#i will reiterate like i did with the kristoph npd essay: i am not blaming kristoph's npd for this. i am blaming him for refusing help

[jinxedshapeshifter]

can u explain the 'kris killed the gavin parents' hc , or is it js 'hes evil and killer so'? Also i'd like to hear motive!!! (Also yaauy npd kristoph mention on your blog :3)

At least part of it is how fucked up the Gavins' backstory is implied to be. Klavier implies that even up to Turnabout Succession, he was under Kristoph's control in some manner (he specifically asks Kristoph if he's spinning out of his own control or Kristoph's). I've mentioned it a few times but Klavier seems to have had a pretty good opinion of Kristoph during Zak's trial, but that opinion changed at some point before Turnabout Succession's main story, and even during Turnabout Succession's 2026 sections, Klavier's begging for proof that Kristoph attempted murder and commissioned forged evidence, implying even during the 2026 sections of Turnabout Succession, he doesn't want to believe Kristoph's as shitty as he's being accused of being (and this is confirmed when Klavier says himself he wanted to believe Kristoph).

Additionally, Klavier has one hell of a fawn response to Kristoph exclusively. I analyzed it a lot more in-depth here, but basically Klavier defaults to going along with what Kristoph says while Kristoph's on the witness stand. Fawning like that, especially to the degree Klavier does it, is usually a trauma response (it's not always but the vast majority of the time it is, as far as I can tell). He doesn't respond to conflict with anyone else this way; under any other circumstances, he defaults to a fight response (for example, when conflict arises with Daryan, he tends to get into arguments with him, and he's pretty aggressive during both Turnabout Serenade and Turnabout Academy. This results in him taking out his emotions on Apollo and Athena in Turnabout Academy, although Apollo gets the brunt of it). Klavier's fawn response is so intense, in fact, that Trucy and Apollo mention it multiple times.

TL;DR for that specifically, Klavier and Kristoph's dynamic stands out enough as Fucked Up to me that I think there must be some equally as Fucked Up history between them. There could be worse than Kristoph killing his and Klavier's parents, but considering how Kristoph is, I think just Kristoph killing his parents would be enough to irreparably fuck up his and Klavier's relationship, which brings me to his motive.

I actually think Kristoph's motive for killing his parents is similar to what I think could've been Excelsius's motive for killing Eustace's mom (which is just implied but I 100% think Excelsius killed Eustace's mom). It would take away avenues for Klavier to ask for help when/if Kristoph started abusing and/or manipulating him, if he wasn't already (and it's worth noting that there's a pretty decent chance he was, because a kid's formative years are the first 8 years of life).

I also think it's worth noting that red flags for NPD start showing quite early. I think there's a chance Klavier and Kristoph's parents noticed this, then tried to get him help and he refused. I think it's 100% possible Kristoph was so peeved about it that it became a motive for murder (and we know his motives for his crimes tend to be petty or fueled by paranoia. If his parents implied that his behavior was a problem, and he got upset enough, in Kristoph's case specifically it could absolutely become a motive for murder).

Klavier's age might've also been a factor. Kristoph and Klavier are 8 years apart; Klavier's 24 in AJ:AA, and Kristoph's 32. With this 8 year age gap in mind, and the fact that red flags for NPD start showing early, I wouldn't be surprised if Kristoph got jealous of the attention Klavier was getting and killed their parents in retaliation. Why wouldn't he kill Klavier instead of his parents if that was the case? As an adult, Kristoph exhibits a desire to be the center of attention (although to a lesser extent to Klavier), and this trait probably would've been well-developed by the time he was a teenager. Going back to how child development works, your personality is usually fully developed by age 8. Assuming Kristoph embraced the traits he had that negatively impacted other people from a young age, he probably got a lot worse as he became a teenager due to the lack of intervention.

This also brings me back to Kristoph and Excelsius parallels. Excelsius used Eustace to build up his own ego and emotionally abused and manipulated him to keep him close. I wouldn't be surprised if this was Kristoph's reason for keeping Klavier around, especially because this seems to be part of why he kept Apollo around. I don't think Kristoph's reasoning for keeping Apollo around was anything genuine. At best, Kristoph was keeping Apollo around to boost his ego (as Apollo does look up to Kristoph, which is why he's so torn over loyalty at one point in Turnabout Trump) and at worst, Kristoph was keeping Apollo around to genuinely train him for nefarious reasons. Kristoph takes Apollo listening to Phoenix's testimony as a personal betrayal, and tries to emotionally manipulate him into standing down (his specific dialogue there is "Et tu, Justice? You would betray me, your teacher?").

We know Klavier trusted Kristoph, even looked up to him, during Zak's trial; he kept Kristoph anonymous when he mentioned the prosecutor's office getting a tip about forged evidence, and trusted him at his word. Klavier is either the worst judge of character in the entire franchise or Kristoph manipulated him into thinking he wasn't the piece of shit he is.

ANYWAY. Klavier and Kristoph's dynamic is Fucked Up enough that I think something had to have happened at some point to cause Klavier's quite extreme fawn response and I don't think Klavier is that bad a judge of character. We even see how he decides to trust people BEFORE he's betrayed by Daryan or Kristoph, and in Daryan's case, mention is made of him seeing an opportunity and taking it, so it's not like he's a consistent criminal like Kristoph is. Daryan probably didn't have as many red flags, if any, while Kristoph very likely did, and Klavier was conscientious enough to realize something was off about Kristoph knowing Phoenix was going to present forged evidence.

I very much think he could've been motivated by his ego and desire for attention to kill his parents. An 8-9 year old is going to get more attention than a 16-17 year old, and I don't think the chance of him killing his parents and taking in Klavier, who, at the age of 8 or 9, would be a perfect pawn for him, would be lost on him. When Kristoph was a teenager, Klavier was at the right age for Kristoph to essentially be able to shape him into whatever he thought would be most useful to him; in this case, he could've shaped Klavier into someone who wouldn't question him and would essentially go along with whatever he wanted (which could explain why Klavier basically lets Kristoph do his job for him for a time in Turnabout Succession). Kristoph very likely fed off the attention he'd inevitably get from raising Klavier, and Klavier wouldn't (and didn't) realize anything's wrong until he's older.

So basically: my reasoning is Kristoph and Klavier's dynamic being all kinds of fucked up, which includes the implication that Kristoph manipulated Klavier into never questioning him (which I don't think he would've been able to do if their parents were around, although I do acknowledge there could be other explanations for this, such as Kris and Klav's parents being neglectful), and I think Kris's motive would've been a combination of his ego and a desire for attention that he refused to get help for.