#sharon cortex

[banduckoot]

I've sort of mentioned having this headcanon before, I think, but I wanted to bring it up again and I hope that's okay

So... my headcanon is that Cortex's parents are descendants of immigrants. Cortex's dad - name unknown - speaks fluent Spanish, while Cortex's mom, Sharon, speaks fluent Romani. Both of them learned English growing up while performing on the vaudeville circuit with their respective families. (Remember, this was a very long time ago, Cortex is an old man.)

Cortex's dad was largely detached from his son emotionally, as he was disappointed in his son's nerdy pursuits of science, feeling he would never amount to anything. He did, however, at least bother to teach Neo how to speak Spanish just as fluently as him. Cortex takes great pride in his pronunciation skills.

However, Sharon not only did NOT teach her son a word of Romani, she went out of her way to make sure he would never understand a word of it, just so she could freely talk shit about him, insult him, or hide secrets from him just by speaking Romani. When Cortex finally purchased a book on the Romani language decades later and finally learned all the nasty things his mother called him, he nearly had a nervous breakdown.

And do you know who else talked shit about him in Romani? Cortex's grandmother, Sharon's mother. Oh sure, the old lady pretended to care about Cortex, but she believed every lie Sharon told her about him. How useless and stupid he was... how ugly he was... how much of a burden he was... how much of a loser he was for reading all the time... and making silly inventions...

Is it really any wonder Cortex wanted to murder his grandmother before the events of Twinsanity, in the demo?

[banduckoot]

Can we hear your thoughts on the scraped concept art of Cortex’s family that got dropped? Do you think that TFB intended to make Sara Bella Cortex Nina’s mother, to finally end the daughter/niece debate?

I’m sad that Crash 5 won’t be happening any time soon, but I am kinda glad the family got cut. Part of what makes Dr Cortex interesting is the vagueness of his past and family.

I had no idea what you were referring to at first, because I haven't been keeping up with Crash news. Then I looked it up, and...

I love these designs, I really do. But... even though Sara definitely resembles Nina... I really hope she's NOT Nina's mom.

Hugh G. Cortex is a HUNK and he absolutely would be voiced by Markiplier if I had any say in the matter. I love him.

Id Cortex is a nephew for Cortex... maybe a sibling for Nina? He seems cool. The green skin is cool, too!

And then there's Mama Cortex... a.k.a. Sharon Cortex, I guess. I love her design, but I have never wanted to punch an old woman so badly in my entire life!

[banduckoot]

The origin story I came up with for Nina Cortex is that she's not actually Cortex's niece, but his biological daughter.

Basically, Cortex slept with his brother's wife, got her pregnant, and nine months later, Nina was born.

To make things even more interesting, Cortex's brother (I call him Max Cortex) is gay (and closeted) and actually asked Cortex to sleep with his wife on purpose. Basically, Max got married to shut his mother (Sharon Cortex) up about him being single, and then Sharon began harassing Max about giving her grandchildren.

So, because Cortex is the one sibling who resembles Max the most, Max told him, "This is the worst sentence to ever come out of my mouth, but... Neo, I need you to sleep with my wife."

Cortex was happy to oblige at the time, but it became a dark family secret that he was Nina's true father. He was present for Nina's birth, and even got to hold her. Despite the kind of person he was, Cortex felt an immediate connection to little Nina... he genuinely loved her, one of the few beings in this world he actually cared about.

Not long after Nina was born, Max divorced his wife and took off to explore the world. Then Nina's mother suddenly passed away, leaving Cortex as her sole caretaker.

[banduckoot]

Headcanons I have about Dr. Cortex's parents:

Both sides of Cortex's family descended from immigrants living in the United States.

Cortex's mother, Sharon, is Romani, and the family's traveling wagon was an heirloom from her side. Cortex's grandmother is her mother.

Cortex's father is Spanish. His surname used to be Cortez, but he wanted to Americanize his name to make it easier to find work.

Cortex's mother is a Christian while her husband is a Catholic.

Both parents met when they were young and working the vaudeville circuit, both trying to raise money for their respective families. They bonded instantly over both having bright yellow skin, a form of jaundice they shared and eventually passed down to their son.

Sharon was physically and emotionally abusive towards Cortex from the very start, and loved humiliating him most of all. Not only was Cortex an unplanned pregnancy after she already had 20 kids, but Sharon had a hard time giving birth to him due to his massive cranium.

Cortex's father was a neglectful, emotionally distant parent who figured Cortex wouldn't amount to anything. Cortex tried to make his father proud of him, but was never successful.