History AlternativeCharacterInterpretation / TheKarmaOfLies

** Is Adrian purely looking out for his own self-interests when he tries to subvert karmic consequences, or does he genuinely believe most of his poor decisions don't deserve serious consequences? He did grow up witnessing his father and the Bourgeois family receive little to no consequences for ''their'' behavior. If reckless endangerment and terrorism are the only times Chloé and Gabriel have faced significant consequences for selfish and self-serving decisions, it's entirely possible this has skewed Adrien's sense of how wrongdoing should be handled and how high the threshold is for misbehavior before facing consequences. Even if a part of him acknowledges the severity of Lila's scam, he may genuinely believe such crimes don't deserve severe punishment. Of course, his desire for retribution after Lila scams him ''does'' complicate this interpretation.

* When Adrien decides to press for some money for his service as Chat Noir, it's not clear if he's driven primarily by [[ItsAllAboutMe selfishness]] or desperation because he effectively has ''no'' accessible finances after Lila cons him. While he does show a supreme apathy about the damage done by his father because of the Miraculous Cure and Plagg points out the contradiction of expecting to be rewarded when he continually professes that any harm done doesn't matter, Adrien is also in a bad situation and having to cope with genuinely upsetting revelations without the support he wants and may not be thinking clearly. He's certainly letting his entitlement enter into things but it's unclear if that's the primary source of this particular plan.

** Is Adrian purely looking out for his own self-interests when he tries to subvert karmic consequences, or does he genuinely believe most of his poor decisions don't deserve serious consequences? He did grow up witnessing his father and the Bourgeois family recieve little to no consequences for ''their'' behavior. If reckless endangerment and terrorism are the only times Chloé and Gabriel have faced significant consequences for selfish and self-serving decisions, it's entirely possible this has skewed Adrien's sense of how wrongdoing should be handled and how high the threshold is for misbehavior before facing consequences. Even if a part of him acknowledges the severity of Lila's scam, he may genuinely believe such crimes don't deserve severe punishment. Of course, his desire for retribution after Lila scams him ''does'' complicate this interpretation.

** Is Adrian purely looking out for his own self-interests when he tries to subvert karmic consequences, or does he genuinely believe most of his poor decisions don't deserve serious consequences? He did grow up witnessing his father and the Bourgeois family recieve little to no consequences for ''their'' behavior. If reckless endangerment and terrorism are the only times Chloe and Gabriel have faced significant consequences for selfish and self-serving decisions, it's entirely possible this has skewed Adrien's sense of how wrongdoing should be handled and how high the threshold is for misbehavior before facing consequences. Even if a part of him acknowledges the severity of Lila's scam, he may genuinely believe such crimes don't deserve severe punishment. Of course, his desire for retribution after Lila scams him ''does'' complicate this interpretation.

* Adrien's insistence on his lack of culpability brings a related part of his character into question. Despite Marinette telling him ''point blank'' that she's in pain in Chapter One, his internal monologue in Chapter Four reveals that he still doesn't think he needs to apologize, as he maintains that he hasn't done anything that hurt anyone. Throughout the story he also insists that seriously doing something about Chloe's and Lila's behavior would have hurt them and resulted in an akuma. Is he just ''actually'' that oblivious to the consequences of his actions owing to being a steadfast optimist afraid of conflict as well as extremely sheltered? Is he only concerned with avoiding the trouble of their resulting akumas in particular? Does he just have such a small amount of emotional intelligence and empathy that he's unable to read others' negative emotions when they don't result in an obvious, tangible response like akumatization, and is unwilling to put in the effort to try? Did he turn to SelectiveObliviousness as a defense mechanism only after the consequences hit, or was he willfully blind the ''entire'' time out of pure selfishness?

* Adrien's insistence on his lack of culpability brings a related part of his character into question. Despite Marinette telling him ''point blank'' that she's in pain in Chapter One, his internal monologue in Chapter Four reveals that he still doesn't think he needs to apologize because he legitimately believes he hasn't done anything that hurt anyone. Throughout the story he also insists that seriously doing something about Chloe's and Lila's behavior would have hurt them and resulted in an akuma. Is he just ''actually'' that oblivious to the consequences of his actions owing to being a steadfast optimist afraid of conflict as well as extremely sheltered? Is he only concerned with avoiding the trouble of their resulting akumas in particular? Does he just have such a small amount of emotional intelligence and empathy that he's unable to read others' negative emotions when they don't result in an obvious, tangible response like akumatization, and is unwilling to put in the effort to try? Did he turn to SelectiveObliviousness as a defense mechanism only after the consequences hit, or was he willfully blind the ''entire'' time out of pure selfishness?

** Is Adrian purely looking out for his own self-interests when he tries to subvert karmic consequences, or does he genuinely believe most of his poor decisions don't deserve serious consequences since he grew up witnessing his father and the Bourgeois family recieve little to no consequences for ''their'' behavior before? If reckless endangerment and terrorism are the only times Chloe and Gabriel have faced consequences, it's entirely possible this has skewed his sense of how wrongdoing should be handled and how high the threshold is for misbehavior before facing consequences. Even if a part of him acknowledges the severity of Lila's scam, he may genuinely believe such crimes don't deserve severe punishment. Of course, his desire for retribution after Lila scams him ''does'' complicate this interpretation.

Given the characters all take very interesting moral stances over the course of the story, the cast was bound to get a few.

!Marinette

** On the other hand, far beyond Lila, the flaw ruining Marinette's life at the beginning of the story was her inability to set boundaries on how far she'd go for the subjects of her affections, whether they be the class, who she spoiled rotten, or Adrien, for whom she was carrying a lot of unhealthily expressed baggage that she allowed to negatively affect her own behavior and quality of life. While the class' and Lila's poor choices are not her responsibility, Marinette had, in her own way, enabled her class to indulge in their flaws by constantly giving and investing herself without restraint. It could be argued that, while the story's wording wasn't the best at communicating it, refusing to help was, far from a morally wrong choice, actually the morally better choice Marinette could make for herself, and that cutting the class off is what actually earns Marinette her KarmicJackpot, seeing as everyone else who [[EarnYourHappyEnding earns their happy ending]] does so by overcoming their personal flaws and the only part of Lila's grand scheme that fails is the trap for Marinette, directly because Lila was expecting Marinette to ensnare herself by overreaching to help Adrien.

!Adrien
* It's very unclear how much of Adrien's behavior is genuine obliviousness and how much is simply pure selfishness. On one hand it is clear that he is InnocentlyInsensitive to some degree but on the other it's also clear that he's being ''willfully'' unaware about certain things, unwilling to actually grow or even acknowledge ''any'' harm that his actions have caused; more concerned about being right even if admitting he was wrong costs him nothing.
* Adrien also becomes worse over the course of the story; however, it's ambiguous if this is because he's letting his SecretlySelfish personality shine through, or if he's struggling to cope with things not going his way because he honestly can't comprehend that the world doesn't work the way he thinks it does.

* When Adrien decides to press for some money for his service as Chat Noir it's not clear if he's driven primarily by [[ItsAllAboutMe selfishness]] or desperation because he effectively has ''no'' accessible finances after Lila cons him. While he does show a supreme apathy about the damage done by his father because of the Miraculous Cure and Plagg points out the contradiction of expecting to be rewarded when he continually professes that any harm done doesn't matter, Adrien is also in a bad situation and having to cope with genuinely upsetting revelations without the support he wants and may not be thinking clearly. He's certainly letting his entitlement enter into things but its unclear if that's the primary source of this particular plan.
* Is this version of Adrien truly a deconstruction of his character in the show, or is he a deconstruction of Thomas Astruc's implied perspective of him? Astruc, the creator behind the show, [[https://mobile.twitter.com/thomas_astruc/status/1010574193577127936?lang=en famously insists that Adrien is ''perfect'' and that it's not Adrien that's flawed, it's the world he lives in.]] In the same statement, Astruc also says that "Marinette has poor control of her emotions." With this in mind, this story's version of Adrien can possibly be read as what Adrien would actually be like if he lived by an interpretation of Astruc's statements that he is perfect and that the problem is everyone and everything else, especially Marinette and her out of control emotions, showing what can actually happen to people who think this way. This is supported by the fact that it's not just Adrien who echoes Astruc's statements, but Tikki in the first chapter, before she ultimately concludes that the "Marinette needs to control her emotions better" position is unhealthy and unhelpful and that what Marinette actually needs is reliable support.

* Adrien's insistence on his lack of culpability brings a related part of his character into question. Despite Marinette telling him ''point blank'' that she's in pain in chapter one, his internal monologue in chapter 4 reveals that he still doesn't think he needs to apologize because he legitimately believes he hasn't done anything that hurt anyone. Throughout the story he also insists that seriously doing something about Chloe's and Lila's behavior would have hurt them and resulted in an akuma. Is he just ''actually'' that oblivious to the consequences of his actions owing to being a steadfast optimist afraid of conflict as well as extremely sheltered? Is he only concerned with avoiding the trouble of their resulting akumas in particular? Does he just have such a small amount of emotional intelligence and empathy that he's unable to read others' negative emotions when they don't result in an obvious, tangible response like akumatization, and is unwilling to put in the effort to try? Did he turn to SelectiveObliviousness as a defense mechanism only after the consequences hit, or was he willfully blind the ''entire'' time out of pure selfishness?