My Defense of Dedan; Iron Fist vs Protective Parenting

SPOILER/SIMP WARNING HERE!!!!!

Hello. I'm writing this essay after reading through the comments of this post and having a lovely, truly insightful conversation with our very own u/Jealous_Sugar_3846. What I realized was that people hate Dedan, which I see as a CRIME. Dedan, to me, is the most reasonable of the guardians, and in this essay I am going to tell you why (in the education-friendly persuasive writing format).

Dedan is crass. He's foul-mouthed. He wears his trenchcoat open to show the world those god-awful nipples. Needless to say, he doesn't care what anyone says to him due to him believing he is the superior being to the little Elsen. This belief seems to infect the guardians, with Japhet and Enoch clearly in a narcissistic quarantine. The thing with Dedan is that he doesn't think he's a god. He thinks he is a parent. A manager. With Zone 1 being geared all about work, someone has to run the show, and it only makes sense that the creator himself take the role. Have you ever worked retail and had a crummy boss that, while kind of a jerk, kept the show running? That's Dedan, but exaggerated to a large degree, and I think there are plenty of moments that are just misinterpreted.

In Shachihata, an Elsen is found in the basement of the Post Office, describing how he was sent to the basement because there were no floors available for him to have a cubicle. While some say this is Dedan unjustly punishing a new recruit, I believe this was Dedan did this in good faith, by giving the little Elsen the entire basement as an apology. Of course, you can imagine the "YOU WORTHLESS SHIT, THINKING YOU CAN WORK WITHOUT AN OFFICE OHHH MY GYADDDD YOU IDIOT" that went on prior, but either way, Dedan gave the new worker an office, and even gave him the biggest "office" of the postal building.

In the first cutscene involving Dedan in Pentel, Dedan has an outburst that someone else (the Batter) was sent in to deal with the spectres. The fact that someone that isn't him dealing with the spectres pisses him off. But why? It's because he thinks the Elsen are "too weak" to deal with them, that they'd die on the spot. The reason Dedan thinks so adamantly that he's the only one who can kill the spectres is because he is protective. He doesn't want to lose his people to some pesky ghosts, so he decides he will be the one to protect them. Like a hover parent, Dedan wants to make sure his children work and grow while he does the heavy lifting, keeping the operation running while making sure they are healthy and living. The reason the Elsen are so nervous is that they are just frightened by Dedan's loud, foul-mouthed demeanor. And his face, maybe.

In The Room, The Batter (presumably) takes the role of Hugo in a short snippet of where the guardians were before the Zones were born. Dedan is found in a quaint cottage we can assume he built himself (I mean, who else would have), and is stuck with the dilemma that he doesn't know the date. But why would he? My headcanon is that he couldn't give a rats ass about the date, he just wants to give Hugo something to do. When Hugo gets nervous and begins to cry, Dedan doesn't lash out but rather immediately gives him his coat to dry his tears with. Unlike the other guardians, Dedan's paternal instinct kicks in immediately as soon as a defenseless child crawls in. He gives the child something to stimulate themselves with (finding the date), and then helps them out while they cry like it's second nature. He even gives Hugo a book in hopes that he will educate himself, or entertain himself.

For the final nail in the smooth, strong wood of Dedan's coffin, it's important to tackle the grand scheme of Off (TO ME, YOU CAN INTERPRET THE GAME HOW YOU WILL). Perspective. The entire game ends with you realizing you were on the wrong side of the perspective. The Batter gets a bit TOO silly, and only the Judge stands in his way as you finally realize you weren't killing bad guys, but rather, the only guys keeping the worlds afloat. Japhet is a frustrated, narcissistic tyrant who lashes out at his people for the smallest mistake. This is out of insanity, having given his people EVERYTHING: Housing, Shopping, hell even an Amusement Park, and yet his people ignored him after he was eated up by Valerie and all that the Elsen saw was a cat. Enoch (as hard as he is to defend) got greedy with power. Admit it, who wouldn't get a bit malicious with the power of a literal god? Dedan, to me, is meant to be the easiest guardian to see both sides of the coin. Dedan is a character meant to speak, act, and look like a villain, but every choice he makes is out of care. He just has a cold, freezing, absolutely hypothermic heart.

That's my essay. I'm not fixing any typos unless it completely ruins my point cuz i dont care lol. dedaddy is love, dedaddy is life.