"attachments" on the dream smp (aka: please get these stupid minecraft block people some THERAPY holy crap /lh):

/dsmp /roleplay

preemptively, im gonna thank @dsmptranscripts for luu's AMAZING work at keeping track of some Major Lore Moments. do check her out there as well as at her main acc @tobeoptimistic_ !!

ANYWAY- attachments, one of the many buzzwords of the dsmp fandom, at this point, right up there with "disks" and "traitor" and "dream/nightmare" and the whole library of smiles that this server has ruined /lh

of course, the idea of "attachments" really came to light in s2, with "The Spirit Speech" and in the finale, especially, being part of c!dream's "master plan" to take control of the server. we know he planned to take everything of value to everyone under his own control,

therefore putting every PERSON under his control. this theme is echoed by the egg plot, which began and continued through all of s2 and s3 with the emphasis of the egg being able to "offer you exactly what you want"

and - obviously - c!dream's perspective on attachments is flawed, and what ultimately leads to his own demise. his lack of attachments meant that when it came down to it, nobody was on his side, while everyone came to help tommy + tubbo.

he had no attachments that could be used against him, sure, but he also had no attachments that could be used FOR him. we know how the story ends - c!dream, alone, due to the attachments that HE cut off-

-well, mostly.

In all reality, attachment (obviously) is something that runs through every single conflict of the server - and for good reason! people dont *fight* for no reason, after all. conflict, by its nature, means that you need something to fight ABOUT, something you Care enough about

to put your time and effort, blood and sweat, even your LIFE into defending, or destroying, or obtaining.

you can fight for something you love, or fight against something you hate - the only real enemy to conflict is apathy, and we see this perfectly in the example of c!george

(especially on november 16th, where he sat back and built a house while everyone else fought - bc in the end, c!george didn't *care*)

in most stories, this attachment would be set up as the attachment between characters - and obviously, this is explored in the dream smp!! the finale, especially, is where we can see this, as c!tommy is forced to confront the possibility of losing c!tubbo

but as this *is* minecraft, and respawns *are* a thing, the dream smp often has to get creative with what "attachments" matter, and can be lost - which is why we see so many wars over the same couple chunks of land, or over a couple of pets, etc etc

attachments cause conflict, because Caring About Things causes conflict. that's not ,, just true in minecraft - it's true in real life. you don't FIGHT about stuff you don't give a damn about.

if nobody cared abt anything, we'd all just be c!george sipping on a smoothie as the world goes down in flames

but something important to realize that like, in real life AND the minecraft roleplay, caring about things is both a strength and a weakness. it means something for others to target, but also something to assist you. and this is a message that is very much emphasized in s2.

c!tommy's greatest flaw isnt his attachment to the discs - if this were true, then his "happy ending" and character growth over the course of this season WOULDNT end with him getting the discs - but it does. having and caring about the discs themselves isnt a bad thing

(tho there is an argument about the legality of c!tommy making such a big deal about discs that he claims were stolen from him when he traded them away in a peace treaty, but i digress)

the main problem with c!tommy and what his development largely focuses on is his prioritization of his attachments, such as his love for his discs vs his relationship w/ c!tubbo and others -> and we see this change, as he chooses c!tubbo over the discs in the finale

a huge part of c!tommy's development/arc throughout s2 is his relationship to his attachments and him figuring out what they mean to him as well as having a healthier perspective of them overall (if you want more c!tommy analysis, head on over to @/itsakiiwi !! kiiwi's the best)

anyway - following this greater theme of, honestly the entire server as a whole but ESPECIALLY s2, we have c!dream - being the "villain" of the season, his character is in a lot of ways a dark mirror to c!tommy - a character who's perspective on attachments has become Twisted

which, naturally, points us to the question of why?

why does c!dream end up having such a terrible perspective on attachment? why does he think he needs to lose everything to gain everything?

and honestly? the answer is Right there.

let's go back to the very beginning of the disc conflict - the first time the discs are stolen, and the beginning of the importance of "sentiment" on the server. we see c!dream come into try and stop the fighting - and then c!tommy and c!sapnap kill him and steal his stuff

in retaliation and in search for an apology, c!dream steals the discs - and thus begins the disc saga.

then - skeppy steals spirit's leather, and dream gives him one of tommy's music discs in return for it back

then - the railway skirmish, where c!dream's items are taken by c!tommy and c!tubbo for leverage after he is killed by a minecart. he agrees to trade Spirit's leather for his items back

then- beckerson and mars are taken in the middle of the pet conflict, as well as his pets being threatened, and he works together with george and sapnap to get the fish back

this,, trend continues, honestly. and it goes for more characters than just c!dream !! on the dream smp,, if you get attached to something, chances are it's gonna be used against you - ESPECIALLY during the pet war era

(forgive my lackluster memory lmao, a LOT of things have happened since that time of the dream smp and there were a LOT of items/pets being threatened and changing hands at the time rip)

but - obviously, c!dream changes, over the course of the server. when your attachments to things are constantly threatened and used against you, when they become something that people target ,, what happens? how do you react?

we see this - we see, probably most clearly, during the day of the exile decision, what people consider the "only item that means something to dream" to be used against him, to turn him into their "bitch"

and that brings us to the spirit speech.

i want to point out one quote in particular, here - "i have lost all care for everything on this server." the sentiment is echoed, again, in the finale, and then again during tommy's first prison visit:

and the repetition of the word "lost" is significant here - "losing" by its nature isn't ,, a very triumphant word. it's not something that you do WILLINGLY - no one CHOOSES, or WANTS to lose things.

which really brings me to my point (lmao took a while, didn't it?) - c!dream's lack of attachments isn't something that makes him feel good !! it's not something he *wants* to do.

it's a survival mechanism.

and we can SEE this, especially, in his attachments to people !! look here, at his conversation with c!punz:

c!dream KNOWS that his attachments will be threatened. he's accepted it. and - as we can see here - his "cutting off" of attachments? usually means something along these lines - making sure they cannot be used against him. keeping THEM safe from being used against him.

he says something very similar when he dethones c!george, claiming that c!george has been put in danger due to his connection to c!dream, and then cutting off any official ties that would put them together - eliminating anything for anyone else to target

again - none of this is ,, happy? c!dream knows he has enemies. he knows that people hate him. and he's ,, altogether, very very resigned to it. but in a situation where you may think that he'd (logically) look to increase the amount of people on his side - he cuts people away

he tells people to stop talking to him, to fight against him, to pretend (or not pretend) to be on the opposite side of him - because being on his side means that they'll be threatened. because being one of his "attachments" is a death sentence.

// animal death

and - his views are reaffirmed, again and again.

his attachment to c!punz ends up, ironically enough, being his downfall, as c!punz's knowledge of his evil plan is what leads to his defeat in the finale. his trust in c!sam screws him over in pandora. his attachment to the clock doesn't last long before it's taken away

c!dream's perspective of attachments didn't come from NOWHERE - it came from events all throughout the server that reaffirmed to him that attachments are a weakness, whether they are attachments to items, pets, or people.

the ONLY items that have ever actually GOTTEN him anything are the discs - and so he develops a (very unhealthy) fixation on them. otherwise, spirit's leather usually means he loses things, more often than not, and is used as a way to control him.

people ,, don't stay on his side. lmanburg turns on him during the first revolution, ignoring his rules and creating a "new server" for him to pay for all while excluding him. the badlands do the same, seeking their own power in the chaos of manburg v pogtopia.

c!eret betrays him and the DreamSMP during november 16th, c!george and c!sapnap leave him based on c!tommy's words during the dethronement debacle. c!punz is the last person on his side by the finale and he betrays him, there, too.

what ARE attachments to c!dream, but a weakness? what benefit has he obtained from them? people don't stay. items are destroyed. pets are killed. he's not someone that others fight for - he's someone that they fight against. that they leave in a box and turn away from.

attachments aren't all good, or all bad - but if you only experience one side of that spectrum, your perspective is going to be shaped by those memories and experiences. and c!dream's experience with attachments ,, has been . overwhelmingly negative.

// fictional torture , violence

even now, the LAST item, the LAST thing he has left - the revive book - has become a means by which people justify torturing him for.

apathy ,, is a privilege that c!dream has never been able to afford.

the problem of attachments does not start and end with c!dream. it's ,, far too deeply rooted as a problem for that - simply changing his mind is impossible in the context of the environment around them

he did NOT develop this perspective purely to gain power - and this is evident in the way he speaks about attachments in general. attachments - and cutting them off - were a way for c!dream to feel less powerless in a world that punishes you for sentimentality

this perspective affects Every Person On The Server, not just c!dream - and is therefore a problem that has to be addressed with Every Person On The Server,,, not just c!dream. of course, he's probably the most visible effect of it, and the most ,,, twisted and extreme,

but the idea of "attachments are weaknesses" continues to affect a LOT of characters - think about c!sam, just the other night, killing a baby zombie on a chicken and saying "there - no time for anyone to get attached"

c!dream and his evil plan to take over the server with attachments isn't even the only example of someone planning to do this !! just look at c!quackity and c!sam talking about Las Nevadas for the first time - exploiting attachments is just. a Thing on this server.

c!dream is the symptom of a much greater problem that developed a really unhealthy perspective on attachments due to his own experiences with them, and is not the end-all be-all of attachment on the server nor the first to develop this unhealthy mindset in the first place

and addressing the problem as a whole MUST begin with the ENTIRE SERVER and not just with a single person, especially because apathy has become more and more of a survival mechanism purely due to the hostility in this server in general

,,, thanks for coming to my ted talk?

god this is messy - thanks for reading !! hopefully someone got something out of it - it's definitely on the "less thought out" side of threads for me bc i am RUSTY lmaoooo

take care !! :D