*inhale* MYYYYY BOOOOOOYYYYYYYY
ERRRIIIIICCCCCCCCC
*slaps roof of Eric* this boy can fit So Much projection in him (Bingo x2!!)
So!!! Eric. As is probably obvious, the guy's my favourite hoa character and he's been rattling around in my head nonstop for over a year right now. One of my favourite archetypes in media has always been leaders who are absolutely Struggling under the surface, but try to push it down for the good of the team. One of my favourite tropes with these sorts of characters is when, for whatever reason, their vulnerability or struggle gets 'exposed'.
Behold the Eric, who absolutely crash landed into my brain chemistry with both of these tropes. He shows up. He can come off as capable and kind, if a little out of his depth (obviously other choices can characterise him differently but that's for me to talk about later). And he's clearly insecure - this going right means a lot to him. After all, this is the project he poured himself into, something he relied on to not have to think about his leg or his crumbling marriage. If this goes right, it proves that it was worth it. That he's still just as capable.
And then it goes wrong. Horribly, terribly wrong. They fall into the temple and Eric blames himself for it - if he had just tried harder, checked the results again. If he had just got it right. When Rachel falls at the cliff, he blames himself. When Clarice gets kicked off the cliff at the end, he blames himself for even bringing her. He is So guilt-ridden and that's my absolute bread and butter. Guards! Put that man in a situation.
He's just so interesting for me, particularly with looking at how hegemonic masculinity and disability interact. Because Eric is the colonel! He's the commanding officer, the man in charge. The big cheese. Being the leader, there's a greater pressure to perform to this idealised toxic form of masculinity often perpetuated in the military. As a man, and particularly as a military man, there is an expectation to be healthy, able bodied, and strong. These attributes are greatly valued because under the patriarchal structure, it is the man's job to be the protector through utilising strength and violence - this role is particularly emphasised in the military. It is seen as right and honourable to lay your life on the line and to kill others because you're serving your country. You're protecting those who are unable to fight. You're protecting the weak.
When Eric loses his leg, it places him outside this ideal of masculinity in a way that is sudden, violent and irreversible. He suddenly has to adjust to no longer living up to the ideals and expectations placed on his shoulders. Recovery time would have been slow, too. You don't just heal from losing a limb that quickly. While before the accident, he was likely healthy and active - they were planning on going ice climbing after all - the accident put him in a position where he had to remain stagnant for his own health. This really starts to play into his insecurities and I believe is part of what made him focus on Caelus so much.
Eric views his leg as a weakness to be hidden. He hates talking about it, he hates when other people bring it up, and he doesn't want help with it because he's fine and capable and can do it by himself. When Rachel offers to help with it, his kneejerk reaction is that she doesn't think he's capable - likely because he feels that way about himself. Caelus was his way of proving he was still useful, still capable, still helpful. If he can't be the protector because he views himself as weaker now, maybe he can at least be of use. Caelus becomes his safety net because, regardless of what happens in his life, it is what makes him valuable. If he can't be a protector through physical means, this will have to be enough.
As he just keeps failing - as his relationship with Rachel becomes strained, as she leaves for the other side of the world - he still has Caelus. He conflates it with his worth as a man. As Eric. When they criticise or attack Caelus, they're criticising him and his masculinity.
When Eric arrives on base, there are mainly two dialogue paths he can take - being kind and understanding and 'soft', or being much more abrupt, much more the persona expected from a Colonel. If he chooses to be kinder, he is 'failing' at the presentation of masculinity expected from him. A 'real man' shouldn't give Joey a break, shouldn't go on about missing his wife, shouldn't care what people think. In game, choosing these options increases his relationship with the other characters, but what Jason in particular says about him shows an odd disparity. Jason thinks he's a 'nice guy' but goes on to say that 'around here, nice don't cut it'. This really shows how this toxic ideal of masculinity is built into the structure of the military. Eric is being nice, the systems show that the others like him more for it! But he's not what's expected of a man. Of a colonel. So they have to disapprove. They like him, but they don't think he'll make it.
In the other dialogue path, Eric engages much more with that expectation of masculinity. He takes up space, he's unapologetic, he makes threats, raises his voice. 'He's a hard-ass', as Jason puts it. While this decreases his relationship with the other characters, Jason claims to like it (although his lying tell is absolutely present). Eric, in this case, is lining up with their expectations of what a man should be and, even if the characters are lying to themselves, receives approval for it.
He's just so interesting to me with how they managed to portray and criticise this facet of military masculinity with him in a relatively subtle way.
As for headcanons! Sexuality wise, I hc him to be bi, demiromantic and poly as I am a royalkay truther 🙂↕️. The demiromanticism really ties into everything I was talking about with his masculinity - that failure to perform romance in the way that's expected of him, the struggle to engage with his peers when they talk about typical things regarding that area. It also provides an additional reason for why he might cling to Rachel so much - if she's not only his wife, but also the first person he had romantic feelings for. To him, she's also proof he isn't 'broken'.
I also hc him to be autistic because I love projecting, but also because of that single-minded focus on Caelus. How, when he's in shock after Rachel's death, his mind automatically goes to his project and to 'fixing' the situation as a whole when he's not even out of it yet. It also again suits the general concept of masking - trying to create this facade of traditional masculinity, but still struggling to get it 'right'.
He's just so. Grahhhh. I need to shake him.
Hope you enjoyed this answer 🙂↕️
