#personally this hc makes his ep 1 monologue hit so much harder for me

[local-limebug]

personally, i am not a truther of the very popular headcanon in the dbda fandom of edwin's parents being neglectful or abusive. of course, if you like that headcanon, that's cool too because it isn't contradicted by canon at all but as a tragedy enjoyer myself, i just feel like you guys are taking the flavour out of it.

st. hilarion's is a school for military kids. therefore, we know edwin's father (or male guardian) was likely military, and in 1916, almost definitely at war. and we know from one of the writers (i think? correct me if i'm wrong) that edwin's mother never hugged him, but that was because of edwardian etiquette, not because she didn't love him. his parents just acted like edwardian parents did.

we know so little about edwin's past and his life before hell, and there are so many possibilities as to why a presumably upper middle class boy's disappearance may be labeled an "act of god" whilst still having a family that loved him, starting with the fact that 5-6 other boys disappeared with him. in my opinion, although his death was very much a hate crime, it makes no sense for the "act of god" stuff to also be homophobia if every other kid in the dorm also disappeared.

like my first and most obvious idea is that he was mourned by his parents but since no one could find anything as to why all these boys just disappeared, all their clothes and belongings still in the dorm, that could have been labeled an "act of god" as a sort of consolation to the parents. that wherever the boys are now, it's a better place. in the deeply christian society back then, it would almost have been a comfort to the parents.

the second idea is that edwin's father died in the war around the same time that he did (or possibly before), and it's possible that edwin's mother simply didn't have the social standing or emotional strength to be able to do much about that. imagine losing your husband and son at once, being left a woman in edwardian england without any immediate male relative.

my other ideas are a bit out there, but maybe edwin's parents weren't even in the picture. like, we truly know nothing about his life, guys. this is why i mentioned "male guardian" in the second paragraph. if his parents were dead, and he was maybe being raised by a male relative in the military, then either one could fit. maybe the guardian died. maybe the guardian didn't care to look too hard for edwin.

even if you headcanon edwin with siblings like i do, these still make sense for the most part. maybe his father died and mother fell ill, or mother died before the war and father during it. sisters wouldn't have had much social standing anyway, and older brothers could have had the war or other siblings or their own families to deal with. younger brothers couldn't do shit, kids were ignored entirely back then. and again, terrible as the "act of god" stuff was, it was likely a hollow comfort for those left behind because they had no answers at all. what could they possibly do to solve edwin's case?

and god, aren't all of those options just so much worse than edwin simply not being liked by his parents? knowing that he once had a home, and a family that loved him, and now he doesn't? that they grieved him but were powerless to find him or rescue him and were likely haunted by his disappearance for the rest of their lives? and he can never go back to them to see them one last time or to say goodbye because by the time he escaped hell, they're all gone?