AXL FUNNY HOUSE WHEE!!!!

Intro

my understanding of abnormalities is that they are the manifestations of people’s subconscious feelings, though they largely seem to stem from repressed traumas. my reading of this is that, if each abno is taken from individual people's subconscious, then little red and the wolf came from the same person's trauma. to be more precise, i believe they are allegories for someone’s experience of sexual assault or grooming when they were a child, the grudge they formed because of it, and the way they view their abuser.

The Original Fairytale

now it may seem like a stretch to suddenly jump to something so graphic, but i want to begin by mentioning that the retelling of little red riding hood by Charles Perrault, the earliest known written version of the fairytale, was written as a cautionary tale for young women and girls, to be wary of older men who wish to take advantage of them. sometimes, predators do not make their intentions obvious-rather, the ones who act very sweet and innocent at first can be the ones to do the most harm.

as opposed to the more lighthearted retellings of the story where she's able to escape, the popular retelling by Charles Perrault ends with little red quite literally crawling into bed with the wolf before being devoured by him. whether or not this is intended as a direct allegory for sexual assault is up for interpretation, but i don't think it's too egregious to view it that way; it's the grim end result of an innocent young girl being tricked by an older man-represented by a talking wolf-and him using her to get what he wants (in this case, a meal). given how lobotomy corporation revels in gruesome subject matter with emphasis on trauma, i feel like it'd be fitting to reference such a thing.

Little Red

little red riding hooded mercenary is exactly that, a mercenary; someone who works for their own self interest. her self interest being suppressing any escaped abnormalities/ordeals in your facility, and tracking down the big and will be bad wolf to kill him in the most gruesome way she can. her quote from her files states that's her reason for why she bothers to work with you.

of course, if hunting the wolf is her main priority, she doesn't have to help you. but knowing that there's a problem in your facility that she's not dealing with stresses her out; each time another abnormality escapes, her qliphoth counter lowers, which often reflects an abnormality's stress levels increasing. but why does she care if you're having trouble, if she already has her own goal in mind?

i interpret this behavior of hers as a result of whomever she manifested from having their autonomy stolen from them, of being too weak or scared to stop themselves from being hurt. or perhaps it came from that person's desire for a protector, of wanting someone capable and strong who could defend them when they were so defenseless and young. little red kills as favors, to grant others that autonomy she couldn't have, to make an abuser suffer like they ought to-or, if they just plain get on her nerves (which is very funny, but it goes to show how much power she has to make that choice too).

Little Red’s Body Dysmorphia

little red's hatred for the wolf is matched only by her hatred for her own appearance. or rather, her discomfort with it. her uniform is crafted to not show a single inch of her skin, and her face is completely hidden by a shadow and a mask. her files describe this as a symptom of paranoia, and her flavor text describes her having many scars that are only barely visible.

my reading of her body dysmorphia is a metaphor for that same possible CSA; when experiencing something that violating, the victim is left to stew in how they feel about their own body. they feel disgusting, and dirty, and wrong. it hurts to even look at yourself, to think about what was done to your body, why was it you that it happened to. little red’s discomfort with her own marred appearance may reflect what that person had felt about their own body after suffering something so horrifying.

seeing her unmasked design, the damage on little red's body is gruesome. the flesh on her skin is entirely marred, her mouth is ripped and her right eye is completely missing. something horrific happened to her to make her look this way, and i can only imagine it was the wolf's doing. any comfort she might've had in her own skin is gone, stolen away from her, and all she's left with is the remains of the violence that was done unto her. she can't even stand looking in a mirror, instead concealing her face with a mask of sharp teeth. which, speaking of;

Little Red’s Mask

i want to make a point about little red's teeth mask, because it's such a cool detail. it's made of sharp, bloody, canine teeth, which i headcanon she ripped out of the wolf's mouth whenever they've fought. it calls back to the famous "what big teeth you have" line from the fable, which is the last thing little red says before the wolf eats her. with this little red quite literally wearing his smile, i imagine it's her way of taunting the wolf for that obnoxious lie. i can picture her hoping that when he sees his own teeth grinning back at him, he'll feel the same terror she once did, when she was small and helpless and weak. it's even better that her ego gift is the same mask. she's so petty that she'll even have your employees also wearing the wolf's teeth to taunt him.

she wants to taunt him, to hurt him, to ruin him as much as he ruined her. little red represents a deep grudge, an all-consuming loathing, for one wretched person. a loathing that someone who experienced a violating assault as a child would feel for the one who took advantage of them, a wish to make them suffer as much as they have. perhaps little red's requests are, in a strange way, that person achieving that wish.

The Wolf

the big and will be bad wolf has two forms, the first of which appearing as a cutesy cartoon wolf, like something out of a children’s storybook. it’s stupidly innocent-looking to the point where you can basically instantly tell that it’s a facade.

so then, why would anyone fall for it? hes obviously hiding something, and his flavor text when working with employees just makes it even more obvious. and that’s just it; it’s an obvious lie to us, but maybe not a child. maybe not a little girl who was promised it was safe to come closer.

while he may not have literally committed such an egregious act of abuse like CSA on little red, it’s clear by his language and behaviour that he’ll happily take advantage of someone if they're stupid enough to fall for his lies. and it's clear by little red's language that he hurt her so deeply she formed her entire existence around getting comeuppance for whatever he did to her. he stole her innocence, something she can never get back, and she despises him for it.

his lore puts an emphasis on how he was “destined” to become evil (even putting quotes around the same word) because of the nature of wolves in fairytales. his monologue presents this as something that simply cannot be helped, that he has to be evil because that’s that, and that will never change. while this can read as someone succumbing to unfair stigmas placed upon them by society, it reads more to me like an abuser who doubles down as an excuse to continue their harmful behaviour. the wolf eats people because he just can’t help it, you see! its not his fault he went out of his way to toy with a little girl after eating her grandmother, even though he did all of that on purpose.

(to add onto his habit of doubling down, he gets all teary-eyed after eating an employee and it pmo. like dude, YOU did that! and you'll do it over and over until someone cuts you open!! fuck are you looking guilty for!!)

it’s also worth noting that little red’s dialogue has her repeatedly mentioning her grudge against the wolf, while he barely seems to think of her at all. even her presence in his backstory is nothing more than a passing mention of some red fabric. she doesn’t matter to him, she was just one failed victim of his who keeps coming back to bite him. but it doesn’t matter, because abnormalities can’t die, so he never has to stop. little red’s anger doesn’t matter, she doesn’t matter. oh, but if she's around, he'll gladly take the opportunity to breach just to mess with her!

this in particular strongly reads to me as a spiteful representation of an abuser; someone who hurt you and keeps coming back to hurt you, over and over again, just for fun. just because they know they can get away with it, no matter how hard you try to punish them. even just seeing them standing there is an insult against you, and they know it. they find it fun how angry you are, they enjoy the hunt, they like knowing how much they live inside your mind, how much you hate it. you're just a game to them, a fun little toy to play with if they're around. it's sick and sadistic and it makes you want to hurt them. hurt them, hurt them, hurt them. hurt them as much as they hurt you.

the wolf's second form is the ugly monster he truly is, no longer bothering with lazily trying to hide it. both little red and the wolf's bodies are covered in scars, assumedly from their previous fights. the wolf has a noticeable scar on his left eye, while little red's unmasked design reveals she is missing her right.

my interpretation is that, in a previous fight, little red had attempted to gouge one of his eyes out, as revenge for her losing one of her own. to make him feel that same pain of having someone steal something from you forever; your innocence, your body, they way you see yourself. little red hates her body, hates her face, and it's all his fault. she'll make him look as ugly as she feels, make him carry that ugliness forever, just like she has to.

just like how someone who suffered sexual assault at a young age has to carry that grief inside of them, that rotten feeling that your body isn't yours, that your feelings are only to be used. and that grief getting channeled as rage, as a grudge, as a cathartic understanding that you were wronged. you didn't have to be hurt, but you were, and you want to hurt them back.

Conclusion