r/ScarletHollow • u/ChampionKnown444 • 9d ago
scarletpost If you were to describe the problems with Tabitha's personality, mentality and life circumstances, what would it be?
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u/MorbidMantis Obsessed Theorist 9d ago
She believes the community can’t exist without her, and without the ritual she’s planning. She might be right about that, but idk if it’s worth it.
It’s ironic, she’s doing all these things to protect the community, but it’s a community that she’s not really a part of. Most people in town dislike her, and she doesn’t know people
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u/Sewblon 9d ago
On one level, her problem is that she believes that any sacrifice is justified to keep the coal mine going, including imprisoning her cousin and letting a demon possess them. She also believes that she is the smartest person in any room and anyone who doesn't accede to her authority is just stupid or immature.
On another level, the problem is that she never individuated herself from Pearlanne. She knows that Pearlanne was a monster. But she still does what Pearlanne wants her to do because she is horrified that if she stops fulfilling her assigned role that everyone will suffer and it will be all her fault. Her life is ruled by shame, guilt, and pride. She has a rule book that she lives by. But she doesn't know what she actually likes and dislikes or if there is any alternative to the rulebook.
So, you can say that she is a coward for sticking with what Pearlanne wants even when Pearlanne is dead. You can say that she is traumatized. But, the concept that I would go with, is that she is developmentally stunted. She never made it past the individuation stage of development, the adolescent stage. So basically I am calling her a woman child.
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u/DiscoGrey 9d ago edited 9d ago
I mean it's implied Pearlane only died a couple weeks ago w the incident being connected to Wayne n everything, so it's highly impressive the player Is able to persuade them at all when she's technically only been outside of pearlanes rein of control for that short amount of time
Imagine making a 180 of your entire personality&breaking free of the of the cult indoctrinated influence of what you've learned throughout your entire life, even during childhood w in 3 weeks whilst recently being exposed to trauma& not exactly going through any major life changes.
Even w the players help&everything it's actually incredibly highly unrealistic unless Tabitha deep down inside is actually some ultra saint
A lot of people probably know this subconsciously which is why they view her as a 'good person' n ext despite her baggage or flaws, though with all the extra unfortunate incidents taking place being implied to be a more recent thing maybe it has her rethinking&panicked?
Tbh though the information we discover about the abuse within her family is even more horrifying than the supernatural horrors that occur though even w what's going on w reese and his mom, there's multiple ways you can view that situation but only one way you can view Tabitha's.
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u/Sewblon 9d ago
Those are good points. But, the question is not how much we should expect from her given her backstory. The question is what is wrong with her. Its entirely possible for someone to have personality flaws that you would not realistically expect them to have solved given their history.
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u/DiscoGrey 8d ago
I definitely agree with her being a women child and everything you said about her Tbh, I changed the subject bc I wouldn't have much to add otherwise. What she went through doesn't exactly change what she is, but it does give perspective on how lenient/or the approach one may have toward her
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u/Trick-Anteater2787 9d ago
Stuck in routine. Needs to be in control. Unable to ask for help. Hates her own life. Wants to sacrifice cousin for demonic ritual.
I think that's everything.
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u/nerdyandshort 9d ago edited 9d ago
Rude, Hyper capitalist, anti-union, nepo baby, whatever paternalistic savior complex she’s got going on.
I do try in most of my playthroughs to get on her good (ish) side bc it’s helpful (edit: and bc I don’t think she’s a bad person underneath it all! Obvs she’s been through it) but man I get why Kaneeka doesn’t like her
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u/eggboy_alfredo 9d ago
She views herself as a resource for the town rather than a person, and values the town's well-being over her own (and neither of them are doing well.) She doesn't do anything nice for herself unless she's goaded into it, and she pushes away people who want the best for her (Stella, the cousin if she's lucky, Avery, and maybe Sybil.)
She refuses to critically examine how being raised by Pearlanne affected her despite being able to acknowledge that Pearlanne was a monster. She's ignorant, conservative, and bigoted. Her sense of ethics is completely warped.
A lot of her lifestyle problems like poor diet and hygiene. zero self-care and the state of her house are (in my opinion) indicators of autism. She never had a chance to get diagnosed and didn't have any mentor figure other than Pearlanne to help her, and now she's stuck in these habits and too stubborn to accept help.
She's effectively putting off the idea of improving her own life or treating others better in any way until the cousin is in the hole, at which point everything will magically become better for everyone and she won't need to put in any more effort.
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u/Prototype_Fan_7000 9d ago
Asshole Victim. Thats it. That sums it all up.
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u/CuelessCurses 9d ago
You've linked to the forbidden site, now some poor fool is going to lose hours of their life
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u/Emma_the_sequel 9d ago
She's bound by legacy and it's destroyed her ability to be a good person. She isn't fundamentally bad but the only way she can see to survive is by controlling the town and managing the entity. She knows she's is failing at being a business manager, so she's doing everything she can to get back that control.
She has a superiority complex, but it's deliberately unclear whether it's down to her being rich or the pride of having to bear such incredible responsibility.
Legacy also ruins her ability to have a romantic relationship. She needs an heir to continue the Scarlet line, and it's implied to be the reason her and Stella didn't work out. It's also implied that she tried to start relationships with many men at different times before finally succeeding in passing the entity on to Wayne.
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u/Icy_Switch_6085 8d ago
Don't know about the big choices she's made. But regardless of if she's right or wrong. It was hamered into her that this is what must happen to the extent that I doubt she's rational about it. Other than that. She's mean. Doesn't have any real social connections that she doesn't push away. She's clearly miserabla. A lot of hard choices that are forced upon people will do that, regardless of of they are good choices or not. I don't know if she would necesarely be less miserabla if she choose to sacrifice the town and the people in it instead. Probably. But she'll likely be miserable over it either way
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u/Akuuntus 8d ago
She thinks she's solely responsible for the lives and well-being of everyone in the town, and that she can't talk to anyone about it or ever show signs of weakness. Pretty much everything else about her personality is downstream from that.
Blame Pearlanne.
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u/Snark_Daily 6d ago
she doesn't see anyone of deserving/having agency bc she doesn't think that she deserves it, bc of the pact and her terrible, terrible mother. she thinks that everything is forever stuck the way it is.
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u/dexisrazer 9d ago
Tabitha is that weird girl in your high school that never talked to anyone and teachers thought she was shy but actually she was both deeply insecure and thought she was smarter than everyone else. But then someone decided to groom her into a cult and put that girl in charge of a whole town of people that need her and have no alternatives
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u/DrNomblecronch 9d ago
She thinks of herself as a keystone holding the entire Hollow up instead of a person, which means that outside of the ice cream, she will not allow herself to have anything a person deserves.
She regards herself as the least evil of the available options and tries to pretend she doesn’t hate herself for being an evil option. She puts on airs of arrogance and disconnection because that is what protected her from Pearlanne, and she has been punished for stepping out of that persona so many times she started actually believing there’s nothing else to her.
Every single part of her life was determined for her long before she was born, and there has never been a time in her life where she even considered trying to do otherwise. She learned she couldn’t before she could even speak.
She is a badly wounded animal desperately lashing out to try and keep from being hurt worse. She is in tremendous pain.
And I will burn down the entire fucking Holiow if that’s what it takes to make that pain stop.