I had this idea that maybe Skid's dad didn't love Skid as... a son. If there are theories about Skid's dad being obsessed with prolonging his life, what if he, well, wants to use Skid as a vessel for his soul? What if, after the deal with the tree entity, all he did was get married, have a child, and then transfer his soul into that child's body to start the cycle all over again?
Then the fact that Skid looks so much like his father becomes creepy.
(I enjoy reading your theories and headcanons, so I want to know your opinion 🥹)
I AM SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG the Markiplier hyperfixation has been dragging me along. However my brain has been empty enough today that I have been able to make a response to this! 😁
This has actually been my main headcanon/theory for a while, now! Like headcanon until either disproven or confirmed, and if not touched on still headcanon lol. That being Skid's Dad going through a cycle of getting married, having a kid, then transferring over to that kid's body as his new vessel. So, I think that it is highly likely that is, or at least was, his plan for Skid. That might even be why Skid looks so much like him! There could be some magic shenanigans going on to make him look similar, considering how deeply ingrained Skid's Father is with it, with all his deals. If that man had a photo album of every family he's had, I bet you every child he's had would look like a miniature him, but nobody would notice because he booked it as far as he could the second his current vessel became old enough to move.
I also think that him wanting to use Skid as a vessel and him genuinely caring about Skid as a son aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. Going by the assumption that he faked his death and didn't actually die, perhaps that isn't a normal part of the cycle. Like he realized he was growing too attached to Skid as his son and not just him as a vessel, and decided to separate himself physically in the hopes literal distance would make him feel figuratively distanced enough to go through with it. Then, by the time he returns, he either has succeeded in distancing himself or he hasn't.
Who knows? Maybe Pump being gone in his section of Kevin's Dream Job is because Skid's Father changed course to use Pump as his next vessel because he just couldn't bring himself to use Skid, so now he'll get to be Skid's best friend and get whatever powers Pump seems to have? Which Skid would then have to figure out how to cope with because now his best friend is his dad, but that's not Skid's Father's problem, now is it? He'd have been gone for long enough that he still cares for Skid, but definitely doesn't understand how his son processes things. All he might see is "I have my son, I now have whatever powers this kid has, and my son still technically has his friend because his body is still alive. Win-win!" As Skid sees "WHAT JUST HAPPENED WHAT I MISS PUMP HOLY-"
There is also the morbid possibility that, if this is a cycle of him marrying, having a child, then taking the child as his next vessel, his views on how to feel and show affection towards his own children are completely warped. Such as him taking care of his own physical health and making sure he's healthy because technically this is his child's body he's in and he cares about his child. Or trying to make every vessel last for as long as he can because it'll be like making sure his child lives a long life. He's never killed or even had to leave any of his children because their bodies are still alive when he transfers to them and he now physically cannot leave them until they start passing on and he has a new child.
Which I can see having absolutely diabolical story potential with the idea of Skid having to realize that his dad does genuinely love and care for him, but his reasons for having him, his ways of viewing him, and his way of showing that love and affection are warped beyond being spooky or scary to downright terrifying and morbid. It's something that he doesn't understand not just because he is a child, but because he hasn't lived in this unnatural cycle. Even if he were an adult, he wouldn't understand. He definitely doesn't understand what it is like to have a child, but as the child, he doesn't want what his dad is planning. He wants what his dad "used to be like" back without knowing he had always planned for this, or what Lila has been trying to provide for him.
