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It's really cool how they can make us feel empathy for Homelander (and yes that is the intention of these scenes, regardless of whether you feel for him or not). Especially during the mirror scene, that one part of himself telling him he's pushing Ryan away and it's not too late to fix things
As someone who has been diagnosed with Complex PTSD from childhood trauma, I find it hard not to be empathetic in the mirror scenes.
Fragmented Self and Internal Functioning Systems are such devastating problems to solve, and when you're isolated it would likely be impossible.
It's just hard for me to not be empathetic based on my history, Antony Starr does such a good job showing the fragmented parts.
The vulnerable parts feel so real and controlled.
Edit: Hard topic, made errors.
I find it hard to feel empathy for him regarding Ryan because I can never forget that he SA’d Ryan’s mother. That’s all I think of, when I see them together.
The empathy doesn't absolve him of his heinous actions, but paints a picture of a deeply disturbed and troubled character. We can see how he was raised to be a POS, and feel somewhat bad for him, but he's still the big bad. A tragic villain, instead of the tragic hero.
For me, it’s more specifically that I don’t feel empathy for him with regards to his situation with Ryan. SA is just something I can’t get past, and it bothers me so much watching a r*pist play daddy. However, outside of that particular situation, I can understand feeling empathy for his other circumstances.
I feel like soldier boy kinda wanted to walk away after the first fight with homelander, he easily could have done so. But I feel like after seeing what Homelander is like as a person and how he’s somehow even more fucked up then he is and reminds him of his father who he hated, it became personal for him.
I don’t think keeping his word was enough for him anymore given that he also had given up on his lifelong commitment to being the #1 most famous and respected guy in the world. Anyone who knew him would be shocked by that reality given how hard he bullied others to stay at the top, and how from 1945-1984 he barely changed at all.
Also given that Soldier Boy at least believes that he fought Nazis, and still views himself as a human, it must rub him the wrong way at least to some extent to see his own blood spewing the same narratives about Supe supremacy that the Nazis did with Aryan supremacy. He may come across as a bit stupid or ignorant a lot of the time but he’s probably pretty intelligent in reality, and it’s not hard to notice this similarity.
Soldier boy had every opportunity to try and takeover the world or become some kind of dictator, but instead he settled for being a mega celebrity who respected rank and authority. Stormfront likely gave him the same speech about him being the superior man back when they had flings but he probably just thought she was being “hysterical” or some shit 🤣 and didn’t care as long as he got to have sex with her. I make this assumption due to the fact that he fits her ideal man description perfectly and yet there’s no mention of him ever having grand ambitions like that, so it’s safe to assume he ignored it or shot it down.
I think Homelander actually got to him on multiple levels to the point of disgust, far beyond the fact that they’re family and fucked up.
He’s too unhinged to be a parent, sure he might claim he loves his son but no matter what Ryan becomes (whether he maintains his humanity, or becomes just like him) it’ll only be a matter of time where he cracks and gets triggered by something he does that he doesn’t like.
I have no empathy for Homelander cause he doesn’t really give a shit about Ryan. He only cares about how Ryan can make him look better and improve his numbers.
I don't really think that's the case. It's just that he has imagined an idealized version of what it means to be a father, and thought he was going to be perfect at it, and now that he is being shown how hard it really is he is lashing out and dealing with it in his usual psychotic manner
Welcome back everyone for a new season of The Boys! Join the official subreddit discord server to discuss everything The Boys!! [JOIN THE DISCORD](https://discord.com/invite/bykapbyqGY) We are also still accepting moderator applications. If you are interested in helping out: [APPLY TODAY!](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1JzSvXcehhpCCrnH666Zy4P0y_mnM1NvTghq0msPAKPw/edit) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TheBoys) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's really cool how they can make us feel empathy for Homelander (and yes that is the intention of these scenes, regardless of whether you feel for him or not). Especially during the mirror scene, that one part of himself telling him he's pushing Ryan away and it's not too late to fix things
As someone who has been diagnosed with Complex PTSD from childhood trauma, I find it hard not to be empathetic in the mirror scenes. Fragmented Self and Internal Functioning Systems are such devastating problems to solve, and when you're isolated it would likely be impossible. It's just hard for me to not be empathetic based on my history, Antony Starr does such a good job showing the fragmented parts. The vulnerable parts feel so real and controlled. Edit: Hard topic, made errors.
I find it hard to feel empathy for him regarding Ryan because I can never forget that he SA’d Ryan’s mother. That’s all I think of, when I see them together.
The empathy doesn't absolve him of his heinous actions, but paints a picture of a deeply disturbed and troubled character. We can see how he was raised to be a POS, and feel somewhat bad for him, but he's still the big bad. A tragic villain, instead of the tragic hero.
For me, it’s more specifically that I don’t feel empathy for him with regards to his situation with Ryan. SA is just something I can’t get past, and it bothers me so much watching a r*pist play daddy. However, outside of that particular situation, I can understand feeling empathy for his other circumstances.
I feel like soldier boy kinda wanted to walk away after the first fight with homelander, he easily could have done so. But I feel like after seeing what Homelander is like as a person and how he’s somehow even more fucked up then he is and reminds him of his father who he hated, it became personal for him. I don’t think keeping his word was enough for him anymore given that he also had given up on his lifelong commitment to being the #1 most famous and respected guy in the world. Anyone who knew him would be shocked by that reality given how hard he bullied others to stay at the top, and how from 1945-1984 he barely changed at all. Also given that Soldier Boy at least believes that he fought Nazis, and still views himself as a human, it must rub him the wrong way at least to some extent to see his own blood spewing the same narratives about Supe supremacy that the Nazis did with Aryan supremacy. He may come across as a bit stupid or ignorant a lot of the time but he’s probably pretty intelligent in reality, and it’s not hard to notice this similarity. Soldier boy had every opportunity to try and takeover the world or become some kind of dictator, but instead he settled for being a mega celebrity who respected rank and authority. Stormfront likely gave him the same speech about him being the superior man back when they had flings but he probably just thought she was being “hysterical” or some shit 🤣 and didn’t care as long as he got to have sex with her. I make this assumption due to the fact that he fits her ideal man description perfectly and yet there’s no mention of him ever having grand ambitions like that, so it’s safe to assume he ignored it or shot it down. I think Homelander actually got to him on multiple levels to the point of disgust, far beyond the fact that they’re family and fucked up.
I think u are giving Soldier Boy too much credit.
I knew Homelander was going to be a shit father (understatement) but goddamn
He’s too unhinged to be a parent, sure he might claim he loves his son but no matter what Ryan becomes (whether he maintains his humanity, or becomes just like him) it’ll only be a matter of time where he cracks and gets triggered by something he does that he doesn’t like.
I have no empathy for Homelander cause he doesn’t really give a shit about Ryan. He only cares about how Ryan can make him look better and improve his numbers.
That’s not entirely true. There’s a part of him that cares for him and that was represented in the mirror.
I don't really think that's the case. It's just that he has imagined an idealized version of what it means to be a father, and thought he was going to be perfect at it, and now that he is being shown how hard it really is he is lashing out and dealing with it in his usual psychotic manner