I've been thinking a lot about these two lines of dialogue from Tenna's doom board recently, and the more I think about them, the more sick to my stomach I get.
Tenna was an innocent, passive bystsnder to every fight that occurred in the Dreemurr home—especially all the fights between Toriel and Asgore that culminated in their divorce. Over time, Tenna likely learned the telltale signs that yet another fight was going to occur. Voices rising. Doors slamming. And so forth.
And Tenna couldn't escape it. He couldn't get away from any of the fighting because he was the family TV plugged into the wall. He had no safe place to go, nor did he have anyone truly safe to turn to. He witnessed everything, and judging from his body language in the doom board segment above, these fights greatly distressed him. He was helpless to do anything as the family he loved so dearly fought and eventually tore itself apart. All he could do was plead for the fighting to stop ("Not another battle. Please..."). And once the dust finally settled, he watched his family abandon him one by one.
In the scene above, everything around Tenna is up in flames—his game board and his auditorium. He could probably put the flames out quickly, being that he's the host of TV Time and the most powerful darkner in TV World (apart from the Knight), but he simply can't. The flames really drive home just how intense the family fights were, how powerless and agonized Tenna truly felt, and how much he was trapped in his own trauma and spiraling emotions.
On top of not being able to do anything about the family fights, it's implied that Tenna had to play the role of emotional/mental escape for Kris. While the fighting greatly distressed Tenna, Tenna also had to be strong enough to comfort Kris in their own distress, since he was the family TV, after all. When you're emotionally crumbling inside, it's incredibly hard to not only put on a happy face but also be a source of comfort for others.
What ultimately makes all of this so viscerally painful for me to think about is just how relatable Tenna's story is. Those who have walked in remotely similar shoes can empathize with Tenna's fear, helplessness, sorrow, and loneliness. And I think that makes him all the more lovable at the end of the day.
