Do you think that if Olof and Frederick lived in the Zareen empire that Frederick would grow up into a total neckbeard. Heās already a fat, spoiled rotten little brat and I can imagine him as a adult living in his dads basement, surrounded in filth, collectibles and other technology he bullied his dad into buying him, being a morbidly obese, unhygienic pervert that disappoints his dad every time Olof looks at him.
Anon this is probably the most savage ask Iāve ever gotten but you are ABSOLUTELY right and you should say it lmao
Yes, I could totally see this happening to Frederick if they lived in a slightly cushier society. Even in a primitive place like Drifterās Hollow, he was already spiraling down this road pretty quickly. If he continued on that path, I could easily see him mooching off his dad forever or ending up in prison.
(Slight spoilers here but he does go through some major character development later in the series, and he isnāt quite so bad after that point)
I guess I should at least try to defend Frederick a little here, so Iāll say this...If youāve only read a handful of the stories, youāre probably likeĀ āoh my god, what an irredeemable little shit! Why is he like this???ā but if you read them all in order, you can kinda see what led to him being so awful, and itās not really his fault. Olof is 100% responsible for creating this monster.
So, Frederickās village was raided by Kelvingyard slavers when he was just a baby. His mother was captured in the battle, and Olof was forced to leave her behind to save his son, fleeing with him to Drifterās Hollow. Olof was already a sensitive guy, but this event really traumatized him and wrecked his nerves. He just lost everyone heād ever known and loved overnight, and all he had left was his baby son Frederick.
Worse yet, he was starting to lose Frederick too, who was still reliant on his motherās milk and starving to death before his fatherās eyes. Olof would try and try to feed him, but Frederick just wasnāt ready for that kind of food and kept getting thinner. Luckily Ginger came to town around that time and had just given birth to her own son, so she was able to breastfeed Frederick too and save his life.
This experience further traumatized Olof, who became obsessive about feeding his son. He always made sure he cleared his plate, feeding him way too much, way too often. Even after his son became obese, all Olof saw when he looked at him was a malnourished, dying baby. Olof couldnāt see his son as a man, so he never really treated him like one. He just spoiled him and never wanted him to suffer any kind of hardship whatsoever. He wanted to protect Frederick from all the pain in the world, but later on, he finally realizes heās actually doing him no favors and decides to get tougher on him like he should have in the first place. Thus, Frederickās course to neckbeardism was disrupted, and now I think heās on a better path.
I will say, it did take some interference from the village to finally get through to Olof. Villagers were constantly bitching at him throughout several stories, and this came to a head when they all kinda pulled an intervention on him at once. If they hadnāt, Olof wouldāve let this little shit walk all over him until the day he died.