Homestuck's canon narrative is a tragedy in the literary sense and here's why.
Much of the focus of the narrative is about doomed timelines versus the alpha timeline.
Doomed timelines, we are told in the beginning, are bad. You want to avoid them. You want to avoid being in one. Doomed timelines are irrelevant, and destined to fade out of existence. If you are in a doomed timeline, you are destined to be irrelevant and fade out of existence.
The alpha timeline is the only timeline that actually matters.
The alpha timeline is where things and people are relevant and keep happening.
This is because Homestuck is a metafiction, and the alpha timeline is where the story takes place. The alpha timeline is the place where things and people are relevant because it is the place where the story we're being shown is happening.
The alpha timeline is the alpha timeline quite explicitly because it is the timeline that the story makes the most relevant to the reader.
The characters within the story are told that the Alpha timeline is the one they want to be in. The one that's important, the one that matters.
The characters within the story believe that the Alpha timeline is somehow good and necessary for much of the narrative.
But something both the characters and the readers lose hold of is the reason why the alpha timeline is the timeline that matters.
It's not because the alpha timeline is the best timeline to be in.
It's not the timeline that offers hope, or safety or a happy ending.
It is in fact, the timeline that absolutely promises a disastrous and tragic ending.
The alpha timeline is the alpha timeline because it is the timeline that brings Lord English into being.
The alpha timeline is the story of Homestuck itself. It is the place where the characters who are the most relevant to the story are, and the place where the events that are most relevant to the story happen.
The relevant characters who are destined to participate in actions that will destroy them, and events that will part them from their loved ones.
The alpha timeline of Homestuck is a tragic disaster that inevitably births a monster that destroys most of the characters we have come to know and love.
It is the timeline where people lose important fights and give in to their worst selves. It's a timeline where people never live up to their potential.
The alpha timeline is a tragic disaster.
The alpha timeline is the story that Homestuck wants to tell you.
Homestuck is a tragedy.