#touchstarved leander theory

[vermilionsun]

TELL ME WHY

I'VE PLAYED THIS DEMO OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN

BUT NEVER HAD I EVER PICKED THE "HESITATE" OPTION FOR LEANDER

I'M A DUMB BITCH HOLY SHIT

BUT I CAME INTO A NEWFOUND REALISATION:

THE MC'S CURSE PROTECTS THEM, IN SOME WAY

(unless I'm the last person in the fandom to notice that, good job me)

If you pick the "Touch him" option, he only says "I told you there's nothing to worry about"

BUT HERE, he comments "That's one hell of a curse :D" meaning he definately feels it and it possibly affects him

Yes, the MC surely has ptsd of some sort and could assume Leander's hand was going for their neck like mrChocky but i highly doubt he was initially going for their shoulder

I believe the MC's curse doesn't affect whoever they touch, but whoever touches them

It's quite a bit of a strech, yes, but still a possibility:

Leander doesn't do the dramatics above if the MC touches him first

MrChocky was the one who touched the MC first and got he affected

And thus I bring in another question: What about Oracle!MC?

"The priests claimed your touch bestowed enlightenment, but a visiting mage revealed your curse for what it is."

It wouldn't be illogical if the priests' words were true; if the MC touches someone, they are "bestowed enlightenment", but if the MC gets touched forcibly/accidentally, the one who touches them goes mad

But that would also mean we'd have the choice of giving Leander more power if we choose to touch him

Also, somehow all the backstory mages seem to have a good understanding of the MC's curse [have seen it/it has been recorded before], or are at least able to recoognise it in order to reveal it to them. Plus, the Alchemist!MC's mage [who was "exiled from the Senobium"] planned on cultivating them as a test subject, meaning not much must be known about said curse.

"It's unlike anything I've ever dealt with," says Leander, a mage who has never stepped foot in the Senobium.

"We can find answers together," Leander promises later on.

Then he stops

He waits for them to touch him

Then he freely unwinds their bandages, allows them to touch his hands, his cheeks, he moves his hands over theirs because they've already accepted him touching them

He could have figured how the MC's curse works, or he could have dark-magic-ed his way into the Senobium files before the MC returned to the Wick again.

[vermilionsun]

YES, OH MY LORD

coolcoolcoolcoolcool—

As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

It's also mentioned that Kintsugi ties with Mushin [No-mind] (1) and Wabi-sabi (2)

(1) Rooted in Zen Buddhism and martial arts, it describes a mental state where the mind is free from thoughts, emotions, and distractions, allowing a person to act effortlessly and naturally.

(2) A world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection, sometimes described as one of appreciating beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete" in nature.

An object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing — Andrew Juniper

[Wabi-sabi] nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect — Richard Powell

Characteristics of wabi-sabi aesthetics and principles include asymmetry, roughness, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and the appreciation of both natural objects and the forces of nature.

*slides this in*

I had this thought for a while, but MC's scars look almost exactly like that japanese Kintsugi art of repairing ceramic pots/vases, could be intentional maybe?

A friend of mine @portsandstars mentioned the idea of maybe MC's hands being broken (metaphorically or not), with their golden scars being what holds everything together. Anyways I didn't think too hard about it, I want to see what the community thinks about this idea/theory :D

[theravenanarchy]

It does kinda make me sad how little people think of Leander, I know why. Most "obsessive lover" types are usually shown thru a very specific lens of them "just being crazy" or weird. Obviously that's not how it is in reality (or dare I say GOOD writing), people have reasons for acting they way they do, and these types of characters have only recently started receiving this type of humanization in their stories.

For Leander I have a very strong suspicion that his story will breakdown a lot of these established tropes.

"This character wants you more than anything" becomes "this character wants to be wanted more than anything"

He wants to be your hero, the knight in shining armour you ride off into the sunset with, where everything will be okay forever. To want the same thing being each other, to know you will never hurt or leave each other, to know not even death can separate you.

More than likely because the way he loves has chased others away, he may believe someone can't love him the same way unless he orchestrates everything.

I'd also like to add that all the obsessive lover/yandere stuff comes from people hyper analyzing and patholicizing two interactions with a character that has a very good public reputation, is an established Robinhood type that left his higher class life, who is well educated but still likes to party, also is living thru an apocalypse. It is entirely possible all the spooky shit the devs are showing about him is either over the top or subversive.

Tldr: STOP BEING MEAN TO MY MAN >:( HE'S JUST A BABYGIRL THAT MAY OR MAY NOT KNOW NECROMANCY CAUSE HE CAN...ALSO HE MAY HAVE MOMMY ISSUES but I'll tell you about that theory another day.

[kekeke32]

TOUCHSTARVED trailer theme theory??

Hi guys, hi everyone. Hope we’re doing well!

SO the full version of the trailer theme is finally out on YouTube and holy shit??? It goes so HARD!!! Give it a listen here.

After rewatching it over and over again, I noticed something so I’ll map out which lyrics appear with which character for y’all to see:

Wish I could’ve added more ss but I’m on the mobile app 🥲 Anyways, I really don’t think the dev team added the characters photos randomly ‘cause check this out:

In Ais’s part, the lyrics are about a certain weakness (ik the lyrics “my weakness” refer to a person but I chose to ignore that jskdksk) and survival. This may be a reach BUT doesn’t this reminds you of Ais’s official character description? Specifically of this part: “Ais seems capable of curing you...but a sick sense of dread surrounds him. He's beginning to suspect that he may not be as in control of his powers as he thought. Can you save each other, or will he drag you down to the abyss with him?" This so-called “weakness” could be his very own powers and he’ll need the player to help him, to “survive”.

Now, about Vere’s part, I don’t have much to say tbh other than the fact that the lyrics “Cause everytime we touch” appear for the first time in his part and I guess you could say it’s related to his frequenting at the brothel? (iykwim 😏) Oh! And you could also see him being touched by a lot of different hands in the trailer. Besides that, his part ends with the lyrics “need you by my side” sung softly by the singer hmm…

Kuras’s part on the other hand, starts strongly (I suck balls at describing music so pls listen 4 urselves, you’ll know what I mean😭) and at 1:59 mins the lyrics are “Cause everytime we touch” then his face darkens a little and it stars an instrumental interlude. I don’t know what that really means but he’s sus

Mhin’s part is sung very softly as well and the lyrics “We’ve been through them all. You make me rise when I fall” are so sweet more so because I think in their route they’ll open up more to the player after going together through incomprehensible horrors and we’ll learn how to support each other <33

Finally, Leander’s part!! Now, LISTEN. His part is the reason why I even made this post in the first place lmao This mf is way too sus but first of all, the building synth progression at 2:58???? oh my god I got CHILLS. literal chills. *ahem* Moving on, his part, starts strongly the same as Kuras’s part did. Their parts are the only ones sung like that… Weird, huh? Anyway, after the lyrics “I can’t let you go. Want you in my life” at 3:49, the song gets SUPER intense and starts sounding very desperate ig?? (kudos to Dan! love his voice frfr) and Leander’s part ends with “Need you by my side”. Okayy y'all… Y'ALL. THIS IS CRAZY. In his part we have both the lyrics "I can't let you go. Want you in my life" AND "I want this to last. Need you by my side". AHHHH Leander you obsessed little bitch (affectionate)

In conclusion, there’s no fucking way the red spring team didn’t assign the certain parts of the lyrics very and I mean VERY purposefully to each LI. The parts suit them specifically well so I highly doubt it’s random but it could also just be me reading too much into this

Whatever!!! Good morning/Good night to this fandom only ^_^

[kahlieleith]

Ok so when I said the "mask and all" makes sense for the Abbess is actually Leander's mom theory Leander likes masquarades and some people on a fan server I'm in suggested he does actually because it reminds him of his mom (who he may have not seen much growing up)

Other than that I just think the family drama will be more juicy if his mom is the Abbess and listen we all agree he got mommy issues and I think at least one of his parents is at least affiliated with the Senobium or works there. It would also make his dislike of the Senobium way more personal. On the theme of mommy issues, Leander would be a foil of Alchemist MC because they got some too (Cause of mother figures both treating them badly and being associated with the Senobium)

I'll include more details when I'll post my Leander analysis anyways idk it makes sense to me I won't be disappointed if I'm wrong, again I'll be fine with whatever the devs come up with in the end I trust their writting and storytelling abilities uwu

[rubberbandgirlme]

mamma mia here i go again with another chapter from my leander thesis 🤓 please accept my humble input on mc's curse, the importance of reading between leander's flirting lines and rss's wonderful storytelling details.

ngl when i finally chose not to touch leander's hand first (can you blame me, i'm weak for that man) i was bewildered at how strikingly different the options in this scene play out, and i, strange as it seems, like this one much better.

first of all, it's a parallel (even if it's not intended, the connection is still there) to the opening scene with a deranged traveler: the touch, the sensations, the (foreshadowed) strangling:

leander is definitely affected by the curse — possessed even, i would say, as if he was being told to strangle mc. notice how his actions line up with the traveler's, only in slo-mo, because leander was fighting to take back the control. and when mc calls out for him, he either snaps out of it or gets to the exact point when he takes a hold of the curse. this brings up a question: could mc's curse be sentient? alter the minds, you say? (more under the cut because it got long)

i've seen people speculating that mc's curse might bestow the enlightment but that's not true: mc was told that (and that's why this origin has me by the throat (pun absolutely intended): imagine living with so much guilt, thinking you were doing good, but in fact driving people mad… mmm tasty). it ties perfectly into every origin path where mc was being lied to, deceived and betrayed. however, there's definitely something more to the curse's nature that's yet to be disclosed.

my favourite moment though!! is this nuanced character storytelling!!

the very hand that was inches away from choking mc to death is quickly disguised as caring and soothing. wonder why? to gain mc's trust (non-verbally), to show that leander's in control, he's strong, he's there for mc, he'll take care of them. of course, leander, being a leander, downplays the whole experience of being possessed/affected by the curse, but he's being honest at once. he doesn't lie to mc — and that's also how he's gaining trust, verbally this time.

one more question that begs to be asked: why the hell all of this doesn't happen if mc touches leander first? it seems that the quality of the touch (😭) also plays an important role here:

leander must have felt the power of the curse, but he wasn't possessed by it, he could control it right away — why? because the touch was fleeting? or because it was mc who was touching him, not the other way round?

now hear me out (i might be wrong on this one, because i can't remember any more examples off the top of my head, but i feel like it's definitely a thing. let me know if something comes up!): we should pay closer attention to how leander says the truth (or half-truth), but it could be understood differently at a flirting angle (it's slightly different from this one, where he covers up his misstep). what i think he means here is that he controls the curse, but it sure is a difficult thing to do. "not due to your power" my ass, his need to look strong and heroic and weak at the same time is ridiculous, someone cure this man (ivolunteer.gif)

one more and last thing that's bothering me (it might play into the previous point btw): if you keep touching him, he tells mc that fissures on their hands match his golden pin. why??????? that's such a dumb thing to flirt about, such a weird comparison. what kind of connection is there? it's so out of place, it definitely means something more. leander spill

[cacaobean760]

So I have no idea what this means for Vere and how he views the other love interest but idk if this has been pointed out yet but the only difference I have noticed is the actual paper having different things in the blank spaces. As far as I can tell, Kuras has nothing in the blank spaces, Mhin has other doodles like Vere either didn’t know what pose to draw Mhin in or he just wanted to draw more Mhin doodles. And as for Leander it looks Vere wrote some things and then erases/crossed off said writing, or Vere just made random marks on the paper because he wanted to “dirty” the paper more??? Again, idk what this means but let me know yalls theories!

[loventian]

Touchstarved character name meanings!

Lemme preface this by saying I’m not a name meanings expert I just love crawling through google pages and over analyzing things ALSO to make sure the results weren’t influenced by fandom everything here is from pre-2020! With that let’s get into things!

Mhin:

Mhin is a little bit tricky, as I can’t find anything for their name spelled as it is. Min, however, has several different sources and meanings.

In Chinese, Min (敏) meanings “quick, clever, sharp” Which seems rather fitting for our neighborhood soulless hunter. An alternative script for Min (民) translates to “people, citizens” which could have some interesting implications, as Mhin is implied to have strong connections to the city of Lovent.

In Burmese Min means “king, ruler” which, connected with the second Chinese translation, could perhaps be some foreshadowing? We don’t know how Mhin is connected to Lovent, but the city must have had a ruling class, perhaps Mhin held a position of power? It could also be why they survived, and which a powerful curse nonetheless

Finally, in Irish Min is said to mean “smooth, fine, small”, though I can’t find as many sources on this one. I include it because people have pointed out Mhin’s cloak pins are triquetra, which are Celtic symbols.

Kuras:

Please know I adore Kuras when I say this, but he really got the short end of the naming stick it seems. The most promising thing I can find is the usage as a Hindi surname, which doesn’t seem to have a meaning listed. If you remove the S and go with Kura, it can mean “river” in Turkish or possibly “fierceness, tiger” in Japanese.

Now here’s the silly translations! In Arabic, Kuras (كراس) seems to translate to brochure. In polish, it translates to chicken.

I truly doubt the devs thought brochure/chicken were good labels for the dear doctor, so I’m favoring the Turkish translation. Mostly because Eridia is a city divided by a river; could there be something deeper hidden in there? Maybe!

Ais:

So clearly Ais has a lot of Japanese influence, with his design being inspired by Oni, so I looked for those possible translations first. Ai (愛) translates to love in Japanese, and is typically used as a broader term to refer to emotions tied to like compassion, empathy, or platonic forms of love (as opposed to 恋/koi which refers to romantic love).

I’m gonna focus on this translation for a bit. Someone on a translation forum phrased it in a way I really love: “Ai” is something you do or give. Ais is our introduction to the Seaspring, and to groupminds in general. While the concept of a hivemind is usually used in horror as a way of taking away agency, the Seaspring is framed as a refuge for people to turn to. Could Ais’ name be an allusion to a goal he keeps hidden? Is the Seaspring a manifestation of a desire to give love despite the violent world? Or am I just reading into this too deep?

Vere:

Vere actually has a straight up name meaning! Most of the sources I found say that Vere is a French/Gaulish name meaning “Alder”, and it usually pops up in the surname “De Vere”. Alders are a kind of bitch tree, and I have no idea how that tie into Vere as a character.

But if we take “Vere” as a word rather then a name, then Latin translates it as meaning “truly, really, actually, rightly”. Vere’s introduction to us is as someone to not trust, a cunning fox waiting for the next meal, stealing our darn room key and lying about it! So I find it really interesting that his name could be a word for truth. Perhaps before his chains Vere was someone a lot more truthful ?

Leander:

Big shout out to Leander for having a plain ass easy to translate name. I’ll give you googles exact definition here: "lion of a man", from leon, "lion", and andros, "man".

That was easy, so now let’s pick it apart!

Traditionally, lions are symbols of nobility, courage, strength, and protection. Leander has a reputation for being That Guy; he’s a leader, a protector of the masses, etc etc. for all intents and purposes, Leander really is a lion of a man!

…On the surface at least. Because under all the symbolism, lions are still predators, no matter how noble.

[starry-faun]

Hey so like what if Leander is actually a fairly high ranking member of the Senobium?

Hear me out. We don't seem to know much about him other than that he's a powerful mage, has a pretty decent - almost cultish - following with the Bloodhounds, and from what I can put together, isn't exactly hurting in terms of monetary needs. I could be wrong on that part, though. Or it could be an act.

But most of the super identifying information that would tell us about his past on his about card is blacked out or redacted. We're not allowed to know much of anything about him beyond what we've seen in the game, and it's incredibly obvious that what he WANTS us to see is a farce.

I feel like the only way anyone would be able to get access to magic that makes you almost entirely immune to the effects of MC's curse is, at the bare minimum, having ties to the Senobium. As of right now I can't say for certain if that's enough for them to have immunity, though, because we don't know how it affects the others.

[vermilionsun]

Someone explain to me; why ?!

Leander is the only li who asks about the MC's opinion on the others

what a noisy bitch

[eggroll-sama]

I don’t know if people have pointed this out but. What if Kuras knows how terrible Leander is behind the scenes, but believes that the ends justify the means and allows it. Kuras admits that the Bloodhounds are “questionable,” and in reply to MC’s opinion of them says “Leander always preferred the company of those like him.” So Kuras is inadvertently admitting that Leander does questionable things, right?

I ignored Kuras not getting dinner with Leander since five years ago as Kuras being a workaholic and avoid eating, but now thinking about it, what if Kuras found out about Leander’s dark sides and decided he won’t associate with Leander other than for business. It would be a waste to cut ties since Leander is reliable.

It really brings me back to this phrase: Which is worse, the one who commits the crime or the one who can stop it but chooses not to. And Leander might not be the only one Kuras turns a blind eye to, and maybe even awful things he himself does he’ll bypass if it means it’s justified, since we see that Kuras actions are heavily governed by his moral compass.

That’s really terrifying considering he’s lived for a thousand years, maybe more.

[setevulpo]

leander the... saint?

on this wonderful day i bring a theory about leander's name, or who he's named after. this is vastly speculation because leander is a mystery and a half in the body of a man, so take it with a grain of salt.

we know very few things about leander's life before canon: he grew up with a hightown family, was considered a prodigy, and left his home because he didn't want to join the senobium.

and then, as per norm at this point, i found a connection with a saint.

meet saint leander of seville, the only one known by that name:

now this is a man with some muscle on the tiddy department

this man is one of four siblings born to an elite family in what is now cartagena, spain. now, all four of them are in the religious area of life, and all four are considered saints.

however, saint leander was exiled by the king liuvigild for protecting his son, who was also canonised as saint hermenegild, and sent away to byzantium. there, it's said he attempted to get the emperor to fight against liuvigild, but failed.

and i gotta point out this dude's staff.

those are both from artistic depictions, obviously, but those decorations are... pretty similar to lilies, in my opinion. or, if i were to talk about a flower looking like that, i'd talk about lilies.

also, the way is bends into a swirl/spiral is quite interesting when you remember leander's (the character, not the saint) connection with immortality, and this little detail in his cg:

you see the swirl?

anyway, i am out of words to talk about them, but i just wanted to talk about how similar leander the character and leander the saint are, and how the character might have been named after the saint.

[mayuslob]

Leander character analysis but i am 100% wrong

Okay so disclaimer this is most probably a huge stretch and me going insane over every detail BUT i need to get it out my system

Yapping below the cut be ready 🦭

Starting off with what made me start this, the Bloodhounds’ motto. When i was playing the demo for the first time, i was very caught off guard when they mentioned the sentence “as above so below” due to its religious context and meaning. This sentence is mostly linked with the character Baphomet, a satanic figure written by the author Éliphas Lévi on the book “Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie” translated to english “Dogma and Ritual of High Magic", written between 1854 and 1856. It can be portrayed in a lot of different ways, but the most embraced is that there cannot be heaven without hell (thus Baphomet pointing up and down), good without evil and viceversa. Now here it gets more interesting.

At first i thought they just chose this sentence for other motives, but then i started to dig a little deeper and realised that every single detail in Leander’s character is very much on purpose, specially his color palette and abilities. Let’s start with the colors which are directly linked to his powers:

Leander’s distinctive color is green, a dark desaturated emerald green to be exact. Emerald portrays good luck and balance in common symbolism, but it also can be tracked to this. See the thing is, the sentence “as above so below” doesn’t come originally from Baphomet, rather Lévi quoted it from a — not known to really exist— text called “The Emerald Tablet”, a story with different theories around its origin; the story revolving around a fictional character named Hermes Trismegistus (this is important for later). So here we have that the color emerald is directly connected not only to Leander’s palette but to the Bloodhounds’ motto. But wait!

there’s more

See this is where you ask, okay but what does The Emerald Tablet tell? well around the years it was most referenced, it was used by the islam and european alchemists and considered fundamental. Of course as time went by, the text was implemented in other practices such as occultism and magic. This is where the figure of Hermes is pretty interesting regarding Leander, due to his character being described as a “physician, a magician and a spiritual person”. That’s right guys, a fucking magician much like our beloved Leander.

Going further into Hermes’ character, he is a syncretic combination of the Greek god Hermes and of the Egyptian god Thoth, the god of the night, wisdom, magic, and the final judgement (plus others but these are the ones we’re gonna focus on). With this we have some things that could describe Leander, specially wisdom and magic due to his vast knowledge surpassing the Senobium (as mentioned by MC if you choose The Alchemist path) but we still have two things left, the night and the final judgement.

We know from the game devs that Leander is not a good person to say the least, just showing a façade of his true self. So i think that the fact that his fatal flaw is crossed out and this fundamental detail could be related to those two attributes Thoth has. PLUS if you see Leander’s outfit he is wearing a belt decorated by two moons, linking him to the night.

Leander is mysterious but strangely sweet to the MC, even after being aware of their power and danger, even to a point of growing overly interested in them. He promises us balance, a normal tranquil life, the answer to all of your problems. From what he has shown us so far he is very protective and even a bit obsessive, always insisting on Mc coming to him for help, giving us an impression that maybe he is more than meets the eye.

In conclusion, i think Leander will be a wayyyy darker character than we expect, greedy for knowledge — fact shown in his trailer silhouette quotting “mages lust for power, it’s always their downfall” — which is why maybe he’s so obsessed with MC. He wants wisdom he’s thirsty for it to insane extents we might see in his route. Also not forgetting Bloodhounds’ motto and its meaning, i believe we’ll see his version of what justice is and how if he is so good with us in the beginning, how dangerous is he in reality?? specially if both Vere and Ais have tried to kill him. I’m super excited for this game.

Im a 100% sure there’s things i’ve missed, so if anyone wants to add any info or theory they have PLEAASE do id love to hear.

Little detail i left out because i think it would be too much but Leander wearing a key on his outfit is so made on purpose i can’t elaborate.

[beheamothscreamoth]

Hear Me Out on This-

Okay, I'm like 100% sure that someone has talked about this, but for my own sanity, I need to say it again. So, in the trailer for Touchstarved, we get flashes of the LIs' "true nature"/"hidden side" if that makes sense? We get a glimpse of what's going on beneath the surface of these characters and what they're hiding - We see the outline of Kuras's angel form, Vere's monster form, Mhin's cursed bird form, Ais and Ocudeus, but Leander?

Leander's got nothing going on, which I find both funny and a little scary- He has no body transformation, no big monster, nothing. It's just him.

From just the silhouette alone, and comparing it to the other's silhouettes in these cuts, he's Just A Guy™. He's Just Some Dude™. He's not hiding anything! :) (He is-)

I think his having no physical changes can be sort of tied into the fact that Leander is trying to present himself as more trustworthy/normal than the other LIs?? Everyone else has something going on with them in these quick cuts, but Leander has nothing but his usual sprite and FNAF movie glowing eyes (/j /lh). Leander not having any sort of changes in this cut could be him trying to convince us as the viewer/player that he's trustworthy, not just the MC in the game,, He has no transformation/glowing magic tattoos/chains binding him, so obviously he can be trusted, right?? Am I making sense??

Leander doesn't have any hidden horrors/monstrosities beneath the surface because he IS the horror /lh

[shiratamahatsumiyo]

Weird theory, but what if...

Leander's scar is fake?

What if it's just a lie in order for him to fool the Bloodhounds to assume that the Senobium tortured poor Leander?

This would perhaps makes some sense since Leander has a multiple-layered mask. The scar is one of them. We know how egoistic he can be, so he must've applied it with makeup or...

Maybe he did that to himself? He used his own magic to hurt himself? A trivial sacrifice of his used-to-be perfect and pristine skin for everyone to side with him? After all, a human's sympathy and pity go well together for a manipulation plan...

If the Senobium is fake, then he doesn't see any problems with being fake as well 😊. "As above, so below" as they say. But don't worry! It's a white lie. He's doing this for the good of everyone....

Or is it?

.

.

.

.... Or maybe because he's masochist idk 😶.

[rubberbandgirlme]

so. i've replayed the demo once more, and this scene baffled me at first, his indifference and displeased face like?? hello??? what happened to our knight in shining armour?? and then i realized it's one of the very few moments he lets himself be real.

it's clear that leander doesn't like getting involved when he might look bad to one of the parties, so this is such an honest and raw reaction when he has to act, when he has to choose between the loyalty of his followers and the potential gain of doing 'business' with mc, and he hates it. also the way he slides back into his good guy mode in the last sprite is just so tasteful 🤌

i think he chooses to take mc's side not because he likes them so very much, but because it's the path of least resistance: bloodhounds are most likely to stay loyal anyway, someone mentioning the senobium is obviousy not a big deal — well, not big enough to go into a fight with your leader, — and the bandaged hands, on the other hand (what a lame pun!!!!!!! sry), are a very promising tidbit (remember that information is currency). like i'm sure leander guessed there was something wrong with mc from the start, just didn't know the details. btw mc noticed his act — the practiced speech of help offering and his suspicion about mc needing a magical solution.

also i'd like to pinpoint that he's the only one eliciting that vital piece of information from mc to potentially gain leverage. it's not like we as players have any choice here but hear me out: even ais and vere (!!!) are showing some kind of respect regarding mc's hands. ais stops mc before they undo their bandages and vere is 'careful not to disturb them' when grabbing mc's arm. did leander reaalllyyyyyyy have to go that far (also if mc hesistates to touch him, he will grab their hand himself :DDD)??? he wants to make sure you need to trust him and him only like dude. i'm still not over the piece of a dialogue below i mean how can he be so honest and manipulative all at once?!?????

"you were right to hide this from me (but now i know). that curse of yours... it's unlike anything i've ever dealt with (i can't help you). i can tell you're discreet (praising) but you'd best not go showing that off to anyone else (so that only i know your secret)"

and the most fascinating thing? i don't think he's a genius mastermind or anything of sorts, he just gets people, operates on an intuitional level, it comes to him naturally, and most of the times he believes that he's doing good.

tl;dr leander is one of the most interesting characters i've ever come upon and it's captivating to see him slip out and back into his goody two-shoes persona and i hope we'll get more moments when he's raw and real soon 👀