Many people are making a similar point that Mars is choosing to be quite vulnerable here, she’s turning out to be one of the most multidimensional characters in Halo Head imo :mars-point:
Honestly, I think it was the right play here from his perspective. Mars doesn’t come off as super self-aware to him, and is stubborn to boot, which is both irritating and needs to be pushed past sometimes to make points like this.
He’s not winning any friendship points with her right now by doing this, but he IS getting it through her skull that she’s being a dingus and needs to change her approach.
I love that Pepper’s big insightful moment comes at the top of the stairs that he’s had so many issues conquering. Ever since he was traumatized it seems like he’s been mostly using his insightful nature to hide things and play people against each other, but now that he’s made at least a little peace with it he can stand at the top and try to speak these truths to Mars to help mend her relationship with Chloe.
It’s also not wasted on me that Mars is positioned through light and perspective as looking up at Pepper from lower down the stairs, it’s great visual language for seeing where they both are in this conversation.
i know he’s right but damn man its like you read books or something
but also this isnt even for me and i can feel that tension of being told this in my chest like fuck you man. but you might be right
People might initially want to criticise Pepper for being ungentle… but we’re going to make an argument in favour of it.
There is something to be said about not mincing words. Being direct, clear, understandable, honest, and unwilling to allow the picture you’re painting be distorted overmuch by the words chosen is super important in communication. Does this mean that you sometimes say things that are not nice? Yes, but this doesn’t need to be nice… It needs to be *kind*, and Pepper here is being very kind. He isn’t judging her so much as making her realise that “normal” or “cool” isn’t as important as “happy” and “healthy”…ish…
If Pepper was more gentle, Mars would be able to find a point to distract with a joke or handwave it away as Pepper fretting. With Pepper becoming ungentle, he is handling Mars in the way she needs for this kinda of thing to actually stick and help them better their life. He is being colder, because if he was warmer, she’d just make fun of him like she already was before. She needs it told to her this way, even if she doesn’t like it. And that’s why she dislikes what he is doing, because she can’t fend it off very well. That’s the point.
I definitely agree in principle, but also Pepper isn’t Mars’ father or even a particularly close friend. Who is he to decide unilaterally what and how she needs to hear anything?
There’s also the fact that this is a glaring hypocrisy on Pepper’s part; he has a similar, arguably much deeper issue festering, namely that he cannot walk up the stairs in his own house, sleep in his own bed, or wash his clothes without assistance, and he lied to Mars’ face about it in the process of asking for help. She even called him on it, gave him another chance to be honest, and he doubled down and lied again. So he is asking for her to be deeply vulnerable and accept all criticisms from him while refusing to be vulnerable at all with her. And because she saw through the bullshit when he asked her upstairs, it’s going to undermine his legitimate point here.
Also, let’s be honest — the reason Pepper is being so direct and ungentle here isn’t because he decided this was what Mars will be most responsive to, because he was trying the gentle route this entire conversation. It’s because she told him to shut up when they reached a painful part of the conversation and he got frustrated. This is him venting on her, and I think as completely accurate his points are here, quite a few of them apply to his own relationship with the other denizens.
I think you’re right. I think being direct like this is something mars probably respects, rather than him pussy-footing around his point. if he was meek about it his point wouldn’t get across to her very well. she’s the kind of person who wants to arm wrestle
i have a theory about what halo head *is,* and how the story is going to end. i realize this is not the most relevant topic right now, but i only started reading this comic yesterday and i really wanna talk about it.
first, there is a theory that chloe and clair are two sides of the same person, with clair being created to protect chloe. there is plenty of evidence for this:
-clair’s role as chloe’s misguided protector, and the fact that she created an imaginary world
-the fact that they’re the only two humanoid characters
-the fact that they both have the opposite eye open (clair has her left eye open and chloe has her right eye open)
-the fact that they’re both skinny light-skinned girls with similar amounts of hair
-the angel/devil designs somewhat invoking the shoulder angel and devil motif
-the fact that halo head (a place that isnt entirely real) is named after clair
however, i wouldnt be too surprised if this theory turned out to be false and clair was indeed just someone who was trying to help chloe (family member, therapist, etc). my theory holds more water if you assume they are the same person, but it doesnt go completely out the window if you dont, so for the purposes of clarity and neutrality i will refer to them as two separate people
so, what *is* halo head (the place)? well, i dont think it literally exists. it is indeed a fantasy, judging by how chloe’s past is depicted, and, well, the entire opening of the comic. at the same time, i dont think it’s *entirely* imaginary, but rather chloe’s way of perceiving a world that does exist. why?
well, i want that to be true. i dont wanna lose my baby boy achilles. i do have actual evidence tho. note how detailed the other characters’ lives are. i dont think chloe’s imagination is good enuf that she can imagine this many things happening without her, *all of which she acts oblivious to.* also note how when pepper imagines ares, she immediately knows she isnt real, and the imaginary world around him has an artstyle that is very distinct from the usual one. in contrast, the ares that achilles sees (along with achilles himself, and every other character) doesnt acknowledge being imaginary, and does not act the way they would if they knew they only existed for chloe’s sake. the artstyle on halo head is also a lot more coherent — you dont see a person with colored in outlines and detailed lighting, walking around a world where everyone and everything else has minimal shading and transparent outlines. therefore i conclude that while chloe is perceiving the other characters in a non-literal fashion, they do literally exist, albeit probably as humans and maybe under different names (and with ares, achilles, and mars possibly inhabiting the same body, judging by the naming pattern and them all being cats)
now that that’s explained, how do i think the comic is going to end? well, my idea is pretty simple: chloe is finally going to remember what happened to her and decide to keep remembering so that she can finally come to terms with it. clair will realize her way of protecting chloe wasnt helping her in the long-term, and apologize for it. everyone on halo head will meet the people from the other levels and find out how clair mistreated them, and clair will apologize and explain that too. they will all find out the truth of what happened, and halo head will cease to exist in favor of chloe perceiving reality, surrounded by her friends who all want the best for her. however, there will still be some questions left unanswered: particularly, i think the details of chloe’s trauma are still going to be left to the reader’s imagination
why do i think this? well, once again, because i want to! i just think it would be the most satisfying ending, and the one that would most make me want to re-read the comic and keep theorizing about it (although, this may be because there’s a better option i havent thought of)
hope you liked reading this! would love to hear what yall have to think :achilles-happy:
Halo Head has to be somewhat real for someone like Ares to still exist along with previous layers, though I also see it the characters all being allegories for different trauma responses (which is kind of spelled out in the description) which makes Halo Head itself allegorical by proxy. I do think you’re correct overall, but I think things will get worse before Clair accepts that she’s not really helping Chloe.
I think she’ll have to be outed to some extent- which might just hurt her, but that might also drive her to try and start over again on another layer like she clearly many times already (bad for everyone else). Now I don’t think she’ll go through with it all the way, she’ll be convinced and/or forced to stop and then realize how she’s been going about things all wrong.
We’re probably a ways away from that though, for one I expect to see Ares again and learn more about her and the previous layer before we get there. And we kind of have to get everyone else back on the same page and not avoiding each other before any reckoning like that- although it would make a strong catalyst it doesn’t seem likely things are headed that way. We will have to see how this conversation ends, but it’s hard to imagine Mars continuing on the same way as she has been from here.
i agree with all of this! esp the part about how far away the ending is. there’s a lot of stuff that’s been set up but not really dwelled on. most notable for me is how they still havent properly addressed why achilles likes mars hurting him so much, or why he said pepper was there when she hit him, or basically everything to do with ares and the other layers
When Achilles said ‘you were there’ to Pepper, he was remarking on the times when he *asked* her to hit him and how Pepper was around for those, not the actual hit.
I am actually really fascinated by Mars’ makeup in this scene.
And honestly every scene since it has appeared.
It first appeared in 525, after Mars was woken up by Achilles and given a tip. It is also the same color as her accent markings. At the time, it was strictly below her eyes.
Since turning away in 544, the makeup (markings?) moved over her eyes.
Is this some way of visualizing her expanding her view?
Can’t believe it’s going to be my first post here!
English is not my native language so sorry for the mistakes, they’re sadly going to happens… T-T
First of all, I love this webcomic! The visuals are incredible, and the story made me feel so many emotions.
Second: it seems to be the unpopular opinion here, but I’m with Pepper on that one: yes, he’s forcing the issues, yes, he threw away the little bit of tact he had, but, for all those whos says “Think of how Mars must feel from her PoV: Pepper forcing her to go where she doesn’t want to go to talk about stuff she doesn’t want to talk about”, and I agree that on that part, it’s bad.
BUT, on the other hand, let’s imagine how it must feel for Pepper, who’s forced to watch his friends do stupid to dangerous things, get angry at each other, and none of them have the maturity to try to move past their anger and actually talk about it. Everyone around him, on this specific subject, are acting like ostrich, putting their heads in a hole in the ground, instead of trying to resolve the issue…
And he’s the only one who see the bigger picture, and who wants to actually talk about it, even if he’s risking his reputation or well-being, or friendship with the others.
Sometimes, people need time, to slowly open the door of their issues.
And sometimes, people need someone to kick that door open and drag them outside screaming.
I do think that’s the case here, because compared to Chloe, who show signs of wanting to adress her issues, but stops herself at the last second, and Clair, who doubles down on her mindset, even when people shows her the wrongness of her ways, Mars just goes full avoidance.
She doesn’t try to slowly open the door, she goes as far awat as possible from the door and try to act like it’s not here to begin with, even when everyone can see her bumping into it every two minutes.
So, Pepper gets the bad guy role here, but sometimes, you need a “bad guy” to wake you up. Him being harsh or forcing the conversation doesn’t makes what he’s saying wrong.
And, even if the future proves me wrong about the way Pepper acted and he only made things worst, since this webcomic is about exploring trauma and the different ways we get confronted to them, I think it’s cool to also see those kind of situations!
Anyway, just giving my two cents on this, and really curious to see how things are going to evolve.
Is Mars last sentence mean “I hate when you’re right” or “I hate when you oversteps people’s bondaries”? Can’t wait to see what’s gonna happen next! :peachy-aaa:
You know what, yeah. I think this is fine. It’s not forcing Mars to open up or expecting her to be vulnerable for Pepper to say “Here’s what’s happening with you and what’s holding you back it’s really obvious actually”
It’s pretty hard to just keep living in denial and closing yourself off after someone sees you so clearly. And if she knows he’s wrong on some point she’ll have to know where and how exactly. That still makes it a truth that’s hard to keep denying.
Honestly amazed at her restraint…so far
Many people are making a similar point that Mars is choosing to be quite vulnerable here, she’s turning out to be one of the most multidimensional characters in Halo Head imo :mars-point:
Staying up way later than always meaning to has its advantages
Like, pepper, you may be right—BUT CHILL
Also mars is very babygirl in this one
That’s a flattering close-up :mars-point:
What is he like a mind reader or somethin?
Nope, just observant and knows a thing or two about psychology
pepper once again forcing the plot forward by throwing the truth javelin directly into the person infront of him without a single shred of tact.
gotta work on those deliveries big dawg :pepper-shoot:
Honestly, I think it was the right play here from his perspective. Mars doesn’t come off as super self-aware to him, and is stubborn to boot, which is both irritating and needs to be pushed past sometimes to make points like this.
He’s not winning any friendship points with her right now by doing this, but he IS getting it through her skull that she’s being a dingus and needs to change her approach.
It’s okay Mars, everyone is weird, normal people are a myth :chloe-onice:
PREACH.
When you go up a level the conversation gets pretty meta and you’re a lot more real with each other.
Never mind, this is on point, sorry to have doubted you Pepper.
The insight of a psychologist coupled with the audacity of a friend.. I’m not qure that’s a good combination here 😬
This is high drama. :achilles-rose:
I love that Pepper’s big insightful moment comes at the top of the stairs that he’s had so many issues conquering. Ever since he was traumatized it seems like he’s been mostly using his insightful nature to hide things and play people against each other, but now that he’s made at least a little peace with it he can stand at the top and try to speak these truths to Mars to help mend her relationship with Chloe.
It’s also not wasted on me that Mars is positioned through light and perspective as looking up at Pepper from lower down the stairs, it’s great visual language for seeing where they both are in this conversation.
Mars just shaking her fists instead of actually throwing them bc Pepper made a read that might’ve hit home
playing with fire risks getting burned but also he is absolutely cooking with it to be fair
So the correct answer to this is kicking him in the
i know he’s right but damn man its like you read books or something
but also this isnt even for me and i can feel that tension of being told this in my chest like fuck you man. but you might be right
People might initially want to criticise Pepper for being ungentle… but we’re going to make an argument in favour of it.
There is something to be said about not mincing words. Being direct, clear, understandable, honest, and unwilling to allow the picture you’re painting be distorted overmuch by the words chosen is super important in communication. Does this mean that you sometimes say things that are not nice? Yes, but this doesn’t need to be nice… It needs to be *kind*, and Pepper here is being very kind. He isn’t judging her so much as making her realise that “normal” or “cool” isn’t as important as “happy” and “healthy”…ish…
If Pepper was more gentle, Mars would be able to find a point to distract with a joke or handwave it away as Pepper fretting. With Pepper becoming ungentle, he is handling Mars in the way she needs for this kinda of thing to actually stick and help them better their life. He is being colder, because if he was warmer, she’d just make fun of him like she already was before. She needs it told to her this way, even if she doesn’t like it. And that’s why she dislikes what he is doing, because she can’t fend it off very well. That’s the point.
I definitely agree in principle, but also Pepper isn’t Mars’ father or even a particularly close friend. Who is he to decide unilaterally what and how she needs to hear anything?
There’s also the fact that this is a glaring hypocrisy on Pepper’s part; he has a similar, arguably much deeper issue festering, namely that he cannot walk up the stairs in his own house, sleep in his own bed, or wash his clothes without assistance, and he lied to Mars’ face about it in the process of asking for help. She even called him on it, gave him another chance to be honest, and he doubled down and lied again. So he is asking for her to be deeply vulnerable and accept all criticisms from him while refusing to be vulnerable at all with her. And because she saw through the bullshit when he asked her upstairs, it’s going to undermine his legitimate point here.
Also, let’s be honest — the reason Pepper is being so direct and ungentle here isn’t because he decided this was what Mars will be most responsive to, because he was trying the gentle route this entire conversation. It’s because she told him to shut up when they reached a painful part of the conversation and he got frustrated. This is him venting on her, and I think as completely accurate his points are here, quite a few of them apply to his own relationship with the other denizens.
I think you’re right. I think being direct like this is something mars probably respects, rather than him pussy-footing around his point. if he was meek about it his point wouldn’t get across to her very well. she’s the kind of person who wants to arm wrestle
Okay, you know what? Pepper absolutely nailed it here. I have no complaints. I should’ve never doubted him. :pepper-shoot:
i have a theory about what halo head *is,* and how the story is going to end. i realize this is not the most relevant topic right now, but i only started reading this comic yesterday and i really wanna talk about it.
first, there is a theory that chloe and clair are two sides of the same person, with clair being created to protect chloe. there is plenty of evidence for this:
-clair’s role as chloe’s misguided protector, and the fact that she created an imaginary world
-the fact that they’re the only two humanoid characters
-the fact that they both have the opposite eye open (clair has her left eye open and chloe has her right eye open)
-the fact that they’re both skinny light-skinned girls with similar amounts of hair
-the angel/devil designs somewhat invoking the shoulder angel and devil motif
-the fact that halo head (a place that isnt entirely real) is named after clair
however, i wouldnt be too surprised if this theory turned out to be false and clair was indeed just someone who was trying to help chloe (family member, therapist, etc). my theory holds more water if you assume they are the same person, but it doesnt go completely out the window if you dont, so for the purposes of clarity and neutrality i will refer to them as two separate people
so, what *is* halo head (the place)? well, i dont think it literally exists. it is indeed a fantasy, judging by how chloe’s past is depicted, and, well, the entire opening of the comic. at the same time, i dont think it’s *entirely* imaginary, but rather chloe’s way of perceiving a world that does exist. why?
well, i want that to be true. i dont wanna lose my baby boy achilles. i do have actual evidence tho. note how detailed the other characters’ lives are. i dont think chloe’s imagination is good enuf that she can imagine this many things happening without her, *all of which she acts oblivious to.* also note how when pepper imagines ares, she immediately knows she isnt real, and the imaginary world around him has an artstyle that is very distinct from the usual one. in contrast, the ares that achilles sees (along with achilles himself, and every other character) doesnt acknowledge being imaginary, and does not act the way they would if they knew they only existed for chloe’s sake. the artstyle on halo head is also a lot more coherent — you dont see a person with colored in outlines and detailed lighting, walking around a world where everyone and everything else has minimal shading and transparent outlines. therefore i conclude that while chloe is perceiving the other characters in a non-literal fashion, they do literally exist, albeit probably as humans and maybe under different names (and with ares, achilles, and mars possibly inhabiting the same body, judging by the naming pattern and them all being cats)
now that that’s explained, how do i think the comic is going to end? well, my idea is pretty simple: chloe is finally going to remember what happened to her and decide to keep remembering so that she can finally come to terms with it. clair will realize her way of protecting chloe wasnt helping her in the long-term, and apologize for it. everyone on halo head will meet the people from the other levels and find out how clair mistreated them, and clair will apologize and explain that too. they will all find out the truth of what happened, and halo head will cease to exist in favor of chloe perceiving reality, surrounded by her friends who all want the best for her. however, there will still be some questions left unanswered: particularly, i think the details of chloe’s trauma are still going to be left to the reader’s imagination
why do i think this? well, once again, because i want to! i just think it would be the most satisfying ending, and the one that would most make me want to re-read the comic and keep theorizing about it (although, this may be because there’s a better option i havent thought of)
hope you liked reading this! would love to hear what yall have to think :achilles-happy:
Halo Head has to be somewhat real for someone like Ares to still exist along with previous layers, though I also see it the characters all being allegories for different trauma responses (which is kind of spelled out in the description) which makes Halo Head itself allegorical by proxy. I do think you’re correct overall, but I think things will get worse before Clair accepts that she’s not really helping Chloe.
I think she’ll have to be outed to some extent- which might just hurt her, but that might also drive her to try and start over again on another layer like she clearly many times already (bad for everyone else). Now I don’t think she’ll go through with it all the way, she’ll be convinced and/or forced to stop and then realize how she’s been going about things all wrong.
We’re probably a ways away from that though, for one I expect to see Ares again and learn more about her and the previous layer before we get there. And we kind of have to get everyone else back on the same page and not avoiding each other before any reckoning like that- although it would make a strong catalyst it doesn’t seem likely things are headed that way. We will have to see how this conversation ends, but it’s hard to imagine Mars continuing on the same way as she has been from here.
i agree with all of this! esp the part about how far away the ending is. there’s a lot of stuff that’s been set up but not really dwelled on. most notable for me is how they still havent properly addressed why achilles likes mars hurting him so much, or why he said pepper was there when she hit him, or basically everything to do with ares and the other layers
When Achilles said ‘you were there’ to Pepper, he was remarking on the times when he *asked* her to hit him and how Pepper was around for those, not the actual hit.
OHHHHHH that makes a lot more sense. thanks :3
We all are a little weird. :achilles-plush:
ah, a fellow halo head commenter I see
I love that mars’ thing is physical intimidation and pepper’s is whatever this is. and that it’s just as effective as mars’ intimidation
… wonder if pepper is so insightful here because he’s talking about how he feels about achilles, too.
I know we’ll have to wait until next time, but… She’s not saying he’s WRONG right now either. God I hope she doesn’t just brush him off.
His so golden retriever brain.
He gotta learn to sit and wait for his psychological treats
literally putting Mars on the back foot with that lighting on the floorboards, Batty you are a genius
God if only someone could watch me for a while and tell me exactly what my problem is
I am actually really fascinated by Mars’ makeup in this scene.
And honestly every scene since it has appeared.
It first appeared in 525, after Mars was woken up by Achilles and given a tip. It is also the same color as her accent markings. At the time, it was strictly below her eyes.
Since turning away in 544, the makeup (markings?) moved over her eyes.
Is this some way of visualizing her expanding her view?
Can’t believe it’s going to be my first post here!
English is not my native language so sorry for the mistakes, they’re sadly going to happens… T-T
First of all, I love this webcomic! The visuals are incredible, and the story made me feel so many emotions.
Second: it seems to be the unpopular opinion here, but I’m with Pepper on that one: yes, he’s forcing the issues, yes, he threw away the little bit of tact he had, but, for all those whos says “Think of how Mars must feel from her PoV: Pepper forcing her to go where she doesn’t want to go to talk about stuff she doesn’t want to talk about”, and I agree that on that part, it’s bad.
BUT, on the other hand, let’s imagine how it must feel for Pepper, who’s forced to watch his friends do stupid to dangerous things, get angry at each other, and none of them have the maturity to try to move past their anger and actually talk about it. Everyone around him, on this specific subject, are acting like ostrich, putting their heads in a hole in the ground, instead of trying to resolve the issue…
And he’s the only one who see the bigger picture, and who wants to actually talk about it, even if he’s risking his reputation or well-being, or friendship with the others.
Sometimes, people need time, to slowly open the door of their issues.
And sometimes, people need someone to kick that door open and drag them outside screaming.
I do think that’s the case here, because compared to Chloe, who show signs of wanting to adress her issues, but stops herself at the last second, and Clair, who doubles down on her mindset, even when people shows her the wrongness of her ways, Mars just goes full avoidance.
She doesn’t try to slowly open the door, she goes as far awat as possible from the door and try to act like it’s not here to begin with, even when everyone can see her bumping into it every two minutes.
So, Pepper gets the bad guy role here, but sometimes, you need a “bad guy” to wake you up. Him being harsh or forcing the conversation doesn’t makes what he’s saying wrong.
And, even if the future proves me wrong about the way Pepper acted and he only made things worst, since this webcomic is about exploring trauma and the different ways we get confronted to them, I think it’s cool to also see those kind of situations!
Anyway, just giving my two cents on this, and really curious to see how things are going to evolve.
Is Mars last sentence mean “I hate when you’re right” or “I hate when you oversteps people’s bondaries”? Can’t wait to see what’s gonna happen next! :peachy-aaa:
You know what, yeah. I think this is fine. It’s not forcing Mars to open up or expecting her to be vulnerable for Pepper to say “Here’s what’s happening with you and what’s holding you back it’s really obvious actually”
It’s pretty hard to just keep living in denial and closing yourself off after someone sees you so clearly. And if she knows he’s wrong on some point she’ll have to know where and how exactly. That still makes it a truth that’s hard to keep denying.
Sometimes you just gotta use your words like a bludgeon, with brute force.
i fucking LOVE the perspective and her expression in the last panel. oh my god.
Why u yelling at her dawg 🙁