Unreachable Dreams

Food: Fish Stew
Season: Autumn
Drink: Guava Juice
Color: Cyan
Anime: Eighty Six

OH YOURE PLAYING LGTS?? Have fun... its one of my favorites

If you have anything to add, feel free! I'd love to hear other interpretations or perhaps something I missed.

End of 🧵

But ultimately, Hex Nail Sinclair looks to me as a representation of his built-up resentment and the start of his pivot towards being entirely engrossed by the ideals of a 'World of Darkness', compensating for his extended time believing in the now-naive World of Light's ideals.

When Sinclair begins on this arc in the book, it takes the encouragement of one of his college classmates to really push him over the edge. I'm curious if we'll see something like this, perhaps in an intervallo soon to really mark the end of his initial 'World of Light' arc.

Even if Sinclair himself only associates it with Kromer, his entire life has been marked by people trying to 'tear him' and then 'sew him back up'. So, him taking joy in giving back what the world gave him is likely a representation of his resentment and built-up anger about his 'curse'.

(For those who may not remember, Demian states that a trial would await Sinclair and that he would push through it. That trial was his entire family getting slaughtered. Sinclair, in canto 3, even questions why Demian never warned him, but holds no resentment.)

Meanwhile Demian, much like Kromer, only took interest in him after learning of a specific trait- The Sign atop his forehead in this case, and then intentionally allowed him to meet harm's way in order to see Sinclair be recreated in an image he sees as better by omitting what he knew.

With his family, they wanted Sinclair to conform to the customs of Cawl. To be a good, ideal son, who treated others with kindness and acted logically. They couldn't see Sinclair's discomfort with conforming to their imaginary ideas of what is the optimal way to live.

This, to me, mirrors the way in which Sinclair sees his own 'curse'. He sees it as how others tore him apart and tried to recreate him in their image-- More specifically, he explicitly sees this in the way Franz Kromer treated him. But his family and Demian, too, were trying to do this to him.

Hex Nail Sinclair's corrosion idle sprite.

"Now that you're torn, I'll sew you up! Heheh... Get over here!"

In his corrosion, Sinclair says something that I find particularly amusing- Instead of simply referring to someone in a rather impersonal way, he talks with excitement as he maims them.

Specifically, he "sews them up" after "tearing" them.

So now, when his attempts to exist within that world only ever brought him more pain, and those who were around him at the time save for Demian only brought him pain, he begins to pivot away from them. He begins to look for the alternative, for he does not fit here.

He begins to 'let go'.

Notably, Kromer's inquisition resembles Christian symbolism in a lot of ways-- not to discredit the many relations to Germany-specific concepts-- but that resemblance is solidified by how The One Who Shall Grip interacts with it, resembling more his World of Light, childlike self than anything else.

Furthermore, Sinclair within a World of Light in the book is marked (hah²) by the idea of his overreliance on mentorship. His family's guidance, his admiration for Franz Kromer that led to his sin originally, Christianity itself, and his admiration for Max Demian...

But when I say that he is cursed by the world of light, I mean that all of those things are arguably results of his own naive behavior, a direct result of his existence within a world that wanted him to be a forgiving, loving, kind person.

Of course-- Sinclair's time in the world of light saw a dip into the 'world of darkness' which is represented by Sinclair's 'sin' (revealing his family's secret, in limbus), Kromer as a whole, and also Demian too. All of them being forbidden acts that one might argue fit the one who curses (hah)...

His 'attachment', or his 'previous owner' in this case to me resembles the World of Light as a whole. Not just his family, but also his relationship with Demian and Kromer and his way of handling it.

To be more specific, his attempts to exist within a world of light have brought him only 'curses'.

And begins to inflict that same pain on others.

In his awakening, its not a very personal thing- Its a statement that can be thrown out to any stranger. And considering his interactions with the Fanghunt Office, and even Cesara if you're pushing it, you can see this personality trait coming out.

More interestingly, he points out that 'someone' cursed him.

If we go back to what I said about Hurting Teddy Bear, an image can start to form. Sinclair's previous 'owner', his previous 'attachment', has left him behind, and thus he has become cursed. He loses his patience with people...

He lashes out against an imaginary 'other' person, with wording that resembles what someone would say in response to a provocation, or perhaps even well-intentioned curiosity. "Why don't YOU try it dealing with it, then?"

He chooses to respond immediately with a loss of patience, with spite.

Hex Nail Sinclair's idle sprite for the awakening form.

"Why don't you try impaling yourself with it, then. Feel what it's like to have someone curse you..."

With Hex Nail specifically, we see Sinclair acting in a way that mirrors his attitude that has been built up since Canto 5, and has finally taken center-stage in Canto 7: He is losing his patience with others, and becoming more reactive, snappy and defensive.

See, his awakening:

Hex Nail Sinclair and Zwei West Sinclair have both been chosen to represent the first signs of Sinclair's shift into attempting to be wholly within the World of Darkness, a.k.a 'Underground Society'. He is disillusioned, and can no longer pretend that he is okay acting like a goody-two-shoes child.

But ever since Canto 3, he has been slowly begun the second major arc from the book. He no longer sees that attitude as the right one-- If anything, he actively struggles to exist within a world of light (which will be explored more in another post), and is pivoting towards the exact opposite.

Which is the reason why he acts so wishy-washy within the first few chapters. He wants to act the way his family raised him to, taught him to- With kindness, morals that are expected from common sense and the idealistic teachings that rarely touch the hearts of children due to how our world is like.

If you read my initial Sinclair analysis, you'll know that during the first few cantos we explored Sinclair's attempts to remain in the World of Light, a.k.a Polite Society, after he failed to repent to his family, for spilling their secret and unknowingly setting a target on them.

With the World of Light being all that is intrinsically seen as 'correct' and 'good', whereas the World of Darkness is that which is considered 'amoral' or 'bad' in some way. There is a bit more nuance, of course, but that should be enough explanation for the scope of this post.

Now, when it comes to Sinclair, it is important to mention that we have just passed by his initial phase. A lot of people know 'Between Two Worlds', but not as many know what it exactly means.

To clarify, as someone who's been marked by the sign, Sinclair cannot exist in either of the two worlds.

Leading to an abnormality full of resentment and sadness, only quelled when someone cares about it without it feeling like an obvious scam. Only then, can it give that warm embrace once again.

It's a well-known thing that toys in daycares and such aren't always treated with the same care and love, it would be simply impossible. Just like, when trying to force a specific type of relationship, it is very easy to be taken advantage of, especially when trying to recreate something missing...

Now, the last thing to consider before we move on to Sinclair himself is that the owners of the Hurting Teddy Bear may or may not have been the source of the abuse. It's plausible that it had only known that abuse, or perhaps that after being abandoned, it was abused by those on the 'daycare'.