#harold meta

[root--is--alive]

Root locked up

It’s time for late-at-night-Poi-thoughts.

I read someone complaining that Root didn’t have a toilet and shower when Harold had her locked up. We saw him bringing her food, though. 

I think Harold built that faraday cage, in which he locked up Root, in that part of the library where the bathroom is. Actually, I can imagine that he didn’t specially built that faraday cage for Root. He probably built it for himself, in case he would need one. With Harold being who he is - the man who sold the world for $1, who was accused for treason, and who is a very private person - he surely would prepare for everything. And in season 5 he even needs a faraday cage to raise the tiny SAM clone.

So, Harold would of course have thought of providing the best comfort possible if he ever needed to withdraw into a faraday cage. There would be a shower and a toilet included in the cage, amongst other things he might need, like a laptop, a phone, foodstuff, clothes, pen and paper, a first aid kit, a razor. 

Root wore different clothes every time we saw her in the faraday cage, so it seems hardly believable that Harold wouldn’t provide her with the needed hygiene. (I bet he struggled to ask her for her clothing size, and Root just told him where she used to crash for the last nights, to get her clothes there).

Root’s hair wasn’t as smooth and curly as usually. Either she stopped caring about her appearance, or she didn’t have a curling iron, which she might use occasionally; or she just changed her hairstyle. 

It’s possible that she stopped caring about herself because Harold has taken The Machine away from her, and she has got no way of reaching it. Unlike when she was in the psychiatric hospital, where she had access to a phone and could easily manipulate/use Dr. Ronald Carmichael. However, with Harold locking her up, she has got no chance to communicate with TM, and Harold won’t listen to her. Considering how she broke down and was depressed after Harold had lied to her and The Machine wasn’t at that location at the end of season 2, Root could have been depressed while being locked up in the library, too. However, her nails are painted perfectly, so I don’t think Root was too depressed to neglet selfcare. Actually, I think The Machine using her as the analoge interface has exhilerated Root a lot - now she has got a purpose, a mission; and it involves her working for an ASI, something she considers as good code; and this is everything Root has ever wanted. Back to her hair - Harold might not have provided a curling iron for Root. Or she simply changed her hairstyle. In season 1 and two, she has got a middle parting, from season 3 on it’s a sideparting. And her hair is shorter in the first episodes of season 3,, which might be the reason for less curls. 

Or maybe her awesome tresses are natural, though, with the right care, and she just didn’t care too much while Harold prevented her from doing her job. 

[root--is--alive]

Root and music

(I can’t fall asleep.)

…

So, do you think Root likes to listen to music? If I remember it right, she said, after Control took the hearing of her right ear, that she misses all around sound, or something along these lines.

Okay, so, I can imagine that TM plays music for Root on her cochlear implant and Root puts headphones into her left ear, while TM lets the music on Root’s phone play in sync with the music on the cochlear implant, so Root can listen to music with both ears. Kind of.

And I think it makes her really emotional to have this experience. I mean, Root chose to only use the cochlear implant for communicating with TM, she chose to live with the disability. And overall, she only got it because of TM, because of her faith into TM. So, TM might pay her back with stereo music.

…

However, Root doesn’t want anything back, she never wants anything in return. But TM of course knows that Root still craves requited feelings, even if she accepts it when she doesn’t get anything.

Like, Root didn’t need Shaw to return her feelings or Harold to still be her friend, because their existence was enough for her. The love she feels for them already fills her enough. However, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t want it. I think it’s difficult for Root, because on the one side she doesn’t want anything in return because she already feels so strongly, but on the other side she might also fear rejection, I think.

…

Even though she stopped expecting anything useful from people after no one listened to her when Hannah was abducted. And so she decided to not be rejected ever again. After all, there was nothing she wanted from people anymore, she didn’t want anything from them, they were just bad code and meant nothing to her, so she wouldn’t be rejected anymore

But rejection from the ones she cares about effects her deeply. Remember how devastated she was after TM didn’t let her find her at the end of s2? It might have felt as if TM had rejected her.

…

Now, back to the beginning, on how TM providing her with stereo music might make her very emotional. So, Root doesn’t want anything in return because the simple fact that she can give something to TM already fills her out enough, emotionally. She doesn’t need TM to repay her for losing her hearing. So, TM actually doing it fills Root with even more emotions. And so, TM gently provides stereo music for Root, occasionally.

…

(Idk, somehow this went from Root listening to music to how deeply Root feels…)