#basil analysis

[princettepipstifelle]

Hmmm this pavement is indeed wet

[moog-enthusiast]

i wish we got to see more of basil being a a kind of dramatic little punk like its so silly? "thanks a lot, hector." "it was okay." "i've got the winning hand, hehe." like! hes so goober. even in an image where hes talking about how sweet mari and sunny's sibling bond is. he wries out the word sigh. he writes it out so the reader knows he's lightly jealous lmfao??? the way he teases hero & mari (“they sure look cozy”) and the way he teases sunny about his crush on aubrey. little punk…

it carries over into him offhandendly agreeing kel is a prick? funny as hell. that wasnt an accident but it wasnt like he had any mal-intent either. he just thinks its funny to be a shit.

absolutely he’s a good natured and kind boy!! but he’s not a perfectly cheery kid- he also finds pleasure in messing with people, and acts all dramatic over small things for the sillies. It’s one of my favorite aspects of his character

[crowbasils]

BASIL (OMORI) — A STUDY & ANALYSIS ON HIS CHARACTER

(content warning — OMORI spoilers, mentions of death and hanging, mentions of suicidal behavior and suicide, mentions of self-harm, mentions of physical and verbal abuse (bullying), mentions of child neglect. please proceed with caution.)

( PARTS WILL BE REBLOGGED INSTEAD OF POSTED ALL AT ONCE. it’s needed because compared to the 7 photos of proof that the last analysis had, this one has 47 (48, when considering the thumbnail image). sorry for the inconvenience ! )

I. BASIL’S CHILDHOOD

Due to the nature of OMORI being mainly only in Sunny’s perspective, we do not have many solid and/or canon scenes of Basil’s childhood before he met the friend group. However, there are things in-game that do imply Basil hasn’t exactly had the best childhood. Starting off with what Polly says about Basil’s parents:

“Basil’s lived with his grandma since he was a toddler.” / “His parents don’t ever seem to be home”

Intentional or not—this does qualify as child neglect, which counts as abuse, even if unintentional. While they do care enough for Basil to leave him to his grandmother, and while they do care enough for Basil to hire a caretaker when it was evident that his grandmother wouldn’t hold out and survive for any longer, it’s not enough. This is not to say that they didn’t try—but, instead to say that they didn’t try enough.

Basil is implied to have been affected by this in some form or another, as seen by the comment he made on his photo album:

“I took photos of what I was most afraid to lose.”

This comment about the photo album confirms the existence of his fear of abandonment and losing the things he loved even before the incident. While you may argue that he’s too young to figure it out before that, children are curious. Before he met the friend group, he will, at some point, ask questions when he does see his other peers with their parents. He will ask why his grandmother looks different from the rest, and ask who that male figure is near their children (he never did get a father figure, after all.).

“I only knew what it was like to be alone.”

While this may have been said by Headspace Basil, it does confirm the fact that Basil never really had friends before, and does also imply Basil not having much of a connection to his grandmother. While yes, they do connect, they do at least love one another due to how she does care about him as a mother figure, it might have not been as deep as the connections he had for his friends. She does love him, and he loves her too—especially since she was his only family, but sometimes, bonds formed by connections go deeper than blood.

It’s also pretty clear that all he ever wished for was connections, which is seen through this!

“But what should I wish for? I have everything I could want right here!”

He mentions that the friend group he now has is everything he ever wished for, which does imply that since having a friend group is essentially connecting to others, and forming a strong bond with them through experiences with on another

Basil did most likely have to grow up a lot faster than the rest of the group—excluding Mari and Hero. This is evident by how he behaves more humble and polite than the rest of them—In a sense, he can be considered an “older brother” figure to the friend group, which is seen by how he does have a sense of wanting to protect them and take care of them. Which is seen even in the Basil fight, as seen by this:

The need to protect and care is seen here, and with how Sunny is the youngest of the group and with how they’ve experienced so much together, it’s most likely strengthened! How he likes taking care of things such as flowers and plants also does prove his need to care and protect! He’s also shown to want to help others, and shown to worry if his help just burdens other people, like here!

Basil also seems to worry if his issues would burden others—a negative side to being an “older brother” of sorts. Sometimes, if you view yourself as someone who needs to care and help others, you become afraid to show your vulnerable side in fear that you will become a burden to them, as well as in fear that you will be unreliable to them, which is seen here!

“Sometimes I feel like I’m bothering him”

He fears bothering others with his problems, he wants to make sure that they’re comfortable with him venting to them—he cares about them so much, even when he’s the one who needs reassurance.

Basil also does also serve as a peacemaker in the friend group, as shown by this:

While this is said by Headspace Basil, it also still does apply to Pre-Incident Basil, who does seem to dislike conflict as well. It’s also seen in Post-Incident Faraway Basil with how he asks, although it’s more wanting to avoid conflict plus fearing the person for reasons that will be explained in another part of this essay.

Most of these do imply that Basil has been at least a bit more mature than when compared to Kel, Aubrey, and Sunny! This does also provide a reason to why he’s often grouped with Mari, and Hero, who are like the ‘Mom and Dad’ of the group!

( Though this doesn’t have much of something that backs it up, another interesting thing is how the “Everything will be okay…” thing seems to stem from his childhood. We aren’t given much in-game, but a possible theory that someone suggested to me once is that maybe his family has a tradition to pretend that everything’s alright. Or it was drilled into him not to talk about bad experiences and stuff. But the theory is plausible, especially since it looks like there’s “nothing wrong” until you dive deeper into his character :3 )

[crowbasils]

What do you think about autistic Basil headcanon?

I made a post about this, I relate to him a lot and I see a lot of his behavioral patterns in me.

YES. i see it!! and i’ve been meaning to talk about the possibility of basil being autistic for quite a while, so, i’ll talk about it here. it’s harder to see it in comparison to sunny’s since he’s most likely masking (which sunny doesn’t really do), but it’s still there!!

(this tweet will kinda be a mess, since it’s not like an analysis analysis. if i’m wrong, please do correct me!)

according to the nhs (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/autism/signs/children/) signs of autism in older children include:

- not seeming to understand what others are thinking or feeling

- unusual speech, such as repeating phrases and talking ‘at’ others

- liking a strict daily routine and getting very upset if it changes

- having a very keen interest in certain subjects or activities

- getting very upset if you ask them to do something

- finding it hard to make friends or preferring to be on their own

- taking things very literally – for example, they may not understand phrases like "break a leg"

- finding it hard to say how they feel

from what we know about him & from what the duet cutscene says, he was alone for most of his life before meeting the friend group. he also has a line (though said by headspace basil) about this! while that may not necessarily be a sign of autism, it’s what he says next that stands out to me.

“you’ve all taught me so much… how to care for others and how to care for myself too!”

that specific line stands out to me because of how it tells us that basil wasn’t always as caring and cheery as he was as a 12 year old. he learned from his friends—through experience with them, and through observation.

he’s also implied to have a hard time making friends. other than aubrey (who he likely met later in his life rather than in early childhood like sunny and kel), he had no friends before that. how awkward he is in the cutscene where aubrey introduces him to her new-found friend group also implies that he hasn’t had experience with friends. (he also looks like he’s somewhat ‘copying’ aubrey’s smile, just in a more awkward way)

basil most likely has difficulty when it comes to identifying feelings—specifically ones he hasn’t experienced himself. such as the fear of spiders. he doesn’t seem to get that others can fear spiders due to how he doesn’t fear spiders and sees them as a positive instead.

(icon can’t be seen due to my bad internet, but it’s headspace basil. a lot of the headspace basil lines in blackspace and omori route help when it comes to understanding his character better. stranger’s lines help as well :3)

(it should be noted, though, that otherwise, he’s good at reading sunny specifically. may not be a sign of it on itself, but taking into consideration that sunny is also likely autistic, it might be. both of them understand each other despite their childhood different experiences due to it.)

he’s also… pretty bad at articulating and identifying feelings.

“…but the words don’t come out.”

“i don’t know if i should apologize”

“but why does part of of me still cling on?”

the feeling of not knowing if you should apologize or not, the inability to form words and articulating yourself, the feeling of not knowing why you do something… that counts, right?

basil has a very keen interest in plants and flowers. he memorized the symbolism of the flowers that the he assigned to the friend group, and we see plants all over and even outside basil’s house.

he also insists on only taking photos of people when they’re not posing for him and genuinely expressing emotion (which does give the headcanon of him observing expressions and feelings through the photo album a little more merit :3)

from OMORI canon, we know how attached he is to the past and how he dislikes sudden changes. it’s why the photo album exists, it’s why he says “everything will be okay”, it’s why he did what he did. this is something that both sunny and basil have in common!

to me, basil is an autistic person who learned how to mask because he’s afraid to be seen as weird by his friends & others. his relationship with sunny is the only one where he’s able to drop that mask and be “free” in a sense. post-incident basil tries to mask too, but fails at it since he has… a lot more going on his mind.

[crowbasils]

A COMPLETE AND IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF BASIL’S CHARACTER !!

Tbh, Basil is actually way more nuanced than the game makes him out to be, and has hid his emotions far before Kel has, and is as tragic, if not more tragic, as Aubrey is. Why? Well, let’s start off with his childhood.

HIS CHILDHOOD

Before the friend group. As Polly says in-game, his parents left him when he was a toddler, with his grandmother being the only one there for him.

…Which is really obviously not really a “good” thing, to be left with only one person—an old one at that. Even though he’s left with someone that cares for him, it’s still bad. Why? Because he would realize that she isn’t his parent. That his grandmother isn’t his parent. And that realization hurts, because he’s left to wonder why his parents left him. Why his parents abandoned, and neglected him. Was it because they found him to be weak? Was it because they hated him? Was it because they had no time for him? We never know, and he never did, either.

This can actually cause children to feel like an alien. To feel like they aren’t human. To feel that they can’t “connect” with society. Because they don’t know how to interact with other humans, they can’t relate to other’s experiences all that well due to the lack of parents, they don’t know what a “mother’s love” is, or what “love” is in general, because they weren’t exposed to that. This is, most probably, the case with Basil. Even though he has a grandmother, it’s not really enough. It’s not enough, because it’s not his parents, it’s not the ones who gave birth to him. It’s not the ones who others would say “would love you unconditionally”.

Plus, considering that it’s his grandmother, Basil might’ve actually had to tend to himself and mature faster than anyone did. His grandmother is old, and old people have a lot of complications to deal with. He might’ve had to run errands for her, do house chores for her, and stuff like that. A grandmother isn’t the most reliable parental figure, because they could fall ill at any moment, they could die at any moment. He probably knows this, actually.

All that combined probably makes you think that Basil would turn out to be a sad kid. As in, something like post-incident Sunny. But… surprisingly, he’s not. He’s happy, smiling, and more than Sunny. He’s smiling more than Sunny, which admittedly, makes no sense when you consider his childhood. Which bring us to the next point…

HIDDEN FEELINGS (PRE-INCIDENT)

While not specifically expressed in canon (Sunny and Omori aren’t reliable narrators), it is pretty implied that he hides feelings. Probably the most obvious indicators of that would be the fact that he vents to Sunny, and the existence of Stranger (who is implied to be the parts of Basil that Sunny finds “unpleasant”. Not to say that he dislikes Basil, but he pretty much has this black and white view when it comes to the world.

He probably has hid more feelings than the game lets on. He smiles, to hide the fact that he’s very empty on the inside. He laughs and smiles, to hide the fact that he thinks of himself as “inhuman” and feels “strange” compared to everyone. He involves himself in the activities of the friend group, because he’s so scared of being left alone again and being forgotten and abandoned. He takes photos, because he’s so scared to let the moments pass by, since they could leave him at any moment. He acts the way he is, because he’s never been able to make a lot of human interaction. He values his relationships with the friend group more than anyone, because to him, they are his true family.

They say, “opposites attract”, correct? Then perhaps the reason why Basil hangs out more with Sunny, is because he is the very opposite to him. Sunny isn’t emotionally expressive, Sunny doesn’t smile, and laugh a lot, but unlike him, Sunny isn’t empty. Sunny is full of life, but he doesn’t show it. Sunny has been around people who love and trust him his entire childhood, while Basil hasn’t. Sunny has been loved and cherished by everyone his entire childhood, but Basil? He hasn’t. Basil wasn’t loved and cherished by everyone his entire childhood. Sunny had people care for him, while Basil didn’t. Sunny experienced parental love, but Basil didn’t, and will never experience it. In his eyes, Sunny is perfect, because he experienced what he cannot. Because he is loved by everyone. Because he is cherished, and treasured. He is what Basil cannot be.

Basil probably does have trust and abandonment issues that he hid as well. His photo album can be a sign of that. Abandonment issues, caused by his parents leaving and the fact that his grandmother can fall ill / die at any moment, and trust issues caused by the abandonment issues. The photo album is also described as a collection of “things he is afraid to lose”.

He is also implied to be depressed and/or suicidal in a certain incident which will be addressed in the next section

“THE INCIDENT”

The incident is a major part of the OMORI story, as it serves as the catalyst for all the events ingame. As for this section, I will attempt to give a reason as to why Basil did what he did, and what it implies. As well as clearing common misconceptions

The question “Why did Basil hang Mari?” is a question asked by a lot of people. The answer to that is quite simple, and that is because he didn’t want Sunny to get in trouble, and hated by everyone. “But he could’ve called the ambulance!!! Or even his parents!!!” That is true, but consider, he was in a stressful situation, and he didn’t even know what to do, as witnessing a death of a friend caused by another friend it a hard thing to take. Also, him hanging Mari instead implies that he knows how to tie a noose and that he knows how to suicide, which is concerning, especially as considering that he’s 12 year old, and that it’s pretty rare for a 12 year old to know that back in the time OMORI is implied to have taken place in. The internet also didn’t exist back then, which makes it pretty impossible for Basil to know what suicide is and how to do it unless he planned to do it himself.

A common misconception is that he is the one who scribbled up the photo album, and to that I say, no, he wasn’t. It was Sunny. Basil actually says that it was Sunny in an earlier version of the dialogue before the Basil fight. I’m not sure why they removed it, though. (Sunny even takes a step back when the rest of the gang (minus Basil) hugs Aubrey!)

Another common misconception is that this is the only reason why Basil is depressed/sad, and to that I say, absolutely not. It’s not the only reason why Basil is like that. Even if he healed from the trauma this caused, a lot of his issues are still left unaddressed, such as the abandonment and trust issues and him being implied suicidal.

Also, the incident is not completely his fault, and he wasn’t the reason why Sunny became a shut-in / hikikomori. While yes, his SOMETHING is in the shape of hanged Mari, Sunny became a shut-in / hikikomori due to killing Mari, and not because of hanging her.

POST-INCIDENT, INGAME (FARAWAY SECTION)

The first time we see Basil, we see him asking for his photo album, but getting bullied and getting told “no” instead. This makes a pretty bad first impression to younger fans and illiterate fans, and because of that, he is often watered down into this “uwu coward soft boy who cries a lot”, which he isn’t. He may seem like it, but he isn’t. The second time we see Basil, he is at the old hangout spot, and calling for help. This… actually does imply a lot of things, one of them being suicide. He might’ve came there to die in a place where he missed, to look at the place one last time before he would commit suicide, but he was stopped by the hooligans, which most likely bullied him (even though they say they didn’t). And the last time, the sleepover, he either kills himself, or stabs Sunny in the eye due to hallucinations and stress.

The Basil we see here, in Faraway, is a more broken version of Basil. He still acts and hides feelings, it’s just not as effective as before. Another interesting thing I’d like to point out is the fact that we never really see Basil do anything connected to his past interests. While yes, his photo album may be part, he doesn’t really take photos anymore. Nor do we see him take care of his flowers. Maybe he could’ve lost interest in it, as a result of the incident. We don’t see Basil eat (the animation isn’t there during when Sunny and Kel went to Basil’s house), either, so for all we know, he could’ve starved himself, too, just occasionally reminded by Polly.

That aside, let’s get into the thick of it. Basil, in faraway, is most likely at the lowest point of his life. He had to see his friends leave him one by one (even Kel! We never see him focus on Basil, except for the scenes where he fights Aubrey to protect Basil. He didn’t knock on his door, either, like he did with Sunny.), and have one bullying him. He no longer has an outlet for his extremely bottled up emotions. He doesn’t have anyone, and his grandmother fell ill as well. Polly is paid to be there for him too, which means she doesn’t really count as someone he has. She isn’t close to him, either. She isn’t as close to him as the fandom makes her out to be.

It’s understandable why he broke down almost to the end of the game. Imagine someone you loved and cherished coming back, only for it to end in them leaving you again? And with no warning? No preparation? It sucks. And for the reason why they left in the first place being left unaddressed??? No wonder why Basil broke down. No wonder why he was so angry. No wonder why he was so sad. And, also, only reason why Basil stabbed Sunny’s eye was because he was hallucinating, and not because he actually wanted to. He stabbed Sunny’s eye because he thought it was SOMETHING, and not Sunny. Although it’s not completely all because of that, it’s a key part of it. His repressed anger and hatred, as well as his desire to “save” Sunny is also a part of it too, it’s just that due to the hallucinations, he stabbed Sunny’s eye. The part where he states that he’ll end both of their pains (by murder-suicide) is most likely out of stress, because his situation is extremely stressful, and it’s sad that nobody recognizes it.

He also does use toxic positivity, saying “Everything will be okay…” even if it won’t. It’s just… less recognized.

HIDDEN FEELINGS (POST-INCIDENT)

Basil, post-incident, probably also does have a lot of hidden feelings as well. This time, it includes hatred and anger.

He still feels empty, he still feels “inhuman” and “strange”, even more so that the incident happened. The incident, while not causing most of his problems, worsened a lot of it. His abandonment issues worsened, his trust issues worsened, basically everything worsened.

Although, now you add anger and hatred. He’s mad at Sunny for leaving. Hates him, even. Hates him for leaving him when they were supposed to deal with it together (or so he says), for leaving him during the lowest point of his life, for leaving him for so, so long. He’s mad at Sunny because when he went out, it was already near when he would leave. He hates Aubrey. For bullying him, for not hearing him out, for leaving him as well. He hates Kel. For only paying attention to Sunny. For leaving him. For being insensitive at times. But, he can’t help but feel disgusted at himself. Disgusted at himself for hating them. He feels like he doesn’t have the right to.

POST-GAME

Post game, a lot of Basil’s problems go unsolved. He isn’t exactly portrayed to have moved on like the rest. While yes, you can take the “true ending” as him accepting it… it feels rushed. The “Let’s make new memories together, okay?” that Dream Basil says isn’t Basil himself, so that isn’t reliable. It feels like instead of getting better, his problems will just fester into something worse. He’s basically alone as well. Even more so due to the reactions to the truth. Sunny left, he isn’t close to the friend group, his grandmother is dead, his parents are still gone, he isn’t close to Polly + she’s paid to take care for him… He’s all alone again.

That’s not saying that the friend group will try to get closer to him again, because they absolutely can, it’s just that Basil's problems still aren’t solved either way. Yeah, sure, he might admit some things, but they won’t be the closest anymore. It’ll probably take a very long time for Basil to even warm up to them again. Might even take 2 years.

CONCLUSION

Overall, I think Basil is the character talked least into depth about and often mischaracterized along with Hero. Many people fail to recognize that he’s also as tragic as Aubrey is, if not more tragic. Many people fail to recognize that his issues go far beyond the incident as well. Not a lot of people recognize that in terms of mental state, Basil is much worse than Sunny, since even before the incident, he was already pretty unstable

…Aaaand that’s all! Thank you for reading :D

[crowbasils]

HERE’S THE ORIGINAL GDOCS LINK TO THE ANALYSIS IF YOU GUYS WANT IT :3

Although the layout is somewhat fucked on pc… my bad!

( i think tumblr viewed the sunny covered in sand photo sensitive content, whoops.)

BASIL - OMORI

BASIL - OMORI