#tsams speculation

[BRO I'M SORRY BUT I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING AT THIS LMAOO XDDD LIKE, BRO, I CAN BE SO FUNNY AND COMEDY GOLD SOMETIMES, Y'ALL GIVE ME A STAGE CUZ THIS GIRL GOTTA HAVE A CROWD 😭🙏 Just a joke :3]

In MY interpretation that doesn't HAVE to be YOURS and is NOT CANON and MADE out of FUN and NOT malice [LMAO I SOUND LIKE A LAWYER WHO KNOWS IS WRONG BUT TRIES TO EXCUSE A CRIMINAL XD], Eclipse is able to experience some empathy and care. However, there is a twist: It’s nothing more than some form of pseudo-empathy and care one could describe as falling out of the bunch that align with social norms and are the expected normality.

Here is my reasoning:

During the time he was with Lunar, he "cared" about him. Due to his immense fear of showing vulnerability that would be used against him, however, he has never actively shown it. He simply expected Lunar to pick up on that. But once Lunar turned him his back, he suddenly stopped caring, as if it seemingly got thrown out the window. Why? Because he only cared about Lunar because he was a source for him to push his own ego. It was a source for him to pull him out of the miserable state he had been caged in, to assure himself that he wasn’t weak and powerless, and to feed into his superiority complex that he uses as a shield. He actually didn’t care to make Lunar feel good – This was a thought that barely, and if, only rarely crossed his mind – it was about to make himself feel good. To bring it to the point: It was self-interest. Lunar was obedient, a small little puppet he could move around like a chess piece – One that he could control and dominate, in a way. That was the point: He could CONTROL him. It gave him this sense of power, but especially control he so desperately craves, which evolved into a form of complicated pseudo-care. With self-interest, however, persisting. It’s almost an obsession of his, one could say. Since the beginning of his life, when he cracked his eyes the first time open and was met with the pinky swirls and flowing clouds of an endless, echoing and isolating mindscape, he hadn’t felt in control. And he WASN’T in control. He didn’t have ANY control, any power, not even scraps of it which he could cling onto. He was helpless, like a newborn puppy abandoned on the cold and rainy street. This is why he tries to REGAIN control and power – And he got this through Lunar. But eventually, as Lunar betrayed him, this control and power slipped from his hands – And so his pseudo-care.

But he thought that he cared at the beginning. He doesn't seem to understand himself and makes assumptions of how he is supposed to be.

His pseudo-empathy, or fake empathy, is like the psychological definition: The understanding of the thoughts, feelings, or emotional state of another person, but without identification, care or urge to improve their condition. Sure, he sometimes can feel a bit of empathy for someone, but he also singles out some people and simply doesn’t care or either uses it to HIS advantage. He has a skill in manipulation, knows how to use a person’s emotional state to his advantage. His impulsivity leads him to act immediately upon his desires most of the time, and question his actions/choices later - But ONLY around people he has this pseudo-care about.

Remorse is also a complicated thing for him. It has a similarity with his pseudo-empathy: He singles out the people who he simply doesn’t ‘care’ about and could do the most monstrous things to and brush it off like it was nothing out of the ordinary. Example: Moondrop.

However, when it’s about Lunar, we already discussed how he has pseudo-care when it comes to him. So, like how we saw in the aftermath of slapping him, he will question himself, or even feel a bit bad – But it won’t last long. It’s like a feeling that nags at him for a moment or two but ultimately brushes past him. It’s also because he convinces himself that he didn’t do anything wrong, denies any involvement, to not confront that he, too, can make mistakes, and most importantly: That he can have soft spots and vulnerabilities, though he tries to keep it shut.

Remember that this is all just interpretation and speculation, which means it's subjective and made out of silly fun! :D You can share your interpretations as well, I'd love to read them! :D