Being a DIK's Jill Royce: a simple character analysis

Being a DIK's Jill Royce is the idealized fantasy-romantic heroine girlfriend. She's there to support the MC at every turn, save when DPC suffers from forced railroading to generate fake drama.

The Jill character has a savior complex regarding people and drugs. She actively helps the MC out when he gets a wedgie by Dawe, and then calls Chad out by the school authorities when he attacked the MC, because she thinks it's the right thing to do.

Along with other things, such behavior makes Jill the stereotypical naive rich friend, who wants to help people because of the death of her sister. Whereas Zoey is the "perfect" girlfriend to the MC, Lana was the mirror-female version of the MC. Jill loves the MC for multiple reasons, one being how similar he is to her sister.

• There's a clear villain in Tybalt who is designed to be ridiculed. You both now have a villain to struggle and bond over.
• Bella, who helps out the MC and Jill, essentially guides them to hook up.
• Even if choosing Bella over Jill, Jill still loves the MC and doesn't end her relationship with either.
• Her recital sets up the MC to be her savior.
• Him visiting her at night turns him into some kind of destiny figure akin to her sister telling her "this is the one."
• Jill essentially laughs at all the MC's jokes, like a more childish Maya.
• Her genetics, appearance and overall look is stunning. Just one step below goddess level of Bella/Nora.
• The game pretty much sets up Jill as this perfect girlfriend/relationship. You even go with her to the hospital to get a sexual disease test to make sure everything's good to go. Who does this except a Jill character?

Further still, there are nuances of Jill getting out of her innocent, pure girl persona, and becoming more outgoing, even sexually, by influence from Sage, Bianca, and now even herself with her attire (clothes shopping, dress at NYE, and sister's clothes). So now she's turning into a Super Girlfriend. (A girlfriend to surpass Metal Sage?)

Then there's the potential history of her house and family relations with the MC's family's past in some way. God, the soap opera is thick.

It's like DPC just wrote the stereotypical perfect, caring girlfriend fantasy with no major issues. She swears at the Hallowe'en haunted escape room when she says she didn't, she acts like a little girl wearing a banana costume, or she wears the bee one if you turned her down on Bella's route (does she want to seduce the MC?)

One irony is at the start; her savior persona to help the MC (Dawe, Chad) is sacrificed for the MC becoming her savior (Tybalt, the recital.) The narrative becomes flipped. Her agency in that role is traded instead for romance tropes.

Jill Royce: The Good

• Jill takes her own problems into her hands with finally putting Tybalt in his place, while the MC was there to hold her hand through it. One could argue a lack of agency on the MC, but it grants it to Jill for her own conflicts.
• She does it again by smashing his gonads because comic relief.
• She remembers the break-in at her dorm, and accuses the MC of stealing her underwear, and potentially money from her room. This is good, as it shows something as simple as breaking and entering and theft would cause a divide with her. Also especially since this happened to the MC early on as well, so we can relate to the event. If on her route, she trusts the MC, even though she feels bad about the whole situation (slight difference if not on her path, but noticeable).
• Despite being 2-3s older, she's still scared of crowds, and needs a little push to get her to open up. Meaning, the MC is the perfect candidate to help her grow, whether it's socially, personally, or sexually.
• She interacts with the MC at the DIK mansion when on her path in a number of occasions, which is nice to see. (e.g. Coming by to pick you up for the birthday date, helping decorate the tree at Christmas, staying for breakfast after the Hallowe'en party.)

Jill Royce: The Bad

1. No Negotiations for Friends

The main issue with how Jill is setup in code is this: she plans a big romantic birthday date for the MC, but the MC promised to look after a sick Sage. The entire romantic relationship hinges on this.

The MC can't reschedule. He can't explain to Jill what happened in any favorable way. He also can't have a date with Jill the day after to make it up to her. Or tell Sage he'll come by in the evening or the day after. It's a stupid scheduling conflict when any number of simple solutions could've worked if one wanted to pursue Jill yet still help a sick friend.

This is ironic, since we're comparing the two absolute CHICK and DIK characters at the time; the scoring system has pretty much ceased to be relevant. It's like DPC forgot he was using this system, and invented Jill to be the most CHICK of them all, purely out of contrast.

2. The Episode 12 Breakup Hypocrisy

The 2nd main issue is Episode 12's hypocrisy, which I've gone over in detail on this The Hypocrisy of Jill Royce. She states privately she didn't mind the MC having a past with girls, but when it's revealed publicly, she cracks with a childish volatility over a mature topic. "The foundation of what it was based off"? She is not so understanding, mature or accepting of someone she apparently thinks is her destiny, when she said she was okay with it from the start. What is she even thinking here?

3. Tybalt is the main conflict and bonding device

There's the underwear/potential money accusation at the Thanksgiving Party. While this is handled fine in terms of function, once again, the scapegoat becomes Tybalt. She accuses you of stealing her underwear, but it ends up being Tybalt, making him yet another conflict he generated, forcing the two together. Tybalt's 3 dates with Jill were already forced; yet now, it's a conditional morality she can't understand, while it's blindingly obvious at this point from previous interactions and patterns of behavior that Tybalt was lying. So, Jill reacts naively and childishly until not only is Tybalt wrong (as he lied about the fire event), he's found out to be a massively-disgusting-perverted-pathetic liar. The MC is in the clear. It's painfully obvious that "everything Tybalt" is simply going to put the MC closer to Jill. And hopefully this is the end of his meddling and involvement with Jill, as he only has a few more symmetrical appendages left before he starts losing limbs and bodily systems.

4. The weird Bella/Jill casual relationship

The Bella dynamic. Jill's route relies on Bella as matchmaker. Bella's the adult, Jill's the child. It's a strange scenario where Jill -- despite being older and more mature than the MC -- is acting like the little sister being given to the MC. It makes Jill look like a reward, orchestrated by a side character, and weakens her agency as a romantic partner. It also makes Bella look like a weirdo when they end up hooking up, and she never tells Jill. It's a strange setup that is too casual for these two women who are the opposite of casual, romantic relations.

5. Weird, stupid stuff.

• On their first date, Jill gets turned on by being groped in the shower, and instead of freaking out, stands there and enjoys it. And kisses in the shower, near naked, moments after being embarrassed by nudity. What a strange combination of events in that order.
• She wanted her last name to be kept a secret, since the MC was "perfect" before Bella told him. (What is wrong with DPC and last names? The forced drama is so dumb.)
• A foil to Rusty's scenario of cheating, and you can impact his attitude about relationships. He just happened to date Jill in the past (?) Literally no conversation between guys.
• The meet-the-friends dinner date was too formal and awkward, when a restaurant would've been normal. (He's never heard of wasabi?)
• 
  

6. The Bianca Factor: The Sandbox vs The Story

I've written about Bianaca's Hypocrisy specifically, but the setup for cheating on Jill with Bianca is one of the dumbest parts of Being a DIK. (The dumbest being Josy.)

1. We are pursuing Jill in the purest relationship possible in the game, provided one avoids all the MG's advances (no, Nikita/Monk runs don't count).
2. On Jill's path, it's setup so that one discovers Bianca's cheating boyfriend at a party. Under what logic would one then choose to cheat on Jill, with Bianca? Why would we, and Bianca, even consider this?
3. One can make a series of very questionable behaviors with her, for no reason that it is an option. Why is this an option, DPC? I believe this was the foundation of the hidden TC/cheater points system, which he then applied to the rest of the relationships.

If one wanted to pursue Bianca, that should've been an option regardless of Jill's path. Why would DPC want the player to have a pure hearted relationship, find a friend in Bianca via Jill, and then pursue her without breaking it off properly with Jill? It doesn't make any sense for a) going the pure hearted route to have a lustful change of heart, b) going the CHICK route, c) having all this buildup and supposed code and character development, to throw it all away.

There is a fundamental structural contrlict here. DPC seems to have a constant battle between a consistent narrative of character building (Jill, MC, whomever), and the desire to provide the player with constant sexual options at any given time. Which is largely contradictory to a CHICK/Jill playthrough.

The Narrative Emotional Catch Up

Jill is introduced in Episode 1, but for an ADV, has very little romantic interaction as such. She needs to play "emotional catch up" to the narratives of MG's of Josy, Maya, Bella, Sage, and even the Other Girls, who are already developing romances with the MC. We're not sure why DPC developed her later, or gave other girls romantic options later in the story; everything feels very disconnected for players to choose who to go after. (And hence, why there are a series of break up scenes. This is exacerbated by Zoey, the Destroyer of Paths, who is emotionally introduced much, much later.)

In Episode 2, in her dorm room, she gives hints of her sister, her anxiety of crowds, and her protective nature. This sets up her savior complex, her trauma over drugs, and the immediate need for someone to provide safety in a high stress scenario.

In Episode 4, there's a huge emotional wall-of-text within the Piano Recital. Instead of walking the long road of character development, the Piano Recital acts as a narrative fast-travel that instantly warps Jill from "girl in the hallway" to "fated soulmate". We know of Lana's drug addiction and death. Jill puts the MC as her replacement savior, including making him her "destiny". This is where Jill's emotional engine starts revving and she plays catch up with the main cast.

Episodes 6 & 7 go into Bella's room, the break-in, the history of the house. We get ties to the Royce's history, possibly to the MC's past, and how Bella has been protecting Jill from behind the scenes.

Episode 9 is the birthday date and the Tybalt issue.

Episode 11 The Lana Flashback.

Episode 12 goes right after the focus on Lana's flashback, and the whole Hypocrisy scene at the end if you fail the slut check.

So while the first 3 episodes have plenty of emotional and relationship conflicts and developments, Jill is emotionally sidelined for Jill to be inserted via Bella and the main plot scenarios where the player character is forced to deal with her issues (the recital, Tybalt

Jill Royce: The Super Girlfriend to be.

Jill goes from the gorgeous, quiet, nice girl in the hallway" to Episode 12's "fated partner".

It feels mechanically railroaded, and as such, had to be added with huge info dumps starting at Episode 4. Later, she becomes the beginnings of a Super Girlfriend, surpassing nearly every other female for being a fantasy on almost every category; emotionally, financially, sexually, and more

Category	Jill	Maya	Sage	Josy	Isabella (Bella)
Finances	Ultra-Wealthy Royce family estate, trusts, private tuition	Independent / Struggling Works part-time, budget-conscious	Upper-Middle Sorority president, stable backing	Comfortable Generous allowance, social spending	Wealthy High-end background, linked to Royce family
Emotions	Child like -> Extreme Devotion Trauma-bound, destiny-coded	Grounded & Sarcastic Pragmatic, slow-burn trust	Leader / Control-Oriented Stressed by responsibility	Gentle / Passive Avoids major confrontation	Guarded / Secretive Suppresses personal desire
Maturity	Childish -> Super Girlfriend Moves from crowd-anxious to sexually confident	High Street-smart, direct communication	High Organized, manages sorority logistics	Moderate Relies heavily on Maya's direction	High Calculated, plays long-term chess
Style	Evolving Top-Tier Classic -> High-fashion NYE dress, sister's attire	Alternative / Alt-Chic Edgy, casual	Preppy / Athletic Clean-cut sorority leader	Soft / Girl-Next-Door Feminine, relaxed	Elegant / Formal Refined, classic
Lore	Central Narrative  Sister Lana's death, drug trauma, father's past	Personal Struggles Family fallout, abuse, independence, reconciliation	Sorority Politics Leadership friction, house drama, Burke's family issues	Secondary Bound to Maya’s personal arc, identity implosion	Core Mystery Hook Locked room, house secrets
Plot Function	Destiny / High-CHICK Anchor The "Fated Reward"	Organic Main Romance Grounded, back-and-forth	Leadership & Route Pivot Conflict of interest	Side-by-Side Co-Romance Shared development	Surrogate / Gatekeeper Directs MC toward Jill/herself

Take

• Maya's Romance Depth
• Sage's Style/Presence/Sexuality
• Zoey's history and familiarity (Lana's music/shared love of music)
• Bella's lore (and Jill's a huge part of it)
• Potential historical/soap opera tie-ins with MC's family

...and Jill has become the composite Super Girlfriend. She may not be the best in every category, but she's already ramping up to beat them all at one or another. Combined with Bella's potential romance triangle, and she and her could be a new "Throuple to surpass Metal Maya"/Josy (which isn't saying much, since...Josy.)