#i cant word my thoughts in an eloquent way. augh

[princema-k]

IVE BEEN ENABLED. LETS FUCKING GO. long ass post time

BEWARE SPOILERS FOR AZRAN LEGACY/MIRACLE MASK/UNWOUND FUTURE!!!

FIRST THINGS FIRST: take everything i say with a grain of salt since im definitely foggy on a lot of story parts and am only vaguely aware of what happens during the prequel trilogy. also im bad with words. anywaysssss

I'd say the moment from the moment he got adopted and was separated from his family, he's repressed both his memories and his emotions as his survival tactic. Since he was a kid of around 6(?) being ripped away from his only sources of comfort and stability in his life would seriously tamper with his mental state.

All he would be able to feel at that point would be loss and grief; too much for any child to bear, meaning they'd likely just shut down emotionally to stop feeling the pain that they'd have no reprise from. His survival tactic has just been to forget he'd ever been hurt at all, and he wasn't exactly given many other options at this point in his life.

After that point though, nothing in his life further down the line has actually been better for him ever since he started repressing his emotions. Following the loss of both Randall and Claire, he's just further sunk himself in his emotional repression because he never learned better coping mechanisms (I don't believe we actually see him cry for either Randall, and I believe he's only cried for Claire at the end of UF). Repressing grief after grief on top of his own childhood.

Due to how much emotion we actually see him express in Unwound Future, that may have been him reaching his limit with how much he was able to repress, with several DECADES worth of emotions coming to the surface due to the game as a result of the personal stakes in the plot.

Hershel is a man who's obviously severely emotionally constipated, repressing everything he feels to appear very subdued (his anger is only slanted eyes and gritted teeth; happiness only a small smile or "haha"; sadness is slanted eyes again, even his crying at the end of UF was clearly him holding back I think).

Claire's death and how society perceives "gentlemanliness" - or sociably acceptable emotions for an upstanding member of society - likely just made this all worse for him. On top of unconsciously trying to protect himself, he's now also trying to play the part of a "true gentleman" since it's what he believes Claire sees him as or wants him to be.

He's such a broken character trying to put on a proper visage, and no one even sees it (or if they do, they're not bothering to help). It's pretty sad honestly.

ha ha ha wheeeee

if a total of Two (2) people are interested i will ramble abt my hcs abt layton's emotions

(individual smaller expressions under the cut!!)

bonus: