꯭ DRAWING RUINED MY LIFE (BUT I LIKE IT)

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gonna put everything under the cut only bc there's a lot of white space and low res assets but there you go! dialogue boxes and meters

Based on Strade's comment (I love it when you stop pretending), MC probably isn't the first person Ren has assaulted. The thing to remember, though, is that Ren only does this when Strade intervenes. Far from being a villain like Strade, I view Ren as a truly neutral character. He goes where the wind takes him. Yes, YKMET shows he's even willing to kill for Strade, but he's also shown as willing to kill Strade.

In the endings where the MC manages to escape, Ren actually tries to prevent the MC from doing so, even though it would mean the MC's certain death. Keep in mind, this is while Strade is tied up! Strade can't do anything physical to him! Yet Ren also kills the MC after they convince him to kill Strade. The thing to note is Ren's dialogue during this scene, where he's lamenting how his quality of life will nosedive now that Strade is gone.

The above shows me that Ren worships his own comfort. He's unwilling to challenge the status quo and when it gets threatened, he'll give practically anything to have it returned. Strade was abusive to him, yes, but he was also familiar. He provided food and a roof over Ren's head. Ren becoming a killer and possibly Fox of TPOF fame shows how dangerous this behavior can be. While not as outright malicious as Strade's psychopathic sadism, it leads to him going along with everything Strade does and continuing his legacy. Lest anyone believe I'm overthinking or reading too much into these games, bear in mind, all I'm doing is describing what's happening.

In TPOF, Ren says that Strade didn't do much for him at all, implying he was always going to turn out this way. I view this as a massive cope on his part. There's no indication Ren would have made his way to torture streaming or human trafficking without Strade's influence. Even when MC asks him if he's going to kill them, he refuses to bear the responsibility, saying, "That's for the chat to decide!" Even well into middle age, he can't fathom a life where he suffers the discomfort of making his own decisions.

People tend to gravitate towards the path of least resistance. Ren exemplifies this behavior. Strade must have seen how malleable Ren was and chose to see how far he could push him. Not only did this provide Strade with an accomplice, but also someone who could carry on his legacy. He could hollow out Ren until there was only room for him. Every victim gave Strade a means to make Ren more comfortable with the horror. All he had to do was make refusal more painful than acceptance. The most dangerous thing Strade ever gave Ren was permission.

-LiL ☢️

An archive of canon Akira information from EP’s old blogs!

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