#arlo is also even taller in my headcanons than he is in canon

[oplishin]

No one in unordinary has a backstory (besides the obvious exception) so here’s my two cents (headcanons) on Arlo’s history

He was born out of wedlock (I promise this is relevant to The Way That He Is in canon)

When his parents met his father was a middle aged very influential government official who did make a bit of an effort to be in Arlo’s life, but had a whole nother family. Arlo was primarily raised by his mom during his early childhood. Arlo’s ability comes from his fathers side, and val is his paternal aunt

Arlo’s father tries to be affectionate, genial old man, but. He’s just quintessentially unprepared to help raise a young child. He’s also in his 70s during canon so he’s very out of touch to what Arlo’s life is even like. Arlo is mostly just standoffishly polite to him

Arlos mother was a broke college student when he was born. She felt like a failure for getting pregnant before doing anything with her life, so she kind of unconsciously externalized that onto arlo- “if I raise this child to successfully enough, I won’t have failed as a parent and as a person”

She was unyieldingly strict and demanding at all times. She always pushed him to get stronger, to raise himself in the hierarchy because it was her way of proving that she was doing something valuable. She loves him, but maybe not as much as the idea of him. I don’t think she was abusive, but certainly just. Not a Good Mom

It kinda works out for them because arlo inherits his dads power and absolutely excels at it. He measures himself by hierarchy but it hasn’t destroyed his self esteem because. Turns out he’s pretty great at hierarchy actually

At some point Arlo’s mom sends him to live full time with his dad because he can provide so many more opportunities for him. It’s a pretty cushy lifestyle

Arlo has 3 half siblings from his dads side that are all MUCH older than him, like 14 years older at the youngest (in canon they are all in their 30s)

In his early childhood they all really resented him for ruining their parents’ marriage. His mom tried to keep him away from that shit, but it got into his brain a bit. His method of dealing with it (like in canon) is just. Repression repression repression baby!! Can’t have problems if you just fight people about them. He inherits his moms perspective on hierarchy: no one can judge you if you’re the most powerful person in the room

Val was the one person on his fathers side that really tried to form a relationship with him which is why he looks up to her so much. Whether it’s because she actually cares about him or it’s because she thought he’d end up as a valuable resource, well. Arlo certainly believes the former

His now grown ass adult siblings regret being shitty to him. They try to reach out and reconnect now but Arlo is Arlo about it and just brushes them off

Arlo ends up the tallest and the most powerful of all his siblings

His mom ends up remarrying and starting her own family too. She gets happiness. She changes from that bad parent from the earlier parts of his childhood and tries to fix things. She’s been able to move on from the toxic mindset she raised him with, but he’s still stuck there with the trauma she’s given him.

Arlo’s kind of stranded between 2 happy families and he deals with it by!! Pretending the only life he has is the one at wellston. He throws himself into his duties as King and ignores everything else