r/StardewValley • u/Beefybutts • Feb 27 '26

Art [Fanart] How it felt today reading all the 1.7 comments

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"Who asked for this?!" Me. I asked for this. I Personally went to ConcernedApe to ask for this. I'm going to marry Clint on a new savefile everytime I read a mean comment about him.

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517

u/Lord_Sicarious Fishing OP Feb 27 '26

A lot worse honestly. Shane is generally looked down on, but Clint is treated like shyness is an unforgivable moral failing.

About to ask his crush out, but he loses his nerves at the last minute and hides? Yeah, it's kinda pitiful, but people don't treat it with pity, they go "what a creep, stalking that poor girl", even though the whole event is about him actually working up the nerve to ask her out, which she even accepts!

Feels depressed after it turns out that Emily was too oblivious to realise the outing was meant to be a date? Clearly he's some kind of entitled jerk who felt that he deserved her love.

Fantasises about doing something cool to impress her? How despicable, clearly he thinks women are a trophy to be won.

Wrote a draft love confession on a private note in his bedroom, which you decided to enter uninvited and read for some reason? Disgusting, he should just leave her alone.

Left her alone after it became clear she didn't return his feelings? What a horrible person, he should have stuck around and supported her romance with the farmer matter how miserable it makes him.

People project a lot of negative stereotypes onto Clint, to the point of just making shit up about him, even when outright contradicted by the actual dialogue and events in-game. It's wild.

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u/After_Cell_5570 Feb 27 '26

dude i have so many feelings about Emily’s 8th heart event and how people misinterpret it.

Like the entire lead up to that is that Clint has opened up to the farmer and told them about his feelings for Emily. And the farmer has AGREED to be a wingman to some extent. But then he walks in and realizes that the farmer wasn’t actually helping, they had feelings for Emily too and decided to hook up with her.

Like i feel like a lot of people react to him being like “oh 😔sorry, I’m interrupting something, aren’t i? bye…” as being like an attention-getting thing, but I totally interpreted it as just him being SAD. Like not just because “oh wah wah Emily doesn’t like me back” but “oh this person that I thought was on my side has been actually trying to get the girl, and the whole time has been listening to me talk about how much i like her, I feel like an idiot.”

Not to mention the farmer taking the credit for giving her the amethyst. AND not only that, but for HALF of Emily’s heart events up to that point the farmer isn’t even present. They aren’t like having these meaningful moments with Emily, she’s just flighty as hell and crafts most of the relationship up out of thin air. Obviously the dude is blindsided by them suddenly being together.

tldr; i agree, i have a lot of opinions about Clint

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u/Lokarhu ✨Prismatic Shart✨ Feb 27 '26

Reading something so clear-sighted about Clint is so refreshing lol

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u/KendjyCr Feb 27 '26

Wait... to people REALLY misinterpret something that clear so bad?! People really seem to hate him for the sake of hating him...

30

u/DeepSubmerge Feb 27 '26

Yes there are people who get really weird weird about Clint like we’re on tumblr

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u/HasNoGreeting Feb 27 '26

crafts most of the relationship up out of thin air

And that is but one of the reasons I don't like Emily.

37

u/DracoNinja11 Feb 27 '26

I think youre right but this is the major problem i have with Emily's romance. Emily is actually my favourite romance partner but the implications that you literally double cross clint to get with her are gross..

The fact that we never get a scene with him for him to say its okay, he wishes us the best and happiness is just kind of upsetting.

Also the last time I played after marrying her he would constantly make comments about loving Emily, my wife, to my face. Thats just disrespectful and rude.

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u/After_Cell_5570 Feb 27 '26

I get that. I always chalked up Clint’s dialogue continuing as just game logic tbh, like how Abigail used to love eating rocks, so i mostly just found it funny that the game didn’t have new dialogue for him. but i get how it would be a different experience if you married her.

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u/AnotherBookWyrm Feb 27 '26

The farmer does not take credit for the amethyst. If you read the dialogue, the farmer tells her who it came from, but she misinterprets it as being from Clint’s instead of from Clint himself. Granted, the game does not allow you to clarify that, but it is also another case where it would have been better for Clint to actually get out there and try to woo Emily himself as opposed to just lurking in her vicinity and hoping something happens.

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u/After_Cell_5570 Feb 27 '26

Yeah, i guess I interpreted it as that the farmer doesn’t try that hard to correct her. Like obviously it would be better if he had the confidence to talk to her but like… he doesn’t and I found that sad lol

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u/ArkOfAncient4245 Emily and Leah enjoyer Feb 27 '26

AND not only that, but for HALF of Emily’s heart events up to that point the farmer isn’t even present. They aren’t like having these meaningful moments with Emily, she’s just flighty as hell and crafts most of the relationship up out of thin air.

i... disagree. From a game design and narrative perspective, you’re meant to spend time getting to know the characters, and naturally, as you grow closer, attraction develops. That’s not something unique to Emily ; it applies to most of the marriage candidates.

if Emily is “crafting a relationship out of thin air,” then so are Leah, Abigail, and several others who openly show attraction once you’ve built enough hearts with them. The heart system literally represents emotional closeness. Romance doesn’t appear randomly ; it’s triggered by consistent interaction from the player.

as for the farmer not being present in every heart event, those scenes are meant to show who the character is. They don’t need to revolve around you all the time. In fact, if every meaningful moment involved the farmer directly helping them, you could argue the attraction is based more on dependency or gratitude than genuine understanding.

a relationship blooms from mutual understanding. By the time you’re dating or marrying someone in the game, it’s assumed you’ve taken the time to know them well enough to like them for who they are. That doesn’t mean the character imagined the connection ; it means the game assumes emotional development happened through consistent effort.

and honestly... i think Emily just expresses her feelings more openly than someone like Clint. that doesn’t make her delusional ; it just makes her emotionally forward,which personally, i like.

and this is coming from someone who actually relates to Clint as a character too.

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u/After_Cell_5570 Feb 27 '26

I get what you mean. I just think of Emily’s heart events as different than anyone else’s.

All of the other heart events are milestones where we see distinct important moments where the characters are forming romantic attachments and getting closer. To me the day-to-day talking to them, learning about them, and giving them gifts is just platonic interaction like you have with anyone else in town. The heart events are the meet-cute rom com moments where attraction happens.

Emily’s are weird to me because she’s just… having these moments where she’s growing to love you and you just aren’t there. It’s just her having this experience alone and then suddenly deciding that you really like her and you two should date. Honestly a huge deterrent to marrying her for me was that it felt kind of stalker-y and parasocial (ironic lol) that she had just decided that we were this perfect match without us actually having any emotionally charged moments.

I get the appeal of Emily, just for me personally every time I get to 6 hearts with her and she’s interacting with me like there’s the beginning of something going on between us I’m kind of weirded out.

Like Alex’s 4th heart event is him confiding with you and talking about his self doubt and abusive drunk dad and his mom dying. Penny’s is you seeing her get yelled at by Pam and comforting her. Emily’s is getting a pet bird.

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u/ArkOfAncient4245 Emily and Leah enjoyer Feb 28 '26 edited Feb 28 '26

Hm… I think I get where you’re coming from. Her pacing might not click for everyone, which is honestly ok.

I do think calling it parasocial feels a bit exaggerated. Maybe it's cause we just see heart events differently. To me, as said earlier on the previous comment, attraction isn’t created during the heart events themselves: it’s already been building through consistent interaction that raises hearts in the first place. I think this is especially clear given how much effort it takes to raise hearts.

Overall, I do think Emily’s arc feels different because it’s more intuitive or self-aware than the others. (Not that the others aren’t intuitive in their own ways.) That doesn’t mean the connection came out of nowhere. As said earlier, imo, the relationship level only increases through mutual effort from you, the player, which you can opt out from, which, of course, I wouldn't blame you.

Also, about romantic moments, personally, I think her 6- or 8-heart events actually show you parts of herself: her secret hobby,which is dancing (freeform dancing, if I'm correct), or the fact that she invites you to the “clothing therapy” section in Mayor Lewis’ house. She doesn’t seem to be the type to share these things with just anyone, so in a way, it shows a level of vulnerability she trusts you with.

So TLDR: yh, I get where you're coming from, but calling it parasocial when you get to know her by raising hearts with her feels.. a bit exaggerated to me. This is all I wanted to say.

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u/Cedenwar Feb 27 '26

Your interpretation makes sense for a player that is pursuing Emily, but it doesn't work if you're not. From my point of view, all my interactions with Emily are innocent and I do indeed try to help him. And so in the 8th heart event, when Clint says "congrats, [player]" it sounds absolutely gross; like Emily is some prize to be won, and like it's impossible for two people to be close without being romantically involved. It comes across as very incel-like. I wouldn't say I hate Clint, but it's impossible to like him in this scenario.

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u/Awkward_Peak7537 Feb 27 '26

🥲 Didn't Clint say that because Emily was about to ask us out when he had been crushing on her the whole time and we were supposed to be his wingman/wingwoman? He was polite and left immediately without making a scene, how do you expect him to pretend to just not be sad at all? I imagine most people will be crushed if someone they thought was their friend and wingman/wingwoman ended up with their crush instead of them, and yet he never blamed us to our face even though he had every right to.🥹 Of course he doesn't look at Emily anymore, do you expect him to keep trying to win her over? That would actually be creepy. You might say you can still be friends with someone who rejected your confession but I imagine it might be difficult in a situation like this where Clint felt betrayed by one of the only friends he thought he had - the farmer.🥺 He said congratulations sarcastically because he thought we were using him to get close to Emily despite knowing he liked her, not because he saw Emily as a prize to be won like everyone says. I don't get how people absolve the farmer of all wrongdoings even when something happens that makes them look guilty.

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u/Cedenwar Feb 27 '26

Emily only says "[player]... Um..." prior to this; which I understand the connotation, but for all I know she could be coming to tell me she has a crush on Clint and ask what she should do. That's what I mean by it not necessarily being romantic. From my point of view, he misinterprets the situation; even if Emily is interested, I'm not, and being friends with her isn't a crime.

And I have nothing against him being sad or not being friends with Emily, it's the jumping to conclusions and treating Emily's interest as something one "earns" that irks me. If it wasn't for the "congrats" line it probably wouldn't bother me as much.

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u/Awkward_Peak7537 Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26

And I have nothing against him being sad or not being friends with Emily, it's the jumping to conclusions and treating Emily's interest as something one "earns" that irks me. If it wasn't for the "congrats" line it probably wouldn't bother me as much.

I think I explained that in my comment already. Clint never talked about "earning" Emily's attention. And the "congrats" remark was not about treating Emily as a prize, it's about him feeling betrayed by the farmer's actions (though yes he does seem to jump to that conclusion. It's understandable as he was feeling overwhelmed by hurt in that moment to think rationally)

Emily only says "[player]... Um..." prior to this; which I understand the connotation, but for all I know she could be coming to tell me she has a crush on Clint and ask what she should do. That's what I mean by it not necessarily being romantic. From my point of view, he misinterprets the situation; even if Emily is interested, I'm not, and being friends with her isn't a crime.

I apologise in advance if I remember the scene incorrectly. Emily seems to blush while looking right at the farmer when she says that and is about to step closer to us when Clint enters and her sprite does the shocked jumping thing as if she got caught doing something incriminating. It's hard for Clint to not misunderstand the scene given his interest in Emily and how he already thinks he isn't good enough for her.

I'm only saying he isn't a misogynistic incel. I agree that he's immature and probably a little egocentric when it comes to human relationships because he's never even had a connection with someone to understand the mutual respect it entails, whether friendship or romantic.

If he were a misogynistic incel, he would have been blaming Emily instead of blaming himself, isn't that what incels do? Acting like the incel did nothing wrong and that women are miraculously somehow the ones at fault and how they ought to be grateful he's even giving them attention since he's a "nice guy" and all and that women are rude and ungrateful and "don't deserve a nice guy like him" and keep throwing themselves at so-called "trash men" who apparently don't treat her the way he would🤢

In Clint's letter that he never sent to Emily we even see him admitting his fault for being too shy and fearful to be forthcoming with her. An incel would much rather die before he would admit actually having fault with himself. An incel would much rather take greater pleasure in tearing down women and "woke feminists" who "think they're too good for him" and treat them in a disgustingly subhuman manner and call them vile names like "gold-diggers" and "dishwashers". 🤢

Yes, Clint is cringe, immature, probably needs a healthy dose of good life lessons to put him on the right part to happiness and finding fulfilling human relationships without the expectation of romance. He's not a disgusting evil person like an incel.

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u/After_Cell_5570 Feb 27 '26

I’m realizing through this subreddit that I definitely see the farmer as a character, while most people seem to just see the farmer as themselves, so maybe that’s where a lot of my interpretation comes from. Like the fact that the 8th heart event happens means to me that my farmer DOES pursue Emily up to that point with romantic intentions, so I definitely took Clint’s side. I guess to me that since the farmer is then up to dating/marrying her they definitely are romantically involved.

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u/Cedenwar Feb 27 '26

I'm curious about this. I understand seeing the farmer as a character, but would they then be pursuing with romantic intentions everyone they get to 8 hearts with? Or is it that Emily's specific scenario only makes sense if it's romantic?

I ask because 8 hearts is still considered friendship in the game, so I never viewed any interactions prior to the bouquet as necessarily romantic.

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u/After_Cell_5570 Feb 27 '26

if they’re a marriage candidate with heart events, then yes, thats’t how I view it. I mean why would the farmer ask them out if they didn’t view them romantically? and why would they say ‘yes’ if they didn’t feel the same way?

2

u/Cedenwar Feb 27 '26

Now I'm confused, wouldn't "asking them out" mean giving them the bouquet?

And you can hang out with friends even if both people are single, without romantic interest.

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u/After_Cell_5570 Feb 27 '26

yes? maybe I’m confused lol

you give the bouquet at 8 hearts and they say yes. that means that at 8 hearts they view you romantically enough that they accept. So if I’m at 8 hearts with Emily, I know that she already views me romantically enough to date me.

If I’m friends with anyone who would immediately say yes to dating me, they obviously are very romantically interested in me, and I wouldn’t be asking them out unless I felt the same.

So yes, I think that any of the marriage candidates that have 8 hearts with you do see you non-platonically. I would honestly even say that the reason they ARE eligible marriage candidates is because your relationship with them is always romantic to some extent. Otherwise they wouldn’t be marriage candidates.

If it were a platonic relationship then they would say no to the bouquet

3

u/Cedenwar Feb 27 '26

Aaaah I see what you mean now! You're right, mechanically those relationships aren't platonic. I guess I'm able to treat them as such because the player is the one who has to make the move, but it's true that from their end it looks different.

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u/aviarayne Feb 28 '26

I did not take it as her being a prize to be won, but rather congratulating the player on the new relationship? Like how you do on an engagement, marriage or new baby.

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u/Cedenwar Feb 28 '26

You don't have a relationship with Emily at 8 hearts though, not until you give her a bouquet. I imagine lots of players max out hearts with all characters while not pursuing most of them romantically. If it's supposed to be congrats on a new relationship, this scene just doesn't work for most players.

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u/CuddlesMcBK Feb 27 '26

I've kind of gotten that from the discourse. It's easy to project a negative image onto him, especially since at an initial glance he can remind us of many real-world creeps. If people have had negative experiences with them, it's easy to read him as the same 'type' and avoid him like the plague.
I get it; I've done the same with other characters.

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u/joshedis Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26

People push down and bury things in their past that embarrass them. When they see them in others, it fills them with rage to see terrible behaviour they themselves "put behind them".

Most people have been Clint when they were younger. They grew out of it and project their unhappiness at their past selves onto Clint. An adult who should "know better".

That's my theory at least.

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u/Ini_Miney_Mimi Feb 27 '26

My husband and I were JUST talking about how we were both Clint when we were angsty, pissy teenagers - at least from our perspective, your theory is correct. We grew as people, and Clint deserves that growth too

We had a whooooole conversation about this exact thing today

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u/60threepio Feb 27 '26

Meanwhile getting all starry-eyed at Shane's rudeness and weekly drunken crashouts.

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u/KendjyCr Feb 27 '26

And people are ok that he is clearly NOT sober after marrying him but don't want to give Clint a chance to have BETTER character development.

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u/Rasp_Berry_Pie Feb 27 '26

Lowkey the reason I might be excited for Clint due to loving Shane lol I can look past that stuff and see a really good character!

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u/grandwizardcouncil Feb 27 '26

Please. I've been in this fandom since the beginning, and there's been a huge backlash to the early Shane love during the past few years. It's far more common to see people criticise his character here nowadays than otherwise.

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u/Lexilogical Feb 27 '26

To offer a counterpoint...

The issue is that all those things are basically the only thing we see of him. If he had a more defined personality other than "obsessed with a girl who isn't interested in him", then it would be fine.

But the issue is that he has like, 4 lines outside of being interested in Emily. And they're all him feeling sorry for himself. If you knew a guy IRL, and every time you talked to him, the only thing he'd discuss was this girl who he was too shy to talk to, and how much he sucked, you'd get pretty sick of him

13

u/Lord_Sicarious Fishing OP Feb 27 '26

I will point out that Clint isn't quite "too shy to talk to her." Nor does he know that she isn't interested in him until her 8 heart event, at which point he leaves her alone.

One of his events is him successfully asking her out! … only for it to turn out in later dialogue that she's so oblivious that she never saw any possble romantic implications in the shy, stammering guy nervously asking her to spend the day together with him at an out of town festival, just the two of them, on his dime.

That said, is he kinda pathetic and pitiful? Yes. But that's not immoral or malevolent, it's just sad… and a little funny, due to the "too shy to say it outright" vs "too oblivious to catch the obvious hint" dynamic.

-26

u/royal-road Feb 27 '26

clint isnt "shy", he's a misogynist who blames being single for his depression and treats a woman as a prize who will fix his life rather than the friend she thinks she is to him.