❝ I don't like illness. Because it kept me from going outside. Because it made no one love me. ❞
The first thing that one might notice about Ellen, were she to appear in her own body, is how frail she is. She’s suffered from a disease from a young age and been in a constant state of pain (one high enough that she is able to gouge out her eyes and cut off her legs without flinching,) and also one that prevented her from living any semblance of a normal life. From a young age she was unable to go outside and play with other children, whom had no interest in a sickly girl, and to make matters worse her parents didn’t love her. Over time her lack of companionship and her parent’s neglect and abuse caused her to begin to perceive her sickness as the reason that she was unloved. She hated her sickness.
Her experiences have left her cold and cynical, capable of killing her parents and countless others in order to further her own gain. She went so far as to contract with a demon and become a witch at the age of seven in order to get a spell to cure her sickness. Her views on friendship twisted, her morals warped as a natural consequence of being in a constant state of pain on top of being put in a position to kill people from such a young age. She refers to the people who enter her house and, yes, even Viola, as her “friends.” She lets them be eaten the house; mutilates them using everything from cutting off their hands to dropping them into a spike pit. She’s grown desensitized while remaining sheltered from the true horror of death, as she’s never had to lose anyone important to her (even her parents she likely loved and hated all at once, enough to kill them) while living with the consequences.
❝ My sickness was going to kill me. So...I took her body from her. I lived on in her body. That's fine, right? Because we're "friends." She gave me her body...because we're "friends." ❞
Ellen likely resents those around her; her parents and “friends” for not loving her, herself sickness for keeping her from going outside and likely even her only friend, Viola. Her relationship with Viola is perhaps one of the most complicated of her relationships, second to only that of the one that she shared with her parents. She describes Viola as being her dear friend, kind charming and loved. Throughout her diaries she explains how she came to befriend Viola, making her a “friend” instead of Xing her because she saved Ellen from her sickness. At the same time, she seems to resent Viola, who is everything that she is not, most likely stemming from the jealousy and frustration of living as she had (and perhaps, even feeling condescended to.) She describes her as naive. She gives her a throat-burning medicine to keep from having to hear her own screams, cuts off her legs and tears out her eyes in order to see Viola despair as she died.
Although her cruelty towards her dear “friend,” while excessive, is purposeful. At the start of the house, it seems that Ellen had merely planned on searching for a spell to cure her sickness. That was what she had expected when she began to “feed” people to the demon she had contracted with. It is unknown exactly when she was given a spell to trade bodies, but it is reasonable to think that it was likely a short time before before or after meeting Viola. Everything that she does is purposeful. Rather than being a matter of simple cruelty (although she has no qualms with being cruel ,) every death in her house has a reason. The witch’s house is described as being purposeful. If any souls within it are not eaten by the house, it’s purpose has not been fulfilled. Effectively, Viola’s death was necessary not only to ensure that she wouldn’t come chasing after Ellen, but in order to fulfill the terms of her contract with the demon/the house’s purpose. It was planned from the start and certainly, in her own mind, she had no reason to feel bad for something she had planned from the start.
❝ So then, I suppose you're worried about what'll happen when you're gone? It'll be just fine. I'll give him Viola's share of love. And I'll take her share of love, too. ❞
But beneath it all, she’s still a thirteen-year-old girl who was abused by her parents, without any friends and herself manipulated for a minimum of six years in order to kill countless others in order to aid her own survival. Ellen has never been loved, but it’s something she’s sought after for all of her life. The entire theme of the game, even the ending, is an extension of her quest to be loved. Likewise, she wants somebody who she can give her love to, something that she attains from stealing Viola’s body (through her relationship with Viola’s father, whom Viola was close to.) More than that, it’s likely that she wanted somebody to love her in spite of her sickness (rather than pitying her or disliking her,) but her treatment from a young age has taught her that such a thing is impossible.
She seems to be a bit naive underneath it all, although in a different way from Viola. She’s led a sheltered life, first underneath her parents and then later within the confines of her own house. It has likely allowed her to see the best and worst of those who stumble him, of which there are implied to be many, but at the same time being trapped in a house for all of her life has prevented her from gaining any real semblance of life experience. She has an incomplete understanding of friendship, sickness and neglect. She seems to understand the general idea of it, recognize the concept, but doesn’t have the right word for it, nor the means of differentiating it. For example, as said before, rather than seeing her parents as neglectful and abusive, she simply blamed her sickness.
Abilities: None! She's just a normal human girl now. Other: I apped her under the name "Viola" before, but I'm not sure if I should keep that or switch to Ellen? The game treats her as Viola, but she was born as Ellen, and different games seem to have different policies on how to treat that. So if you wouldn't mind clearing that up, I'd really appreciate it! Sorry to be a pain, haha.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
The first thing that one might notice about Ellen, were she to appear in her own body, is how frail she is. She’s suffered from a disease from a young age and been in a constant state of pain (one high enough that she is able to gouge out her eyes and cut off her legs without flinching,) and also one that prevented her from living any semblance of a normal life. From a young age she was unable to go outside and play with other children, whom had no interest in a sickly girl, and to make matters worse her parents didn’t love her. Over time her lack of companionship and her parent’s neglect and abuse caused her to begin to perceive her sickness as the reason that she was unloved. She hated her sickness.
Her experiences have left her cold and cynical, capable of killing her parents and countless others in order to further her own gain. She went so far as to contract with a demon and become a witch at the age of seven in order to get a spell to cure her sickness. Her views on friendship twisted, her morals warped as a natural consequence of being in a constant state of pain on top of being put in a position to kill people from such a young age. She refers to the people who enter her house and, yes, even Viola, as her “friends.” She lets them be eaten the house; mutilates them using everything from cutting off their hands to dropping them into a spike pit. She’s grown desensitized while remaining sheltered from the true horror of death, as she’s never had to lose anyone important to her (even her parents she likely loved and hated all at once, enough to kill them) while living with the consequences.
Ellen likely resents those around her; her parents and “friends” for not loving her, herself sickness for keeping her from going outside and likely even her only friend, Viola. Her relationship with Viola is perhaps one of the most complicated of her relationships, second to only that of the one that she shared with her parents. She describes Viola as being her dear friend, kind charming and loved. Throughout her diaries she explains how she came to befriend Viola, making her a “friend” instead of Xing her because she saved Ellen from her sickness. At the same time, she seems to resent Viola, who is everything that she is not, most likely stemming from the jealousy and frustration of living as she had (and perhaps, even feeling condescended to.) She describes her as naive. She gives her a throat-burning medicine to keep from having to hear her own screams, cuts off her legs and tears out her eyes in order to see Viola despair as she died.
Although her cruelty towards her dear “friend,” while excessive, is purposeful. At the start of the house, it seems that Ellen had merely planned on searching for a spell to cure her sickness. That was what she had expected when she began to “feed” people to the demon she had contracted with. It is unknown exactly when she was given a spell to trade bodies, but it is reasonable to think that it was likely a short time before before or after meeting Viola. Everything that she does is purposeful. Rather than being a matter of simple cruelty (although she has no qualms with being cruel ,) every death in her house has a reason. The witch’s house is described as being purposeful. If any souls within it are not eaten by the house, it’s purpose has not been fulfilled. Effectively, Viola’s death was necessary not only to ensure that she wouldn’t come chasing after Ellen, but in order to fulfill the terms of her contract with the demon/the house’s purpose. It was planned from the start and certainly, in her own mind, she had no reason to feel bad for something she had planned from the start.
But beneath it all, she’s still a thirteen-year-old girl who was abused by her parents, without any friends and herself manipulated for a minimum of six years in order to kill countless others in order to aid her own survival. Ellen has never been loved, but it’s something she’s sought after for all of her life. The entire theme of the game, even the ending, is an extension of her quest to be loved. Likewise, she wants somebody who she can give her love to, something that she attains from stealing Viola’s body (through her relationship with Viola’s father, whom Viola was close to.) More than that, it’s likely that she wanted somebody to love her in spite of her sickness (rather than pitying her or disliking her,) but her treatment from a young age has taught her that such a thing is impossible.
She seems to be a bit naive underneath it all, although in a different way from Viola. She’s led a sheltered life, first underneath her parents and then later within the confines of her own house. It has likely allowed her to see the best and worst of those who stumble him, of which there are implied to be many, but at the same time being trapped in a house for all of her life has prevented her from gaining any real semblance of life experience. She has an incomplete understanding of friendship, sickness and neglect. She seems to understand the general idea of it, recognize the concept, but doesn’t have the right word for it, nor the means of differentiating it. For example, as said before, rather than seeing her parents as neglectful and abusive, she simply blamed her sickness.
Abilities: None! She's just a normal human girl now.
Other: I apped her under the name "Viola" before, but I'm not sure if I should keep that or switch to Ellen? The game treats her as Viola, but she was born as Ellen, and different games seem to have different policies on how to treat that. So if you wouldn't mind clearing that up, I'd really appreciate it! Sorry to be a pain, haha.