History DeconstructedCharacterArchetype / TheUmbrellaAcademy2019

** Klaus deconstructs the PluckyComicRelief, ISeeDeadPeople, and SquishyWizard; seeing ghosts nobody else can, especially with Sir Hargreeves locking him in up a mausoleum for hours as part of his training, has traumatized him to the point where he's become an AddledAddict, as the effects of alcohol and drugs are the only way he can suppress his powers and not see ghosts. His jokes fail to provide adequate relief in stressful situations and just illustrate he's either not taking things seriously or is too stoned to truly comprehend the severity. On the rare occasions when he actually has important information to share with his family, it falls on deaf ears because they're so used to ignoring whatever he has to say. Further, his fear about his abilities and wallowing in addiction has caused him to not properly develop them; in addition to communing with the dead, he also possesses ResurrectiveImmortality and can even bring others back from the dead. He could potentially be TheMedic to the entire team and give them a decisive edge over any possible enemies if he didn't try to be the class clown all the time. As a result, he's more of a liability than a proper asset, despite how powerful he actually is.

** Klaus deconstructs the PluckyComicRelief, ISeeDeadPeople, and SquishyWizard; seeing ghosts nobody else can, especially with Sir Hargreeves locking him in up a mausoleum for hours as part of his training, has traumatized him to the point where he's become an AddledAddict, as the effects of alcohol and drugs are the only way he can suppress his powers and not see ghosts. His jokes fail to provide adequate relief in stressful situations and just illustrate he's either not taking things seriously or is too stoned to truly comprehend the severity. On the rare occasions when he actually has important information to share with his family, it falls on deaf ears because they're so used to ignoring whatever he has to say. As a result, he's more of a liability than a proper asset, despite how powerful he actually is. Further, his fear about his abilities and wallowing in addiction has caused him to not properly develop them; in addition to communing with the dead, he also possesses ResurrectiveImmortality and can even bring others back from the dead. He could potentially be TheMedic to the entire team and give them a decisive edge over any possible enemies if he didn't try to be the class clown all the time.

** Klaus deconstructs the PluckyComicRelief, ISeeDeadPeople, and SquishyWizard; seeing ghosts nobody else can, especially with Sir Hargreeves locking him in up a mausoleum for hours as part of his training, has traumatized him to the point where he's become an AddledAddict, as the effects of alcohol and drugs are the only way he can suppress his powers and not see ghosts. His jokes fail to provide adequate relief in stressful situations and just illustrate he's either not taking things seriously or is too stoned to truly comprehend the severity. On the rare occasions when he actually has important information to share with his family, it falls on deaf ears because they're so used to ignoring whatever he has to say. As a result, he's more of a liability than a proper asset, despite how powerful he actually is.

** Ben deconstructs TheHeart and TheBigGuy. Ben was considered to be the most powerful member of the Academy, with his tentacles being able to grapple and dismember groups of fully grown men with no help from his siblings. This was, however, very traumatizing for Ben as his LovecraftianSuperpower seemed painful to use and usually left him covered in other people's blood. It also proved to be a hazard as the attention-grabbing nature made him an easy target, and he died young. His siblings could no longer rely on his stabilizing presence, and it was one of the final straws to breaking up the Academy. He did continue to haunt Klaus, but it's revealed that [[spoiler:he was too scared to pass on to the afterlife, meaning that he developed unhealthy codependency on his addicted brother and never offered him useful life advice, simply trying to live through him.]]
** Viktor deconstructs TheTeamNormal, TheRuntAtTheEnd, and TheSixthRanger. For his entire life, Viktor had to deal with being the only "ordinary" child in a family of superheroes. He received [[YouAreNumberSix the lowest number in the family ranking system]], was ostracized by his siblings, was deliberately left out of the family portrait, and overall was regarded as something of a nuisance. Because of this, he ended up having severe self-esteem issues and a strong desire to be special like his siblings, which enables him to be taken advantage by people like Harold Jenkins who feign affection towards him to get what they want. [[spoiler: Things get worse when it turns out Viktor ''did'' have PsychoactivePowers all along, which Sir Hargreeves and Pogo brainwashed him into forgetting about them when he was young (using an unknowing Allison to implant the suggestion in Viktor's mind that "there's nothing special about [him]", leading to not just suppressing his powers but a lifetime of inferiority issues because he literally can't believe in his own value until breaking through the block) and fed him with antidepressants in order to suppress them because Hargreeves insisted that he couldn't control his powers normally. His discovering all this, combined with Luther's poor decision to lock him up in the same terrifying and traumatizing cell their dad used to contain him as a child, results in him snapping into a permanent TranquilFury and lashing out towards his family as he becomes the ApocalypseMaiden]].

** Allison deconstructs heart, MaleMightFemaleFinesse, and UnresolvedSexualTension. Normally, one girl would double as TheHeart and [[TheMcCoy the voice of morality]] in the band, provide a counterbalance to the Lancer's or Big Guy's aggression, and serve as the Love Interest for The Leader. While Allison does love her siblings, it's evident that she's become exhausted by the squabbling and washed her hands of the whole affair. Her MindControl powers are quite effective for sneak attacks, but it requires precious seconds to set up the spell ("I heard a rumor..."), leaving her open and vulnerable. She needs her brothers to protect her, but her strained relationships force her to do things on her own. Finally, her bond with Luther has unfortunate toxic undertones, ignoring the incestuous nature of it, [[spoiler:it's implied that she used her power on him to love her at some point]]. This gets even worse in Season 3, in which [[spoiler: the temporal erasure of her daughter]] causes her to completely snap, refusing to cooperate with her family and [[spoiler: explicitly attempting to rape Luthor.]]

** Allison deconstructs TheChick, MaleMightFemaleFinesse, and UnresolvedSexualTension. Normally, The Chick would double as TheHeart and [[TheMcCoy the voice of morality]] in the band, provide a counterbalance to the Lancer's or Big Guy's aggression, and serve as the Love Interest for The Leader. While Allison does love her siblings, it's evident that she's become exhausted by the squabbling and washed her hands of the whole affair. Her MindControl powers are quite effective for sneak attacks, but it requires precious seconds to set up the spell ("I heard a rumor..."), leaving her open and vulnerable. She needs her brothers to protect her, but her strained relationships force her to do things on her own. Finally, her bond with Luther has unfortunate toxic undertones, ignoring the incestuous nature of it, [[spoiler:it's implied that she used her power on him to love her at some point]]. This gets even worse in Season 3, in which [[spoiler: the temporal erasure of her daughter]] causes her to completely snap, refusing to cooperate with her family and [[spoiler: explicitly attempting to rape Luthor.]]

** Diego deconstructs TheLancer, VigilanteMan, and TheSnarkKnight; he's a very cynical and emotionally troubled man with authority problems. His hurtful remarks are less "playful ribbing" and stemming more from angrily pointing out other people's flaws, verging on verbal abuse, with clear intentions of making his words hurt them as much as possible. He's more or less completely defined himself by his rage at his father, and he displaces that anger at targets closest to that mold (primarily Luther). Instead of being a balancing act between [[RedOniBlueOni pragmaticism and idealism]], Luther and Diego's relationship is incredibly toxic and lacks the requisite respect needed in a Leader/Lancer dynamic. It's implied that the two do in fact complement each other's powers, talents, and philosophies (they both still hold to Sir Reginald's belief that they could be crime fighters), but they're both too caustic to put it to good use. Diego barely functions as an adult, never making it in the police because he could never keep an opinion to himself, and continues being a vigilante despite ostensibly rejecting everything his father taught him and viewing himself as better than his siblings.

** Allison deconstructs TheChick, MaleMightFemaleFinesse, and UnresolvedSexualTension. Normally, The Chick would double as TheHeart and [[TheMcCoy the voice of morality]] in the band, provide a counterbalance to the Lancer's or Big Guy's aggression, and serve as the Love Interest for The Leader. While Allison does love her siblings, it's evident that she's become exhausted by the squabbling and washed her hands of the whole affair. Her MindControl powers are quite effective for sneak attacks but it requires precious seconds to set up the spell ("I heard a rumor..."), leaving her open and vulnerable. She needs her brothers to protect her, but her strained relationships force her to do things on her own. Finally, her bond with Luther has unfortunate toxic undertones; ignoring the incestuous nature of it, [[spoiler:it's implied that she used her power on him to love her at some point]]. This gets even worse in Season 3, in which [[spoiler: the temporal erasure of her daughter]] causes her to completely snap, refusing to cooperate with her family and [[spoiler: explicitly attempting to rape Luthor.]]
** Klaus deconstructs the PluckyComicRelief, ISeeDeadPeople, and SquishyWizard; seeing ghosts nobody else can, especially with Sir Hargreeves locking him in up a mausoleum for hours as part of his training, has traumatized him to the point where he's become an AddledAddict, as the effects of alcohol and drugs are the only way he can suppress his powers and not see ghosts. His jokes fail to provide adequate relief in stressful situations and just illustrate he's either not taking things seriously or is too stoned to truly comprehend the severity. On the rare occasions where he actually has important information to share with his family, it falls on deaf ears because they're so used to ignoring whatever he has to say. As a result, he's more of a liability than a proper asset, despite how powerful he actually is.
** Five is a deconstruction of TheSmartGuy. Intelligence without humility caused Five to develop an [[{{Pride}} ego]] and an over-estimation of his capabilities, and because of his overconfidence, he ignored his father's warnings and attempted to master his time-traveling abilities without any help. As a result, he became stuck in a BadFuture with no way to get home. Living life completely devoid of human contact and then becoming a time-traveling hitman ultimately reinforced his pride and he developed into an InsufferableGenius; turning back into a child just highlights his arrogance as he doesn't have his age to fall back on, making him even more difficult to work with than Diego.

** Ben deconstructs TheHeart and TheBigGuy. Ben was considered to be the most powerful member of the Academy, with his tentacles being able to grapple and dismember groups of fully grown men with no help from his siblings. This was, however, to be very traumatizing for Ben as his LovecraftianSuperpower seemed painful to use and usually left him covered in other people's blood. It also proved to be a hazard as the attention-grabbing nature made him an easy target, and he died young. His siblings could no longer rely on his stabilizing presence and it was one of the final straws to breaking up the Academy. He did continue to haunt Klaus, but it's revealed that [[spoiler:he was too scared to pass on to the afterlife, meaning that he developed unhealthy codependency on his addicted brother and never offered him useful life advice, simply trying to live through him.]]

* Sir Reginald Hargreeves deconstructs the SinkOrSwimMentor and ToughLove. Not only do his abusive training tactics fail to register with his adoptive children, but they end up making the Academy so maladjusted in their interactions with each other and society [[spoiler: that they fail to stop TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt ''twice''. [[SelfFulfillingProphecy In fact, his abuse of his children, especially towards Vanya, is what causes the Apocalypse he was trying to prevent with them in the first place]]]].
* Pogo deconstructs AccompliceByInaction. While he didn't approve of what Sir Hargreeves was doing to his adoptive children, [[MyMasterRightOrWrong his belief that he owes complete loyalty to Hargreeves]] for [[UpliftedAnimal uplifting him]] kept him from interfering with the abusive treatment or revealing any of the secrets even after Hargreeves' death. This includes [[spoiler: helping with Vanya's imprisonment, brainwashing and suppression, sending Luther to the moon for four years on a SnipeHunt to keep him busy, safe and out-of-the-way-until-needed after his ApeMan transmutation, and helping Hargreeves with his suicide in an attempt to reunite the Umbrella academy]]. Not only does his complicity in Hargreeves' abuse cause [[BrokenPedestal the siblings to lose all trust in Pogo]], [[spoiler: it becomes the main reason why Vanya murders him at the end of the first season]].

** Luther was supposed to be the StandardizedLeader, the WhiteMaleLead, and TheDutifulSon, and he desperately wants to prove he's capable of being Number One. In practice, however, Luther was so isolated from much of the world for most of his life that he lacks the social skills to properly lead. He can't read a room to save his life, easily gets flummoxed during confrontations, lacks the confidence to maintain morale, and quickly falls apart when under significant amounts of pressure. He also can't seem to recognize that none of his siblings even want to be led, let alone by him, and his inability to realize this is his FatalFlaw. He often cites him being Number One as proof of his leadership status, even though their number designations weren't ranks, and were assigned to them arbitrarily when Reginald bought them from their birth parents. It's clear that Luther suffered under their father's abuse as well (such as his father performing an invasive medical procedure on him without Luther's consent, [[BodyHorror horrifically mutating him]] against his will) but he coped with it by deluding himself into believing it was all worth something. [[spoiler: His decision to lock Vanya up in a cage because he decides she's too dangerous to even exist causes Vanya to snap and catalyzes the apocalypse]].

** Vanya deconstructs TheTeamNormal, TheRuntAtTheEnd, and TheSixthRanger. For her entire life, Vanya had to deal with being the only "ordinary" child in a family of superheroes. She received [[YouAreNumberSix the lowest number in the family ranking system]], was ostracized by her siblings, was deliberately left out of the family portrait, and overall was regarded as something of a nuisance. Because of this, she ended up having severe self-esteem issues and a strong desire to be special like her siblings, which enables her to be taken advantage by people like Harold Jenkins who feign affection towards her to get what they want. [[spoiler: Things get worse when it turns out Vanya ''did'' have PsychoactivePowers all along, which Sir Hargreeves and Pogo brainwashed her into forgetting about them when she was young (using an unknowing Allison to implant the suggestion in Vanya's mind that "there's nothing special about [her]", leading to not just suppressing her powers but a lifetime of inferiority issues because she literally can't believe in her own value until breaking through the block) and fed her with antidepressants in order to suppress them because Hargreeves insisted that she couldn't control her powers normally. Her discovering all this, combined with Luther's poor decision to lock her up in the same terrifying and traumatizing cell their dad used to contain her as a child, results in her snapping into a permanent TranquilFury and lashing out towards her family as she becomes the ApocalypseMaiden]].

** Allison deconstructs TheChick, MaleMightFemaleFinesse, and UnresolvedSexualTension. Normally, The Chick would double as TheHeart and [[TheMcCoy the voice of morality]] in the band, provide a counterbalance to the Lancer's or Big Guy's aggression, and serve as the Love Interest for The Leader. While Allison does love her siblings, it's evident that she's become exhausted by the squabbling and washed her hands of the whole affair. Her MindControl powers are quite effective for sneak attacks but it requires precious seconds to set up the spell ("I heard a rumor..."), leaving her open and vulnerable. She needs her brothers to protect her, but her strained relationships force her to do things on her own. Finally, her bond with Luther has unfortunate toxic undertones; ignoring the incestuous nature of it, [[spoiler:it's implied that she used her power on him to love her at some point]].

* Sir Reginald Hargreeves deconstructs the SinkOrSwimMentor and AbusiveParent. Not only do his abusive training tactics fail to register with his adoptive children, but they end up making the Academy so maladjusted in their interactions with each other and society [[spoiler: that they fail to stop TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt ''twice''. [[SelfFulfillingProphecy In fact, his abuse of his children, especially towards Vanya, is what causes the Apocalypse he was trying to prevent with them in the first place]]]].

** Klaus deconstructs the PluckyComicRelief, ISeeDeadPeople, and SquishyWizard; seeing ghosts nobody else can, especially with Sir Hargreeves locking him in up a mausoleum for hours as part of his training, has traumatized him to the point where he's become an AddledAddict, as the effects of alcohol and drugs are the only way he can suppress his powers and not see ghosts. His jokes fail to provide adequate relief in stressful situations and just illustrate he's either not taking things seriously or is too stoned to truly comprehend the severity. As a result, he's more of a liability than a proper asset, despite how powerful he actually is.

* A perfect deconstruction of the FiveManBand:

** Klaus deconstructs the PluckyComicRelief, ISeeDeadPeople, and SquishyWizard; seeing ghosts nobody else can, especially with Sir Hargreeves locking him in up a mausoleum for hours as part of his training, has traumatized him to the point where he's become an AddledAddict, as the effects of alcohol and drugs are the only way he can suppress his powers and not see ghosts. His jokes fail to provide adequate relief in stressful situations and just show he either doesn't take things seriously or is too stoned to truly comprehend the severity of it. As a result, he's more of a liability than a proper asset, despite how powerful he actually is.

** Five is a deconstruction of TheSmartGuy. Intelligence without humility caused Five to develop an [[{{Pride}} ego]] and an over-estimation of his capabilities, and because of his overconfidence, he ignored his father's warnings and attempted to master his time-traveling abilities without any help. As a result, he became stuck in a BadFuture with no way to get home. Living life completely devoid of human contact and then becoming a time-traveling hitman ultimately reinforced his pride and he developed into an InsufferableGenius; turning back into a child just highlights his arrogance as he doesn't have his age to fall back on, making him even more difficult to work with than Diego.

* Luther was chosen as TheLeader of the Umbrella Academy by Sir Hargreeves, and he desperately wants to prove he's capable of being Number One. Unfortunately, he was so isolated from much of the world for most of his life that he lacks the social skills to properly lead. He can't read a room to save his life, easily gets flummoxed during confrontations, lacks the confidence to maintain morale, and quickly falls apart when under significant amounts of pressure. He also can't seem to recognize that none of his siblings even want to be led, let alone by him, and his inability to realize this is his FatalFlaw. He often cites him being Number One as proof of his leadership status, even though their number designations weren't ranks, and were assigned to them arbitrarily when Reginald bought them from their birth parents. [[spoiler: His decision to lock Vanya up in a cage because he decides she's too dangerous to even exist causes Vanya to snap and catalyzes the apocalypse]].
* Diego deconstructs TheSnarkKnight; he's a very cynical and emotionally troubled man with authority problems. His hurtful remarks are less "playful ribbing" and stemming more from angrily pointing out other people's flaws, verging on verbal abuse, with clear intentions of making his words hurt them as much as possible.
* Klaus deconstructs ISeeDeadPeople; seeing ghosts nobody else can, especially with Sir Hargreeves locking him in up a mausoleum for hours as part of his training, has traumatized him to the point where he's become an AddledAddict, as the effects of alcohol and drugs are the only way he can suppress his powers and not see ghosts.
* Vanya deconstructs TheTeamNormal and TheRuntAtTheEnd. For her entire life, Vanya had to deal with being the only "ordinary" child in a family of superheroes. She received [[YouAreNumberSix the lowest number in the family ranking system]], was ostracized by her siblings, was deliberately left out of the family portrait, and overall was regarded as something of a nuisance. Because of this, she ended up having severe self-esteem issues and a strong desire to be special like her siblings, which enables her to be taken advantage by people like Harold Jenkins who feign affection towards her to get what they want. [[spoiler: Things get worse when it turns out Vanya ''did'' have PsychoactivePowers all along, which Sir Hargreeves and Pogo brainwashed her into forgetting about them when she was young (using an unknowing Allison to implant the suggestion in Vanya's mind that "there's nothing special about [her]", leading to not just suppressing her powers but a lifetime of inferiority issues because she literally can't believe in her own value until breaking through the block) and fed her with antidepressants in order to suppress them because Hargreeves insisted that she couldn't control her powers normally. Her discovering all this, combined with Luther's poor decision to lock her up in the same terrifying and traumatizing cell their dad used to contain her as a child, results in her snapping into a permanent TranquilFury and lashing out towards her family as she becomes the ApocalypseMaiden]].

!!''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy2019''

* Vanya deconstructs TheTeamNormal and TheRuntAtTheEnd. For her entire life, Vanya had to deal with being the only "ordinary" child in a family of superheroes. She received [[YouAreNumberSix the lowest number in the family ranking system]], was ostracized by her siblings, was deliberately left out of the family portrait, and overall was regarded as something of a nuisance. Because of this, she ended up having severe self-esteem issues and a strong desire to be special like her siblings, which enables her to be taken advantage by people like Harold Jenkins who feign affection towards her to get what they want. [[spoiler: Things get worse when it turns out Vanya ''did'' have PsychoactivePowers all along, which Sir Hargreeves and Pogo brainwashed her into forgetting about them when she was young (using an unknowing Allison to implant the suggestion in Vanya's mind that "there's nothing special about [her]", leading to not just suppressing her powers but a lifetime of inferiority issues because she literally can't believe in her own value until breaking through the block) and fed her with antidepressants in order to suppress them because Hargreeves insisted that she couldn't control her powers normally. Her discovering all this, combined with Luther's poor decision to lock her up in the same terrifying and traumatizing cell their dad used to contain her as a child, results in her snapping into a permanent TranquilFury and lashing out towards her family as she becomes the ApocalypseMaiden]].
* Pogo deconstructs AccompliceByInaction. While he didn't approve of what Sir Hargreeves was doing to his adoptive children, [[MyMasterRightOrWrong his belief that he owes complete loyalty to Hargreeves]] for [[UpliftedAnimal uplifting him]] kept him from interfering with the abusive treatment or revealing any of the secrets even after Hargreeves' death. This includes [[spoiler: helping with Vanya's imprisonment, brainwashing and suppression, sending Luther to the moon for four years on a SnipeHunt to keep him busy, safe and out-of-the-way-until-needed after his ApeMan transmutation, and helping Hargreeves with his suicide in an attempt to reunite the Umbrella academy]]. Not only does his complicity in Hargreeves' abuse cause [[BrokenPedestal the siblings to lose all trust in Pogo]], [[spoiler: it becomes the main reason why Vanya murders him at the end of the first season]].