I wanna talk a bit more about the Jake situation. The Jakeuation...? Whatever, anyways, there's some really interesting shit going on between both Jakes and I wanna talk about how they differ and why that might be.
So, Candy Jake and Meat Jake have essentially come to the same conclusion: They must stand up for themselves more, and fight for what they want. Candy Jake comes to this realization with the help of his Brain Ghost Dirk (BGD henceforth), and Meat Jake has come to it via John's letter. And yet, Meat Jake is like...whereas Candy Jake has taken this to choose protecting his children and their lives, Meat Jake has decided this means he must fuck Karkat away from Dave. Just a complete pendulum swing in the other direction there. Why is that?
Candy Jake's talk with his BGD is pretty chill. Jake isn't hostile at all to him, because he misses Dirk. Due to this, perhaps that's why he's able to more readily accept Dirk's words (and perhaps allows himself to understand that BGD is basically Jake's brain talking to himself as if he were Dirk). Because Jake, throughout Homestuck and Beyond Canon, is always taking orders from someone else.
Whether it's Jane, Dirk, Vriska, Aranea, or even John (we'll circle back to this), Jake is never really doing anything himself. He is either being bossed around or he goes to someone to ask them what he should do. Candy Jake really relies on BGD here, and is able to finally recognize that and push past it by talking it out with himself. He has changed, and has successfully taken matters into his own hands at last.
Meat Jake has not done this, despite how much he's trying to say he has. His BGD is kinda completely on the money that Jake hasn't actually changed. He puts on this big, very hostile show towards BGD (as if he were actually Dirk, though Jake does also seem to acknowledge that he's not real...?) because damn it, he's done taking orders! Except for the fact that he took orders from John's letter.
John's letter is very John, in that it's kind of insultingly written but not in a conscious way. John suggests that hey, maybe he should be a little rude sometimes! Push back a bit, not let everyone walk all over him. And Jake is like, yes, of course, I will do that, not realizing that buddy...you're just taking orders from someone else again. This idea was put into your head, too.
I do believe Meat Jake's BGD isn't actually Dirk. I don't see why Dirk would jerk around with him like this at this point, and BGD here does directly refer to Dirk as if they're separate entities. Meaning we can probably take everything BGD says here as Jake's own internal thoughts again.
Jake is incredibly anti-Dirk for understandable reasons, but this means his own internal dialogue has no choice but to be hostile against him since he's so hostile against it. Funny how Jake comments on Karkat's self-loathing and says that he's better about it...no the fuck you are not man. At multiple points BGD tries to steer the conversation towards getting Jake to acknowledge the fact that he is simply repeating old habits, but Jake continues to just breeze past that to talk about how much he hates Davekat. Why does he hate Davekat, even?
As the two talk it becomes clear that he's seeing Dirk in Dave and has put his own feelings about his relationship with Dirk into Karkat. Karkat must be horribly trapped by Dave and probably doesn't even want it, even though Karkat is fighting tooth and nail not to get freaky with his boyfriend despite really wanting to elsewhere in the ship.
Jake also cannot seem to actually make clear what he thinks of Dave. He asks if everyone actually does like Dave, implying everyone hates him, and then like 4 sentences later insists that everyone showers Dave with love and spoils him. He gets annoyed about Dave talking about how Dirk was in his head, and it's like buddy...you're talking to who you assume to be Dirk right here.
He also makes more assumptions about Karkat, that he'd probably have loved a night out and that he's never had anyone to pick but Dave before and these are also just not true events. Like yeah, Karkat should get out of the house more, but so much of him in the Epilogues is him not wanting that (and hey, the last time this Karkat did that you completely shit your pants during his presidential campaign.) Also Karkat has had prior relationships, such as the ill-fated Karezi and Gamkar. Which, hm, how interesting that Karkat feels a sense of responsibility to be the one to keep an eye out for the guy who's going fucking crazy. Who's also already put him in a hospital bed twice. Hm! Look out Karkat...it's Gamkar 2: This Time It's Jake...!
Anyways, furthermore in Jake not actually understanding Karkat at all, he says some real rude shit about trolls and Karkat even to Karkat's face. He refers to Karkat as a "scholarly little freak" and a "cantankerous little cretin", which is an interesting way to try and get into someone's pants. When BGD makes a jab about Jake's dedication to killing him being romantic, Jake says "What are we trolls now?" which at least to me reads a little um...hey, Jake, buddy, spend less time around Jane.
Jake's talk with Karkat even has a lot of parts where Karkat outright shuts Jake down. "Oh, you'll love this movie" "I WILL NOT." is the entire conversation more or less. Like, dude, no, he does not want to fuck you, he's perfectly happy being with Dave, you're just being crazy cause John said you should be crazier more.
Jake sees Karkat nothing more as, basically, an object that he can swipe from Dave and use himself, and not like...a person? Most likely again projecting his own issues onto Karkat (Jake is also viewed as an object so much of the time) and rather than trying to earnestly be like "hey Karkat, I know what it feels like to be treated as an object" he's just also going to use him up the way he says Dave's using him up.
Now, I'm not going to pin the blame entirely on just Jake or John's letter, as there's one figure who also probably played a part in this dramatic shift in Jake's thinking (...even if it's more or less what he's always been doing anyway.) Let's not forget that President Jane was not the only person Jasprose had to help in Midnight City...!
In Chapter X of the Vrisual Novel where Davepeta and Jasprose talk about how their "projects" are coming along, Jasprose has this to say about Jake:
"We've also had some developments from my new favorite foppish lunk, the inimitable Mr. English. Though he does seem to be locked in the particularly stubborn throes of his heartbroken malaise. I'm confident I can tear past the pitiable plush exterior and reveal the fragrant potpourri of heroism that lies within before curtain call!"
So, certainly Jasprose has had something to do with this. As we can see, Jake is still certainly in the throes of that heartbroken malaise even now, so perhaps (purrhaps) she was unsuccessful? Or has this very anti-Dirk way of thinking been her suggestion as a way to try and stomp it out? If only we got to see what truly happened the rest of that long, crazy night... But if it is true that Jasprose has had a hand in changing Jake's behavior...whoops! Uh oh, Jake! Looks like again, you have not changed on your own at all, and have been manipulated by an external force yet again!
Basically, to summarize...Candy Jake has managed to achieve healthy change because he ultimately came to it himself, while Meat Jake continues to do old habits and rely on others to change himself for him. Also Jake is just projecting hard onto Davekat. Cause he's Hamm from Toy Story...? That's all I've got. It was just interesting is all...
