#manhunt

Also the way he eventually becomes much more accepting of all the killing he's doing, of course thanks to Leo's pushing and manipulation and the need for survival so he builds a tolerance morals and emotion wise- but he actually ends up being really attached to Leo too, to the point he's super distressed when he disappears (cus he was literally in Love lol) and he's like "nah I can't dump Leo because he saved my life" and the only deal breaker after that is finding out he actually killed his wife, that was where morals came in again lol. So a recurring thing to put his family above other morals, harm to his family is his limit despite everything else he's done by then, just like how he'd put providing for them above other morals too

And on top of that, while he thinks killing by himself is wrong and his real default reaction is to freak out and throw up and feel terrible about it which shows he has that morality, he still allowed a killer to be planted into his head knowing this is the weapon they were trying to create as long as he couldn't claim responsibility for it (but does after Leo's rebellion in his session so 👀) and he's very susceptible to manipulation if it's twisted in a way suit his morals better (it's for your family/it's them or you/etc) so he can feel more justified in it. Then he can fully claim ownership of those actions with more confidence and acceptance, like when he wasn't freaking out about assassinating Stanley Grex in the cutscene and was proud rather - and when he said "WE BOTH WERE" when asked if he or Leo was responsible for the murderous rampage on that night six years ago in his session, so he fully owns up to having part of it with what he remembers with the Cortexa

Plus working for the Project in general with all its fucked up operations and corruptness and how much agency he had during it is another thing I like to ponder. With all the places he remembers in the game, he was in the know about other various messed up shit they were doing. There are unused lines that give more of a look into how much he knew about the Project's operations too, like locations involving Judy which is still canon because he remembers in the final and has all this stuff tying him to them throughout the game. The Project absolutely took heavy advantage of him and manipulated and brainwashed him so it would justify it to him more so it's not all him- but it's interesting to consider what it means in terms of what he witnessed with his own eyes and not just words and info they fed him - and was able to continue complying with

But he does end up realizing how fucked up the Project is, but then he ends up dropping any rebellion in the end again to free his own mind and doesn't prioritize disavowing the corrupt Project anymore. Potentially his recognition for it being messed up is due to conversations he's had with Leo again (which is another interesting aspect, considering how he'd feel/justify it or not without Leo's influence), as well as becoming a victim himself is what it took for him to snap and finally fully condemn it all like in his session and fighting back in the end, which doesn't make it any less sad. He's still a victim too and that can invoke sympathy but there's also complexity in his morals and it's not black and white, it's all over the place rather and that's really interesting to me. To me it rather gives him an interesting complex morality that's very human rather than making me want to say it's just bad writing. Because I actually fw that a lot and it really increased my love for him cus it makes him more my kind of guy lol

All this to say I love whatever is wrong with him as much as his more gentle and meek Lamb-like side that absolutely exists at the same time <3 He has some complex morals he still tries to cling to but can be twisted when it comes to manipulation and brainwashing, or even fully conscious justification to where he almost puts them aside despite the way confliction does still remain then, like when it comes to family or he has other ways to justify, despite any initial disliking of the violence and brutality. While Leo doesn't gaf about concerning himself with any of that because he doesn't subscribe to anything about society including expected morality, and his actions are always motivated by personal and selfish revenge for himself no matter what- also he's a sadist and gets a huge kick out of the violence and brutality. But like Danny, he too is a victim of horrific shit that can invoke sympathy too because it's not down to just how "bad" and "good" you are. That makes their dynamic really fun because Danny has some weird shit going on with him and Leo sees that and tries to use it to his advantage and turn it only into the worst most dangerous form of it (and probably finds that as cute, interesting and compelling as me) lol

This is why I feel the song I used in this edit and its meaning really fits so well for how I see Danny and his morality. Highly recommend the full song because it's so very him to me with his morals and perception of the things he does, how he will view his own actions compared to everyone else, and the path it leads him down both intentionally and beyond his control, to the point Leo can manipulate this to bring it out in its worst most dangerous form- then he can weaponize it to invoke guilt when he turns against him, as he does in both Release Therapy and Personality Clash

Anyway I hope I got my point across well enough cus I slept like 4 hours but I love hiiim <3

I forgot that I'm an artist and can print my own art as merch, lol. It used to be a case for a badge or credit cards, but now it's a keychain.