Me, pausing in the middle of making Lucio memes to stare into the distance: Lucio spent three years in social isolation and sensory deprivation, both of which are forms of torture even on a much smaller time scale - over 15 days of solitary, to be exact, is considered torture. And Lucio couldn’t physically feel anything in addition to not being able to interact with anyone. Stuck in a wrong “body”, with no social contact, minimal tactile or tempterature sensations, no food or drinking, possibly no sleeping. For over 1000 days.
There’s no way anyone could stay “the same person” after that. At the beginning of the game’s events, Lucio’s in an immensely fragile psychological state, which explains why his character development varies from “puppy-eyed himbo who wants hugs and cookies and sings you praises every 4 and a half minutes” to “the literal Devil incarnate”. Lucio’s ability to maintain his facade(s) is very impressive, but behind it, he’s desperate. His mental state is… raw. Malleable. So what happens next is pretty much imprinting. He clings to whoever is willing to help him in any way, and his personality adapts to that person/demon/Arcana. And while with demons he mostly becomes the old self again, MC can actually support and encourage him, causing the very rapid changes. It makes sense.
It’s not talked about much in the game itself, unfortunately, but there are some hints. How he talks at the very beginning: shorter, kind of “not quite there” sentences (“Mine, mine…” - literally the first thing he says in his own route), glances instead of talking, there’s even some snarling (“the ghost snarls at me, a low, wounded sound”) thrown into the mix. There’s that “the snow is cold, you’re warm, this is the best day ever” moment, of course. The only time we see Lucio straight up bawling is after he’s left alone in a freezing realm for an unknown amount of time. A bit later, the moment he can’t see the MC in the chasm, he’s frantically fumbling for their hand. Similarly, when he can’t see the MC for a short while because of the red fog, he’s immediately goes “MC? You still there?” despite having direct physical contact with the Apprentice.
I don’t think he’ll ever fully recover from those three years. Or, well, four years really, he also spent a year with a disease that causes delirium and physical exhaustion, and normally kills people in 3 days, but that’s a whole other can of worms. And this is why I grew to care about Lucio, despite his atrocious past.
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