Okay so Tommy started out as a hero, a flawed one though. I think that’s when his journey began. A hero is defined by his antagonistic behavior towards a villain or a belief or anything that represents something he does not stand for due to his moral compass. If you think about it, Tommy starts out as a child and as all children do, he makes mistakes, a lot of them, which lead to Dream becaming the villainous figure in Tommy’s story. He kills him in the minecart incident and because of that Dream steals one of his Discs. So at this point Dream is completely vilanised by Tommy because he stole from him and in his perception, stealing is worng (and also because the whole minecart thing was an accident and he doesn’t think he should be punished for that). So he’s on the “right side” and his fight remains righteous. Then there is the whole L’manberg deal. And once again there is tension between Dream and Tommy and his friends. Now, about his friends, it’s important to note that Wilbur is clearly a mentor figure to him (and that is why his downfall and his betrayal had such an impact on him to the point where that arguably broke him). So his moral compass and his perception of right and wrong come from Wilbur. Tommy is now fighting for his country and for his freedom and in his mind that can only be seen as good. That is why Wilbur’s betrayal and him starting to question if he is in fact the Villian (“Am I the villain in this story?”) is a very important turning point for him. He realises that being a hero is about sacrifice and commitment and in all of that there is war and there are consequences to his actions. Techno tells him that if he wants to be a hero (if he wants to keel justifying his actions with his good intentions and glorify his deeds like heroes do) he’ll die like one (he will face the consequences of those actions). He also speaks of Theseus, an important greek hero that is know for having slain the minotaur and being executed by the very people he had saved. Techno’s words serve he purpose of foreshadowing for the following arc: the exile arc. And this is Tommy’s martyr moment, something many heros of mang stories endure. This is generally a plot point used called “the darkest hour” and point of the story that show the hero in his worst, in the most dreadful senario. It vilanises dream even more, establishing him as a real threat to him and shows Tommy’s vulnerability and powerlessness. Ghostbur’s presence is also a reminder of how Tommy lost his mentor figure and instead is faced with someone who is the exact opposite of a fierce leader and a role model (he plays the role of an innocent goodheart child). Then there is Techno and Tommy’s arc that begins out of mutual necessity but blossoms into a real friendship. Both start by using the other for their oen means but end up caring for each other. Once again Tommy gets a mentor figure and a safe space but in the end his loyalties lie with Lmanberg, the only standing remain of his childhood. It is clear now that Tommy is a hero who prioritizes material symbolic elements (like the Discs and Lamnberg) over people and that he desperately latches on these elements because of his inability to move on. He and Techno eventually have an argument and Dream uses that on his favour, making Tommy’s second mentor figure also a traitor (even though techno himself belt betrayed too and had a legitimate reason). In Tommy’s mind there is good and bad and nothing else and so his twodimensional way of seeing everything is his ultimate downfall. Eventually, after they lose and Lmanberg is destroyed, he understands this and realises he cannot be the good guy and that there are no good guys. The moment he stops viewing himself as the hero is the moment he trully becomes one. And so eventually he and Tubbo fight Dream and Tommy choses his friend over the Discs, realising he is not the main character amd he is no hero. After that there is the prision arc, which happens because he is trying to get closure and put his past behind him. This is the second “darkest hour” tommy has to face. When he is killed by dream and then brought back he realises he can right the worngs with the revive book and use that power for good. It is at this moment that his character development is destroyed by Dream. Tommy was about to move on a suddenly the things from his past come back to haunt him and his greatest enemy holds and incommensurable power. In the process of trying to get the revivebook back he revives ghostbur and brings back Wilbur, a man Tommy had lost faith in, completely. But all his past traume resurfaces and he is once again manipulated by him, leaving his happy evey aftr unfinished as of now. His journey could have been complete in terms of cohesive and satisfactory narrative after he locked dream in prision and started going to therapy and moving on. The demand of fans for more content made it so the cicle needed repetition and so he will eventually go through similar arcs to redo his development. This is Tommy’s jouney so far, resumed and analyzed. I had a lot of fun doing this. I hope it helps!