i feel like edens trauma is overlooked a lot
(huge huge spoilers here, of the trilogy. doesnt include rebel, so u can read if you havent got there)
because like, first he grows up struggling and his mothers grieving their father but its okay bc he has his two older brothers right?
but still, he doesnt have anything to eat, like in the scene, when he has a few bites of the food and realized he was caught he started to cry
so hes growing up malnourished and starved, not to mention scared of the police brutality
and then day's trial comes, and his big brother is suddenly gone, despite eden thinking he was so smart and hed do great, which puts pressure on him to have to study even harder
then he hears that big brother danny is dead. and this must have shocked his world. the brother who he used to have so much fun with. now his entire family is grieving, mother is probably broken apart, John is trying to care for all of them, and overworked and struggling, leaving eden quite alone. and then, because things cant get better for thr poor dude, hes like 7 when he gets incredibly sick.
and now eden is infrcted with a disease like no other, irises bleeding and barely clinging onto life, holding on by a thread. hes too bleary to understand whsts happening- all he feels is slight flashes of john desperately saying something, his mother touching his forehead, and everyone, including him, thinking he was going to die.
until weeks later he drifts awake. weak, and afraid, but alive. except johns not with him, and neither is his mother. hes in some glass tube, on a train, headed some place, where soldiers shove him around and take samples and samples of blood. additionally, hes blind, not able to see anything, calling out for his family, not knowing whats happening. Hes probably wondering if this is death.
finally, it comes to a stop. and then a soldier helps accompany him back to LA, where he's told the only family he thought he has, is dead. and, the brother he thought was dead, was alive, and was the modt wanted criminal.
imagine his confusion and pain hearing that, processing it.
now, hes at the hospital, and finally he feels a family member with him- day, his danny, the brother who was supposed to be dead. hes hurt, confused why daniel didnt tell him, grieivng, and just so exhausted.
so he lives with daniel, slowly trying to find a new normal, until he hears that his brother is going to die. but not from his brother, no, he hesrs it from the media. and now suddenly the city is under attack, he doesnt understand whats happening, hes barely wisked to safety, and finally understands whats happening. desperate to end the war, hes readynto sacrifice himself, despite only being 10. he goes back to the labs, where hes tested, but puts on a fake smile for his brother, whos already going throihh so much.
then the final fight happens, and he feels his brotjer guiding him to safety. he allows himself to feel a bit of hope, until he sees his brothernfreeze. eden doesnt see the bullet, but sees his brother fall, and fade into the coma.
its months later eden is finally reasusred day is alive. months of being alone, blind, confused, and thinking everyoje he knew was dead. but after, he knows daniel isnt the same. daniels forgotten some core memories, and... hes changed. so, they leave los angeles, leave the city, go to a foreign nation to start fresh. Daniel doesnt want to talk about tje past, so he wont. He'll keep the trauma and scars and fears within him, never saying it aloud. and he'll grow, soon be old enough to understand everything about hisnpast, to see the video of john beign shot, to realize the truths about his past.
