a few ben headcanons i thought of last night at 12 am because
without the gas mask, ben most likely just looks like a typical normal person you see on a daily basis // he also likely perfected a slightly tired unassuming "customer service" face specifically to make ava and the other residents at the apartment feel safe complaining to him abt plumbing, maintenance, etc
yes he wears the gas mask bc it makes him feel "powerful and assertive" or smth in-game but in reality it's probably a physical nightmare for him bc wdym he has to run up and down the apartment stairs in his own sweat under there // he probably has to take breaks in the empty hallways just to empty the condensation out of the filters and wipe his face
in terms of being a superintendent, ben's resume was probably a work of absolute art and had perfect mock references from "past landlords" (which he likely fabricated or was just extremely polite to before he moved)
bro probably has the worst sleep schedule given his motives towards ava and maybe even his job
also speculating his age to be between his early 30s or late 30s (somewhere near 37 to 39) :]
in reference to the basement scene and how he was able to copy ava's apartment with almost accuracy, i'd like to imagine that ben was likely a brilliant but an extremely quiet architecture / drafting student in college and was probably obsessed with the concept of "the perfect living space" and domestic harmony. it's possible he may have developed an obsessive crush on a classmate before he even met ava, drawing blueprints of a house for them and keeping tabs on their schedule. at some point in time, he got caught / faced disciplinary action / got kicked out, and his academic career was ruined. as for how it led to the events to unhinged: ashamed and blacklisted from professional firms, he took a low-level maintenance / superintendent job bc it gave him legal, easy access to other ppl's living spaces then used his failed drafting degree to build "the perfect living space" when he met ava :]
i feel like ben being short-tempered and has violent tantrums may have smth to do with him having a perfectionist mindset in his past... connecting that to his headcanon ver of his lore: in draft design, if a single line is off by a millimeter, the whole structure fails —> when ava doesn't follow his "script" (whether she runs, fights back, screams for help, etc) she is "ruining his perfect drawing" triggering his tantrums
CONTENT WARNING ON THIS PART TREAD CAREFULLY
long before he ever targeted ppl, ben's lack of empathy started small. working as a superintendent in an old building, he probably dealt with a lot of pest control... he likely started by trapping rats (we see that in the basement as well and the symbolism of it as well in ava's perspective of her being trapped) or other urban pests in the basement but instead of just exterminating them quickly, he used them to "test" diff methods of confinement, injury, and dispatching.. then over years of isolation, he completely desensitized himself to the point of treating his victims exactly like the "pests" he was used to getting rid of (coughs rip noah coughs)
obv these are JUST headcanons.... its tough to pinpoint his actual past since unhinged only gives us the surface-level of the characters but the brainrot makes me want to make up a whole lore for him anyway LMAO
amandla
germansingergirl
origamiaround
gummygunk
blakekathryn
areudirty
