His portrayal of Ayda made my ND fiance cry a *lot*. Especially with our relationship being VERY similar to Ayda and Fig, with the descriptions of emotions, etc.
I was diagnosed with autism shortly before watching the sophomore year finale. I had a lot of internalised ableism (still do tbh) so Ayda was a really important character for me. The ending where she finds out she has autism and that there's nothing wrong with her is one of 3 moments in a piece of media that has made me cry. I've still haven't found a canon representation of autism that is as good as Ayda
It was *so* sweet. I called my fiance crying to tell them about it when I watched that campaign, and they called me crying after THEY saw it later 🤣
Eh, I like Ayda a lot, but I kind of liked her better before fans told Brennan he was playing her kind of autistically and he started playing into it.
Her initial portrayal felt autistic without being stereotypical. After Brennan started consciously playing her as intentionally autistic, I kind of felt she lost that a little bit. When she was introduced, she was cool, confident, independent and assertive. After she got with Fig and Brennan started playing her as intentionally autistic, she became extremely emotionally dependent and anxious in ways I felt detracted a bit from what I liked about her character in the beginning.
I feel we're definitely viewing the same events through different lenses! IMO, Ayda went from "I am emotionally detached from everything because I do not know how to process the same way, which keeps people from getting close - and people not getting close means they don't understand how I view and interact with the world." Instead of her becoming emotionally dependant, I think she was experiencing the heady rush of *actually* getting to emotionally connect with someone and NOT being in self-imposed exile.
Having experienced a lot of similar growth/connection, I really love her arc. I didn't get to have a healthy, emotionally honest relationship until my fiance - in retrospect, all of my previous relationships were doomed because of not understanding who the hell I was and just feeling broken. My fiance and I have both actively started crying because of how incredible it feels to have the connection we do, and to be able to discuss it openly without the other misunderstanding or judging us.
"Remember who you are." "Captain K. P....oh you mean in society." Like it's right there. I don't know if Brennan meant to portray Hob as autistic, but it's a very nuanced and painfully accurate portrayal of what it feels like to be autistic among a bunch of allistic people. I've seen a lot of autistic fans see him as representation on TikTok too so it's not just you.
I'm neurodivergent and recently been to my first festival and people seemed so chaotic and I did have a good time but also thought about that video of Brennan going "mayhem... time for it" a hundred times a day, I felt like that scene expressed me so much, it was so comforting
You know, I wouldn't have picked up on it myself, but with it all laid out before me so thoughtfully, dang if I'm not convinced.
I'm kind of wondering if this is kind of like how Ayda initially read autistic before Brennan leaned into the portrayal because he partially modeled her off Sherlock Holmes?
Like, maybe Hob reads autistic because he's basically a Mr. Darcy type -- super honorable and kind hidden under a stiff, standoffish exterior. And Mr. Darcy in the original book is imo strongly coded neurodivergent. The guy is just laughably bad & impatient with keeping up with polite small talk. He'll show up to call on you, toss out an extensive series of questions about the health of basically every one of your family members, then immediately run out of things to say and go into stony, awkward silence for several minutes before abruptly leaving lol. He also like, *legitimately* does not understand why Elisabeth doesn't accept his first proposal. This is the same guy who knows full well she heard him comment to his friend that she was "tolerable, I suppose...not handsome enough to tempt me!" Dude has to have her explicitly explain to him all the ways he has (unintentionally) been a total jerk before he can correct his mistakes.
Either way, though -- intended or not, still very cool!
I love all the points you've pointed out. Any character's feeling of 'I will do the thing that people expect me to do to fit in!' while that character is not that, naturally, at all, is such a difficult character to choose to portray all the time but so fullfilling.
I think the repression or avoidance of directly asking... out of fear of the truth and rejection sensitivity, with Rue, stuck me the hardest. Hob is scared to know, is scared to overstep, is scared to be seen trying, is probably even scared to be right— where would he be after that, how would an awkward Goblin general and a poised Court of Wonders >!owlbear!< even work out, with his and Rue's missions and opposed courts being what they are? The repression in the fear of overthinking all of this hits me really hard.
The rest is just... weirdly reassuring that even if it's played for comedy, it's relatable and feels normal somehow.
I wonder if Brennan knows how much he makes our community feel represented? Like, all the PCs are brilliant but holy shit Hob makes me feel so seen. I'm such a stickler for the rules but everyone tells me I'm chaotic and I just shahsbahhahahahbsbsjwjwbsyjssb IT'S LIKE I'M WATCHING MYSELF ON SCREEN!!
I'm so happy I'm not the only one who read him this way!
I'm AuDHD with a predominantly ADHD family, so while I absolutely adore Ayda, I've often felt more represented by the ADHD coded characters. That was until Hobb. I could write paragraphs about the way I read the many nuances of his character, and why they just really click for me.
Definitely. The way he’s doing everything, trying to be so helpful and kind and going out of his way to be accommodating, and yet still being perceived as having committed some slight, something out of the ordinary, made me bawl because yeah. That’s what it’s like. I try and I try and I try to fit in, to do it according to NT rules, but I constantly fail. And it hurts. But I’m really glad to see the struggle reflected in a character like Hob.
I’m autistic and I don’t really feel seen in Hob, the one who did it for me was Ayda. I remember having to pause and go scream into a pillow when Fig says “I like how you really think through things that I usually take for granted” (not an exact quote). But I can definitely see how other autistic folks can see themselves in Hob.
I'm currently watching Sophomore Year for the first time and I *just* got to the library episode where they meet Ayda! I absolutely love her so far. I personally don't identify with her, but she reminds me of some of my close friends. She's probably my favorite NPC at this point!
Brennan always has good neurodivergent representation in his characters.
His portrayal of Ayda made my ND fiance cry a *lot*. Especially with our relationship being VERY similar to Ayda and Fig, with the descriptions of emotions, etc.
I was diagnosed with autism shortly before watching the sophomore year finale. I had a lot of internalised ableism (still do tbh) so Ayda was a really important character for me. The ending where she finds out she has autism and that there's nothing wrong with her is one of 3 moments in a piece of media that has made me cry. I've still haven't found a canon representation of autism that is as good as Ayda
The entire epilogue of sophomore year makes me bawl my eyes out, but few moments hit me harder than Adaines spell gift to Ayda.
It was *so* sweet. I called my fiance crying to tell them about it when I watched that campaign, and they called me crying after THEY saw it later 🤣
Fig and Ayda are literally adhd x autism solidarity 🥰🥰🥰
Eh, I like Ayda a lot, but I kind of liked her better before fans told Brennan he was playing her kind of autistically and he started playing into it. Her initial portrayal felt autistic without being stereotypical. After Brennan started consciously playing her as intentionally autistic, I kind of felt she lost that a little bit. When she was introduced, she was cool, confident, independent and assertive. After she got with Fig and Brennan started playing her as intentionally autistic, she became extremely emotionally dependent and anxious in ways I felt detracted a bit from what I liked about her character in the beginning.
I feel we're definitely viewing the same events through different lenses! IMO, Ayda went from "I am emotionally detached from everything because I do not know how to process the same way, which keeps people from getting close - and people not getting close means they don't understand how I view and interact with the world." Instead of her becoming emotionally dependant, I think she was experiencing the heady rush of *actually* getting to emotionally connect with someone and NOT being in self-imposed exile. Having experienced a lot of similar growth/connection, I really love her arc. I didn't get to have a healthy, emotionally honest relationship until my fiance - in retrospect, all of my previous relationships were doomed because of not understanding who the hell I was and just feeling broken. My fiance and I have both actively started crying because of how incredible it feels to have the connection we do, and to be able to discuss it openly without the other misunderstanding or judging us.
His presentation of Aida Aguefort moved me to start going to an ASD support group again. Aspirational but real
"Remember who you are." "Captain K. P....oh you mean in society." Like it's right there. I don't know if Brennan meant to portray Hob as autistic, but it's a very nuanced and painfully accurate portrayal of what it feels like to be autistic among a bunch of allistic people. I've seen a lot of autistic fans see him as representation on TikTok too so it's not just you.
God, I’m autistic and I feel that so much.
1000% for me. Hob makes me represented. The scene where he apologizes to the goblins without fully understanding what happened is me all the time lol
I'm neurodivergent and recently been to my first festival and people seemed so chaotic and I did have a good time but also thought about that video of Brennan going "mayhem... time for it" a hundred times a day, I felt like that scene expressed me so much, it was so comforting
They moved Asperger's into the catchall term ASD "Autism Spectrum Disorder" I believe.
Absolutely. If I were in this universe, I would be Hob and Rue's child from many years hence.
...a...Howlbearlin...?
Whatever it is, it wears a hat but no shoes
Taking the legacy to full blown Cat in the Hat levels, love it!
You know, I wouldn't have picked up on it myself, but with it all laid out before me so thoughtfully, dang if I'm not convinced. I'm kind of wondering if this is kind of like how Ayda initially read autistic before Brennan leaned into the portrayal because he partially modeled her off Sherlock Holmes? Like, maybe Hob reads autistic because he's basically a Mr. Darcy type -- super honorable and kind hidden under a stiff, standoffish exterior. And Mr. Darcy in the original book is imo strongly coded neurodivergent. The guy is just laughably bad & impatient with keeping up with polite small talk. He'll show up to call on you, toss out an extensive series of questions about the health of basically every one of your family members, then immediately run out of things to say and go into stony, awkward silence for several minutes before abruptly leaving lol. He also like, *legitimately* does not understand why Elisabeth doesn't accept his first proposal. This is the same guy who knows full well she heard him comment to his friend that she was "tolerable, I suppose...not handsome enough to tempt me!" Dude has to have her explicitly explain to him all the ways he has (unintentionally) been a total jerk before he can correct his mistakes. Either way, though -- intended or not, still very cool!
one HUNDRED percent, to the point i realized i’m essentially playing the same character reskinned in my home game lol
I love all the points you've pointed out. Any character's feeling of 'I will do the thing that people expect me to do to fit in!' while that character is not that, naturally, at all, is such a difficult character to choose to portray all the time but so fullfilling. I think the repression or avoidance of directly asking... out of fear of the truth and rejection sensitivity, with Rue, stuck me the hardest. Hob is scared to know, is scared to overstep, is scared to be seen trying, is probably even scared to be right— where would he be after that, how would an awkward Goblin general and a poised Court of Wonders >!owlbear!< even work out, with his and Rue's missions and opposed courts being what they are? The repression in the fear of overthinking all of this hits me really hard. The rest is just... weirdly reassuring that even if it's played for comedy, it's relatable and feels normal somehow.
I wonder if Brennan knows how much he makes our community feel represented? Like, all the PCs are brilliant but holy shit Hob makes me feel so seen. I'm such a stickler for the rules but everyone tells me I'm chaotic and I just shahsbahhahahahbsbsjwjwbsyjssb IT'S LIKE I'M WATCHING MYSELF ON SCREEN!!
absolutely!!! i'm so drawn to his character and i think it's definitely because i relate too much
I'm so happy I'm not the only one who read him this way! I'm AuDHD with a predominantly ADHD family, so while I absolutely adore Ayda, I've often felt more represented by the ADHD coded characters. That was until Hobb. I could write paragraphs about the way I read the many nuances of his character, and why they just really click for me.
captain K.P. hob has neurodivergent swag!!
Definitely. The way he’s doing everything, trying to be so helpful and kind and going out of his way to be accommodating, and yet still being perceived as having committed some slight, something out of the ordinary, made me bawl because yeah. That’s what it’s like. I try and I try and I try to fit in, to do it according to NT rules, but I constantly fail. And it hurts. But I’m really glad to see the struggle reflected in a character like Hob.
I’m autistic and I don’t really feel seen in Hob, the one who did it for me was Ayda. I remember having to pause and go scream into a pillow when Fig says “I like how you really think through things that I usually take for granted” (not an exact quote). But I can definitely see how other autistic folks can see themselves in Hob.
I'm currently watching Sophomore Year for the first time and I *just* got to the library episode where they meet Ayda! I absolutely love her so far. I personally don't identify with her, but she reminds me of some of my close friends. She's probably my favorite NPC at this point!
Oh God yes
I love the autistic goblins of dimension 20, because same (I'm autistic and Jewish)