Yes!! One Of My Favorite Headcannons Is That Red And Zim Were Friends In Smeethood. But When Red Started

Yes!! One of my favorite headcannons is that Red and Zim were friends in smeethood. But when Red started to grow and Zim didn’t, Red could no longer associate with him. Red met Purple and promptly abandoned Zim afterward. He was also a little scared of Zim. He’s a scary little man!

Tallest Red and Zim

So lots of people love Purple and think that he is the nicer one of the tallests but I personally prefer Red. I find it really interesting his and Zim’s interaction. Why? Lets see some examples:

1.      Red was the one who gave his sandwich to Zim which is a pretty big deal because the tallests seem pretty selfish about their food later on. He probably did this because food usually calms down other irkens (like him and Purple) while it doesnt seem to work on Zim. I mean Zim can get excited about food fe: nachos but when he is serious he doesnt let it divide his attention. It also seems that Zim remembered Red’s offering because he also made sandwiches to the tallest when he wanted them to visit Earth.

2.      It was Red who planed out the whole sending Zim away to a secret mission. It seemed that Purple didnt know what to do with the situation and he seemed more annoyed and angry at Zim than Red. And while the whole sending Zim away to die seems cruel it still raises some questions fe: Why didnt the tallests just throw him out of the airlock like they did with other irkens? or Why didnt they just send him to a trial? It seems that they or at least Red is more careful around Zim. And this is where my third point comes up.

3.      Red also tries to avoid confrontation with Zim. He often lies to him and sweeten his situation up unlike Purple who outright talks badly about him and wants  to kill him off even to his face. fe: The hobo13 episode where Purple outright called Zim insane and was happy about the possibility to see him die while Red immediately tried to cover up his slip.

4.      Red also shows interest about Zim’s experience on Earth and humans. They had a pretty decent talk while Purple thought the whole thing was ridiculous and he even asked him if they should see Zim’s progression on probing day. (Even Purple seemed confused why Red even pay attention to Zim)

5.      He also let Zim to annoy him for three hours because he was curious how long the other irken could last. He was angry and desperate but he didnt stop him before.

6.      I am not saying that Red doesnt enjoy torturing Zim because he was excited about shaming him in front of other irkens and just like Purple he likes seeing him suffer but he also seems to be more patient with him.

 7. For me Purple always seemed more cruel because he has no problem to hurt other irkens fe: throwing them out of airlocks, throwing Sir units at them…

8.      Both tallests seem to cause suffering to other irkens especially smaller ones. Fe: The probing day, Bob the table drone and Skoodge who both of them found disgusting. Red didnt even want to be close to Skoodge. It seems being fat and dirty is a very unattractive for irkens which is strange cause the tallests themselves can be very dirty and sloppy with their food and I also wonder why arent they fat because they always drink or eat and they dont even walk around. And as much they hate smaller irkens they dont seem to care about Zim’s height anymore or at least they dont shame him because of it. Maybe because Zim doesnt react or because he still challenge them on their levels.

9.      Even in the show and the comics it seems that Zim has some kind of malice towards Purple. He was the first one to die in Dib’s imagined life and in the comics Zim said he hated the Purple character and wished he would die. Maybe Zim is angry at Purple because his constant abuse towards him and others or maybe because Zim and Red used to be friends but Purple stand between them?

 10.  Zim also sees Red in a different light. In the Dib wonderful life of doom episode while he kinda let Purple to get killed he showed Red in a very different way compared to how he normally acts. Red usually very well collected and can keep his cool even in dangerous situation like we saw in the backseat driver episode meanwhile his version of Red immediately panicked and fleed from the danger and even let Purple die. Maybe he imagine Red more emotional and cowardly because of his behaviour towards him or maybe he knows the real Red who is scared but just tries to keep up his strong leader facade.

11. Red and Zim also have lots of things in common. I mean they both like destruction and blowing things up and they can be patient with crazier people and they can also focuse when they need to and they both can use technology very well.

Idk for me Red lots of time treats Zim like and older brother would treat his annoying little brother.

I also think that the tallests lots of times arent just annoyed with Zim but they actually afraid of him. Maybe because of their past they saw what he can do or maybe because he was and still is the only one who can stand up against them . I just really want to know more about their past and I hope we can see more about their smeethood in the comics.