Karkat Vantas

Karkat Vantas, also known by his Trollian handle carcinoGeneticist, is one of the Trolls and is one of the main characters in Homestuck. His associated zodiac sign is Cancer (♋) and he has horns that are rounded instead of pointed (constantly referred to as "nubby horns.") He types in gray with all caps and near-perfect syntax.

Karkat comes from "Karkata," the Hindu astrological equivalent of Cancer, minus one letter. Additionally, his name may be drawn from "Karkinos," a giant crab who fought Hercules of myth, also the origin of the Cancer astrological sign. Vantas, on the other hand, is a prostate cancer treatment drug.

His Trollian handle is a play on the medical term "carcinogenesis" which is the development of cancer in the body (or carcinogens, cancer-causing substances), and "carcinology," the study of crustaceans.

His online handle is particularly nefarious sounding, implying genetic engineering and carcinogenic factors. This is proven to be the case later on, as he had genetically bred cancer into Bilious Slick by undermining the importance of the completion of its genetic sequence, thus ultimately dooming the kids' universe. Later Karkat tries to think of a title more befitting of him considering the apparently doomed life he created via Ectobiology. Ironically, he can't think of the obvious choice present in his trollian handle.

His weapon of choice is a sickle. This is most likely to contrast or even complement John's hammerkind, as the hammer and sickle are the symbols of communism. It may also be a reference to sickle cell disease, or anemia, a sickness of the blood caused by a genetic mutation.

Karkat is a very CRABBY troll, which is a pun on his sign. In fact, most people under the Cancer sign are said to be moody and crabby like he is.

Karkat is the leader of the Red Team, and later of the joined teams.

What if Karkat was actually the highest blooded troll instead of the lowest? If you look at a spectrum, his blood is technically on both ends, and since the sufferer was killed early, there was no way to know how long he would have naturally lived.

Biography
Karkat was introduced in Act 3 as an incredibly rude individual who trolls Jade, which earns him a place in her Trollslum. He is aware of what the kids do during their adventure via Trollian. He is convinced that Jade will fuck everything up and seems to want a different outcome, asking Jade "IS THERE NOTHING I CAN DO TO CHANGE YOUR MIND?" and later providing information on Sburb and giving advice to John on how he should go through his adventure. It becomes clear that he had hoped to deter Jade from sending a package to John, which would lead to disastrous results for both the kids and the trolls. She ignores his warnings and sends the package that Jack Noir later uses to kill the Black Queen.

In Act 4, Karkat later contacts John, and tells him that they will be friends in the future. He mentions that he is trolling linearly backwards along the kids' timeline, unlike the forward motion of Terezi Pyrope and the random pathways of the other trolls. Later on, he and John have a discussion on movie titles, and it is implied that Karkat's civilization is much older than John's since they ran out of good movie titles over the course of thousands of years. John also reminds Karkat that he wants to talk to Jade and to calm down if he contacts him any earlier in the timeline so as to prevent any time paradoxes from occurring. He also finds out that John is in "cahoots" with Terezi and gets pissed and asks John to send along a nasty message to her. Later, Karkat gives John information on the geography of the Incipisphere and the purpose of Sburb.

When John arrives in the Ectobiology Lab and creates the Paradox Clones, Karkat explains that every player who plays Sburb will, without exception, be their own clone. Through the actions of one player, all players in that Sburb session will have been created as clones of themselves, with the originals being clones; essentially, the information used to create the clones comes from the clones themselves. Karkat was the trolls' ectobiologist, and created all twelve of them. Apparently, he was quite unsettled by all of this. In addition to creating the twelve current trolls, he created each troll's ancestor. However, he believed them to be "random extra wigglers serving no purpose."

Midnight Crew Intermission
At the end of the Intermission, Spades Slick finds a monitor with 12 screens. The one illuminated screen shows Karkat in his respiteblock engaged in Sgrub, standing idly next to his Kernelsprite, a Cruxite Dowel, and some sylladex cards. Slick begins to communicate with Karkat in the same way that the exiles had with the kids. His respiteblock at the end of the Intermission does not resemble his respiteblock in Hivebent, probably because it was before the trolls were further conceptualized.

Hivebent


Act 5 opens with the beginning of a new adventure, with Karkat in his respiteblock. Karkat was not given a name before his sixth Wriggling Day (his thirteenth birthday), just like John Egbert. He is initially named Bulgereek Nookstain using the inverted Daedric Alphabet, but chops the name entry box in half—much like Dave, Karkat doesn't put up with that bullshit.

Karkat is the leader of the Red Team with Terezi Pyrope as his server player. Sburb has designated him the Knight of Blood, his planet the Land of Pulse and Haze. Karkat wields an alchemised sickle: Homes Smell Ya Later, in keeping with his sicklekind Strife Specibus. HS 4213 (Later) he's shown using a sickle that appears similar to a regisword. Karkat, during the course of the game, runs across and forms an alliance with Jack Noir to exile the Black Queen. Beforehand, his sharp tongue gets him stabbed by Jack, revealing his candy red blood color and helping him form a bond of sorts with his assailant, both of whom have the same color blood.

Karkat starts distributing memos through Trollian's time-travel memo feature to try to order people around, but these memos end up hopelessly muddled by various interjections from the other trolls (and even Karkat himself in other points of the timeline). He witnesses the last moments of Sollux Captor this way, as he was gruesomely killed by a psychic shockwave emitted from Feferi's Lusus, but thinks he's joking. He becomes very distraught once he sees his friend's lifeless body, and then disgusted as Feferi kisses him.

After many unseen shenanigans over the Sgrub session, Karkat seems to have developed a Matespritship with Terezi, and became at least somewhat respected by the others. He is the one who attempts to claim the "ultimate reward," before being interrupted. Vriska claims that Karkat only awoke on Prospit after "winning" the game in this fashion.

In the HS 5902 (unlinked page), past Karkat speculates that he HS 5917 (gave Jade's universe cancer), by skipping the last frog required for his genetic sequence to be able to fight the black king in time. Past Karkat apologizes for his hasty mistake, and although it is nothing but a single "sorry" it is one of the few times where Karkat apologises at all. Amusingly, the position he put the universes in fits with his username carcinoGeneticist (creator of cancer).

John, living in the universe that was supposed to be the Trolls' reward, reflects what Karkat's life may have been like had it not been so horrible. This may have been the reason he singled out John as his trolling target in the first place. Karkat believes John to be his Kismesis, and begins trolling him, but as we've already seen he becomes friends with him instead.

Karkat believes Jade to have prototyped Bec intentionally, leading to a series of events that set off The Scratch, and extends this blame to John for falling asleep and not preventing it from happening. However, as John was actually put to sleep by Vriska, and Jade was attempting to break her cruxite artifact at the time, only Bec himself was to blame for the prototyping.

After developing plans with Jade, he witnessed Eridan killing Feferi and Kanaya. He attempted to revive Kanaya with a kiss afterwards, which may have contributed to her later vampirism (as he is the Knight of Blood). He was also contacted by Gamzee, who had run out of pies and became sober (and homicidal by extension).

Post-Hivebent
Upon arriving in the Veil, Karkat watches John's life unfold linearly, and refrains from trolling him. He becomes angrier at him, in part because he had a role in causing the rift, but also possibly gone crazy. Freaked out by this, he took Sollux (who was KO'd in the fight with Eridan) with him to hide from Gamzee. Soon after he woke up, however, they were separated. At this point he began believing that he was in a doomed timeline, since Kanaya was supposedly dead, yet he had talked to her in the future. Some time later he continued a memo to talk to Jade, explaining to her that he gave their universe "cancer" (which is revealed to be Jack Noir) and is sorry for it. He was then contacted again by future Kanaya.

Shortly after Vriska's death at Terezi's hands, he also arrives on the roof with a letter written in Gamzee's blood using a combination of Terezi's QU1RK and his own, then is seen with Terezi hugging or kissing. Afterward, when Gamzee arrives to confront the other four survivors, he successfully shooshpaps Gamzee out of his bloodthirsty rage, becoming his moirail and smiling for the first time seen in-comic; he later mentions to John that for whatever reason he doesn't want to talk about what he did to Gamzee. After this, the five trolls departed for the Green Sun when the path to it became visible from their session; Sollux propelled their meteor there at incredible speed, the strain killing him. Once there, they were met by Dave, Rose, Aradia and the half-dead Sollux.

Karkat is currently travelling to the alpha kids' session through the Furthest Ring, with Kanaya, Gamzee, Terezi, Rose and Dave; being that Sollux and Aradia's propulsion is not as powerful as it was previously, the journey will take them three years.

One of his future selves from beyond the mysterious countdown appears in a memo HS 4529 (here).

Alternate selves

 * In an alternate timeline in which Karkat does not trigger the Mobius Double Reacharound virus, Gamzee sobers up much earlier than he is supposed to and kills all the other trolls in the session save Aradia. He uses the blood of Karkat and the others to scribble the "honk HONK" part of 's genetic code in Karkat's ~ATH book, which Aradia takes with her back to the alpha timeline.
 * In an alternate timeline in which Vriska does depart to challenge Jack Noir, she inadvertently leads him to the trolls' hideout and is killed along with Terezi by Noir directly, who then destroys the meteor and takes Karkat and Terezi as trophies to show to Vriska. Observing this outcome with her Mind powers and knowing it to be unacceptable, in the alpha timeline, Terezi kills Vriska before she can depart.
 * A dead Karkat wearing Knight of Blood God Tier clothing appears in a lengthy dream bubble sequence in HS 6386 ([S] Roxy: Sleepwalk); as the alpha Karkat has no means to ascend, it is currently assumed that this Karkat is from a doomed timeline. He is accompanied by a dead Nepeta. It is interesting to note that his God Tier form has no wings, unlike those of the other God Tier trolls, although it is unknown if this is something that affects certain trolls or if it has something to do with Weird Plot Shit.

Personality


Karkat is a crab in more ways than one. He constantly insults others in the style of a stereotypical internet troll, supporting his arguments with what seems to be empty logic. Jade has even gone to the point of HS 4752 (flipping out at Karkat). In keeping with the crab apple asshole theme of his personality, he rarely smiles. He is also often seen screaming, pounding his fists against his keyboard, or generally raging when talking to anyone. He is not particularly patient when explaining himself, making even his most sound advice appear to be random insults. He also becomes visibly aggravated when other people are having fun.

Somewhat similar to Jack Noir, Karkat is ruthlessly ambitious and will grasp at any opportunity for power, but he just doesn't have the subtlety of his troll compatriots and ends with the sharp end of the stick more than once. His real strength is to shepherd his boneheaded troll friends into following a plan, which just gives him another excuse to go off the handle when something does not go according to it. Despite his arrogant and volatile behavior, he proves to be a somewhat effective leader of the twelve trolls.

Despite his flippant demeanor, he also seems to care quite deeply for his friends' well being, judging from HS 4372 (his tearful reaction to Sollux's apparent death), his seemingly genuine desire to help Eridan and Tavros with their relationship issues with Feferi and Vriska, respectively, and his willingness to HS 5284 (revive Kanaya.) Towards the end, Karkat seems to show a softer side that hasn't really been shown before. In his final memo, future Karkat leaves a rather emotional story shortly before Kanaya responds to it. At this point he treats her in a friendly and polite manner, something that he really hasn't done with anyone before.

Unlike other trolls, Karkat doesn't "wear his blood color on his sleeve," in either the figurative OR literal sense, and is very defensive when asked about it. When he is stabbed by Jack Noir, it turns out HS 4201 (his blood is bright red), a nearly unique mutation among trolls, one that he is extremely ashamed of. He and Jack Noir form an alliance when it is revealed that they have the same color of blood, a revelation that shocks Karkat. It is believed that this insecurity is what spurs Karkat to be so crabby all the time.

Karkat uses rich and imaginative language in his particular fashion (e.g. "YOU ARE SUCH AN IGNORAMUS I COULD SHIT MILES OF RAGE SNAKE TO CHOKE YOU TO DEATH), but not to the extent of a typing quirk.

Karkat is not nearly as bloodthirsty as some of the other trolls (like Vriska or even Kanaya), and has trouble jumping to action when shit hits the whirling device. If things go off plan and he's not nearby, he gets pissed off and starts yelling at the related parties. If he -is- nearby he faints, starts crying or sits there looking stupid.

Relationships
Despite being possibly the grouchiest troll on the whole planet, Karkat relates well to people, possibly because he is mentally stable, by troll standards, and believes that showing many kinds of pity is the best way to have the capacity to hate. He usually stops insulting and whining whenever the other troll mentions he or she has some kind of significant problem that isn't worth making fun of. He is the go-to guy for several of the trolls with romance issues, like Tavros and Eridan, and even unwittingly advises Vriska, as well as Kanaya. Ironically, Karkat admits that he has problems with relationships, particularly blackrom, and thinks he sets his standards too high. His inclinations towards redrom are strictly private.

Nepeta has a redrom-crush on him according to her Shipping wall, possibly due to their mutual interest in Troll Relationships, but Karkat, while aware of these feelings, tries to avoid the subject with her. The fact that he admits to having been "tip-toeing" around the problem is possibly one of the reasons he keeps his redrom life private. However, in a conversation with Eridan, Karkat acts very defensively about Nepeta, saying "SHE'S A PERSON WITH FEELINGS YOU RAVING DOUCHE!" It is known that their ancestors had a relationship that went beyond the four quadrants.



He is best friends with Gamzee, once referring to him as the "worst best friend ever." He also has a friendly rivalry with his best friend Sollux, and is visibly shaken when he witnesses Sollux's first death, and his later half-death.

He and Gamzee recently became moirails. Such good moirails, in fact, that Karkat was able to calm Gamzee down from his homicidal rage with some shooshes and paps, and a hug. It is unclear whether this was a spur of the moment decision to act calm and pacifying, or it has something to do with his heritage and the Suffurer's peaceful doctrine suddenly coming to him. It is possible that his title, Knight of Blood, refers to the hate and murder contained in a highblood's blood, which Karkat with his powers can pacify. Upon Sollux's half-death, he turns to Gamzee for consolation as he spews tears out like a shipper.

During Hivebent, Karkat shows elements of a budding Matespritship with Terezi. Although he usually matches her aggressive flirtiness with bravado, he softens up when they HS 4474 (get a moment to talk). She is also the first troll to learn Karkat's bloods color, which she discovered during a "L1TTL3 MOM3NT" he is too shy to discuss, and agrees to keep it secret until he is ready to reveal it himself. Early in Hivebent, Karkat mentions to Terezi that one of his neighbors has recently been culled, and wonders if she would like to move in, although this is preceded by his usual dislike of her current living conditions. He seems curious whenever she calls him cute or adorable, and at the end of their conversation he shyly responded to Terezi's <3 with his own, after she signed off. Unfortunately, Karkat's later actions confuse Terezi to the nature of their relationship. Although they share an embrace after she is forced to kill Vriska to protect the lives of the remaining trolls, judging from the face she scribbled out in a drawing she sends to HS 4642 (Dave), they have not made up by the time the Critical Moment soon comes to pass.

Of all the trolls, Karkat seems to respect Kanaya the most, HS 4061 (noting) that she is the only sane one left to play when recruiting for the red team, and in one of his HS 4467 (final memos) before the Scratch with her he is more civil than he is with most of the trolls. After her attack he says to past Eridan that he considered her one of his closest friends.

Karkat may also be friends with Eridan, despite the latter's stated desire to kill all land dwellers. Such friendship appears to be fueled by the fact Karkat is very good at giving advice on relationships, which Eridan needs constantly. After Eridan turns on the trolls and kills Feferi and almost Kanaya, Karkat develops a deep feeling of (platonic) hate for him and swears to hunt him down and kill him.

He is not fond of Equius or Vriska, calling them "the only bigger asshole than [him]" and "the most vile backstabbing sociopath who ever lived" respectively. At the very least, Karkat is later somewhat polite to Equius after mentioning his dead lusus, but he still finds him disturbing. Vriska hate-flirts with Karkat on occasion but is most likely just messing with him. Karkat doesn't seem to hate Vriska post-hivebent, and just wants her to not do something dangerous while he tries to figure things out.

Despite his rudeness, he seems to be broadly on the same "team" as the kids, giving advice to John which helps him advance instead of acting as one of Homestuck's villains. At first, Karkat believes John to be his destined Kismesis, taking the spade on John's older shirt as a sign that it was meant to be, but hastily abandons this idea after John turns down his awkard hate-crush confession by claiming he is "not a homosexual," a concept Karkat finds foreign because Troll reproduction does not differentiate HS 4528 (by sex or gender). The embarassment of the situation forces him to troll John backwards through time, leading to strange sort of friendship as both see the other as being less and less informed as they progress throught their respective timellines. John describes them as being "reverse anti-mutual friends".

Jade's initial impression of Karkat is incredibly negative, especially after being caught in the middle of arguments between his past and future selves, but they eventually bond after he apologizes and helps her come to terms with being disgusted by her own past self's personality. In this same conversation, Karkat catches himself thinking of a HS 5152 (rather odd image) after watching Jade HS 5146 (beat the shit out of her dreamself) in a callback to HS 4191 (another beating) that ended in HS 4193 (sloppy makeouts.). Whether it is because of his typing error or the cause of it, this was not the end of Karkat's HS 5771 (Freudian slips). It is worth noting that Nepeta's reconstructed shipping wall portrays Jade as an auspistice for Karkat's past and future selves. There have also been many moments where it is implied of (future)Karkat having red feelings for Jade.



He does not get along well with Dave, and rarely talked to him. Their only known conversation before Dave and Rose arrived at the Troll's meteor was when Karkat warned Dave and John away from Terezi and Vriska respectively.

Lusus/Kernelsprite
Karkat's custodian is a towering, bipedal crab monster with a taste for chilled roe cubes. It was killed when Karkat's computer exploded as a result of running Sollux Captor's Mobius Double Reacharound Virus, thereby implementing the curse (if curses are a real thing) that leads to the death of the other trolls' lusi as well. An interesting note is that it died concussively, leaving Karkat's anonymity intact by not bleeding. A similar, although bigger, creature on Jake's island has since been shown to bleed in mutant candy red. It is thus likley that Crabdad and Karkat do indeed share the same blood color, like all other trolls and their respective lusi.

His origin has something to do with the Sufferer's followers, specifically so that Sufferer's second incarnation (Karkat) would have a lusus to raise him.

Karkat later prototyped his dead lusus into his Kernelsprite.

Trivia

 * Karkat's text color is defined by the hex code #626262; 62 is the atomic number of samarium, a volatile but durable silvery-grey metal used in various applications including permanent magnets and cancer treatment.
 * Given his position in the zodiac, it is possible that Karkat's blood would be lime were it not for his mutation.
 * Karkat's prudity and dislike of buckets may be a retroactive reference to the concept of the "Crab in the bucket", which identifies an individual in a group that is considered a constant downer.
 * "Cancer" can be defined as "irregular" and "mutated," most likely the cause of Karkat's mutation.
 * According to the Homestuck 2012 Calendar, his Wriggling Day would be June 12, in Earth years. This, however, does not take into account the year-perigee conversion.