THOMAS

PERSONALITY

Detailed in bullet-points, as personality sections always seem to work better for me that way. ♥


- At his core, he is defined by passion in the sense that he feels things very, very strongly. If there was one key word to associate with him, it’s that one.

- Loyal and devoted to his friends, his family, a lover if he has one. Thomas is a man with a huge heart, powerfully driven by his love for others, but also very easily hurt even compared to the norm by any painful actions they might take. It also takes a lot for him to be able to let it go if they do betray him, if they make what he regards as terrible choices, etc etc etc. This is why his ex-boyfriend Silvester’s betrayal cut him so deeply; Tom won’t forgive cheating but his yearning for his former partner took a very long time to fade even with considerable support.

- Tom feels deeply for those suffering, for the vulnerable, and will be driven to help at every turn if he is able to, often at cost and risk to himself (especially when they are children). He is quite genuinely a kind, compassionate person, something often missed upon first meeting with him due to the guarded and cynical exterior he projects but obvious after time spent.

- He does however have limits to what he can give up. If another is willing to make the sacrifice that would keep his circle of loved ones safe, and with the chance at the hopeful future he desires for them intact, there are many circumstances in which Tom would let it happen. An example of this is in the deal with Orpheus; Tom rebels against the Emperor both because of his suspicions and because of Lae’zel’s desires but when it turns out this means one of their number must ‘become’ a mindflayer (which is more of a destruction of self deal) he is willing to let Orpheus take on that burden instead. It might make him feel guilt, but he wouldn’t have changed his actions there. If Orpheus had refused he would have taken the deal himself rather than let another of his group do it but with other options on the table, no, because he’d already promised a future for the two of them to Gale.

- Thomas can get… very angry. He has one hell of a temper and is quite reactive, something he is very aware of as his most obvious flaw and deeply detests in himself. This tends to be worse when he is frightened, when he witnesses what he’d call ‘assholery’ and often flares up when he is feeling vulnerable as well. This doesn’t lead to physicality in and of himself most of the time and he’s never laid a hand on a loved one, but if pushed or taunted into fights Tom will get himself into trouble and has, on occasion, made situations worse by laying out assholes (early BG3 has multiple instances of this for him as he’s especially on edge at this time, for example, punching out Aradin). As an untrained sorcerer, there’s another layer to this: when either extremely scared or really pissed off his magic can flare up. Aware of this fact, he is fearful of his own anger which can feed it, creating a vicious circle.

- When in a true crisis Tom can push that anger down into a box and handle things through masking but it doesn’t get rid of that emotion, and until he gets an opportunity to vent his feeling he’ll be more snappy.

- However! Given a chance at a more settled life, with a genuine sense of support and love from friends and partner, that temper will over time improve remarkably and soften out. Never entirely gone, but much better, much less present in his life, unveiling much more of the gentler, daydreaming, romantic Thomas to the world.

- That side of him often comes as a surprise to people who have just met him and certainly in the harder periods of his life, but Tom is at heart the soft-natured yearning romantic who dreams of a genuine love and loyal partner, who’d write powerful and talented poetry inspired by the sight of the sea or the laugh-lines of his beloved, who is driven giddy by shows of love from others (platonic, familial, romantic all) and would unleash just as much in return given the chance.

- He struggles with feeling vulnerable, however, at least in part because of the abuse in his childhood from his father, his time living on the streets as a boy and made worse by his experiences with Silvester. As mentioned previously, one might call him ‘guarded.’ Learning to feel okay with sharing that vulnerability is incredibly important for his journey and being able to be gentle with himself, and would mean his anger would naturally diminish some as described above. Boxing his hurts fuels much of his temper, after all.

- Learning to cry and grieve and let it out all really is critical for him. He’s really bad at it, while being willing to take on such emotions and moments from his loved ones, making him a tad hypocritical about emotional matters.

- Fond of swearing, but not in a very creative way. The note somewhere above about him writing talented poetry are on the mark and where his creativity shines most. Sometimes very poetic turns of phrase seep into his regular vernacular as well, leaving the page and revealing that side of himself to the listener. Tom has also memorized a huge amount of poetic works of all kinds; he can’t afford to buy many books so instead has committed most of what he knows to memory from spoken performances. He also greatly enjoys music (when drunk especially he has Very Strong Music Opinions) and will often use it to help himself calm down. This is, in fact, why he knows how to play the lute: it allows him to have a nice calm time by himself with gentle song. Overall a person who appreciates the arts and would probably enjoy getting to involve himself in more of its disciplines, if he had the time and funds to do so.

- His relationship with his magic is important, entangled with both his flaws and best qualities. Tom fears his magical nature and is sensitive about it when others bring it up or talk about it, but also is very talented with and uses what are considered to be basic magical abilities in unusual, creative ways and in a very natural manner. It is most definitely a part of him. He’d consider removing it if it was possible. He’d never be able to go through with it. He’d scream about wishing it would vanish. He’d be driven to improve it for his loved ones. Being without it would literally kill him, but perhaps metaphorically too. Thomas doesn’t really appreciate it, but it enriches his life in many ways he doesn't even think about. It’s complicated. In a bright future, he’d probably learn to openly love what he can do and do ever more with it, but getting there requires a bit ol’ dose of that vulnerability and honesty with himself.




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