About Evan Redgrave’s spinal problems, my long-long description of headcanons about his health. I imagine some of his issues are congenital. They didn't cause any serious symptoms or complications throughout his childhood, although there were certain recommendations to follow: avoid overexerting the back, maintain proper posture, and do strengthening exercises. However, such things faded into the background after the death of Evan's mother, Rita. We all know that Caleb took this all very painfully, and one of his solutions to this difficult situation was distancing himself from his son.
During his teenage years at university, Evan tried to lead an active lifestyle. He played sports, carried bags for the girls he courted, and as a result, his mild problems worsened significantly. And since he was essentially left to fend for himself as a student, no one really monitored his treatment. He had money, Caleb sent him it so he'd have everything he needed, but the question of how to distribute it was Evan's responsibility, and he tried to minimize the costs of this problem, largely because he was deeply uncomfortable admitting weakness and the idea that he had more limitations than those around him.
He refers several times to his military service in the game, but in my vision, he's lying about it and never served: his father used his status and, in fact, medical records indicating the young man had a mild curvature of the spine. Evan's lies stem partly from my idea that Redgrave Jr. didn't study in the Great State, but was made to travel abroad to get education. There are better universities out there, and the grass is greener, and it's safer tp be away from war, but of course, speaking publicly about such things isn't exactly acceptable where he comes from... His return to that ill-fated country was due to his mother's burial being there - there were things he couldn't let go of. In any case, that's a conversation for another day.
Miriam knows about his condition and, being the more stubborn of the two, uses her ability to get her’s own way to remind him of the importance of his health. Under her watch, Evan received therapeutic massage sessions and the physical therapy he needed. He refused a therapeutic corset, citing the effectiveness of everything else, but his wife secretly has been saving up for it.
During his year of working at the Ministry, all the progress made naturally began to unravel, as Evan had always been prone to not being very good at monitoring his condition to avoid worsening it by himself. Now, the pressures of a prestigious workplace come into play, where you won't be forgiven for taking an extra day off "without a proper reason," where you're constantly being pushed to the limit and encouraged to exhaust yourself in the name of efficiency - not to mention how devalued human life is there. Evan is once again leading a very active lifestyle, and strength restrictions sometimes don't even slow him down (remember the mini-quest where we're given the opportunity to help a man carry a sofa into the house, which leads to us injuring ourselves and forcing us to go to the doctor). He might sometimes mention "back problems," but he won't directly say, "I have kyphoscoliosis," even if it's pretty obvious to others. He still harbors a certain resentful pride at the idea of admitting that his health sometimes requires different living conditions. Perhaps a bit of shame. All this neglect of treatment, unfortunately, leads to the expected results: shortness of breath after exertion, frequent fatigue, muscle spasms, and back pain. It sometimes woke him up at night.
I think he takes painkillers to maintain his ideal worker's performance and not let James down, and by the end of the story, his dependence on painkillers has already become evident. This is a burden he will have to struggle to shed again with the help of Miriam and his friends. Part of that idea is that the Ministry traumatized him and left many wounds and scars, even in the happy ending.
Another detail: I think his kyphosis is visually noticeable - a hunched posture, you know. But his scoliosis is subtle, perhaps 5-10 degrees Cobb, which is barely noticeable from the outside.
I could draw and depict it differently, because the topic is complex and it took time to try to form an image in my head, so if something somewhere does not correspond to this description in my art, do not think about it too much, this is the first time I work with a character with such features and it took me some time to figure things out.
