Guardians

Guardians are the people and animals that take care of the kids and trolls in Homestuck. Each kid and troll has a specific guardian that watches over them before they go into the game. Most of the kids and trolls share similar characteristics with their guardians.

Most of the post scratch kids have two guardians, one of them being the primary caretaker, and the other one being deceased and not as important before the start of the game, but later essential to continuing through the game. The exception to this is that Dave just has his brother, and prototypes a dead crow, and Jade's dead human guardian is not used in the game by her, as Jade's living guardian prototypes itself into the sprite before Jade's deceased guardian could be prototyped.

 John Egbert has his Nanna, who was dead before he was born, and is pre-scratch Jane. He also has his Dad, who is biologically his half-brother. When John goes into the game, he prototypes his tier one Sprite with a harlequin doll, and after entering the Medium, prototypes his Sprite to tier two with the ashes of his Nanna. 

Rose Lalonde has her Mom, who is pre-scratch Roxy. She also has Jaspers, her dead cat, who died when she was young. Rose prototypes her their one Sprite with an Eldrich Princess doll she made herself, and when entering the Medium, prototyped tier two with the body of Jaspers, making him able to talk.

Dave Strider has his Bro, who is pre-scratch Dirk. Dave didn't prototype Dirk, he prototyped a dead crow with a sword in it for his tier one Sprite. He then prototypes a future version of himself into his Sprite for tier two.

Jade Harley has her Grandpa, who is pre-scratch Jake. Grandpa died early in Jades life. She also has her dog, Becquerel, who has powers that allow him to teleport and alternate reality. Bec prototypes himself into the Sprite for tier one by jumping into it. Jade then prototypes her dead dream self into the Sprite for tier two.

Jane Crocker has her Poppop, who is post-scratch John. She also has her Dad, biologically her grandson. They play no role in helping through the game, along with all the other Guardians of the post-scratch kids.

Roxy Lalonde has her Mom, who is post-scratch Rose.

Dirk Strider has his Bro, who is post-scratch Dave.

Jake English has his Grandma, who is post-scratch Jade, but she died while Jake was young, so he raised himself. There are also Lusii on Jake's island, but they do not take care of him, and Jake just thinks they are there to fight.

The trolls' guardians are called Lusus (singular), or Lusii (plural).Lusii choose the troll they will raise. Scent plays a role in the selection process. They are horrifying beasts found in the ceremonial brooding caverns once the young trolls have completed their many dangerous trials. A troll's lusus is dependent on their blood color, and possibly by gender as well. Together the young troll and custodian surface from the subterranean vaults and build a new hive using carpenter droids.

The ram lusus is a ram-like creature that Aradia had as a guardian. The ram lusii has horns similar to Aradia's. Aradia's Lusus died before the game in a chain of events stemming from a roleplaying accident, as a result it is the only lusus not prototyped into a sprite.

Fairy bulls are small fairy/bull hybrids that Tavros had as lusii. Tavros's fairy bull's name is Tinkerbull. They seem to have a very good relationship, often playing Fiduspawn together, and accompanying him on his Flarp adventures. He appears to have been killed by Tavros, who had accidentally crushed him underneath his wheelchair. Later, Tinkerbull is prototyped into Tavros' kernelsprite, seen floating outside of his transported hive. Tavros has stated that, since Tinkerbull can now talk as a result of his prototyping, he is really smart and appears to consult him for advice.

Bicyclops ,also referred to as a biclops, are large two-headed, horned giants that Sollux had as lusii. Each head has a single eye, one red and one blue, and each head has a mouth with two fangs. Sollux chains his lusus to the roof of his communal hive stem. He is fed mind honey, harvested from Sollux's beehouse mainframes, to "keep him from being an idiot all the time". He was killed by a catastrophic release of Sollux's psionic energy that demolished the upper levels of his hive, as a result of inadvertently consuming mind. Later, Bicyclopsprite is seen staring at Sollux's dead body.

Karkat's lusus is a towering, bipedal crab monster. He is very crabby and Karkat is often forced to fight him to calm him down.He was killed when Karkat's computer exploded as a result of running Sollux Captor's Mobius Double Reacharound Virus, thereby implementing the curse that possibly leads to the death of the other trolls' lusii as well.

Nepeta's lusus, Pounce de Leon, is a feline creature with two mouths, roughly the size of a Panther. Nepeta would ride on Pounce's back until Pounce got tired, at which point Pounce would ride Nepeta.Pounce de Leon was crushed when Nepeta's hive caved in for unknown reasons, probably due to a meteor.

Kanaya's lusus is a Virgin Mother Grub that quit from her responsibility of producing eggs. It is an honor to have one become your lusus. She has a skull-like face, lips, and two horns, one of them bent like Kanaya's. Her design is possibly based on the Virgin Tiger Moth. Kanaya was chosen by her lusus on account of her rare jade green blood, and is protected by her from the various threats of the desert that her hive occupies. Kanaya's hive was built underneath the sand, the seed planted through use of her lusus' remarkable burrowing skills. Kanaya's lusus apparently died of natural causes, as a Mother Grub who renounces brooding has a more limited lifespan. Kanaya believes her death, and by extension the deaths of the other lusii, are not an effect of the Mobius Double Reacharound Virus, but instead are a consequence of playing Sgrub. After she dies, Kanaya saws open the abdomen of her lusus, removing a mysterious sphere called a Matriorb, which can be used to create a new Mother Grub. Doing this is part of Kanaya fulfilling her end of the bargain.

Terezi's lusus is a large, sightless dragon. The species is blind until maturity and must learn to survive without the benefit of sight. Terezi was not directly raised by her lusus, as the hatching of her egg would tip the Doomsday Scale on which it sits, causing the end of the world. However, her Lusus would communicate with her telepathically during her sleep. After the accident in which Terezi lost her sight, it was her lusus that helped teach her the skills to function without vision by smelling and tasting her surroundings. By doing so, Terezi was able to connect with her awakened dream self. Later, the heat of a meteor-sparked forest fire causes the lusus' egg to hatch as Terezi arrives. She dies shortly thereafter, struck by a meteor, presumably due to an inability to see them raining down at the time of her hatching. Her corpse was later picked up and deposited into Terezi's kernelsprite by Gamzee, allowing the two to have audible conversations.

Vriska's lusus resembles a gargantuan spider. One of her fangs is bent downwards, like one of Vriska's horns. Vriska refers to her as Spidermom. Her lusus eats young trolls, and is constantly hungry. Vriska uses her Flarp sessions to procure more food for her lusus. Spidermom dwells in webs woven between the canyons surrounding Vriska's castle-like hive, below her chain-suspended doomsday device. She was killed after the Catenative Doomsday Dice Cascader malfunctioned and exploded, causing the rockface that supported part of Equius' hive to collapse and crush her. Vriska, having arrived shortly beforehand, put her lusus out of her misery by rolling her set of enchanted dice, the Fluorite Octet. It unleashed one of its most powerful attacks, summoning a massive guillotine to behead the Lusus. Presumably, the decapitated part was used to prototype her kernelsprite

Equius' lusus, Aurthour, looks like a centaur, but with an udder and a mustache. In addition to being a guardian, Aurthour is Equius' butler, providing him with his own Lusus Milk. Equius cares for and respects Aurthour and calls him simply the best there is. Aurthour's species is said to be one of the strongest kinds of lusus, which is why he became Equius' custodian, because no other lusus could handle Equius' strength. But, Aurthour bruises incredibly often, even as a result of a grateful pat on the head. His bruising is most likely because Equius is too strong even for monsters. He was killed when the Catenative Doomsday Dice Cascader malfunctioned and blew up part of the rockface that supported a section of Equius' hive. He was in the part of the house that crumbled, and he fell.

Gamzee's lusus is a giant goat-like sea creature. He had apparently often been out to sea instead of caring for Gamzee as a guardian is supposed to. Despite this, Gamzee appears to care enough about him to go keep a look out for him, suggesting that he trusts him. He was speared by what appears to be a harpoon or something similar, possibly even by Eridan, and died while Gamzee comforted him.

Eridan's  lusus appears to be a large flying seahorse. Eridan rides on his lusus' back, as he floats through the air. He is also seen hunting with his Lusus serving as his steed. He is the only troll to accessorize his Lusus, equipping him with a violet saddle and reins. In Eridan's hive, his lusus does not wear riding gear.

Gl'bgolyb is a colossal, squid-like abomination that is the lusus of Feferi. Gl'bgolyb dwarfs all other lusii, as well as most architecture, majorly – Karkat describes her as "AN OUTER GOD THE SIZE OF A CITY". Looking closely, it can be seen that she has two mouths, one on each end of her body.

Gl'bgolyb eventually said the Vast Glub while Karkat was attempting to get Sollux into The Medium, killing him. Doc Scratch stated that the Vast Glub was Gl'bgolyb's swan song" implying that after releasing the Vast Glub it would die, and the implied cause of death was a meteor.