#the boy is not perfect
Spoilers for TOH as of King’s Tide :3
I’m sensing the similarity between King and The Collector… and that is, they’re very significant beings, but they are also CHILDREN.
King is a baby Titan, an organic being that grows to be extremely huge. Part of the life cycle of this world seems to be a decomposing Titan body becomes home to many sentient, demonic, and humanoid, creatures and fuels a whole magic system. A titan can become an entire continent.
And he’s just a kid who is just NOW coming to realize that fact, and his significance in the world.
The Collector, is also just a kid, or at least, presents that way. He is a Cosmic being, with an EXTREME amount of power over reality itself. But he still seems to be, and acts like, a child.
We’ve seen King progress over the series and especially MATURE as he grows to figure out his place in the world. He starts out wanting control! Subjects to rule over! He wants to command armies of demons because he thinks he is the King of Demons!
But He has learned through their adventures, maturity, he fully realizes his part of a family, and that family means far more to him. He is handed his vision of Grandeur, practically on a silver platter(though is also nearly literally KILLED for it), but somehow, it only means pressure, because as a Titan, amongst people who worship the Titan they live on, he feels the need to protect people, especially his adoptive family, and his best friends.
He is taking his role as Titan, the last remaining one, no less, to be that of a protector, which, judging by his stress, is something he realizes takes a lot more responsibility than simply lording over others.
(Insert that moment in the CATTS hideout with Darius saying “Titan Help us,” and King nervously replying “I’ll do my best” for exhibit A)
The Collector, meanwhile, is essentially a Trickster God, has an untold history, esp. with the Titans and King’s father, and has been locked away for unknown reasons, for an indeterminate amount of time, and seems to just want to be let OUT, see something fun, play games. He’s naive, and has trusted Belos for the last few hundreds of years, Only to be betrayed by him in the final hour.
King is the BEST person to match the Collector.
What King already learned about family and love, and morality and kindness being above ruler-ship, is what The Collector is lacking. He is currently nothing but a chaos child, a trickster god, not unlike King’s beginning as a “tiny, dethroned Demon Lord.”
It drives me bonkers when I hear takes about the Collector being “defeated” traditionally, or locked away again, to end his reign…
He’s literally just a kid who hasn’t learned the way that King has been allowed to. He was straight up locked away, and yeah, he’s definitely dangerous and OP BUT
He’s still literally a kid who is woefully understimulated, and lacking all that guidance and growth that King had.
And you know what, Props to King, because through the glimpses he’s seen through the In-Between, and what all with Belos, I think he REALIZES that.
That’s why he had to let go of Luz, and keep his pinky promise.
Granted, we don’t know the full story on Collector and the Titans, why he was locked away in the first place, why Kings father didn’t want him playing with King…But I feel like King’s going to break the code on that and be what The Collector needs…
Basically, a friend. A found family. Someone who respects him, his power, but also tempers his more…“enthusiastic” traits of abject chaos.
At least, that’s my optimistic take on the route this Found-Family-heavy story is gonna go with him.
IN SHORT, I love the Collector so far, and I think King has been molded and shaped for this challenge throughout the whole story. Luz was always meant to challenge Belos, King was likely always meant to match The Collector. I Do not accept Collector Slander. :3
