my interpretation of ted starling
per request from someone i know, i wanted to go over some of my ted starling personality headcanons and interpretations- including both him as a child, him with the other two starlings, ect . . . (you can trust me as i am the only ted starling fan ever)
general personality : ted is subdued and thoughtful- pragmatic, attentive, and also dangerously curious at times. he seems to be mindful of what he says and does, not just how his words flow, but also what weight they hold in comparison to what he says. it's noticable and honestly a pretty general part of his character in that right. during cahills vs vespers, ted is seen leaning inwards the dumbwaiter shaft, clicking his tongue to make noises and check the echo length- curiousity and a desire to understand more of their situation (since he can't rely on his sight) nearly gets him killed when the dumbwaiter falls, and nellie has to save him by pulling him away. while attentive and curious, his sense of danger seems a bit nullified- which we can explain by both his lack of sight, and i like to interpretate his responses by thinking about how focused he is on his thoughts, so focused that it clouds his head of his judgement. his curiosity seems to be a mix of both logical and almost whimsically endowed- from asking thoughtful questions about location and the length of the hostages captor room, to asking nellie if she could feel the bullet going into her shoulder- morbid, but still a question.
ted as well, to me, is a very pragmatic character- sharp witted, quick thinking, patient- he's not a dreamer and he's definitely not someone who thinks with his heart over his head, he's both realistic and down to earth, while also being perceptive and allowing himself to get lost in making theories or assumptions based on evidence. his thought process is heinously scientific, and it correlates well with his high intelligence.
moreso, we've seen that ted isn't too quick to jump up and act- he doesn't push himself when he knows he has his limits based on his sight and his focus, and he doesn't try to rush with a crowd just to see something fast. we see this when the dumbwaiter delivers tylenol to nellie- everyone, except nellie and ted, go to check what was delivered. whether he didn't move due to wanting to stay with nellie, or because he knew there was no point in him fumbling to find something he couldn't even see, we can tell he doesn't do things unnecessarily for the hell of it.
similarly, he seems rather optimistic oddly enough- supportive of the people around him, even if he doesn't really have enough attention from the writers to make this apparent more than a few times. several times, like during reagan's work out, he's seen cheering people on or trying to uplift people. while he's not obnoxiously positive like some people (... dan), he is quietly full of optimism. he showed enthusiasm for the idea of having a workout routine with the other hostages, showing further his excitement to look on the bright side. well. i guess think on the bright side.
note: he likes pickles which i think is awesome !!
siblings : the fact that the starling's are triplets is kind of their whole thing- but as ive said to some others, they... sort of don't feel like triplets? ned and ted, to me, are a pair of twins- and sinead feels more like their older sister than their triplet sister. still, even with this, i do see ted and ned having a closer relationship, almost like a codependency, than with sinead- being both left disabled after the explosion, they've been said to have relied on one another greatly; ned being ted's eyes and his guide, and ted doing the talking and thinking for ned whenever that became too difficult for him. mind-splitting headaches and complete blindness tends to make regular day-to-day living difficult. however, sinead was working with the vespers, not only betraying the family but also having a small part in ted's kidnapping. because of this, and the fact that sinead has always seemed to be the "leader" of the group while her brothers were more like strangely intelligent shadows, it sort of seperates her from them. ive heavily considered enforcing a dynamic where sinead is their older sister in my future rewrites, honestly. ted's relationship with sinead, to me, definitely seems a bit strained because of her betrayel, meanwhile he and ned still have their codependency.
appearance : the starling triplets are described as being tall and lean, with freckled skin, auburn hair, and a sophisticated look that makes them resemble a lacrosse team. for me, however, i dont like the idea of them all looking identical ... to me, i've always written and drawn ted as having shaggier, wavier hair than ned- who to me has pretty straight hair. as well, ive always seen them both as being rather pale with their freckles, but maybe a slight variation in tone- warmer for ned, cooler for ted. tall but not freakish is still accurate here- maybe somewhere between 5'7-5'9 for ted and maybe an inch or two taller for ned and sinead- i do still see ted being the shortest of the group. i really like the idea of ted's appearance being less sophisticated than ned's, simply because he's always reflected more as a thinker and someone who cares less about appearance- but obviously, i think he'd still hold himself to standards in self-care and whatnot.
headcanons :
- ted and reagan are absolutely ride-or-die best friends. their dynamic to me is such a refreshing idea of brain v brawn, especially since they're both not opposed to the other- ted has openly expressed interest in workout routines with reagan (and we do see his physicality improve a bit in CVV), while reagan is attentive to ted's explanations and has helped him draw up potential surgery ideas, plus the fact they designed a craft together that was mentioned on the website. theyre a nice balance- brainiac with a level-headed temperment, someone who's calm and thoughtful but also struggles with hesitation, in comparison to a health nut with a hot-headed leverage, someone who's roudy and action-based but struggles with slowing down to think.
- i dont see ted having much of a strained relationship with his parents- in comparison to sinead, who i believe would be very stand-offish to them.
- the starlings are thinkers, not artists- i don't see them being super entranced by things like paintings and museum artifacts, but i do like to think about them having slightly different perceptions on art- ted in specific who sees it as a craft and looks at it with curiosity rather than ned and sinead who struck me as "what does art even do?" kind of people LOL.
i wanna do an additional blog to this in the future so maybe ill do an extended one, but for now this is what i got ...