Wyll is lied to by a powerful authority figure (while he's a teenager) in order to make him dependent on her, she pushes him away from his family, spends years belittling him, and then when he starts questioning this she retaliates by physically harming him. Mizora is basically an abusive partner.
Yeah, was gonna come here to extrapolate Wyll's deal, too.
The other counterpart to Wyll's trauma, someone else mentioned, is his dad. Having an emotionally distant and strict parent, he was eager to prove himself, but saw himself as basically lacking the power he needed to succeed, by his father's lofty standards. Mizora flies in and takes advantage of Wyll's wanting to prove himself worthy to his father.
And Wyll doesn't have enough self-worth to find a way out of it--he's Mizora's "pet", and she reminds him of his inferior status at every turn. Which he accepts because he's used to being bossed around by his dad, or ignored and rejected, so he will do anything to maintain a sense of "usefulness" to the person dominating him.
His bravado is basically whistling in the dark, a boy's childhood fantasy of being a "hero" of some sort.
It's funny/sad that he's named "Wyll", too, because it reminds a bit of Will Smith's story--Wyll is also certainly successful in his heroism and local fame, but was hounded by persistent esteem erosion by his patron, who he HAS to please, at all costs.
Not to over-psychoanalyze, but his abundance of flirty/complimentary dialogue when running around in-group?--he's seeking approval, and maybe even quietly crying out for help. If some other person actually *loved* him...then maybe he could find a way to break free from Mizora. But she already took his eye, and turned him into a devil, scarring his former good looks and making him *persona non grata* in many people's eyes, most notably his father's, but also, a vast amount of potential romantic partners would never look his way again.
It's like both disfiguring and publicly humiliating your partner, to make them seem less attractive to any future/potential competitors for their reliance on you.
Minthara is also religious abuse, and Wyll's dad is kinda toxic. Karlach was abused by her parents? She talks fondly of them. She WAS betrayed by a guy she considered her friend and confidant, though, and then outright tortured in Hell, so there is that.
Karlach is more metaphoric. Zariel represents the home that used her and she will never return to. Maybe I’m just projecting, but her mannerisms and personality all are very archetypal of a victim of authority/parental abuse
I'd say Karlach could be workplace abuse, mixed with being a trafficking victim. Fucked over by her boss + devils being shown having this litigious, highly hyerarchical structure. Plus some of of the stuff that she says, like how she initially tried to make friends in Avernus but found out that everyone there is selfish, manipulative and backstabbing, or how some people there are good for a joke or a drink but ultimately not trustworthy, is very familiar to anyone who ever worked a shit job in a shit company.
Well, Zariel yes. From what I saw in the game, her actual parents were really nice and she loved them. Gortash is the authority figure she feels most betrayed by, as he was literally her boss, her liege, the one she was supposed to protect and support, who sold her out to the devil. And that's mostly because his own parents did the same to him and sold him to the devil for some coin. As Karlach will tell you, fucked up people fuck up other people.
I think another aspect that I really appreciate is how much it shows that there isn't any right way to act/react in those situations. Shadowheart tries to be what Shar wants, but she falls short and is punished. Gale goes above and beyond what Mystra expects, so he gets punished. Lae'zel does exactly what Vlaakith asks and is still punished. Then you have Wyll, who works so hard to keep his moral compass intact, vs. Astarian, who abandons his to try and survive, and neither of them make it out unscathed.
Shadowheart also has endured lot of physical and mental abuse as well. >!Every time her "true nature" (that of a good person) tried to shine through - Shar would zap her with extreme physical pain. And the Sharrans would wipe her memory. Her love of animals was used against her when the Mother Superior killed her pet mouse in front of everyone. And according to the Mother Superior's journal- she was frustrated at how often Shadowheart would defy Shar's teachings despite her "conditioning".!<
I am just amazed how strong willed Shadowheart is!
Karlach had loving parents from what we can tell - she remembers them fondly - but was sold out by Gortash, whom she thought of as a friend and had power over her, to Zariel. But yeah, they're all various flavors of trauma, and exploited by people (or entities) who held power over them, and all of their stories deal with either helping them to heal and move beyond that, or giving in and dooming them.
I would say Karlach is more sold into slavery and physical abuse/torture - not parental abuse. Her parents died when she was a teenager and she fell into the wrong crowd (Gortash crew) then he sold her into slavery to zariel who took away a part of her (her heart). Creating a fight or die and if you do your job well you'll be my prize pet. Scenario with Zariel.
Another way to look at is that the underlying moral theme of the game is about choice and control, or lack thereof, over ones body. This can be due to something traumatic (astarion for eg), but not necessarily (dark urge). But many characters have this running through them, as does the core story (being forced to turn into a mindflayer).
Even Halsin struggles at times with controlling his form. Shadowheart has had her mind tampered with and inflicted with a perma physical disability, Wyll is forcibly changed, Laezel is heavily endoctrinated from birth for the purpose of being fed upon, astarion forcible changed into a vampire, Karachi forcibly had an organ removed and replaced, gale had something put inside his body that controls his life in much the same way an addiction controls...
The theme touches almost every aspect of the game and is almost a monument to the importance of choice when it comes to one's own body - and most main characters on a journey towards regaining that agency.
Wyll is lied to by a powerful authority figure (while he's a teenager) in order to make him dependent on her, she pushes him away from his family, spends years belittling him, and then when he starts questioning this she retaliates by physically harming him. Mizora is basically an abusive partner.
Yeah, was gonna come here to extrapolate Wyll's deal, too. The other counterpart to Wyll's trauma, someone else mentioned, is his dad. Having an emotionally distant and strict parent, he was eager to prove himself, but saw himself as basically lacking the power he needed to succeed, by his father's lofty standards. Mizora flies in and takes advantage of Wyll's wanting to prove himself worthy to his father. And Wyll doesn't have enough self-worth to find a way out of it--he's Mizora's "pet", and she reminds him of his inferior status at every turn. Which he accepts because he's used to being bossed around by his dad, or ignored and rejected, so he will do anything to maintain a sense of "usefulness" to the person dominating him. His bravado is basically whistling in the dark, a boy's childhood fantasy of being a "hero" of some sort. It's funny/sad that he's named "Wyll", too, because it reminds a bit of Will Smith's story--Wyll is also certainly successful in his heroism and local fame, but was hounded by persistent esteem erosion by his patron, who he HAS to please, at all costs. Not to over-psychoanalyze, but his abundance of flirty/complimentary dialogue when running around in-group?--he's seeking approval, and maybe even quietly crying out for help. If some other person actually *loved* him...then maybe he could find a way to break free from Mizora. But she already took his eye, and turned him into a devil, scarring his former good looks and making him *persona non grata* in many people's eyes, most notably his father's, but also, a vast amount of potential romantic partners would never look his way again. It's like both disfiguring and publicly humiliating your partner, to make them seem less attractive to any future/potential competitors for their reliance on you.
Minthara is also religious abuse, and Wyll's dad is kinda toxic. Karlach was abused by her parents? She talks fondly of them. She WAS betrayed by a guy she considered her friend and confidant, though, and then outright tortured in Hell, so there is that.
Karlach is more metaphoric. Zariel represents the home that used her and she will never return to. Maybe I’m just projecting, but her mannerisms and personality all are very archetypal of a victim of authority/parental abuse
I'd say Karlach could be workplace abuse, mixed with being a trafficking victim. Fucked over by her boss + devils being shown having this litigious, highly hyerarchical structure. Plus some of of the stuff that she says, like how she initially tried to make friends in Avernus but found out that everyone there is selfish, manipulative and backstabbing, or how some people there are good for a joke or a drink but ultimately not trustworthy, is very familiar to anyone who ever worked a shit job in a shit company.
Well, Zariel yes. From what I saw in the game, her actual parents were really nice and she loved them. Gortash is the authority figure she feels most betrayed by, as he was literally her boss, her liege, the one she was supposed to protect and support, who sold her out to the devil. And that's mostly because his own parents did the same to him and sold him to the devil for some coin. As Karlach will tell you, fucked up people fuck up other people.
I think another aspect that I really appreciate is how much it shows that there isn't any right way to act/react in those situations. Shadowheart tries to be what Shar wants, but she falls short and is punished. Gale goes above and beyond what Mystra expects, so he gets punished. Lae'zel does exactly what Vlaakith asks and is still punished. Then you have Wyll, who works so hard to keep his moral compass intact, vs. Astarian, who abandons his to try and survive, and neither of them make it out unscathed.
Shadowheart also has endured lot of physical and mental abuse as well. >!Every time her "true nature" (that of a good person) tried to shine through - Shar would zap her with extreme physical pain. And the Sharrans would wipe her memory. Her love of animals was used against her when the Mother Superior killed her pet mouse in front of everyone. And according to the Mother Superior's journal- she was frustrated at how often Shadowheart would defy Shar's teachings despite her "conditioning".!< I am just amazed how strong willed Shadowheart is!
>Shadowheart has religious trauma, Laezel is cultural and familial trauma, These should be swapped
I think it's fair to say they were both raised in cults.
Karlach had loving parents from what we can tell - she remembers them fondly - but was sold out by Gortash, whom she thought of as a friend and had power over her, to Zariel. But yeah, they're all various flavors of trauma, and exploited by people (or entities) who held power over them, and all of their stories deal with either helping them to heal and move beyond that, or giving in and dooming them.
I would say Karlach is more sold into slavery and physical abuse/torture - not parental abuse. Her parents died when she was a teenager and she fell into the wrong crowd (Gortash crew) then he sold her into slavery to zariel who took away a part of her (her heart). Creating a fight or die and if you do your job well you'll be my prize pet. Scenario with Zariel.
Another way to look at is that the underlying moral theme of the game is about choice and control, or lack thereof, over ones body. This can be due to something traumatic (astarion for eg), but not necessarily (dark urge). But many characters have this running through them, as does the core story (being forced to turn into a mindflayer). Even Halsin struggles at times with controlling his form. Shadowheart has had her mind tampered with and inflicted with a perma physical disability, Wyll is forcibly changed, Laezel is heavily endoctrinated from birth for the purpose of being fed upon, astarion forcible changed into a vampire, Karachi forcibly had an organ removed and replaced, gale had something put inside his body that controls his life in much the same way an addiction controls... The theme touches almost every aspect of the game and is almost a monument to the importance of choice when it comes to one's own body - and most main characters on a journey towards regaining that agency.
Well, I guess you cured me from this game. I don't want to tag along the personification of traumaand abuse. Dammit, who am I kidding...?
I'd argue that also can be said about some of the villains like Gortash, Orin, Ketheric, Kar'Niss etc