Hi! Big fan of all your analyses of my favorite TV head! So I wanted to ask what you'd think Vox would do if his lover/partner/whatever he wanted to call it tried to leave him? Would he not care about consent and use force or hypnotism? Or would his ego not allow him to chase after someone so desperately and would rather them willingly stay by their own volition? Thank you!
Hi, thanks for the ask!
My answer for this would heavily depend on what period in Vincent's life and Vox's afterlife we're talking about.
The answer for Vox in his afterlife is honsetly pretty easy, because we already have clearly seen what happens. Vox had romantic feelings for Alastor (which didn't even appear to be lustful at that point) and when he got harshly rejected, he began violating Alastor's boundaries in every single possible way he could in his endless obsession just to exhaust Alastor enough to give in, all for his hopeless chase just to be given vaildation.
When it comes to when he was alive things get a bit more open for interpretation. So we're going to have to step into fannon here.
The only thing we truly have any evidence of what could've led Vincent and later Vox down such a horrible path are he hints he had an abusive mother. And yes, abusive mothers tend to have a different effect on their children, particularly on their sons, differently than abusive fathers.
People always talk about how a girl's father is her first glimpse of the opposite sex, and how having a good or bad father can determine her behavior for the rest of her life
But people forget it works the exact same way the other way around. A boy's mother is his first glimpse of the opposite sex, and since, well, mothers are typically seen as "the more naturing," parent, having a bad one can do insane amounts of damage on their kids, including their sons.
And while I was assigned female at birth, (transitioned to enby) I can tell you as someone who has, what I consider a BAD mother, it fucks you up in very different ways, especially since I have an AMAZING father. You really wonder things like, "Why does everyone have a mother but me?" And "Why am I one of the lucky ones who has an amazing father?" And "I wish I had an actual mother figure in my life,"
What I'm saying is, the lack of a good mother, even if you are lucky as I am to have an amazing father figure, FUCKS you up. Especially when you witness the abuse your father experiences at the hands of your own mother, like in my case, but we're not taking the trip through "Roo's emotional baggage," today.
Abusive mothers tend to raise children with extremely poor emotional regulation, and very sereve attachment issues. And the scary thing is, with sons, it can lead men to resent women from childhood, leading to even more issues if said son is attracted to women. (Vox is Bi). And just serious issues with how they process relationships in general.
All of this lines up with Vox's behavior.
But none of that means people who suffer from these traits CANNOT geninuely love people, case in point, yet again. Alastor.
It's so clear Vox geninuely loved Alastor, like, way more than just "Oh he's useful to me," no, Vox LOVED him and had deep romantic feelings for him, and he was comfortable enough to be vurnable around him, no if, hands, or buts.
This is the only time we've ever seen Vox like this, and I DOUBT this was the ONLY time Vox ever fell deeply in love with someone. This almost certainly happened while he was alive.
And I think it's very clear Vox has a deep romantic interest in Valentino, that's not just sexual, but because Alastor was almost certainly the first time he ever confessed his love for a man, to which in response he was laughed and mocked by the man he clearly loved, it's safe to say Vox is very, very afraid of showing any sort of deeper romantic interest in Valentino and tries to keep it strictly sexual.
Interestingly, it's Valentino who is the one who appears like he wants more out of their relationship, where he wants Vox to value him more then just his on and off fuck buddy. It seems like he wants an actual serious romance with Vox, which I'm sure Vox deep down also wants... But is just too scared to have. (Honsetly that is a story for another time)
Okay, now that Vox's afterlife is out if the way, to anaylize this for his human life, we're REALLY gonna have to plungw to PURE fannon, so please bare with me.
It's clear Vincent always had a need to constantly achieve more and more, trying to find sasfication in himself through others, all in his desire to prove himself. So It's very likely this desire to prove himself was instilled from early childhood, so Vincent probably was pretty cold, rude, and just an unpleasant person from a very young age due to his need to prove himself as above the other children and his peers, likely to appeal to his mother. She put impossible to meet expectations on Vincent, and so Vincent put impossible expectations on himself.
Any romantic interests he may have had may have been forced on his behalf, (as in Vincent was a creep who hit on girls he liked even when it was clear they were uncomfortable) or he may have lured in girls towards him (sorta like a ladies man)
Plus, keep in mind that Vincent would've had to realize he was into men at some point in his childhood, but he had to hide it. I DOUBT he persued anything with other men and it was more of a hopeless fantasy to him.
I don't doubt he would've had serveal failed romantic relationships solely because of his extreme attachment issues from adolescence.
As he became a young adult, the pressure he would've faced to find a wife and have children would only grow the older he became, leading these behaviors to get even worse since it's the only way he knows how.
Another thing I wouldn't be surprised about is Vox being an extremely controlling jealous boyfriend and husband when he is in a relationship, which led to women leaving him over and over again, with the last one going so far as to marry only to end in divorce.
I think eventually as Vox grew more and more insecure over himself and chasing the desire to be loved, wanting people to admire him and give him attention in some way, some point in his adulthood would've been when he would've began killing people he saw as competition. Whether it'd be for women he was interested in or for other means.
You can see in Brighter just how jealous Vox looks when he sees the male and female newscaster joking around with each other. Obviously, they both have a higher position then him, but he also is clearly jealous of the relationship they have. He wants what they have.
(Vox would've veen in his late 40s or early 50s at this point in his life, and it's clear he had no wife at this point. That would've been a HUGE, HUGE taboo at this time period and he would've been HARSHLY frowned apon for this.)
This is what pushes him into killing his first on screen vitcim, and he choses the male newscaster.
(also he dances with his body after he kills him which just shows how much of a fantasy he saw actually perusing a relationship with men was)
But note his expressions in this next scene
When he's clearly faining empathy about the missing newscaster (that he killed lmao) the women next to him is hysterically sobbing,
However, when he notices that she is even more upset than he thought, you can see in his expression he grows a bit frustrated.
His expression turns back into what can be inferred as faining empathy again as he prepares to kick her away, but it also could be seen as him being upset that she is so focused on his vitcim's death instead of getting warmed up to him as his replacement.
But notice his expressions after he kicks her away. Suddenly it mirrors the very first expression we saw him make when he was envious of their relationship. The man is dead, yet the women is still focused on him, Vincent can't even be satisfied that the man was dead because in death it just showed how attached the woman was to him, which only fueled more bitterness and jealousy.
It absolutely wouldn't shock me if Vincent, despite likely finding that man attractive as shown where he literally briefly dances with his body, targeted him because he was trying to open up himself to the female newscaster, and when that clearly didn't work, he became obvious very bitter about it. If anyone found out about his attraction to men in this time period, not only would he lose his entire livihood, there ran a huge risk of him not only being imprisoned but sent to a conversation therapy camp against his will. Homosexuality was a fucking CRIME in the United States when Vox was alive, and it was only decriminalized state by state, with the first state being in 1962. Oh, and he also could've been killed for it and he wouldn't really have veen able to get much justice for it...
It's also worth noting that since we never see Vox kill this woman on screen, it could be inferred he spared her. In fact, all, but one, of Vox's vitcims are men.
But, despite all this, it is still geninuely possible that Vincent ended up finding an actual loving relationship with a girl he deeply bonded snd trusted, if how he acted around Alastor is anything to go by. Especially if they met when Vincent was since in his teenage years.
I fucking doubt Vincent would've began killing people in his youth. Hell, he'd probably not even go too far with physically harming people. I'm sure he did fight and assault other kids, but he would I still think he'd make sure he didn't go too far with it. He was also still a kid and would be harshly punished by adults for it.
Now, If Vicnent actually DID find a geninue romantic relationship and it went very well for them both, theb he'd begin healing and start being happier. However, for him to have fallen right back into his awful habits and for them to be further exacerbated, something tragic had to have occur. His wife almost certainly would've had to die rather then divorce him, leaving him widowed. Which is honsetly the most tragic way things could end up for Vincent. (Odds are she'd be in Heaven, too.)
Anyway, that's my take on this. Vox in his afterlife would absolutely do anything to a romantic partner or interest who turned him down because Alastor exists.
BUT when it comes to him in his life as Vincent, it's really up to mostly fannon based on the evidence we have that Vox had an abusive mother and the statistics of the time likely meaning he once HAD a wife at some point.
