#derek lycan

Ein’s ideology of hierarchy stemmed from that emotional neglect as he never had anyone to teach him otherwise and only had his old school to base his morals off of, where he was the omega and constantly reminded of the hierarchy which exists. It also likely cemented the idea of worthiness in Ein’s head, as did Zack’s negligence, where he formed a mentality where basic respect and receiving care had to be earned through proving yourself worthy in some capacity. Zack’s avoidance bred the monster Ein became, and it’s that same avoidance that leads him to try and find some way around that and twist things into not being his fault. Because of Zack’s ignorance, Micheal used Ein to his advantage by giving him something Zack never did, that being attention. You can tell from one of the trailers of s6, as well as just bits of dialogue in s4 and s6 from Ein, that he is clearly desperate for Michael’s approval and follows him blindly because it’s something he’s not used to. Zack never gave him that, and therefore he became desperate to obtain it from Micheal, who fully knew that and used it to his advantage.

(With that being said I think Ein’s character could prompt a very interesting “Nature vs. Nurture” thematic discussion, and I honestly believe he represents both. maybe I’ll talk abt it more one day)

With that being said, though, one thing to note is that neither of these two are the “better” parent in my opinion. I see people saying they forgive Derek over Zack for certain reasons and vice versa (which is fine everyone is entitled to their own opinions), but I fully personally believe they were equally bad parents because they represent two ends of parenting. Derek is the most extreme degree of overprotectiveness while Zack is the extreme degree of negligence. Ein and Aaron are mirrors of what those styles of parentings have on children, and with how things turned out, it’s clearly not good. The fact is that most conflicts within Aaron and Ein’s characters could’ve been avoided with better parenting styles.

It makes their “redemption” in s6 make sense once you put them side by side. This isn’t about whether the redemptions themselves were good or if you forgive them, but they are objectively redemptions for both characters. Zack and Derek help each other realize the flaws in their parenting and how that had inevitably led to everything that happened. Derek realizes how controlling he’d been towards Aaron, and as a final act, sacrifices himself in a way where he can’t dictate where Aaron goes from here. By the end of s6, Zack finally takes action and doesn’t avoid his own mistakes anymore, choosing to fix things by helping kill Micheal—Zack saw Derek’s sacrafice and realized what deep care for a child looked like and finally realizes his mistakes with Ein, and to that extent Aphmau as well. Derek’s care for Aaron was an extreme, yes, but it ultimately was still care. Love doesn’t justify his actions, but it ultimately is still love in its own capacity.

It’s just so interesting to me man. It’s so cool how Derek and Zack being opposites in terms of parenting passed down onto Aaron and Ein. Ein is also avoidant of accountability where he believes he’s in the right because of his view of power and hierarchy, as well as also being avoidant in the sense that he often needs things to be done for him (fights in pdh, the forever potions in s4, the werewolf camp in s6, etc). Aaron, on the other hand, feels like a monster and constantly has a weight on his back to protect those he considers dear to him. Despite Ein and Aaron’s feelings towards their fathers (figure), they did end up mirroring them in their behaviors, even if in their own unique ways.