ik that derrick had zero control of his actions because of the brainwash BUT DERRICK IS ST...

I'm word about Derrick. I don't hate him, what I hate is what his circumstances have allowed him to become, and I hate his absolute lack of choice making skills. Cause the choices makes the person, I have no choice but to hate him, but I think had he grown up in a more loving household environment that praised communication and taught their kids how to develop higher emotional intelligence skills, I think Derrick would have been an amazing character. A kind sick in the mud who seems too serious but he means we'll and isn't actually abusive, he just makes you feel like you didn't always do the best you could, but you know he's routing for you.

I think that's the character Derrick leans toward but because the novel Penelope isekai'd into was dark, he ended up with such a twisted personality. Honestly, I feel like the novel is super unkind to Derrick. But like I said, that's who he is now, so I hate him too, I just wish I didn't feel like I had to you know?

Totally agree but sadly at some point people need to take responsibility for how they act and maybe with it they can change as people.
I think the major evidence in your comment is the extreme differences in how Derrick and reynold act despite being in the same households. You can totally see its the pressures placed on Derrick that shaped him this way. Now he needs to break free from that, grow tremendously as a person and still hold on to his regrets as fuel to be better and to never go back to how he used to. While knowing that some bridges have burnt and your life will never be the same. Imo.

Oh absolutely. That was kinda my point in the end. Even though he's a victim of his circumstances, need still the master of his choices.

Reynold has one thing Derrick doesn't, a guilt free conscience when it comes to Yvonne having gone missing. A lot of Derrick's personality was decided the second he let her hand go. But that's not saying that he can blame all of his poor choices on that one moment. After all, murderers who have siblings, and who grow up in shitty situations don't get out of jail on those claims, nor do they generally, independently both become monsters. Likewise, just because most serial killers get brain trauma at a young age, doesn't mean all children who hit their heads become serial killers. Point and case, my first full on concussion was the age of 7. I've only ever killed a half a person (j/k obvy).

I'm going to stand proudly with you as his hater
FUCK HIM

Yupp super important. Derrick has the regret of being the one to lose Yvonne. And since the whole house hold was turned upside down as a result of that I can see why it would slowly spiral into something worse. Maybe Duke was harder on him for that and as much as I love how he is with pen now, when we first met him we saw him take a withdrawal approach to raising her when pen started acting up. Which could also mean the same for his male children when they were having a hard time. And even most recently with pen being poisoned and he told Derrick to lay off and take time to himself. He doesn't guide his children and leaves them to what they fancy. Even when young Duke was buying mines and Duke had something to say with his experience he simply told pen how much of a rookie he was still yet didn't try to help/guide him despite his experience. Fathers are also a lot different towards their daughters vs their sons which is why Derrick has to invest himself and pen just gets the emerald mine. Then there's the fact that he'd rather play it safe than risk anything which could stem from taking a risk with Yvonne and taking her to the fair and then losing her cause of it. Which is why he lost pens trust for good after the trial ark. Damned if you do damned if you don't. He tried to take a risk and make his sister happy and lost her. He wanted to play it safe and protect pen by wanting to take the safe route and lost her trust for good. That's why I'll never truly hate him. People learn by doing and seeing if what they did was a mistake based on the way the world reacts to what you did. He tried both to take a risk and be safe and they both had consequences. He is a true tragedy the deeper you go. Etc etc. Super interesting stuff to break down. One of my favorite things to do which is why I love the mystery genre here. And dw i was kinda adding to ur argument not arguing against it. Loll dw I can see it was a joke. Better safe than sorry tho

I agree with both of you.
I know I can't exactly compare him to Reynold cuz of the guilt Derrick lives with- HOWEVER; my main problem with him is that he has barely tried to treat Penelope as a sister- of course I don't blame him for not seeing Penelope as his sister but he can't treat Penelope this way when she did nothing wrong. He has no excuse at all to treat her so unfairly. He has had so many chances to fix things between him and Penelope but he doesn't take them, he bites his tongue but then expects Penelope so be a bit nicer to him which is such bullshit, he has no right to feel hurt over stuff HE caused.
I understand the parts about him having the most pressure out of all the kids + he lived with the guilt of losing Yvonne, but that will never justify his behavior towards Penelope. He's not exactly a character considering the amount of dislike/hate people have towards him. He is however, incredibly annoying. He can't treat Penelope with a bit of respect and a tiny bit of kindness and expect her to trust him. He may care about her to an extent but he barely shows it, but when he does, Penelope can't trust him and that's his own fault.

That's just how I see it though ╥﹏╥
(This is pretty cool talking about)

A bad character* sorry

Ooo very important ofcofc the way he treats pen is probs the most important ngl. That's why I think he needs to regret what he's done. I think he may have never needed to assess his way of being around pen because he's never had these consequences. The og pen bottled things up and when she did throw a fit it might have affirmed the way Derrick has been treating her. A child who is beneath him. Everyone in her household (the duke let her be) and out of it treated her like this so society told him it was ok. Eeb when the Duke was punishing reynold for lying about the necklace he said he doesn't think he has a right to do it. Now that derrick wants to pursue a relationship with the new and changed Penelope he can't go about it the way he's been doing for years. Now that pen has changed you can see a difference in the way everyone is treating her and now Derrick has to as well. She isnt the same girl and the whole household sees her in a completely different light. Exept for Derrick. He also took a back seat throughout the entire comic so now that we get his ark who knows what's going to happen. (Novel readers stop spoiling like its no big deal wth guys) Yvonne adds another level of complication and maybe Derrick will undergo growth. Maybe. I haven't really thought about this theory very much so lmk what you guys think.

Yeah discussions like this are super fun. I saw a video saying critique is the ultimate form of flattery towards a story and low-key can't help but agree. I love picking at the details and uncovering more. It's also best when it's not an argument. We just sharing our opinions and it's all spec in the end.

Oh yeah, that's true- the fact that everyone treated Penelope in such a awful way which led it to become the norm...
But the fact that after she changed, the only thing Derrick did was suspect her and basically going "Why doesn't she treat me like a brother" as if he isn't the root of the problem.
Even if he has a character development, even if he gets down on his knees and begs for forgiveness, I genuinely don't think Penelope should forgive him. It's too late, he doesn't deserve to be forgiven. He needs a hard reality check, a huge slap on the cheek, he's quite the coward honestly...

I'm so sorry for the late reply by the way! ╥﹏╥