Humans are fragile machines.
Hello there, welcome to the next episode of my NPG proposal. Though this time is a discussion since not just me, I wanted you guys to decide if he can qualify or not, as he was a minor but pivotal character from one of my favorite games (Detroit: Become Human), please welcome Carl Manfred!
What's The Work?
Detroit: Become Human is a choice-based adventure game developed by Quantic Dream and directed by David Cage. This game takes place in an apocalyptic Detroit, Michigan in 2038, where robots can become sapient and many of them tried to rebel against humans and even tried to become human (just like the title) themselves.
Who is He?
Carl Manfred is the overarching protagonist of Markus's story path of the game. He was a former celebrated painter and the leading figurehead of "Neo-Symbolist movement" artstyle. After years of fame and fortune, he decided to retire and live a simple life. One day, he had become paraplegic, so that he was gifted a prototype android named Markus by Elijah Kamski.
What Has He Done?
In general, he was a person who compassionately understands life, clearly knowing right or wrong. He then used his wisdom to instruct and raise Markus to become a noble sapient android who fought for the right thing. He also understand both sides: humans and androids, and rightfully pointed out their strengths and flaws.
After his disability, he was gifted by Kamski a prototype RK200 android named Markus to help him in daily routine and houseworks. However, Carl did not just make him an ordinary houseworker, but also took it upon himself to teach him life and all forms of arts he mastered, such as painting, literature and music, so that Markus could have a sense of life and how it feels like to be a human. He eventually made Markus a kind-hearted android and they together formed a father-son bond. Thanks to him, Markus managed to become a good android who knew what were right or wrong.
In "The Painter", he then kept aiding Markus in becoming a noble human, for instance, he helped Markus in enhancing his "humanity", by dedicatedly instructing him to paint. Not just any normal painting, he actually convinced Markus to paint through his "machine" heart and made his art looks like an actual art by human which had feelings. After his illegitimate son Leo came to his place for money, which he would use it for drugs, he did not just refuse to give the money, but also protected Markus from being harmed by him.
In "Broken", after discovering Leo had intruded his place and tried to steal his painting so that he could sell it for drug money. He immediately tried to stop him and helped Markus to make him leave. He then also tried to warn Markus to become deviant for real this time, and asked him not to listen to anybody's orders, and tried to fight for himself. In other words, he directly enabled Markus to become a deviant android who would fight for the right things. In later chapters, thanks to him, Markus dedicated himself to fight for the androids' rights.
In "Night of the Soul", if Markus did not endure Leo's attack, Carl would survive of heart attack. He then bought a new android and treated him the same way as he did to Markus, as he did not just consider him a caretaker, but also taught him arts and life just like he did to Markus. This was proved as when Markus turned him deviant, he did not rebel or go away like how Markus did to any deviants in the past, but he rather stayed because he really appreciated Carl's compassion and how he "raised" him to be a good android. If Markus and Carl reunite, Carl then told him he was like a son to him, and further motivated Markus to do the right thing.
Admirable Standard and Does he fail that much?
We all know that the admirable standard of Detroit: Become Human is definitely not low, considering there are many heroes who tried to fight for the right thing and stopped many villains, let's look at some of them:
- Deviant Connor: A deviant android who strived to do heroic deeds and tried to protect the deviant androids from big threats. He took it upon himself to destroy the CyberLife tower and liberated many androids who were trapped inside it. If Markus died, he would took over his leadership and sacrificed himself to avoid any controls from external factors, ending the long-lasting war between androids and humans.
- Markus: After his damage in Broken, he strived to become a model android who tried his best to demand freedom for his fellow androids, thanks to his determination, he had defeated many evil factors who tried to harm his people. In the pacifist route, he managed to do so without causing any damage to the city.
- Hank Anderson: Despite being an ordinary cop with little resources, he still actively helped people and fought for what are morally right. He was the one who partly contributed in making peace between humans and android, he even helped Connor both before and after turning deviant.
- Luther: He killed Zlatko, a sadistic android mutilator and torturer, thus protecting countless desperate androids. After that, he also actively aided Kara and Alice in getting away safely, even sacrificed himself in many choice paths.
Comparing to them, I would say he may not wholly pass the admirable standard because he probably had the most resources of all the heroes in the game, as he was an extremely wealthy and celebrated painter who lived in a big mansion, and most of the heroes above played the more direct roles in defeating the evil factions and of course they did not have as much wealth as he did, especially comparing to Hank Anderson, who had lower resources and was also a human, but he managed to do more direct heroic acts. Therefore, he showed some signs of holding back his resources for his heroism.
However, he does not fail that much due to two reasons: First of all, his physical capability/strength. Although his extreme wealth made him slightly fail the standard, we should consider that he was an old and disabled man who may not be capable of doing direct heroism. Another reason was that he still took a very direct role in raising Markus into a noble and heroic android like we know. If not for Carl, Markus would just be a normal caretaker android who might not be capable of doing large scale heroic acts. In other words, Carl was directly and partly responsible for the android revolution, which he was well-aware of, and even motivated Markus to do so in "Night of The Soul". Also worth noting that his kindness to androids did not just limit to Markus, as he did the very same treatment to his second caretaker android, who was also raised by him to become a noble android who knew what are right and wrong.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Good?
Aside from slightly failing the standard as I said above. He was also somewhat not a good father to his illegitimate son Leo. As he kind of neglected him and thought giving money was enough to make him happy. However, this is also a minor prevention, as Carl only had a chance to meet Leo face to face when Leo grew up as a teenager, so he did not have time to form a strong bond like he did to Markus. Leo was also the one to blame, as he was known to be a Red Ice (DBH drugs) addict who kept asking him for money. Also worth noting that if Markus pushes Leo in "Broken", Leo will redeem himself and admitted his mistakes in "Night of the Soul", they then reunited again as real father and son.
Verdict
A mid yes from me, it's still up to you all to decide.