#worlds most normalest father-son relationship

[atchamcrepin]

And when you go, take this heart...

I'll make no more use of it, when there's no more you.

[bikenesmith]

joshriku / @joshriku: WORLD'S NORMALEST FATHER BEHAVIOR

one thing abt si spurrier he's not afraid to write charles as the sopping wet miserable meow meow he is + for that i salute him

(also thinking abt WHY charles treats his direct fam as inherently untrustworthy + dangerous to the point of self-sabotage/self-fulfilling prophecy 😬) lets get in2 it

[transferring over this long ass analysis thread from twitter]

charles' familial exp is an emotionally absent dad that died in his youth (that he later found out was experimenting on him), an abusive stepfather, an abused + alcoholic mother, and an abusive stepbrother that actively hates him + tried to break into his house to kill him 😭

charles is scared of david not just bc of his (past) erratic behavior or destructive potential but bc he is just generally scared of his direct family, w whom he has a uniquely maladaptive attachment. he instead fills his need for family w ppl he chose + has authority over

w david tho… since their meeting charles has on + off avoided him, shunted him off to other ppls care, + seemed unable to emotionally connect w him. he has a fatalist outlook towards david's entire existence + their relationship but is also unable to abandon him + does love him

charles has a track record of this - we can see it in his relationship with cain

david is nothing like cain - nearly all the pain davids caused charles is bc of other parties manipulating him + taking advantage of his disabilities - but cain is useful to examinine how charles understands "difficult" family members in general.

in childhood he spent a lots of time trying to be friends w/ cain like bro wasn't hitting him + throwing flammable science chemicals at him at like 11. he's overly concerned w hurting cain while he breaks his things and attacks him

he did not cut ties (or rather, start ignoring him) until cain got them into a horrible car accident he nearly died in 😭

("win his friendship" r u crazy this mf wants you to DIE)

not to mention he chased after cain to stop him from deserting like that was even his problem

so charles is scared af when cain shows up to kill his ass (as one would be).

despite this cain + charles continue to reunite over time, + charles keeps trying to give cain a (frankly abnormal) amount of second chances despite cain being a very consistently violent person

a good distillation of their adult relationship is in xmen legacy where charles tests out reasoning w cain by secretly putting him in a telepathic simulation. cain confirms charles' fears when he kills him in the simulation. he's smarter abt it now but why try in the first place?

(traumabonding for one, but thats a diff post/essay)

something interesting spurrier does is make charles explicitly very nervous + emotionally volatile around david, which i think coincides very well with his behavior around cain , + shows the link between them

so how charles thinks is, his family is dangerous + hates him + that will never change, but he can't abandon them. he's used to his familial role as the placater + the only way to successfully fulfill that is through contingency plans + manipulation + fawning.

but therein lies the issue:

david haller is NOT like brian, cain, kurt, or sharon!!!! he is heavily traumatized, neurodivergent, and neglected. david needs charles to treat him like his SON and not the ticking time bomb charles is predisposed to assume he is!!!

charles' relationship with his x-men is different bc he's in control as the person who brought them together + the patriarch. he's taught them, shaped them after himself.

david, in contrast, is unpredictable. david, as his bio child, cements him in the "traditional" family structure he found no security in. kurt + brian become contemporaries.

when he is forced to acknowledge david, he is most obviously that terrible father he wished not to become

so of course, when he's wrong, when his view of his life is complicated, when he hurts his child who just wants his love + companionship + understanding, he cuts and runs back to the safest thing he knows. the things that make sense

(more on some of the things i mentioned here in my essay on immortal xmen 10 which ive made a pact w myself that i will finish this week. viewing telepathy + related powers as a kind of curse-responsibility is a big part of it too)

addendums from replies:

i forgot to even mention cassandra - suffice it to say he has PLENTY of past traumas reinforcing his very misguided fear of david

i want to see more of charles' relationship with xandra explored on page. i think the biggest difference, beyond the lack of negative history, is that xandra + him are ridiculously similar in everything from personality to levels of responsibility