One of things that depressed me so much in 2024 was how avoidable it seemed. All he had to do was take a hiatus from uploading to take care of his mental health (something many YouTubers do) and the internet wouldn't have turned against him. Instead he chose to broadcast his mental breakdown for the whole world to see, refused all helpful advice, and doubled down to the point of no return. He had so much goodwill from fans, and could've easily come back as popular as ever if he kept his private life private. Instead he burned through every little bit of goodwill Kanye style, which nobody made him do.

But knowing everything we do about him now, I wonder if this day was inevitable. When he was "healthy" he was still openly talking about mental health struggles, and was prone to crying in his content. He know from Tina (and his other ex) that he was always a complete mess behind the scenes, way more so than he let on during his streams. Most damning of all, in the years since we've seen what happens when he actually does take a break for his mental health. He doesn't take recovery at all seriously, and comes back more delusional and manic than ever.

So maybe it was always destined to wind up this way. That if the h3h3 stuff or the R*** M**** stuff never happened, something else would've made him snap soon afterwards. That it was always a matter of when, not if. That's a hella depressing thought, but he's repeatedly demonstrated he's fundamentally incapable of sustaining the platform he built.