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I think the thing with Karen might be, that she found out, she isn't straight, but gay. She fell in love with a woman and started a new life with her.
Think about ut, it would make perfect sense:
- coming from a strict household her surpressing her lesbian nature would not be unusual, thinking she'd have to fit in to conventions and expectations of her parents.
- it would make sense, that her mother would disgrace her, since she is a strict Christian. In the episode it is shown that she has anything but an open mind, so her daughter fallen "from the right path into sin" could hit her hard.
- it would also explain, why Esteban might be hurt, not only in his heart for loosing his partner, but in his pride as well.
- since Sean would not have been old enough to understand and this would not be a topic to discuss in front of kids anyways, it would not be surprising that the only thing he knows is that she left and that it hurted him and dad pretty bad.
- with her same sex relationship it also would make sense although she cares about her kids, she would not see any chance to fight over custedy nor visiting rights.
Although I wrote in an other thread I get bored having same sex couples in so many games lately, if my prediction was correct, this would be a new take on homosexuality I haven't seen done yet, so that story arc could be interesting, if told well.
I really doubt, it is something that trivial. And in my opinion it doesn't fit to the amount of hate Karen gets from her whole family and what Sean and Claire say about her. This can't be just a "i left my family, because i'm gay" situation. At least that's what i hope^^
Well.
Claire keeps Karens milk teeth in her jewelry cabinet, so Claire - while very mad at Karen and wanting to dispose of everything in her old room - secretly still keeps a memento!! Same with
Stephen, who unbeknownst to Claire keeps a picture of Karen in his "Lair".
Daniel really wants to know more about and see Karen badly. Which is understandable as she left when he was about a year old (Sean says her leaving was eight years ago). This is also highlighted in the part where Daniel says “she wants to see us!” – this is made up by him! As Karens letter to the Reynolds is all about the plea to help the kids in case they show up at their doorstep and the info about the PO box.
Sean resents Karen very much. Which again is understandable, he was about Daniels age when she suddenly abandoned him and Esteban for an apparently undisclosed reason. A kid that age would be very hurt if one of the parents just left – it’s an unspoken “I don’t love you anymore!”. The level of how upset Sean is towards Karen indicates he may have had a very close bond with her and it hit him double hard when she left.
Karen is the Rachel Amber equivalent mystery for LiS2 and thus will have a conclusion that is tied to Sean and Daniels future!
Couple more things to keep in mind:
- Daniel and Sean where not allowed to enter Esteban’s room “ever” and the boys obeyed!
- Sean tells Claire that Karen did have contact with Esteban before she fully severed all ties.
- Esteban kept all of Karen’s stuff, even her bike ... did he expected her to come back?
- We know Karen is not dead because of the letter to the Reynolds.
- Karen knows what happened in Seattle – she keeps track of her past!!
- Karen says “they are innocent!” how can she know / say this?
- Karen gives a PO box she “uses sometimes”- is she in witness protection? Important person?
- There are two Sean “Chekov’s gun” in the game that were not once addressed yet:
---- old Smartphone in Sean’s room in Seattle – what’s on it?.
---- USB Stick in Sean’s backpack but he doesn’t even know what’s on it – links to past?!
- The “Mandroid” case is still unresolved even after meeting Chris and Charles!
Very good summary and observations. Especially the Mandroid case came into my mind as well this morning. I thought Karen was responsible for Emily's death and was gone hiding after that, but that's impossible, because she left 8 years ago and Emily died just 2 years ago.
But she must have committed a crime or something. All else wouldn't explain these reactions from Claire, Stephen and Sean. And she uses a PO box, instead of giving them her address. So she doesn't want to be found.
Currently it seems all of Chris's backstory isn't relevant for LiS 2 at all. But who knows. Charles is working for the railroad and Sean and Daniel are hopping on trains now. So maybe they'll see each other again.
I don't think that Karen must have done something bad. Sean was left behind when he was 8, so his hatred is justified without needing any more reason. And we know, he used to hike with his mom, so back in the day his mom was caring for her kid(s), there was a bound.
And don't dismiss "she turned gay" as possible explaination lightly. Although not justified by religion there are a lot of strong believing Christians who would see homosexuality as a deadly sin and cut all strings even to their own flesh and blood. Just because her orientation is not much of a deal to you doesn't mean it is not to Claire.
Claire keeps the milk teeth, as well as her juvenile room, but those things are kept out of sight, behind a locked door and locked locker. She might pray for her daughter to find the right path again for all we know, and if she does, she might forgive her.
I personally don't think there was a force like witness protection to make her leave her family.
Good observations about the phone and dad's room part. I'D TOTALLY totally missed that, although it's obvious. I can totally see now how the boys could return to Seattle to find out about their mom's whereabouts in their old home.
No, there must be more to it than that. I don't have the feeling with Claire that she would expel Karen in this way just because she's gay. She might not like it, but when she says that Karen is no longer Sean's and Daniel's mother, that's a strong statement.
And yes, Sean was only 8 when Karen left, but if it really was because of her sexual orientation, he should have the maturity by now to understand what that means. And even Esteban obviously kept Karen's whole stuff, maybe because he hopes that she will come back again. Probably unlikely if Karen actually likes women.
And then there is the fact that she obviously hides and doesn't want to be found. Why else the PO box? If it were really just that, there would be no reason to disguise her whereabouts.
And then Claire's statement that Karen hadn't changed, she would just feel guilty. Guilty of what?
So I'd find it pretty lame if it was just about her sexual orientation. Besides, in retrospect that wouldn't shed a good light on Sean, Claire and Stephen that they blame her. And that, where we actually had a very cordial conclusion with the grandparents.
And it would also be kind of hypocritical of them to hide their grandchildren, who they barely know, and to break the law, because family is everything, but at the same time banish their own daughter, because she is not what they would like her to be. It all does not fit together for me.
Why not? She didn't reach out to Estaban eigher, to stay in contact with her grandson's, did she?
I just can't imagine, that Dontnod put so much effort to show, how religious Claire is, so there is no chance a player would miss it (the cruxifix-necklace, the Cross on the guest room's wall, them going to church on sundays, Stephen mentioning twice, that she has strong believes), I think, ther belives will have a bigger impact than we know yet.
Why would you suppose, that he ever was told, why Karen left? When she left, he was 8 years old, so it is plausible, that his dad didn't tell him of Karens change of sexuality (especialy considering the fact, that he would first have to explain, what sexuality means in the first place). It's not impossible, that he could have told Sean, that "Karen now loves a woman more than Daddy", but it is far from being a given, that he did. After puberty, Sean could have asked about what the real reasons are, mom left and he might have understood that (also not a given, that he would), but it is shown, that Sean doesn't want to think about his mom at all. On multiple occations he made clear, that he has no curiosity about her at all.
Hard to argue with that. A lot of people use PO-boxes, not only those, who are in hiding. But pointing it out in the game is not by chance but has a meaning
Guilty of abandoning her kids perhaps?
...and that would be unthinkable, because?
Sean might be clueless, so it wouldn't say anything about his morals whatsoever. But even if it did, we know from LIS1, that the protagonist is not without flaws. Maxfield e.g. was not a very likeable person, she was judgemental about nearly everyone in her thoughts, the was nosey but she tried to get involved into things. Especially when you look on how she reacted towards Kate - even in the best case scenario - she knew, there was a porn video of Kate out there and that Kate desperately needed a friend, but would not want to be there for her, because Chloe was more important. Did you hear the conversation on the phone, Max didn't want to really help her, but just to cut conversation short. When she returned the book, how Max would just be interested in not to be mentioned to the police, because she just thought about herself, the visit in the hospital after the attempt, as brief as can be with her new friend already waiting outside the door? Max is flawed. So why should Sean not be? And I also never got the intention, that Claire and Stephen were meant to be the shining role models in this episode eigher, so shedding a bad light on them would not be a contradiction to me.
Yeah, me neither.
I still see a possibility, that Karen is even more religious than Claire and Stephen and that she joined some kind of cult. We had already a few clues about such "groups" in the game. And most of the achievements of episode 4 have religious titles.
And Esteban didn't reach out to them either. It was mentioned that they never had a good relationship, even at the time when Karen was still there.
Because there are certain dialogues that make it clear, that everyone know about the reasons she left (except of Daniel). Of course nobody speak it out loud, because we as the players are just not allowed to know it at this point.