so like I’ll put it all in a spoiler but I think inkertons lore is pretty interesting
Konche says that inkertons family often visited his museum and that they loved history. Since he says “children” that means inkerton probably had siblings too. Apparently they died in a tragic way somehow and since we don’t see any other squids around I’m just gonna assume inkerton was a sole survivor…
anyways, Roland finds him somewhere on a seabed and after that he never returned to konches museum. Sometime after, he appears at Roland’s side doing whatever was asked of him, even if it meant harming what was his neighbors. (Bottom siders).
eventually he just shoots Roland while being completely unfazed.
so here’s what I think happened:
Inkertons family either had a bad run in with pagurus (eaten) and inkerton was just near a marker, or they died due to a scrap related incident (trash day gone wrong with a heavy object falling on them or shellfish corp. got involved and inkerton wasn’t old enough to understand who was responsible yet.)
after that, Roland takes him in and obviously a history nerd isn’t going to know how to fight, so inkerton has to learn to be useful to his new boss. Roland occasionally teaches the kid bad morals and desensitizes him to the idea of people he once knew dying by his (hand? Tentacle?).
once he’s ready he follows roland around as his right hand man. Seeing the consequences of their actions and silently hating himself and Roland for it. Eventually his hatred was too much to harbor and Roland’s teachings bit him in the ass as inkerton calmly murders him.
now what’s his relationship with konche?
I like to think that he doesn’t visit the museum anymore out of shame and regret. He knows what he’s doing is wrong in a sense, but he is willing to do whatever it takes to live. (I got this impression from his dialogue where he said he kept “fighting” and that he’s “a worthless sinner”). Konche knows him and his family and seems to pity him, that was not the sweet kid that frequented his museum.
in childhood inkerton probably looked up to konche as if he were a teacher. Besides being a bottom sider meant he probably didn’t have many luxuries, so being able to visit a museum and learn was very special to him. If it were konche instead of Roland who found him, inkerton could have lived a happy life.
Inkerton is ashamed of his job, even if he enjoys some of it.
I mean just look at this scene here,
Konche looks over at him out of fear, and inkerton looks away and even MOVES.
look at where he’s going, there’s nothing over there! He can’t even look into konches eyes, that’s how ashamed he is!
And yes ok maybe it’s a stretch because it’s such a small detail BUT HEAR ME OUT..
in conclusion: they could never make me hate you inkerton
