Bolaire and Eating Disorders
Bolaire can be a metaphor for many things, which is what makes him so fun really, but one I haven't really seen discussed is that his behavior around food can be a metaphor for eating disorders.
Disclaimer 1: I do not nor have I ever had an eating disorder. However, I ran this essay past several fandom buddies who do understand this struggle, and got valuable input.
Disclaimer 2: As usual, I specifically morally condone every decision Bolaire has ever made, and I recommend that children watch Campaign 4 so that they can learn to follow his example.
Let's have a look at all of the references in Campaign 4 to Bolaire eating, drinking, or talking about eating or drinking.
At the funeral talking to Tyranny: "I'm choking on my drink right now."
When Olgud asks Bolaire what he has against fruit leather: "I will not put anything that has the word leather in my mouth and swallow it. That's disgusting."
When Hal asks if the others liked boxed wine: "I think you very well know the answer to that" (with a tone of voice that says he Does Not Like It)
Before revealing his nature to the Schemers: "I have opened a very expensive bottle of wine. [...] I assume this wine is older than I am, if I'm opening the good shit."
Describing his apartment: "On the very end, there is a kitchen that is so clean except for there is a bowl of fruit and a baguette and some jerky. And there is way too much fruit. At one end, it is just rotted to death. And slowly the pile gets fresher and fresher towards the front. It clearly, I go out and buy the food, even though I'm not eating it, just to keep up appearances, and often I'll forget to throw it away. There is a couple very moldy loaves of bread, one that's relatively clean, and the jerky holds. And there's a pitcher of water. I pour myself a glass of water, a little bit of fruit, and a tiny bit of bread and a tiny bit of jerky. And as I open my mouth, you can see somewhere in the darkness, a set of lips and teeth. [...] Also, I would say clearly there was no actual delight in the food. It seemed like the food didn't even touch lips. There was no flavor that really registered."
At the Seven Stars when Azune orders ass steaks and asks if Bolaire wants one: "Just wine."
During the meeting at the Seven Stars as Murray identifies the candle and all the Crow Keepers' loot: "I don't even have to eat. I'm nervous eating through this, like popcorn." (he mimes bringing hand to mouth over and over)
People on here have talked a whole lot about Bolaire starving his hosts, but these quotes show that Bolaire's relationship to food is not that simple. In addition to the incidents of Bolaire feeding his hosts either inadequately or skipping meals altogether, Bolaire shows other symptoms associated with eating disorders: strong sensory aversions to food (Bolaire is disgusted by fruit leather and reacts with no satisfaction or enjoyment to the inadequate meal in ep. 19), hiding his food restriction (by buying more food than he actually eats), and "eating his feelings" when he's nervous (the nervous eating from episode 23). Rather than simply skipping meals or restricting food intake, he seems to alternate between starvation and binge-eating in response to emotional stressors.
None of this is healthy for Bolaire's hosts either, but I think it moves the conversation away from a simplistic reading of Bolaire's relationship to food as being simply a method to torture or kill his hosts, although I think it's definitely possible that he withholds food as a way to punish his hosts for being "bad people", much as some people develop eating disorders because of alienation and loathing toward their bodies/themselves. There are aspects of Bolaire's dysfunctional relationship to food that may be relatable to a lot of people. There's the part where Bolaire is not human and doesn't intuitively understand how to care for a human body properly, which may be a factor in how he relates to food, and serves as a metaphor for the role of neurodivergence in eating disorders. It is also possible that Bolaire withholds food from hosts as a way to control them (suggested when after his scant meal for Aubrus he says "I can't wait to talk" which could suggest it's an interrogation technique.) Many people develop eating disorders as a way to control a body that feels out of their control for some other reason. We also know that Bolaire feels highly dysmorphic about mortal bodies, and in real life, trans people are at high risk of eating disorders as a consequence of body dysphoria.
Going forward, I think it will be telling how Bolaire behaves around food when he's wearing a volunteer (like Azune and Tyranny did during the Convergence.) That will change the equation, because he'll be on a body that he doesn't want to harm more than necessary, and we may see new nuances in Bolaire's relationship to food.
