Dirk Strider

biography (early life)

Dirk and Roxy Lalonde's meteors arrived on Earth sometime in the years 2407 or 2408, hundreds of years after the arrivals of their friends Jane Crocker and Jake English and almost 400 years after the complete domination of the planet by the alien Her Imperious Condescension. Dirk landed in the middle of the flooded planet's vast ocean somewhere in what used to be Texas, and used his only companion, Lil Cal, as a flotation device to reach the former apartment complex where he now resides.HS At some point in his childhood he came into contact with the alien Calliope, who, in order to facilitate his and Roxy's communication with their two friends hundreds of years in the past, provided them both with a version of Pesterchum with time-locked Trollian technology embedded.HS A massive fan of his ancestor Dave Strider's work, he appears to have given himself a Hella Jeff tattooHS. When Dirk was thirteen, he used the captcha code of his brain to create an AI duplicate of himself.HS For his friend Jane's thirteenth, Dirk gave her a bunny as a gift using sendificator technology; though Jake and Roxy's bunnies had their origins as family heirlooms, Dirk had to steal the original Con Air bunny from his "brother's" movie memorabilia museum,HS though its robotic shell was built from scratch.

biography (act 6)

His dream self on Derse has apparently been awake for years, much like Dave's was, although Dave was not aware of it. After a little practice, he learned how to be awake there while awake [on Earth] too. However, he isn't the world's best multi-tasker, causing him to zombie the fuck out whenever he concentrates on things happening dream-side. He has been using his dream self to gather information on Derse, and to watch over Roxy's sleepwalking dream self. His dream self is seen covered in the Hegemonic Brute's blood, having foiled the Batterwitch's assassination attempt. He then chose to reveal his dream self's wakefulness to Derse by publicly impaling the Brute's head through a Dersite banner.HS Afterward, Dirk tries to ascend to his roof, but is sidetracked by the sudden appearance of Roxy's Fenestrated wall, and soon after by jeering from Caliborn. He grabs Lil Cal and goes to the roof, where we see that, like Roxy, he lives in the future post-scratch Earth.

biography (act 6) 2

As Dirk's dream self attempts to escape from the Red Miles, he is shocked to see both Jane and Jake appearing on Derse. While telling Jane to abscond from Derse via the portal, he witnesses the Miles impaling her from behind. He then quickly orders Lil' Seb to take Jake and get him out of Derse. Afterwards, he intends to kiss Jane to save her dream self, but is knocked out by falling debris before he gets the chance to do it. On Earth, his waking self is also knocked out by the blow, presumably because of his consciousness being divided between his two selves, and drops Lil Cal into the sea below. Afterward, the projection of Dirk which existed in Jake's dream bubble becomes Dirk's dream self. Dream Dirk states he must leave in order to repair the session, as all the players are dead or unconscious. He takes Roxy's hand and begins to leave, apologizing for his abrupt exit. As he attempts to leave the dream bubble, Dirk finds he cannot leave it, so he throws Roxy out of the bubble instead, while he is awoken by Aranea Serket's powers. His waking self wakes up, and afterwards he begins his plan to rescue his friends. He captchalogues several objects, including Squarewave and his sendificator, before leaving Sawtooth to send his home to the Medium and going through the fenestrated wall sent by the God Cat from Roxy's house with his rocket board. Dirk arrives at Roxy's room, where he leaves Squarewave to take care of Roxy's entry. He revives Roxy before killing himself by sendificating his head to Jake, who revives him. After Dirk's dream self awakens, he revives Jane and takes Roxy and himself to their session's Frog Temple, where they wait in the time capsule until Jake's time. The two are then reunited with Jane and wake up Jake in time for him to revive Dirk.

biography (act 6) 3

Almost half a year after entering, Dirk is shown to be on the Land of Tombs and Krypton, wearing a mask to protect himself from the thick gases of the planet and shoes similar to that of his rapping robots. He still uses his Unbreakable Katana, unlike the other kids and their newly-created weapons. He is seen about to ambush some skeletal Underlings alongside Jake, who now has a Sweet Bro tat to match Dirk's Hella Jeff. Later the three trickster kids then arrive on LOTAK and attempt to get Dirk in on trickster action. Roxy announces her feelings for Dirk, which he already knew of to begin with. She then tries to kiss him in order to solve her personal problems, but he tries to fight her off, threatening to use a sword and losing his cool in the process. After Roxy's persistent behavior and Arquiusprite's words of wisdom, he allows Roxy to kiss him, physically turning him into a trickster. However, because of his dense mind, and possibly his abilities as a Prince of Heart, he seems to be immune to the "sugar holocaust" properties of the Trickster mode. Dirk tries to message Jake constantly after he leaves in desire for more space from their relationship, though once all of his messages went ignored and he is confronted by trickster Jake, Dirk decides to take the initiative and break up with him instead. However, he has shown remorse for the way he did it later. After ascending to the God tiers, Dirk and Roxy are encountered by the Condesce herself. Dirk attempts to aggress her, but is suddenly obstructed by Jade Harley, who gives him a hook to the lips and teleports him away to the Furthest Ring, the same way she did with Jack Noir.

biography (GAMEOVER timeline)

Outside the incipisphere, Dirk flies back to the session while communicating with Arquiusprite as a last resort, since he is the only person Dirk knows of who is available for contact. He talks to Arquiusprite to attempt to figure out the situation in the alpha session. He is told he will arrive in the session in three hours and advised to contact Dave, which he does - however, the numerous stardust glitches surrounding Dirk cause his words to become unreadable. Eventually, he gets back to the Incipisphere, only to find it utterly destroyed. He stood beneath the ruins of a statue of Yaldabaoth as John approached him, seeking to find answers as to what had happened. Dirk simply says that he failed and is consumed by the glitches brought on by Caliborn's interference in the game.

biography (new timeline)

In the new timeline created by John's retcons, Dirk was zapped into the Furthest Ring just like he was in the old timeline, but now Vriska expedites his arrival by teleporting him to the victory platform with a Crockercorp rifle, the same one seen in the Act 6 Act 4 flash. Dirk arrivesHS through a fenestrated wall, landing right next to Dave. He and Dave then travel to the top of a tower on his own planet, and they do not talk to each other until they meet Jasprosesprite^2 briefly. Dave remarks how weird that was, leading to a brief awkward conversation. After Dave unsuccessfully tries to contact someone through Karkat's computer, they have a much longer conversation about their respective upbringings, eventually bonding after Dave vents his frustrations about his brother, and Dirk apologizes. During the battle with the Jacks in [S] Collide, Dirk was seen taking the most physical abuse (i.e: getting punched in the face, then preceding to get whacked across the face with a crowbar, with a noticeable trail of blood on the ground after he was knocked down before getting put into a choke hold, then getting decapitated. Besides John, he was the only other person shown to get 3 hit scenes). He is also killed by Spades Slick's gun, and seriously injured by an energy blast; both times he was resuscitated by Terezi and Dave, and immediately rejoined the fight. He was then put in a chokehold by Lord Jack, who was then put into a similar hold by Robot Jack. After exchanging a brief glance with Dave, the latter seemed to understand (due to Dirk's prompting) and proceeded to decapitate Lord Jack, Robot Jack, and Dirk, all at once. Dirk's head then disappeared with two alternate Daves, who caught his decapitated head and his body. Afterwards, Dave brought him back to the victory platform and Jane later revived him.

biography (new timeline) 2

After being on the platform, he is seen reconciling with Jake (whilst talking to Rose and Terezi) and later becoming Jake's friend again in Act 7, where they are shown in the future of the new planet together, playing soccer. In the Credits, he is shown to be the king of the Consort Kingdom along with Jake, and Gcatavrosprite.

Personality and Traits

Dirk tends to brag when it comes to his achievements, especially involving robots, which have been scattered far and wide. He appears to enjoy criticizing Jake's infatuation with the fictional character Neytiri, apparently referring to the character as a gigantic shitty space furry.HS He seems to be a fan of horses, judging by his room being filled with horse and pony themed posters. It is inferred that he also watches My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic; although he claims his interest is purely of academic nature, he admits he loves Rainbow Dash since she is so spunky. <3HS He also owns a tiny Maplehoof, who in her new size resembles a MLP figurine. He seems to be more laid back and less hot-headed than Dave at fifteen, using intellectual analysis intermixed with his ironic quips. At thirteen however, his personality is almost identical to Dave's, using more curse words and fewer intellectual quips than his older self. Much like his pre-scratch self, Dirk seems to have a high interest in teaching people lessons to aid them in their personal development, such as when he insists Jake fights Brobot for uranium (although this was said by his auto-responder) as a consequence of having wasted his own uranium thoughtlessly. He tries to make Jake more skeptical because he is very naive; while the opposite holds true for Jane, who he criticised for her extreme skepticism. This results in him coming off as obnoxious at times, trying to make his friends think more. Like his pre-scratch self, he has a big interest in smuppets and puppets in general (although it seems this interest has expanded into the field of robotics). He is also known to enjoy "legendary infinite showers" (which he may take when he is focusing on his dream self).

Personality and Traits 2

For all his superficial similarities to his son, Dirk also has a lot in common with his daughter Rose, sharing her level of literacy and verbosity. Dirk's previous interest and relationship with Jake as well as this conversationHS where Dirk refers to the respective orientations of Jane and himself confirms him to only have an interest in the same sex. He goes on to call Jake the only viable romantic target for him out of their group, and suggests that may be the reason for his infatuation with him. Roxy frequently refers to him to things like SUCH a gay dude and has mentioned him being a guy who dont like girls, though he said that he finds the label of "gay" antediluvian, basically meaning old-fashioned, and that the term is a nuanced topic. In most cases, he doesn't view his orientation as something worth discussing. Dirk seems to harbor a lot of self hatred, which is only compounded when he has to contend with alternate versions of himself. Dirk says that he and the AI he created, Hal, are the same people only to his convenience, and denies this to his inconvenience, similar to Dave and Davesprite. His splinters may be part of why he is more reasonable and empathetic than his pre-scratch counterpart. Dirk is also extremely loyal to his friends and willing to sacrifice and die for them. All of his deaths are self inflicted in some way to aid them, and in his post [S] Game Over death he allows himself to be consumed by glitches because of his failure to save his friends.

Relationship with Bro

As with Dave before him, he seems to have had a strained relationship with his Bro, who died in the 21st century as a resistance fighter against the Baroness. Unlike Dave, he was unable to physically brawl with his brother due to their separation in time, forcing him to build robots, set them to kill mode, and spar with them to deathHS instead. Dirk is aware that they are not actual brothers, instead being related through an esoteric process of genetic reamalgamation.HS Although his statement seems to imply that he knows about John's ectobiology shenanigansHS, in actuality he likely assumed he was the product of a reproduction process similar to the trolls', as the Condesce experimented with that before and during his lifetime. Jane also believes that he is a bit bitter about his brother's success with Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff the Moive, although he would never admit it.

Relationship with Jake English

It was revealed by Dirk's auto-responderHS and then later on by Dirk himselfHS that he harbors a romantic interest in Jake. Dirk's auto-responder alluded to this. This indicates that Dirk's romantic interest in Jake began to manifest when he was around thirteen, since that was when Dirk first built the auto-responder using a captcha of his own brain. The auto-responder also informs Roxy that Dirk is planning to make some sort of romantic overture to Jake once they both begin playing the game. He and Jake were revealed to be dating for some months after entering the medium, but when the story resumed from their perspective, Jake was shown to feel uneasy about the relationship. This discomfort came from Jake feeling like Dirk was being too overbearing as a boyfriend; Erisolsprite described their relationship as a TRAINWRECK of a mate2priit2hiip. Upon being confronted by trickster Jake's proposal to group marry him and once engaging in a failed version of trickster mode himself, Dirk breaks up with Jake. Dirk guesses that his intense advances towards him were partially initially because Jake was the only romantic target due to his orientation. However, later on he shows remorse for the way he broke up with him, and partially takes the blame for their problems by saying my insanity scared him right the fuck off. He and Jane have both said they are unable to tell whether or not they are completely over him. Later he stated that it's probably better for him to stay out of Jake's life, considering himself to have been a completely toxic element in his life from day one.

Relationship with Jake English 2

After [S] Collide, Dirk and Jake confront each other and seem to talk through their relationship. It's revealed in the flash of Act 7 that they're back on good terms, playing with a soccer ball away from the others. This is further indicated by the Credits, when they form the Consort Kingdom with Gcatavrosprite, and when they engage in practice fisticuffs with Sawtooth, Squarewave, and a new robot resembling Lrd English. They later pose together for a snap that John receives on his 19th birthday.

Relationship with Jane Crocker

Dirk and Jane are good friends. At the start of their adventure, he is shown to be concerned for her well being as the heiress to Crockercorp. He makes the robotic bunny Li'l Sebastian for her 13th birthday present in part to help protect her from assassination threats. She seems quite taken with his sense of humor as shown by her reaction to the edited Pony Pals book he gifted to her. She is also the only one he talks to in crypt conversations after Trickster mode, where they reconcile, looking back on the events of their session so far and seeming to distract each other from the impending death and ascension to god tier that awaits them.

Relationship with Roxy Lalonde

Dirk has been aware of Roxy's romantic feelings for him for some time and feels guilty about it since he is unable to reciprocate. Dirk clearly cares deeply for her in other ways, however, and wishes to remain friends without allowing their feelings to cause any issues between each other. He stated in in one conversationHS that (he'd) probably run (his) sword through (his) own dick before (he) could bring (himself) to kill Roxy. Even for her own good. He also has shown admiration for her in this conversationHS with Jane, explaining how he is proud of her and how she's probably stronger than the other three of them put together.

Relationship with Calliope

Though only one conversationHS between Dirk and Calliope has been observed, where they primarily discuss game mechanics and the the mechanics of Calliope's species and their interest in romance, he has been in contact with her since early on in his friendship with the rest of the group.HS He takes her advice to make [his] presence knownHS after the murder of the Hegemonic Brute seriously, leading to his uprisingHS on Derse.

Relationship with Caliborn

Dirk and Caliborn talk frequentlyHS. When asked to play a game, Dirk immediately agreesHS, draws/animates 25 pieces of art for him, and expresses disappointment when Caliborn calls game overHS. He thinks Caliborn is a pretty fascinating guyHS, even though his artwork is utter shitHS. Dirk constructed Caliborn's robotic leg YEARS AGOHS. While under attack from drones, Dirk still takes the time to tell Caliborn personally, twice, that he's busy, before letting Lil Hal take over.HS He has made a fewHS attemptsHS to test the waters and see if Caliborn would consider reconciling with Calliope, but without much success. It can be said that Dirk is Caliborn's obvious favourite out of all the humans. It could also be because he finds Dirk physically attractive, an opinion he voiced multiple times despite his tendency towards insults. For instance, he called Dirk an "Anime prince" and later called him a "pretty boy ninja stud", although it's possible that when he called Dirk the "Anime prince", he was simply referring to Dirk's class and the fact his sunglasses are similar to ones worn by certain anime characters. He also said that he admired Dirk and that Dirk had a "powerful body."

Relationship with Dave Strider

Dirk has shown trepidation at the idea of meeting Dave in person, despite saying earlier that he would like to. This mirrors Dave's own reluctance at the idea of meeting Dirk. The first real interactionHS between Dirk and Dave, which takes place prior to their battle with Lord Jack, is forced and awkward, much more so than any other interaction so far between pre- and post-scratch kids. However, they eventually break the ice after Dave tells of his upbringing by his brother, and they begin trading stories of their lives and those of their respective guardians.

Relationship with Arquiusprite

Dirk probably has the most strained, terse relationship with his sprite out of any of the alpha kids due to his dislike of himself. Many of his conversations with Arquiusprite deteriorate into a yes/no back and forth, and his tendency to refer to Arquiusprite as a copy of him and not the 'real' Dirk tend to get on the latter's nerves severely.

Trivia

His shirt features a picture of a cap, reminiscent of Bro's headwear and similar in shape to Dave's record symbol. Also, both symbols are broken circles, with Dave's being a cracked circle and Dirk's being a semi-circle. Dirk's symbol also relates to Dave's in that they are both the only two-colour symbols of any characters, except for the cherubs (though Dave's may not count because its secondary colour is black, which appears on all Kid symbols). The Striders' dual-colour symbols may also reference Dirk's connection to the Cherubs. Dirk's bedsheets contain pool balls on it, both in mirror to and in contrast of Dave's card suit bedsheets. Dirk's eyes were previously red before the changes in [S] Roxy: SleepwalkHS took place and were reverted to orange, as seen here This is possibly due to Hussie forgetting to change the asset color from [S] Jade: Wake up.HS where Dave reveals his eyes. Being the Prince of Heart, Dirk "signs" his note to the Draconian Dignitary by sticking the Hegemonic Brute's <3 symbol on it. Dirk is also seen to be left handed when he draws, as shown when he is creating Caliborn's "Pornography." He is the only one (thus far) who could negate the mental effects of Trickster Mode, although he changed physically. He is also the only one of the post-scratch kids whose Trickster outfit does not reveal any striped stockings so far. In addition, unlike the other three Tricksters, he has no visible mouth. Jake, himself and Calliope are the only player characters that were not seen rendered in Homosuck style. It would seem that Dirk is one of the few people in Homestuck who considers triangular shades cool: JohnHS, ErisolspriteHS, and KarkatHS all consider his sunglasses to be dumb-looking.

Trivia 2

Dirk Strider committed suicide in canon three times, arguably five times, far more than any other character, to the point where his death became a running joke. He was decapitated by his own admission twice. He gave himself to a pixel void when his friends were killed, and he realized he had nothing left to fight for. He knew his god tier slab meant death and waited for it without protest. He allowed Caliborn to beat him up to protect the other alphas. He attempted to kill an AI of himself, and generally carried a violent attitude towards anything remotely resembling himself. Dirk had a heartsplinter rip its own heart out with some level of sentient knowledge that it would be killed. He was not given canon confirmation his second decapitation was Heroic rather than Just. Because of this, Dirk is the center of a meme revolving around him asking various people to slit his throat. Based upon his birthday, aspect, and lunar sway, Dirk's Extended Zodiac sign is Sagio, the Ego.