I'm pretty stressed out because I'm moving, so I decided to write about König stressing out too! Yay! Anyways, let's go.
König has a complicated past. His childhood was filled with bullying, his adult life has been filled with bullets and bombs. He's been through too much for one man, honestly. The fact that he hasn't either become a hikikomori or a homicidal maniac is a miracle. I think the only reason we're safe is because he has a good family and he found good friends when he joined the military. However, he has scars. Not all of them are painted on his skin.
I've collected phobias that I think he might have into a list, however some of these fears are fears that though they impact him seriously, he can live with them and won't have a panic attack upon facing them. Fears that genuinely terrify him identified. His fears are ranked 1 through 5, with 1 being a fear that just makes him a bit wary/on edge, but he's not going to have a meltdown unless pushed or 5, a fear that can cripple him with just a brush.
Phobias are listed under the cut (also I got the fears from a list online, hence why they're mostly alphabetical)
1 Scopophobia: Fear of being watched
König grew up in a small, rural village surrounded by monsters in all shapes and sizes. Adults were cruel, children were monsters. He grew up being afraid of going out because he knew that everyone in the village saw him as the socially outcast freak. Every time he looked at people, he saw them looking at him with disdain. I think a lot of this is due to developing social anxiety, and so thus he became paranoid, but he did develop a fear of people watching him, judging him, following him with their eyes. He hates going out into the civilian world because of this.
1 Agorophobia: Fear of open spaces or crowds
König is scared of going out into crowds. Why? See phobia above. He can't stand being outside of a place he considers safe. Not in a 'I can't go on missions' way, but in a 'I don't want to go to a shopping mall' sort of way. On a mission, he's either alone or in combat. When he's in civilian life, he doesn't know how to turn the military brain off. He can't get it through his reptilian brain that he's safe, and he's okay, and no that person carrying a duffle bag is not actually carrying a hidden rifle, and no that person with a thick coat does not have a bomb under their clothes, and no that person who's walking towards him does not have a knife in their belt. He is safe. He knows this logically, but he can't stop his heart from racing. It's too loud, too hectic, too many things can go wrong too quickly.
5 Atychiphobia: Fear of failure
Do you know what failure means when you're on a mission infiltrating a cartel base? Failure means watching your teammates get blown apart by a bomb. Failure is watching your best friend fall down into a puddle of their own blood. Failure is getting a bullet between the ears. Failure is not an option in his world. When people make mistakes, don't check their surroundings properly, when someone dares to light up a cigarette at night in an open area, that's when people die. Remember this phrase when you go to smoke on a battlefield. The first light catches the sniper's attention, the second light he lines his sights, the third light he pulls the trigger. Mistakes cost lives when on the field.
1 Catagelophobia:Fear of being ridiculed
This one is pretty self explanatory. He's been bullied his whole life. He's pretty sick of it.
3 Cynophobia: Fear of dogs
König, due to working in missions that target gangs and domestic terrorist groups, has had the misfortune of seeing dogs being used against his own people. He's been attacked by a dog before himself. In combat, dogs are tools of terror. He's seen his own team use dogs, and he knows what they're capable of. You might see a fluffy German shepherd. He sees a dog that's torn peoples hands off. However! He does also like dogs when he meets them in public. He is not going to assume your dog is a killer, but if your dog growls, he won't dare touch that dog. He won't even get close. He's seen what dogs can do.
As mentioned before in this post, König's first reaction to fears he can see is to lash out. He will punch or kick without thinking. He doesn't even yell or gasp when he does it. It's just what he does. If you go to sneak up on him, you'd best be ready to dodge. He feels really bad about it, and he's been banned from 10 different haunted houses around the world.
For fears he can't physically lash out at, he will just keep an eye on things. OODA loop, you know? Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. That's going on in his head over and over again. If he's out in public, that's going on in the back of his head. If he sees a dog, he's going through multiple different scenarios and evaluating the likelihood of each possibility. Normally he's a quiet man, but he goes deathly quiet when he's afraid. If you notice him freaking out like this, it might be nice to ground him by getting his attention and then taking his hand, or distracting him from what he's thinking about. He might not say it until later, but he'll be thankful.
the first installment of a multi-part character analysis for our beloved König
to convince you guys i know what I'm talking about, just look through my blog at my könig posts. I am confident that I have grasped most parts of his personality and backstory, but I will acknowledge that some of it may be projecting. obviously we do not know much about him, which is the point of this series. i also relate a lot to him
discussion of my interpretation is welcome in the comments, and if you disagree, there's no need to be hateful. he is, at the end of the day, not real
TW: bullying, social anxiety, other mental health disorders
We have very little information on könig's life before the military. his bio includes one sentence, just one, about his past:
König suffered from severe social anxiety throughout his life, often being bullied during his childhood.
while this information alone isn't striking, when put into more context of other parts of his bio, it says:
While he hoped to join as a recon sniper, his physical size and his inability to stay still made him an unsuitable candidate.
focus on those words: his inability to stay still. this crucial bit of information, tied to the fact that he was often bullied, leads me to conclude that könig has ADHD. not being able to sit still is not a stereotype, it is a real fact of life for those with ADHD, me included. people with ADHD are bullied much more than neurotypicals (people without ADHD, autism, etc). while each source is different, it is estimated that children with ADHD are 4-10x more likely to be bullied.
it is no wonder why bullying would cause social anxiety, since most of könig's interactions with his peers were negative. as someone with social anxiety, it is horrible. not knowing what to say or how to act, you end up either completely misreading the social context or not saying anything. either way, you can never win.
additionally, children with ADHD receive up to 20,000 more negative messages from parents and peers in their childhood than neurotypical children. because of this, it is common for people with ADHD to also be extra sensitive to rejection, and it can be so strong in some that a new term has been coined called "rejection sensitive dysphoria." research on this issue has revealed that 99% of people with ADHD also have and experience rejection sensitive dysphoria. therefore, it makes sense to conclude that König also experiences rejection sensitive dysphoria (rsd)
an aside on rsd: this isn't just feeling hurt when you're rejected by a crush or feeling sheepish or embarrassed you're scolded at work or school. rsd episodes make you question your entire life, your personality, your worth, and for many can even lead to suicidal thoughts just from a small incident of rejection. it can also lead to the person having low self-esteem, and they are also more likely to perceive rejection even when it is not there. it is an intense and overwhelming experience that no one should have to go through, yet people with ADHD experience it often
so, we've established, based on the evidence i've provided, that König has ADHD, social anxiety, and experiences rsd. i would say that i can't even imagine what König's childhood was like, but sadly I can since i too have adhd and was bullied. being mean is never okay, and bullying is not cute or quirky or sassy. bullying is when someone kicks your books across the floor, steals and destroys your belongings, when they spread false rumors, make fun of you, laugh at you, when they give you mean faces when you ask questions in class, when your only friend is the other "weird" kid who also has ADHD. it's when your teachers constantly criticize you and you get in trouble for every little thing. it's when you just wanted a friend and everyone else knew how to socialize, but somehow, you didn't. being bullied while also having ADHD is an experience i wish on no one. yet könig went through this. just sit with that for a minute. the big scary military man we love was also a child once, and went through this.
sorry to depress you guys, but this is the reality of his character. i firmly believe that könig has ADHD and experiences rsd despite his untouchable and stoic demeanor, and you're not gonna change my mind.
so, that's the end of the first installment. keep your eyes out for more, cuz trust me, there's gonna be more. (also don't forget to sign up for my taglist if you want! link is on my masterpost)
Okay so, I went over König's more serious phobias in the last post, but what about fears he can't really explain? These aren't things that will make him breakdown or have an anxiety attack, but he just straight up doesn't like them.
Now, some of these are pretty reasonable, but there's a couple that are just bizarre. Like the last post, I'm typing them out alphabetically, but I'm giving them a number ranking to indicate how much these phobias bother him. The ones that just make him uneasy are rated as a 1, but the ones that will make his stomach drop to his feet are rated at a 5. He may not have a full panic attack, but don't be surprised if he does.
Again, these are just the phobias that König is weird about. To call them phobias is honestly an overstatement, but it sums it up nicely. I guess you could say these are his mild, strange fears.
Fears listed under the cut.
2 Aichmophobia: Fear of needles or pointed objects
König is such a little bitch about needles. I'm sorry, but he is. He has to be put under whenever they have to stitch him up. He's totally uncompliant otherwise. The thing is, he can stitch others, he can inject others, but if someone comes near him with a needle he freaks.
When König was a kid, it was a nightmare taking him to the doctor. They did everything possible to get him to calm down, but he was inconsolable. This poor little boy had to get restrained a few times just to be given needles, and this probably made his fear just that much worse.
For all of his tattoos, he's had to go under. No seriously. He's not afraid of the pain, he's just really scared of needles. He loves his tattoos, he'd go under any day of the week to get them done again, but he must go under. No ifs ands or buts about that.
Please don't tease him about it. He's actually a bit insecure about this.
2 Angrophobia: Fear of anger
Let's get something clear; König is not afraid of you when you're angry. He's afraid of himself when he's angry. He absolutely hates getting angry because he saw what people could be like when they're angry. He's done things in anger that he's not proud of (on the battlefield).
When König gets angry, he does his very best to calm himself down to be reasonable and rationale. He won't hurt a fly, but he still gets scared that one day, he'll snap. He is terrified of the day he snaps.
When you're as big as König, imagine the sheer amount of damage you can do if you lose control. 6'10 and over 250 lb of rage and fury. It's terrifying to consider what he could do. So please, don't try and make him angry, don't try and make him snap. He genuinely hates being angry, and he wants you to respect that wish.
4 Catoptrophobia: Fear of mirrors
Okay now this one has a very good reason, or so he claims. When König was about four, his eldest brother, Friedrich, told him to be careful around mirrors. Poor unsuspecting König asked why, and his brother told him that spirits live on the other side. He then proceeded to 'prove it' by putting König in the bathroom with only a candle for light. He told König to stare at his reflection and wait.
Soon enough, König was pounding on the bathroom door and begging to be let out, but Friedrich held the door closed and laughed at him. His older sister Lisa had to intervene to get König out.
König loves Friedrich (now), but he still holds this against his brother. Now, whenever Friedreich complains about being the shortest son (at 6'7), König sniffs and says that it serves him right.
1 Nosocomephobia: Fear of hospitals
König is weird about hospitals. He just really doesn't like them. They make him feel weird. He's been in them plenty, but he still doesn't like them. He's nice to the staff, but he really wishes he could punch them and escape like some wild animal. Hutch tells him to get his shit together. König thinks he's rude.
But yeah, that about rounds up König's weird fears. If you guys have any other ideas of what this guy would be afraid of, please tell me! Or, if you'd like, I'd be happy to write a short blurb based on his fears.
Oh, and while I'm at it, don't look at yourself in a mirror for too long in dim light. It's weird.
Strange face illusions describe a range of visual apparitions that occur when an observer gazes at their image reflected in a mirror or at a
In normal observers, gazing at one's own face in the mirror for a few minutes, at a low illumination level, produces the apparition of stran
