I recently played Caleb's memory card "Hidden Waves" and I've been thinking about his particular relationship with MC. Honestly, among all the LIS he was the one I eyed with suspicion from the very beginning. Because in the main story, his "adoptive brother role" allows him to be the one who knows the truth but he's holding it from MC to protect her. I didn't trust Caleb, and I still don't when it comes to the main story's chapters. But playing his memory cards and watching the development of his relationship with MC changing with time helped me understand him better and accept him.
My European cultural background was triggered by the "not blood related brother and sister who fall in love" trope, though I'm not the kind of person who escapes deep and complicated themes. So I've been paying attention and analysing his character's narrative, even if Caleb isn't my main. He makes me curious, angry (when as a Colonel, he makes me lose in the Deepspace Trial or he imprisons MC inside a silver cage in the main story), sometimes he even disturbs me but he keeps me engaged anyway. The reason is the fact that I'm trying to understand what Infold wants us as MC to discover exactly: her origins, her existence meaning, her final goal...? And since MC is surrounded by people who know way more than her, it's inevitable that I'm watching carefully the closest persons she's having from the beginning of this (main) timeline: Zayne and Caleb. While I'd always found Zayne more honest towards her, despite his introverted (and self-sacrificing) behaviour; Caleb is my obsessive thought.
I understand that he's just as traumatised as MC but it's obvious that he remembers more than her and prevents her from discovering what can possibly trigger her memory in a bad way and make her suffer again. He's protective, borderline controlling, and he projects a heavenly place where they can be finally free, happy and together. What I noticed so far is that his relationship with MC has developed with constance and it depicts his inner turmoil very well: this isn't easy for him, he's trying desperately to find a way that could finally save her.
If the first memories of his are characterised by longing mixed with the guilt of harbouring feelings for someone who can't correspond due to the social boundary (adoptive brother and sister) that this timeline had set between them; after his "death", this social boundary broke between them (as I heard from others LADS content creators and I agree with) and allowed them both to finally explore this feeling that hadn't ever been entirely platonic between Caleb and MC. She's bolder and braver while he's cautious (more because he fears that being vulnerable around her would make the job easier to those shadows and storms he sees lurking towards her). But once he understands that they can stand side by side? He takes and craves to claim all the love and affection he had always wanted from MC, as we can perfectly see from these last memory cards and event's stories.
This had made me realise that where I set a clear line because of my European cultural background and morals, I failed to acknowledge a real important thing about this whole: a third party had always obliged Caleb to be in a "brotherly" relationship with MC but he had been his lover since the very beginning; the labels others put them hadn't ever been able to sincerely reflect their true (romantic) relationship. How hard had it been for Caleb to pretend to be a brother or best friend for MC, when actually his heart hadn't ever forgotten their love story? He's a victim of the fate, circumstances and events that had happened to them both.
Then why Infold decides to put him constantly in this situation? While the other LIS have their own stories and lives before meeting and falling in love with MC (no matter what timeline), Caleb's the only one who shares his background with her: they're in the same laboratory or in the same house, always together from the very start. This makes me wonder if the "brotherly" relationship he has with MC is actually a hint about them having the same origins.
Maybe he's like her, something created to offer an incredible energy for humans to manipulate to their liking.
Maybe that's why he had sacrificed himself and let EVER experiment on him once again, hoping he can be enough to keep them away from her.
I still have a lot of questions and thoughts, and I crave answers. I'm open to talk with anybody who's interested and I'm curious if some Caleb's main can help me understand his character better.
I'm genuinely interested in sharing opinions about LADS lore: it's fascinating and what I think makes the game beautiful and intriguing.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ🌦️*✧･ﾟ🛩️*✧･ﾟ☁️*✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *✧: *✧
[To read more of this, check out in the masterlist under “TALKING ABOUT... Caleb's relationship with MC”]
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