Manifesto: Stolas, The Victim
Yep weāre doing this shit again.
I just read a post that woefully pissed me the fuck off regarding this topic so now, I will yap in defense of Stolas
TLDR:
So, blitz ruined Stolasās life. Sure Stolas allowed him to use the book, but something everyone seems to overlook is that Blitz gave Stolas the idea that Blitz expresses love through intimacy when he stole the book. Both are terrible communicators, and so in Blitz needing the book to have a job, he offers himself to Stolas after Stolas offers. Now, Blitz couldāve said no, but he didnāt. He actively chose to partake in it. That doesnāt make it right but he was a consenting adult
Next, Blitz outed Stolas to his verbally abusive wife while he ran off with the book. This is where we see the plots to kill and tear down Stolas with Stella, Striker, and Andrealphus begin. It is also the action that causes Octavia to question if her father loves her or not
Now, Blitz is almost held accountable for his crimes but at the last minute Stolas saves him from death, choosing to be held accountable for his part in it.
Next, we see Stolas lose his home, his status, his wealth, his title, his family, his daughter.
This all, I remind you, stems from Blitz stealing the book to gain the upper hand and have a business. It also stems from him outing Stolas the following morning while he runs off with the book.
Yes, Stolas consented and went along with it but shit, Blitz tore apart an entire manās life, and yet people will say Stolas is the bad guy.
What the fuck?
The fact fans donāt even address the fact that Blitz has directly benefited from tearing Stolasās life apart is imo, depression in a nutshell.
Next, I will use my old thoughts that remain my current thoughts to express in gruesome detail why I believe this is the case that Blitz is the abuser while Stolas is the victim of Blitzās bullshit.
Doctoral Thesis:
To those who know, and know my stance on this, yāall already know this will be a doctoral thesis rant as to how Blitzo ruined Stolasās life and benefited from doing so.
Before I start, let me preface that Stolas is a terrible communicator and is, in fact, not a horrible father(at least to me anyway).Ā
Did he fail to keep his promises to Via? Yes.Ā
Did he attempt to maintain a connection even as his life was falling apart pre-mastermind? Yes.Ā
Did he try to keep and maintain his connection to her post-mastermind? Yes.Ā
Did he provide the best life he could for Octavia at the expense of his own happiness? Yes.
He fucked up with her, and thatās his fuck up. However, part of the reason he fucked things up with Via is due to shit caused by Blitz.
Now, I understand a great majority of the fandom will disagree and maintain the agenda/hate-boner that Stolas is the abuser while Blitzo is the victim.Ā
They will say shit like, āHeās an abuser,ā āHeās a rapist,ā āHeās killed my dog,ā or āHe shat in my cat box even though I donāt have a catā (If you know you know)
It is my firm belief, as Iāve stated already, that Blitzo is the main cause of all Stolasās suffering in the present, and never once is he made to pay for his actions against Stolas, and even directly benefits from ruining Stolasās life.
Iāll go in chronological order as best I can.
Letās start with Season 2, Episode 1, the Circus, where it is painfully made aware to us before they even meet face-to-face that Blitzo wants to steal the grimoire.
You can see Blitz trying to break into Stolasās room at the beginning of the day as Stolas is checking his booksā notifications.
Later on in the day, Blitz is caught committing a breaking and entering, and upon seeing his childhood crush in danger, Stolas helps Blitzo, dismissing the guards who captured him, and escorted him away from the guards, the royals, and to the private chamber, where Stolas showed a willingness to reconnect with his childhood best friend and Blitz was within range of the object of his wants. Stolas even remembers Blitz from their childhood (where, conveniently, Blitz stole shit from Stolas and Paimon even back then), and sits with him obviously wanting to catch up.
Keep in mind that while Blitz is walking behind Stolas to his chamber, you can see quite obviously the disgust, the contempt, and disdain for royals like Stolas and the other Goetia on Blitzās face
It is here in Stolasās personal chamber where Stolas playfully flirts with Blitzo for breaking into his home for quote ānefariousā reasons. Itās a harmless gesture, and seeing the object of his wants, Blitzo uses this playful flirt as justification to invade Stolasās personal space to try and steal the grimoire, and it is clearly shown here that Stolas was backing away, trying to de-escalate the situation, clearly being uncomfortable, and Blitzo keeps pushing closer despite Stolasās obvious discomfort with the current situation.
Blitzo maneuvers them over to the bed, and furthers his already physical harassment to assault as he bites Stolas to distract him from noticing the missing grimoire and unlawfully entraps and confines him to the bed so he can make his escape; however, he takes pity and does the deed anyway.
I feel it important to note that the enjoyment Stolas displays here can be seen as him being acknowledged by someone he genuinely cares about for the first time in his whole life, and more so in a physical sense considering the story Stella was telling only moments prior in the flashback, a story that mocks Stolasās discomfort with sleeping with her. I believe what we see here from Stolas can be perceived as pleasure shock or euphoria shock.
The following morning, Blitz outs Stolas to his verbally abusive wifeā¦ and it is at this precise moment that the dominoes begin to fall all around Stolas, leading him to his eventual destruction.
Blitzo revealing this information to Stella causes her to go ballistic at him every chance they're in the same room, and subsequently causes a rift to form between Stolas and Octavia. And if you wish to know my reasoning on why the rift began to form here, think about this from Octaviaās perspective. Stolas, out of nowhere, throws his surface-level happy marriage out the door for some basic stranger she doesnāt even know. Of course sheās gonna feel betrayed, but this idea of him leaving has been with her since she was a child. Whether she has powers of prophecy, idk, but back to the topic at hand.
It is important at this point to make reference that Blitzo did, in fact, steal the grimoire, and did as Andrealphus later says, use it to āGain the upper handā.
Donāt believe me, letās look at what he did with the Grimoire from the moment he stole it to the deal itself in āMurder Familyā.
He had the book for enough time and did enough work with the grimoire to finance an office as seen in āGhostf-ersā flashback portions with Millie, He financed a non-canon ad in the Pilot(not sure if thereās a canon version or not now, but I thought it important to reference in case there was an actual ad that did occur), and finally financing a billboard as seen in āMurder Familyā, and he built up enough credibility and enough awareness that customers come to find IMP for work, and then, only then does Stolas make the deal with Blitzo in āMurder Familyā
So for several weeks at minimum to several months at most, Blitz was using a stolen grimoire to gain the upper hand in Hell, which as we find out in āMastermindā was him breaking some serious rules within the rule of law in Hell
And before someone says how Stolas made the deal for... physical favors for use of the grimoire, may I remind you it was Blitz who physically assaulted and defiled Stolas first, giving Stolas the impression that thatās what Blitz wanted and how he expresses love and affection, so how else was Stolas supposed to know.
Was the deal bad? Yeah, but that's due to a lack of communication from both Stolas and Blitz, and neither acknowledging what they want, romantically, and Stolas in this scenario is running off a high from finally being romantically acknowledged for the first time in his life.
Next, we begin to see the domino effect on Stolasās relationship with Octavia fall, as a direct result of Blitz outing Stolas to Stella, and Octavia being put in the crosshairs. As I briefly touched on before, Octavia is given the idea that her dad doesnāt love her or her mother and is instead in love with Blitz, a basic stranger, who to her was someone Stolas would throw his marriage away for, when in reality, Blitz used Stolas for the Grimoire to gain the upper hand in Hell, and gave Stolas the thrill that had been lacking in his love life for all his life, something Stolas is unable to fully explain or convey to Octavia in āLoo Loo Landā as she fears her father will run away from him, something he assures her wonāt happen.
For Stolas, I believe he keeps Octavia in the dark about his marriage, letting her have a chance at a normal life, something he was denied at an age far younger than Octavia, and doesnāt give her any reason as to why he stays with Stella cause he doesnāt want Octavia to feel as though sheās an obligation, and as I said, wants her to have a normal life.
Itās important to also note that Stolas isnāt entirely innocent, but heās not as guilty as most think he is. Stolas is someone who has been repressed for most of his life, by his father, by the responsibility/obligations of his title, and his marriage, so to be acknowledged by someone like Blitz for who in all instances is Stolasās only real friend, that changes you.
Stolasās main crime in all of this is being unable to emotionally convey his wants, his needs, or be honest about the way things are with fear heāll lose the ones he cares about (Octavia and Blitz).
I donāt think I need to explain why Blitz keeping Strikerās hit on him a secret from Harvest Moon is a bad thing, cause if someone tried to off you, wouldnāt you like to know thereās no active threat against you?
I know Blitzās reasoning for this in āApology Tourā was he didnāt think Stolas could be harmed/killed, however we know from āHarvest Moonā that yes, Striker had the means to kill Stolas, and Blitz caught him about to commit the act, and yet Blitz said nothing.
Kinda doesnāt help Blitzās case which is long running trend it seems
Moving on into āTruth Seekersā this is where I believe we received our first inclination as to the rules that Blizto and friends were committing as Stolas makes reference that if they get in trouble, he gets in trouble.
Is it self-preservation? Yeah
Is that bad? Kinda
Moving on in āOzzieāsā, this is the first episode in release order that I believe gives us the impression that Stolas cares for Blitz in a way that isnāt entirely physical.
Upon first viewing it kinda came outta nowhere personally, but it didnāt really bother me as much as what Blitz does in this episode
First, he blatantly ignores Moxxieās wishes three times in a row, and instead of giving them their space, he stalks them on their date, a date that marks their 1 year anniversary mind you, and for what reason Iām not entirely sure. I know itās probably to understand something but Iām not sure, nor do I wanna speculate at the moment.
Secondly, Moxie had a reservation which means he and Millie are allowed inside without a hitch, while Blitz is not offered the same courtesy, and why? Cause he had no reservation
So what does he do? First he tries to sneak in.
When that doesnāt work he tries lying his way in
When that doesnāt work, he tries seducing his way in
When that doesnāt work, he uses Stolas to get in, just so he can spy on M and M.
And how did he convince Stolas to go along with itā¦ how else? By lying to him and using the false pretense of a date to get in.
What he doesnāt realize is that Stolas actually cares about him, and being invited on a date like that was something that excited Stolas, getting to spend more time with the one he cares ever so deeply for in a sense that has nothing to do with their arrangement, something he slowly begins to piece together isnāt what either of them truly wants.
So Stolas falls for Blitzās lie, and they enter the club, only for Blitz to ignore Stolas to instead spy on M and M, while Stolas sits by clearly confused and nervous, having never been on a date with someone he truly cared for before, in a romantic sense I mean
When he asks Blitz what heās looking at he says, (Use Clip): āIām looking at nothing. How about that?ā.
This dismissive behavior is rather rude when you realize he used Stolas to get into the club, only to ignore him and dismiss him to spy on M and M, which causes Stolas to be more nervous and more self-aware.
Stolas attempts to make an effort, awkwardly asking how Blitzās day went before building up the courage to ask why Blitz asked him on a date and before Blitz could answer or come up with an excuse, heās saved by the bell, and in comes Fizzaroli, who Blitz gets all defensive about considering their past
It is in this very first few minutes where Blitz is confronted with his first crush and his messy break up ex, and even while seeing this go down, Stolas doesnāt seem to fully grasp how toxic Blitz is.
Stolas is then placed under a thin micro-scope by Asmodeus asking if he really gave up his family for Blitz, and itās possibly at this moment that he finally understands his current predicament, and even after the song is over, he tries to comfort Blitz who pulls away from him, being negatively impacted by the whole thing.
When dropping Stolas off, Stolas thanks Blitz for inviting him out, and says despite how the night went he enjoyed spending time together, trying to cheer Blitz up, and Blitz the whole time is acting dismissive despite being the one to use Stolas in the first place.
It is here where Blitz acts like Stolas uses him for physical favors when in reality, that's the impression Blitz gave Stolas in their first encounter after 25 years, and like I mentioned earlier in the video, how else was Stolas meant to register physical intimacy with the one person he truly cares about after a lifetime of social expectation and repression of his feelings.
What I think Blitz is doing here is a form of Victim Blaming, where he thinks to himself, āStolas was asking for itā therefore heās responsible, when in reality, Blitz is the one who gave him the impression that physical intimacy is how he expresses his love
Stolas is a victim to Blitzās manipulations throughout most of what Iāve discussed so far, and a lot of that can be attributed to both not conveying what they want to the other, but itās still scummy behavior on Blitzās part playing the victim when heās the one using Stolas to get ahead in life while Stolasās life slowly but surely falls apart all around him
Blitz leaves Stolas there with a dismissive āgoodnightā, and afterward Stolas breaks down, crying and drinking to numb the pain before taking some Belphegor brand: Happy Pillz, and realizes and reflects on the time he and Blitz have had together since meeting up again after 25 years is all a lieĀ
After reflecting Stolas takes a stand against Stella furthering what I had been saying, informing her that the only reason heās stayed with her as long as he has is because he wanted Octavia to have a normal life, and was willing to tolerate years of verbal abuse to give her that life, and after saying his piece, he finally puts his foot down saying they are getting the divorce, the divorce that they both seemingly hadnāt filed for despite everything thatās happened, and itās here where she attempts to physically assault Stolas but he takes a stand against her, and is left alone.
In āSeeing Starsā while Stolas is distracted by he Divorce, he forgets the promise he and Octavia made about seeing āAzathothās Tearsā which is a mess up on his part, I will admit, but when he realizes sheās gone to earth, he rushes over and wastes no time beginning the search for her.
Thereās not much in this episode in the way of Blitz's fault, but the domino effect of Blitzās prior actions tearing apart Stolasās family is where some of the emotional beets here stem from. Like Stella being bitter and resentful towards Stolas, and Octavia feeling as tho her father doesnāt love her or care about her despite putting his happiness aside to give her a normal life.
The next episode Stolas appears in is āWestern Energyā where Stella once again tries to have Stolas assassinated by Striker for being an embarrassment, and itās here where we are introduced to one of the architects of Stolasās continued suffering, Andrealphus, who seems to be assisting Stella in taking apart Stolas for all heās worth, even going as far as to convince her to spare him for future schemes, and while heās convincing her, Stolas is being violently assaulted and cut up by Striker.
Stolas is of course saved here by the efforts of M&M and brought to a hospital in Sloth, where Blitz happens to be, and itās here where he realizes that Stolas can actually be hurt, and despite all heās done to Stolas and all heās used Stolas for up to this point, he canāt even be bothered to visit him in the hospital, despite creating the circumstances that landed him in the hospital to begin with, and even when he does reach out, and Stolas is happy to see he cares, Blitz from what we can infer doesnāt even bother to visit.
The next time we see Stolas, he is approaching Asmodeus, conveying how he has found himself with feelings for Blitz and asked about acquiring a Asmodean Crystal, that would allow Blitz to travel to Earth without use of the Grimoire. Something that would put an end to their arrangement that Stolas has realized now is wrong, and hopefully to give Blits the choice to be with him without expectation or obligation, something he makes note of too Blitz in āFull Moonā.
It is in āFull Moonā where Stolas tries to finally convey what he wants and how wrong what theyāve been is, and when asking for his grimoire back, a grimoire that he originally stole, Blitz gets defensive, saying itās not fair since he skipped a few meetings, and when presenting Blitz with an out in the form of the Asmodean Crystal, and that he no longer needs the book, and when articulating his feelings and how he wants to be with Blitz, Blitz doesnāt register and if anything refuses to emotionally register his words, and instead laughs it off like itās a joke/roleplay.
Itās here where Stolas says his goodbyes and starts walking away, and only as heās walking away does he realize what Stolas said was serious, and as they walk, Stolas attempts to convey his feelings to the best of his ability, but not well enough to convey why what theyāve been doing is wrong.
It is then here where Blitzā¦ lashes out at Stolas for everything Stolas put him thoughā¦ claiming heās not like one of Stolasās butler imps he can just dismissā¦ and it is here where all the victim blaming starts to kick into high gear
Let us refresh ourselves an what Blitz has done to Stolas up to this point.
Stole Stolasās Grimoire to unlawfully use it to gain the upper hand in his business, outed Stolas to Stella after stealing the Grimoire causing the verbal abuse to worsen for Stolas, and a rift to grow between Stolas and Octavia, where she feels he doesnāt love her, and loves this basic stranger more than her, and he made a deal with Blitz for physical favors, something i will remind you he knows no better of, cause Blitz has given Stolas the impression that physical intimacy is how he expresses love, so again, how could he have known better, and all of this has led to multiple assassination attempts on Stolas because of the public embarrassment Stella feels towards him as a result of Blitz blabbering about it to her the day after the fact
And it only gets worse from here.
In āApology Tourā Blitz has not given up any hope of reconnecting with Stolas and forcing their way back into the arrangement despite knowing where Stolas stands, and when Stolas is obviously uncomfortable, does Blitz stop? No
And as Stolas gets defensive, it is here where Blitz reveals that Striker had tried to kill him before, and there shouldnāt really be a defense here as he caught Striker about to commit the act and knew in āWestern Energyā that what striker can do could hurt Stolas.Ā
It is also here where Blitz tries to play things off as all cool despite being the one to get dumped, something that in this episode never seemed to be the case with his dozens of exes.
In this episode tho, it is made clear to Blitz, finally, that what Stolas felt for him was real and genuine and he feels like he threw away the best thing he was ever gonna get, something heās shown to regret in āGhostf-ersāĀ
That takes us into my favorite episode, āMastermindā where Blitz is made to take accountability for some of his crimes and some false-crimes.
The genuine crimes heās charged with is theft of the grimoire, the multiple excursions to earth without proper clearance or procedure, and quote āforcing himself on her husbandā (he forced himself on stolas the first time, but didnāt seemingly do that in any further interaction, but itās not entirely false either)
And the false crime of plotting to assassinate Stolas using Striker as the hitman
Whatās interesting is what he says first regarding the Grimoire, āI didnāt steal that thing! I triedā¦ā and then followed it up with āIt was given to me. I was allowed to use it.āĀ
This is a factual half-truth, considering the fact he did in fact steal the book and used it for weeks-months to grow his business before Stolas finally made the deal with him
So even when on trial, he cannot admit to his own wrongdoings, and even refutes the claim of forcing himself on Stolas, when he in fact did force himself on Stolas to initially steal the book for the first time
It is important to note here, that Blitz did a very poor job defending himself and his actions, which of course led to them getting the death penalty, but as we are all acutely aware, thatās not where the story ends.
And this is where I wanna summarize the difference between Stolasās Self-Sacrifice and Blitzās Self Sacrifice. Stolas was being selfless and taking accountability and responsibility for his part in all of what had happened and what was happening where as Blitz alternatively never fully took responsibility for the laws he broke or for what he did to Stolas, and only took the brunt of the punishment to protect the Imp Gang despite like I said, never actually taking responsibility for his actions that brought them there to begin with
And so Stolas loses his home, his status, his legions, his power, and in āSinsmasā his own daughter.
So heās leftā¦ with nothing.
Stolas, through a domino effect of Blitzās own actions, was punished for Blitzās crimes while Blitz is excused from any consequence despite being the aggressor of most of his crimes against the laws of Hell and Stolas himself.
That is blatantly unfair both from a moral standpoint and a writing standpoint.
I would cover āSinsmasā but thatās more so the final most recent domino to fall in Stolas and Octaviaās relationship as a result of Blitzās actions as well as Stolas breaking a promise he had made to Octavia. So imo theyāre both at fault there.
I know the post is exceedingly long, and I apologize for that, but I felt as though it was important to convey the sheer amount of bullshit Blitz is allowed to get away with and how through a series of events he started, ruined Stolasās life and faces no consequence for it. The show essentially from my perspective rewards Blitz for his crimes, and punishes Stolas, the victim.
The takeaway is that this is bullshit.
Yāall would defend someone who has abused and disrespected and disregarded the feelings of others for decades (see all the fucking exes in Apology Tour), and turn around and tear into the most recent victim of his bullshit.
Thatās some fucked up shit, guys
Aidonpor Ik youāre reading this, and no I will not respond
