Okay, I just gotta rant a bit about TGED, and probably will get other opinions, and that's great, so please share them!
Also, this is mostly my speculation, I have ONLY read the webtoon, and I haven't been able to find the novel properly translated to read, so have mercy.
SO. I know that og!Lloyd was a bully to Javier and Julien and all that jazz, but it looked to me that he was an alcoholic that desperately needed help.
He lashed out and thew fits to call the attention of his parents, that he was sure as hell they were going to replace him with Javier at any point. (Bc let's be real, the Frontera's affection seems heavily conditional)
Arcos was pretty okay by letting Javier do whatever he wanted, becoming a knight was his choice and he did everything to make that happen.
Then, we have Javier's duties, that was to watch over 'Lloyd', which that also more or less what he did because he wasn't with Lloyd all the time.
The Fronteras were more than okay by letting him leave their alcoholic son alone and drunk somewhere in town. Which was what killed him by falling n breaking his head,,,, that wouldn't have happened if Javier was actually there,,,,
The there's this detail I noticed in the imagery, in most cases it's suggested that Javier is confused as the heir and novel bc he's handsome, but that's not it.
it's bc he gives a novels profile. And the reason is his clothes.
Javier seems to be dressing like the proper heir, and wears the same style as Arcos Frontera, meanwhile Lloyd is left to dress like a commoner. That's why he's confused as Javier's servant, bc he looks like it.
Arcos Frontera didn't want to deal with an alcoholic son, he had enough on his plate by letting his estate become in debt and bc of his spineless attitude.
He was most likely replace Lloyd with Javier, or make Julian the heir. He was ignoring Lloyd, and just paying attention when he caused damage to the town. Because then it would come back to him.
He didn't actually cared if he died in a ditch.
I don't justify og!Lloyd's behavior at all, but I understand what was going with him. He was mad, he was jealous, and he was frustrated, and the only thing that made him feel better was some drinks.
He was so depressed he wanted to be blackout drunk, and that killed him anyway.
I'm honestly very much into how our!Lloyd has put such boundaries with the Fronteras, bc he's a guest in his own home. He wants to lazy around, but he doesn't actually do it at home, he did it once and immediately got an excuse to go out and work.
But anyway, this is such my own analysis on the matter, I find absolutely fascinating the takes this webtoon has taken over the Isekai trope, and how that affects to those around the mc.
HOW DID I NOT REALIZE THEY WERE WEARING SIMILAR STYLES OF OUTFITS. omg no wonder everyone mistakes javier as the next count frontera 😭
i MEAN IT, I REALLY DO
i have mentioned many times i have NOT read the novel, HOWEVER, the imagery in the webtoon is important as well, since it can not be as descriptive as literal text, we can get a lot more of information with the imagery of things.
why do they dress like that? why is javier comfortable with such behavior? why no one else is questioning hes dressing like the heir of the house?
I would also like to point out that even if the comedy is all over the top, between jokes, some truth comes out.
This can also be seen at some behavior Arcos has w Javier that does not have with Lloyd, which can be interpreted as a joke and a comedic relief.
We have Arcos comforting Javier in his 'coming out' joke.
And then we have the Fronteras not comforting Lloyd when he was clearly insulted about his apparence, and while its absolutely hilarious, that gets to hurt after a few times, sure, he came to terms with it, but that woud hurt anyone.
And then Lloyd himself, self-hating person he is, added salt to the wound that he knows hurts him very deeply. Its hilarious, but damn, thats kind of bullying LMAO
and having your parents agree???? wow.
Okay that's just sad at this point. Actually the thought "hey, perhaps Acros and Mirabella aren't such good parents after all" even before we (spoiler alert: meet org!Lloyd; spoiler ends). I just... I mean yeah, they love their son enormously now, and they are okay with him just being a nice person, let alone a genius, and they do say, that they love him unconditionally.... But something did lead org!Lloyd to be an asshole. And they just... Missed it, you know? Let it slide. And when everything became worse they just closed their eyes on it. And I kind of think that what led Lloyd to becoming such an asshole is probably neglect. Like. Why bother with your bratty unfixable son, when there is Javier? Kindhearted and talented boy that is like a son to you. And then probably Julian was born and they completely shifted all their attention from Lloyd, because that kid is spoiled and vile. There isn't much we can do about it, let's shift our focus to more urgent matters. And I believe Lloyd of course got jealous of other two and, being a brat that he is, decided to bully his two contenders for parental attention.
And then again. Nor Across, nor Mirabella really intervene with the bullying. Probably due to problems with debt but still. Isn't it kind of strange to ignore that one of your sons is bullying the other one, especially since the one who is being bullied is your favourite??? Like, even if they didn't have time and Jillian never mentioned it, it was going on for years! And Lloyd was hitting Jullian too. Did they never happen to walk nearby? Never heard some kind of cries or threats? Never noticed the bruises? Never noticed that their son became more closed off and more intimidated? Nothing??? Completely utterly nothing??? Even so he IS your favourite??? Or you did notice but turned a blind eye because you believed it couldn't be helped, huh?
What I'm trying to say here is not "Lloyd is innocent it's all his parents fault", but "Maybe Frontera's aren't such great parents as we are told"
