————headcanon. when carina was a very young child at the orphanage, someone tried to explain to her the concept of ‘family’. either because the young girl had difficulty understanding, or because the person felt pity for the girl without any known biological family, that person explained it to carina as ‘someone who is your’s’. that definition of family stuck with her. if she considers a person ‘her’s’, then it is someone she cares about and wishes to protect, even if that person does not feel the same way towards her. she has this concept of a person being ‘her’s’, her’s to care about or protect, but not really of her being someone’s, because for most of her life she never truly belonged to anyone. all she had was a dead mother’s name and an unknown father.
if she considers a person to be ‘her’s’ she is fiercely protective over them. while in the orphanage, one of the few people she considered ‘her’s’ was her friend and fellow orphan, james ——and she was willing to be whipped for him. when his toy was wrongfully confiscated, she risked being beaten to sneak into the master’s office and steal back his toy. when someone began to walk inside, she ensured james would not be seen at the expense of her own safety, more than willing to take the full blame for their actions. she was only eight years old, but already so intensely loyal and protective of ‘her’s’.
by the beginning of dmtnt, carina doesn’t have anyone she’d consider her own, and she certainly doesn’t have anyone she sees herself as belonging to. then she meets henry, begins to work alongside him, begins to like him. by the time they are held prisoner on the dying gull, carina has begun to feel protective of henry, despite her best efforts not to. jack recognizes it, recognizes that she’s more likely to be gotten to through threatening someone she sees as possibly being her’s then by threatening carina herself ——thus the fake keel-haul scene. as the events of the film progress, she grows closer to henry, begins to think of him more and more as ‘someone who is your’s’. by the time salazar kidnaps henry, she definitely considers him someone she must protect.
now, back to my earlier point about her not seeing herself as belonging to anyone, in regards to henry. by the end of dmtnt. during their voyage, he is definitely ‘her’s’, as she feels a need to protect him. once their voyage is over, she’s more uncertain, since he is no longer in danger; she’s further confused by her attraction to him and her growing feelings for him. she’s not in love with him at the end of dmtnt ( i’ve spoken about this before, so i won’t go into length about it now, other than that carina needs time to understand that henry is actually going to remain a part of her life ). she’s never had anyone really care about her and never belonged to anyone. the few times she’s had a genuine relationship with someone, it was more about her feeling a need to protect them than for her to be protected. she doesn’t know how to feel about henry. she likes him, but is certain he’ll leave like everyone else does, and she doesn’t really know how to be ‘someone’s’, doesn’t know how to be loved, doesn’t know what to expect now that neither of them are endangered any longer. i speak specifically about henry here, but this is a sort of situation that would apply to largely any person she were to potentially love.
yousharknotpass
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