If you asked people to define the Light aspect, most would say it's related to knowledge. But is that true? I don't think so. I think it's missing the forest for the trees, the product for the factory.
I would like to pitch Light not as being about Knowledge, but about Narrative Relevance - which, in Homestuck terms, is identical to Luck.
Think about it - when Terezi flips a coin, it splits the timeline in two, one for each outcome. There is no random outcome here - no matter what, 2 timelines are created. The only thing that is up to "luck" is which of the results is the Alpha Timeline, which of them us the readers get the privilege of watching. Think of any lucky moment in HS - there are million doomed timelines where this moment happened differently. This is why Vriska, a Light player, is associated with Luck - because her Light powers allows her to pick which of all these timelines she will go onto. She's not manipulating the dice, she's manipulating our perspective so that we only see the timelines where she wins!
----------------------------------------------------
Before we get too in-depth, we have to stabilish our opposition:
Why do people believe Light = Knowledge, anyways?
Enter, the Extended Zodiac.
Those bound to the aspect of Light are the universe's knowledge-seekers. They are, above all, driven to learn and understand. They are great alchemists, able to take multiple sources of information and synthesize them into something useful. They are scholars and researchers, absolutely dedicated to knowledge for knowledge's sake. They are the ultimate students, and although that might conjure up the image of people sitting around peacefully waiting for knowledge to be brought to them, that couldn't be further from the truth. The Light-bound will go after knowledge with a fierce intensity that others may find distasteful. They aren't overly concerned with laws or norms, either. They often take rules as simple suggestions, instead searching for loopholes or work-arounds. At their best, the Light-bound are resourceful and driven. At their worst they can be fussy, pedantic, and insensitive. - The Extended Zodiac
I am here to see this is fully wrong.
First things first - This description is true for Rose, sure, but she's a Seer - it's in her class. And it's true for Aranea as well - more on her later. But what about Vriska? Is she "The ultimate student"? "Dedicated to knowledge for knowledge's sake"? Is she really "above all, driven to learn and understand"?
And what about the later half? "They aren't overly concerned with laws or norms, either." This is true for both Vriska and Rose, sure, but this feels distinctly Breath. "They often take rules as simple suggestions, instead searching for loopholes or work-arounds." would you call a character that always takes shortcuts to be Light?
I will say it outright - this definition feels sloppy, and trying to fit two very different shapes - Vriska and Rose - into a singular hole. These are two very different ideas, and that's because I think they confused those character's classes with their aspect.
-----------------
I would like to highlight a FRAF forum quote, obtainable by trying to input DAVEOVER as your username:
1’M NOT US3FUL L1K3 ROS3
W3’R3 BOTH S33RS, BUT SH3 G3TS TO ONLY S33 TH3 TH1NGS TH4T M4TT3R
TH3 W4Y W3’R3 SUPPOS3D TO GO 4ND WH4T W3’R3 SUPPOS3D TO DO
SO OF COURS3 SH3 GO3S 4LONG W1TH 4LL OF TH1S HORS3SH1T, SH3 KNOWS 3V3RY CHO1C3 SH3 M4K3S 1S "R1GHT”
1’M NOT LUCKY L1K3 TH4T
3V3N 1F TH3R3 W4S ONLY ON3 R34L W4Y TH1NGS COULD H4V3 3ND3D, 4LL 1 S33 4R3 POSS1B1L1T13S
1 C4N’T H3LP 1T
WH4T 1F 1 D1D TH1S, WH4T 1F SH3 D1DN’T DO TH4T, WH4T 1F H3 SURV1V3D
1F W3 JUST CH4NG3D ON3 OR TWO L1TTL3 TH1NGS,
COULD 1T H4V3 F1X3D 3V3RYTH1NG?
WOULD 1T B3 B3TT3R
WOULD W3 B3 H4PPY?
(To those not in the know, this quote is a reference to Dave//Over, a hidden FRAF secret story about Equius and Dave becoming moirails)
https://www.fruityrumpus.com/strongenough.pdf
Interesting, isn't it? Rose doesn't just know things - she knows "the things that matter", "the way we're supposed to go" and "what we're supposed to do". Meanwhile, Terezi can see the choices and alternative decisions, as Mind is all about the different decisions.
This means that, if Mind is about different decisions, what does Rose's seer abilities tell us? It tells us that Light is not raw information, but rather, the Alpha Timeline - the Canon story. Rose knows the Homestuck Canon, and thus is extremely useful as a Seer.
What about Vriska?
Vriska doesn't have anything to do with canon, or knowledge. Or does she? Her arc is all about validation - being a hero, saving the day, training others, being in the spotlight. Being important to the overall narrative, to Canon. Vriska, as the Thief of Light, steals the spotlight, the place in canon. It's why so much of HS is caused by her, like Bec's prototyping, and why she appears so much after being introduced. She's stealing the spot in the story, in canon, away from other characters!
But, what about Aranea? She is VERY tied to knowledge.
That's true - but I have a whole other essay about this topic:
https://fruityrumpus.com/forums/t/the-sylph-is-a-knowledge-class-classpecting-essay
The abridged version of this, is that I read Sylph as a Knowledge class - Aranea's talk about a Sylph being a healer is more so because of her looking up to her ancestor, the Lamplady (who is a nurse) like how Vriska looked up to Mindfang.
This is where I believe this misconception arose from: 2 out of 3 of our Light players have knowledge classes. But I dont think every Light player would be knowledge-full - in fact, I think most don't. I would imagine a Rogue of Light, for example, to make other characters have more heroic or badass moments. A Heir of Light could come to become an authorial figure, literally writting Canon itself, rather than merely knowing everything.
-----------------------
I would like to talk about Void, Light's counterpart.
Void is one of the most prolific aspects in all of HS - from Roxy stealing the nothingness of an object, to void pockets in Doc Scratch's perception, to the Furthest Ring, there is a lot to say about Void.
I do have reason to believe it's conected with the opposite of Light's canon - that is, with the non-canon. As we stabilished before, the Alpha Timeline can be seen as the "canon" timeline, with offshoot non-canon ones. These non-canon timelines create many non-canon ghosts, which reside in the Furthest Ring - a place connected with Void. And, of course, Dave//Over, a noncanonical fanfic taking place on one such doomed timelines features who else but Equius, the Heir of Void, as our deuteragonist.
Furthermore, in the Epilogues, the narrators have notable difficulty with knowing what Roxy - a void player - is thinking. If Light represents authorial intent, then a void player would naturally be resistant from having their thoughts broadcasted.
But they go even further than these examples - Void is associated with mysteries, according to its Extended Zodiac. Why? What is the association between non-canon and mystery?
I will tell you a story to show you why.
Bob is gifted a present by Jim, wrapped in blue-with-orange stripes present wrapper. He is overjoyed, and rushes upstairs to open it in his room. On the way he trips and the present falls out the window and into a truck. Bob never finds it again. Jim dies of a heart attack. And Bob never knows what's in that present. The End.
Astute readers and connoseurs of Void would be able to pinpoint the present as being void-coded. But why? One of the main aspects of the story isn't that Bob never learned what was in it - it was that US never learned it. That's what makes it the most void - not only the characters, but also not even the reader knows. How does that relate to non-canon?
Imagine if a massive fandom of Bob's story rose up. And I never told anyone what was in the box. Suddently everyone is speculating, creating fan theories. It could be literally ANYTHING! It could be a bicycle! A board game! A dog, even. If I never say, and it never becomes relevant what was actually in it, it's void.
But - let's say one day I do reveal. Rose would be able to know what hte answer is before I say it; it's her power to know what the canon answer to what is in the box before I, the author, say it. And what is in it is a small statue of Vriska. Because she's the Thief of Light, and thus she stole this spot in the narrative.
-------------
Detour over, here are the main points:
-> Light is associated as knowledge because of the rather confused Extended Zodiac's description a Rose and Aranea's class both being knowledge classes, making people assume it's an aspect thing than a class thing
-> Light instead refers to the canonical events of HS, the authorial intent and the way the story is presented.
-> Rose, thus, can see the canon events - she has access to the Homestuck wiki but not the non-canon facts, to make a metaphor.
-> Vriska, on the other hand, steals the spotlight - rather than other characters having presence she instead hogs all the canon events for herself.
-> Void thus also stands as the opposite - the non-canonical. The things left unsaid by canon, that are left to our own speculation.
-----------------
This post ended, extremely messy - sorry. A lot of it came from it being midnight, some of it was written on my phone and Light is very present in HS - Gnosticism readings of HS have a VERY different interpretation of Light and Void, for example (which do use Light as knowledge!). I suggest looking that up, it's a great read and can provide a much stronger argument for Light as Knowledge, altho you do need the whole Gnosticism framework for it. If y'all have questions or need more examples feel free to ask, I myself admit this is all over the place and messy x3
I'm not necessarily aware of the specific gnostic readings you're thinking of at the end there but kinda related to that - I'm not sure if there is a difference between the gnostic sense of knowledge (gnosis) and narrative relevance, considering that the study of gnosis helps you escape from the material reality you are homestuck in. (As we know, in Homestuck, narratives themselves are the 'material reality'.) Is canon not 'true knowledge' (gnosis)? Is non-canon not 'false knowledge', or 'irrelevant knowledge'?
If Vriska is someone who goes out of her way to create her own demiurge just so she can be the one to kill it, is she not a fiercely devoted student of gnosis? A bit fanatical, even?
I (almost) wholeheartedly agree with this line of thinking. I agree that the principal factor of light is relevance, and I like the way different character relate to it: rose sees what choices will be relevant, vriska steals relevance even after her death, aranea tries to change what is relevant. However, I don’t think you should entirely throw out knowledge and shortcuts as elements of light. All three of them revolve around taking shortcuts: rose destroying her session to find answers, Vriska‘s gamer mentality where she always wants to cheat, Aranea attempting to take control of a doomed timeline. Vriska is also heavily knowledge-based. Sure, she relates to it differently given her class, but she’s always using knowledge. Her maps of the furthest ring, stealing information from Lord English, mindfang’s journal, her magic cue ball stealing from doc scratch’s knowledge; it’s everywhere if you look. Sure, knowledge is an incomplete definition, but as you’ve stated that luck is the same as relevance, is not knowledge also the same? Is knowledge not what enables a light player to find relevance? In my opinion, since a character cannot directly interact with canon (other than John, and even then he interacts with it in a breathy way rather than a lighty one) knowledge is the tool of the light player to influence relevance. (I could see an heir directly affecting relevance, but definitely not a thief, seer, or sylph)
This is some straight up delirious biznasty, Dawg!!
I would also like to share an adjacent theory. If light is relevance and void is non-relevance, then there is a distinct positive-negative relationship. There is a similar relationship between Breath (freedom, non-attachment) and Blood (relationships, attachments), though we tend to put blood on the bottom because it makes more sense. Light and Doom are similar, but that's a story for another time. Anyway, If light is positioned at the top of the circle and void a the bottom, we get a whole new way of looking at things. Hope and Rage end up at the sides. Interestingly, the sides seem to be the ones that define any orientation, such as space-time being the most important pair in the original, (or heart-mind if life is on top) given that the sides are placed on equal ground, rather than one above another. In any case, without going into too much depth, I believe that the original wheel is designed with time and space in the most important positions because it is made for the game/the physical world, where time and space have the biggest influences. Breath and blood at the top and bottom because the interpersonal relationships between players are an integral part of the game. With Hope-Rage and Light-Void in the important positions, it becomes a wheel relating to the priorities of the narrative itself. Hope and Rage are of course essential to the way a character exists in the narrative (I could go into much more depth on this, but for the sake of time I won't), and Light and Void define how strongly they exist in said narrative. In any case, I wanted to submit for your judicious consideration, since you're talking about light and void. This is a simplified version, but I may write a more comprehensive analysis of aspect rotation in the future.
This is some straight up delirious biznasty, Dawg!!