#im normal about A. i swear. stick your hands inside my enclosure trust me

[psychology-department]

trans protagonist theory and ayin lobcorp- a small character analysis

(lobcorp spoilers + slight ruina/leviathan spoilers under the cut)

A couple nights ago, I saw this tumblr post by @/somekindofsentience which coined a term called trans [protagonist] theory, regarding the changing of narrative roles of main characters. It comes in two flavors, PtA, and its inverse, AtP.

PtA (protag to antag) can happen in several ways, one of which is to discover something about yourself that likens you to evil, or starting with a goal and just getting more and more unreasonable with it. knowing that what they are doing can be considered "evil" or morally reprehensible in their universe.

PtA is a trope often not done well because they're usually just protags painted to be sympathetic and/or naive antiheroes/antags. Occasionally, while following them on their goals, and feeling what they feeling downplays villainous traits, can't say i'm not guilty of writing that, bc i am an author, and authors are imperfect.

AtP (antag to protag) also usually involves a change in mindset and understanding of self to railroad them into different perspectives, and sometimes go hand in hand in replacing each other's role they 'transitioned from' (or not depending on narrative).

Ayin and PtA

In Greek tales, the hero is tragic, with a flaw that ends up costing everything, driving them to become an antagonist in their stories. It usually serves as a moral lesson in how one trait considered “villainous” can end up causing destruction and death on a large scale. The morally gray nature of humanity can cause debate on what's “good” or “evil,” or whether or not one leads to another, blurs, or overlaps.

The story of A’s ideals goes from being shown as just wanting to continue a shared ideal to day 48, where it is revealed that for this entire time, he was only doing it for the sake of making it up to Carmen, and Carmen only.

Ayin can be said to be an example of a greek tragic hero. He is too stubborn and dedicated to his goal, he didn’t stop to look back on all the death and destruction caused by him following Carmen’s dream in his way, and though he (briefly) considered these consequences, he still continued to trudge on in spite of these traits made to be flaws. He knew, even by a little, that what he was about to do was going to make him seem bad, but went on.

His viewpoint of the world and himself did not change after everything, but stayed the same (sacrifices are necessary), and it’s not because it stayed the same that was most of the problem. it was his actions.

His actions, which at first seem like just accidental neglect, add up to a list of infractions of letting those he cared about the most along with many innocent lives die, injured, or neglected. It is the journey that he takes which makes his reasoning more and more unreasonable to the viewer, the more you go into the game.

The reason why Ayin is such a good PtA (assuming you played the games in order) is not only because you get to sympathize with what he did, Project Moon also made sure that his morally reprehensible traits aren't downplayed, with Angela's narrative in LoR. It avoids the naive protagonist trope, while also being somewhat sympathetic.

Ayin and AtP

One thing I did not mention about AtP earlier is that characters could also be their own antagonist to protagonist, seeking to atone for their previous actions. Ayin feels extremely guilty over the things that he did, and wants to free himself from the guilt after all is done.

…and so, as The Manager, he does. He manages the Sefirot and helps them calm down from their suppressions, making both parties learn lessons from each other and slowly but steadily changing his role in the story to be more aligned with the protagonist.

I believe that throughout the loops, he slowly changes from just wanting to make it up to carmen, to making it up to others, even if those attempts were not successful. (such as with Angela, which he had forgotten about. I believe there’s no do-over for things like that.)

Even in the light, he continues to try and help the people realize and (indiscriminately) continue their goals without giving into despair with EGO, still trying to make things up to others. He apologizes to Angela up there, too.

His goals are still the same (SoL), but his understanding of everything changes, which leads him down the AtP pipeline of trying to learn his lessons through the Sefirot learning theirs, and to do better. If given enough time for character development, who knows what else he would have done to further this path of redemption.

Ayin, the antagonist, perpetuates a cycle of suffering of death, neglect and suffering. By playing Lobcorp, Ayin tries to that very cycle that he put everyone and himself through with his own hands. He is the start of the conflict, but also the end of the conflict. He is a PtA, but also an AtP, even if his attempts at redemption are only partially successful. This complexity is, in my opinion, what makes him such a well-written character.