#3.pdf

Oh, boy. Lil Buddy is... Well, they're definitely a fun companion from a gameplay perspective, but lore wise their presence is an absolute fucking disaster. The whole affair is rather uncomfortable to think about once you process the fact that Lil Buddy is a lost child, not a dog.

Lil Buddy, throughout the Story Mode, is treated the same way one would treat a particularly strange dog. Adopted as a stray, will eat anything, et cetera... But the reason that Lil Buddy is able to eat so much of the Fuzzy Ooze is because they're being brutally deprived of nutrients, and thus everything they eat essentially goes right through them. It's outright stated in the Sunken Scrolls that Lil Buddy is starving due to separation, and probably will not be able to mature properly without being returned to their home.

New Agent 3 has, at age 14, taken in a child of a species they're rather ignorant of, and alienated them from their peers and those who could properly care for them entirely. Lil Buddy is slowly starving to death, no matter how much they eat, and will most likely die of negligence if they aren't taken back to their home. They're not being cared for properly whatsoever, no matter how much New Agent 3 loves them. It's tragic.

This isn't an attempt to villainize New Agent 3- again, they're about 14, so these kinds of fuck ups are pretty understandable. A lot of kids have had that "Can I keep him?" moment at least once in their lives, unaware of the dire responsibility that come with taking care of another life, especially a rather high-maintenance one. It just so happens that most kids tend to say this about a cat they picked up off the street, and not... Again, an entire child. It's entirely plausible that New Agent 3, having been fed Anti-Salmonid Propaganda their entire life, has made the mistake of perceiving Lil Buddy as an animal. Even if it's a misconception made in earnest, with no intent to harm- which I do fully believe- it's still... You know, a pretty harmful misconception in universe, and it's leading to Lil Buddy undeniably getting hurt. As I said, it's tragic, and the possibility that this situation was brewed by the climate New Agent 3 lives in is extremely high.

... Also, if you personally believe in the theory that Lil Buddy is a Goldie, the whole ordeal gets much worse. Goldies are an incredibly rare mutation, so Lil Buddy potentially being one has much more of a sting to it.