Somebody else pointed this out but N wears one of Anthea and Concordiaâs bracelets on each wrist. @N_h0lic on Twitter posted this which brought my attention to it (with an adorable doodle too omg đđ they are my children)
This is a really interesting detail that I think reveals a lot about Nâs personality and the ways in which he gives and receives love.
N isnât a very expressive person, at least not in the ways of talking about himself personally. In the very first meeting with the player, he states his mission and battles you instantly. Even just focusing on the games (because I feel like I could write pages about masters and the animes separately, I just havenât seen them), he criticises the player, states very bluntly his intent and then leaves. He leaves no room to get to know him, only for very brief inferences to be made on things like the speed he talks which Cheren mentions.
Every conversation with him, N solidifies his beliefs by battles and noble speeches. I think the only time he reveals something about himself is when he talks about ferris wheels and how theyâre âlike collections of elegant formulas.â Which I think is sweet, getting a little carried away. Maths whiz đ
In any case, he doesnât even refer to his family (âfamilyâ) as such. He refers to Ghetsis, his foster father, by his name, saying how âGhetsis asked me to work with him to save PokĂ©mon.â He seems detatched, because what heâs part of is not a family. Itâs a team, Team Plasma.
With Anthea and Concordia though, itâs different.
I donât think he ever directly refers to them in the games but he might in the anime. In either case though, he still wears both bracelets, presumably given to him by them. If he truly didnât feel that what theyâre all a part of is a family, if all he cares about is saving PokĂ©mon, why would he do that?
Why make the effort to keep both sisters close to him throughout his journey? Why accept that if theyâre not a true family? The answer is plain; N believes they are a family. At least he believes he and Anthea and Concordia are.
In the anime, he states to Ghetsis, âitâs hard to call you this, fatherâŠâ and then goes on. I think based on this it would be easy to assume he doesnât call A&C his sisters either. It could be uncomfortable, unnatural (haha) to do so. Growing up in neglect can do that to you.
N is very clearly a neglected child, shown from the mountains of toys and games Ghetsis gave to him in place of the affection that a young child needs. It isnât a stretch to assume Anthea and Concordia shared the same fate.
Neglect, specifically affluent neglect/emotional neglect, can (and will) make you very stunted emotionally. N would have trouble expressing love and affection since he isnât used to doing it with people. With PokĂ©mon heâs fine, heâs been loving them since he could think, but with people itâs different. Despite being one of them he doesnât feel like it. Theyâre foreign, alien, he doesnât like most people, harbouring some serious misanthropy. He doesnât feel connected to anybody, because almost everybody he was exposed to growing up did not show him connection.
Although⊠the bracelets do point towards a different angle.
Perhaps somebody did show him the love he craved when he was young. Anthea and Concordia? They seem to love their brother for more than just being a king, seem to act as nurturing and caring figures in his life. They might not have always been around but they were always there.
Nâs qualms with affection might get in the way of this. He might feel jaded or afraid or suspicious being that heâs been severely emotionally neglected. Trusting affection may not be the issue, but simply receiving it is foreign, so he could have turned it away out of fear. But that doesnât mean he canât love back.
He might take to showing love towards people a different way. So might Anthea and Concordia. Perhaps through small gestures, tokens, gifts. One last goodbye?
I donât know! Maybe he just thought the bracelets were fashionable ÂŻ\_(ă)_/ÂŻ