SHOCKING NEWS: Michael in pre I.V YIIK possibly had at least a single thought put into him when written?
Soooo remember Michael before I.V came out? No? As expected since there isnt a lot to remember. However i think i may have found something in there that i dont think anyone talked about before. But before that we have to talk about Essentia because shes a better written character. One of the key aspects to Essentia 2000's character in YIIK is her relation to Vella and specifically her relation to Alex harming Vella. Essentia's soul survivor starts fully manifesting in Alex's house only after he says the sister stuff to Rory, after which Vella's view of Alex gets even worse compared to where it was before, the Entity sends Alex on a quest to find a record to further hurt Vella and then the record being played fully summons Essentia into the world, symbolising the end to Vella having any positive thought in relation to Alex. In a way shes like that homestuck guy who goes back in time and makes it so they can then come into existance in the first place, i think their name is Queen Elizabeth. The irony of Essentia's actions after that is her warning Alex of him hurting people close to him and that he will do it, despite the fact that shes her at all is because he did it already. By then Essentia basically replaces Vella's role as the protagonist's love interest. Now Essentia is pretty cool and all but we have to go back to Michael, now here's the core idea of this post: what if Michael is to Rory what Essentia is to Vella? Now let's go back to the beginning: Alex Eggleston is a huge homosexual and likes men. Michael K is implied to be Alex's childhood gay crush, its implied more clearly in I.V however there were signs to it even back in 1.0 (Alex talking about Michael in Chapter 5 while quoting almost word for word a monologue from a Murakami novel about the protagonist's ex girlfriend). Rory meanwhile is Alex's gay crush during the events of the game, implied in a way more straight-forward way of the game offering you to just kiss Rory at one point, followed by an Alex monologue that starts with "i don't think i've ever loved a woman before". So what if the main reason for Michael being manifested into the story is to do Essentia's role but for Rory. Both Michael and Essentia appear around the same time after the factory hotel dungeon in chapter 1 (Essentia in a dream and Michael in front of a forest), before you meet the characters they will later try to replace. Want to note that unlike Essentia who directly leads Alex to harming Vella, Michael seems to instead try to prevent Alex from hurting Rory by directly saying what to do for Rory to feel better and will also react negatively if you act mean towards him, however Essentia and Michael still may be similar in that as they both are keeping Alex in denial of what happened with stuff like Alex being offered to kiss Vella without her trying to resist after she gets introduced to the party. I also cant not mention Proto-Michael, hes introduced in the story shortly after the time where Rory's death is announced if you chose the dialogue options for it, when you meet him he is always shirtless, muscular and wise, replacing Rory's role as being a guy that Alex is attracted to. Along that i want to note that Essentia 2000 and Proto-Michael are also connected by their parallel to Essentia 995 and Proto-Alex at the end of the game, with Proto-Michael and Proto-Alex even having a strong visual parallel of being a buff shirtless guy with messy hair and wearing jeans(and also having Proto in their name). Anyways yeah that was it what do you think.
