- Sep 20, 2018
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Are you sure you aren't projecting? We don't actually know much about Quinn's family life for certain, and even what we speculate is open to a lot of interpretation.It's interesting that the most complex and human love interest in the game is so divisive. Quinn comes from the most broken home with the least wealth, no family upon whom she can depend, no real friends, and a survival instinct she learned from her surroundings. Growing up in an environment where people have to have their fix at any cost or sell to people who have to have their fix at any cost teaches a person that being like the Jill's or even the Sage's of the world gets you hurt.
Quinn doesn't even know what real love is because she's never experienced it. Her entire life has been about what people can get from her and never about what anyone can do for her without a quid pro quo expectation of something in return. The MC could be her first true love interest in terms of someone who is not using her for anything and who genuinely likes her for the good qualities he knows she has behind the offensive sword and defensive shields she creates to keep people at a distance.
People don't come without baggage. Just because Quinn's baggage is more ostensible doesn't mean she is more flawed. Quinn's story has been told to a greater extent than has the story of other love interests. Perhaps when their stories are told they will be equally flawed in other ways. It might be best to reserve judgment on characters until the story has been told in its entirety.
It seems like Quinn's father was a drug dealer/user, and (for whatever reason) is not around anymore. Her mother was a junkie and no longer even recognizes Quinn. That's definitely a lousy childhood, but it doesn't mean Quinn grew up utterly without guidance or affection. Rox DID seem to be looking after her, and definitely responded poorly to people treating Quinn badly. Even in the present day, Buddy actually asks Quinn about her problems, only for her to shut down the inquiry. She does so again when Buddy asks why she is breaking her unspoken taboo and selling coke.
Now I want to be clear here: I am *not* saying Quinn had a loving family and her problems are entirely of her own making. I'm just asking how much we can really tell about Quinn's upbringing because, IMHO, it's rather ambiguous. The modern-day scene with Buddy reads very differently if you assume Buddy is genuinely worried about his surrogate niece (only for her to slap his help away) than it does if you assume Quinn knows she's in a pit of vipers and he's just looking for a weakness to exploit. Unfortunately, it's hard to tell which interpretation is nearer the mark because we only see Buddy interact with Quinn, and she treats Buddy the same way she treats absolutely everyone else in the game.
That said, the reason I'm reluctant to give Quinn the benefit of the doubt is precisely because her behavior is so consistent. The truth is that we have actually seen people offer Quinn genuine support on other occasions, and Quinn is never confused or vulnerable in the face of those acts of kindness. Sage in particular has clearly shown Quinn more support and trust than she actually deserves, because Quinn *blatantly* abuses that trust at every turn. We also saw Riona offer Quinn advice with no agenda beyond being in the same boat as Quinn, only for Quinn to literally slap her. And of course Quinn will even reject the MC when he offers to help her after the mugging... unless he meets her specific requirements.
So I ask again, are you sure Quinn's upbringing was really devoid of virtue? Are you certain that Quinn's role models had absolutely no good aspects to emulate, rather than Quinn choosing to embrace only their worst aspects? I often say that I don't hate Quinn, but I'll be the first to admit I dislike her [personally, not as a character] and that dislike may color my interpretation of her. But if we want to be as objective as possible, do we really have enough information to compare Quinn's childhood to other characters?
After all, with the exception of Bella (who has a whole separate trauma) all the LI's had issues with their family growing up. Sure, at first glance, it seems like Quinn growing up in a literal drug den must have had it far worse than Jill's affluenza or Maya's closeted homosexuality. But is that really the case? Whatever happened to Lana killed her; just how much blame (if any) do her parents bear for that? Maya's dad is actively working to ruin her life (with no apparent opposition from her mom), and her brother's support is at best limited; how do we gauge how much better that is than Quinn's absent parents and relationship with Buddy?
I honestly don't know. If we ever get a fuller picture of Quinn's youth and it really was as bad as you suggest, I'm prepared to accept I will owe her an apology. But that full picture may never happen, and in the meantime I'm not going to exempt Quinn from even the most basic expectations of human decency. If she really did have that decency beaten out of her, that would be something truly tragic. But it wouldn't make the way Quinn acts okay; it just means it would be the fault of those who raised her, not Quinn herself.
People would still need to be protected from what Quinn has become. The difference is that now Quinn would be the first on that list. (That's how I see it, at least. YMMV.)