Sinclair/Story

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"Wait!"

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Background

Emil Sinclair was born to a wealthy family in Calw, a small town located in Nest K that was referred to as "The Holy Site of Nest K’s Prosthetic Industry". The majority of the town's residents had a love for prosthetics, and Sinclair's father owned a small prosthetics company. At some point, his father's company was able to secure a contract with P Corp., fully supporting the technology that was being developed. This contract ensured that the entire family would be able to get the latest full-body prosthetics, something that only Sinclair was not excited for. Before long, his father, mother, and sister had all undergone the procedure to replace their bodies with full prosthetics and Sinclair was the last one remaining. The life he had before where the family would share meals together was gone, and he would find himself feeling isolated from his family the more he hid his true feelings regarding prosthetics from them.

"A natural and unchanging world that belonged to me. My world."

As this shift in his life was taking place, Sinclair one day found himself feeling left out of a conversation at school and, without thinking, shared the news of his father's contract with P Corp. that he had been told to keep secret. While for a moment the focus of attention was on him, it quickly shifted elsewhere and Sinclair was left to sit with his thoughts about his future prosthetics procedure. As the class cleared out, Kromer, a girl Sinclair had barely spoken to before, introduced herself, having noticed the brief flash of reluctance on Sinclair's face when he had told the class about how he would be getting prosthetics soon. She explained that she agreed with him and found the idea of prosthetics filthy, and quickly become his only confidant regarding the matter and a friend of his. Kromer cleverly took advantage of his fears and made a promise that she would spare him having to undergo the replacement procedure, so long as he would help her with a grudge of her own.

Not long after the friendship between Sinclair and Kromer formed, a transfer student named Demian caught Sinclair's eye. While the two did not immediately take in interest in each other, one day during a boring engineering class, Sinclair happened to glance out the window and notice a strange red symbol on Demian's forehead. From then on Demian would strike up friendly conversations with Sinclair and the two grew close. While Demian encouraged Sinclair to share more about himself, Sinclair was too ashamed to be so openly afraid of his upcoming prosthetics procedure in front of his new friend.

One day, Kromer approached Sinclair and asked him to show her the basement of his family's home. While at first he protested to the idea, knowing his parents would not approve of it, Kromer reminded him of her promise to him and pressured him into agreeing if he did not want to undergo the procedure. After stealing the key, he took her to his basement and followed after Kromer as she lead him through an air vent that lead all the way to L Corp's Branch K-02. There, they would catch sight of an Abnormality, which terrified Sinclair to the point he abandoned Kromer, who was enraptured by the gruesome sight, and fled back through the vent to his home. The next day Kromer thanked him for showing her something so "precious" and gifted him two coins, ordering him to always keep them on him. After this, Sinclair began to avoid Kromer, only managing to work up the courage to ask for the basement key back days later. Kromer laughed at this request, telling him that they no longer needed the key, but not to worry as she was going to pay him back by keeping her promise to him.

On Christmas Eve, Sinclair decided to confess to his family about having stolen the basement key and return to being a good son. Unfortunately this plan would never get to be acted on, as when he stepped into his home that night, he was greeted by the sight of Kromer and an armored man brutally murdering his family. Kromer smiled as she saw Sinclair, expressing her joy at the fact he would now live in constant terror because of her actions and taking one of the two coins she had gifted him not long ago. This massacre of his family had been her plan all along to fulfill her promise to him. Kromer ordered one of her subordinates to take Sinclair to safety and he lost his consciousness as he was taken away from his once safe home.

Sinclair would awaken in the middle of an alleyway and be greeted by Demian. Demian, not for the first time, assured Sinclair that he would learn to overcome the fear he was trapped by. While Sinclair was unable to respond, Demian told him of his wish to one day see Sinclair completely bare. Sinclair fell unconscious again after this brief conversation, and what he did between this moment and his recruitment to Limbus Company is left unknown.

Developments

After the death of his family and removal from Calw, Sinclair was recruited to Limbus Company as their tenth Sinner, but was then adjusted to be their eleventh, as seen by his uniform's coat having originally had the number ten written on it. It is his first job with a company, and it is unknown what he did in the time spent between his last meeting with Demian and his employment with Limbus Company.

In February of 984, Limbus Company's search for the Golden Boughs led the LCB to Calw. While the realization that Sinclair would need to confront his past mistakes made him physically ill, he would only become more distressed at seeing his hometown in ruins with prosthetic bodies hung up around Calw in a gruesome display. He directed the LCB to his former home where he began to find the resolve to fight with all his strength instead of hanging in the back like he had in previous fights. At his home, he came face to face with Kromer for the first time in years and was horrified to find that not only has she has dug up his family's graves, but she had also tortured Effie. As Kromer laughed at Effie's death, Sinclair became enraged and decided that he must kill her himself, finally showing a more violent side to himself to the LCB.

After Kromer retreated into the Sinclair family home, the LCB followed after her into the basement which was now connected directly to Branch K-02. Inside the old L Corp. branch, they were soon found by Guido who almost killed Dante, but was stopped by a desperate attack by Sinclair, who was determined to protect Dante, and a gunshot from the nearby, injured Saude. Sinclair felt immense guilt that they would have to leave Saude behind due to her injuries, but they were left with no other option. Throughout the dungeon, Sinclair drew the three strokes of The Sign, finally finding his resolve to stand up for himself. When they reached the bottom floor of the basement, the Golden Bough begun to resonate with Sinclair, forcing him to recall his past of befriending Kromer and Demian as well as the night he lost his family. The memories reignited his determination to kill Kromer, who was now standing before him, and the fight between her and the Sinners was soon started. Before being able to kill her, Kromer distorted and overwhelmed the Sinners, leaving Sinclair on the verge of death while the rest were killed. Demian suddenly appeared and killed Kromer with a wave of his hand to save Sinclair and protect him from having others domineer over him. Before Sinclair fell unconscious, Demian told Sinclair that he managed to change his own fate and Dante told him that it was his fault that his family died, but that it was a mistake anyone could make.

In July, while the LCB were trying to find a missing LCCB agent who had been taken hostage by the Twinhook Pirates, Sinclair became incredibly distressed at the idea that they might not be able to save the agent, knowing that he would not be able to forgive himself or any of the Sinners if they were unable to save them. When Ishmael killed one of the kidnappers, Sinclair trembled in a mixture of sadness and fury, horrified that she would put the life of the agent at risk. Dante unlocked a new ability to see memories of a Sinner during moments of high emotions and saw that Sinclair had not forgiven himself for the deaths of Effie and Saude at Calw. As the LCB searched for information on where the Twinhook Pirates kept their hostages, Sinclair furiously threatened Syndicate members to find the location of their boss. Still, despite the threats he made being legitimate, he was uncomfortable when complimented for embracing this more violent side of himself.

By August Sinclair showed that he has been healing from the traumatic events of his past. When Don Quixote suggested decorating Mephistopheles with Christmas decorations, Sinclair shared that he has been getting better, little by little, when it comes to associating Christmas with the loss of his family.

Relations

Kromer

Sinclair became acquainted with Kromer back during his school days. He stated that while they were in the same class, he hardly knew her due to never really speaking to one another. They become relatively good friends following Kromer's realization that Sinclair shared her hatred for prosthetics.

After Kromer's insistence that Sinclair lend her his basement key and take her down to peek into a Lobotomy Corporation Abnormality containment cell, Sinclair grew very scared of her and actively tried to avoid her from that point on. Kromer seemed to recognize this apprehension and did not particularly care. She went on to murder his family on Christmas Eve, a fateful day in which she would relish in the fact that he would live in absolute terror going forward.

Unsurprisingly, Sinclair would develop a very intense loathing and fear of Kromer. He absolutely despised her for what she did to him and his beloved family, yet did not feel as if he could ever confront or fight her given the chance, and even experienced severe panic attacks at the thought of revisiting his hometown and seeing her again. Although they got along at one point, Sinclair refers to his relationship with Kromer in Canto IV while making suggestions regarding Yi Sang’s fallout with his former coworkers, saying that he considered them to have never really been friends in the first place. Kromer, on the other hand, held very different feelings for Sinclair, seeing him as a plaything of sorts.

Kromer’s obsession with Sinclair was highlighted by a desire to break, devastate, and traumatize him for life. Although she occasionally described him with positive terms, such as calling him “her hero”, these regularly came with a more sinister context and undertone; the term hero, for example, referring to the opportunity he gave her to massacre their town as opposed to any kind of compliment pertaining to him as a person. Similarly, despite her placing an emphasis on him and expressing an ambition for having him join her, she outwardly struggled against the temptation of murdering him.

As an individual, she looked down on Sinclair, viewing him as having an inability to escape her influence or move on with his life following what she did to him. She possessively referred to him as “my Sinclair”, stated that he will always rest in her grip, and later attempted to single out and manipulate the boy into abandoning his group and surrendering to her dream. Upon seeing him again in Canto III, she mocked him for having made some friends (the Sinners) and growing a bit of a spine since the last time they met, as if not expecting him to have made any progress.

Directly following Kromer's death via Demian, Sinclair was so exhausted and disjointed that he did not immediately react. However, Sinclair can be seen sprouting a serene smile in the Canto III credits, and shows a willingness to stand up for himself on top of seeming to have had a weight lifted off of his shoulders in the following chapters, demonstrating that he feels considerably more at peace with her gone.

Demian

Demian and Sinclair met around the same time Sinclair became acquainted with Kromer, after Demian had suddenly transferred into the class next to his. For a while, Sinclair would be well-aware of Demian's existence, but wouldn't have any kind of connection with him; viewing him as an aloof, mature person unattached to those around him.

One day during class, Sinclair would absentmindedly stare out the window and watch Demian converse with his classmates. When Demian pushed back his hair, Sinclair seemed to catch a glimpse of a strange mark on his forehead. The two would make eye-contact, and from then on Demian would continually approach Sinclair and form a friendship with him, telling him about his views and his dreams.

Demian had an ongoing interest in Sinclair and his growth as a person. He wanted to know more about Sinclair, who was ultimately too hesitant to open up about his worries regarding Kromer and his prosthetic procedure. Sinclair had a similar interest in Demian, noting that he felt that his soul matured a little each time he spoke to him, and clearly looked up to him despite them being peers. Sinclair felt that Demian was different from the people around them. For the most part, this was a compliment, however he was also a bit chilled by Demian's consistent calmness and seemingly all-knowing nature. Still, Sinclair did not dislike him. While he was hard-pressed about not considering Kromer a friend, he would contrastingly refer to Demian as “an old friend” to Dante.

At the end of Canto III, Demian would acknowledge Sinclair's effort and achievement that was "hatching from the egg", saying he had changed his fate. In Sinclair's state of absolute exhaustion, he failed to say much, and quickly fainted, however Demian told him that he didn't "want anyone else to domineer over [him]". He also told Dante that he'd be returning once Sinclair has become one with the stars and asked them to take good care of him. While Demian's exact feelings for Sinclair are vague, he possesses a desire to watch him develop, and a form of fondness for him. Sinclair has yet to express exactly how he feels about Demian and his act of defeating Kromer for him.

Near the end of Canto II, Sonya comments that Demian made “quite the impression” on Sinclair. Pre-release promotional materials also hint at a more dependent side of Demian and Sinclair's relationship not yet seen in game.