhaps the Butterfly has been stealing body parts from past heroes or other beings in an attempt to create a new body. With her new body, the Butterfly then intends to escape into the real world to do god knows what.

Alternately, it might be working on her own project: An Evil Counterpart to RGB called CYM who possesses RGB's powerset but has none of his morals, allowing the Butterfly to create her own puppet that she can act through to abduct other people for her own agenda either as Hate or against her.This is jossed. Nothing of the sort is ever revealed, and it seems that Anxiety's goals involve getting revenge on RGB for some past event.

Counter to the above theory, The Butterfly might actually be a Threshold Guardian.

During RGB's explanation of what a Threshold Guardian is, he mentions that some are malevolent and that some of them can be very small, both of which fit The Butterfly. In addition, her attempts to erode Hero's trust in RGB could be a Secret Test of Character to see if Hero will blindly believe what she says or is wise enough to think for herself. When Hero asks why she should trust The Butterfly, she gets her eyes stolen, testing to see if RGB is as trustworthy as Hero claims he is.

Upon finding out that Hero's eyes were stolen, RGB fights the Butterfly and manages to get one of Hero's eyes back. She then hides in the House of Lead, waiting for Hero and RGB to appear with full intent to test their resolve as heroes. As seen in the cover for Cutting Room, it is confirmed that The Butterfly is indeed watching and that Hero and RGB weren't tricked into a dead end. Upon reaching the basement, Hero and RGB reach a large rune of light resembling The Sun's mask, implying that something is going to come to light...

Jossed. The Butterfly is a type of monster called Anxiety.

The Butterfly is actually our Hero, in some sort of new, time-displaced form.

Whenever body parts are bought in the market, the recipient uses the phrase "It is me. It is mine." or "They are me. They are mine.". This could just be a common courtesy as part of a bargain. However, it is notable that the Ratfink starts to say it after stealing the eye that still contains Click's conciousness from a store stall. And then Click finishes the phrase with the variation "It is mine. It is me." as he forcibly merges his remains with the Ratfink. This suggests that the words have some significance beyond polite bargains. This makes it all the stranger when The Butterfly is able to steal and incorporate both of Hero's eyes, and then Hero is able to reincorporate one of the eyes without either of them using the phrase. During their brief fight, RGB points out that The Butterfly didn't make a bargain for the items that they stole. He even says a variation of the absent words, "They are not you! They are not yours...". Of course, if Hero and the Butterfly are the same being, the parts belong to both of them.

Additionally, the Butterfly remarks that they knew RGB, but that he probably wouldn't recognize them now. This heavily suggests that they are one of the heroes that RGB worked with in the past, who was disfigured in the line of duty. The Butterfly is upset enough to hurt RGB after he states that he doesn't care about who they were or what they lost. We also see the Butterfly appear as a sketch on Hero's back on page 168, before fully appearing on page 169. It's not clear whether it just teleported into position or crawled out of that schism on her back.

Jossed. The Butterfly is a type of monster called Anxiety.

Hate will use the Zalgo font when she actually speaks.

Considering that Hate has yet to actually speak in-comic and that what we know about her is all second hand knowledge, the Zalgo font can be used to showcase how powerful Hate is compared to everyone else. The Zalgo font is used as a shorthand for corruption, so having the Big Bad use it signifies that Hate's corruptive influence over the world. Additionally, when she speaks, it's toward the reader which may also be treated as a Brown Note in-universe or Black Speech that causes the other characters to recoil in fear of Hate's might.

The remaining Tarot Cards.

In a standard Tarot Arcana deck, there are 21 cards. So far the following have been confirmed:

• (0) The Fool: Hero
• (I) The Magician: RGB
• (II) The High Priestess: Madras
• (V) The Hierophant: Dial
• (VI) The Lovers: Julienne and Melody
• (VII) The Chariot: Train of Thought
• (XVIII) The Moon: Time
• (XIX) The Sun: The Light aka The Sun

However there are several that still remain:

• (III) The Empress
• (IV) The Emperor
• (VIII) Strength
• (IX) The Hermit
• (X) Wheel of Fortune
• (XI) Justice
• (XII) The Hanged Man
• (XIII) Death
• (XIV) Temperance
• (XV) The Devil
• (XVI) The Tower
• (XVII) The Star
• (XX) Judgement
• (XXI) The World

With that in mind, there are a few guesses at to who the remaning tarot cards belong to:

• The Butterfly aka Anxiety will represent "Strength", an arcana that represents a person's nature and the need to tame and refine it. When reversed, it represents the lack of power to change their behavior, and a failure to separate wisdom from your personal self interest. The Butterfly is a being who puts up a facade of being wise and tries to make Hero doubt RGB. When Hero questions why she should trust The Butterfly, it attacks and decides to steal Hero's eyes for it's own agenda. After that, it intends to kill Hero and RGB to get revenge over what happened in it's past.
• TOby will likely represent The Hanged Man, an arcana that represents the inability to help themselves and the inability to regain control until the situation has passed. When reversed, it also represents a Senseless Sacrifice and self-denial, both of which may've applied to TOby's run as a previous Hero before he was torn apart by Hate and forcefully reconstructed as a powerless doll dependant on others.
• Negative will likely represent '"Death"', an arcana that is misunderstood as negative but actually symbolises a significant change in a person's life and how they must put the past behind them, let go of old attachments and embrace new possibilities. When reversed, it signifies a reluctances to accept change and that a person is going through great upheaval in their lives. Negative is a powerful being whose emergence allowed RGB to survive and unwittingly traumatized Hero with his brutality. In spite of this, Negative has done everything in his power to protect Hero, and it's her knowledge of Negative that may serve as a great catalyst for RGB to grow as a person.

• Click will likely represent The Devil, an arcana that represents what is forbidden and suppressed, a embodiment of wild, unrestrained passions. When reversed, The Devil represents the enjoyment of chaos for no positive reason other than vengeance or simply for the hell of it. This might apply to Click, who for all his posturing about being a hero and getting payback on RGB is simply someone who may secret enjoy all the carnage he inflicts upon the world, and he was a Sociopathic Hero who upon being finally resurrected could finally be The Sociopath without any restraint.
• Hate will represent The Tower, an arcana representing destruction and a catalyst for change. After waiting long enough, Hate decides to end the world herself. This leads RGB to reveal important information to Hero, and for the two to venture into the House of Lead to pursue The Butterfly. Depending on she was also the Voice that drove The Sun to despair, it's possible that her actions caused the world to change in response to The Sun's madness as she burnt the world asunder.

• Hero's final state will represent The World, an arcana that represents the conclusion of one's journey, the full knowledge of one's self, creative freedom and ultimate realization. It's possible that it may represent Hero as she fully sees herself: A knight upon a steed ready to vanquish the evils of this world, a fully realized character ready to leave the World of Make Believe