○ Appendix 3: Extra Character Bios

Throughout the course of writing the project, I found that despite my best efforts there were characters I wanted to explore but I could not find the place.  Rather than leave them forgotten, I present their short sections here.

Jean the Psychopath

Issue: This segment never found a home because where it most naturally fit was Abutment, alongside describing Rico.  However, one cannot give a full accounting of Jean until after Amare; indeed, I fudge a little and insist on weak evidence that Jean's treatment of her is intentional in Rico's segment, knowing that it will be substantiated later.  Unfortunately, to put it in the "proper" interlude, Capstone, would fundamentally undermine that page's focus.

The word "psychopath" conjures up images of the hopelessly violent or criminally insane, and in common parlance this is how it is used.  But it has a technical meaning, and it is that I had in mind when I gave my diagnosis.  More than maladjusted, a psychopath is a person who is capable of understanding others, but in whom the natural link to feeling for them has been weakened or entirely severed.  It is this combination that makes Jean a particularly abhorrent character.

A comparison with Lauro is illustrative.  Lauro was a callous man, but it was the callousness that comes from caring about one's self so much that it eclipses thinking about others.  He didn't understand Elsa because he didn't have to.  He was able to manipulate people around him by offering them a tepid form of acceptance and an easy way to rationalize their own behavior; he didn't really understand them either.  Everything came back to a total disinterest in others.

Jean, by comparison, understands Rico and acts with intent.  He knows how broken she is, how badly she needs affection, and that he can use her weaknesses to control her through his refined brutality.  And it is this last part, control, which is important.  It is easy to assume that Jean is a sadist, inflicting torment for his own pleasure, but that is not his motivation.

What Jean values is power.  The power to dominate others, to enforce his will on people and make them do as he wishes.  To be able to cause pain and death is merely a sign that one has power.  He does not openly say this, but it is most clearly exposed in Amare as he confronts Pietro.  In their conversations he does not let Pietro forget that he controls Rico, that he can have Pietro killed, that he does not even view Pietro as a threat.  This is all about posturing and the power it implies.

However, like many psychopaths, Jean can disguise himself.  He understands others perfectly well, and knows how to appear sincere in his behavior.  For note, he shakes hands twice in the series, first in Protezione with Filippo and later in Amare with Pietro; in both cases he is lying as he does so, and in the former he even takes off his glasses and makes eye contact without showing any signs of falseness.  Why should he?  He feels no guilt.

This is the final reason why he can smile so ghoulishly at the suffering of others.  It's funny.  They can't stop themselves from being hurt.  They have no power.  They are pathetic.  And they are all his.

Hilshire the Loyalist

Issue: Similar to above with Jean.  While discussing Hilshire alongside Triela would make sense, a total appreciation requires the entire series, up to the very last scene.  Barring a disruptive insertion into the Afterword, it must be expressed here.

Hilshire is a complexly simple character.  He exists between the extremes of the handlers.  On one end are the reprehensible Jean and Lauro, with Jose steadily joining them in his selfishness.  At the other is Raballo, with Marco following his own torturous path.  Hilshire in the middle, then, is a well-meaning but short-sighted human.

His main mode of operation is that of the lawful everywhere: a desire to do what is right coupled to an instinctual reverence for authority and the group.  His assumption is that these two always align, for there is nothing he loathes more than mavericks and those who think they are special cases.  And he is more than happy to punish terrorists who think going outside the law is justified.  In this way he is no hypocrite, and is willing to submit when his own opinion is overruled.

Yet it is these very instincts which go awry.  By operating so unreflectively on one principle he is easy to manipulate, never thinking to question the organization itself.  Just point him in the right direction, give him a reason why this is all for the purpose of maintaining order, and he will follow instructions obediently.  The one time that he did not, letting Mario go instead of capturing him like he was ordered, led to his dismissal from Europol.  His life is proof that he should just stick to doing what he is told.

This is not to exonerate him of all blame, but to put into perspective why Hilshire can be so paradoxically concerned about Triela's wellbeing without ever making the logical connection that he shouldn't support the SWA if he wants what is best for her.  He will do what he can within his sphere of influence, his repeated bumbling attempts evidencing both his good will and his unreflectiveness, but these will never entail undermining the agency.  That is outside of his ken.

What makes Hilshire complicated, however, is that he is human and therefore has potential.  It is simply not possible to know him in his entirety from his flaws.  Raballo spent most of his years acting the same, a military man who assumed violence was the way to get things done.  It was only as an older and wiser person, having seen where his life had led him, that he was receptive to lessons derived from Claes' pure love.

And so I end with the same realization that Triela comes to: appreciate Hilshire for what he is.  To count on him to be more than that will lead to disappointment, but to assume he can never grow is equally wrong.  He was never a malicious or manipulative man, and under her influence became just a little wiser than he was before.  And in the final analysis, he too peered up at the sky in appreciation with the girls.  He has some hope yet.